~~~~From the Personal Log of Dresdor, Outpost Leader of Nazushrath Nom "Bloodtemple of God"~~~~
16th Granite 201
After a long and trying journey, we have arrived at site of the destroyed temple. I expected to see ruins or at least some sign of the ancient home of our Blood God, but there is nothing but a rolling hillside and sand dunes. I have ordered the others to see to unloading the wagon and gathering plants and wood. I take the only pick, and head to the cliffside. It is time to strike the earth.
4th Slate
After a month of mining and setting up, I have made two wonderful discoveries. First, we have struck rock salt, which, when processed, will make our meals more delicious and help to preserve our meats. The second discovery is as dangerous as it is wonderful. Our fortress is built in a vein of iron and lignite. This is wonderful for the potential for weapons and armor, but terrible as lignite explodes when lit on fire. I will have to mine out every single bit of lignite around our rooms before the others can set up their workshops. One spark from a forge, and our entire home would go up in a blaze.
10th Felsite 201
Outside, a small strawberry farm has been set up for temporary food and drink supplies. As well as workshops for furniture and defense. Inside, I am busy mining away at a massive cleft of hematite and lignite. If we can find flux stone we will have massive amounts of steel.
1st Hematite 201
Time passes quickly in the mines. Above ground, we have a marksdwarf trained, and plenty of strawberries. In the depths, I have nearly mined out all the lignite and hematite. The vein was not massive, but it was large enough to provide us with some decent amounts of fuel and iron.
26th Hematite 201
As I was mining, my sight blurred and I had a vision. I must entrust other dwarves to see my vision through. I saw Armok's will: a monumental tribute to our god, bound in the salt that was his first gift to us here. Others may deign to use the iron and obsidian we have also been blessed with, but the vision is clear: A rock salt pillar to his glory.
21st Hematite 201
I have been mildly injured in a cave collapse outside. I was cleaning up the cliff side to make our entrance, and my vision, more suiting to the blood god. Not watching where I was digging, I removed a support that was needed to keep up the mounts of dirt below me. I fell, injuring my arms and legs. With rest, I should recover, but for now someone else will have to take over my mining duties.
3rd Limestone 201
I have recovered from my ordeal, and am prepared to take up my duties again. Apparently, there was a large rhesus monkey attack as I rested. Luckily, our resident mason and marksdwarf took care of things, and we netted a large number of corpses for butchering. I have ordered a massive butchering, cooking, and tanning operation so we don’t loose anything that the blood god has gifted us with.
12th Limestone 201
The caravan has arrived. Fortunately we have some things for them, but not nearly as much as I had hoped. The rhesus maques and other difficulties have prevented massive crafting efforts, and our fortress is a mere scratch in the earth. Oh well, I will tell them the news I have, and see what news comes from the mountain homes.
13th limestone 201
The merchants have left with their goods. They seem spooked by this place, and when I started to haggle they told me that they weren’t interested in haggling and packed up. If fear prevents us from trading with the outside, we will have big problems. I look at this as a test, Armok is seeing if we can survive without support from home. I certainly hope we pass.
25th Limestone 201
The rhesus maques are back. We will have even more meat for the winter. Our resident exterminator is taking care of things.
16th Sandstone 201
Some migrants have arrived. I am surprised because of the bad results with the caravan. However, word of our blessings by Armok have spread, and new believers have come. We have received a tanner, a butcher, a peasant, an animal trainer, another miner, another peasant, a woodcrafter, and a bonecarver,
14th Opal 201
We have lost one of our own. The miner that arrived not long ago succumbed to a kobold thief. The thief escaped. I find that this mere immigrant is a fitting sacrifice to our blood god, and have placed his remains beneath the monument to Armok. It is nearly complete, and the scaffolding is being removed now.
3rd Granite 202
The monument is done. Now we can turn our attentions below the earth once more, to the beginnings of our mountain home. From this sandy loam a mighty temple to Armok, the blood god, shall arise.
5th Felsite 202
The locations of the future workshops have been sited, and prepared for mining. Temporarily, we are using one of them as a barracks. Also, the unsmoothed beginnings of our Grand Dining Room have begun.
9th Felsite 202
Some more migrants have arrived. Among their numbers are A metalsmith, a miner, five, peasants, a woodworker, a milker, an engraver, a ranger, Dyer, a jeweler, a lye maker, a butcher, and a cheese maker.
20th Felsite 202
I questions Armok’s blessings. This fortress will be a massive death trap if we are not careful. We have discovered more lignite in the workshop area of our fortress. This means even more mining and rebuilding of our mountain home. The work of the faithful is long and arduous, I am just thankful Armok has only recalled one of our number to his side.
18th Hematite 202
Smoothing of the main entryway and stairway of Armok are underway. I hope to get the bedrooms dug soon as well, as our sheriff is demanding additional space for his equipment.
16th Malachite 202
Our butcher has been possessed by Armok. I wonder what he will make in homage to our god. He has taken Sylvite, birch logs, and lignite. These signs and symbols from Armok are our only hint of what the Blood God wants with us.
22nd Malachite 202
The work is finished. It is a sylvite statue of the blood god himself. Oddly enough, the mason has made an image of the statue in the statue, with an image of himself next to the image of the statue, surrounded by dwarves. When making an artifact of this quality, some vanity is necessary.
22nd Limestone 202
The caravan has arrived. I hope we will be able to actually trade with them this time. I have ordered the masses of bone crafts to be moved to the depot, but without them being in bins, it will take a long time to gather them all up and place them in the depot.
We have managed to trade for some meat and other goods. I hope next year we will be able to buy some silk cloth or at least get a farm of pig tails in order. Our clothes are starting to dissolve around us, and while I'm sure some of the dwarves may not mind running around bare as stone, I prefer some covering.
9th Timber 202
Some migrants have arrived. An animal dissector, a miner, 2 peasant, Animal Caretaker, Cheese maker, Furnace Operator, and a Planter. Armok keeps sending nearly useless dwarves to us, and I am happy to turn them to more useful forms of craft. Like engraving. Any dwarve knows how to carve stone from birth, and with practice some of their work is pretty nice to look at. At this time, our main staircase, with the great statue, is completely engraved.
16th Timber 202
One of our crafters has been taken by a fey mood. Almost instantly, he returned with a Rock Salt Hatch cover. I'm not sure what meaning to gather from this, but I assume it is the will of Armok for us to have a hatch cover. I've attached it to the main stairway immediately before the grand statue.
1st Granite 203
Things have been so busy I have not had time to write. We now have a handful of dwarves with skills only rivaled in legends. Those around me say I tunnel through solid stone as if it were sand, and our clerk is masterful with the logbooks and accounts. Our resident mason is churning out one masterpiece after another, and our woodcutter must merely look at a tree and it falls in homage to his skill.
Bedrooms have been dug for myself and our sheriff. We have begin small bedrooms for some of our other dwarves, but mining is slow, as is construction of the beds. We have our workshops, especially our kitchen and butchery, in full operation. We have no crops except for the hide root and strawberry farm on the surface. The time I've taken to listen to Armok's will has aged my soul greatly, and I am in need of rest from this tedious job of shepherding all of these dwarves. I think I will retire for a while at least, and craft wonderful statues to decorate our home.
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http://dffd.wimbli.com/file.php?id=593Tried to upload a map, but the website isn't letting me.