The Diary of Mr Frog Thusestdeler, Stoneworker1 Hematite 201That poor doggy's still being chased by its friend outside... I wish there was something I could do to help them, but they're fighting out there and I'm stuck in here! And there's also, y'know, my complete lack of anything approaching physical competence. ...Yeah. That's also a thing.
It looks like the pair are evenly-matched in pace; the mutant's strong and should be moving quick, but it looks like its joints aren't working right? It's not going as quickly as I'd think:
Neither one's really gaining any ground on the other... They just keep running across the hillside, one after the other, the dog unable to escape but the monster unable to catch up.
The monster lost interest eventually... its friend fled out of our borders, but it's still out there, panting and slavering madly, its misshapen body pulsating and heaving with each breath. It looks like it's really suffering... Oh! I can't bear to look any longer!
Jeff came up to me a bit later and told me he'd locked the doors while I was watching the chase. Something about how the "dissonant wavelengths" outside were "totally harshing his chill". I'm... not quite sure what that means... but I guess the important thing is that he kept us safe. Technically I guess I should've been the one to make that order, but... but someone caught it, so that's okay! Right?
5 Hematite 201The workshops are finally set up and ready to go! I put little sticky notes on all of the stoneworker's shops reminding people to only take stones from the nearby stockpile. It'd be pretty bad if someone just picked up a rock and dragged it halfway across the fortress! That'd be super-tiring! I also started cutting a bunch of stones apart into blocks so that they'd be easier to carry in case we need to build something.
I also moved the assorted-goods stockpile lying around in the entrance deeper into the fortress, since we don't really hang around in there anymore. The others are moving it all right now. I can't really help, so I'm just standing on the sidelines and cheering them on, so I'm at least helping their morale, probably.
8 Hematite 201I was puttering around the hallway and saw poor Jeff hobbling around carrying a big ol' gabbro boulder in his arms!
That can't be healthy! I asked him why he was carrying it like that, and he asked me how else he was supposed to carry it? I told him he was supposed to use the wheelbarrows, but then he said we didn't have any. That's weird, I could swear --
RIGHT. The mutton incident. As if I could've forgot a boner like that! How could I be so stupid!? Fortunately, this is easy enough to fix:
No harm, no foul, right? ...Except to Jeff's poor back. I'm guessing that's pretty fouled now. Eurgh.
19 Hematite 201I remember one of the King's agents saying something about us being due for our first caravan sometime in autumn... which is NEXT SEASON! And we don't even have a trade depot for them to hole up in -- I totally forgot! This is an emergency! I scribble out a post-it note politely asking someone to maybe please get started on a depot sometime soon, if it's not too much trouble:
I really hope I managed to convey just how urgent this is! It'd be terrible if the caravan arrived and the architect had just... just slacked off for 3 months straight or something!
Meanwhile, the dwarves are starting to complain to me a bit about how they've been eating off of the floor for the past three months. Fortunately, I know just the thing for that: Tables! And chairs! And maybe statues, too! Finally, something I can do! I'm going to go head to the mason's shop right away!
24 Hematite 201I couldn't hear the doggy's... noises... anymore, so I popped up aboveground to take a look... just in time to see another of those clouds sweeping in over the horizon. I quickly locked the doors and scurried back inside again. This fortress is starting to feel more like a prison... I'm not such a fan of the outdoors, but being trapped in this little cave knowing full well what's out there...
28 Hematite 201The depot is finished! It was designed by our engraver... er... whatever his name was again (he's so multitalented!) and built with love by myself! I think I'm starting to get into the swing of this whole fortress-y nonsense! Now we're ready for the wagons to come in!
...Is what I'd said triumphantly, except that whatshisname looked at me all confused-like and asked me if we'd already taken down the stuff blocking the entrance:
Ummm... that is an excellent point he raised. Good thing I have such good friends to remind me whenever I forget something important, hahaha!
It looks like we're due for an entrance renovation, so I set to work making a bunch of hatches to install deeper in the entry hall:
That way we'll still be able to have something solid between us and the overgrown abominations against nature shambling around outside once we take down the doors! I am
so good at planning ahead!
Speaking of planning ahead, there's still a bunch of junk sitting around in the lobby, so I tell the other miner to dig out a spot to move them to:
I can hear him busily working away from here... this is great! We're getting things done!
6 Malachite 201Another cloud of mist drifts in on the horizon... I almost didn't even bother taking note of this one,
until I saw it drifting towards a flock of parrots towards the southeast! Oh, no! Not the parrots!
It manages to turn two of them, and they immediately begin fighting with their former flockmates, dive-bombing them and raking at them with its claws even as they try to fly away:
This... I can hardly bear to look at this! It's horrible! They're just ripping each other to shreds in midair! There's blood everywhere!
The other parrot tries its best to protect itself, but the monster's too strong for it... it tears the poor bird's leg to ribbons with its beak and lets it fall to the ground with a heavy thunk:
The other unaffected parrot soon meets its end as well and hits the ground a few feet away:
I... I can't... this is horrific... I think I need a drink or twenty to calm my nerves before I can work again:
8 Malachite 201Looks like we have a couple more corpses on our hands now:
Ahhh! Right! You're supposed to feed those things! I completely forgot! I... I...
11 Malachite 201Splint's soldier buddy came up to me in the dining room and asked what we were supposed to do with about the last hatch... apparently I forgot to make it. I... I told him to go make it himself. I don't really feel like doing anything right now... He just nodded and left. I guess being expedition leader has its perks...
15 Malachite 201It's just two of them... Kinda wish there were more. No matter, though... I guess this is still something. I tell whatshisname to unlock the doors to let them in; those parrots are a bit closer to the entrance than I'd like, so I tell Splint to stand watch at the gate just in case. He doesn't think that the raggedy clothes he has on will be enough to stop the monsters' beaks, but... we need those workers in here, and as much as it makes me sick to say it, I'd rather them live than Splint. We need more laborers in here.
...Ugh. I think I need to go lie down again...
UPDATE: Splint tells me that the migrants managed to avoid the parrot's notice and make it inside without any casualties. Yay! Finally, some good news! I think we'll be needing someone to keep our stocks in order, so I go up to one of the dwarves -- his name is Noel, I think -- and told him that he's our bookkeeper now. So now we have a bookkeeper! He looked a bit confused, but I think he took it pretty well otherwise.
UPDATE UPDATE: Oh, and I think I finally remembered what the engraver's name is! It's Gwolf2ki! ...Wait, are names supposed to have numbers in them? Eh, doesn't matter!
UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE: I asked the engraver and he said Gwolf2ki's actually the other miner's name. Um. Whoops. He told me his actual name after, but... I kinda... forgot it already. Um.
17 Malachite 201We finally got that last hatch installed over the entrance. Woo! We've started moving stuff down into the new stockpile, too! I took a peek outside, though, and it looks like those monster parrots are still hanging around near our entrance... ugh. Guess we'll have to keep waiting for a while to take down our entrance; it'd be terrible if one of our workers got injured...
Since we won't be doing that for a bit, I've started digging a little tunnel through to the volcano's cone. Those corpses in the dining hall are starting to smell, and what better place to put them than down the forbidden outlet of Armok's fiery wrath? That's right:
NOWHERE:
20 Malachite 201It looks like those parrots have finally moved away from the entrance! I tell everyone to
quickly start clearing away the obstructions in the entrance -- the mason's shop is getting taken down and the doors and the frame they're set in are set to be demolished:
I've set Splint and the other guy to stand guard in case... in case the parrots come in without me noticing.
A few seconds later, I hear someone say "Hi-ho, off to go fishing!" and I see the fisherdwarf who just arrived strolling out the front door, a big grin on her face. Oh... oh, that isn't good! Doesn't she realise how dangerous it is out there!? I holler at her from the gate to stay inside and to only fish where I tell her to, but she doesn't hear me, and she's heading right towards the parrots! Oh... oh...
[OOC: I'm not sure why I don't have a screenshot of this... sorry, bruhs and grills]
Fortunately, she spotted the parrots and came running back inside screaming about avenging angels and cursed messengers of the evil sun-god. Oh, by Armok, that was close! I told her to only fish in spots that I've marked out as safe for fishing and she agreed. I'm still kind of shaking a bit, but I'm glad nothing happened.
28 Malachite 201We've finished clearing out the entrance, and way ahead of schedule, too! Hooray!:
2 Galena 201I've finished digging out the garbage disposal... chute... thing! Maybe it's the sudden fresh rush of fumes, but I suddenly feel very sleepy. Think I'm gonna lie down and take a nap! The stones here are nice and warm:
Before I go out, I tell whatshisname to tell the others to dispose of the animal corpses now that the chute's been dug out. DELEGATION, PEOPLE:
5 Galena 201Ah, that was a nice little nap! I went downstairs and decided to start working on making some furniture for the dining hall again, since I'd put it on hold to make the floor hatches -- Splint's buddy's also helping, since apparently I never ordered him not to stop doing masonry. So helpful! Also, I asked that engraver, who's also a carpenter (a real renaissance dwarf if I've ever seen one!) to start hacking out some beds for us to sleep in, since I think the other dwarves are getting tired of sleeping on rocks (although... the rocks near the volcano are pretty comfy...). I thought to ask him what his name was again, but he was working so hard, and I didn't want to bother him, so I didn't.
15 Galena 201Jeff keeps bugging me over and over about not having any plump helmet spawn for him to plant even though I kept looking and we did:
I asked him why he couldn't just use what we already had, and he told me that people keep carrying it and he can't use it if they're carrying it because "that'd be totally screwing with their natural order of existence, bro". I... I didn't know what to say to that, so I just let it be for now.
Me and Splint's buddy finally finish the furniture for the dining hall, including two statues to spruce the place up! I stand back and take a look at my handiwork:
The simplicity of the piece really speaks to the dwarven spirit, y'know?
Splint's buddy, on the other hand, still has a long way to go when it comes to using carved stone as a medium of personal expression:
I patted him on the back and told him that it's okay and that all novices have to pump out a few uninspired stinkers before making something that can truly
speak to people. He totally took it the wrong way, though! Now I have a black eye.
Now that we've finished making the furnishings, I think it's high time we get some goodies together to give to the caravan when it comes! I sit in the craftsdwarf workshop and begin working on some trinkets:
I... I may or may not have forgotten to carve out the insides of some of them, but they'll still work as hammerheads in a pinch, so it's not like they're useless, right? Right!
20 GalenaWe've finally finished setting up the dining hall and bedroom! Now we can eat and sleep in style, or at the very least not total abject squalor:
I stand around, basking in my own glory as a leader and organiser... then notice a couple people running outside. Why!? It's dangerous out there! I catch up to them and see them milling around the wagon:
I ask them what the hell they're doing, and then they get this mean look on their faces and tell me all sarcastic-like that I didn't
tell them they were supposed to stay in the dining hall after I put the furniture in. I... I guess that makes sense? My bad, I suppose... I tell them to go in and they do, but I'm really starting to worry about these people! It's like they have a death wish or something!
28 Galena 201Awww! I can't think of anything better to cap off the season! I thought I heard Splint mutter something about fresh meat, but that can't be right...
[
EDIT: Corrected the fisherdwarf's gender.]