#fort ancientwound

[soulsongplays]

Fort Ancientwound

Early Autumn of 203

Thank Armok, I was worried you'd all just left us 'ere to die- Winter to Autumn doesn't feel like too long to wait until you've actually waited it out. It almost feels like it took longer than that, even- as if we've been doing this for a total duration of more than two years but the fortress kept dying off in the first few months and being revived by some sort of cruel divine who finds our suffering entertaining.

It's been a surprisingly uneventful first year, very much in spite of our environment- ay've been seeing Giant Kea circling the fort just staring with those too-smart eyes. I've been very narrowly avoiding encounters with dangerous wildlife both above and below ground as we get our start- too little fuel, caverns too deep, somehow not enough aquifer. I was about to write the whole place off as a loss- few resources and fewer reasons to remain- when I came across something particularly interesting after breaking into the caverns...

An Underground Volcano. THIS is the damn fuel of industry right here! I don't know how Solaire was so confident there was something special buried here, but god blood or not we've sat ourselves on top of an endless fuel supply. Glassworks, metallurgy, fuckin' ceramics if you're the surface dwellin' dirt-munchin' type! All of a sudden, I'm not so sad about being sent out here- and you all gave me the rights to the land for this 'sacred mission' so ye can't take it from me!

'nough gloating though, I'm sure you want to see how the actual fort looks so far, an' its nothing impressive but I'm doing my best with the until-recently-limited resources at my disposal.

Tradin' post on the surface, self-explanatory- I'm not havin' my folks dig a tunnel all the way down for a damn merchant caravan unless we're sure there's somethin' worth diggin' for down there.

Upper level- farms, animals, the like- and let that farmhand Deon know I appreciate the donation of their Deep Rothe, their hides will do amazing things for my militia. The farms rotate between Cave Wheat, Plump Helmets, and Pig Tails so we can make bread, beer, and books- Shuffle insisted on that last one, an' he's doing enough jobs that I won't turn down a simple request.

Main floor, though this area is largely temporary- we're going to be moving around the lip of the volcano soon enough. Most noteworthy part is probably the green glass furniture, my hope is we can expand the glassworks enough that we can make most of the furniture and walls out of it- especially now that we have magma, glass is practically free.

As you can tell by the stairs into the cavern, I'm embracing the glass thing. Sturdy as stone and twice as pretty- I'm sure the humans'd do it too if they didn't make the stuff so fragile. That's about all I have to report- though I would like to ask some advice. How do I get my citizens to stop throwing corpses in the water supply? It's getting concerning...

Right, well, write you when the next caravan comes by.

[soulsongplays]

Fort Ancientwound - Introduction

Armok damn that bleedin' heart, what, one night of drinkin' an all of a sudden it's my job to save the whole damn world?! I was just looking to sample exotic alcohols and now I'm sent into the ass-end ah nowhere with a buncha fuckin' fanatics...

Sorry, ya pricks at Ambergilt want me to be professional in these logs, don't ya? Well you shouldn't've sent me then. Regardless, if I don't give ya somethin' then you'll probably stop sendin' traders, and that'd be a death sentence with how close ya have me stationed to a gods-damned necromancer's tower. Only a few clicks north of Blueblood too.

By the way, don't think I didn't notice you sent me out here with a bunch of crazies- they've been yammerin' on about "The Blood of Armok" or some such nonsense this whole time, an' when we decided on the information about our government this is what they came up with...

Our symbol is a dwarf exsanguinatin' 'imself while worshippin' a weird crystal! Lunatics, all of 'em, but at least I won't get too attached when they manage to get themselves killed. If I die, know its these dwarves' fault-

an' I do have to say, Shuffle's title is very appropriate considering he immediately took on four different noble positions... poor guy should take a break.

I'll send my next letter along with the next traders you send my way, pricks.

[soulsongplays]

Early Spring of 204

As much as I don't want to interact with gods-damned bark-eating knife-eared elves, I wanted to send a letter more. Plus, we're in dire need of more food and even as refugees the elves can manage a surplus- its like they never got the memo that foraging doesn't work on a large scale and manage it anyway.

Things have been... well frankly, a bit dull. We spent the rest of autumn and winter making green glass blocks- turns out they cost labor and time- so we're expanding slowly. Under other circumstances I'd rush us out to the volcano and build as I go, but the wildlife here are... uncannily good fighters. I studied some of the local deer and its not just the Kea, all the animals have an odd intelligence behind their eyes. If I had to rank it, I'd say most of the local deer are proficient combatants, and it only gets worse as you go deeper down.

On another note, I'm clearly doing something right because the people have started going into strange moods, having strikes of inspiration and the like- though their choice of artifact is a touch odd.

I'll admit that its the best-crafted wooden bin I've ever seen in my life, but ultimately... it is still a wooden bin. Gods forbid it decays in our lifetime, our best carpenter would go into a depression.

On the topic of the fortress, my plan is to build up a large enough supply of blocks to wall in the volcano- or at least, the parts of it that are actually in my claim. From there, we expand into the surrounding walls, smoothing as we go to prevent too many issues from the local aquifers, and get something actually respectable built here.

In terms of new additions to the fort we have now, there's not much- most of our building materials are going to be going towards the volcano, so I'm holding out hope that we can just lock down if anything goes wrong in the meantime- though I did order the Deep Rothe moved to a new pen at the bottom of the stairway and the construction of a building around our trading post with a bridge we can raise if there are any raids.

The biggest problem so far is that the aquifer is dripping through the ceiling into the rothe pen, but I put in some ditches so they can drink out of the lakes that form. I don't know what happens when those fill up but that's a problem for future me. Signing off until I can get a letter in the hands of a proper dwarven caravan.

Fort Ancientwound

Early Autumn of 203

Thank Armok, I was worried you'd all just left us 'ere to die- Winter to Autumn doesn't feel like too long to wait until you've actually waited it out. It almost feels like it took longer than that, even- as if we've been doing this for a total duration of more than two years but the fortress kept dying off in the first few months and being revived by some sort of cruel divine who finds our suffering entertaining.

It's been a surprisingly uneventful first year, very much in spite of our environment- ay've been seeing Giant Kea circling the fort just staring with those too-smart eyes. I've been very narrowly avoiding encounters with dangerous wildlife both above and below ground as we get our start- too little fuel, caverns too deep, somehow not enough aquifer. I was about to write the whole place off as a loss- few resources and fewer reasons to remain- when I came across something particularly interesting after breaking into the caverns...

An Underground Volcano. THIS is the damn fuel of industry right here! I don't know how Solaire was so confident there was something special buried here, but god blood or not we've sat ourselves on top of an endless fuel supply. Glassworks, metallurgy, fuckin' ceramics if you're the surface dwellin' dirt-munchin' type! All of a sudden, I'm not so sad about being sent out here- and you all gave me the rights to the land for this 'sacred mission' so ye can't take it from me!

'nough gloating though, I'm sure you want to see how the actual fort looks so far, an' its nothing impressive but I'm doing my best with the until-recently-limited resources at my disposal.

Tradin' post on the surface, self-explanatory- I'm not havin' my folks dig a tunnel all the way down for a damn merchant caravan unless we're sure there's somethin' worth diggin' for down there.

Upper level- farms, animals, the like- and let that farmhand Deon know I appreciate the donation of their Deep Rothe, their hides will do amazing things for my militia. The farms rotate between Cave Wheat, Plump Helmets, and Pig Tails so we can make bread, beer, and books- Shuffle insisted on that last one, an' he's doing enough jobs that I won't turn down a simple request.

Main floor, though this area is largely temporary- we're going to be moving around the lip of the volcano soon enough. Most noteworthy part is probably the green glass furniture, my hope is we can expand the glassworks enough that we can make most of the furniture and walls out of it- especially now that we have magma, glass is practically free.

As you can tell by the stairs into the cavern, I'm embracing the glass thing. Sturdy as stone and twice as pretty- I'm sure the humans'd do it too if they didn't make the stuff so fragile. That's about all I have to report- though I would like to ask some advice. How do I get my citizens to stop throwing corpses in the water supply? It's getting concerning...

Right, well, write you when the next caravan comes by.

[soulsongplays]

Mid-Summer of 204

Ah. Apparently those elves were leading the path for a group of men, so I have the chance to note something I did shortly after the elves left...

I realized I was being stupid. More specifically that I had only made one glass furnace which only one glassmaker could use- good training for Bardic but awful for mass-producing blocks. In less than a month I managed to seal in the trading area

This should allow us to make strides in getting moved to the volcano- and keep our trade goods safe from those damn smart birds...

Fort Ancientwound

Early Autumn of 203

Thank Armok, I was worried you'd all just left us 'ere to die- Winter to Autumn doesn't feel like too long to wait until you've actually waited it out. It almost feels like it took longer than that, even- as if we've been doing this for a total duration of more than two years but the fortress kept dying off in the first few months and being revived by some sort of cruel divine who finds our suffering entertaining.

It's been a surprisingly uneventful first year, very much in spite of our environment- ay've been seeing Giant Kea circling the fort just staring with those too-smart eyes. I've been very narrowly avoiding encounters with dangerous wildlife both above and below ground as we get our start- too little fuel, caverns too deep, somehow not enough aquifer. I was about to write the whole place off as a loss- few resources and fewer reasons to remain- when I came across something particularly interesting after breaking into the caverns...

An Underground Volcano. THIS is the damn fuel of industry right here! I don't know how Solaire was so confident there was something special buried here, but god blood or not we've sat ourselves on top of an endless fuel supply. Glassworks, metallurgy, fuckin' ceramics if you're the surface dwellin' dirt-munchin' type! All of a sudden, I'm not so sad about being sent out here- and you all gave me the rights to the land for this 'sacred mission' so ye can't take it from me!

'nough gloating though, I'm sure you want to see how the actual fort looks so far, an' its nothing impressive but I'm doing my best with the until-recently-limited resources at my disposal.

Tradin' post on the surface, self-explanatory- I'm not havin' my folks dig a tunnel all the way down for a damn merchant caravan unless we're sure there's somethin' worth diggin' for down there.

Upper level- farms, animals, the like- and let that farmhand Deon know I appreciate the donation of their Deep Rothe, their hides will do amazing things for my militia. The farms rotate between Cave Wheat, Plump Helmets, and Pig Tails so we can make bread, beer, and books- Shuffle insisted on that last one, an' he's doing enough jobs that I won't turn down a simple request.

Main floor, though this area is largely temporary- we're going to be moving around the lip of the volcano soon enough. Most noteworthy part is probably the green glass furniture, my hope is we can expand the glassworks enough that we can make most of the furniture and walls out of it- especially now that we have magma, glass is practically free.

As you can tell by the stairs into the cavern, I'm embracing the glass thing. Sturdy as stone and twice as pretty- I'm sure the humans'd do it too if they didn't make the stuff so fragile. That's about all I have to report- though I would like to ask some advice. How do I get my citizens to stop throwing corpses in the water supply? It's getting concerning...

Right, well, write you when the next caravan comes by.

[soulesstoy]

Okay, I don't know if anyone was actually tracking my let's play, but I had An Anxiety and cannot say for certain whether I will return to ancientwound, so. Assume the population has been murdered by cave swallows unless informed otherwise.

Fort Ancientwound

Early Autumn of 203

Thank Armok, I was worried you'd all just left us 'ere to die- Winter to Autumn doesn't feel like too long to wait until you've actually waited it out. It almost feels like it took longer than that, even- as if we've been doing this for a total duration of more than two years but the fortress kept dying off in the first few months and being revived by some sort of cruel divine who finds our suffering entertaining.

It's been a surprisingly uneventful first year, very much in spite of our environment- ay've been seeing Giant Kea circling the fort just staring with those too-smart eyes. I've been very narrowly avoiding encounters with dangerous wildlife both above and below ground as we get our start- too little fuel, caverns too deep, somehow not enough aquifer. I was about to write the whole place off as a loss- few resources and fewer reasons to remain- when I came across something particularly interesting after breaking into the caverns...

An Underground Volcano. THIS is the damn fuel of industry right here! I don't know how Solaire was so confident there was something special buried here, but god blood or not we've sat ourselves on top of an endless fuel supply. Glassworks, metallurgy, fuckin' ceramics if you're the surface dwellin' dirt-munchin' type! All of a sudden, I'm not so sad about being sent out here- and you all gave me the rights to the land for this 'sacred mission' so ye can't take it from me!

'nough gloating though, I'm sure you want to see how the actual fort looks so far, an' its nothing impressive but I'm doing my best with the until-recently-limited resources at my disposal.

Tradin' post on the surface, self-explanatory- I'm not havin' my folks dig a tunnel all the way down for a damn merchant caravan unless we're sure there's somethin' worth diggin' for down there.

Upper level- farms, animals, the like- and let that farmhand Deon know I appreciate the donation of their Deep Rothe, their hides will do amazing things for my militia. The farms rotate between Cave Wheat, Plump Helmets, and Pig Tails so we can make bread, beer, and books- Shuffle insisted on that last one, an' he's doing enough jobs that I won't turn down a simple request.

Main floor, though this area is largely temporary- we're going to be moving around the lip of the volcano soon enough. Most noteworthy part is probably the green glass furniture, my hope is we can expand the glassworks enough that we can make most of the furniture and walls out of it- especially now that we have magma, glass is practically free.

As you can tell by the stairs into the cavern, I'm embracing the glass thing. Sturdy as stone and twice as pretty- I'm sure the humans'd do it too if they didn't make the stuff so fragile. That's about all I have to report- though I would like to ask some advice. How do I get my citizens to stop throwing corpses in the water supply? It's getting concerning...

Right, well, write you when the next caravan comes by.

[soulsongplays]

Mid-Autumn of 204

If I want to have anything interesting to say in these reports, I'm going to have to skip sending letters with some of these traders.

I've expanded a bit more- added walls so we have a dump inside the fortress in case we need to lock down- smoothed a lot of the common areas, that sort of thing. There's a new library- we've been buying books off the traders when we can- and a mid-sized tomb as well.

I wouldn't typically think of Tombs until someone has died, but... this sounds odd but I had a nightmare some time ago that the fortress was attacked by the dead and not everyone made it inside. I watched through the glass brick walls as... well, you can guess. Regardless, the dream drew attention to our lack of tombs and amenities, so I had them improved. I also added a traction bench to the hospital, but our mechanic made some odd mistake and it seems to be a river now.

Don't ask me what kind of mechanical issue can turn a traction bench into a river, I'm just happy it still works. Somehow.

Fort Ancientwound

Early Autumn of 203

Thank Armok, I was worried you'd all just left us 'ere to die- Winter to Autumn doesn't feel like too long to wait until you've actually waited it out. It almost feels like it took longer than that, even- as if we've been doing this for a total duration of more than two years but the fortress kept dying off in the first few months and being revived by some sort of cruel divine who finds our suffering entertaining.

It's been a surprisingly uneventful first year, very much in spite of our environment- ay've been seeing Giant Kea circling the fort just staring with those too-smart eyes. I've been very narrowly avoiding encounters with dangerous wildlife both above and below ground as we get our start- too little fuel, caverns too deep, somehow not enough aquifer. I was about to write the whole place off as a loss- few resources and fewer reasons to remain- when I came across something particularly interesting after breaking into the caverns...

An Underground Volcano. THIS is the damn fuel of industry right here! I don't know how Solaire was so confident there was something special buried here, but god blood or not we've sat ourselves on top of an endless fuel supply. Glassworks, metallurgy, fuckin' ceramics if you're the surface dwellin' dirt-munchin' type! All of a sudden, I'm not so sad about being sent out here- and you all gave me the rights to the land for this 'sacred mission' so ye can't take it from me!

'nough gloating though, I'm sure you want to see how the actual fort looks so far, an' its nothing impressive but I'm doing my best with the until-recently-limited resources at my disposal.

Tradin' post on the surface, self-explanatory- I'm not havin' my folks dig a tunnel all the way down for a damn merchant caravan unless we're sure there's somethin' worth diggin' for down there.

Upper level- farms, animals, the like- and let that farmhand Deon know I appreciate the donation of their Deep Rothe, their hides will do amazing things for my militia. The farms rotate between Cave Wheat, Plump Helmets, and Pig Tails so we can make bread, beer, and books- Shuffle insisted on that last one, an' he's doing enough jobs that I won't turn down a simple request.

Main floor, though this area is largely temporary- we're going to be moving around the lip of the volcano soon enough. Most noteworthy part is probably the green glass furniture, my hope is we can expand the glassworks enough that we can make most of the furniture and walls out of it- especially now that we have magma, glass is practically free.

As you can tell by the stairs into the cavern, I'm embracing the glass thing. Sturdy as stone and twice as pretty- I'm sure the humans'd do it too if they didn't make the stuff so fragile. That's about all I have to report- though I would like to ask some advice. How do I get my citizens to stop throwing corpses in the water supply? It's getting concerning...

Right, well, write you when the next caravan comes by.

[soulsongplays]

Early Spring of 207

Oh No!

We... can't be certain why so many bird-men have approached our gates, but we are sending out a messenger before our attempt to confront them just in case we are overwhelmed by their sheer numbers. It seems... more than likely at this point. It feels strange that we have Outwaited Death, Slain a Forgotten Beast, and grown our economy so strong that even Ambergilt relies on us, but it may just be birds that do us in.

Wish us luck

Fort Ancientwound

Early Autumn of 203

Thank Armok, I was worried you'd all just left us 'ere to die- Winter to Autumn doesn't feel like too long to wait until you've actually waited it out. It almost feels like it took longer than that, even- as if we've been doing this for a total duration of more than two years but the fortress kept dying off in the first few months and being revived by some sort of cruel divine who finds our suffering entertaining.

It's been a surprisingly uneventful first year, very much in spite of our environment- ay've been seeing Giant Kea circling the fort just staring with those too-smart eyes. I've been very narrowly avoiding encounters with dangerous wildlife both above and below ground as we get our start- too little fuel, caverns too deep, somehow not enough aquifer. I was about to write the whole place off as a loss- few resources and fewer reasons to remain- when I came across something particularly interesting after breaking into the caverns...

An Underground Volcano. THIS is the damn fuel of industry right here! I don't know how Solaire was so confident there was something special buried here, but god blood or not we've sat ourselves on top of an endless fuel supply. Glassworks, metallurgy, fuckin' ceramics if you're the surface dwellin' dirt-munchin' type! All of a sudden, I'm not so sad about being sent out here- and you all gave me the rights to the land for this 'sacred mission' so ye can't take it from me!

'nough gloating though, I'm sure you want to see how the actual fort looks so far, an' its nothing impressive but I'm doing my best with the until-recently-limited resources at my disposal.

Tradin' post on the surface, self-explanatory- I'm not havin' my folks dig a tunnel all the way down for a damn merchant caravan unless we're sure there's somethin' worth diggin' for down there.

Upper level- farms, animals, the like- and let that farmhand Deon know I appreciate the donation of their Deep Rothe, their hides will do amazing things for my militia. The farms rotate between Cave Wheat, Plump Helmets, and Pig Tails so we can make bread, beer, and books- Shuffle insisted on that last one, an' he's doing enough jobs that I won't turn down a simple request.

Main floor, though this area is largely temporary- we're going to be moving around the lip of the volcano soon enough. Most noteworthy part is probably the green glass furniture, my hope is we can expand the glassworks enough that we can make most of the furniture and walls out of it- especially now that we have magma, glass is practically free.

As you can tell by the stairs into the cavern, I'm embracing the glass thing. Sturdy as stone and twice as pretty- I'm sure the humans'd do it too if they didn't make the stuff so fragile. That's about all I have to report- though I would like to ask some advice. How do I get my citizens to stop throwing corpses in the water supply? It's getting concerning...

Right, well, write you when the next caravan comes by.

[soulsongplays]

Early Winter of 205

I appreciate the forces of fate conspiring to make my life more interesting, and I would like to ask them to stop.

We have been under siege since the summer- the forces of the dead crowd outside our gates. We're perfectly safe for now, the fortifications around the entrance to the fortress are just as strong as predicted, but we have virtually no way of interacting with the outside, so we have been forced deeper down.

Maybe it is a blessing in disguise, the fortress has reached upwards of fifty people and we'd long run out of space, but a new kind of siege approached us from the deep roads- Giant Ants. Tackling either force will surely leave my forces wounded and unable to confront the other, so we have been dormant, with our one squad having been training constantly for two seasons.

Inside the fort, if you can ignore the tension of the siege in the air, things are going relatively well. Moods are high, aided in large part by the opening of The Maw of Flames, the tavern which overlooks the volcano (though we've not had the chance to host any visitors). There was... an unfortunate incident with some cave swallow men when we were still constructing the windows, but we have designated tombs for those who were forced off the edge of the cliff and into the volcano, and make plans to properly memorialize them as we speak.

Our citizens have also created... I believe it is three artifacts since the start of the siege, Italbetan Nomustos the Glass Boat, Shukarnanges the Cloth Glove, and Edanaddor the Wooden Barrel. Don't ask me where Kivish got chestnut wood in the middle of a siege, I don't know either. I also find it strange how two of our people have decided to make storage items into artifacts now, I guess our citizens are big fans of logistics?

Regardless, the point of this letter is not to brag, but to ensure those at Ambergilt that we are safe, and warn them against trying to send merchants for at least another year while we train more of our populace into soldiers. If a winter passes where you do not hear from us, assume we are dead.

When we do clear out the siege, though, we are running through the contents of our larder surprisingly quickly given the ants preventing us from constructing farmland outside our walls. Brew some good drink for us, brothers, and when news comes of the siege having cleared send a caravan of celebrants to break in the dance floor in the tavern for we will have good reason to use it.

Fort Ancientwound

Early Autumn of 203

Thank Armok, I was worried you'd all just left us 'ere to die- Winter to Autumn doesn't feel like too long to wait until you've actually waited it out. It almost feels like it took longer than that, even- as if we've been doing this for a total duration of more than two years but the fortress kept dying off in the first few months and being revived by some sort of cruel divine who finds our suffering entertaining.

It's been a surprisingly uneventful first year, very much in spite of our environment- ay've been seeing Giant Kea circling the fort just staring with those too-smart eyes. I've been very narrowly avoiding encounters with dangerous wildlife both above and below ground as we get our start- too little fuel, caverns too deep, somehow not enough aquifer. I was about to write the whole place off as a loss- few resources and fewer reasons to remain- when I came across something particularly interesting after breaking into the caverns...

An Underground Volcano. THIS is the damn fuel of industry right here! I don't know how Solaire was so confident there was something special buried here, but god blood or not we've sat ourselves on top of an endless fuel supply. Glassworks, metallurgy, fuckin' ceramics if you're the surface dwellin' dirt-munchin' type! All of a sudden, I'm not so sad about being sent out here- and you all gave me the rights to the land for this 'sacred mission' so ye can't take it from me!

'nough gloating though, I'm sure you want to see how the actual fort looks so far, an' its nothing impressive but I'm doing my best with the until-recently-limited resources at my disposal.

Tradin' post on the surface, self-explanatory- I'm not havin' my folks dig a tunnel all the way down for a damn merchant caravan unless we're sure there's somethin' worth diggin' for down there.

Upper level- farms, animals, the like- and let that farmhand Deon know I appreciate the donation of their Deep Rothe, their hides will do amazing things for my militia. The farms rotate between Cave Wheat, Plump Helmets, and Pig Tails so we can make bread, beer, and books- Shuffle insisted on that last one, an' he's doing enough jobs that I won't turn down a simple request.

Main floor, though this area is largely temporary- we're going to be moving around the lip of the volcano soon enough. Most noteworthy part is probably the green glass furniture, my hope is we can expand the glassworks enough that we can make most of the furniture and walls out of it- especially now that we have magma, glass is practically free.

As you can tell by the stairs into the cavern, I'm embracing the glass thing. Sturdy as stone and twice as pretty- I'm sure the humans'd do it too if they didn't make the stuff so fragile. That's about all I have to report- though I would like to ask some advice. How do I get my citizens to stop throwing corpses in the water supply? It's getting concerning...

Right, well, write you when the next caravan comes by.

[soulsongplays]

Early Summer of 206

As it turns out, if you are patient enough and build strong enough walls, you can outwait even death itself.

We've successfully avoided the undead at our upper gate and the ants at our lower gate by sealing ourselves in- apparently the Death Ones of Drivenboulder will eventually realize they have better things to do. The Ants didn't have anything better to do, but at some point we were assailed by a Forgotten Beast of old who wished to siege our fortress, and with our gates still locked tight it ran into the ants and slaughtered all of them, seriously wounding itself in the process, before retreating into a passage deeper down and getting murdered by some beast down there or another. In the end, it's worked out fairly well for us.

In the meantime, we've added... I believe eight soldiers to our military divided across two militia squads and the newly-founded city guard. At the moment they're slightly interchangeable, we'll have that sorted once they're all trained, but the next time we are confronted by the walking dead we may just be able to fight them off instead of hiding like cowards in our fortress. In addition, we may also be able to give our soldiers rest time with three squads of fighters.

In the end, things are looking up for the fortress Ancientwound.

Fort Ancientwound

Early Autumn of 203

Thank Armok, I was worried you'd all just left us 'ere to die- Winter to Autumn doesn't feel like too long to wait until you've actually waited it out. It almost feels like it took longer than that, even- as if we've been doing this for a total duration of more than two years but the fortress kept dying off in the first few months and being revived by some sort of cruel divine who finds our suffering entertaining.

It's been a surprisingly uneventful first year, very much in spite of our environment- ay've been seeing Giant Kea circling the fort just staring with those too-smart eyes. I've been very narrowly avoiding encounters with dangerous wildlife both above and below ground as we get our start- too little fuel, caverns too deep, somehow not enough aquifer. I was about to write the whole place off as a loss- few resources and fewer reasons to remain- when I came across something particularly interesting after breaking into the caverns...

An Underground Volcano. THIS is the damn fuel of industry right here! I don't know how Solaire was so confident there was something special buried here, but god blood or not we've sat ourselves on top of an endless fuel supply. Glassworks, metallurgy, fuckin' ceramics if you're the surface dwellin' dirt-munchin' type! All of a sudden, I'm not so sad about being sent out here- and you all gave me the rights to the land for this 'sacred mission' so ye can't take it from me!

'nough gloating though, I'm sure you want to see how the actual fort looks so far, an' its nothing impressive but I'm doing my best with the until-recently-limited resources at my disposal.

Tradin' post on the surface, self-explanatory- I'm not havin' my folks dig a tunnel all the way down for a damn merchant caravan unless we're sure there's somethin' worth diggin' for down there.

Upper level- farms, animals, the like- and let that farmhand Deon know I appreciate the donation of their Deep Rothe, their hides will do amazing things for my militia. The farms rotate between Cave Wheat, Plump Helmets, and Pig Tails so we can make bread, beer, and books- Shuffle insisted on that last one, an' he's doing enough jobs that I won't turn down a simple request.

Main floor, though this area is largely temporary- we're going to be moving around the lip of the volcano soon enough. Most noteworthy part is probably the green glass furniture, my hope is we can expand the glassworks enough that we can make most of the furniture and walls out of it- especially now that we have magma, glass is practically free.

As you can tell by the stairs into the cavern, I'm embracing the glass thing. Sturdy as stone and twice as pretty- I'm sure the humans'd do it too if they didn't make the stuff so fragile. That's about all I have to report- though I would like to ask some advice. How do I get my citizens to stop throwing corpses in the water supply? It's getting concerning...

Right, well, write you when the next caravan comes by.