Dwarf Fortress

The year is now done.
Be ready for a tall tale of exploration, dwarven caravans, forgotten beasts and a badly injured Saevir.

Also, who's next?

Ezlbag would be the next overseer in line if he's ready for it.

If not and no other new overseer jumps in, I can take another year (from sickbed presumably) and Ezlbag can get the next one

Saevir wrote:Ezlbag would be the next overseer in line if he's ready for it.

If not and no other new overseer jumps in, I can take another year (from sickbed presumably) and Ezlbag can get the next one

Well, "badly" is rather relative. In this case it's a broken right arm, some broken ribs and some liver damage. No, alcohol wasn't involved as far as I know.

1st of Granite, 1053

So they decided that I should be the one to overseer the progress of the expedition.
While I *am* the eldest here, I'm also rather obviously busy with more important things, like mining.
Oh well...I guess I'll entertain them and handle this thing for now.

First things first, with the recent run-ins with the local wildlife, I had Saevir run a quick census to see who are still with us and what they can do. The results are as follows:

Miners (3):
Lini
Halya
Anaei

Stonecrafters (1):
Geldar

Woodworkers (2):
Saali
Odrade

Masons (3):
Thenkar
Mandui
Calisar (Widow)

Jewelers (1):
Kavalis

Peasants (2):
Julia
Elloa

Farmers (1):
Ezlbag

Trader (1):
Saevir

Craftsdwarves (2):
Nessra
Gnash

Children (1):
Lilath (Calisar's)

Babies (1):
Jayse jr (Calisar's)

Seems we have the basics covered, although we are short on people skilled with tongs and hammer.
Hopefully someone with the blessed skills will arive in a future migrant wave...If we are to ever get one. If everything else fails, I'll take the task myself.

6th of Granite, 1053

The underground caverns have been the source of our recent troubles, so I made a quick survey to see if there's anything to be remedied. Last year Maevir became suicidally depressed when he couldn't get any spider silk for his...well, whatever it was that he was working on. The other side of the underground lake seemed to have some webbings, although my keen eyes could see that they were made by giant cave spiders. Knowing full well that they are dangerous predators that can snatch an unwary dwarf or two, I had the passageway to the depths of the caverns sealed for now.

9th of Granite, 1053

Today I gave the caverns another inspection. I saw some slopes leading into the lake near the well we built. That's probably how the giant toad managed to sneak into our fortress-to-be.
Shoddy work.
I'll have a brief talk with the other miners about this. All I can do now is seal off the slopes with a wall. I'll have Mandui erect one. Some extra traps around there wouldn't hurt, either.

12th of Granite, 1053

Just as I evaluated the possible threats to our security from down below, I also risked myself and braved the sunlight. And what did I see? My dear Ezlbag planting crops. Outdoors! No wonder he looks so tanned. When I approached him about the nonsense, he claimed it had been Thenkar's idea.
Does he really think we look so much like elves that we should spend time outdoors?! I soon ordered Ezlbag back underground, telling him that we're abandoning our above-ground fields.
I'm going to have a lengthy discussion about this with Thenkar...

24th of Granite, 1053

Our great hall doesn't seem that great, truth to be told... In fact, our ancestors would probably be ashamed of us if we settled for something so miniscule. With this in mind I carved a grand hall worthy of praise with the help of Halya and Anaei. For now it looks somewhat crude, but given time it'll rival the Grand Hall of Kings back in the Mountainhomes!



Excellent news!
While I was working on the new hall, Saevir came reporting that a large group of migrants was approaching our outpost. I had him run a census on the newcomers. I'll also have to see about carving new bedrooms...

Animal Dissectors (1):
Shaelyssa

Animal Trainers (1):
Merandil

Armorers (1):
Bennedict

Blacksmiths (1):
Ovelia

Bone Carvers (1):
Ireth

Butchers (1):
Gawea

Carpenters (1):
Morgaenhail

Cooks (1):
Nygarth

Diagnosers (1):
Rentarn

Dyers (1):
Shariah

Engravers (3):
Chase
Sophyra
Sophie

Fish Dissectors (1):
Rohwyn

Gem Setters (1):
Netherian

Herbalists (1):
Gharb

Masons (1):
Morgeth

Mechanics (1):
Jakins

Millers (1):
Kristeas

Planters (1):
Gahalla

Pump Operators (1):
Nayan

Siege Engineers (1):
Noxie

Woodcutters (2):
Sanaje
Aylisha

Noticing the three engravers on the list Saevir provided me, I decided that us miners shouldn't be bothered with such tasks any more.
I'd rather swing a pick than a chisel.

2nd of Slate, 1053

The huge rush of new people into our fortress has kept me and the other miners busy. We've been mining new bedrooms, storagerooms and room for workshops all day and night. Perhaps I'll even carve a room for a hospital, now that we have a doctor with us.

11th of Slate, 1053

While mining the storagerooms earlier today I swear I saw a lungfish crawling in the hallway. And I hadn't even been drinking. Much.

27th of Slate, 1053

Having finished the new rooms, I decided to give the caverns another look. Untold riches wait for us down there when we can muster the courage to brave the dangers. When the time comes for that, we'll need a better way to access the caverns. To remedy this I had a new, larger stairwell built to connect our fortress to the caverns.
I also had the old stairwell sealed off. It proved too difficult to defend.

1st of Felsite, 1053

Armok give me strength! While sealing off the old stairwell few days earlier, Mandui, Calisar and Morgeth apparently accidentaly sealed off Thenkar to the other side.
Or at least that's what they claim...
You can imagine my surprise when I finished mining a new path to the well we had sealed off, only to find a scruffy looking Thenkar greet me from the other side. He had been several days without food and, even worse, alcohol. Unsurprisingly his first action was to empty one of our beer barrels.



6th of Felsite, 1053

Gahalla, one of our new farmers, has been acting rather strangely today. Since none of us knew her that well, we were at loss with what she wanted. Especially since she refused to speak to anyone.
We tried building her a kitchen to see if that would make her cease her silly behaviour. Unfortunately that didn't work as she kept sulking in our old great hall. Eventually someone suggested that perhaps we should build a farmer's workshop, seeing as she's a farmer and all. After some embarrased coughs we agreed to do just that. Once done, Julia went to notify Gahalla of this.
Nothing. She just turned her back to her and kept staring at the walls with a depressed look on her face.
We were about to give up and prepare another grave when Netherian, a gem setter that arrived with the last group, told us that Gahalla had mentioned that she was somewhat capable gem cutter. With this in mind we built a jeweler's workshop for her. I swear she had locked herself in even before managed to notify her.
She spent the rest of the day hauling gems to her workshop, glaring at anyone who would even dare to
come close to her.
Weird girl, she is.

12th of Felsite, 1053

Gahalla is still working on her project. Has she even had anything to eat during these days?

Oh, and the elves came again with their sorry excuse for a trade caravan. Even before we could start trading, their liaison demanded that we limit our wood cutting to 100 trees per year. Curse the elves and their trees... We'll give them 100 trees.
Where the sun don't shine.
Sideways.
I figured the best way to make the treehugger shut up would be to just nod and mumble. It seemed to work, seeing as he left satisfied.

16th of Felsite, 1053

A moss opal hatch cover. Moss. Opal. Hatch. Cover. What was that girl thinking? Although I have to admit that it's pretty despite having a picture of Geldar and that silly bracelet of his on it.
On the upside, the elven caravan had a caged and tamed grizzly bear with them.
Needless to say, I had it bought.

24th of Felsite, 1053

It seems we finally managed to get ahold of cave spider silk. When I asked where we had found the webbings, Noxie told me that she had found them near Mervyn's tomb.
I'm not sure if that's incredibly poetic or terribly ironic. Probably both.

1st of Hematite, 1053

Summer is here and we've begun work on that hospital I mentioned earlier. Rentarn, our doctor, demands that he has a hospital area so that he can diagnose the wounds Elloa suffered last year.
I have to admit she bears them with dignity, despite clearly still being in pain.

9th of Hematite, 1053

Lately my bedroom has felt somewhat small...so I had made a larger one more suited for my position!



26th of Hematite, 1053

I heard only today that people still spend time in that disgusting temporary dormitory we built as soon as we settled down in this area. How can they sleep there? The ground is too wet from the river just above it!

3rd of Malachite, 1053

I started a project to expand our living quarters floor. In addition, I ordered a "hall of levers" built. In future all of our wondrous mechanisms will be controlled from there. For now we'll have to settle to a lever that controls the drawbridge outside.
Of course, the old wooden one will have to be removed first.

9th of Malachite, 1053

I'm tempted to expand our fortress to the caverns below us. However, the giant cave spider webs are a worrying sight. I don't think we have the strength to venture there.
Perhaps we should head downwards...



18th of Malachite, 1053

Thenkar finally finished building that new bridge I talked about. Now all we need is someone to set the mechanisms that link the bridge to the lever. Then we can weather practically any above-ground threat.

Also, our living quarters are slowly starting to look like proper dwarven halls. My hard work is finally starting to show.



19th of Malachite, 1053

It's already mid-summer and we've had no migrants after the rather large group that arrived in the spring. I doubt we'll be getting more newcomers anytime soon...

In other news, I've decided to dig deeper. Finding some magma for our smithing industry is vital.
Stone is very nice, but there's nothing like proper iron.
I'll soon go bid Ezlbag farewell and prepare for the coming journey to the depths of the earth.

20th of Malachite, 1053

While the rest of the world keeps going on its usual course above me, I keep digging downwards.
I have a feeling I'll find something interesting soon. I can feel it in the stone around me.

I was right! I struck into an expansive network of caverns. I haven't seen any dangerous creatures nearby and a quick scouting trip further inside revealed an opening suitable for farming. We should definitely make use of this place.
A few walls to seal off the entrances to the smaller caverns and some pick-swinging to shape the slopes around this place and this place will be safe from any creatures that might lurk in the darkness. I'll have to report my findings to others when I get back.
For now, I'll keep digging deeper.

Another quick note while I start sleeping. I might just be my imagination, but I think something has been following me for some time now. I've heard some movement in the darkness and I swear I even saw glowing eyes once.

21st of Malachite, 1053

In Armok's name! There was another layer of caverns and a huge underground lake just beneath the caverns I just discovered. I broke through the roof so I can't explore them any further, but from what I could see the place has rich veins of marble and some strange looking ooze floating on the surface of the lake.
I didn't really like the looks of the place.

Also, now I'm sure something is following me. Whatever it is, it makes sure to keep its distance from me, but I'm sure it's there.

22nd of Malachite, 1053

Still digging deeper. I can feel some warmth from the stone around me. Oh, and that creature that had been following me? Turns out it was Lilath's cat that had decided to follow me.
Sneaky little creature...I'm sure her owner misses her already.

23rd of Malachite, 1053

Progress! Earlier today I struck semi-molten rock. I couldn't advance any further in fear of having my pick melted. Not to mention the obvious health hazards it would present. But this proves that I was right. There is magma nearby!
Now all I have to do is find a way to access it.

24th of Malachite, 1053

The stone is almost too hot to touch now. I've established my base camp in the mining shafts above me since the heat wears me down after a while. However, I have to keep pushing forwards!

26th of Malachite

Armok's blood! I did it! I found a massive underground sea of magma. With this finding I can head back towards the surface.



2nd of Galena, 1053

It's been few days since I returned back up and we've begun our work in the caverns. The masons have been erecting walls to secure a section of the caverns for our use while we, the miners, have been shaping the slopes to make them impossible to climb.
While we were heading back we heard Mandui's shouts from behind one of the walls. Apparently she had managed to seal herself to the other side. While I tore down an opening for her to crawl through all she could do was babble on about how "she had a party to attend".
Is that all the girl can think of? Perhaps if she had concentrated on her work this would have never happened in the first place.
While I was about to give her a few sarcastic comments about deserving it for having sealed Thenkar in a similar way, we heard Thenkar from the other side of another wall. Blasted idiots! All of them!



12th of Galena, 1053

I just received a word that a human caravan is headed this way. I'll have everyone prepare our trade goods.

14th of Galena, 1053

Looking at the heaps of trade goods we're about to trade with the humans, I can't help but think that it's about time someone told Geldar that he can stop working. He has been crafting rings, crowns, scepters and other trinkets out of stone ever since he made that bracelet. Sure, he's good at what he does but at this rate we'll run out of storage room. Not to mention that we'll never get everything
traded. According to Saevir the goods we have to offer are several times worth the whole trade caravan.
And we only brough a fraction of our supplies for trade!
Regardless, I had Saevir redeem the humans from all of their wood, food, cloth, leather and alcohol.
And only because we could. We're not really in a shortage of anything right now.

18th of Galena, 1053

One of the human guardsmen spotted a kobold thied and chased it away. So far we've been lucky with unwanted guests, but the incident made me worry about goblins. It shouldn't take long before they hear of our wealth and come demanding their share of it.

19th of Galena, 1053

First Gahalla, now Kavalis! There's something wrong with our jewelers! Kavalis was having his lunch when he suddenly dropped his utensils and rushed out of the great hall. He has now locked himself in the jeweler's workshop.

25th of Galena, 1053

It took him some time, but Kavalis finally finished his project. It's a moss opal bucket. Yes.
A bucket. And it has a picture of Gahalla's hatch cover. I can see that imagination isn't the strongest point of our craftsdwarves. I also let Kavalis know of this in no small words.
Sometimes it feels like I'm the only sane person here.

5th of Limestone, 1053

Apart from a few kobold thieves trying to get in, there hasn't been much going on lately.

17th of Limestone, 1053

We've finally finished a section suitable for metalsmithing down below near the magma sea.
Soon we'll have some proper goods made out of proper materials.



21st of Limestone, 1053

For a while it looked like none of us was capable of operating a furnace, until Julia stepped forward and revealed that she has some experience in the art.
To have her prove this I told her to start smelting iron bars for future use.

26th of Limestone, 1053

I've started exploiting the resources of our underground caverns. Ezlbag, Gharb and Nayan are gathering plants as I write this. Hopefully they'll find something rare.
I should also see about getting those gigantic cave mushrooms cut down for lumber...

23rd of Sandstone, 1053

It's been fairly uneventful lately, so I decided to mine a small prison block in case we see an increase in criminal activity. The chains required also gave our blacksmiths an excuse to train their skills.



1st of Timber, 1053

Gahalla saw a giant rat run off with some of our food. Having some guard dogs might not be such a bad idea...

8th of Timber, 1053

Julia reported that if we are to produce steel we'll need a steady source of fuel. While charcoal would work, our supply of wood isn't unlimited. I'll begin a mining operation to find some bituminous coal to remedy this problem.
I think I saw a vein upstream back when we came here...

12th of Timber, 1053

Well, that was surprisingly easy. We found a vein of bituminous coal fairly close to our storagerooms.
Hopefully it's large enough for our needs.

17th of Timber, 1053

Merandil hasn't been doing anything useful since he got here so I put him on furnace duty. Making coke ouf of that bituminous coal should help him dwarf up a bit. With him and Julia working non-stop, we should have enough pig iron and coke for steel in no time.

18th of Timber, 1053

Saevir approached me with a word of a dwarven trade caravan in the horizon. Finally some news from the mountainhomes! Not to mention some PROPER goods for a change.
You can't really trust an elf or a human to get anything done properly.

22nd of Timber, 1053

Apparently the merchants ran into some wolves while on their way here. The caravan guards made short work of them but nonetheless, wolves are never good news and another reason to stay below ground.

Also...I hear Ezlbag has been acting strangely. I hope he's alright...

23rd of Timber, 1053

Ezlbag claimed a craftsdwarf's workshop and has started gathering materials. Just what is he up to?

Saevir reported that he had bought us more food, alcohol, wood, cloth, leather as well as various steel weapons and armor.

24th of Timber, 1053

This isn't good... Ezlbag gathered some logs yesterday but then suddenly stopped and retreated to the workshop. Since then he has been sketching images of forests and skeletons, shooing away anyone trying to get close.
He even refused to let me close. I don't like this at all...

28th of Timber, 1053

Ezlbag is finally satisfied and has started his work. Thank Armok! All he really wanted was some bones.
Although I can't imagine why he would want them. Oh well...At least he's happy.

2nd of Moonstone, 1053

Back in Mountainhomes I heard from other miners that there's usually adamantine to be found near seas of magma. With this in mind I've decided to see if this holds true here as well.
Admittably the rumours I've heard regarding the...things near adamantine are somewhat worrying.

5th of Moonstone, 1053

Ezlbag finished his work. It's a beautiful spore tree crown decorated with the bones of the grizzly bear that attacked us last year.
I wonder if he'd like to give it to me as a gift...

22nd of Moonstone, 1053

No sign of adamantine so far. I think I'll put this project on hold for how.
In the meantime I instructed that creepy bone carver girl Ireth to make some bone bolts so that our crossbowdwarves can train.
Of course, we'd need some crossbowdwarves for that as well.

25th of Moonstone, 1053

People have been reporting strange and dreadful noises coming from the caverns below. This is slightly worrying to hear as there's no knowing what manner of foul beasts lurk there.
Perhaps a few more traps would be in order...

27th of Moonstone, 1053

The noises are getting louder with each passing day. Whatever is down there is getting closer.
I sent Morgeth to seal off the passageway to our well, just in case. She came back severely spooked but told me the task had been done. What in Armok's name is down there?



28th of Moonstone, 1053

A kobold thief managed to sneak past our traps and into the fortress earlier today. Luckily the
jittery creature ran away as soon as it was spotted. We really need those guard dogs.

In other news, the monster in the caverns seems to have gone away. Or is waiting for us to lower our guard. The newly erected wall will remain for now. Hopefully we won't need our well anytime soon.

9th of Opal, 1053

For the lack of anything better to do, I ordered our engravers to smooth the walls of our bedrooms.
That should keep them busy for a while.

24th of Opal, 1053

Our wood supplies are running low and according to Sanaje the section of caverns we have doesn't have any suitable mushrooms ready to be cut down.
Perhaps a daring venture outdoors is in order, as undwarvenly as it is.

12th of Obsidian, 1053

Rohwyn was looking bored so nominated her the sheriff of this fortress. With any luck she'll prevent everyone from going even crazier than they already are.

Speaking of which, I grow tired of looking after everyone. All I really need is my mining pick.
Seeing Ezlbag from time to time wouldn't be too bad, either...

21st of Obsidian, 1053

My optimism was uncalled for. Rohwyn is as crazy as everyone else here. Apparently Thenkar had found Saevir guilty for unorderly conduct last year but never bothered to punish him. And now Rohwyn found the record from this "crime" or whatever it was that happened back then.
What was the punishment she gave Saevir, you may ask? A thorough beating. Saevir now lies in his bed. According to Rentarn his right arm and some of his ribs are broken and his liver is fractured, whatever that means.
Is moderation really that foreign concept to that girl? I mean, I had those prison cells built for a reason!

That's it. I'm done with this. I really don't care who runs this place as long as it isn't me.
I'll leave a brief list of things needing improvement for my successor before I go grab my pick and start venting my frustration on the bedrock.

But I don't know how to operate a mill?

...

A lumberjack?

Ahahahaha! That was a good year! Gonna be interesting to see what'll happen next in the line.
n.n

....Siege Engineer?
Lovely read though, I laughed all the way through xD

Noxie wrote:....Siege Engineer?
Lovely read though, I laughed all the way through xD

That makes you slightly less useless than a quadriplegic

\o/ I live!

Right im leaving tomorrow and staying gone for a week T_T
I dont want us to wait a week to continue so we need a new 4th so i can take 5th
And im just really glad i got my bear bones so i didnt go apeshit and start a tantrum spiral o.o

Blacksmith...What? I detest this.

Ovelia "Snow" Adair wrote:Blacksmith...What? I detest this.

Or alternatively a bone carver.

I wanna play too!

Which one do I download from the link on the first page, there are so many...

Jomir/Nastor/Gannas wrote:I wanna play too!

Which one do I download from the link on the first page, there are so many...

http://dffd.wimbli.com/file.php?id=2801

Also, Lini. Send me the save and I'll take another year.

Saevir wrote:

Jomir/Nastor/Gannas wrote:I wanna play too!

Which one do I download from the link on the first page, there are so many...

http://dffd.wimbli.com/file.php?id=2801

Also, Lini. Send me the save and I'll take another year.

Sure thing, although I'll need your MSN or somesuch first.

It's only a matter of time before the Goblins get 'em all...

A moss opal hatch cover

I, am brilliant.

On a separate note though, could whomever is in charge now show the fortress in it's entieriety to us?

Gahalla wrote:

A moss opal hatch cover

I, am brilliant.

On a separate note though, could whomever is in charge now show the fortress in it's entieriety to us?

That's up to Saevir, although I could show how it looked at the end of my year.

Also, I forgot to check it after the 24 new migrants, but is Lini still the oldest dwarf in the fortress? With her being 89, I kind of wonder how long dwarves live in the DF-universe.

1st of Granite, Early Spring of the Year 1054

Since Rohwyn's savage beating of me for some apparent offense of mine from over a year ago, it's become clear that this fortress is not faring well, so I've decided to come out and set things straight.

Or set them straight from bed at least. That Rohwyn is a vicious she-dwarf.

I'll need to take stock of things first though. I had one of the new-comers draw up some schematics of the current state of the fort to give me some idea of where we're at.



This schematic shows the tower that makes up the entrance to our fortress. I'm saddened to see that no one has made any efforts to make it more impressive while I've been updating the records. I'll have to look into that.



This is the first (and top) floor of the tower, currently containing my room and office.



Below that is the trade depot containing the entrance to Crowhall.



Below the trade depot is the original food storage. We're still storing food there apparently.




Below that are the two original dormitories that we had to make do with when I was still leading. They're not used anymore it seems. I'll have to see about turning them into barracks for our militia. The food depot above could become a training room.

Across the river is the underground farm I established in the first year. The upper gallery that we used to irrigate the fields lie unused now. I might have someone roof over the farms and turn the upper area into seed storage.



Here the main stairwell opens up into the storage and workshop area. At the moment we still have food preparation taking place next to stonecrafting, but oh well. The butcher will have to move into a separate room though. I will not have animals slaughtered amidst the other craftsdwarves. It would distract them too much.

At the western end are the kennels. I'll have too look into what exactly we're training there. A room at the east end has been turned into a hospital. Hopefully I will not have to move there later.

A vein of bituminous coal has been mined out to the north. Maybe I'll find some use for the space later on. Maybe not.



One level below, there's the new living quarters and dining hall. It seems solid, though the hallway layout could be more efficient in some places. I see Lini has claimed a large room for herself during the time Thenkar let her lead. It seems an old stairway into the caverns used to exist in her room, but got tiled over when the room was refurnished.



Three levels below that, the new stairway leads into a large open area that has not yet been put to use. I'll look into that later as well.



Going down two more levels, there's a prison. I hope Rohwyn finds it soon. The staircase starts to get a bit confusing here, splitting off in unintuitive directions.



Below the prison is a sealed off chamber that used to contain the well for our fortress. I don't know why it was blocked off, but we do need a well, so either it has to be reopened, or a new will have to be made. A tunnel leads off to the north, made when Thenkar was exploring these caverns, but as the cavern is blocked from the fortress now, they are no longer of any concern. The old stairway from Lini's room end in this cavern as well.



Below that, the stairs continue to wind their way down toward the lower caverns and the tombs.



The tombs are place in a relatively solid layer of rock, giving ample room for expansion.



Three or so levels further down, the stairwell open into the second network of underground caverns. Lini did a good job of walling off a large cavern for our use, but there's some openings near the ceiling that worry me. I sometime see small bats fly through. I hope they are the largest beings that I will see exit.



Another three levels and there's a third network of tunnels. Lini decided to block of this network complete an encase the stairway from ceiling to floor. Given that we have two other caverns already that are not fully explored, I'm not going to reopen this one.



The stair shaft eventually opens into a large room containing our magma smelters and forges, resting just above the magma sea that the crust of this world rests on. Lini had the other mines explore the rock to the southwest a bit in search of veins.



The magma sea itself limits our means of getting further down. Lini did leave a note about the exciting discovery of a raw adamantine vein. That ore can remain solid to the very depths of the magma sea, giving us an intriguing possibility of getting under the sea and exploring what the earth below holds.

I've heard stories of outposts that dug too deep, however, so I will not dare mine out the entire vein just yet.

Regardless, there's work to do.

--------------------

((This is just an overview of the fortress. Just started my playthrough))

I'm a brown dwarf with blond hair and a straw hat O.O

I got things on my plate all of the sudden, so if another Overseer is ready to take over from the end of Lini's year, that'd be great. I'll write it off as Saevir hitting his head on something and forgetting the entire thing right after the last update.

How do I actually pass saves to other people, by the way?

the saved game is a sub-folder of [yourDFfolder]\data\save\, you just zip up the entire folder of the saved game you want to pass on and send it to the next person.