Update for Spring:
Late Winter / Early Spring... I think
I've been traveling for about a month now. King Litast sent me off to some piss of an outpost to "whip it up into shape". Whatever. Apparently a year or two ago, not exactly clear, a group of 7 dwarves set out into the wilderness and created some place called "Grizzlyoar" (lovely name) and from reports we've heard, the last guy in charge made a complete mess of things. I'm hungry, haven't had a proper meal in weeks, and am wondering what I did to piss off the King so much for him to send me out here. I thought he liked my plans for his new throne room, even the part with the never ending kobold crusher.
Later Winter... I hope
Getting even colder, nights are very long now. I am in sight of the mountain that is where this outpost supposedly lies, but I don't see any sign of it anywhere. Will look around in the morning to see what I can find.
Early Spring, I think
I found the entrance (and I use the term lightly) to the fortress. There are workshops
outside. Etur Dammit it all! What the hell have these lot been doing lately? A flustered looking dwarf came running out of the fortress, handed me the keys to the offices, then made a mad dash for the horizon. What the hell was going on here? My stomach grumbled, and I needed something to eat.
Not Quite as Early Spring, I'm sure.
Days are starting to get longer, so I think we're officially in spring now. I've completed my inspection of the fortress, and am in shock. This place is a complete mess. The area that should be the farms is flooded with water, half the workshops are above ground, housing is pretty decent, but I think it is rather too early to be focusing on that. And... AND!!! Somebody has been turning raw magnetite into Mugs! MUGS!!!! Oh and our stocks? Somebody rather gleefully put a bunch of question marks through the books. Lovely.
I call a meeting of all 7 of the dwarves who were supposed to turn this place into a friggin beacon of hope and dwarven might, and try to sort out this mess. I tell Mr. Fortune to stop mucking about with fishing and butchering and get our books into order. I send the two dwarves holding picks down to the 'farms' and make a large area for the water to spread out. The rest, I told to make themselves useful, round up some cats or something and make us some meat, or start moving rocks around. I didn't care.
New area to dig out:
Next day
I am getting very hungry. Haven't eaten in a while, and when I went to look for the kitchens I got lost. Still haven't been able to find anything to eat in a while. Mr. Fortune stopped in my office and cheerily told me we only have six bits of plant, and 40 drinks of alcohol. I nearly threw my paperweight at him.
Mid-Early Spring... I think
Hungry... haven't eaten in a while, the bastards got to the plants before I could. I'm wondering what dwarf meat tastes like.
Late-Mid-Early Spring
Hungry... still... haven't eaten in a month... God what is it!? Elves? Can we eat elves?
1st Slate, 39
The Elves have arrived, and they have a few bits of something that's green and might be edible. Mr. Fortune rounded up some of the magnetite mugs *gumble* and traded it for food. The elves also knew what day of the bloody year it was, so I was able to finally get a date in my journal. Thank Etur for that! I quickly grabbed one of the bits of plant and ran for my room, before one of the other grubby mongrels gets a hold of it. We also got a couple 'pets' from the elves, and Mr. Fortune had a hard time keeping a straight face when he promised to 'take good care of them'.
2nd Slate, 39
Thief! Bob Honda discovered a kobold lurking outside the fortress. Then proceeded to rip the kobold limb from limb. Still hungry... Elf food is not very satisfying... I wonder how kobold meat tastes...
25th Slate, 39
The water in the 'someday might be farms' is starting to evaporate... finally. Now we might actually have some food to feed the 7 of us. I'm glad there's no more mouths to worry about... CRAP!
27th Slate, 39
I am in shock. 22 Dwarfs. What the hell are we going to do with 22 Dwarfs!?!? There's too many! TOO MANY! Why the hell would they send 22 dwarfs to us from the mountain home when we don't even have a farm yet? Crap! crap! crap!
Okay, calm down, I'll put them to work moving rocks around, nobody needs to know we don't have enough food to last a month... right? right? Note to self: Put a stash of food in my room that nobody can see.
28th Slate, 39
I had a meeting with the new arrivals today. 20 adults, 2 children. Children!?!? CHILDREN!?!? Who brings a child to a new fortress with no food? Getting hungry... wonder how much meat... no. No.
Where was I? Right. I talked over things with the new arrivals. I told them, "I don't care what your profession was before, from now on you're all to be known as working stiffs! Get to work moving crap around, and you'll also help farming. Any questions?"
A lone ranger in the croud pointed his crossbow at me and said, "I have a question."
"Right, uh.... you can go do hunting, sure yeah, bring us back lots of meat."
And with that I set them to work removing stone from the farming area and the hopefully soon to be stocked dining hall.
1st Hematite, 39
Summer has arrived. Thank the gods the water has cleared, and the lads have gotten seeds planted in the farm. Just a little while longer and we'll have a steady supply of plump helmets. Mmmm... Plump helmets, just like mom used to make.
Oh god what's wrong with me!?!? ME drooling over those nasty bits of fungus? This is a dire situation and we must get more food!