Sorry in advance for typos, misconjugations and general broken tenses.I placed my ear against the dacite plug, listening for any clues to what was going on outside. I heard shouts and the sound of hooves against stone, then a heavy crash, and then far too long a silence. I had given up hope when a knocking sound came from the other side! The sound was followed by cheers and exclamations of victory. "Nish killed it! Nish killed it!" The boulder was removed and our doctor rushed past, expecting grievous wounds despite victory. However, not a single wound was to be found! Nish told me he had named the sword that struck down Ozse, and it seemed an appropriate enough title:
The first squad was memorialized, and I had a severe talk with that administrator who had suggested we send those poor recruits out first. We had learned to trust in the the Fortress Guard.
The surface was cleaned of animal corpses and life continued. That first night, the dining hall was packed full while Nish told his tale of the battle. The first strike, landed by Erush, pierced deep into Ozse's neck and opened the way for the rest of the squad to hamstring the zebra's long legs. It was over quickly after the beast had been brought to earth.
We also learned that Deduk had mistakenly taken his training sword to battle, though it made little difference to a warrior like him.
We all became a little closer as we shared our surprise, our terror, and our eventual elation. We agreed that had been enough excitement to last a few years, and prayed to Kogsak that nothing else crept it's way up from the peat bogs.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Dwarves returned to their chores with a renewed vigor. Datan, one of our farmers, claimed he could butcher Ozse's corpse in such a way as to make it edible. We were hesitant at first, but he managed to cut almost 400 servings of surprisingly palatable steak.
This wasn't the only resource taken from Ozse, as the piles and piles of webs it had left on the surface were slowly spun into thread. The thread was woven into cloth, which was then sewn into bags and used in the production of the clear glass blocks we needed so desperately.
Kûbuk finally finished his artifact, producing a beautiful glass scepter.
This makes his the most proficient glassmaker out of the six we have employed, though this is is essentially wasted on the large number of glass blocks we produce. A block is a block is a block, no?
Whatever caused Kûbuk to produce the scepter must have been contagious, since not long after a glassmaker by the name of Catten was seen collecting miscellanous materials and refusing to speak. What made this so amazing was that Catten had been bedridden for over two years at this point! He had a crushed foot that healed improperly, and our chief medical dwarf refused to let him go before he could properly re-break and set the bones. As so Catten spent about a month crawling about the fortress, rummaging here and there for whatever bits and bobs his mind craved.
A week later he produced the most amazing box, entitled "The True Earth." It was installed in The Chamber of Suns. Our second legendary glassmaker returned to the bed from which he had crawled, seemingly content with this singular product.
We also collapsed the Onciblu's tavern. After once again meeting across the stream, we pulled the lever and watched the gabbro structure disintegrate before our eyes.
After the dust settled, we ventured back over and saw a newly formed chasm in the earth.
It went down about four z-levels, piercing through old rooms, our trade depot, and
my bedroom. Yes, you read that right - the only bedroom affected by the collapse was mine!
this isn't roleplay, it was seriously Mad Sal's bedroom. I was speechless.
I would suspect a conspiracy to murder me in my sleep if not for the fact I had been the one to suggest demolition. We patched up the chasm, rebuilt the depot and continued on as if nothing had happened.
A barracks was created down by the caverns, along with a room for weaving. The surface castle's foundations were completed and extended upwards. A lever was connected to the glass gate, giving us an easier way to prevent intrusion.
I took it upon myself to give every dwarf a masterwork stone cabinet, though this took many months and I shied away from my other duties. It was worth it, however, since every dwarf appreciated the gesture and it kept their old clothing out of the hallways.
A new mayor was elected, one of the recruits named Sakzul Stokecraft. He took over our old mayor's quarters, immediately demanding that we craft two sets of copper leggings. Easy enough, but I was wary of further demands.
Our old mayor, Shorast, suddenly found himself with time to spare. He expressed interest in carving a new dance hall adjacent to our current dining room. I approved his design and within a week we had the engravers working to smooth the floor and engrave the pillars. Boxes, chairs, and tables were installed. The tavern was now officially named The Chamber of Sun, and though we have yet to attract a single visitor (this is most curious) the dance hall is popular with our own citizens.
Then, an accident! Our jeweler felt that storing gems in bins prevented him from properly viewing his collection and had asked we empty them. In some convoluted thought process, he thought it was necessary that we dump the bins into our newly-carved trash pit. Unlucky Zuglar, an engraver, happened to be smoothing the floor directly underneath the opening as the first bin was emptied. No one heard him and the other two were emptied right afterwards. Beautifully-faceted gemstones became missiles, puncturing his lungs and eventually crushing his skull under the weight.
We discovered his corpse a week later, and it was dug out from the pile of gems and carried off to the glass memorial tower. What a sight: the bloated corpse glinting red, green and yellow as it was lifted past our workshops.
Later that month, we learned an important fact about the diet of kangaroo's when we found our sole specimen dead in it's cage. We noted this in our logbook, then asked Datan whether he knew what to do with the corpse of an emaciated kangaroo. Thinking for a moment, his eyes went wide and he exclaimed, "Soup!". Datan is amazing.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------As fall arrived, so did the dwarven caravan.
No outpost liason came, oddly enough, and the foreign dwarves seemed crestfallen though they wouldn't tell us what had darkened their moods. With no liason we had no news of the outside world, and as near as we could tell this would be the last caravan to ever visit. So we bought everything we could, including wood, metals, rare gems, steel weapons, leather, cloth, silk, thread, wool, yarn, fruits, vegetables, fish, cuts of meat, ropes, bags, and multiple casks of dwarven ale. While we were able to produce most of these things ourselves, boosting our stores was always a smart move. The traders left in a separate direction from the one they came, which was disconcerting to say the least.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Winter arrived, and one of our jewelers went moody. He claimed a single white opal, and within a day had produced the largest gem the fortress had ever seen. Named "The Stirred Illness," the opal was worth a staggering 48,000☼.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The year came to a close, and I knew it was only fair to pass on the role of overseer to another dwarf. Fresh eyes might reveal some unseen problem within the fortress that I had overlooked.
My final action as overseer was to build a room for myself amongst the silver-veined granite. Here, I could keep away from those that might trouble me for past sins. The granite was richly coloured and perfect for contemplating the more obscure aspects of masonry. Finally, the room would likely be the last place an invading army might look for a hiding dwarf.
And so ended the rule of Mad Sal.
Save:
http://dffd.bay12games.com/file.php?id=11821DFMA:
http://mkv25.net/dfma/map-12656-crackedwalls-crackedwallsBonus images:
This appeared right as my turn ended. Not sure what it means for CrackedWalls.
Moving metal bars with lots of idlers.
The state of the fortress as my turn ended.
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Topic: CrackedWalls Succession Fortress (Vanilla 42.05) (Read 20313 times)