Second update, this one should be much better.
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While the dwarven merchants rode off to the north with the last of our trade goods for only some food and booze, I realized something. The infamous elves would probably come soon. We needed to get a military started, and fast. The only problem was that Wineslasher and Hilbo were the only ones with prior weapons training, but Wineslasher was the farmer, and he was getting quite skilled at farming. We could not sparte him, but Hilbo was just on masonry and crafting duties, but I could easily take that on along with my brewing and treecutting on the side. I brought Hilbo into my office one day, so we could talk about this.
"Hilbo, no offense, but what you are doing right now can easily be done by any other dwarf. We're going to need you for defense if we ever plan to survive. You're quite good with a crossbow, I gather, but seeing as the monkeys took yours, you're going to have to make your own, and some bolts. Grab some bones and extra wood and get going on it. The sooner you are ready for combat, the sooner we don't have to worry about more monkeys and thieves coming in and stealing what we've worked hard to make."
A hint of a smile crossed his face as he nodded and walked out of my office. I went down to make some crafts for the next traders, and by the time I came to check on his progress, he already had a turle bone crossbow, and 10 bundles of bolts ready.
I smiled at him, gave him a thumbs up, and went back down to make some booze (despite being a dwarf, I was not very good at it. At least it was drinkable).
The rest of us were a little relieve, knowing that nothing would get past our gates without at least a little warning, and so we were able to go about life with that weight off of our chests.
It was winter now, and we could all feel it. With the cold sea breeze coming from the east, and the snow storms we could see in the west, our first winter as a fort would be coming soon.
And judging by the yells of Hilbo, our first winter as a fort wasn't going to be spent alone.
I went above ground to the archer tower he was in (which we made in late autumn) and stood next to him. There were dwarves coming... but from the west?
Hilbo said to me while looking straight at them, "They must be refugees from the mountainhalls here."
The first one in, who seemed to be a cook judging by his clothing, came running in, out of breath and panting.
"What is it? What are you dwarves doing here?"
He spoke up while he was bending over with his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath
"Orcs.... orcs raided the mountainhalls... the gaurds held them off... a slaver party is following us though. Please, kind dwarf... let us stay here!"
How could I deny them? All they had with them was the clothes on the back, and most of that was torn up.
"Alright, Ups, Waga! Dig out some rooms for these dwarves. Stas, build some doors."
As I went to build the beds, I watched them go to the dining hall.
The cook introduced himself as sausage. There was a mason who called himself Zades, a mechanic named Derm, a fisher (thank the gods! a fisher!) named Harvi, and a few others who denied to tell me their names or proffessions. One I noticed must have been a drafted recruit to the military, judging by his equipment.
Sure enough, 3 weeks later, the orc slaver party came charging from the west, with their whips ready and snarls on their ever-ugly faces.
We were able to raise both of the bridges before they got in (luckily). Hilbo then grabbed his crossbow, and a bolt from his crossbow. He walked up onto the walls slowly, took aim, loosed the first bolt, and shot their leader straight through the stomach. He then dropped 8 more in quick succession.
At the sight of such a devastating loss, the rest of the orcs broke and fled.
Still standing on the walls, with a triumphant grin on his face, was Hilbo, the hero
Now we have enough steel weapons and armor that we can't use to buy things we can use from the traders that should be coming in half a year.
However, the death of the orcs brought on the attention of the human's sea god, and we were pelted by the rain for days.
I knew that eventually, Hilbo alone could not take the orc sieges, so I passed on Wineslasher's farming and mechanic duties to others and set him to train with the wrestler, who still hadn't told me his name.
In a few months, they were great wrestlers, and as soon as we get weapons we can use, I will assign them to take them.
We have started the port, but seeing as we want it to look nice, we are using only blocks, which Zades and one other mason are making constantly, so it is going pretty slow.
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That's our fort so far, with the beginning of the port marked. It's not much, but at least it's a start.
The dwarfs remaining right now are:
Mason - female
Furnace Operator - female
Metal crafter, who is on farming duties - female
Lye maker on fish cleaning duties - female
Elite wrestler - male
And a peasant - male
Edit: Also, sorry about the orcs looking like blobs, I'm using the Mike Mayday graphics, and that's how they turned out. I would make my own images for them, but I do not know how.
Edit2: The port will also be much larger than just that section. There will be at least two 9 tile wide walkways, and I will make some extra stuff too.
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Topic: Cycloneaxes - A port town [community] (Read 4360 times)