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http://www.walkingshadows.org/cmcguigan/dfwar/dWARves205.zipMagua's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad DayYear1st Granite, 304: So there I was, minding my own business, making doors. Did I want to make doors? I did not. I liked to draw (and drink, but who doesn't like to drink?). So what was I doing making doors, you may ask, if I preferred to draw? Following orders, that's what. And where did following orders get me? Making doors. Told you that already.
Or, at least, I was making doors before Cazador came up to me, said, "Hey, I'm going to get a drink, can you run things for me while I'm gone?" I figured "a drink" meant a day, perhaps three. Little did I know how much Cazador (or, for that matter, everyone else) could drink when they put their minds to it. As it turns out, it can last almost an entire year.
So I take a look around, something I hadn't done a lot since I'd been ordered to make some doors (not that I'm bitter about that). Everyone's happy, that's good. We've got a lot of food, that's good. We're almost out of booze...that's
terrible.
"Hey!" I shout. "Let's get some booze going!"
No one listens. Everyone's apparently very, very, very busy doing their things. Making chairs. Making tables. Making doors (oh, wait, that's me). Cutting down *every* *single* *tree* within a day's walk of the towers. The last one is particularly troublesome, because every time one of those trees gets cut down, someone has to walk...all...the...way...out...to get it. In addition, there's a whole graveyard of orc bodies out there, and many of our dwarves looting them. End result: No one makes booze. That's
horrible.
Whatever, I'll deal with that later. I see we have a drawbridge protecting our single entrance, and after a bit of searching, I find the lever that controls it. That's good.
As my first edict, I draft the fisherdwarves and the jeweler into the military to begin training. I also designate a wall to be built around a section of the river, so that we will at some point have a secure source of power.
8th Granite: Amost Shorastmorul, Peasant, has given birth to a baby boy! Our first child born in the fort.
18th Granite: A kobold thief is discovered inside the compound. He's driven off, but a war dog is posted at the entrance to prevent similar incidents in the future. I'm thinking this isn't going to be so bad after all.
26th Granite: Migrants arrive. I take a census of them as they approach:
1 Mason, 1 Soap Maker, 1 Fisherdwarf, 1 Dyer, 1 Potash Maker, 1 Milker, 5 Peasants, 2 Gem Setters, 1 Animal Caretaker, 1 Animal Dissector, 1 Clothier, 1 Cheese Maker, 1 Wood Burner, 1 Woodworker, 1 Craftsdwarf, 2 puppies, 1 cow, and 1 cow calf.
Altogether, this brings us up to 57 dwarves. I look over the fresh blood, trying to figure out which ones I would actually have liked to have shown up. End result: not many of them. The Mason, Dyer, Peasants, Clothier, Wood Burner, and Woodworker are welcomed in (the Craftsdwarf was on the fence, but we already have two legendary craftsdwarves...) The others are all drafted into the military; including the fisherdwarves and jeweler drafted earlier, this brings us up to 13-strong in the military.
Seeing the size of our fort swell, MastaODisasta promoted himself from Expedition Leader to Mayor. Not three minutes after doing this, he loudly mandated that we make a nickel silver armor stand and place it in his room. Blah tries to reason with him that we have no nickel silver, but it falls on deaf ears. Nobles demanding things that can't be supplied. That's
no good.
A jail is demarcated within the tower, since we are large enough to need one now.
1st Felsite: Muthkat Mengmomuz, Clothier, withdraws from society...
10th Felsite: The new river enclosure is down. After surveying the workload of the dwarves, all further logging of trees and all further retrieval of items from the corpses outside is called off. I further instruct the dwarves that refuse from outside can be left to rot where it is -- there's no need to bring it inside.
No sign of the elves, but I'm not really worried about them. My real fear is that the orcs will attack while half of the fort is combing through corpses for a gold tooth or pig tail sock or something.
14th Felsite: Muthkat Mengmomuz reveals his creation: Tadkatdir, a cave spider silk turban. It's not actually half bad.
12th Hematite: The humans arrive, laying siege to our towers with a force of two squads. Our military is dispatched to deal with the menace. Methane Dioxide takes out half of the humans singlehandedly, felling them left and right. Samus, Inod Adilamost, and Thob Koganosram mop up the rest. We suffer absolutely no injuries at all.
14th Hematite: There is still little booze. Being a competent brewer myself, I try to make some from time to time, but I can never find a barrel that's not being used for something else already. I order more barrels to be made. I also order the construction of a tunnel to sit in front of our entrance. When it is complete, we will be able to use it to drown anyone who dares attack us.
17th Hematite: We hold elections, and wisely choose to throw the mandates-constructions-of-materials-we-don't-have MastaOfDisasta out of office in exchange for Blah. A random peasant is appointed to take over Blah's bookkeeping duties, and a new, nicer room is commissioned for Blah. MastaOfDisasta keeps his role as Sheriff.
23rd Hematite: After stepping in dog waste for the forty seventh time, I order the setup of butcher shops, and give the order to slaughter over two thirds of the animals living within our walls.
12th Malachite: Taking only slightly longer than his predecessor to arrive at this decision, Blah demands we make things out of gold. We have no gold. WE ARE A MILITARY OUTPOST. This is
very bad.16th Malachite: While reviewing the military, I found that three of the recruits had wounded spines from their sparring, and were unfit for further service. The former fisherdwarf, soap maker, and gem setter are reassigned to new roles.
Nearly all the rest of the recruits have become legendary in their wrestling abilities. To congratulate them, I give them all hammers. In a spirit of comradeship, I order that all the existing axedwarves use hammers as well, as the hammer is the finest dwarven weapon there is.
1st Galena: The tunnel that I ordered dug has been completed. Orders are given out to make the parts for the pumps that will be needed.
Looking over the apartments, I decide that they should be more consistent, and declare that each one will be furnished in only a specific type of rock. The bottom level shall be furnished in Granite, the middle level in Grabbo, and the top level in Microcline. I further declare that the Microcline level is for military dwarves only, with the sole exception of MastaOfDisasta, who keeps his noble room on the Granite level.
28th Limestone: The dwarven caravan arrives. We offer to our kingdom spoils of war from our victories, peppering it with some musical instruments our legendary craftdwarves have made. In response, our kingdom gives us nearly everything they brought with them. This includes one single bar of gold. We use the gold to make trumpets, and Blah is happy.
The kingdom made some requests, but I didn't bother to write them down. I know they'll be more than happy with more of our spoils next year.
2nd Timber: MastaODisasta, Planter, has been possessed! He claims a Metalsmith's Forge! Oh, why could you not have had a fey or secretive mood?
5th Timber: In record time, MastaODisasta reveals his creation: Gasisasteb Nosimum, Pig Iron greaves!
Blah demands more things made out of gold, of which we have none. We explain to him that we asked for more gold to be sent, but the caravan will not return until next year. Blah is undeterred, and threatens punishment for any who disobey. Things don't look good for our metalcrafter.
13th Moonstone: Orcs siege. What follows over the next few days is
terrible, horrible, no good, very bad.
As before, the military is sent out to meet the threat. The problem immediately shows itself in that there is not one squad of orcs, nor two, but
five. And our military arrives piecemeal. Each member would arrive, hammer two or three orcs with mighty swings of his weapon, and then get dragged down and torn apart by sheer numbers. The carnage was incredible on both sides, and I stared transfixed until I saw MastaOfDisasta go down underneath a pile of orc bodies. He...he did not survive.
19th Moonstone: As the last orc's skull is smashed in, I survey the devastation wrought from the walls of the tower.
All told, we lost ten dwarves during the fighting:
Methane Dioxide, Champion
Goden Udilartob, Wrestler
Thob Kashezdomas, Elite Wrestler
Zuglar Degelidash, Marksdwarf
Tekkud Dishmabastesh, Woodcutter
Asmel Zefonfikod, Furnace Operator
Atir Geshudbab, Champion
Thob Kogangan Gegetzon, Champion
Datan Ulingalath, Champion
Nil Gusgashthikut, Dyer
It seems almost trivial to add that Samus broke a hand in the fighting.
I order coffins made, for the first time in the fort. As they are completed, they are installed near a strange pit to the south of our towers. I had paid it no mind earlier, figuring it for some arena or death pit, but it seemed an appropriate place for our heroes to rest their eternal rest. I inscribed the epitaph into each coffin personally.
After some consideration, Samus is named as the new Sheriff, and is given MastaOfDisasta's old room. I try to be compassionate, and engrave several pictures showing MastaOfDisasta throughout the room...but also ended up engraving several of orcs slaying dwarves. I have no idea what came over me. I feel
terrible, horrible, no good, very bad, and so I set out to tell someone that I need a drink, and will they mind taking over things while I'm gone?
(OOC notes:
1. I decided it'd be best to let MastaOfDisasta pick his next dwarf.
2. Count the number of orc squads *before* sending out the military.
3. Two of the champions have spinal injuries, and won't train. Samus has a yellow hand injury, and another dwarf has a yellow non-spinal injury. It is highly likely that more military will be needed.
4. The naming of a Sheriff and creation of the jail were to add Fun. Blah does have an unfulfillable mandate that will end soon. Be advised.
5. The entrance tunnel can be used as a drowning chamber, if such suits your fancy. The bridges are all wired up/in the process of being wired up. Power needs to be supplied to the pumps, and some method to send water in/get it out hasn't been designed yet.
6. Due to a penchant for wanting things made out of stone to match, Microcline is the only stone enabled for building with.
7. There is a wealth of iron outside the towers, but it is currently all forbidden.
8. The industries need work. There was a chronic shortage of barrels, and everytime some were made, they'd be used for something else, leading to a chronic shortage of booze (and it goes *fast*). With the exception of the butcher/tanner/leather industry on the roof of the second tower, none of the industries are particularly efficiently placed.)