Thikud "showerbolted" Mesiralath was a visionary, and his vision was of a great underground metropolis, a mountainhome in the truest sense of the word. He had heard tales of a magnificent cave, with endless supplies of power and bountiful iron and silver, and had decided to built his vision of a mountainhome in that location. A true visionary, he was not easily held back by small details such as lack of supplies or worrying reports of zombies roaming the ground above his cave. Zombies aren't problems, zombies are *challenges*, and so they set off to Edangzak Utharsanad Gedor, Earlyterrors the first Morning of Evil.
Riding through the joyful wilds of the Mire of Glossomething, Thikud wondered what all the dark tales were on about. He ordered the wagon, which he had brought with him to carry back the riches he was sure to amass, to be placed atop the location of the new mountainhome. He surveyed the land, serene expanses of grassland and trees to the south and west. To the North, uhm, wormy tendrils? Staring eyeballs? Well, at least they seemed to be stuck in the ground. As Thikut made a mental note to stay on the green side of the line, he saw something else fluttering about. Birds, it seemed, but they didn't look entirely right to him. In fact, they looked quite horrible, with patches of wing missing and tendrils and blooded organs sticking out of gaping holes in the skin.
"Strike the earth!", he commanded, "and hurry up a bit!". While Uzol, the appointed miner, took the one pick out of the wagon, Reg started disassembling the wagon. Ordering the other dwarfs to keep themselves and the pack animals close by, Thikud ordered Uzol to dig out a small shelter right where they stood, and had their meagre supplies carried inside: one pick, an anvil, three logs from the wagon, and two yaks. More than enough to start an empire, Thikud decided, and ordered the wall to the outside world be boarded up using one of the logs. They were all safe, and their limited supplies would be enough to dig down to the promised cave and set up shop there.
On digging down, Uzol quickly found out that there was an aquifer beneath the second soil layer. By inspecting the ground under a staircase dug into the aquifer on the instant that the staircase was dug, Uzol determined that the aquifer was at least two layers deep, but hopefully not more. Although he only started his mining carreer a day before, Uzol had hear tales of breaching aquifers using only a pick, and told Thikud that he needed to train in the soil layer for a full season to build up enough experience for this feat.
Thikud, realizing that the temporary shelter would be their home for the time being, ordered a carpenters shop to be built with the second log, and the last log to be made into a door. He decided to make a long tunnel from the access point, which was too close to the tendrils to his taste, all the way to the southwest corner, and build the door there, and have new quarters dug behind the installed door. The carpenter was deconstructed, and the log was moved to the new quarters, alongside the anvil, yaks, and dwarfs. After everyone was safe, the wooden wall was deconstructed so the dwarves had two logs again. Uzod, meanwhile, had dug out some water points in the aquifer to quench the dwarves' thirst until the caverns could be reached. While Uzod was building up his mining prowess, the two yaks were slaughtered, and the proceeds were spun and tanned and the leather and bones were crafted into some rudimentary armor and trade goods, by constructing and deconstructing workshops as needed using the two logs. Finally, the carpenter was rebuilt, and a training axe was made to be able to chop the trees in the cavern.
After emplying a technique called 'chicken running', Uzod was able to drain the first aquifer layer into the second, and he discovered to his delight that below that layer there was hematite. After digging out the first aquifer layer in the cave-in room, a 3x3 patch of soil was caved-in from the second (dry) soil layer into the second aquifer layer, and Uzod was able to dig down, searching for the caverns.
The map below, dwarn after the fact by engravers enjoying the peace and prosperity of their new home, still shows the initial shelter in the top right corner, the tunnel leading west and south, and the venerable access door with after it the spacious but empty rooms created by Uzod's practice digging. The black hole on the left is the access to the caverns.
As soon as he god news of the discovery, Thikud donned the rudimentary armor and training axe, and headed down into the cavern. He liked what he saw: a spacious cavern ground with few entrances, and a magma tube ending one layer below the cavern. On the way down, Uzod discovered hematite and cassetirite, and the cavern itself contained Galena, an ore of silver with lead contaminations. He ordered a first defensive barrier of trenches to be dug by Uzod, while ordering the other dwarfs to collect the mushrooms and shrubs on the cavern floor. He set up a still and a craftsdwarfs workshop for pots, and soon water was drunk no more in Gedor.
Meanwhile, a brave bunch of immigrants arrived at the southeastern side of the map. Hoping for more hands to work, Thikud instead saw mainly small mouths to feed: 5 children and two adults. However, one adult was a master farmer, which came in very handy now that it was time to setup the first farms. So, the immigrants were directed to a meeting area just outside the door, and after making sure no zombies were following, the door was opened to the first set of new citizens. Welcome to Utharsanad Gedor, the first Morning of Evil, the future mountainhome.
The drawing above shows the state of the fortress, or outpost really, in early autumn of the first year. The plump helmet farm is full of plants, and the pig tail and cave wheat farms are starting to get along as well. The seed stockpiles also contain dimple cup and sweet pod seeds. Left of the still is the food stockpile, containing rum, beer, ale, wine and some yak meat. Silk has been harvested and bags have been sown, allowing for milling and (later) processing quarry bushes. The top shows the magma pool, and right below it the entrance staircase and the stoneworks.
Below the cavern level, a proper dining hall has been dug as well as a magma smithy, which has been used already to make the first weapons and armor for the militia.
Below this level, the stairs in the dining hall lead to the bedrooms, still not enough to house all 16 dwarves, but very colourful and more comfortable than sleeping in the dirt. The dwarves aren't happy, but they are all content, and everyone is safe for the moment. Thikud and Reg started training with the new weapons, and although they still have to get comfortable with their new role, they will surely make Gedor a safer place soon enough.
Immediate plans: seal of more cavern space to get more wood so everyone can have a room; set up an airlock and trading area before the cavern comes; and turn the outpost into a thriving fortress.
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Topic: Edangzak Utharsanad Gedor [Players and Judges Needed!] (Read 13821 times)