This is a story I'm basing off my latest expedition. Small world, 3001 years in, utilizing Orichalcum mod v 1.1.1, and coming up with what is to me, a plausible reason why my dwarves are where they are. See below, critique where you may.
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Spring, year 3001, to my children, or, should the worst come to pass, whomever may find this journal.
My name is Litast Duraleral. I was leading myself and several companions on a passage by ship to the Southern Isles, hoping there, far from darkness which looms over our homeland, we might find shelter... and some sense of safety, perhaps.
The Sea of Honor, we thought, would be peaceful as it was in the stories, and wouldn't pose a threat. Of course... this wasn't our only obstacle... first we had to get to the sea. Were it not for the quick sword of my friend Tobul, however, we would have died on the road long, long ago. We thought perhaps, gods willing, that perhaps our trials were at their end, once we made it to the elven port. Alas, this was only the beginning of our troubles.
A week and a half in, there was a clatter about on the ship. The elves rounded us up, and sat us on our wagon. Murmuring, one elf sighed and stepped forward. "I'm afraid the mermaids have said that you cannot cross east to the isles with us.... we're going to have to cast you off the ship, please understand." he said, as multiple elves drew their bows. With only one of us armed, we had no chance, and thus we surrendered. The elves sat our wagon into a small boat, and within hours, we were adrift, thankfully with our supplies intact.
Days passed... and eventually we saw shore. Yet no one cheered, as when we came closer... we saw nothing. Not a single animal, no gulls, no fish... nothing. Beyond the coast, a forest empty of anything but a passing spider web. I fear now that the mountainhome may have been a safer place... alas there is not much which can be done now.
Our boat is nearly ashore now, and when we arrive, I fear there is but one place to go if we hope to survive. Down. And should we live long enough to see another elf one day, I swear that all the gods, demons, and monsters in this world, will not stop me from repaying them for this betrayal.
Spring, ashore.
We set ourselves digging near the shoreline, just beyond the sand. Tobul made a revelation of disappointment - one of his boots were missing. As we had just finished digging out a temporary storage area, and moving our hens inside, our fears were confirmed... The dead walked. Or fly, as it were. Animal people of various forms... as well as the ravens... you could see the flesh rotting off them. Thankfully Tobul fought them off one after another as they approached, and as we scrambled to get what we could inside. It seems however, they do not rise again upon the sands which the ocean water touches... so that is one small blessing, at the very least.
The next day....
Tobul has killed at least two dozen of the undead. All we have left to bring inside is the coal which we have brought with us, and we have barred our door tightly while Tobul rests, and we dig further. We have decided to risk flooding for the sake of a secure water supply, worked by floodgate and lever... if we can find materials to hook it up, that is. We have set up two cisterns with a pump between. Thankfully we know how to use a pump to remove salt from the water... so we should have fresh water, gods willing that we don't drown. Though to prevent this as a worst case scenario, should fortune not smile upon us, we have set up a series of doors and an additional floodgate, just in case we do start to flood from this endeavor.
The day after...
We have started digging further, and have just hit stone. Chalk, of all things. Ore too, we may have copper! And we found even more coal still! Small blessings they may be, but we may survive yet. Tobul is out once again while we bring some of the coals remaining inside, and as we prepare to build the mechanisms so we may seal our new home and attempt our gamble on water.
Summer...
We have managed to get by better than I expected. Our plump helmets came through for us in the harvest, and surprisingly there was a shipwreck. A fishing boat, to be exact. Only four survivors... but Tobul managed to get to them in time and bring them back safely. A few days after we built a windmill, and made it so it can work with our pump. we have decided to expand and add a third cistern as well, so we may dry out water we collect... that way we can get fresh water every now and then by draining the second cistern into it for the sake of evaporation.
Autumn...
Fishing is working well from our cistern, and between fish, eggs, and harvests, we have more than enough food. Though now our concern becomes alcohol. We are running low, only enough to dilute the water we now drink. We are setting up a sill, and should begin brewing enough to live off of soon. Though now that we are out of wood... well, beds are in short supply, to put things simply. The best solution I can think of is if we were to dig until we found caverns but... what then? And dare we risk the dangers the caverns provide? Two of the sailors we rescued are being trained in combat by Tobul, but... I'm not sure of how well equipped they are, as all we have been able to do is equip them with gauntlets, leggings, and helmets made from shells we have collected. Hardly a solution for real combat.
Winter...
We decided rather than risk the caverns, that we would instead risk the threat we knew - the walking dead - and get the wood we needed from the forest above. By luck, there were only two undead beasts, which Tobul put down quickly. We collected wood, fashioning shields for the recruits... and lo and behold, another elven shipwreck. They were ill equipped for the twist of fortune, however they did accept my proposal to Tobul that we train them. And by another fashion of fate, only a few days later we spotted a merchant caravan! By some strange luck they were traveling to a fortress to the east by guide of the coast, and by happenchance they were willing to stop and trade. We don't have much but... I believe we can get a few supplies this way. Though I'm not certain of the hopes of returning to the mountainhome... traveling through that forest once would be horrifying enough... but twice?... I don't think I, nor anyone else here am willing to make that journey... especially with that strange fog off in the distance. There are too many stories of such fogs ripping the life out of you and twisting you into an even more foul beast than these undead we meet now... So I told the liaison that we will be a new fortress... Thus I am afraid we are here to stay, for now at the very least.
1 year in, Spring 3002...
So... we've survived this long. Most of us have survived.... The other day, I was shocked to find a large group, easily thirty, came from the fortress to the east, deciding to try their luck here instead..... this was not something we were prepared for in the least, I'm afraid. With the excess of newcomers.... we decided to start digging deeper in hopes of finding more minerals soas to equip them, as Tobul and I decided our best bet would be to draft twenty of these by lottery. However, as we tried to move further in the forest to gain more wood, our new recruits found themselves overwhelmed by a large wave of undead. We lost three, and since have locked ourselves belowground, at least until the recruits, and the three replacements, have been trained and fully equipped. We did get pounding on our gate however, but it came with a voice. An Elf, or so they said. They said they came to trade, however much I wanted my revenge myself, I can think of no better revenge than to leave them loitering outside long enough to be ripped to shreds by those monsters.
Summer 3002.
As we've been mining exploritively, we have found rich amounts of sapphires below the seafloor... which as much as I'd like to go after, we can not seek right now, as we mine instead the chalk deposits below the forest, for the copper and nickel ores which will allow us to equip our military with orichalcum. We however have reached a limit, a few floors down, we came across an end to the chalk, and no more copper or nickel was found in the deposits therein below... however, of some stroke of luck, there was another metal, cobalt. While not as good... it's still something, at least... though I hope we shall have enough metal now to equip our thirty guardsmen, and that perhaps, that we may be safe enough to once again open our gates to seek out the wood we need for the sake of our new immigrants, and might gain the safety so we may go after those sapphires....
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Topic: The Saga of Gemboat (Read 913 times)