14th Timber, 107, Late Autumn
Her Royal Majesty
Ùshrir Eldersalve Queen of the Dagger of Wards
Your majesty,
It is wonderful to be able to welcome your majesty's liaison to the outpost with rather increased capacity for safety than last year. The flaws in the defensive chimney have been sealed and successfully tested for success. Another goblin siege came - presumably, the idiot creatures hope to liberate their cruel master, who lies sealed deep beneath the fortress. Curiously, a number of the invaders - a speardwarf, mace lord, a troll, and two blizzard men, to be specific - managed to survive the long fall from the bridges.
The fortress guard sprang into action. With a deft assault down the steep up and down staircase that leads to the mines just above the caverns, Lorbam Flanktrades managed to slay the troll in a curious chain of events. The troll grabbed Lorbam up in one fist and threw him mightily - up into the air apparently, because Lorbam came crashing back down onto the troll. The troll lost it's footing and fell down the staircase, bruising its stomach as it landed further down the staircase. Lorbam continued to fall, and connected with the troll again, who lost its footing... and so on, until the troll landed skull-first on the rough hewn mineshaft floor. Our plucky captain of the guard, only fifteen years old, presumably remained uninjured because he was repeatedly landing upon a troll, not a rocky staircase.
Curiously, the whips wielded by the Fortress Guard failed to break through the skulls of the blizzard men. These monsters crawled about with broken bones for days while the guard lashed their heads repeatedly, to no avail.
Finally, the Fair Axes were sent to deal with the blizzard men. The militia captain Îton Sunkstandards, wielding the Mean Threat, the artifact steel battle axe, decapitated both with a single hack. He is now known by his fearsome battle name, which will be borne on forever, inscribed upon the indestructible haft of the Mean Threat.
As for the safety of the caravan, a new airlock chamber has been dug out and connected to the fortress near the crafts area. In this way, the depot can be made freely available to those who choose to travel to Syrupurns. Once they enter the area of the depot itself, the outer bridges are raised, and the inner ones can be lowered so that goods or words may be exchanged.
Work continues upon the upper tip of the grotto. We are digging from the top down, excavating the roof bit by bit as the miners go deeper. As I'm sure you could expect, we can only dig a short ways down before having to dig out everything on that level - otherwise, we run the risk of a collapse. There is no fast way to do this, but it is the method we used in Workgold, and it is proving very safe.
Unfortunately, no coins have been minted yet here at Syrupurns, though I may yet have reason to do so. Ustuth Abyssglaze tells me that you have decided to raise Syrupurns into a barony - what wonderful news! As we have these early years, we shall continue to unceasingly expand and grow, facing each disaster with the great caution I assured you I would maintain.
Of course, I can think of no better dwarf to serve as your true servant and leal lord of what will become your capital. I have overseen the project so far, but my duties extend beyond that that of the job I have fulfilled so far. I must continue to plan and manage the construction of your majesty's greatest fortress, a massive and vast endeavor which will serve as the home of our race until the end of the world. Let the duties of mayor fall to some dwarf with a true heart, but more time.
- - - -
18th Opal, 107, Mid-Winter
I hope that Ustuth will properly update you on the state of Syrupglaze in the most detailed of details, once she returns to Sacksquid. For two months she has followed me about the fortress, discussing the state of our trade agreements during my few moments of free time. As such, she has gotten to see many more parts of the fortress than her predecessors - including a new contraption which we hope will capture a useful forgotten beast or two for a project I have in mind.
Since Ustuth has joined us in her stay, the pair of cougars we captured in traps have given birth to triplets. As well, many of our wolf cubs and skunk kits have grown into completely tame adults. Once we have enough tame breeding pairs, the animals can be set loose in the fortress as a kind of automatic, auxiliary defense. I will admit that I am not excited at the prospect of having dozens of skunks running about the fortress, tame or otherwise.
In two months we have made progress on the great project. One urist and a half. Not much in the grand scheme of things, but I assured your majesty in the beginning that it would take time.
I must admit, however, that the method is not completely safe. For young dwarven children, even the shortest of drops can be dangerous.
At least four have died from these short falls of a single vertical urist, where the rock is dug out from under them and they tumble down onto the rubble. No sacrifice is to great for the glory of your majesty's royal decree.
I offer my deepest gratitude, as always, for your continued support of our grand cause.
Speak the praises of mountains,
Reg Labormurder
Grand Architect
Mayor of Syrupurns
Author
Topic: Correspondence from Syrupurns - A Dwarf Fortress Tale (picture heavy) (Read 23444 times)