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[inaluct]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Shoruke]

Ohhhh. Lol, that's great. I might just do that, just to be able to be like "in your face, gravity!"

Shoruke's Log. 13th of Hematite. (early summer, year 22)
The human diplomat arrived, dressed in clothes that flash in the sunlight. I think it has something to do with him being all legendary and stuff. Anyway, he's going to talk with the countess. I wonder if they'll actually say anything important this time.

And Sir Geo just had her third daughter. She's still carrying her other one around, so now she's sparring while carrying two babies and having her oldest child follow her around everywhere. God am I glad I'm not a woman.

Anyway, the fact that the diplomat is here should mean that the merchants are coming. Quick, everyone hurry and finish dumping all the rocks from the outside quantum stockpile to the mason's quantum stockpile.

Yes, the masons have their own quantum stockpile now.

[Shoruke]

from now on I'm only going to do the year once per post, because it gets so redundant.

Shoruke's Log. 14th of Hematite. (early summer, year 22)
Dammit. Dammit, dammit, dammit, I'm an idiot. FRICK!

Since the base of the tower is complete, the only into the fortress now is over the drawbridge, and then over a single tile wide OTHER bridge over the defensive channel from when we first settled here. The humans' wagons have bypassed us! FRICK! At least we can still buy SOME stuff from them.

The problem is that, between switching quantum stockpiles and bringing stuff to the depot, we have a labor crisis.

"Fortress cancels Every Job: No labor."

Screw it. I'm putting the quantum stockpiles on hold.


Shoruke's Log. 17th of Hematite. (early summer)
I just got re-elected! Yayz. I have been ecstatic lately!


Shoruke's Log. 20th of Hematite. (early summer)
The Countess has, not surprisingly, already finished her meeting with the diplomat. Again, it went "Hi" "Nice place" "bye". What IS surprising is that we actually managed to get all our stuff to the depot before the humans did. We were ready before all of the pack animals had even gotten there. Now the dwarves are back to quantum stockpiling.

[Shoruke]

Shoruke's Log. 27th of Hematite. (early summer, year 22)
We're done trading with the humans. We had brought way too much stuff to the depot, so I just offered it to them for free. They get free stuff, and we get some storage space back. Yay. But I take issue with the stuff they did bring. Why did they have metal equipment on their pack animals, and all the wood in the wagons (which bypassed our fortress)? Metal weighs more, you would expect them to put it in the wagon... if nothing else, just so that we could have more wood. GAH!

Oh yes, and if memory serves, this is usually about the time that the goblins try to siege our fortress. I'm putting Flint the champion, along with several other dwarves (of varying ranks) on guard at The Tower's gate.

[Shoruke]

Shoruke's Log. 14th of Malachite. (mid summer, year 22)
Another month of producing stuff. The most exciting things that have happened are my own lethargy and 'the fight'.

My lethargy, as I refer to it, is that I don't seem to have the desire to speak with the human guild representative (odd how someone so high up wears only a loincloth, headgear, and sandals). It's not that I don't want to have any meetings; I've had a few job interviews with the dwarves recently. Why, I had one just today in fact. But I find myself making excuses not to speak with the guild rep; I'll do things like go harvest the plants for the farmers, or go talk to every injured dwarf and ask if they need water. I'm appalled at myself.

And 'the fight'. There was a pack of skeletal camels, and they got close to the south side of The Tower. It's odd; there's a two layer thick wall, cage traps, and a highly trained squad protecting everyone, but all the dwarves hauling glass blocks to the stockpile were scared of being hurt by the skeletal camels. I ordered Flint's squad, including Sir Geo, Monk, and Maggarg, to go deal with the skeletal camels and let the work force continue their work. Flint, Sir Geo, and Sigun the Marksdwarf were the only ones who really saw any combat. Flint took out two camels on his own; he would have destroyed three, but Sigun destroyed the third just before he did. Sir Geo went off to fight other camels for a bit.

Sir Geo fought one camel on her own. The camel was destroyed quickly enough, not managing to hurt Sir Geo at all through her armor. However, her baby (wearing nothing at all), was hit by the skeletal camel and her hand was mangled. After the camel was gone, Sir Geo went to fight another one, this time with Sigun backing her up. This camel was also destroyed, but Sir Geo's other baby was killed. Oddly, however, Sir Geo is still ecstatic because, despite losing her youngest daughter and being attacked by the dead, Sir Geo has killed stuff and talked to a pet recently.

...Dwarven women are werid. Almost as much as human females supposedly are.


Shoruke's Log. Supplementary.
We ran out of wood to make barrels out of. I'm not worried, though; now we have plenty of empty barrels to put booze into.

[Shoruke]

Shoruke's Log. 27th of Malachite. (late summer, year 22)
The humans are gone. While they were on the way out, I stationed Monk on top of The Tower walls, to shoot (he called it 'shoosting') at some gazelles. They weren't particularly in the way or anything, and they were on the opposite side of The Gate. I just thought it would be kinda fun. And it was! Monk just stood on top of The Tower's walls and rained death onto three gazelles, pain onto another few, and caused a couple more to run away... towards the human caravan, which was still in the process of leaving. Two of the caravan's pikemen took issue with having gazelles that close to them and butchered them with impunity.

Hmm... I guess there's no need to have the marksdwarves patrol all the way around the tower, they only need to stand by the gate, on the upper levels. Then they can rain death and... crippledness... onto any offensive force that comes.

And I once again was forced to lock myself in my room to actually get the meeting with the guild representative done. (And once again I know what you're thinking. You're wrong.) I blame The Guard, because they continuously get injured while sparring and need me to bring them water.

The presence of a quantum stockpile of rocks is quite useful. I just desginate large quantities of rock to be hauled and, voila, the fortress is cleaner. It's pretty cool.

The militants who are off-duty, however, don't seem to be willing to spar with each other. Rick in particular is bad for this.

Alcohol and food are not being produced fast enough for my liking. Particularly the alcohol. I'm expanding the 'kitchens' area to allow for more production of edibles and drinkables. Especially drinkables.


Shoruke's Log. 28th of Malachite. (late summer)
No migrants again this season. I'm beginning to wonder if killing off allowing the Hammerer to die was a bad idea, economically speaking.

[Shoruke]

Shoruke's Log. 2nd of Limestone. (early autumn)
It's been a boring month. One of the axedwarves died. I made obsidian out of magma and water (two whole blocks of it). I decided that, due to an abundance of targets, the next arena match will be all named militant dwarves vs. everything. I expect that we will win easily. Especially if the various captives fight each other.

And by Armok, we are going to have the dwarven wagons make it into the depot. I've learned from the human caravan debacle.

We really need the caravan's metal bars. And ores. The Countess and her Consort are making demands for bronze and copper items, and we're flat out of both. Trying to keep pace with them, I mandated something easy: three windows. We're making glass blocks by the dozen, we have the materials for three glass windows right?

[Shoruke]

Shoruke's Log. 13th of Limestone. (early autumn, year 22)
The vile force of darkness is back: goblins. And once again, they're just in time to interrupt the dwarven caravan we so badly need to turn up. Those bastards!

They're up to five squads this time. Three from the northwest, one from the west, and one from the south.

Those goblins still don't know anything at all about tactics. Why didn't they just form one huge squad to the west, where there's a hill to provide some cover and is closest to The Gate, and then all rush the fortress at once? These goblins are idiots.

Idiot enough to get owned- literally- by cage traps, I hope. There's quite a few of them ready right now.

I'm posting all the marksdwarves on top of The Gate (there's actually only two of them, due to injuries. Sakzul you're an idiot), and all the melee dwarves are within the gate to get the most out of our cage traps.

I've ordered all civilians to stay inside. Hopefully they listen.


Shoruke's Log. Supplementary.
Argh, ordering dwarves to stay inside has farther-reaching consequences than I thought. The farmers can't use the indoor-outdoor crops because they're technically inside, despite being below ground level and having a roof over it.
At least the goblins can't jump or shoot into it because of the glass.


Shoruke's Log. 14th of Limestone. (early autumn)
Those goblins have been charging towards the fortress ALL DAY and they're only halfway here. Either it's even hotter up there than it was the last time I was topside (I've actually been topside recently), or those goblins are slow. If it's the latter, then they're slow in more ways than one... they aren't exactly displaying military genius.


Shoruke's Log. Not exactly supplementary, but it is still the 14th.
Monk and Sigun have been raining death onto the southern goblin squad, which has begun retreating because one of their casualties was the squad leader. I wonder why they don't just assign themselves to one of the other squads, or simply replace their lost leader with someone from the squad. Being able to break a siege this easily once again displays the goblins' lack of brain power.


Shoruke's Log. NOW it's supplementary.
Monk just achieved the rank of 'legendary'. Good job, Monk.

[Shoruke]

Shoruke's Log. 16th of Limestone. (early autumn, year 22) (day after siege)
That was easy. Too easy. But it was also very, very interesting.

Sir Geo's child reached the age of one during the fight, so Sir Geo dropped her (right under The Gate as she was rushing out to meet the oncoming hordes of goblins) to fend for herself. The child, one might recall, had been previously injured in the hand, and promptly feel unconscious due to pain. When she woke up, combat was raging (the dwarves were of course winning soundly), and the little child (her name is Ilral) went to find her mommy. Who was in combat. Thankfully, the child was unharmed, but at several times, poor Ilral was forced to cancel her Rest because of nearby goblin spearmen. Once the fight was done and every goblin had either retreated or been killed or captured, Sir Geo picked up her unconscious child and took her to the barracks to sleep and mend her hand.

That kid is going to have an interesting psyche when she grows up. All this trauma and drama.

Also, just after the goblins were gone, a kobold was discovered attempting to enter the fortress. It was of course killed instantly, but still... I don't like the idea of kobolds and goblins working together.

While Monk and Sigun, our marksdwarves, were providing covering fire for the ground troops, the bowgoblins were firing back at them (one of the goblin squads was comprised half of marksmen). Most of the shots missed, glanced away, or were deflected, but one is at this very moment still stuck in Monk's head. It even shows in his inventory as

(Iron bolt), Stuck in Head

Well, after all that, I guess it's time for the "melt everything" part of being sieged. Arr matey, tharr be labor crises ahead.
...Okay, despite the irony of talking piratey in a desert (what's a pirate?), it gets the point across.


Shoruke's Log. 20th of Limestone. (early autumn)
The Gate is creating a chokepoint for the hauler dwarves, slowing them down. But then again I suppose that is the purpose of the gate: to slow people down, for security reasons. Yay, it works.

Oddly enough, we seem to be short on cages. [sarcasm]I really can't fathom why. It surely can't have anything to do with the 18 (I think?) recently captured goblins. [/sarcasm] I think that the next arena match should be soon, to free up some cages if nothing else. And I think we're going to need to produce more cages anyway.

Another kobold tried to sneak into the fortress.
1) Why not just take a giant cave spider silk sock from a goblin corpse?
2) It's INSANELY hard to get into this fortress undetected. The only way in is a 3x1 ramp, which is under guard.
3) What are those kobolds trying to steal anyway? Equipment or booze?
4) The siege is over. Our forces are once again able to concentrate on killing petty thieves. Your advantage is lost, stupid kobold.
5) Why WAS that cat patrolling the fortress wall? Maybe our pet animals are actually trying to help by using their acute senses to detect danger for us.

Conclusion: kobolds are at least as dumb as goblins.

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY WE HAVE BOOZE AGAIN our drink stocks are up to 320 units. Cheers.

I really hope the caravan wasn't scared away by the sight of fleeing goblins. We could REALLY use the stuffs.

Once a most of the hauling is done, we're going to engrave the kitchen. Hopefully after recent events all the dwarves know enough history to draw something interesting, instead of random shapes like crescents and crosses.

[inaluct]

Couldn't we leave some green glass crafts out there for the kobolds? I heard they send archers if they manage to steal enough stuff. Kobold archers seem like a good thing.

[Shoruke]

Good point. I should do that at some point today. I'll make sure to disallow masterwork crafts in those stockpiles, in case Inaluct (the dwarf) makes a really cool glass craft and I let it get stolen.


Shoruke's Log. 21st of Sandstone. (mid autumn, year 22)
I engraved my first ever masterwork picture today. It was of us founding this fortress. It's actually pretty cool.

Other engravings recently put in the dining hall include:
-an image of a dwarf called ezum and a camel called lanternrampages (the drawing was made by another dwarf called ezum),
-a picture of " " the wagon, being destroyed (I don't even know if it was OUR wagon, or what)
-a picture of a dwarf drawing a picture of a different picture
-a picture of windows, which is rather disconcerting because it's so good (*looks down* "huhhh? Oh an engraving") and
-a picture of a goblin getting killed by a camel.

In other news, I'm attempting to get the arena match started... but there's always something wrong. Either one of the dwarves needs to run off and eat/sleep/drink/find new clothes, or they ALMOST need to, and by the time the philosopher gets there to pull the lever, one or more of the dwarves have run off to do who knows what.


Shoruke's Log. 1st of Timber. (late autumn, year 22)
The arena match FINALLY HAPPENED. I locked Lambskin in the control room to ensure she wouldn't run off and we'd have to wait for someone else to pull the lever. Thankfully, the only injuries on our side were three of Rick's dogs. The injuries aren't even bad enough to knock them out from pain, which is cool. Also, we now have a bunch of free cages, so the mechanics can stop whining about the lack of things to arm the traps with.

Oh yes, I managed to record the match. Don't ask how or onto what.

http://mkv25.net/dfma/movie-932-thesecondmatch

I find it odd how everyone just ignored that last camel except Rick, who was chasing it all over the place.

One additional note: Sir Geo feel fast asleep the moment the fight was done. Before Lambskin even had time to open the drawbridge so he could go use one of the beds in the barracks, she was on the floor snoring.


Armok's Log. Supplementary to Shoruke's.
I think it's worth mentioning that Shoruke's recording of this fight, while accurate, is still cloaked in secrecy. The dwarves didn't actually fight that well the first, second, or even the eighth time. They got through the fight by sheer luck... and Shoruke's time-warping perseverance. Reasons for the savescumming include Maggarg drowning, dogs being crushed by the drawbridge, and Sir Geo's child being flung by the bridge all the way across the arena, hitting the window, and then drowning. Also several dogs died each time, and on one retry the goblin bowman actually hurt Rick.

[Shoruke]

Shoruke's Log. 20th of Timber. (late autumn, year 22)
I did my rounds again today, to check on the injured (we never seem to get any sicknesses). Everyone seems to be stable, but they regularly complain of thirst. Unfortunately there's not a whole lot I can do about that.

My visit with Monk, however, was interesting. He asked me to remove the arrow from his head.

"Shoruke," he said. "I'm never going to heal properly until I get this thing out of my forehead. Can you remove it for me?"
"Of course, friend," I said. I placed both hands firmly around the arrow, braced one foot against his bed, and asked "ready?"
"Of course I'm ready! I've wanted this thing out of my skull for two weeks now."
"Fair enough." I gave a herculean tug, and the arrow came free in a spurt of blood that gushed onto the bed, the floor, and me. "Eww."
"T3H OWSZ!" Monk screamed in agony, and passed out. He's still alive, since he's still breathing, he's just unconscious. I really must remember to ask him about his colloquialism later. I handed the blood-stained arrow to one of the engravers, who took it to the dump.

In other news, Glack is throwing a party over awesome living conditions.



I agree with her sediment sentiment. I'm off to go party.


Shoruke's Log. 25th of Timber. (late autumn)
The Countess' mandate time ran out on her impossible-to-meet mandate of copper items. She sentenced Inaluct to 74 days in prison, which is dumb because Inaluct isn't on the metalworking crew. His only assigned jobs are health care, hauling jobs, and glassmaking. He doesn't even operate the furnaces that make his pearlash. I considered telling the Countess what she is (a conceited elf-pig with no use in society), but she could have me punished... and at all costs I must stay in power, so as to oversee the protection of as many dwarves as I can. So I issued a formal complaint, which was ignored. Damn.

[Banzayatc]

A good fortress! I'd like to be dwarfed in this one.

Name: Banzay
He should be a spearsdwarf.
Note: please make sure he gets to kill at least one elf during their attack. After that change his name to "Elf Driller".

[Shoruke]

Yay, another captain. Speardwarf it is. I have a recruit who is supposed to be a speardwarf, but he received a spinal injury and won't spar... WAIT...


Shoruke's Log. 26th of Timber. (late autumn, year 22)
Rick came to me today and confessed why he has been refusing to spar recently. Apparently, during one of his previous conflicts, he was struck on the head and his brain was slightly pressurized. He seems to still be in full control of all his faculties, but he says that IF he were to suffer from his previous injury whilst training with the other dwarves, he would find it hard to bear the shame. I told him not to worry about it, but he cannot; dwarves are creatures who pay close attention to honour.

The long-story-short of this is that he will still fight, just not with the other dwarves.

I have noticed that several of the dwarves in our military bear similar injuries; wounds on the spine or brain do not seem to heal, and everyone who receives such an injury shares Rick's phobia of sparring. In light of this, I'm going to switch around the organization of the military and The Guard. no doubt it will cause some minor unhappiness, but we can overcome that. I'm going to take some of the irreversibly injured in the military and replace them with the able-bodied from the fortress guard. Unfortunately, the higher-ups among The Guard are not within my jurisdiction, so I cannot reassign them. I will have to make do.


Shoruke's Log. Supplementary.
Oh dear. Everyone in the guard is either permanently bruised, or has a broken limb of some kind or another. This is bad. perhaps I should replace them with civilians, and have the nervously-damaged take the civilians' jobs.

And I REALLY must see to it that our military is outfitted better. Broken arms, legs, spines, and even heads abound. I'm going to completely reorganize our military's equipment: have everyone dump all their stuff, sort it into stockpiles, and have them one by one outfit themselves from the storeroom. The captains will have first pick of the equipment, and will also be the ones who get all the steel stuff.


Shoruke's Log. 1st of Moonstone. (early winter)
All around is chaos. Civilians scramble around, looking for the militants' dropped equipment. The militants themselves scramble around, wondering what the hell is going on and why they aren't allowed any equipment. I stationed the military just inside The Gate, to keep them a little calmer. The Guard, however, is wondering what the hell just happened and why the Captain of the Guard isn't getting their equipment back. I've given him orders to keep them under control until we get the whole equipment thing sorted out. The people who have been recently reassigned in/out of The Guard or military are having trouble adjusting, and are in an even greater state of panic than the rest of them. I hope we can get through this quickly; if the goblins show up, we're toast. We have a military with no weapons or armor save three crossbows (all weapons are been redistributed, except crossbows) and a fortress guard and royal guard who have no equipment (or use) at all. I've even told all the woodcutters that they have to hand in their axes for redistribution. Boy were they pissed. Glack seemed to be considering trying to hurt me, but since I'm super-buff (my muscles are huge because of all the writing I do) he thought better of it.


Shoruke's Log. 5th of Moonstone. (early winter, year 22)
The Countess' ridiculous, unmeetable mandate met its deadline today. And guess what? We haven't met it. She decided to jail someone, since without a hammerer there is no possibility of painful punishment. She chose to jail Monk for 101 days.

I stormed into her room. "Why have you jailed Monk?" I asked vehemently.
She looked up from her nobling, and said "becuase my mandate for two bronze items was not met. Someone has to suffer for such a failure, Shoruke."
"But why Monk? He's a legendary captain in our military. The other dwarves look up to him as a hero for protecting our fortress for so long, especially since having an arrow stuck in his head." I winced. The image of his pain after removing the arrow from his forehead still give me shivers. "And besides, he's not in the metalworking crew. And furthermore, he's still injured and needs to rest."
"You aren't hearing me, Shoruke," said the Countess. From the look in her eye, you could tell that she thought she was doing what was moral and right. "A mandate was not met. Someone. Must. Pay."
We gazed at each other with hatred so intense it could have melted The Red Sands themselves into glass in an instant. Then I turned my back and stormed off. We really must do something about these pesky nobles. The Tax Collector's Mandate for two leopard leather items we can't make is halfway to its deadline, too. Something, anything, must be done.

On my way back to the dining hall (I needed a drink. Even in the face of diplomatic crises, one must stay hydrated), I met a fisherdwarf.
"What are you doing right now?" I demanded of him.
"I'm going to go find one of The Guards' gauntlets and store it, sir," he responded. "It was in the job que."
"Scratch that job for a few minutes. You know of Monk the Marksdwarf?"
"Yes."
"You know he is being jailed? And what his physical condition is?"
"Yes, he had an arrow stuck in his head I think. Is it still in there?"
"No, I pulled it out. Listen- he's being sent to jail, and without a bed to rest in, his condition could get worse. I know we have several spare beds just above the carpentry shop, that are not set up. I need you to take one of them, and set it up right beside the nortwesternmost chain in the jail. I also need you to mark it with Monk's name. Do it now, and for Armok's sake get it done before the Captain of the Guard arrives there with Monk. Got it?" The fisherdwarf nodded. "Good. Get to it."

Actually, I was reminded of Inaluct. Thankfully, in dwarven society we permit visitors for inmates. I went to go see him. The fisherdwarf wasn't there yet, but neither was Monk.
"Inaluct. How are you doing?" I asked him.
"Could be better." Inaluct grinned feebly. "I'm dead tired, though. This chain doesn't allow me to curl up on the floor very good. I'm not particularly thirst just yet, but do you know when feeding time is?"
"I'll see to it that you get water- sorry, that's the easiest to transport- and a bed right away. I'll try to get you some food too."
"Thanks," said Inaluct. "That Countess and her husband are a pig."
"I agree. But I have to go... I'm redistributing the military's equipment, and it's causing chaos."
"Right. See you later."
I left the room. On my way out, I passed one of the fortress guard... lugging Monk's unconscious body heavily behind him. Shortly after, the fisherdwarf rushed by me as well, carrying Monk's bed. He came to a skidding halt beside me. "I'm sorry, Shoruke," he spluttered. "I tried to-"
"Don't worry about it," I said quickly, "you won't be reprimanded. Just get it done as fast as possible. For Monk's sake."
"Right." The fisherdwarf hurried off again, with considerable haste. Not quite fast enough to beat the guard to the jail, but maybe fast enough to prevent Monk from suffering too much.

So much stress. So much pain. So much suffering. Our fortress is being led to the dark side by our own Countess. It isn't helping that we have a severe shortage of battle-ready armor, but at least I'm trying to fix that. The Countess has to go.


Log of Kadol, Fisherdwarf. 7th of Moonstone.
Shoruke approached me today in the middle of my hauling jobs. He told me to drop everything and set up a bed for Monk the Marksdwarf... in the jail. I suppose he needs it. I rushed off to the carpentry workshops, and picked up a bed. I carried it all the way to the bedroom level, a little ways to the west to get to the other staircase, and then up that staircase to the jail. Shoruke was just leaving, and boy did he look pissed. I thought he was mad at me, and I was too late... sure enough, just at that moment, the door to the jail was closing... I could see Monk being carried by one of The Guard through it. I told Shoruke I was sorry, and he just told me to hurry and get it done and that I wasn't in trouble. I guess he was mad at something else. I breathed a sigh of relief, and rushed through the door. The guard had tied Monk to the chain, and Monk was awake and obviously having a hard time of things. The guard left, and I set up Monk's bed as fast as I could... I was slowed down a lot by the rocks that were in the way, but I think I got it done fairly fast. Monk stood up on his own, which I thought was AMAZING considering the size of the hole in his head. I swear I could see a part of his brain. He looked pretty woozy, and didn't really seem able to focus his eyes. I helped him into the bed, and he passed right out.

Then I went back to helping haul the military's stuff around for them. What is with the fortress recently?

[Shoruke]

*reads post* yeesh. Sorry for the super long post, everyone. And Banzay, you're gonna get a dwarf next post, which should be tomorrow.