Surgeon's Journal: Summer's EndWith the ogre menace vanquished, I assumed that we would return to business as usual. It did not take long to prove just how wrong I was.
Moments after the all clear had sounded from the end of the siege, the alarm rang forth once more. Looking around, I saw no enemies in the direction everyone was pointing. No, I saw something much worse...
A cloud of foul green smoke the likes of which I have never laid eyes upon. I don't know if its a horrid cloud born from the Hill of Death or the exhaust from goblin war machines starting up, but it couldn't mean anything beneficial for us.
"Get inside, barricade the doors! Try not to breathe much until you are all safely underground where it's safe!"Normally I would be the last one on the surface to make sure everyone made it in safely, but smoke cares not for dwarven steel. The folks trapped in the smithy said the smoke came within a few feet of their building before evaporating. Thankfully, no one breathed it in and a crisis was averted. The morale hit was palpable however, as no one wanted to see what effects such monstrous vapors would inflict upon us. Seeing a small silver lining in all this, I crossed the courtyard to speak with the Duke as he emerged to gaze westward with the rest of us.
"Duke Gwolfski, the smoke to the west means I can hold my peace no longer. While I commend your pursuit of scientific knowledge, there is nothing good that can come from exposing the Wild Child in that bunker to such forces. Even before now, there have been signs of psychological damage present. He spends most of his time barking back and forth with the dogs that were chained below him, and then has seen 4 of them slaughtered before his eyes during the sieges. We need to dismantle it and assimilate him back into the fortress."The Duke simply nodded; his thoughts could have been with the child or more personal apprehension of the smoke. Only he could say, and I would not dare to pry. Regardless, there was more work to be done. When the all-clear sounded for the second time this week, everyone snapped back into action. Work cannot wait forever after all.
Erush, a migrant from the spring, was driven by forces unknown to craft yet another masterpiece for the fortress. He compiled a list and began scurrying about gathering materials, so I turned my focus elsewhere while waiting for him to begin construction. This time, it was down to the depths. The magma collection had begun and I wanted to check it over firsthand.
The northern bridge had been lowered, allowing the chamber to flood with magma. Once fully filled, the northern bridge would be raised and the eastern bridge lowered, leaving behind a dozen minecarts full of magma for us to use as we see fit. I grinned with anticipation and headed back up to the surface, where another sight waited for me.
11 more able bodies ready to work, plus the usual assortment of children and pets. Most began pitching in with the usual hauling and construction tasks that have been keeping us so busy. A small pack broke away and immediately began fishing however. With the overabundance of food and how badly we needed to finish the caravan highway, I forbade them from continuing after the first catch and set them to more productive endeavors.
On a positive note, our finest mechanic finally recovered from his corpse hauling trauma and was released from quarantine. With a promise not to make him haul corpses or refuse again, he was cleared to resume all his normal jobs around the fort. I raised a mug in his honor, and am looking forward to raising a few more soon. 3 others appear to be close to ready for work again; another season or so should do it.
The next month seemed to fly by as work continued to progress. The caravan highway was finally completed, although the humans never made their annual trip. Undoubtedly the ogre siege is to blame. I do worry that the dwarven caravan will not be able to haul all of our food and drink though. We shall see.
A cheer rang forth throughout the dining hall when Erush emerged holding a magnificent ruby earring.
The image of Shadow Hags was rather ominous in the blood red stone, but no one could deny its splendor. A fine addition to our treasure vaults. (Note to self, construct a treasure vault.)
With the season winding down, it's time to review my original tasklist to see how things are progressing.
Subject 1: StressWe have had one dwarf graduate from quarantine, and several others are close to following suit. A somewhat troubling note is the fact that quarantine was lifted when the civilian alert was in place. While they enjoyed spending time in the dining hall with the others and admiring the well, the repeated exposure to rainfall made the situation slightly worse than it had been previously. Quarantine is up and running again and things continue to progress.
Subject 2: Clothing & Equipment IssuesDwarves are starting to complain slightly about worn clothing. We have an abundance of silk webbing being gathered, so a couple rounds of silk clothing have been requested.
Subject 3: Labor OrganizationI'm going to mark this as officially resolved for the remainder my tenure as overseer.
Subject 4: MilitaryWith the latest migration wave to supplement the work force, the draft was officially enacted. We seem to be short a few flasks, but have enough equipment otherwise. A few flasks have been ordered, as well as some bronze bolts for the Watch.
Subject 5: PasturesThe donkey pasture was grazed down to clay during the summer and some minor fights broke out for the last remaining patches of grass. I marked 3 for slaughter and assigned the rest to the old Yak pasture. Pastureland will continue being an issue unless the entire system is expanded. Farming is far from my expertise however, so I don't know if I will address this sufficiently or if it will fall to my replacement.
Subject 6: Medical ScienceDatan Mafolobok was selected for the next trial run of the system. Unfortunately, there were no adverse effects at all. Either Datan is of sturdier stuff than Kib was, another fluke in the trial, or the modifications made in the late spring are to blame. Another trial for Datan has been scheduled once the system is reset to verify.
Subject 7: StocksWe had a dozen bars of soap at the start of the year, and I have had 30 more crafted during my stewardship. Somehow we have less than 10 on hand. My fellow dwarves must be taking quite a few baths. 30 more bars have been requested as we really need to get more of a surplus available.
The Duke required no less than a dozen steel axes made during the summer months, yet steel stocks are still slowly rising. A fine tribute to those of the Smithing caste.
Since the human caravan did not arrive, leather remains critically low. Hopefully the dwarven caravan supplies us with sufficient amounts.
Thus stands Breadbowl on the dawn of the first day of autumn. Yet chaos will not leave us be it seems.
This time to the north, and one of our dwarves is hunting nearby...
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Topic: Breadbowl: a Succession Farm [42.06] - Breadbowl Ends (Read 446260 times)