The History of Phantomdaggers, Chapter II
1st Granite
Spring has come to Phantomdaggers, and with it, our hopes for the new year. I am Joshua, chief miner of the Secretive Bunch, and I give you my tale, and the tale of my people.
The stony walls of Phantomdaggers hold great promise - who knows what great mysteries and treasures lie within? By the golden lyre of Esrel Kebul Nish, the Sparkle of Trade, I swear that I will not rest until I have uncovered them all!
And yet not all is well in Phantomdaggers. This fortress has languished under the ineptitude of Evan "The Dunce" - perhaps this new year will give him a chance to right his wrongs. There has been too much focus on the petty niceties of agriculture, while red-blooded, four-legged meals walk among us! We need to find iron, though the obsidian to the north, near the pool uncovered by Evan's stumbling bumbling, bears some promise. And I long for a quiet bed of my own, far from the clatter and din of our workshops.
Enough talk - there's crafts to be made.
5th Granite
Enough crafting - there's digging to be done. First step - expanding storage space. Then the bedrooms. While sleeping on the cold stone floor, I had a vision - a fractal pattern, infinite, beautiful. This shall be my guide.
10th Granite
Mica! Smooth, glittering mica!
Seriously, fuck this. Mica, orthoclase, microcline... the gods conspire against us, barring our way with these worthless stones. I am a dwarf! Give me iron, or at least zinc. When I behold a fine floodgate, wrought from zinc... it is then that I know true beauty.
Hold that thought - another vein of microcline! Esrel give me strength.
Thob complained of having nothing to do - Evan has given him the task of smoothing the floor and walls of the Great Hall, using nothing but a wooden augur. This indignity cannot stand.
15th Granite
The Elven caravan has arrived. Perhaps Evan will emerge from his dungeon long enough to offend them.
The brook has thawed - its waters flow freely once again. Its power must be tapped.
1st Slate
Sibrek and I finished clearing out additional storage space below the Great Hall - I consider myself quite the miner, yet I find myself in awe of his abilities. He digs through sand as though it were loam, and loam as though it were air.
Not all of us share this work ethic - that worthless Thob has grown weary of his stone-scrubbing and is throwing a party. Perhaps he should invite the elves - they will make a fine company.
Evan managed to pull away from his books for a moment, and ran off - straight to Thob's party. And yet when Oddom and Kadol showed the slightest signs of idleness, he drafted them into his daft stone-smoothing crusade immediately! Despicable. The elves grow more impatient by the day.
7th Slate
The first of what will surely be many migrants have arrived. They're a sorry, scruffy bunch - perhaps a few months in Phantomdaggers will whip them into shape.
8th Slate
It's worse than I thought. Two carpenters and a woodburner (we have no wood), a weaver (we have no thread), an herbalist (the only thing we grow are plump helmets), a fish dissector (he's welcome to try his hand against the lizard-men), a fishery worker (he can make friends with the fish dissector!), a cheese maker (no milk)... the list goes on. We must make haste to complete the new bedrooms, but this lot doesn't deserve the luxury. It'll be stone detailing for the lot of them.
I've mentally created a new category for these new migrants - I lump them all together as "the Useless". Perhaps in time, they'll be good for something other than military service or manual labor - but I'm not holding my breath.
16th Slate
Work has begun on the bedrooms. Door and bed production ramped up to maximum.
19th Slate
The merchants have departed, unmolested by trade. Damn, damn, a thousand times damn.
10th Felsite
Bedroom digging has been completed. It's just as magnificent as it seemed in my vision - now to flesh out the petty details of doors and beds.
17th Felsite
Construction has begun on a walled-in outdoor farm plot. Evan's hope is that this place will one day be a center of art and culture, and dwarves will come from all over the land to see the great outdoor walled-in farm plot of Phantomdaggers.
He stepped outside to commemorate the occasion, and promptly vomited. Serves him right.
10th Hematite
The human caravan has arrived. Evan has a chance to redeem himself.
18th Hematite
A plague of kobold thieves! The very sight of them makes my blood boil ever since they tried to steal my ring. One escaped - the other was brutally splattered against the wall by the human guardsmen. My fellow dwarves swarmed out of the fortress to swipe his gear, like some sort of gruesome pinata.
Benjamin has been engraving the walls of the Great Hall. His imagery is striking, to say the least - his rendition of the foundation of Phantomdaggers brought a tear to my eye, I'm not ashamed to admit it. I loved it even more when it was repeated six other times on the same stretch of wall.
Evan has redeemed himself; the trading was mutually profitable. We bartered for several iron anvils - it's good to see that we're planning ahead.
Then again, we also bought eleven barrels of cow cheese.
5th Malachite
I was hard at work carefully carving rock crafts for trade, when all of a sudden there came a dreadful din from the Great Hall - a cave-in! Sibrik is unconscious, along with several other dwarves, a musk ox, and a puppy.
The cause was clear - Sibrik had managed to craft a superfluous flight of stairs, but, lacking the wherewithal to deconstruct them, simply dug out the rock around them, with little regard for the consequences. I must say, this has somewhat diminished my respect for his mining abilities.
He re-earned my respect, however, by promptly regaining consciousness, going back up, and finishing the job. No serious inujuries were sustained by any involved.
10th Malachite
I see that Benjamin has seen fit to commit the tale of the kobold thief and his righteous destruction to the walls of the Great Hall. Every time I see it, I stop for a moment and stand in wondrous awe.
26th Malchite.
Another influx of migrants. Phantomdaggers can now proudly boast of possessing a pair of highly trained cheese makers. If anything, this lot is worse than the last.
Evan has conspired to place his sleeping chambers directly adjacent to mine. His snoring keeps me up until dawn.
3rd Galena
Imush, one of the non-useless new migrants, has been put to work training some of the worthless strays taking up space in Phantomdaggers into proper beasts of war. Properly deployed, these will help protect our fortress from skulking kobold filth.
11th Galena
Sibrik caused another cave-in during the excavation of the Great Hall. At this point, I think he's just showing off.
16th Galena
The excavation of the Great Hall is complete, miraculously without further cave-ins. When Benjamin's engravings are finished, it will truly be a wonder to behold.
13th Limestone
Udib the Carpenter has created a magnificent alder chest, depicting Ingish Tongslabored and his ascension to leadership of the Hames of Adventuring. Truly a work of art - it has to be seen to be believed. I have quietly arranged for it to be brought to my room, where I can privately contemplate its beauty.
2nd Sandstone
I have struck stibnite. Magma may be nearby.
11th Timber
Another round of migrants - two more fisherdwarves, two more woodcrafters. They cavort gaily in the statue garden while I ceaselessly toil below, searching for magma.
3rd Moonstone
On a hunch, I dug down near the riverbed. My pick revealed a dull glitter - a vein of native gold. We must investigate! My months of digging shall not have been in vain.
And yet, I fear. The Curse of the Third Year approaches... but we must focus on the present, and not think of such things.
20th Moonstone
A rhesus macaque made off with several useless items. Stupid monkey.
I have sussed out the scope of the gold vein. It is sizeable, and will certainly make us all rich dwarves. And yet, I cannot help but feel disappointed. Gold is not iron - it is a thing of beauty, not a thing of use. Still, it is a good sight better than this damned microcline that haunts my every tunnel.
22nd Opal
The engraving of the Great Hall is complete. It is a sacred place, a magnificent place - when one enters, one is surrounded by graven images of dwarves, roaches, and (my personal favorite) The Spots of Knighting, an alder chest.
3rd Obsidian
Construction of well halted temporarily due to frogmen.
1st Granite
The well is complete, and not a moment too soon - our alcohol supplies are running dangerously low. Is this the beginning of the Curse of the Third Year? Esrel help us all.
1st Granite
Spring has come to Phantomdaggers, and with it, our hopes for the new year. I am Joshua, chief miner of the Secretive Bunch, and I give you my tale, and the tale of my people.
The stony walls of Phantomdaggers hold great promise - who knows what great mysteries and treasures lie within? By the golden lyre of Esrel Kebul Nish, the Sparkle of Trade, I swear that I will not rest until I have uncovered them all!
And yet not all is well in Phantomdaggers. This fortress has languished under the ineptitude of Evan "The Dunce" - perhaps this new year will give him a chance to right his wrongs. There has been too much focus on the petty niceties of agriculture, while red-blooded, four-legged meals walk among us! We need to find iron, though the obsidian to the north, near the pool uncovered by Evan's stumbling bumbling, bears some promise. And I long for a quiet bed of my own, far from the clatter and din of our workshops.
Enough talk - there's crafts to be made.
5th Granite
Enough crafting - there's digging to be done. First step - expanding storage space. Then the bedrooms. While sleeping on the cold stone floor, I had a vision - a fractal pattern, infinite, beautiful. This shall be my guide.
10th Granite
Mica! Smooth, glittering mica!
Seriously, fuck this. Mica, orthoclase, microcline... the gods conspire against us, barring our way with these worthless stones. I am a dwarf! Give me iron, or at least zinc. When I behold a fine floodgate, wrought from zinc... it is then that I know true beauty.
Hold that thought - another vein of microcline! Esrel give me strength.
Thob complained of having nothing to do - Evan has given him the task of smoothing the floor and walls of the Great Hall, using nothing but a wooden augur. This indignity cannot stand.
15th Granite
The Elven caravan has arrived. Perhaps Evan will emerge from his dungeon long enough to offend them.
The brook has thawed - its waters flow freely once again. Its power must be tapped.
1st Slate
Sibrek and I finished clearing out additional storage space below the Great Hall - I consider myself quite the miner, yet I find myself in awe of his abilities. He digs through sand as though it were loam, and loam as though it were air.
Not all of us share this work ethic - that worthless Thob has grown weary of his stone-scrubbing and is throwing a party. Perhaps he should invite the elves - they will make a fine company.
Evan managed to pull away from his books for a moment, and ran off - straight to Thob's party. And yet when Oddom and Kadol showed the slightest signs of idleness, he drafted them into his daft stone-smoothing crusade immediately! Despicable. The elves grow more impatient by the day.
7th Slate
The first of what will surely be many migrants have arrived. They're a sorry, scruffy bunch - perhaps a few months in Phantomdaggers will whip them into shape.
8th Slate
It's worse than I thought. Two carpenters and a woodburner (we have no wood), a weaver (we have no thread), an herbalist (the only thing we grow are plump helmets), a fish dissector (he's welcome to try his hand against the lizard-men), a fishery worker (he can make friends with the fish dissector!), a cheese maker (no milk)... the list goes on. We must make haste to complete the new bedrooms, but this lot doesn't deserve the luxury. It'll be stone detailing for the lot of them.
I've mentally created a new category for these new migrants - I lump them all together as "the Useless". Perhaps in time, they'll be good for something other than military service or manual labor - but I'm not holding my breath.
16th Slate
Work has begun on the bedrooms. Door and bed production ramped up to maximum.
19th Slate
The merchants have departed, unmolested by trade. Damn, damn, a thousand times damn.
10th Felsite
Bedroom digging has been completed. It's just as magnificent as it seemed in my vision - now to flesh out the petty details of doors and beds.
17th Felsite
Construction has begun on a walled-in outdoor farm plot. Evan's hope is that this place will one day be a center of art and culture, and dwarves will come from all over the land to see the great outdoor walled-in farm plot of Phantomdaggers.
He stepped outside to commemorate the occasion, and promptly vomited. Serves him right.
10th Hematite
The human caravan has arrived. Evan has a chance to redeem himself.
18th Hematite
A plague of kobold thieves! The very sight of them makes my blood boil ever since they tried to steal my ring. One escaped - the other was brutally splattered against the wall by the human guardsmen. My fellow dwarves swarmed out of the fortress to swipe his gear, like some sort of gruesome pinata.
Benjamin has been engraving the walls of the Great Hall. His imagery is striking, to say the least - his rendition of the foundation of Phantomdaggers brought a tear to my eye, I'm not ashamed to admit it. I loved it even more when it was repeated six other times on the same stretch of wall.
Evan has redeemed himself; the trading was mutually profitable. We bartered for several iron anvils - it's good to see that we're planning ahead.
Then again, we also bought eleven barrels of cow cheese.
5th Malachite
I was hard at work carefully carving rock crafts for trade, when all of a sudden there came a dreadful din from the Great Hall - a cave-in! Sibrik is unconscious, along with several other dwarves, a musk ox, and a puppy.
The cause was clear - Sibrik had managed to craft a superfluous flight of stairs, but, lacking the wherewithal to deconstruct them, simply dug out the rock around them, with little regard for the consequences. I must say, this has somewhat diminished my respect for his mining abilities.
He re-earned my respect, however, by promptly regaining consciousness, going back up, and finishing the job. No serious inujuries were sustained by any involved.
10th Malachite
I see that Benjamin has seen fit to commit the tale of the kobold thief and his righteous destruction to the walls of the Great Hall. Every time I see it, I stop for a moment and stand in wondrous awe.
26th Malchite.
Another influx of migrants. Phantomdaggers can now proudly boast of possessing a pair of highly trained cheese makers. If anything, this lot is worse than the last.
Evan has conspired to place his sleeping chambers directly adjacent to mine. His snoring keeps me up until dawn.
3rd Galena
Imush, one of the non-useless new migrants, has been put to work training some of the worthless strays taking up space in Phantomdaggers into proper beasts of war. Properly deployed, these will help protect our fortress from skulking kobold filth.
11th Galena
Sibrik caused another cave-in during the excavation of the Great Hall. At this point, I think he's just showing off.
16th Galena
The excavation of the Great Hall is complete, miraculously without further cave-ins. When Benjamin's engravings are finished, it will truly be a wonder to behold.
13th Limestone
Udib the Carpenter has created a magnificent alder chest, depicting Ingish Tongslabored and his ascension to leadership of the Hames of Adventuring. Truly a work of art - it has to be seen to be believed. I have quietly arranged for it to be brought to my room, where I can privately contemplate its beauty.
2nd Sandstone
I have struck stibnite. Magma may be nearby.
11th Timber
Another round of migrants - two more fisherdwarves, two more woodcrafters. They cavort gaily in the statue garden while I ceaselessly toil below, searching for magma.
3rd Moonstone
On a hunch, I dug down near the riverbed. My pick revealed a dull glitter - a vein of native gold. We must investigate! My months of digging shall not have been in vain.
And yet, I fear. The Curse of the Third Year approaches... but we must focus on the present, and not think of such things.
20th Moonstone
A rhesus macaque made off with several useless items. Stupid monkey.
I have sussed out the scope of the gold vein. It is sizeable, and will certainly make us all rich dwarves. And yet, I cannot help but feel disappointed. Gold is not iron - it is a thing of beauty, not a thing of use. Still, it is a good sight better than this damned microcline that haunts my every tunnel.
22nd Opal
The engraving of the Great Hall is complete. It is a sacred place, a magnificent place - when one enters, one is surrounded by graven images of dwarves, roaches, and (my personal favorite) The Spots of Knighting, an alder chest.
3rd Obsidian
Construction of well halted temporarily due to frogmen.
1st Granite
The well is complete, and not a moment too soon - our alcohol supplies are running dangerously low. Is this the beginning of the Curse of the Third Year? Esrel help us all.
Labels: dwarf fortress, phantomdaggers
posted by kjones at 12:59 AM
1 Comments:
That poor puppy!
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