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[dresdor]

From the journal of Rakust Bomrekusen.

Our civilization has lived in a tense stalemate with the two necromantic towers for many years.  They could not penetrate the walls of our Mountain Homes with their armies of undead, and we could not penetrate through their massive unyielding army to destroy the foul magisters who animated it.  We know from intelligence that among those necromancers are several former members of our society, turned to the dark ways in a lust for power.

Several years ago, the fortress of Kirnomal...MergedStaffs....was founded.  It was to be a hidden refuge, far from the eyes of the undead.  It was hoped by the time the necromancers found it, it would be defended well enough to hold its own.  The army of undead proved more perceptive, and MergedStaffs was destroyed barely a year after its creation.  Similar efforts were made at other locations, but in every case, the undead menace destroyed the colonists, adding them to their undead army.  The death toll at MergedStaffs was over eighty all told, dwarves eagerly fleeing the Mountain Homes, where constant undead raids leave everyone on edge, looking for a better life.

This is the fourth expedition to reclaim MergedStaffs.  The other three have not bee heard from, but we assume the worst.  My force of seven hammerdwarves will fight our way to the fortress, and seal ourselves in.  We will reorganize, and prepare to fight any lingering undead.  We will succeed, or die trying.

1st Granite, 1060
We have reached MergedStaffs.  There are goods thrown all around the terrain, as if some madman randomly moved everything around.  We have already seen the ghostly aparations of dwarves, and that is a poor sign.  We have seen no undead yet, but we have not reached the fortress entrance yet.

2nd Granite, 1060
So much death....we have passed dozens of corpses, of dwarf and animal alike.  None have moved, though, and furtive hammer blows have ensured they stay that way for now.  There is an eerieness to this place.  More haunting spirits have been spotted.  Let us hope they do not cause us further harm.

3rd Granite, 1060
We have reached the entrance to MergedStaffs.  We found the remains of a wall built across the entrace, the stone scratched at by bloody hands.  The stone was clearly moved by hammerblows, probably from one of the earlier expeditions.  Beyond it is a row of slabs, depicting dead dwarves of the fortress.  I have heard these slabs help prevent ghosts from troubling the living, giving them peace.  If the ghosts we have seen are anyindication, we must get to work quickly.

We have rebuilt the wall.  We are sealed within MergedStaffs now, and must make the best of our situation.  We live or die within these walls.

8th Granite
After killing a kobold thief who claimed he was just seeking shelter, we have taken full stock of our situation.  The inside of the fort faired no better than the outside.  Everything was in disarray.  We have no reconning of the food and other provisions present here, but there are farms that are fully functional, if currently barren.  We have started the arduous task of finding anything of value and organizing it, as well as dealing with the refuse and bodies.

21st Granite
We are constantly haunted by restless spirits.  Our efforts to engrave their memorials and bury bodies in tombs is met with constant frustration.  One ghost will disappear only to have two others appear in its place.  It is maddening.  This place....this place is more and more a tomb every day.  It is truly a cursed fortress.

25th Granite
Lack of alcohol and brewable plants has force a dire action...until we can get the farms producing, we must gather water from the river, and whatever plants we can find.  The only edible things lfet in this fortress are tallow....and nobody is willing to eat that without beer to wash it down.

3rd Slate
I never thought I'd be happy to drink water.  Our thirst almost overcame us.  It took ages to get that wall down.  Now we will gather what plants we can.  We are working up a way to seal the entrance with a bridge, I only hope we can succeed before the enemy arrives.

8th Slate
Our first plump helmet has grown to maturity....that means alcohol....glorious alcohol.  Of course, we must save some to eat, but beer is far more important.

[HectorX]

Nice first post. Going to keep an eye on this one.

[dresdor]

From the journal of Rakust Bomrekusen.

13th Slate

We have found most of the remains of the previous residents of the fort.  There are still a few names on our list of missing dwarves.  We have also laid many more to rest, only six restless ghosts are troubling us.

4th Felsite

We were attacked today, not by a force of undead, but by badgers.  These ferocious burrowers have meant the death of many dwarves in countless attacks, but we are not peasants....we are warriors.  The first one died almost instantly.  However, the rest scattered and we were unable to kill any more.  The one we killed will add to our food reserves.

6th Malachite
We have begun the massive task of cleaning up the landscape.  Hopefully we can find useful things.  All we have found so far is a bunch of tallow, which some idiot used a couple of our precious plump helmets to make meals.  Still no sight of the undead menace, but I don't want to get comfortable.  There are two necromancer towers nearby, we must not forget that.

[dresdor]

From the journal of Rakust Bomrekusen, Expedition Leader of the reclaimed fortress of MergedStaffs,

17th Malachite, 1060
We have made contact with some survivors of a wrecked trade caravan.  They have come with some of their surviving animals, having suffered an attack by the undead.  None of the party is wounded, though any that were probably are thralls of the necromancers now. 

18th Malachite
Seven new dwarves have arrived.  We have put them to work immediately, picking plants to sustain us.  Until we can coax more spawn out of the plump helmets, rations will be limited.  We just managed a batch of beer, though I didn't get any.  Consequently, one of the new dwarves brought a duckling with him.  They couldnt' save more of their friends, but by Armok, they saved a duckling.  He won't even let us eat it.

17th Galena
Our food supplies have been heavily strained.  Very few new plants have been growing in this area.  The taint of undeath has prevented us from planting anthing above-ground.  Our underground farm are also growing slowly.  Another odd occurance today.  One of the new dwarves started at me while I slept.  He claimed he was "attending a meeting" to air his grievances....I think he's just a creep.

8th Limestone
The situation is dire.  The few plants we have found have barely satisfied half our number.  Everything we find to eat is consumed rapidly, and some of our number have been hunting rats for food.

7th Sandstone
In desperation, I have decided to combine tallow and the seeds for the aboveground plants into prepared meals.  This has temporarily solved our food problems, though we still have an alcohol problem.  We have solved this temporarily by building a well.

15th Sandstone
The Mountain Home has sent an additional labor force to reinforce us.  How they escaped notice of the undead I am unsure, but we can seal off the fortress if we need to.  However, our food problems are still not sorted out, and now we have even more problems.  Luckily it is only four....two useless gemcutters, a milker and a craftsdwarf.

[dresdor]

From the journal of Rakust Bomrekusen, Expedition Leader of the reclaimed fortress of MergedStaffs,
18th Slate, 1060
A caravan from the mountain homes has made it through to trade with us.  They have brought an emissary from the king to ensure everything is going well.  I'm avoiding him so far, as I have far too much work to do to be bothered by such trivialities.  We have many problems here still, such as the fact our well is located outside, past our meager defenses.  We have no military (save the seven of us able to take up hammers against the undead menace).   Our food stores and alcohol stores are dangerously low (the caravan should help in this matter), and the landscape and forterss itself are still strewn with junk.  I have ordered much of this junk to be brought to the depot so the traders may carry it away.

We have not been able to carve out any rooms, a dining room, or truly anything to make our stay here more comfortable.  We are worried every moment of an attack, and that the undead will come.  We need everything, and have almost nothing to pay for it.  I worry that I will begin to crack under the pressure. 

4th Moonstone
Well the useless lot of dwarves that live  here have moved a whole three items of clothing to the trading depot.  If I wasn't so busy planting the seeds that will keep us alive, and disguising tallow as edible substances, I would do the job myself.  As it is, they are scouring the entire land around the fortress to build up the stockpiles I've designated.  Glad to know we will have all of these barrels to put the beer we don't have in.

30th Moonstone
The traders have left, refusing to give us anything for the junk we tried to sell them.  I guess things formerly worn by zombies and the dead aren't worth a lot.

[dresdor]

From the journal of Rakust Bomrekusen, Expedition Leader of the reclaimed fortress of MergedStaffs,

12th Obsidian, 1060
We have suffered our first death.  Stinthad Vutokamost, an immigrant planter, has died.  He was frightened to death, it seems.  This means we must redouble our efforts to put the ghosts of this place to rest. 

Our food problems have been resolved, and beer has started to trickle out of the still.  Not enough to maintain us, but enough to relieve the problems of living without for too long.

2nd Slate, 1061
We have been here over a year, and not more dwarves have arrived.  We still have not solved our ghost or liquor issues, and more mouths to feed.  There are 15 of them altogether, making our total numbers 33, with only one in-fortress death.  I can only feel that the undead enemy will not keep ignoring us for much longer.

14th Felsite, 1061
Some elves have arrived.  How I'd like to kill them all, as they have been nothign but useless against the necromancers.  The undead slaughter our civilization while the Elves do not suffer at all at their hands.  Some of the necromancers are Elves.  We will see what they bring, but I do not think we have much to trade them.

[dresdor]

From the journal of Rakust Bomrekusen, Expedition Leader of the reclaimed fortress of MergedStaffs,

24th Hematite, 1061

I have received a messenger from the Mountain Homes.  He came alone, and told me that the Mountain Homes have been under renewed siege, and that several of the outer defenses have been compromised.  Even with the strongly armed Mountain Guard, there was little hope at containing the undead menace.  Several sorties had been lead to kill the necromancers that kept the unliving horde at the task of killing dwarves, but they met with failure, and now the heavily armed and armored zombies had helped sieze the outer gates.  I've determined that we should begin training marskdwarves as soon as possible.  Let them take our gate under a hail of bolts.

21st Malachite
There were some straglers that followed the messenger.  They arrived late, bringing our population up to 38.  Enough now, I hope to begin a true military.  There is still junk scattered everywhere, but it is getting more and more organized by the day.  The archery range is almost done being smoothed, and the targets are being made.  We have only one or two upstart ghosts (though it seems another rises up as we memorialize the last).  I think this fortress has a real chance at survival now.

20th Limestone
Our marksdwarf corps has been established.  Ten recruits have been shoehorned into the position, and told to make use of our archery range.  However, until the barracks is up I don't expect them to do much.  At least they will have their weapons and equipment ready when the time comes to defend the fort.

21st Limestone
More migrants have arrived.  I think this means I need to create a second marksdarf corps....of course I should probably see if there are any useful dwarves in the group, and how many are there. 

A total of nine, bringing our burgening fortress up to 47 souls.  They all have fairly useful crafts (including a couple miners) so I will keep them as they are instead of drafting them.

[dresdor]

27th Limestone
I have elected to wall in and trap the entrance to our refuse pile and the impromptu graveyard we’ve been storing the rotting corpses of the fallen in.  We have made a great many coffins, but with one hundred dead, it is a long task.  I should note that we have stopped finding additional bodies, which I am taking as a good sign.

13th Timber
The dead have found us.  They have risen to kill us.  The alarm is sounded, all dwarves are to return to the hold so we may raise the bridge and keep the enemy out.  May the Gods have mercy on our souls.

14th Timber
The bridge has failed.  Some fault of construction means it will not raise.  If the engineer that built it wasn’t out being chased by the undead, I would have him shot.

From the hurried journal of Saskul Stukoshoveth
24th Timber
Its been ten days since the dead showed up.  They are the most terrifying thing I have ever seen.  Their eyes glow red in the darnkness, and no matter how many times we put them down, they rise again.  I saw a severed arm crawling along the ground, and it almost got me.  I do not know where our leaders are, they charged out with the marksdwarves when the bridge wouldn’t close.  Said something about finding the necromancers.  I do know our graveyard is safely sealed away, but our refuse pit has one hole in its wall.  Unable to seal that last hole, we are sure to see the remnants of our enemies rising to kill us.

They have breached the inner fortress.  They are past the fighting holes and barracks.  They are coming for us all.

25th Timber
The initial breach has been fought back at the cost of a great many lives.  So many enemy undead were caught by out cage traps, but still more rise.  We cannot beat them back forever.  Oh no, they come again for us.  Gods have mercy.

From the continue journal of Onol Osadelth
26th Timber
The undead flood our halls.  Every dwarf has taken up what weapons we have to combat them.  We will not yield the fortress while we still breath.  There are dozens of them in the entryway…dwarves, goblins, humans….even severed limbs fight at the enemy’s command.  We will not yield.  We will go forth!

The journal ends there.  Blood splatters the bottom of the page.