Dwarf Fortress Succession: Grimhaunts

[Gazrit]

Journal of Miner Aquizit

1 Granite, 576

We made it. After months of trekking away from the Mountain home, we have discovered the great wall against the forest, where the nobles say our expedition is to strike the earth.

I'm good at that; I've been mining my whole life, and I'm looking forward to -- by Stibmer's overflowing bucket! The cliff's a volcano!

I've never mined the magma ore before.. ol' Krin and I should like this trip quite a bit.

Since it's usually the miner's job to get any good hole in the ground started, our expedition leader, Canai, has let me take charge for the first year.

I look through the supplies as I grab my pick and toss Krin his. Ain't much here that's not standard. Short on animals though. No cats or dogs?! Hope them vermin ain't too bold here.

Ain't my problem though, I just dig holes. Time to start diggin'!

[Gazrit]

Journal of Miner Aquizit

3 Galena, 576

I never said I was an engineer! I mine thin's -- y'know, dig holes, move rock, that kind of thing! I don't know how the channels are supposed ta go, I just get 'em there!

Anyway, Greebo, the only one who don't do any -real- work out here, is at least smart enough to mumble something at me about how to channel magma properly. Guess I was gonna either end up meltin' poor Krin or flooding the whole damned fortress if I didn't do nothin' proper.



Luckily, that there record keeper fellow had a better idea, channel it down from up top! That way it's easier to force it to do in a certain direction! While I doubt it's as big as the smiths will -eventually- like. It's nothing a couple floodgates won't fix.



Meanwhile, our illustrious leader has decided he doesn't wanna farm or y'know, MAKE FOOD. He's just been taking our already poor stocks and been making booze out of them!



So I took two of them new migrants this season and since they brought their own equipment with 'em, I made 'em go fish and hunt us s'more food! Mohan's one of 'em -- never got the fisherdwarf's name. If the carp don't get 'im though -- he'll be a legendary champion in this miner's book!

I haven't even started the bloody craftmaking or trade depot yet, and it's already later summer!

I need a drink!

[Gazrit]

Journal of Miner Aquizit

1 Granite 577

One year has passed since I've struck the earth with my ol' buddy Krin. Got us a farm, a kitchen, a meetin' hall, walls, craftin' space, and some bedrooms. Leavin' a note to the next overseer that the left bedrooms can't go any more north, pond up there.

So -- figure to get to the good stuff! Took ol' Krin aside and told 'im we need iron! Lots of it! So we picked a random spot and started diggin! Sure enough, soon smelled that sweet sweet Hematite ore.

Them other dwarfs smelled it to! Smelter was down right quick to pick some up, to which I pulled him aside and said, "Oi, you! I'm busy diggin' you're in charge now!"

Said his name was The Araun or something, I dunno -- them magma fumes make those boys think a bit funny, if'n yeh ask me.

Now, I've got a hole to dig!

SAVE: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/41740546/Grimhaunt.zip

[Araun]

The Most Secret Diaries Of The Araun, Cryptkeeper.

1st Granite,

At last, it is my year to rule. One year in which all will bend to my commands, all will move in accordance with my plans. I shall build here a monument to death, a place of cold rest through which all must pass. I will -

- are plump helmets seriously all we get to eat? I understand we're on the run from a vampire queen and all but I have my limits. Also we have a lever which, when pulled, drowns the lower levels of the fortress in magma. Alright. Fine. First, some crop rotation; then we seal up the magma deathtrap; THEN monuments to death and a chill palace of eternal stillness.

16th Slate,

My personal chambers are nearing completion, soon all will - what is that thundering noise? Like a herd of - oh no. Migrants! Thirty of them!

Apparently I will need to put my chambers on hold until we can build bedrooms for these refugees. Otherwise, uncomfortable questions will be asked as to why I have made the necropolis a priority, questions I cannot afford to answer at this time.

17th Slate,

I find the lack of symmetry in the housing quarter to be personally insulting. I have demolished Greebo's office to make way for a hallway that better fits the pattern.

11th Felsite,

The machinist has begun some kind of construction in his workshop. He seems strange, withdrawn. I shall be interested to see what his creation augurs for our settlement.

I have also put into motion one of Aquizit's plans. Cabinets! Cabinets for all! Yes, my subjects, revel in glorious cabinetry, and spare no thought to the purposes accomplished by your work.

15th Felsite,

The machinist has created... a rock salt mechanism. It menaces with spikes of... rock salt. It is decorated with cabochons of ... rock salt. This means nothing. Except perhaps that I may stake the machinist out for the ravens someday, when I cease to need him.

17th Felsite,

Elves. I doubt they bring anything of worth, but I will let them inside. I open the gates. Did I mention I installed gates? I have installed rudimentary gates.

And we accidentally offer them a wooden barrel full of food and they get all insulted and leave. Well, they didn't bother bringing anything worth having anyhow. I was just trying to buy a cougar.

I order some more trees cut down as a protest.

15th Malachite,

No sooner do I finish adding more bedrooms that another fifteen refugees arrive! This is endless! I have priorities, people! Endless plans whirring within plans and - oh fuck it, you can sleep on the floor while I finish my necropolis.

8th Limestone,

Someone retreated from society and made a fine leather quiver with an image of a thrips on it. As oracular revelations go, it's a bit on the obscure side.

My chambers under the necropolis construction site are finished. I've arranged to have the other dwarves bring me food, drink, and working materials. I do not intend to leave this sanctuary ever again.

7th Sandstone,

MORE DAMN IMMIGRANTS. Fine, come on in! The floor is lumpy and uncomfortable, and the fortress is sized for half the number of people we have, but why don't you just show up and drink all our beer!

You may join the others sleeping under tables in the dining room like goddamn hobos. I'll be in my crypt.

15th Timber,

The dwarven caravan arrives. We have nothing to trade them but finely-made sandwiches, so I send up one of my masterwork obsidian coffins. That should fetch a good price.

The dwarves have brought a dozen cats and dogs. Did... did someone order these? Deliberately? I chalk this up to Aquizit's peculiar tastes.

For the price of an obsidian coffin and a barrel of biscuits, we buy a mountain of fish, some cheese, silk, and a couple dogs.

9th Moonstone,

A weaponsmith has been possessed! My work bears fruit! Oh, let us see what wonders he creates...

14th Moonstone,

He brings us Bell-lauded, a silver mace spiked with tetrahedrite. Glorious! It shall occupy a special place in the armory until we can find someone worth of wielding it.

My year is quickly drawing to a close, and I have barely accomplished any of my goals. The fortress is slightly expanded and improved - although we have managed to run out of booze temporarily. I worry what sober dwarves will do.

I have designed a maze to confound our enemies, but so far it is mostly confounding our miners, who have barely started it.

{ Almost finished but out of time for today. I picked a dwarf to be Araun based on their skills, not realizing said dwarf was a) female, b) married to Mohan, c) pregnant. So, uh, Mohan and I have a daughter now. Surprise! The Araun is restricted to the necropolis and the chambers under it by a burrow; she'll never leave, but there's a food stockpile down there for her. There's also a stone stockpile for obsidian; the theory is that once the necropolis is finished, her job will be to smooth and engrave it, and build coffins, coffers, and doors out of obsidian.

I'll have to explain how the maze works later, if I don't get it finished. Basically a gate will shut, forcing any invaders to take the long windy route through the maze, which will naturally be filled with traps. There's also space for a trade depot on an island surrounded by a moat of fire. There's not real advantage to this, other than MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. }

[Gazrit]

( Buahaha! Yes! MORE cats and dogs! )

[Araun]

{ All done! Nothing much happened in the last few months other than giving birth to another one of Mohan's screaming spawnlings. File here:

Grimhaunt.zip

Enjoy! }

[Yemana]

Hmm. Trying to load it into my Dwarf Fortress and I can't see the save. I -am- running a slightly older version (the one included with the latest LNP) due to Dwarf Therapist not being updated for the most current version of DF.

[Gazrit]

It's not? It's working fine for me, and I have the version released on 3/23.

[Araun]

Hm. I'm using 34.06, if you're using something earlier then it might not appear.

[Yemana]

I'm running DF 34.07, trying to run Dwarf Therapist 0.6.12 (downloaded from the Google page that's the number one result when I search for "dwarf therapist"). The game will load Grimhaunt but I get an "unidentified game version" error whenever I try and start up Therapist. LazyNewbPack version 34.05, which I downloaded on the 30th, includes a version of DF and DT which can talk to each other, but will not see the Grimhaunt save when I put it in the appropriate folder.

I'm seeing now that there's been a new release of LNP that happened yesterday so I'll give that one a shot.

[Yemana]

The new LNP works fine. I wonder where they're getting their versions of Dwarf Therapist; it's odd to me that the latest versions downloaded separately didn't work but the ones with the same version numbers taken out of LNP do. Ah well.

[Yemana]

Okay, my year's over. And not a moment too soon, that's for gaddamn sure. If I never see another horde of zombies and necromancers shambling across the map to our front door, it will be too soon. Speaking of which, Aquizit, enjoy your zombie siege currently underway.

Ch-ch-ch-CHANGES:

GENERAL
- Assigned the safe burrow to a military alert.
- The children are not happy.

LEVEL 0 (Hotkey F1)
- Cut a main entrance into the side of the mountain, with a drawbridge and some cage traps. The lever for the drawbridge is down on -1, near the stairs.
- That empty room in the hallway is where the dwarves should bring empty cages, for reloading the traps.

LEVEL -1 (Hotkey F4)
- Moved the farm plots away from the tunnel entrance. They have not been configured for spring and summer yet. Stockpile below the farm plots is seeds.
- Moved the stills and the kitchens back. Stockpiles in the two rooms are for plants and uncooked stuff. Where the still used to be are two stockpiles for drinks and prepared meals, though we don't have the pots in there yet. Took the querns out but haven't re-built them yet.

LEVEL -3 (Hotkey F2)
- Expanded the workshop area and carved out a huge room for furniture/crap.
- South of the magma forges is the Sacrificial Chamber which can be used for the disposal of anything that gets caught in the cage traps. Anyone who wants to give it a shot, see guidelines here.
- In that same hallway is a room where caged hostiles will be dumped. South of that on the map is going to be a second mass pitting area, but this will feed into a room that can be used for combat training or dumping UBERMONSTERS for some entertainment.

LEVEL -9
- Carved out some bedrooms, in the middle of making all the walls and floors the same material.

-----

Here's the save (in .rar format, just for Aquizit.)

[Gazrit]

Final Log of Miner Aquizit

The following is barely legible.

I don't know what day it is anymore, the fever has clouded my vision beyond repair. It was all looking so well. The zombie siege was broken by constant raising and lowering of the drawbridge.. and the undead husks, as stupid as they are, walked right into the swinging stone, getting obliterated beneath the heavy bridge.

Food stocks were rising, dwarves were out into the sunshine again ... we were recovering.

The goblins came again, we locked up the fort once more.

Children were running rampant, however, and no-one brought it to Mayor Yemana's attention that both stills were destroyed in the by the rampant tantrums. Dwarves began to thirst. Unsure of the problem, a well was ordered dug.

That signed our death warrant.

One of the children, completely humiliated at spending his child years completely nude (a standing tradition of Grimhaunt), was unable to take the teasing any longer, and succumbed to depression and melancholy. He jumped into the well.

No-one noticed, and although it was not ale, we continued to drink to survive, not knowing of the contamination.

We started falling, withering to disease. Some went mad at the loss of family. Others jumped into the well to try and somehow find something clean to drink, furthering the problem.

I'm one of the few sane left, but my strength is faltering. To any who find this.. I bid you, seal up the doors, and let no others know of our failure, let Grimhaunt rest in silence.

I am tired. It is time to return to the earth. May Armok guide me home to Dwarfhalla.

[

True story, naked children ruined Grimhaunt, and before I knew it, I had less than 50 dwarves left due to thirst and disease.

Yemana wanted to embark on the same world.. so here's the save: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/41740546/Grimhaunt.rar
]