Bloodline:Ironhold Year 1052B

Year 1052, Universe B, of the fortress Datankegeth, also known as Ironhold. The Diary of "Sterling" Vukcasbesmar, mechanic, engraver, and all-around busybody.

SPRING

1st Granite

Astonishing! Despite my very recent arrival, I have been named administrator of Ironhold! When I asked the previous administrator how I was chosen -- whether it was for my attention to detail in gear-shaping or my negotiating skills, he shrugged and said something about my having been the first person to leave the room once the meeting started.

I'm sure it's more than that, in my own mind.

Ever since arriving at Ironhold, I have been entranced by the symmetry and regularity of its rooms and hallways. I believe it is my sacred duty to beautify this place while improving its security and its excellence.

First things first: We will need more bedrooms. I'm sending our miners out to enlarge our current residential level and to start digging out another one below. I think we will also need a communal area -- perhaps a statue garden below the current residences?

I'm also setting the craftsdwarves (and surely we need more of these -- we can do quite a tidy trade in stone crafts, especially with our obsidian reserves) to making stone swords for weapons traps at the hold's entrances. Elegant (and black) though our dining hall is, it's also rough from ceiling to floor. Perhaps we can smooth that out by summertime.

We also need some more farmland. What, we're farming nothing but plump helmets? No wonder we're out of rum. A fishery would be nice, too, since I've choked on enough fish bones for a full lifetime.

2nd Granite

Apparently mountain goats are not considered threats by our war dogs, as there is now one of these fine creatures wandering about in our housing. I sent a miner to go strike it down. Its blood is now dirtying the lovely clean walls. The fight itself nearly disturbed my perfectly arranged pieces of stone spoil! Oh, the dwarfmanity!

4th Granite:

I've had to inform our only craftsdwarf that yes, we do want him to make bone bolts.

Lots of them. That's why we put them on the request sheet.

11th Granite:

Hooray, elves. Hope they brought wood.

14th Granite:

I've commissioned our first sword-trap at the main entrance, just out of sight of the elves. Hopefully it will work on idiot goats, too.

20th Granite:

Well, the elves are good for something -- sun berries! We've purchased those, along with the rest of their brewable stock and their fabric. We should now have enough cloth to outfit most of us quite well. I'm unconvinced on the subject of dyes, though.

10th Slate:

No, I don't know why our hunter is sleeping in the river.

The elephants have been frightening him, though. Second weapon trap goes to the back entrance.

13th Slate:

Miners, will you hurry up? We have migrants already...

One fisherdwarf, four peasants, one bone carver, another miner (hurrah!), a pump operator, a weaver, one wood burner, one carpenter, three children, a leatherworker, a woodworker (apparently just a general doer of all things woody), a mason, a cheese maker (the hell?), a miller, a gem cutter, a glassmaker.

So we just doubled our population, more or less. Hurrah. There's going to be a lot of industrial retraining, and as soon as I have a barracks set up, I'm drafting the new peasants. We need some protection beyond a couple of traps and dogs.

3rd Felsite:

The barracks has been set up and is ready for business. Slowly but surely we're making more swords and setting them up at the entrances to our hold, but all things take time. Whenever I can jab one of our miners hard enough, they remember to start hollowing out the lower level for more bedrooms, but they always seem to find something else to do. For heaven's sake, how hard is it to do your job? I'm going to start knocking heads together when they start doing anything else...

Ah, it seems they've been working on the farm plots. Fine. We'll start planting quarry leaves, then.

9th Felsite:

And now we have a fishery! Finally I won't be eating the heads of the lungfish. The cats should be pleased.

12th Felsite:

All other digging being finished, the miners are now working on the next level of bedrooms. I hope they are as aesthetically pleasing as the rest of the fortress... they certainly are bigger. I'm also setting up a well, and we'll see how that works.

Channels are being dug, then floors over them. I'll put walls up around the open bits... perhaps we can prevent the place from flooding this way.

SUMMER

4th Hematite

Disaster! Our favorite hunter, poor Urdim, has been struck down by a ferocious jaguar. The creature has actually torn his poor head off and left it lying by the river. This is not, I think, the way he would have wanted to die. I'm mobilizing our soldiers -- perhaps they can take the creature down. Now that it has the taste of dwarf-blood in its mouth there's no telling what it might do...

Few of us knew Urdim well, but the great yellow cat is now called Arekrazes, 'Churchhairs', by the dwarven populace. I have designated space on the residential level for a series of tombs. Hopefully they will not become useful. Our masons are requested to build a coffin for our fallen comrarde, first of the fortress. The soldiers are activated and arming. I will send them out soon.

The creature lurks outside our trading depot, hungry for dwarf-flesh. I can sense it.

7th Hematite

Apparently the soldiers got sleepy.

14th Hematite

Soldiers are still sleeping and the humans have come to trade. They're within easy sight of the jaguar, too. This should be interesting.

The guild representative is none-too-casually ambling around the very edge of our boundary. I could hear his shout quite clearly when he ran into the goblin snatcher that was also apparently lurking around back there. Where are the poor man's guards?

Having been discovered but not slaughtered, the snatcher seems a touch confused. It's just standing there.

16th Hematite:

Apparently the traders took a separate route. They're at the depot. Clever dicks.

Meanwhile, the soldiers are thirsty. Gosh, it's a good thing we're not UNDER ATTACK.

Just as the day is ending, our clothier suddenly goes all funny in the face. She's running over to her little workshop twisting her fingers together. This does not bode well.

Especially because she's staying there, drawing things on the wall -- cloth, more cloth, and metal bars. Good thing we've started to smelt. But do we have the right metal? Apparently we haven't got the right cloth...perhaps our merchant friends will be of help there.

18th Hematite:

The soldiers are at last out! ...And the jaguar has wandered off. There will be no vengeance for our dead. Well, at least they should make short work of the goblin, armed and armoured as they now are.

19th Hematite:

They finally got out there. Aban reports having waved her sword ferociously, which seemed to wake the goblin up enough for it to run away.

Their swords will taste blood one day. For now, back to sparring and wrestling.

20th Hematite:

Brilliant. I tell them to go back and spar unarmed and they drop their nice swords right where they were. Someone is going to have to go carry them back, and it's not going to be me.

21st Hematite

Another snatcher! Or possibly just the same one. Who can tell with goblins? He was unfortunate enough to run into one of my engravers. The creature got a chisel someplace rather sensitive.

24th Hematite

Perhaps putting the tombs past the residences was not the best idea. One of the children took a bit of a turn when he saw Dodik carrying the hunter's rotting head under his arm on the way to the tomb.

25th Hematite

Our broker is still sleeping. Some trade would maybe be nice. Where are those damned copper bars? I've gone out to have a word with our furnace operator, Kadol Roughnesscobras. She's been hauling things. Constantly. I smacked her in the head with one of her own logs and sent her back inside.

26th Hematite

Our broker wakes up and immediately starts smoothing floors. As much as I like a smooth floor, no. I ordered her out and she gave me a little sniff before stalking out...and off to go mining. I had to wrench the pick out of her hand before she would consent to go talk to the human representative... yes, all to the good, but could we start trading? Armok!

The bars are smelted... and apparently they're not good enough. I only hope there's something in the caravan. We haven't struck anything else smeltable. Maybe we can melt one of those daggers?

27th Hematite

Finally we're trading! I immediately go for every metal bar in the caravan. Hopefully one of them will be what Erith wants...

There's a great amount of large clothing here. Large boots. Large cloaks. Have these humans heard of dwarves? Perhaps the defining characteristic has escaped them.

I'm picking up all the cloth they have. And all the leather, too, just in case.

1 Malachite

Medtob comes to tell me we've struck Realgar. I told her if it doesn't melt I'm not interested.

3 Malachite

I remember seeing some native aluminum jutting out from one of the cliffs. I'm sending a miner up.

Apparently a goblin ran afoul of one of the rear door's weapon tracks. Excellent! It flipped part of his abdomen up onto the cliff above. ...Well done, friends.

Things are getting grim. Time to put doors on the... we're out of doors?

9th Malachite

"We've struck Garnierite!"

"DOES IT MELT."

"It does!"

Excellent. Hopefully it melts into something we don't have.

10th Malachite

Bronze bars go unnoticed. Ozzie Oresmelter's Beginning Guide to Metal indicates that Garnierite makes nickel. We can only hope.

I'm also sending another exploratory tunnel out, this one on the workshop level. We should probably get magma smelting started, after all.

11th Malachite

"We have pig tails? Pig tails we haven't turned into cloth? Why did nobody tell me?"

"We were brewing them."

ARGH.

13th Malachite

Nickel has no effect, unless Erith is picky about the order she gets things. We're preparing for the worst.

15th Malachite

Thread has been acquired. Cloth time.

Our broker has apparently made some fairly random requests from the humans. Ah well. Apparently they like blocks, backpacks, and fabric most of all. How nice.

17th Malachite

The pig tail cloth goes unnoticed. Unless we find some silk lying about that nobody remembers not having made something out of, we're sunk.

Meanwhile, the channel for the well is nearly ready. A few more floors built and one more wall cut through and we'll be set.

22nd Malachite

Kivish the miner has reported a great pit going deep into the earth. That's odd. There's silk in it. I've told him to start looking for metal, too. The gremlin on the ledge across from where we struck is bothering him, but not nearly so much as I'm bothered by what I can see three troglodytes doing near the bottom. Eugh.

26th Malachite

The batman didn't bother Kivish once I told him his pick has more than one use. Batman bits on the walls now. I wish our weaver wasn't sleeping. I'm recruiting Edem the leatherworker to go out and try his hand at a loom. He looks a little depressed about the idea.

28th Malachite

He goes to sleep instead. Oh Kivish...

2nd Galena

Where did the silk go? Rrgh. There's more further down. I'm sending Kivish after it.

...too late, as it happens. There goes Erith, babbling and insane, before we could lock the doors. Hopefully her husband won't notice.

3rd Galena

Crazy and pregnant. That makes some sense. Erith's baby has the sense to crawl away from its mother. She just stares at it. Edzul seems terribly pleased to be a father, just.. not so much noticing his wife's wailing, or picking up the baby for that matter.

9th Galena

One of the children -- like I can tell them apart -- came up to tell me the warthog that lives in the dry pool just had piglets.

I almost asked if we could melt them.

Erith has ripped all her clothes off and is prancing madly through the halls. Her beard, it does NOTHING...

21st Galena

Amost the planter was down in the chasm for some reason. Now she's absolutely terrified of everything she sees down there. She's even scared to go for the door. I told her to stand up for herself...

Now she's wrestling a batman. I guess that went all right.

26th Galena

Annoyed with everyone spazzing out about the idiot gremlin, I sent Kivish out to give the creature what for. He dug through the wall and leapt out at the creature from behind.

...I've had better plans. He got pretty badly injured, though he did manage to take it out. He's off limping to bed. Best wishes, good and faithful servant.

I should just bar that place from any further dwarven incursion.

Meanwhile, one of our woodcutters found a tiger. Terrific. Maybe the soldiers will fight it.

27th Galena

That was bloody quick. He looked like hell when he got out of that fight, but Kivish is up and indulging his new weaving hobby.

AUTUMN

2 Limestone

The soldiers are making quick work of the warthogs, I'll give them that.

4th Limestone

They've finally cornered the tiger! It clawed Aban pretty badly before they put it down, but it was a flash of obsidian swords that didn't take long to finish. Everyone's all sticky now.

Meanwhile, Erith still hasn't died of thirst. Her baby's been getting quite thirsty, but some kind soul has given her water. Or, at least, poured water on her. I'm sure she'd rather have some beer, though. Or mother's milk, for that matter.

10th Limestone

The caravan has arrived. I'm not sure what we really need, though; we're doing reasonably well.

15th Limestone

Elephant calves now.

I bought most of the interesting steel items from the caravan. We got rid of a lot of mugs, but they were pretty ecstatic.

From the glow in Aban's eyes and as much as I've seen Vabak hanging around the room she's appropriated to rest in, I have the feeling the two of them are something of an item. Perhaps that means he'll prevent her from dying of thirst?

Baby Rith is crying. She's hungry and thirsty and crawling through the residences. Her father doesn't seem to be noticing her.

23rd Limestone

Kivish has given the baby some water, at least, but she's still on the hunt for food. We have our puppies growing up now... perhaps it's time to build a kennel? I'll put it next to the barracks.

25th Limestone

Erith finally succumbed. Perhaps now that Edzul realizes she's not going to come back and care for their child he will begin to act as more of a father. I hope Sarvesh gives him some comfort.

26th Limestone

Just to top it all off...

Goblin ambush. Right up by our one unprotected entrance. I knew I should wall off the windmill stairs. Aban is still in bed, but the others need to defend that stairwell. I'm putting Vabak in charge of the squad and ordering everyone indoors. Meanwhile, the goblins are harrying the caravan. This should be interesting.

...For a given value of interesting. The soldier Rith -- not to be confused with the wailing infant -- just rushed straight into battle before even picking up his sword. His leg was ripped off before he died. Obok ran like the wind before he got a bolt in the leg. He tried crawling away before they got him, too.

Vabak's having a bit of a tipple. Typical. But he may live, at least.

Vucar the woodworker is trapped up there. Have they run out of bolts? They don't seem to be shooting at him.

Oh, apparently they had some left. Vucar managed to take at least one with him, though.

The broker's lover was next to go, but an impromptu militia chased one of the swords-goblins into the sword traps just outside our entrance. It seems he was trying to get to the merchants. Tough luck! The war dogs aren't much use, it seems -- it ran right past.

Ozud Goslustkutsmob. Long, annoying name. And I just throttled him to death with his own arm. I'm covered in mud and goblin blood and I don't think I've ever been happier. This is better than smoothing rock!

That was the last of them, as it turns out. Four of ours dead. Seven of theirs. It could have been avoided, damn it all. The sons of Vucar are orphans now. The infant Rith still crawls, hungry and wailing for her mother. Children seem to be cursed in this wretched place.

Geshud is doing her best to cope. She indicates that the dwarves want to trade for meat and drink most of all. I'm giving her the rest of the day off, I think.

4th Sandstone

Things begin to return to something like normality. I've commissioned a dyeshop. Someone fed the baby. Children are washing the goblin and dwarf blood off the walls. Bits and pieces are getting into the tombs. Life goes on.

9th Sandstone

Apparently another thief from the goblins came for our belongings. I know this because he's impaled on one of the weapon traps. I'm setting up extra traps at the main entrances and walls around the upstairs exit.

14th Sandstone

Why are the traders still here? They said they were leaving...

Oh. One of them is unconscious from the goblin assault. I'm really not sure what to suggest. They get all offended when I suggest they stay or at least come in out of the weather.

No, that doesn't appear to be it... the wagons are leaving now. Including the one piloted by fellow who was knocked out. Is still knocked out. Maybe he just has very clever horses.

22nd Sandstone

The floor is wet in a few places now from people dumping water on the baby. Apparently it drinks acceptably well this way.

3rd Timber

What the hell. The miller is possessed.

I knew this place was cursed. What the hell is a miller going to make? He's claimed a craftsdwarf's workshop. I guess that's encouraging. And now... realgar. A good bit of it, but it seems to be all he needs, and he's gone to work.

8th Timber

It's finished. "Mornedhaunts, the Ripper of Dangers." A spiked coffee mug made of red stone.

How quickly can we sell this? No wonder we haven't had any damn immigrants since spring.

We apparently did have another attempted thief, though. Is it wrong to smile at flayed goblin skin? If it is, I don't want to be right.

I had a few words with our one mobile soldier. "Vabak," I said. "You see Aban the most. What is keeping her in bed? Her fellow soldiers, may they rest quietly in their tombs, never took this long to heal."

"She's broken," Vabak replied.

"Broken where?"

Vabak pointed to his general abdomen and groinal area. "About here," he said, strangely cheerfully.

She's broken in the lower body. They're still lovers. She's bedridden. I am having a hard time considering this, so I think I'm going to polish some more floors.

WINTER

5th Moonstone

Winter has set in, and the fortress simply bustles. We seem to have too much planting, astonishingly enough, so perhaps we should curtail a bit next year in order to make the best use of our harvests.

One of Vucar's children has acquired a kitten now. You would think he'd never lost his father.

Aban is on her feet once more. Apparently her... bits... are no longer broken. I'm setting her and her fellow soldier to target practice. I'm convinced of the natural superiority of shooting holes in people I don't like.

19th Moonstone

It barely seems relevant anymore to note another kobold thief trying to break in.

Nevertheless.

5th Opal

Our gem setter has encrused a sock.

With three kinds of gems, no less.

We're going to have to have a quiet word, she and I.

7th Opal

Another goblin thief impaled on the back door. What does that make? Five goblin thieves. Two kobold ones. You'd think they would get the message. I guess we're just going to make more goblin bone bolts. Meanwhile, I've designated all the unwearable goblin armor and the unwieldable goblin arms to be melted, if it melts. We should be swimming in iron quite soon.

3rd Obsidian

Logem, Vucar's son, appears to be hoarding clothing in his bedroom. I believe it is his father's. I don't know what to make of this. It's spread all over. Is this just some strange teenaged thing?

Obok, meanwhile, is throwing a party down among the sculptures set out in the lobby of the downstairs residences. As long as it lightens the mood around here, that's all I ask.

26th Obsidian

Four days before I am to give up my rule of this place and a leatherworker goes bibbledy. It seems he knows what he wants, at least. Good thing we bought all that leather from the caravan, eh?

Apparently he desperately needed hippo leather, marmot leather, and leopard leather.

This had better be some wicked pants.

1st Granite

And so my time here is over. I cannot say that my time here has been easy or that my administration has been perfect, but I daresay I have had my hand in making Ironhold a more stable place. That said, I will be glad to get back to smoothing floors full time...

...though I will never forget throttling that goblin to death.

Were I present for longer, I would ask a legacy be left. The tombs of our dead ought to commemorate them. Perhaps I shall begin to engrave those walls, and those of the dining room as well, so that children to come will know the history of their home.

THE GOOD:

We have plenty of food, a good few dwarves -- but not too many -- and lots and lots of metal and armor and weapons and things to sell. The fortress seems, for the moment, stable.

THE BAD:

Well, there's all those dead dwarfs. There's also not much ore and we haven't done much prospecting. We still don't have magma up, either.

Because I'm saving them for the end, here are some pictures:

Top floor:

And then the next floors descending...

Here is the main entrance:

And the first floor of the residences:

Below that...