Expedition leader's log, day 32
My good miner whose name escapes me reminded me about the elves today, told me they'd been dead for a while now. I had completely forgotten about those blasted elves, and I would rather ignore them. But, all my fellow dwarves were getting quite hungry so I proposed my miner would channel out the water somehow. Meanwhile I took a closer look at the elves' belongings.
Perfect, ripe fruit, truly we were blessed! My miner began working furiously like a mad-dwarf, his anticipation to eat something other then rats and twigs was fearsome indeed. Meanwhile, dear reader, I would like to show you the current layout of the fortress.
I have marked the right hand map with some circles to indicate exactly where the current stations are. The red circle marks our current position, where the elves have drowned, and the encircled brown line on the left is a Channeling operation that my trusty miner will work on once he stops chasing after anything that moves to eat it. The light green marks the place where our old workshops were, whilst the dark green marks our second entrance into the underground farmlands. The violet color marks the fortress' main entrance. The yellow marks our fishing camp, where dwarves eagerly fish for anything and everything within the brook.
We have begun moving to a safer underground position, and here we can see a small overview of the undergrounds. Behold, on your left my glorious tomb! Which I daresay I hope not to visit anytime soon. Now turn your eyes on the map to the right again, the red marks the place where the elves were drowned. The light blue marks the small meeting room just out of sight, where you can spy a hint of our many tame animals gathering. The darker blue marks our underground farms, and the green marks a ridiculously large room which I am still shocked hasn't caved in yet. We will be moving our workshops there shortly. The purple marks the stairs leading to the entrance, and a very well built ensemble of rooms that serves no purpose currently.
And then, no sooner was I done when I had gotten great news!
Immigrants! They come to aid our cause, and so they shall. Slowly they poured in, their numbers vastly dwarfing our own. Then, something completely unexpected.
Ustuth, one of our engravers, became possessed by an evil and no doubt powerful force! This was truly a great day for us, we shall worship this force which has claimed this unimportant engraver and perhaps it will reward us in turn.
Ustuth quickly took a piece of copper ore and began working feverishly on some strange craft. I have advised my guard to protect him in the meantime, as the giant eagle was still hovering over the mountains where I have marked in blood red. Zon then came to me reminding again about the dead elves and the precious food they had brought.Why do I keep forgetting these elves? I told my miners to finish that channel post haste.
Meanwhile, back to the immigrants. The newcomers were not exactly what I would call... useful. A dyer, 3 peasants, a miller, more engravers, Pah. I don't care to list them, the only potential I could see was the new Blacksmith and the wood burner, but currently we don't have the time to be worrying about forging metal. They were all reassigned to the fishing task force, save the engravers which were assigned to making Stone Doors, chairs and tables. A few were also assigned to help the farms and others to cut wood. We will need allot more beds, and the terrible draft inside the fortress needs to be dealt with.
Afterwards, I ordered my mechanic to begin setting up a robust amount of simple Stonefall traps. I had also designated some masons to begin building walls on the slopes, to make a well protected entrance. The unbuilt trap designations are the white squares, and the unbuilt walls are the black squares. I have marked these with blue and red. Dear Scholars, you need not worry if a dwarf steps on one of these traps, as they have knowledge of their placements and will not set them off.
I also ordered my miners to start digging out extra rooms for our new members. My dwarves were pleased to see the food shortage quickly resolved with with the power of fishing and farming. Now we move to the necessary defense procedures, namely blocking off the many unused entrances to the fortress. Doors are also very much needed, as all dwarves dislike open space.
My possessed engraver has finally finished his work, and the result is an artifact! It only saddens me to see it isn't something more useful, like a hammer or a serrated disk, or maybe a bucket. No matter, this artifact will be treasured and kept safe.
And now, finally it is summer. The dwarves are no longer starving, and soon preparations will be made to have Stonecrafters create precious commodities to sell, although the elves' clothing alone will fetch a hefty price. The clothes are not bloodstained in any way and the merchants will be none the wiser about how dwarves procured clothes which are clearly too large to wear.
End Log.
(Also, I'll try to upload the map to that site soon for you guys to get a better look of what's happening)
