Isolde's Journal - 13th Slate, 222
We continue to be hampered by our lack of stone or similar durable materials. Normally I wouldn't be overly concerned, since we do have plenty of wood to work with, but without some stone we can't build any furnaces of any kind. In turn, that means no way to make any forges, kilns, glass workshops, or anything like them.
I was hoping to get some kinds of crafts produced by the time we had our first visit from headquarters, but this is going to put us behind schedule. Maybe I'll be able to think of something by then. If not, we do have the wood to work with. And since we don't have a whole lot else to do right now, Rosewood is putting together some very lovely beds for us. They'll be shoved into the shelter along with everything else for the moment, but it beats sleeping on the floor any day.
The good news though, is that Silver Rush did have an idea on how to get through the aquifer. He's trying to open up a large area of the damp soil to the air, which still gets cold enough at night to freeze and hasn't warmed enough to thaw the river yet. If it freezes enough then he can dig right through it.
I'm crossing my talons, but I just hope he's careful. Gunther doesn't have anything to do right now, but that's not how I want to address that little issue.
Those brown boxes represent space queued to be dug, but not yet dug.
17th Slate, 222
Well, there's a bit of news on Silver Rush's progress. Things have warmed up a lot in the past two days, which means that the river has thawed.
That's great, because I took a little stroll down south to a few prospective fishing sites and saw that there is definitely some aquatic life swimming about. I even marked a good spot to set up a fishery, which I think I'm going to do personally once I finish taking stock tonight. I can already taste the smoked fish...
Maybe Gunther likes to fish too? That would give him something to do other than admire the flowers and bushes...
Oh, but I'm getting ahead of myself. This is somewhat bad news too, because it means that Silver Rush's plan probably won't work. If it's too warm then the water won't freeze and he'll be back at square one. He did tell me over dinner that he's been able to get deeper than before without hitting any water though, so maybe he's found a good spot regardless. Time will tell.
18th Slate, 222
Silver Rush ran into the water after all, which shouldn't be much of a surprise. What was a surprise however, is that it's still getting cold enough at night to freeze standing water, so maybe there's hope yet. He's working hard, and I really hope it pays off.
23rd Slate, 222
Not a whole lot of news to report on the stone situation. Silver Rush is but a single pony and can't do but so much. He's getting close though, he assures me.
Instead, I've been spending some time these last few days trying to plan out where we're going to put everything once we do get a sawmill set up. We've got this big hill and lots of lowlands around it, so I'm thinking of trying to set the houses and living areas up lower down. It might not be a great view, but at least if we have a lot of furnaces going in a year or two we won't be choking on smoke every day as it rises up.
While looking around I noticed there was no sight of Gunther anywhere, but Kiume and Shooting Star told me they saw him out near the river checking the herbs. I didn't think too much of it, but later on Jack mentioned to me that he saw Gunther sitting up in one of the trees and just staring out over the water. I hope he's not getting depressed, but I can understand that this might not have been quite what he signed up for. Maybe I'll get to that fishery soon and we can spend some time fishing to take his mind off of it?
DF pathfinding strikes again. Jack Pine to the rescue. Uh oh, he fell out of the tree...
This is a z-layer (1 level) above the upper ground level, and our doctor is the "g" seen there. The assorted dots represent ground on the z-level below, while the blue shaded regions represent a drop or more than one z-level.
Then again, maybe he's just not feeling well. He seemed to be getting around a bit slow after he came back to the shelter. Depression can cause that too, so I'll just keep an eye on him for now.
25th Slate, 222
Gunther seems to be alright, so that's one less thing to worry about. With that off of my mind and most of the clerical work taken care of for the moment, I sat down with Patina for a little while today and asked if she'd be willing to try working with some of the spare bits of wood to make some things we might be able to trade with the first caravan we receive. She can't possibly produce all that much on her own, but if it's enough to salvage our image and maybe trade for some stone or metal then I'll be happy.
She seemed receptive to the idea, so with Rosewood's help she set up a little crafts station and went to work whittling some. I don't mean to put her on the spot, but we've all got to do what we can for the time being.
Speaking of which, I hope I can actually get a chance to head down to the river soon.
10th Felsite, 222
It's been a while since I last wrote, but today was definitely a day worth writing about!
I was down by the river, spending some time fishing in the hopes of catching something other than the frogs and toads I've been seeing lately, when Silver Rush came soaring over with a grin on his face.
He had great news indeed! Since the cold spell has been persisting, he's had enough time to chisel his way through the icy slush to hit stone!
I don't know if quartzite is special, since the name doesnt' really ring a bell, but either way a source of stone means we'll have that sawmill and some furnaces up soon. I hope within a week or two!
I'm sure Patina will be glad to hear that, and everyone else will too once we've got some personal bedrooms constructed.
16th Felsite, 222
The news continues to get better!
Silver Rush reported in again today with what he's found in the mines so far. Today he hit a vein of something called galena, which he went on to describe as being where lead comes from. That's good, I guess, since lead has its uses, but he also told me that it oftentimes contains silver too. Silver! We can mine silver and I don't need to say what that could mean for our economic prospects!
Add on top of that the fact that Patina is now working on that sawmill, and I must say that things couldn't look much better!
1st Hematite, 222
Our little family just got a bit bigger today. I wasn't expecting any new hands quite so soon, but I knew the Confederacy would be sending some sooner or later. Jack was the first to spot them headed our way from up north and flagged me down further down the river. I flew over to meet them, and quickly came to the realization that we lack a bridge over the river for visitors to cross... that will be Patina's next project I think. For now, the newcomers will just have to get a bit wet.
Yeah... going to need a bridge over that for the poor ground bound equines.This is the upper level of the fort; with the water surface being a z-level below.
Our new arrivals were:
A griffoness mason named Freija, who is married to,
A pegasus stallion carpenter named Dawn Star,
A pegasus mare carpenter named Sweet Birch, who is married to,
An earth pony stallion farmer named Green Acres, and who have a daughter,
A pegasus filly named Purity,
A unicorn mare soldier named Lucky Lands,
A griffon soldier named Fargo, and
An earth pony mare seamstress named Lattice Frame
And they're here just in time to help with the new harvest! Tunda told me this afternoon that she thinks the fresh crops are ready to be picked, so we'll have some fresh alfalfa, strawberries and blueberries to go with the trout I've fished up for us. Gunther and Tunda have also found some various other fresh fruits around, so our diet is looking nice and healthy.
Now, to figure out how to put all of these new claws and hooves to use. Housing is definitely the top priority.