Sorry for the shorter chapter today. I've been busy and my battery died while I was playing. Actually, it's a good thing the battery died, because I was in the middle of another war with the badgers, the broker died, and 'I' lost my left upper arm.
Also, sorry for no pictures. The only interesting pictures were of the combat which by a fluctuation in the dwarven space time continuum didn't happen.
Chapter 320th Limestone
We got two migrants today. Both have been assigned wood hauling jobs.
We've also put the roof on hold. It's taking too much time and resources, and it does us no good. Instead, we're taking the roof as it stand now and fortifying it. Unfortunately, I designed this place to encompass the largest possible area, which put it directly adjacent to two plateaus, from which enemies and wildlife can invade. These have already been walled off. However, I would rather use the western plateau as a fortified entrance, and wall of the lower level. I haven't worked out all of the details yet, put the plans are being made!
21st Sandstone
So our livestock population got away from us again. So we're slaughtering en masse...again. This time though, we're slaughtering at ONE shop, so we don't produce more bones than our carver can keep up with. There's a problem though... Basically, my conversation with Shade II went like this:
"Hey Shade II! Taco just killed a couple of kittens. Could you go carve their skulls into pretty things?"
"Sure, no problem boss. Where are these skulls you're talking 'bout?"
"...In the butcher's shop."
"Woah, woah...dude. That's gross. That's unsanitary! I am NOT digging through the mutilated carcasses and scattered organs of dead kittens for my bones. I need clean materials."
"Wait, what...? Why?"
"Well do YOU want a bone mug covered in blood and smelling like kitten tripe?"
"Well actually, ye-"
"You just put down a stockpile for those bones, clean them, arrange them neatly by type, you know, the usual, and I'll get right to work."
"Well...okay then. The bone stockpile's right between the butcher's and your shop then. Now go dig out those bones, clean them, polish them, whatever else you need to do and GET TO WORK!"
"Dude...that butcher's shop isn't underground..."
"...I know that...This IS a surface fort, you know? That's why we were exiled?"
"Yeah, but...if it's not underground, that refuse'll never generate miasma."
"Wha..."
"Why would I bother cleaning up that slaughter house if it's never going to stink?"
"...You mean you're absolutely not going to retrieve those bones ever?"
"Not unless you deconstruct the butcher's shop and build it on top of the old one, no."
"FUUU-"
"Hey, don't get so upset. We're dwarves, aren't we?" (OOC: The problem may actually have been something else, detailed below. But this was funny so I kept it.)
23rd Sandstone
Damn, more kittens. Maybe the solution is more carvers? We could certainly make up for quality with quantity...
In other news...Slax is freakin' ecstatic! Hooray!
8th Timber
Shade II lied to me...neither he, nor either of the other two dwarves I pleaded with will retrieve the bones from the butcher's shops. Jerks.
Hm...I'm walking around amidst the bones and realizing...all of our bones are skulls. Now, Shade II didn't raise THAT objection during our conversation, but, well....
However...the unicorns are back. And I'm getting a very bad idea...
In other news, we are resizing our perimeter, making it smaller, and square. Right now we're just removing the useless bits of roof, later we'll build new walls and destroy the old ones. We're also building walls and doors around the ramps leading to our roof.
17th Timber
Another caravan. Oh boy...this'll be tough. Probably gonna have to trade with food this time, we only got a few trinkets left. Well, Armok knows we can't eat all these kitty burgers anyhow...
Okay, never mind. We have plenty of trinkets, and I'm quite positive I now know why our bone carvers haven't been working. We just have to let our animals grow up before we kill them. :-/
They never told me they couldn't work skulls--I can't see why not. And apparently the other bones are just too small. So we're gonna let our next batch of kittens grow up. It's a pity for the last generation, though. They nearly made it...*laughs maniacally then looks around nervously clears throat and goes to get a drink*
22nd Timber
Doesn't seem they brought enough stone. Pity. Should be enough to build a smith's and kiln, though. They also brought metal, which is nice, and lots of fish. We could use a change to our diet.
Hm...and they have raw green glass...last time they were here they wanted windows. Now, we traded for their sand, but never used it. Maybe if we're fast, we could take this glass, build a shop, make windows, and trade it back to them!
We've also traded for their ridiculously cheap wood. No seriously. It's so cheap we decided to buy it rather than just cut it down. We got ten logs for like two earrings. :-/
Iron pick...steel pick...we can't dig with them, but...as weapons... No? Nope. Traders have firm instruction from the mountain home: we may NOT have picks of any kind, for any reason. Well they suck. However, there's a steel short sword here, and ~$800 doesn't actually look too bad right now...ah. We can't afford it. We've recieved some armor though, helms of iron and bronze.
Got some thread. Maybe now our doctor can finally fix our bedridden wood cutter.
--
If I left the name Melbil anywhere: that's you, Shade.
Okay, here's some pictures
roof:
floor (I resized it to be easier to see stuff):
Hey, does anyone know why picasa darkens the colors of my pictures when I crop them?
Also, I saw someone somewhere say they were going to try a surface fort. A word of advice for anyone considering it: Don't do what I did. The super huge perimeter surrounding a courtyard is not a good idea, it takes forever to build, and it's hard to defend. Build like a human, small buildings, maybe a joining wall when you run out of stuff to build.