5th TimberAutumn is almost over, and winter is fast approaching. I've put my secret project onto the afterburners, it
will be completed in time.
Fortunately, despite my secret project, the fortress is running perfectly, although the glacier is littered with the bones of the dead, and no-one seems interested in picking them up and dragging them to the bone stockpile. Oddly there also appears to be dozens of large leg bones, almost like the bones of a sasquatch, somewhat disquieting, but probably not an issue.
6th TimberWe just struck bituminious coal and limonite in the irrigation shaft for my secret project. What irony.
17th TimberI wish i knew...
19th TimberLiason chased me down here into the bowels of my secret project to talk to me about some nonsense, i'm seriously considering trapping him with me, but that's neither here nor there.
The previous agreement was apparantly for a metric butt-ton of metals, gems and wood, so what the hell, i'll go with that. I also told him to bring lots of meat, drink, coal, lignite and barrels. Can never have enough of those. He responded that the Mountainhalls would really like some Large Gems, Rings, Bracelets and Toys. Whatever.
20th TimberLiason has buggered off, i've also been informed that the irrigation chamber is proceeding as planned and water from the aquifer is pouring down into the bowels of the fortress. Marvellous.
24th TimberSHIT.I've pulled the wrong lever and prematurely set off my secret plans before they reached fruitation, trapping myself and three engravers in the bowels of the earth. Fortunately we have food and drink, unfortunately we don't have anyone who knows how to grow food and brew drink, worse still i have no idea if the miners will realise what the rumble meant and come down to free us, after all, i've kept this entire operation a secret.
Goddamnit all to hell.
25th Timber (The handwriting is noticably different from the previous entries.)
This is Tekkud Koganmat, Mayor of Usanlolor, or Murderletter in the
common speech. Our previous leader, Neruz, has vanished. Just yesterday there was a massive cave-in deep in the bowels of the earth where he claimed he was constructing a 'secret project', the miners descended the stairs and found nothing but a wall of solid rock to greet them. It is suspected that Neruz and three of our best engravers were trapped under the falling rock and crushed.
As vital as his weaponsmithing skills were, and as sorry as we will be to hear that our great engraver Stakud Allycastle died with him, i cannot help but feel pleased at Neruz's passing. He was an arrogant fool and i was growing quite tired of his 'secret projects', so i cannot say i will be sorry to miss him. Good riddence.
26th Timber (The handwriting is back to normal).
Write me off will you, you two-timing bastard? HAH. My grand secret project failed! It failed so spectaculary that a path was left to escape back to the world above. There's probably no time to fix my error, but i do not think i care anymore. At least i'm not trapped down in that hellhole with Stakud.
27th TimberSythun just removed the only stairs going up from my secret project back to the main fortress. I will throw him in the aquifer. I've also been informed that the two-timing bastard of a mayor has mandated we make 3 crowns. If only we had some magma, i could make him 3 crowns out of that. Ah, such is life.
2nd MoonstoneAh, winter at last. Soon i shall be able to retire to my hidden abode and never set eye on this place again. A pair of snatchers were spotted inside the fortress while our champions were missing, i don't know where they were, and i don't
really care either. Mestthos turned up in time and sent both corpses hurtling through the air across the glacier, so it's of no real consequence.
18th MoonstoneSo i've just been informed that this glacier has Skeletal Sasquatches, and that a Goblin Ambush, led by an
Elf, has run into one of these monstrosities and dismembered it.
That's it, i'm leaving, goodbye.
22nd MoonstoneDisaster, the bowgoblins in the ambush caught Mestthos out in the open and shot him down, his wounds are grevious, his heart, shoulder, spine and both lungs were somehow all pierced by a single arrow, if he survives, he will never recover.
Another dwarf by the name of KaziArmada was caught outside and shot in the leg while crossing the bridge, i had no recourse but to raise the bridge and send his poor body hurtling through the air to splat into the unforgiving ice. As soon as i work out how to get rid of those bowgoblins, i'll give him a proper burial.
(Sorry Kazi, i thought i'd set up a foolproof ambush for the Bowgoblins, but then you ran out there and got yourself shot up and Mestthos charged out to save you and got
himself shot up.
25th MoonstoneCrap.
4th OpalI sent some dwarfs up top with crossbows to shoot at the goblins milling around outside the fortress entrance. This proved remarkably effective, i must congratulate myself on the construction of the overlooking fortifications.
5th OpalToday is a day of mourning, today, a great dwarf, nay, a
ledgendary dwarf, has fallen. Mestthos bled out in his bed today, his incredible toughness finally succumbing to the incredible loss of blood. I have elected to bury him in my secret vault, he deserves that much.
8th OpalWith the first goblin ambush shot down, i ordered the bridge to be lowered, completely forgetting that this would erase KaziArmada's body from existance. I feel rather silly now.
Almost immediately four more Goblins lept out from the snow and were promptly shot down, interestingly they too were led by an Elf who managed to make it all the way into the fortress before being strangled by Erith in a fit of rage. These are very strange Goblins, to be led by
Elves shows just how weak and pathetic they are.
10th OpalIn a bid to draw our attention away from Mestthos's death, Domas, one of the Rangers, got himself eaten by a wolf. We all had a good laugh about that.
13th OpalAnother ambush! Will they never end? At least this one is not led by an Elf.
Wait, yes it is. Good lord.
Oh well, the Goblins fell before a hail of crossbow bolts, no more mr nice fortress. Now get out there boys, there's bodies to loot!
5th ObsidianIt is time to begin my final preparations for leaving this place. The entrance remains littered with goblin and elf corpses, bones and arrows, clothes and armor, but that doesn't worry me. Let the next poor sob in charge clean it up, and wonder where i have vanished to. Hahahahahahaha.
I leave this book with notes as to the construction of my magnificent abode, but not, of course, it's location. Hopefully i shall forever remain hiding in the walls, lost and unknown. Perhaps some will even have nightmares about me.
26th ObsidianThis is Mayor Tekkud Koganmat. I think Neruz really did it this time, a great rumbling shook the fortress and the miners once again discovered naught but solid rock to block their path. Neruz, one of the immigrant farmers and two peasants are missing, presumed crushed beneath his insane drive for glory. The designs located in this book are
obscene, rediculous, there is no way he could have constructed such a thing in secret.
Some of the Dwarves say they can hear voices coming from the walls, it is but worthless superstition, fortunately after the previous accident i sent off to the Mountainholm for a new leader, i suspected Neruz's crazy ideas would get him killed, and it seems they have. Hopefully his replacement will arrive soon...
Here's the Z screen for the fort as i left it. As you can see we're running disasterously low on food, but you can probably cook some of the booze to make up for that.
It is of course entirely up to the next player as to what to do with Neruz's secret lair, it will probably require the occasional 'brew' order so that everyone down there doesn't die of thirst, but otherwise it should be fine if left to it's own devices. Your call.