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[Kipi]

This is another community fortress I'm going to run. It's reclaiming one of my previous fortress, which died to the lack of drinks. This fortress is also heavily modded, the list of the mods is in bellow. I can't remember the author of mods, so I'm not going to list them here. Some of the modifications are my own, and those are noted in the list

Mods

• Orcs -mod
• Infuse Adamantine (my own mod): This mod gives smelters a new reaction, which will make adamantine from two obsidian stones and two cut gems. This mod plays crucial part in the story.
• Furniture workshop (my own mod): Introduces new workshop, which will be able to produce beds made from stone, glass and metal. It also allows the dismantling of those beds as well as stone/wood beds, cabinets and chests. Each bed requires cloth to produce. Doesn't work, mistake in entity -raw file, so can't even fix it.
• Display Cases
• Training Dummy from Deon's Genesis
• Dwarven Higher Learning Mod, with training dummies removed.
• All the nobles not working before are now appointed by mayor.
• New noble: Councilor. Makes mandates, number of councilor is set to AS_NEEDED
• Dwarves are now active both spring and autumn
• Seasonal Crops Mod

Dwarfing
Dwarves can be claimed, with two restrictions: The starting seven can not be claimed and if I incorporate a migrant to the story by using name then that dwarf can not be claimed anymore. I try to avoid that as much as I want but it's just not always possible.
Any dwarf that comes from migrant wave can now be dwarfed! For unclaimed dwarves I just use the last name, and after dwarfing I use the new name given during dwarfin.

What I need is the name of the dwarf, labors assigned to him/her and a short bio of the dwarf. Gender is optional. When those informations are given I'll pick a dwarf from available migrants corresponding the wishes. It may be possible that, at least in the beginning, there is no suitable dwarves available immediately, so I'll assign the dwarf as soon as one comes available.

The embark location
The story takes place in reclaimed fortress, called Trueworks. It's 3*3 area combined desert and small mountain range. There is volcano, no trees nor any source of water aboveground. All races are available in the location, and the dwarves are in war with goblins and orcs.

Claimed dwarves
Taricus Moralarrows - Metalsmith

Dwarves waiting to be claimed
none

Maps
1st of Granite, year 225
1st of Granite, year 226
7th of Granite, year 227
1st of Granite, year 229

[Taricus]

In as a metalsmith (Again  )

[Kipi]

The introduction

"Urist! The queen wants to see you!"

Urist stood up, staring at the guard addressing him.

"What does she wants from me? I'm busy!"

The guard came closer, examining Urist carefully.

"She did not say, but she said it was urgent. You should not late her wait."

"Yeah, you are probably right. Lead the way."

The guard saluted and the two began walking towards the queen's office. When they had reached the door of the office Urist knocked, and when he was given the permission he entered the office. The queen was sitting behind her huge table, maps spread across it and the liaison standing behind her.

"You wanted to see me, your highness?"

The queen did not lift her eyes from the map before her.

"Yes, I indeed did. What do you know about our outpost Trueworks?"

Urist looked the queen dazzled.

"Uh not much, though I heard it was established just few years ago. And that there has been no news from it since last our caravans visited it one year back."

"Yes, both facts are correct. The fortress of Trueworks was established at the beginning of year 221, and we have not heard any news from it since the last caravan. They should have reported half an year ago, and we can not spare to send caravan there at the moment. And now I want to know why."

"Well, if your highness allows me to ask, what I have to do with this?"

"You are going to lead small party there to investigate. You are the most qualified to the task, as you have led several other expedition teams before, have you not?"

"That's true. What can you tell me about the Trueworks? Do you have any theories why there has been no reports?"

The queen turned her eyes to liaison, then to Urist.

"We know several facts. First of all, the fortress is located in the desert, north and west from here. It was built inside small mountain range, with volcano nearby. Also, it may be possible that they had problems of producing alcohol as there is source of water aboveground. That's why they were not able to farm underground. What I heard that they had small farm established though, so it may be that thirst is not the problem. But we are not sure."

"So, you want to me to travel there, find out what happened, and the what?"

"If there are any survivors your task is to help them to establish the message connection to us again. If there is no survivors, then your task is to try to reclaim the fortress, as we can not afford to loose it."

"And why we can't? It was not a big fortress yet, and from you description the location is not even close to optimal for fortress. What's so important in it?"

The queen studied Urist for a moment, considering her next words.

"The next thing I'm going to tell you is classified, understood? Only you and the dwarves coming with you shall know this. The fortress is crucial to us because the founders of it thinks that the obsidian in there might allows us to produce adamantine without ever mining the rare metal itself. When the caravan visited the fortress last time they were close to the breakthrough, and I want you to continue their work."

Urist stared the queen in disbelief.

"Are you saying that there is possibility to produce adamantine? From obsidian? That can't be possible!"

"Yes, that's the exact thing I'm claiming. Now, the procedure of it was not completed, though there is possibility that they have been able to figure out the reaction by now. And if they have, then we may finally have the advantage we need against goblins and orcs."

Urist stared the queen, trying to think what to say next. After long moment of silence he finally continued.

"Now, who are coming with me in this journey? And what supplies do we get?"

"I'll give the list of participants later, when liaison has finished the interviews. For supplies, you will get enough food and especially alcohol to sustain you for long enough, a bit cloth, two war dogs and steel equipment for two soldiers. Yes, you get two soldiers in your group, just to ensure the safety of the journey."

"When do we leave?"

"In two weeks. The plans are that you will reach the destination at the beginning of next year."

"What about support? Are you going to send more dwarves there? What about caravans?"

"If and when you claim the fortress to be safe enough we will send migrants there. As for the caravans, we can not guarantee any before the autumn, so you must survive till then. Any more questions?"

"No, your highness."

"Right then, you can leave now. The details will be given you in few days."

Urist left the office, dazzled by the conversation. He was about to leave his home again, but this time to reclaim old fortress and not to establish new one. There was a lot to do before leaving his home, and there was not much time left.

[Kipi]

In as a metalsmith (Again  )

What about the bio?

[Taricus]

I'M BACK, Screw the afterlife.

[Kipi]

1st of Granite

We have reached the entrance of Trueworks. It's sure hot in here, no wonder they had problems with booze.

So far we have seen lots of stuff scattered around the desert and the mountain. Tables, crafts, barrels, food, you name it, we see it. The only exception is booze, we have not yet seen any signs of drinkable stuff around here, besides the alcohol we brought with us.

We have not yet ventured inside the fortress, as we set up temporal camp a small distance away from the entrance. It takes us about ten minutes or so to walk the distance, so it's not long at all. So far we have investigated the entrance from outside, and it appears that the traps are still functional, though each one must be checked before relying too much to them. No signs of life though, at least nobody came out to greet us.

2nd of Granite

So far we have investigated the first floor of the fortress. The sight is not pretty, we have already discovered several bodies inside the old barracks. Also, as we were scouting the surrounding area, we discovered few corpses more.

I'm jumping ahead of myself. So, the entrance is indeed intact, and there is small bridge separating the trapped section from the actual fortress. The bridge was build to cross small canyon running between the two mountains, southern one containing the volcano


After the bridge there is small intersection. East tunnel leads to the trading depot and ramps leading down to next floor of the fortress.


North tunnel leads to two walled outside areas, farm being in southern area. What's surprising is that there appears to be some plants growing in the farm, I think Tomesdaggers should check those out. At least we do not have to figure out the farming problem immediately. The northern area is empty, and I have no idea what it's purpose was.


The western tunnel, which being the last leading away from the intersection, goes to small hall. In the western wall there is three doors leading to three rooms, each one apparently served the purpose of storages, perhaps for weapons, armors and ammunition. From the southern wall there are entrances to three rooms, the middle one apparently being the barracks, two other are empty.


Now that we have mapped the first floor I have ordered to gathering of the loose items scattered around. We do not want anything to be stolen, at least if we can prevent it.


20th of Granite

We saw a goblin near the top of the northern mountain. I sent the soldiers to kill it, it may possess something that belongs to us.

In other news, we have been trying to haul everything scattered outside and the first floor of the fortress near the entrance, as we set up several stockpiles there. It's much easier to investigate when the is no stuff scattered around everywhere. This way we may also keep up with what supplies we have.


21st of Granite

The goblin thief has been killed. Unfortunately Stakeplay took some wounds in his foot and both arms, and we have no doctors among us. We just have to hope that the wounds are not serious.

[Kipi]

I'M BACK, Screw the afterlife.

'
So, you want to make a reincarnation of Taricus from Craftwaters? Should I give him some foggy memories about his former life in there, even though that fortress was in totally different world? That could provide to be an interesting background.

Any other wishes for the bio, or should I make it up basing to Craftwaters?

[Taricus]

Off Craftwaters, he's on the run fromthe afterlife 

[Kipi]

25th of Granite

The collecting of scattered items is still going on and I have decided that we should construct a wall around the stockpiles for better defense. I know it's big task for Soundlanced to do alone, but nobody else has the skills to help him. I hope it doesn't take too long.


Now that I remember it, I haven't introduced my fellow dwarves in this diary yet. Better do it now that I remember. So, first one in the introduction list is me, Urist Gravelrinse. I'm the leader of this investigation team, as well as the manager and trader. So, in short I could say that I run all the official duties here.


Next we have Amost Lancetold. He is our miner, a very social one for that profession. I personally find his company interesting, he has lots of stories he has heard during his life and is more than happy to share those when asked.


Our carpenter is called Zulban Scarredwires. She is fine company though she is a bit too quick to anger in my taste. She is also skilled in making rock crafts, so as there is no trees around here I think she serves us better in that job.


Our mason, who also serves as our mechanic, is called Sarvesh Soundlanced. He is fine lad, though she is a bit shy and prefers being alone as he doesn't trust others so easily. He is quite clumsy, which I have noticed several times while witnessing him climbing the slopes of the mountains, though when he works with rock he is surprisingly steady and accurate.


The farmer of this group is Atis Tomesdaggers, a lass who doesn't express her emotions much. Everything we have seen so far she regards calmly, which is a bit surprising when considered what we have seen here. She also has bat habit of biting her fingernails, which I think is disgusting.


We also have two soldiers among us, the leader of the duo is called Minkot Stakeplay. He is quite active and sincere, though unfortunately he has a habit of not doing any more work than necessary. I must keep checking that he has tasks assigned so that he doesn't just hang around the wagon due not having any assigned tasks. He is quite good with his axe though, so I think I can forgive him the laziness he has been showing around here. After all, he has already killed one goblin after we arrived, and we have been here less than month. By the way, his wounds have already healed.



The last dwarf in our group is the other soldier, Medtob Coalrained. She is quite relaxed lass, a good company when we gather together, swapping stories, eating and drinking. Unfortunately she has lost her left foot, but she doesn't tell us where exactly. I believe it was during the fight against the goblin, though Stakeplay can not confirm this suspicion. Nevertheless, it's clear that she has some pains, but so far she has been working without complains. And there is nothing we can do about it, as we have no doctors with us.


So, this is our team, and with these dwarves I'm going to spend quite long time here. At least I have no knowledge of any grudge between the members of the team.

[Kipi]

20th of Slate

We have moved down to the next floor of the fortress. There was long hallway leading through the floor, surrounded by big rooms with random stuff scattered everywhere. I believe, from the shape of the rooms, that this floor served as the main storage area of the Trueworks. Of course there is no way to be sure about it unless we find a log or diary or something like that, but that's what I suspect at least. No more bodies has turned up yet, though I believe we will find more of those.




Tomesdaggers came to see me earlier today. She said that the seeds we have found so far are unusable and won't grow anymore. She had no explanation why it was so, but her tests indicates that way. So, we are back in square number one in that matter. Well, at least we brought quite a load of alcohol with us, so we will not run out for some time. Still, this is sad thing, but I think we should be able to trade something from caravans. I already sent the message to the queen that the area seems to be safe, so migrants may come. Also, even though I don't like the idea, I sent a message to local elven community about our existence here. We need seeds which grows on surface, and so far the only source I can think of is elves. I'm not going to like it, but there is no other options.


21st of Slate

We expanded the search deeper, and we discovered the industrial area of the fortress.


The floor is neatly organized, each field of industry has specific sector dedicated to it. Northwest sector contains the food industry, western sector has the furnaces, eastern sector is dedicated to forges, northern to crafts, southern to wood, southwestern to stone and northeastern sector has the leather industry. So, it seems like we don't have to build any of the workshops we need, everything is ready to use. I like that.


24th of Slate

We went deeper today. The floor bellow the industrial has only short hallway, ending to the ramps leading deeper. I think the purpose of that floor was to hold the magma channels, which runs bellow the furnaces and forges.

Bellow the empty floor we found another small floor, holding two offices, small room with lever inside and big room which obviously has served the purpose of dining hall and meeting area. That's good, now we have a place to eat. I already claimed the northern office to myself, so now I have a place where I can keep all my notes, logs and this diary.


I have also given an order of moving all the stockpiles we have on the surface to the second floor. It's safer there. As for the wall, I think I'll let Soundlanced finish it nevertheless, at least we have somewhat secure area outside then.


28th of Slate

We have explored the rest of the fortress. There was only one floor bellow the dining hall, and that's where the housing was supposed to be. Apparently they were never able to finish the housing, with furniture missing from every room we found.




Bellow the bedrooms there was small, unfinished floor. I have no clues what the original dwellers of this fortress were planning for that floor but I think I have few plans of my own. For example, we need a place where to bury all the corpses we have found, and I think that floor may serve the purpose.

Speaking of corpses, I'm surprised that we found only few corpses, thirteen exactly. I'm a bit surprised as around forty-nine dwarves lived here when the contact was lost. Where are everybody else? What happened here?


1st of Felsite

I think I finally figured out what happened here. There was indeed problems with the lack of drinks, as there was no way to muddy any underground areas for farming. Also, even though they were able to build and plant a farm outside, the nature of the soil around here causes everything to grow slower, thus there was not as many harvests to be made. This combined to the fact that there were nearly fifty dwarves living here caused the supply of alcohol to drop to dangerous level, not enough to sustain all the dwarves. Several died to thirst during the second year, and the list of the deceased matched to the list of the corpses we found out.

Now, the lack of alcohol was not the only reason this fortress was abandoned. It seems that several dwarves went insane because of loosing friends and relatives as well as having no alcohol to drink. This group of dwarves were able to force everybody to leave the fortress to safe their lives. From several notes I found a mention that the fleeing dwarves were going to head to closest human settlement and seek safety from there. Apparently, as they were forced to leave without any kind of supplies, they never managed to reach the settlement. Or at least we have not heard from any of them since that.

Now, I discussed the problem of the soil with Tomesdaggers, and she was able to confirm that there was something wrong with the soil. She was not able to explain it any better, but she said that things could very well be like what I have figured out. That's alarming, we must plant some seeds as soon as we get any, though we have to wait for first caravans to arrive.


7th of Felsite

Sad news came today when we discovered that Coalrained had died. She went to investigate the surrounding area several days ago, and we didn't notice she was missing before today. We set up a search party, and after several hours we discovered her body on the slope of the mountain. Apparently her bad leg had went so bad that she was not able to walk anymore, and so she died to thirst. This does not bode well, but we have to keep on working. We will bury her along the rest of the corpses when Lancetold has finished mining the graveyard on the lowest level of the fortress.



23rd of Felsite

Finally I have some good news to report. It seems like the the original citizens of this fortress were able to figure out the way to produce adamantine from obsidian!

The details of the process was way above my understanding, but in one diary there was a mention that the process requires two stones of obsidian and two cut gems. When combined in correct manner and then smelted in specific heat and then processed in specific way the result will be one adamantine thread, similar of what the strand extractors would produce from single adamantine ore. This is wonderful! Gems should be no problem, and I have seen obsidian on the mountains, so when we have settled ourselves we can think of beginning the process. Although to that we need someone who can understand the process better than me or anyone else in our group, so we have to wait for migrants before that. But still, I'm thrilled. No more tedious work to find adamantine nor the risks that comes when the ore is mined. I'm sure the queen will be happy when she gets my message about the discovery!

[Kipi]

21st of Hematite

My message has reached the queen and she sent first group of migrants in our way. And they reached the fortress today, all six of them. Or five of them, they were carrying a unconscious dwarf, who according to them did not come from mountainhome but was found during the journey. He was unconscious back then and still was, so there was no information who he was or where did he come from.

Well, at least we have more hands helping us. Collecting all the scattered items has proven to be enormous task, and we need all the help we can get.


22nd of Hematite

The unknown dwarf has regained his conscious. I went to see him today so that I may find out who he is, where he comes from and what happened to him.

"So, you are awake. How are you feeling?"
"Fine. Where am I?"
"You are in fortress Trueworks."
"Trueworks? Where is that?"
"You have never heard of this fortress?"
"Nope, doesn't ring a bell."
"How about fortress Paintbent? Or civilization The Post of Coalitions?"
"Never heard of those either? What continent is this? What day is it?"
"We are in continent called The Wondrous Plane and it's 22nd of Hematite, year 224."
"Oh shit!"
"What? What's the problem?"
"I'm in wrong world. I'm not supposed to be here!"

I stared the him in disbelief. What he meant by wrong world?

"Could you please be more specific? And what's your name anyway?"
"Oh, right. My name is Taricus. I was member of council in Craftwaters when we were attacked by demons. I died."
"Wait a moment! Craftwaters? Demons? You died?!"
"Yep, that's right. I was citizen and council member of fortress Craftwaters, which apparently is in other world, as there was no continent called like this one. Anyway, our task was to mine adamantine, and lots of it. We had vein discovered. To put long story in short, the vein was leading straight to hell, and there were demons living in there, led by Lilith, or so the voice in our heads claimed. We stood no chance, and eventually I was killed, though few of my comrades were able to seal themselves in small chamber. But that is no concern to you, so I'll leave it to that."
"So, you died? What killed you? Demon?"
"Well, I don't exactly remember. First I was running the halls of Craftwaters, the next moment I was standing in huge open area, no walls were visible and there was flames above me. I think that could be described as hell."
"But you are here now? What happened?"
"Ah, well, one demon came to me. I was able to surprise it and struck it down, then I fled. I think I ran days, the demon was chasing me. Not sure what happened next but suddenly I noticed that I wasn't chased anymore, so fell down, exhausted. I think I fell asleep, and next I woke here. That's my story."
"Right. Now rest, you are still in no condition of working. When you are, look out for me and I decide what you can do around here. Understood?"
"Understood."

So, this dwarf, Taricus, claims that he lived in different world, was attacked by demons there, died, and now woke up here? Usually I wouldn't believe story like that, but there is something strange about this lad, not sure what though. He seems to be sane enough, so I can't say he has lost his mind just yet. I must keep my eyes on him, never sure what he is up to.


24th of Hematite

Taricus is up and working. He is skilled in metal working, which is good for us.

Now, I don't say I believe him just yet. The story he told me few days back is just too wild to believe immediately. But still there something strange about him, something that makes me think that he actually told me the truth. At least he doesn't seem to be insane. I still must keep him under observation, if he proves me to that I can trust him then perhaps I could show him the notes about the adamantine process I found earlier. Perhaps he understands those details better than I.

[Kipi]

20th of Malachite

I have decided to appoint Galleyphantoms as our  bookkeeper. We need someone to track everything we find, somebody that doesn't spend his or her time to anything else. And it seems that Galleyphantoms is the best candidate.

I've also ordered that each dwarf will get own bedroom from the ones we found earlier. So far everybody get only a single bed, we shall worry about the rest of furniture later.

Lastly, the graveyard has been finished, and we can begun burying the corpses we found. We have only four coffins, or at least we have not found any more, so we need to construct few more to bury all the corpses.


21st of Galena

I had a long discussion with Taricus today. I don't think that he is lying anymore, the descriptions and explanations were quite accurate, and I did not notice any inconsistencies what he told me.

First I asked him about the world he came from. From his explanations I was able to figure out that their world is very similar to ours, though there has never been such creatures like orcs there. Goblins and kobolds yes, but no orcs. He also told me that their kingdom was in war between elves, though that war was started by dwarves.

Next I asked him about the events in her old fortress, Craftwaters. He said that the problems begun when their queen had appointed some brat as their baron. At this point he also admitted that what he told me before was wrong, he did not die during the siege of goblins but some time before that, in jail. The baron, Soapalope as Taricus called her, was demanding stuff made from aluminum, which they did not have access to. When the demand was not met she jailed him for over hundred days. It was just before the time of release when Taricus died, right after the baron had been starved to death. As I understood that there was some kind of conspiracy going on where Taricus was involved among the other nobles, like the mayor of the fortress.

So, after his death the things start going bad. Several dwarves threw tantrums, and in the midst of the chaos Taricus's wife decided to mine the vein in her madness, and thus the passage to hell was discovered. Rest of the events were total chaos, the soldiers were able to hold out the demons long enough so that small group of dwarves were able to seal themselves inside small chamber, with them some seeds to plant, few barrels of food and drinks and some wood. around twenty dwarves were inside, and everybody else were slaughtered by the demons.

From the survivors only three survived to the bitter end, everybody else died to either thirst, madness or beatings due the crimes. What happened then is not known to Taricus, as his escape happened at that time.

So, my next question regarded the afterlife and how he knew what had happened since his death. His only description of the afterlife was "you don't want to die if you knew what's waiting for you". About the knowledge of the events after his death he explained that in afterlife he gained some kind of awareness of events in world he came from. On the other hand the knowledge he gained through this awareness was not clear, but mostly foggy. That's why he was not able to tell me any exact details about the demons, the battle or the events inside the chamber. The ability was also lost when he left the afterlife, so he can't tell us what's happening there.

So, as my curiosity was more or less satisfied by his answers I decided to show him the details of the process of producing adamantine. His was shocked when he saw the descriptions, saying that such reaction would have saved their civilization from overlong war, it could very well be that there would have had no need to establish Craftwaters. He was unable to tell me if the procedure would work in reality, but he suspected that the formula should be more or less correct, although some adjustments could be required during testing. Otherwise the reactions seemed valid, which satisfied me.


2nd Limestone

Six months has passed since we arrive here. Finally we have quite good picture of what we have here, as the bookkeeper gave me his calculations today.


We have no problems with food or alcohol yet, though I already ordered the miners to dig down to see if there is any kind of caverns running beneath the fortress. Usually there are, though how deep those are is a different question. Still, we need to find either muddy soil or source of water, otherwise our fate will be as unfortunate as our predecessors.


2nd of Timber

Two dwarves came to our fortress today. They didn't talk much, though they told me that there should be caravan coming sooner or later probably sooner. And not only caravan but the liaison would be coming as well. So, we need to clean up this fortress a bit more before they reach this place, can't show someone so important a fortress full of scattered items.

[Kipi]

3rd of Timber

The miners did it! They discovered cavern beneath us! And even better, there is underground lake down there!


So, we have finally been able to discover a source of water in this sad desert. Next we have to figure a way to get that water to the fortress. That won't be easy task, lots of pumps will be required.


4th of Timber

I have ordered the new farming area to be mined just bellow the fortress. It should be  big enough to support all the farms we need, and there is going to be pump tower next to it to get the water there from the cavern.


12th of Timber

Taricus has begun working with copper cages. Even though we have our entrance trapped it's always good idea to improve the defenses. Also, cage traps could provide us some valuable meat, we are not exactly rolling in food right now.


18th of Timber

The caravan and liaison are coming! We spotted them from some distance away, so it may take few days to actually reach us. Still, they are coming. I have ordered some of the crafts we have found to be moved to trading depot. We need more food and especially alcohol, everything else is unimportant.



9th of Moonstone

I was finally able to trade with the caravan today. Most of their goods were no use to us, as we need food and alcohol, and they didn't have much of it. So, I ended up buying all the food and alcohol supplies they had, and didn't even have to pay them much, just two full bins of crafts, no bins of course.

Next I must see the liaison.


14th of Moonstone

So, I met the liaison Sunkenanvils today. He was quite delighted that we were able to  recover this fortress, although he admitted that they had hoped that we would have found at least few survivors. Well, you can't always get everything you want. He was also very happy to hear that I have found the notes about the adamantine experiment, and that we think that the formula and process is ready to go. We need to test it here though before it can be spread other fortresses.

We also discussed about trading details. As I was able to give some requests what the caravan should bring next time I aksed for alcohol. In fact I put the priority to it, food should not be that big problem to us. But before we can get our farms running properly we have no way to produce alcohol, and during that time we are more or less dependent on caravans.


After receiving our request Sunkenanvils gave me the list of what the queen asks from us. The most interesting item in the list was drinks. Now, we need the assistance of mountainhome to support our alcohol supplies, and at the same time the queen demands us to produce alcohol to them? Sound a bit illogical. But, like Sunkenanvils said, the list is not forced one, so if we can't produce something on the list we shouldn't worry about it too much. It's more like that the items in the list are paid better.


After we had finished our discussion Sunkenanvils left the fortress, although the caravan still stayed here. I think we will see him at the spring next time.


20th of Moonstone

I had another conversation with Taricus today. During it we agreed not to talk about his past to anybody else, at least not before we trust the one who we are going to tell about it. Even though I do believe him now I don't think many others do, and spreading crazy tales like that one, no matter how true those are, is just not a good idea. After all we are still struggling to get this fortress running properly, and I don't want to give anybody any ideas that I and Taricus have gone mad. It just won't do.


21st of Moonstone

I studied a bit the cavern beneath us through the hole in the stairwell, and I think we have another problem solved as well as the water one; there is huge amount of trees growing in the cavern. As this fortress is located in the middle of desert there are no trees growing outside, so I'm happy to see that the matter is different inside the cavern.



22nd of Moonstone

I met Taricus today during the lunch. I asked him if he wanted to return to his world if we were able to figure out the way. His reaction was not something I expected:

"By returning to my world do you mean the afterlife or Craftwaters? And in both cases it doesn't matter, the result would be the same, which is afterlife. You see, I died in Craftwaters, so there should be no possibility for me to return among the living there. So, afterlife it is. And there is no way in hell I'm going to return there! But, let's say that there was a way for me to return among the living in Craftwaters. Now, almost everybody I knew has already died and those who has not were nearly mad at the time I escaped the afterlife. So, what's waiting for me in there? Nothing! So, why would I want to return to something that has nothing to offer me, except sorrow and madness? Nah, I'm quite happy here, at least I don't have to fear for demons. But thanks for asking."

So, it's very clear that Taricus wants to stay here with us. That's fine to me, we really need someone with his skills.

[Kipi]

22nd of Obsidian

Crap!

There is bunch of kobolds lurking near our fortress. Unfortunately one of them was able to get inside, and it wasn't spotted until it was on it's way out. Now, kobold infiltration is not something we must worry too much, but the fact that the kobold took one of our steel axes! That sneaky son-of-bitch! If I ever see that creature again I'll skin it alive, then produce leather bag from it's hide, bolts from it's bone and tasty roast from it's meat! And use it's skull as drinking cup, of course!



1st of Granite, year 225

So, it's spring again. And this means that we have been living here in Trueworks one full year by now. Can't believe it has been so long, it feels like we came here just few days ago.

So, as the year has passed it's time to look back and what we have done and discovered.

Almost everything has been moved to proper storages already, few items are scattered here and there, and most of those are left outside where we had our temporal storages.

There are fourteen of us, and we have no problems with food or alcohol yet, thanks to the caravan that came during autumn. I also suspect that we won't run to any bigger problems in there as we have begun the preparations of underground farming. We just need to build tower of pumps to move all the water we need from caverns to farming area.


I have also been able to figure out what happened here before we came. It seems that the original population suffered from thirst due the problems with farms and the fact that there was no source of water aboveground. Several dwarves died to thirst, and few more went insane. In the end the rest of the population was forced to flee this fortress, leaving everything behind. Now, I don't know what happened to them after they left, but they never reached any of the human, elven or dwarven outposts, so I believe that none of them survived.

For the positive side, we have learned that the original citizens were able to finish up the procedure of making adamantine from obsidian. Taricus has confirmed that it should work, though some small adjustments may have to be made during testing. Now, we need to mine some obsidian to test this out.

So, what are our plans for the future? I have made a list from the things I saw important enough to have top priority:

• Begin underground farming
• Finish the upgrading of our defenses. So far we have been pestered by kobolds and wild animals, but I know there are groups of goblins and orcs living somewhere near, so we need better defense.
• Begin the adamantine production
• Re-establishing all the basic industries. This includes crafts, wood industry, stone industry, metal industry, food industry and gem industry.

So, that's short summary of our first year and some guidelines for the next one.

[Kipi]

19th of Felsite, year 225

The spring has been quite busy, so I haven't had much time to update this log.

The outer wall has been completed. Now we have big front yard, guarded by three cage traps. The masons made a great work with the walls and traps, so I feel much safer already.

We also have mined some obsidian, though no tests has made with the stones and the adamantine process yet. One such test has already been assigned but so far Taricus has had no time to run the process as he has been busy with copper pipes and corkscrews. Those are needed for pumps to bring water to the farms.

Another group of migrants came to here as well, I think that was during Felsite. We have thirty-two dwarves living here now, which means we get lots of things done much faster. Most of the arrivals were generic peasants, though there was one mason and one doctor among them, so I'm not complaining here.

Two caravans also arrived, elven and dwarven. Now, in future, I think we must have another trading depot ready. After all, it's not good idea to direct both caravans on the same depot, as it's known that elves and dwarves do not go along too well. But, for now they just have tolerate each other. I have yet to meet either of the caravans, and that's something I must do quite soon.

While the caravans were coming several kobolds were spotted inside the walled front yard. The dwarven guards took care of those, though one dwarf took some wounds on his leg. Well, that's no concern of us, I think he lives.



So, I'm off to see the liaison, then the caravans.


2nd of Hematite, year 225

So, I met the caravans today. Dwarves brought to us some alcohol, just as we requested. The elves, well, I say they don't have anything I was interesting. If we were going to rely on the surface farming alone then sure, all those seeds might have been useful, but now that we are going to have our farms underground, my opinion can be summarized by "Meh!".

Haven't seen the liaison in few days, going to track her down next. By the way, I just realized that the queen has appointed new liaison! And here we were getting along with the old one just fine...


4th of Hematite, year 225

So, I met the new liaison today. Her name is Stockaderare, and I haven't been able to form any opinion about her yet. It seems that the position of liaison has become quite windy, so she was not sure if she will come next autumn or if it's somebody else. Well, that's not our problem as long as the queen sends someone here.

So, Stockaderare gave me new list that the queen wants to buy from us. This time the list is more... practical... and there are things listed there that I think we can produce for trading purpose, like the swords. I, on the other hand, requested some more alcohol.


She also asked how our research with obsidian and adamantine is going. I told her that we have not ran any tests yet, though I'm optimistic that it will work. But the queen has to wait a little longer before I have any concrete data about the process.


10th of Hematite, year 225

One dwarf from the last migrant wave came to see me this morning. I think her name was Orbtheaters.

"Urist!"
"Yeah, what is it?"
"Has the dawrven caravan left already?"
"Yep, they left yesterday, as they had no more business here. Why?"
"Well, I made this crown, and I wanted to ask if the caravan would take it to the queen."
"Crown? Let me see that."

Orbtheaters showed me the crown.

"Hmm... interesting..."
"Really? I call it Coverbrains the Chant of  Smoothness!"
"You do? Now, what's that picture in the front?"
"Oh yeah, that one. I was inspired by one of the notes I found one week ago. This picture is about the death of Entrancebusts fue dehydration."

I stared the dwarf standing in front of me.

"Now, you made a crown to queen, and even engraved image like that in it? What makes you believe the queen even wants something like this?"
"She does because it's artifact!"
"Oh really? Well, unfortunately the caravan left already, so they can't give it her. Sorry."
"Ah, that's sad. Well, you keep it and give it to them when they come next autumn. Then they can give it to queen."
"Yeah, sure, I'll try to remember to do that. Now, off you go then!"

The poor dwarf, she meant good but I really suspect that the queen has no interest on items like this crown. It's well made though, I can't deny that. Oh well, I will discuss this with the liaison next time she comes, just so that I can say to Orbtheaters that I at least tried. I doubt this artifact will ever reach the queen though.



4th of Malachite, year 225

It works! It works!

Taricus just reported that he has successfully produce our first adamantine thread from obsidian! The process needs only two boulders of obsidian and two cut gems.


He had also some bad news. It seems that this process only works here in Trueworks, and nowhere else. That's because the obsidian is formed when magma is cooled down to turn it solid. Now, the process requires that the percentage of adamantine particles in the magma must be high enough for the process to be possible. And the level is so high that there is no known location that reaches it besides this area. So, even though we are able to produce adamantine, mountainhome will not. Ha, I don't want to be near when the liaison is telling that to the queen!