Journal of Dastot, Granite 15, 50I've never seen very many wild animals before. Well, besides the monsters in the caverns. These ones are very strange creatures. I've never seen anything like them. They seem to be similar in shape to a dwarf, just larger, and with much more hair. Maybe once we're done with the first set of work we can observe them more closely.
Anyway, we began work immediately after my speech ended. I may be an optimist, but I'm not an idiot, and soon we'll be facing much bigger threats than gorillas. No one wants to be outside when the dead find us.
I plan to build an interior "safe zone" at the center of our new fortress. Inside will be our temporary dining hall and dormitory, along with the food stockpile and some smaller farm plots on the lower levels. This way, even if we are besieged before a capable military can be produced, we will have a place to hide and wait out the invaders.
First off, though, we needed wood. We didn't bring an axe on embark in order to save money for other necessities. I began by building a mason's workshop with one of our wooden logs. I took one of our granite rocks and produced four blocks, which were used to build both a smelter and forge.
Tetrahedrite was smelted and we produced a single copper axe. With this axe, Melbil began chopping down as many trees as possible. We'll need a lot of logs.
Journal of Dastot, Felsite 21, 50One of the gorillas got a little too close for comfort. I'm not taking any chances, so I sent the dogs to attack them. Actually, I sent the dogs away last week, but they are still chasing it around the area. They haven't even gotten a good hit on it yet.
Progress on the tower continues. We finished the ground floor today.
This will be our farm level when it's finished, so even if we can't go outside for a few months, we can still have a constant supply of food.
Events of Hematite 6, 50Rith was fishing. He never really had a chance to fish very much at the mountainhome, on account of there not being any water besides in the caverns, which seemed to be attacked by giant cave spiders or forgotten beasts every other day.
So he liked it here, in Lightcastles. He could practice his trade, talk with those who share his interests, and listen to gorilla screams every once in a while. Today, though, something caught his eye.
"Quick!" Rith yelled. "Kobolds!"
Two kobolds had arrived to steal the riches of Lightcastles. No one knows what they were trying to steal, considering that only four things of value had been produced in the fortress: 1 copper axe, and 3 copper mechanisms. The mechanisms were used in the construction of the drawbridge, and the axe was being used to chop down trees. So really, there was nothing of value that they could steal.
"Where are the war dogs?" Rith asked. No one answered, but as he finished speaking after, a gorilla raced by, still chased by the dogs, none of whom seemed to be tiring from their 3 month chase.
The kobolds got away.
Journal of Dastot, Hematite 27, 50Migrants arrived today, our first ones. It seems that there are others in the mountainhome who share our sentiments. Vabok claimed he was a novice hammerman, so I make him the military commander and order him to begin training. Of the other four, two are children, one is an accomplished brewer, and the other has no noticeable skills.
Journal of Dastot, Malachite 22, 50The dogs chased the gorilla through the middle of our tower today. It then promptly ran off and escaped our territory. And so after a four month long chase, the dogs accomplish exactly nothing. I'm glad we brought them. In other, happier news, we finished with the second floor of the tower today.
Journal of Dastot Galena 9, 50The tower is finally finished. The third floor will be our temporary dining hall and barracks as the rest undergo construction. If necessary, we can completely seal it off from the outside world and be self-sufficient for long enough to wait out whatever threat comes upon us.
Additionally, we finish a barn for the animals and have begun taking inventory of everything we have. I need to now begin to focus on producing trade goods so we can have some purchases when the caravan arrives this fall. This fortress is safe, now it's time to make it as brilliant as I've dreamed.
OOC: So there's the first six months, roughly. In the future I probably will make more frequent updates with less content in each of them. Elagn, There wasn't a dwarf that was a mechanic, and I really needed the labor, so I haven't dorfed you yet. I'll probably do it with this next migrant wave. Also, no, we won't be doing any digging whatsoever. I will not make or buy any picks, and any that arrive with migrants will be melted down immediately. This doesn't mean we won't have any rock or metal, though. Caravans will still bring everything we need, it just will be in an extremely limited supply.