The reign of LordBucket, part 311 HematiteShortly after the retaining wall for our future farm is finished, the temporary butchery and refuse stockpiles in our hallway simultaneously erupt with miasma.
It's unfortunate that food is going to waste. It will be another month before we have water for farming, and another month or two after that until we have harvestable mushrooms to eat. Still though, we have plenty of food for now. I am unconcerned.
19 HematiteA mining accident leads to a premature cave-in above our future farm site. One of our miners, Lorbam, was stunned by the 1 z-level fall, but he is otherwise unharmed.
10 MalachiteFishybang:
"Two arms! Two arms!"LordBucket:
"What? Invaders already!?!? But we're not ready for a siege! To arms, everyone! Grab your picks! Get underground!Fishybang:
"No, not 'to arms.' 'TWO' arms. They have two arms."LordBucket:
"Who has two arms?"
LordBucket:
"...oh."It seems that a husband and wife, along with their two children have shown up on our doorstep.
* Eshtan Shadowmatches, novice fisherdwarf
* Ashmon Soldeleroi, competant axedwarf
* Becor Spidercoil, child
* Obok Urnmuscular, child
I question the usefulness of fishing skill on a glacier, so Eshtan will join Fishybang in our food service industry. Ashmon I promote to the rank of militia commander. We will need to build a barracks so she can begin training.
13 MalachiteThe irrigation project is almost ready. A lockable door has added to the retaining wall around what wil soon be our farm, and we've dug out a long vertical shaft to drop a block of ice to be shattered onto the stone floor below, giving us water. The lever is in place, and now it's time to remove the last-- oh. Apparently floor grates can't prevent the cavern from collapsing.
Fortunately nobody was injured when it happened. I also seem to have miscalculated how much ice would be required to irrigate the ground. I expected that the ice blocks would melt to 7/7 water, spread out and fill the farm area, requiring that the excess be released into the hallway where it could evaporate. It appears they instead became 1/7 water, and made more or less a splotch of arable soil in the middle of the room. Maybe because I only dropped one level of ice. Hmm.
Still, the roughly 50% coverage we ended up with should be sufficient for our needs. There remains several z-levels worth of ice above the farm. So long as it is not mined to the surface where the light might spoil our crops, it will be possible to add more water at a later date. But probably only once. I will include a rough sketch of the design should more water be required. For now though, what we have should easily be sufficient feed well over 100 dwarves.
4th GalenaThings are generally going well. The farm is up and running. We've carved out some quick-and-dirty future peasant rooms, though at present we lack a suitable material for bed-making. We still have 7 wood, but I'm saving that. And we've yet to find any metal deposits at all. Though even if we had I wouldn't be using up our wood to smelt it to make beds with. Unless we find some metal and a suitable fuel source, we might be stuck sharing beds until a caravan brings us wood.
We do have one issue, however. Lorbam is still unconscious from his fall when the cavern collapsed. He's thirsty (despite being unconscious) and we have no suitable source of water for him. It took months to arrange ice to be melted for the farm. All I can do is hope that Lorbam regains consciousness before he dies of thirst.
Meanwhile, with plump helmets in the making, food and booze will soon be taken care of. The underground city level is sufficiently carved out for our immediate needs. It's now time to turn our attention to defense. And to do that, we must eliminate all these icy ramps giving the entire world access to our entrance. It is time to level the surface.
I would prefer to start at our entrance and work up and outward, but past experience tells my that doing so is just asking for mining accidents. We've already had two. We don't want anymore. Instead we will start at the top and channel our way down to our entrance. We will simply depend on Ashmon and any other militia we recruit to defend us until we can clear the way enough to construct a defensible fortress.
1st LimestoneAt last! A few days ago we harvested the first of our plump helmets, and Fishybang today brewed one into our first batch of dwarven wine! It tastes...
...awful. Still, now that we have a replenishable food supply we can be sure to survive at least until the zombies arrive. That's reassuring. I think.
Also, I have assigned CoraiUnki to be our manager, broker and bookkeeper, and given him quarters in the nobles district as befitting his new rank. It will be useful for have a manager so we can assign workshops. Though apparently he was unsatisfied being the only dwarf in the fortress with a private bedroom, as well as private office and dining room while most the rest of us eat in the hallway. He insisted that his office wasn't good enough. Fortunately Fenrir didn't mind taking some time off building mechanisms to smooth the floor for him to bring the room quality up to his expectations.
Somewhat annoyed at CoraiUnki's sudden demands I've gone ahead and asked Fenrir to smooth another noble room, and we've moved the beds that used to be in the hallway into that room. It's still a crowded barracks for the rest of us, but at least we can close the door now.
I have ordered the construction of a trading depot. Since Ashmon and her family were able to reach us it's possible that others may follow.
I noticed Lorbam walking around recently. Apparently he did not die of thirst. This is good.
Finally I have allocated one of our precious wooden logs to be made into a training spear. Fenrir has set up a repeating lever in a nearby room to help our militia commander, Ashmon, with her training.
7 LimestoneFishybang:
"Hey, Bucket! How goes it?"LordBucket:
"I am well, Fishybang. How goes our brewing efforts?"Fishybang:
"Awesome! Well, mostly awesome. I tried brewing wine out of the blood coming out from under the training room door, but it didn't work. So only plump helmet wine for now."LordBucket:
"Wait, did you say blood?"Fishybang:
"Yep! It was all pretty and red too! A bit bright, but not bright like pink, more like bright in the way that magenta isn't, you know? Well, gotta go!"It seems that danger room training is a bit more dangerous than I remember it being. At least, it's dangerous when our axedwarf is unconscious and laying totally naked on the repeating spike trap.
...why exactly Ashmon was laying naked on the floor of the barracks...we may never know. At first I thought she might have dropped her gear when she lost consciousness, but I saw nothing on the floor besides her and pools of blood.
Fortunately the blood splatters on the walls and floor were noticed in time. Ashmon sustained only minor injuries:
Perhaps the repeating spear trap in the training room was not such a good idea. At least not until we can get some armor.
It has now been six months since our arrival. Food and alcohol stores are low, but rising. We've had a few mishaps, but nothing we haven't been able to handle. Once the surface has been leveled we can begin construction of a keep above ground, and once we have a militia we can begin digging in earnest for the treasures of the earth. And hopefully get some beds made, too.
I have high hopes for success.
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Topic: HellFire-The Masterwork succesion fort! 34.05 Be glad its not evil. (Read 34439 times)