We've been doing repairs for another two weeks within the village itself. I would say that the roads are fully repaired, but as we've been adding basements, a small problem has arisen as a result of the retrofitting. The issue is that all the basements sit too low to have drainage like before, and I don't really want to make a screw pump in each. As such, I'm thinking we'll need a new, deeper drainage system. The issue with that is that it can't just flow into the creek like the current one does, due to the height difference. Instead, it'll have to run a ways away at a gentler slope than the creek until it can finally rejoin the basin.
As a result of this, the roads are needing retrofit as well. We're basically going to pull up and fill the old sewer system, and install a much larger one deeper down. Within the village, I intend to have a few places where we can get down to the sewer, in case we need to clean it out or fix it for some reason.
I've already done quite a bit of the measurements, and at a minimum we'll have to run the sewer about half way to the ocean to get the drop in height necessary. Which means we'll be busy working on this for a while. The good news is that there is an excess of goblin labor willing to help work on these projects right now, so we should be able to work at a good pace. Plus all the stone we carve out should allow us to complete the expanded city wall without needing to do any extra excavation.
For good measure, we plan on making this new sewer a bit bigger than the current needs of the village. We should be able to expand it down the road if necessary, but I'd rather that actually be down the road, and not within the next few months.
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Another three weeks of work have passed, and the houses all have basements, and the sewer within the village is dug. The unfortunate bit is that the sewer going out of the town is longer in total length than all the sewers within, so that's going to be a project for a few weeks yet. Enough stone had started to pile up that I've built about a quarter of the new wall to help get rid of all the excess stone that was starting to pile up as well.
Zaka has also completely replenished the goblins numbers again to capacity. He asked us if we could build more houses after we finish all the other work in the village, and that led to a larger discussion. Ultimately, we discussed the issues of maintaining a larger village. First, we'd need dedicated guards who keep the peace, and we already have plans for that. The other thing we'd need related to that is a place to keep prisoners.
Zaka initially said that he could handle a situation like that if it arose, but I pointed out that there had already been one seditious uprising, and sometimes, you can't just reason someone out of their beliefs. If they want to do harm to others, sometimes they need to be punished, or worse. So it was decided that the central guard station would have a holding cell installed in the basement somewhere.
Further discussion on the matter made me realize that I can't just build the jail cell out of stone. At least one goblin has gotten their hands on stone shaping, and it would be silly if people could just escape. So ultimately, I decided that we should plate the whole thing in metal. Some form of metal shaping might be a magic that exists, so prisoners would need to be watched, but at the very least it's better than stone.
Another issue that I said would need addressed is the idea of basic education. Some things within the village are more complicated and dangerous than they appear at first glance, and leaving all the goblins to just figure things out might lead to problems. I'm not talking about a school, as there isn't that much to learn, but instead, a system set in place to help the goblins. First, new goblins should shadow a few jobs that need new people. They don't need to work, but just observe. Then, they can make a choice after a few weeks as to what they want to learn, essentially setting up an apprenticeship.
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A third issue that needs addressed is handling waste. By that, I mean excrement and food waste both. At the current population of about fifty, this has already started to be an issue at times, so I want to make two modifications in the village. First, for handling excrement, I want to build a few locations where excrement can either be dumped or relieved into the new sewer. To help handle the excrement, I want to make a small drain in the stream that will run into the sewer. It won't be much water, but if the sewer can at least have some water flowing in it at all times, that should help slowly move waste out of the sewer and eventually to the ocean. As for food waste, some of it can and should be composted outside the town, but some of it will just need to be hauled and disposed of somewhere, likely into the ocean.
Only once these issues are fully resolved do I want to build any more houses in the village. Since we're going to build the guardhouses anyway, the holding cell will be the first thing we make. The education is just a matter of organization, and nothing that I have to build. Waste handling however is going to be something that requires work from both me, and some goblins to haul and handle food waste, along with some retraining on how to handle excrement.
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It's been five days, and although the sewer and wall construction are coming along well, construction has slowed once again. The problem is that another eagle, similar to the first one from a year ago, has shown up. It's smaller than the last two, and has lightly colored plumage in places. We spotted it earlier today, and since then, the village is on high alert. We only have one charge of blood stored up from Zaka, so we'll need to make it count.
That said, some of the goblins in the village are much less afraid than before. I've been doing my best to learn the demon language, and I can occasionally pick up small bits of their conversations. Apparently, they really like the taste of the eagle meat. The smokehouse is already pretty full with eagle meat from the last two eagles, so I'm not sure what we'll do with this meat if we get it. The first step is to actually kill the beast.
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It's been two days, and we killed the new eagle today. How we achieved this was actually quite interesting. The previous two eagles seemed cautious of the village itself, but this one was much less cautious. We decided one night to make a bait goblin just outside the village using a bunch of fish and other meat, and then contain it in clothes.
Sure enough, the eagle took the bait the next day, and when it swooped in, I shot it with the steam cannon. What followed was a bit of a one sided fight, as the eagle was severely injured, with both its wings in bad condition. Between some of the goblins, Zeb, and Zaka, they were able to finish the eagle off. I didn't participate much in the final killing, but I took care to at least be nearby when the eagle actually died, as I wanted some of the experience as well.
After we killed the eagle, the goblins got to work butchering it, and a bunch of the previously prepared meat was prepared to be delivered to the other village. Ultimately, the food would be wasted anyway, so we figured it would be a good gesture to bring them some of our excess.
Apparently, the first eagle was also much more aggressive than the second and third one, and would frequently be aggressive near the village. With the second and third one, it seemed that they would only do it if they had searched for a considerable time and not found anything available elsewhere. An important question is starting to arise. Why are we only seeing eagles now? Is it the crystal? If so, why only in winter? All questions to look into when I can.
All things considered, it seems like this eagle also gave quite a bit fewer levels than the last two. Zaka only gained a handful of levels, as did I, although a few goblins did prestige this time as well. I'm starting to wonder exactly how levels gained are determined. I might need to do some experimentation after we get the village under control.
As for my stats right now,
Level: 9
HP: 1328/1328
MP: 793/793
Traits: Mana Affinity, Earth Manipulation, Improved Dexterity, Heat Resistance
Magic: Improved Stone Shaping, Tectonic Sense, Improved Earth Spike