I like my teammates. They're more suited to this rough environment that I am.
Zon Crestfloors is one of the three miners assigned to me. He mostly keeps to himself, but he seems nice enough from the few conversations I tried to have with him. He used to dig out caverns for tower caps back home, and he boldly claimed he's was a gourmet chef when he has a kitchen. I would hope so. I would rather chew my arm off than eat another raw turtle.
Unid Tongstangles is another miner from the tower cap farms. I find her rather boring, but she a much better conversationalist than Zon. She eagerly requested to join to start a career as a brewer. I'm glad, as we used up half our brews on the trek here.
Obok Pulleyantics, the third miner, is an neurotic twit, and a glutton. I've had to remind her not to eat more than one ration, or drink 'till she waddles. She also used to work in the tower cap farms, so hopefully she has the same work ethics as the other two.
Melbil Stockadeearth claims herself to be a Lumber Jill, which is some sort of human term for woodcutter. Despite being a big show-off, I like her. Her laid back attitude eases my worries.
Kogan Slingstatic is a lazy hobbo. Well, officially he's a smith, but he spends so much time carving nonsensical shapes into small pebbles I wonder if he even knows how to wield a hammer and anvil. He wastes so much time "not-planning" to do something that I think he may cause problems in the future.
Stukos Pillarvices, an architect. He's an odd one. He paranoid of even the most remote dangers. Yet once assured of his safety, he degenerates into a buffoon. He's not very entertaining either. He has requested that we created a huge tower as a feat of engineering and resource accumulation. I'll think about it, but there are other matters to attend to, first.
Spring 1051
As if one purpose, the waggon broke down right as we reached what I decided would be the entrance to the great new mine. I decided against starting right on top of the volcano to avoid the flaming creatures that spawn in magma.
The first we needed to do was carve out a solid home inside the earth. Stone would have been preferable, but I guessed that beneath my feet would be more of this dirt. Not I could have found out for certain as noone though to bring any picks. Even Melbil seemed to have misplaced her axe. Rummaging thru our supplies, I found some copper bars and rocks. I considered beating everyone to death with them, but though better of my self. I immediately ordered Stukos to design a facility that we could build with our current supplies that would allow us to make picks and axes from the copper bars. I had to remind Kogan that it was his job to deal with stone constructions, and we lost nearly a day of productivity as we waited for Kogan to remember how a rock rolls.
We then loitered around in agony for another weak as Kogan slowly made our much needed tools. The miners where able to dig out the future farm cavern and the food stockpile while Melbil constructed some beds for us to sleep on. About time too. I wasn't going to sleep in the sand.
-------
Half way thru my first dream of platinum caverns filled with golden ale, I was awoken by Zon and Obok testing out their bed springs. I'm going to inquirer to Melbil as to where she obtained to metal to make such noisy springs.
-------
Obok refused to dig strait down to find solid stone as she had found damp dirt. I had her do it anyway, but then the walls of the area she had just dug seeped water in like a squeezed sponge. I immedietly decreed the nned for a pump to pull the water out, in the hopes the the water could be drained faster than it seeped in from the walls. Alas, it was not to be. While the pump could suck out water from below it with incredible speed, even a wall a few steps ways seeped water in above a dwarf's head.
-------
An epiphany struck me. What if the heat from the volcano drys the ground around it? In any case, the obsidian around it is solid and wont let water thru. I just have to make the miners don't carve out a soaked section and flood the whole place by accident.
Also, everything but felled trees is now safely underground.
-------
The farms are ready for summer planting. Plump Helmets or Cave Wheat?