Incompetence is a sin.
1st of Granite, 92. Journal of 'Kat' ElislodorMy mother always told me- dream big and you'll go far. Or die. One or the other. Father was killed before I was even born- they say he heroically volunteered to take an expedition into the wastes of the north and was never heard from again. I suppose that's why I've always been a bit of a yellow coward- I prefer to take things nice and simple. Why I became a farmer, really, so that I could have an easy, stress free job and still satisfy my natural wanderlust. So I was really surprised when the folk here at Olinmeng nominated me as leader for a year. I honestly don't know why- I don't even have that many friends and I've never proved myself or anything. I take the position somewhat reluctantly- especially considering that we're in the middle of a werewolf siege. I know I need to be patriotic and do my duty, but I fear that I might not be up to the task.
My immediate undertaking was to order the stopping of all butchering. We've plenty of food, and I'd rather not we kill innocent puppies despite the meat they could provide. I also noticed and approved of the relatively lavish bedrooms granted our dwarves- each with his or her own dining room. I decided that we'd try our hardest to grant that luxury to all of our citizens and I've designated all future bedrooms dug out to be built in that manner.
There were an unusual amount of idlers reported, so I did a little poking around and found that the stair layout was really messing around with a lot of our population. I had a more friendly design established and work picked up as normal.
14th FelsiteIt's been a mostly quiet start to my term- continuing the digging and expansion of our industries. I was alerted to the arrival of elven caravans- and conveniently enough the werewolves finally gave up and left us. The elves then began to curiously go into the depths of our fortress- which is when I realized that Magnus had the depot built near some of our bedrooms. While that's fine and dandy and all, I'd prefer a depot that was a little closer to the surface- making things simpler for all parties involved. I've begun the commissioning of a walled in compound, with some workshops for the production of good blocks set up on the surface.
8th HematiteOh dear, diplomacy is a tricky beast. I stupidly designated some wooden bins full of crafts to be traded to the sylvians, offending them and causing them to refuse further trade. Luckily, I didn't repeat the mistakes with the dusk elves and I was able to secure some good drink, booze, and spare wood out of the deal. Not like we really need all the spare wood. Our woodcutters been working overtime to clear these weird dead trees out to make room for our surface compound's walls- and as far as I can tell this dead wood is just as good as any other.
3rd MalachiteThe merchants have departed so I've had the depot moved to the surface in their wake and- migrants have arrived!
All said and done there were eight in total, bringing up our population to a healthy 28 members. Most of the newcomers were relegated to hauling or to a new squad of men and women I hope to eventually turn into a powerful militia for our defense. Though we'll need to expand our digging operations to find ores for some proper weapons- and our miners are currently backlogged with the bedroom digging. I'm not much of a stickler for efficiency, so I've really let the fortress get hectic in the past few months. No one seems to mind much, but I'm having my personal doubts about my abilities already.
2nd GalenaI heard a commotion from downstairs where I still work in the farms and when I went to check it out, apparently Magnus of all people had been possessed and had kicked everyone out of the workshop where he worked anyways.
He's bringing in all the standard things and... oh dear. He's stopped. He mutters for what I think includes leather and cloth- neither of which we have! Blast it, I totally forgot about this!
Magnus' life is on the line, so I've ordered for the butchering of puppy dogs for their leather. Better them than Magnus.
11th GalenaThe frantic scramble for Magnus' life was thankfully brought to an end when a caravan of humans arrived bearing large amounts of all that we needed for his artifact. It cost us an arm and a leg in crafts, since I virtually had to pick out a broker at random with Magnus indisposed, but we got our goods and he started work. I made sure to get as much extra cloth and leather as possible- so that this never happens again.
25th GalenaMagnus built a really nice slate cabinet today.
I let him keep it, since I nearly got him killed in the first place. My peers wonder why I didn't order it for myself, and while it would have been nice, I think Magnus deserves it more. Besides, I'd prefer a nice and simple room.
24th LimestoneThe continued work on the bedrooms and surface fortress was punctuated by the appearance of this monstrosity in the caverns.
I wonder how we even figured out that it was there, since the caverns aren't even accessible to our fortress- but everyone insists it's around so I'll believe them. In any case, this puts a hold on one of my smaller plans- a breach into the caverns lined with cage traps for safety. Not that I minded much in either case, but it would have been nice to have access to the caverns for a safe wood supply and extra water. Winter here is brutal, and our only safe water source on the surface freezes over.
6th SandstoneI had just finished overseeing the last of our bedrooms when even more migrants arrived!
Seven new ones total, most of whom are relegated to hauling or the military. Don't get me wrong, I love new people as much as the next, but this creates a new mess of administrative paperwork for me to sort through. I think I'm getting used to leading- which startles me somewhat. In other news, the first layer of our outside wall is complete- we now have a bridge to cut off access to the outside when it is necessary. Most of the military is also working on building blocks and setting them, so we have a nice taskforce speeding along on the project.
12th TimberAn undead black bear has been scaring our masons, so I've ordered the military after it.
The bear is killed easily, just as the Orcish and Dwarven caravans arrive. I'll just have the military brought in nice and safely and-
Real Time"Lady Kat, you may want to see this.""Ushrir? You lead the militia, right? What is it?"The hardened dwarf just shook his head and pulled Kat to the surface. As they came up, Kat could swore she heard something like shouting and swore she could smell blood. She apprehensively peeked up over the surface of the walls...
The mind flayers had already gotten to work.
14th TimberThe bridge was raised in time and the merchants along with the rest of us are saved- but two were killed buying time for everyone else to be rushed inside- one of our promising marksdwarves, Cog; and a wrestler named Ezum. I feel extraordinary guilt for their deaths- and the injured Ducim, whose plight has forced us to radically update our rather lax hospital conditions. He was also our last decent fighter, meaning that the remainder of our militia is now comprised of untrained wrestlers. I really wish we could get some weapons, but the traders don't have any good metals on them. We can't even let them out anymore, because the mind flayer presence in the area is still strong.
20th MoonstoneA giant, of all things, appeared today. I wasn't able to get a sketch, but he did serve to positive effect by breaking up the illithid siege and buying us time to allow the merchants to escape safely. We're now sealed in, because the giant seems to have some sixth sense and knows when our bridge is down or not.
13th OpalWe apparently got webs for silk- though I have no idea from where. Probably some small cave spider that snuck in then died at the hands of one of our cats.
Wait. We don't have any more cats. I don't know. But there's no way the caverns have been breached.
In other news, the Liaison from the Mountainhomes has apparently been hanging around and finally caught up with Magnus today. We ordered food and metals on a premium, and then realized we'd have to let him out at some point.
14th OpalSome stonecrafter named Kol has been possessed and has taken over the surface crafts shop I had assigned to creating bolts of bone and wood that were never created. He demands raw gems, cut gems, and metal bars- so we'll probably have to get a caravan at some point for what he needs. I just hope he doesn't die. This job is really wearing me down- I'll be sure to retire the moment this year ends and go back to my precious farming. I'm just not cut out for the complexities of leadership.
15th Opal, Real TimeThe dwarves waved the half-naked liaison off, and began ushering the rugged looking humans that appeared as the liaison began walking away. They were a melancholy bunch, these dwarves, as they had been watching two of their brethren rotting away, under strict orders by Kat not to go out and pick up the corpses despite the construction of tombs for that purpose. They grumbled amongst themselves as the humans began unloading their goods.
"Did you see the large man in the distance? He was heading this way?" One of the well armed humans struck up idle conversation with the militia men, who were enviously eying his metal equipment in their own rather pitiful leather.
"Aye, but there's no way that bloke could make it over here in-" The speaker stopped dead. There was a rumbling. Of footsteps, coming over the bridge and-
The giant was upon them before they could do a thing. The Nord charged in with his weapons, the dwarves did likewise despite their lack of armor or armament. Ushrir rained bolts from his new crossbow upon the roaring colossus of a man, but the wooden bolts were little more than splinters to the giant. The giant became the eye of a storm of flesh and blood- dwarves were being pummeled by that massive fist left and right. Soon most of them were severely injured, bleeding internally or externally and staining the ground red with their blood.
The giant beat two of them to death- despite the wounds in virtually every area of his body, he began to charge into the fortress proper.
"He's getting in! He's getting-"16th OpalI- I have failed. Completely and utterly failed.
More undead arrived in the middle of it all. And then to cap matters- a siege of scavengers also appeared.
In the end, the only way we were saved was because the Nords broke ranks and fled into the wilderness, drawing the giant out. Along with some of our scared civilians. The worst thing is, I didn't even bat an eyelash when I ordered the bridge closed on four of our civilians still trapped out there. There are seven dead already from the battle- literally an entire wave of migrants wiped out in a single blunder. And I just calmly ordered the rest into the hospital- our medical doctor was one of the injured so a new one has been appointed. The fortress has grinded to a halt. And here I am writing about it all like it's just another ordinary day.
Leadership. I approached it at first with a rather reluctant, yet also somewhat hopeful air. I had thought that I might have a quiet year, that there would be no deaths and perhaps even some progress made. Now I'm just glad we're all not dead. I feel no pain any more. Just a strange tiredness. I sign the orders for new buckets- because we have run out for whatever reason- mechanically. I feel... dead.
20th OpalA forgotten beast arrived today- I'm told. I didn't even care. We're too busy trying to fix the fort in the aftermath of that disaster. Some tantrums broke out, but overall our psychiatrist has done an unusually good job. The fortress has settled into an eerie normalcy and the population remains 28, and the wounded have mostly stabilized. Come spring, the melting of the ponds should allow us to get water for the wounded with ease.
1st Granite, 93The people don't want me back, and I don't blame them in the slightest. I'm off to the farms, and hopefully I can just work all my stress away. The next overseer will hopefully not bungle up things as horribly as I did. I've left some notes for the next person to be overseer.
Our stocks remain high, fortunately.
The most immediate concern are these four civilians trapped outside. Immediately beneath them I have constructed an emergency access route to the fortress which should be sealed off by doors. Note that I'm not positive if this is an entirely safe venture or not, that will be up to the next overseer. I just can't process anything anymore.
Kol is still making demands for his mood. Hopefully, the Scavengers siege will break before the next caravan arrives. Exploratory mining has grinded to a halt, so that should be picked up again.
None of the wounded have yet to fully recover. For that matter even Ducim has yet to recover from the Mind Flayer attacks. I wouldn't be surprised if they all die from infection anyways, given our lack of soap.
I don't even know what to write any more, so I'm ending it now.
Yeah, it was a largely quiet year minus the death of seven dwarves due to a stupid mistake I made when letting the Nord caravan in that allowed the giant to reign havoc upon us. Fort's stable now, but it's still largely a mess.
The save:
http://dffd.wimbli.com/file.php?id=4455
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Topic: Daggerbleeding (Read 9639 times)