22nd Obsidian, 298Well, I've done my job as best I could and now my contract as overseer has expired. The year was uneventful for the most part, with most of our time focused on creating a food and booze stockpile.
Twice I had the crew attempt to get past the bloody aquifer, and twice they came away wet and no closer to the sweet, sweet rock underneath. I'm sure one of my successors can use the cold winter weather to freeze the water and fix our mistakes at some point, but I've simply run out of time.
Farewell friends. Farewell ghost friends. Farewell dreaded enemies who I was never unlucky enough to set eyes on!
*5,6*End screens
The following are some excerpts from my journal over the year:
6th graniteLooks like the initial construction team had some troubles of their own. Despite not losing any dwarves there is a restless spirit moving throughout the work yard. Amok's balls it's a creepy sight. My carpenters are not happy that it seems to have chosen their workshop to hover around. We haven't been able to get through the aquifer so quickly, so we don't even have any proper rocks to engrave a proper remembrance site for the poor bugger.
*1*Ggggggghost
18th GraniteAnother ghost! Completely different than the first, this one is dressed as a fisherdwarf and has taken to waking up my sleeping crew. I wonder if there's some way to lure these spirits over to the other side of the river...
*2*Ggggggg...Dead guy!
22nd FelsiteWe've produced our first barrel of prickle berry wine! This worksite has been dangerously sober up until now, I'm glad we can finally get moving full speed.
...now to stockpile about 1000 more barrels of the sour swill.
24th LimestoneMigrants! Five more able bodies, and of course, five more beards to feed. We don't particularly need skilled wax workers, so I add most of the newcomers to the hauling / plant gathering / fishing labour pool. One of them is a skilled woodcrafter and she gets put to work creating some baubles to trade with our liaison when he arrives.
1st SandstoneARMOK DAMN THESE UNHOLY KEAS! We're being robbed blind, and not by Kobolds or Goblins or something that I could bear, but by blasted, bloody, winged, dirty, keas!
They took off with a masterwork created by our new woodcrafter, Kosoth Alathtangak. She spent the rest of the week in an unconsolable rage, tearing up entire farm plots with her bare hands. There's just no reasoning with artists...
I had Mastahcheese chase one down and kill it with her bare hands, but unlike the Otter People, the other keas don't seem alarmed by what has happened to their family member.
We've replanted the crops. Sweet stone, I hope a kea isn't the cause of our downfall, my family couldn't bear the shame.
*3* KEAS!
19th Timber, 298Our liason from back home arrived today! We traded the crafts which weren't pilfered by the cursed keas for as much food as we could afford. I asked that they bring us booze and seeds on their next trip.
It wasn't until they left that I realized my incompetence! We could have purchased stones to finally lay these ghosts to rest! I guess I've become so used to those adorable, ephemeral, rotting faces....
1st Obsidian, 298Our last attempts to get through the aquifer have failed. A full year without stone of any kind. I can hardly believe we all stayed sane, for the most part. My apologies to whoever follows me in this mad adventure, I made a pretty good mess of things down there. GOOD LUCK!
*4* This looks screwed up somehow...