Homesteading in a fantasy world

First thing I do after eating is to check how much tar I have. I will only need half a load of wood to burn to make it full, so I was actually done with tar making for now.

Even with the amount that I will take away for the clay containers, I will still have some tar left over when I add the poison sumac into the barrel.

I cleaned out the charcoal and then went on with my regular chores. After that I continued with building the ballista, but this time I moved into the workshop to work on it.

It was better to do wood working there and it won't be seen from the other side of the river. I want to keep this weapon a secret as long as possible.

Even after I mount it on to the tower, I will put fabric over it to conceal it. I will need to make a small frame that will go over it so the shape will not be so visible. Hopefully that will give me a surprise advantage when I most need it.

If the goblins come in force, I will most likely die, but no way in hell I am going out without a fight. Never done that before and I’m not going to start in the future.

Making the ballista is overall simple when you know the basics. The problem I have is with trigger mechanism and pull back system.

I have made a few crossbows, but they were simple things. I always been more of a bow maker.

So, before I start making the main block, I start by making all the wooden pieces I need, even the ones that will need to be made out of metal.

The sled that will help me pull back the string will need to have two claw like holders that will help me pull back the string.

They will need to be able to be lower and be pulled up, because if I don’t detach the sled, it will move forward the same way as the bolt will and it will destroy the front end.

I will need to make the winch to pull back the sled and embed some of the parts into the main block. At the start, I thought I could make some of the winch out of wood.

But after seeing it made from wood and how much weight it will need to pull, I changed my mind. All will need to be made out of metal.

The winch itself will pull back two ropes from either end of the sled. I don’t think one rope would be enough with the current quality I have to work with.

The winch will have handles on both sides, so I can use both my hands to quickly cock it back. I will also need to make a release for the ratcheting system so it will not engage when I want to move the sled forward.

The trigger mechanism needs to be fully manual, meaning I need to engage and disengage it manually. This will also be imbedded into the main block.

It will also be made out of metal. It will be a simple thing at the side of the main block. Able to move in and out so I can pull it out of the way of the sled and move up and down so it can catch the string.

The current operation of the ballista is to release the winch ratcheting lock, then push the sled forward with the claw handle.

When I reached the string, the claw is lowered, then I can start to winch it back. This will go on until the sled clears the trigger mechanism at this point, I need to push in the trigger handle.

Then I need to winch a bit more until the trigger mechanism engages. I will need to add weight to it so it will move up on its own and catch the bowstring.

Then I can release the winch lock and move to sled forward and I can pull up the claws, then move this sled back as much as I can.

Then the ballista is firing ready, then i can add the needed ammo for the situation. To fire, I only need to pull up the trigger handle and it will fire.

To reset it again, the trigger must be pulled back out. Then I can repeat the other steps and fire it again.

A lot more complex than with a bow that you just need to throw back and then release, but as you make this kind of weapon stronger, it will need to have more steps to make it work.

Now that I had everything made out of wood, it was time to actually build the main block and then assemble it all out of wood and test it to see if it works or not.

I start by cutting the main block out of the oak. I cut it 2 meters long, and I make it as big as possible while I could still square it up. It ended up 8 inches by 8 inches.

Doing it is simple with piercing cut and so was cutting this piece in half, lengthwise. For the joints I will use simple tabs but a lot of them, so I will need to make a lot of holes, then the ability will have something to grab onto and work.

I started by carving out everything I need and the pieces I made were a good reference point, because I could always test to see how they fitted.

When I was done with it all, I tied the two pieces together with rope and used a wooden board and tied that on to the front.

Basically, I just made a really weak version of the ballista that I was going to use to test out if this design can work.

During testing, I needed to shave some parts down and needed to remake the claws because I’d made them a bit too short, and they had trouble holding on to the rope.

Why was it pulling back a rope? It’s because I have no way to make anything else better that could handle so much weight.

No sinew bowstring for this beast. Rope will last less, but it will also be a simple change. Well, maybe not so simple because the limb I will use needs a lot of strength to be pulled back, but I think with my current capabilities, I can accomplish it.

I started to carve out the grooves that will make the main block fit onto the stand block. I was halfway done when I heard the alarm go off.

I was so engaged with crafting that I didn’t realize it was already evening and moving towards night. I guess the goblins are here again.

I really hope that they wouldn't come, but that is no excuse for me not being on watch correctly. I just let myself go too deep into crafting again.

Even then, I still had my sword on my belt and bow and arrows close by. I moved quickly to the smoker because I could use it for some cover and not be seen.

If I went any closer, they might see me. I tried to get a better look, but I couldn’t see anything because of the raised bridge.

I quickly thought about my next move. I could just sit back here and wait and if anyone made it past, then kill them. But I have no idea how many goblins there are.

Now I wanted to keep myself hidden in the tower so they wouldn’t know that I have seen them, but is that currently necessary?

I would be coming from the direction of the farm. A reasonable assumption for anyone is that there should be someone defending here.

What to do? Every option seemed to have a similar number of upsides and downsides. My thinking was interrupted by a yell and then a splash.

I heard some arguing and then I saw a bad sight. The goblin that fell in is being pulled back to the shore. It had a rope tied around its armpits. “Well, shit.” Time to do some goblin killing.

I used the bridge as a cover to hopefully hide my approach. Going up the tower will take too much time. I just prepared my arrows and my mindset and then quickly run a few steps to the side.

Now I could see everything happening. There was seven goblins here, two of them were tied to ropes that other goblins hold so that they could pull up anyone who fell in.

There was also two hatchets that were also tied to rope, so when the goblins fell they could pull those up as well.

One of the goblins had fallen into the river and the other one was closing in on this side of the spike trap that was yet to be triggered.

I didn’t shoot him first but the one that was holding his rope. It was a good choice because my appearance startled them all and the goblin trying to cross fell in.

Because of my arrow hitting the one that was holding his rope, he didn't have any chance of being rescued. But I didn't stop there. I kept shooting, but not at the same goblin to kill it.

Every shot I made, I hit another goblin, and I tried to hit center mass. I finished my first handful of arrows. It took me a moment to reload. That gave them a moment to evaluate the situation.

One of them threw a spear at me, but it was easy enough to dodge and after that I was ready with another handful of arrows, so I could quickly shoot 4 arrows in less than a second.

I choose to aim this time a bit better. I killed 2 goblins that still had spears and they looked like they wanted to throw them.

They were the most serious threat. At that moment, the rest of them broke and started to run, leaving everything behind that they were holding.

I got one more of the fleeing goblins, I had killed three and the one that fell into the water. So four killed and three run away. I guess the goblin that fell first was able to get ashore.

Now I climbed the tower. I could see them running towards the forest and there were two goblins there watching everything.

When they noticed me, I gave them the middle finger and showed my bow menacingly. I think they got the message because when the others reached them, they start to move back.

This was an unpleasant development, and I wondered how they would react to this. What I would do in their place is set up in the forest and have a lookout, so if the bridge is ever lowered, you could quickly rush it on mass.

Of course, I would have many other plans to cross the river making this bridge unnecessary, but who knows what the goblins are capable of and what they will do.

I finally got to use my hook to pull the dead goblins into the river. The one that I killed further away we’ll be left there.

I will not risk lowering the bridge even though I don’t see them watching. I’m not willing to take that risk. Reseting all the traps and the alarm, I then went to set up the forge for tomorrow.

Tomorrow I will need to gather all the metal I can, so when the ballista pieces are done, I can start making bolt heads for the ballista ammo.