1 Granite
My time has come! I have been chosen to guide this fortress into a new era of prosperity and plenty! All I need to do is…is….
…Armok help me I have no good goddamn idea what I’m doing.
A third of the fortress seems to be in varying states of unrest. The Biggurat has no roof, exposing our home to the snow on the surface. Stockpiles seem good, but there is a distressing absence of pants in our militia.
First order of business, pants and other equipment for the troops.
Second order of business, building the next levels of the biggurat, to include the overseer’s office to be suspended above all, all seeing.
Third order of business, my predecessor constructed a moat. Filling it with water is a good start, but given the freezing temperatures it seems lacking. This problem will require a volcanic solution.
3rd granite
a human was found dead, and one of the dwarves has slipped into depression. Not a great start, but the order for equipment for the fortress guard has been placed
7 Granite
A ghost has risen from a previously buried dwarf. A check was done and his body is still resting in its tomb. He doesn’t seem to be bothering anybody, so I guess it’s okay?
13 Granite
The Forgotten Beast Gosmer has come! And gone. Over the course of three days it raced off to find the batmen, and for its efforts took a spear to the brain. I didn’t even realize the batmen could find steel spears, but they certainly seem to know how to use them.
18 Granite
We have dwarves in sour moods for lack of consumer goods. Perhaps stone and bone baubles and trinkets will satisfy them? And hopefully make them want to punch each other less? I would hate to have to mobilize a larger fortress guard or militia. But so help me if the disgruntled want to make a mess of things I will arm a riot squad to suppress the unrest!
20 Granite
Another forgotten beast in the deeps! AND ELVES! Damnable elves!
…That’s a lot of elves. Over 70 of them. This isn’t an ambush, it’s a full blown invasion.
4 Slate
The elves have been beaten back, but we lost 20 souls in the fighting. The militia has been devastated. Without conscripting new blood into their ranks the next of these attacks will surely cause even more horrific losses. A re-assessment of the arms and armor will also be necessary; some dwarves were inadequately equipped and the lack of armor yielded fatal results. New uniforms will need to be devised.
3 Felsite
With the increasing level of civil violence in the fortress after the rough start of the year, the riot suppression squad has been mobilized to patrol the fortress to supplement the fortress guard. They are all armed with non-lethal weapons and should be a useful deterrent against crime doers as they do the rounds.
Meanwhile, one of the doctors has withdrawn from society. They’re saying they need things at a glass furnace, but we should have everything. Gems, both rough and cut, stone, cloth…and glass. Damn it, all of our green glass is in the form of blocks. We will need to remedy this problem.
13 Felsite
The glass has been made and now Rovod Alathust works secretly on this project of his. What wonders await?
21 Felsite
The corpses left behind after the elf invasion linger and there does not seem to be space to throw their rancid bones. A fresh ossuary is being dug out to throw their carcasses. Similarly, a slab is being engraved to lay the ghost to rest, as despite all efforts the last piece of the remains cannot be located to properly bury.
1 Hematite
Summer has come. The guards are holding the disgruntled dwarves to task for their reckless violence, and work on developing our military is ongoing. Things seem to be slowly stabilizing, despite the foul mood that has settled into the fortress.
11 Hematite
The human caravan has arrived. If nothing else, this is a chance to trade off the spoils claimed from the dead invaders, plus any excess trinkets and goods that have been made as part of my commercial goods push.
16 Hematite
Like vultures we descend on the elven dead still strewn across the biggurat to bring their arms and garments to the humans for trade. It should provide a modest value to their merchants.
Oh look, the baron consort was reelected as mayor. Who would have ever expected such an electoral upset…
And they’re off to drink when they are needed to trade.
Still off to drink.
Still gone.
Where the hell are they going to find their brew, the moon?
OH LOOK NOW THEY CONDUCT A MEETING
AND ANOTHER.
Fuck it anyone can trade. I’m not waiting on a petty noble to get around to it after they’re done picking at their nails and having feel good circles with their friends. I NEED MERCANTILE VENTURES!
We have traded the spoils of war for armor for the foreign legion and other miscellaneous goods.
6 Malachite
Another forgotten beast lurking in the deepest waterlogged caverns. If there was ever a reason to keep the vaulted caves walled off, two of the things prowling in the gloom certainly counts.
Dwarven Justice is still being administered. The bone carver Cilob Koganlikot has caused no end of trouble, but his sentenced beating should have her laid out for a while. She reports trouble breathing, likely from having a rib jammed through her lung.
She’ll walk it off.
2 Galena
Summer seems to be passing far less eventfully than the spring, thankfully. The new ossuary is ready to receive the carcasses of the elves, and while troublemakers still engage in disorderly conduct, the guards are quick to ensure justice is served. The continuing construction of the biggurat persists, and while the nobles are demanding toys be made, it is an easy enough task to complete.
7 Galena
A new exploratory shaft is being dug to prospect the possibility of pumping magma to the surface to fill our moat. While a project that will take no doubt an extensive sum of dwarf-hours to complete, the security benefits of restricting all approaches to the fort down to the bridges or fiery doom make it a tantalizing prospect
Better still, it would provide a suitable solution for the excess of cadavers left behind after invasions.
10 Galena
Oh. Right. Aquifers. Bugger.
14 Galena
Rumblings in the deep! It seems the forgotten beasts of the lower depths have begun fighting each other! I’m not entirely sure how or why but they’re having a go of it. One’s a massive blob with horrific dust, the other a tremendous pterosaur with deadly blood. So far it seems the blob’s frozen extract is doing the heavy lifting, but we shall see
17 Galena
The bone carver that has been causing so much disorder has finally done it. He killed one of the humans. Bare handed, at that. I mean, like, punched his spine out and everything. It was pretty metal, truth be told.
Going to have to get the guard involved. Gnarly as it is seeing a dwarf punch a human so hard he vomits all of his guts out, murder is the sole right of the guard and militia. Bone carvers aren’t allowed to steal their gimmick.
3 Limestone
Another pair of kobolds on the northern slope. Kai’s squad has been dispatched to deal with them.
8 Limestone
Limul the Stoneworker has been possessed! He has immediately claimed a craftsdwarf’s shop and races to gather materials. So far they have coal, steel and rough tourmalines. One can only wonder what they’re going to make with this stuff. Oh, look. Now swan leather.
11 Limestone
While Limul works furiously, a caravan from the mountainhomes has arrived. The dwarves are busy bringing goods to barter with to the trade depot as I write this. The bins are still overflowing with both battlefield spoils and trinkets made during the past few seasons. There should be ample opportunity to fill any needs the fortress has from the merchant’s stocks.
Meanwhile, the merchants bring news of readiness to elevate the fortress’ standing in the realm, and has brought a demand signal for musical instruments, offering double their value when they arrive next year.
14 Limestone
I am not sure whether to be entertained or outraged that the merchants brought so little. Two gold nuggets, a trivial amount of potash, a paltry few seeds, and several bins of leather. Is this what qualifies as exports from the mountainhomes? This is why I came out here in the first place, I swear. At least on the positive side Limul has crafted a sigun out of…coal? Maybe we’ll install it in one of the temples so its pipes (all 430ish of them) can be heard throughout the meeting areas.
3 Sandstone
Another forgotten beast lurks in the deeps. Ib, they call it. A freaky shelled bird.
Just another reason to not crack open the lower caverns. Maybe it’ll get killed by the batmen.
(it did indeed get killed by the batmen. The little bastards swarmed it like angry piranha and stabbed the crap out of it until it died screaming)
While there may be a little bit of screaming that just happens to be echoing through the stone down in the excavation sites, it doesn’t diminish that the miners are clearing out the initial site for the pumps that will bring magma towards the surface, where it can be put to use in industry and defense. We will need more magma-safe pump components to make this happen though; I’m placing the work orders with the manager for large screws and other piece parts to ensure the pumps will function, as well as verifying the mechanisms necessary to form a suitable power train to keep the magma cistern filled when it is not being piped to other uses. The source of power will need to be considered, as we do possess a windmill farm but the engineering needed to link it to the pumps (and to verify it provides the necessary amount of power, as well!) will not be a small task.
Green glass is safe by my research, which is easy to manufacture from the sand of the surface levels. Bauxite blocks will make the rest of the pumps, affording the ability to move magma without danger of fire or melting the pumps.
15 Timber
A human bowman was murdered. A tantruming bard threw hands, and reduced the bowman’s head to a bloody lump of gristle and meat. There isn’t much to say other than GOD FUCKING DAMMIT CALM THE FUCK DOWN OR ARMOK HELP ME
…you know what?
I’m done. He’s not even a dwarf. He’s a bloody human minstrel. Out he goes, banished from the fortress. We don’t need him and certainly we do not need his…wait, the dwarves are telling me he’s nobility and cannot be banished.
CAN’T BE BANISHED?
THE FUCK HE CANT.
If I can’t banish him from the fort THEN I WILL BANISH HIM FROM THIS MORTAL COIL
He killed a bone carver before the guards could arrest him. That bloody well does it. His prison door is getting locked and the key misplaced.
28 Timber
The murderer is now in his cell and I have locked the door. It’s all a matter of time now. He has few relations in the fort, and we can ill afford his murderous temperament.
13 Moonstone
Speaking of bone carvers…one of the fortresses most recurring miscreants was one. Was is the key term here, as he finally found himself on the receiving end of a fistfight with a dwarf far, far his better in violence. Rovod the wrestler punched his ribs through his heart in once again a testimony to how metal as fuck dwarves are. Can’t say I’m sad about who it happened to though.
17 Moonstone
You know what?
Imma make some shit.
Nothing relieves stress like making stuff. Gonna be great. Start with some coal, grab some logs, some glass…the rest of the fort won’t know what hit ’em. Perfect way to decompress considering everything going down of late. Leave a mark on the fortress, show off the glory of the land and everybody will look upon my works and be STRUCK BY WONDERMENT THIS IS HOW WE ARE GONNA DO IT BOYS AND GIRLS THE MALAISE WILL BE BESTED BY SUPREME CRAFTSDWARFSHIP
26 Moonstone
This is the raddest little banjo looking thing anybody has ever made. Ever. Anybody who plays this thing is going to be a -legend-. Its serenades shall quell the misgivings of the fortress!
3 Opal
As an entirely meta comment: wtf I just clocked a void corpse is visiting? WTF?
7 Opal
I just clocked a hole in the ground under the northern wall left the fort open to attack through the moat without guards. I’m amazed we haven’t been hit by a raid through this gap yet! I’m flooring it over to secure the illicit entry.
9 Opal
Oh look.
Another forgotten beast.
I’m so scared.
It crushed the skull of a giant mole, which is…honestly something by now I expect half the trained wrestlers of the fort can do given the tantrum driven murders but hey.
It’s still sealed outside the fortress so I’m not exactly worried. The only other beast down there is the survivor of two of them clashing and is still just lurking in the subterranean sea. We will be fine so long as nobody cracks the walls keeping us apart.
12 Opal
The batmen found the newest forgotten beast.
I should start a betting pool on how long it takes for them to kill it. They’re the real danger down there.
20 Opal
Corust the human bard has been missing for a week. I wonder what could have happened to him.
Oh look.
There’s a dead human that looks like Corust in prison. What’s that? The door had been locked? He starved to death?
Man that’s tragic.
Oh well.
21 Opal
Oh noooooo the human bard was found dehydrated whatever could have happened…
14 Obsidian
Well…I should feel bad about this, but…
One of the miners is missing. This comes not long after I ordered the magma shaft to the south breached for the pumps to bring it to the surface. I knew the risks and Armok take his soul as he died by glorious flame all the same. But his sacrifice will invigorate our industry, and bring security to our borders once it’s pumped to the moat! Regardless, given a body cannot be found a memorial will be engraved to commemorate their brave sacrifice. Armok take you Oddom, yours is a sacrifice that ennobles our fortress.
Year End
I have done my best. Despite a violent and difficult start to the year we have thrived all the same. Unrest is slowly lowering, commercial goods are being made, magma is to be brought to the surface.
Our militia now has two squads acting as a full time professional military fully armed and armored and training at all times to be a force in readiness. Combine that with reinforcement to the northern wall of the biggurat and the continued construction at its peak we are slowly advancing to a truly secure position.
I envision a noble’s roost suspended by supports from above to view all under a green glass ceiling for my successor to complete.
I feel I have done my part for the glory of Threebeard.
And, not least of all, I’ve made the raddest of stringed instruments for bards of the future to fucking SHRED!
Meta wise, I’ve started a pump stack for magma, two squads are equipped in heavy steel armor, and construction on the biggurat continues. Plugged some holes in the walls, and the fort is trending towards reducing unrest. We lost a lot of citizens, but in the winter we had petitions to join the fort so we are starting to bounce back slowly. I haven’t touched food production given the stockpiles, and the mayor has a mandate for miniforges that should be covered by the probably overreaction work order for rock toys. Didn’t find any new adamantine with the exploratory mining in the deeps, but also didn’t open the fort to new threats.
