===+ Journal of the Undying Overseer – Summer 161 +===9th GalenaWith most of my time spent training, I haven’t needed to pay too much attention to the fort’s unending renovations. But now it’s clear that things have gotten quite a bit more complicated. Everything is more spread out and specialized. I’ve had to spend some time taking notes and mapping out where things are. So many random garbage piles… At least the ridiculously long labyrinth has been cleared out and turned into something useful.
I’ve consulted with Salmeuk, our acting chief medical dwarf, on our health crisis. He has counted at least eight dwarves with potentially deadly infections. I’ve made it a top priority to get some soap made and hopefully avert this crisis, though I fear it may be too late for some of them. Lo and behold, we actually have a high master soap maker amongst us, so at least we’ll have quality soap going forward. Of the other ailments, there is little hope for treatment. The fever is supernatural, unleashed upon this land by the Plagues of Flanking and their demon master. There are old tales of those favoured by the gods being miraculously cured, but nothing concrete enough to help us.
In more optimistic news, it seems that the general mood of the fortress is less despondent than I was initially led to believe. There are only five dwarves who look to be dangerously on-edge right now: Rakust, KingZultan, Sigun, Rovod and Auze. Rakust and Rovod are the worst, both having multiple records of disorderly conduct. Rakust is a GraveWarden recruit and has never been good at dealing with stress. I blame myself for not noticing how bad she’d gotten. She apparently killed three dwarves between late winter and early summer, including Lokum, the poor bastard. The records of that time are sketchy, falling in the transitionary period between being ruled by an alpaca and an evil necromancer, so I can’t be sure it wasn’t justified. However, she has expressed no remorse over the deaths and her general attitude clearly makes her a liability. I’m removing her from the squad and confiscating her equipment, with exile being a possibility pending further investigation. Some dwarves just aren’t fit for frontier living.
The others are more deeply integrated into the fort and can’t be simply banished. Fortunately, none of them seem to be beyond help. Most are (rightly!) concerned for their safety given recent events. As long as they get time to relax and stay away from any corpses, they should recover.
The diplomat from the human lands is touring the Silent Hall with her guards, despite it being closed to non-citizens. She has some…
interesting adornments.
Something about her puts me on edge. Who knows what dealings she had with Spriggans? And just what kind of seal does she keep? I’ve ordered the crypt to be locked, just in case. The elven diplomat is also still wandering around, but he at least has the courtesy to stick to the public areas.
13th GalenaKingZultan conducted an interrogation of Rakust today. She confessed, but only to a minor fist fight.
Not the admission of dwarfslaughter I was looking for… Still, maybe I can leverage her punishment to keep her away from the fort without resorting to explicit exile. We could use someone to act as our agent in the outside world. Very well, she’ll be the first scout of Smallhands. Maybe some time away will help tame her rage.
14th GalenaDamn, never mind! Apparently, she was closer to the edge than I thought, and our little interview pushed her over. She’s gone completely berserk! To arms dwarves, defend yourselves!
The deed is done. Without her axe, Rakust was only able to inflict a few bruises and broken teeth. Thank the gods for foresight. Two of our legendary warriors arrived on the scene and from there the fight was one-sided and brutal.
Hopefully the others aren’t too affected by seeing her hacked to pieces like that.
Now then, the emergency is over, what else was I going to do? Ah yes, just a little housekeeping.
That never gets old.
24th GalenaRakust’s body still sits, untouched, near the dog kennel. She’s been assigned a coffin within the main crypt, but it sits empty aside from a few of her teeth. I’ve heard murmurs of “traitors don’t deserve an honorable burial” but the corpse can’t just be left to rot and traumatize everyone passing by. Her dismembered head and limbs have been shoved in the corpse stockpile but apparently putting the torso with them would be too much for some of the hard-liners.
Finally, they agreed to dump the body into a crusher. But perhaps… perhaps she can serve the fort yet. I was going to use her to gather knowledge, I should not overlook such a perfect opportunity for her to fulfil that purpose. Preparations for the experiment chamber were already underway, it won’t be long now.
24th GalenaThe military has been sitting stagnant for too long. We’ve been leaderless since Moldath’s death, and many recruits are getting rusty from lack of training. I can’t allow that state to continue. I’ve officially claimed the responsibility of Militia Commander. There will need to be some reorganization of the squads before we can resume full training regimens, but I’ve gone ahead and established a new training area under the main gatehouse skylight for informal drills. If we’re ever going to fight on the surface again, we can’t have the entire militia puking their guts out from the sun. Initial results are… mixed. They’ll acclimate soon enough. May need to remove the cage traps for dueling, though.
Hopefully no one’s allergic to bee stings.
28th GalenaDumed Laudedfloor, a previously unremarkable and unskilled recruit in the Gravewardens, has created a marvelous glass ring. He seems happier working down in the furnaces than he ever did in training.
13th LimestoneThe dwarven caravan has arrived.
Things have been going slowly recently, but I hope to undertake some major restructuring soon. There are just so many things to take care of. In a way, I miss how simple things were when it was just Salmeuk and I.
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Topic: Smallhands - nearly 40 years and still tiny! (Read 441035 times)