//------------------------------// // 6: Moving Fast // Story: My Little Fortress: Dawnpick // by Paaaad //------------------------------// Virtue's Diary - 23rd Timber, 252 It seems that something similar to what happened to Bevel has taken Ballista. I found her this morning while trying to track down Flux, occupying the forge and demanding that we bring her body parts and bars of metal. Fortunately, Longshot was able to provide some body parts in short order, but we haven't yet smelted any of our magnetite. It's worrying. I'm wondering if there is some sort of dark magic permeating this land that's driving these ponies to do this. I wish we had a wizard here to consult, none of the unicorns that have joined us so far seem to know a thing about it. 25th Timber, 252 I'm pleased to record that Panacea released Halberd this morning. I'd have never believed that he could recover in a week from such an injury, but he seems to be getting along just fine, and has already headed off to the barracks again. I feel very guilty over it all. If he had a proper suit of armor, that would have never happened. I'm doing all that I can to rectify that problem, but it's going to take some time. Maybe a long time. 6th Opal, 252 We finally finished the hospital today, and Panacea moved in upstairs. I think she found it a bit bittersweet, but I didn't press her about it. This way she'll be closer to any patients that need her urgently. In other news, we've finally started smelting some of the magnetite we dug up in the quarry, so we're one step closer to having some steel armor for our two soldiers. I urged Flux to be quick about the smelting if at all possible. Ballista hasn't left the forge since she entered it, and it's my understanding that the two are friends. That should motivate him a bit, I would think. Once he's taken care of that, I think I'll ask him to start piecing together some mechanisms. *1 It's going to be a little while yet before a proper wall is ready, but some traps in the mean time should help. Now that Halberd has recovered, perhaps he will have some input on it after all. Panacea's Diary - 6th Opal, 252 Things have been moving fast the past few days. I'm very happy to note that Halberd has made a full recovery. I've been talking with him a bit, since I think I'm the only friend he has here. I never knew how seriously he took his job as a soldier, and I must say that I really respect him. I only pray that I never have to stand over him wondering if he'll live ever again. Speaking of which, my new room in the hospital is finally ready, so I'll be moving in tomorrow. It's for the good of the hospital, but it means I probably won't be seeing Saw Dust as much any more. I miss not being with him much already. Maybe I'll go visit him at his workshop tomorrow. 23rd Timber Virtue looked away from the mare occupying the forge with some difficulty and continued on to the smelter just past it. She hadn't found Flux in the dining hall, so it would be the next best place to look for him. She heard that Flux knew a thing or two about mechanics, so she hoped he might have some ideas on some traps to set up around their perimeter. Cage traps *2 are always effective, but I'm not sure if the badger pony thieves are trap avoid or not. I think not. Cages are a bit of a pain though, because I'm too lazy to "empty" *3 them properly. Weapon traps have had satisfying results in my last fort. Any input from Flux would be appreciated. The Journal of Flux, Timber 23 Balista has been acting weird lately. She got this strange look in her eyes and then zoomed off to the forge. Now, she's yelling about bones and metal and gibberish. The others tell me it's similar to how Bevel was acting. Maybe we'll get another fancy chair? Either way, I think we're still a week or two from being able to actually begin smelting. Ya, we have the smelter up, but the magnetite needs to be hauled and charcoal needs to be made. In the meantime, I've been doodling some trap designs. I'm no expert, but the principals are fairly simple at least. Some ponies like cage traps, say they're more humane. I disagree. Cage traps only make new problems, and I don't know if we can handle prisoners anyway. I think I'll try to figure out how a spinning blade trap works. I hear they're really efficient, so hopefully I can puzzle out the details of how they work. Opal 6 Finally able to get started smelting today! It's a relief to get back to smelting again. Virtue asked me to be as fast as I can, and I'll try, but it's a slow process. Balista hasn't stopped yelling about needing metal, so I expect she'll be along soon for some fresh iron. ***************** I like using blade traps. Cages are anoying, and I never could design an efficient way of dealing with caged hostiles. That and I like watching the bits and pieces fly Edit* Also, here's an interesting quirk to keep out flying baddies: They won't path over water. I've taken to building a moat with water around my pony forts with all the fliers that show up. *4 Virtue's Diary - 23rd Granite, 253 Ballista finished the amulet she was working on today, which she calls Mirthpartner the Escorted Dot. An interesting name for the amulet, and it's certainly intimidating looking, but she wears it around proudly. Flux has been busy making charcoal and smelting the magnetite, but we've run into a problem. He tells me that we need something called, ironically enough, flux in order to actually make steel out of the iron. I don't really understand metallurgy, but I trust he knows what he's talking about. Once he's smelted a bit more of the magnetite, I think I'll set him to work on those mechanisms. The designs he drew up looked good to me, and I think everypony will feel a bit safer once there are a few in place. Chic and Diamond Shard have been digging hard in the quarry looking for something suitable to use as flux, and they stumbled into a large underground cavern in the process.*5 It looks deserted, but it worries me, so I think I'll have them seal it up soon. Whatever lurks below, it probably isn't good, and badger pony thieves are enough of a problem. Some merchants arrived today too, and it feels like it's been an eternity since they last came. We still didn't have much to trade, but we picked up a little food and drink from them in exchange for some uncut gems. They seemed happy enough, at least, and promised to return next year. 7th Felsite, 253 Today was a bit of a surprise. Naginata gave birth early this morning to a unicorn colt that the parents named Rondel. He was a cute little foal. Naturally, Naginata will be laying off training for a while, which she had been for the last month or so of her pregnancy. We haven't seen any more thieves, so maybe she won't be needed any time soon. The search for flux hasn't turned up much, unfortunately, except for another large underground cavern. I'll request it sealed off too, since the initial exploration didn't turn up any flux. I hope we find some soon, I don't want to have to rely on simple iron for our soldiers. On a lighter note, Marbles has set up a glass furnace and started making some windows. I know I'll be happy to have a window in my bedroom, and I think everypony else would agree. Thinking back to my discussion with Flux, I think some glass weapons for the traps. They won't be much use in Halberd or Naginata's hooves, but for a trap I think it would work well. We wouldn't have to use any of our iron either. 23rd Felsite I got a surprise this morning. A formal request for a town hall was in the stack of paperwork I needed to sort through today. Curious, I started asking around, and it turns out that Longshot has mad such an impression on everypony else that they elected him mayor! *6 I didn't even know it was up for discussion. Seems like the sort of thing I would be involved in, but if it's what everypony wants I don't see the harm. I hate to tell him that it's going to be some time before a town hall can be constructed. We're still short on bedrooms, and we started constructing our curtain wall. He's a reasonable pony, and I think he'll understand. I've updated the map as before. I'll feel a lot safer when the wall is finished. Guess Longshot hasn't had a lot to do other than socialize lately. That friend list of his goes on for a few pages, and no grudges, even with Halberd. 4th Hematite, 253 While worrying over our dwindling supply of wood today and the growing need for more bedrooms, Mortar told me that he had learned a spell to transform most types of plants into wood. *7 I was a bit skeptical, but he demonstrated in short order. Impressed by the magical feat, I asked him to show a number of other unicorns how to use the spell, and now we have a wood conjuring workshop to help pad our supplies of lumber. I'm afraid to transform too much food, but it's nice to know we have a fallback if we need it. A large number of migrants arrived a couple of days ago, so I think we'll be needing the food more (good thing Harvest Moon has been hauling in so much lately). I rounded up the new arrivals: An earth pony stallion bone carver named Totem A pegasus stallion weaver named Spool A pegasus stallion woodcrafter named Miter A pegasus mare fish cleaner named Sushi An earth pony farmer named Appleseed A unicorn mare mason named Kiln An earth pony stallion furnace operator named Cinder A pegasus stallion carpenter named Redwood A unicorn stallion dyer named Carmine His wife, a pegasus mare fisher named Ocean Breeze An earth pony stallion farmer named Golden Grain An earth pony stallion miller named Barley A unicorn stallion shearer named Wool A pegasus mare spinner named Loom A unicorn mare tanner named Alum A unicorn stallion siege operator named Arbalest A pegasus mare soldier named Falcata A pegasus stallion soldier named Bardiche Of course the two new soldiers will be joining Halberd and Naginata, but as usual I'll have to think over the other arrivals before sorting out where they will fall into place here. I'm not sure if I'm ready to send Ocean Breeze out to the river to fish yet. We wouldn't want a repeat of that tragedy. Ok, that last migant wave was just uncalled for. The previous migrant wave didn't all have bedrooms yet! I've got 51 ponies now, and have set the pop cap at 50. I need some time to sort out these ponies! Anyway, the wall is under construction and Flux is now working on setting up some traps (and a drawbridge soon). I think I might be screwed on flux though, I could have sworn it was in the embark info.