Emmanovi gathered the dwarves of Equalvoice in the smoothed-out meeting hall, looking at each of them squarely in the eye.
Lav opened the meeting session, nodding at Emmanovi to begin his report. Looking down at some sheets of wax and chalk, Emmanovi spoke with a calculated and military air, his list of actions past and events happened almost bullet-like in its delivery.
"Early this Spring, as we know, the Elves arrived to trade. As much as I hate dealing with the incessant pansies, we did need to see what they had to offer, trade-wise."
"Well, glancing through their wares, I was somewhat offended. Apparently they expect us dwarves to wear socks as large as our legs, shirts that reach the floor and caps we could hide in. Despicable." At this point, he shook his head in disgust. "There were some useful things, though. A couple of wooden swords, for sparring; some assorted plants; and a spare bag we can use for seeds."
"I gave them those lay pewter goblets Lav made before in return for these items. Not a bad deal, I should say."
"Anyway, one item on the agenda for this Spring was some exploratory mining. Now, we've had some great success with this, even though we didn't fulfill the quota of one drill every regmabit. Firstly, we found ourselves picking through hematite. Iron, stout dwarves! We've struck grey gold."
"Next discovery was in the North-West. The prospectors hinted that there might be some of Armok's precious blood in the earth around here, and they were certainly correct! We've found a whole vein. There are some nasty critters in it, so I'm ordering all dwarves to keep away for now."
"Next came two great finds in quick succession. First, we chipped away a little bit of native aluminum. This should make for some valuable crafts, eh Lav? Then almost immediately afterwards, dearest Grail was bashing her way through the rock, only to find herself nearly falling down a cavernous maw of a hole. Thank Armok, thank Orshar, thank Kebul... she didn't fall to what would have been certain death. However, we now have access to what seems to be some sort of pit down to the very bowels of the earth. Critters galore for the slaughter! I sense a military training exercise here." His eyes glittered.
"In other matters..." he continued, referring to his notes, "some new dwarves have decided to make their way to our little Democracy. For now, as prospective citizens, they shall be known as Sarvesh Therlethudil, engraver; Kûbuk Fotthorreg, farmer; and Mistêm Astthabum, dyer. They have been briefed, and have already been helping us complete some of our tasks. Let them be welcomed."
Shuffling his documents, Emmanovi looked up and paused for a second, pulling out a sheet of wax with a number of objectives written upon it.
1. Exploratory mining on the entire map (at least one shaft per map region).
2. Completion of perimeter by digging through rock in the north-east and south-west sections.
3. Set up barracks and archery range (in tower).
4. Second level for outer fortifications, including a causeway (lower priority).
5. Expand tower upwards (lower priority).
6. Construction of a siege workshop."Item one: success, though objective incomplete.
Item two: near completion. South-west currently inaccessible from outside. North-east will be finished within a few days, if we get to work finishing it.
Item three: complete, though we could do with more beds.
Item four: not begun. We lacked the dwarfpower this season.
Item five: the floor for the next level has been finished, doubly serving as a roof for now. Bridges and levers are being installed for access to catwalks, when they are created.
Item six: complete."
Emmanovi clutched one large sheet, upon which was written several figures and readings detailing the current status of the fortress. This he pushed to the centre of the room for all to see. With a passing grumble about the lack of seating and tables, he nodded to Lav to continue the meeting.
{Would we like a save file, or an uploaded map file, both, or neither? I appreciate that my screenshots don't give the best overview, and I'm not sure what people would like.}