This is a masterwork dog leather journal owned by Kogan 'NCommander' Kelnakuth. On its covered is adored images of seven dwarfs. The image related to the founding of Scorchedgravel, the last Dwarven settlement.Winter 553With our leather problems solved for the moment, archery practice (and demonstrations) have begun. I'm getting to the point that I'm fairly sure I could train someone into an elite marksdwarf without using a single bolt!
OOC: It is theoretically possible if you get a dwarf with Teacher+Marksdwarf/Archer skills if you can get them up to novice. I *might* try this to get a legendary blowgunner if I can liberate a few darts.Nix has made progress in drilling additional bore shafts to explore the caverns safely. By using a lacework from the ceiling, she can drill a hole straight down after a hatch is installed. By carefully positioning the bore holes where I
think the caverns are, we can successfully explore them without risk of anything nasty coming up.
As it turns out, Atlantis has land after all.
Look at all that wood. We have to get it ...
Another bore hole missed Atlantis and instead hit below. We found this:
While I won't know for sure until we've fully explored the lower cavern, the stack of bodies is rather disturbing, including a forgotten beast we didn't even know was down there. I've come to call the second cavern "Bone Valley" due to its lifeless nature and lots of corpses.
Digging deeper, I had Nix drive another bore hole through a known piece of rock in an attempt to find more of the second cavern. Instead she hit the third one!
Worse, she had actually actually hit it as such the borehole had a connection to the ground. She immediately had company!
Fortunately, in a bit of good thinking, instead of running down in Rodentland, she darted back up the stairs and locked the hatch behind her. Of the three caverns, the third has the best opportunities for wood especially the rare and unique nether-cap and blood throne, but also the most amount of danger. While I'm fairly sure we could take a bunch of rodentmen, the third cavern is well known for being the most dangerous. Worse, I suspect there's a connection between Bone Valley and Rodentland (we need a better name for it) because there is only a single Z level between the two of them. Right now, that means both of them are not safe, at least until we know for sure.
If we're going to get wood for our steel and soap industries, we
need to get into Atlantis. We just need to get past the gateskeeper. Who is right now sitting on the shaft Nix dug back when we arrived in the badlands for spores.
Fortunately, I have a plan.
After several rounds of webs vs. bolts, bolts ultimately won the day. Let it be known that Ryukan officially got the fatal blow and is the first dwarf to shed blood in
Doomforest Scorchedgravel!
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I've started work on my plan to raid Atlantis. There's a large outcropping of rock which we're going to make a storage yard. I've had Nix started digging it out with room for two bridges so we can it access both sides.
Drawbridges will act as a seal when we're not down there. The rough plan is the Virginal Fences will station right in the middle of the forest, while Gwolfski and Imic cut logs like madman. We'll worry about getting them somewhere more useful later. Derro and Nix (who will have the emergency pickax) will haul. We need to be in, and out
fast before anything nasty can show up. I'm expecting the operation to take place next year, pending bridge construction. Our goal is 100 logs which gets us both soap, and a good amount of steel. If we can convert most of iron into steel, I'll be very happy.
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Life continues ...