Done and done. Here's the log.
My name is Edzul Ilfikod. I am the current leader of this group, The Lost Dwellers of Points, and I fear I may have led them astray. While I had thought, perhaps, that Lemis had guided me to this spot, it may have merely been my own dreams brinigng me to stop here. Indeed, I would have carried on, had I known there was an aquifer below our feet, between us and good solid stone. Our Miner, Iden, is already getting to attempting to bypass it, and meantime wood is being cut for basic facilities. Such a motley group, but we have a planter and a miner, and it is said that with these two alone one can create a homestead in the stone. I hope it is so.
15th Granite, Early Sping, 1001.
During preparations for the aquifer breach, Iden found a magma pipe! Perhaps we are not so poorly off as I'd thought. The magma seems to have dried out enough of the aquifer to get us below and into the living stone. Iden had a close call with one of the fire imps, but luckily killed it with her pick.
5th Slate, Midspring
A fire man came out of the vent today. It was agitated by our mining efforts, it seems, and it took it's fury out on our miner, Iden. She now lies with grevious injuries. Her left arm was broken, and her right hand mangled almost beyond recognition protecting her face from an attack. Lastly, her hip was laid bare to the bone. Luckily Logem, our engraver, arrived on the scene quickly enough to keep the fire man from finishing her off. While none of us are clear how it happened, she slew the creature with her bare hands, not taking a scratch in the process. It is unusual for our normally quiet engraver, but we are thankful.
Meanwhile, Iden's mining duties must be continued. I've taken it on myself to carry Iden's pick, as a reminder of the responsibility I carry for those I lead. The spare in the caravan has been given over to Logem, as we will need to dedicate ourselves well to match Iden's speed, and it is speed we will require to hollow out a place for ourselves before the seasons shift.
6th Felsite, Late Spring
The news has gotten worse. Our planter, Kogsak, had set up farming operations by the magma pipe. We realized it was risky, but there was a desperate need for food production, and I had decided to assign Udil, with his axe, to defend the planter from the last remaining fire imp. However, tragedy struck, and by the time I'd returned with Udil to where Kogsak had set up his farm, the planter was a charred corpse. Udil finished the thing in a few axe-strokes, leaving the pipe uninhabited, at least for now. However, it leads me to worry... It was said that with a miner and planter, any fort could succeed. What now will we do, with neither miner nor planter at hand? For now, I have assigned our ranger, Udib, the task of preparing food. Hopefully his knowledge of plant life will serve him well.
1st Hematite, Early Summer
It has been, indeed, a miserable Spring. However, such a season has come to close. Our planter lies safely in his resting place, a coffin of obsidian by the farms he worked to establish. I wish we could do more, but indeed, we have enough mining to do for the living. Housing has been at least partially carved out. I feel a pang on greif each time I pass by Iden's home, seeing a mainer laid up in a dwelling she had no hand in creating. Her condition has not improved, but nor has it gotten worse.
Our own mining skills have increased some small amount. Logem seems to be learning faster than I, but we have managed to carry on well enough. A food storage area under the farms has been mined out, as well as a promising dining area. Our first spot for the hall was actually occupied by a vein of native copper. Not wishing to damage it with our inexperience, we decided to leave it for the time being, hewing out a second hall across the passageway. Our craftsdwarf, Kib, is setting himself to masonry, producing the chairs, tables, and doors we have missed for so long.
In all, while the days seem to get slowly drearier, we are yet free, and for the most part, alive. My hopes go out for the next season's growth.
10th Malachite, Mid-Summer
This night, I have had a dream. A dream of splendor such that any dwarf would be proud. What I can remember of it was lacking, but one structure truely stood out, a symbol of all contained within - A bridge of obsidian, reaching over the magma pipe and to the distant edge, where a smoothed, engraved entrance hall awaited, travelled by a hundred dwarves. Within, I could see, dwelled the best of our kind, brought together by all the hardships endured without. Any foe brought before us would fall on this bridge, their bodies dropped into the purifying magma below. Truely, it was a place of prosperity, a place of true justice. I took this as a sign - Our quarters, dug out as they are, would not be sufficient for this vision of purity. For now they may suffice, but when the time comes, the true fortress shall be created, deep within the obsidian, housing many. Our efforts would be made petty before it's might and beauty, and all who saw it would know our strength. For now, the bridge has been started - I simply must see the other side, to touch it, to feel it beneath my feet, for indeed, what good is a dream denied?
23rd Malachite, Mid-Summer
Udil, the woodcutter, was outside the fortress gathering wood when he was set upon by a grimeling. The filthy creature was on him before he was aware of it's presence, and it knocked him onto the ground, gouging at his stomach in a sickening fashion as those above the ground looked on from the other side of our makeshift trench. For a moment, I feared another loss was at hand. However, Udil's hand found his steel axe behind him, and with a fast stroke, the grimeling's leg flew away in a bloody arc, coming to ground at the foot of the hill behind them. Udil hacked the grimeling apart in a rage, and for a moment I thought he had gone mad entirely, such was the way he stormed back to our outpost. However, it quickly became apparent that he needed rest for his injuries. He now lies in his room, bandages covering his midsection, where the grimeling's gouging claws and teeth did their worst work. Luckily, we have all the woodworking we will need for a while done, so Udil will feel no pressure to return himself to work. However, this leaves only four able-bodied dwarves available for work. Kib has turned his hand once again, this time to the bridge of obsidian. I had planned it out for him, and he has done well in it's construction. Now, it is a bit over half done, and even in an incomplete state, I can feel the far side's call. As it is, the rest of us have set to work producing goods for the traders... If they ever come.
6th Limestone, Early Autumn
Another season passes, and with it, a bit more of our hopes. Udil and Iden remain bedridden, and our supply of alchohol has run out. Given that we have little more to work with, the prospect is looking grim. Still, we press on, drinking purified water from the pools outside if we must. The water still tastes of the grime it once held, but so far nobody has taken sick to the stuff. My hopes lie on a caravan's arrival, and with that caravan, perhaps some decent drinks. We have made several stone trinkets to trade, made mostly from the abundant obsidian in this place, as I'm told it fetches a high price among the others on this island. Hopefully, we will be able to trade for provisions, and perhaps get the word out about our settlement... We could use some extra hands.
24th Limestone, Early Autumn
A caravan has arrived! While they bear little news about the goings on back home, they do bear food and proper dwarven drink! Such things have been first on the mind of many dwarves lately, and their arrival will be welcomed. As we do not have a skilled trader among us, it will be difficult negotiating a good deal, but I feel confident we can get enough to last until proper brewing can take place in the fortress itself.
----
We've managed to trade away our stock of obsidian wares for some dwarven brew and fresh meat. The variety will be welcome, certainly, and the spare barrels as well. The traders have expressed a great demand of clothing and armor from back home, no doubt in preparation for futher incursions. More interestingly, and perhaps more within our grasp, they have a strong desire for musical instruments. Though I'm not sure what we can do with stone as our only tool, once this is overcome, we could stand to make a decent profit, perhaps become able to import whatever finer things the dwarven kingdom can give...
7th Timber, Late Autumn
With the caravan a while behind us, we've still kept our spirits up. Logem has taken to practicing her engraving, smoothing out the walls of the quarters. Though she likely wouldn't say, I think it's more to comfort Udil and Iden, keeping them company as well as giving them something to look at... Neither one's condition has improved. I'm beginning to think this place has cursed us somehow, that whatever it is rampaging across the lands followed us even here... Or that, perhaps, this is where it had all originated... Though, I would have expected perhaps a bit more menace... Certainly, the walking slugs and snails were a bit perturbing the first time around, but now they're even good for a laugh. All the same, I'm beginning to regret bringing us here to this gods-forsaken land.
1st Moonstone, Early Winter
Winter is at last upon us. We've created a rouch obsidian wall within our trench, as an extra deterrent, and have moved the Trade Depot within it's confines. In more optimistic news, Udil has made a complete recovery, and is chopping away at trees as I write. Iden, while still bedridden, has regained most of the feeling in her right hand, and can eat properly now. Her neck is still bothering her a bit, though, and her other arm remains as it is. Still, despite winter's encraoching cold, we've felt a bit more hope coming into this season.
21st Opal, Mid-Winter
I've taken to engraving with Logem lately... She's such a nice person, if you get to know her...
1st Granite, Early Spring, 1002
I've decided to pass leadership on to someone else. Who, I'm not sure... But I am sure in my dreams, that it is not my time yet to lead... I only hope I've done more good than harm. If you wish to find me, reader, look to the mechanic's workbench, or else follow the slow, rythmic sound of abrasive stone being chipped away to smoothness...
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Topic: A.D.A.B.; The Succession Wars {crash2455 wins by default} (Read 6279 times)