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.