The village already has plenty of natural protection from the mountains, but it's western side was left fairly open. We've begun construction on a gated wall.
Additionally, there is a team fortifying Loudfoot Manor. It shall be a final stronghold in the event of the main wall being breached.
After the fortifications are completed I will begin training the beards of the village on basic "castle defense" tactics.
The wall is complete. On top of the wall, we have set up an armory on each end. In each armory is a dozen crossbows and hundreds of bolts set up in quivers.
At the base of the wall next to the gate, spears and shields are ready to go.
Every morning for the next month, I will be doing drills with the beards of the village.
The training is going well. Some of the beards are naturals with the crossbow so they shall take shifts on top of the wall, two at a time. The rest also take shifts in teams of two just inside the gate. Everyone still has a job to do to keep the village running smoothly, but being a guard for a day per week isn't too much of a problem.
One of the guards has spotted someone snooping around at the base of the mountain range. He seemed to get spooked as soon as he saw the wall and ran off.
We've gone to full alert and stationed twenty-four beards on the wall. Twelve to shoot, the rest to reload. Thirty are armed and ready just inside the gate.
Those who are unable to fight are already inside Loudfoot Manor, which is guarded by a handful of beards.
The raiders arrived later that night but they were woefully unprepared. It didn't take long to drive them away, but I fear that we have only invited a challenge.