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[Kipi]

It has been time since I last time played DF, and due the reformation of my laptop I have lost all my old fortresses. So, I think it's time to start a new one.

This is story fortress, though anybody can claim a dwarf. I will provide some details and pictures of claimed ones when requested, but I will not do that automatically, as it's quite time consuming task with big immigrant waves. When claiming a dwarf you can ask for the labors to be assigned, and I will fill the requests when possible.

Unlike previous stories, this time I'm not using diary format, but just plain old story telling. Thus, I may pass up events, especially in early stages when there is lots of small events.

Alright, without spending more time, lets get started!

Members of the High Council:
Soapalope - Baroness, leader of the council, leader of the fortress, diplomacy
Knifeled - Mayor of the fortress, trading and management.
Firecrafted - Masonry and Mechanics
Goldrouted - Militia Commander
Craftedecho - Sheriff
Shortbell - Chief Doctor
Ironflags - Bookkeeper
Machineoracle - Mining and Engraving
Taricus - Furnaces and Forges
Bookbulwark - Woodworking
Shieldpeaceful - Food industry

Latest map of the fortress:
Middle Spring, year 162.
http://mkv25.net/dfma/map-10066-craftwaters

Chapters:
Prologue

EDIT: Please vote whether I should leave the spoiler tags around the pictures or not.

[Erkki]

In.

I'm the useless immigrant from 2nd/3rd wave who is insta-drafted and given a copper/bronze mace, a no-quality random material helmet and a left gauntlet. Fingers crossed for no suicide missions...

[Taricus]

In as Metalworker

[Kipi]

Prologue

  For a long time the dwarven civilization called The Single Helm has been under attack by goblins. Many years the dwarves were able to defend their homes without much effort, mostly thanks to superior weaponry and armory. The goblins were no match against squads of dwarven veterans using adamantine equipment. At first dwarves believed that the sieges would be broken soon, but as the years passed on the doubt begun to rise. The goblins had more soldiers and that meant that one day the dwarves would be crushed. Sure, there would be enough citizens to form a great army to drive the goblins away for good, but there was not enough adamantine to equip everybody. Dwarves had a plenty of steel, that's sure, but it was not enough to balance of the situation. So, more adamantine would be needed.

   During the year 156, after two decades of war, the queen of dwarves finally decided that the only hope for survival was to send small groups outside, establish new fortresses, and try to find more adamantine. Without it, they would have no chance as the goblins would follow after taking out the mountainhome.

   One of such expedition party was called The Uncertain Relic. The origin of the name has long since been forgotten, but the theories go that there was no knowledge whether the location they were heading to had any veins of adamantine. There was no colonies nearby, and neither humans nor elves living near had any knowledge about adamantine. Of course, that was no indication that the veins would no exists, as both civilization lived above the ground, and never ventured deep enough. Still, there were lots of uncertainties.

   The group was formed by seven dwarves; the leader Iden Knifeled, carpenter Dishmab Swalloweddiamond, miners Ber Skinnywalled and Risen Speechlessmanors, mason Athel Firecrafted, farmer Olon Shieldpeaceful and smith Taricus Anklelabors. They were assigned two war dogs and one horse, which had only one purpose of pulling the wagon. The supplies were low due the war, so they were given only minimal supplies for survival, which included food and alcohol, anvil, some basic goods, two picks and one axe.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

   At the beginning of Obsidian the group finally left the mountainhome. There were few dwarves watching, as the departure took place early in the morning while it was still dark, which would allow better chance of getting past the goblins unnoticed. The gambit was successful, and after one month of tedious travel, the party finally arrived to their location. And that's where the story of Craftwaters begins...


Tarcius, you got yourself lucky, as I was including smith with my starting party. He has all the metal working jobs enabled, Adequate skill with each one.

Erkki, I will add you with first good opportunity. Can't promise the equipment immediately, but at some point you get those.

[Taricus]

Ha, just the skills I wanted. Thanks

[Kipi]

Chapter 1 - The Arrival

   "Are we there yet?"
   Knifeled stopped studying the map and turned her eyes to the one had spoken, the miner called Skinnywalled: "You know, how many times have you asked me that question?"
   Skinnywalled looked at her confused. "I don't know, dozen times perhaps?"
   "Yes, dozen times. Per day! And you begun twenty days ago!"
   "So, are we there yet?"
   Knifeled turned her eyes to the map again. "Well, apparently we are. I think this is the spot were supposed to go!"
   "Great, so what was our task again?"
   With small hint of anger in her voice she replied: "If you had taken part any of the meetings we had back in the mountainhome you would know that, wouldn't you?"
   Skinnywalled rose her arms. "Hey! I was busy back then!"
   "Yes, busy with drinking booze and hitting lads!" The anger in her voice was clear now, which Skinnywalled also noticed.
   "Well, nobody actually told me that I would be required to attend those meetings, I thought those were just between you, the scouts and the liaison!"
   Knifeled rose her eyes from the map again. "Well, those were, but it was also suggested that the whole group would attend to know what we must do and what would be up against to. And you were the only one who didn't come."
   "Fine, my humble apologizes. Now, could you please tell me what our task is?"
   Knifeled rolled the map and put it in her backpack.
   "We are supposed to establish new fortress and, if we survive long enough, try to find out if this area has any veins of adamantine. If we find any, we must try to mine as much of it as we can, make sure the fortress is well equipped and then send the rest back to the mountainhome."
   "Alright, that's good. But why did they send only us? Why not send out bigger parties? It takes us ages to establish surviving fortress, not talking about finding adamantine."
   "That's because small groups like this were easier to form and supply, and if we fail to survive there would not be wasting too many dwarves."
   "Wait a minute, are you telling me that we may not survive at all? Why didn't anybody told me that!"
   "You would have known that if you have attended the meetings. Now, cut it off! We have work to do. First we have to decide where to begin. Any suggestions?"
   "Well, we need to begin digging so that we can have shelter," Skinnywalled replied.
   "And we need to cut some wood, we will need a lot of it," Swalloweddiamond added.
   "And farms! We must not forget farms! We need food and booze, and without farms we will run out of supplies sooner or later," the farmer Shieldpeaceful replied.
   Knifeled studied each dwarf in turn. "Okay, those are the task we should first attend. Miners, you should begin working from entrance, then move to farming area, then concentrate on place to store our stuff. We can not leave everything outside too long, who knows what creatures live here." She turned her eyes to Swalloweddiamond. "You, you know how to cut trees, right. Well, you should start doing that immediately. I'm going to take a look of the surrounding area, just to know what can be found around here."
Everybody nodded in agreement, then they begun the tasks assigned.

   Whole day went, and at the evening the dwarves gathered around the wagon to eat, drink and discuss.
   Knifeled took a bit from plump helmet, then said: "It seems that the maps were correct, our location is between two small hills. We have running water in form of river just south from us, if somebody didn't notice it already, and there are several small ponds around, so the water should not be a problem."
   Shieldpeaceful rised her eyes from the mug she was holding. "That's good, it means we get the farm running quite soon. Any sign of life around here?"
   "Besides us? Not much. Though the river is full of carps."
   Everybody stared at her, clearly shaken.
   "What? Why are you looking at me like that," she asked confused.
   With shaken voice Swalloweddiamod replied: "Carps you say? You know how dangerous those things may be?"
   "No. Those are just fish, how so?"
   "Well, according to the tales I have heard, never seen carp in my life, those things can kill any dwarf who venture too close to river."
   Others nodded in agreement.
   There was a bit of surprising in Knifeled's voice. "How do you know such things? And how could such a thing as carp kill a dwarf?"
   Swalloweddiamond took a sip from her mug, then replied: "Well, those can not if alone, but when there are many, then it's possible. Rumors say that if dwarf goes too near the water where the carps are living, and somehow attracts the attention, then one carp pull him or her to river. Now, that alone shouldn't be dangerous, but when under the surface, the whole swarm of carps comes, and prevents the dwarf in question to reach the surface again. Finally, the dwarf drowns."
   There was long silence before Knifeled replied: "Well, that clears one thing. Nobody goes near the river unless necessary. And the reason must be really, really good. We can not afford loosing anybody. But let's change the subject, how's digging going?"
   Swalloeddiamond took another sip from her mug. "Fine, I think. We have not begun mining yet, but we have some plans made out already. We were thinking of small tunnel connecting the entrance ramps to central stairs, which will lead down as deep required. I believe we can begin the actual work tomorrow"
   Knifeled finished her meal before replying. "That's good. Now, everybody get rest. We have long day coming, and we have lots of things to do in near future."

[Kipi]

Chapter 2 - The Doubt

 Spring went and summer came while the seven dwarves were trying to establish their new home.The task was enormous for group of such size. But finally they had managed to make out small industrial areas to produce the basic goods, like food and furniture. Everything from the wagon had been carried inside and the wagon itself was dismantled. Still, the life in Craftwaters was no joy.


  One evening, after they had enjoyed the meal, Knifeled went to outside to have a walk. Soon after Firecraft followed her and found her smoking her pipe.
  "I thought you had already quited that."
   Knifeled didn't turn to look at Firecraft. "I did, seven years ago. But this evening I just felt the need."
   "I have noticed that you haven't been acting normally lately, and now this. So, what is it?" Firecraft took a sip from the mug of ale she had brought with her and then offered it to Knifeled.
   "Lots of things, but mostly I have begun to doubt whether it was good idea to come here at all."
   "What do you mean by that?"
   Knifeled took a sip from the mug, then sighed. "Well, we haven't heard anything from our kin. As far as we know they may already be dead, killed by goblins."
   "If that's true, then wouldn't it be better to be anywhere else than there? Besides, we don't know anything yet."
   "Well, the queen promised that migrants would be sent here immediately, but nearly half of year has passed and there has been no signs of them, nor the caravan which was promised."
   Firecraft shook her head. "No, I think we have not heard of them because they can not get past the siege right now. The tunnel we used collapsed if you remember."
   "Yeah, that's probably right. But what if the goblins know we are here? The collapse was loud enough to wake the attention of them. I'm in fact surprised that we got past the armies back then."
   "Well, if they had noticed us, we would be dead already, right? You see, we have no way to defend ourselves, and if the goblins noticed us they would already know that. But still there has been no ambushes, not even a single thief! I say we got past them unnoticed, and that is that. Was there anything else?"
  Knifeled studied Firecraft with her eyes for a moment, then nodded. "Well, there is one thing which I have not told anybody here. I will tell it to you if yo promise to keep your mouth shut."
  Firecraft shrugged her shoulders. "Fine, I won't tell anybody. Now, what is it?"
  "Before we left mountainhome I made some studies. Geology, scout reports and so on. But I also studied the legends based on folklore of human and elven civilizations living around here, combined with scouting reports of our ancestors. Do you know why this land was never claimed? There has been sights of strange and powerful creatures, creatures possessing far greater threat than even an army of goblins."
   "What kind of creatures are you talking about," Firecraft asked nervously.
   "Giants, ettins, even few dragons has been seen wandering these lands."
   "Oh my god! Why were we never told about this? Does queen know? Are those still here?"
   "Queen knows, I informed her immediately after I made the discovery. She decided to dismiss the fact and send the expedition team anyway, the need of adamantine is too great. She also forced me to vow not to tell anybody about this, she probably feared that nobody would be willing to leave if they knew the truth." She took sip from the mug again, then gave it back to Firecraft. "And I don't know if those creatures are here anymore. The last mention of any such creatures dates back over one hundred years. But yeah, they could still be here."
   Firecraft stand still for a moment, paralyzed by the shock caused the news she had just heard. "Pass the pipe to me, will you?" She said after recovering.
   "I thought you didn't smoke."
   "Damn right, but I just realized that I will be very lucky if I survive to see the effects in my health."

   Knifeled was not the only one who had doubts. The miners had also made their own conclusions.
   "Do you see that?"
   "See what," Skinnywalled asked.
   Speechlessmanors rised her arms in frustration. "I mean that crack in the stone wall we digging into!"
   "Yeah, what about it?"
   "I thought you were a miner! Didn't you listen anything our tutors said?"
   "I was busy back then!"
   "Do you honestly ever think anything else than booze and lads?"
   "Yeah, I do! I'm thinking of good, fatty meal right now."
   Speechlessmanors picked up stone size of fist and thrown it, hitting Skinnywalled's head.
   "You are such a idiot! No concentrate a moment! You see that crack over there? That means we have huge open are sitting somewhere just beneath us!"
   "So?"
   "Did you EVER listen to what you have been told?"
   "Yeah, I'm listening you right now."
   "I mean the important stuff! Meetings, studies and so on?"
   "No, I was bu..."
   "STOP IT! I don't want to hear that ever again. Now listen to me carefully and pray the gods you remember this lesson when I'm asking about it from you! The cavern is beneath us, which means there is risk that small portion will collapse if are not careful. The collapse may but everybody here in danger, as such things can not be controlled. Secondly, there is high possibility that something is living in the caverns. And those things can be dangerous. Remember the fortress our kingdom lost three year ago? It was destroyed by band of trolls living in the caverns."
   "How do you know all that stuff."
   "Because I'm LISTENING what people are saying. Now, the investigation party discovered what happened down there, but they weren't able to chase the trolls away. Apparently there was whole civilization of those living down there. Lots of adamantine was lost, as the fortress had just discovered one of the biggest veins in our history."
   "That sounds bad."
   "It sounds bad because it IS bad!"
   "What should we do now?"
   "Keep on mining, but being extra careful. Oh, and pray that nothing dangerous lives down there."
   "I wish I had never came here."
   Speechlessmanors nodded and then replied in low voice: "Me too, my friend. Me too."

[Kipi]

Chapter 3 - The First Migrants

   The month of Hematite was near the end when Firecrafted rushed to meet Knifeled. "They are here! They have arrived," she shouted.
   "What are you talking about? Who have arrived?"
   "The migrants! I saw them other side of the river, just south and west from the entrance!"
   Knifeled sighed in relief. This was good news in many ways. First of all this meant that the kingdom had not fallen yet, or at leas that there were survivors. Secondly, they needed help with building the fortress, and every new hand was more than welcome. Lastly, it was clear that at least small group of dwarves would be able to get past the goblins and reach Craftwaters. "How many of them you saw?"
   "Seven dwarves, and they were accompanied by two donkeys and one cat. But they can not reach the fortress yet."
   "What do you mean by that?"
   "Well, they can not cross the river, the current is too strong for that. But no worries, I think I can make small bridge so that they can get across."
   "Good. You should begin immediately then. Inform me before you are finished so that I can be there to meet the arrivals before anybody else."
   Firecrafted nodded in agreement. Building the bridge could take a bit of time, so she had to begin immediately as there was no way of knowing how much supplies the migrants had left.

   It took nearly two weeks but finally the bridge was ready. Knifeled ordered the arrivals to form a line so that interview everybody and perhaps assign them appropriate tasks in the fortress.
   "Name and profession?"
   In front of her was standing short and skinny woman. "My name is Orderbasement and I was jeweler back in the mountainhome," the woman replied. "I know how to cut gems as well as attach them to items. My father, who was doctor, also taught me a bit of surgery, but no much to be any use."
   Knifeled studied Orderbasement a moment, then wrote down the information she had said. "Well, we have no use for surgery now, but if there is I'm sure you can do much more than anybody else. Otherwise you should stay at the jewelry, I think there will be enough job for you." She waved the dwarf to leave and shouted: "Next!"
   Next dwarf in line was woman as well. She was skinny and looked rather weak because of the lack of visible muscles.
   "Name and profession."
   "I'm called Machineoracle..." her voice disappeared as she looked away distracted. "I'm... I was miner at the mountainhome."
   Knifeled studied her in confusion. "Miner you say? How come you look so weak? You don't look like you have spend times in the mines."
   "I know, I have been sick last year or so. My muscles are not what they used to. But I know how to swing this pick, and I think I heard them saying that you need every help you can get."
   "You brought your own pick with you?"
   "Yeah, I did."
   "That's decided then. We need miners, and I believe your muscles will grow after working with the two other miners. Do you have anything else to say now?"
   She looked away confused, then added: "Well, I know how to make some armors from metal, if that affect anything."
   "You do? Well, we have our own smith, and there has been no work for him, so miner you shall be." Knifeled wrote the details down, then shouted: "Next! Name and profession?"

   It took whole day from Knifeled to interview the seven migrants. Besides the miner and jeweler there was one butcherer, dyer, woodcutter and two peasants. The dyer was assigned to work as second brewer but the peasant were more of problem. They had no skills which would be useful, so Knifeled decided that they should work in professions which would not cause much harm and still benefit the fortress. Thus, the other peasant was assigned to be the stonecrafter and the other became tanner.
   After she was finished Knifeled lighted her pipe. Firecrafted was sitting next to her, leaning back and eyes shut.
   "You know, I have noticed that since discussion you have been smoking every day."
   Knifeled glanced at her then returned the focus on the pipe. "No wonder as you have joined me every time I have lighted my pipe." She passed the pipe to Firecrafted before continuing: "So, what do you think about the migrants?"
   "Don't know yet. At least we have more people here to help with the fortress. Also, the news they brought were good."
   "You mean the ones about other groups of migrants and caravans?"
   "Yes. Now we know that we are not alone anymore and that we should get more help soon." Firecrafted opened her eyes and looked at Knifeled. "Also, we don't have to worry that much about the supplies anymore as the traders should be here sometime during the autumn."
   "But it's still months before that."
   "Yes, but I made some calculations and rough estimates. We should be fine, especially since the farm is producing food. The only worry I have is that something decides to attack our fortress, which is unlikely."
   Knifeled nodded in agreement. "That's true. Now, where should we put our efforts next?"
   Firecrafted glanced at her surprised. "You are asking me?" As Knifeled nodded she continued: "Well, we need the workshops ready, then we should begin making furniture and other items. We need trading depot as well. And we should not forget place to eat and place to sleep."
   Knifeled closed her eyes. "Yeah, those were the things I was thinking as well. We should begin the work tomorrow."

[Kipi]

Chapter 4

   With the arrival of migrants and news of more to come it was time to expand the fortress even more. The only somewhat working industry they had was related to food. But even that consisted of one farm and one still. And that was not even close enough what they they really needed to run the fortress properly.
   So, the initial plans were made to expand the fortress more. The plans contained to establish the industries of masonry, carpentry and crafting. There were also designations of place for trading depot, dining hall and dormitory. Knifeled had also requested personal office to work in peace.

   The first things completed were the industrial sectors and trading depot. The industrial was easy to set up because it mostly required the building of appropriate workshops, which meant carpentry, masonry, mechanics and crafting workshops. Everything else was ready already. As for the trading depot, small area near the entrance was mined, then Firecrafted built the actual depot. At the time when the depot was ready, which was 19th of Malachite, the carpenter had already begun producing bins, barrels and beds and the crafter had begun to produce things from stone for trading purpose.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

   After the industrial and trading it was time to concentrate on luxury, which in this case meant dormitory, dining hall and offices. There was a short debate whether those should be built in stone layer or in soil layer. It was soon decided that the stone would be the best option as there was no way to smooth and engrave soil walls. So, the miner begun mining the floor beneath the industrial floor.
   With the force of three miners it was faster than thought at first. Machineoracle had been showing surprising enthusiasm in the work and her muscles had already got bigger, thus making her less weak than when she arrived. The layer was formed by mudstone and there was several veins of ore around. After the central stairs was cleared and the most of the dining hall mined out the miners had already found two veins of coal and one vein of iron. Anklelabors, or Taricus as he called himself, was pleased. The veins meant that the metal industry could be set up after the basics were completed.
   It was morning of 5th of Galena when Knifeled was informed that the miners had completed the required rooms. One dining hall, one dormitory and two offices were ready and waiting for proper furniture. After few moment of considering she gave them the order to keep mining downwards. The miners had informed her about the possibility of cavern down beneath, and she wanted to find out if that was really the case.

   The days came and went, and still none of the rooms had any furniture. Sure, the doors were already installed, but that was all. It was nearly a month since the digging of the rooms was ready, and over a month since the construction of furniture had begun.
   "Do you have any good news?"
   Firecrafted turned her attention to the one who had spoken, Knifeled. "No, nothing new. I'm still working with the doors, I have not had time to move on other things yet."
   Knifeled stepped inside the masonry. "Why are you still working with the doors? I thought we already had enough of those."
   Firecrafted shrugged. "Don't ask me, I wasn't the one who made the order. Thirty door was requested, and I have yet completed more than twenty-two. That leaves me eight more doors, then I can move to tables."
   "Any way you could speed up the process?"
   "Impossible, unless you can assign somebody here to help me. And even that would not be helpful, as only one dwarf can work in one workshop at a time, so new masonry would be required."
   "Well, the new masonry should not be a problem, though the workforce is. Perhaps one of the upcoming migrants?"
   "If I were you I wouldn't count on that. Yeah, we have information that there should be more migrants, but we don't know when they arrive, IF they can reach our fortress. After all, there are still goblins between us and the mountainhome."
   "Yeah, you are right. But still there could be something to speed up the work."
   "There is one thing..." Firecrafted turned her attention to Knifeled from the door she was working with. "Get out of here and leave me at my work! The more people come here to disturb me the longer it takes from me to actually do anything!" After saying that Firecrafted turned her attention to the door again and didn't say a word. For a moment Knifeled stood still, shocked by what just had happened. After a moment she regained her senses a bit so that she was able to leave the masonry. After closing the door she went through the discussion they had had in her mind. It was clear to leave Firecrafted alone if she was in such a foul mood.

   The autumn had just begun when the miners rushed to the dining hall, which did not have any furniture yet. They had been working down in the stairwell for days.
   "Knifeled! Come quick, you have to see this," Machineoracle shouted.
   "What? What have you found?"
   "Follow us, we explain when we get going."
   Without further waiting Knifeled begun following the three miners. It was then when she discovered that Machineoracle had became the leader of the three miners, which surprised her very much.
   "Remember when we warned you about the possibility of cavern beneath the fortress? Well, we were right," Skinnywalled said behind Knifeled.
   When she heard that she stopped immediately. "You are kidding, right? You actually discovered cavern beneath our fortress?"
   "Yup, that we did," Skinnywalled said proudly. "In fact, it was me who breached the cavern."
   "You breached the cavern?! Is it possible that something gets inside the fortress from there," Knifeled asked in shock.
   "Well, technically it is, but we haven't seen anything living down there, except few trees and bushes. No creatures, just tunnels."
   It took them few moments to reach the place where the miners had breached the cavern. After peeking through the hole, which was in the roof of the cavern, Knifeled spent several minutes thinking.
   "Pass the word to Firecrafted to come here quickly and seal this hole. After that you three try to get past the cavern without breaching it anymore. We need to get under it to find out if there is any adamantine around here," she finally said.
   "Right away! But you could pass that order yourself, you know. Why waste our precious mining time to run up there and convince her to actually come here."
   Knifeled smiled to Machineoracle, with a small hint of evilness in her smile. "You know, I don't really want to be the one to tell her that, she is in enough foul mood for me to do that. So, I think you are the one who should do it. Now, that wasn't a request, you understand?"
   Machineoracle nodded, clearly shaken.
   "Now, get on with your tasks. Oh, and before Firecrafted seals the hole, you better try to study the caverns bellow. Perhaps you can figure it out if something lives down there." After saying that Knifeled turned her back to the miners and returned the dining hall.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

   Twenty days had passed since the discovery of the cavern when Machineoracle rushed to dining hall again.
   "What is it this time? Is the breach to cavern finally sealed?"
   "No, Firecrafted has no time for it now. You know, she almost punched me when I passed your order to her."
   Knifeled took a sip from her mug of ale. "That's why I sent you there. If I had told her that, she probably had killed me. Now, what did you want to tell me?"
   "We did as you said, and we got past the caverns. And that's no all, we discovered a sea of magma!"
   The dining room went silent immediately. The only sound came from Knifeled's mug when it hit the ground.
   "Excuse me?"
   "You heard it right. There is second cavern down bellow, and it's filled with magma. The lowest level of the stair is already submerged, but the surface has stopped rising anymore."
   "Anybody got hurt?"
   "Nobody, though Skinnywalled was close to. But she managed to pull herself up before the magma reached her."
   "Any sign of adamantine yet?"
   "None, though I suspect there actually may be vein or two. We only have to discover them. So, what do we do now?"
   After long moment of silence, Knifeled said: "Seal up the stairs just above the surface. I will tell Firecrafted myself that it must be done immediately, it's known fact that there are dangerous creatures living in the magma, and those must be prevented to enter the fortress. After that, keep on looking for adamantine. But be careful, if the stone gets hot stop digging immediately. No breaching anymore. Understood?"
   "Understood."
   After Machineoracle had left the hall Knifeled picked up her mug from the ground, cleaned it and filled it with ale again. In one motion she drank the whole mug, after which she left to meet Firecrafted. She wouldn't not like the news but there was nothing to be done. The breach had to be sealed and Firecrafted was the only one capable of doing it.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Soapalope]

In as the noble who does absoloutely nothing around the fort, except throw parties and drop elves into the magma pit, pretty please.

When you get one

[Kipi]

Closest thing I can think of is bookkeeper. Is that okay to you? Yeah, you have to work a bit, but after the records are updated there is not much to work for him/her...

First I was thinking of mayor, after I get my baron, but then again I have no control over who is selected to that position.

[Kipi]

   Eleven days of the month Sandstone was already behind when the news spread inside the Craftwaters: Another group of migrants had arrived and they had almost reached the fortress from north! Knifeled hurried outside to meet the dwarves, and what she saw surprised her; there were nine dwarves outside, among them few who she had known back in the mountainhome. Again she arranged the arrivals to form a line, after which she interviewed each and everyone of them.
   The interviews took most of the day but finally Knifeled was finished. Among the migrants there was one furnace operator, called Actedropes but she knew that already as they had known each other, one miner, a gem cutter, cheese maker, wood burner, two herbalists and one bowyer. The miner was ordered to go and meet the others of her profession while the furnace operator was ordered to go and see Taricus. But the rest of them were a slight probelm to Knifeled. The professions they excelled at were not needed in Craftwaters, not right away at least, so she had to reposition them. The gem cutter had skills in weapons and combat, so he was took the position of commander of militia. Herbalists were ordered to become fisher and fish cleaner, and Knifeled let them to decide who takes which job. The bowyer was assigned to help out in carpentry and wood burner to help out Firecrafted in masonry. Soap maker became the bookkeeper of the fortress, as he was the only one with the skills of counting things fast. Lastly, the cheese maker was assigned to military, though they had yet no equipment ready nor barracks to train in.
   After everybody had got new job assigned Knifeled ordered new set of workshops to be built; one masonry, one carpentry and one mechanics.

   Eight days had passed since the second group of migrants had arrived when Knifeled was informed that the dormitory was finally ready. When she went to see the results she saw wide room with eleven beds inside, no other furniture. Finally, after nearly eight months of sleeping in dirt, they could sleep in proper beds again.
   "Eleven beds. That's not enough to everybody," Knifeled said, "we need more, perhaps even bigger room as well."
   "Perhaps, but we thought that this room would suffice, we are going to make personal bedrooms as well," Swalloweddiamond replied.
   "Yes, at some point we are. But the question is when," Knifeled replied. "After all, we have to decide whether we keep on developing this part of the fortress or do we move everything down near the magma and caverns."
   Swalloweddiamond stared her.
   "Oh, stop that, we all know how much it wastes time for miners and smiths to travel that distance daily."
   "But the caverns can be dangerous!"
   "Yeah, I know. Why did you think I formed our first squad already? But it will take time to train and equip the squad well enough to conquer the caverns, so we have no rush with such decisions. But for now we are not building anymore bedrooms, though more beds can be installed on the current one. After all, the dormitory is only meant for sleeping, not for spending time inside. Now, do you have any new information about the dining hall or the offices?"
   "Nothing, you should ask Firecrafted about those. Last time I saw her she was yelling to the new mason, something about not touching her personal tools."
   Knifeled sighed, then replied: "Yeah, I have heard that those two have some hard time in coming along. It's perhaps because the new lass doesn't know much about masonry, and Firecrafted has to teach her everything from the beginning."
   Swalloweddiamond glanced at her curiously. "Why did you assign her to masonry then?"
   Knifeled sighed. "Well, we need second mason and nobody had the skills, so I figured that Firecrafted could be able to teach her the basics, and after that she would learn by working."
   Swalloweddiamond nodded in agreement.

   "Knifeled! I need to speak with you!"
   Knifeled turned her Firecrafted. "What is it?"
   Frecrafted ran to her, face red in anger. "Speechlessmanors you threw me out from my workshop! This is a outrage!"
   "Why did she do that?"
   "I don't know, she was muttering something which I could not understand. It sounded like she was talking a totally different language! You must do something, this slows down our work greatly!"
   "Calm down! First of all it's not your personal workshop, you just happen to work there all the time. Secondly, take me there, I want to talk to her myself."
   Knifeled followed Firecrafted to the masonry, where she noticed that Speechlessmanors had locked herself inside and nobody could enter the workshop. Knifeled tried to shout, but there was no answer.
   "Now, somebody tell me what really happened here," she shouted to the two masons.
   "Well, Speechlessmanors came inside, muttering something I could not understand. She just graped me from my belt and beard and threw me outside. That's when I came to see you," Firecrafted answered.
   Knifeled turned his attention to Tradedwinters, the second mason. "Do you have something to add on this?"
   Tradedwinters looked around nervously. "Well, after Firecrafted left to find you, Speechlessmanors came out, went on and brought one mudstone and several bones. After that she locked herself inside and I haven't seen or heard from her since."
   Knifeled turned her eyes back to Firecrafted. "Now, you said something about her muttering? What exactly?"
   "I don't know! I said already that I didn't understand a single word what she said. It sounded like other language, though one I don't recognize." Firecrafted thought for a moment. "Well, she was repeating the word razikud all the time. That's all I know."
  Knifeled stand quiet for a moment, then finally replied: "Well, can't say for sure, and we have no doctors nor priests to confirm this, but I suspect she has been possessed."
  The others stared at her in alarm.
   "No need to panic, possession is not that rare among dwarves. Even back in the mountainhome we had few such events at times, and none of those were dangerous to others..." She went silent for a moment, then continued: "Well, they weren't dangerous unless the thing they tried to produce failed, in which case madness always followed." She glanced at the locked door. "We can only hope that she can finish what she begun, otherwise we have one mad dwarf in our hands, and mad dwarf with a pick is dangerous, very dangerous indeed. Now get back to work, you surely can do other things while waiting for her to come out?"
   The masons stared at her for a moment, then nodded in agreement and departed. Knifeled stand outside the masonry a moment longer, wondering whether she should warn the commander about this. Sure, they had no equipment but still in case of something going wrong they could act faster if warned.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

   It was the first day of Timber, late autumn, when Speechlessmanors finally came out from the masonry. She was carrying huge door with her when she found Knifeled.
   "Ah, I see you are finally among us again. Good to see you didn't lost your mind back there. Now, what is it you made?"
   Speechlessmanors showed her door made of mudstone. I had spikes made from bone and picture of sun.
   "A door, eh? And where do we need one? We have enough doors already."
   "I don't know. I just had to make one, I couldn't control myself at all."
   "Yes, I know that. You were possessed after all." Knifeled filled a mug with ale and gave it to Speechlessmanors. "Now tell me, do you remember anything?"
   Speechlessmanors took the mug and drank the ale. "Not much, just few bits here and there. I know I wasn't able to control myself, it was like something else was forcing my hands and legs."
   "Do you remember the moment you claimed the masonry?"
   "No, I can't remember that part. What about it?"
   Knifeled took a sip from her own mug. "Well, you threw Firecrafted out. And I mean you literally did that. She said that you graped from her belt and beard and just threw her out. She landed her face first, and she is full of bruises now." Knifeled glanced at Speechlessmanors. "I think you should go and apologize her. She is still quite angry about what you did, and I'm not talking about the throwing alone, you slowed down her work quite much."
   "I think I should do that then. What about this door? What should I do about it."
   Knifeled studied the door for a moment. "Well, put it on the storage, I figure out where to install it later. Right now we don't need it. You should that first, then go to see Firecrafted." She looked at Speechlessmanors. "If I were you I would hope she is in good mood right now. If she is not, the prepare for few punches. But hereby I order you to NOT punch back, just take the hits she may give to you and leave it there. She was quite pissed off, and I don't blame her. Now, go on and do what I told you."
   Speechlessmanors left the dining hall. Few hours later Knifeled met her again and saw that her left eye was completely shut and violet.
   "She was in bad mood I suppose?"
    Speechlessmanors filled her mug then replied: "Yeah, she punched only once, but that was hard one. But I think I deserved it, if what you told me was true. After the punch she accepted my apologizes, though I think she is still angry to me."
   "Well, it takes time before she calms down again. For now I suggest you try to avoid her, unless you want your other eye shut as well."
   Speechlessmanors nodded but didn't say anything.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

   

[Kipi]

Chapter 5 - Caravans And Metal

   12th of Timber was the day when the rumor begun spreading; the caravan from mountainhome was near, and the liaison was travelling with them as well! Excited by the news Knifeled ordered all the crafts produced to be moved to trading depot, while she begun preparations to meet the traders and the liaison. The whole fortress was full of excitement, though the last migrants didn't pay that much attention to what was happening. Knifeled supposed that it hadn't been so long since they left the mountainhomes that they didn't feel the homesickness yet.
  It took the caravan three days to reach Craftwaters, but when they finally did the whole fortress was outside waiting for them. The surprise was clear in their faces when they saw the anticipation in the faces around them. Knifeled guided the caravan through the masses to the depot.
  "I didn't expect such a welcome here. You were really waiting for us, weren't you?"
  Knifeled's smile was wide when she replied: "You don't know how much. We have had some hard times here, and we need more supplies." She looked around, then asked with curious in her voice: "Wasn't the liaison supposed to come with you?"
  The trader smiled in answer. "Yes, but he wanted to check the area first. Also, he was clear in his orders that we should finish up the trading first, then he wants to meet with you."
  Knifeled nodded. "Good. I feared something had happened to him." They reached the trading depot. "Now, shall we get down to business then?"
  Rest of the day went with Knifeled bargaining with the caravan. In the end the terms were accepted, and for giving all the crafts they had Craftwaters got two logs, two empty barrels, one mace and helmet both made from iron, one cloth mitten for left hand and two bins of leather. The mace and helmet were assigned to the soldier of the military, the former cheese maker called Erkki, while the rest of the item bought were moved to proper stockpiles.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

   Next day it was time to Knifeled to meet the liaison. Last time they had met was back in the mountainhome, just hours before the expedition group left the fortress. They decided to do the talking while Knifeled gave a tour in the fortress.
   "So, what's the situation back in the mountainhome?"
   The liaison studied the dormitory before answering. "We are doing fine, though the situation gets worse as time passes. Since you left we have been under constant siege, though the goblins have not made much effort to enter the fortress." She made a quick glance to Knifeled. "I think they are trying to wear us down, as they know they have better position than us."
   "But the mountainhome produces it's own food and supplies! What could the goblins achieve by doing that?"
   The liaison shrugged. "Not sure, perhaps they want our morale to drop down. After all, it would be easier to defeat us if our soldiers are not willing to fight. Also, we believe that they know our lack of adamantine, so each kill they make their situation improves."
   "Why do you think so?"
   The liaison turned his full attention to Knifeled. "What I'm going to tell you now is classified. Only few knows about this, and the queen wants to keep it that way. Officially I'm not allowed to talk about it even to you, but in my opinion you deserve to know." He turned his attention to farms, as that was their current point in tour. "Do you remember that, besides your group, we sent six others as well? Six other expedition groups, similar to yours. Well, none survived. Besides you, that is. Two groups were destroyed immediately by the sieging goblins, one group just disappeared, and others were being sieged by goblins. Last message we got stated that the last of the six fortress fell two months ago to goblins and trolls." He looked at her again. "The goblins know about our efforts, and they are trying to prevent us from establishing new colonies. And thus, I assume, they know about you as well."
   Knifeled stared at him, his eyes full of desperation, disbelief and scare. "So they can attack us any moment now?"
   The liaison sighed, then shrugged. "That's possible, though I doubt it. We are trying to figure out why they haven't done so already, as all the other fortresses were attacked almost immediately. For unknown reason you have been survived from it for now, and there is no indication goblins are interested in your location. But we can not be sure, so you must be careful. I suggest you prepare the defenses, traps should do for now. But you also need proper military as well." He took sealed letter from his pocket. "Here are the instruction from queen about how to defend the fortress. There are also some trading requests inside, though I was ordered to tell you that it doesn't matter if you fill them or not. Those are just guidelines, and we are prepared to pay well from the items mentioned in there. Also, if you have anything in your mind that you need to be brought in next caravan, you can pass them to me."
   Knifeled thought for a long moment, then said: "Well, we need wood, alcohol and cages. We also weapons and armors, any material and grade should be sufficient until we can get our own industry going. Besides those, well, we are short of work force, so if you can send more migrants in our way I would be very happy."
   The liaison nodded. "Agreed, I will see what I can do. Just to make sure you must pay higher price from the items you requested. Those are the orders of the queen. Now, do you have anything else you want to discuss about?"
   "Well, one thing; How did you get past the goblins?"
   The liaison grinned while answering. "Remember those tunnels that collapsed right after you left? Well, we managed to clear them up while we made them bigger as well. Now we can send small groups quite safely past the goblins, as the tunnels reach miles behind the lines of sieging goblins. No wagons though, we floor is too damaged for anything with wheels moving on it."
   "So, no new expedition groups then?"
   The liaison shook his head. "Nope, and even if it was possible the queen has forbidden those for now. Too risky, as she said to me. So," he looked at Knifeled, "You are our only hope to get more adamantine."
   The rest of the tour went with Knifeled and liaison trading rumors and gossips, no official discussion was done anymore. After the tour the liaison left the fortress, even though the caravan was still inside. The letter he had gave to Knifeled contained some instructions, none of them useful in Craftwaters as the instruction presumed that they had spare weapons and lots of those. The request list contained backpacks, shoes, waterskins, trouses, plants, crowns, cloth, both cut and large gems and shields.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Kipi]

   Winter came and before anybody realized it the year had changed. This also marked the passing of the first year of Craftwaters. The situation was okay, the dwarves had established secure supply of food, furniture and crafts, and the first caravan had already come and gone. The functional part of the fortress contained all the working industries, trading depot, dining hall, dormitory and two private offices for Knifeled and the bookkeeper. These facilities occupied three floors, with possibility to expand them if seen necessary. There was some sort of military, formed by commander and one soldier, though only the soldier had a weapon, iron mace. For some reason the soldier, Erkki, refused to take any other form of armor than helmet and gauntlet for her left hand.

Spoiler: First floor (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Second floor (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Third floor (click to show/hide)

   Beneath the fortress they had also discovered huge cavern as well as sea of magma. At the moment everybody was working hard to get the metal industry ready right above the magma, which required channels for magma to flow in, workshop area and two storages for bars and ores. All these had to be cleared from loose stone as well, so the task was one of the biggest seen in Craftwaters. Still, there was small hint of hope that before summer the first furnaces and forges would be running, producing weapons and armors to military.

   When the year changed there was twenty-three dwarves living in Craftwaters. There were only few animals, two war dogs and one cat, as all the animals brought by migrants were butchered for meat. In terms of wealth the fortress was doing okay, especially when considering the age of it. Not many fortresses had produced so much wealth during the first year, though exceptions always existed. Still, the citizens were content on living in Craftwaters, at least in there they would be safe from goblins, or at least they had been so far.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Kipi]

   20th of Slate happened something that surprised everybody in Craftwaters; new wave of migrants arrived. But it was not the arrival that surprised everybody but the size of it. Nineteen dwarves, with lots of animals with them, had reached the entrance and were requesting the permission to enter. Knifeled had no other option but interview each one, which took two days from her. Finally she was over, but the results weren't that good in her opinion. Only handful of the migrants were useful, most of them had been serving in professions not needed in Craftwaters. Among the useful dwarves there were two doctors, strand extractor, mason and armorer. Rest of the group, well, there was no need for cheese makers, dyers, animal handlers and such. From the fourteen dwarves five were assigned to operate the furnaces as soon as those were ready, and the rest were ordered to wait for assignation to military. When combined the original forces of Craftwaters they would have full squad in no time, though they would have to wait for equipment first.

   At the same time with the arrival of migrants Taricus was possessed. There was already forge ready, but he demanded regular one, not one which uses magma as fuel. As the fortress had only one anvil it meant the deconstruction of the forge and building a new one, this time without magma as fuel. Knifeled questioned the demand, but Taricus never gave any proper answer, most of his mutters were impossible to understand, just like in the case of Speechlessmanors.
   One day later the new forge was ready, and Taricus claimed it and begun collecting materials. Or material, as would be the proper term, as he took only one bar of iron before begun his work. Basing on the knowledge of the workings of possessions, something great could be expected; weapon, armor or furniture. In worst case the product could be craft made from iron, though the possibility for that was small.
   Seven days later Taricus came out from the forge, holding door made from iron above him. The door was plain except few bands encircling it, made from iron. After checking the door the bookkeeper estimated it to be worth over twenty-thousand bucks. This meant that the wealth of the fortress nearly doubled, which was good thing considering attracting better caravans to the fortress.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

  First week of the month Felsite was near the end when the metal industry was finally ready and running. Of course, there was only one forge at the moment, but five anvils were ordered to be produced. The celebration was huge, as the promise of weapon, armors and metal furniture was more than enough to rise the mood of everybody. The only thing that concerned the smelters was the fact that to get some flux the miners would have to mine near the magma, which was always a risk. But, without flux there would not be steel, and after adamantine steel was the best material for military equipment. So, the project of mining flux begun.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)