From the journal of Expedition Leader Splint Lokumeshesh, Overseer of Spearbreakers borderfortress
-This is a cat leather bound journal. All craftsdwarfship is of mediocre quality at best. It is bordered with bands of slate and studded with slate. On the front cover is the name "Splint Lokumeshesh" in slate. On the front cover is an image of crossed pikes behind a shield in slate. On the back cover is an image of an elephant in elephant ivory. The elephant is depicted in a pool of liquid and screaming. The elephant is melting.1st granite, 254 - arrivalWe have arrived, and none too soon. We have brought ample supplies, at least for our small group, and a few extra animals for slaughter. We rested for a day, peering out onto the slightly less wooded plain. Sus said it didn't seem that bad for a terrorzone. I must admit I was expecting eyeball grass or some other nightmare. But we'll see what the rains have to say. In the meantime, I did a rough sketch of the site, and the orders given.
I have Sus and Rodge clearing out space for wood, trade goods, and a depot. I want to get that done and over with. I sent Loud Whispers and Talvieno to chop some tree, while I get Stova and Fischer situated. I intend to have thier training space made as soon as possible.
To ensure efficent mining progress, I have instructed both Rodge and Sus to not stop except to take care of needed functions, such as drinking and eating obviously. I hope to hit stone as soon as possible. I have also ordered additional space be had for whatever may be needed: Furnaces, dyer or soapers shops, whatever.
Rodge and Sus have orders to dig out this space. The spot of trees i have ordered Loud WHispers and Talvieno to take care of.I asked Fischer what they were going to call thier squad, and they told me the 'Families of Laboring.' Odd, but whatever floats thier boat. Fischer has assumed the rank of Colonel with Stova as her right hand and currently only subordinate. I saw fit to bring a pair of pikes and mail shirts for them.
4th Granite, 254It's raining blood in the terrorzone part of the area. Blood. I have yet to see what it does, but it's disgusting all the same. It appears to be the blood of the invaders, these so-called mountain barbarians. it's red like a dwarf's, but thicker and smelling strongly of burnt meat.
8th granite, 254The rains are annoyingly sporadic but frequent. It starts and stops randomly as if Armok needs to run the barbarians through a juicer individually. It turned out we had parked right inside the zone, so the wagon is getting rained on. No ill effects so far, so it may just be quirky freak weather.
15th Granite, 254Regular old shitty weather. I'm actually glad. Sus called to us from inside that the pile space for the wood and the workshop space for masons and carpenters is finished. They've begun digging out the depot space.
The finished wood pile. Across is to be the craft/trade goods space, below an addtional space for whatever.16th Granite, 200? It seems I have gone mad a touch. I could have sworn it was 254. No matter. We continue as schedualed.
21st Granite, 200More barbarian blood. Still regular rain, so I guess it cancels. No major effects seem to be in stemming from the barbarian blood, so now it's just a bit disgusting. Depot space nearly finished. I'll have Loud or Tal make some wood blocks so we can make a nice depot.
25th granite, 200Stova saw a raven and the damned thing pecked at her while she was bringing some wood in. She shooed it away so no harm done.
28th Granite, 200The month ended uneventfully. Freakish weather aside, all went well.
2nd Slate, 200The pit crew finally finished the crafting and trade goods spaces. They'll be throwing up some masonry shops ahead of time. "Why wait?" Was Sus' argument. I have ordered adtional shops be made and sent stova to work on making hammers for everyone. We brought alot of pitchblende, so we may as well use it now.
8th Slate, 200I've decided to use that extra space as an impromptu weapon storeage for all our hammers stova will be making. Fischer has volunteered to take care of making a few things in the carpentry shop so the others may continue to fell trees. She's made the blocks and I have ordered the depot be built.
10th Slate, 200Seems stova's a natural with stone. In five hours she had five hammers. I'm quite impressed.
15th Slate, 200Work on the farm level has begun, and we're digging for stone. Stova's churning out hammers faster than we can store them.
The area for our farms. only the halls are being dug at present.17th Slate, 200Rodge has reported hitting shale. This will be the residential level. Now we need metals, but that can wait until the farm and pens are dug. I also had to tell stova to stop making hammers, as she was making the damned things quicker than we thought she would, churning out a dozen a day in the last two days.
20th Slatemarked off some spaces for the hens, emu, our pair of sheep and farm plot be dug. Saw a few wild turkey. Nothing overtly eventful aside from more of that gods-aweful blood rain.
27th Slate, 200Depot is done. Sheep and emu pens finished. More of this fucking weather. I figured we'd drown in the blood of our enemies, but not by Armok running them through a juicer in the sky.
[Author's note: Dwarven juicers are of course giant machines used to grind up hippies and goblins for blood sacrifices to Armok. They're big and powered by blood water wheels.]Our depot, compsed of a few glumprong blocks.7th Felsite, 200. Interim entry.Stova informs me that the families who had pitched in should arrive in the next couple of months. Once we have all the hammers moved, I'm going to put her back on hammer manufacturing detail, if we can spare her from training with Fischer.
11th Felsite, 200The emu are all inside safely, now we just need the hen plot made and a space for other miscellaneous animals. All things considered, Sus and Rodge are doing nicely with this. Guess that's what you get from layers of clay and sand being so easy to dig through. Best of all, we also have sand, so a glass making industry is possible.
17th Felsite, 200Loud Whispers threw together an armor stand to be the training area near the barracks. While this means only myself Tal and Loud himself are on hauler duty, it matters little we need good soldiers to train the army after all.
20th Felsite, 200The farm level is finished. Time to dig out the mess and food storage space and start hunting metals.
I marked this patter out on thier maps for the mess hall and food storage.22nd Felsite, 200Training is moving more or less smoothly. And it seems we struck lignite! I may well give eveyone the day off since this may give us a nice source of fuel for the forges.
23rd Felsite, 200Hematite! Delicious hematite!
There's hope yet. Now if we happen upon flux we'll be in true dwarven business!
1st Hematite, 200Summer begins and the family Stova spoke of hasn't shown. Got a furniture space dug, and I'll be marking off the communal dormitory when the mess hall and food store is done.
9th Hematite, 200Sus and Rodge, while digging the dining hall hit pockets of Rose Quartz, Clear Tourmaline, and native gold all within a few feet of eachother! With nothing too horrid yet to cause trouble, this place is turing out to be rather forgiving. I only wish it were a vein of gold and not a cluster. Both the miners have shown scary progress in thier digging, carving out vast swathes in mere hours what took them days to do before.
17th Hematite, 200Sus dug out a cluster of Carnelians. Training of our Pikedwarves is still going smoothly, if slowly. Considering the institution of the so called "Danger rooms" used by other fortresses when the military expands enough.
18th Hematite, 200Rodge hit Chrypsoprase, Sus hit gypsum. Dunno which is more valuable, but Whaterver we find, is ours and we'll like it by Armok!
23rd Hematite, 200Sus dug out a fair bit of Green Tourmalines. Nothing else to really report. I must say, I thought this would be a test of my sanity, esablishing on the edge of the Parasol's cursed expierimental dumping grounds.
This place must be plotting against us, I know it. I wonder if it's normal to hear voices calling while there's no-one present....
27th Hematite, 200Sus hit yet more gems, Onyx this time. I heard the voices again, saying something about a curse and a tower or some such nonsense. I haven't slept well the last two days, so perhaps it's just sleep depravation getting to me...
6th Malachite, 200Sus says he feels like a legend after all his hard work. And given his discovering not only hematite, but a limonite vien as well, I'm inclined to believe him.
16th Malachite, 200The dining hall is finished but I may punch a hole in the side to get at the limonite in the wall. Talvieno is working on making mechanisms and Loud Whispers asked me to help him set up a stone crafting industry so we'll have some goods to trade come autumn.
17th Malachite, 200Saw Stova and Fischer sparring. It warms me heart to see them training. How proud they'll make this fortress... I must admit I'm becoming rather taken with Stova lately. Must be her eyes... Or maybe the way she handles that Pike... Hmm.
23rd Malachite, 200The familiy Stova mentioned months ago has finally come. I'll be screening them for military candidates and any random dwarves they picked up on the way here.
They bore the following names and roles
Mitchewawa Istraemoth, a Glazer.
Bombzero Tistaangir, a skilled miner.
The Master Fikodnam and
Draignean Kisezih, old friends and vampiric war veterans, but they seem to have forgotten thier old skills. No matter, Fischer will be happy to retrain them.
Doctormonch, highly skilled furnace operator
A fellow who is adamnt about going by
'Choppa,' a woodworker.
And
Stausic Amecshibbi, a jewler.
I will have Mitchewawa and Stausic start on those rock crafts while the rest work on making blocks, tables, chairs, and beds. Choppa is working on making some training pikes for Draignean and The Master now.
3rd Galena, 200Rodge hit magnetite while digging out the communal dormitory. I will sacrifice an Emu to you Armok if you let us find flux here.... I heard Fischer comlaining about being on duty so long. She can sit and spin for all I care. I respect the hell out of her for her skills and trade, but I can't let her bitchiness get in the way of us being ready.
14th Galena, 200Having not realized it wasn't done, i have marked out the food storage. I feel remarkably stupid but as it stands, I may need to get farms running sooner than I'd like.
20th Limestone, 200Seems a flock of ravens annoyed Fischer enough to warrent an attack on them yesterday. Evidently during training, The Master and one of the birds were more or less engaging in a shouting match until Fischer threw her pike at the thing. Dead on hit, she picked the pike up and proceeded to stab the shit out of it. I've carved four somewhat spacious rooms for the soldiers, and have beds being set up. I've also got orders for my own chambers be dug.
24th Sandstone, 200My own chambers ar almost done, and funishings for the soldiers are being commissioned. A few migrants arrived, a glassmaker named Rosan, a Combination leatherworker-tailor named weaver, and a former fisherdwarf named kannan. I've assienged them to renovation detail, as it's currently slow going.I'm hoping by winter's end I can get the forges set up just below the trade floor. And if someone can get me a table and some doors made I can finally begin taking stock of the junk in this place.
2nd Timber, 200My office is finally finished. Now to get the troopers thier own furnishings. They deserve it since they're putting thier lives on the line.
10th Timber, 200While not fully furnished, the four man squad has thier own rooms. I've ordered a forge of sorts be dug built on the farming level.
15th Timber, 200The Master is getting back into stride with his training pike. Draignean is taking a little longer sadly, but they'll all be good soldiers in time.
16th Timber, 200The Master reported seeing wagons on the horizon, so it seems we have visitors. I've ordered our trinkets be brought up, so we shall see if we can't get ahold of some more food and drink, and perhaps some cloth and leather too. I'll have Choppa make a few extra training pikes to trade, as I've seen those things sell like good plump helmet roasts.
Why those nutters decided to go through the entire blood covered plain to get here I'll never know.
22nd Timber, 200So far we've gotten a few spare barrels a box filled with pigtail cloth and various metal bars, as well as a few peices of armor including shields and a pair of boots. There was a magnificant steel pike decorated with deer hoof that i wanted to get for Stova, but I had to pass in favor of the booze. After the training pikes are made I'll see about getting a box of leather and some silk cloth in case someone becomes... inspired.
5th moonstone, 200Talvieno was one hard trader. Spent the last week straight bargaining for some silk threads we could make use of, some meat, and a bit of leather. We shifted our last box of mugs, and a weapon crate with a few excess hammers and a training pike.
10th moonstone, 200I have gotten the foundations laid for the metalworking industry on the farm floor. We have ample iron ores to work with, and enough lignite to surely armor our first four at least.Hopefully Talvieno, whom I have chosen to be my successor as per overseer tradition, can get things sorted while I focus on the records.
The farm-forge, as you can call it.I've ordered the following from the capital: More dogs, alot of metal bars, lots of limestone for steel, alot of fish, seeds and meat, some leather, cloth, armor, and pikes.
I have also orered a pair of giant Emu from home. They will make fine fighting animals, and alot of drinks.
Honestly, had they not come when they did we would have been in trouble. drink wise. I have also ordered some petrified wood, to make pillars to display prisoners on to give a huge middle finger to both invaders and the elves in one fell swoop.
14th MoonstoneThe merchants have begun packing up and dealings with the liason are nearly done. I expect he'll take his leave in a week or so.
15th Moonstone, 200Seems I was off! He finished up and we can now sit and wait for he spring time elf season. I'm sure the soldiers will enjoy having live targets. Sus finished putting up a drawbridge, so once the merchants leave, I intend to lock us down until the elves come.
6th Opal, 200Draignean has finally reearned his title of Pikedwarf. I'm proud of'em. Got some fuel, and now to start making coke and an anvil.
21st Obsidian, 200So little happened in Opal I didn't even need to bother with any entries, save for an anvil being cast and our amount of trade goods exapnding rediculously. Recieved a visit from a kobold thief, spotted by a cat of all things by the main gate [He buggered off before I could get a screenshot] but he bolted so no harm no foul.
23rd Obsidian, 200Another thief tried to stroll right by one of the soldiers. This should've ended as badly as you'd expect for the little guy.
[The barrel is where the soldier was. I had no idea who he was near and just issued the kill order.]24th Obsidian, 200Bit of bad luck, the little shit caught The Master by his foot and got away. kannan volunteered to take care of him though. I've ordered the fortress sealed up. He may end up developing an infection, but I hope it doesn't come to that.
[The Master is the one on the right.]28th Obsidian, 200I've locked down the fortress until the elves decide to show, and I'll be handing off my overseeing duties tomorrow. Kannan is setting about trying to patch up The Master and I have a crutch being made just in case. The Forge was done and fuel production is going smoothly
[note, there's a graphcal glitch where the bitdge isn't showing while raised. It's there. The pitchblende lever in the furniture shop is linked to it.]1st granite, 201And so my time here as overseer ends. Current list of things unfinished:
-Dining hall needs engravings, more tables, and chairs.
-Dogs need to be trained. Recommend assinging two to Fischer, and one to everyone else.
-An emu, the horses, and all the wandering roosters need to be slaughtered.
-still and other food making workshops need to be built.
-Iron smelting needs to be put full swing, forge needs to be built proper.
-Sheering the two adult sheep for sutures and a rope for a well.
-Leathger, gem, and and cloth storage need to be dug.
-Advise using the pond just above the wood store as the communal well.
Here is our current state of affairs:
I hope Talvieno is up to this task, as I will be staying in my office to keep tabs on the stocks unless he needs any advice. However I strongly advised he set the pikedwarves on killing the pointy-eared hippies when they arrive. Let them unload and then have Stova and the others flatten them.
They are undeserving of our mugs.
- Following is a crude drawing of of a glowing mug, a dwarf, and an elf. The elf is thnking while holding the mug. The dwarf is laughing.[So little happened that I was shocked. Here's a good time to the rest of you, save to follow. And The Master, the goal is to
not destroy the place utterly.
NOT. At least not "Intentionally."]