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[Xvareon]

The Journal of Ludoc

14th of Granite, 257, Early Spring

My first kill. While looking for a way to be useful, Baron came up to me with a job.
"Why don't you go into the hills and hunt us some fresh meat? I could butcher it for us." he said with a grin.
"What am I supposed to hunt with--"
"Oh, details..." he sighed, walked over to the wagon and pulled out a small crossbow and quiver of bolts, and handed them to me.
I immediately went off into the woods looking for wildlife. It didn't take me long, but there wasn't much; just a few scraggly looking large rodents on the grassy part of the foothills. Still, meat was meat. I managed to get lucky, even though I had no experience with a crossbow. Took quite a few shots, though.

Once I got back, Baron had already set up a makeshift butcher's shop and it didn't take long to fix up the corpse. I have to admit, he's a bit scary when holding a knife over a dead body... always mumbling about 'teeth necklaces' or 'skull totems' with a creepy grin plastered on his face... ahem. Anyways, one other interesting thing I noticed was the little creature Deler had around. Somehow she'd managed to smuggle in a breeding pair of cats, it looks like, but I'm not sure 'cute' is the word I would use to describe them when one is holding a dead rabbit in its mouth. Looks like we'll have some extra protection against vermin, as long as Garth or the Baron don't get any ideas about old-fashioned violins...

[Baron Baconeer]

Fact: You can make kites from kittens.

Just sayin'.

[Xvareon]

The Journal of Ludoc

17th Granite, 257, Early Spring

"Well done, Garth. You ruined my dress, and managed to get both my cats soaked."
"A simple miscalculation, lass. How was I supposed to know there was too much water in that pool to evaporate properly?"
"You weren't thinking, Garth. You let desperation for your home-brewed liquor get in the way of common sense."
"It's not a big deal. We managed to drain it out without incident, and we'll just seal the pond off afterwards. Besides, your cat doesn't really seem to mind, it looks like." And pointed to the male, who was carrying a turtle in its mouth. They snuck off to a corner, rolling the shell around and biting it, but to no avail.

All this I spotted on my way to get a drink. I've decided to give up hunting for now, due to that giant eagle circling around outside. I'm going to need a bigger bow.  Things have been pretty uneventful around here, though, but at least we have our front door and farm set up. Just need to make space to move the workshops inside and we should be fine.

[Xvareon]

The Journal of Ludoc

3rd Slate, 257, Mid-Spring

"What are you doing out there, Vergil?" I called. The giant eagle had moved on to the north, probably in search of easier prey. Vergil was piling sticks and junk wood in a large yet orderly pile on the hill above the Fortress entrance. "Building a signal fire!" he called back. "If we're ever going to attract the remnants of Dwarven civilization, we'll need to let them know we're here!" I had to agree. It'd be very difficult for a bunch of above-ground dwelling hippies to... to.. hmm. This Dwarven lifestyle is getting to me.



Things are proceeding well, though. We've got good food stocks for the next several months, at least, and should be able to get a lot more with the new farm in, and with the eagle gone I can keep hunting. In the meantime though Baron is making himself busy cooking up all the meat we brought with us and what we hunted on site. We've started patching the leak from when we drained a surface pool earlier, and now we've got good muddy ground for farming. Dorfette has announced that we've located veins of Jet and Limestone rock, the latter of which excited Deler all the more due to flux properties. She's already set up a forge and is gathering materials. Now that I think about it, this place seems absolutely ideal. Plenty of trees, manageable wildlife, and incredibly mineral rich earth.

It's funny how easily we've managed to adapt here. Either everyone has been training for this for a very long time, or we were made to do this. If it's the latter, I have faith any other Dwarves who find their way here will manage to carve out a happy and productive existence, and truly make this place into a Fortress, like Garth says. Or he's just making this all up as an excuse to build a private hideout where he can drink all the brew he wants and deal in gnomes...

[ShadowZane]

Id like to be a Hunter/animal trainer if possible

[Xvareon]

The Journal of Ludoc

23rd Slate, 257, Mid-spring

I've made some more bolts out of the bones of that Hoary Marmot I slew earlier. The damned eagle is back, though, so I won't be hunting anytime soon. We need to take care of that pest somehow. I think Garth has a plan of some sort, though...

"A trap?" inquired Dorfette.
"That's right. We know the Eagle likes to fly around the outskirts of our Fortress--"
"It's hardly deserving of that name now, Garth."
He scowled. "Now, yes. But we'll grow stronger. To do that, though, we need to overcome obstacles such as these. Now, here's my plan..."

The idea is to dig a tunnel under where the creature likes to fly, and create a trap it will hopefully fall for, ridding us of this menace. The odds of this working are steep, and dangerous to boot, but I have confidence in Garth. After all, the old man used to hunt rabbits in the woods around Gloryfissures; setting a trap for something this big should be easy.

[Xvareon]

The Journal of Ludoc

1st of Hematite, 257, Early Summer

Summer has just arrived, and already we have our first harvest. We all got a taste of Shorna's fresh booze, right out of the field. All we can grow for now is plump helmets and pig tails, but it's still better than nothing.

"Nothing better than a mug of cold booze after a hard day's work, eh lads?" Garth laughed as he downed a mug of wine in one go.
"Except another one, that is!" Shorna said as she filled another one and passed it to him.
"It's good, but..." Baron leaned closer, whispering "...do you have anything else?"
"Now that you mention it, I do. Try this." and passed a mug of some frothing brown liquid to him.
Baron sampled it, grimacing at the taste at first, but soon found he had downed an entire mug and was asking for another. "What is that stuff, exactly?"
"Oh, just a bit of home-brewed ale. I added my own spin on it, a little garlic here and there..."
"Ah," said Baron and continued drinking.
I leaned closer and whispered; "What was that drink, really?"
Shorna smiled, and whispered back; "Rotmeth. Rancid, highly fermented meat juices with lots of spices to kill the poisons."

...Or is it?

[Baron Baconeer]

"Rotmeth. Rancid, highly fermented meat juices with lots of spices to kill the poisons."

You just killed my appetite for like a month for that description.

[Xvareon]

heh heh, so that's where you draw the line? Still I guess it was a bit much. sorry bout that lol

[Xvareon]

The Journal of Ludoc

18th of Hematite, 257, Early Summer

We've set up a functioning forge and smelter to take advantage of all this iron ore and coal we've been finding lately. We've already got a few bars of steel out, Deler is happy as can be making just beautiful weapons and armor. We should be able to make some cheap metal goods too, and soon. Garth and Deler have been digging downward lately, since we're pretty well settled in now. We've unearthed two more veins of coal, more jet and some bauxite, the legendary magma-proof rock, so rare to surface Dwarves there's a huge black market for the stuff. I'd heard tales of the old mountain Dwarves building huge 'mega-constructions' involving magma, and this was an absolute necessity back then. Seems to be so common now it's hardly worth anything, though.

In other news, we've decided to not build those eagle traps just yet. It'd strain us too far as is. Vergil has been tending that signal fire daily, so hopefully we can attract someone.

[Xvareon]

The Journal of Vergil

21st Malachite, 257, Mid-summer

My young friend Ludoc seems to have a passion for hunting. He's taken up the arms and armor Deler produced with such haste and gone to hunt, and was met by the giant eagle out front. I don't know what he was thinking, but he chased the beast a great distance around the area with just an axe... oh, and a full set of steel plate mail. The eagle ran... or flew... from him the entire time, as he ran after. The lad could keep pace with the beast, but not catch up to her. Frustrated and calling for blood, he proceeded to brutally murder...


One...

Two...

Three nearby deer. Baron is pleased, I can tell you that.

[Xvareon]

The Journal of Vergil

2nd Galena, 257, Late Summer

"What's got you so excited, Vergil?" Ludoc asked between mouthfuls of deer meat stew as I ran into the dining hall, sweating like a mule.
But grinning. "Riddle me this, lads; What has two legs, a rock for a pillow, loves booze and knows how to make cheese?"
Silence hung in the room for a brief moment, then everyone screamed in unison; "MIGRANTS!!!"
Everyone rose to their feet in a hurry, spilling mugs of ale onto themselves and hunks of deer meat to be snapped up eagerly by two fat, happy cats, and ran out the doors of the soon-to-be-Fortress to meet the newcomers.

----------
This migrant wave is already dealt with and closed but you may still view the specs below.

Fish Cleaner, Female (Novice Fish Cleaner, Novice Potash Maker)
'Leila', Milker, Female - CLAIMED BY Chaoseed (High Master Milker, Skilled Grower, Adequate Wood Crafter, Novice Pump Operator)
'Kace', Dyer, Male - CLAIMED BY Kc_spot (Talented Dyer, Novice Axedwarf, Novice Shield User, Novice Armor User, Novice Fighter, Novice Dodger, Novice Observer, Novice Wood Crafter)
Soap Maker, Female (Novice Soaper, Novice Crutch-walker)
Jeweler, Male (Expert Gem Cutter, Expert Gem Setter, Talented Animal Trainer, Novice Cheese Maker,)
Engraver, Male (Novice Engraver, Novice Diagnostician)
'Anna', Mason, Female - CLAIMED BY AUTHOR (High Master Mason, Novice Miner, Competent Suturer, Competent Siege Operator)

[Baron Baconeer]

Yes, Baron is pleased indeed.

[Xvareon]

bump

please pick a dwarf soon... i'm really looking forward to continuing the story. and make sure to bookmark this so you don't lose track as other topics get posted.

[Kc_spot]

I want the Dyer. "Kcdaspot" IS a weird name to give a dwarf so try a anagram I suppose.