My Little Fortress: Shadytrails

by PersonalGamer

[19] ★ Isolde's Journal: 3rd Hematite 222 to 10th Galena 222

Isolde's Journal - 3rd Hematite, 222

Now that we've got real materials to work with and some processed lumber, I've taken to planning out some of our future living space. Patina has had some very useful input on that, pointing out that the river might be a possible flood hazard. I hadn't considered that, and that would be quite disastrous.

Nevertheless, if we're going to build below the smoke line, there's only so much room. I've asked Jack Pine and Silver Rush to start clearing out some extra space though, so maybe we'll have more room soon. Maybe we can take some of the broken up earth and start building up the river banks a bit too? I'll have to ask Silver Rush if he knows anything about that. If not, maybe Patina does.

I wish it was possible to see the map before you embarked, because it frequently gives me nasty, hilly terrain like this. Oh well, what are you going to do?

I also have to be careful not to put the homes and such too close to the mine, since that's not going to be a quiet place. Then again, underground, it might not be so bad.

11th Hematite, 222

We've had a bit of a badger problem lately, which hasn't been good for morale or productivity. I'm not sure where they came from, but we had some even wander up into the camp and attack one of the new ponies!

Nobody got hurt, but Kiume and the other guards are probably partly to thank for that, since they chased most of the badgers off. Maybe we can get back to work now?

Well, no ponies, griffons or zebras got hurt anyway. Maybe the rotting badger carcass will serve as a warning to others. Or just scare the citizens every time they walk past it.

The new furnace we set up next to the mason's shop should be a good place to start. We're going to need a lot of charcoal soon, probably more than we can reasonably produce. Once we have some though, I'll see if anybody wants to try their luck at smelting some of that galena. Silver Rush or Patina might know enough about that to give us some lead to work with.

15th Hematite, 222

Patina has been taking well to the new forge and made me this cute little paper weight to try her hoof at working with lead. Oh dear, if I keep collecting gifts like this from her and Gunther I might soon run out of my meager personal space to keep them.

At least we're finally putting our lumber stockpiles to some use. We laid the first foundation for the new homes today. I considered a few options and I think what we'll try out is individual homes of fairly modest size. If it looks like we'll have the materials and labor then we might give the couples something a bit bigger, since children can take up a lot of space, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there, as they say.

I suppose the same applies to the tree houses I discussed with Gunther. It's a great idea, but for the moment I'll just have to be practical and get as many people sheltered as quickly and simply as I can. It shouldn't take too terribly long.

Close to the mine after all. Oh well, good thing they don't actually make noise in DF.

21st Hematite, 222

The first house is complete at long last! I've decided to give it to Rosewood, since she's been pretty much the mare behind its construction. I don't think anyone will complain or contest the decision either, especially when we're on schedule to have more put together very soon.

I'll write again when we've got a bit more done. At a week each, we should all be sleeping inside before you know it.

27th Hematite, 222

We now have the beginnings of a nice little neighborhood popping up just down the hill, with five houses finished or nearing it.

We've also got a lot of stone blocks stocked up, thanks to Patina and Freija. I'm not quite sure what we'll build with them first, but I'm leaning toward a dedicated guardhouse for the guards to train in. Hopefully we won't need it to hold any prisoners any time soon, but there's always that possibility.

Another thing worth noting: Silver Rush has been quite busy since he finished smoothing out some land to build on, and has come across some very interesting things underground. We've got some new gems of some kind called schorls, and he found some marble.

I'm not sure how valuable the gems are, but marble I know can be pretty valuable if you know who to sell it to. Of course, the trouble there is transporting it, and I don't think any traders just coming through town are going to want to haul lots of it around. We'll see. If not, then it'll certainly make a nice addition to the town some day in the form of decorations.

26th Malachite, 222

A month has passed and not too much of interest has happened, but I'm pleased to say that finally we have the first neighborhood completed. Rosewood, Patina Dreams, Jack Pine, Silver Rush and Tunda all have personal homes now

Some might argue that the brick walkways are a superfluous feature at best and a waste of time and resources at worst, but I disagree. They only took Patina and Freija about a day to lay out and they make things look so much nicer already. Believe me, looks matter more than people might want to admit, and it can affect morale.

That does lead me to question how to prioritize things from here on out, however. There is a lot left to do. We need a clean place that Gunther can set up for the inevitable day that someone gets hurt, a guardhouse, a tavern, a trading post... more workshops... the list goes on.

I'll probably forge ahead with housing for the forseeable future. That's going to be the most important thing to most people, I'm sure.

28th Malachite, 222

I'm a bit concerned about Dawn Star. Gunther informed me over dinner that they just about had to drag the stallion back into town after Freija discovered him trapped down in the river. I haven't talked to him yet, so I don't know why he was down there in the first place, but his feathers must have gotten wet and kept him from flying out. By the time Freija found him he was pretty exhausted from treading water.

The waterfall strikes again. I've had to pull him and Freija out of there several times now...

Maybe instead of having the masons start on a trading depot I should have had them start on another bridge to cross that part of the river. I'd hate for anyone else to fall down there and not be found before it was too late...

But, for now we do have most of a temporary depot constructed for whenever we do get someone from back home to show up. Silver Rush has been lucky underground and managed to find a few more clusters of gems! He told me all about the black zircons and prases he found, as well as some ore called cobaltite.

At this rate we're going to need a dedicated prospector and appraiser! I might have to write home about that.

3rd Galena, 222

After considering our options further, I decided to start on the guardhouse next. The guards have been training outside in the weather for long enough and they deserve a good place to sleep at night too. Of the different locations that presented themselves, I opted to have the masons start laying out its foundation on the hillside overlooking the river. From there they should have a good view of the whole town, and I hope the scenery makes up a bit for it taking so long to get started on it.

Tomorrow I believe I'll talk with Rosewood and the other carpenters about starting on the hospital. First I just have to decide where it's going to go...

10th Galena, 222

Already I feel like we've made some mistakes planning the layout for the town, but I'm hopeful that by the time it's all built up that it will look a bit more reasonable. My biggest concern at the moment is where I marked for the carpenters to start laying the foundation for the tavern. It's in an open space, but depending on which way most of the travels come it might be in an awkward location. Then again, I suppose if they've come this far a few extra steps here or there won't make much difference.

The beginnings of the tavern are the wall in the upper right, and the new hospital's beginnings are on the left side against the hill.

The hospital's location I'm a little less worried about, since it will be close to the homes, guardhouse and workshops. A little paranoid side of me thinks that maybe it shouldn't be so far from the tavern in the off chance that we get some rowdy drunks later on, but there are other ways of dealing with that problem.

It's going to be a while yet before either building is completed, but at least I can rest easy tonight knowing that we're on track to have the basic ameneties covered and everyone with their own slice of town.

The real test will come later this year when the representatives come to inspect the work we've done. I know we'll have them impressed by then.

Author's Note:

Updates will usually be put out in waves, broken up by category (scene, journal, etc.) and/or content (when, where, who, what, etc.).

Entry as found on bay12

Comments

[PersonalGamer]

5972846
Ponies > All.
Therefore they must be the primary reason.