The Spooky Spring of 14
2nd Granite, 14So, uh. Hello.
My name is Ustuth Bookauthored, but you can call me 'Bobsie'. I'm a fishery worker. And despite things, I'm currently feeling good. That might be due to the booze I just had, though it was quite annoying to slurp it straight from the barrel. Not enough cups here.
But, in any case, to the matter at hand: it seems I've been (for some reason) assigned to oversee this dump for the next... Well, I don't actually know for how long, but anyway.
I tried to protest at the choice, but my complaints were ignored. Well. Don't blame me then if things go south. I have no idea how cities are managed (we are a city now, after all). One hundred and twenty-three heads to order around seems like an intimidating task.
Hell, I don't even know half of the folk here.
But what I know is that we don't have a fishery here. And no place to fish. That's something I'd like to change. Don't really care about giving orders. We all gotta learn to take the initiative and be independent. Who needs a boss anyway? Nobody likes being bossed.
The great three-eyed shrew resides still in the first caverns. 'Avolition' Masterbodice, the previous overseer, said that no matter what, the caverns should remain sealed. I'm not sure about it, but for now I trust her judgment.
A pity, though. There's a lake in those caverns. And a good fishing spot, too.
Luckily, it's not the only spot with water. Even deeper down, in another layer, there's some kind of pond. Now I'm not certain if there's any fish, or what kind of fish, but I've asked the miners to dig a passage all the way down there (and to not breach the walls before safety measures are in place).
The stairs will go up-up-up until we almost reach our main area. There we will have space for the fisheries.
Above the fisheries are the farm plots, stills, kitchens - you name it. Where all the food magic is made, y'know?
If this works out, later we can connect to the passage to the lake in the first cave layer. Once it is made safe again, of course.
But enough of my blathering.
Let's get to work.
As work begins above, down below, one of the hammerdwarves, Adil Sunkgorges, chases a terrified puppy trying to kick it, bash it and throw severed arms (namely the right lower arm of one Ral Měshoserib) at it.
The terrified puppy is struck down.
What drove Adil to this madness? Who can tell? Maybe it's something in the air? Or food?
Or possibly due to the fact that Adil has been under tremendous amounts of pressure and wearing tattered clothing certainly hadn't helped her mood.
Puppies have been killed for lesser reasons.
Regardless, Adil shall from this day forth be known as Adil 'Puppy-Smasher' Sunkgorges.
What is happening!?
Where did all these doctors, dentists and organ donors come from?
It's complete chaos. Gods! Somebody do something! Send in the military, send in anyone!
How did these fiends get inside? I'm certain the bridge was closed.
I-I, I'm sure I checked it before beginning work on the fishing area...
No.
There is no bridge sealing the entry.
Where'd it go? Did we even have one? Am I only imagining things?
Well, one things for sure: the enemy has open entry into our home now.
Everyone into the meeting hall! NOW!
It's the only place close enough where we can bar the doors!
So many dead already.
And it has barely begun.
No! Some of the military rushed outside to take on the enemy. Fools!
Well, it's now or never.
Send in the rest!
Maybe it'll buy us enough time to hastily seal ourselves with a wall?
We had to change the spot for the wall, but it's up.
Now, if we could just manage to wall up the wood stockpile still. Those doors won't hold long.
I dare not think how the military is faring. But if they would all be dead, the dentists would've surely swarmed us by now...
Why is there a wide side passage from the main entry leading straight into the FREAKING BEDROOMS WITH NO WAY TO SEAL IT!?!
You there! You're a volunteer! And you! And you!
Now GO STOP THE ENEMY!
...Meanwhile we'll build a third wall. We'll certainly let you in afterwards... Right.
We were too slow to seal the passage.
Despite the brave sacrifice of many a dwarf and what-not, the enemy came through. That is no wonder, for those who gave their lives had barely any training.
We did, however, manage to wall the west doors of the meeting hall.
We lost our bedrooms in the process. And access to the trade depot and crafting area.
But other than that, we have still most of the base necessities.
We can build anew.
I did a quick headcount. There are eighty of us. We lost fourty-three.
Gods.
A small glimmer of hope arrives in the form of a newly born boy.
There is much to do for us to get back on our feet, but I am certain we will eventually make it.
It seems some of us have already given up and decided we'll all die, as is witnessed by the sarcophagus Kogan made out of adamantine.
She has decorated Bisekkonad, 'Veilband', with pear wood and sheep wool, encircling it with bands of highwood and armored pinky carapace. The sarcophagus is a recursive one: it has an image of itself in adamantine.
Additionally there's an image of traveling dwarves in snallygaster bone - you know the typical image of the founding dwarves so common in our culture (though the material is certainly extraordinary!). There's also an image of a frost charger in armored pinky leather, and, to top it off, another image of the sarcophagus in blooming beast bone.
An impressive artifact indeed.
...Though, some might say that we'd have had better use for that adamantine.
3rd Felsite, 14
“This place is haunted.Amost the Spook dropped dead today. In the main hall, right in front of everyone's eyes! Some swore that they saw a specter fluttering near Amost when it happened. The Spook went suddenly pale, eyes aghast and body twisting in fear! Tirist the armorer saw it all. Or so he claims to. He was surprisingly calm and unaffected by Amost's death and he claimed that it was the ghost of Catten Dragongilt the Sweet One of Jaws that spooked the Spook to death.Slabs are being made, so don't blame me on this! I didn't make a mess and leave it to someone else to clean! Blame the others! I didn't ask for this job!Or if I did, I was drunk. And you shouldn't believe what drunkards tell you!”
It is summer.
Things are a bit calmer now. We're busy at work making coffins and slabs, putting up memorials, and since we lost access to the surface farms, dog meat has become the staple of our diet.
There's a dormitory now set up beneath the main hall. It's been awful sleeping on the cold, hard floors. We still don't have enough beds, but we're getting there, we're getting there.
As the hospital lay full after the horrid assault by the dentists and their cronies, we had to figure some way to get water.
Well, we now have a well.
Just south of the tanner, behind those wheelbarrows there, stairs lead upwards to the well room. Notice those two levers next to the doorway: the left one seals the bridge next to it, while the right one seals the bridge in the well room.
Just as a precaution.
The well itself is pretty bare, but it does the trick.
As you can see, we've been thoughtful and set up storage for buckets next to it. No soap yet, though.
And the well itself leads down into the lake in the first caverns.
The beauty of it is that we found a spot where the water is surrounded by natural defenses and the water is deep enough that it isn't that usual mucky, icky, muddy cavern water. And it's close to the hospital, too!
But my main goal, the fisheries, that is now completed.
There's security measures in the form of bridges to the fishing spots of the first and second cavern lakes. The levers have been labeled (as well as the bridges) so that even a dumber dwarf than me should understand!
However, I have decided not to breach the caves yet for access to fish.
That, I will leave for the next overseer.
For you see, I honestly don't like ordering people around. Like I said, I didn't ask for this job. I tried it, I cleaned a bloody mess (well, sort of) and now I'm done. They never told me how long I should be bossing dwarves around, so hell, I'll call it quits!
I'm done! I'm out of here!
You can find me in the pub.
...Wait.
Do we even have a pub?
=====
Whew.
I was certain we were done for. I don't know what happened to the bridge, but almost immediately after unpausing there's all manner of job interruption spam and then I notice that the enemy is already inside.
At that point, well, I panicked, acted quickly and sent too many dwarves to their deaths. Though, it might have been necessary to do that anyways, since that bought me just enough time to put up the walls.
...Then I realized that there was another passage circling to the living areas from behind. If I would've paid more attention to the layout, well, I probably could've saved the bedrooms.
Anyway, I'm cutting my turn short. Didn't expect the turn to come so soon and the beginning of the turn to take so long, and I have to do some other stuff in the next week or so.
It's the 20th of Hematite (I think), so early summer. There's a siege still outside. At least two forgotten beasts are in the caverns, but they
shouldn't have access to the fort.
There's loads of side passages (quarries?) in the deeper levels. I blocked some, just in case for safety (and pathing).
Other than that? Uh, if the next overspook has questions, just ask.
Oh, the save:
https://dffd.bay12games.com/file.php?id=16115Good luck!
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Topic: Spookyfort IV: The Overlook - Overspookers welcome! (Read 13907 times)