My Little Fortress: Shadytrails

by PersonalGamer

[26] 10th Hematite, 222

10th Hematite, 222

Like most days, Isolde finds herself humming lightly to herself while sketching something on the paper before her. Today was a bit different than most though, since she was now finally trying to lay out some plans on how to, well, lay out the town. The local geography was a bit complicated, so it wasn’t entirely obvious where to put different things. She was on her third attempt now, which was shaping up a bit better. It would require some earth moving though, so she’d have to weigh that with the amount of time it would take.

The door to the shelter opens and Patina trots in her horn glowing, levitating something behind her.

"Good afternoon, Mistress," Patina says happily to the griffon at her desk, "I have somethings for you today."

Isolde looks up and gives her a smile. “Good afternoon Patina.” She sits up and holds a claw toward the seat across from her. “Have a seat. What did you bring?” She’d hoped that Patina might have tried out the forge by now, so a piece of purified lead or better yet silver, would be most welcome.

Patina magics out two things from behind her back, her notebook and a lead figure.

She takes the notebook in hoof and sets the figure on Isolde's desk as she takes a seat. The figure was shaped like a griffon warrior standing at attention, with a long spear held over his shoulder.

"I made this paper weight for you. Needed a small project to make sure I wasn't too rusty, before I try anything more tricky," Patina explains.

Isolde carefully takes the figurine and turns it about to examine it from different angles. “Oh, this is very nice Patina, thank you! If you can manage detail work like this then I have no doubt you’ll take to any other work very well.”

“Thank you Mistress," Patina says with a smile, "I've already done some work on repairing Tunda and the other's tools as well, as you probably have heard, though I can't make any new ones with the metals Mr. Silver Rush has found here."

The griffon nods. “I’d heard some metal work of some kind going on, and I can definitely understand your concerns. I’m not much of an expert on metals, but even I know lead isn’t going to stand up to much abuse in an axe or pick. I do hope he’s able to find something else down in the mines, but if he can’t we can at least trade for some once we start getting traders.”

Patina nods, "I've already gotten some silver out of the galena ore Mr. Silver hauled up. If he can keep it up then I think we will have plenty to work with. When you like, I can start making things for trade with it."

Isolde’s face brightens even more. “You’ve already extracted some? That’s great news. I haven’t drawn up any plans for anything specific yet, so if you have some ideas I’m open to them.”

Patina shrugs, "oh. I don't know. I could make figures like this one, goblets, rings... instruments maybe. Or use it to decorate Rosewood's work. Whatever you want me to use it for."

“Hmm, I don’t know if Rosewood has made anything worth decorating with it yet, but you can try talking with her. Maybe the two of you could collaborate on some figurines or something else.” The griffoness considers the options a bit more. “Whatever you two decide to make, I’d probably try to keep the individual pieces fairly small. I don’t think anyone is going to be expecting silver trinkets from us yet so they might not be willing to trade for something big.”

Patina nods, "So no silver leafed wardrobes then. Understood Mistress, I'll see what I can do. Anyway, I had one other thing I wanted to show you, if you don't mind."

“Of course, what is it?”

Patina magics her journal over to Isolde's desk and flips it open to a marked page.

"Just some... sketches... for how we could expand the town... in time of course."

Patina flips through several pages, showing numerous drawings detailing the surrounding area, and a couple potential layouts for Shadytrails as the population grows. She seems to have taken specific care in designing an Arabian style temple (with several pages detailing it's layout) on top of the hill as a centerpoint of the city to be.

Isolde peers closer at the sketches, nodding approvingly. “Oh, these are very nice. I’ve been trying to draw some up myself but, well, this isn’t really my job so I haven’t made a lot of progress.” She taps the temple with a talon. “And this is quite impressive looking.”

Patina blushes, "Well... it's not something we really have the means to actually construct, but it's fun to think about... and maybe someday we will... and I'd want to be prepared for when that day comes."

“I’m glad you’re thinking ahead,” Isolde says, smiling a little. “It probably will be a while yet before we can devote time to something this grand, but it surely would draw in a lot of travelers and would be something nice to talk about. Of course, the gods would probably appreciate the reverence too.”

Patina nods, "Y...yes. Of course in the mean time, the rest of these," Patina flips the pages showing a few other drawings, detailing houses and workshops, "will probably be more important. If you have an idea for what we should be building next... I can go see Rosewood and share my plans."

The griffoness examines the drawings and nods. “Ah, yes, these are probably a bit easier to get to. I’ve been thinking about it some and I think it’s probably in everyone’s best interest if we start building housing first. Eating together is one thing, but sleeping in the same room is another, if you understand. After we get at least some houses built we can start focusing on a better place to cook and eat, I think.”

Patina bows her head briefly, "Certainly Mistress. That... is all I needed to give you. If you have no further need of me right now, I can go see our carpenter right away."

Isolde gives her another warm smile and nod. “There’s no need to rush, but if that’s all you had then I’ll let you get back to it. Thank you for keeping on top of all of this.”

Patina stands, "Just doing my job, Mistress," and exits, going straight to Rosewood as she said.

With her company gone, Isolde settles back into reviewing her designs and comparing them to Patina’s. There was going to be a lot of work ahead.