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[4maskwolf]

Okay, Spring done, here's some stuff for you:

Well, nothing to do but set up defenses here.  I order Zekariah to dig a little ways into the hard-packed sand dune.  Maybe he'll find some stone to ply his masonry with.  As there is no grass, I am forced to order one of the younger dwarves to slaughter the horses.  Meanwhile, I get back to my roots, constructing beds for us from some of the wood we brought with us.  If nothing else, it will improve morale, even if we don't have rooms for them yet.

Success! We have struck dolomite in the sand dune.  I order Zekariah to work on removing the slopes that allow easy access to our location from the dune.  Soon we will be able to establish walls to keep the goblins out when they come.  I draft one of the peasants into the masonry team to make blocks for wall construction.

Damn but Zekariah works quickly...

OOC: alright, that's all for now, I'll finish spring next time.  Oh, and DarkArtemisFowl, Zekariah is already a high master miner and spring isn't even over...
IC:
On more mundane notes, I’ve set up a still, kitchen, and farm in order to ensure our momentary survival.  Once Zekariah finally finishes his mining, we can start construction of the wall.
Actually, scratch that.  You! Peasant! Yes, I’m talking to you! Go build a wall! I’ll be training with ShadowHammer if you need me.
OOC:
Edit: And now he's legendary.

[4maskwolf]

Alright, I'm going to quadruple post here with my next two posts just to get them out of the way.

Well, Zekariah finally finished the project I set out for him and is starting to mine out the dolomite at an alarming rate.  A couple of the peasants have become decent at growing, so they have earned the title of farmer.
Why is it that everything flies?  Walls won’t be much use against them.  But they’re not the real problem.  I fear the goblins may arrive before the defenses are ready, let us hope that they do not know where we went.
A group of dwarves arrived, seeking shelter!  I don’t know what they are doing this far out, but they are welcome to stay as long as they contribute.  Armok knows we need more workers.  Two of them showed skill with the crossbow, I’m setting up an archery range for them as I write this.  Well, not me setting it up.  I’m too important to do such menial labor.  No, I’ll train with ShadowHammer for the time being.
Work has begun on an archer tower on the northern wall.  Which is also currently the only wall.  I’ll get one of the lowly peasants to fix that soon.
Summer has ended.

More?  Really?  When I ask where these dwarves are coming from, they refuse to say.  Odd.  Nonetheless, I assign those who are military capable to form another squad, which will train alongside my own.
Also, some stupid ranger fell off of the archer tower during construction and broke his hand.  Seriously, are these dwarves suicidal?
Work has started on the barracks.  A proper one, not this lame barracks we are forced to put up with right now.  Which is the entrance hall.
A dwarven caravan was spotted on the horizon.  Great! Just what we… right… nothing to trade.  Well, at least they know we are here and can spread the word to others.
The ceiling is being put on the barracks.  I look forward to being able to train in peace.
Maybe next spring I’ll step down, focus on training.  This overseer thing takes too much time away from preparations.
Autumn has ended.  One more season, then I will step down.

The barracks is finished! No more need to put up with whining dwarves walking through our barracks.  Good job, now go work on a gatehouse.

Not much to say about winter.  Work is continuing on the gatehouse, the exterior walls and several bridges are complete, and the liason is finally having a conversation with ShadowHammer about what we want for next year.  He requested anvils, along with iron bars and lots of wood.
The gatehouse is mostly finished, though we only just acquired the dolomite necessary to make the mechanisms to open the two side grates, and the bridges have not been hooked up to any lever yet.  I now formally resign my post as overseer of this new fortress.  It looks as though we may just survive.  I am passing on leadership to Zekariah, our legendary miner, in the hopes that he continues to strive for the fortress’s good.  I wish him the best of luck in running the fortress, and if any goblins come calling, I’ll be in the barracks.

Alright.  Not bad for my first succession game.  I am naturally slow with DF and we only started with one miner, but the basic defenses are in place.

The save is going to be up after my next post.  I'll give DarkArtemisFowl till SUnday to respond, as I gave misleading estimates in a previous post.

[4maskwolf]

Warning! Wall of text!
Thus ends my rather uneventful turn.  The following is an overview of the fortress from an out of character perspective.

The fort is a bit of a mess right now.  There are a whole bunch of random workshops inside the walls, yet we only have one farm plot.  There are two stockpiles: The stone stockpile near the mason's workshop and the food stockpile in the middle of nowhere.  The only nobles are ShadowHammer, the expedition leader, and myself, the sheriff.  None of the defense buildings are complete, as I didn't dig out the underground living quarters, archery ranges, weapon and armor piles, etc.  There are currently 22 dwarves in the fortress, of which 4 are active military.  Job preferences are in disarray, because I got a whole bunch of useless peasants and whatnot, and the fish cleaner fishery worker is the fortress mechanic.  Most of the peasants are now masons, the only one who isn't is an archer.  Also, the hammerdwarf who isn't shadowhammer is being trained as a wrestler due to lack of weapons.  Only the middle grate in the gatehouse is hooked up to the lever, and there are currently no mechanisms to attach to the remaining grates.  Due to poor time management, the fortress only exists on a single z-level currently for all intents and purposes, but there is plenty of space on that z-level.  The other member of the archer squad is the ranger, but he broke his hand falling off stairs after disassembling a stairwell used for the roofing of the archer tower.  The leather armor uniform no longer has a shield or a weapon, as I made it the wrestler uniform.  One more thing: there is a useless woodcrafter who I didn't give any other job preferences, but we have limited wood and it would not be suitable to use what little we have on crafts. Nevermind, the woodcrafter is also head wrestler, I take that back.

Best of luck to DarkArtemisFowl.  I'm giving you till Sunday to respond that you have the save.  If you want to roleplay my dwarf, he spends all his time in the barracks and doesn't want to deal with "whiny civilians".

Edit: Oh, and a list of currently named dwarves and the other important ones:
Mask: accomplished axedwarf, great fighter, competent armor user, adequate shield user, novice dodger, adequate carpenter, adequate woodcutter.
Zekariah: Legendary +5 miner, proficient mason
ShadowHammer: great hammerdwarf (you're a hammerlord), novice dodger, great fighter, competent armor user, proficient weaponsmith (currently deactivated due to hammerlord status).
Ingish (our best mason): accomplished mason, proficient weaponsmith
Zulban (head wrestler): competent biter, talented dodger, adept fighter, novice striker, skilled wrestler, talented armor user, novice siege engineer, high master woodcrafter
Doren (hammerdwarf/wrestler): competent hammerdwarf, adequate dodger, adequate fighter, novice striker, adequate wrestler, adequate armor user, novice shield user.  As a civilian, he is worthless.
Aban (best marksdwarf): novice dodger, novice armor user, novice shield user, competent marksdwarf
Tirist (ranger with broken hand): novice dodger, novice marksdwarf, novice animal trainer, novice trapper, novice small animal dissector
Oh, and the potash maker? He's the furnace operator.

Edit 2: Also, in my spare time today I created three armor sets specifically for new weapon specific squads.  There are the hammerdwarf and axedwarf heavy armors, and a lighter speardwarf armor to be the template for all other weapon squads.  The idea is that the hammer and axe armed dwarves use heavy armor but are the slowest while faster armed dwarves can engage fleeing opponents.  The wrestler armor is now clearly labeled as such.  For the military, I would say that when ShadowHammer and I become legendary and we get more dwarves to arm with weapons, put us in seperate squads with our specific weapon and have us train other dwarves in our fighting style.

[4maskwolf]

The save:
http://dffd.wimbli.com/file.php?id=8094

[DarkArtemisFowl]

Picked up the save, playing now.

Engagement text:

"... You push down a rotten wooden door, sending much dust into the air. You wave your torch and find a pile of assorted items, lying in the corner. Not much of it is of interest to you, merely empty mugs and ragged clothing, except for a small bound diary of astounding quality, considering its age. You snap your attention behind you - the presence of the dead disturbs you. You wave it off as anxiety, and brush off the diary. It is of masterwork quality, encrusted with amethyst gems. On the front, a fine italicized script reads 'Zekariah Rithzammorul'.
You slide the camel leather bind off of the diary. You open it, where the first page reads:

'To whom it may concern:
This is the diary of Zekeriah Rithzammorul, second overseer of the fortress Orbtrances. Should the fortress fall  during my time here, this diary shall be the witness to my service to the fortress. Preserve this diary with your life. The story of the fortress must never die, even if we fall to the greatest of beasts.

May Dalzat be with the citizens of Orbtrances.'

On the next page begins the account of Orbtrances. You take the diary with you and head out, back to the outside world, where you shall read the majestic tale of Orbtrances...
"

[4maskwolf]

"Right, block, parry," Mask lectured, watching the wrestlers clumsily try out weapons for the first time, "good, much bett... Oh, what is it? You'd better have a good reason for coming in here!"
Zekariah's voice came from behind him, "I finished the mining you asked me to do, overseer. What do you want me to do next."
Mask didn't deign to turn around, "well go mine somewhere else," he snapped peevishly, "I thought I made it clear civilians were not to enter the barracks unless there is an emergency.  Doren, Zulban, give us our weapons back, we are going to..."
"SIR!" Zekariah interrupted, "I'm afraid that's not good enough."
Mask stiffened, then slowly turned, eyes shooting daggers, "what do you mean, not good enough?"
"I mean that it's time for you to step down," Zekariah stared into the axedwarfs face unflinchingly.
"Are you challenging me for the position?"
"Not unless you make me."
"You..." Mask started forward, only to be stopped by a hand on his shoulder.
"He's right," shadowhammer said, "you haven't been focusing enough on the fortress. You need to let someone who knows skills other than military run that side of the fortress."
Mask hesitated for a split second, then snapped, "fine. The fort is yours, Zekariah. Now get out of the barracks."

[DarkArtemisFowl]

The First of Granite, Eighth Year of Armok.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I still shake with excitement from the encounter with Mask. I still do not know what forces most high convinced me to confront him, but he miraculously lent the position to me. I could see the tired look in his eyes, and he did not have the fight to deal with me at the moment. Hopefully the militia will take his mind off of his previous tasks.

First thing's first. I ordered an expansion of the farm to make room for more migrants. I also planned out the excavation of the central staircase, to make the official rooms. It's been some time and I want to get these good folks some rest and recreation. The magnetite mines had to be at least partly finished, however, so I worked on that before getting to the staircase. Things are not looking out so bad for Orbtrances. The local wildlife has been pretty quiet; we spotted some two-humped camels, but other than that we haven't seen anything threatening. Armok has been kind to us. Let's hope he stays that way.

The Thirteenth of Granite, Eighth Year of Armok.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I have planned out one of the workshop areas, the food storage and grand dining room, and an elegant Vaniver's Greek Cross as the bedrooms. The operation is running smoothly - I should have a stockpile set up by the end of the month... maybe.



Mask has done well training the soldiers. They all are well on their way to becoming the elite guardians of Orbtrances, which I fully expect them all to do. Everyone else is also performing as expected. I do wonder about the mason, Iden Ginetdodok, though... he is different from the rest. I know flights of fancy must not overcome me during such times of need, but such is the impulse of every dwarf...

[4maskwolf]

What follows is a continuation of the text written by darkartemisfowl at the start of his turn.

As you make to leave the fortress, on a flight of fancy you decide to visit the building to the right of the fabled gatehouse. Within lies a corpse, outfitted in what must once have been resplendent armor, clutching a mule leather journal. You pry the journal free and make haste to leave, lest whatever took the fortress find you

Diary of Mask, 20 Granite of the 8th year of Armok.

I am writing this diary to confess one of the greatest sins of dwarf kind: pride. When we set up this fortress, I thought I could establish the greatest military bastion ever designed, one completely impregnable by the outside world. In my pride, I neglected the most important gift given to fortresses: its dwarves. I ordered dwarves to do backbreaking labor while I myself sparred in the barracks, and it is a sin for which I must now atone.
Today I left the barracks and for the first time mingled with the civilian dwarves. Quite a few of them were resentful of the way I had treated them, and I did what I could to make amends by crafting ten additional beds for the fortress stocks, to be used in the bedrooms. One particular dwarf, however, I could not find. Zekariah was down in the mines working, as he always is these days. I hope Armok sends us more miners soon so that he can take a well deserved break. I owe the most apology to him, as when he confronted me about my pride I was on the verge of destroying him. I do not know what fell force possessed me to do such a thing, but I fear that something far worse than goblins has turned their eyes to the fortress. I can only hope we shall be ready when it comes.

OOC: the ten beds were actually constructed during my turn, when I deactivated the squad to let shadowhammer talk to the liaison, but I decided to weave them into this narrative because it was irrelevant during my turn.

[4maskwolf]

Diary of Mask, fortress guardian, 21 Granite of the 8th year of Armok,

Zekariah has yet to return from the mines, and I must resume my duties training the recruits.  The fact that we have had no incursions up to this point means very little in the overall scheme of things, as our foes could come at any time.  My only chance for atonement lies in honorable defense of this fortress against all who attempt to destroy it.  If it costs me my life, so be it, that is the price of atonement.  Our young wrestlers are fast learning the skills they will need to defend this fortress, and I have no doubts in ShadowHammer's skill with the warhammer.  I must talk to Zekariah soon, to ask his forgiveness and to lend guidance to him with regards to our military future for defense.

OOC: I have no doubts in DarkArtemisFowl's ability to control the military effectively, the part about the advice was all in character, though it can be out of character if you need a second input on something.

[4maskwolf]

Darkartemisfowl, how's the next update looking?

[zlob]

May I join?

[4maskwolf]

Sure. Do you want a turn or just a dwarf?

[zlob]

I'd prefer both

[4maskwolf]

Alright. Do you want to claim a current dwarf or wait for migrants?

[zlob]

I'll possess mind of one when I manage to lay my hands on the save (I want to know all possible dwarves etc. etc.).