Bloodline:Girdertrampled/Chapter 2:

Journal of Xaddak Arrowbars

1st Granite, 1052

Schmendreck "retired". I think he's just lazy. Nobody else was stepping up, so I took the job. After all, the military situation here is pretty calm. I figure I'll work at it for a year or so, and then hand the job off to somebody else hopefully a little more permanent. I've never really paid much attention to what was going on inside our walls, but since I'm in charge now, I figured I should look around.

What the hell is going on here?

Apparently we've got some kind of underground grotto with a waterfall going on. Only problem is, the waterfall is on the other end of the grotto from the thin little platform I keep expecting to collapse into the water and drown everyone standing on it. I'm not sure if there is a way to shut off the water flow, either. I might just order a floor hatch slapped over this stairway, lock it, and throw away the key.

The dining room looks like a storage area, with all the tables and chairs jammed into a big cluster. Speaking of storage, the bedrooms look like closets. Except Schmendreck's... I think he needs to be reassigned.

Looking at it over and over, the fort is more or less organized around a vertical stairway. Problem is, that stairway is at one end of the fort from everything else.

I've got my work cut out for me.

-Xaddak Arrowbars, Marksdwarf

16th Granite, 1052

Elves!

And they have nothing we need. Fantastic.

10th Slate, 1052

We have discovered iron! And bauxite, too, but that isn't as useful, since as far as I know, we have no magma.

Also, I've got the miners (including that bum, Schmendreck) digging out bedrooms half as big again as the old closets. I'm also including office space, dining rooms, and living quarters for the administrators of this place.

20th Felsite, 1052

In our latest wave of immigrants, we received a jeweler. He stood around in the statue garden being useless for a while, and then suddenly retreated to a corner and wouldn't speak to anybody, just kept screaming about the need for a workshop. So we built him one, and he immediately barged in, kicked everyone else out, and you guessed it - started screaming for gems. I noticed a spot in the Useless Grotto where Schmendreck had marked out some gems, so I sent the miners down to get 'em out. The jeweler (Vabok) snatched them up, and then locked himself inside his workshop.

Shortly thereafter, he emerged with the gem, but it was hardly recognizable as the same - it was beautifully cut, just a wonderful piece of work. I'll admit, I was skeptical about this lad, but after that, I'll trust him with any gem in the fortress, if he can make it look like that.

25th Limestone, 1052

The traders from the Mountainhomes arrived today. I sent Asen, a young girl who has been acting as our book-keeper and manager up to trade with them. I gave her all of the stone crafts we have been producing, and told her to get us an anvil. She performed beautifully. I think she learned something in the process, but I'll be damned if I know what. All I know is there's a lot more numbers on the reports she hands me every so often that I never really look at.

That's good, I guess.

26th Sandstone, 1052

Received yet more immigrants today. The fortress now holds 55 souls. I drafted two hunters that came along into the military, and then I was told that we were now large enough for a Fortress Guard. So I assigned some useless dwarves who were doing anything else to stand around. "Guarding the fort", my beard. That's what the military is for. They'll probably all just end up standing around the well all day long. I hope they fall in the water.

The three of us practice hard at the archery ranges I had installed. We'll be ready should an attack come... I hope.

21st Timber, 1052

We had another one go funny today. Kept muttering something over and over under her breath. She grabbed a bunch of logs and made a weird idol out of it.

These dwarves are crazy.

1st Granite, 1053

Spring has sprung.

All in all, I guess it has been a pretty quiet year. The indoor waterfall project I commissioned is almost completed - the mechanics say the triggers just need to be linked up and we'll be good to flood the room. The farms are running well, and all in all life seems good.

I'm "stepping down" to merely command the military instead of the whole fortress. Whoever takes charge after me should try to accomplish a few things:
1. Get the metalworking industry moving
1a. Mine out the walls containing metal. They're too valuable to just smooth over. Fill in the gaps with block walls?
2. Let the mechanics do their thing, and then pull the lever in the waterfall room. It should fill the cistern up and then stop shortly after - if not, pull the lever again. Start the pump downstairs manually and the whole thing should kick into gear.
3. Work on defenses. They're pretty thin still. Perhaps recruit some melee fighters and equip them with weapons made from our iron deposit?

This is it for me. It's been a good run, I think.

-Xaddak Arrowbars