In theory, we do have a new source that we could tap by verting the SO2 from roasting ores back to elemental sulfur, but that requires a substantive amount of hydrogen gas to produbsp; We do have a minor source of hydrogen that we could use in that crystal, or we could hydrolyze some at the hydroelectric facility. However, before doing that, we should dedicate bor to finding another natural deposit of elemental sulfur, as it is signifitly easier to make and use.
The issue with that is actually finding it. This deposit was buried under about seve of robsp; The only reason we found it was because Konkur knew what he was looking for. I got the gist of what he was searg for, but actually applying that knowledge is airely different story.
While it was found in the craggy terraiion of the isnd, it was under a somewhat ft area. The area still had slope, just much less than it's surroundings. If I had to guess, it probably was the site of an a hot springs, which slowly deposited out various minerals, but due to the insolubility of sulfur, over the years, the sulfur was one of the things left behind. I also know that he checked dozens of spots before finding this deposit, so it's unlikely we'll find anything right away.
So, I pn oing forty or so goblins to begin vasing the craggy terrain oher side of the isnd. They'll be looking for somewhat ftter areas in the craggy terrain, with soil simir to the first deposit. The soil there had a lighter gray tone as pared to the generally darker color around the rest of the isnd. That said, there are other areas that have the lighter colored soil, and as far as I tell, there isn't any sulfur uhose, so her is a perfedicator.
After the survey finds locations to check, I'll have them remove the soil in a small area at each location, so I use teise to see if I sense any buried deposits. Once spring es, we'll halt the search if we haven't found anything, sihe heavy rains generally make the craggy terrain dangerous to traverse if you aren't on the road.
I took a twelve days getting the forty or so goblins trained up on what I po send them off to do. While that might seem like a long time, I took extra time to teach them how to travel safely through the terrain and traihem on buddying up, and divvying up areas to check, along with scheduled meetings to make sure everyone is safe. The craggy terrain has a lot of cliffs and muddy areas, so I wao make sure that this search for sulfur wouldn't result in any acts.
Two days after I returo the city, Zaka approached me with a question. He asked why, if we could travel to go rescue the dwarves, eren't returning to the other isnd this year. I didn't actually have a good answer for him. The best I had was an excuse, which was that I hadn't really thought about it after I'd deemed using the rge boat to be too dangerous. There wasn't a good reason why we couldn't use the smaller longboats to go there and back, even during seasons other than wihough I don't reend springtime for the same reason we won't be searg for sulfur during that season.
There are two small dowo using the longboats to go to the other isnds. The first reason is that the longboats take a loime and signifitly more bor. It's a two-day rowing jouro get to the isnd, where as the rge powered boat make it during daylight hours. The sed downside is that there is much less ste spa the longboats. Transp goods from one isnd to the other using them will be much more limited. Though, si's not relying on charcoal, the journey could be done more frequently by individuals t back lizard hides if needed.
So, after some discussion with Zaka, I'll be going to the other isnd again. I'll only be there for a month this time. I'm going there to help set up facilities for burning float vines and colleg the valuable soda ash. Sihe soda ash takes signifitly less space than the dried float vines do. Teically, finished leather products from the giant lizard hides also take less space, so that's another reason to sider setting up a more perma y there. A perma ight just naturally evolve out of us going there frequently enough though, so I'm not going to force the issue.
After gathering up a different group of military demons from st year, along with a handful of float viherers, we set off for the other isnd. I had to do a small amount of maintenance around the fort after it having been ed for multiple seasons, but after a few days, everything was ba order. After that, I started on the float vine drying area, and then the pces where they'll be burned, and the soda ash collected.
After that, I decided to do my agreed upon leveling time while here. I took eighteen days hunting lizards while cutting down trees. I only killed a lizard about every other day, and as I did so, I thought about the fact that keeping this isively uled actually provides us with a good leveling sourbsp; If it bees ized, we'll reduce the natural animal popution siderably. By keeping this isnd as a military outpost only, we're essentially letting the animals on the isnd soak up the natural levels throughout the year, and then we harvest those levels into the individuals ant to have them.
Despite their size, the lizards have the best yield on the isnd by far, and I suspect it's because they eat a lot of ground birds. I haven't directly observed their lifecycle, but between our isnd and this one, I never really saw any very small lizards, which means they probably mature fast. I've noticed juveniles, which are about 2/3rds the size of the adults, but I haven't seen any smaller than that, which means they probably stay in a until reag a certain level of maturity.
Given how the poputioo bounce back after only a year's time, I think they probably mature quite quickly, meaning they have a fast metabolism, which they'd need food to supply. The main soureat on the isnds are ground birds and fish, and I haven't seen any lizards in the o.
Trees are a det source of levels, but only because they've lived so long that they've accumuted the levels over time. Ground birds, who eat small pnts and nuts, don't really accumute levels very much, and give only slightly better yields than harvesting a small plot of annual crops. The only source of levels parable in harvesting time to the lizards are exceptionally rge fishes caught off the jetties, and it's signifitly harder to do that as pared to killing a lizard. So, preserving this isnd as a military instaltion seems like a good idea.
After a total of thirty-three days, I was ba the main isnd. While not nothing, I still am disappointed by how slowly I gain levels. I'm holy quite worried about how slowly I'll level after capping out in levels this ime.
After returning, there was already over two-dozen potential sulfur sites for me to check so I took eight days going to them and using a full power teise at each to see if I detected any anomalies. I detected something at a sie, though it was nearly thirty feet underground. Given that situation, I had the surveying teams keep searg for potential sites while I sidered how to to proceed with this potential find.
After some discussion, Zeb and I agreed that when spring approaches, we'd move the individuals who are expanding the reservoir over to this potential deposit to dig a small mio see what we find. In order to make that viable, I found some of the forestry goblins, and brought them along to the location. It's almost a mile off the road, so I figured they'd be the best individuals to figure out the best path between the road and this location, and potentially even clear a dirt path for travel before spring arrives. They're fairly familiar with how spring affects the isnd's forests, and what areas are safe vs unsafe during the rainy season, so I'm trusting them to find a path that should be traversable.