I've already played through the end of year 3, so I'll formally dwarf everyone then. I'll refer to everyone by the proper name starting now though. For moghoppers, I doubt I can buy some from the human caravan. Even if its possible, I can almost guarantee there wouldnt be enough to get someone from level 1 to legendary in a dwarven lifespan.
~Year One: Lots of dead elves~The king is troubled. Everyone knows a good mason or miner when they see one, but what of the other skills a dwarf may possess? What benefits can our civilization reap from seeing the masters of obscure callings? With this in mind, we have been tasked to build a unique settlement with the sole purpose of creating a city of dwarven legends.
Lead by our woodcutter Onul, our diverse bunch arrived to the designated location. I dont think any of us would have chosen this exact location given the local wildlife that shares our new home.
The undead kingsnake was of little concern, but we had no doubts that the mountain goat could cause grievous wounds if it ever caught up to us. Given our exposed location, everyone jumped to work to secure safer lodging. Onul cut a few trees nearby for Edzul to use in a carpentry workshop while our miner Olon grabbed his pick and began digging out a hallway for us to barracade ourselves into when any undead wanders too close for comfort.
When Olon decided to name his new pet cat after himself, there was only one sensible thing to do: Olon the miner wasnt allowed to keep his old name. We all decided that NRDL would be his new name, while his cat got to keep the superior dwarven name.
Speaking of inferior species, a handful of elven guests arrived shortly thereafter.
Unfortunately for them, one of them entered our territory a bit too close to the undead goat, and it didnt turn out too well for them.
To say the elves were undeterred is an understatement.
Not to be outdone, we got our first batch of migrants, and the king
really helped us out on this one.
Apparently the mountainhome has too many legendary weaponsmiths? This was news to us, but we will take it. The highly skilled wax worker and clothesmaker will come in handy, and even a novice brewer will help out. We assigned Vabok the task of gathering plants to brew before our booze stockpile ran too low and asked him to start learning on the job. These plans were quickly dashed and everyone was called back into the safety of the mining tunnel...
Taking all bets: 28 elves vs 4 undead mountain goats. Who will win the ultimate nature showdown? Plenty of mercenaries and monster slayers on the elves side, but alas....
We watched on with rapt expressions as the elves valiantly took down 2 of the goats, but the remaining two were too strong for them to handle. Thankful for our bunker, we watched Crumblereigned the Zealot of Wasps and Savantmassive the Ceiling of Dignity wander out of our territory, leaving only corpses of the formerly living in their wake. We didnt notice until the battle was over, but the wagon from the dwarven caravan got spooked at the sight of the slaughter and scuttled on a small patch of rocks, which means we didnt have any trading opportunities at all this year.
Well, that would have been the worst part, until....
Our outpost liason was being chased around by a new undead goat, while one of the elven corpses rose up and began attacking the last of the living elves (the coward hid behind some trees during the goat attack). We were in serious danger of losing control of the surface. We had no choice. We had to leave the mining tunnel and hope for the best...
No dwarven deaths, but 4 injured enough to require hospital rest. Things were looking down for us, but cresting the horizon was a most welcome sight: reinforcements.
While we debated on who would be our new doctor to take care of the many wounded, Risen was possessed by a ghost of an ancestor.
This was.... problematic. We ended up selecting one of the new arrival dwarves to be our chief medical dwarf, and constructing the workshop wasnt a big deal. The only real issue was... we had no cloth.
The remnants of the caravan had one piece of yarn thread and one piece of plant thread, so we appointed a weaver and asked him to create a piece of yarn and plant cloth for us, which were immediately claimed..... by Olin our new medic. Injuries needed cleaning, but that didnt help poor Risen any. His last hope was the 4 alpalcas we brought with us, which meant appointing a shearer and a spinner as well. Even then, he might require plant or silk, which would be his doom.
Luckily for everyone, wool cloth did the trick. We started up some walls while the surface was relatively safe as well to try and keep any more injuries to a minimum. We assigned Mosus, an idle dwarf, to become a mechanic and had him build a workshop and a few mechanisms for a bridge and lever as well.
End result? A shoe. An interesting shoe to be sure, but just a shoe.
In the meantime, NRDL finally finished digging down to the magma sea, which freed him up to start working on digging out a well near the third cavern. Our only other source of water is the brook to the northwest, which is frequently inhabited by the undead. The third cavern sounded safer by far.
Close to the end of winter, our mechanic Mosus got some divine inspiration. Thankfully, his demand was solely for rock, of which we have plenty.
A fine artifact mechanism. This will go quite nicely in our well once it has been dug out. Spring is right around the corner, and we still have plenty of issues to work out. No soldiers, no reliable food sources, no bridge connecting to the exterior of our courtyard until the local wildlife is tame enough to wait for Mosus to hook everything up, no interior of the fortress at all. Things could be worse sure, but they could be a whole lot better...
~End of Year 1~3 Legendary Dwarves:
NRDL the Miner
Mosus the Mechanic
Kel the Weaponsmith
23 Legends in Training
3 Human Monster Hunters that just sit around eating and drinking.