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[RedWick]

14th Hematite, by the calendar.

This is the first entry that I've managed to pen since our arrival in the spring.  I write this while the rest of my compatriots are either asleep or busy moving our belongings into the deeper parts of our fortress.

Unwittingly, in selecting the site for our new outpost, we stumbled upon a kobold cave complex.  We've all heard reference to it before, back in the mountainhome.  Issokfensast, in the kobold tongue. Zealscar to those of us who have lost family members to it's cowardly inhabitants.

Luckily, we are some distance away from the entrance proper of the caves, but I've ordered my dwarves to keep themselves quiet, just in case any of those damned creatures gets it in their mind to go for a bit of a wander.  It seems that the entrance to the place is only being guarded by a trio of kobolds: an old cripple whose name we've overheard as Grayngis,

a silent soldier wielding a copper shield and spear,

and a lookout with an unpronounceable name.

All three seem to be watching the south for intruders and have, as yet, not noticed our presence on the top of the hill within sight of the volcano we understand they revere.  Fortune favors us apparently.

Mebzuth, our woodworker, spied with his lookingglass into the valley being watched over by the guards.  From our vantage point, he could make out a horde of kobolds and their leader, a fierce bowman named Chroglimbis

and his second Thlamin

Both of these...monsters are well known back in the mountainhome, delighting in striking down travellers and making off with their valuables.  

We don't have the resources currently to take down these bastards, but Armok willing, we will eventually.  As we've been unable to send word back to the mountainhome, I can only pray that the autumn caravan doesn't stumble upon the encampment in the valley.

[Karlito]

ooh story time, story time.  I like the looks of this.

[RedWick]

14th Galena - In our rush to move everything we could indoors, the organization of our goods left me feeling...shall we say, a trifle disorganized:

I'm not too worried though.  Before too long, all of this stuff will be filtered throughout the rest of the fortress, in it's right and proper place.  

One of our miners, Lòr, has great plans for the rest of the corridor, though.  Keeps saying something about it becoming the heart of our eventual industry.  I personally think he's a bit over-ambitious, but I'll let him pursue his dream.  It'll keep him and his friend, Sigun, busy.

[erendor]

Looks really interesting, keep it up!

[RedWick]

Uploaded the map the the DF Map Archive.  This fort looks like it's going to be a lot of fun to develop.

-------------------------

16th Galena - We have a makeshift dining area set up.  Ingish, our mason, was hard at work for most of the season carving the tables.  It's a far cry from the dining rooms we've all become accustomed to, but it'll work for the time being.

27th Limestone - The merchants and mountainhome liason have been spotted approaching from the north, though the merchants were forced to travel lower along the valley.  We've tried calling down to them, to warn them about the kobold menace, but they seem unable to hear us.

1st Sandstone - The merchants arrived safely, much to our relief.  They seemed a bit put off when they found out that we scarcely had any trade goods for them.  Just a handful of stone mugs that I had time to carve out.  We traded them away for the foodstuffs and a handful of logs they had with them.  

This outpost was supposed to be devoted to glassworks, not some damned military outpost.  I've scarcely had a chance to set up a glass furnace and craft a goblet or two.  Someday though, I'll make my master proud of his apprentice.  I'll devote my first masterpiece to him.  

Lòr tells me that the magma channels for the forges are carved out, though he came across a few gem deposits.  He ordered them mined out and stockpiled before he opened a vent to the magma.  I was unsure about taking him on as a second, but he's proving himself worthy.

[RedWick]

13th Timber - Praise Armok!  My request to the liason apparently made back to the mountainhome.  We received a small wave of eight dedicated workers, and included amongst them are an armorer and a weaponsmith.  As I'm currently lacking a forge on which they can work (damn my naiveté in thinking that I could get by with a simple glassworks) I've instructed them to man the smelters.  We're going to need a lot of weapons, and before we can do that, we're going to need metal to forge.  Just have to wait for the magma flows to reach our forges.

In addition, we received two peasant brothers, Udil and Mistêm, who seem eager to try their hand at crafting, a fisherdwarf I've reassigned to perform mechanical duties, a thresher, a brewer and another planter.  With these extra workers to supplement the rest of the duties in this outpost, I think we stand a good chance of establishing a solid foundation for this fortress.

[Helmaroc]

This is nice. Eventually it could be a great (large) story, or even an online novel!

[RedWick]

An online novel?  Heh...I'm not sure I'd go *that* far yet.

--------------------------------

18th Moonstone - Lòr did a cautious walkabout outside, to get a feel for the mountain around us.  By his estimation, we're sitting on a virtually limitless supply of copper and aluminum.  According to him, veins are visible the entire height of the mountainside.  Apparently the vein we first cracked upon our arrival wasn't a fluke.  It's not iron by any stretch, and I doubt we'll ever have the resources to ever craft steel.  But it's sound enough metal and strong enough to take an edge.  That's all we'll need if we ever hope to take out those damned kobolds.

Due to Mebzuth's complaints about the lack of available wood, and under Lòr's direction, I've ordered a wall leading to the valley floor breached and trapped.  With such a vulnerable opening, I'm not going to take any chances.

In addition to the wood we'll have access to now, we'll also be able to harvest some of the wild plants which grow in this fertile ground.  Plus, it'll be good have to some fresh air circulating through the fort.

[Wolfius]

You might consider requesting tin, in addition to iron or steel, from the traders, and alloying it with your copper for bronze.

Of course, having your weaponsmith set to repeat-build giant copper axe blades for maxed-out weapon traps and training is good, too.

[Kugu]

This makes me think of a bunch of dwarfs digging their way under a Kobold's cave central area, setting up a bunch of ale and then making it go kablooey... Just seems like an epic way to start/end the war.. Sorry if I spoiled an idea?

[RedWick]

When I'm ready, I'll probably go for a direct assault for the following reasons:

1 - It's not very sporting otherwise.  I mean, the kobolds haven't actually taken a step since I showed up, outside of killing some slugmen.  Besides, it's a lot more epic to build up an armed group and send them out.  Losing dwarves to the humanoid menace?  That's the stuff of legends!

2 - I could open a vent to the magma and flood the kobolds, but it would take forever to arrange and it wouldn't be a very exciting story to tell.  I mean, realistically, I could go ahead and open up a vent right now without worrying about provoking the kobolds into action.  Besides, if I flooded them, then I wouldn't be able to loot the place (there's at least two large gems down there worth several hundred)

3 - I could try for a bomb, but the kobolds are scattered all over the lower left corner of the map.  It would be difficult to coordinate and make sure that my dwarves didn't guzzle down my efforts.

Who knows...maybe I'll get creative...

*ponders*

[Kugu]

Ah, well the bomb still might work if you find that the bowman is annoyingly hard to kill.. Or if you happen to find a group of them. Still, I like where the story is going, it's caused me to actually log in. Usually I just lurk around and read stories.

...Too bad you can't strap beer bombs to insane prisoners...
Also: I don't know if you've ever done the ale bomb, but careful of nearby shrubs, Id hate to see such a nice story ruined by a forest fire ... Although tree's live...Nothing else does.

[ December 04, 2007: Message edited by: Kugu ]

[RedWick]

20th Granite - The arrival of a pair of elven traders at the lower entrance of our outpost came as a bit of a shock to us, as we didn't even notice them approaching.  Udil, one of the stonecrafting brothers, met them and directed them towards the official entrance of our outpost and the depot there.  Their passage through the heart of our fortress caused a bit of a stir.

All they had to trade were a few logs and a mess of cloth.  Hardly the weapons of warfare that I would've liked to have seen.  Still, I managed to pawn off the trinkets that Udil and Mistêm have been so hard at work crafting.  By the time I was done negotiating with them, I actually felt like I knew what I was doing.  I'm not a trader by nature though, and I'm certainly no warrior.  I'm just an artist who seems to have been thrown into a tight spot.

That evening, I invited them down to our dining hall to share some drinks and tales.  They graciously accepted.  Before long, everybody was having a grand time.  One of the elves, a fellow named Amayi Mowetira, broke out a lyre and sang a song for the group of us.  Never before have I seen so many dwarves captivated by music that didn't involve a lot of thumping and pounding.  If he ever passes by here again, I'll ask him to sing for us again.

[RedWick]

7th Felsite - Tragedy befell one of the elven traders.  Apparently they split up after they left the confines of our fortress.  Amayi went south east, avoiding the valley.  His companion, Ithithe, apparently headstrong and full of that legendary elven arrogance, struck out to the south west, directly into the heart of the kobold's camp.

I traded some of my glass goblets to him.  Now the kobolds have them.  The mere thought of this...I'm shaking with anger.  At least the elves are civilized.  At least the elves can appreciate art and craftdwarfship.

This discovery comes on the heels of the arrival of a group of migrants.  I've ordered a squad of them armed with crossbows.  The additional woodcutters who came will clear cut the forests on our side of the valley to provide enough arrows for training.  When the time comes, I don't care how bloody many of them there are.  They'll all be slaughtered.  And we'll have trophies.

[RedWick]

10th Felsite - That damned fool Udil, after seeing how angry I had gotten, thought it would be a good idea to try to sneak into the kobold camp and take back the goblets that had been lost.  He's lucky he didn't get himself killed!
   

I've forbidden anybody from trying to retrieve anything from the kobolds, under penalty of imprisonment and beating under the direction of our new sheriff.  My pride isn't worth somebody else's life.

18th Hematite - Just over a year since I started keeping this record.  I feel as though I haven't accomplished anything significant.  

A group of human merchants arrived today.  
   

I traded away most of the crafts my fort has produced to purchase a single anvil.  I truly think that it was the best investment I've ever made.  Additionally, I purchased some cases of leather so that we can craft some quivers for my archers.  The rest mostly went towards foodstuffs.

[ December 04, 2007: Message edited by: RedWick ]

[ December 04, 2007: Message edited by: RedWick ]