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Stranded
The three families trudged downhill through the melting snow, away from the small Northern Lights tourist plane that crash landed. Fortunately, no one was hurt, except for some bumps and bruises. The plane had gone way off course due to the solar flares disrupting the navigation equipment and they wound up in the mountain wilderness, a very great distance from any towns. The families didn’t know where they were, and no possible rescuers would know where they were either. With no way to contact anyone due to the plane’s radio being inoperable, and, of course, no cell phone service in this remote area, it could be a very long time before anyone found them, except for the sheep. Many sheep wandered over to where the group decided to stop.
“Are we there yet?” whined one of the children. “I’m cold and hungry. Where is the hotel?”
“There is no hotel,” the child’s mother replied. “We will make our own hotel from all these trees and rocks. Gastoney’s parents built their house and will show us how to make one. Daddy is going to catch some fish from the river so we will have something to eat.”
“I could catch fish if I could find our supply bags, which have some things I could use,” Hustoney grumbled. “I have been looking for them, but can’t find them. Where were they set down?”
Gastoney’s father, Ibraham, gestured to his side while picking up branches to start a fire. “Right over ….” He stopped mid-sentence after turning his head to see the sheep standing where the bags had been placed. “Oh no!” he exclaimed as he rushed over, shooing the sheep away, hoping they hadn’t damaged anything.
(I saw these two little brown rounded things on the ground next to the sheep when I started, and thought they were rocks or some kind of wild food. They are not! That’s where the starting items for my Bannies are! I was expecting the usual carts. These round, brown lumps wouldn’t get flagged to be cleared by laborers as stone, or collected as some kind of mushroom, which got me to zoom in and click on them hoping to discover what they were. It would be helpful for older eyes, or young visually impaired eyes, if they looked more obvious to be the starting items containers. Maybe they could be a color distinctly different from the mushrooms and rocks, or, maybe be square crates. They are nice bags, if one knows that is what they are.)
Managing to Survive
Hustoney was able to catch trout from the river with his makeshift fishing pole. Simple snares worked to catch grouse and some deer were hunted with a primitive bow and arrow set that Ibraham made. Along with the berries, edible roots and mushrooms that were gathered, there was enough food for immediate needs. Three small goahti and a small storage shed didn’t take overly long to construct, thanks to Ibraham and Larabel’s knowledge of how to build sturdy survival homes from what was available in the environment, without the need for modern materials and modern tools. Though, the emergency ax and a few tools from the plane, including a knife, did make the task easier.
“I wonder where these sheep are from.” Larabel said. “Maybe there is a farm not too far from here! We might not be too far from rescue after all!”
“That’s possible,” Roderick replied. “Though, it could be in any direction, and miles away. Maybe the flock was chased off by a predator.”
“That could be,” agreed Larabel. “After we accumulate enough provisions, and make some capes from the deer hide for more warmth, some of us can explore the area.”
There were arguments about whether some of the group should set out now to try to find a farm or town, but it was decided that with so few adults to work, the children and adults left behind would have a hard time surviving without more provisions and better shelter.
Larabel got busy preparing deer hides to make into capes, staying warm in front of the campfire, roasting meat while she worked. Collecting fallen branches for firewood was an endless chore but with the only ax needed to fell trees and cut logs for building, for now, gathering fallen branches would suffice. Ibraham planned on making a smithy to make another ax for firewood chopping, but that would have to wait. First charcoal had to be produced from firewood, a bloomery needed to be constructed from clay, and iron ore gathered and processed. There was no point taking time to build a smithy when the required materials to make anything were not yet available.
Being as the survivors would benefit from milk, wool and meat from the sheep, an area was being cleared for them to graze, and then hopefully decide to stay. Gastoney was used to herding sheep from his family’s homestead, a job not hard for an older child, so he was assigned to tend the sheep. Even though it was taking a long time to clear an area, especially as they only had one ax, it was considered worthwhile regarding the sheep, but also the logs and rocks would be used for building.
“Oh my gosh, it’s snowing already!” exclaimed Permela. “After all these months, I thought we would have a second turf house finished, and more pasture land cleared by now. All we have is another shed and a bunch of logs and rocks.”
“All this walking around into the woods to gather branches and berries and do just about anything takes a long time,” Hustoney replied to his wife. “Try fishing with a stick.”
“How I miss the hardware and grocery stores back home,” Permela said wistfully. “I can’t wait to get back to civilization.”
“Not us,” Ibrahim replied as he hugged Larabel. “We have been living a self-sufficient lifestyle for years on our homestead, and we love it!”
Year 2
Spring arrived but there was still much to be done before a scouting party could set out. The pasture area was finished, and the sheep seemed to like it. Obtaining meat close by reduced how much wandering was needed for hunting wild game, freeing up one of the party to work on other things, while hunting occasionally.
A second turf house was completed, which 12 year-old Gastoney laid claim to, wanting it all for himself. But, instead, his parents and younger sister moved in, while Gastoney was sent back to the ghoati.
The charcoal pit, bloomery and smithy were completed and the second needed ax was made.
It was autumn before enough hide capes were made and some more tools were produced. A smokehouse needed to be built to be able to preserve some meat for the scouting party. Ibraham got held up making the iron fittings for the door hinges, due to it taking longer than expected to produce enough charcoal. The lack of firewood was the problem, so, a wood chopping block was set up to avoid too much searching for fallen branches. There was a peat bog near the Smithy, and it was planned for peat to be cut for the survivors to use for home heating until they amassed enough firewood.
“So, here we still are, with another winter to live through,” Permela sighed. “And all we women now with new babies!”
“We’ll be OK,” Hustoney comforted his wife. “We should be able to get things set up enough for Roderick and I to set out in the warm weather.”
I did not build a port. I have the two no smoke mods because I thought one was just for The North buildings, and I likely will eventually use houses from other mods. I can take out the cc compatibility since I took out megamod deco pack. I think that compatibility mod was needed for that. No Pine Mod.
I was looking at Discrepancy’s mod list on WOB and saw he had a Jetty and Bridge Patch for The North, so the one I have is not needed. It seems Discrepancy’s The North Jetty and Bridge Patch is not needed either since I am using the latest version of The North.
The crashes seem to happen when the Bannies are constructing the smokehouse, which uses iron fittings. I’m thinking maybe having DS’s patch could be involved. I took it out and restarted the game, but it crashed again. Maybe the game didn’t like something removed.
The rest of the mods I have loaded are in the images.
