20th of Galena, year 62, The Dutchy of Brightdung

Looks like things are getting serious. I had to drag out an extra chest, cabinet, weapon rack, and armor stand for the newly promoted Duchess and her Ducal Consort. Fortunately, I already had those set aside.

We managed to construct some walls around the poor doomed craftsdwarf, so it no longer takes ten doors to keep him isolated.

Got the new clothing and leather industry work area setup. I  had the miners dig out a matching set of spaces, just to keep the pattern going. I don’t know what we might use it for.

Aside from the abysmally slow glass production, most of the projects I outlined seem to be done or nearly done. So have the ones foisted on me by those silly nobles, and most of the spontaneous ones as well. (I turned the old food storage into a well based meeting hall, since we didn’t have one. The hospital across the way is just about done as well.)

Some of the reorganization has meant we’ve had a short term overload of hauling jobs. I’ve been changing labor orders left and right to try and effectively cope with the mess.

We’re up to 140 dwarves, what with a couple of the miners having babies every five days or so. (Makes me wonder what the minimum dwarf gestation time is, which just goes to show I’ve already been at this crazy job too long.)

I think the next area to focus on will be reviewing the barracks setup and training areas. I suppose I should also figure out just what we’re going to do with all that copper. We’ve currently got a small inventory of just about every type of metal bar. Adamantine being a notable exception. (Rhenaya is giving us a good long time to make those Adamantine items. Who knows, maybe we’ll get lucky and dig some up.)

A little over half of the 300 or so iron bars went to furnishing the dining hall and nobles rooms. We’ve still got a fair amount of aluminium and platinum which I suppose I’ll need for … THE INCOMING KING!

Well, looks like one of my early mistakes is coming back to haunt me. While the king is happy with the wealth we’ve created, he’d appreciate something in the way of an offering or two, and a lot more in terms of roads. Seeing as how the amount we have is perfectly good for the traders to get here, I’m wondering if I should just build a cloverleaf out of cheap stone to make him happy, or if I should go nuts and have everybody redo the current road in gold or something.

Maybe I should just go back to making the jail better, or working on a tomb for myself. Somehow I don’t see this ending well when I’ve not even made it halfway through the year yet.

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Masterpiece Theater

The Sooty Crux

Engraved on the wall is a masterfully designed image of dwarves by ‘Matakuka’ Stukoslokum. The dwarves are traveling. The artwork relates to the foundation of Brightdung by The Invisible Armor of The Safe Arena in the early spring of 57.

Engraved upon the western wall of the new Hall of Justice at Brightdung on the 7th of Galena in the year 62. Hopefully the prisoners like it.

The Saturine Tribute

Engraved on the wall is an exceptionally designed image of Quice Shadeshore the elf by ‘matakuka’ Stukoslokum. Quico Shadeshore is withering away. The artwork relates to the killing of the elf Quico Shadeshore by a trap in Brightdung in the midspring of 59 during Lanisiirithe, “The Routed Attack”.

Just for a slice of what the local history focuses on. And finally, here’s a reminder in case some of you new folks haven’t learned about our indirect symbolism around here:

The Walled Room

Engraved is an exceptional ‘matakuka’ Stukoslokum rendition of a [sic] image of a deer. The image is the symbol of The Invisible Armor, a local dwarven government.

You’ll find all this and more to gaze upon if you fail to adhere to our laws and find youself in the Hall of Justice.

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7th of Malachite, year 62, Petty Cruelty

Not much of note happened for awhile. The elves died, like they were supposed to. So did a few goblins when they upset our ranger by killing his dog. He took them all out before the military could even show up. (Don’t mess with a dwarf’s dog.) The humans brought a bunch of useless junk. They were ecstatic to take a bunch of ours in exchange for extra food and drink.

Food and drink production are picking up, but I’m starting to think we need to get rid of a lot of the stockpiles that were setup early on. They are all small and scattered, as opposed to large and central. The military absolutely LOVE the dragon zoo. Can’t keep’em out of there.

With the nobles all finally happy, and the grand dining room finally equipped with full seating, I’m focusing on improving the layout of the clothing industry and keepingthe nobles happy. (I’ve barely had a chance to make any glass, so we’re still doing the open air greenhouse in the top farm for now. Probably for the best, as everyone still seems rather cave adapted.)

Oh, I did get that trading depot entrance lever moved indoors and attached to a bridge instead of floodgates. This one is safely away from the dogs, however. Most of the military is getting the hang of the crossbows, despite the fact I haven’t found the time to setup an expanded archery range. (I had to tear down part of the small one behind the trading depot in order to improve traffic flow.)

It also looks like we’re going to lose a craftsdwarf to a strange mood, as he seems to be demanding silk cloth, of which we have none. I was hoping the human traders (who were sure taking there sweet time to leave) might have had some, but alas.

But, yeah, the nobles have been pretty reasonable so far. Scratch that. Looks like I’d better get the prison shined up, becuase there is no way we’re going to be able to meet Rhenaya’s demand for three adamantine items. Maybe the aluminium chains I put in will be impressive enough to keep the poor scapegoat content.

(I think she’s jealous that I gave Cribozai a tomb behind the dragon zoo, in honor of orchestrating the capture of the fell beastie.)

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24th of Felsite, year 62, Elves deliver more bones

We didn’t even have to wait until the end of Spring for those thoughtful funny fair folk to stop by just in case we needed more meat, bones, skulls, and hide.

Sadly, I think we might have lost one of our stonecrafters in pulling up one of the drawbridges. Actually, I’m not even sure if it was during the up or the down part, as I’m having a bit of a hard time finding the remains, but the guards up top swear they say some dwarf fly by. And besides, the new Hammerer was the one to pull the lever just a touch early, and we all know how that one enjoys the job just a little too much.

Haven’t quite got the Halls of Nobility finished, but folks seem to have taken a shine to the Dragon Zoo.

The elves have been standing around outside like the idiots they are. I suppose we’ll have to go out there ourselves to deal with them. They only brought one bow this time, though. Maybe they are scared of the new royal guard.

The windmill works quite nicely, and door production is back at approved levels.

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16th of Slate, year 62, Countified!

Shintig has been made a county. Looks like we’ve all done well enough that someone has decided to show up and take the credit.

The new Countess, her consort, the tax collector, and the Hammerer have already filled my ear full of urgent requirements that will probably put all my great plans on hold, but it does look like the new farming setup is getting our drink production back to safer numbers. At least the Philosopher seems alright, and just about everybody loves the new beer garden. (I decided the drink storage could use a few pretty statues and one thing lead to another.)

The official population (including two more babies) is now up to 135. I’ll have to put a few of those new arrivals into the kitchens with vooood. One assistant might not be enough at the rate we’re expanding. (Not to mention the new bedrooms.) Ah, my poor Dragon Zoo… is my grand dream lost?

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Farming 2.0

Here’s the new crop rotation. It’s biased towards underground plants because they farm layout has twice as much underground space as greenhouse. Also, dyes were given a lower priority than other plants. While some dwarves will tell you that hide root isn’t worth the time, even a profit minded soul like me appreciates a little extra color in life.

Fields are numbered clockwise, in sets of four, starting in the upper left of each of the big farm rooms. The first farm room is on the left of the set of two and the last is the greenhouse up above.

Field	Spring	Summer	Autumn	Winter
1	Quarry Bush	Cave Wheat	Cave Wheat	Dimple Cup
2	Quarry Bush	Cave Wheat	Cave Wheat	Dimple Cup
3	Sweet Pod	Plump Helmet	Pig Tail	Dimple Cup
4	Sweet Pod	Pig Tail	Pig Tail	Plump Helmet
5	Sweet Pod	Pig Tail	Pig Tail	Plump Helmet
6	Sweet Pod	Quarry Bush	Pig Tail	Plump Helmet
7	Quarry Bush	Sweet Pod	Cave Wheat	Plump Helmet
8	Quarry Bush	Sweet Pod	Cave Wheat	Plump Helmet
9	Fisher Berry	Rope Reed	Rat Weed	Longland Grass
10	Fisher Berry	Longland Grass	Rat Weed	Rope Reed
11	Prickle Berry	Blade Weed	Wild Strawberry	Whip vine
12	Prickle Berry	Hide Root	Wild Strawberry	Whip vine

This gives us six of all the underground plants except quarry bushes (which you can’t drink), of which we get five, and dimple cups (a dye), of which we get three. And two of every above ground plant, except above ground dyes, of which we get one. All of those numbers are per year.

There was some effort made to keep the millable plants near the stairs to the working windmill (yay) and a tiny bit of effort to try and balance out the types of food industry work throughout the year.

Also, WordPress table support sucks, so enjoy this because I’m never doing it again. 🙂

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13th of Granite, year 62

Ten days ago I noticed the poor woodworkers were stuck outside all the time since their shops are still out on the grass. Sure enough, it tweaked one of their heads a bit and Degel Othsendok refused to do anything until he finished a bin that we’ll never have anything good enough to keep in. (Maybe I’ll leave those shops outside after all, eh?)

Lisigmatul Gemech Stal, Berrydance the Conflict of Busters, a Chestnut bin

This is a Chestnut bin. All craftdwarfship is of the highest quality. It is encrusted with brown zircon and decorated with Chestnut and mule leather. On the item is an image of Solon Boltedwilted the dwarf and dwarves in Chestnut. Solon Boltedwilted is surrounded by the dwarves. The artwork relates to the ascension of the dwarf Solon Boltedwilted to the leadership of The Safe Arena in 1.

Weight: 50, Value: 28800

There was a party in the new dining room to celebrate. Any excuse for a party, I guess.

Today, however, we were digging a few channels and building a few walls around the newly moved road to the trade depot when the hippies elves decided to show us how good they were with their shiny new bows. (I’ve had the second road removed and straightened up the main road a bit. Once the channels and walls are in place, it’ll be the only way in. I’ve sent notices to the trade liaisons that we now recommend an westerly approach only. Should cut down on the caravans getting jumped right outside our door.)

Where was I, oh yes, Elves with bows. No problem, though, right? I’d studied the mechanical layout. Just a few lever pulls and we’re fine. Except we weren’t.

For starters, one of the levers is outside. Even though there was a roof above it, nobody would go out to pull the lever unless I told them it was okay to go outside. But the hoople-heads who already were outside wouldn’t head indoors unless I ordered everyone indoors. Eventually I made the executive decision to leave the dwarves outside to their own resources and had the lever pulled, and we were fine. Except we weren’t.

Floodgates for a front door to the trade depot seemed an odd choice at first. But then I figured, maybe it was to stop the war dogs chained nearby from getting tossed into the air, or worse smashed to death, by the more standard drawbridge installation.

Turns out this is a great safety feature for the war dogs. Sure enough one pooch stood right in the doorway when the gate shut. Good for the dog, but bad for getting the gate shut. Once I saw one of those aforementioned hoople-heads finally heading back inside through the supposedly shut floodgate, I realized the problem. Time for plan B.

Now I’ve not been to a fortress without one or two champions, but I’ve always been impressed by the miniature army of them we’ve got here at Brightdung. Fortunately for us, they proved their worth again today.

I’d been hoping they’d cross-train a bit with crossbows, what with the two marksdwarves to show them how to do it. The marksdwarves did okay. The champions, well… they had equipped them at least. They then viciously shot a few burnt trees to really piss the elves off before charging the pointy-eared hippies, beating them upside the head with said crossbows, and then doing the same to the hippie horses they rode in on.

Not the most elegant plan, and we did lose one champion during the bloodbath, but nobody worry, the war dog is safe. I suppose one of us to every last bloody (and I do mean bloody) one of them isn’t so bad, eh?

I’ve got to look into fixing that front door or moving the dog chains back a bit or both. A few more cage traps might not be such a bad idea either.

While everybody’s running around topside, one of the carpenters wants to check the wind levels with giant wooden fan. I figure why not, since he swears we can get the wood back if it doesn’t work.

I’ll let you know how it turns out. (Pardon the pun.)

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1st of Granite, year 62

Green glass. I like it. I make it. Good stuff. Unless you’re Rhenaya. Can’t stand the green she says. Looks like grass, she says. Still, it’s a gem you can make yourself, so make it we do. Can’t beat endless gems, right? Great for decorating furniture. Until some fool goes and decorates Rhenaya’s furniture.

Then it’s not so great. Not if you’re the dwarf that made it. So now, I’m out of the sand and into the paperwork for a year. But it’s not all bad. Nothing like having a little power to abuse for awhile, right?

It seems that with all the fuss about the dragon, poor vooood has been left with all the cooking and brewing to himself. Not that I mind, he makes a mean meal and meaner drink, but it’s a bit much to ask him to handle it for the hundred or so of us without a bit of help.

Especially since we’re down to less than 400 drink. Now that’s amazing when you recall that we were down to less than two dozen. Still, it’s not enough to last us the year as is. One of the new dwarves looked like she knew which end of the spoon was for dipping, so I told her to leave the planting to the professionals and take a swing around the kitchen to help out.

To that end, I’ve told the miners to carve us out a more efficient farmstead. It’s just north of the main stairs that lead down past the aquifers. Should make getting the food and drink down to the stone floors a little easier. I also moved the food stockpiles halfway down to save the hungry folks half the trip. Even decided to add an open bit so we could try some of those above ground plants. Nothing like a little variety in your booze, eh? Hopefully I’ll still have enough time to make the glass for the new greenhouse roof.

Speaking of workshops, I’m sick of tripping over puppies in mine, so I’ve refused to sign any new adoption papers for anything that doesn’t walk on two legs.

The businessdwarf in me couldn’t resist sending dwarves out to pick up some of the leftovers from all these battles. It was a risk, but do you know how much a pile of giant cave spider silk dresses will trade for these days?

I couldn’t fathom why, but somewhere in the piles of paperwork, somebody requisitioned an anvil, (which makes sense) for dumping (which does not). I went ahead and dumped the paperwork instead, along with just about every other dumping request I could find.

What I didn’t find were the orders to dump that would-be zoo of goblins we’ve got upstairs. Then I realized we still don’t have a way to drain that death pit to get the goods back once the frog-faces drown. I’ll have to think on that one a bit.

You know, I never spent much time in that eastern sand chamber upstairs until I took the required full tour yesterday. We have entirely too much bone and skulls just sitting about. Now I know we don’t want some nutcase throwing a temper tantrum because we are all out of bones, but this is a bit much. With over 70 skulls and almost 500 piles of bones, I think we can spare a bit. I’ve marked the cat bones and cat skulls as off limits, (just so we don’t run out) but told everybody the rest is fair game. (It’s not like the elves don’t bring us more each year.) I also opened up a few more piles of the shell for crafting and such, since we seem to have plenty of that as well. Not too much, though, since it is a bit harder to come by.

I’ve figured my basic goals are as follows:

1. Support Nepotism and Cronyism, our vital dwarven glass industry
2. Honor the great and noble dragon in the only socially, ethically, and morally responsible way: Put her in a Zoo*, perhaps with a glass viewing window from above (see item one).
3. Complete the optimization of the food industry
4. Get a little more seating in the grand dining hall
5. Protect the trade route
6. Survive
7. Oh, and doors. Doors keep crazy dwarves, pernicious floods, annoying vermin, sneaky elves, foul miasma, and (when needed) annoying pets where they should be: away from me. Maybe we can even make some glass ones. Either way, I’m all for making more of them. (My last name’s not Doorhandles for nothing!)

*The dungeon master SWEARS he can train the dragon into an effective war machine, but he didn’t seem so confident when I said I’d only let him do it from inside her cage. Either way, I suppose if everybody hates the zoo, the next dwarf can undo it. It seems like a lot less risky a choice than chaining it out front to keep the elves away, tempting who knows what to show up just to prove she can be killed.

But enough blather, Strike the Earth!

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End of winter 61

A successful year lies behind us. Let us revise what has been done under my rule:

New rooms have been built, bigger rooms for those who wish to live in those, small rooms for all of the new imigrants.

The fortress guard and the military is armored and nearly triple in number. One champion has been struck down, but three ambushes and one siege failed. However, one ambush was so sudden that a merchant, three merchant escorts and one of ours (a trapper) perished. It will still be a while until all is cleaned up from this happening. Right now, the doctors are unemployed, which may or may not seen as a good sign.

A new meeting hall has been opened in winter, but the first party is yet to be thrown there, as everybody likes the smaller, yet well-known birchen table room. Also, Rhenaya has been sent downstairs, for not to be a such an easy target right next to the entrance.

For the miners, there is lots in numbers, but fews in tales. Copper, copper, copper, and some pieces of hematite and aluminium. As for not loving copperish dresses, I started smeltering all metal loots.

I really prefer this year to be told “the year the dragon’s nose was bit and then the dragon was tamed”. I made a chained-dog statue right inside the new dragon’s lair.

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Victory is ours!

Victory is ours!

The dragon stumbled into the fort, before I could figure out the levers. As she entered the gate,the war dog jumped right to her face and bit into the nose- the last thing the dog ever did. But then, out of her major confusion, she walked right into a cage- and snap! We all laughed at that easy prey. The dungeon master convinced the dragon to stay and do us no harm, as there is a liar with gold better guarded, when dwarves still be there. I hope noone ever mentions the absence of gold to her.

Of course, a dragon room will be built. I now hope for a male dragon to be captured, and already dream of a megabeast breed.

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