I'm sorry it took me a while to compile more useful stuff
Here we are...
Really, really good things have been happening ..
Chapter 8:
GOOD FORTUNEIt was a bit complicated to come up with a name for this chapter, to be honest. But I guess it makes sense after the more... ominous feelings from the last one, with the strange rider and all that.
This time it's all about development! Development
everywhere!
Down by the foothills of the Mountain, on Austral Slope Farm, we're finally getting our first harvests!
Something that, of course, would've taken a lot more of my time if not by the help of all the excellent people that helped over the past few chapters by donating stuff and seeds!
For the last crops that I didn't have already, I traded again with my fellow neighbor Tom. Turns out I had a couple things he didn't discover himself yet and it was all good!
Meanwhile, in the heart of the Mountain, following a really long and thin scrape of ore turned out to be an excellent prospect! I also found black coal and I sense - or maybe I'm just being optimistic - that there is more to found yet!
Mining has been exhausting, a lot of water is required to keep the operations running...
But it is certainly worth it! Although I'm not even a Deep Artificer yet - and I'm certainly working with cheap, low smelting ratio ore (chalcopyrite) - I'm kind of having a bit of luck! Maybe the Gods themselves have blessed this endeavour. Or perhaps they're saving the Troll spawn for later...
At any rate, I'm keeping the iron stockpiled for now... I'm going to wait for Deep Artifice before working it into wrought iron and steel, it's never wise to abuse your own luck
and I think I prefer my iron cast rather than slag
With things working well on all ends and Nimbus now properly fed, I can use him for more manual labor than I could before, which is helping me to gather resources faster than ever - especially since I found out that not only my road works with carts but it also works with carts when pulled by a horse
I wonder if it works with wagons...?
I also finally managed to build my well. I had to wait for another server restart (because of issues) but ended up being - yet again - very fortunate. My first wall attempt gave me the absurd amount of like 200+ ropes
When I tried another place, though... the number was raising by the tenths! And luckily, quite next to the smithy, I found a place that only asked me 4 ropes and 20 stones! Yay - free water!
Quality isn't bad either. Average is 15. It's a bit sad because I knew a q30 water spot but I'm afraid I'll hardly travel all the way there again for water now that I can get it here. I'm also thinking about building more wells to see if I get a little improvement, but that's on hold for now. Making ropes is particularly annoying, at least until my fiber production isn't stabilized.
Anyway, by nightfall I started working on the next big and important project! Another piece of the 'public area' - and a very cute and important one...
The sheep pens! I have always dreamed of raising sheep on a mountain top and now that dream can become a reality!
At least in Haven, that is... Well, the dream was in Haven too, so we're good
Took me a while to get all the stuff I needed... These stone fences I came up with might look nice but they're extremely annoying to craft since I have to sculpt stone by stone.
Luckily I seem to be on top of a Schist deposit - the stone I use for some of the more washed, brown-ish tones - and my new mansion cellar provided most of the raw materials!
A little snow mound here and there... and that's it. Ready for a happy, thriving family of sheep!
Before anything happens, though, I'm yet again graced with a great gift from Torin! Thank you, mate! Keep up rocking!
This beautiful sword will certainly help me - a lot - when hunting. And that shield is really cool! I like the design, that was an awesome present. Thank you very much
Just out of curiosity, here's another more general view of how's Wulf's Retreat building up. As you can see, the south wing (private area) is pretty much complete (with the exception of the possible Minehole and the remaining coops) and the west wing of the public area is quite done, too. It mostly lacks some other buildings I want to build (an Inn, public stables, the Wine Press, etc...) and all the decoration/detailing as I've been doing with snow and such.
Anyway... Things have been calm and good these last couple days. For the upcoming days I shall focus on the mining operations and on bringing some mouflons back home for taming. I kind of found one, to be honest...
A bit far away, though. So the question for the next chapter remains: will we get home safely?