Succession Fortress: Kissroofs -- Year 4

1st Granite 129
Reports have been filtering into the mountainholme for months of strange happenings in the colony of Kissroofs. Its hard to tell fact from fiction. We've got claims that babies have been drowned in the water supply; the town guards welcomed enemies into the fortress and then barred the gates, trapping the citizens inside; there are even rumors of madness and murder.

The king knows not what to believe, which is why I have been assigned as the new Praefectus of Kissroofs. What madness lies in wait for me I shudder to contemplate, yet the task remains. I scheduled transport on the next caravan to the settlement... it leaves within the hour.

5th Granite 129
I have arrived at Kissroofs to find the settlement in total disarray. The hillside is awash in goblin blood and the bloated corpses of foul beasts drift lazily down the river; their fetor mingles with the stench of death and uncleanliness that surrounds this horrid place.



At the gates, I called out to the guard for admittance. I have never beheld a more wretched creature; she -- I think it was a woman, but her grievous disfigurement made it difficult to tell -- was an ancient, hobbled thing. Her leg appeared to have been mangled in a gruesome fashion, and her nose looked to be broken in more than one place. In a voice like knives on china she named herself: Shorast Tradegem, hammerdwarf of Kissroofs. The slurring of her words suggested that she was drunk on duty, yet the dulling of her wits was a blessing, for deep in those milky cobalt eyes was a terrible gleam. I could only imagine what murderous intent those eyes must have in times of sobriety.



I followed the surly dwarf to the nobles quarter and made inquiries regarding the whereabouts of one "Tom" Unibarak, the leader of this settlement. To my shock, it seems that the former leader was displaced in a bloody uprising. His loyalists transported his dessicated corpse deep within the fortress to be enshrined forever in a decadent tomb. I went before the interim governor of the fortress and furnished him with proof of my authority granted by the dwarven king to immediately assume control of fortress. Upon hearing my demand for his resignation, the interim governor threw up his hands in thanks to the gods and ran from the room shrieking wildly. I have since been informed that he has gone completely insane from his brief experience in managing Kissroofs.

My first order of business was to restore order by arranging more robust leadership. In order to do so, I would first need to create suitable housing and administrative space in the nobles quarter. My plans are as follows:



10th Granite 129
The work progress has been halted. Reports are coming in from all over the fortress of common workmen being assaulted by a shadowy figure. Rumors have spread of the dread rogue Utes "Apewitch" Ozseosta, a goblin master thief of the highest caliber. The guards claim that the thief infiltrated the fortress during the last goblin attack, and has since been praying on the unwary workers.

I have ordered the fortress guards to deal with the situation, but they have been sleeping for several weeks straight. I fear that they have taken too strongly to the drink to be of much use.



I could not help but notice that of all the incompetent, drunken buffoons manning this fort, the so-called "haulers" of the working class were of a singularly industrious sort. Thus, I have created an impromptu militia consisting of only the basest rabble -- the sort that, while lacking true fighting experience, have the dependability required for such a task.



The new recruits were slow in finding the goblin, but eventually one of them cornered it in a storage room.



The battle waged for several hours, going completely unnoticed by half a dozen nearby dwarves who were too busy sleeping to come to the aid of the recruit. Although he battled bravely, he was far out-matched by the devious goblin. The master thief cut his hand off and sent him away crying in agony.



Boldly, the recruit overcame his pain and ran back into the fight! Such bravery! With only one hand left, the Kadul Ilsazir charged into battle. His warcry echoed through the halls of Kissroofs. It was the stuff of legends; no doubt his valiant deeds would be sung by the bards for ages to come. Even in its darkest hour, the dwarves of Kissroofs had a champion. Perhaps this was was Kissroofs needed -- an example... a hero!



... and then the goblin cut off his entire left fore-arm. The recruit ran away crying, only to pass out in the stairwell from severe pain and blood loss.

With enemies at the gates and no other option before me, I decided the best course of action -- nay, the only course of action -- was to enlist every last man woman and child in the destruction of this fiend. After recruiting the entire civilian populous in a fortress-wide mandatory draft, I directed the angry mob to find and kill the dread thief at any cost.

Moments later, the goblin was cornered in a corridor near the armory. The peasants held the goblin still while the sole remaining Hammerdwarf advanced on his foe. Opting for some inexplicable reason to use only his left forearm, Stinthêd Kolnìng grabbed the goblin by its toe and threw it against the wall SO HARD IT F***KING EXPLODED.




19th Slate 129
The fortress rejoiced after the defeat of the Goblin Master Thief, but the celebration was short-lived. Within the hour, one of the most respected doctors died of thirst. He was joined shortly by a veteran swordsdwarf. It seems that during the goblin siege, our water supply has run out.



I immediately commissioned the creation of wells in all accessible water supplies. Unfortunately, the goblins have blocked access to the river and reservoir. The only remaining water supply was the quickly dwindling pool kept near the infirmary. After much contemplation, I have decided to draw water from our moat. It may not be the cleanest but perhaps we can boil off most of the filth.

I was inspecting the new well near the drawbridge when we came under attack from goblin archers. It seems that my predecessor had forgotten to INSTALL DOORS in the gap created by the drawbridge. Several workers were injured before we could set up a barricade.

20th Slate 129
I awoke this morning an hour before dawn as the shouts of my page startled me from a fitful sleep. The lookouts spotted movement in the hills, and before long a trailing column of bedraggled dwarves wound its way down the valley. Migrants!

I tried to warn them, but too late! No sooner had they left the tree line they were spotted by the goblin horde. I used what time we had left to signal their leader using flag semiphore. Fortunately, he was able to rally the fearful craftsman under his command before the goblins reached their position.

With a single squad of unarmed, untrained dwarves, it was a slaughter. Half of the new recruits scattered. The goblins chased them mercilessly, running down the wounded and the stragglers. Fortunately, what few dwarves held the line were able to bludgeon a goblin to death.



The fields were slick with the blood of dwarf and goblin alike. The stench of blood and offal assailed the fortress from across the river.

The Massacre of Brewer's Grove

A clothier was pushed into Bronzebottom Pond and drowned in the lifeblood of his brethren as the goblins stood on the shore cackling.



The murderous goblins briefly disappeared into the foothills, butchering the livestock the migrants had driven before them. Quickly! Before the goblins returned, I signaled the rag-tag migrant squad to cross the river and take position in front of the moat. I then declared a military alert throughout the civilian populous. With the civilians safely in their burrows, there was no time to waste! I gave the order to lower the draw bridge and signaled the migrants to take refuge in the subterranean farm.



It worked! Of the twenty dwarves that came to seek refuge in our settlement, only seven remained alive. The survivors of the Brewer's Grove Massacre would lead shallow, haunted lives... but they would live.


30th Slate 129
With the surviving migrant population safely inside the fortress, it was time to start setting business straight again. I got the workshops back up and running and created a new mass grave near the farms to deal with the overabundance of corpses in the hallways.

Soon enough, the fortress rang with cries of "Bring out your dead!" It will take several days to completely rid the fortress of dismembered bodies. In the mean time, I have started a new construction project for the creation of additional burial chambers to house the remains of our fallen.

16th Felsite 129
Merchants have arrived and are unloading their goods! I am wary of this, for the goblins have been quiet of late... too quiet. I have decided to leave the gates closed. The merchants are welcome to remain outside our city walls, but I will not risk the populous in such dangerous times.

19th Felsite 129
An ambush! Curse them! As I suspected, the wily goblin scum attacked from a hidden camp in the nearby hills. There is little I can do but watch from the battlements as the goblins route the merchant caravan.



The caravan leader led the fleeing merchants to the edge of the moat.

"Lower the bridge! In the name of whatever gods you hold dear, SAVE US!" he shouted, "I beg of you... lower the bridge!"

From the battlements I met his gaze and shook my head in grim resignation. The hope drained from his eyes as the cries of the goblins reached a fever pitch.

The merchants tried to run, but to no avail. The goblins quickly ran them down and slew the lot.

9th Hematite 129
One of the Metalcrafters has been acting strange lately. He took over a workshop and demanded a single bar of iron. What could this mean?



13th Hematite 129
After working feverishly for days without sleeping, Olon Mingkilkol has crafted an artifact of surpassing beauty. Behold Okilsavot, the iron trumpet!




Unfortunately, I do not believe any of the dwarves know how to play the trumpet.

14th Hematite 129
I have decided to take action against the goblin menace; we are cut off from reinforcements and trade, yet our walls remain strong. I have ordered the construction of a tunnel running under the river. It is my hope that we can create a secondary entrance to the fortress farther away from vulnerable areas of the fortress. In particular, I want to ensure that any attack from this direction does not disrupt the flow of goods within our domain.

I have spoken at length with our mechanical corps about alternative methods of slaying the goblin fiends. The mechanics are a peculiar sort, tending towards reclusivity and tinkering... some of them seem to be outright mad. Yet it has long been said that genius and insanity are two sides of the same battleaxe, so I have felt inclined to humor their odd behavior if they can produce results. The leader of the mechanic guild ensures me that their artifice will be capable of slaying the foe regardless of their number, provided that we can arrange for a long enough corridor to booby-trap.

This information has been used in the construction plans of the river tunnel; we shall build a winding shaft and fill it with deadly traps, preventing entrance to the base proper. Then, when the traps are set, we shall dig our way to the surface and make our presence known to the goblin army. In their stupidity, the goblins will attempt to breach the secondary entrance, only to find the snaking, booby-trapped corridors that will be their doom.

In the mean time I have ordered the metalsmiths to construct giant serrated iron disks. These horrible weapons are too large for any dwarf to wield, but the mechanics ensure me that they can be used to make a deadly automated traps. Unfortunately I foresee the construction of these disks will take far too long to fill the corridors, so I will be forced to supplement them with cruder stone-fall traps.

Coalclinched -- The Beginning

Coalclinched is going to be about caste and seniority. The older dwarves will get the better priviledges, and the newer ones (the immigrants) will have to prove themselves.

Let's meet the doomed lucky dwarves involved!

First up is Kel "Peakbolted" Ilromalath, the miner:

He worships Urosh Ngathsesh Vesh, a deity of the Rough Crafts that usually takes the form of a male dwarf and is associated with dreams, nightmares and the night, and Risen, another deity of the Rough Craft, this one taking on the form of a female dwarf and being associated with minerals and metals. How apt for a miner!

He is  good friends with Zon Alathagsal, the expedition leader and fish cleaner, and Mafol Uzolakil, our woodworker.

And so, our woodworker looks something like this:

She worships Kattir, a deity of the Rough Craft that appears as a male dwarf and is associated with fortresses, and Kadol, another deity of the Rough Craft that looks like a female dwarf and is associated with wealth.

Her only friend is Kel the miner.

Next up is our woodcutter, Mestthos "Whipconstruct" Bomrekaban:

She worships Ber, a deity of the Rough Craft that usually takes the form of a male dwarf and is associated with mountains, as well as Kadol, as mentioned previously. She has no real friends among the embark group, only acquaintances.

Then we have our stoneworker, Ushrir "Bluenesswalls" Enoradil:

She worships Kadol and Ber, and her only friend is Dodok Udizlibash, the fisherdwarf.

The expedition leader is Zon "Boltpools" Alathagsal:

He worships Ber and Risen, and is friends only with Kel the miner.

And finally, we have Dodok "Presentaxe" Udizlibash, the fisherdwarf:

He worships Katthir, and also Stelmith Leganka Gathilkoshosh Mishthem the Sensual Library of Scholars, deity of the Rough Craft, most often taking on the form of a female dwarf and being associated with beauty and art. He is good friends with Atir and Ushrir.

Here is the area in the world they have embarked:

And the region itself, which is mostly fields with a river and a couple of hills, and a single goat to hunt:

Right then, let's get started!

Return to Wildnesspaged

The tales of Wildnesspaged and the treasures it supposedly holds has, on more than one occasion, encouraged a group of foolhardy dwarves to attempt a journey to retake it.

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

From the journal of Id Nishdeg, expedition leader of the first dwarves to attempt to reclaim Wildnesspaged:

"1st of Granite: We have arrived at the fabled Wildnesspaged and can confirm that the maps are right. There is a scar on this land, and the tower of Wildnesspaged stands in the middle of it, like a dagger still in the wound.

It seems we are not the first visitors the fortress has seen since it became silent; animals and creatures of every kind have ravaged it, strewing about the furniture and treasures that were once inside. Broken barrels and cabinets are now nests for all manner of creature while nature slowly reclaims its stake. The trees have managed to grow again, but there remains something very sinister in the air.

My fellows are wary and uncomfortable. Something about the silence seems off. We spotted some goblins not too far away from the fortress, but they dared not approach. Do they know to fear our dwarven might, or does something lurk inside that scares them more than we do? Tomorrow we find out. Tomorrow we go in."

No further journal entries were found.

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

From the journal of Sarvesh Eshtannitig, expedition leader of the second group to attempt to retake the fortress:

"1st of Granite: It has been a year since Id's expedition left the mountainhomes and we have decided to follow his trail more cautiously. We arrived at the location of the fortress to a very eerie sight: the Tower of Wildnesspaged, silent and foreboding, and Id's expedition's wagon, abandoned and overgrown. The supplies inside were still good, the barrels still sealed tightly, the seed bags unpierced. My guess was that they ventured forth into the fortress and were taken by whatever vile force has taken residence in it.

I have ordered the construction of a temporary outpost just north of the Tower. We will fortify it and hone our combat skills before venturing inwards. Most of what has been strewn about is re-usable, needing only minor reparations. Dwarven craftsdwarfship is, after all, the best in all the land."

"6th Hematite: Our temporary outpost is nearly finished and our stocks are enough to carry us through several winters. We have not yet seen any caravans, but we were able to salvage enough goods that trade should be bountiful. I think we will opt to trade for weapons and armor.

Not everything is well, however: we have lost Amost Ulingendok. He was our dedicated fisherdwarf, but as the frozen seasons here last longer than usual, the rivers were solid ice and un-fishable. As such, he took up hunting thanks to the many bolts we were able to scavenge.

He was unable to find any of the fabled unicorns we heard talk of, but he did encounter a small tribe of shy goblins. They did not attack, so neither did he, but they were careful to avoid us. Something has these monstrosities scared, but at first we thought nothing of it.

Amost must have discovered what it was, though, since one evening, he failed to return from his hunt. We set out to search for him and came upon his corpse, a most unsettling sight: there was not a mark on him, no wound or bruise. Only an expression frozen on his face, that of pure terror, so much so that his spirit could not bear to remain.

This place is evil. We will begin training immediately."

"17th Malachite: Our outpost is complete, just in time to welcome a group that followed us out. There weren't many back in the mountainhomes that were brave enough to come with us, but I no longer blame them. These six new should give us the edge we need when we venture inside.

The plan is thus: we lock our outpost to avoid outside invasion and dig a tunnel to enter Wildnesspaged from underground. Whatever it was that took Id's expedition will likely be expecting us at the front gate.

As a further testament to the reliability of the dwarves of Wildnesspaged, the traps at the front gates of the Tower are still functional; there are two cages which have trapped both a giant toad and one of the fabled unicorns. These will make fine trophies for our humble (and temporary) dining hall."

"9th Limestone: Our military is ten strong. It is time we breached Wildnesspaged.

Unlike our stargazing-mooncalf predecessers, we will not waltz in through the front gate. If these old maps of Wildnesspaged are accurate, we should be able to build a tunnel that leads directly into the forges. From there, we will barricade the exits and take an initial survey of the area. This is how we will take it: piece-by-piece.

The digging has already begun. We should breach the walls by the end of the month."

No further journal entries were found.

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

With the loss of this second, better-prepared expedition, the legends of Wildnesspaged took a darker turn in their telling. There were now rumours of ghasts and other demons. The most convincing tale -- the one that became most widely-believed -- was that the original dwarves of Wildnesspaged had awakened one of the Old Titans who destroyed them, and any other dwarves that came afterwards. So convinced, in fact, were the leaders in the mountainhomes that the next party to be sent out to Wildnesspaged was sent out of punishment. A brutal band of killers, led by Tulon "the bloodthirsty" Uzolshameb, was banished to Wildnesspaged where it was assumed they would perish. What follows are the found journal entries:

"1st Granite, 25: We've heard the legends, but we're not scared. There's nothing we've met that doesn't bleed, and we're good at making things bleed. Legends be damned; if they knew their history instead of listening to rumours they'd remember that it was originally thieves and killers that founded Wildnesspaged in the first place. All we're doing is taking it back.

12th Granite: We've ventured inside and can already confirm that Wildnesspaged is a haunted place. There were ghostly apparitions that walked these halls, particularly the old living quarters, but that didn't stop us from choosing beds we thought were comfortable.

We went down as far as the stairs in this place will lead and we discovered an unfinished living quarter and dining hall, but with a working well. While we were contemplating this, a cave crocodile came charging out of the lower caverns. Took Mebzuth totally by surprise, poor bastard. Got his entire lower body just ripped right off. Still, gave the rest of us enough time to grab our weapons and take it on, and now it's a pile of blood and bone. Looks like it might be good for cooking, too.

Ast lost his nose in that fight, so now we're going to see if the hospital still works.

All in all, not a bad start. Cursed my hairy dwarven arse!"

No further journal entries were found.

Dwarft Fortress V: The Ageless Realms, Part XI

15th Timber, 1052, Late Autumn: Assholes of Every Race

The year was mostly uneventful. The farms are now up and runnin and producing edible goods quite consistently. We're brewing a ton of alcohol and managed to slaughter some livestock to keep our meat supply going. We'll send out hunters soon enough, but for now trading seems to do the trick.

We were visited by humans, who were pleasant enough. We were then visited by elves who
happened upon us just as we started razing a nearby forest. They were dicks about it.

Still, wanting to keep relations civil, I agreed to their insane demands. The humans sell us wood for almost nothing, anyway. All those gems we found early on really paid off!

Meanwhile, a couple of dwarves were taken by moods and took over some workshops, but luckily they were able to find what they needed to build their insane things.

We now have a silver floor hatch covered in menacing spikes and a chain made of horse bone. Go figure.

The main upgrade to the arena is finished: a giant crushing wall that covers the entire field. Now, if a creature survives battle, I can pulverize it by lowering a bridge onto it. That should solve my problem from last time! My plan now is to capture Troglodytes with cage traps.

Here's how I'll do it:

The Troglodytes get lured in because of the Horse and walk into a wall of cage traps! Simple, yet efficient!

And while I was getting all this prepped, before I had a chance to open the door to the caverns below, a goblin snuck in from up above!

Damn her! Well, now she'll feel our hundred fists of pain! We've killed far worse than you!

Osta the Goblin:

Show no mercy, men!

Dwarft Fortress V: The Ageless Realms, Part X

1st Slate, 1052, Mid-Spring: A Year Already

A year has gone by and you can hardly recognize the fortress from when it started out. We went from 7 dwarves to 5, to 15 and then 14, and now with this latest influx of migrants we are 36.

What am I going to do with all these mouths to feed?

The obvious solution is to draft an army and wage war on the Troglodytes, but I feel that it wouldn't go in our favor and there might be a lot of blood. Arena matches are a definite must, as soon as I upgrade the arena a bit. I guess, for now, I'll keep them busy cleaning the rocks out of the fortress...

Current projects going on right now: building a farm and organizing the hospital.

The hospital is already doing well. Danielle is our resident Chief Medical Dwarf, despite having absolutely no relevant experience whatsoever.

Despite her inexperience, she patched up Kevin quite nicely! His agility is somewhat impaired because of the broken shoulder, but she set things straight! Hopefully, when it comes time for surgery, she'll be just as capable.

The farm project is nearly complete!

Here's what it looks like so far:

The grates will open up onto the caves below, where the water will drain. The tunnel at the top leads to the river, currently frozen, and just to make sure the timing isn't off I haven't built a channel to it yet. I've lost too many fortresses to flooding. We've come too far with this one to have that happen here, too.

Future projects: build a crushing trap for the arena to pulverize surviving monsters, and then build a lure room down below to trap monsters in cages and have them moved to the arena.

I guess I should think about getting some weapons for these dwarves...

Dwarft Fortress V: The Ageless Realms, Part IX

10th Opal, 1051, Mid-Winter: There Will Be Blood (More)

The arena is complete.

Well, maybe not as complete as I would like it, but it is technically functional. Here's what it looks like:


There are two prison chambers that contain cages. The Ogre is in the northern one and the Troglodyte in the southern one. Now, all doors are set to forbidden passage, which technically means people or creatures can only get through if they smash them down.

I don't think Cave Ogres can smash them down.

Anyway, in the control room, there are five levers. Two of them open the cages of each creature respectively, and two others open the doors to the rooms that contain the cages and open out onto the arena floor. It'll be up to the monsters themselves to wander out and maybe duke it out. At this point, I have no idea if they'll actually fight.

The fifth lever opens up a small compartment containing more cage traps, so that when the monters are done killing each other, or if they don't kill each other at all, eventually they may wander in and get trapped once more and I can start the process over.

Let's see how it goes!

ROUND 1: FIGHT!

The Ogre emerged from its cage as the Troglodyte ran out onto the arena floor! The Troglodyte ran at the doors a few times, but the Ogre just sort of sat there... Neither creature attacking the other.

Damn it.


... I don't like the way that Troglodyte is staring at those doors.

I think maybe it hears its brethren calling from down below. There's a whole squad of them just waiting for us:

Now here's the messed-up part. The one that killed Eric earned itself a name!

That's right! It is now infamous! And it bears the scars of battle to prove its superiority!

Damn you, Merrangod! DAMN YOU.

ROUND 2: FIGHT

Okay, well, at least the Cave Ogre is contained. I can just hit the lever and trap it once more. The question now remains, can my dwarves take on a single Troglodyte? It'll be 4 against one, but I have yet to kill one of these things.

All right, here we go. This one is for Bex, Mariko and Eric, whose tragic losses are felt every day...


The Troglodyte makes a break for it! It dashes out the door and the squad is on it in an instant! We unleash our fury with wild abandon, beating the living breath out of it! The thing never stood a chance! We literally tear the thing in two! Blood is evewhere! My god, the carnage!


And no sooner do we kill it does Nicolas run up and grab the thing's upper body. I hope it's to toss it in the refuse pile, but then again he is a tanner...

That only leaves us with...

ROUND 3: FIGHT

Time to take care of the Ogre.

Again, I feel kind of bad for these things. They're blind, slow and stupid, but they'd rip us in half if we gave them half a chance. So here we go. We open the last doors and release the rest of our anger...

The thing tries to run! It smashes into Kevin and Emily, breaking Emily's ankle and Kevin's shoulder as the rest of them pound into it. Bruised all over and bleeding profusely, it makes a break for the rest of the fortress while we give chase!

It stumbles through our furniture and stone stockpiles as even Emily, whose ankle is broken, continues chase! We corner it and continue to give it a fierce beating until it breathes its last...

... Man, that was messy.

Okay. This arena thing merits revision.

Dwarft Fortress V: The Ageless Realms, Part VIII

26th Timber, 1051, Late-Autumn: Oh God, The Blood!

Well, we have one less mouth to feed, at least. While he was out... doing things in the underground caverns, Eric was set upon by some Troglodytes and torn to shreds. Honestly, I have no idea what he was doing down there. My guess was he sought out the Troglodytes to avenge the fallen, but they got the better of him.


So naturally, I sealed the doors and left his body there to rot. We'll build a tomb and get his body once it's complete, but until then, I ain't risking no more dwarves!

Actually, his death wasn't for nothing. While he was down there, he found something... strange. An ancient passageway that led down...


Where could it possibly lead? As far as I can tell, it goes down several levels but I haven't been able to adventure down there just yet. We'll train up a military before trying anything too crazy.

So while all that was happening, we managed to get a Troglodyte in a cage and stick it with the rest. All the dying has distracted me from the pit arena, but I'll get back to that fairly quickly.

Merchants arrived from abroad. I managed to buy some cheese from them and ask them to bring more booze next time around. I also tried to sell them one of the Blind Cave Ogres I'd captured in one of my cages, but when Dee tried to move it it escaped!

I quickly recalled the squad that had earlier pummeled that Giant Olm to death to do the same thing to this Ogre. It was a bloody fight! Even the dogs got in on it!

It was brutal! But in the end, we managed to get it. First, we beat it to unconsciouness, then kept pounding away until there was nothing left.

I almost felt bad for it, but with Eric's recent death still fresh in our minds, our tiny stout fists smashed away with the fury of the mountain itself.

Then we had some cheese.

Oh, and the river's frozen again.

Dwarft Fortress V: The Ageless Realms, Part VII

13th Sandstone, 1051, Mid-Autumn: Blind Cave Ogres And Other Dangers Of Farming

So I asked Dee to set-up a few cage-traps in the tunnel that leads into the fortress from the caves, but about mid-way through setting up the last of them he was interrupted by a couple of wandering Blind Cave Ogres. He had the good sense to run back into the fortress, behind the other traps he'd thankfully had the time to set-up, and the two Ogres ran straight into them.

Fortress-death averted!

Of course, now I have two Ogres in cages I need to stash somewhere.

What to do, what to do...?

Can you say fighting arena? I'm sure nothing could possibly go wrong with this plan!

24th Sandstone, 1051, Mid-Autumn: More Migrants!

Well, this is a surprise! I guess news of the survivability of the fortress has spread! We have now jumped from 7 dwarves to 15, which is both a good and bad thing.

Obviously, the advantage is that we get all those extra hands at labour. The disadvantage is feeding, clothing, and sheltering all these dwarves. I think I'll draft a bunch in the military and send them off on suicide missions.

So, among the newcomers are: Romain, Steph, Meghan, Alanna, Danielle, Tansy, Nicolas, and Liisa. Geez, only two guys in the whole group. I'm running out of people I know. We have Brewers, Cheese Makers, Tanners, Buthers and Engravers. Gonna have to see about getting them to make themselves useful.

I've just noticed a real serious problem, besides the Ogres that might bust out of their cages and kill us all, that is: we're out of alcohol.

Dwarft Fortress V: The Ageless Realms, Part VI

27th Limestone, 1051, Early Autumn: Keeping The Faith

I have a plan.

As autumn approaches, so does the inevitably reminder that the river is going to freeze again. With all the cleaning and building going on in the fortress, I don't think now would be the best time to try and build an irrigation system, potentially drowning everyone in the process. We'll build it once the river freezes, to make it safe.

In the meantime, though, we're going to need to rely on those farms we abandoned in the caves below. Extremely dangerous, I know, but we are not without defense!


We have built a series of cage traps in the narrow hallway that leads into our fortress, thus capturing any Troglodytes or Other Monstrosities that happen to wander in. I just hope wood is enough to hold them in. Once we get a few of them, I'll build an arena and get us to train against them.

In better news, we now have a dining hall that contains a working well, several chairs and even tables!


There's still a lot of stone lying around, but any dwarf with spare time usually picks up a rock or two and stashes it outside. Eventually these halls will be clean, but in the meantime we'll have to put up with a bit of a mess.

I happened to notice that Mariko and Roxy's clothes had been removed and thrown in a pile on the floor when the ladies were moved into their graves. Since I now provide occasional access to the caves below, that means we can get some spider silk, and with Ros as our clothier we might be able to get a decent clothing industry going.


And just in case it all goes horribly wrong, I'm also going to build a Hospital for Eric.

And through it all, we keep finding all sorts of precious stones! Bex is having a great time engraving them!

Now, let's take a more personal look at the dwarves. From what I can tell, there's about four different deities being worshipped, although Mariko seemed to be the only worshipping her deity, Atim.

Atim is a deity of The Oceanic Inks (which is the dwarven civilization from which we originally hail). Akim most often takes the form of a mal dwarf and is associated with chaos, war and jewels.

Gatis Bugud Duthal is another deity, worshipped by Bex and the late Roxy.

Gatis the Tummy of Worth is a deity of The Oceanic Inks (again, a deity from our homeland). Gatis most often takes the form of a female dwarf and is associated with hospitality.

Kevin, our miner, is the only one to worship Ustir. This one is pretty weird:

Ustir is a deity of The Oceanic Inks. Ustir most often takes the form of a female naked mole dog and is associated with the stars, the sky, the weather, nature, the sun and healing.

The most worshipped deity is Laltur Ikallimar, also known as Laltur Healedwealth, and his followers are me, Dee, and Ros.

Laltur Healedwealth is a deity of The Oceanic Inks. Laltur most often takes the form of a male dwarf and is associated with trade, wealth and fortresses.

That's good! I'm glad our newest miner worships a god of fortresses! The last deity you can find in this fortress is Thetdel, worshipped by Eric and Emily.

Thetdel is a deity of The Oceanic Inks. Thetdel most often takes on the form of a male dwarf and is associated with family.

How does having these different deities affect the fortress? Occasionally, some dwarves might create goods or decorations associated with these different deities, and so any dwarf that worships them will be made a little happier at seeing them. Keeping the dwarves happy, as I've learned with past fortresses, is very important since downward spirals of madness and depression can be more damaging than a marauding squad of goblins.