1st Moonstone, 152, Early Winter
Current Fortress LayoutHello everyone! I'm the new administrator, I took over a little early, I know, but hopefully nobody minds that! Now, let me see what's been going on around he-
Well, that's quite good, a little thin on the ground as far as exports are concerned, but...
Huh, well defended entrance, I don't understand all these complaints about nightwing attacks, can't people just go ins-
Ah, a sizeable stockpile, I like it. Now, about these animal attacks-
Yes, yes, I've seen the farms - a little concerned with the bones mussing up one of the plots, but we have more important things to discuss.
I must say, I quite like that layout, three stills next to each other? Wonderful.
Another good stockpile, but really, we must get on to the more pressing issue at hand.
I- Hm, and he only mentions the name of whatever he is thinking of? Puzzling, does he have the necessary materials to begin construction?
Heavenly, that's the neatest bedroom organisation I've seen in months! Where's mine?
Ah, now, this-
-is a big problem. It's killed at least four dwarfs, you say? Well, then, it's time we remove this threat.
But first, we have a big bunch of dwarven brethren in the trade depot who require someone to swap goods.
Oh, let joy be unconfined. We have a
bin.
Aw, crap, the crocodile got in the coffin room and it's
smashing shit up, someone stop her!
Waitaminute, didn't she have a cut on each leg earlier?
Great, not only is it capable of ripping every single one of us apart in her jaws, she can also regenerate. That is utterly brilliant, really.
Wait, I know how to fix this! IMUSH! GET YER AXE OU-
Why are you unconscious? OhArmokthisisawful
Oh.
I can hear screams downstairs! The crocodile's coming up through the fort! The miner, Kib, just ran down there to pull some rock out from the mining tunnels, I hope he's alright
I just ventured downstairs, the entire rampway down is covered in crocodile and dwarf blood. We found Kib's desiccated corpse lying next to his left arm and left foot. His throat was torn out by that monstrous croc. On the good side of things, his pick was intact and covered with crocodile blood. We can only hope he fatally wounded it before he went off to join his beloved (A fellow miner, I understand that the two will be buried together in the lower crypts.)
WE CAUGHT HER!
We caught that cave crocodile as she was chasing the last of us out on to the surface!
Sadly, her capture came at a great cost: As she was charging up to the surface, she took down several pets, including the Trapper's billygoat, she ambushed Imush as he was sleeping and ripped his head open. We can't save him.
To stop this happening again, I've ordered the creation of a military. One of the cheesers apparently was a Master Hammerdwarf, he stayed behind to aid the rest of our escapes, unfortunately we have no hammers and he died fighting the menace. I haven't counted all the casualties yet, but those were only the most important deaths so far.
It's been a few days since the crocodile was captured, miasma is filling the halls but we have no coffins for the dead. It is bringing down everyone's mood. One of the women, a processor, just snapped one day, started screaming and charging down a corridor. Someone who witnessed it said her once calm eyes were blood red.
She was quickly, but ineffectively put down by our brand new Militia Commander, Sibrek. He didn't have time to grab his equipment so he resorted to punching and kicking the poor woman to death.
The fortress is on the brink, and I've only been here a month. Winter's not over yet and I get the feeling we have something much, much worse in our future.
5th Obsidian, Late WinterIt's been a busy time, we've mostly been recovering from the attack by the cave crocodile. I've assembled a basic militia of four randomly selected dwarfs (I made sure their professions weren't being used at the time) and they seem alright. Lead by Sibrek, the man who put down a berzerking dwarf two months ago, I have some faith in them.
...
It seems we will have our first test of the new militia's abilities: A giant toad has crawled up from the depths to plague our fortress! Sibrek's leading the men to battle now.
...
Alright, it's after the battle, Sibrek was the one who laid the killing blow on the toad, but we lost a spearman. The toad ripped her lower body off, she had no chance.
On a more upbeat note, the Hunter had a baby girl! As one life is extinguished, another is created.
As I speak, I'm building a second line of defense - stonefall traps, lining the mining tunnels that lead up to the fort.
1st Granite, 153, Early SpringSpring is here! Praise the Gods!
Work on the traps by the crypt is complete, I've done work on allowing the dwarfs to move and bury their fallen brethren (We've built several more coffins) and one of the militiamen is now an Axe Lord, what we need now is proper, metal weapons that will do a little more damage and look a little more dwarfy than the tiny wooden sparring weapons we have now.
Here's to a brand new year, hopefully it'll do better than my (so far) disastrous Winter.
One last note before I close this entry, I've notived that every time I go to sleep, I keep hearing hissing coming through the floor, what on earth could it be?