Continuation of Previous EntryI got another shot and went to have a look around. Been living here for a few months but I didn't really pay much attention to the overall layout of the place; it was always someone else's job.
Mirehole's only entrance - besides the one with the Husk Smasher, which I'll get to later on - is a short aboveground building with a staircase in it. It's not sealed off by a proper drawbridge - only by some silly little rock salt door that wouldn't stand up to a goblin with half a brain, let alone a troll without one. Whoever built it clearly had no idea what kind of forces Goblins often bring to assault fortresses as large as ours, and it's a wonder we've survived this long.
While I was up inspecting that place, I noticed a few of the abominable gloom husks that everyone's so afraid of. For a start, they're basically invincible to anything but a good decapitation or bisection, so only a squad of well-trained axedwarves would have much of a shot at knocking them down; further, they used to belong to Gnorm,
the whiny sonuvanelf, and he says no one can attack them or he'll come after them with a pickaxe. I'm pretty damn sure he means it, too.
There are more of them besides that bunch I saw near the depot, of course.
Most of the rest are busy with goblins. I ran out of shits to give around the time I ran out of gutter cruor, which was halfway down the staircase to the caverns, and I hate goblins anyway so I don't really care. The ones near the depot will have to go, though... I have some plans for that. We'll see if they work out. (Not likely.)
This is a sketch of the entryway below that squat aboveground thing that Batdorf calls the guardhouse. We've got a few cage traps - one of which contains a crazed, insanely-muscular wren man - but nothing else standing between us and utter disaster. One troll to knock down the doors and the gobbos can storm right in. The sheer insanity of it... It's enough to drive a dwarf to sobriety.
This thing is what they jokingly call the Husk Smasher. I haven't seen anything so silly in my life. Supposedly it'll mash them all into a gooey paste, and the pig at the end is some kind of bait, but when I look at it, all I see is a free, open path for goblin invasions. I can't even find the lever that's supposed to turn it on. It's even worse than the other entrance! I can't decide what to do first: build some good solid bridges between me and the hell outside, or run crying down the stairs and drown myself in the cavern with that forgotten beast and crocodile.
Next up is some flippery and ridiculous apartments that belong to the uppity-ups and founding members of this hellhole.
I guess they kind of deserve it for surviving this long in a place like this. I remember running from the husks on the way in - it was a nightmare.
Two things here - first, a huge room belonging to Gnorm; and second, a control room with some levers. Tacked on the wall, thank Armok, are vague instructions for what they all do. Four of them are for drawbridges in the caverns and the last one supposedly controls the masher. I'll test it later.
This is our food and drink stockpile, kitchens, and dining hall. Nothing terribly out of the ordinary, but it doesn't look like we have enough room here. I'll have to fix that. Down the hall to the west is the route to that patch of damp stone the miners told me about. Apparently it's an aquifer, which means we all drown if we break it open if what I hear is true. I have some ideas of my own for what we can do with it, but they'll have to wait for the time being while I get the rest of this mess sorted out.
I checked on our stockpiles and found them pretty lacking in everything but corpses, tombs, and engraved slabs. Those we have aplenty and none of them are going to waste. Kind of made me stop and think... what kind of legacy do I want to leave for this place? If it involves the deaths of more of those around me, is it still worth it? What loss is acceptable - a dozen? Two dozen? Fifty?
I need my gutter cruor...
Here we have the masterpiece of elvish engineering: a set of drawbridges that are supposed to stop every single threat that may come from below.
I have news for the inventor of this abominable product of sobriety and trollery:
THIS WILL NOT STOP ANYTHING WITH WINGS.I think it's pretty clear that I have a lot of work to do... Damn Armok, damn peregarrett, damn all of you for dumping this on me! I could've gone on in peace doing my farming for the next fifty years and not given a shit, but you all made me take up the mantle of leadership and stand atop the ruins you've created to wave my hands and rebuild everything through sheer willpower. Well, damn you all, but damn me if I can't wreak order out of chaos and wreck this place back into shape. It'll take everything I have but I'll do it.
-ImagoDeo, Reluctant Overseer
OOC: Not as bad as I'd expected.
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Topic: Mirehole, the Great Succession Fortress in the Swamp (Read 23493 times)