Ducimmonag 3 - The Year of Three Leaders

Malachite, Year 251

    

My formidable wounds have yet to heal and I am still bedridden, but I am of hardy stock and have little doubt that my recovery is on its way.

The human merchants have arrived. Unfortunately the recent turmoil of the long siege has left us with little time to prepare trade goods. The few crafts we have from before that monstrous creature's rampage are only enough to buy us a few platters of whale meat. We are all sick of plump helmet biscuits.

-----

Galena, Year 251

   

Thank armok, some migrants have finally arrived. With myself and two others badly injured only six dwarves have been able to work until now. Those freeloading monster hunters sure haven't been helping harvest plump helmets.

It seems I still have some luck left in me. My wounds are still not healing well and they are beyond our limited medical knowledge to fix, but it seems that among the new migrant wave is Zuttan Stigazzuglar, a greasy haired individual who is a skilled surgeon. Our population now totals 24. Although two of the migrants were peasants and two were children it is still a potent good omen.

For the past several months we have been regularly interrogating that malicious dark creature. It is entirely uncooperative, and the only information we have been able to pry out of it is its name; Semthab.

-----

Moonstone, Year 251

Our previous expedition leader Ducem died of his wounds two months prior. I, Monom Stakudetesh, am the new expedition leader and record keeper, making me the third leader this year. While by all accounts he was lacking in intelligence he did have a particular plan in place that I have decided to continue.

When our gem setter Mebzuth "Hallcrazy" became possessed I immediately ordered the construction of  a jewelers workshop. These strange moods that occasionally take hold of dwarves frequently lead to the creation of great artifacts.

My assumption was correct. Directly following the completion of the construction Mebzuth claimed the jewelers workshop.

Soon his artifact was complete. Lacking any distinguishing features it is nevertheless a marvelous thing to behold. A fortress' first artifact should be treasured, and rightfully so. Under my leadership I hope to see this small hamlet becoming a towering monument to the industrious power of the dwarves.

As winter gripped our fortress an increased amount of creatures began to stream into the caverns. The first of these was a massive cave troll with charcoal black skin and long, matted grey fur. Without warning it began to barrel towards the stairway to the fortress. With the amount of dwarves in the caverns at that time mining and working on my project inherited from Ducem I couldn't risk letting it through. Hastily I assigned two peasants who arrived with me in the last migrant wave and a thresher to the Cobalt Tribes. Bravely they rushed forth. There was no time to gather equipment so they fought it barehanded. The troll gored the recruits violently with its horns, but eventually with the of the human monster hunter Usmok it was slain, with the killing blow going to the thresher Ustuth. Both Ustuth and one of the peasant recruits were injured severely enough to be sent to the hospital, and they have only just recovered the month of this record.

The onslaught continued as a vicious giant olm nicknamed "leapedstalks" by the populace for its tendency to lie in ambush and leap upon its victims killed a hapless human monster hunter before retreating back into the caverns. Luckily the human axman Usmok who is becoming quite popular managed to track teh menace down and slay it.

Nore recently a group of four pond grabbers has been sighted south of the main cavern area in the large subterranean lake. Pond grabbers are evil creatures with four clawed tentacles, a beak, and blue skin. They will happily drag dwarves to their deaths if they can, but so far they have stayed away from the fortress. Despite this I will remain vigilant and I have ordered the monster hunters to report to me if they come any closer. Many of the dwarves still remaining from before the siege are extremely stressed. Another death in teh fortress could be disastrous.

Both dwarven merchants and migrants have recently arrived. The migrants brought our population to 29, making us larger than the initial population before the siege. This time we had a much greater quantity of trade goods and were able to get a good variety of food and drink. Hopefully this will help improve the mood.

Finally the project initially started by Ducem is complete. In the caverns we have excavated a deep pit at the bottom of which is imprisoned the detestable dark zombie Semthab. Windows crafted from smooth gemstone allow us to look down at him, but he is completely unable to escape. A lip at the top prevents him from climbing and the passageways used for the mining of the pit have all been blocked. Let him stand as a reminder of our past failures.

From here the fortress needs to expand, and prepare. With our population readily growing I plan on constructing a new, greater fortress deeper in the earth. Our current abode was always intended as a stopgap after all. Our growth is evidenced by our newly established farming guild, the aptly named "Guild of Vegetables" requesting a guild hall. There is much work to do.

-----

I would like to remind everyone, remember to save your game! I forgot to save and when the game mysteriously crashed lost 3 in-game months of progress. If you have any questions please ask, and any criticism or suggestions are greatly appreciated.