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[Ishar]

1st Granite, 103
'Listen up, you maggots! I am Mirroredskunks, but you may call me 'Sir'. And you'd damn better do so, or I'm gonna bash in your stupid fuckin' faces! This charming place you just got transferred to is Shadytorments, the latest and greatest ambitious project of her damn majesty, the Queen.
Some of you may be good-for-nothing lazybutts, sent here as punishment, glory-seeking fools, or genuine hardasses looking for a real challenge. I hope for your damn sake that most of you little shits are in the latter camp, or else you'll be dead within a week.
Let me give you a quick recap on this place. The first expedition dug out some facilities and started setting up walls in drow blood rain. They only had picks, food and booze, not even a bloody battleaxe to defend themselves with. They were just that dedicated. If that's not hardcore, I don't know what is. So yeah, they were utterly slaughtered by undead dingos in a few days, but that's beside the point. They laid out the foundations of this place, and that's what matters!
The second expedition continued building the walls, and they were ripped to shreds by their predecessors' undead body parts AND the dingos. But they continued on with setting the place up!
The third expedition was slaughtered by orcs while they were still on their way. They couldn't even reach the place.
The fourth expedition, however... that's us, the Bells of Might! The queen said to settle this place, and we're not just gonna settle it - we're settling it LIKE MEN! Well, most of you are women, but still.'

---

The starting seven:

Mirroredskunks, 'Sir'
The militia commander, and since the story will be told from his point of view, he's not for the taking. He's mainly inspired by the drill sergeant from Full Metal Jacket, but toned down a little, especially in the journal entries. Everyone else is up for grabs.

Rulerfortified, female
Mason and building designer, nothing fancy, but she's getting good at making doors and tables, as it's to be expected in a fresh fort.

Shorttomb, female
Main miner, and nothing else for now. I may have to draft him into the militia, but I'd rather avoid this, at least until the fort can be at least partially sealed up, and some basic facilities established. With the migrant wave bringing a few capable souls, I think I may be able to pull it off.

Hellishslapped, female
With a name like that, it's militia service for sure. Axedwarf, currently at woodcutting duty - at least she can defend herself.

Quandaryropey, male
Weaponsmith, and a good one (OK, competent, but that's as good as it gets here). I intend to keep him the fuck away from any danger, deep underground.

Palenesshames, female
Miner militia. If this was a horror movie (and it most certainly seems like one), I think she'd be the black guy. I'll be surprised if she stays alive.

Inkedbridges, female
Another axedwarf on woodcutting duty, with a bit of skills in carpentry.

Also, the first migrant wave came with a few surprisingly useful ones: there's a spear-, a mace- and an axedwarf with them. Those are up for grabs as well, but they don't have any equipment whatsoever, so they may not last. The other migrants are barely worth mentioning, potter, farmer, fisher, the usual riffraff.

The fort is located in a sinister biome - that doesn't sound like much, but taking into account the considerable number of creatures Meph added into Masterwork, this is more than enough. The map is mostly flat, with a small hill to the north of the fort itself. there are plenty of trees and busghes, but practically no game to hunt, except the hostile creatures wandering in from time to time. All the invading races are on, except warlocks (I don't like my whole map constantly going up in flames), but the main invaders will most likely be orcs, white tigerman, dark stranglers, frost giants and of course goblins. Each friendly race survived worldgen, so human, elf, drow and dwarf caravans are all expected. Although elves can still kiss my ass, I'll most likely piss them off with a bin or something.
Oh, and there's blood. Lots of blood. It rains drow blood almost constantly, the whole map is red by now.

And if you're living under a rock, and don't know what Masterwork DF is, here's the thread.

[Ishar]

From the Journals of the Military Commander of Shadytorments, 1st of Felsite, 101
Not gonna use that stupid family name. Ever.
By the way, something of note happened today, might as well start my journal with that: an undead lionman came trotting near our fortress. Luckily, the walls are up, and we can shut things like that out with a simple door. I think. Come on, it's just a big lion on two legs. Plus, it's a zombie. Not that I'm impressed with the buttheads I'm stuck with, but that thing seems even dumber than my crew. Also, this drow blood rain is starting to unsettle the pansies. The sooner we establish underground quarters, the better. For now, the wagon still serves as a kind of meeting area, and that's ridiculous.

From the Journals of 'Sir', 13th Felsite, 101
We hauled a few tables together into my future quarters. Until the proper dinig room is dug out, this will be our meeting place. Everyone is temporarily housed at the intended military quarters - the civies will be further down, and that's top priority: we have a valuable weaponsmith, and a couple of good miners too. I heard those guys can hold their own in a fight, but I'm not gonna trust some maggot with a pick with any military operation.
The zombie lionman is still out there.

From the Journals of 'Sir', 1st Hematite, 101
It's summer now. Not that you'd notice - that damn rain has been pouring on us constantly ever since we got here. On the other hand: summer means we survived a full season in this hellhole. The autumn traders are in for a little a surprise if they even risk coming out here. Nobody before us have lasted this long here. Then again, they were pussies. Then again, the zombies have lasted longer than anybody. Then again, they are not technically alive, so that doesn't count. Ha!

From the Journals of 'Sir', 5th Hematite, 101
Tangoed with a zombie goblin today, with predictable results. It barely put up any kind of fight, went down after a couple of good dismembering blows. The lionman seems to have wandered off however. Darn shame, I was hoping it would stick around long enough to be of some entertainment later. So much to do, and so little time...

[Jarod Cain]

I'll take the speardwarf, name him Silus.
He will be trained as a true Spartan, for now he will learn to wrestle and dodge, then eventually use a shield and spear in his one dwarf phalanx formation.
-J-

[Ishar]

From the Journals of 'Sir', 23rd Hematite, 101
OK, so there WAS a slight miscalculation on my part. We are kind of starving. A little bit. Hey, there is still quite a bit of booze left, so there's that. And a considerable amount of vermin, too.
Seriously, we set up a little above-ground farm a while ago, but people are not very keen on farming (or, as a matter of fact, eating) things that are submerged in drow- ,and sometimes even dwarf blood. That's the rain by the way, and not us. Come to think of it, there hasn't been any real injury since we got here. Funny how everything is still covered in blood. Actually, no, that's not as much funny as it is horrifying. This hellhole is starting to get to me. The men must not know.
Oh, and a couple of migrants showed up. Somehow they thought it would be a good idea to live here. Half of them are usless civies, but the other half looks damn fine: a spear-, an axe-, and a macedwarf. Not that they have any weapons with them, but they claim to know how to use them. The speardwarf (Silus) stands out a bit, so I made him captain of the newcomer squad. Let's see what he can do.

4th Malachite, 101
'So, ladies!
A nice big pair of yetis have come to visit our nice little personal hell. I've decided that since we are so low on food, this would be a great time for the new arrivals to prove themselves. If you can take them down, good. We are eating the finest yeti meat tonight! If not, well, it's three less mouths to feed. Off with you!'

From the Journals of 'Sir', 13th Malachite, 101
Operation Whack-A-Yeti was a huge success. On one hand, the new arrivals kinda proved their salt when they chased around the creatures for days (turns out, the yeti is a far less badass creature than I believed), and then smashed them to a bloody pulp with their bare hands. Amusing sight, that was.
And what's even better: they taste great! Well, not really. They taste like shit, but that's really great, compared to starving to death. And finally, the main dining hall is dug out, so we can eat the bastards properly. I was getting sick of all these civs in my quarters. At last, I can claim the dining hall to myself. Also making it my office now. Such a fine place.

(OOC: I'm going away for the weekend, will be back sometime around tuesday. Then I'll post some screenshots about notable dwarfs, basic fort layout, etc.)

[Ishar]

Update coming soon.

[empfan]

Before I join, exactly how many animals come through that aren't zombies?

[Ishar]

So, about the current state of affairs:



This is the surface. The constantly raining blood does wonders for morale.

1 - Currently the only entrance to the underground. Rock doors, roofed over. This should hold against flyers and wildlife for now.
2 - There will be a drawbridge here, mainly to be lowered for caravans. I intend to keep it raised when those are not around.
3 - Nice little trade depot, a bit slippery with all that blood covering it. I want roof over this as well, and it would be nice to be able to separate it from the rest of the fort, if need be, but that will have to wait for now.
4 -  That pathetic little door is the only entrance to the outside world for now. I want to set up a little killzone outside of it, also a long-term project.
5 - Small ourdoor farm. This performs pathetically, everybody hates working there.

There is a small underground farm in a peat layer, a few z-levels dwon from the top, but I didn't bother to take a picture, it's not much to look at. The usual thing, I hope it helps food production a little.



This is the military area, the final level of defense from the outside.

1 - To the surface
2 - Future training area, currently empty
3 - Quarters of our great militia commander, Sir. Furnishings are not completed of course, and I want to dig a few extra rooms for him in the future, but this will do for a while.
4 - Rooms for soldiers. They will live in luxury compared to civilians. For now, a few of the general population sleep here, but that's about to change.
5 - Reserved for another training area
6 - Civilian areas are accessible only through here. I will set up additional defenses here, NOTHING should get past this point. If something does (and this is DF, so eventually it will happen), the fort will go down very quickly.



This is the civilian area for now.

1 - Very basic workshops.
2 - Food, booze, seeds. The latter will be stored elsewhere, when we establish a decent farming area.
3 - Food and booze processing. Under construction.
4 - Dining hall, dug out, partially furnished to shut the dwarfs up about chairs and whatnot.
5 - Civilian slums. This is only for the plebs, soldiers stay up at the military level, nobles will of course get their due quarters, and I intend to keep other valuable dwarfs far rom these. Smiths, good miners and the liek will get better rooms than these.

And the character sheets for the two named dwarfs:





Apparently, Silus is a smith guild member. Didn't even notice at before.

@empfan: A skunk just strolled in, and that's it for now. It doesn't seem to be common, most of the things that migrate to the area want us dead. Although some of them are edible, like the yetis were.

[empfan]

Well, can I come in as an animal trainer/wrestler part time?  Who knows, that skunk may be the walking apocalypse in disguise

Preferably male, as well.

[Ishar]

21th Galena, 101
-What is this shit? Are you kidding me, maggot?
-Sir, no, Sir, I wish to train animals.
-You are a fuckin beekeeper.
-Sir, bees are definitely animals. In the future, we may need wardogs, hunting animals and the like. I'm the closest we have.
-Hm. Good point. Okay, done. Also, you are drafted into the militia.
-What?!
-Nobody's gonna say that a civilian shithead has any say about anything in my fort. You can train animals when we have them, AND you defend this place with us, or you can go back to your nonexistent bees. Which will it be?
-Proud and ready to serve, Sir!
-That's more like it! What's your name, soldier?
-Sir, Empfan, Sir!
-Good. You are with the Machines of Power, the secondary squad of Shadytorments. Those guys tackle yetis and shit, so have fun with them.

From the Journals of 'Sir', 1st Sandstone, 101
Migrants.
Surprisingly useful batch this time: we have an unarmed fighter guy, a master bowyer, an able crossbowdwarf (and this one came with a weapon at last!), and finally a male pike-, and a female macedwarf. The last two seem to be decent soldiers, I've added them to my own squad, the Cudgels of Power, and assigned the unarmed guy to train Silus' lads. The crossbowdwarf had the privilege to found the first ranged unit of Shadytorments, but named it the Magics of Paper, so that's not as impressive as it could have been. Still, combined with the master bowyer that also arrived, he can be a real asset in the future.
We don't have any weapons for the newcomers yet, but that's about to change: we've dug out the smelting area, and started building a smithy. We have already mined a decent supply of tetrahedrite and galena - I know those are not what you'd call proper ores, but that's all we have for now. Copper weapons are better than nothing. Of course I'm not gonna disgrace myself or my soldiers by wearing copper ARMOR, so until we have some sensible metal production, we're going to kick ass unarmored. I've always liked that idea: keeps the boys on edge, and they learn to avoid blows, instead of relying on armor.
At least we have some wooden shields now, those will surely come in handy. We've also aquired some mithril during the excavations. I've only heard of the stuff before, and it's supposed to be kind of awesome. It's a shame we don't ave the means to use it yet. We also have anthracite, so coal shouldn't be an issue for a while.

The migrants bring our population up to 19.

From the Journals of 'Sir', 10th Timber, 101
We've dispatched a reanimated barn owl today. Somehow that's even less heroic than it sounds. At least the barracks are up and ready, the lads get a lot of practice there. Everyone has at least some meager quarters, coal production has finally started, so times are good. Boring, but good.

(Next up: not so boring!)

[Ishar]

From the Journals of 'Sir', 18th Timber, 101
Bollocks, the outpost liaison and his escorts have arrived. We don't really have anything to trade, so I've got the weaponsmith to work on a few battleaxes immediately. Maybe I can stall the bastards for a while to get a few of the things ready for sale. Darn shame, I was planning on using the first weapons we forge, but it seems like we might end up selling all of it. Doesn't really matter, we have plenty of raw materials that we can use to make more later. But the traders are here NOW, and they might have things we can use.

From the Journals of 'Sir', 3rd Moonstone, 101
What a bunch of useless morons! I've sent out the Machines' to deal with a zombie Faedog. The thing barely existed anymore: a partial torso, a head and one leg, most of it missing, everything else rotten.
Somehow, that thing still managed to kill one of Silus' wrestlers, and badly injuring Empfan. At least he proved useful, and managed to take down the thing finally. Come to think of it, we don't have a hospital. Better establish one right away, the lad's in sorry shape. An undead kingsnake also came near the fort right after the faedog incident, but I've slashed it in two with one swing. Dammit Silus, that's how it's done! That little shit should take better care of her squad.
We've also bought another iron anvil for two crappy copper axes, and a couple of wooden shields. Maybe that was a shitty deal, but we need to speed up weapon prodution. It's one thing to fight without armor, but the things around here may be too much for the maggots without some basic weaponry. And we didn't find any iron yet, so we have to do something I hate with a passion: compromise.

From the Journals of 'Sir', 7th Opal, 101
Empfan seems to be a tough son of a bitch. He is recovering nicely, despite the level of treatment he's had, which was a bit rough. And by that I mean he had to walk back to his room with half the bones in his body badly broken, lie down, and get better on his own. Which he seems to do just fine. The hospital is dug out, but from now on, if somebody wants to take a nap there for some bruised ankle or whatever, I can point to Empfan, and shut everyone right the fuck up.

(Sorry Empfan, by the time the armed dwarfs arrived, the fight was already over. Your dwarf seems to hold on though, he's just stuck in his bed with broken hips, legs and the like. However, he doesn't seem to be crippled, and should make a full recovery. If the fort doesn't go down to a tantrum spiral for the lack of booze.)

[Ishar]

16th Obsidian, 101
'So, ladies! The first group of cocksuckers who think they can take us down are finally here. Those of you who wish for glory may be disappointed, for these are just dark stranglers. Since we still don't have real defensive facilities, we are just going to gather every one of you lazy cockroaches who can hold a weapon - whether you have one to hold or not - and kill the motherfuckers ourselves. Does that sound good to you maggots? Great! See you on the surface!'

From the Journals of 'Sir', 20th Obsidian, 101
Complete victory! The little shits didn't even scratch any of our boys. We've killed a few, and the rest soon scattered. Almost everyone has a weapon now, although some of them went to battle with a rocktip spear or something equally ridiculous. We seriously need real metals, and more fuel for the smelters. These kind of things would be much easier if we didn't have to fight off starvation constantly. We barely have booze left, and food itself is scarce. But for now, we are victorious.
Note to self, however: Dark stranglers CAN open doors, however stupid they look. No harm done this time, but I suppose we should have better defenses. I'll have the masons take care of that.

From the Journals of 'Sir', 2nd Felsite, 102
Holy shit, migrants! The numbers I receive are staggering. They boost our population to 58. Not so good when we couldn't feed a fraction of that before. There are some decent soldiers among them at least, there's even a legion dwarf. That's awesome and all, but won't do us much good without provisions.
Half of the population is drafted now, to fend off the zombie apocalypse, and the other half stuggles to keep us fed. I could really appreciate a caravan right about now.

[Ishar]

From the Journals of 'Sir', 12th Hematite, 102
Tangled with a few zombies, as usual... but something was different this time. We've beaten all kinds of undead animals before, no contest. OK, we didn't have any problems now, but these were not the usual type of undead we get here. These were... humanoid. Elves, humans... somehow they seemed more... intelligent. Almost coordinated. We hacked them to pieces, sure, but I think they will come back. And I don't think we can afford a real siege, with food stores as low as they are.
Maybe I shouldn't worry. Every member of the military has copper edged-, or silver blunt weapons, and the small batch of iron we found was forged into armor for our best soldiers. The equipment is still bullshit, compared to the military standard of the mountainhomes, but some of these guys are fucking beasts. Not to mention that there are more than twenty of us already armed, so we should be more than ready to handle direct combat.
The above-ground fortifications are adequate, now we can properly seal off the fort if we want to. Still, our situation is fragile right now.

From the Journals of 'Sir', 23th Hematite, 102
Silus' daughter was born today. Apparently, that brings the number of her children up to four. Huh. Didn't even notice that. Maybe it would be wiser to relieve her of duty, bringing that baby into battle does not seem to be the best idea. Bah, I'm sure it'll work out fine.

From the Journals of 'Sir', 28th Hematite, 102
I don't fuckin believe it! Fuckin migrants again! I'm tempted to scare them off by telling that we only have 12 barrels of booze for more than 70 people, but that may cause some rioting. Hm. I may need to appoint a hammerer just in case word gets out anyway.
Man, I could use a drink right now.

[Ishar]

From the Journals of 'Sir', 28th Galena, 102
The zombies finally wised up, and decided that frontal assault is impossible with the numbers in our favor so much. That could be a good thing, but now, they are going after the children. So far, every snatching attempt failed, but I don't know how long we can keep this up. The booze situation is a bit better now, but still very fucking dangerous. I don't need hysterical parents going nuts over some stolen kid or two.

From the Journals of 'Sir', 1st Limestone, 102
Autumn has come, and with it, our first iron weapons as well. I've issued an iron spear to Silus, and taken a greatsword for myself. The rest went to the stockpiles, with my old iron short sword as well. My only regret is that there is nothing to test our strenght against. The occasional zombie animals that wander near us are more of an annoyance than real danger now. Sure, they can take down a civilian, and maybe injure a shitty recruit, but that's it.
There's one guy who killed a lemur a while back. We took most of the meat to the kitchen, but the rest came back to life. The same soldier killed it again. Next time, its head came after our woodcutters, and the guy smashed that again. Everyone needs a hobby, but that shit gets creepy very soon.

[Dohon]

Short and sweet updates, ey? Keep it up!

[wypie]

I will take the marksdwarf name him wypie.