Bleakbane plays Rimworld Part A (1-5)

Wasn't sure if I would post this or not. I wrote it mostly for myself, because it felt like it should be recorded for posterity, even if I was the only one to see it. But as I have compiled all the screenshots and everything, and the record is otherwise text file... And I'm procrastinating doing more tedious busy-work. (And it wasn't worth posting in GitP, since I simply don't have the energy to chase it up and request double-post permission when non-one commented between parts.) Here, I can post it up as I like.

This is all done in retrospect. The game is done, the write-up being checked over. I am (in the process of) spellchecking, but I have not re-read it all. I will be squeezing as many of the 40 parts into a post as I can (we'll see how that manages), hence the alphabetical blog title.

Coming into this basically cold.

Seed: lich

Royalty, Ideology

Mods
Qualitybuilder, Allowtool, RIMHud, ReplaceStuff

Ideology:

Army Of The Red Spear

Transhumanist
Supremacist

Name: Army Of The Red Spear
Adjective: Aotrs
Necromancer
Building: sepulchre

Default settings except for: Very fast research, Corpses: don't mind and Skull on spike: Desired.

Difficultly: Cassandra Classic, Community Builder

After an improbable accident involving a third-rate hyperdrive (not all Aotrs civilian transport gets Gate drives), our three Aotrs citizens crash down.

Our protagonist, Starbright "Stab" Greystar. Canonically, Stab Voidslay would have become a lich and member of the Aotrs Myst Exploratory Team at the tender age of 28. In this timeline, however, she is a member of the Dark Elf Troopers arm of the Aotrs, along with Dusk, her long-time associate and classmate, a mild-mannered scientist playing the Hinata to Stab's Naruto (well, aside from the fact Stab is terrifyingly bright...)

The other survivor is Sawbones, the ship's very-nearly qualified medic. A gentleman who likes his blades, albeit mostly in cutting up things that don't move (like food, patients or plants). He's also physically sensitive.

Together, they form a fairly well-rounded team in most respects. Just... Don't ask them about art. Dusk is the only one that knows which way a paintbrush gores, and that it.

The final member of the team is Stab's female huskie Beniko.

First of all, a small building, a storage zone, and a 5x5 plot to grow rice. Stab also grabs the rifle, flak jacket, pants and helmet. Sawbones makes do with the knife, leaving the revolver to Dusk.

Work on the colony progresses slowly. Dusk is mining steel, Sawbones growing and cooking... And leaving Stab to do basically everything else. Walling and roofing the storage dump is next, and expanding the rooms for a kitchen and later food storage.

First night. Time to take Dusk off mining for tomorrow, since Stab could probably use the help shifting things around.

Day two progresses a little, with Dusk moving all the rocks around, Sawbones cutting wood and then doing basically nothing. Stab assigned him a second growing area and told him to grow potatoes.

She finished the table and chairs. The barrack room was still pretty awful (maybe building it where the rocks were wasn't all that smart...) but it was improving.

A research bench also meant they could start researching batteries... As soon as Stab and Dusk had a moment's peace...

A drifter was passing by. Lovely...? Could they talk to her? Apparently not. Stab wasn't immediately keen on just killing her at the moment, because, well, honestly, they just had too much to do.

By the end of day 2, the storage room was at least done and Stab had started on the wooden barricades, at least.

Warm clothes would be needed... Uh, well it was still spring, right? They had summer to come before that...?

Day three. The rooms were finally finished! The stove was build, and a butcher's table. Stab also realised she needed to build another room for a work-room so she could build a bench to make stone blocks. However, she had decided to put some flooring down in the barracks to start with and ambitiously started by laying hex flooring - which was going to take a while. Still, the metal floor would feel like home!

Naturally, she had started right in the door to the kitchen, so again, Sawbones was left ambling around. He'd already had a corn field given over to him, so Stab told him to start on a second rice field.

(NATURALLY Stab was the only one suited to hunting, since Dusk for some reason wouldn't do construction, which is why everything was taking so damn long, because Stab had to do most of it herself...)

Well, with the bulk of hauling done for a bit, Dusk could go mine some more.

A trader was passing by. Dusk broke off from mining sandstone (which she'd decided to mine instead of the iron because... Because.) Dusk bought a couple of herbal medicine (because you never knew) and 45 Pemmican. She also learned only to trade once the trader reached the colony, since otherwise, stuff got left miles away on the ground. Oops.

Also, despite buying 45, it appeared only 25 were on the ground to be picked up, yet that amount was deducted from the trader’s inventory. Keh? (It wasn’t like there was anything there I could see instantly that could have stolen it...?)

There was a guinea pig right outside the colony, so Stab decided maybe she should hunt it... As soon as she finished this next tile...

Actually watching Dusk apparently scarf all 25 pf the Pemmican for breakfast, perhaps she just ate them all yesterday. (I was expecting that to, be like, 45 meals or something, but maybe it was like 45 blackberries or something that doesn't make a meal of itself. That were a waste, then.)

Stab was apparently desperate enough to become interested in Sawbones when he said she was a "delicate moon." (After getting rebuffed by both girls the previous day...)

Dead guinea pig for Sawbones to turn into food! Okay, he stopped after making two simple meals.

Dusk meanwhile got told to stop cleaning the rocks and start doing some damn research into batteries.

Sawbones was again without anything to do, since he would only a) cook, b) grow or harvest plants, c) watch prisoners, d) handle animals (but he wasn't good enough to handle guinea pigs) and e) be the doctor.

Well, he might be able to try training a horse - but hang on, maybe he could harvest all those berry plants and heal roots around?

And then a maddened Squirrel attacked.

I'd make a joke here, but I watched Marvel Rising recently and Squirrel Girl is Broken As Frack.

KILL IT KILL IT KILL IT KILL IT

They killed it.

Now Stab leads! Squirrel meat for everyone!

Day four. Stab was still working on the damned floor.

The workroom was planned, though.

And Sawbones could plant another rice patch.

Hang on, can I use the forbid function to break Stab off from the floor to make useful stuff...?

YES!

While she was now working on the new walls, Stab decided that they needed a name for the group - Aotrs Planetary Expedition Group Alpha - and the settlement would be called Voidsteel Base.

Now Stab could look at what it would take to make some clothes. Oh. Quite a lot of material.

AH, while looking though it was discovered that Dusk was carrying around twenty Pemmicans, which sort of explained that.

And then a hare tamed itself.

Um. Right.

Stabbunny was now part of the colony.

To Stab's great disappointment, they were not going to be able to teach Stabbunny into a vicious killer. It looked it didn't even know Tackle or Tail Whip.

Stab got the tool room finished and squeezed out 60 limestone blocks before bedtime. Tomorrow, she'd make some sandstone blocks and they'd work out what to start replacing the wooden walls with (starting in the kitchen) to reduce the risk of fire. And also so they could start building a walk-in freezer.

Okay, comparting the two, limestone block it was!

Also, while moving the butcher's table a bit so there was room to put a door into where the freezer would go, Stab discovered about tool cabinets, and elected to build on in the tool room.

Time to start building the walls!

And there would be the freezer, with an airlock to both the kitchen and the slaughter room.

Also. Visitors. Yay...?

Well, they stayed to dinner, which Stab supposed gave Sawbones something to do. They also clearly liked the place enough to leave an Excellent Recurve Bow. Sawbones, lacking a ranged weapon, picked that up.

Stab decided to shoot a guinea pig that as right outside the base, but despite being such a crack shot, she chased all around the bae before finally killing it.

But - uh oh! A lone Red Raider turned up. Battle stations! Looks like Sawbones got the bow just in time!

Well. That solved the issue of what to do with a prison, didn't it Dusk?

(Stab meanwhile was wondering why she was struggling so much when she was such a better shot!)

First skull for a spike, then!

As they couldn't do much with the body (Stab drew the line at cannibalism - this time) and they weren't in a position to harvest organs... Stab figured they ought to bury it.

The skull, however, could go in the centre of the fortifications!

Day six. Skull-onna-spike finished!

Body in the ground. Since, sadly there were no necromancers among the trio.

(Note to self, check mods for next play through...)

Dusk researched batteries! Time to get her to do some cleaning before moving on to solar power. Meanwhile Stab eyed up where to an over-wall cooler and then they could work out where the power would need to go.

Dusk continued to clean outside and inside. Why she felt the need to clean the outside rock formation is anyone’s guess.

Another random wander trotted through, one Ferret, a warrior from one of the tribes. Still, while parsing the area, Stab noted several packaged survival meals just lying out in the field. Add that to Dusk's fetch list!

But the first rice field had grown, so Sawbones harvested it. (Leaving the long-suffering girls to actually pick it up, of course, the lazy git.)

Of course, Stab went to bed JUST before finishing the new wall, so all the food that Dusk was carefully moving in there was no exposed overnight. Good job, Stab!

Day seven.

With metal running low, it would be time for Dusk to start work on the mining again. Stab would leave the flooring once more, first to build a wind turbine to connect to the cooler.

A prison cell (with steel door), the power cables to the cooler. And in the corner of the slaughter room, a damaged steel urn would be fetched that Dusk had spotted as she mined in some ruins, intact enough to be salvageable. Might as well, right?

Oop, they needed a battery. The air lock looked like a good spot. They'd need Dusk to mine more ore first, though.

The cooler was finished! And set now to -20ºC. Oh, hang on the wind turbine was saying it was blocked by some trees. Frag dammit!

But the evening, though, Sawbones had cleared the trees and the battery was built! Freezer online at LAST!

Day eight. It was going to be an odd day. Stab had slept and was up before midnight, before Sawbones and Dusk had oddly enough gone to bed!

Stab's first job was doing a couple more of those damn floor tiles. She'd try and do a couple each day if she could now. She'd also (once they had enough ore) put a couple of electric lamps in, one in the freeze and one in the airlock/battery room.

She finished the prison, huzzah!

Stab also realised it might not hurt to add third lamp in the kitchen - they'd need electricity in there eventually anyway.

A quest!

Duke Callincus Galaxy of the Black Empire wanted protection for a few hours. His guards had been killed by a maneating cat. Well, they could manage that. The prison could be swapped over to quarters for a bit. Stab could build a meditation spot easily enough... The lavish meals might be more of a problem, but they could try...

Sawbones could grab some berries, and Stab (when she had a second!) could try hunting a deer.

The cat was hot on the Duke's heels, however, so it was all hands to battle stations!

Naturally, this was also the point a trade caravan showed up. First things first, though!

...Or maybe not.

So, one of two things were going to happen here. Either the traders were going to kill the cat... Or Stab and co would find out how SCREWED they were...!

Okay, it was the former. In one hit.

Well, neato. And the shuttle arrived shortly thereafter. Well, there was no point fretting about the meal and mediation spot, was there?

Stab was now a Freeholder! And she could have the title of Yeoman bestowed. She figured she might as well do the ceremony now.

Maybe not the best idea, since it was going to be only 25% quality, but what the hey.

Unimpressive, but what Stab expect?

Yay, Stab was now a psycaster! She needed a meditation spot, but a meditation throne was a bit large to fit in anywhere, so she figured she'd build an artwork bench first so Dusk could hilariously try to make a statue or more likely, a Horrible Mess.

Dusk traded Stab's synthetic shirt and bought 100 Pemmicans, since about the only other thing that might have been worth buying was wargs or the bear - and nobody trusted Sawbone's animal handling to manage them.

Well, that was a busy day!

Day nine!

Stab today was mostly fetching and carrying for the moment.

Hey, she found somewhere to mediate after all! Not ideal, but it was a start.

Dusk finally finished the statue. Which was about as expected.

It was installed in the workroom (for want of anywhere else) with a meditation spot. The girls pottered about most of the day, but this meant Dusk in particular had chance to frantically clean everywhere.

Once again Stab's quick sleep turn-around had her up and working on day ten before Dusk and Sawbones had gone to bed.

It was summer now. Time to get a bit worried about stocking up for the winter. Both supplies for warm clothes and long-term food storage was going to be a problem.

Firstly, the freezer needed to be expanded. Sawbones put down several more growing patches, including some cotton.

Sawbones needed to step into the role of Uplifter, though they couldn't make him a veil at the moment.

Day eleven.

Most of the day was spent planting and building the freeze extension. Stab also started on a second research bench. She and Dusk would need to put some hours in fairly fast.

But it was done.

Day eleven, and the girls got to researching hard. Sawbones spent some time looking at the art of the statue, but it actually made his desire for recreation go DOWN, so he went to through some horseshoes instead.

Uh oh. A dry thunderstorm. That couldn't be good.

Solar power was researched. Next up, Pemmican.

The solar panel was up, but oh poop.

Fortunately, it seemed it was at the very edge of the home area, so wasn't as bad as it initially looked. Still, Stab could really use getting to more stone walls up...

Solar panel, second battery, blazing inferno to the east...

Stab and Dusk ended up fighting the fire through the night. Sawbones of course, who was a useless tosser, wouldn't fight fire so slept through it all. Why did they bring him again?

Most of day twelve and thirteen was spent battling the fire, Stab and Dusk spelling each other to rest while Sawbones did nothing.

Seriously, Sawbones, you pick NOW during the blaze to propose to Stab. She must have been a bit dizzy from the smoke in that she accepted, probably thinking he asked something else...

OH GOOD Another Red Raider attack, while the fir was still going on! Fantastic!

Well, if the raider wanted to pick a time when Stab and Dusk were really ready to kill someone...!

(Sawbones meanwhile, blissfully didn't even attempt to make the firebreak Stab had told him to do...)

FINALLY, after the girls had mostly STOPPRED the fire from reaching the base, it rained. Well, one problem down...

Followed shortly by the other. Dangit, no prisoner again, though.

And no sooner as day thirteen drew to a close, another Mad Squirrel attacked, forcing Stab out of bed AGAIN.

This time, Stab got but, between the rain, darkness and weariness. She shot the squirrel and left it to bleed out while she went back to bed, because frack that squirrel...

Stab also need some treatment now, so she flipped the prison bed to a medical one and went to go sleep in it.

Day fourteen. Dusk got up and coup de grace'd the squirrel (it had healed, slightly).

Sawbones actually got to use his medical training, and left a healed Stab to sleep it off.

The fire had left a BIG impact area.

While recuperating, Stab planned out the next room - it would be room for a sunlamp to grow more food over winter inside. With a little space at the top for a third battery.

And we leave it there for today.

Part Two:

Day Fourteen, continued.

Stab got out of bed to continue to work on the new greenhouse. The raider body was buried, and the new skull-onna-pike installed. A ritual spot for Industrial Advent was tentatively set near the table. The potatoes finally were harvested.

Day Fifteen. A pair of wild Thrumbos wandered into the area. Stab was really uncertain about hunting them. Sure, it was known they would turn a pretty profit and provide lots of meat - but you heard rumours about how dangerous they were. Stab was (purportedly) an expert shot... But they still only had a bolt-action rifle as their best weapon. Advanced tactics MIGHT allow them to bring one down but... Stab just didn't think it was worth the risk, especially with two of them.

Stab have a clever thought - by building a new cooler (as she couldn't move the existing one) with the heat side facing the growing room, hopefully it would help heat it up and not waste the heat to the outside.

As Sawbones kept looking at that awful statue, and being depressed by it, Stab figured she ought to have Dusk make another (in her spare time.

Uh oh. Another solitary Red Raider...

Oh, great, Dusk wasn't getting any and Sawbones wasn't willing to put any out, so it looked like Dusk was going to have a minor break. And all the while the new raider was coming...

The little bugger hit Beniko with his club, until Dusk shot him dead.

Okay. The group really hadn't got this "shot nonlethally" thing down at all, had they?

In an effort to maybe improve morale, Stab authorised the construction of a chess table and a couple of chairs. In the kitchen, though, since they were a bit short of space. (Once the greenhouse issue was taken care of, and they maybe got some fur in, Stab was intending to start building some better quarters for everyone.)

Day Sixteen.

Very, very belatedly, Sawbones realised he might be able to teach Beniko to haul. Should have done that days ago!

Meanwhile, work on the greenhouse continued. Stab figured she might have to do some deer hunting very shortly to get some leather, at least, to make parkas.

After Sawbones finished training for the day, more harvesting happened, and Dusk was kept busy fetching and carrying and Sawbones cooking meals thereafter.

Day seventeen. Stab finished the third skull-onna-spike. She then finished the greenhouse, too.
She laid it out with room for rice, corn and potatoes, with a little aside for haygrass.

Anna Poskas, a High Stellarch of the Black Empire wanted someone to look after her pet bison for ten days. Stab nearly declined, but one of the rewards was a tech print for compact weaponry, which would eventually allow, like, cybernetic talons and stuff.

Well, how hard could it be to watch over a bison for a few days...?

So, pause to build a pen, a shelter and a sleeping spot.

After that was done, and Sawbones was up, thy would hold Industrial Advent. It would be a fair bit crap, but there you went. Stab could have made herself colony leader to make it better, but until they had things under control, the increase to her level of expectations would be detrimental.

Well, they all had fun. So maybe it wasn't so bad!

Except that now they learned that Sawbones didn't have a high enough animal training to get Doll into a pen. Crap. This was going to fail horribly. Well, nothing they could do about it now.

It looked like they would need a second solar panel too, the current one and wind turbine weren't quite enough.

Oh dear. Stab wad clearly too clever by half. The greenhouse was now up to 54ºC and had given Sawbones heatstroke. 'Kay, they need to rebuild the outside cooler and just heat the greenhouse with a heater during the winter, then. Oops.

Stab also Did A Stupid and started building a cooler, not an over-wall cooler and thus knocked down part of the freezer wall - then then went to bed.

Day Eighteen.

Most the day was spent finalising the jobs from yesterday, and Stab getting in research while dusk frantically cleaned. Stab was getting concerned they were not getting any traders (or leather in or anything), so now they had that blasted pen that Doll couldn't be taken into, she told Sawbones to try taming a horse. Then maybe she could ride it to a nearby settlement and maybe get some traders in a bit later...?

Finally, Pemmican was researched! Next was smithing.

Sawbones at this point also realised he could cook meals and Pemmican by fours. D'oh!

As night fell, a grizzly bear was sleeping outside the base. Maybe Stab could try hunting it tomorrow...?

Day nineteen.

Good shot Stab!

Uh.... Quick Stab, gooder shot! Gooder shot!

THIS WAS A BAD IDEA!!!

Okay, he's down!

Stab managed to avoid being mauled too!

That was a lot of meat, and a nice supply of bearskin.

That last raider had some smokesticks on him, and both Sawbones and Dusk were occasionally partaking. Oh well, there were only ten to start with. Stab could have built a campfire to burn then on, but it really didn't seem worth it at this point.

Stab continued to research, pausing only to have a chess game with herself. Once smithy was researched, she'd start looking into hunting some deer - for the parkas.

To speed up the replacement of the wooden walls to limestone, a new dump storage was placed - set to limestone chunks only - by the workshop.

Stab flagged up a deer to hunt tomorrow.

Day Twenty.

A friendly Aotrs AI called up Stab to report that there was a hidden starship on the planet. It could be re-activated and then Stab and co could fly off. But to do so would require lots of time, and waves of enemies. Stab shook her head. She didn't think they were nearly well equipped enough to deal with waves of enemies at the moment. Plus, it was MILES away.

End goal, perhaps?

The deer yielded 33 plain leather when gutted. Stab targeted another one for today as well.

Dusk was back on the mining today, as metal was running a bit low.

Things were further interrupted, when Stab received a distress call from her sister! How the frack did Navarro get here! They had twelve days to rescue her. This became the priority. a), this would be a new member for the colony, and they kind of needed one. b) Stab would be majorly bummed if they didn't.

Looked like it was time to ready a caravan!

That would be for next time.

Part Three

Day Twenty continued:

First off, while they had a little time, Stab did some more hunting, since they would still need parkas and it could get cold on the trip.

A transport pod was crashing nearby with a digger named Lo aboard. Lo was apparently suffering from a condition which made her unable to walk. Recovery would take a lot of time, or an operation requiring lots of glitterworld medicine (which they had none of). She was a potential recruit, but at the moment, it might be dangerous to try and heal her while she drained the resources.

Stab postponed the decision. Meanwhile, they had enough plainleather to make the first parka.

Looking up Paralytic Abasia, it could be potentially a hundred days before Lo would recover, and buying enough Glitterworld medicine to actually be able to heal her seemed highly unlikely.

Day Twenty-One.

AH! Some traders were arriving Good, maybe Stab could buy a load of useful stuff from them.

Some wild boar had wandered in, so Sawbones was put to trying to train one of them. (And as soon as Stab had finished that first parka, she'd hunt another one.) Oh snap! He did it right away! Screw that, then, let him try the other three while he was there!

Oh, you needed a PEN marker to make the fenced area a pen. Now you told Stab!

Darn it. Not much to trade - Dusk bought 41 Pemmican, but they were able to get rid of the excess weapons and the smokeleaf, removing that temptation, at any rate.
g
OH! There was Lo.

Filthy body purist, that settled it! She was going to be left well alone. (And eventually to be rejected. Good thing Stab was Evil, right?)

Stab in her snazzy new parka!

Frack dammit. It was apparently only a 16% chance of taming a boar. And to just be annoying, Doll decided to wander away. As Sawbones just wasn't going to reach that magic 5 animal handling fast enough to get Doll into a pen.

Okay, They had little more time before Navarro was in trouble - it would take 1.4 days to get there, so Stab had some time left. More hunting!

While looking for stuff, Stab also spotted some donkeys and alpacas! More to try and get Sawbones to train. (Though today, he really needed to make some Pemmican.)

More Lenore traders, this time war traders.

Oh GOODY. A solar flare, to shut down all electrical devices. At least it was only for a day...

HA! On the plus side, Sawbones tamed one of the donkeys! Excellent, that would make the caravan trick easier. He was at 4.44 animal handling, it was just not going to be quite enough before Doll wandered off, wasn't it?

Nope, not even close. Okay, that dropped the priority of taming right down, so the next job was get some parkas out and be ready to chase off to rescue Navarro.

There was just enough for a second parka now, And the solar flare was ending!

Smithing was researched, with machining next on the list.

Nothing much useful on the traders, as Stab didn't want to blow everything in Pemmican.

Just as they turned in for the night, another Red Raider turned up, Fantastic.

Day Twenty Three.

Maybe attacking the heavily armed caravan wasn't the smartest move, mate.

Stab took down two more deer - naturally, this left them four plainleather short of a third parka...

Sawbones was going to have to cook up a storm tomorrow, just to get the food surplus down!

The freezer would need expanding soon, but Stab had other priorities right now.

Day twenty-Four.

As work started today, a quest came in to deal with a pair of rapid man-eating Yorkshire Terriers. Well, they would maybe just have time to do that before going out on their rescue mission. They beast would arrive in twenty-one hours, so not too bad.

The reward was the interesting one. Tempting though nearly a hundred uranium was, Stab’s naturally upbeat nature made it seem like the more valuable psychic harmoniser was a better choice.

The second parka was finished, but annoyingly, Stab's attempt to get enough plainleather to finish the last one was foiled by Alpacas producing camel-leather.

Day twenty-five. Fall had begun. Stab’s main job for today was hunting a horse and making the last parka. Hopefully, they'd set out tomorrow to rescue Navarro.

The horse ran off before she could kill it, but she spied a lone Ibex and managed to nab that instead.

Here came the rabid dogs...

And there they went!

Nice.

Third parka on the way. They'd need a forth of course, but the first job was to get Navarro back.

While she was doing that, Dusk went to smash up the old pod car that was in the way of the freezer expansion.

Not quite done by nightfall, so they'd wait one more day.

Day twenty-six.

The freezer expansion as done.

A deserter from the Black Empire wanted to join the base. While Stab was confident they could kill the lone trooper, she wasn't prepared to risk war with the Black Empire right now.

Most of the day was spent harvesting. Stab laid out a temporary storage for the kitchen, so that at least Dusk (who would be staying behind to mind the sore, since they had no defences) could pick away at bringing it inside.

Day Twenty seven.

Off on the caravan.

Actually, since it said only 0.6 days to the spot (now they had Bonehaul), Dusk would come too.

Stab should have started earlier - they had to overnight after all. but she didn't anticipate the time it took to load Bonehaul the donkey.

Day Twenty-Eight.

Rescue! Navarro's best birthday present!

While blundering around trying to figure out what to do, Stab and Dusk built a little house and Stab shot (and they butchered) some guinea pigs - mostly for the fur.

They set out again fairly sharply. While there was stuff lying ar5ound like marble, Stab wanted to a) get Navarro back to base and b) didn't want to leave base unattended for long. They grabbed the fur and a couple of metal tables (which were light, but probably could be broken up nicely) and then headed back home.

Day Twenty nine. Travelling.

Navarro had some useful skills. Shooting, which was great - animals, which was better! She even had microscopically more artistry than Dusk. So she - one she recovered, would be taking over that job. Sawbones would have to give his bow up for the knife, so that Navarro could hunt, but that was fine.

Day thirty was off to a good start..

It discharged all the batteries too.

On the other hand, an ambrosia brush had just grown in the animal pen. Yay?

Well, once that was dealt with, Stab could make a nice guinea pig fur parka for her dear sister.

Navarro was an abrasive nudist, but that was just the way things were. Sawbones figured he better start converting her to the Aotrs ideology, though.

Well, Stab figured, once they had gotten the parka for Navarro, they could finally start looking into expanding the base with some decent quarters.

Dusk had managed slightly better with her wooden statue, which they had now installed.

Dusk wasn't great at construction, but she would actually do it. Something they should have realised earlier...

Oh, the cotton harvest had come in, though - getting that inside was more important!

Also, building a couple of campfires to keep everyone warm seemed like a good idea, especially Navarro.

Navarro was having a bad time, really. She was about to have a major break. Time for Sawbones to get off his lazy arse and do some work as doctor while Stab and Dusk slept, for a change.

Day Thirty-One.

With some cloth and the parka finished, Stab could finally make Sawbones his veil!

Navarro was finally up and about as well. Not fully healed, but it was a start.

More visitors. Not helpful, but not harmful, either.

Day Thirty-Two.

Stab, now ably assisted by Dusk, was working hard on the new living quarters. Stab also elected to put wooden flooring down this time, to start with. They could add the metal tiling again later...!

[imghttps://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/1696153071113540885/A093168A25C932CDC96A9EB50BE6109BD00096ED/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

Navarro was fully healed and now properly up and about! She immediately proved herself useful by taming another wild boar.

As evening drew in, Dadornocom Mallard of the Lenere Tribe wanted Stab to host an interested mate of their for nineteen days. They had a week to decide. Stab hoped that maybe by then, they could have gotten far enough with the renovations to be able to have a decent room.

During the night, a cowboy (no, that was his name Cowboy) crashed in a pod nearby. Well. He was a psychopath, but maybe he would be useful in the short term.

Day Thirty-Three.

As Sawbones rescued Cowboy, a raider from the Bialei Kinship wandered in.

Sawbones, as usual, the useless tosser that he was, brought the dying Cowboy back to base, ate some dinner and went to bed (even on 1 manual priority), leaving Cowboy bleeding out rapidly. Fortunately, Navarro had SOME medical training, so she did her best.

BOOM! Headshot!

The rest of the day proceeded quietly, with Stab building and cutting and Navarro slowly taming everything that Stab had flagged earlier. Now they had three boars and an alpaca - so hopefully, they'd have wool now!

Day Thirty-Four.

Cowboy was ambulatory, though far from healed.

And the alpaca got the plague. Great.

Another quiet day, with Stab slowly working on the construction and Sawbones and Navarro dealing with the animals.

She did, however, manage to put some decking down in front of the main entrance, since the brambles were really getting in everyone's way.

Day Thirty-Five was not off to a good start. In demolishing the wasn't-needed-barn in the pen, the roof fell on Stab. Great. She only got a little cut, though.

Stab learned that, should she become a Count, she could host the ruler of the Black Empire for a dozen days, and then get off the planet that way.

Something, once again, for a long time down the line.

Dusk meanwhile, had a clear-out, using the fire in the now-hospital room to burn all the unwanted clothing they'd acquired.

By mid-afternoon,. Stab was up again.

Day Thirty-Six.

With some division of labour and even Navarro pitching in the first room was nearly complete and...

SERIOUSLY.

It just wander in as Navarro FINISHED the last piece of wall.

GUUH.

Well, it was apparently stuck in there now. Stab sure as hell wasn't going to go pick a fight with a rhino at close quarters. They theoretical guest looked like it was going to be occupied, but not by the guest they'd, like, intended...

Cowboy was fully healed... And didn't seem interested in joining, since he appeared to be wandering off. Darn.

Some traders arrived. This time, Duck bought a pilum (for another ranged weapon) and actually manged to sell off her crap statue of Sawbones, so they actually made money on the transaction between that and general trash and spare weapons and such.

In other good news, Wild Boar 3 was pregnant. (Stab didn't bother with proper names, since the idea was the boars were going to be a self-sustaining food supply...)

By the end of the day, the second room was finished at least, and Stab could tomorrow start building furniture.

However, sleep was going to be interrupted, as a raider from the Dorbo Confederacy was approaching.

The traders were pleased enough to leave Stab with 20 plasteel. Nice!

This one was a pain. Not only did he start by setting the wind turbine on fire, he also had a gun and managed to shoot Dusk.

Dangit.

Well. Now it was okay to summon the guy for that quest. Now, 39 good will or 2566 gold and 75 plasteel if they succeeded... Hmm. Hard choice. Good will would maybe mean more traders, so reluctantly, Stab went for that. (It wasn't like they could USE the gold or plasteel at the moment...)

Stab was getting good. Her first attempt at an end table (to go in the "guest room") was a masterwork one!

Apparently, it was also Stab and Sawbones' wedding today. Well, if Stab had known about that, she might have, y'know, made preparations or something.

(At some point, when they got stuff fixed up, she and Sawbones could actually have a double bed and whatnot to they could, like, have sex and stuff finally.)

And that will do for this time!

Part Four

Day Thirty-Seven.

An aurora lit up the night sky. Dusk was probably the only one to see it, though, as she got up, feeling better.

Stab finished her second cloth veil - she wasn't sure what happened to the first one. This time, she told Sawbones to go put it on right away. (OH, Navarro had swiped it! That explained it.)

A local dame offered to pay to change the weather to fog for ten days while she tested one of her starship weapons. Stab looked at the potential rewards (drugs - no - some gear = meh- and some plasteel) and considered the power Voidsteel Base ran on was solar and wind power and was like, "not for that, lady."

Navarro had tamed so many animals, they needed to expand the pen!

Some cargo pods crashed down right on the farm. They had some jade, usefully, though not enough to do much with.

Day Thirty-Eight.

While mining, the rock klonked Navarro on the nose.

They seemed to be right in the wars at the moment, didn't they?

Stab had built some more block for the next room, but they really kinda needed to get some research done, so she broke off to do that.

Once she had recovered, Navarro was set off mining and onto cleaning, since the place was getting a bit messy.

Day Thirty-Nine.

Navarro cleaned, while Dusk joined Stab on the research.

But not for long, since it became appar5ent they'd need another solar generator to power the heaters they'd had to start installing.

As the pen was still not providing enough nutrients, after some research (heh) Stab had a growing area for dandelions put down.

Evidently, the rhino finally broke the door down and escaped...

Last thing, Beniko was finally trained to Rescue (though haul wasn't there yet).

Day Forty.

Aaaaand now it was winter.

Well, Stab hoped they had enough food in. 243 simple meals currently, plus a fair bit of stored. As it had come slightly quicker than she'd expected, there wasn’t a heater in the greenhouse yet - that was the immediate priority.

So immediate that, without prompting she started before breakfast!

With a heater in the guest room and the barracks now, everyone was at least comfortable.

The animals might starve though. Stab sighed. She'd not thought that far ahead, honestly. While they had SOME hay growing in the greenhouse, it wasn't a lot.

They start by eating the turkey, at any rate.

Stab planned out a (for now) wooden room for a second greenhouse.

Dusk finished researching machinery. While Stab really wanted to rush up to microelectronics, she felt they really, really, needed sterile tiling so they could sort out the kitchen and freezer properly.

Day Forty-Two.

Hard snow.

Oh dear.

Well, at least FINALLY Beniko was making herself useful, having learned to haul.

Hey, Crocodile. You're a visitor, stop putting the moves on the married lady.

The new greenhouse was finished. Hmm. There was a couple of hundred hay in storage, that wasn't bad, actually.

Late into the evening, Dusk finished researching sterile tiles. Microelectronics was a big long job, and it would have to wait.

OH. You needed an ANIMAL flap to make barns work. Stab replaced on of the doors just before bedtime.

Day Forty-Three

Hay in barn (mostly). Time to start smashing up those pod cars. Stab had started to deconstruct lots of walls around the area from old ruins, as they were starting to get short on metal.

Hoo boy. Two more boars got born overnight...

Yeah, the animals had already eaten most of the hay, Those new-borns were sadly going to have the be slaughtered right away.

Maybe Sawbones could make kibble for the animals...?

Another bandit raid, this time from the Bialei Kinship. This time she wasn't messing around, but coming straight on the attack, with the intent to burn the wooden walls.

Sod it, Stab was going have several graves dug, since this would speed but getting them buried...

If kibble would feed the animals, they wouldn’t have worry about the extra power drain that would be required turning on the new greenhouse (Stab had installed a switch and kept it turned off at the moment - besides, growing haygrass would take too long.)

Day Forty-Four.

Oof. Looking at sterile tiles, they used a lot of silver as well as steel.

Stab carefully built a smithy and then realised that wasn't what she needed to smelt steel. Crap.

She uninstalled it for the moment. Annoyingly, now they didn't have enough steel for the smelter she wanted, so it would have to wait. And Navarro was so busy smashing up cars too!

Still, this was important so that the freezer could be expanded once again.

Day Forty-Five

Ah, problem with kibble - they'd nearly run out of meat. Looked like hunting would be required.

A maddened pack of snowhares was approaching. Well, they did want some more meat, right? No time like the present...?

Okay, there was no time, the damn thing attacked instantly. It hurt poor Sawbones, but he deftly killed it.

OH. When they said "pack" they actually meant more than one this time...

It mildly bit Dusk too.

Fortunately, with a little bed rest, both were back up by the end of the day.

Day Forty-Six

The freezer extension was nearly done, which was good, because they were really in need of Dusk to go mine for metal.

Crocodile meanwhile, was moaning his hand was battered, so Stab would have to make him a new one.

A wanderer named Sam wished to join the colony, a bush sniper. Well, as Stab wasn’t sure what she was getting, this might be a risk, but what the hey, they WERE a bit short-handed.

Well...

Not too bad, Stab supposed... She was STUPID good with the animals, so that was good.

There was a spare bed already, so that was good. Stab set Sam to cleaning right away, since that hadn't been done for a while.

Like Navarro, Sam had a huge mood penalty for no recent conquests because of her ideology, so Sawbones started trying to convert here - hopefully, it would be easier than with Navarro...

The Lenere tribe wanted to send ANOTJER person to lounge around the base, but no, Stab wasn’t going to have ANOTHER layabout around the base! Especially one that kept trying to put the moves on everyone. They literally weren't a hotel!

Oh, great. Sam was feeling already near a break point and then:

So, LITERALLY EVERYONE EXCEPT SAWBONES THEN.

Fan-frickin'-tastic.

Well, that should be enough metal for a short while, certainly enough to get the smelter going.

Plus side, Navarro's wooden statue (installed in the guest room) was neat.

As the night drew on, a whacking great meteorite of plasteel landed nearby! Great! Seriously, as soon as they had some use for plasteel...!

Day Forty-Seven

The smelter was finished!

Sam was really struggling. Maybe it was time to try a conversion ritual? At the current odds, it was better than 50%...?

While that was going on a local donkey went insane.

One job at a time please...

Navarro fought a lone battle against the donkey while the ritual went on...

She won, but she'd be out for a bit, it seemed...

On the plus side, the uninterrupted ritual went very well indeed!

The psychic drone ended soon, too.

The bad news was the cooler broke down. They were running a little low on components, too...

Stab also elected that they ought to build a proper hospital room, complete with sterile tiles.

A cargo pod crashed in the night, dropping tons of alpaca wool. Neat.

Day Forty Eight.

Sawbones was as usual terrible at his job, letting poor Navarro go hungry.

Stab, however, went into a full-on frenzy!

Sam was doing nothing but clean, clean clean. They really ought to do something about this dirt... Stab moved one of the outside growing zones and added some wooden flooring around outside. (Wood because it was fast.)

Day Forty-Nine.

Work on the hospital continued. Dusk had spotted a silver deposit, and added that to her mining list.

They also realised there were a load of old defences that could be disassembled (though whether this would gain them any material was a matter of conjecture.)

Day Fifty.

The hospital was finished!

With that done, Stab went to start research.

Another steady day. A little research, while Dusk mined and Navarro and Sam ferried.

At the end of the day, the guest room heater broke down. They were getting very low on components, and Stab was increasingly concerned they were going to run out before she could research far enough to be able to make them herself.

Hmm. This group:

Showed up a couple of days ago. Ripe targets for a raid, Stab thought since it wouldn't tweak anybody else.

This time, Stab stayed behind (mostly because she was about the only one who could fix stuff if it broke or caught fire and such and also to research), and everyone else set out, with Bonehaul, Darkhoof the black stallion, and the other donkey (now named Trotter).

Day Fifty-One

Stab, alone, researched and the caravan headed off!

They reached the site quickly and dealt with both men fast.

Not a lot on the site, though, sadly.

Turns out that it no more efficient to haul rock away in chunks as in blocks, so there really wasn't any point hanging around, since there were no things they could get components from.

Depressingly, aside from a load of leather and pemmican, they would only manage to bring a paltry ten blocks of granite back with them.

Sawbones was inspired though!

Actually, while he was in a good mood, maybe when he got back, now (that they had a clean operating room) it might be a good time to install that implant into Stab they got ages ago...

Day Fifty-Two.

The caravan arrived back late in the evening, and the four idiots slept outside in the snow instead of making the last walk to the base...

Day Fifty-Three.

Dusk finally succumbed to Crocodile's desperate advances. Stab sighed. Crocodile would be gone a few days...

Unloading carried on while Sawbones installed Stab's implant.

Dusk's good mood put her into a frenzy of activity too!

Day Fifty-Four.

Everything was finally unloaded, and dusk joined Stab on the research, and Navarro and Sam went on a cleaning binge.

Once stuff reasonably under control, Stab had Navarro start looking at doing a large sculpture in sandstone. They needed stuff to trade so they could try and get some components...

(It was to Stab's great frustration that the component mining site in use nearby was, of course, with the only tribe they had good relations with, which is why she'd not stormed off after them...)

As the final day of winter comes to a close, we shall leave it there.

Part Five

Day Fifty-Five (somewhat apropos)

Spring is a time for cleaning, so this spring, the base would be making a serious attempt to be cleaner. More outside boards, more floorboards and - in a no duh moment, remembering to put flooring down IN doorways.

Though all of this was secondary to the really important ask of researching frantically and making sandstone statues for trade because they were really really short of components (there were seven left...)

Three refugees were coming. The wanted to stay for three days. If they were happy, they might offer to stay longer - and it was a risk as well. But they would work and fight. So Stab elected to take the risk.

Mama Trocor was the leader.

Useful second crafter, though she had a bad back.

Falcon.

Someone with some art... Though she was also a cannibal.

Dan.

General dogsbody; not great at anything, but in good health.

With Crocodile heading out soon, a single double bed (built in his room) which would be Stab and Sawbones' and they bedding issue would be solved in the short term.

Falcon was set to Art, and Dan set to clean.

(I remind everyone at this point that I am not using a character editor. The fact that the majority of the incoming characters are female - which is my noted tendency to graduate towards when I DO make my own characters* - (See Bleakbane Plays BATTLETECH or X-Com 1/2..) entirely just co-incidence. OR reality is trying to tell me something.

*In computer games at least, it tends to be reversed on tabletop... (Though the chances of that happening again and getting remoter and remoter.))

In fact, with some much extra help, Stab had them put down wooden flooring (as an interim measure) EVERYWHERE except the growing room and the work room.

Microelectronics were done! And they didn't have enough components to make a hi-tech research bench so they could research any further up that tree! Oh fricking crap!

Stab set the next research project to recurve bows (because it was short), but then abandoned research for the moment. They needed components, so they REALLY needed to get some stuff to trade and send a caravan out and hope they could find somewhere.

In a double bed at last! Yes, Crocodile was still in the room, but in the morning, he'd be gone!

Day Fifty-Six

Trocur was sufficiently taken she offered to join right away!

Done and done, duck!

Okay, in the morning, there was an eclipse. Good job the batteries were fully charged, since there was also very little wind today.

And also, the newcomers wanted to elect a Fleshknower for their ideology.

Stab elected Dan, because a) he wasn't (yet) a permanent member of the colony and b) had the lowest resistance to conversion. (They were still a dozen days away from being able to do the ritual again...)

While the sculpture was going on Stab even felt confident enough to start finishing the DAMN hex tile flooring in the main barracks!

The shuttle arrived to take Crocodile away.

Bye Crocodile! You were... Present!

Yeah, it was going to be cold tonight, since the battery charge wasn't going to last twenty-four hours at this rate. Darn it.

Well. That was one... Statue finished.

Hopefully, Falcon would do a better job. Among other things, she was SO MUCH FASTER it wasn't funny.

Another deserter with paralytic abasia was crashing nearby. No, they weren't going to help him.

Day Fifty-Seven

Aaaaand the eclipse was lasting longer than 24 hours. Oh dear. And it, like, wasn't as if they could build a second wind turbine, either.

After 1.2 days, the power went out. But JUST then, the eclipse ended. Phew!

Well, Falcon's statue wasn't that much better...

Dusk was going to take the two statues and the donkeys and stallion to the nearest advanced settlement of Meadowell, to try and sell the statues and get some components.

Uh-oh! Maddened hares attacking!

Briefly!

Oh. PLURAL again. Dangit.

Sam now wanted to change her look.

Whelp, they'd have to build a styling station tomorrow, Stab guessed. Was gonna be cold again, though, since the batteries hadn't charged much today.

Day Fifty-Eight.

Nope, actually, enough power remained in the batteries. Ace.

Anasasia Pestua wanted to lure a quartet of deadly man-eating cats (seriously, this is D&D 3.5 Gone Mad World, innit?)

Yeah, they could handle that. Probably. The skilltrainer seemed like a nice option for the reward, though the jade was tempting.

The boars were breeding nicely, and Stab had a female alpaca trained, so now they hopefully had a breeding pair - and steadily supply of alpaca wool. They’d had to use up all the cloth and some of the leather replacing the tattered clothing the newcomers brought.

Stab had almost finished the flooring, so she planned out the next extension, which would be a dedicated lab room. Now things were more under control, she would start laying steel tiles down here. (Her future throne room would be placed south of this area, with the expanded living quarters rooms continuing to the east - but they would need more power before they could expand anything to more than walls.)

Day Fifty-Nine.

Incoming pack of deadly cats!

This massive, deadly battle (!) left Sam and Falcon with nasty scratches. Oops, better build a second hospital bed!

Falcon, get in the new bed, you're bleeding everywhere!

FINALLY properly done and floored!

YES! Dusk's caravan reached Meadowell, and they did have components. Dusk sold off the junk she'd taken and bought ten - enough for high-tech research bench, at least. She bought a couple of medicines, too, since they were slowly using the supply. Back to base!

It was, of course, only NOW Stab realised that the corridors were dark and there was nowhere to put a light. The short stretch between Stab's room and the workshop was fine, but they'd better build a larger one for thereafter... A LOT of remodelling required, dang it!

Day Sixty. A years since they landed had passed.

And yet, it was a day that passed mostly without incident or comment, with the colonists busily working on the remodelling.

The only thing that happened was Dusk returning in the evening.

Day Sixty-One.

As the day progressed, Trocur attempted to convert Dusk and they started a social fight.

Uh-oh.

It was over quite fast, fortunately.

So much for Dusk helping with the construction today...

In an effort to improve morale, Stab intended to throw a party! Without apparently, needing a party spot or anything! Okay, fine!

The two sickies were prodded out of bed to join in, since they were so sulky. As was everyone else.

The party lasted into the night.

The, just as they all slept, a whacking great ship chunk crashed down.

Stab was feeling much better, and all into a shooting frenzy. Though there wasn't much to shoot at just at the moment...

Day Sixty-Two.

Dan, without anything to do, was set demolishing another car. Stab also elected to put some concrete tiles down around the wind turbine, to keep it clear of weeds.

Dan's certainly was down, thanks to repeated efforts from Sawbones, to merely 7%! Three more days and they might convert him!

Even better, by the end of the day, Dan decide he wanted to stay permanently!

Another grove of ambrosia sprouted. Stab wasn't sure what happened to the last one, maybe the winter killed it off.

Day Sixty-Three.

Stab was going to try and set the pen's auto-slaughter. She set it to have a maximum of two adult male and female wild boars and alpacas, and a maximum of 8 and 6 respectively. (It seemed wise to retain two breeding pairs, not one, in case of accidents.)

The renovations were still going. They were on top steel floor tiles now.

Day Sixty-Four.

A rat self-tamed. Well, as it couldn’t be trained for anything at all, Stab elected to have it slaughtered. As there just really wasn't any other point.

Finally finished!

Tomorrow, Dusk would need to get on mining again, ad Stab smelting, so they had enough steel for the new hi-tech research bench.

It looked, sadly, like Falcon wouldn't be sticking around, but at least they got a ton of statues out of her for sale for components... (But they just didn't have any human meat, since they forgot to think about eating that one guy. And that seemed to be her big sticking point.)

Day Sixty-Five.

An exotic trader arrived.

Darn, look at all that good stuff Stab REALLY wanted, but couldn't afford. She elected to sell off the statues and buy in some glitterworld medicine (in case any more numpties crashed). She noted for four of those and six components. Stab also made sure to set the medicine treatment standard down to make sure off best, then realised that once in storage, it was better to just forbid that and set everyone back to "best."

With finally some components, Stab added a forth solar cell and a forth battery.

Ha-ha! Dan was converted.

So. Though it would set back converting Trocur, and was still not fully recharged. Stab's last-ditch "effort" at persuading Falcon was a forced conversion attempt. However, it appeared that Falcon was allowed to just get up and leave in the middle of the ritual. Still, it didn't use up the ritual, so that was good.

One last try, then...! Move Dan's bed to the now empty cell and try to arrest Falcon as she left!

Okay, so the quest failed, but they had Falcon under lock and key and they would try and recruit her now!

Nice to see the cell FINALLY getting used...! Actually, Stab wondered about converting Falcon FIRST, then recruiting her.

The high-tech research bench was finished!

Time for Stab to go on a research binge!

Mad buck attack!

Day Sixty-Six.

Stab learned that the Lightcaller, an Aotrs relic was nearby! If they could find enough information, they could retrieve it!

Recurve bow research done. Now to head up through multi-analyser to get to fabrication!

Hooboo.

Sam and Dan got into a social fight.

Sam, how did you even SEE his leg hair?

Dan, don't pick a fight with the sniper. She kicked you arse hard. Seriously, she a biter, too!

Frack damn, Dan will be out for ages, though he landed a few good thumps of his own...

As evening drew in, and Stab started to plan out the bedrooms some more (to start adding sleep accelerators), a trio of man-eating racoons attacked!

They were killed, but Navarro got bit forcing Stab to turn Navarro's bed into ANOTHER hospital bed, since the idiots were taking up the main one.

Day Sixty-Seven.

Navarro was soon up and about. Stan took a break from her research to do a bit of construction work.

Chief Dadornocom Mallard of the Lenere Tribe wanted to send another person to lunge about for ten days this time. Stab had a week to consider, so she put it off. She didn't want to have to deal with ANOTHER guest room, just as Dusk was about to get her own proper room...

Dan wanted to change his look. Well, once he recovered...

More ship chunks landed. Actually, now that they actually had made that trip in desperation, these were giving them plenty of components! But that was okay, Stab wanted another wind generator up anyway.

Day Sixty-Eight.

As Falcon slowly was converted. it was time to attempt the ritual to covert Trocur. (That should remove some of the friction!)

Boom!

Twenty days and maybe they could finally convince Navarro...!

Wait, hang on, she wasn't converted, it only dropped the chance by about 30%. Dang it!

Dan, still stumbling around, shaved his beard. (Maybe he should have shaved his leg hair instead...)

In the evening a couple more raiders from the Dorbo Confederacy showed up, though they milled around first.

Stab decided to upgrade the tailor bench and the stove to electric versions.

These raiders didn't go down so easily. Sam got shot and had to pull back.

But luck - sort of Rovas went down, but wasn't dead! The other fool tried to break and run.

And he went down to be captured too!

See, the thing was, neither of them was particularly valuable. Green Eagle was a substance-abusing cannibal without any useful skills; Rovas was a filthy body purist. Still, it didn't take anything but a few herbal medicine to stabilise them. Because Stab was thinking - ORGAN HARVEST TIME!

Day Sixty-Nine. (Dudes!)

Sam experienced a work frenzy... While she lay severely injured in bed. Typical.

Time to try some organ harvesting! The started with experimenting on Green Eagle.

Say what you like about doc Sawbones, but damn. In the dark, on a wood floor with a dude just lying on the ground, he harvested the left lung, right kidney and heart! Neat!

However, it suddenly transpired that the freeze wasn't working! The only warning was the food was rotting. Stab needed to build some more coolers STAT! Except that even on max priority, Stab refused to do anything other than meditate, what the frack.

((And then she just went to bed. And Trocur was operating on the other guy instead of Sawbones, so you know what, no, for the first time, we're doing a reload, because NO, Game.))

Day Sixty-Nine. For the second time.

THIS time, Stab would get started on the freezer immediately, and Sawbones would the only allowed doctor today.

Sam was still in a work frenzy, but had gotten out of bed. Stab sent her back.

((This time (because of course) "Sawbones failed in a ridiculous way trying to remove a body part." ((Game, if you make me reload AGAIN, I will not be pleased. Yeah, failure on the second one. Right. AGAIN.))

NOW, AS WE WERE SAYING, Green Eagle had all three of his organs harvested and there were now three coolers in the freezer.

Stab also added two more batteries to the currently-unused second greenhouse.

Rovas' lung was successfully harvested.

Day Seventy.

Sawbones went into a work frenzy. Jolly good!

He started by successfully harvesting both of Rovas' remaining organs. ((Yes he did, game.))

Moving on.

Stab had considered starting another extension for a bedroom, but she decided what they really needed was better power, so both she and Dusk hit the research again.

((And we had another few reloads, since it became apparent Rovas skull was somehow un-removable. The action would be performed over and over and nothing would happen - or it HAD removed it, but forgot.))

And Stab realised that as they required the hi-tech bench only one of them could work, so she took over while Dusk went off.

Dan got a burst inspiration for surgery. Pity no-one was ever going to let him do it.

Day Seventy-One.

Another rat self-tamed, and Trocur also got an equally useless surgery boost.

Stab was told about Stench's Cache of Fortune, guarded by rapid monkeys. It consisted of a large bed and revolver.

'Kaay...

Still 18 days was plenty of time to prepare.

Sawbones had been cooking up a storm, and decided it was time for a party!

Day Seventy-Two.

A combat trader arrived! Excellent, they WERE interested in organs! Sawbones handled the trading, since Stab realised that, if they used the colony's actually face man, they got a better deal. They bought 10 medicine, a heavy SMG and a flak jacket (since they couldn't sell everything for just silver).

Stab finally used the skilltrainer for crafting. This may have been a mistake, however, since it would apparently have been better to use it on someone with a LOW level of skill, which would have drastically raised it to useful levels. Bollocks.

The new influx of silver allowed the second room planned to be a lab to have sterile tiles finally laid.

Poskas, the High Stellarch, had found out about a complex that mighty lead to the Lightbringer.

It would need for of them to go, though and do some hacking. There didn't seem to be a time limit, though, so that was good.

As storage was slowly becoming a problem, Stab elected to have an armoury built, to store weapons and such.

Day Seventy-Three.

Looking at Trocur, it was apparent that they just couldn't erase her certainty fast enough. Even with the ritual, Sawbones' certainty reduction for conversion couldn't keep pace with her recovery. (6% every three days verses +2.9%/day.)

Falcon on the other hand...

The armoury was completed, and Stab had Dusk lay down paving tiles over the mineral store, just to keep it tidy, since Dan never ever seemed to stop cleaning. She order the workroom finally be paved over as well, for good measure. And, darn it, they need some gold to actually even build one of the blasted things.

Day Seventy-Four.

FINALLY multi-analyser was completed. Stab really want to get on to fabrication, but the constant power issues meant that she instead started to look at geothermal power (because there was no river nearby).

In the meantime, a request came in to deal with a group of five tribesmen. Stab considered it but then thought, frack it, they ought to try. She took the middle reward (jade and stuff). Two days. Stab authorised the construction of a second fortification to the west and some traps.

Halt to research while the defences were built.

Apparently just in time, since a pair of raiders showed up good measures.

They killed one and the other broke. Stab only made a half-hearted attempt to chase him and let him go. They didn't need to risk too much right now.

Day Seventy-Five.

Since the hi-tech research bench couldn't be moved the hospital was shifting along a room - with more beds prepared!

Better dig some more graves, too...

Day Seventy-Six.

Here they come!

Three down, two to go.

Enemy all down! No damage, this time!

The last two were still alive. On the other hand, both were psychopaths.

As no-one was hurt Stab decided to grab them inaugurate the new hospital by removing them of their organs.

Well, as if you didn't need any encouragement that they deserved organ harvesting, Navarro brought back a badly beaten Beniko, whom the pair had duffed up.

Falcon's resistance was waning...!

Oh dear. Navarro, animal lover, is trying surgery on the animal-beater. This can only end hilariously.

Oh, look at that. What a complete shock.

Actually, apparently, that was the heart removal surgery, so that fracker going to kark it either way...!

Day Seventy-Seven.

Industrial Advent day! Meanwhile, Navarro tries to tame a tortoise.

A quartet of drifters were coming in - this time for only five days. Stab was still a bit suspicious, but free help was free help.

Malikova was a bit rubbish, but wasn't bad at research, so Stab started him off there. Blue Trout was a misogynists (REAL bad in this colony) so he got be a cleaner. Sadly, as we was the only one that was useful as he had some plants skills, he was also set to grow and cut planets first. Trobo was okay, but suffered from jealousy. He was a miner, so Stab made him mine. Seal was trigger happy and neurotic, but had some artistic skills, so guess where he went?

They got a bedroom in the empty future bedroom, taking beds from the prison and the hospital. (Given they Stab didn't really WANT any of them permanently, they were not getting fixed clothes.)

Despite the still fairly naff environment, Industrial Advent was a rousing success!

And as the four temporary recruits scuttle about, we shall leave it there!