Spring has arrived on the calendar.
Zulban onulstakud, Brewer cancels Rest: Interrupted by Hippo. x1350
Melbil Atisgeshud, Animal Trainer cancels Construct rock Blocks: Hunting vermin for food.
Zulban onulstakud, Brewer cancels Rest: Interrupted by Hippo. x777
Rih Zefondalzat, Engraver cancels Store Item in Stockpile: Item inaccessible.
Zulban onulstakud, Brewer cancels Rest: Interrupted by Hippo. x1502
Zon Zonnunok, Peasant cancels Construct rock Blocks: Hunting vermin for food.
Zulban onulstakud, Brewer cancels Rest: Interrupted by Hippo. x371
Poor old Zulban is in bed, the result of a prior encounter with hippos, of the kind that killed all previous hapless (and, truth be told, ill-advised) hippo-hunters as well as some innocent bystanders. None of the 37 hippos (eight of them now being named ones) nor even the 40 hippo calves (oh dear...) are currently anywhere in the vicinity of (within or at the surface) his underground and indoors bedroom (the door of which haulers and other workers regularly pass along the corridor, with nary a mutter about honking great critters lurking in the shadows). Thus I surmise that an elite cadre of ninja hippos is going out of its way to sneak in and annoy Zulban in his recuperative sleep. So far [does quick mental calculation... redos calculation... oooh...] that's a nice round 4000 times in this season. (Actually, it's still 3rd Granite, 303, Early Spring!) Either that or he's having nightmares.
Still, at least it isn't one of the [counts] 106 fish (Carp, Tigerfish, Milkfish, Stingray) that inhabit the river (which has
also claimed some incautious victims, at one point the waters being almost completely tainted with blood), and I've sealed the Fire Imps up. The warthogs and gazelle on the map seem to be suffering from both amphibious and fishy attacks, and right now I'm not in a position to risk another ad-hoc hunter...
Meanwhile, I continue my undermining of the underground lava-pool, in preparation for doing something 'interesting' with it, though my original plans to support the otherwise disconnected and isolated 'pot' of magma (and imps) upon a tower of supports and then cause the whole mass to cascade into the depths has been dealt a blow by an incautious channelling breaching a wall a level below and forcing some quick wall construction and probable abandonment of the original severing plan. Instead I shall probably see if the draining of a finite quantity of magma shall force the imps within to similarly take to the air for a temporary trip, courtesy of the Great God of Gravity, and gain an insight as to whether they are any good at high-diving.
(Yes, I'm just playing, now. Immigration continues apace, mysteriously still greater than the accumulated mortality from enraged fauna, drowning, starvation and injuries sustained from an outbreak of berserk moods) but the imminent explosion of Hippopotamidae population makes this place a little too challenging unless I can get my army of planters doing as well as they have the potential for and afford to isolate myself for a while, meanwhile, I plan a magma explosion of my own...)
((That last line keeps rising, now we're on "
Zulban onulstakud, Brewer cancels Rest: Interrupted by Hippo. x1183" and rising every time I view the Announcements (now 4th Granite),
must be nightmares
. In fact, reached "
x2742" before a notice that I had run out of barrels into which I might brew a drink and
x1247 since then, even with the universe on pause for most of the time I was writing this little missive.))