Incoming Situations:
Statues and The Dead
The Situation:
The village finds itself in a deep depression-ravine surrounded by barren, spiky boulders on all sides. The depression's dimensions are about four hundred feet long by maybe some five hundred wide. The ground is hard, gritty sand that would make excellent sandpaper, with lots and lots and lots of fine quartz. The depression is reasonably protected from wind, though the downdrafts on the edge of the ground above are quite powerful. If harnessed, they could possibly be used to blow the unwary into your little depression where if not killed by the fall, can be taken prisoner, looted or sacrificed. Dominating the middle of the depression is a large deep blue pond that most certainly wasn't there before you got here; Ol' Mags must have put it here. The waters have no magical powers yet, but they soon will from exposure to the land. Tainted with Chaos, the waters will change the goblins for good or for ill, but no one is sure yet WHAT those changes are going to be.
In the center of the oasis (itself some one hundred feet in diameter... not a perfect circle, but you get the idea) is a large sandstone carving of a winged sphinx with Ol' Mags' head which occupies about half the space. Upon command, the wings can stretch out and upward, providing easy access to the surface of the depression if you don't feel like climbing up steep inclines and jumping from boulder to boulder. The sphinx is hollow, and will serve as the temple to the village. Tempratures range in the 80s in the depression to almost 120 on the surface. You will not be able to survive long up there without help or a big water supply.
Because of the mutation factor, some 35 goblins total have small "mutations" (ranging from an extra finger to two irises in one eyeball, etc). Five of them are story worthy, but it will take a Standard Action to introduce one of them (so you have a while yet). The mutations have the unfortunate effect of causing them to be cut off from Ol' Mags, so you can't have any priests with mutations. The Chaos Taint also hurts magic use; so only 1/7 of those with Mutations could become wizards (though for right now no one is). When they die, it is unknown what will happen to their spirits and they are -not- happy about this. Ol' Mags is powerless to bring them back into the fold; this is a side effect of the Chaos Taint of the desert.
There is no real wildlife to speak of, either in the depression or on the rocks surrounding your new home. It's a barren, flat land that is blisteringly hot in the daytime and near-freezing at night. On top of that, there's a "salty haze" that hangs in the air of the depression that just won't go away, making your lot constantly thirsty. Fortunately, fresh, pure water is pouring out of the sphinx's open mouth (a nice little gift from Ol' Mags) so you do have a constant source of fresh water. There are no other civilizations nearby that will rival you for resources, although with the bleakness of the surrounding land, you'd be surprised to find resources, period.
Ol' Mags has gracefully given you some less-gritty-than-normal sandy areas to farm with in this depression, and has taught the secret of farming Cloxin Tuber. This is a water-filled sweet reed as strong and sharp as bamboo with a radish-shaped blue vegetable on one end, and only grows in very sandy soil. This is going to be your basic staple and while you have enough space to farm now for your small village, if there's to be any kind of growth you'll need to move your operation topside where it's far more exposed to the elements later.
For now the goblins are too busy establishing lean-tos, taking shelter under overhangs, or beginning to shape the clay in the oasis into dried mud to build homes with to establish a political order or chief. Ol' Mags has left limited supplies of dull, thick cloth (enough for clothes, some makeshift shelter), but the Chaos effect of the land has prevented Him from giving other very basic needs other than a few pouches of cacti seeds. You're on your own until you can find something else out there. At the next Winter's Meet (technically, though you'll never see snow here in your lifetime), all of that will likely be hashed out. So much to do and so little time to do it before night falls... at least you're left in peace by anything intelligent that might be out there. For now.
WILL YOU... (pick 3 unless I say otherwise)...
A) Dig in the walls of the depression and search for caves or mines?
B) Send search parties out so you can explore the land and see if there's anything else out there?
C) Use the clay in the oasis to form a dome over the depression, protecting yourselves from the boiling sun in the daytime?
D) Attempt to harness the downdrafts, so you can set up traps on the outer rim?
E) Begin a cactus farm with the seeds?
F) Dig out a shelter-cave under the oasis itself, one that can hold the village?
G) Focus on turning the sand into a kind of mud-stone? Mixing it with pulped Cloxin Tuber hardens it.
Perks: Pick one from each list. One more for Technology to come next month.