4th Malachite, Year 9, Mid Summer
Looking over the Kitchen menus, Crusty had noticed that plump helmets were set to 'cook' and NOT brew. Knowing we had been low on alcohol in the past, he changed this, and told the brewers to brew anything and everything they could get their hands on.
10th Malachite, Year 9, Mid Summer
With the new dining hall finished being excavated, a number of golden chairs, tables, and statues were commissioned to be forged. This dining hall would be fit for kings! It would certainly keep the moral of the fort up to dine in such a magnificent hall.
23rd Malachite, Year 9, Mid Summer
New migrants today.. ten in total. Most of them useless.. except for a single legendary Armorer that came. He will be put to good use, once we can start getting our metalsmithing up and running.
17th Galena, Year 9, Late Summer
Curse them! The Goblins are here! Sixteen goblin axemen, lead by a goblin pikeman. Upon hearing that they had come to besiege us, Crusty ordered the gates closed, and the guard to move into position. Anyone caught outside when the gates were closed would be met with a swift and brutal death.
After closing the gates, Crusty realized something. The new fort! It wasn't protected by the gates! There were our miners down there! He decided to open the western gate, forcing the intruders into a narrow corridor where our lone marksman, Fievreux, could rain death upon them, and would allow our smaller number of melee dwarves a better chance at survival. Plus, the goblins would have to contend with the small number of traps we had laid.
A child, caught outside playing with his pet puppy, was brutally butchered by a pair of axemen. The puppy got away safely. Nearby, the fort's leatherworker was locked in his small wooden hut that he had claimed after the death of it's previous owner. The goblins were right outside, but they were unable to beat down the door.
Doing armok-knows what, when he should've been inside forging, the newly migrated legendary Armorsmith was caught outside with his pants down, and was struck down after a short run. Another dwarf, a hauler, jumped into the river to safe himself from a goblin, and promptly drowned. Dwarves don't float very well, it seems.
Not long after, the goblin pikeman, leading the charge, charged into the fort, where the fort's commander, Kogsak, armed with a steel battle axe, promptly dismembered the unsuspecting goblin. The rest of the goblins, at watching their fearless commander get butchered, fled in terror. Except for one, who got caught in a cage.
Crustypeanut's aide, the Therapist, told him that they were down to 83 dwarves, and that a small number of them were not very happy with their lot. He suggested a sacrifice into the magma pipe, but since the unhappy ones were the military dwarves, Crusty decided that for now, he wouldn't do such a thing, although preparations were to be made to do so, just in case.
The Therapist also mentioned that one dwarf in particular, a useless, unskilled dwarf, was rambling on about some project, and had taken over a craftsdwarfshop, where the stonemasons were making pots. He had been gathering nothing but wood so far. The Therapist suggested finding a way to preserve this precious wood, rather than having it go to waste in a useless goblet, or other such object. However, with the present layout of the fort, causing an 'unfortunate accident' to the individual in question would greatly risk the fort being flooded by water. Even the Therapist couldn't come up with a quick solution, so the matter was dropped.
28th Galena, Year 9, Late Summer
Platinum! We had struck more platinum, and thus plans were made to see if there was anymore in this area.
Also, one of the axedwarves, Sibrek, gave birth to twins! This almost makes up for the loss of life we had in the recent siege. Hopefully, with her taking her babies into battle, they won't become meatshields and perish before they could become useful.
5th Limestone, Year 9, Early Autumn
The useless dwarf finally began construction of his mysterious artifact, after taking quite some time to gather the materials. The list is rather extensive, and includes 7 different wooden logs, two gold bars, two stones of lignite, and two pieces of rope reed cloth, the stuff we stole from the elves. What he will make, is still up to debate.
9th Limestone, Year 9, Early Autumn
….For a wooden amulet, that's sure one dwarfy artifact. Worth 88,000 Dwarfbucks, the Fungiwood Amulet “Steelgully” was a magnificent piece of art. Not only that, it fully references TWO of our previous artifacts, and one of the dwarves that made them.
28th Limestone, Year 9, Early Autumn
A boy! Fievreux had given birth to a healthy, fully bearded boy while out hunting today. Luckily, it was no where near any animals at the time.
17th Sandstone, Year 9, Mid Autumn
More immigrants.. woo.. my Therapist says we're up to 93 dwarves. This group didn't have anyone in particular who were skilled, so they were drafted as haulers.
23rd Sandstone, Year 9, Mid Autumn
After noticing no leatherworking was being done, Crusty went up to the log cabin where the leatherworker, Monom, had taken up residence. After finding the door locked from the outside, he unlocked it and went inside..
The leatherworker was on his bed, dead. By the looks of it, he had died of thirst. Someone had locked the door on him, probably during the siege, and had forgotten to let him out.
And so, another death has caused this cabin to become abandoned..
26th Sandstone, Year 9, Mid Autumn
Om nom nom nom
One of the herbalists was munching on a plump helmet while deep the caverns, and all of a sudden, a crash from behind startles her. Looking behind her, she freezes for a moment at the sight:
And then proceeds to flee in terror.
Hearing her screams, the military was dispatched to take care of the beast. The axedwarf Sibrek is first on the scene, BOTH babies in arms and proceeds to fight the beast.
Not long after the fight begins, both Sibrek and her children lay dead in a pool of their blood. The commander arrives shortly after, only to lose both his right foot and right hand to the beast. One of the hammer dwarves, known for his tantruming earlier, arrives to finish off the beast as it attempts to kill the Kogsak, the commander.
14th Timber, Year 9, Late Autumn
Caravans here! Bringing out all our assorted crafted goods, we traded for a boat load of useful things: metal weapons and armor of various types and qualities, a few extra anvils, a large amount of alcohol, although we have plenty, and assorted other things. It was an amazing haul, totaling roughly 14,000 dwarfbucks.
Not long after that, another person went into a strange mood, this time a mason. Using lignite as a base, and using the only pig iron bar that I just traded, and other materials, he began construction.
13th Moonstone, Year 9, Early Winter
A lignite statue of one of the forgotten beasts we killed? Its worth 33,000 dwarf bucks though, so its nothing to be ashamed of. Hopefully it will never catch on fire, else it would be an ever-burning statue. Actually, that sounds pretty bad ass.
10th Opal, Year 9, Mid Winter
Another forgotten beast came.. this time a large tick. Surprisingly enough, one of the new, unskilled recruits was able to kill the beast with his silver warhammer. He was uninjured during the fight. (Lol he was only using a leather robe, wooden shield, and his silver warhammer. He's dabbling in all military skills.)
2nd Obsidian, Year 9, Late Winter
A.. baby has risen as a ghost, and is haunting the fortress. We really need to get some coffins made.. I've already designated the tombs and such to be dug out, but its going to take a while.
11th Obsidian, Year 9, Late Winter
A giant has come! One of the hammerdwarfs, Ast, fought with it for nearly a day before being overwhelmed. The other hammerdwarf came to his rescue and finished the beast. Ast is alive, but majorly wounded, and him recovering will be nothing short of a miracle.
14th Obisidan, Year 9, Late Winter
Ast has died, suffocated. No one came to pick him up, and he died where he fell during combat. He will be entombed and given highest honors for his noble sacrifice.
1st Granite, Year 10, Early Spring
Crustypeanut stood up from his desk, aching from sitting there too long. It was finally over. Though thick and thin, he had led the fort to where it stood now – prospering with booze, food, and a beautiful solid gold bridge. Though lives were lost, there was also new life – babies were born, marriages occurred, migrants came. The fortress of Echopaged lived on. And so, Crustypeanut gave a curt nod to The Therapist, who helped him along the way, and left his office. Whoever the next mayor to be elected would be.. they would inherit a fine fortress. As for Crusty, he went back to kitchen, to prepare a fine pig cheese roast.
The Therapist, as he was known, was not merely a figment of the dwarf's imagination.. but something more.. something.. real.. as to what.. we may never know. For now.. he faded away.. knowing he would return someday.
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Not a bad year, got a lot of digging done.. found more platinum, gold, native copper.. got a ton of flux stone mined.. etc etc.
The solid gold bridge, fortifications, and paved road, using Stonesense:
The nobles' quarters and the tombs:
The Apartments, before being dug out:
The entire fort proper, taken at the end of my reign:
The status screen:
The Save:
http://dffd.wimbli.com/file.php?id=4732