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[Masked_Hunter1825]

Hatebeard notes

I have an idea. Goblin siegers get rerouted to the demonic hordes and fight each other. Two birds with one stone! If not then I suppose something else could work.

[Sphalerite]

Sphala's Journal

Today was story night with my kids.  I was telling them all the story about how we came to settle here, the seven of us who founded Icemachines.  I was telling them about the long trip, when Zas, my eldest daughter, asked me why Queen Led wanted us so far away, if we were supposed to make food for her.  I guess she's right, I hadn't really thought about it, but we're all the way on the other side of the world from the Mountainhome.  We're closer to the goblins and humans even.  I told her that Arzun had made Queen Led so mad that she sent him as far away as she could, so she'd never have to see him or worry about what he was doing.  My kids seemed to understand that.  I'm afraid none of them are really friends with Arzun.  I caught them calling him "Cranky old mister tin-pants' the other day.  I told them not to call him mean names.  I can't deny he's been in a real bad mood lately.  I can't understand why.  So we can't make anything from tin!  Is that a reason to go starting fights?  We have gold and adamantine, what more could he want?  Still, I went and looked through our supplies to see if we had any tin items we could melt down to make him something, but I didn't find a thing.

I'm worried about this plan of Mitch's to fight the demons.  I don't know if our military is up to it.  It's one thing to bring down a Bronze Colossus, that was just one monster.  Legend has it that the demons will come forward in uncountable numbers.  Were I younger, and only responsible for myself, I would gladly pledge myself for this goal, but I have a family now.  I have to worry about my .. five? no, six, I think .. children now.  I don't want to see them torn apart by unspeakable horrors from the netherworld.  Still, if Mitch is going to breach the underworld and fight the demons, I'll do my duty and put all my skills of masonry and mechanics to work building cunning traps and unbreakable gates of stone so that we'll win.

[Mitchewawa]

Overseer's notes, Paladin Mitch, Chaplain. Still Late Winter.

Times are tough. Martial law is in effect; and I had gathered some good ideas from the people on how to deal with the demons. Many ideas have been brought up:

1. Utilise a wretched giant cave spider to web them onto cage traps.
  - I put forward an idea to make a great monument to our victory with the caged demons on display. Glorious!
  - This idea wins in terms of humiliation; but we do not have giant cave spiders. If I find out I'll catch it and use this.

2. Pit goblins against the demons.
  - I quite like this idea, but it would render our holy icemachine useless, which is a shame.
  - We can't have goblins path their way to the base through the demon's lair without the demons themselves being able to path their way in.

3. Pit beasts against demons.
  - I do not know the effect of this. Would the demons kill it instantly? That would be my guess.
  - It's all up to chance; if the beast get's killed easily then we have no defence. Besides; controlling beasts to where you want is tricky.

4. Locking them in rooms/cave-ins
  - I don't know if we have room to cave-in; the adamantine shaft leads from a cavern. With a high roof. This is boring anyway.
  - The demons can still taunt us from a locked room. Idea dismissed.

5. Obsidian Machine
  - This idea sounds kind of neat. But it is trumped in simplicity by a similar idea...

6. A new Icemachine (My idea)
  - It will be tricky to overcome the river in the cavern above (I'LL FREEZE IT AND DIG THROUGH IT. I'M SO SMART), but this will be an effective and easy way to kill the demons.
  - Except it too will be boring, we've already got an Icemachine. We need to show the gods the strength of dwarven engineering! No half-assed ideas!

Meeting adjourned; I'll use one of these ideas as circumstance dictates. It doesn't matter quite yet, we aren't releasing the plague any time soon.



I think I need to give Peregar a medal. He just saved the lives of many recruits! I spoke with a friend in the statue garden, "Now why would that third guy just drop dead?"

I felt a tap on my shoulder and swivelled around. Peregar grabbed me by both shoulders and shook me. "You need to forbid the blood-stained armor and weapons! Imp's blood is deadly!"

I just stared in disbelief. My mouth dropped. Of course!


I hereby decree a reward for Peregar. A harem-dwarf!


Peregar has saved lives with his knowledge. I hold an official celebration by hosting a party at the statue garden. It's the most happening place to be! I still feel bad about giving up my quarters though; but it's going to the new Captain of the Guard...

Derm!


You'll see that I am now a royal guard. Yes, I ordered all fishermen to join the military; there are no fish left anyway. I also added a total of 25 extra recruits; to fill all current squads and the new captain of the guard. Every recruit is to be given a spear. Why? Because nothing works better against demon organs and faces. Purge the unholy with spears of justice, lads!



This will deplete our vast stocks of adamantine (I ordered more mined out recently), but I feel like this is worth it. The adamantine held the demons at bay since beyond time, and as an act of irony it shall be the end of the demons if we fail to capture them.
But why Derm? Well, he seems to be the subject of most of the war-themed engravings I see. Seriously; all the ones I see involving slaying are Derm and his reincarnation, Derm II, killing various creatures.



Imagine this image. Now imagine it posted fifty times over all over my ex-bedroom. Derm's face gets creepy over a year.

Speaking of bedrooms; it seems as though we've run out. I sleep on the floor (with engravings of Derm pelvic-thrusting trolls to death or something), as do many others. I ordered lots of beds, and a new bedroom. While circular on the outside, something which Arzun will love (and by that he won't weep in my ear over it), it still holds the practicality and holy architectural design of the Holy Cross of Atrid.



Addendum: This looks quite nice with all the beds placed.

I finished off the arena too. Hatebeard will be pleased. I have tested it already.

NOTE TO NEXT OVERSEERS: DO NOT DROP ELK IN. APPARENTLY THEY CAN'T BE TAKEN TO THE PIT FROM CAGES. THEY ESCAPED AND CAUSED A TIDAL WAVE OF MASS-HYSTERIA AND FEAR. ALL INDUSTRIES WERE SHUT DOWN AS DWARVES SCRAMBLED TO RUN AWAY FROM THE HARMLESS DEER. THE MILITARY HAD A TOUGH TIME CHASING THESE FAST ANIMALS DOWN TOO. MUCH TIME WAS WASTED.

This is the pitting area; I posted a picture so people will find it. It's under the second mason's area.



The... landing area is located in the cavern. I used constructed floors to get this arena hanging over the ground. It's a 3 or 4 story fall. Quite awesome!



Not as awesome as a proper arena; but I simply do not have the time. There are fights to prepare for, Arzun's tomb to engrave (he's a duke now), and the severe lack of masons (I had some useless dwarves take up the profession to compensate) is crippling. Do you know what else is crippling? The tiny corpse pile. So I had it expanded.



Circular again, just like Arzun demanded. I hate circles; they're impractical. Especially for storage areas. Yet whenever I create a non-circular building (how am I supposed to create round archery rooms? I got a real earful for that), he royally demands his stupid tin shit. I think the demons got to him too.

This journal update is quite boring. But do not let it reflect the actual mood of the place; we're bustling with industry! Furniture is being made en masse, weapons and armor are being forged, recruits are being trained. Idle dwarves aren't wasting time either; there's lots of corpse hauling to be done. The general feeling of the dwarves are excellent; friends are being made all over the place (a lot of idle dwarves. I think I might give all the useless ones who aren't in the army a mass-job like mass-engraving or something.)

Uhh... forget that. Derm has gone fucking insane!




By Armok's fucking dick-beard of fire I will have his fucking head on a pike...

Wait. Those were the 'criminals'. Turns out their evasion of the law has earned them the punishment of 'beating'. Apparently that means cutting the leg off a useful blacksmith, the fucking EYE out of a planter and the arm of a great swordsdwarf. I suspect he won't survive.

Holy. Shit. Arzun be damned, I regret adding a Captain.

And it turns out the 5 people to die recently (due to imps, berserk law-givers and stupid mayors) had friends. A big network of them. In fact, everyone here has a long list of friends. A fair few people have become very unhappy. Morale is now low. The emotions of some of the dwarves balance on a twig. I suspect a tantrum-spiral if more unfortunate events occur. And they will; the demons... I can sense them. In my dreams I see them laughing. Puppeting our fate because of our proximity. Will Arzun protect us? Where are the gods in our time of need?

It seems the foul mood is contagious. I need to have some time alone to think.
 

[peregarrett]

You made axedwarf with adamantine axe ... a guard?! Atrid save us! *facepalm*

[Mitchewawa]

You made axedwarf with adamantine axe ... a guard?! Atrid save us! *facepalm*

Anyone with anything adamtine/silver warhammer is going to do some damage. Besides, a dead dwarf is not as big a burden as a forever crippled one .

[peregarrett]

Training spears/swords/axes are the key.
Put useless recruits to civil guard and let them train. After they get some skill, move them to regular army and replace with new draft.

By the way one-handed swordsman is quite useful. I think he can hold shield and sword in one hand - saw that myself before.

A crazy idea - cut every soldier's hand off and half budget of gauntlets!

[Mitchewawa]

Training spears/swords/axes are the key.
Put useless recruits to civil guard and let them train. After they get some skill, move them to regular army and replace with new draft.

By the way one-handed swordsman is quite useful. I think he can hold shield and sword in one hand - saw that myself before.

A crazy idea - cut every soldier's hand off and half budget of gauntlets!

Something hilarious just happened to you. Not to spoil too much but you're a zombie.

[peregarrett]

OHSHI~~~

BRAAAAINS!!! BRAAAAAINS!!!! BRAAAAINS!!!

*jumping on the chair* Waiting for update!

[The Master]

*sees the zombie*
RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGE!! *enters a martial trance*
DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *charges at it*

[peregarrett]

*crashes the skull of attaker* BRAAAINS! Braaains?? ... braaaains...   

[The Master]

*Slowly gets up*
BRRRR.....AAAAAINS! BRAINSSSSSS....BRAINS!!!!!!!!!!!

[peregarrett]

BRAINS! BRAINS! BRAINS!

[Mitchewawa]

Last entry as Overseer, Chaplain, Pariah and Friend of Icemachines

This is it. My last entry. Why? Because Derm will cut my tits off by order of the queen if I don't. I'm now a member of the royal guard anyway; I can't fish anymore. And judging on what has happened in the past months, I am starting to doubt the glorious light of Atrid can't reach this far into the darkness. Icemachines is darkness.

*The writing becomes increasingly scratchy and wild*

It started like this...

"BEAST. One of them got in!"
We, the royal fist of the insane guard, and the first militia stormed into the cavern. The latest beast to arrive in our sights finally found a way in, although it seemed to be trying to kill itself with its 'deadly vapours'



Most of our brothers were unarmed and un-armoured; the forges had not been working fast enough. It turns out the previous overseers had put a dump zone in a pit next to the craftdwarf's shop. I suppose this was for bones. The bodies of goblins and elk I ordered to dump (because they wouldn't fit in the proper zone) were instead taken to this ditch, because this dump zone was closer than the one on the garbage pile. Miasma reeked through the fortress, pissing off the people to no end. Then when I realised that the bodies had been taken to the wrong pile, I had them re-dumped. This took ages.

My... I'm rambling *writing becomes even more wild and wavy*.

Anyway, since Derm was in my old bedroom (I added study and dining room in there for him), our only leader on the scene was Peregar.



He lead the charge on the foul beast. We fought valiantly and killed the beast without a single hit to us. Except Peregar.


Addendum: All of his flesh is rotting off.

It seemed the beast stopped wallowing in it's own venom in time to hit Peregar. Now his flesh is rotting off; he looks like a damned minion of the apocalypse! Atrid has forsaken us! We quickly rush him to his room, away from the hospital. The chief medical chief tails us, barking, "We need to remove the infected tissue!" "Surgery will save him!"
Hatebeard turns and punches the weedy dwarf in the throat. The chief slams into the engraved floor (featuring Derm) below.
I yell, "Remove the infected tissue!? All of it is infected!"
We keep running, four of us carrying him by his limbs. *Writing becomes incredibly wild and sketchy*
Now he's in his room, waiting to either rise again or rot away. I don't know. I wanted to keep going; to lead the people. But I can't.



I've learnt more in my year as overseer than my entire life in the mountain homes. Atrid is not all powerful. I have seen worse fates in here than I thought imaginable; dwarves with their eyes cut out, dwarves burning, dwarves rotting, dwarves screaming, yelling and dying. I've learnt battle. I've learnt tragedy. I havn't made much friends; my failings with the Icemachine timing, my implementation of martial law and the deaths of many have branded me an outcast. I havn't been able to talk to people as much as my old home; fishing here is a full-time job. I miss home. I miss the safety of the mountain homes; even in famine. I miss the warmth of the cathedral carved into the side of the mountain on a sunny morning. I miss my friends and family.

I will live my days out as a warrior. I will atone my mistakes through battle. The demons are coming, I hope the next overseer will prepare thoroughly. I will act as council should he ever need help. Atrid bless this place. Atrid curse this place.


No fun succession fortress never had problems now, did they? Looking back, I think I did quite well. The military is well stocked, industry is increased, we aren't wasting gold any more, I got a couple of important structures done and finally, I believe I told a compelling story. Have fun, next overseer.

PS. I hope you know how to prevent tantrum spirals. All of my fortress operate under communism; every dwarf has close to 20 professions. No one is never idle, so they don't make friends. With no friends, no one cares when others die. I've never had to deal with spirals.

http://dffd.wimbli.com/file.php?id=4963

[peregarrett]

Hell, I want to be a ghost then! Lock my room, forbid my body and never set a slab for me! The Icemachine be my tomb for eternity!!!
Change my profession to, say, "Guardian", so I'll be Ghostly Guardian

Oh, and drop that imp blood spattered axe there, if you can.

Mitch, I think it's epic! =))))

[Mitchewawa]

Hell, I want to be a ghost then! Lock my room, forbid my body and never set a slab for me! The Icemachine be my tomb for eternity!!!
Change my profession to, say, "Guardian", so I'll be Ghostly Guardian

Oh, and drop that imp blood spattered axe there, if you can.

Mitch, I think it's epic! =))))

Haha, I would have thought it'd be more awesome for you to recover as a zombie; completely numb. No pain. You'd be what we need to kill the demons!
Oh well, it's out of my hands now. I'm not sure if the next person in line has been paying attention to the thread though.