Log 4The Winter MonthsSo winter has come again, and my year as overseer here is drawing closer and closer to its end. The past three seasons have been truly hectic, and I expect winter to be equally eventful. Though I'm kind of hoping things are a little gentler...
Anyways, let's get into the thick of it.
So far, things have been pretty quiet. And because of that, I think it's time for a raid.
Well, a raze actually. I decided against attacking Forddawned again to keep things fresh. Our speardwarves are going to go out this time around. They should be able to handle ten crumby elves, right?
While they're away, I should mention that I've started up another small project.
A library! Exciting, isn't it? Not really, but we get a lot of books brought to us from raids, so I figure we need a place to put them. I've carved it out just across from our museum to keep things tidy. All of the bookcases are nearly done and our engravers are hard at work smoothing things out, so it should be finished in no time.
Hmm.
It looks like our raiders made haste. It must've been quite the success, then, I'd wager.
...
Not at all.
Truly disgraceful. If reports are to be believed, a trained and well armed militia was routed by a party of simple elves. Commoners. It appears I put far too much faith in their abilities. They're going to need a lot more training before they're ready to go out into the field it would seem.
While they're trai-
Humph. So much for peace and quiet. Another fire breather, too. Hopefully this thing will be a push over like that bird.
It looks like the beast has put a torch to our livestock, rabbits and all. Damn. Better than our civilians, I suppose, but still quite the pisser.
All it takes is one jet of flame to set the world alight around here. I have a feeling this fire will rage for days.
I'm not certain what this creature's game is, to be frank. It's been sitting up there sulking in its own mess for some time now, not moving. Perhaps because its blind? Or maybe because I locked everything up? I'm not certain, but it has to go. It might be a little reckless, but I'm going to send myself and my men up to surface to slaughter this beast.
Or not.
Just as we tried to climb on up, it decided to climb on down. The defenses are blanketed in smoke and blood already.
Though I don't believe much of it is ours.
And... It's dead. Killed by none other than MrLurkety's brother, Tirist Rosatasmel. Helmets off to him.
And helmets back on for this dwarf. Sleeping in the heat (no pun intended) of battle.
While this fool was dozing, the rest of us were fighting for our lives. And unfortunately, two of my men didn't fight well enough.
Lokum and Stukos. Our two axedwarves. They will be remembered for their bravery.
As is typical, with casualties come vacancies, and there are now free spots in my squad. I'll be bringing two new dwarves under my wing. A herbalist by the name of Urvad, and a soap maker known as Aban. They'll serve this fortress much better slaying beasts and slashing elves then they would making soap and picking parsley.
With the creature dead, and a massive corpse sitting in our defensive hallway, I think a neat display of our victory is in order. There's still an unused display case in our dining area, and with our museum up and ready, why not move it and the beast's body there? Sounds good to me.
Speaking of the dead, it has come to my attention that there's a ghost spooking around in the barracks.
I can't say I know how this guy died, seeing as he was a fisherdwarf. Carp, perhaps? Who knows. Either way, he needs some form of burial, and since I have no idea where his corpse is, I've ordered our masons to make slabs. They should do the trick just fine, once they've been engraved.
Just as the last month of winter hits, our blacksmith has been possessed.
Metalsmith's forge, eh? I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a tad bit excited. He's requested bones, thread/cloth, metal/bars, stone/rock. All of which we have, and yet he's still sitting idly. Huh. I suppose I'll order some ore to be dug and bars to be forged. And if that doesn't work, I'm afraid he'll be someone's else problem, as there's but ten days left in the year.
While we wait for our smelters and miners to get working, I should give a status update on some of our projects.
Firstly, the library:
Yes, that is indeed a dead turkey. Our engravers have gotten rather proficient at their jobs, so construction took less time than I anticipated.
The museum has the titan's skeleton on display. It rotted surprisingly quickly, for something its size.
And... Spring has arrived. Faster than I expected. Before I part from my position as overseer, I think I should give a debriefing on our stocks and population, and maybe a few other things.
To start things off, here's a peek at our stocks.
Our stores are piled high, and our brewers are on a perpetual order for drink making, so there's little to worry about in that regard.
And here's our wealth. We're not the richest of fortresses (yet), but we're pretty well off.
Finally, our population. It hasn't gone up a whole lot since I started here, despite the fact that we had around three migrant waves. We have a startlingly large amount of farmers and craftdwarves, and though our grazers were decimated by the last beast assault, we still have plenty of creatures alive.
And... That's about it. I couldn't for the life of me get the barracks bridge to work (it's burned down now), so my successor will have to fix that if they'd be so kind. Beware of wood cutting. The ash from the fires tends to be very dangerous, so cut with caution.
Also,
don't forget about our fey blacksmith! I couldn't figure out what he wanted. Hopefully our next overseer can accommodate him.
Well, that's just about everything, so I won't hold you any longer. Here are the needed papers (
http://dffd.bay12games.com/file.php?id=13750). You should find everything you need in there. Good luck with this place!