Ducimmonag 7 - Harnessing the Beasts

Opal, Year 252

    

    A terribly tragic accident has struck us. Udil the miner fell to his death while working on our new trap hall. This forced me to come to terms with the fact that we have no miners experienced with such projects, making it difficult and dangerous. Like many of our problem it stems from our lack of new migrants which in turn stems from the ceaseless assaults of the undead hordes.

    Cut off from the river's freshwater aboveground many of the wounded in our hospital who reject booze have become increasingly dehydrated. I have ordered the construction of a screw pump and well to filter the filthy water of the cavern's, but the fortress is in a general state of disarray which has exacerbated our manpower shortage.

    One of our new recruits, Ezum, claimed a jewelry workshop and began the construction of an artifact. 

  

  Soon after he completed it. A perfect rose quartz it is a worthy addition to our fortress' treasury, although I do question the artistic decision to engrave an image of the artifact onto the artifact.

                                              

    Terrible monsters have continued to pour forth from the caverns. The cobalt tribes have been accustomed to regularly fighting off these wandering behemoths, slaying a giant olm, a cave troll, and a cave crocodile within the past few months.

    A more serious threat was the band of three vicious blind cave ogres who emerged from the fungal forests heading towards the fortress. With so many civilians working on the pump down in the cavern layer it was too risky to allow them to continue wandering and risk them evading our cage traps. With this in mind the Cobalt Tribes attacked, cutting the shocked ogres down one by one. The recruits did very well in the battle, they have improved greatly over the past few months.

    Following the battle the militia commander and one of the other soldiers had a discussion about their feelings towards death. Evidently Oddom understands the importance of talking out the traumas of war.

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Granite, Year 253

    With the water filtration project initially progressing slowly dehydration began to be a problem.

    When the pump was finally finished the pump operator got to work, only to overfill the well and be swept out into the cavern pool. With no one nearby to save him he nearly drowned before grabbing onto the rock wall and clawing his way up. I have no idea what posses him to do this, but ignoring the screams of onlookers he decided to climb away from he fortress, deeper into the caverns. Before he could reach wherever it was he was heading he slipped and fell into the water. After nearly drowning again he grabbed hold of a towercap fungus trunk and dragged himself out of the water. He then at for a moment gaining his composure before leaping back to land. 

    Ridiculous escapades aside fresh water was then available and the injured were finally tended to.

        Through all of this the undead hordes have continued to poison the land above, killing every living thing they could get their rotting hands on.

    With this constant threat lurking above us, many have become increasingly stressed. In order to provide some relief I ordered the construction of a temple where the faithful can put their faith in the gods. As a loyal worshipper of Ostar, god of death and keeper of the afterlife I could no longer ignore the lack of a place of worship. The temple, named "The Equity of Control" is frequented by all in the fortress, even the human monster hunters who have been trapped here by the siege.

    Our acute shortage of able-bodied dwarves has pushed us to make use of the beasts residing in our fortress, from the monstrous blind cave ogres to our friendly populace of dogs. I ordered the excavation of a room and imprisoned a breeding pair of the ogres there. The ogres are well-known for their brutish strength and ability to tear down doors, so a thick copper bridge was installed to hold them in, operable by levers. As a final precaution we built two cage traps between them and the stairway to the fortress.

    Two dogs were brought with the seven founders, and since then many litters of puppies have been born, leaving us with an excess of male dogs. Over the past two months we've trained them for war and assigned them to the soldiers of the Cobalt Tribes.

    One benefit of our location in the savage wilderness is that there is no opportunity for us to go soft, as some say those of the mountain homes have. Dwarves in the caverns witness a brutal fight in the pool as a amphibian man with a spear battled a giant olm. Eventually the amphibian spearman won the upper hand and drove the bleeding creature into the branches of a fungus tree.

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    Sorry it's been a while since I posted, I've had some trouble with DF crashing. If you have any questions, criticisms, or suggestions please comment. Feedback is greatly appreciated!

Ducimmonag 6 - Hopeless Stagnation

 Timber, Year 252

    Construction of the surface wall has stalled due to the worker's steadfast refusal to move, build over, or in any way deal with the copper crossbow bolt lodged in the ground.

    Dobar, one of the bravest defenders of Workdrilled, has become skilled enough to qualify as a Hammerlord. His skill with his silver warhammer will be of great use in the event that the zombie hordes return.

    A group of eight new migrants, our first in many months, has arrived at the fortress. With so many dead at the hands of those damnable undead new blood is sorely needed.

    By some strange coincidence the majority of the migrants are hunters, animal trappers, or animal trainers. Perhaps this was the primary industry of their fortress of origin. I had hoped for some more useful professions, say miners, warriors, or metalsmiths, but they are better than nothing.

    A pair of blind cave ogres, one male and one female, emerged from the caverns heading towards our fortress today. One was captured in a cage traps and the other was swiftly put down by the Cobalt Tribes. 

    We have now captured three of the ogres. Perhaps we could use their vicious might towards our own aims. Every dwarven body interred in these caverns reminds me of how few of us remain. By the last count there are a scant 700 dwarves remaining across the Absolute Universes. Any way to use our enemies against each other and prevent the needless loss of dwarven life must be utilized.

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Moonstone, Year 252

    Once more we are besieged by an army of monstrous undead hailing from the necromancer's tower to the North.

    They spilled up the northeastern slope and began to charge towards the fortress. Immediately I called for all Dwarves to retreat belowground, but Rith Gemeshas, one of our three remaining original founders, failed to heed the alarm and continued to slowly lug his log across the surface. Before he could reach the fortress a dark zombie human was upon him. If I had sent the Cobalt Tribes out to save him they would have been quickly encircled by the undead swarm and torn to pieces just as foolish Rish was.

    

    Now only Rakust Idnisgak the cook/farmer and Lorbam Tolunsulon the mason remain of the founding seven. I pray that they will not die at the hands of the necromancer's minions as their comrades have.

    Realizing the dire nature of our current situation I recruited four new soldiers for the Cobalt Tribes, most of them from the most recent migrant wave. In total 53 invaders have been counted with an even mix of the superhuman dark zombies and regular animated corpses.

    Unfortunately the main trap hall we used to brunt the attack of the last siege was not repaired in time. While the majority of the cage traps are operational the weapon trap are almost entirely inoperable.

    In light of this the miners have begun excavation of a new trap hall. The plan is that retract bridges will drop the unsuspecting invaders to their deaths far below. Unfortunately the work has been fraught with blunders. Several miners have ended up clinging to the walls of the pit. Luckily none have been injured so far.

    Just as I thought we might have a chance to truly expand, perhaps even strike back against that necromancer tower and rid the land of its cursed blight, we are besieged again. The continuous attacks have pummeled us into the ground and forced us into stagnation. There is never any time to catch our breaths, and the constant attacks make it impossible for merchants and migrants to reach us. The general mood has slipped into a dull hopelessness as of late. It seems my plan for a new grand fortress and a population of more than 30 will have to wait.

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    Credit for the blind cave ogre drawing goes to my sister. If you have any questions, criticisms, or suggestions please comment. Feedback is greatly appreciated!