From the diary of Arcvasti, Immortal King of All Cats1st Granite:
Zimzuden. My greatest sin, instrument of my rebirth. Is just sort of lying there in a craftsdwarf’s workshop. This is the first thing I notice, having once again gained power. Last time, I encouraged scholarship and honoured cats, hoping that my accomplishments would endure forever. But only burned books and feline bones now remain. I have had too much faith in dwarvenkind. This time, I shall build something that shall endure, now and forever. But first, there is lesser business that must be dealt with.
For one, we have many cavern creatures, sitting untrained in their cages. I order them properly trained, both for the advancement of knowledge and for their weaponisation in the Apocalypse Cage that I failed to fully load last time. While our defences are impressive, they are also lopsided. We rely too much on cage traps and a few skilled warriors.
2nd Granite:
An unexpected visitor graces us with their presence: Mosus Zuntirogred, the baroness consort of Petglazes. They’re missing their upper lip and are wearing a nice warm blue cloak and simple woolen clothes, despite their high rank. They are apparently here to pursue scholarship, as they have heard that Sneaktunnels is a beacon of learning. I make a mental[And also physical, right here] note to keep this one away from Snow, lest there be a pick-axe induced diplomatic incident.
3rd Granite:
The local nobles seem dissatisfied with their accommodations. I order some silver statues of Carefulrogue posing[Why do we have so many of those?] placed in their quarters to assuage their doubts.
4th Granite:
The work orders are a mess, but at least things seems to be getting done. I’m not touching them unless I need to. More worrisome are the giant refuse stockpiles outside. Its not like we don’t have a designated garbage pit, plus they look unsightly. I order the stockpiles removed and funnel our waste into the garbage pit instead.
5th Granite:
There’s an unfinished and vomit covered granite tower outside. The hell.
6th Granite:
I found a corridor filled with sourceless smoke that was sealed off. More importantly, it also had some military equipment in it, including the legendary sword
Resirkalur.
8th Granite:
Our miners are doing lots of things. Snow is training and some others are hauling wood. None of which are exactly MINING. Snow is at least a soldier, but the others are immediately told to do NOTHING but mine. We need that earth struck.
15th Granite:
Sanctume is apparently now officially a baroness. And I just got done decorating the rooms for the captain of the guard and the mayor. Whatever, its not like we lack silver.
16th Granite:
Nothing is getting done. We have frivolous metal crafts lined up to be made, but no metalcrafters to make them. We have many more blocks and mechanisms then we could ever possibly need. And half of the population of the fortress is children. Half of the adults are wasting time hauling absurdly heavy logs up long flights of stairs. No more. I repeal all unnecessary work orders and forbid the pile of wood in the caverns. If we get more people who can haul things, maybe then it would be a good idea to bring them up. As is, it just wastes time.
19th Granite:
Some migrants have arrived. Hopefully they’ll shore up our labour shortage.
21st Granite:
There’s a gremlin. I send one of the least badly equipped and organized military squads to drive it away.
1st Slate:
I summon my chief advisors, Rakust and Dishmab, to the site of the project to consult. They rub against my legs and meow that this is going to need to be impregnable. Magma can only do so much. I agree. A suitable guardian will have to be found.
15th Slate:
Things are progressing, mostly. The project is still in the planning phase and has to be done very carefully lest magma get everywhere. The baroness’s nice silver furniture and the military’s iron equipment are being made now, albeit slowly. I have a bunch of mugs made so that people stop complaining about other people taking their cups. Plus my military training is taking up a lot of time. I’ve been sparring with Snow, and I have a LONG way to go before I can even touch him. I’ll get there, though.
1st Felsite:
A child has been possessed. Spooky.
5th Felsite:
The silver furniture for the baroness is all done. Between work on the project and wood hauling, it’ll be a while before everything’s in place.
7th Felsite:
The kid has started whatever construction his spirit wants to do. Quite an impressive array of stuff he has lined up for it, whatever it is.
12th Felsite:
And the kid’s all done. Made a
nice looking scepter fit for a queen.
19th Felsite:
The dogs have been torturing this poor naked mole dog for days now. The poor thing is alternately vomiting, scurrying and being knocked unconscious. Despite that, its still alive. Little buggers are sturdy, that’s for sure.
23rd Felsite:
The dogs finally drove the poor naked mole dog into a cage trap. And the baroness’ rooms are now finally finished. Yay.
2nd Hematite:
The project is nearly completed. All it needs now are its occupants and then the final sealing.
17th Hematite:
Northwinds got re-elected. What a surprise. I order a bunch of iron greaves forged, because we lack them. Me and the other military folks feel agreaved about this omission.
28th Hematite:
The project is complete and Kumil, a useless peasant miner, taps the magma pipe to complete the sealing. Kumil becomes a novice miner about four seconds before dying from magma. No one could ask for a more honourable death. Plus, I’m leaving him unmemorialized, in case he wants to stick around as a ghost or something.
2nd Malachite:
Someone walled off the magnetite mining area for some reason. I’m removing the seal and reopening it to the miners.
4th Malachite:
Some scholar wants to stay here and study. Sure, whatever. On your own head be it if my successors are less charitable then me.
6th Malachite:
We’re getting really good at taming crundles. That’s pretty sweet.
8th Malachite:
Oh dear. Someone mined the magnetite stalactite wrong and now there are dwarves in the water drowning. Oops. Also, on an unrelated note, we now have a new manager because the old one came down with the ceiling.
9th Malachite:
I draft some peasants into the mining trade. They seem kind of anxious about it for some reason. I guess that’s because four of them died within the span of a single week or something?