Caravan River Crossing

When the Willowmoorans were traveling to find where they would build their village and their caravan of wagons tried to successfully cross a flooded river.

The Crossing

Prelude

According to the maps the survivors collected along the way, they should have been able to cross the wide northwestern river at a point almost directly on their chosen path where the mighty tributary thinned out dramatically. Instead, they discovered the bombs had disfigured the whole river, and their thin crossing no longer existed. They would have to find a new crossing or take a detour through one of the nearby cities that sat right on top of the river. Since the caravan had just battled their way out of militia-run New Bonneville a few weeks prior, they did not want to take their chances going through another city. Instead, they sent their scouts ahead to find a new safe crossing.

Event

Though the river was shallow enough to cross at the point the wagons started crossing, it didn't stay that way since a storm was already brewing before they even began to cross. The storm caused the river to rise quickly and dramatically, whipping it up into a powerful force against the weathered wagons. As people who had already crossed safely to the other shore tried to help things along by wading out into the river, several were swept underwater or carried away downstream. By the time the last wagon was halfway across, it got caught in the current as well and might have washed away if several survivors from the other wagons didn't rush to save it.

Outcome

Once the last wagon was finally on the opposite shore, it was already apparent that people had been lost to the river. The survivors arranged the wagons in a circle a safe distance away, and more survivors gathered there to take stock of the inventory while several others retreated back to the riverbank to look for the missing. Importantly, none of the caravan's leadership or children were lost.

In the end, the survivors recovered less than a dozen of the more than fifty people who drowned in the river during the catastrophic crossing.

Historical Significance

Legacy

Thanks to the disastrous caravan river crossing, there has never been a child born in Willowmoor who didn't learn how to swim from a young age.

The names of the victims were eventually carved onto a memorial statue erected in their honor - right at the fork of Willowmoor's own two rivers. It serves as a reminder to the residents of the village that they must treat their rivers with respect and be mindful of brewing storms that might turn them wild.