The Tunnel of Crumbling greets our arrival to Kosothsarvesh, or “Palacefurnace” in Common. I and one other our band said that we should make our home in the tunnel, while three thought a site upstream looked more promising, and the other two said that they “didn’t care as long as they weren’t eaten alive”. I suppose their low expectations will be the easiest to deal with. I acceded to popular demand and so we have started digging further north. The Tunnel of Crumbling looked fair enough to my eyes, but the others only said that they didn’t trust the earth to keep from falling on their heads. Superstitious nonsense.
25th Granite
The first few weeks left me dismayed as our miners reported only water to be found at all levels. Today, however, we have had a breakthrough! One of the miners, Udib, came to me with an intricate plan to, as he described it, “flood the aquifer with clay”. I stopped the excited dwarf from going into intricate detail, saying that he could do whatever he wanted as long as no one was hurt. Well, he did manage to breach the aquifer, but he was caught in the collapse. I doubt he will stand again, but such is a miner’s life.
The other miner who had sense enough to be away from the cave-in reported back that coal has been discovered, fuel enough to rival the magma sea.
6th Felsite
Today, the miner discovered that she had dug into the ceiling of a cavern. I wonder what’s down there...
16th Felsite
Apparently my prediction was wrong. Despite having legs with wounds that look
and smell like they might soon be infect, Udib has returned to work. I asked him if he was really feeling up to the job, and he said that the “doctor” was a miracle worker. I wonder if he knows that the “doctor” was our woodcutter, who has as much experience in medicine as I do with an axe. Judging by the stitches, I suspect that he simply gave Udib a barrel of ale to drink himself into a stupor and dull the pain.
23rd Felsite
Summer is soon to come, but our fortress must face it with our numbers halved. Three workers perished in a freak cave-in, of which I still cannot account for. I suspect it was Udib’s incompetence which led to the accident. I did not designate any mining to be done in that area, yet I’m sure the fool must have swung his axe into a pillar. Now he, the other miner, our woodcutter, and a cat are entombed under tons of stone. What’s worse is that our mason is now trapped, as both the pickaxes we brought lie buried in the stone. Tis a wonder the powers of the great goddess of Irony.
21st Hematite
Blessed is the day that more dwarves migrate to our fortress!
...I take that back. These sweaty, stinking migrants have shown up with nothing but empty hands. Not a miner or pickaxe among them!
24th Malachite
It seems that it will be some time before we ever have a chance of striking back into the earth, unless we use our hands, and I’ll be damned if I let calluses appear on my fine hands. Thus, I have been forced to realize that now everything need be made of stone. Wood will suffice for now! I have commissioned all trees in the surrounding environs to be hacked and made into our necessities. We will make our own cave, with wood instead of stone above our heads! Let all able dwarves take up wooden axes to fell the trees and make... more wooden axes!
27th Malachite
By now, any mortal dwarf would have succumbed to thirst and hunger, so I can only assume our mason is dead. While I have no proof, I am using one of the last few remaining hunks of chalk to establish a memorial in his honor.
1st Limestone
This morning, I discovered the trees had been bedecked in a chill frost as we went to chop them down. Autumn has arrived, and with it an even more pressing need to establish a somewhat defensible home. We may have no stone, but we can use wood to train ourselves in the ways of combat. It will have to suffice for now.
19th Limestone
More migrants have come, but not a miner among them. How could Udib be so stupid as to get himself killed? At the very least, he could have thrown his pickaxe out from the cave-in. Selfish idiot.
1st Timber
I have hopes that we will make it through the fall, if we can establish a food industry. Fishing seems to be producing enough food, but how I loathe turtle soup.
6th Moonstone
The traders do not come. There are no picks with which to mine. The Trade Depot sits alone, like when the mining dwarves and the woodcutters formed cliques in the academy, and there you were, left with no one to talk to, not even the spinners.
4th Opal
Kol Uzolernam has been taken off duty, for getting upset about training. Of course we must train in the ways of combat! Who knows when what foul beast will make its way to our humble home, and then where will we be? At least with wooden weapons and training we stand a chance of surviving... A slim chance, but a chance nonetheless.
Spring has arrived, and our small home has not grown much. Curse Udib and his idiotic mining theories!
As it stands, there are two mechanisms currently being used for cage traps at the only entrance to the fortress. I have found that there are patches of rock in what I ordered to be a wooden ceiling. That rock should be taken down and used properly. The holes can be patched with more wood. I know not what lies on the horizon, but a sense of foreboding fills me, urging me to hasten westward. Perhaps I will forge a letter from my great-grandmother, who needs me to hurry home and attend to a family emergency. Yes, that will allow me to take my leave.
***
And that's my turn! Um... I hope you will get a miner? I don't know if caravans have been turned off, or if just the dwarven caravan has been turned off, or what. I also honestly don't know how that cave-in happened. It was fine for two months, and then it suddenly collapsed. A migrant miner should come soon... hopefully. Metal shouldn't be too hard to find. We have coal.
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Topic: Kosothsarvesh/Amplectoraevus ~ The Chrono Fortress [NEED_OVERSEERS] (Read 5948 times)