1 Granite 336
It occurs that on the eve of our momentous undertaking I should begin chronicling our progress. I've spent every penny I have on this expedition but it will bear fruit soon enough. I had to make more than a few deals but I've amassed two lean dogs, two skilled cats, two good sheep, a handful of seeds , a few worn but true picks and axes, a few yards of leather, a few bolts of cloth, some good stone blocks, a few cords of wood and a copper sword and buckler. This regrettably left my wallet a bit light when it came to rations. I don't think I'll tell the men but I had to buy racoon meat and sewer brew. Speaking of the men I've found six sympathetic confederates to assist me in my undertaking, that is, the establishment of a Dwarven Farmstead like the worlds never known. Quite frankly I wish I'd been able to spend a little more on them as well, I have no idea what a Toa Mata, a Yedorian Mage, or a druid even do. Theres still the farmer so I suppose there's hope.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
This is the parcel of land I purchased, "Murderfarmed" it's called. A bit ominous but it was damned affordable and between the bountiful river and the thick forests it's the perfect place to lay down roots. It's a bit colder than I'd hope and a thick layer of snow covers the ground so I it may be advantageous to wait before trying to make seeds take root. We'll need to start gathering wood as soon as possible and start building shelter. I'll confess this may be a bit rougher than I'd imagined but still, it's going to be worth it. One day soon this glorious white expanse will bend to the might of the new dwarven empire of The Persuasive Crafts. No more tunnels, no more stone, no more blasted mushrooms! No more mushroom roasts or mushroom wine or raw mushrooms when the roasts run out. It looks like we're unloading, I can't keep writing there's work to do.
5 Granite
Labor progresses swiftly. I've ordered the farmer Thorick to stake off the rivers edge to mark it as restricted. The area to the east melted suddenly and if the same were to happen upstream I can't imagine a dwarf caught in the sudden torrent would survive. The miner has tested the soil and confirmed that we are standing happily on a large deposit of clay, it may not be as fancy as the engraved marble of the mountainhomes but it will be warmer than wood. I've plans to start collecting as soon as possible. It's not all good news though, I noticed some birds on the horizon and only when they came closer did I realize they were absolutely huge. I had the druid identify them as Giant Bushtit, they look nasty but not particularly aggressive. They've been wary of us and we've been wary of them and so far nobodies stepped on anybodies toes. I've had Tahudjt take up sword and shield but he's not going to do much against a swarm of birds. I think a barracks just jumped up on the priority list, of course we have no more weapons so it's a bit of a catch twenty two.
We've begun hacking down trees for shelter and to clear an area for the master storehouse. To keep everyone's hands busy I've ordered the supplies moved to the area the warehouse will be built. I can't write anymore I need to keep mapping out building sites and there's plenty to be built.
17 Granite
Woke this morning to discover the ground clear of snow but the larger part of the river still frozen. The woodpile has been designated and a carpenters workshop is being made nearby. I'm considering givin one of the men the ownership of a good dirt-floor tavern where the men can drink and sleep till we can get some proper houses built.
25 Granite.
Apparently it wasn't enough to tell the men not to stand on the river, the woodcutter decided to fish in a small pond by walking out onto the frozen half and dropping a line into the unfrozen portion. Needless to say flailing of arms and shouting of obscenities ensued. Luckilly he was as strong enough swimmer to make this hilarious rather than tragic. Construction of the tavern comes nicely, a humble construction for now it could just barely house a trade depot inside but there's no point in building a sprawling town before anyones come to live in it. I predict that more will come to see things my way, they'll shun the old ways and they'll join me here at Murderfarmed to begin a new life.
Close of Granite
We're nearly finished with the second level of the Tavern, clay is being collected to give it a nice insulated roof and eventually a floor. I look forward to my first night in my new village spent in a bed rather than the snow. Watching the river open up was as glorious as I'd imagined and with the ground clear of snow andn the river free of ice the time for some proper farming has come. I eagerly await the opportunity to till the first fields, I think I'll order the yak slaughtered and some sheep's cheese made to celebrate. Spirits are high all around and Murderfarmed.
10 Slate
Finished the roof today, I've cooked up something special to celebrate. Things progress surely but slowly cutting wood takes time and assembling it takes more time but stout labor provides sustenance. I've informed the woodcutter he's going to become our new fishery master so that we can do something with those mussels he's been pulling up. I figure a nice little hut by the river with a stockpile of fish awaiting processing ought to suffice.
13 Slate
Unveiled the surprise today. I personally cut two fine trees, carved them into two fine doors, and decorated them with the bones and horns of the yak. I don't expect either will ever sit in the kings throne room but they were made by steady dwarven hands doing good honest labor and that's what this is all about. The old days are done, we don't work to please gods or kings here just ourselves. I've evaluated the topsoil and been displeased. Stones and detritus are all about and will be difficult to move. I've ordered the miner- Winter he's calling himself- to dig down into the soft untouched earth. The valley shall provide excellent irrigation and allow my fields to be uniform.
Slate Close
Haven't started on my manor yet. I've got a few designs but I want more raw materials. I've ordered more trees to be cut and more clay collected. The wildlife includes Mothmen now, so far it's all been rather menacing but rather timid all the same. They don't bother us and we don't bother them, it's an arrangement I can live with. I had the druid train the dogs to fight just in case, he said he didn't have any experience with that sort of thing but I told him only a piss poor druid couldn't train a dog to fight I don't know what a druid does but he accepted my challenge and we have our stockpile guards. Next month I ought to get around to handing out necessary titles, I've already decided Thorick ought to be the manager of the tavern but we need someone to keep track of what's in the warehouse and to mind the fishing business and the proposed hatchery as well.
1 Felsite
Had some nestboxes made somebody is going to have to own a chicken coop, sooner the better. My newest mandate has ruffled some feathers. I've decided that we can't have rat carcasses littering our town- just not hygenic is it?- so I've ordered all trash objects large or small to be taken to the refuse pile. The Winter's all in a tizzy one of the cats took a shine to him and started following him about and bringing him all of it's kills. He'll be in the middle of something and his cat will drop a rat at his feet then he'll have to hoof it all the way to the dump and back. As funny as it is I agreed with him that it's not efficient so I took him off garbage duty so he can finish my fields.
18 Felsite
Finally finished diggin the field valley. Ordered more wood collected to build my manor and then we'll move on to Thoricks home being that he's the manager of the tavern then the woodcutters given that he's the best candidate to run the fishery the owner of the Hatchery is still up in the air and so is the ownership of the storehouse we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
Felsite Close
The storehouse is designated as is my manor. I've discovered that damned seed trader swindled me however, I intend for rope reed to be our chief cash crop but the bag of rope reed seeds contains only a single usable seed! It will take time for our farm to start producing rope reed in earnest but once we do we'll need a textile workshop.
7 Hematite
Designed and finished a solid clay bridge to span the river. The first seeds are in the ground and though the planting is commencing slowly but it is commencing. Booze is a little low I think I'll have to order a few of the farmers to stop their other jobs to get as much from our harvest as possible. Truth be told I can't wait for the first crop or the first batch of fish to be cleaned. I'm fairly certain that the gods created raccoon meat to give diarrhea to dogs that they hate.
16 Hematite
Work goes smoothly. We got two rope reeds from the planting so far. We still need a shop to work textiles. It's been a season since we started working, with any luck some more brothers have come to see our way of thinking and are planning to join us soon.
Hematite Close
The roof of the fishery is finished but the roof of my home isn't. I won't complain. If the men can be fine sleeping in the dormitory then so can I. We need a few more hands to get anything decent built in any amount of time. Still our humble little outpost is shaping up nicely. Saw a few more birds but again they seem to be content to leave us alone.
Malachite 10
I've joined in the woodcutting effot. I'm having wheelbarrows made to move clay about I swear lugging clay from the collection site by the river through the forest up the cliff and onto my roof nearly killed the mason conscripts. Still we've got some good fish from the river and the prickle berries are coming in nicely so these things all balance out. Still need to finish the still by my manor so we can get some more wine and ale.
Malachite 21
My roof is finished and I have a decent wine cellar/ larder as well. Thorick will have his home next, my experience as an architect says a nice addition onto the tavern will suit best. Still tossing around the idea of who the best warehouse keeper and hatchery master would be. Nobody has any real skill in raising chickens or numbers so I suppose I'll let them hash it out. Between the fishery, my farmstead, the warehouse, the clay works, the hatchery, and the woodworks and the tavern we all have our own little castles in which to be kings so there shouldn't be any harm.
Malachite Close
Three new migrants appeared on the horizon. A swordsman an Axeman (husband and wife) and an animal caretaker. I greeted them and welcomed them to our town. That caretaker seems a bit queer. He's on in years at 103 and he talks about an extended family that for whatever reason didn't come with him. I asked him where he was from and he gave me an earful. I've heard stories about... More on this later. I have to think.
Galena 10
Dammit to hell! Sure enough I was right! I avoided writing about it for a bit for fear of being discovered in the planning phases but my suspicions that the Animal Caretaker Mebuy was a vampire in disguise were well founded and bloody accurate! I ordered Winter to dig a tunnel by the river then told Mebuy that I needed him to explore the “cavern” we'd just uncovered. Once inside I sealed him in and assembled the men by the river. I had Winter to dig downward piercing the wall separating the river and the tunnel. I told them that either he'd come up and we'd have to deal with him or he'd drown and we'd all be punished in the next life. He came back up putting on a show but he wasn't at all out of breath. Winter dug a grave by the tavern and we threw him inside, paving over the top. My perfect farming town is already plagued by abominations. He'll just sit there for now. I need to clear my head, more later.
20 Galena
I've tried to forget about that business with a vampire. It's entombed now and it's nobodies problem so long as it stays that way. Had some more buildings designated. As the storehouse is finished I'm going to have to decide on an owner. Still haven't gotten around to building a chicken coop. I think I'll have winter manage that. Simple work but rewarding. Tahudjt will take care of the kilns and clay collection. The less I have to micromanage the easier it is on my frayed nerves.
Galena Close
Ran out of booze briefly, I designated an area behind my home to be a stockpile for barrels so there's less distance between my crops and my still. It's all taken care of now. Thorick has a roof over his head as does Paintbrush Turkey over in the fishery. Tahudjts house is finished just need to put the bed in. Winter doesn't have a house. Whoever gets Bookkeeper gets the warehouse adjacent home and whoever doesn't gets the wood stockpile. I can't believe it's already autumn. We'll put a trade depot out next month and see if the traders think enough of us to stop by on their routes.
Limestone 10
Got Tahudjt into his house and built the skeleton of Winters home and the chicken coop. I think I'll give Nejrin the Bookkeepers position and Dusty the lumberyard. Works begun on the Warehouse as well. We've got a nice clip going. I hope we can get some more done before winter comes and I turn the reins over to Nerjin this overseer stuff is a real headache. It's like every little circumstance is contrived to screw me over and without constant maintenance and oversight it all falls apart. If we were all on the same page and did everything in the most efficient order we'd have our town finished by now and we'd be living in reasonable luxury but complaining won't fix anything.
Limestone 20
The warehouse is half finished, not much else has changed. We've got a decent crop going now but planting is taking too long. After the bulk of the construction is finished I'll put the growers back to work. I've ordered some paths beaten to give us the look of a legitimate town but they'll take some time to get done.
Limestone Close
I've ordered a moratorium on fishing, and all other non essential activities. We ran out of booze again. It's already recovering but we need to avoid things like this in the future. Nejrin needs to start that book keeping right away so we have more accurate numbers. Next month we need to finish up these roofs and house the last of the nobility of Murderfarmed. This won't be much of an empire without providing for our nobles.
Sandstone 10
The paths have been beaten and a few adminsitrative changes regarding fish have occurred. The hens sitting on her eggs and I've ordered the sheep sheared and milked. The basics of our little farming town are down pat and now it's just building and management.I'm eager to see whether or not the Caravans find us worth their while we have little to trade but if we can broker a deal with them they'll be bound as merchantmen to return next year.
Sandstone 20
The houses are being built with wooden roofs rather than clay, it's less time consuming but likely less cozy come winter. Thanks to that design change construction goes much quicker than it has been. Nerjin is all settled in and winter just needs a bed. Migrants came earlier this month and after a quick fang-check I put them to work. Bluepainter, Stardust, Sayacks, and some clerk who got here a bit too late. He's infinitely more qualified to be bookkeeper than Nerjin but Nerjins damn near finished with the book keeping so I made him our new full time brewer. He explained he was a clerk and clerking was all he was good at. I explained on my land he was a brewer and if I caught him doing anything but brewing I was going to kick him in the face.
Sandstone Close
Had a nasty run in with a black bear, caught it skulking about the wood stockpile and inching towards the warehouse but the dogs chased it off. I had some of the boys restrain the mutt and at first it was all clear but then the bear came back the same way, this time I had Tahudjt stand watch. I was almost certain I'd sent him to his death when it knocked him to the ground but a few clever moves and he turned the tables on the beast long enough to strike a fatal blow. Fresh meat and fresh hide.
Timber 10
River froze over today. The crops are pretty resilient which is more than I can say about some of these migrants. The colds already getting to them, I can't even imagine how loud they'll whine when there's snow and ice everywhere. Come to think of it this is about as cold as it got during spring none of us have faced the fury of a Murderfarmed winter. I pity the poor bastards without good clay insulation. There's plenty of meat, fish, fruit, and wine but there's not much to be done about the cold.
Timber 20
Traders! I knew they'd come I knew it! Wagons loaded with wares and hungry to strike a deal. I made stardust broker being that he's got the most skills and even though the crop isn't strong enough to sell I've ordered some meat and fish taken to the trade depot. Let's hope he can strike a deal for some stone and armaments.
Timber Close
Timber Close
That Stardust is a shrewd trader, he traded a wheelbarrow full of clay for a few bars of metal, some glass, and a barrel of good brew. It's not much but it's good to keep these things on hand. Next month will be the start of winter. If I can shepherd this lot through to spring I can relax and manage my own farm and let Nerjin spend a year rubbing his temples. The nobility is all housed save Stardust whom doesn't have an industry to preside over anyway. I suppose there's still more to do over winter, we could still use a barracks.
Moonstone 10
I awoke with a bit of a fright and realized that we had nearly let the traders leave with nothing but a wheelbarrow full of clay so as far as the Mountainhomes and any prospective migrants are concerned the only products of my new dwarven empire are a wheelbarrow filled with mud! We'd be a laughing stock! I gave Stardust all of our rope reed and wool thread to barter with and he got us a new chicken some more bars of metal and a few more blocks as well as a nice bronze spear. They had a bull but without a cow that's not worth anything at all. Winter's going to be the real challenge snow's going to slow down labor and break morale not to mention each season increases the risk of goblins taking notice. Managed to get a good bit done since Timber, the tavern now has a proper wood floor and every constructed home is about to get one as well. I've tried to focus a bit more on minding my own land these days as well. I finally started making cheese and spinning thread, humble work but noble.
Moonstone 20
I've got the plans designated for Stardusts house, I'll put him in charge of the looms so we can finally get some cloth produced. Says he doesn't know anything about weaving but as I explained to him his role as loom master really only requires he keep the looms from falling apart and the weavers from spending all day drinking. Got a woodfurnace built out by Dusty's lumberyard so Tahudjt can start producing clay goods. Things are going very well, everyone's got a nice hardwood floor instead of clay and the rest of the winter can be spent focused more on luxuries than necessities. A nice dining table for each of the houses might raise spirits around here to last out the winter.
Moonstone Close
Stardust will have a roof over his head shortly. Kakapo women have been loitering around the worksite I had a dog stationed out there just in case they break the amicable relationship we've had with the wildlife so far. We aren't exactly there yet but my new dwarven Empire is off to a fair start. I've heard horror stories of marauding elephants and troops of monkeys and legions of the undead I think I just may have a nack for this Empire building business. I think I may spend the next two months building onto the Tavern.
Opal 10
Ordered the bridge to be dismantled and a large addition built onto the tavern to span the river. Now instead of walking across a bridge of questionable sturdiness you can just walk through the nice warm tavern and emerge on the other side. It's a bigger project so regretably Stardust will have to wait for his house to be finished. Still I think he should be able to appreciate the augmented tavern. I think I'll make a nice sitting area, maybe have some nice clay statues put in to commemorate our victory over the savage land.
Opal 20 The walls and floor of the tavern expansion are finished we're collecting clay and wood to finish the roof. I decided to leave a small hole in the floor to fish or collect water from. May be a good idea to put a well in once we have the necessary resources to build some mechanisms. I've ordered a bit more to be done about that vampire as well I'll build a little shed around him and put a heavy statue on top of his grave. It's a statue of Utost, Goddess of metals. It seems fitting that we wall of an abomination and a symbol of the old way at the same time.
Opal Close
Stardust has his house and the vampire has his headstone. We got the standard farm stuff done of course but I think I've done my last major project. After we finish with the roof of the tavern I'll take care of my farm and let Nerjin deal with this day to day business.
Poll
4 (66.7%)
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Topic: Murderfarmed, A Farming Village Succession Fort (Overseers Needed) (Read 83287 times)