Duke awoke again to the tranquil green light that came through his glass tomb. This was his refuge in insanity, and it has come to grow on him in sanity. His muscles ached from the major work he did in previous years, taking up the mining profession for the kid that ruled for a year. That kid had done amazing things. Hell, she found a way to destroy the aquifer. Before the fortress was threatened constantly by magma and water. Now if the plan works for the next level of aquifer, we could be rid of any possible threat to this fortress.
Such were Duke's musings as he awakened. As he opened his eyes, he saw a somewhat blurry world.
Blinking a few times, the fortress before him became clear again.
Much better.
As I got myself up this morning, I noticed a female dwarf waiting for me at the entrance to my tomb. I quickly pulled myself together and went over to hear what she had to say.
"Ah, Duke! About time you woke up! Kitten has been waiting fer you all morning!"
"Lady, she thinks herself in a constant state of being possessed. I'm sure whatever thing she thinks possesses her can wait a few hours. Now where is she?"
"Er, on the surface."
Yup, I've been irritable lately. Got the feeling something strange was going to happen. That feeling came true later when Time Kitten told me to be the leader for next year. She was polite in explaining the situation of her project, although her suggestions that I should know this stuff by now because I mined a good deal of it irritated me. Half of that digging was spent in a position that would allow me to sprint away from the wall as fast as possible. After Toonyman has his accident, no miner was safe here. I even considered Timekitten was trying to kill off former leaders.
By the end of her explanation, I had determined never to touch those works. The aquifer dam would have to wait for another day. I had an idea of how to keep our magma island effect and still get what we need. But we would need to build up. Yes, build up a lot.
First I designated the obsidian factory to begin work. The darn thing overfilled a bit thanks to a lazy dwarf, but I'll find a way to mine through this problem. Now I'm overseeing a boost in glass production. We need more glassmakers making glass blocks. The obsidian factory won't make enough rocks to satisfy the number of blocks I need for this project, so we are going glass for most of it. What might my project be? You shall see, readers.
10th Slate,
Some glassmaker gossip says the mayor posed a ban on some exports. Remembering the order to keep the magma sea flooded, I chuckled to myself and got back to glassmaking. No need to hear what the guy is banning. It won't get out of here.
13th Slate,
I feel my old tendencies growing back. Halfway through digging out obsidian from the farm, I had a strong urge to start fishing. I knew there would be no fish there. It was a pool of aquifer water surrounded by obsidian formed by magma poured onto said water five seconds ago. And yet I began to fish. One needs to revisit their old hobbies else break their mind. I won't let that happen again.
Slates End,
I...
You know what? Screw it. We messed up physics enough here to have floating obsidian. I suppose the tales Time Kitten tells me of the obsidian with the obsidian are true.
When the report that this crab died of old age came to me, it came as a shock. It seems some can die peacefully in a non-magma related death here.
25th Felsite,
Today I happened upon two figures in the entrance hall of my tomb. The former leader Time Kitten and the 'Slave', a dwarf with a name not known to me beyond what others call her profession. As much as I tried, I could not sneak upon their conversation. However, I doubt it was meaning me any good. I shall look into this after whipping these dwarves into shape.
Glass blocks to date: 20
Obsidian created: 32
It is now summer.
And we have run out of sand. Now those louts will start goofing about and forget about their glass jobs. Great. Where are the sandbags when you need them?
Yup, that was a sucky spring. I won't even be able to finish the tower in my year at this rate. However, this shall be a slight test of a system I wish to happen. If it does not work, I'll have to artificially make it work.