Diary of Melbil 'Axebeard' Pulleyletters2nd GraniteApparently I am prime axedwarf material and so have been summarily recruited into the military just now. Then someone noticed the unfortunate way my beard grows and resurrected that infernal nickname I've had back at the Mountainhomes. I think it's still better than those Elvenly ponces who trim theirs or tie them into pretty little knots.
Still 2nd Granite.Bloody hells. The nickname has spread and now everyone absolutely refuses to call me anything else. How could this be worse?
3rd GraniteBLOODY HELLS. Apparently, being a military recruit does not exempt one from being chosen for overseeing the fort for a year. I have no idea who thought that a few years' experience of hauling things in small border outposts would have prepared me for running the BLOODY NEW CAPITOL. I need a drink.
7th Granite
WHERE IS ALL THE BOOZE?
Later during 7th GraniteOkay, I'm alright now. After assessing the situation, I found out why there is no booze. There's nothing to make booze out of! We have four laughably puny farm plots, none of which are growing anything reasonably useful for either food or booze purposes. The stockpile situation is an unholy mess which I'm not even going to touch and half of our farming-related workshops aren't doing anything!
And I had to report to Dishmab Pickcudgel for my orders about two days ago. Hells.
9th GraniteMy first order as Overseer was to demolish an unfortunately placed Mechanic's Workshop and rebuild it a few feet away, along with the construction of two relatively large farm plots in its place. One will be housing our new booze reserve and the other our new source of food, Quarry Bushes. I find it criminal that nobody before me has thought to utilize this light but satisfying plant to enrich our meals. I also relocated the kitchen and some of the food stockpiles to a more central position between the plots and the booze/prepared food stockpile.
On an unrelated note, I've been on my way to the barracks for half a week now and I'm still not there. I'd probably be faster if I didn't have to stop after every few steps to write down my new orders and pass them along to the first bypasser with hopes that they will take them seriously. I need to work out a better system.
Evening of 9th Granite.UNHOLY MOTHER OF KOBOLDS! I just narrowly averted my untimely death here. For whatever reason, I was slated to have my first sparring session with Stormaxe, one of our legendary champions who has before sent sparring partners to the informary or even to the graveyard. Whoever thought that it would be fine to have her sparring with the recruits seriously needs to have a go with her themselves. Preferably unarmored.
Thankfully, a written order from "the new Overseer" arrived just as the sparring was to begin commanding her to go on duty and I was left to find a less lethal sparring partner. Some quick thinking there, if I do say so myself. I can't avoid this forever though. I need to get tougher, and fast.
13th GraniteJust as my latest orders were getting underway, a rather disconcerting thing happened. My attention was drawn to a rather desolate part of the scenery by one of our lookouts, who claimed to have seen something moving there. When I pressed for details, though, he said that he couldn't make them out. I haven't gotten a notification yet, so it might not be a siege. But then what was it?
(OOC: Seriously, what the hell? The game just focused there and paused, like with a caravan or migrants or any other major event, but nothing happened.)
14th GraniteI just noticed that our Queen is actually visiting the fortress! While I am humbled by her presence, I find it unnerving that she is just standing at the end of what I assume to be a long exploratory tunnel, not doing anything but shuffling around. To be on the safe side, I ordered the excavation of a truly lavish Royal Bedroom and Throne Room for her on the housing level. This made me acutely aware of another problem: we have no dedicated stone stockpiles apart from the small ones around our stoneworking workshops. This is simply ludicrous and I halted the excavation while I ordered the removal of a large amount of sand for the future stockpile.
15th GraniteThe high elven caravan has arrived! While I really don't want to leave a bad impression on our trading partners during my short rule, the current disorganized state of the fortress means that I have no idea whatsoever as to what we would need from them, therefore I might just let them go without trading this year.
23rd GraniteI've decided on a radical course of action. I am going to tear down every wall on the workshop level except those around the dining room, lever room and bone stockpile. The level is absolutely cluttered and bears proof to the beginnings of the fortress as a haphazard outpost in a hostile environment. While it might have worked adequately then, it simply doesn't any more. I am also going to have our miners dig out more space so each group of workshops can have its dedicated area. This will, of course, result in a large amount of useless stone. I have designated most of the stone currently cluttering up our fortress as to be dumped for this reason. It's not like we'll ever need them. I hope they hit some demon in the Underworld.
24th Granite
An ambush! A large group of sand raiders has apparently decided to pay our fortress a visit, no doubt having heard of our adamantine stocks. I am not familiar with our defensive systems yet, so I hope I won't mess anything up too badly.
28th GraniteThe raiders have been repelled by Stormaxe. Sadly, she didn't reach her post in time and the Obsidian Guardian chained next to the outermost drawbridge was struck down. One of the raiders managed to get caught in a cage trap and another one fell down underneath the bridge when it was retracted to cut off their way of escape. Unfortunately, one got stuck outside the walls and managed to escape. I have no doubt, having seen the same situation in different fortresses before, that they'll come in force next time. I better be prepared.
Meanwhile, my spars continue, so far thankfully without injury.
3rd SlateTerrible news! Dishmab, my squad leader has beens truck down in a sparring session with Stormaxe! I need to find a way to make her less lethal in spars, otherwise I won't survive basic training.
Dishmab is being interred in his grave as I write this. It's a sobering sight. I always knew I wasn't cut out for leading a fortress, but the death of one of the dwarves I was supposed to look after, especially my own military superior, really drives it home.
7th SlateThe trapped sand raider has been let out with Stormaxe standing ready, as he was frightening the workers. How he did it from under a bridge, I'll never know.
---
OOC: Whew. The framerate is horribly low, but that's to be expected with such a sprawling fortress. A lot of the dwarves keep holding parties and I can't do anything to stop them short of (f)reeing up the statue garden. Also, I'm going to do a lot of reconstruction on the workshop level and possibly on the housing level as well, as they are horribly inefficient. Since I only have a year, it's quite possible that the next dwarf after me will have to clean up the messes I will undoubtedly make.
Really, the idea of NOT digging out a huge stone stockpile into the soft soil right after embarking seems ludicrous to me. Where else would you store your stone?
Author
Topic: (Succession) Uthgurzuntir - Glory for the Queen! (New sign ups!) (Read 15372 times)