(sorry for double post. but figured this'd be better then editing in; I do find I'm struggling a little with the images. haven't used it on the forums in ages. also apologies if this feels slightly rushed compared to some of the others. will have more overview when I'm done. I'm in late summer now, so can finish it tomorrow and upload the save for handing on.)
what? why am I here in some backwater fortress trying to make a living? well, I suppose trying to ent pigtails onto quarry bushes to create something new to drink was a bit of a mistake. aaand after that I may have tried to create a new 'magma still' to try and brew what plump helmet beer we had into something more.. palatable. not my fault the result was more flammable then anyone could imagine. What? no. any accusations that this blew up the last still not making plump helmet beer are grossly exaggerated. at worst it was slightly scorched afterwards.
next thing I know, I'm chained up in a rather nice room, only a supply of plump helmet beer (getting rather tired of this stuff by now). things seemed to be looking up, but then. well. lets just say that waking up to a hammerer standing over you, with the queen next to him saying I have a choice. either take a beating (I still don't like the way the hammerer is grinning at me) or leave the capital, for good, and run some farming community intended to supply better food (and drinks, great!). well. that choice was easy to make.
barely 10 minutes later I find myself amongst a group of other hopefulls, at least a few I think I recognize. there's 7 of us heading out here. myself (stoneworker, mechanic, pump operator), three rangers with weird comments about this wide open sky we've found ourself under, then an engraver and lastly a fishery worker. (keeping upwind of him!)
Well... we've arrived. Surface looks blasted. abandoned fields. cloth and thread left lying around workshops. this fine... white sand starting to drift into the workshops, along barran furrows. it seems to be a very ambitious layout. now abandoned to the elements. in front of all of these is a large wooden structure. We clambered around it, but only found a few walled-off murky pools. long since dried up. behind it however, we found an entranceway, soaked in blood and with a mangled corpse of a dwarf lying outside of it. being the one in charge, I ordered Uvash (the fisherdwarf) in first, and he reported that it led to a large chamber, and even a mineworking further below. as well as a large open space with a raised bridge! a few shouts then rang out from the other side, and when we answered, we found that there were still living dwarves here! my first instinct was to just run off and never come back, but then my fellow travellers (who seemed delighted to have found other dwarves to the point of forgetting the desolation and the scene of carnage) informed them I was to be the new overseer for a year. and then. while I was being given a tour by one 'doctor Akko' someone obviously stressed out of their mind, and who can blame him, the fellow suddenly lets out a roaring laugh, grabs a nearby dwarf he'd just introduced as 'Ace' and drags the stunned unfortunate to a craftsdwarf workshop. I couldn't quite believe my eyes, though I'd certainly heard of this happening, and after the first blow with a carpenter's chisel I wisely took my leave and went on.
going through. this all feels very... ad-hoc. set up in a rush. someone showed me something they called a 'minecart repeater'. my mechanics senses were tingling but I couldn't quite make out what it was about, and any concept of getting on the spiderweb of tracks and boosters there was not in my job description. then, suddenly. a dwarf called Hydrangea barges in to report a crime, apparently some poor fool snapped under the stress they've been under and decided to hit her in the face. it didn't look too serious, but when I tried a joke to lighten the mood, int he middle of formalizing her crime report, she snapped and started tantrumming as well! this place really needs a boost.
regardless. as everyone is apparently looking to me for leadership (may the gods help us) first things first. if we're stuck in here, we have to make the most of it, for now. taking stock we have tons of rice plants stored up, so food should be, though monotonous, good for the time when I can get a quern and a few bags made. perhaps a trip to the surface to grab some of the goods left behind up there is in order...
should anyone get injured, water is around plentifull, if the talks of the aquifers around here is true. so why is the one water source a sandy hole where it just seeps in? we're putting a well over that immediately. I don't mind drinking it, but at least lets get the sand out of it.
also. priority, if anyone will start digging....? okay. guess I'm picking up a pick and trying my hand at this myself. do we have a smith? some picks! iron is around aplenty? good. iron picks it is. might even be usefull in the military. we need to become more self-reliant. and my favourite substance in the world can help with that. magma.
so. lets plan a route. based on rough sketches I've found we know where one cavern layer is (note to self, seal that staircase. I've heard enough about terrifying beasties coming up from those!) and we know enough to pierce it. then there's a deep shaft we can hug the edges of to get down deep. there has to be magma around there somewhere.
okay. laid out all the plans. now where can I find a pick in this place... hmm... I'm still finding my way around. bumping into someone they happen to mention that they haven't seen Ace around for a week. and can't seem to talk to anyone who knows where he is. I wisely keep my mouth shut and just go 'Ace? I don't think I met him during the tour'.
wait. why aren't you letting me go dig these rocks I designated? oh. everyone is supposed to stay just one step away from them because of a military order. well.. I'll just turn that off. we need to get through here to reach the deeps and the whole fortress is sealed up anyway.
ahh. striking stone. I can finally - what? Akko has made something? a 'dwarf bone bin'. ah. Is Ace still missing? yeah. I have no idea what happened to him either. if I'm comfortable with our doctor being a legendary bone engraver? well. maybe if he has to set my bones he can add some images of dogs on them. that'll make me feel better.
We've almost completed the first passage. we're bypassing this 'maze of death for the undead' the last overseer built, and it looks marvellous. but I'm not touching it if I can avoid it, to reconnect with the passageways he seems to have set up to lead to the surface. they lead to the caverns below, and we can use that. I've set up a few orders to remove the staircases and we'll put up walls to seal this off from outside, untill we're ready to return, at least.
what? Kametec has died? what off? infection maybe? last I checked he wasn't going hungry or thirsty while resting. well. we'll get around to him soon. that's... two deaths. oh. you've found the silver hammer belonging to 'Ace' therefore he must be dead? yeah. I haven't a clue what could've happene to his body. maybe he was abducted by a beerkeg in the sky. I'm going back up for a drink, get the steel weapons off' him. they'll be usefull.
Oh. hey Kametec, I thought you'd died. um. you're gurgling a bit. what... aahhh! kill it! kill it! why'd that happen? oh. anything dead on the white sand reanimates? WHO PUT THE HOSPITAL ON TOP OF THIS WHITE SAND THEN?
so.. I guess I now know why everyone wants to talk to me, instead of to the expedition leader. upon my arrival, it seems I was given that position. I'm not entirely sure who held it before me, and nobody here seems to want to discuss the matter, so I suppose I'll let itdrop. does mean I have to spend yet more time talking.
Well. it's now spring. I still am uncertain what exactly these people went though, but it's left an indelible mark. many of them are both depressed and angry, and the planter Sibrek often wanders around utterly oblivious to the world.
If my plans are to work. we'll need more wood. as far as we can tell from inside the safety of the longhouse, the surface is clear. I'm opening the gates on the maze, if anything does happen. we'll have a chance.
what? why is everyone running around scared? oh... someone threw a tantrum in the hospital? wait... did someone DIE in there? I haven't had time to move it! everyone who can grab a weapon, do so, we need to make sure anything dead stays that way! be ready to haul any remains from this event into the deeps for incineration. I'm done with this.
Well... that was.. too close. we gathered some of the wood from the stockpiles on the surface. and tried to clear out and bring down everything we might need. we struck lignite and ilminite in the mines, so I ordered another set of coke and iron smelted. as well as several iron minecars manufactured. we can use those to bring up magma from the deep in a controlled fashion. it'll be slow, but very safe. As we were bringing in the supplies a new migrant wave appeared. number 33 dwarves. 33! I ordered a new set of bedrooms carved out to hopefully expand our capacity. we'll need it. food stocks are running low too. but I think I can get a milling operation going to start turning all this rice and other plants into flour we can use for meals.
in less happy news. we've now outgrown the term 'expedition' and I am no longer expedition leader. the old bookkeeper was voted new mayor, and immediately banned some things for export. so far I've been too busy to see exactly what, but I'm sure it won't be anything bad. at least this stops the stream of depressed dwarves trying to talk to me. I mean, I want to help and all. just don't know how.
Mid-summer. and yet more people. I feel the time has come to take a slight risk. I will attempt to wall off a small section of the fields we have. so that it can be accessed risk-free. (aside from flying creatures untill we get glass production). at least with so many hands heavy work is made easy. by late summer we should be ready with this. hmm.. odd. I haven't seen a trade caravan all year. they were supposed to come by and pick up the food we have. though I would've been loathe to sell our scarce supplies of food. although alcohol would've been fine. not that I have a choice. as I have no desire to encounter the hammerer.
late-summer. the wall is done! strike the earth, farmers! plant the seeds. we need to refill our stocks now the raw plants are running low. in other news. the first group of minecarts filled with magma to power the smelters has been brought up from the deeps. I think before winter comes and I can retire from leading this settlement, for the time being at least, I can bring up a second batch. that should at least get a magma smelter and magma glass furnace up and running.
new bedrooms
new area for magma furnaces etc. one level above the new bedrooms. still needs more filling. but getting there.
the new wall
all the seeds!
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Topic: Breakfastpit - A Succession Farm - 44.12 (Read 68557 times)