Spring
3rd Granite
I have travelled distances I can scarcely believe to my post at Distanceclasps. Mountains, forests, tundra and finally icy wastes pass beneath my feet on my way to do the Kings bidding. When we arrived I looked to my guide in disbelief! This sullen pit in the ice was the fort?! He assured me it was.
It was with some trepidation that I entered the sloping tunnel, dug straight into the surface of the glacial ice, crossing a narrow drawbridge and finally entering the fort proper. As I reviewed production, supplies, livestock and the skills the trepidation did not leave me for the fort had scarcely anything of worth at all! Common rock and the flesh and hides of what animals wander near. Looking further I see despite ice and snow all around, a supply of fresh water has not been secured, preventing any farming from taking place, putting rather a lot of pressure on the wine supply, we will need to trade for more drink before the year is out or die of thirst.
19th Felsite
Now that I have finished reviewing our resources I see we have a strong militia, more than capable of defending the fort and dispatching the wandering beasts above and those lurking below. They will do for now. I have ordered quarters dug for our dwarves and the the miners to dig deeper into the rock, hoping to find fresh water in a cavern of perhaps magma with which we could melt ice in sufficient quantity to at least clean ourselves, if not farm. Space for a prison and sheriff's offices shall also be dug.
21st Felsite
That fool of a broker! The oaf! The imbecile! Barely had the elven caravan unloaded their goods (including much needed wood and drink!) than our broker brazenly offered them a bin full of fine dwarven crafts. A wooden bin. The elves tarried not a moment longer and left, taking all of their wares with them. It will not be until summer that the human caravan will arrive, I do dearly hope we don't run out of wine by then.
Summer
14th Hematite
GOLD!! The miners have struck gold at the bottom of our prospecting shaft! We shall begin extracting it at once and make provisions for when we begin smelting. I am growing very concerned for our supplies of drink and we have yet to access water.
14th Hematite
The miners have broken through to a magma sea, just below the gold vein, a perfect spot to refine the ores efficiently when a proper anvil can be obtained for smelting. The prospectors also tell me they have spotted an adamantine vein on the shores of the magma. It will be dangerous work to extract it, better left till the fort's needs are stabilised. Some of the forts pets have died of thirst. Unfortunately, we do not have the resources required to bring the magma to the surface to melt the ice.
3rd Malachite
Running short of bolts for our hunters, I have dispatched the full militia to slaughter the herd of reindeer. The dwarves are beginning to die of thirst. Those that are not are lethargic from lack of drink. The sooner the human caravan arrives, the better.
16th Malachite
Doom! Doom is upon us. The human caravan has arrived but they have brought nothing to drink! I give the order to purchase some food, wood and weapons but they are not our real needs. I give orders for a desperate construction - we shall carve a chute in the rock and collapse a large quantity of ice to the bottom. We shall then eat the smashed chips of ice to survive till the dwarven caravan arrives in autumn. The architect regards me sceptically as I give the command but I assure him I had heard of the design in a far off place, Nisgakdum or Ninkogan. I am not sure of the design myself but what else do we have? Our supplies of drink are finished. I fear if this does not work I shall fall to despair.
20th Malachite
We are doomed. Each day a new dwarf is dead of thirst. Those that remain yet cannot work as a dwarf should. I hear tales of ghosts in the fort! Tantrums have become ordinary and I have had to appoint a sheriff to lock away the worst offenders, lest they damage themselves and others.
***
23rd Malachite
Praise be to Armok! At last a reprieve, when all looked lost! While digging the shaft for the ice smashed, the miners have discovered fresh water! I immediately halt the ice smasher and order a well be built in it's place. Soon, our thirst shall be relieved, if not quenched.
5th Galena
The construction of the well is progressing slowly. More dwarves still die, we number less than thirty when once we exceeded fifty. I have ordered underground farms to be constructed on the shores of the lake, it could not possibly make our well any slower.
19th Galena
The well is complete, we are saved! But it is not a time for rejoicing. Our number is a mere eighteen. More than half have been slain by thirst, some driven mad. Both the marksdwarves have perished. The expedition leader is long dead and half the main militia with him. It will be some time before we regain our prior strength.
Autumn
14th Limestone
The well has prevented any further deaths. I have ordered the walls smoothed and it shall be a meeting hall, celebrated for the life of this fort. Progress is slow on the farm. The bumbling fools left the floodgate open too long, and now have to expand the area before we can farm. Some of the miners were injured due to minor cave-ins. Can they do nothing right? At least the caravan from the Mountainholm will arrive soon. The dwarves are still miserable, several workshops have been destroyed by their rage.
9th Sandstone
Migrants! We need the caravan not unwashed migrants, thirsty from a long journey! They shall find no proper drink here. We now number twenty six.
27th Sandstone
Work on the irrigation system has ground to a halt. Kubuk Dorennakas, one of the founding dwarves and chief miner has been imprisoned by our sheriff and refuses to give up her pick. Perhaps the militia can take it from her. For now I will leave it in the sheriffs hands, this fort has seen enough corpses. Still no sign of the caravan. To make matters worse, the sheriff was forced to kill two members of the militia when they refused to give up their weapons.
11th Timber
Chaos has struck the fort! While what remains of the militia was above ground hunting reindeer a troll snuck into our fort, and raised the drawbridge behind him, locking the militia out! None of the dwarves are bold enough to go near the lever with the troll nearby and smashing our workshops! Armok curse the vile beast, if the drawbridge is not lowered when the caravan arrives they will pass us by, forcing us to go without proper drink for months more. I'd rather attack the troll with my bare fists!
12th Timber
I've ordered any dwarf with a semblance of military talent to join the militia and attack that troll! A few injuries are sustained but they manage to drag the beast down and beat it to death. Fort operations resume as usual.
18th Timber
The Dwarven caravan arrives at last! Drink! Several barrels of drink are purchased in exchange for the last of our crafts. Never has the sight of grubby dwarves and beasts pleased my eye as much as this.
Winter
9th Moonstone
A trade agreement is reached with the dwarves of Dobar Okang. We will export thread, rings and bracelets and in turn they will bring us wood, seeds and a much needed anvil.
7th Opal
The fort situation has stabilised somewhat. We are not lacking drink nor food, but we still have problems with haunting and corpses in the dining hall. I have ordered many coffins constructed to properly honour their remains. It will also do something about the ungodly smell.
10th Obsidian
At last the miners have built the farm correctly, and plump helmets have been planted! I will be gone back to the mountainholmes before they can be harvested but the dwarves of Distanceclasps will have a steady supply of drink from now on. Troglodytes have occasionally harassed (and killed) the cavern workers but the militia easily dispatched them.
28th Obsidian
I take my leave of Distanceclasps now. I can not say that I enjoyed my stay as administrator of this fort, it was cold, uncomfortable, there was no drink, it reeks of death and over forty dwarves had to share six beds. But they survived, and soon the halls will be plated with gold, and the dwarves will drink to the honour of those founding dwarves and brave migrants who died making Distanceclasps a home!
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