Our Founding Fathers (and Mother):Having done well in my studies at the Dwarven Academy of Mines, I went on to lead a small burrow back at the mountainhome. Having proven my worth, the King sent me and this intrepid band to found the center of his hunting grounds. Apparently our King has a fancy for killing
elves strange and exotic beasts. I'm the youngest expedition leader the mountainhome has sent out yet, and I hope to live up to my King's expectations, for failure means exile to the magma sea.
Our chief smith. We're lucky to have him, though we weren't provided any anvils for our trip. A curious fellow, fond of the forbidden rock and loves him some fish fry. Experienced with crafting armor and weapons, we're relying on him to provide the tools needed to stave off the
elves ferocious wildlife.
One of our guards. He's handy with a hammer, though a bit on the dull side. Don't try sneaking up on him though. He doesn't say much, and most of us like it that way.
The best miner we could find. He stays on task and gets the job done, a trait I can admire. He tends to stay to himself mostly, though he seems to like our draft horse.
Our impatient, anxious axedwarf. He's a huge, lumbering thing, not exactly the brightest of the group but has a certain grace with that axe of his. Don't look into his eyes. Ever. A fire burns within, lusting for slaughter; it's best not to disturb the flames.
Our doctor. He's obsessed with cleanliness, and actually cried when we were told we wouldn't have any soap. He hunts down and kills roaches with gusto, claiming that they are unclean demons.
Our farmer. Not much to say about her, besides the fact that she's the only female in our group.
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AND THUS BEGINS THE EPIC TALE OF THE GREAT FORTRESS KNOWN AS... CAVERAVENS.
Chapter 1: Our First StepsSpring, Year 736
Log Entries of:
__Snook Oddomcatten____Well, we've made through the jungles in one piece. We lost a dog, and McFuzzy dropped a whole damn barrel of ale into a river. So here we are.
A small, rocky hill in the middle of an Armok-be-damned jungle. This isn't exactly what the told me it would be like... "A massive mountain, dominating the landscape. You are to build us a throne room atop this grand hill, such that our King can come and hunt the lands as he pleases." Well there damn sure isn't much mountain to work with. It barely qualifies as a hill, even. But the Kings the King, and so the bucko gets his chair on a this so-called 'mountain'.
---
We've found a leopard. Or, more correctly, a leopard found one of the dogs and chewed on it for a while. Our "militia" (some brute with an axe and a dwarf who fashions himself as 'Urist McHammerdwarf.' Hint: He doesn't wield a sword!) promptly ran it through. It bled all over the place in a most wonderful fashion.
It finally died when one someone had the bright idea to hit it on the head.
I know it's unconscious there, but trust me, it's dead.
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Our fort is well on its way. We've carved out the entrance, some storage space, a trade depot and a dormitory, all in a season. This is excellent timing, since I was only given one experienced miner when we set off, and had to draft our smith to dig for his own damn ore. We don't even have an anvil yet anyways, so it's the only real purpose he has right now. I was told we'd be getting more sturdy dwarves in the coming seasons, and a caravan by mid-autumn. I'll be damned if the caravan will leave empty-handed, especially since we'll be needing an anvil.
During the summer, we're setting up some farmland and a few workshops, and if there's enough time I'll tell the miners to dig deeper still and set up a nice dining room.
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Summer, Year 736
Log Entries of:
__Snook Oddomcatten____Migrants! 7 of them. And only 1 female amongst them; I fear the gods are toying with us. In any case, I quickly set them to work clearing out the rubble. Our farms are well on their way, and the irrigation system only needs a few mechanisms and floodgates to be completed. By the end of the season, I hope to have started construction on the dining room, and some more workshop space.
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Well, the dry season [Autumn] has arrived, and so has a herd of elephants. I've heard tales of these beasts; imagine if we could capture and tame them! Dreams for the future, I'm afraid. We've almost completed some extra storage space, the control room, and the dining hall. I've been hard at work making tables and chairs, so we should have a full dining room set up by winter. We've been lax in making export goods, however. I'll see to it the gem cutter and stonecrafter get to work; we'll need those supplies if we're to last the winter.
(Nothing much happened this Summer. We got some migrants, some of which are useful (another farmer! Awesome!) and some of which are not (fish dissectors, etc.) Hopefully the next 2 seasons will be more interesting.)
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Autumn, Year 736
Log Entries of:
__Snook Oddomcatten____The dining area is complete, our farms are being irrigated, the control room is complete, and we've got plenty of workshop space and storage. I've been hearing some complaints about the housing situation; we only have 8 beds for 14 dwarves. I've ordered the digging of some bedrooms, as well as some office space for myself and the sheriff.
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This is odd... It's late in the season, and we've got plenty of goods for the caravan ready. However, we haven't seen hide nor beardhair of the merchants. I worry for the fate of those dwarves; it's a dangerous land out there. Maybe we could construct an underground network, to link the outposts and mountainhome... I'll have to submit the idea to the King, when he arrives.
---
The merchants came, and just in time. Our food stores were nigh empty, but thanks to the efforts of our crafters I was able to negotiate a deal for several barrels of food and drink in trade for trinkets, saving our cut gems for encrusting. Our farms are about to have their first harvest of plump helmets, and we've got a still up and running. I don't think we'll need to worry about food much more.
The traders complained of the elephants and leopards running around outside, but since we can't do much about it right now, I'm ignoring their requests. Our liaison to the mountainhome has requested we produce drink and prepared foodstuffs. Also, bracelets. I'm not sure what the King wants out of us, but if he wants food he need only come and hunt for it himself. They tried offering us an artifact quiver, but seeing as none have the skill to use this, and its price tag, I passed it over.
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Winter, Year 736
Log Entries of:
__Snook Oddomcatten____It would be nice to have some other like-minded dwarfs in the fort... I sometimes feel as if Marzen, the farmers, and I are the only ones doing anything useful around the fort. It's like being in college again, only I don't have any quarry bush leaves to help me through it.
I'm working to remedy that situation. What the rock provides, we should use... Right?
---
I have begun expansion of the bedrooms area to accommodate more
slackers useless sods migrants. It's getting near the end of my appointed term, and I'll be appointing Marzen as my replacement. He does the most work around here, so he should do well in a leadership role, setting an example and all that.
The Sheriff keeps whining about the lack of a jail; I told him to stuff it since we have no way to KEEP anyone in jail. He says his hammer will keep them in line. He has yet to clean off the bits of skull and brain left by the leopard, and the bloody thing does serve as a preventative measure.
Meanwhile, Kipi keeps chopping trees like there's no tomorrow. I believe he has a vendetta against them. Our smith, McFuzzy, asked him once why it is that he despises the trees. Kipi mumbled something about burning the woodland realms and that the elves must pay; Armok knows what he's been through.
---
For clarity, I've labeled the current levers. This should keep us from having any unfortunate accidents, in case someone is wondering which lever, exactly, floods the fields. After reading about several flooding incidents, I feel this is a necessary precaution.
I've also set up some stone-fall traps at the entrance. Weak as defense goes, but better than nothing, right?
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The sheriff is pleased with his room assignment... Finally. I found the bloodiest looking rock I could and fashioned him some stands for his weapons and armor.
I've set our smelter to the task of making as much coke as he can. Seeing as access to magma will be a future project, and we have metal needs now, I felt it prudent. Also, we have an anvil! McFuzzy is ecstatic about this turn of events. Or maybe he's ecstatic because he's managed to snag one of the few women who're around...
Our cook is also hard at work, now that we finally have a kitchen. I'm not the only one cheering that we don't have to gnaw on raw food anymore. We're also digging out even more workshop space, and I've begun "prettifying" the bedrooms. Starting with mine.
I've also started an audit on our supplies. I'm tired of hearing that we have "a bunch" of this or "very little" of that. Time for some concrete numbers. I'll be locking myself in my room, now...
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Alas, kobolds got in through the front gate, which was left open for some reason. (
*COUGH*) Kipi and McHammerdwarf rushed off after it, but unfortunately couldn't catch it. However, Kipi found another thief... Who promptly broke his hand. Dammit. And we don't have a hospital yet either.
Kipi ran off to clean himself for some Armok-forsaken reason, and rushed headlong into a pack of tigermen.
Luckily, they took no notice of a bloody, weakened dwarf (who still clung to his axe... excellent lad.)
And then the rainy season [Spring] arrived!
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Overall things are going well. We've got plenty of trade goods, food, and misc. supplies.
Things to do:
*Get a hospital.
*Better defense of the front gate.
*Annoy elves.*Refuse pile. Dunno how I forgot this.
*Kick-start the metal industry. There should be plenty of coke and ore lying around.
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Topic: Caveravens: Year 3: Fall, 737: Fall to your DOOM (Read 24605 times)