Beckoncall
World-Weaver and servant to the most-holy PC
Bone2pick
:BARN-RAISING PARTY:
The labor was sufficient... but if not for the gold, progress would have been stifled. The original expedition had it's own difficulty climbing shearcliffs, but the ample scaffolds, built for minotaurs, turned out to be more than well-sturdy to transfer all their possessions, people and plans to the build site. The wealth for labor brought many Tyren workers -- who were insanely strong and surprisingly careful in their movements. With luck on their side, the GewGaw Party had things the way they were accustomed, which was exactly how they liked. Commanding a view over the entire colony from on high, they saw into the Gnollwood with a spyglass and saw seemingly how large that "community" was -- the forest east of the river was infested with them... it was good to know that the gnolls, if they did not outright fear the colonists, surely feared their capabilities -- for they were troubled not by the dog-men. The wealth hired a couple of handfuls of stouts, Tyren, and even some Ratkin who were dutiful and speedy laborers. By the end of the construction, from the Assembly hall which received a lions share of the "love and detail" bought with the wealth, the Invited could actually see a party worth having here. Quartz accents, Amber fittings, Zircon and Electrum finishing -- It was a damn sight above some of the squalid homes they saw in the platz and aptly named depression... and fabric and color brought on the expedition was used liberally to express the fire and the passion of the GewGaw. They had their settlement... and it was good.
Wool, Wood, and Warmth:
While the GewGaw were proud of their own warm-weather offerings of clothing, they quickly found they preferred -- among those who could afford it, the beautiful winter wear the highborn were producing. Both in tandem and the Party and it's followers would not freeze -- once coupled with the gathering of wood that could be found on the shearcliffs.
Initial maps showed it to be featureless, but there really were plenty of hills and a bit of forest -- though the trees looked brown and thin compared to the grasslands and forests below. It would matter not their aesthetics -- they would all burn lovely in a fire, as needed. Still, the surplus clothing went to market, and the clash of highborn fashion with that of the GewGaw -- which by commoners standards even lowborn clothing was finery -- They saw the poseurs, as they always did, taking on their garb as a costume's costume. Trite, but profitable.
GEWGAW HAVE MINOR ACCESS TO MARKET (1 wealth max) current market wealth =12 because of clothing production.
GEWGAW AND HIGHBORN
Prince Vaethorion
GAIN +1 INFLUENCE FOR EFFECT ON STYLE OF THE COMMUNITY!SHEARCLIFF HEIGHTS EXPLORED:
On clear mornings -- strange things could be seen to float beneath the meltwater reservoir... Examination by the black parade revealed no fewer than six great black-iron bells of some sort... like morning stars, they were chained to the bottom of the lake. They looked like torture instruments or items of war -- but old and perhaps dead from time... as no magic emanated from them, nor any harm come to them that searched them.
The silty bed of the meltwater was rich in shellfish and crustaceans, succulent and fresh on the palletes of the invited.
Still more interesting was raw Raegrass -- a potent herb that was difficult to cultivate out of the wild -- it was a key element in certain coveted narcotics -- such as Raigrois -- the fancy name to it dried and burned, and the more coveted Highborn narcotic, "Lumina" -- a shining powder or paste that was very hard to magically or chemically produce -- but had great value in gold and greater value to a folk like the invited. Raigrois was burned in hearths to celebrate it's discovery and great "siestas" were held in lodges to contain the smoke, visions, and appetites of the upper class... but real Lumina seemed out of reach... they had seen little but that in the rings and pleasure lockets of the highborn thus far... fully exploited, it not only might be a great export -- but a means to a more enjoyable way of life... Rumors were the Fennec had the knowing and the doing of such chemistries -- but it could still be done with great difficulty without them...
Spacekitty
-- it was also not long after the GewGaw Identified the resource that Fennec began pilfering it for their own testing and enjoyment...In addition to the Raegrass, the heights held another secret -- great tubers fat with water from the reservoir grew in the hardlands all around the water. Both sweet and bitter varieties, these unnamed roots were highly nutritious and foreign to the old world. The GewGaw could decide to line their larders with these roots and none might be the wiser (except maybe a spying fennec or two) -- or they might gain influence and profit from bringing these edible roots to market.
(Decision point -- GewGaw hoard food, or share with colony?)
Aside from that, some of the hills were riddled with burrows -- great fat rabbits, a source of fur and meat, had been repopulating in this area since their apparent stripping from the land supposedly not long ago. Evidence of larger burrows revealed that something -- perhaps even this cull that was spoke of, cored-out the heart of these warrens, but did not get all or some managed to escape and return. in one of these caves the black parade found a mantis-like forelimb -- as sharp as any sword -- as if to prove the worst fears be true. The blade however was light and of a scintillating blue, tempting one to try to fashion it into a superior edged weapon...
"Cull blade" found by GewGaws!
