Bloodline:Ringfissures Year 1

Player: Phrost

I awoke in a panic. Visions of doom still clawed at my mind, and I shook my head vigorously to dispel them. Pre-embark jidders, I knew, but... it all seemed so... so REAL! I could see them, the gentle dwarfs left to my supervision as we set out to expand the territory of the mountain home. Surrounded by fire imps... smouldering... clawing at their burning flesh.. I shook my head once more to clear them of these foul visions, and to assure myself that this was not a portent of things to come...

Our scouts had located an area that would be suitable for our purposes; somewhere that we could establish a foothold and send back valuable trade goods for the further glory of the mountainhome. Someplace rich in ore, magma, and untold wonders. And I... I had been selected to lead the initial group of 7. It appears that the time spent improving my negotiating skills has paid off..

We took with us a diverse selection of meats, seeds, and various other items, not fully knowing what our future would hold. Some of my companions wondered at my choice to leave behind our anvil and one of our axes, calling it undwarven to set up a new home without an anvil. I assured them that we would have more than enough to occupy our time setting up, and that the mountainhome would supply us with an anvil in due time..

After arriving at our destination, we chose to strike the earth near the great magma fissure, hungering for its warmth to fuel our industries. We struck into the hillside, and found a wealth of precious obsidian. It shall make for valuable crafts and weaponry! Initial excavations went well, although I had troubled dreams of our hunter being mauled by roaming cougars. I ordered him to cease hunting immediately, as we can't afford to lose anyone to wild animals. Construction of the trade depot took priority, for it is after all our duty to supply glory back to the mountainhome. Only after we had our depot ready, with sure access for wagons of goods to depart, did we focus our efforts elsewhere. Craftshops went up in short order, producing delicious delicacies and intricate crafts.

It came then, as great surprise, when I saw a goblin come running into the fort! I cried out to our ranger and woodcutter to heft the tools of their trade in defense of our fort, when to my amazement the goblin SPOKE! "Greetings, from the mountainhome!" he said! A tale for the ages, I'm sure, how a goblin ended up as liaison to our outpost! We haggled a bit over what items we needed, and what value the next caravan would be able to provide us for our goods, while our first caravan began unloading. Unsure of our future food supply, I opted for plenty of food and drink. I have also seen that the merchants tend to come with insufficient wagon space to heft out our rich accumulated treasures, so I also requested that they bring plenty of stone and wood, to ensure that their wagons would then be able to *leave* bearing the fruits of our labors. We traded off some minor crafts we had constructed (of rather poor quality, I am ashamed to say) for a few scraps of food, and a bit of metal. Unfortunately we had lost a significant quantity of our carefully prepared meals to a rhesus invasion earlier. Damn dirty apes... Our hunter and woodcutter put up a valiant defense, and drove them off, but not before we lost at least a hundred units of food! (I'll have to hold a meeting on citizen preparedness... when the needs of the outpost dictate that someone take up arms, it is not appropriate to first go take a drink!) I did take a small measure of satisfaction that we were able to *replace* some of that food with what the hunter procured from the thieves.. their bones now dot the landscape as a warning to any future trespassers.

All together I am pleased with the progress my brethren have made in securing this outpost; we have a meager farm in place (I'll have to see about having that pool drained; my farmers claim that it's just not good soil, but I disagree), our drawbridge is secure, our food and drink stockpile, though small, and hastily gathered inside after the monkey attack, is sufficient and growing, and we have a respectable barracks in place. And most importantly, my office is nearly complete! I think I shall now retire to go count the number of stones we have near the workshop...

Oh-ho, in my haste to run off to inventory our stones, I forgot to list out what that crazy goblin merchant was offering!