Unbelievably, this report consists of ONLY the first part of Slate. OK, fine,
82% 86% of Slate. Still, that's crap progress. In my defence, a lot happened.
I've also put up the first piece of fan art (courtesy: Verb) on the OP. Anything more that comes in will likely be collected there.
1st Slate> Be Erith MistycloistersYou are now èrith Mistycloisters. You are one of the two miners as well as a founder of Claspedbowels. You are 88 years old and your 89th birthday is coming up soon on 10th Hematite. Until a few moments ago, you were digging the stairwell down to the magma beneath the Monastery of Mushroom, as CaptainArchmage the fortress leader had asked you to.
You were interrupted in the process when your pick crashed through a cave wall, revealing a vast cavern. You spent a few seconds gathering in the view.
Not only that, but you swear you saw a downward passage. Somewhere. But you can’t remember where.
> èrith Mistycloisters: Investigate the immediate area.First things first, caverns are dangerous places. They are REALLY fucking dangerous places, even ones as high up as this one. There are foul creatures from before the beginning of time living in these places. You do not spot anything moving though.
To the northeast, you spot old bloodstains and a troglodyte skeleton. Whatever happened here, you missed it.
You then see the smears of drying pus on the skeleton, which to indicates it was the likely victim of a helmet snake attack.
Shit, actually there are two of the dead troglodytes, but the other was covered in cave spiders.
At least they’re not brown recluse spiders. That would be ridiculously freaky.
> èrith Mistycloisters: Check native flora and faunaThis is why the dwarven civilizations haven’t had great luck with underground wood. The upper caverns are quite dry, covered in a layer of mud. The only flora adapted to surviving here, is rather found in the deep caverns. This place is devoid of large fungi as a result. There are a shitload of spiderwebs everywhere though, and some life manages to eke out here. Obviously, there are troglodytes.
That said, these caverns would be a great place to build a base of sorts, because the mud is easily cleaned and the stone smoothed.
> èrith Mistycloisters: Engage Mineralogy ModeNo follower of Atir the Tan Saffron should forget their mineralogy! Especially not one as faithful as you! You promptly get to work assessing the minerals and gems in your surrounding area.
You identify the main layers present in the cavern as marble and granite. Your knowledge of geology is good enough to suspect there’s another layer of marble further down on the west side, and that’s a good thing because it is solid. Mining the stuff here will be hard, and you know it will be needed for the steel industry.
As to ore-bearing mineral deposits, you can see a lot of tetrahedrite, cassiterite, malachite, sphalerite, galena, garnierite, horn silver, native silver, and native gold. There’s even some native platinum in the Gabbro!
Gem deposits are… everywhere. There’s even some kimberlite, which means you could find
diamonds!
> èrith Mistycloisters: Engage Common Sense ModeYou decide to have some common sense. You’re not digging down any further here, at least not without getting some advice from the expedition leader. Anything could happen at this point, and you’ve got to seal off the caverns ASAP. You cancel the designation to dig deeper. You’re sure everyone will understand.
At least you can also tell him where to put the maintenance drain for the plumbing.
Journal of CaptainArchmage, 1st Slate 252Well, shit. èrith Mistycloisters broke through into a cavern on the way down. It wasn’t unexpected or anything, and it’s probably for the better. I’ve re-arranged the downward staircase to fortify the route against invasion, and we’re going to have to install a hatch to block off the entry staircase.I
’ve also finished the plumbing plan for the upper branch based on what she’s told me. This is the emergency drain, which conveniently can rehydrate the caverns if we need to in the future.> Player: Backup the fucking fortressGiven the number of crashes that have been had… you decide to backup the save here.
> CaptainArchmage: Order some much needed goods and workshops.Moving everything indoors caused a few… issues, as you no longer have any farmers’ workshops, so you order one built at the top of the tower, enabling the sheep to be sheared in safety.
The fortress is running low on wheelbarrows, and you can see some room for mine carts too. Led Clutchedcrypts will get around to that ASAP. You top off the orders with some lederhosen, divided evenly between dwarven and human sizes.
> Be Solon OilconfuseYou are now SOLON OILCONFUSE. You are 24 years old, and will turn 25 in Opal. You are an adequate glassmaker from Citymerged, deepest of the dwarven mountain halls. You are married to Rigòth Landwind, the fortress’ messenger and have had one son by him, Rovod Islandpages. You’re just minding your business in the lobby of The Tower.
> Get Taken by a Fey MoodOH SHIT BRUVVA YOU KNOW IT’S GOIN’ DOWN FOR REAL> Be Captain ArchmageYou are now CaptainArchmage, still the leader of Claspedbowels. You are trying to install Tun Dabblerack’s new bed when èrith Mistycloisters comes up behind you and says someone else has gone “really strange” and it’s the glassmaker Solon Oilconfuse.
> CaptainArchmage: Flip your shit.We fade to black as you officially flip your shit.(Scribbled later in the fortress journal of CaptainArchmage)So Solon Oilconfuse has been taken by the fey. It was inevitable, and there are stories about this kind of shit going on in The Combined Forests, but it is one of the eventualities I best prepared for. A glass furnace will be established in the other barracks to allow her to work.I am also forbidding all the raw green and clear glass; we have crystal glass to work with.Journal of CaptainArchmage: 2nd Slate, 252Solon Oilconfuse is now in the glass furnace screaming out her list of demands.Raw Green Glass
Leather
Wood
Plant Cloth
Yarn ClothWe have it all, thankfully. Seriously though, you could have just used crystal glass...And just past the stroke of midnight, we also have another masterpiece granite throne. We don't exactly have the time to decorate these, so they'll be going right in where they need to go.6th Slate> Be Budget ShockedviseYou are now Bujit Shockedvise. You are a bard from The Realm of Jungles. You travelled here ten days ago to Claspedbowels from the forest retreat of Hornbeans, governed by The Society of Confidence. You’ve been around a lot though. You were probably born in the forest retreat of Fierceseed under The League of Eyes. That was after it was conquered by The Realm of Jungles. Your past residences after that started with the dwarven fortress of Hemleddeer (under The Guilds of Roaring), where you lived among dwarfkind for the first time. You didn’t stay there though, you migrated to the hamlet of Flamebuttered (under the Society of Yawning) and then the hamlet of Shadowseized (under The Even Trussed League). This is to say, you’ve had a varied life, though we aren’t sure whether things happened in this order yet. Time will tell.
You are a faithful worshipper of Posa the Rapid Dawn, and were once a member of the Sect of Knighting which is some kind of religious group.
You are the second youngest child, and youngest son of Cosla Kakthrilener and Puti Botelaroth. You are married to Lipi Guardyearlings and have three sons. You are apprenticed under Kom Stokedknots, who incidentally came to this fortress on 16th Moonstone of last year and is still here.
You were an apprentice under Ismir Mirthfuloaks and Sula Mopberries. This is curious, because you are actually 77 years old now.
You’re the uncle of Dether Targettangles, a human bard who migrated here some time ago.
> Get petition rubber-stampedYou present your petition to CaptainArchmage, who seems to be running shit around here.
> Become the fortress’ 69th permanent resident.You are now the 69th permanent resident of Claspedbowels.
Journal of CaptainArchmage, 7th Slate 252Today, we had some chicks hatch! I think I need to move those downstairs somewhere.Journal of CaptainArchmage, 8th Slate 252Today, Tholtig Griffonpillar submitted a petition for residency, and he only arrived yesterday. He identifies himself as an irreligious bard with a varied past. He has dual citizenship with The Letter of Bands and The Realm of Jungles. He seems to have been born in Helmeddeer, but also spent time in the forest retreat of Flightblushed. Curiously, he was once a member of The Zephyr of Axes, a local elven government at the local level. Weren't they were all conquered? I have commissioned a statue of them to find out more, and asked Tholtig to provide input. We can get to know him better. At 35 years old, going 36 next month, sure seems to have gotten around a lot.I feel like ordering some statues or figurines of Fath Sizzlemerchant, but don't want to upset Tholtig as I have a creeping suspicion about what happened here... he was all happy and shit when I gave him residency but it's obviously buggering him.9th Slate 252Solon Oilconfuse has begun a mysterious construction! I have high expectations of this project. We're headed for a legendary glassmaker either way.13th Slate 252A commotion breaks out directly downstairs, audible from above (which is The Barricaded Vault)! The artefact is finished! It is called Sedurrodum, Emeraldbowels, a green glass earring. Solon Oilconfuse has offered it to The Walls of Adventure.There are two subjects on the earring. Firstly, there is an image of the dual between Ngerxung Monsterfiends, a goblin exotic star, and Julosm Strappaddle the Waves of Waxing, a forest titan. Julosm Strappaddle clearly had the upper hand in the battle, and rampaged through the dark goblin pits of Liecastle. There is also an image of Tôsed Gulnas, “The Stop of Islands”, the rock salt crown on it.Sedurrodum itself is worth 12000 suns, a respectable sum. I intend to make it part of the regalia of Claspedbowels, so it will be displayed with Tôsed Gulnas. As such, it shall be placed on a pedestal in The Barricaded Vault. I have already signed the orders and-*A very large beer stain, mixed with saliva is on the paper.**scribbled in badly* Oh shit, Led Clutchedcrypts just banged on my door to tell me someone’s dead in the river. I immediately ran to Litast, who is meditating meditating on trade in The Monastery of Mushroom, to tell him to get this in order.17th Slate> Be the SheriffYou are now Litast Towerpassions. You are the SHERIFF of Claspedbowels, which makes you like the MOST IMPORTANT INDIVIDUAL IN THE FORT besides CaptainArchmage who is the expedition leader. And who does like all the work. CaptainArchmage that is. You are but the humble grandson of Shorast Fikodegul, baroness consort of Claspsocket on your father’s side, born on 6th Limestone of the year 223. You are now but 29 years old.
In the future, you might even be in line for the title of baron of Claspsocket, unless your cousin Kadol Lumulegeb gets it. And that’s probably not going to happen anytime soon, and you’re pretty sure this title is only deserved by hard work. You worked really hard in the past, like at the elite Wheelbridged academy, where for a couple of years your elders were total wankers to you, and had to do a maximum of three to four hours a day of hard study before getting blackout drunk… until you got old enough to be a total wanker to your juniors and then you just had to get blackout drunk and work for like, four hours a day. It was called
character building.
Ah, work. You were, before you arrived at Claspedbowels, an animal caretaker so you took care of some sheepshaggers’ sick dogs and sheep and goats and the like. Emphasis on were. You’ve been hauling shit around Claspedbowels these days though, and you were pretty much just doing that. A hauler who does some bricklaying stuff.
Then CaptainArchmage made you sheriff and gave you some snazzy quarters downstairs. Your main task was to research the background of some scumbags who were trying to steal shit from the fortress.
A lot happened today. Firstly, an artefact was made just before you woke up and the expedition leader was blabbering about it. Then he went to designate some new works or order some statues or something. Then you were called to go to the south because someone saw something in the river… something urgent.
Now, you’re standing with the rest of The Cheerful Theatres at the eastern edge of the canyon to the south. There is a dead dwarf in the river, and the fish are currently eating out his or her eyes. You’re also barfing your guts out. It’s your job to figure out what the hell happened here. This job’s harder than you thought.
> Be Fikud FrostyrazorYou are now Fikud Frostyrazor. You are one of the Marksdwarves of The Cheerful Theatres. You have been tasked by the fortress leadership to confirm the status of Avuz Bridgedjustice, and weren’t able to confirm it from the other side of the river (the scene is drawn here). This has probably been the most riveting experience of your life so far.
> Fikud Frostyrazor: Discuss the matter with the sheriffIt’s now clear as fuck what the hell happened here. Avuz Bridgedjustice decide to enter through the river on the 7th, about 10 days ago and 6 days before being noticed missing. Unfortunately it’s in a canyon. Only a skilled swimmer and climber could navigate this deathtrap, swimming upstream - alas, Avuz was not one of those. You don’t really know why someone would enter from the canyon.
You did notice some of Avuz's gear was scattered and there's a scroll tube. You report it to the sheriff.
> Be Litast TowerpassionsYou are now the sheriff.
> Clean the +recycled nut roast+ from your beardYou do your best to clean out the +recycled nut roast+ from your beard. You're not very effective at it, but at least you're cleaner than before.
> Sheriff: Receive reportFikud Frostyrazor calls your attention to a scroll tube in the river.
> Sheriff: Investigate scroll tubeRunning back to the fortress, you hear something about Avuz having penned a guide to Helmeddeer named "The Art of the Mountain Halls". Curious, that place is one of the baronial capitals of The Letter of Bands!
> Sheriff: Report to CaptainArchmageCaptainArchmage is the expedition leader of this fort. You really suspect someone else should be dealing with this higher up, though. You head to him anyway, and give him the full story.
> Be CaptainArchmageYou are now CaptainArchmage. The sheriff has just given you his report. He’s always been a bit nervous, but… eh fuck it, time to bring the journal up to date.
> CaptainArchmage: Write in JournalAccording to Litast, our sheriff, Avuz Bridgedjustice drowned in the canyon. Now what’s strange about that is that she wasn’t under attack or anything, and didn’t jump into the canyon (or we’d have had a combat report about it). She must have either tried to swim up the canyon, or climbed down into it, and both are quite frankly bonkers options.Litast’s been hard at work trying to track down the dastardly Stukos Redstandard. He’s not made much progress, obviously because he’s got other jobs like cutting down trees. However, the case of Avuz deserves a second look, because something caused her to enter through the river. Maybe another deception by The Vault of Riddles?This was the last straw for me, when I discovered Avuz had penned a manuscript on Helmeddeer and brought it here. Why? I've signed a joint statement with the sheriff that the Mountainhome needs to take this up at a higher level. Come Autumn, or mayhaps sooner, we will hand our statement to the liaison. I want some senior, competent adventurer to look into this matter. We might have a cult on our hands.We had a memorial to Avuz carved out, but I might order another since this one says “went missing” rather than the cause we now identified. I don’t know if we can even get the body out of the river, and when the mountainhomes finally sends an adventurer down here, we'll have to get them to do it for us. That said, we can get a coffin set up, as well as four statues.We also got this no-quality statue of some shit that went down with The Zeyphyr of Axes. It would seem they ran Flightblushed before The Realm of Jungles took it over some time after the year 218, and the history of Tholtig means he must have been witness to what was likely the fall of the elven nation on The Sensitive Continents!23rd SlateThe alert has gone up! Full Moon session in now in full swing.The area on the right is Storage Area 51. As you can see, I have tried to boost the syrup production this season by introducing more farmers’ workshops.To the left, we have the tomb area from The Monastery of Mushroom. I have allowed our miners to continue working on it for the full Moon, unfortunately they broke through into clay for some of the tombs. Damn. I guess I will have to fill in the area with blocks… or just give up that part of the project and build tombs further down, converting that settlement into residence and workshop space.A poll indicates nobody wants to quit the fortress yet, despite all the shit that happens. Actually, turnout for the opinion poll was utter crap, seriously guys? One person wants to see the world and two want to bring freedom to The Realm of Jungles, because they seem like authoritarian pricks. Oh well. I'll put in a new poll when I can think of what to put in there.24th Slate 252: The Full Moon Exposé
It's that time of the month again - the time when were beasts are about, so it's also story time. It's also time to face the troubles of this fortress head-on.My fellow citizens and residents of Claspedbowels, I come to you this full moon under tragic circumstances. Tragic, because we have now lost someone on the grounds of this fortress.
Her name was
Avuz Bridgedjustice. She was born in 193, devoted mother and wife, until she drowned in the canyon a few days ago.
She was taken by the Fey aged only 12, and produced some sort of artefact in the forest retreat of Flightblushed.
Ten years ago she authored a scroll called The Art of the Mountain Halls. A curious artefact, it now lies in the river canyon with her body.
We do not know what transpired that day, as she was not pushed or chased into the canyon, nor apparently under any kind of stress of any sort. There is some kind of grim and dark force, perhaps a
grimdark force, permeating this location, nay, perhaps the entire continent.
But we shall overcome these challenges, and drive back the darkness! Already, we are raising walls around our fortress! By the end of the year I intend every dwarf to be able to stand upon the surface during the full Moon without fear! Already, we are expanding our plumbing supply! By the end of the year, I intend there to be running water in our fortress! And Already, we are expanding downward! By the end of the year, I intend there to be magma powered forges and glass furnaces! And when the Autumn Caravan arrives, I will send a request for aid to the Mountainhomes! We shall prevail!
Also, I just want to leave this session on a good note. You know, it helps to have a few… well… see for yourselves…
> Be CaptainArchmageYou are now CaptainArchmage. You have just delivered the most nightmarish speech yet, that you never wanted to have to give. You now just have to pull the +hemp cloth+ off this rock salt statue.
> CaptainArchmage: Pull the +hemp cloth+ off the statues.TA-DAAAAAAAA
tl;dr:1. We have just about as many citizens as permanent residents. Or maybe that's the other way around.2. We have a new glass artefact, part of the new Claspedbowels regalia. It's currently displayed in the library...3. We had our first dwarf death, albeit a visitor who seemed to have fallen into the canyon... or just tried to swim up it. They've left behind an original manuscript.4.Not shown, but the southern parts of the fortress are now walled off but not gated. The walls are extending northwards so soon we'll have another surface keep.5.“High climax” of The Sect of Knighting. Seriously?