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[Paulus Fahlstrom]

24th of Slate

Ragnar and I were working on clearing the stairwell beneath the barracks and dining hall when we came upon a mineral that cheered my heart. We've struck Magnetite. I'm not sure how large a vein it is, as we were interrupted by the shouts from above. Size doesn't really matter that much. We still don't have forges up and running. Something which I think should be our next priority. A little explorative mining for some bituminous coal or lignite would also be in order as there simply aren't enough trees to accomodate the burning of vast amounts of them. We'll have to begin importing lumber as soon as possible.

The shouting from above was a large group of migrants. Nearly a full ship-load from the looks of it! They came in single file in a weary and hot train. Though they looked far too tired for comfort a little food, drink and rest I'm sure will go a long way to lifting spirits. Fre returned from up above looking sour as I went up though and it wasn't too long before I found out why. I was able to greet Aardvark personally as he came in, though he looked thinner than last I had seen him. With him came his two 'assistants', a metalsmith and furnace operator, both female and generally hanging around him.

Perhaps I'll go double check that we don't have any cave spider venom secreted anywhere that Fre can find.

Another of the migrants, a planter, came up to me and introduced himself as 'Der Kartoffel', though I waved him away with the vague assurance that I'd meet with him later. He seemed a bit disappointed but that's life. By my count there were twenty four migrants, and four animals, two lambs, a pony colt and a calf. There had been more when they set out but most of the non-pets had been either consumed for food or lost in the jungles. As well, apparently, as five dwarves, one to a poisonous spider, one to a lizardman raid and three to some sort of illness with a high fever. Most unfortunate losses.

With this many new faces around here things'll be crowded. Already I've asked Kolok to make beds with our remaining lumber and will request our temporary dining hall moved up into the dining hall proper. They can pile the stone around the edges of the room for now until we use them or decide of a place to dump them. The extra space below will be used for the barracks until we get quarters set up, which is now second on my priority list behind the smithy. There'll be a lot to do and with the extra help perhaps it's time to get some of the mundane hauling tasks taken care of.

To top it all off one of the migrants, a weaver, starting jumping for joy and babbling as soon as he saw the entrance to our fort and immeadiately began demanding a clothier workshop be built for him. We'll need to get everyone settled first, then I'll have to see about his request.

((I kid you not... no sooner than he entered the map than *Fey Mood*. Sigh. And a weaver too... sigh.

In any case, there are plenty of immigrants if anyone wants one. Kartoffel you're in, and you Aardvark, I'll see if I can get you and Fre to make up, if not, well, dating your assistants causes problems.    I'll get profiles posted probably tomorrow or so.

[sneakey pete]

((Hows the water situation in the fort?))

[Paulus Fahlstrom]

((Non-existant at the moment Pete, but I know there is water west of us somewhere, in the form of a cave river. I made sure the map had some sort of water source.))

3rd of Felsite

We've finally got a clothier shop up and running and it was instantly claimed by our fey companion. He, or was it a she, I'll have to double check that, instantly went gathering all the pig tail cloth we had, two bolts of it, and stood in the workshop screaming for more. Three bolts of pig tail cloth? I think we have some pig tail lying around unprocessed still, we'll have to get a farmer's workshop up and running, and then process it into cloth still, but we might be able to get it done before someone goes crazy.

And kills the person shouting in our bedroom/barracks while we're trying to sleep.

Apparently one of the children is missing and when a search was sent out for it, was found up on the surface being chased mercilessly by a batman from the chasm. Kolok dealt with it swiftly, putting his axe to good use and we've retrieved the child into the safe confines of our fortress. An engraver that was working on our entrance spotted them.

[Paulus Fahlstrom]

3rd of Hematite

The bite of her pick on stone was almost comforting to her as she worked her way through the stone. It felt good to be working by herself, Paulus up above working on the stockpile records. It allowed her time to think and work out her own concerns. She'd been quiet, withdrawn and even hesitant since Datan had died, and seeing the migrants arriving hadn't helped. Fre too had been disappointed to find Aardvark in the company of his new 'assistants', both well proportioned in comparison to the almost skinny frame of their cook. But at least she had known he was coming. Datan would never come. There was no need for her to get her hopes up, nor to scan the horizon for the possibility of seeing her lover again.

Another chunk of stone came loose before her. And again she swung the pick with vigor.

He'd been helping dig others out of the rubble of their erstwhile home when an aftershock had hit, breaking off a portion of the tower with it to strike the ground far below, and taking with it a half dozen dwarves trying to help their friends and family. That wasn't taking into account those that might have been alive in the rubble.

The limestone gave way before her. In the darkness of the mines she cared little for what she hit as she worked her way through her turmoil. It wasn't until few more paces that she realized that she was sweating. She touched the surface of the rock and realized that it wasn't the rough surface that limestone had, but the broken edges of obsidian. And that the stone around her was distinctly warm to the touch.

It gave her some small pleasure to begin her trek back through the tunnels she had carved to inform Paulus that she'd found a pocket of Magma beneath the sands. How to harness it would be another matter. One that she would happily let him worry about. As she entered into the now-crowded entrance hall the sight of bustling dwarves filled her view. Then something struck her, it was noticeably quieter of late.

It wasn't until she went above to see Paulus at the table with a spread of vellum in front of him that it occurred to her the weaver might have finished. The article he had made lay gracing the table next to her friend as she walked up to look at it. For some reason it provided a small amount of comfort to her.

[Paulus Fahlstrom]

16th of Hematite

Well, we've had a considerable amount of good news lately. The pig tail coat that our weaver made is truly marvelous. It's normally drab brown fibers almost glow with an inner lustre that makes it seem almost like gold cloth, were that actually possible. The weaver claims that shortly before he arrived he had a dream in which he saw what he needed to do and that it had been send by Urdim Silveryhelped the Bejeweled Tax. Kind of a funny name for a god but I've spoken with Pete about the gods of this land and he's told us about many of them. With us being new arrivals and having lost contact with our old gods perhaps they seek our worship and strength? I remember Kashez mentioning that the greater the number of worshippers gods have the stronger they are. Though they are limited in their spheres of influence as well as geographically.

This Urdim, according to Pete, is patron of wealth and fortresses. Perhaps I shall have to pay him my respects.

In other news we've had two caravans arrive. The tribesmen have arrived as well as strange winged humans, calling themselves Avari. They are the most disturbing of the bunch, though seeing seven foot tall dark skinned humans with spears is somewhat intimidating as well. At least they seem to mean well, despite the... strange nature of their food. Seriously... they brought spider meat, scorpion meat and some other forms of insect meat to trade. Anyways, the Avari have come with pack animals, though they themselves haven't said a word to us. They merely observe. I'm not sure if they're judging us or are spying on us, as they refuse to offer any of their goods to trade. I've offered them some of our stone instruments as a gift, which they've accepted, but they've still said nothing.

The tribesmen on the other hand were more than willing to trade. They brought some metal bars and a large quantity of wood, which we bought, as well as the food, despite it's questionable nature, and barrels, an anvil and a few bins of cloth. There was much we could have gotten as well, but we simply lacked the goods needed to persuade them to part with it. They grinned with their wide smiles, bright white teeth a contrast to the rest of them. I think I could get to like these humans, strange as they are.

While we were trading Pete apparently scared away a lizardman thief that was trying to sneak in. I think Oddbodd had been chased by another batman and lured it into our tunnels where it was caught by a cage trap. We'll have to find something to do with these creatures we're capturing.

((I think the Avarii trading is an oft mentioned bug in LL, though I'm not sure what solutions I can enact without regenning a world. Technically they came, with animals and goods on the animals but were not offering any goods to trade. Any suggestions will be well taken. If not, I'll see what they do. The message says they've left, but they're still hanging around the trade post. Hopefully they'll not go beserk or I may have to rig up a siege engine in front of the place.))

[Paulus Fahlstrom]

19th of Malachite

Ragnar and I have finally begun work on the section designated as the housing halls, but were surprised to find another large cluster of Magnetite in the area. We've found so much that I don't think we'll be needing this section so I've let the rooms be finished as planned. The particular odor of the iron ore I find strangely refreshing and suspect that others may enjoy it as well, if not, there are rooms in limestone and kaolinite also.

In order to keep up with the sheer volumes of ore that we've dug I've finished planning the magma channel to feed the forges and had it dug out without mishap. We'll be skimming the top of the magma bubble and letting it run down to collect in a channel on the north and east sides of our forge room. It give the room somewhat of a peculiar glow, with the molten stone and the white walls. I'm in the process of setting up the layout for the workshops there. Three forges, once we get sufficient anvils, one each for Aardvark to work armor, Pete to work weapons and crafts and Oddbodd and others to tinker with making his amusing brass furniture and whatnot. There will be four smelters to process the raw stock and two glass furnaces for future use.

It's nice to see things coming together and, to be honest, it's nice to not have to rely on charcoal for processing normal metals. Just steel. Speaking of which, there are two woodburners set up in there as well to process coal. The fumes and smoke rise up the stairway in the room to the sandy storage area above and seep out of the soil from there. The near constant wind across the savanna ensures that the smoke isn't overly visible but it can be smelled and I suspect animals may be avoiding the immeadiate area now. No harm there I suppose.

[Maggarg - Eater of chicke]

Magma?
Magma.
Magmafalls.
Magma lakes fed by magmafalls.
GIANT MAGMA-SPEWING DRAGONS MADE OF BRASS.

I love the way that everyone else is working hard and Oddbodd is just making brass stuff and being generally eccentric.

[Aardvark]

Aardvarks Journal

20th of Malachite
Magma? Finaly I can work without the ever present lack of coal and charcoal. I can now give our new home better armor than Doremal could ever dream of. Our military will be wearing shining suits of steel armor that will sow the seed of fear into any army that tries to force us out of our homes. It is also great to be back in the safer tunnels. Our trekking through the wilds was long and strenous. I can feel that my skills has suffered from it, but with enough work I could become a master of the craft again.

I still wonder why Fre wouldn't greet me when we arrived, and she has been kind of distant ever since. Hopefully it will not be long untill her feelings towards returns to how it was.

Aardvark

[Paulus Fahlstrom]

1st of Galena

The upper floor of the housing complex has been completed and we've begun moving beds in. This should help alleviate the overly crowed front room as we begin spreading out. I made some of our rooms a little larger than others. I know I shouldn't be partial, but it's hard not to carve out a few more feet if space permits. We original seven have gotten our rooms squared  away and even have some furniture installed as work continues on the other rooms. Kolok is busy working directing the woodcutters above and working away in the carpentry shop, making beds mostly, but also some bins and barrels to accomodate our burgeoning supplies.

Crush has been helping some with masonry, but we've had several newcomers volunteer for masonry duties as well, so he's also been doing half a dozen other things. Even the metalworks is up and going strong now, with production beginning in earnest on steel and melting copper ore down. All of the metal workers are busy smelting and whatnot. Aardvark seems particularly glad to be here, and overjoyed about our stable fuel situation. I'll admit, that was one of the hardest parts about Dorenemal. We could have done much more had we only more fuel for the forges. All four smelters as well as our woodburners are running near non-stop. I may have to expand our stockpiles above. Or get more bins made quick.

The avarii 'merchants' remain in our main entry, as though content to simply observe our daily routine. They've made no effort to trade, and though I thought they might leave once or twice by now that doesn't seem to be the case.

Pete has decided to throw a party as well, raiding our food supplies. In part I think it's an effort of hers to get the rest of us 'indigenized' faster. She's serving those tarantula's the tribesmen seem so fond of, and some other equally questionable foods like lungfish. Apparently, it's supposed to be eaten by holding the tail above your mouth and ingesting it from below. Don't ask me why. I find myself missing true 'sea' food though.

[Maggarg - Eater of chicke]

The Observations of Oddbodd.
The Avarii merchants are still here, watching us. They have not eaten since they arrived, nor have they commenced trade. I suspect that they are fiendishly complex automatons, tho' not of any mortal or indeed worldly make. I doubt that they run on conventional mechanics, rather that they are powered by some celestial (or demonic) force that sustains a physical construct.
Our fuel situation is rather favourable, and i have been able to cast quite a few fine pieces of furniture from that greatest of alloys, brass. The others regard me as somewhat eccentric for this, and it is rather hard for me to explain Olonkulet to them, destroyed as it is and reluctant to talk of it as I am.
Oh, and Pete decided to have a party. We ate spiders and lungfish. The spiders have a rather unusual taste, and the fish were a little odd. I preferred the fresh sea-food at the Waterbore.

[Paulus Fahlstrom]

24th of Galena

Kolok set down his hammer and chisel and stepped away from his latest finished bed. His practiced eye could still pick out the flaws in the wood, the mismatched grains and bad joins, but it was functional and that's what mattered. He was getting better he knew, but there simply wasn't time to take days or weeks on each bed. Nobody really liked sleeping on the floor. A runner came pounding in, slightly out of breath.

"Kolok, Deduk says you're wanted above. Bring your axe."

Kolok merely nodded and reached over to the wall where he had laid it while he worked.

"Trouble?"

"Not as such, no. Best to go see for yourself."

He passed Paulus, Ragnar, Crush and the new engraver smoothing the entryway on his way up and nodded briefly in greeting. They were busily involved with their work and if it wasn't really trouble there was little reason to disturb them.

When he got above ground the fierce glare of the sun made him squint as he scanned the horizon for Deduk, the other woodcutter. Catching a glimpse of him to the east and south he made his way over.

"Ye wanted me?"

"Aye, saw somethin' peculiar down south a ways. Thought it might be worth checking out. Some almighty noise coming from there, sounds of a fight."

Kolok nodded, and warily stalked off. He knew the area well enough by now to know that south meant near the entrance to the chasm. Any manner of trouble could come from there. He gingerly touched the back of his neck where a portion of his flesh was missing, a great lump of it simply gone, leaving only scarred tissue and a numb sensation. The spider poison had deadened his flesh in the area and it had become infected. And while he had eventually recovered, where he had been bitten had died and sloughed off and had not regrown. It was a grim reminder to be careful.

He saw no signs of life until he was nearly at the site of the ambush, now more than a year gone. Faint stirrings of a large creature in the underbrush were audible as well as an periodic keening cry, like a horse in pain. Gripping his axe in his calloused hands he grimly stalked out from tree cover to see. On the ground several paces away lay a full grown pegasus, dripping blood from numerous gashes and cuts. One wing lay cocked at an odd angle and several of the feathers lay scattered towards the slope nearby. It's chest rose and fell which indicated it was breathing, but a terrible gash on it's back along it's spine indicated that it would not likely recover.

As he approached it must have smelled him coming. It's head rose and turned towards him, panic filled eyes wide and nostrils flared. With a whinny it rose tentatively to it's wobbling feet, one leg nearly buckling underneath it. With a mighty push it beat it's wings and launched itself into the air and away from Kolok. Not a stone's throw up it must have passed out from the pain and came plummeting back to earth to lay immobile on the ground, neck snapped to one side. Kolok's first instinct was pity, but caution soon overcame him and he headed up the slope to scout around some more before making sure all was well. It was there he came upon the scene of the fight, blood splattered liberally around the trampled remains of both a giant rat and a batman. No other enemies turned up in his search and the other two creatures were visibly deteriorating in the hot afternoon sun.

He sighed, shaking his head. Nothing to do here but salvage what could be salvaged. Sheathing his axe he walked over to the remains of the dead pegasus and with difficulty hoisted it upon his shoulders, to walk slowly back. Horse meat was edible, so he saw no reason why pegasus should not be. It would be a shame to let it go to waste, though it would have been a greater shame for such a magnificent creature to be crippled and maimed in such a dangerous land. It wasn't quite like hunting... but it came close. At least it wasn't a spider.

((True story. I'd intended for him to go put it out of it's misery, but when he got close it took off, passed out and crashed in a heap, dead.

Oh, and I realize I've neglected to put up profiles for Aardvark and Der Kartoffel, so here you go. Two angry, angry dwarves.))

[Paulus Fahlstrom]

((Oh, and here's another thing I've apparently overlooked that's been requested several times.

The incomplete map of the main floors of Dorenemal.

http://mkv25.net/dfma/map-4616-dorenemal

For those who don't want to wade through crafts and corpses to check it out in adventure mode.

Heh... I just noticed that there are four goblin corpses in the lakes near the upper east gate. They must have been caught by the spring thaw of the lakes.))

[Paulus Fahlstrom]

10th of Limestone

I had just come up from beginning an exploratory shaft off near the dining hall, looking for the supposed water source that Pete assures me exists, and that he's apparently concerned we have none of. On the bright side, I've found a cluster of white chalcedony and another of almandine. When I'm standing in the dark resting for my next bit I swear I can almost hear a far off rush of water.

In any case, I went to check how our ore levels in the forge room was when I noticed that Endok had just claimed one of our forges for work. I asked her what she was working on, since nothing had been requested and she simply didn't respond, just headed up to bring down a heavy bar of Bismuth and then another of Black Bronze before beginning to work. I suspected that she'd been inspired to make something and left it at that. Nearly four days later she showed up again, exhausted looking, sooty and disheveled and with sort of a vacant expression. Claimed that she'd forgotten the last several days worth of time. But in her hands she held possibly the most magnificent weapon I'd ever seen. She calls it Momuzonul, or Cryptmirror, and though there is no reflection visible on it's pink-tinged white surface the edge of the blade glints in the light and shines like the sun. The hilt is made of Black bronze with some decorations in it, and strangely enough it bears not her mark but, according to Pete, the mark of Etur, god of fire and metals. Only he, I suppose, would know how to make such a masterful weapon out of bismuth, a normally unworkable metal.



I have decided that it shall be placed in the barracks to inspire our soldiers, should we decide that professional ones are needed. For the time being, Ragnar, Kolok, myself and Fre shall suffice.

[Paulus Fahlstrom]

17th of Limestone

Paulus carefully closed the door to his room, trying hard not to trip on the stone still lying in the hallways, he couldn't help but overhear the conversation from the room across the way. It wasn't that he was trying to pry, it's that the whole of it seemed to be played out at significantly elevated volumes.

'I never said that!'

'Oh, aye, ye never said it, but that don't make it true!'

'Yer puttin' words into my mouth again!'

'Ya know what? Fine! Go back to yer artifact-craftin' wench! See if I care! Just get out of my room!'

'I'm gettin'. And fer the last time, we're just passing acquaintances!'

Aardvark ducked into the hallway just in time for a loud thump to sound on the door behind him, followed by several more. He saw his friend and merely shrugged angrily.

"Bloody women. Can't live with 'em. Can't shoot 'em."

Paulus merely nodded non-commitally as Aardvark stalked off heading for the forges.

He sighed. Perhaps he should try getting a room in a quieter location. With the new migrants space was still at a premium and though rooms were being worked on, it wasn't enough to keep people from sleeping on the floor still. He looked at the stack of vellum in his hand and remembered he'd been going to the depot to trade with the merchants. Shaking his head yet again, he began picking his way through the cluttered halls.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Journal entry

The caravan and liason have arrived again. Pete met with the liason while I spoke with the traders from Shellhelms. It seemed that their route had done well this year and they'd brought much of what we requested. They had a very large supply of meat and drink of which we acquired all of it, giant cave spider meat notwithstanding. They also brought a decent amount of wood as well as metal bars. Some of it appeared to be a metal I was as of yet unfamiliar with but they explained that it was called Celestrium, and that, though pretty enough on it's onw, was best used for making alloys. Apparently Pete was familiar with it and had requested as much as possible. It was regretably vastly more expensive than expected and I was only able to purchase all the unrefined ore as well as only a single bar.

All of our trade goods went towards the trade, including our set of copper armor. With our smithy up and running it seemed pointless to have it when we could have steel armor made easily enough. With negotiations concluded I left to go update our records but a short while later Pete poked her head up into the dining hall where I was wont to do paperwork and said we had more goods to trade and that I was to try and get the remaining Celestrium. Apparently she'd learned of the lack of goods and had some of our caged goblin thieves let free.

Right into Kolok's axe.

Instant trade goods, and more free cages. Seemed like it worked well for us. Not so well for the goblins of course. In the end we did manage to get two more bars. The last was simply out of our trade range, as well as many other useful goods that I'd have liked to get. Ah well, there's always next year.

P.S. I'm afraid Fre and Aardvark have had a falling out. Aardvark has only left his armorsmithing forge to eat, drink and sleep. Fre has insisted I set up some archery targets for her to practice on, and apparently threatened our resident bonecrafter to use his bones as bolts should he not make her some practice bolts pronto.

[Frelock]

Awww, have they developed a grudge?