Lanternmansions’ Overseer’s Log Year 104
Onol “Ivanthe8th” Cattentangath, Overseer
Granite
1 I have dwelt in this dwarven outpost (which they now call a “metropolis”) for just under one year. Just one week ago we repelled our first siege, with great loss. It took 10 days to break the siege; it took more than 10 of our number to beat them off. Few, perhaps, have felt the loss as strongly as I. My mother was killed by a goblin swordsman while fighting off the vile force of darkness.
I have been chosen as our new overseer at the age of 14. Perhaps it is in recompense for my mother, perhaps it is because of my friendship with the militia commander. Perhaps both. But with the catastrophic leadership of our previous overseers, it seems probable that they chose me to command in the hopes that a young dwarf with fresh ideas will succeed where the old dwarves have failed. Either that or they seek a convenient excuse to scapegoat me should I fail.
2 Obviously the first task must be cleanup. Our only doctor is woefully inexperienced, and understaffed. Not only that, but he’s spent more time stonecrafting than practicing his craft. We don’t even have a proper hospital designated for him to work in. I’ve ordered a peasant and one of our pressers to assist him permanently.
The newly designated hospital
Furthermore, it is obvious to me why the siege was so costly. The walls are incomplete. Some former overseer inexplicably attempted to construct a pattern in gold and rose gold on the ground outside the fortress rather than seal the entrance. I am ordering it dismantled and the entryway redesigned to increase security.
Finally, I must look to the future. I am starting work on a secret project that will hopefully improve our efficiency. Additionally, much of the fortress population is without bedrooms, and as a result many are unhappy. Eventually we shall have to remedy this.
4 We drove off a pair of kobold thieves and a goblin snatcher while cleaning up the entrance to the fortress. Mercifully there were no deaths.
15 We had another kobold thief, thankfully after restructuring our militia we’re well prepared for such minor threats. Our marksdwarves took it out without injury.
28 Some more migrants arrived while I was hooking up the mechanisms for our new entrance. I hope to Armok they’ll be useful.
Slate
9 We celebrate the completion of our new defenses. Where once we had a mere breach in our walls, we now have an elevated drawbridge. Two, in fact. I repurposed the rose gold blocks into the outer bridge, which raises to cut off all possible entry. A second bridge of green glass retracts, to allow us to cut off even our outer walls from the inside. I have placed the levers for these two bridges in the main corridor of the fortress. The gray rhyolite lever controls the outermost bridge. The white marble lever controls the inner bridge of glass.
The lower level
The upper level
Further celebration is in order for the burial of our dead. The masons have been hard at work, and finally our honored dead now rest in the bosom of the earth. All save one. My mother. For her I am preparing a special tomb carved out of native gold, I have endured the rotting of her corpse as best I can. But I have been bolstered by the knowledge that her tomb shall be lavish.
15 My mother’s remains finally have been placed in her tomb. This marks the end of our cleanup following the siege. Our fortress entrance has been redesigned and secured. Our dead have been buried. Our military has been restructured. I now turn my attention to civil concerns. Food and drink don’t seem to be a problem at present, but housing is a major problem. I continue to work on my private project, but the rest of the fortress will now work on resolving these issues.
Felsite
15 An elven caravan arrived today. Unlike many of my brethren I am glad to see them. Our doctors have made short work of our thread supply patching up wounded, and I’ll require many ropes to complete my secret project. I doubt they’ll have enough, even if I buy all the ropes they have. I’ll put the farmers on rope reed and pig tail to help, but this project may require another overseer’s attention to complete.
They arrived just as we completed another defensive project. Several portions of our fortress entrance had exposed roofs, including the refuse/corpse stockpile. I’ve floored them over and built a chimney for the inevitable miasma from the corpses. I certainly hope we won’t be facing flying enemies anytime soon, but at the very least they’ll be forced to attack our main gatehouse if they do arrive.
28 After our broker purchased from the elves all the goods worth having, I assigned many of our new bedrooms. Most of our population has been sleeping without a proper room, and this should raise spirits throughout the fortress. I’ve also had our masons working on more tables and chairs for the dining room
Hematite
1 It is now summer, and my tenure as overseer is one-quarter complete. My projects to return order and security to this place have gone well thus far. We are still fighting homelessness, and even then many of the new bedrooms are merely holes with beds. Even so, I am optimistic about the future. My secret project is proceeding well, and I am beginning to draw this phase of the project to a close. The next, awaits.
Malachite
12 Some additional migrants have arrived. I see a doctor, but doubtless the majority of them are useless. At least to me. I’m still working on making bedrooms, but maybe I’ll just draft a bunch of them to be furniture makers and/or mechanics to help on my projects.
24 I sent some hapless peasant into the first cavern layer. We’ve got a staircase from some abandoned mineshaft that’s covered with a bridge. The bridge lever is housed the mayor’s suite. I was hoping to find a vast underground lake or something. I did find a magma pipe, but unfortunately it’s not what I wanted. Here’s another question: why the hell will none of the masons make more stone blocks?
The Mayor's Suite
Galena
5 I’ve finally assigned everyone a bedroom, thankfully. I’m also busy filling in all the chairs and tables in the main dining room. This place is quite a mess organizationally, but I can hope to at least get everyone fed and housed.
Our fortress population is currently 166.
The expansion to the main level of rooms
Additional housing on another level
15 A human caravan arrived. I’m hoping they have plenty of ropes. Some time ago I ordered our metalsmith to make a crapton of copper goblets. We have a bunch of gold lying around, but I’d rather let him train on the less valuable material.
17 A vile force of darkness has arrived! They brought 5 giant cave swallows, a cave dragon, and a variety of other creatures. Thankfully, aside from the cave swallows, they don’t have anything that can fly or shoot. The humans are inside the fortress, so I’m going to shut the gate and order out the marksdwarves.
18 Oh Armok, that was just one of their squads. We now count 8 war cave dragons and 11 war giant cave swallows. Please let this be all of them… I am so glad I sealed the entrance last spring.
20 The goblins mounted on the cave swallows are passing over their walls. The Inky Orbs, our melee squad, is waiting for the in the courtyard while the Diamond Trenches rain a hail of bolts down from above the gate. With luck we can kill all those who can fly over our walls.
22 The Diamond Trenches dropped a giant cave swallow and his rider into the courtyard. Our forces took the opportunity to hack them both to bits. The cave dragons have been chasing a rabbit around outside the walls, I don’t know if they breathe fire but I’m glad the rabbit is helping split up the assault.
23 It would appear that most of the goblin spearmen have fled after we killed one of their number. At the moment that goblin and his mount are the only casualties of this siege. Our marksdwarves, having reloaded, are now taking shots at the cave dragons, I hope they can drive them off. Meanwhile the goblin axemen squad is slowly approaching. Their squad has 6 swallow-mounted soldiers, I hope we can fend them off.
We also traded with the humans for most everything useful they were carrying. I hope they like worn socks. I obviously won’t open the gate until the siege breaks, I hope that will be soon so as to not upset the humans.
28 I stationed the Diamond Trenches atop our walls nearest the goblin axeman squad, then I ordered them to open fire on the giant cave swallows. Very soon few of our enemies could fly, one swallow was dead while the others were grounded. One happened to appear inside our palisade, I ordered The Inky Orbs in to finish them off but the swallow managed to fly back out. It’s heavily damaged but apparently its wings are still serviceable.
Limestone
1 My tenure as overseer is half over. I celebrate this day with a record number of kills for this siege. Our marksdwarves claim another goblin, plus another 2 cave swallows and an assortment of other mounts. The number of invaders near our fortress is slowly dwindling, with luck this siege may break soon.
4 Most of the invaders have fled, at the moment a wounded rutherer and two goblin soldiers are the only remaining enemies. I order the drawbridge to be lowered, and our forces out to pursue them.
5 No enemies remain outside Lanternmansions. The siege has been repelled. More than 20 goblins came with almost 30 beasts of war. We killed 4 goblins and 9 animals, 4 of which were giant cave swallows. We have successfully beaten them off with little more than scratches for some of our hammerdwarves and the loss of 2 stray pets. I am truly pleased. [Out of character, this was seriously the first siege I’ve ever faced, let alone defeated! Thanks guys for helping me figure out how to use a military!]
10 We had a fisherdwarf withdraw from society and claim a craftsdwarfs workshop.
Sandstone
7 Some migrants have arrived. I’m not exactly experiencing a dwarfpower shortage, but we can never have too many haulers.
20 Our fisherdwarf finally completed his task. He somehow turned a group of bones into a giant axe blade. It’s extremely valuable, and will be a good item to help decorate the fortress.
23 The Swamp Titan Osnusm Nguzoasngek has come! A huge humanoid composed of mud. It has large mandibles and it moves deliberately. Beware its webs! Let’s shut the gates and hope it’s vulnerable to our marksdwarves.
25 The flying giant kakapo bone bolt strikes The Swamp Titan in the head and the severed part sails off in an arc! It only took 5 hits to kill the titan. It would appear mud is quite vulnerable to our marksdwarves. I’m somewhat concerned that a woodcutter was caught on our bridge when it closed. He’s currently missing.
Timber
11 The outpost liaison and annual caravan arrived today.
16 The liaison informed our mayor that we shall be appointed a barony. I had a few suggestions for the new appointment. Unfortunately our broker is too busy attending a party to go trade. I’m going to take drastic measures.
Moonstone
1 Winter has arrived. A few weeks ago the pools on the surface froze, and as the year approaches its close we look downward. My secret project is proceeding well; I’ve drafted most of the fortress into assisting, now that food and housing have been taken care of. With luck the project will be completed by the end of my tenure, or at least everything designated.
Opal
15 We had a mason die of dehydration. With the surface pools frozen, we lack a water source during the frozen months. Perhaps a future overseer can resolve this problem.
Obsidian
4 A snow storm has come. It seems appropriate for the end of my tenure as overseer. My projects have gone well, our people are more secure and well fed and housed (except for some of the newer migrants). My secret project is nearly complete, I think another overseer will need to complete it, but what remains ought to be obvious. I’ll leave notes later.
14 Lanternmansions is now a barony, and I have been selected as baron. My quarters, already quite nice, now require upgrading. I have ordered the artifact axe blade installed in my dining room. Life is good.
The Baron's Room
28 We “completed” my secret project just under the wire. All of the necessary parts have been
ordered at the least. It ought to be completed soon, and hopefully the next overseer can finish cleaning up the site and test the system.
My great contribution to this fortress is an automatic return system for the magma works. Whoever built the magma works also created an automatic drop to send materials from the surface to the magma forges. Unfortunately, we’ve been obliged to haul the products back to the surface by hand. I have constructed a track system equipped with powered rollers to quickly return goods to the surface. The track itself is complete. A number of hastily-drafted mechanics have built all the necessary gears and rollers for the ramp itself. The second part of the project, a massive bank of water wheels, is almost complete. I have ordered the last of the wheels to be constructed, and the majority of the loose stone and items in the facility to be dumped.
The Magma Works
The Waterwheel Room
Once cleanup is complete, the next overseer needs to seal the area and mine out the final rock walls holding back the water of the underground lake. The controls for the return are as follows: the microcline lever at the magma works controls one of the gear assemblies between the waterwheels and the rollers. The schist lever near it controls the bridge that will allow water to flow into the room with the waterwheels. My suggestion is to dig out the walls, then have masons seal up the access way before you consider raising the bridge. Raising the bridge will serve to shut off the flow of water, if we desire to.
[Finally, out of character, I don’t actually know quite how hauling routes work yet. You may need to adjust the one I’ve tried to set up to make it work properly.]
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