Laments of Laularu Kyrumo, Ghostly Prophet of MagmaThese dwarves are making me just altogether tired of the mortal plane. At least most of my projects have gotten completed. Well, except the one I fucked up, and the one that needs a LOT more work, but it's actually almost in the final steps. Here's a summary of what was done and what's left to be done:
Farming pit is nearly done, just needs irrigation. It may or may not be
bugged corrupted, so it is possible it must be channeled out further. Two unused bedrooms would be the only casualties in this situation. Do not roof over until irrigation has succeeded. Use low-use metals or low-value stones for roofing; bridges, if possible, would be ideal to reduce construction time.
The well is finished; may the souls lost in its construction rest in peace. There are two drinking stations so far, and more may be added easily. Because the lake is so far down, it takes a while to raise the bucket. A cistern is recommended, though construction may be difficult due to evaporation concerns.
The minecart shafts are completely dug out, and the water wheel batteries are almost finished; we are merely waiting on carpenters. To make the system operable, two things must be done; first, the dwarves have complained that the initial stop, the one that delivers ore and stone to the smelters, has disconnected track somewhere. (Set dir/connect track message) I was unable to determine exactly the problem... perhaps someone more skilled in minecart sciences can offer their opinion? I've double checked and engraved it twice.
The second obstacle in the way of fully automated furnaces (well, except for when the stupids come up to eat, minecarts are finicky with food/drink delivery) is the establishment of powered rollers along the second shaft, the one that delivers produced goods. A long vertical axle, with gear assemblies in place adjacent to the rollers, should be sufficient. This will, unfortunately, require a great deal of mechanisms, chains, and wood. I got a head start on the chains by ordering 30 lead chains to be built, but if more are required, simply have them forged.
For some odd reason I cannot fathom, a cave fish has been spotted in the water wheel trenches. I'm allowing fishing down there, though there are currently no dwarves allowed to fish, nor am I confident that fish will actually be reliably caught. I've also spotted cave spider webs in a few locations (not GCS webs, the vermin variety), so I'm requesting they be spun into cloth. I've also built two additional looms for this purpose, as I've been farming a lot of pig tails.
Childbirth has been up, perhaps to offset the many casualties under my reign. I've actually had to expand the slab repository for this purpose. I've also seen several children grow to working age, something that delights me wonderfully. I recall the days of my youth, looking for any opportunity to serve the community--which was harshly limited due to my age. It saddens me that the majority of dwarven youths are content merely to lounge around, occasionally help out around the farm, and disassemble the odd staircase. They can't even be burrowed into execution chambers in case one turns out to be a vampire or werebeast or some such nonsense.
Speaking of which, we found a vampire. Our mayor, in fact. (RIP Ral) I've had him sealed up with an iron pick, just in case shit gets real for whatever reason. Or in case of necromancer invasions. We haven't had any yet, but, cross your fingers. The vamp has been sealed up next to the tree farm, which has given me the pleasure of being able to watch the first trees come to fruition.
We've endured two simultaneous sieges this year. I was luckily able to find the lever, but, that might have something to do with ordering every single lever to be pulled. I know two levers it's not, and another that's labeled as "releasing the deepground" or something along those lines, but I haven't isolated the door lever and just because the goblins are gone for now doesn't mean I'm going to risk it. Lakebones is closed until further notice. ESPECIALLY with the random wildfires I've seen scorch nearly the entire countryside. Good thing we have subterranean wood. I haven't found any nether-cap yet, the mystical tree that maintains its frigid touch no matter what sort of hellish heat engulfs it, but I'm keeping my hopes up.
I was admiring the engravings before I left, and found one particularly humorous one. "The Embraces of Hatred," an image of cats. I can't say I disagree.
Be careful where you mine near the forges. I'm 100% certain that a hideous stronghold for the forces of hell is buried around, and I've even seen the edges of the wicked slade walls while drifting through the magma.
Mmm..... magma...
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OOC: And that's the end of THAT chapter! I wouldn't exactly call it "eventful", but I did get quite a bit done. Interesting fact; most of our experienced miners are dead, thanks to jumping to their doom when I was carving out the well shaft. No matter WHAT I did, I just could not get them to stand on the scaffolding I had for them. Oh well. We have a good crop of peasants, so the next overseer can replace whatever he needs more of by selecting from there. We've also got a fair amount of giant bats, despite Melbil having rotted out in the fire-struck lands outside. I intend on keeping a breeding pair around, but I would love love LOVE to see the adults trained as hunting animals. (Sadly, you have to mod the game ever so slightly to get war bats, but, I won't be the one to cross that line.) We've also got huge stocks of galena and cassiterite that are unmined, so if we ever need more metal, you know where to look.
Here's the stocks screen, as of 12:01 1st Granite, 107:
Good luck! Oh, and I also slabbed myself... the slab's on its way but not in place quite yet, though Laularu is chillaxing in the magma pipe. Haha. Silly. Um, if you ever want to release the Magma Ghost on the fort again, I gave her her own slab in one of the 3x3 tomb room thingies, so it should be easy to find. Deconstruct slab for instant ghost. Just be prepared, that each time you slab and unslab, the ghost "type" changes. I was a Restless haunt for the entire tenure of my rule, but be prepared to reslab if, say, Laularu comes back and starts killing babies. Especially because they're the only things that can affect vampires who are sealed in walls... and you won't get a notice until a dwarf tears down the wall and finds the dead vampy.