1st of Hematite, year 70
Having thoroughly reconnoitered the surrounding area I instructed our group to pull our wagon up along the abandoned one left behind by the missing settlers. A couple of dwarves complained about the bones and desiccated carcasses of some drakes but at this point, I don't really care about some petty concerns like hygiene and sanitation. There are things lurking out there, and before this year is over I want a palisade wall separating us from them.
10th of Hematite, year 70
I instructed the lumberjack to cut down all the trees surrounding our embark site. Someone started making squeaking noises about pissing off the elves but we have bigger concerns than offending their better sensibilities. I also decided to put some of the laborers to work stripping all nearby vegetation of anything remotely edible. Who knows if we can get some farms up in this muck. I'm not taking any chances when it comes to our food supplies. The last thing we want in a prolonged siege is to be forced to eat rats and rotten plump helmet stems to get by. If seen that before, the sunken eyes and hollow cheeks of a dwarf reduced to emaciated madness. Miscarriages, beards falling off, beloved pets roasted in their skins out of desperation...
26th of Hematite, year 70
We are making progress, such as it is. Stockpiles have been designated for our essentials and the beginning of what hopefully will become a stalwart fortress is being established meters under our feet. Until I feel we are somewhat safe I will leave considerations pertaining to organization and efficiency out of our plans. Let some other dwarf worry about that once they have a fat belly, a woozy head, and no adders to swat away from their infants.
15th of Malachite, year 70
Whatever misgivings I have had about my comrades at the outset of our journey may have been premature. They are proving their mettle in this heat and humidity. We have worked almost nonstop since we parked the wagon, and we now have plenty of logs to begin our palisade. In addition, we have made good progress in excavating the muck to dig out the area for our mushroom patch. Once you dig deep enough, it seems, the mud gives way to some black volcanic sand. Its actually a refreshing change of scenery, the black gritty depth of the mire in contrast to an endless stretch of festering sun baked muck
23rd of Malachite, year 70
Construction on the palisade is well underway and progress is steady. At this point in time there is little to stand against us, more on account of our obscurity than anything else. Every once in a while an adder will frighten one of the workers but that is of little consideration in the grand scheme of things. I decided to wall in a large area which encompasses several ponds in the hopes that our fisherdwarves can provide us with some pond turtles or mudskippers or whatever the hell lurks in this foetid, stagnant water. Farms are being established as I write and our valuables are being relocated to safer premises underground.
We have had some difficulty with labor, though, and many dwarves have found themselves with jobs they have not been trained for. There are protests but most understand that there are no other alternatives until migrants start arriving, at which point they can be relieved of their temporary duties to attend to their specialties.
17th of Galena, year 70
We had finally managed to complete the palisade and had just begun work on the drawbridge when skulking filth was spotted just outside the walls! Fortunately, it had no way into our compound but through the drakes we posted at the entrance so it had to go skulk elsewhere.
23rd of Galena, year 70
Snakes, so many snakes...it's as if the swamp itself is trying to run us off. No matter, with the palisade complete we have graduated from shit caked encampment to festering swamp town. Hopefully, some migrants will show up soon, though the booze is almost gone and the water is too foul to drink, we could use extra farmhands and maybe some able bodied defenders.
These damn snakes, they are practically climbing up the walls..
17th of Limestone, year 70
After months of labor we have a complete palisade and a drawbridge rigged to a lever near the entrance to our mudhole. I am begining to worry about our profound lack of alcohol though, dwarves without booze are a sad sight, and liable to go berserk at the slightest offense. I try to brew what I can but we are having a hell of a time farming here and I'm constantly short plants. I fear that the food situation may be our first hurdle. I have to admit, I may have been overzealous in the construction of the palisade. If we starve or go thirsty there will be little worth defending.
23rd of Sandstone, year 70
The booze situation has not improved. We can barely keep up with demand, and just when I thought we could do at least that, migrants.. where I had once hoped for some trickle of new faces to help us grow, I now dread the thought of feeding and boozing up even more dwarves. I ordered the farms to be expanded and for more diverse crops to be grown. I also ordered a surface farm to be established to begin growing steeloaks. If I will achieve anything as overseer, it will be to see to the forts defense, both now and for the future.
28th of Sandstone, year 70
In desperation I ordered the miners to begin work on a cistern. I plan to tap into some nearby ponds to fill it initially and afterward keep it full with rainwater. We can place our well underground, this way no one will become dehydrated when we inevitably run out of booze.
10th of Timber, year 70
It seems that the academy didnt cover esoteric, scientific topics like water pressure, gravity, etcetera, as I have exercised some very poor judgement in the placement of our well. Turns out that since the well was situated on a level a dozen or so meters below the ponds water level...the pond the cistern draws its water from...anytime it rains water pushes up through the well and floods our makeshift meeting hall. Thankfully, the mason had a quick fix: wall in the existing well and place it one level up. The water pressure will not be sufficient to push the water up that high but we will still have a functioning well, just not as close to the workers meeting area as I had hoped.
27th of Timber, year 70
This is not shaping up to be a good month. Not only were several thieves spotted, but we have now lost at least 2 children to kidnappers. The kidnappers were not able to make it into the compound, no... their careless parents were nice enough to practically deliver the children to the skulking FILTH waiting just outside our walls. I would chastise the morons but I feel their grief will be sufficient punishment. Maybe I should console them regardless, tell them its okay, they'll get to see their precious little Urists as they lead the charge on our fort at the head of a goblin army in a few short years..
..oh yeah, some traders came, but we were too occupied with fending off snakes, enduring stale water, getting our children stolen and erecting the palisade to churn out stone dolls for them. We barely had enough time to lash some twigs together to make a trade depot. I hope they don't notice how few fucks we have to give.
[scribbled in the margins of the -diorite journal- are numerous illegible words, followed by a profanity laced tirade regarding goblins, followed by]
...and they made off with yet another child. We should have saved them the trouble and just sent the little shits to their warrens with a bagged lunch.
4th of Fuckall, year 70
The traders have finally decided to move on and brave heaping mounds of snow rather than stay in this stinkhole for one more night. Can't say I blame them.. I damn near hitched a ride out, but to shirk my duty at this point would amount to more than treason... it would surely lead to the death of my comrades. Kidnappings aside, things have been pleasant. Masons are currently churning out some cheap stone furniture as many dwarves are grumbling about a lack of tables and chairs... as if we don't have more pressing concerns...
To keep them busy I ordered them to stockpile all the stone we have dug up so far and to gather more food from the closest vegetation they can find. We simply cannot afford to run out of booze now, with so many grieving parents finding solace in the bottom of an empty muck root whiskey barrel.
I also ordered some cloistered cells to be dug out for bedrooms. Hopefully having some private place to rest will boost morale.
16th of Moonstone, year 70
Just when I thought our level of suffering was at its apex, things actually manage to get worse. A horde of Dark Stranglers was spotted just at the edge of the mire today, and I fear they have not come to harass the geese.
17th of Moonstone, year 70
As I suspected, the stranglers were no mere geese kickers. They have pressed forward and will be upon us soon. Rather than close the gates or hope the drakes can manage to fend them all off I have assembled as many dwarves as I can into a peoples militia. We have no weapons, no armor, and less hope, but if we can lure them into our narrow entranceway with our drakes at our sides I believe we can take them, or at the least make one hell of a last stand.
18th of Moonstone, year 70
It worked! At the cost of one dwarfs miserable life (10-18-70 never forget) we have managed to kill all the stranglers. Some bruises and scratches and one dead schmuck aside, things are looking well, and plenty of dwarves are glad to have revelled in some slaughter. I can only wonder, though, what lurking horrors have driven these dark stranglers to our gates. Such simple minded creatures have never managed to achieve so much as a ambush let alone a full blown siege. To celebrate this narrow victory I instructed our band to begin work on a laboratory... anti-climatic, yes, but according to our herbalists one does not simply make steel from steeloak, to do so is part of a complex process involving something they call !SCIENCE!. Whatever !SCIENCE! is, I figure should be left to the scientists... so I asked the dwarf called Jerbot to begin his work. Hopefully, he will figure out a way to extract the steel from these robust elven trees soon enough as the next batch of siegers may not be as easily repelled as the last.
1st of Granite, year 71
After a pleasantly mild yet boozeless winter spring is now upon upon us and with it the smells and sounds of the swamp..
I can only hope that this new year sees us well defended and swimming in an ocean of plump helmet wine, but I fear the adders and the stranglers may have something to say about that.
1st of Felsite, year 71
Yet more migrants have shown up, gods know why. What with the kidnappings, invasions, and adders, you'd think word would have gone out to stay the fuck away from this wretched swamp. I'm begining to wonder if our messages to the mountainhomes are even making it all the way there, or if the traders are being intercepted before they could report what they have seen here. Booze and food supplies were strained before, now with so many more empty stomachs I fear for the worst.
17th of Felsite, year 71
While the past months have been uneventful, a migrant here, a kidnapper there, it seems that now, at the end of my term, Armok has decided to make me pay for every snobby noble I ever tripped down some stairs. Yet another army of stranglers was spotted. Reports are just coming in but from the sounds of it a dwarf meandering around where he shouldn't have been was jumped and killed. They will be upon us soon enough, and we will have one less drake to defend us. It seems the mire is no place for open wounds, as the trauma the creature endured in fending off the last siege had become infected, inevitably resulting in its demise. Rest in peace, noble beast.
[the following is a crude sketch of the beast, as depicted by Mensrea]
28th of Felsite, year 71
Well, its officially the last day of my term as overseer. At least I say it is... summer is nearly upon us, as are the stranglers, and I have no intention of presiding over some slaughter. If I die, I die fighting in the muck, next to my brothers and sisters and the drakes. I was lucky enough to at least witness the discovery of the "herbalist lab" which, according to Jerbot, will be where all future !SCIENCE! regarding steeloaks will be conducted. Whoever draws the short straw will have that to their advantage. Though I am usually in favor of taking threats head on, with morale being as it is this may be time to pull up the bridge and slap together some steel weapons and armor to give our best warriors. More deaths could result in hot tempers, and surely a mutiny. That's not my concern now, though, and even if they choose otherwise, I can't say that we didn't have a good run.
Armok save us all.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Had a hell of a first year. I have never been sieged not just once but twice like that so quickly. The wildlife made starting out a pain due to the dwarves constantly being scared away from the tasks at hand, and then once I finally had things walled in morale plummeted from 3 kidnappings. I definitely intended to do better but I'm afraid all I really managed was to build some defenses. Not that the defenses will help against more sophisticated enemies; if we turtle they will just knock the damn walls down.
Food/booze was an issue and I'm almost certain that was due to the slow start. I had to re-assign a lot of labor to get the wall up fast, and then re-assign again to get the bridge, mechanisms and levers made. Immigrants are pouring in now and I'm not sure why given all the carnage. I don't have the save or the ingame pictures on my workstation so I will post those later, probably around 6 pm or so.
Again, I apologize for taking so long. I pretty much pushed it til the last day.. now I know why so many community forts seem to take so long. Life seems to be content quietly lurking in a dark corner until there is a deadline to meet, at which point it pounces and makes sure you are sufficiently overwhelmed as to be late. I only dorfed Jerbot and Grimmash and that wasn't until the very end of my term.
Jerbot is up next and buddy, I wish you luck, cause you will need it. You have a siege to deal with right away and the dorfs are already pretty agitated so I would suggest continuing with the bedroom project to make them happy/keep them from going apeshit.
I also seemed to have got the date wrong initially, likely due to the failed/accident embark. Maybe this should have been another drunk fortress?
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