1st Granite
Conan approached me today and asked me if I would be interested in taking on the role as overseer. I had a few ideas on what could be improved upon around here and made some smalltalk with Conan about my ideas over a few mugs of ale. I guess she liked them enough that she considers me capable enough to be overseer. I thought it might be an interesting experience, managing nearly one hundred dwarves so I accepted his offer. I have managed a small group of smiths before so I shouldn’t be totally unprepared for this job.
Obviously the first thing to do is to check the records and see who is doing what, what supplies we have, and what our defenses are.
2nd Granite
We have plenty of iron bars, plenty of flux stone, plenty of magma, and yet we have only one steel bar. I plan to fix that immediately.
We also have far too few quality weapons and sets of armor for our soldiers. To add to that the weapons in the weapon traps around the perimiter are pitifully dull and made of inferior metals. I will have to forge new steel weapons for our militia and new weapons for our weapon traps when we have enough available matterials. The furnace operators will certainly have enough to smelt and melt for a while.
We have too many dwarves doing jobs they are unskilled at. Most of the weapon and armorsmiths are inexperianced while we have an adequate number of experianced ones. Many engravers, masons, carpenters, farmers, brewers, cooks, are mostly barely proficient in their craft. Too many are assigned to tasks that require only one or two dwarves at most.
The militia is certainly has enough able bodies in it, but as I mentioned previously they desperately need better weapons and armor.
We could also use a larger stonecrafting industry that makes goods for exsport, as we have far too many stones lying around the fortress. I have assigned a group of unskilled dwarves to stonecrafting to solve this problem and create goods for trade. Now that I think about it the trading depot should be closer to the production centers so I should relocate it.
I would be a fool if I forgot what every dwarf complains about in this fortress: the lack of bedrooms. We have enough wood to make an adequate number of beds, we have miners skilled enough to mine lavish rooms for every dwarf, but still we sleep in a communal bedroom. This will not do, the great dwarves of foldedlens should not accept rooms that are anything less than opulent. Such opulent rooms will of course require well made furnishings; otherwise the rooms will feel like nothing more than an empty space. These rooms wil obviously be smoothed and engraved when our engravers are skilled enough for the task.
I have also designated workshops such as the carpentry, masonry, and mechanics workshops to be used only by the dwarves most skilled in the relevent professions. This should help us produce higher quality proucts instead of a flood of poor ones.
7th Granite
I received a letter from one of the dwarves today complaining that he is having some sort of déjà vu. He also complained that his bedroom was taken away from him. Either someone is watering down the booze or this dwarf is extremely distressed about his room being taken away. I will have to correct this as soon as I can, for his sanity at least.
15th Granite
Work on new bedrooms and hallways/stairwells goes well. Steel bar production is coming along nicely, as is weapon production for the militia and weapon traps
24th Galena
Metal working coming along well, steel and pig iron being smelted alojng with galena for silver warhammers.
4th Slate
A large group of migrants, twenty frour in all, have arrived at our humble fortress. Some of them have been assigned to mining and stonecrafting.
10th Slate
Sodel Idoszon has starved himself to death for some reason. I had been trying to get him to eat but he wouldn’t even acknowledge that I was there; he would just keep walking around with a blank experssion on his face.
21st Slate
We have no shortage of work here at foldedlens, and I am no exception. I am smelting steel bars and making weapons for the traps and the militia. On my breaks I walk around and go check on the miners who are digging the new rooms for the citizens and the engravers who are smoothing them.
I also check on the export production center when I pass by. The skills of the new dwarves I assigned to stonecrafting are improving slowly but surely. They show great promise for the future of foldedlens if their skills continue to improve.
2nd Felsite
Sorry I havent been able to update you more regurlarly journal. I am just so busy these days forging weapons and armor on top of making sure everyone else in this fort is doing their job. I even forgot to tell you about my improvements to the defenses outside. It isn’t much right now but every little bit helps.
7th Felsite
Shem Emuthzuglar ran past me while I was making my rounds today and has taken over a mechanics workshop. She ran to a few of the stockpiles and grabbed some rocks blocks and gems and started working. When I asked what she was doing she didn’t even acknowlede that I was there. I hope she will be okay.
14th Felsite
Shem Emuthzuglar finished her creation today, a wounderful mechanism made of alunite. I have assigned her the task of making mechanisms for the fort in recognition of her great skill.
18th Felsite
The elven caravan arrived today. I was looking at what they had when Conan came running down the ramp shouting “GOBLIN SIEGE”. She sees me near the trading depot and and runs over to brief me on the situation.
“All squads have been scrambled for intercept sir” Conan says to me
“Good thinking Conan, but sixteen goblins armed with crossbows and a mounted bat seems rather small for a siege” I say.
Conan says “I was thinking the same thing but our scouts assure me there are only sixteen and the mounted bat”
“Well, we had better make sure that the goblins don’t find any of our unarmed dwarves outside” I say as we sprint twards the front gate where the militia is gathering.
I see a few fast dwarves on my sprint to the nest and tell them to run and tell the dwarves outside to retreat into the panic room.
Before Conan and I reach the front gate we can see the enemy. Their black uniforms and green skin look like warts on the green hillside. For some reason the goblins arent moving, just standing there. The militia is behind the wall that now partially surrounds the entrance to the fort so the goblins don’t see them.
Hours pass and the sun starts to set, yet the goblins still stand on the side of the hill. Conan decides to use the setting sun to his advantage and takes the militia on a circuitous route to the side of the mountain where the goblins are. The militia ascends until they are on the same level as them. We start to slowly move closer to them. They are at least twenty feet away when suddenly a bolt flies by. A goblin has spottted them, but it’s already too late. The melee elements of the militia sprint the short distance and engage the crossbow wielding goblins in close quarters combat before most of them can fire a shot.
The battle was over before I knew it. Most of the goblins had been slain and only three managed to escape after they started running for dear life. Conan tells me the militia did a very good job of disarming the enemy before they could fire. Sadly the captain of the Tebacuous Vessels, Avuz Arzon was killed by a silver bolt that pierced her copper brestplate and continued on to pierce her heart. If the siege had come later she might have been saved by the steel armor I planned on making.
On a more posative note we have only a few injured dwarves, all of whom will fully recover with time.
3rd Hematite
Trading with the elves is concluded. We have acquired more cages, barrels, buckets, cloth, booze, and food in exchange for some of our stone crafts
17th Hematite
The members of the militia who were wounded in the battle are recovering nicely and the second floor of bedrooms has been half dug already. The speed at which they mine amazes me still.
26th Hematite
A group of seven migrants arrived today, now we have a dwarf who is very skilled in suturing and wound dressing along with a dwarf skilled in bone setting.
4th Malachite
I have assigned most of the new migrants and some of the haulers to squads in the militia that are understrength.
15th Malachite
The second floor of rooms is done and the miners are already starting on the next floor of rooms.
24th Malachite
A group of rhesus macaques ran into the front gate area today. The militia had to be called out to kill the damn dirty apes.
12th Galena
The human caravan has arrived. We traded for exotic metals, food, cloth, cages, leather, waterskins, and quivers.
25th Galena
The mayor is still complaining about not having proper quarters so I have assigned the miners of making some suitable rooms.
8th limestone
Its been a raining for almost a week now. At least the crops are getting some water
14th limestone
All 3 levels of rooms are done. Masons are working on the furnishings and the carpenter Cerol Rigothimush is making bins to improve his carpentry stills until such time I believe he is ready to construct the beds for the new rooms
Noble room construction is proceeding at full speed now.
22nd Limestone
One of our recruits, Kikrost Keskalestil, has claimed a jeweler’s workshop and is working with a group of rough prases.
7th Sandstone
Kikrost has finished his creation, a perfect prase.
His display of skill has convinced me to take him out of the militia, which he was thrilled about, and task him with cutting gems, which he seems to enjoy.
20th Sandstone
“Tad Spostzaugu Etosp, the bronze colossus has been sighted, the militia are assembling.” Conan yells at me with a look of fear on her face.
We both run up to the surface and I shout at the runners near the bridge to call all dwarves inside. The runners speed off and shout at the few dwarves outside to return immediately. Last to arrive in the entrance maze is Ingiz Kolvumom. Unfortunately by that time Tad Spostzaugu Etosp had reached the gate and was gaining on Ingiz. Ingiz tried to run but wan’t fast aenough and was ripped apart by the beast. The militia hears his cries but hold fast near the end of the maze.
The monster rounds the corner and sees the militia. It charges around the corners of the pit and meets Zan Kubuksodel the hammerdwarf first. The next part happened so fast I almost didn’t see it.
Zan Kubuksodel dodges the attack and counterattacks. The megabeast dodges the attack by jumping out of the way, right into the pit.
I order the marksdwarves to shoot it until it’s dead, but it just keeps taking hits and shrugging them off like they’re nothing.
23rd Sandstone
I am fed up with this damn abomination. None of our bolts seem to be able to kill it and it doesn’t seem to want to kill itself so I will have to figure out some other way of killing of imprisoning it. Hmm, now that I think about it we could cage it and release it in the front gate maze if an overwhelming goblin horde descends upon us. Yeah, that would work nicely.
28th Sandstone
Eight migrants arrived today. None of them were very skilled so they have either been assigned hauling duties or drafted into the militia.
6th Timber
The trap is ready to be sprung on this shiny abomination. I have positioned the best of the militia near it in case it fails.
The last section of wall is dug away, the miner retreats, and the bronze colossus sprints to the noise, and into the cage trap.
Now all we have to do is set its cage somewhere in the maze, along with the minutaur, and set it so that they get released when goblins attack. That should be a nice surprise for the bastards.
16th Timber
The hives I ordered constructed are finished, and are being place into the bee area outside. Everything is going well.
Suddenly Conan runs by shouting “massive goblin siege”. Seeing me she runs over tans gives me a situation report. “Forty-eight hammer goblins riding bats and cave crocs in three groups along with a group of trolls. Two goblin squads to the north and one goblin squad along with the trolls to the east” “The militia has already been called to the front gate” she says huredly.
“We can’t possably take on that many right now” I say. Conan agrees and we decide to call all dwarves inside. Most eeasily make it inside. However Thob Cisgakmeng and Etur Kirarimush don’t hear us, and are right in the goblins path to the front gate. I keep calling to them to no avail.
All three goblin squads don’t seem to be advancing at the moment so they should be fine for now.
The observers report to me that only the troll squad is advancing on the fort. We have only managed to set up a few new weapon traps near the front gate, hopefully they will stop the trolls. On the way to the front gate the lead troll splatters a stray bunny against the wall of the fort.
He makes his way to the entrance to the front gate maze and continues to advance. They advance to the pit area with incredible speed.
The lead troll comes up to the first weapon trap. I pray to Igath and Idrith that my hand has forged adequate weapons and watch as the trap activates.
The troll is evicerated before my eyes.
“Ha ha ha, awesome” says Conan gleefully by my side. Here come the rest, says says someopne behind me as the rest of the trolls charge into the traps. All but one of the trolls run through the weapon traps and become no more then a pile of body parts before our eyes. The one who didn’t run through the traps justs stands there looking confused as to why his friends are suddenly piles of blood and guts. Conan asks if she can finish him and I give her the go ahead as long as she promises not to get hurt.
She advances quickly and her axe tears through the troll easily. Its body falls to the ground soon after the first swing. Now only the goblins remain.
I decide to seal up the fort by raising the bridge. The two bekeepers who are outside seem to have taken to hiding, believing that it would be dangerous to try to return to the fort. The goblins still wait to the north and east.
9th moonstone
One of the goblins breaks from his squad and flys over our fortifications and is cut down by a flurry of bolts from our marksdwarves. I was outside at the time on top of the marksdwarf rampart that wasn’t near where any of the goblin squads were camped and was quite surprised at the goblins actions. Soon however I saw the rest of his squad flying in to try to avenge him. “The bastards are making their push, bring em down” I yelled to the militia members staioned below as bolts flew at the goblin attackers. The first two fall to the ground and are stunned by the fall as the militia finishes them off and heads up to the archers nest.
The rest of the squad comes down on them hard and fast, but the militia is prepared for them. Hammers are met with axe, sword, mace, and bolt and the goblin aviators are soon dead. Their comrades on cave crocodiles look upon the scene in horror as they are pelted with bolts. The marksdwarves pour on a malestrom of bolts and manage to bring most goblins down along with the cave crocodiles they are mounted on.
The squad leader of the goblins is still circling the top of the hill, way outside the range of the marksdwarves. “YOU DAMN COWARD, THIS A PERFECTLY GOOD MOMENT TO THROW YOUR LIFE AWAY” I shout at him. I don’t think he could hear me. One of the goblins manages to retreat to safety along with his mount.
They manage to retreat for now but they are no doubt frightened and enraged at the slaughter of their comrades.
15th Moonstone
Cerol Rigothimush the carpenter is now skilled enough in my eyes to begin bed production for the rooms we have dug. Judging by the first few beds he has made they will exceed the expectations of every dwarf in this fortress.
22nd moonstone
Lorbam Bidokdeler ran at me today and pushed me out of the magma forge I was using to create armor for the militia. I was quite perterbed at this and demanded to know what the hell he was doing, but all I got was a blank stare and some incomprehensable noises from his throat. I decided to leave him alone, as he wasn’t harming anyone and asked a few of the off duty militia members to keep a watch on him. Besides, I can just use one of the other magma forges. The goblins are still outside by the way, just camping there like idiots.
3rd Opal
Lorbam seems to have gathered all of the matterials he wanted and has begun constructing.. well I am not exactly sure what it is, its just a piece of steel that he is working on now but it should be well decorated with many bones, gems, cloth, and microcline. Of course he won’t tell me or anyone else what he is doing, or speak at all for that matter.
I also was checking through the stockpile records and worker assignment logs when I noticed that our best blacksmith has nothing to do but forge steel and pig iron bars. I thought his talents would be better used creating furnature for the bayors rooms, along with mine. I requested a few things in lead, which we have in abundance, for my rooms.
5th Opal
Sadly Thob Cisgakmeng and her baby were kiled today while trying to survive outside the main fort, as they were uanble to hear our cries to come back when the siege began. Etur has managed to evade the green scum so far and I pray his luck will last until this awful experience is over. We finally have enough tanned hides to start producing backpacks, waterskins, and quivers for our militia in the nesissary numbers. We have a few less cats but we had too many of them anyway.
7th Opal
I guess Lorbam was inspired by the utter defeat of the goblin squad that tried to fly over our defenses and were cut down by bolts because he has finished his creation, a steel crossbow.
He calls it Uthmikdum, or Shakenmouth in the common tongue. He says the gave it that name because his mouth widened in awe upon seeing the marksdwarves bolts bring down the goblin aviators in the previous battle.
“The marksdwarves had truely excelent aim, one bolt after another slammed into the center mass of both giant bat and goblin bodies. The invaders were dead before they hit the ground. I was so impressed with the marksdwarves that I decided I should try to thank them for saving so many of our lives, for if more of the goblins had got into melee range we would have surely lost a few dwarves” He tells me. Recognising his talkents for weaponsmithing I tell him “I would be a fool to not let you continue making weapons, consider yourself head weaponsmith”. He seems overjoyed at the prospect of creating deadly weapons for the militia and weapon traps. I have assigned him all weaponsmithing tasks so the militia may have weapons worthy of their bravery.
On a similar note we are in need of more marksdwarves, and places for them to practice. I have ordered an archery range built near the dining hall and barracks so we may train more skilled marksdwarves.
19th Opal
Etur Kirarimus has been killed by the goblins as he tried to get a drink from the river. If only she had heard my orders to come inside when this siege began she would still be alive. But we must persevere, we must train the militia into an unbeatable military force armed with the best weapons and armor available. Foldedlens will persevere, thrive, and destroy the goblin menace that haunts these lands.
21st Opal
A small archery range has been built for the militia so the marksdwarves now have somewhere to practice.
10th Obsidian
The furnishing of my quarters has been completed. It may seem a bit lavish now but soon all dwarves will have well furhsihed rooms and shouldn’t have anything to complain about.
I also installed a panic lever that locks my room in the event of an emergency and have a small stockpile of booze and food with which to survive if an emergency lasts for an extended period of time.
17th Obsidian
The goblins have withdrawn from our fortress. I am extremely relieved I no longer have the green skinned filth breathing down our necks. As if to herald the retreat of the goblins a great herd of horses has taken to grazing around the fort.
Now that the siege is over I can continue the construction of the front gate maze and place more weapon traps.
I can also begin work on beastnorak, the evil beast last ditch defense system. I figure since we have two huge dumb beasts in cages that we can set their cages to open at the flip of a lever when a group of goblins walks through the maze. A minataur and a bronze colossus in a maze that surrounds the fort seems like a brilliant idea to me. Conan thingks it’s a great idea too, as the only other real option would be to have the militia kill them both, which would undoubtedly lead to many deaths.
28th Obsidian
The stress of this job must be getting to me. On my daily rounds I beheld a strange sight, the floating corpse of a goblin floating above the courtyard. It was still dead, but it was just hanging in mid air. Nobody else I talked to claims to have seen it, even when I pointed at it.
I will have to find someone who will take over this job.
Here are the current stocks of the fortress for the next overseeer.
Whoever takes over for me as overseer should at least consider my idea of using the caged minataur and bronze colossus we have as last ditch weapons against invaders. If a larger and more trained force of goblins sieges us again I would not expect a favorable outcome for us. I may just be pessimistic, The military also still needs more weapons and armor, but those are already being made. They also could use a larger area to train in.
THE SAVEhttp://www.mediafire.com/?qr53ycyi4t6upe6