Months of Malachite and Galena, 204, Mid/Late-Summer

9th (Malachite) – Construction is going well on the new industrial wing of the fortress. The dismantling of the above ground workshops has begun.
 
12th (Malachite) – I’ve ordered the construction of a trade depot. This, unfortunately, will be an above ground structure since we weren’t able to build into the side of a mountain.

26th (Malachite) – All goods and supplies are now being moved down into the fortress. We shall finally be cut off from the dangers of the outside world. As is the case, I’ve released Olon from his guarding duties. He will remain in the military, but not in active duty. This should give him time to rest and hone his skills. I see him becoming a fine military leader in the future.

4th (Galena) – I’m decided to try a new method for storing our vast amounts of excavated stone. I’m going to try creating a store room, and then having the workers drop in stone from above. This way there is a single place above where the workers move the stone, but it falls and piles up beneath. This should hopefully save space and time.

8th (Galena) – Sad news has reached me. We have yet to attract any merchants or immigrants. Maybe it was the groundhog slayings…

27th (Galena) – Construction on an above ground wall has begun. The hope is to be able to defend from the top if needs be instead of having to wait for our fortress to be infiltrated.

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Month of Hematite, 204, Early-Summer

• 1st – Summer has arrived. The heat has hit this region harder than we anticipated. All standing water, including lakes and ponds, have dried up. While water isn’t a necessity for dwarves, it is a bit disconcerting to see the land around you shrivel and die. Lucky, if water is needed *wince*, there is the nearby brook that doesn’t appear to be running dry.

• 5th – It has come to my attention, thanks to our ever vigilant and self appointed guardian Olon, that we should create some sort of above ground fortification. He’s worried that direct access into our fortress is bad, and that our entry way fortifications will not be enough to fend off formidable force. Based on his advice and my willingness to err on the side of caution, I have approved the creation of the above ground defensive project. However, there are still too many things that we have above ground to set these fortification structures up correctly, we will just have to wait.

 

• 8th – Arrrgghhh!!! My patients are running thin. Mining is taking too long and there is so much to get done around here. I’ve pulled Ducim off of all other tasks to help Rakust with mining full time. Also, I’m suspending the creation of any more projects until the ones on the table have been completed. We must get everything below ground as soon as possible.

 

• 22nd – A kobold thief made an appearance today. He waltzed into our above ground encampment and waltzed right back out with a giant stone statue. Must have been a big kobold. This just reinforces the fact that we need to get below ground asap.

 

• 25th – The thief has struck again. I’m activating Olon into the military temporarily to alleviate us of this nuisance. When I went out to inform Olon of his new orders, I found him covered in groundhog blood. To his left and right each I saw a groundhog corpse. Further investigation wielded the discovery of what appeared to be a groundhog genocide. Olon swears that they attacked him first, I guess I’ll have to take his word for it.

Month of Felsite, 204, Late-Spring

• 4th – The storms have cleared and sun is shining down upon us once again.  Not that we particularly care for sunshine that much either really.   I’ve started work on the expanding the food/drink storeroom and added a kitchen and still to the area.  These facilities will better provide for our dwarves’ most basic needs, grub and alcohol.

 

• 17th – Fortifications are now being moved into the entry way for our basic defenses.  Once we attract a few immigrants I’ll enlist them into the great marksdwarf army I have envisioned.  For some reason our planter has decided that he has nothing to do.  There are fields that lay fallow and he is just dragging around as if we had no fear of winter.  I’ll have to order some lashings for him.  That is, once we get a proper sheriff instated.  So much to do…

 

• 19th – Work orders for mining are taking way to long. I found that the primary cause of this is that Rakust, our proficient miner, has decided hauling duties are not his cup of tea.  He is hereby restricted to mining, and mining alone.

 

• 20th – I’ve planed out a section just off the great hall for our craft and masonry workshops.  I’ll be placing rooms for the carpentry workshops nearby soon enough.  I’d like to get all activities that I can moved down below ground within a month.

 

• 22nd – Ducim, our apprentice miner, has been favoring his crafting duties over mining.  Since getting our fortress established this early time in our development is very important, I’ve decided to pull him from these more trivial tasks.  He is quite good at his little trinkets though, I’ll need to put him back to work on these once things slow down a bit around here.

 

• 26th – It seems our Guard dinning hall has become a popular bypass to the grand hall we had built.  I fear this extra traffic is going to be disturbing to those trying to enjoy a hearty meal.  I’ve laid down guidelines establishing that area a “low traffic” area.  This should cut down on the senseless meandering.

Month of Slate, 204, Mid-Spring

• 13th – I’ve tasked our miner with finding a location suitable for our indoor farms. I have him digging out a section in the sedimentary layer above our main dwellings.  I plan on patching the hole this will create in our entrance shaft by having it walled off from the front.  A back way will be dug down into the main dwellings to allow the farmer access to the farms.

 

• 19th – I’ve started construction on a narrow fortification hallway that will run parallel with the entrance to the fortress. This is only accessible from the barracks and will hopefully provide an efficient means of protection. 

• 24th – Chairs are being moved into the great hall on schedule. Also, the farms are now up and running. The plan is to plump helmets all year round for one of the fields, and the other will have a season or two of pigtail for cloth. 

• 25th – Today marks our first rain shower. I went out to check to make sure that Olon wasn’t running into any issues out in the inclement weather today.  After looking around a bit without any luck locating him, I headed back inside.  I find the big guy wondering the halls looking for a towel, the poor guy was soaked to the bone.  He doesn’t seem too turned off by the weather, but he would definitely perform to stay dry. While looking over Olon’s soaking wet clothes I noticed something. Dried blood, wolf blood! I hadn’t noticed this before, but it would appear that our mysterious blood from last month came from a wolf that Olon killed. When asked why he hadn’t mentioned this before he replied, “He died so quick it didn’t hardly seem worth mentioning.” I spent the better half of an hour explaining how this was not how critical information should be handled, he seems very thick *sigh*.

Month of Granite, 204, Early-Spring

Hello, My name is Sakzul Oltariden. I have been appointed leader of our expedition due to my previous experiences in mismanagement. I will be recording my efforts as I go along.   I hope that these notes are useful for those that come after me, useful for learning from my inevitable mistakes. I’m not writing a book here, so don’t expect every detail to be beautifully depicted like the legendary engravings on the walls of the capital city.  These are notes of progress and failures, ups and downs, ect.  Hopefully I’ll be sketch up some depections our new home.    I only hope to do justice the great things that we are to achieve in the name of Armok.

Log Book:

• One month has elapsed so far and we are off to a good start I’d say. My first order of business was to get as many dwarves working as possible, as quickly as possible. I created above ground carpenter and mason shops for quick construction of needed items for our new dwellings. The dwarves were very happy to have a place to practice their crafts.
• Excavation of our new home has turned up Rock Salt in abundance, along with Sylvite. The latter of which I’m not real sure what to do with at this point. It is currently being treated like any rock and being turned into some lovely yellow furniture pieces.
• The excavation of the barracks and dinning room have been completed and are now being populated with the appropriate furniture. There is enough bedding for seven dwarves and tables for five to eat and drink. That should be plenty for now, and it will make a good area for the guard to be stationed in the future.

• While Olon was out chopping trees he stumbled across a horrific scene. Blood was spattered across the landscape in a fashion that lead him to believe something was dragged off into a nearby lake. This is most disconcerting. I immediately had a scout dispatched to check all the surrounding bodies for anything that may have caused this. The scout returned with nothing, not even a single carp or pike to be found. We’ll have to wait to see if this mystery unfolds or if we’re left to wonder.

• As a result of the incident with Olon, I’ve assigned a war dog to him for additional protection. Hopefully this will keep him from being the next blood stain discovered.
• I’ve created a crafts workshop at ground level to get some of this stone turned into something useful. Production of crafts has started. With signs of recent activity from large groups of travelers, we have every reason to expect them to come through again. When they do, we’ll be ready to barter.
• Construction on a meeting hall has begun. This will be where our livestock is held from now, and where dwarves come to have meetings and parties.

ToDo list:

• Chain two wardogs at the entrance to provide some protection from possible intruders.

1st Granite, 204, Early Spring

Today we break ground! Everyone is excited really stretch their short and stubby legs and get to work. While the land we chose for our new home has many features that will make it a great place to live, it is not perfect. The first and most obvious issue is that we are basically in a flat plain filled with a spattering of lakes a babbling brook. While it isn’t ideal, we will make it work.

Our first project is to dig a defensible entrance into our future city. Rakust and Ducim have started digging and hope to have a good setup in a few days. In the meantime, chopping of wood and the construction of a few necessities (doors, beds, tables, chairs, ect) has begun. The other dwarves aren’t real happy about being reduced to haulers, but they understand that it will take a few weeks before we get their respective shops online.

Another thing of note, the babbling brook that is a few hundred feet off has a very nice delta that will be great for some above ground farming, once the need arises.

The Journey Ends and Life Begins…

Today is 1st Granite, 204, Early Spring, and we’ve come to what looks like a suitable location for a new settlement, a new beginning.  The land has an abundance of trees and a good showing of other vegetation.  However, the sourounding wilderness appears to be untamed at best and at worst a dark enemy.  We will have to be careful if we wish to name this location our home…

Rakust, our most proficient miner, is eager to get to work on the fortress.  However, before we begin we must come up with a name for our new fortress.  A strong name that will instill the memories of its founding fathers into generations that are to come.   Our popular-vote appointed leader, Sakzul, has gathered sugguestiosn from all the dwarves and given a title to our new home.  The fortress shall be named Irkodor Nazom, which means “Newdawn of Dreams”.

Game Creation: The Journey Begins…

It has become too turbulent to stay in the capital city, we must leave.  Despite the constant harrassment by the King’s “Purge” squads I have been able to gather a group of individuals with the skills necessary to start a new life.  Here is the caravan roster…

• Rakust Kolrimad – A proficient Miner that also happens to be capable of the most elaborate engravings you’ll see this side of the Rabzuglar mountain fortress.
• Ducim Zasdegel – Another proficient Miner with a nack for masonry and creating nick-naks out of stone.
• Lor Zononul – Proficient Masonist who can hold his own around the Engraver’s guild.  He also dabbles in gem cutting and setting.
• Olon Sazirmebzuth – He does wonders with an axe, both on the battle field and against trees.  Don’t mess with this mountian of a dwarf.
• Lorbam Enshalathel – A proficient carpenter during the day and a wood crafter at night.  He also is quite good at bone carvings.
• Sakzul Oltariden – This dwarf was High Steward to the former King.  As such he has a wide array of skills in the following fields; building design, mechanic, grower, brewer, cook, seige engineer, appraiser, organizer, and record keeper.  As a Steward he was mostly a manager with little hands on, as such he lacks practical experience but knows enough to pick up the rest with a little self educating.
• Lor Govosudil – A proficient grower who would like nothing better than to farm all day.  Since this doesn’t pay the bills for him, he also dabbles in Brewing, cooking, butchery, tanning, and leatherworking.

 

The pool of the supplies we’ve been able to scavenge has given us the following…

We seven dwarves will set out upon the land in search of a new home where freedom is our King and opporutnity abounds!

Preface: The New King…

Life in the capital city hasn’t been good lately. A new King has ascended to the throne and with his ascension brought the fear of a suffocating darkness. Its no secret that rumors have been going around of rebellion. Everywhere you look a new group is calling themselves “The people’s Freedom Fighters”. All those warmongers have done is cause an overzealous King’s fist to tighten even further. Darkness has fallen upon the entire dwarven populous and this is only the beginning…