((going IC on the assumtion I have the right save. Whoo, it's a mess alright. Time to roll up my sleeves and make my year and a half count))
Journal of Scrubbedcreams, Last Dwarven Outpost
I met with Thob today; he's tired of being the overseer, and wants to go back to mining. He asked me to take over, since I appear to be the only one not caught completely in the grip of despair.
He's wrong, but I won't argue. He's done more than his share to keep us alive, he deserves to relax, as much as one can here, after his years of thankless work.
He told me his concerns about the caravan, and I nodded and sent him on his way with a pat on the shoulder. The caravan will never come, I am sure of it. The last dwarf that held a rightful claim to the throne died years ago, and I was from the last outpost of survivors that had the courage to try and keep what remained of our race connected. No one remembers why the elves began their monstrous war, all we know is that we fought to stop them, and failed. Scrubbedcreams was our desperate hope for a home safe from their savagery. We failed, at first.
The fortress fell, and many died coming to it. Finally, Thob managed to lead a wretched band here and dig in, and hold out. There's a few dozen of us now, but there can't be many dwarves left in the entire world, certainly no more settlements left alone by the elves for a caravan. Hell, the elves found this blasted pit in the glacier, didn't they? I imagine more stragglers will come, the few that don't die of frostbite will get whatever welcome we can manage. It's a sad home for us dwarves, but maybe we can make it work, if we can just get through this rough patch.
Gods, its a wretched place though. Monstrosities long forgotten battle in the lost levels of the fort, slaying who-knows-what in the dark caverns. I'm planning something ambitious, though. We have to dig for magma, it's the only hope. There's iron ore, and copper and tin, we could forge weapons and more if we could just get to the magma. It's a fool's hope, but we're dead without it. We cannot retake the surface or the caverns without weapons, we cannot get weapons without smelted ore, and we cannot smelt ore without heat. We have no wood, and whatever wood we could scrape together is too precious to burn in a forge. There is only one answer. Magma. We will dig to the sea, if it stretches this far north, and we will build there a new work level, and begin anew.
Food; we need food and drink. I''ll reorganize everyone into more efficient labor groups as best I can. We need a better dining hall, something to try and improve our spirits. If morale doesn't improve, we'll be crushed under the weight of our own misery. That's my next plan; while the miners dig carefully downward, we will work to make this place liveable, and to keep our bellies full and our throats wet. Coffins too; the dead must be put to rest; it's too hard on us enduring their death, let alone watching them rot. We need wood; Thob made that abundantly clear. I -must- find a place where we can breach the cavern and wall off an area for wood; maybe even set some traps for animals, so we can have livestock. I'm ambitious, I know, but I refuse to die without a fight.
Lastly, if I have time, we'll begin the work on arming and training a proper military. I need to continue taking stock of this place; it's a nightmare, but it won't do to rush in haphazardly. Here goes everything.
-Libash "Bluebeard" Avuzkubuk
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Topic: [Scrubbedcreams] Terrifying Glacier (Community Reclaim) - Needs Overseers (Read 32008 times)