We got space, maybe we could have a range to train our marksmanship. Maybe archers? I can't remember if we have unlimited ammo.

Wait... why don't I make something in memoriam of Aquila, and hold a banquet? After all, I've made some decent art before. Not amazing, but decent.

"Take a look at this." Error gathered the whole party into the Storage Room to show them... what looked like a hunk of junk. Cobbled-together metal was crudely welded to cover the handmade electronics inside. You could somewhat make out a microphone, a dial and an antenna at the top of the device. Error was incredibly proud of his work.

"What is this?" Asked Azure. "It looks like a... radio?"

"Even better. This is an orbital trade beacon."



"Wow, really?!" Dakota was amazed. He'd lived a modest, honest life. It was mindblowing to realize that they did, in fact, live in a science-fiction universe.

"With this, we should be able to call in passing traders and sell them anything we have in this room here. In exhange, maybe we'll be able to get more weapons, more steel, and maybe more technology to get us a ship out of here."

"Incredible." Max was smiling. This was an enormous step for them. It almost seemed like they were going to make it out of here after all.

PS: Nothing has happened in a while so let me update you on the state of the fortress.



We have a LOT of food from Azure's corn harvest. By the way, the squares are prepared meals Azure has made. The yellow-topped boxes of 75 units are all 75 units of corn. It takes 50 units to make a prepared meal. This is a shitload of prepared meals.



We are currently upgrading the research labs to a high tech lab, which will both research faster and allow us to get more advanced technology.



Two things here:
-The walls are now two tiles thick. It's twice as difficult to go anywhere but the defended entrance.
-Inside the entrance is a furnace. This furnace will heat the room to 1000 degrees celsius in a last ditch attempt, but render the exit inhospitable all day after its turned on until the heat leaks out. I haven't tried it yet but hopefully we'll be roasting zombies next time there's a raid.

I'm playing more Rimworld tonight so expect updates.

I have 30 minutes to spare. Save this person, or no?

Offer her safety. We can try out our new furnace, and we can get some backup to help fill the void Aquila left behind.

So be it...



On her tail is a metric shitton of people, armed with bows&arrows, and simple clubs.



They arrived quickly, and holy shit they're breaking through the entrance quickly. They also set fire to the outer wall, but luckily for me I have a stone side to it too.



They're going through so fast that I'm going to abandon trying to shoot them and just crank the furnace way the fuck up. Things are happening very fast.



Perhaps I spoke too soon... Bunched up like that, concentrated fire from Ghombeat with the minigun, Error with a PDW and Zero with an assault rifle simply butchered the tribespeople as they tried to get in. Others are coming in from other directions and I've moved my badasses to deal with them.

I'm about to turn on the furnace and see how effective it is at killing.



I guess we'll have to wait until zombies come to try out the furnace......

Desperate to escape the heat, one tribesperson broke through the wooden wall in the side of the entrance. Max, waiting, immediately stabbed the tribesperson (armed with a greatbow) in the leg, shoulder-checked him to the ground and slit stabbed her sword into his throat.

With searing heat in one direction, a wall of gunfire in the other, and a badass with a sword behind them, the tribesmen fled in terror. Everyone quickly moves to extinguish the fire.

Man, our defenses are actually pretty freaking good.



Operating carefully, Dakota opens the doors to let the heat vent from the room. Maybe I'll employ the furnace differently to make it more effective next time.

Since the new girl is an effective miner and good with melee, lets look into hooking her up with a pickaxe, then exploring some more areas in the mountain.

Jesus christ. A random event caused our batteries to short circuit and explode. There's fire everywhere and we have no power.

Even worse, a large zombie attack happened at the exact same time:



There's about 5 of them. Hopefully we'll have power back in time to try and roast them away... But even worse:



I was currently working on the defense room. We might not get it built back up fast enough...

Everyone was freaking out so much that the fire was only spreading. I managed to coordinate their efforts and take out the biggest flames, and the fire was put back under control. We even have a little bit of power.



It was a really risky move, but I had Dakota leave the fire and prioritize building the defense room. He barely managed to get our new embrasures up in time:



I've assembled the defense force. Maybe we can still do this.



Thank god.

Because of the risk Dakota took in abandoning the fire efforts to finish the defense room, we were able to kill the zombie horde without needing to use the furnace. Everyone collectively breathed a huge sigh of relief. Error and Zero, despite their differences, gave the other grins of approval as they stood over the zombie's corpses with their rifles in hand. Even Ghombeat... well, I don't know if any force of nature could ever make someone like Ghombeat. But his work with Aquila's old minigun was invaluable.

There's a lot of repairs to be done, but we'll be alright. For now.



Our newest research project! This will be very handy, since we happen to have a geyser right outside.

We just produced automated turrets, but I'm not sure when we'll have the steel to build those.



"Haha! I knew we were right to dig here!" Azure crowed. The mining team had struck compacted steel, and there was a glorious amount of it. 315 units of steel are in this picture alone, and there's much more that hasn't been dug yet.

Steel is by far the most valuable resource right now and lets us build basically everything, so this is awesome.

"We're under attack!" Zero ran through the halls, banging on the doors to snap people to attention. "Get to your usual positions, we've got company!"

Everyone rushed out to meet the threat, but once their threat came into view...



"Hey! They're traders!" Max exclaimed.

"About damn time. I guess not everyone here is out to kill us." Said Dakota. "Looks like people are starting to notice how good we've got it here, eh?"

The group unanimously agreed to send Max out as a diplomat, being the most friendly out of all of them, and she left with her sword for safety to see what they had to trade.

"Ah! Hello there!" A trader called out to Max as she approached. "You're from the Fort?"

"Yeah!" She called back, friendly. "You guys are traders, right?"

They talked for a while, but unfortunately it turned out that neither side had a lot of items that the other wanted. In the end, they agreed to trade a few baskets of meat for a bundle of machine components. It was a shame they couldn't have traded more.

Strangely enough, they did have a golden spear that was worth almost 200,000 dollars.

"Hey, don't hesitate to come back again." Max told the traders. "Maybe we'll have more things next time. But... I don't think we'll ever be able to afford that golden spear."

Everybody laughed.



"Ah..." Dakota nudged Azure, who was busy harvesting another glorious yield of corn. "This is what having a stockpile of steel feels like, my man. We're gonna be just fine."



The traders, though, continued on and actually entered the Fort, just making themselves at home without even asking.

HECK OFF :(

Update: The traders left after a day or so.



With winter coming, Azure has built an indoor farm surrounded by a nice little sun lamp. These things drain a lot of power so its awesome that we've acquired so much steel for solar panels.

This is all my updates for tonight. More later!

Anyone who wants to take the role of our newest member can do so.

Psst. if no one wants to be the girl I can be the miner lol

With the massive store of food, and the preparations for harsher weather, Azure began thinking of how things had gone thusfar. Though he was almostly exclusively responsible for their food supply, he was also one of their most vulnerable. He needed a weapon; not just any weapon though. He wasn't some combat expert like Dakota or Max. He was a farmer, a cook. What he knew were tools... and knives. He'd have to look into getting a bowie knife for defense; it would at least ease his mind.

At the same time, he found that the abundance of food they had gave him increasing amounts of free time. It would be great for him to look into hobbies, and bettering himself. He thought back to his carving. He should do more with it, make more art. It might not have been too amazing now, but with some practice, it might be worth it some time. The next time traders were by, they might actually have something worth trading for.

I'm gonna play more tonight wew

Quote from Aquila

Psst. if no one wants to be the girl I can be the miner lol

This is fine if no one else wants to be her. What should I call her so we dont have 2 Aquilas :p

Aquilette? Lmfao jk call her Savannah

Savannah it is.

Also, guess who has mortars now?
Hint: Its us, motherfuckers



Also, cargo pods have fallen from orbit and landed nearby. The steel slag from the wreckage will be great, but...
Inside the pods were bundles of flayed human skin, tanned into leather.

"You don't think someone was sending a message, do you?" Zero asked Error, worried.

"Not a chance. I think this sci-fi universe is just a messed up place."





For those who don't know, any kind of animal with Boom in its name means that it explodes with an incendiary burst when it dies. This is trouble.

Maybe I'll just stay inside our walls and let the boomrats take on whatever other invaders come here next.

Alright! But yea for a weapon I want a goddamn pickax! :D

I agree to avoiding the boomrats. They sound... volatile.