From the first chapterLate afternoon, 8th of Granite
Been a frightening couple of days. We’d started work on a wall around our entrance and pasture when a giant mosquito corpse was noticed near the ocean. We’d not seen any fighting, but with the waves frozen it could not possibly have just washed ashore.
A giant crab corpse was noticed later that day. It chased worker s from the wall, horses from the pasture, and finally turned to enter the fortress itself. Good thing, the cages were able to handle it. Perhaps it had killed the mosquito, though that idea is disturbing – why wouldn’t the insect have simply flown away from it? Those insects have avoided our stock and ourselves, though perhaps the rotten odor attracted it to the crab. We managed to retrieve the dead insect in time and we’ll see if its chitin is useful for anything.
Mid morning, 6th of Slate.
All told, 43 immigrants have just finished arriving. Perhaps this place will become successful and renown, and ‘The Foolish Lie of Families’ will become just another quaint fortress name. Maybe as the centuries pass, toasting dwarves will laugh at the folly of not trusting one of my lineage to found a great fortress.
Late evening, 25th of Slate.
Another giant crab corpse had followed the migrants here. It started chasing our stallion, and we now know how that first one had killed that giant mosquito – giant crab corpses are fast indeed. The horse was quicker than it, barely, at a full and straight gallop, but whenever the poor beast tried to turn the crab quickly narrowed its distance. The horse finally managed to shake the crab after an almost twenty-day chase. The exhausted beast is now back in its pasture. Happily our mare had not been the one chased – she gave birth to her second foal last week. The whole herd is steadily growing safer. The walls of our fence are more than half erected. We are leaving sign for the elves to bring many logs, for we will need them if we’re to bed ourselves and contain our drinks.
Mid morning, 18th of Felsite
The elves brought a goodly amount of wood and cloth, but very little else. We traded for the wood. While negotiations progressed an immigrant child, who looks 20 if he looks a day over 12, quietly ran to the craftsshop with a length of limestone and some silk. His parents say that in order to bring him with them, they had to claim he was a child, and to be safe, he must act like one until his next birthday in winter, but he, unlike many of the other ‘not quite children’ who arrived with our migrants, will be ready to make fine things once he admits to being an adult.
Sunset, 21st of Felsite.
My name is Ushat Vucardakost and I wish I’d been born dead.
The false boy has finished his masterpiece. ‘Chantedfather the Cosmos of Winnowing’.
That’s right. In stunning, intricate detail, it shows montage after montage of how I disobeyed orders, lied and got lost, and trapped our expedition here. There’s even filigree of undead crabs and albatross around the edges, their rot and ferocity clear in every line of lace.
A fortress is renown most for the first artifact created there. With this, this…. This declaration of my stupidity being our very first artifact…. And a figurine! Better than any I’ve ever made! And now I’m no longer the best stonecrafter here, not by far.
I wish I’d gotten us far more lost. I wish I’d led us out onto that accursed ocean, and we’d drowned there and been lost for all time.
Early evening, 5th of Malchite
Difficult to keep enough alcohol brewed. I’ve been drinking from the stagnant ponds, saving the brew for others. More migrants came, there’s now 73 of us. Few curse at me, but many laugh. No one’s taken a grudge against me, which is something – but by my beard I do feel unwelcome here.
Doren Kikrostzefon, an immigrant from the fall of 81, has become our first mayor and his first declaration is that we need a military. To start off with, we’re to make two maces. His other list of requirements may need to wait for a time, we’ve not made any cabinets, armor racks, or most of the other things he wants for his personal rooms yet.
Instead, we’ve started construction on the roof over our enclosure, a project expected to take more than the rest of this year, as we’ve not made enough of that special slitted stone to cover it yet. Several goblin thieves have fallen into our cages, but there’s been no further trouble from undead.
Our dining room is finished though, and it is wonderfully large. We’d had enough beds for everyone before this most recent migrant wave. Every few days it seems another ‘child’, more than old enough to marry, has had their birthday and is willing to admit they are more than old enough to act as an adult.
Early afternoon, 28th of Galena, Late summer 81
The humans have come, bringing primarily wood, leather, cloth, and food. We traded for wool cloth, wood, leather, and food, as well as the few metal bars and pieces of glass they brought. They also had a plant we’d never found here, a ‘rat weed’, which we’ll see if will grow in our soil.
Roughly 3/14ths of our enclosure has been roofed, and work will not continue there until more blocks have been shaped. Mining has resumed to provide more stone for that and other needs. The cages have caught several more goblin thieves and kobold thieves have provided a few scares, though we’re to finish the roof before we make plans to deal with that sort of pest.
I’ve been teased a little less lately about having forced this place to become our newest outpost. The summer’s been warm and calm and the fortress seems like something of a decent home.
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Topic: Anyone up for a parallel fort playthrough? (Read 21168 times)