~30th Moonstone, 55~Well... it's been quite a while since I wrote in this thing. I haven't had any time during this journey, but at the moment we're camping out and actually resting for the first time in a week. The reason I haven't been able to write is that my comrades and I have been constantly running our asses off from basically everything we've encountered. The running didn't help much, as we still suffered heavy casualties and equipment loss. First was the elves when we passed through their forest. We had stopped to rest for the first time on the whole trip, so I ordered a few trees cut down to make a campfire. Bad fucking idea. The instant the axehead hit the trunk, the offending woodcutter had six wooden arrows lodged deeply in his skull and blood and brain matter were sprayed all over the tree. We rushed to get back on the wagon, but all but one of our woodcutters made it out alive, the rest lying dead in the forest, waiting to be eaten by those psychopaths. Then, was the humans. To be fair, we did antagonize them a bit, but only because we thought we could get away with it. Being dreadfully hungry, we raided the farmhouses of a human hamlet, only to find prickleberries. That certainly wouldn't do, so we decided to snack on the farmers instead, seeing no alternative. When we were halfway through feasting on the residence of a cottage, the door was kicked down to reveal an iron-clad human swordsman leading a squad of crossbowmen. We charged out the door, overwhelming the guards, but as one might expect several of us were shot. Not waiting around for human reinforcements, we left our wounded comrades behind in the dirt and rushed back to the wagon, only to find it surrounded by humans, who were currently confiscating the weapons from the wagon. Those idiots apparently didn't realize the giant trolls we had caged back there, and accidentally hit the latch that kept one of them safely away. It was glorious carnage, but we didn't have time to enjoy it; as a force of dreaded human cavalry was no doubt on the way. We didn't bother to try and cage the escaped troll; he'd probably buy as some time with the humans anyway. We lost pretty much all of our weapons and tools there, choosing to leave them behind rather than spend hours collecting them and risking death. Finally was the dwarves. Knowing of their presence, we very cautiously skirted past the edge of the mountain. It would appear that we weren't cautious enough, as the night was suddenly lit up with bright orange. Magma was rapidly pouring out of a hole in a cliff face, and was streaming towards us. Suddenly more holes opened up, and torrents of the stuff came at us from several different places. We nearly got out unscathed, but a gigantic ballista arrow flew from somewhere in the mountain, striking the wagon square in the side and knocking it over. We were toast, with lava pooling up all around us. I frantically ordered everyone to push the wagon upright and get inside, not bothering to pickup any of the scattered weapons or tools that spilled out (thankfully our animals' cages were secured to the wagon, as were the packages of ore that we brought). I whipped the horses mercilessly to run through the lava, but to no avail. Finally, they dumb animals moved after being nearly whipped to death, and their hooves were submerged in liquid stone, as were the flaming wheels of our wagon. I whipped harder and harder, and we were finally free of the lava's grasp. That was yesterday, and we've been pulling the wagon by troll power ever since, with the horses each tied with a rope to a troll and dragged along with us, waiting to be butchered and put out of their misery. After all these horrifying (not the good kind of horrifying) incidents, we're left with only these supplies:
It looks like we have just enough to set up a smelter or two and a forge, and then we can start working with the ores we brought. It'll be a slow start though, since we have to make all of our tools from scratch. We'll have to be quick, as our enemies are no doubt on our tail. We've also got plenty of pigs to start a meat and hide industry, with the help of our butcher and cook (the two are synonymous to a goblin), Lucy (it's an oddly human name, but I've seen her butchery work and she's plenty goblin).
As far as manpower, we've got two military goblins (though their usefulness will be fairly nonexistent until we reforge their weapons and armor), one miner (a skinny goblinette named Grall), the previously-mentioned butcher (who's also a pretty good leatherworker), one woodcutter, one mason, and of course myself, the resident bookkeeper and carpenter. I will also be in charge of trade negotiations until I can find someone to delegate that job to.
Now, I should get some rest. It'll be at least twenty hour of straight travel, then right to work starting building.
~Granite, 56~
We've finally arrived! Here's a sketch of the landscape:
I know it's not much to luck at, and it's a bit too green and natural for my liking, but prospectors told me that there's supposed to be plenty of metal flux below ground (which is why I chose this spot in the first place) if we can pierce the aquifer. There's also plenty of trees around, so we can get a good charcoal industry going to fuel our forges.
Our first order of business was smelting down that ore into bronze and silver bars, then forging tools so we could start mining and chopping trees. To do that we'd need smelters and a forge. While none of us are skilled in architecture, I did a fairly good job designing these if I do say so myself, and our mason did an excellent job putting them together.
I've put the two soldiers on furnace duty, while I myself will be smithing weapons and armor. I've never done anything like it before, and the flood of pigs running around the forges doesn't make it any easier. Hopefully Lucy can show off her skills on them soon.
I don't bother waiting for the copper to be smelted into bronze; copper's hard enough to mine through rock and cut through wood, so there's no point in wasting our tin on simple tools. Now we'll have more bronze for actual weapons.
With the first pick finished, I designate a moat for Grall to dig. I could hear her complaining under her breath about digging dirt, saying she'd much rather be mining stone and metal and that someone of her skill was beyond digging a simple moat out of dirt. I told that bitch to shut up and dig the damn moat. She'll have a quarry to work in soon enough. I hope she dies in a cave-in. I also told the woodcutter to start clearing the trees around here. At least he isn't complaining about "him being too good to cut birch trees" or some shit.
Now that everyone's been put to work digging, forging, chopping, or hauling, the next order of business is water. A sustainable food supply will come soon enough too, but we can always butcher the pigs in an emergency. I've designated a shaft to be dug by Grall through the dirt (hehe) down to the first aquifer layer, right below the wagon, which is where the well room will be put in the future. When she's done with that, she can start digging out four rooms surrounding the water shaft, which we can use for temporary storage and lodging until we begin quarrying stone to build the tower proper.
I've even started helping that dreadful miner dig while I wait for the soldiers to pump out more bronze, if only to try and stop some of her complaining. In addition to all that work, I've constructed a few beds for us. Damn, I'm good.
~Slate, 56~We've survived over a year in this place, and are making some pretty significant progress on the moat, but construction of the water shaft has been delayed do to the fact that there is a
fucking goblin drowning in it. I know I said I hoped Grall died, and she certainly deserves it for digging out the floor under her right over the water, but I still need her mining skills. I've ordered everyone to grab a pick and to go dig a set of emergency steps for her to climb up as quickly as possible.
The mason was the first on the scene. He frantically moved dozens of kilograms of soil, ripping through it as he proceeded downwards towards the splashing and gurgling sounds that Grall was making. When he reached the surface of the water, he realized that Grall was no longer visible and the water had gone still. He dove into the water, baring the powerful currents of the aquifer as he swam deeper. He returned moments later gasping for breath with the lifeless body of Grall in his arms.
It's a damned shame she's gone. But, to be fair, she did deserve it for being so stupid, and, to look on the bright side, I've got a new pair of nifty troll fur sandals! I'll get to work on her casket right after I finish these suits of bronze armor for our soldiers.
As a reward for fishing Grall and her pickaxe out of the water shaft, I've given the pick to the mason to keep, and promoted him to Grall's old position as chief miner (for now). We won't have stone for a little longer anyway, so his talents won't be wasted. Lucy's also been without work lately, just hauling logs around and waiting for me to tell her to butcher and cook something. I've given her the pick I was using and told her to help the mason until the food supply needs to be supplemented with fresh pork. And, now that the ore has all been smelted, the soldiers can go help mine a bit too until I put the finishing touches on their equipment and get them a proper barracks to train in.
Antsy to get out of the open air and into a smooth stone structure, I've begun making pump parts and designated strategic points in the soil to be dug for easier pumping later. I've decided that the northeastern underground room will serve as the entrance to the quarry once it's operational.
Grall's rotten remains have finally been picked up out of the water supply (for some reason the mason decided to dump her body back in there after he tried to rescue her) and placed in the casket I built for her. I placed her tomb right next to the water channel as a reminder to all future miners when they're digging channels: don't be an idiot like Grall.
Our supply of rat meat was dwindling, so I ordered one of the sows butchered. It's a shame that she didn't yield any piglets before she died, but we were all really hungry. Hopefully we won't have to butcher any more of them before the stock grows.
The pig's hide will be tanned and made into a quiver for our eventual crossbowgoblin force, it's fat and meat will be rendered and cooked into some of Lucy's fortress-famous fat and bacon biscuits, and it's bones will be saved to be made into bolts or crafts later on.
~Felsite, 56~The pump has been put in place, and the shaft has been dug. I'm no mechanic, but I think this design will work. I'm sending one of the lumberjack down there to operate the pump; we've got enough wood for quite some time. I doubt we'll have to cut any more until we start up a charcoal-powered metal industry.
I've fucked up the shaft by digging too much before beginning setting up walls. I'm going to retry and build a new shaft to pierce the aquifer. I have a feeling we won't have stone for a while.
~Hematite, 56~We've been here a whole season and our military has just now begun training. We're doomed, but at least not as doomed as those poor sods back at Kissedstole.
Our swordsgoblin and macegoblin, despite being armed with a full suit of bronze armor and a longsword and flail respectively, will no doubt fail to fend off any ambushing squads from our enemies. I'll have to draft any immigrants that follow the trade caravan into the defense force.
A bunch of goblins came already! How did they even know about this place?
Seven working gobbos and six useless brats. The leader of the troop, an animal trainer, tells me that the group heard about our expedition from those traders I negotiated with and wanted to escape their fate at the hands of Hell just as we did. While I'll have to have a stern word with the caravan leader about our agreement to keep silent about the expedition, more helping hands are always appreciated. Among them are a woodcutter and a miner, who I've put to work in their respective crafts. I've also told the leader to get to work training the beak dogs and trolls we brought with us. Everyone else will be given a bronze weapon and shield and put into the barracks to train.
Make that seven useless brats.
Happy birthday, kid. Now, get the fuck to work. I've assigned the kid to take over my old job as armorer. I was pretty lousy at it, and my carpentry skills are better used to wall off the aquifer.
~Galena, 56~Work continues tediously on the aquifer. Food stocks are dwindling once again and, wanting to preserve as many pigs as possible, I have ordered our four-goblin military to attack a bunch of badgers. I have assigned our two original warriors each a war troll, newly trained by that immigrant, so that combined with their armor and skill should make them very durable. Hopefully Lucy is familiar with the anatomy of a badger.
It turns out she is!
At the bottom of my aquifer-piercing shaft, the miners struck something that warrants celebration: hematite within a flux layer!
Although maybe we should hold off on partying until we actually manage to break through the aquifer, if we ever do.
~Limestone, 56~Right at the beginning of Autumn, one of the sows gave birth.
The other sows followed suit, and now we're up to our eyeballs in piglets. Once they mature I will order the males to be butchered, but I'll keep the females alive to further grow our stock.
Another group of migrants came by.
Only four this time, but no children, which is a definite plus. While more help is always appreciated, most of the civilian goblins are idle and will be until we break down into the stone layer.
Among the migrants was a self-proclaimed great stonecrafter.
We'll have to see how good he is once we mine some of that limestone.
~Sandstone, 56~The first goblin since the start of this fort has achieved legendary status. Our original woodcutter can now cleave a tree down with one swift swipe of his copper battleaxe. To commemorate his ascension, he has asked for the title "The Walrus". It's a weird request, but I think he deserves to be called whatever he wants. He requested that he be allowed to help out with carpentry. I told him maybe after the aquifer's pierced and a skilled carpenter is less important. He seemed a bit upset, but he'll have to get over it. I've never seen a goblin so eager to help out before; it's weird.
I've also assigned a war beak dog to him for a bit of extra protection while he's outside chopping trees.
~Timber, 56~The traders came a few months early, in late Autumn instead of Mid-Winter as we had agreed. As such, we had no depot or crafts to trade.
Those pricks threatened to rat us out to the Bad Cat when they discovered we didn't have anything to reimburse them for their dangerous trip. I was able to convince him to "give me another chance" (even though it was totally his fault) and come back next year, telling him that we had struck the ingredients for steel. I told the liaison to bring plenty of tame beak dogs and trolls next year, and I'd pay him well over market value.
~Granite, 57~A whole year, and no ambushes or thieves have reared their ugly heads. I assume this just means that the ambushes will be all the stronger when they do arrive, but for now we are safe. Our military currently consists of six soldiers, only two of whom have proper armor. About half of the civilian goblins are idle and hanging around in the underground meeting area. Once I break through to the stone and steel ingredients, everyone will be up to their eyeballs in work, but getting there is proving a difficult task. I've only pierced and walled off one layer of aquifer, and have been working on the second one for roughly all of Winter. I've so far only laid down two walls do to over-zealous miners. I am considering breaching in another place using a cave-in, but I don't want to abandon the current project after spending so much time and effort on it. Maybe I'll ask the other goblins what they think.
Now I think would be a good time to take stock of the fortress, its resources, and its goblins.
OOC: Believe it or not this took me all day. Journals are much appreciated.
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Topic: RainyNightmares (Goblin Fortress Community Fort) (Read 2232 times)