Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[SethCreiyd]

Thanks for playing, Argembarger.  The reigns of the fortress pass to Mzbundifund.

[Mzbundifund]

Downloading the save now, hopefully we'll have something up sometime tomorrow.

[Flyingdwarf]

That was just amazing, I loved the end of your reign too, very funny, what with being put back into a fort after leading this one to success.

[Mzbundifund]

---Prologue---

Mzbundifund:  Major 1st class, 55th Mountainhome sword regiment, Field Medic, Miner 3rd class.

To:  Professor Olon Lashbolts: Prime Medical Review Board of The Ordered Hatchets

Professor,

I trust you are well.  Yes the reports are true, the humans have assaulted us.  Overseer Argembarger has fallen, and the council has governed Bellwaxed the rest of the year in his absence.  I have been too busy in the operating theater to attend the meetings, but it seems they have not been so negligent of me.  Yes professor, I am the new overseer.  I have left chief surgeon Shorast in charge of the hospital while I made my first true inspection of the fort.  Professor I confess I am utterly at a loss.



The council must have some petty vendetta against the brewer's guild, and as a result for there is not even two rations of alcohol per dwarf in Bellwaxed!  At even conservative consumption rates we will not have enough to even last the spring.  Furthermore there appears to be only one still in the entire fort.  This must be rectified.



It appears the council is attempting to govern beyond their allotted time, leaving hundreds of work orders for the craftsdwarfs to fulfill.  You will notice dozens of these orders are for worthless stone furniture, even though the fort has not a single mason more skilled than adequate.  In fact professor, I myself am the fortresses most skilled mason, and have not even been licensed to work the masonry workshops!  Thank Ilon the Overseer gets a veto.  I have cancelled most of these work orders.



The dining hall is suitably impressive, although you will notice the grossly unhygenic surroundings.



The humans' defeat has left us with a surplus of large bronze equipment.  The council has rightly ordered these be melted, but we have but a single smelter, and it has not even been opened for equipment melting.  I have seen the bottom of the mineshafts and we have not found magma yet.  Perhaps this will be a priority.



We have a newly dug bedroom layer, but in several places it has breached the cavern perimeter, allowing giant bats or cave swallows to enter at their whim.  In fact there are many such undefended breaches throughout the fort.  I have ordered these entrances walled over.

Professor I am almost overwhelmed with the amount to do.  I will write you again when the work has begun.

-Mzbundifund: Fortress surgeon, 1st of Granite, year 525

[Put]

Seal them up? What about the fantastic view? The cool cavern breeze?

[xczxc]

Nice Bell argembarger. Is that a refuse pile in the middle of our entrance?! I built one inside, next to the farms!

Mzbundifund, I like your style. Good luck

Long live Bellwaxed

[DuckThatQuacks]

Oh yeah, I did not dorf squeakyReaper or DuckThatQuacks (did he even want to be dorfed?) so the next one up will need to do that.

Ah yes, dwarfing. No rush or anything, but if we have (or get) any siege operators, I'd like to be dwarfed as a "Bombardier" called "Duck".

[Argembarger]

Yeah, but the refuse pile next to the farms was constantly completely filled with miasma and I didn't want to channel a vent

For clarification: The indoor refuse pile is for everything that isn't a corpse, and the outside one is for corpses and body parts until they stop rotting.

I got the strangest feeling of pride from your review of the fortress, Mzbundifund. In spite of the fact that basically everything you had to say was negative, hahaha.

[Mzbundifund]

Ah yes, dwarfing. No rush or anything, but if we have (or get) any siege operators, I'd like to be dwarfed as a "Bombardier" called "Duck".

We only have two dwarfs with any skill in seige operating, both novices, and both are much more useful to the fort in other capacities.  One is our second best carpenter, the other our best weapon/armorsmith.  But FEAR NOT!  I have amusing plans for you.

I got the strangest feeling of pride from your review of the fortress, Mzbundifund. In spite of the fact that basically everything you had to say was negative, hahaha.

Hehehe, it's not actually that bad.  The workshop orders thing wouldn't be a problem if you weren't handing the fort off after only a year, and despite worries about Giant Bat security, I notice that there isn't a single giant bat or giant cave swallow on the creatures list, either living or deceased.  So we either don't get them here or they're super rare.   Mzbundifund the dwarf doesn't know that though!



---GRANITE---

1st of Granite

Dear Professor,

On your advice I have assigned every dwarf in the fortress to one of several groups, to make it easier to manage and direct them.  They are as follows

  Founders: The surviving members of the original seven go by our original military titles.  By now that is how everyone knows us, and I confess I am loathe to order my companions to change their titles after these years together.
  Masters: Dwarves skilled in the creation of some utilitarian goods go into the Master caste.  Masons, carpenters, weapon and armorsmiths, and so on.  Most of the founders would belong to this caste.
  Miners:  True dwarves, the heart of any fort.
  Farmers:  Fieldworkers, as well as any dwarf skilled in cooking and/or brewing.
  Artisans:  Stone detailers, and skilled in the creation of at least one luxury.  Gems, cloth, or other crafts.
  Military:  These dwarves will haul goods but have no other labors.  Their primary focus is their own training and the defense of the fort.
  Plebians:  Humble laborers, plebians haul and perform any task where the resulting quality does not depend on the skill of the worker.  Milling, butchery, and so on.

Here follows a list of all residents of Bellwaxed, and their caste.



I know you are an observant dwarf Professor, and will note the last adult on that list does not fall into any of the mentioned castes.  Well that is an interesting medical case...

3rd of Granite, near the trade depot...



Yes, in the unused storeroom we found one Besmar Logemfôker constructing a complicated array that a subsequent reference to Urist's Workshoppe Design Treatise described as a seige workshop.  He then began appropriating lumber from the fortress hoard and constructed for himself a crude but functional catapult.



He insists his name is now "DuckThatQuacks", has pronounced himself a "Bombadier", and insists that as a member of the military he is free from all but basic hauling responsibilities.  His duty, he claims, is to train in the defense of the fort.  As such he is currently hauling stone after stone to the catapult and flinging them against the cavern wall, where they disintegrate on impact.  I know you are thinking this is one of the well-documented Fey Moods, but I have reviewed all the medical literature to which I have access, and there is not a single case study of a fey mood resulting in a seige engine.  Furthermore even to my inexperienced eye the catapult he has constructed is crude and undecorated, not the brilliant artistic masterpiece that always results from a fey mood.  I have discussed his behavior with him, and by all psychological metrics he appears quite sane.  At least he seems to recognize who his friends are.



Oh dear.

Your student,
- Mzbundifund.


18th of Granite

Dear Professor.  Things are proceeding well.  DuckThatQuacks continues to practice his 'craft' but as it is clearing the fortress of excess stone I see no reason to argue with him.  The new Artisan caste has done marvelous work on the dining hall, portraying an array of images from our fortress' short history.



They have also included an image from a rather bawdy human folk tale.



I feel I must compliment the late Argembarger, for the council's bumbling could not entirely erase his more effective works.  Our military trains vigorously, and are becoming a very lethal force.



Your student,
- Mzbundifund


25th of Granite

Dear Professor,

Good luck this past week.  The brief exploratory shaft I ordered was at work for barely two days before we struck earthsblood.  I have dismantled our old metalworks and am relocating it to the depths.  My calculations indicate that the extra walking time will be more than recompensed by no longer needing to refine coal.  In another stroke of good fortune, we found another adamantium vein while cutting the workshop area.



I must say that the case of DuckThatQuacks is starting to concern me.  He has been "seige operating" for barely two weeks and has already attained a noticeable improvement in skill.  I cannot very well justify forbidding his actions, as it is his only developed skill, and the military is starting to take to the idea of having seige support.  Your advice in this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Your student,
- Mzbundifund

[Argembarger]

Credit where credit is due; xczxc is responsible for the training that created the elite core of the military, all I did was equip it with adamantine and expand it

[SethCreiyd]

But adamantine is important!  It protects the elite military's innards, which they need to kill things.

I must say that the case of DuckThatQuacks is starting to concern me.  He has been "seige operating" for barely two weeks and has already attained a noticeable improvement in skill.  I cannot very well justify forbidding his actions, as it is his only developed skill, and the military is starting to take to the idea of having seige support.

Please encourage him.  He'll become a legend and slay [REDACTED] all sorts of things.

_{Edit: whoops}

[Argembarger]

What are these... LOOK AWAAAAYYYYYY all sorts of things, of which you speak?

They sound friendly to me.

[SethCreiyd]

Now that you mention it, I'm not really sure.   

[Mzbundifund]

---SLATE---

Dear Professor,

Your comment about the military could not have come at a better time.  I am glad I did not put off the standard military psych evals until the traditional summer solstice.



Morale is steadily dropping, primarily due to the lack of proper sleeping arrangements.  The only beds are in the barracks assigned to the emergency militia draft, but our full-time squad is forced to sleep in the dirt of an underequipped barracks.  As soon as it came to my attention I rescinded the order and assigned them new beds in the old bed hall.



I also reduced the minimum number of dwarves required on duty from seven to four.  That should allow more breaks and reduce the complaints of long shifts.

I have also been hearing complaints from the general populace about the monotony of the booze here.  Apparently years of nothing but dwarven wine has been grating on the peasantry.  While it is well established that brewed plump helmet contains all the nutrients necessary for a dwarf, I still ordered a small surface plot to be tilled, now that the military no longer needs to sleep there.



Now that smelting is picking up, I am concocting a plan for all the excess bronze.





---FELSITE---

Dear Professor,

The poet was right, Felsite is indeed the cruelest month.  We have a bittersweet coming-of-age for Litast, born in the fortress.



Unfortunately his old injuries will never allow him to walk.  My diagnosis is attached.  If there is any treatment you can recommend I would welcome it, but I know it is grasping at straws.



One of our number has also exhibited the one of the Three Traditional Disturbed Moods, and has claimed a workshop.  The spirit of an ancient forgemaster has inhabited Atìr.  This is a dangerous time, and we all watch with trepidation to see if he will find our supplies sufficient.



And now for the worst of the month.  One Adil Uristidos was well outside the bounds to welcome an elven caravan, hoping to make use of their cloth in his craftwork, when he was ambushed by the rockdwellers.




As you can see by the coroner's timestamps, our military arrived but a single second too late.  Vengeance was swift, but that will not comfort Adil's family.  He was interred with full honors.  I pray his spirit will rest easy.

Your student,
-Mzbundifund













Meanwhile...

[Argembarger]

Sunshine? Damn, you'll spoil us!

My floor-art looks a bit nicer with a tileset on. Would you mind showing me the whole thing?