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[Haven]

(In short, this is the little log I've been keeping recently for my Terranautics project. For those who noticed it, this is my shot at the 'Journey to the Center of the Earth' challenge. I lost a bit of momentum creating the lava duct, so I kicked this off in notepad to keep me going. And now, for a whole lot of words. Prepackaged recent events to follow.)

Dwarven Terranautics Foundation - Outpost 'Paintedheat'

When we arrived here, the plan was to quickly create a small, yet suitable vessel, man it with a small crew, and send it out as quickly as possible. However, our theories on mould-based building were soon proven much more time consuming, and a more permanent settlement was created, to sustain our crew during the preparations.

The settlement was named 'Paintedheat'. I'm not entirely sure why, though it may have something to do with our being told the lava vent would make the exterior unbearibly hot, which it did not. I am told paint is involved in a human trend, used to color things after the fact, rather than building it out of the proper materials.

It was centered around the chasm, which was much wider than anticipated, and sized similarly to the vent to the northwest, allowing for a much larger vessel. Work areas were carved midway down the rock, and sleeping and living quarters far enough down to avoid sound contamination.

Work soon began, first making a framework, then building the mould that would house our ship of sorts. the plateu we had found was carved out into a safe work area, perched above the chasm and accessable only from our settlement.

From this, things went smoothly. A simple entryway was created for the caravans and terranautic hopefuls to enter our settlement. Eventualy, a tunnel was dug out, reaching all the way to the caldera of the vent, and metalworking stations were created to craft proper pumps from our supply of Nickel Silver from the Mountainhomes.

But there was some adversity. The creation of the required Lava Aqueduct was very slow and toilsome work, and our company was harassed by fire imps, kobolds, and goblins. A makeshift army was created, followed by a fortress guard. Mayors were elected, and a Dungeon Master received. Our settlement has become a true dwarven town.

Now, work begins on the remainder of our moulding system, hopefuly to create a solid launching point of future Terranautic endeavours. adverseties will be overcome, limits tested, and glory gained.

This will be the tale of the DTFO Paintedheat.

[Haven]

(The recent events I've been writing, noted as they came along.)

12th Galena, 1053

Things have been taking a downturn lately.

First off, our master Grower, Zaneg was caught by surprise outside the Trade Depot by a Golin thief and stabbed in the gut. Luckily he had Aban with him at the time, and the woodworker hacked the goblin apart before any further damage could be done, but Zaneg was dead in seconds. Aban hasn't quite been the same since. He's been acting very cold to everyone else. It just doesn't seem like he cares about anything anymore.

On another note, our beer and wine supplies are running low. This doesn't bode well for morale, and it's doubly worse in such a long term project as this, especialy with Zaneg gone. I can only hope the goblin blood didn't taint the well.

17th Sandstone

The water tower is complete. The aqueduct has begun construction, and soon it seems we will be able to see our moulded vessel methods come to fruition.

Zon was found in a pocket of space that was walled off. One would wonder how she'd managed to get stuck there, but she was too miserable from her ordeal to justify any sort of punishment.

11th Timber

Limul, our Planter, went insane this morning, after spending a great deal of time in our crafting workshop designing something. He went berzerk, bearing down on the metalcrafter, Rovod. However, he neglected to take the proxemity of the barracks into account, and Olin, our resident marksdwarf, shot him apart with a volley of bolts. His corpse will occupy the last space in our old Catacomb, and I have told the miners to dig out an addition. I may have him moved into the wing once it is completed, as it makes me uncomfortable thinking of him given the same place as an honest dwarf.

Meanwhile, the second death in recent history makes me worry that we might have a new streak of deaths. To wit, our catacombs are occupied by the hunters, guards, recruits, and a peasent, all having fallen when the fire imps made themselves known, alongside a mason that had died in a building collapse, and Zaneg. The new catacomb will be built in a more utilitarian fashion, merely rows of coffins alongside engravings from the time of the interred dwarf's death. In the event that one of our treasured leaders should fall, an individual tomb should be built. However, I hope that this will not come to pass again, and I have not designated one to be built yet.

28th Timber
Kogan Shorastostar has apparently become a champion of some renown. He has bested all his fellow Guardsmen in sparring, and as such I intend to promote him to Guard Captian at some point in the future.

15th Moonstone
The excitement is so thick as to be palpiable. Our water duct was completed and fitted with it's release mechanisim, ready to flow despite the cold of winter ready to set in. The lava pumps were activated, and the lava flowed down the long aqueduct with the speed of an arrow, steaming in the cold, and making me glad of our mason's work to keep the duct solid. Barring a few finishing adjustments, there is nothing to keep us from beginning the process. After two years in this place, we will finally begin to see the fruits of our labors!

[Haven]

26th Moonstone
A duo of goblin ambushes have interrupted our work. A lack of trapping and detection at the front gate ment the goblins made it within the fortress, but thankfuly they were weak enough for our guard to handle. A group of marksgoblins were harrassing the south of the plateu, but with no other viable option, they made their way through the tunnel, where several were taken apart by the obsidian blade trap before it stuck in place. They moved ahead for a few moments before realizing the second group would not be arriving, and went back to wherever they came from. Hopefuly they didn't take the moulding as anything more interesting than a small tower.

Oddly, my diplomatic contact had claimed that all of our known goblin tribes were at peace at the moment..

4th Opal
We've just poured the first layer. The system worked well, filling slowly enough to manage, and spreading thin enough to evaporate properly afterwards. So far, so good, we've decided to take things slow for now.

I've created a second military force, to hold in reserve in case of further attack, or perhaps seige. I've also ordered weapon traps placed in the front entrance, and am mulling over several ideas to block the southern tip of the plateau.

Finally, I have begun creating an exercise and health monitoring area. On it's functioning, we will begin to (tentatively) choose our crew for this foray. I want to avoid making too much of a stir, as civil issues at this point could prove disasterous.

8th Opal
Our second layer has seen the lava overflow a bit. We have decided to wait awhile and see if the level drops, or if we should use water to cap the thing and dig it back to the appropriate level.

Addendium: As I wrote this, Cerol, an idle stonecrafter, received a sudden inspiration, and proceeded to take a deal of our remaining Nickel Silver. I hope we will not need it for further pumping. Alath, our only jewler, has taken it upon himself to cut one of our two remaining Emeralds for Cerol's new design. Hopefuly this will lead to some meaningful interaction, as Alath and Cerol both have little more than a handful of passing acquaintances.

10th Opal
Cerol's creation has been garnering quite a bit of talk. Though the workshop is open to the air, nobody has been able to puzzle out exactly what it is, due to it being made in so many bits and components. To wit, he has used...

-A crafter's pound of Obsidian.
-Two bars of Nickel silver.
-Two tanned hides, a mountain goat and a marmot.
-The cut Emerald.

I am curious as to the final result of the construction, but rest rather assured that it wil stand as a testament to what will occur when great dwarven minds are brought together in thought.

13th Opal
Amid the excitement of Cerol's (admittedly time-consuming) construction, we have decided to cap off the layer and dig it down again, as the lava shows no signs of receeding. The side of the mould is being opened back up for access as I write.

14th Opal
The work has finally been finished. Cerol calls it Ifinlilar, and it is a harp primarily of Obsidian, with designs and patterns all across it, spikes of Nickel silver along it's top, and Emeralds in a very complex mosaic of our two shining suns. It is a sight to behold, and I will be sure to secure him a place in our expedition. We will need minds as this in the coming months.

18th Opal (marginal)
Sigun ended up causing a chunk of the Obsidian to collapse back into the lava. Luckily nobody was seriously hurt, but Sigun spent a good half hour flat on his back before it all settled back down.

8th Obsidian
The second level was finally fixed and finished. We've decided to wait till the water evaporates or freezes before we continue to pour, but the solid cap means the first level of the vessel can be worked on. However, the design has yet to be finalized, so for now our efforts focus on finding and training potential recruits...