Chapter 2: The Fortification of an OutpostThe Journal of:
Marzen IgamsibrekIt's been a year since I struck the earth here in Caveravens with my fellow miner, Urist McFuzzy. Since that beginning Spring in 736, I have followed my friend, Snook's, orders. But now Snook has retired from his position of Fortress Designer, and nominated me to be his successor. Of course, I accepted.
The fort is doing relatively well so far, but there is still much to be done. Snook gave me a list of ideas to expand on for my year as "boss". These ideas include:
1) A Hospital
2) Better Defense.
3) Refuse pile.
4) Metal Industry
Along with these ideas, which I shall definetly work on, I will also:
5) Create a well (relatively low priority, no one's complaining of it.)
6) Pig tail farms (low priority as well)
7) Create a Militia (much higher priority)
Right now, what I plan on doing is digging out the hospital and refuse, then building up defense with walls and traps and such. Besides, traps are my specialty.
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Spring, Year 737---
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1st Granite, 737~
First thing I went ahead and did was re-locate the butcher shop, and designate an area to dig out for our refuse pile. Considering how the butcher creates a bloody LOT of refuse, I thought it was better he'd be close to it. As for the design, I kind of shaped it after an axe... But then again I never really wanted to get near Snook's bloody axe long enough to see what one looked like.
It's small right now, because we don't have a bunch of refuse output. Future leaders may expand as they see fit, there's plenty of room.
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2nd Granite, 737~
You know, I've been wondering why some of my collegues have been complaining of lack of sleep. Now I know: That bloody idiot Snook didn't designate any! He actually DID set up a bunch of rooms, but he didn't give some to people. Now for all I know, he might have been working on it, and ran out of time or something, but I can't really see that when he spends all his time shining up his own room. I don't care what the reason is, I am giving these poor dwarfs some sleeping quarters NOW.
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4th Granite, 737~
Me and Urist have finished up the refuse pile, and I've designated some stone to be dumped outside of the fortress, just to free up enough space for now. I've decided that now is a better time than never to create the hospital.
We'll need to put in the required tables, beds, and other needed equipment soon for the hospital to be fully operational.
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13th Granite, 737~
I've noticed a lot of nothing going on when it comes to masonry. Snook is too busy working on his bloody room to make those doors, tables, and other things for the hospital. Urist isn't doing anything, and I'm almost done with my break; I'll set us to work on some make-shift masonry projects until Snook is done doing whatever the hell he wants.
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15th Granite, 737~
Doc. Z finally started taking a look at Kipi's hand today. Kipi's a busy guy, he needs that hand to work. Armok knows what'll happen if we can't fix him up.
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17th Granite, 737~
I dunno why it took two days to realize the dude needed a few things. Apparently we need to suture the wound, and a whole bunch of other doctory stuff I don't understand. I won't question him; after all, he doesn't question my methods of making levers.
Unfortunately, we have NO cloth to make the things we need. So that means that the new farm is going to need to be made now, to better save on time.
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25th Granite, 737~
Doc keeps yelling at me to make some thread so he can fix Kipi's bones, and I keep telling him to shut up and wait a few months. I've designated the farm, and Urist is currently digging it out as I work on these friggin' doors. Oh, and Snook locked himself in his office for a little bit, working on the fortress records.
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12th Slate, 737~
Great, some Migrants have arrived. I don't have a bunch of rooms set up perfectly yet, but we should be fine for now. All in all, 15 poor saps. It was mostly a poor load (So many bloody animal trainers! Can you say "militia"?), but we did get a few nice ones (Thank Armok, a mason!).
I also changed around some stockpiles, getting rid of our armor and weapons stockpile. I'll set up a new one by the barracks after a short while. In place of the old stockpiles, I put in one for metal ores (mostly because the farm I just set up had a LOT of magnetite). These new immigrants should be good haulers for now, because there is a LOT to haul.
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22nd Slate, 737~
Alright, I'm opening the floodgate now to let in a little bit of water so we can set up the farm... finally. And by now I've met all of the immigrants, and set them into their different jobs.
There's one that goes by the name of "Old One-Eye". He's a blacksmith who'll help out Urist with making the weapons for our new militia. Then there's one called... Evil of all things. He came in begging to be in our militia, so of course I put him in there. He is quite skilled in pikes, bows, and armor. And finally, Tux the engraver. He specializes in everything stone, not just engraving, but his work will be a major help here.
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9th Felsite, 737~
Now, the farm has been done for a while now, but I finally found the time to draw up what it looks like. We'll have to wait until Summer for pigtails to be in season. Poor Kipi will have to wait till then.
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14th Felsite, 737~
Me and Urist have been digging out the new meeting hall. It's set above one of the waterways, so we can put in a well. Unfortunately, our digging has been interupted by.... Elves. Hopefully they have something worthwhile, but I doubt this greatly.
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15th Felsite, 737~
Of course, Fath HAD to go mental on us. He was one of the recruits, too. Armok knows where he's going now.... Hmm, apparently it's the craftman's workshop. Hopefully he'll make something interesting, cause he's yelling for a bunch of crap we need.
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17th Felsite, 737~
Okay... I have NO idea what happened, but as soon as the elves got close, all of the civilians who were busy bumbling around charged out and took the thread right from the elf's packs and put them in the hospital. They didn't even seem to care! I mean, I should be complaining, this'll help out ol' Kipi and definetely bring up our cloth production. I can make the ropes I need, and it'll all be fine... Now I feel like my farm was a waste.
Best thing was we didn't have to pay them.
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28th Felsite, 737~
I swear to Armok, the elfs better surprise me more often! The caravan gave SO much good stuff this year! Have you ever heard of sunshine berries? I'm sure you have. I'll need to set up a greenhouse.
We also got some beer and barrels, so we're practically overflowing with booze now. Not that I mind, you know. Also, some extra thread and cloth for outside of the hospital.
Oh, and that Fath needed some body parts so I killed a horse. He wasn't doing anything anyway... And it's been AGES since I last tasted meat!
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Summer, 737---
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2nd Hematite, 737~
Doc finally fixed up Kipi's hand. It's no longer "broken", but now simply "inhibited"... Whatever what means. I'm building a bunch of doors for the residential area we're digging out downstairs. I ordered our master carpenter to make some beds. And while we're doing that, I ordered our new mechanic to create our traction benches for the hospital; the last things to go in. His name is "Alxnotorious". Normally I'd to the mechanic-work myself, but I've got doors to make.
Fath's finished whatever the hell it is he's been working on. "The Guard of Routing", a palm amulet... What? Not only is the name stupid, but he won't allow us to sell it! Bah, I just told him to throw it in the stockpile with the other trinkets.
Also, the hippies refuse to leave... So I've decided to go over what they're selling one last time to see if I missed anything. I've gotten some sand because, well, we could use the bags. Also, I've bought a black bear... I don't really know why, but we could use the "exported wealth", as our bookkeeper calls it. I'll need to work on a kennel.
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17th Hematite, 737~
Kipi's woken up after an entire season, and is now finally working. Lucky bastard got a vacation.
Anyway, I've decided to get started on producing some steel; we've got more than enough coke, which I'll need to work on putting into bins, and DEFINETELY more than enough iron ore laying about. This place is full of it, man. Coal is everywhere, iron ore is everywhere, and marble. It's perfect for steel.
Speaking of steel for weapons and such, I appointed Alath the trader as our Arsenal Dwarf. Seeing as how we're gonna need to give the folks more weapons and armor, we need one of these. His office and housing is going to be in the new set of rooms we're mining out.
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14th Malachite, 737~
It's been a while since I've written in this journal, but we've been kinda busy working on some new projects. First off, we've made a kennel, and released any animals we currently had in cages to free up said cages (basically only the bear)
/spoiler]
Also, we've been working on the defense of the gate, cause Armok knows how long we'll last like this. I don't even remember which lever is the one to close the gate (note to self, ask Snook that)! I carved out some areas for future archers to sit behind, after the carve out fortifications. Also, that weird square structure there? It'll be a spire that'll be accessed from underground. Archers will stand up there once it's completed.
[spoiler]
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6th Galena, 737~
Steel manufacturing is at an all time high due to the new smelter we've built, and we're about ready to start on creating armor for our... three soldiers. I also need to create the archery range for our two archers. And, well, give them weapons and ammo.
Oh, also, I've started working on the green house. It's built next to the newer farm. I have yet to set up the lever to it, or even set up the flooring above it to protect us from sneaky thieves and the like, but oh well.
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18th Galena, 737~
The Humans showed up, so I ordered some stuff to be sent to the caravan. The farm's being set up right now, so we'll soon have some of the most heavenly beer!
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23rd Galena, 737~
From the Humans I bought quite a lot of items; they brought some wood to replenish our dwindling stocks, and some beer. Armok knows we can't have enough of THAT, now can we? Also got some raw glass, some shields, a pick for one of the immigrants who knows how to mine, and a bunch of meat. Unfortunately, they had no metals or anything. I'll be sure to ask for that for next year.
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26th Galena, 737~
An ambush! Curse them!
The goblins had been sneaking about outside, and were nearing our fortress. By a stroke of luck, a foolish kobold had been caught and was running away from the human guards. Two chased after it, and in turn found the goblins. They're fighting now. I'll position our forces by the gate.
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29th Galena, 737~
...Those humans scare me. It was two versus, like, eight. Not ONE human took a single scratch, but every single goblin was struck down. I probably should have sent out those dwarves for some practice, but oh well. Better safe then sorry.
I ordered the idlers to go and take whatever metal items they could from the dead goblins. We'll melt it up later to make copper stuff.
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Autumn, 737---
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2nd Limestone, 737~
Well this is embarrasing. One of my farmers today told me that sunberries and the like cannot be grown on rock, and MUST be grown on dirt. I did not actually know this, so I shall now need to rework my ideas for the aboveground farm. I already have one idea...
As for the failed attempt, it shall sit there until we can come up with something to do about it.
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5th Limestone, 737~
Ustuth the armorer has been possessed, and claimed a metalsmith's forge. I've heard stories of metalworkers being possessed and creating wonderous items. I wonder what he shall make...
Well, apparently he grabbed one steel bar and got to work. So it won't be long now.
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10th Limestone, 737~
Out of all the things he could of made... he made a boot. A super epic steel low boot. Not a PAIR, but one. Might be why he only needed one bloody bar.
Construction on the NEXT attempt at an above ground farm is under-way.
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3rd sandstone, 737~
I'm taking a chance at safety here by opening another entrance to the outside world. It's a large one, but I'm posting guards there until we can finish walling the area off. I'll draw up sketches of it when it's done, though it may be a while.
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15th sandstone, 737~
The outside farm is finished, and the sunberries ready to be planted. We can eventually grow more outside plants, but for now all I really care about are sunberries. Mmmm, sunshine beer.
Here are some sketches. We still need to put in the roofing, but it's protected from most enemies right now.
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16th Timber, 737~
Ah, another caravan! Hopefully our Dwarven brothers have something useful.
As for any other news, I've ordered our engravers to start... Well, engraving. They've got nothing better to do, so now they're working on engraving all the bedrooms. Speaking of which, we've built some new ones down there for future immigration problems.
And strangely enough, we've run out of coal to turn into coke. Oh well, 150 coke is good enough for now. We'll dig out more coal later.
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20th Timber, 737~
Man, these guys love their blood. They must have had, like, 10 barrels of the stuff. I mean, I appreciate their devotion to Armok and all, but I have no real NEED for that at this moment.
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21st Timber, 737~
I think the Goblins are getting lazy. They sent ONE maceman in. He managed to sneak all the way to the gate, but then our guard dog caught him. Later, three more appeared.
Oof, that poor dog. He's never gonna WALK again, let alone guard anything. If he doesn't bleed to death, which I doubt. Her damn child is now at her side, pawing at the dying animal. It's oh so sad.
As for the goblins, they were easily dispelled. We caught one in a cage trap, killed another, and the last two fled. Whoo, more stuff to smelt.
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26th Timber, 737~
The liason and Snook met today to go over what they would import and export for next year. I told Snook to order some booze, wood, sand, metals, and barrels.
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27th Timber, 737~
Oh you've GOT to be kidding me. MORE Goblins? As if that poor dog hasn't had enough pain. I sent out the soldiers to take care of them. We'll see how it goes.
...Hahahah, oh man that ended hilariously. He instantly ran towards one of the puppies, probably wanting to bash its poor skull in... and ran right into a cage trap. He was the only goblin, too! I called off the soldiers. No clue what I'm gonna do with these two goblins I caught, though.
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28th Timber, 737~
Alright, finally the trade agreement is finished. For future reference, they want drinks, powder, and earrings the most. They'll also pay quite a bit for splints, musical instruments, pearlash, toys, seeds, and then cheeses.
Oh, and Kobold activity has been on the rise. They're really throwing off productivity, let me tell you. If I find another dwarf running in panic from a friggin' KOBOLD that's running away from HIM, I'm going to murder something.
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Autumn, 737---
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1st Moonstone, 737~
I unassigned the dog from the chain in an attempt to get her away from any danger. I just wish Doc would friggin' diagnose and perform surgery on her, but the bastard is too busy PARTYING.
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10th Moonstone, 737~
Well well, the first important thing in a while. Sort of. Lokum, the "Lyer/Cutter" as we call him, has been possessed, and has taken a Jeweler's Workshop.
Unfortunately, he is crying for rough jems. I don't know WHY I ordered all of our gems to be cut, but it was a bad idea. Oh well, cutting out an exposed wall with a gem in it.
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16th Moonstone, 737~
Lokum's finished with "Skinpull the Pastime of Courage. Personally, I like the Steel Low Boot's name better: "Shipfang". But anyway, Skinpull is a perfect brown jasper. It's actually only worth about 4800, so compared to Shipfang's 68400, it's not that great of an artifact.
Anyway, onto news. All we've been doing is building the roof to the greenhouse outside, and engraving the rooms downstairs. Not much else TO do nowadays. Oh, and I ordered the makings of some lavish meals. I dunno about the others, but I'm sick of eating just some bloody mushrooms.
Then again, the alternative isn't much better.
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12th Opal, 737~
I swear to Armok, those of us who originally came here are the LAZIEST. Either we're "storing item in a stockpile" or throwing a bloody party. I swear, if I find another dwarf-
...Oh wait, I was invited to this one? Alright, I'll finish this journal later. Party, whoo!
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23th Opal, 737~
I've decided to get off my lazy butt and design the jail, cause "Mchammerdwarf" has been yelling at me. I've also designed it rather differently than most, because of a few reasons. 1) We've got more than enough room 2) I'm feeling mean!
No large, open jail for these folks. If they do something stupid, they get solitary confinement.
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14th Obsidian, 737~
My soldiers haven't had much Fun in a while, so I sent them to go kill some Gorillas that were wandering around outside. Mmm, Gorrila.
You know, some might call me heartless, but little is funnier then seeing an axe-wielding maniac chase down some monkeys.
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16th Obsidian, 737~
The carnage is done. I'd say we managed to kill six, and two ran into our cage traps; can you say WAR GORILLA?
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30th Obsidian, 737~
The Wet Season is about to arrive, so it looks like my job here is done. At least, as overseer.
I'm going to give up my position to a new dwarf; one capable of running our fair outpost properly. I do believe I have at least HELPED the outpost grow in the right direction. As for our future overseer, I have a few things to advise you to do;
Militia: I only got one set of immigrants, so I didn't manage to bring up the militia as I had hoped; we need a stronger military if we hope to survive.
Pretty the place up: The engravers are slow, I'll give them that. Make the place all engraved, and not as ugly.
Caves: A plethora of untapped resources lies just below us! When ready, try and unearth it.
Here's the current status of the fort:
And here is a detailed map of the fort:
And with that, this is my last journal. I'll become a "Retired Overseer", like like Snook. Good luck, future leader. We're counting on you, now.
-END OF JOURNAL-
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Topic: Caveravens: Year 3: Fall, 737: Fall to your DOOM (Read 24628 times)