Here's Granite!
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The Inn of Drowning: A History of Glutony and Strife.
Granite 1, 891
That's the date my companions tell me it is, at least. The last thing I remember is a party back at the Mountainhomes around Malachite. I vaguely remember giving someone my autograph, and then snatches of memories, mostly of squishing various plants in an attempt to forget stuff. Now, though, this has to stop. See, I'm the manager of this sorry excuse for a fortress, and need to actually stay un-high and not-forgetty to do so. Let's see...we have a camel, a horse, and two bunnies. Why bunnies? I'd rather have a single
dimple cup seed than two bunnies! Who chose the supplies?
Ah, that moron. The expedition leader is Kumil Glidepainted, a tall woman who seems to have gotten the job by being a somewhat loveable jerk. Or maybe because she organized this thing. Either way, she can't prepare to save her life! Ah, well, put them in a pasture. The big ones will make for tasty roasts.
Supplies are limited: a bunch of rat brains, some wine, and a bunch of seeds. In an odd show of competence, Kumil focused mainly on plump helmet seeds. We also have five picks, an axe, and a sword; a quiver; some pig tail cloth, thread, and bags (Why? Wool is so much cheaper?), a pig tail rope (same), a bunch of logs, a bucket, a splint, and a crutch. Finally, we have seven dwarves:
Kumil, the expedition leader as well as a miner, mason, and archetect.
Kubuk Boardwheels, a tall-and-skinny miner and mechanic. She's not a friendly type.
Iton Nourishedroofs, a big woodworker, who seems relaxed and not caring much. I wonder if she, too, is trying to forget all the events of the past few months?
Udil Staffisland, a miner, brewer, and cook, one of only two men in the group. He claims to be fine in social situations and not be discourageable, but avoids social situations and major problems if at all possible.
Dastot Pagemirrored, a miner, grower, and herbalist, broad but lean, and very expressive of her emotions. She also likes aesthetic things.
Captain “Anderz,” the other man, is mainly a fighter. He has no useful non-combat skills whatsoever. I can just see it now: Him complaining constantly about us not providing enough things to kill until he kills us. Great.
Finally, me. I am Ezum Coveredlabors, known as GreatWyrmSilver for my like of sterling silver. I am generally friendly and kind, and suppose that at least this should be exciting. My main skills--hell, my only skils--are managey and the like. I guess I'll be a hauler.
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I choose a spot for our staircase, and one for a food stockpile. I also order the wagon deconstructed and shiver in my wool cloak. Maybe, if we work hard, we'll survive.
Granite 2
Anderz was told to kill some mountain goats. However, Anderx seemed to be more interested in standing on the wagon.
Granite 3
Quite abruptly, the snow all melted.
Granite 4
Anderz again refused to kill the goats.
Granite 5
Nothing happened today.
Granite 6
The horse was slaughtered.
Granite 7
Nothing important happened today.
Granite 8
I'll only write if something important happens.
Granite 10
I suppose breaching the caverns cunts as important. I'm considering moving there permanently. I suppose that I should ask the other fortress residents...what the hell, I'm the manager, I can tell them to do it.
Granite 11
Kubuk starts digging a deep pit.
Granite 14
Udil becomes a miner.
Granite 15
Kubuk finishes the narrow, 160-foot* pit.
[*I assume that a tile is a 5-foot square, 10 feet tall. Currently.)
Granite 17
We've been industriuos these past couple weeks!
I see, towards the edge of the cavern, a pillar which looks just perfect for a future monument!
It's the big one at the far west, thirty feet tall, about 60 feet wide, and roughly elliptical.
Granite 18
The lower half of the river thawed. Nothing fell in. Same with a part further upstream.
Granite 20
The wagon is finally dismantled.
Granite 21
Will Anderz hunt these camels? Nope.
Granite 23
Iton became a woodcutter.
We still have wine, but many of us--myself included--have had to drink the cavern's water lately. I think all the booze barrels were being hogged by those swine.
Granite 24
I choose a big pilar to act as a three-level...place for people to gather and drink at wells, I guess. One level (the top) will be a hospital, one level (the bottom) will be a general party place, and the middle level...I dunno what's going there. Maybe a military thing?
Granite 26
Iton stopped hacking at a tree when she saw a large, pale reptile. A cave crocodile. A cave crocodile that chased her several dozen feet before losing LOS and forgetting about it.
Granite 28
I decide to go into stone detailing. The river continues to thaw with no bad side-effects. Life goes on. It's not been a good month we don't have any bedrooms, dining rooms, or anything; but we're still breathing, the booze is still flowing, and since no-one died in this first month, Iton owes me ten silvers. There's good and bad. For now, let's focus on the good.
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So far, so good. I'm getting to the point where I mostly just watch the dwarves set up the industries, so Slate should be a bit faster.
And since Ezum is just the manager and bookkeeper, the rest of the fortress can override her decisions. That is to say, if you post a not-totally-stupid idea, I may well follow it. Of course, Ezum may decide that it's a bad one regardless, so don't take this to mean “I'll do anything you say short of flooding the fortress...” Say, I bet I could make an awesome waterfall...