Our expedition set out without any tools or weapons but with a cart laden with seeds, wood and a handful of Iron and Copper.

Our Blacksmith Bjorne was confident that we could forge all that we would need once we found a suitable site and refused to spend any extra on bringing tools with us.

After months of searching I finnally settled upon a site that was rich in Dolomite and offered us a near vertical cliff to dig into. The River was rather far from our intended dig location but that wouldn’t matter in the short term. Later on we’d have to find a way to divert the water to the Fortress but for now we had enough alcohol to last us all year.

After unloading the cart we set up a small base camp of workshops so that Bjorne and Egon could get to work forging tools and building some furniture. Within a day the first of our Picks was forged and Giles immedietly set about digging out the nearby loam to form our first farm. 

However it didn’t take long for us to hit rock again and it seemed that farming would be tricky in this area. No matter we dug out some rooms from the stone so we had somewhere to sleep and eat in safety. Giles began planting Plump Helmets and Rock Nuts and we prepared for our first harvest.

Within a week we all had a Pick and Egon was sporting a new Iron Battle Axe which he used to mercilessly hunt down the poor trees around our camp.

With our new tools we set about preparing the cliff for our Fortress. Digging out a large flat area several stories high I could already see the grand entrance, fortifications and engravings in my mind. This was no doubt destined to be one of the greatest Fortresses ever built.

Morris led our Mining efforts as we began to dig out what would later become the Barracks and main Keep of the Fort. While our group was small we had no need of individual rooms and this floor would be the basis of our Fortresses defenses and eventual home to our standing army.

I’ve included a sketch of the proposed layout.

You can make out where the Barracks and Mess-Hall will go. A Pantry will connect to the Mess-Hall and then a Still, Kitchen and Butcher shop shallbe on the far side to minimise the amount of hauling required.

The Northern side of the Fort will be reserved for Archery Ranges, Ammunition stockpiles and anything else we may need to support a growing Military in the future.

What followed was an immense amount of digging and hauling. Spring turned into Summer and then into Autumn. However Morris; being a very experienced Miner, managed to save us alot of time with some controlled cave-ins. These saved an immense amount of time allowing us to have the Trade Depot built and operational in time for the first Dwarven Caravans arrival.

Unfortunately as all we had been concentrating on was digging all we had to trade was stone and a few piece of furniture. We didn’t need the stone so much but then neither did the trader. He left with an aggreement to bring back more Iron Anvils so long as we aggreed to supply Sceptres. I’m not too worried about Trade right now though as I feel we are well on our way to self-sufficiency. The Farms are producing food faster than we can eat and we are developing a good surplus of nearly everything.

With Winter came immigrants. Only a few though so we are still living quite comfortably out of the military barracks. They arrived just  in time to help haul what remained down at Base Camp into our newly dug Warehouses (and toss the resulting stone outside). Among them was a Hunter who has quickly start to supply us with a ready supply of meat which makes a change from living on Plump Helmets. I’m still getting to know the others as it’s been fairly hectic. I’ve barely been able to keep the Records up to date but now I don’t have to help dig I should get enough time to setup an office and get to grips with managing the new arrivals and planning our future projects (a Reservoir is on the cards as well as new living quarters and workshops as no doubt we will be seeing more immigrants soon)

I’ve included some sketches of the Fort as it is today. You can see just how much progress we’ve made in our first year…