‘It is an easy journey.’ That’s what the scouting report said. It will only take about ten days to reach the site, twelve if the weather is bad. A recent harvest left Fortogas with an enormous surplus of food. So a group of about eighty colonists from the Dimassa capital city, Fortogas were chosen through volunteering or by random selection. Those chosen were to settle new town in the selected region to expand Dimassa’s influence. Not wanting the food to go to waste, once the new city was founded, Fortogas would send a steady supply of food; enough to get the city through the harsh winter.

The group consisted of thirteen farmers, fifteen craftsmen, and a battalion of twenty soldiers, and thirty women. Leading the group were Estin, one of the scouts who discovered the area, and Dinbeer, who was the only one among the chosen group with enough sense to lead the new town until an elected mayor was sent from Fortogas. The group was supplied with thirty horses for the farmers and craftsmen, ninety four tents, should any of the eighty they needed be lost somehow, and about fifty days-worth of food and water, which would be continuously replenished by Fortogas until the first successful harvest.

The expedition started out perfectly fine. There was no trouble for the colonists at all for the first four days. The sun was shining, the land was easy to navigate, and on the fourth day, when the sun started getting too bright, the settlers were treated to the shady trees of a quiet forest. But the fifth day quickly put an end to the settlers’ good moods. Barbarians. Their strike in the middle of the night was sudden and horribly efficient. Taking out the patrolling guards one-by-one with darts to the neck, by the time the alarm was sounded; thirteen soldiers had already been lost. Despite their iron armor, four more guards were lost in the ensuing battle; leaving the group with a measly force of thirteen. To make matters worse, it wasn’t until after the savages were driven off that Estin noticed what they were really after. The battle ended up being the perfect distraction for another group of raiders to make off with fifteen days-worth of food. When questioned by Dinbeer about the lack of warning from the scout report, Estin pointed out that all the scouts did was find a suitable region to colonize. They had no way of knowing that the path the settlers were traveling on would cross that of a nomadic barbarian tribe.

Dinbeer saw that the settlers were shaken by the sudden turn for the worse, but he and Estin agreed that they were too close to the settlement area to turn everyone around and head back. They did, however, decide that, since it wouldn’t take as long for three guards to get back as it would sixty seven people, sending three guards back to Fortogas to report that they would need the extra food much sooner than anticipated seemed like the best course of action. The guards were sent off with words of encouragement and wishes of good luck.

That night, Estin suggested that the tents be set up around the food while the guards patrolled in between the rings of tents. Then, if there was an attack, any guards that weren’t immediately fighting could rush to the center to protect the food. Despite how effective of a tactic this was, it did little to reassure the rest of the group and very few got any sleep at all that night. Unfortunately, the settler’s spirits went below sea level when, on day seven, camp had to be set up mid-day to take shelter from a sudden rain storm. The trek through a muddy field in blistering heat the following morning only made things worse.

Whatever talk of giving up there was quickly came to an end whenever Estin told them how perfect the new village would be. The lush green fields to farm, the vast ocean of strong trees to build houses with, the crystal clear waters filled to the brim with fish. If that didn’t lift their spirits, Estin would then remind them that giving up would mean turning around and walking all the way back. The thought alone quickly silenced any complaining. However, these speeches were slowly losing their effect on the tenth day when Estin announced that it would take three more days to get there. Each day went at a snail’s pace and had them trekking through muddy fields, over winding hills, . But finally, after what seemed like weeks, the settlers had finally reached their destination.

As soon as camp was set up, everyone quickly went about their work. The carpenters began gathering wood and setting to work on the main hall while the farmers readied the land for farming, though not without difficulty brought on by fatigue and fear of another raid. But eventually, the first field’s potato crop had been planted and the first walls of the main hall were coming together. While it would just be a simple log cabin long-house when finished, there would be plenty of time to smarten it up once the other houses were standing. But while the success of the first day lifted the spirits of the colonists, the fact that they were almost out of food still haunted them. It was decided that in the morning, Estin would take what few people the group could spare and teach them as much of what he knew about fishing and hunting as he could. This would hopefully leave them with enough food to last at least a few more days.

Everyone could tell it didn’t go well from the minute they laid eyes on the group. Not only were they back two hours after they had left, many of the group were covered in mud while others were covered in twigs and leaves. Poor Estin, who had somehow taken the brunt of the punishment, had a hook in his left ear, two on his right arm, innumerable twigs in his hair, a snare around his left foot, and had somehow managed to get covered in tree sap and pine needles. The result of the trip wasn’t even a full day’s worth of food. Still, it was something, and Dinbeer was even able to convince them to try again the next day, though not without Estin going into a corner to weep. In a rush to finish the main hall that night, the carpenters worked shifts so that no one’s work suffered due to fatigue and work could continue at night.
By the next morning, just after Estin and his group had left, the main hall had been completed and work had already begun on the first house. But Dinbeer still had some worries. Even with Estin and his group supplying them with a little extra food each day, the fact still remained that the settlers could not survive more than a week at most before the food ran out. He kept these thoughts to himself however. The village was quickly coming together and any talk of food shortages would only cause a panic.

Dinbeer’s tone of thought changed immediately the next morning when he caught sight of a miracle. Five wagons packed with food and surrounded by what must have been at least thirty or forty guards made their way into the village. As the wagon came to a standstill in front of Dinbeer and the food was quickly unloaded, the two guards Dinbeer and Estin had sent back to Fortogas jumped out and immediately went about relaying their journey to Dinbeer. While Dinbeer was happy to listen to their tale, his mind was set on the future. But whatever it may bring, he knew that in the end they would be okay.