The SDMB Dwarf Fortress Ongoing Game

[fluiddruid]

At last, my time has come!

First thing’s first. Let’s take a look around the current status of the fortress.

Our current population stands at 108. For some reason, we have 5 different half-full military squads on various rotations. This seems a little odd to me, but based by the number of invader corpses, it seems to work well enough so I’m leaving this for now.

Our supplies range in their adequacy. While we have plenty of prepared meals, we only have 120 servings of booze. Unacceptable - I will not try to lead this madhouse of sweaty dwarves while sober. Apparently the cooks have been cooking off the booze into their creations. All alcohol and plants are now off-limits to our aspiring chefs, and the manager has been instructed to get some more liquor made as soon as possible.

Everyone seems to have bedrooms, but the current mayor hasn’t been assigned appropriate quarters. It seems like the best available quarters have been taken up by the bookkeeper, FlyingRat. Not anymore! Our mayor needs the best possible accommodations. Not just because it’s me, of course. In the interest of efficiency and … what not.

The design of the fortress is a bit baffling. For example, we seem to have a meeting room with a lever and pressure plates in it, and a caged goblin. On the level above it, a lot of unprocesssed ore is surrounded by a canal of channeled earth. I’m assuming this room is set to self-destruct for some reason, but I can’t see why we need to bury our enemies with valuable ores and gems. Okay…

Our hospital is full of injured, and there are no operating tables. Probably due to our military structure, but nonetheless I’ve restricted our doctor from doing anything but treat them. Apparently he is one of our dozen miners.

I’m reassigning the approximately bajillion engravers to other tasks, like getting us a real working metal industry and dealing with our overrun refuse stockpiles. There seem to be no dumps, so I’m setting small ones up throughout the fortress for optimization of clearing some room for better stockpiles for our craftsmen.

Metal in quantities is my biggest project for now - Our military is using a haphazard mix of gear taken from goblins and armor cobbled together from animal bones. No wonder we have so many injuries. Once we can get them properly equipped, we’ll see about some better traps as well.

Our current manager appears to have no assigned office. I’m setting him up with a small suite next to my own. I need to keep an eye on that shifty fellow.

11th Granite:

The Forgotten Beast Zona has come! An enormous three-eyed honeyeater. It has three long, curly tails and it undulates rhythmically. Its pearl feathers are patchy. Beware its poisonous sting!

It killed a kitten but I have it isolated in the caverns now. I wouldn’t go down there if I were you.

22nd Granite:

Apparently our doors are not giant-three-tailed-feathered-honeyeater-proof. I will have to have a stern word with our masons.

Needless to say, our Uninvited Guest breached the fortress below. I will have to have it sealed off completely until we’re in a better state, but in the meantime I ordered every dwarf in what passes for our military to attack it.

**23rd Granite:
**
It was an epic battle indeed.

The “FoodDWarf” Tholtig Emuthushrir attempted to beat it to death with a wooden shield (Wood?! are we elves?!). The Forgotten Beast went into a rage, grabbed a nearby wrestler, and spun him around the room by his foot until it fell off. The foot, that is.

About six other dwarves showed up around this time. One of the marksmen, apparently too stupid to pick up the half-ton of bone bolts I had the craftsmen make already, went over to the Forgotten Beast and bit him. A bunch of the other dwarves thought this was a really keen idea, causing our unwelcome visitor to spend much of his time ripping attached dwarves off his giant mess of a body.

24th Granite:

It’s dead. I’m not sure who got the killing blow, since the combat reports include about 65 pages of the dwarves biting the beast’s feet.

26th Granite:

The dwarf who lost his foot has survived – for now – though I doubt he’ll ever walk again. We have far too many existing wounded and new ones from this attack to continue efficient operation of the fortress, and our hospital is overrun.

I believe this to be due to the relative lack of experience in our squads. I’m reorganizing our on-again, off-again military into three professional squads, taking from the most experienced dwarves (and, where unavailable, our most expendable ones). I’m designating a significant dig near the fortress entrance for barracks, to increase our combat readiness, and a large archery range as well for training. I’m ordering our engravers to nicen the barracks area and installing some good quality furniture there to please our soldiery.

Iron production has resumed and, once we have a good supply of iron bars and fuel, we’ll commission enough armor to replace our current cast-offs.

9th Slate

Some migrants. A bone carver, a novice clerk, a crappy mechanic, a novice butcher… whatever dwarven town kicked these losers out, I wish I could send them some of these pustulent goblin corpses in a barrel.

Wait – some progress. A good axedwarf among them was sent to head one of my new teams, and I’ve replaced or existing chief medical dwarf with an experienced diagnoser. A woodcutter, which we desperately need. I was hoping for some experienced smiths but not all bad. So many of them… Our population is now 128.

Armor production has begun in earnest.

19th Slate

We have no jail, but we DO have an artifact silver chain, which seems to be installed in one of these tombs here. Oh-ho, yes, why it’s MY tomb, thank you very much. Prisoners are now to be chained up in my tomb to admire its splendor and consider the ramifications of disobeying my production orders.

In other news, I ordered about a half a gazillion animals into cages, since the place is absolutely infested with them. This won’t manage the pets, but at least will control the population.

**5th Felsite **

Apparently our dwarves were feeling a hankering for some three-tailed honeyeater. We now have about 350 servings of Forgotten Beast meat on hand. I’ve forbidden the dwarves to use the hide for now that it’s tanned - future leaders can find a good use for it, I’m sure.

One of our dwarves has enough nerve damage to be unable to stand. I’ve ordered the door to his room to be locked. A pity, but it’s no way for a dwarf to live.

I’ve noticed that our outer defenses are vulnerable to ranged attack from the north. I’ve ordered some walls built. At some point I hope to add an archer’s tower as well, if I have the time.

15th Felsite

The elves are here. Oh joy.

Almost immediately thereafter, a cadre of goblin spearmen have arrived to siege our fortress, led by a pikeman riding a giant toad. I ordered my dwarves inside.

16th Felsite

Bad news. The elves made it to the trade depot with no injuries. I was hoping for a show.

I tried to buy some of their empty barrels, but we have a metric ass-ton of woodcrafts and crutches mixed in with our trade goods, and I missed one when making an offer. Oh well. We’re sitting on plenty of wood now due to my clearcutting strategy, and hopefully they’ll get slaughtered on the way home by the goblins, who draw ever nearer. I wouldn’t mind some of that booze they have.

I finally had some free time to meet with the outpost liason. Poor bastard’s been following me around for what feels like months. I ordered as much steel as they could send us, and a little leather and booze.

21st Felsite

The goblins are sitting within view of the entrance, just by the east pond, as if waiting for the elves. They’re still packing.

I ordered my crossbowmen to stand by. I have a cunning plan.

**26th Felsite
**
The goblins continue to wait. A stupid trapper woke up retarded and wandered outside to shoot at the goblins. Predictable shredding ensued.

27th Felsite

At last! The elves have made their move… oh wait… some stupid mechanic has ignored my ruling and gone outside to refill a stone trap. He’s now leading the goblins AWAY from the entrance. No… you idiot…

2nd Hematite

Operation Fleshy Elven Shield is so far not a total loss. Unfortunately, some of our dwarves continue to get in the way of things, but the elf-dwarf-goblin trains have scattered their forces. I’ve ordered my military outside during the diversion, and we’re picking off stragglers handily. On the other hand, no elves have even been injured yet, though a mule got punched a bunch of times.

3rd Hematite

We have some wounded recruits who will likely not survive the week, and the idiot mechanic who was running around the battlefield was slain, but their forces are routed and fleeing. The elves survived, which I suppose is probably for the best, since an elven siege would be amusing but rather a waste of resources. They’ll be back next year with another cart full of wooden swords or whatever, I’ll bet my beard.

I have a new plan for some shields to prevent losses to our military. Somewhat coincidentally, it also should clear the corridors of some of these elephants.

[fluiddruid]

10th Hematite:

One of our craftsmen has churned out another disappointing artifact, “The Balanced Boots.”

"This is a shale scepter. All craftsdwarfship is of the highest quality. It is encrusted with shale, decorated with drunian leather, and encircled with bands of shale, willow, and banded agate. This object menaces with spikes of shale and willow.

On the item is an image of Degel Bravebodice the dwarf and dwarves in elk bird leather. Degel Bravebodice is surrounded by the dwarves. The artwork relates to the ascention of the dwarf Degel Bravebodice to the position of king of The Ace of Wheels in 152.

On the item is an image of a glumprong in cave spider silk.

On the item is an image of Logem Lengthcoal the dwarf and large gems in elephant bone. Logen Lengthcoal is admiring the large gems."

Great. Thanks for using our precious wood to make a decorated rock stick, buddy.

[Munch]

Precious wood? What are you, an elf?

[fluiddruid]

13th Hematite:

Another random group of goblins struck down three dwarves and injured more. Plus, one of the dwarves injured in the previous attack finally passed as well. I’m going to pare down the military further to only include uninjured dwarves. Hopefully we can manage with these few, but losing a handful of dwarves every attack just isn’t working. I’ve assigned half of the available warbeasts (dogs and elephants) to the squad leader as well, to hopefully minimize casualties. I’ve ordered more traps as well.

The marksdwarves are on hiatus for now. Not enough ammunition for them, anyway, and they have been practically wiped out.

21st MalachiteA few migrants coming in have boosted our numbers to 127 and enabled some more drafting into the military.

27th MalachiteWe had a new visitor. A giantess. She made a beeline for the front gate and started beating up the dogs. One died practically immediately after being thrown into a stone wall. Fortunately, right at that moment, the outpost liason decided to make a run for it, leading our new friend right across a line of my newly-constructed weapon traps. The war dog that survived picked up the now-unconscious giantess and started shaking her violently by her head. Bad. Ass. I sent in my experienced squad to play cleanup and put her out of her Extreme Pain.

Now that the outpost liason has left at last, we have been made a Barony. I’ll have to see about proper quarters for Baron Autolycus.

14th GalenaBy Armok, another siege. This time, it’s a band of goblin pikeman cavalry, riding elk birds and giant toads, led by a Goblin Mace Lord. And, from the north, a band of goblin mounted crossbowmen.

16th Galena: The crossbowmen have reached the east gate, which I hastily locked. They’ve sprung many of the traps but few are wounded. A band of trolls has reached the south gate as well. So many…

[fluiddruid]

**17th Galena
**
While the trolls are exhausting themselves with our traps, it leaves us largely defenseless against the pikemen, who have not yet reached us. I’m still churning out iron weapons and armor to supply as many of our troops as possible before the inevitable.

Baron Autolycus has taken the opportunity to issue a mandate. “Iron items”? Well, thanks for the gimme, Baron.

**18th Galena
**
The south gate has been destroyed. All of the trolls are dead or in cages, but it leaves us with little help for the goblins. The Mace Lord’s forces should be here within a day - no time for more traps.

A Gem Cutter went to empty a cage trap and was cut down by crossbowgoblins. I’ve restricted everyone who remains to a burrow deep within the fortress - our existing one is too close to temptation, I think.

Fortunately, this caused enough agitation amongst the goblins at the east gate that they ran over the traps several more times. Still, many remain.

22nd Galena

The goblin pikeman have been amusing themselves by letting their mounts topple statues just outside our gates. They are spread out, so I am hoping they will proceed through the narrow gate spaced out, allowing us to kill them with minimal causalties despite the exhaustion of our traps.

23rd Galena

Abruptly, about half the goblins ran frantically from the gate and disappeared from our lands at top speed! I’m astounded. Still, I’ll take any mercy I can get.

1st Limestone

The goblins refused to budge so I ordered the troops out the east gate to kill the stragglers of the crossbow-goblins. The chase led them right into the Mace Lord’s remaining troops. Our men fought bitterly, and in the end the only serious injury was to “Tholtig the FoodDwarf”, who has endured a very nasty spinal injury and is likely out of commission permanently. Damn, one of our few dwarves who could tell which end of a spear to point at a goblin… but the siege is broken. The sole free survivor is fleeing as we speak. Hopefully they shan’t return until spring at the earliest.

[fluiddruid]

Removed. Damn game crashed again and I’ve lost today’s progress.

[fluiddruid]

Okay, I’ve finished up my year. Some highlights:

• We were nominated for promotion to county status.

• Baron Autolycus is pretty easy to manage, he mostly wants to mandate making buckets or banning their export.

• We were ambushed when our caravan arrived, but fortunately their guards handled most of this for us.

• We have 11 bars of steel - didn’t use these, but purchased or melted them down from caravan goods.

• The archers’ tower with fortifications is nearly completed.

• A bowyer got struck by a fey mood, which was pretty exciting until he made a bow, not a crossbow. Doofus. At least he’s legendary now.

• We were besieged by a MASSIVE force right before the year ended, on 14th Obsidian. This was led by the head of their civilization, a human lawgiver. His own troops killed him as soon as he entered the map, though. This consisted of three squads of goblin (one cavalry, one infantry, one bowmen) and one squad of trolls. Of them, about half the infantry and all of the bowmen remain and most of our traps are sprung and our gates destroyed. Their leaders are dead or captured so the remainder are just milling outside of our fortress harmlessly for now, but all of the dwarves are restricted to being indoors until that’s sorted.

Some things that need attention:

• We have a lot of captives and caged animals and I didn’t have a chance to do anything with them.
• Our weaponsmith is training up, the results can be used for traps or melting down.
• I didn’t touch the caverns at all, but so far we don’t have any real need for it.

We’re not in critical need of any resources right now and the fortress is fine under the effects of siege for the foreseeable future. Good luck! Save file in the next post.

[fluiddruid]

File is at:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=XIZ81652

[AndrewL]

First of Granite, year 256

They’ve put me in charge of this place. Was down in the booze-store getting a drink, taking a rare break from resetting traps since the order went out to stay inside, when the mayor, the one everyone calls Fluiddruid, came down and told me the news. Puts me in charge, and what do I have to deal with? A goblin siege breaking down the door, that’s what.

Let me describe what the entrance to this place looks like. JoinGlazed is built into a hill, with a valley with a river to the south. The main entrance leads south out of the hill. There’s the interior yard where the trade depot is, and a big gap in the wall where it looks like a bridge was supposed to have been built. Just to the east of that is the actual entrance, a side passage filled with traps, goblin guts, and dead elephants. That leads out into a blood-soaked courtyard, full of goblin invaders and broken traps. That courtyard has no less than four separate doors to the outside, including the one leading to the silver road heading south.

Off on the east side of the hill is a second entrance with its own bloody trap courtyard and two different trap corridors connecting it to the fortress interior. You might think all these trap-filled passages and yards would be secure, but you’d be a fool. Most of the traps are jammed or out of ammunition, and every damn door that could have blocked invaders has been forced or picked open. There’s nothing stopping the invaders from walking right in.

Outside, there are three groups of goblins. A swordsgoblin group to the west, and a bowgoblin group just to the south of the main entrance, are the main threat. There’s also a lasher group far to the south, but they seem to be holding back for now.

I’ve pulled the military back to the hallway behind the trade depot. I can’t risk sending them out to a direct assault. I need to seal the entrances to the fortress. The eastern passage can be sealed off easily enough, but the trap corridor to the south? The doors are jammed open, the passage full of traps, with no convenient bottlenecks to wall off. I’m trying to figure this out, when one of our military dwarves surprises me. Erith Razber, swordsdwarf, ignores his orders to stay back and charges out the southern entrance, right into the bowgoblin squad. He hasn’t a chance, of course – though he fights well and holds out longer than I’d expected, he’s brought down under a hail of arrows. Poor, brave fool, but his sacrifice was not in vain. On the way out he’s locked the southern door behind him. That will hold the goblins out long enough for us to wall that corridor off.

Ninth of Granite, 256

All passages to the outside have been blocked. The military alert has been relaxed. Goblins are still swarming outside, but we have breathing room to figure out how to deal with them now.

JoinGlazed is defended by near a hundred small traps, most of them requiring service after a single use - either due to being clogged with goblin guts, or needing their ammunition or cage replaced. They’re spread across half the hillside and valley, with five or six different paths into the fortress. It’s taking most of the population of the fortress to support them.

Looking at the mess, a plan forms in my mind. What we need is not more of these little limited-use traps. What JoinGlazed needs is one trap, a trap large enough to swallow entire goblin sieges, a trap that resets itself automatically after every use. Plans form in my head. It will take much work. I will need a dozen doors, a floodgate and a floor hatch, and scores of mechanisms. Most of all, every miner in the fortress will have to work non-stop for months.

Fourteenth of Granite, year 256

I visited the hospital today. What a sorry sight that was. Seven injured dwarves, most of whom will never walk again. A few more who might live and return to useful life if they survive their rampant infections. Our medical staff is doing there best, but the facilities are small and horribly crowded. I make some plans to upgrade the hospital if I have time, but the defense situation has to be first.

Beneath the hospital, one of the former overseers of this place built a water cistern, fed from the river outside. On further inspection the water level was low, and there appeared to be several tower-caps growing in it. Two levers control a floodgate airlock to permit water into the cistern. This needs to be cycled manually to refill the cistern, and this seems to not have been done in some time. I make notes on design improvements to be made. I’ll have to find a way to drain the water first.

Mining of the new trap entrance has begun. All the miners are hard at work, except for Babale, who seems to be on perpetual break. I suppose being our glorious founder exempts you from actual work around here.

[AndrewL]

Second of Slate, Year 256

Rotting housecat corpse in the main staircase. Died of old age. We don’t allow pets to be buried in the tombs, but the butchers won’t touch it. I have it dumped outside.

The new Trade Hall, deep underground, has been excavated. I order the old trade depot torn down and a new one of silver constructed.

It has come to my attention that our dining room is severely inadequate for our population, having only a handful of oddly placed chairs and tables. We also have a wild overproduction of unused tables and chairs in storage. I immediately order the placement of chairs and tables to properly fill out the existing dining hall. I have been informed that our Count, Autolycus, had excavated a grotesquely large chamber deep underground, but it is far, far too large to serve as a proper dining hall. I make plans to repurpose it as general crafting storage later.

Ninth of Slate, Year 256

I have ordered archery slits carved in the walls around where the old trade depot was, and positioned our marksdwarf squad, “The Creative Trusses”, there to pick off the goblins still outside. This is a very slow process. We seem to have little ammunition, and much of what we do has is being used for training or to stock weapon traps. Our archers have managed to kill a few swordsgoblins.

27th of Slate, Year 256

The cistern under the hospital is finally drained, the water channeled out through a passage to the caverns. Horrifying. The tower-caps where only the top of the growth, the entire medical cistern is full of live and dead fungi and cave plants. It appears the floor was never properly sealed. It’s no wonder infections are running rampant in the hospital.

I will have to have the entire cistern cleaned and then properly paved. The manual floodgate water lock will be replaced with an automatic pressure-reducing mechanism.

Second of Felsite, Year 256

Frustrated with how long our archers were taking to pick off the goblins, I ordered them up to the half-completed archery platform over the entrance. This was a terrible, terrible mistake. The archery platform is horribly exposed. The moment the archers reached the top of the stairs, every bowgoblin on the field opened fire. Dastot Zocoloslan took a goblin arrow to the head, then several more as he lay there bleeding. I ordered everyone down immediately, but we will have to wait to recover Dastot’s body until the siege is done.

14th of Felsite, Year 256

The Siege is over. I wish I could say that our military had driven them off, but it appears they simply became bored and left. At least we can now safely recover the bodies of Erith and Dastot for burial. I am opening the walled-up side passage, but access to the surface will still be limited for now.

22nd of Felsite, Year 256

Cleaning and paving of the medical cistern has been completed. Installation of the pressure-relief fitting is underway. It will go in place of the second floodgate on the cistern. That floodgate has been moved and now controls a drainage line which can be used to empty the cistern as needed.

Elves have arrived. What a sight it must be for them, a fortress surrounded by a field of bodies and tracked blood, among all the felled trees lying uncollected in the field. They’ll have to take the long way down through the fortress to the new trade depot, the new trap entrance is still under construction.

27th of Felsite, Year 256

The Cistern is finished, and filling. We’ll seen soon if the pressure relief works.

On the surface I have properly sealed off all but one entrance to the fortress. This entrance will be protected by multiple drawbridges, before and the old trap-courtyard. Although this entrance will be obsolete once the Trap is finished, it will not hurt to keep it as a backup gate.

For now, all the traps at the entrance I have ordered left as they are. When we have more free labor to put to use, I will have them cleaned and reloaded, or dismantled, depending on type and location.

[AndrewL]

First of Hematite, year 256

Count Autolycus is very upset that some of the previous rulers have nicer burial chambers that he does. He’ll have to get used to it. He may be the Count, but I’m not touching those tombs.

The new silver trade depot, deep underground in the new trade-hall, has been put to use buying wood and booze from the elves. They brought nothing else of value.

Seventeenth of Hematite, 256

Our possessed miner has made a fine limonite armor stand. It has an image of Odom Fieldoceans, the female rat god of nature and the rain on it. I have placed it in the dining room where all may regard it and contemplate the ocean of blood and felled trees outside.

Our Mayor, Fluiddruid, has been ousted as mayor in the latest elections. The new mayor needs accommodations fitting to the office, so Fluiddruid is moved back into standard worker’s quarters to make room.

12th Malachite, 256

The dual-drawbridge system for the old main entrance is finished. As it seems secure for now, I have given permission to begin clearing out the debris and reloading the traps. It will not hurt to have them, in case an ambush comes before the main trap is ready. The eastern entrance remains shut for now, and those traps are not to be touched or reloaded until we have significant surplus labor, and then only to dismantle them.

22nd Malachite, 256

Migrants! Such a surprise. Seven all together. I’ve assigned them rooms. Speaking of which, we’re running low on rooms, and many of the rooms we do have are barely finished, without doors or even complete walls. I am continuing to construct beds and doors to finish those rooms, but I suspect we will need new living quarters dug out soon.

14th Galena, 256

A child is trying to attend a party. He keeps having to leave the party to get food. This does not sound to me like a very good party.

Speaking of food, I am having trouble managing the food-storage spaces. Butchering excess animals and cooking the results is creating an excess of prepared food. Our storage space for that is limited, especially as I prefer to not waste precious barrels. I am creating multiple smaller scattered stockpiles around the fortress for booze so the main food stockpile near the dining hall can be reserved for prepared meals.

18th Galena, 256

The alarm is raised! A siege! The enemy have come and are laying siege to the fortress!

A single human on a camel? That’s the siege? Something’s wrong here.

Is this a trap of some kind? Should I risk sending the soldiers out? I will wait to see what he does.

I didn’t even know we were at war with the humans.

19th Galena, 256

A vile force of darkness has arrived!

Goblins. Lots of them. Bowgoblins, axegoblins, crossbow-goblins, and goblin spearmasters and swordmasters. A handful of trolls, too. Was the human bait, to lure my soldiers out? Or was he merely a scout with bad timing?

Either way, I’m keeping the soldiers inside. The drowning trap is nearly ready, just a few more mechanisms to link.

20th Galena, 256

More humans are arriving. The first was just a scout. The fortress is surrounded by armies on all sides!

The goblins are advancing on the main gates. The humans are waiting atop the hill. They’ve lit a campfire and seem to be content to let the goblins attack first.

I order the main outer gate shut, and muster the army inside the old trade courtyard.

21th Galena, 256

Battle is joined! The trolls and a few goblins made it inside before the gates were shut. A kobold thief with spectacularly bad timing snuck in with them, and was caught between the trolls and our soldiers. He was torn apart, then the soldiers made quick work of the trolls and few goblins.

The main force of the goblin invasion, some two dozen bowgoblins and crossbow-goblins are locked outside. Furious, they have turned and are advancing on the encamped human army.

23rd Galena, 256

The humans are dead. The goblins suffered some losses, but their deadly ranged attacks let them pick most of the humans off before the humans could close to use their swords.

There are many goblins left. I consider our options. Should I wait for the grand trap to be finished? Or should I risk letting the goblins in and attempt to use the close quarters of the trap courtyard against them?

I will let them in. Nearly all the remaining goblins are weakly armored ranged-weapon goblins, and all of our soldiers are clad in iron. In the close quarters of the trap-courtyard, we will have the advantage.

27th Galena, 256

The soldiers are positioned, and the outer door is down. And no sooner is it down than Shem Stukonzuntir, Hammerdwarf, catches sight of a troll and charges out. Dammit, do these soldiers have no discipline?

Shem catches and kills his troll, then comes under fire from the goblins. He does an astonishing job of dodging arrows, but he can’t keep it up forever. A pair of goblin swordsmasters close on him and pin him down long enough for the bowgoblins to shoot and kill him.

The goblins also amuse themselves shooting a few wandering cats. Good riddance, I say.

Now the goblins head for the main gate again. I plan to use the gate to break their force into small, manageable chunks, which our soldiers will engage in the close quarters of the trap-courtyard.

1st Limestone

Disaster and treachery! A goblin swordsmaster somehow made it past our soldiers and is standing guard over the drawbridge levers. Nobody can get to them to shut the fortress gates, and the main force is pouring in!

[AndrewL]

2nd limestone, 256

The Goblin guarding the drawbridge levers is dead, but the cost was high. I had to pull the military back to deal with him, but was unable to stem the flow of goblin archers into the courtyard. At least eight soldiers were killed. Now the inner gate is closed, blocking the further advance of the siege.

During the fighting, two goblins fell down holes in the courtyard into some old mining tunnels underneath. One of them, a goblin bowman, is cowering in the unused farms, unwilling to face our soldiers alone. The other, a goblin Spearmaster, ran straight for the main staircase. He met Morul Lolokerar, captain of the militia, and immediately stabbed Morul in the arm and upper body before being mobbed and killed by the rest of Morul’s squad. The bowgoblin was met by Udil Stukonathel, the perpetually angry one-armed hammerdwarf. Udil was unable to land any blows on the goblin, and required the help of several more soldiers to defeat the invader.

3rd Limestone, 256

The rest of the siege has left. Perhaps they feel they’ve inflicted enough harm on us. Our military is a mess, down at least ten from its previous strength between dead and incurably injured dwarves.

12th Limestone, 256

Cleanup is proceeding. The bodies are being buried.

Udil Stukonathel decided to take out his anger on a passing housecat, systematically breaking every one of the cat’s legs and feet. He then proceeded to bash the skull of a passing engraver, before going on to smash a cage trap.

I have decided to remove Udil from the military. He’s crap with that hammer anyway.

25th Limestone, 256

The events of the siege are still heavy on us, but a group of arriving immigrants cheered me up a bit. We’re not an accursed deathtrap just yet! Other good news, though a bit late, is that the Trap is finished being assembled. The fill valve has been opened, and the cistern is filling.

17th Sandstone, 256

Udil Stukonathel is dead, struck down for his crimes followiong the siege. I asked Babale to see to his punishment, and Babale decided on repeated pick blows to the head. Harsh, but I can’t say Udil will be missed.

We have two other dwarves with pending sentences, but both of them should get off with only a short stay in prison.

Cleanup of the fortress continues. The expanded hospital is coming along well. I am also expanding the living quarters to deal with the immigrant influx.

8th Timber

I am expanding some of the staircases leading through the unused giant dining room cavern upwards to better connect to the main fortress, to improve traffic flow through the fortress. I notice that many of our most highly used corridors are very narrow and crowded.

22nd Timber, 256

A fey furnace operator has made a set of lead greaves. Is that even possible? I would have thought lead would make for very heavy and useless armor, but she’s very proud of her work.

Our Liaison from the mountainhome arrived, along with a trade caravan. They were immediately ambushed, of course. The Liaison made it in to the fortress safely, and the caravan guards killed the goblins, but one of the pack animals was shot and killed, so the rest of the traders turned and ran.

1st Moonstone, 256

Winter is upon us. Not that you can tell, with the tepid weather here.

One of the merchants who fled dropped his load of goods just outside our front gates. The goods include much valuable wood and cloth. I am sending a miner to collapse the ground under from under these goods so we can safely retrieve them. I figure there is no reason to let them go to waste.

The Liaison tells us we will be elevated to a Duchy. Autolycus will become a Duke. I am sure he will be pleased. I requested that next year’s caravans bring wood, silk and plant cloth, steel bars, and flux stones. There may be marble in the depths, but mining for it will have to be the job of another overseer.

16th Moonstone, 256

I am having every weapon trap containing a crossbow dismantled. We can’t afford to waste the bolts on those redundant traps.

21th Moonstone

Autolycus became a duke, and immediately ordered the construction of buckets. I just finished having 20 made, Autolycus, weren’t you paying attention? Fine, queuing up three more for you.

21st Opal

Past month has been uneventful. The hospital is being finished. The new bedroom wing is finished being constructed and only needs the rock to be smoothed. I made a damn fine traction bench for the new hospital. Was then rewarding myself with some nice silk socks for my office when I head that the armorsmith who’d made those lead greaves had given birth to a boy. After all the death this year, a birth is welcome.

28th Opal, 256

The Erith Razber memorial hospital is completed! With 25 private treatment rooms for patients, a vastly expanded storage area, a fresh water supply using the old wells and cistern, stockpiles for buckets and east-to-chew, nutritious elephant tallow biscuits. Should we suffer a vast number of injuries in a future disaster, we should be ready.

18th Obsidian, 256

Autolycus demands an Iron cabinet in his bedroom! Autolycus already has a iron cabinet in his bedroom. Keep throwing me those easy demands, Autolycus.

19th Obsidian, 256

A vile force of darkness has arrived! Normally I’d meet this with fear, but now I am relieved that we will be able to test the Trap before my term is over.

Let’s see … crossbow-goblins, swords-goblins, mace-goblins (including a few Mace Lords), and a few trolls. No mounts that I can see. I’ll move the soldiers to the new trade room, but I shouldn’t need them, assuming the Trap works.

21st Obsidian, 256

The trolls smashed the grate covering the stairs leading down through the entrance to the water supply cistern. Sigh. Nothing can get down that way anyway, but someone should really cover that over after the siege. A future overseer will have to deal with that.

They’re also toppling the statues around the new entrance. Annoying, though those were just cosmetic details anyway. Again, a future overseer will have to clean that up. Now, I just need the trolls to follow that passage inside…

22nd Obsidian, 256

This is a masterful engraving of goblins and trolls. The goblins and trolls are falling. The goblins and trolls are drowning. The goblins and trolls are being struck down. The artwork relates to the killing of goblins and trolls by a mechanical water trap in Joinglazed in the late winter of 256 .

I am most pleased with the results.

The water drains out a bit faster than I’d like - a single flush nearly empties the cistern. The survivors outside seem a bit taken aback, but after the water dies down venture down to see what happened to their companions. The goblins are far more tentative than their troll slaves, approaching the trap carefully. It makes no difference, just gives the trap time to recharge.

25th Obsidian, 256

The siege is over. Not a single dwarf was killed or injured in this battle. The few goblins not caught in the trap are fleeing the scene. Those who were caught were flung into the caverns by a torrent from the cistern, smashing their bodies on rocks and filling their lungs with water, leaving their bodies broken in the depths. May their bones be gnawed by nameless monsters from beyond times.

My time as overseer is over. I can step down satisfied with my performance. The Trap works as intended. I also greatly expanded the hospital and living quarters, built an entirely new, secure trade facility underground, and did many small cleaning and traffic improvement projects throughout the fortress. I can step down now, resume my engineering studies full-time, and let someone else deal with the day-to-day operation of the fortress.

To my successors, I recommend the following:

Our military is still badly broken after the midyear siege. Its number needs to be expanded, and they need decent weapons, armor, and ammunition.

The countryside outside the fortress walls are littered with traps, creatures in cages, felled trees, weapons and ammunition. Much of this can be recovered with care, once the military has been restored.

I neglected our metal industry during my time. You may want to mine more veins of metal and coal, and build more forges. If you are feeling ambitious, explore the depths in search of marble so you can make steel. If you are feeling very ambitious, go for magma!

The Trap is completely automated, triggering any time an invader enters the trade entrance. Once it activates, it will sweep anything in the corridor into the depths, friend or foe. Try not to have anything you don’t want dead in the entrance while enemies are there.

[AndrewL]

Save is here:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=KC5G9ZHG

[Silophant]

1st Granite, 257

257 has come and I have been appointed both overseer and Militia Commander. It seems our noble Autolycus took a disliking to Lorbam, for reasons known only to himself. In any case, it is for the best. Joinglazed is in a perilous state. She has never been the most secure fortress, having lost some forty brave dwarves to enemy action or animal attack in just six years, including my beloved wife, but now her military strength is at its lowest ebb. The three sieges in the past year alone have left us with only eighteen soldiers, with no more than five having any weapon ability to speak of. The fortress is not in immediate danger, since my predecessor was a mechanical genius who designed a cunning trap to flush incoming hostiles into the pits below the fortress, but I am uneasy relying on such a device. A fortress should not rely on mechanical contrivances to protect it from war’s desolation, but rather, the stout arms and backs of her inhabitants.

To that end, I am disbanding the military, effective immediately, in order to rebuild it from the ground up. Fresh blood will be drafted from all corners of Joinglazed, to achieve a fighting strength of at least a quarter of the fortress’s population. Gone will be the ramshackle squads wearing and wielding whatever comes to hand! Gone will be the days when our children cower behind thin walls, hoping and praying our foes cannot breach them! The day is coming when we shall throw open our front gates and destroy the levers, defying the goblin hordes to break our ranks! The day is coming when we breach hell itself, and throw its spawn back into their stinking pits! My friends. My brothers. It begins today.

[Silophant]

2nd Granite, 257

Reg Rithsarik, an unskilled pump operator, ran up to me today to show me his new creation: a leather flute absolutely covered with stone, bone, cloth and gems. Despite its inherent absurdity, it plays with a mournful tone that puts me in mind of my beloved Sakzul. How I miss her sweet voice, raised in song as she gaily sparred or ran into battle… Ahem. In any case, in making the flute, Reg has gained the ability to do truly wondrous things with leather, which should come in handy outfitting my new army.

On that note, it has come to my attention that, while we have a surplus of weapons and armor, the vast majority of it is only of middling quality, reeks of the goblin who originally owned it, or both. Inferior, stolen equipment is simply not good enough for the Glorious Army of Joinglazed! To that end, I have ordered every piece of iron, silver or bronze equipment in the fort to be melted down and forged anew. We are lucky enough to have an adept weaponsmith and a truly legendary armorsmith. Together, they will forge a Glorious Armory to match the Glorious Army!

However, I am not content to clothe my new army in base metals such as iron and bronze. We are dwarves! We possess the secrets of working steel, aye, and even the legendary adamantine! I have ordered a shaft to be drilled below the caverns beneath the fortress in search of marble to feed our smelters to produce steel.

All of this smithing will, of course, require vast amounts of fuel. We shall rip coal from the mountain, we shall level the forests, but I fear it will not be enough. We shall have to delve to the core of the planet, deeper than ever before, and siphon the power of Armok to feed our furnaces. Today, we seek magma. Strike the earth!

[Silophant]

15th Granite, 257

We’ve struck another cavern, some 50 levels beneath the first one. No marble or magma yet. We shall keep digging.

17th Granite, 257

Praise the miners! While digging the exploratory stairway through the new cavern, one spotted, in the distance, the gleam of raw adamantine! Our wealth and glory is assured! I feel the hunger for adamantine armor of my own, but we must wait. The legends say that that legendary metal seals away hell itself, and there are certainly records of other fortresses that abruptly end with such a discovery. And yet… certainly a piece or two couldn’t hurt, right?

[Silophant]

20th Granite, 257
Today, at a depth of a 105 levels below the surface, we have pierced the roof of the magma sea! In doing so, our miners spotted two more spires of raw adamantine rising through it. Armok has truly blessed this place. We held a council yesterday, and it was decided to take the risk and carefully mine some adamantine out of the spire. It seems I shall get my adamantine armor after all. I now rue the day I first picked up my hammer, as I shall never know the glory of wielding an sky-blue weapon. Our weaponsmith would make me such a hammer, if I wished it, but I know well that an adamantine hammer is an abomination in the eyes of Armok.

Having found the magma sea, we now begin to build a new set of forges directly on top of it, harnessing the lifeblood of the earth for our own ends. Since it is so far below the surface, we will also create living quarters for the smiths, to save transit time.

For the glory of Joinglazed!

[Silophant]

10th Slate, 257

The chambers for the new magma smithy are complete, and magma runs through the plumbing beneath them. Thus the dangerous part of that operation completes, though not without cost. Urdim Vudthardoren made the first lateral breach into the magma, to fill the smelter pipeline, and was not quick enough to avoid the oncoming wave. While he did manage to crawl out of the pipeline, he succumbed to his massive burns before he was able to leave the room. He knew the risk he was taking, and he took it gladly, for the future of Joinglazed is more important than any individual dwarf. He will be missed.

After that tragedy, our founder, Babale, decided to take upon himself the task of opening the forge pipeline, and did so with aplomb. We watched with bated breath as he descended into the works, and cheered heartily when he emerged with no more than first-degree burns on every inch of exposed skin. With that, construction begins on magma-proof smelters and forges, and digging begins on the new living quarters. Soon, hammers shall ring in the deeps, and a new era of Joinglazed history shall begin!

[Silophant]

18th Felsite, 257

I have been taking my time rebuilding our military, as I’ve been trusting in AndrewL’s flooding trap to take care of any attacks in the next few months. This, as it turns out, was a mistake. While the trap is cunning and powerful, it is only capable of defending against attacks from the outside. As we were digging today, one of the new immigrants, an herbalist by trade came running up to me, breathless. It seems that she had snuck out into the caverns through a new gap in the stairwell walls to “look for herbs.” This is infuriating in itself, since those stairwell walls are a vital part of Joinglazed’s defense. I will be having strong words with the miner who carved through them. That is, assuming I get the chance, since the herbalist’s news was grim. She caught sight of a… thing… in the cavern. Like an enormous crocodile, but covered in feathers. It appears to have several joints in its torso and a sting that is no doubt dripping in poison.

Our military, while now much better equipped than it was only two months ago, is still understrength and underskilled. We have two squads of 5 dwarves clad mostly in iron, with steel mail shirts and wielding silver war hammers, and a 5 dwarf squad with the same armor but whatever axes they were able to find. At least, that’s what’s on the records. Looking over my troops, I see that some “free thinkers” have managed to clothe themselves in all sorts of copper and even bone armor. I dearly wish we had managed to extract some adamantine by now, for we may dearly miss it in the battle to come. I will lead the charge, as befits a Commander who has endangered his command through carelessness. Should I fall,I’ve left a packet detailing my future plans and advice for the next overseer with Duke Autolycus. I put it in a bucket, so he’ll be sure to hold onto it. Perhaps, if I die, I’ll be able to see my beloved Sakzul again. May Armok be with us.

[Silophant]

21st Felsite, 257

The battle is won! The feathered crocodile Stibnir has fallen, and the caverns are stained red with his blood! In retrospect, what saved us was Stibnir’s appalling lack of accuracy, similar to a dwarf who’s been sober for months. In a full day of sustained combat he managed not one hit with his stinger, and indeed was only able to accurately bite once. Unfortunately, he used that one bite to bite Lorbam’s left leg completely off. She is being taken to the hospital as I write this, where I’m told she has about even odds of survival. In any case, she will never walk again, and I will need to find a new militia captain. Still, I expected to lose many more dwarves taking this monster down, so I am content.