Part 54: Storm Season
No changes to any of our stats - filthy trollkin don't count as population, even if they are our thralls. Our ancestors also don't seem to count them as proper thralls since we didn't get any magic.
Storm Season. As unpredictable as Orlanth himself, Storm season can be freezing cold one day and warm the next. Nothing is certain, but all things are possible - raiding, exploring, trading, and more can all be done now. But for now, it's time to trade for some food. According to just about everyone on the ring, we can spare some cows and/or horses, and according to Jarolor, the Six Brothers clan has the most food. Away we go!
With food stores nearing 200, the ring starts getting grim on the food screen. I decide to slaughter some animals to help tide us over until Jarolor returns.
Pigs aren't good for much of anything but food, so it makes sense to slaughter them first. It takes a lot of them to make a difference, though - slaughtering 502 of them only gives us 100 food! Cattle provide 1 bushel of food for each cow you slaughter, but we want to avoid killing too many of them since they're our wealth. Horses also provide one bushel of food each, but we have many fewer of them, and they're needed to keep our weaponthanes properly equipped. Sheep provide half as much food as pigs and are needed for our temples, so butchering them is truely a last resort.
Between this and the pig slaughter, our food stores are looking much better. We may need to trade for more food later, but we're not going to starve for now.
Dammit Gordangar, you're only around so that we have someone to find dangerous things on our tula! But we can't see how much he's been boosted yet, because it is once again Sacred Time.
If you look closely, you'll see that our new watchtower is shown on the tula overview now. Any shrines or fortifications show up here; it's a nice touch.
And now it's time to allocate our clan magic for the year! The possible allocations have changed slightly from last year thanks to different gods being on our ring, but you can see the new maximums in the screenshot. In addition, decide on our goals for the year. The ring is mostly useless here - they're either campaigning for their favorite magic, or giving generic advice like "we have performed no heroquests."