Expedition Journal: Irdumed

 Expedition Journal

In the early autumn of the year 93, the dwarven armies of The Castle of Forever laid siege to Nassmuloz, "Dankscar", the northernmost goblin settlement in The Eastern Peninsula.

As news of the victory reached the capital of Nishurdim, "Tradetowers", the reigning queen Momuz Limulzon gave a royal decree. A fortress was to be built nearby, to quell any and all insurrections and to stake a claim in the hitherto-unclaimed north-eastern regions of the peninsula. 

A site was selected in the craggy, cold shrublands of the northeast, in the mountains overlooking Nassmuloz, both an observation post and a perfect link to the capital and its armies.

After some deliberation, the river Ekirroszed was incorporated into the claim, to provide water for underground irrigation and also to provide a source of fresh water, both for drinking and the fortress.

Seven dwarves were selected for the task, and preparations were complete by mid-autumn. Not soon after, their wagon finally arrived at their destination.

 

 

 

FORT NAME: Irdumed "The New Fortification"

GROUP NAME: Bisolzuden "Peacekeepers"

SYMBOL NAME: Bisolberul "The Peace-Bastion"

SYMBOL: A shield in the background, an anvil in the foreground, with two crossed pickaxes behind the anvil. An iron chain encircles the image.

 

EXPEDITION LEADER'S JOURNAL: 93-07-15

We have finally arrived, after a grueling trek from the Mountainhomes. Praise Zutshosh! I didn't particularly mind the rains, but the others seem quite tense. Still, now is not the time to dwell upon such things. 

We have found native copper! Sticking out of the wall, just like that, almost begging to be taken. I and Cattengesis shall begin mining copper and rock for the fortifications, while "Pridosz" Mafolkoman and "Tool" Morugatin took it upon themselves to fell some trees for our bedding. 

 After that is done, we shall designate an area for the castle, and start digging a moat. Our dwellings shall be underground, of course, but we shall require proper fortifications for when we finally receive the promised garrison.

For the glory of Limulzon, strike the earth!

 -Smeg Sanreblikot, expedition leader.

 

 EXPEDITION LEADER'S JOURNAL: 93-08-07

This place is still a shithole, barely fit for any dwarf to live in.

However, the copper veins seem to go on forever, and once you get past the sand and peat, there's basalt and dacite to be found.

Proper building material, that.

Our carpenter already finished the drawbridge, as far as you can finish it without a moat or chains to lift it, at least. Or even a wall to block entry. Still, progress is progress.

 -Smeg Sanreblikot, expedition leader.

 

EXPEDITION LEADER'S JOURNAL:93-08-19

Fucking shit. We dug down but all we could find was clay and loam. Good news for our pottery industry and our farmers; worse news for anybody who wants to live in a proper hall and not some blasted dirt mound like some hillock-dweller. We'll keep digging downward just to find enough stone to construct some kinds of fortifications. I don't trust wooden walls.

On the upside, we actually have enough wood to last several years, and we haven't even touched any fruit-bearing ones! We've been piling it just north of the bridge and our stocks are rapidly filling up. There also seems to be an abundance of plant life and possibly fish. I'm eager to try these strange green tubes.

 -Smeg Sanreblikot, expedition leader, hopeful. 

EXPEDITION LEADER'S JOURNAL:93-08-24

Finally! Basalt! We've been digging down through layers upon layers of silt, clay and loam, and have FINALLY found proper stone to house our people in. The trade depot has been constructed above ground, and now it's time to hew out some accommodations. 

I sense that as the leader of this expedition, I am entitled to something slightly finer than just an apartment.

 -Smeg Sanreblikot, expedition leader, victorious.

 

EXPEDITION LEADER'S JOURNAL:93-08-28

Damn it all! 

An aquifer on the planned forge level... 

We will need to re-zone, dig deeper. I'll cancel the strip-mining for now, we need lodgings as quickly as possible. Some of the dwarves are already looking nauseous.

 -Smeg Sanreblikot, expedition leader.

 

EXPEDITION LEADER'S JOURNAL:93-09-09

Hematite! We have struck hematite! If everything goes this well, (something has been scrawled out) our forges will be churning out breastplate after breastplate. Praise Zusthosh!

The main dining hall is looking almost finished! Now just to dig out spaces for workshops, and we can get to work properly.

  -Smeg Sanreblikot, expedition leader.

 

 EXPEDITION LEADER'S JOURNAL:93-10-01

Winter has come. We have our still and kitchen up and running (although food stocks are running low), and soon enough our mason and our carpenter can get to work as well! I am (perhaps foolishly) feeling quite hopeful.

The outpost liaison should be here soon enough. Perhaps we could order some coal for our soon-to-be-completed forges...

Still, one thing at a time. The expected garrison should be here any moment now, and we still haven't erected a single wall, let alone dug out a single home!

This will need to be rectified as soon as possible.

  -Smeg Sanreblikot, expedition leader.

 

  EXPEDITION LEADER'S JOURNAL:93-10-21

 Blast it. We need more stone. There's far too few of us to actually get this done on time. Nos sign of any garrisons or caravans either, and my hunter has just been lazing about.

Apartments are far behind schedule, but beds are being built. We might have to settle for a temporary bunkhouse.

I hope not.

  -Smeg Sanreblikot.

  EXPEDITION LEADER'S JOURNAL:93-12-13

Life has been hectic. Still no apartments, my dwarves are sleeping on cavern floors and in cramped hallways.

I've told the miners to disregard all minerals for the time being and to focus on digging lodgings. The northern part of the wall is done, the southern part is still a gaping hole, and the moat will have to wait until next year. 

We will attempt to build some kind of farm a few levels higher than the workshops. There's a pool of tepid water just waiting to be drained, and plump helmet spawn waiting to be planted.

I seriously don't know how the humans do it.

  -Smeg Sanreblikot.

 

 EXPEDITION LEADER'S JOURNAL:94-01-15

 Spring has arrived, and we finally have a small bunkhouse, near the aquifer. That should settle our needs for the time being. We've moved all our food underground, and the wall is coming along nicely. Soon we can focus on more pressing matters.

We need to turn the dining hall into an actual dining hall, currently we do not have a single table or chair in there, so it's just a great hall of nothing. We also require a mechanic's workshop and a forge, just so we can actually seal the fort.

I'll put my stoneworker on it.

  -Smeg Sanreblikot, expedition leader.

 

EXPEDITION LEADER'S JOURNAL:94-02-24

 

Our farms are up and running, and our plump helmets are growing. We're out of drink, but the next harvest will rectify that.

The wall is as good as done, and soon we can start building our forge. We already have our smelter built, and a wood furnace for making charcoal right at the northeastern corner of the wall. Need to remember to put a roof above that, and start building fortifications when we've settled out more pressing matters.

  -Smeg Sanreblikot, expedition leader.

 

EXPEDITION LEADER'S JOURNAL:94-03-13

 

Finally! Proper apartments! A dining room and a bedroom for every dwarf, no matter their caste or creed. The wall is done and I'll order charcoal production to start as soon as possible. Then... Iron! 

Our farms are filled to the brim with quarry bush and plump helmet (they seem to grow quite well in peat!), and our animals seem to be very keen on mating. 

Need to construct a butcher's workshop and a leather tanner, preferably somewhere far away.

I think a tavern would be in order, just as soon as we start getting enough drinks to actually wet our throats. River water slakes your thirst, but it doesn't keep you strong the same way wine or rum does.

Planning on constructing a water wheel and using it to power a millstone so we can finally start putting our cave wheat seeds to use. Perhaps also an above-ground farm, for all these strange new plants! 

Also, as expedition leader, I have bequeathed myself the title of broker, since I seem to be the only one actually capable of addition and subtraction. I will, naturally, bequeath myself an office.

Life is looking up, indeed.

   -Smeg Sanreblikot, proud expedition leader.

 

EXPEDITION LEADER'S JOURNAL:94-05-06

 

Finally! The promised garrison has come! I'm making "Rotaken" Astelmonom the militia commander, and soon enough we'll have a force strong enough to lock down the entire mountain range.

The harvest is going well, it seems. I'm biting into a freshly-picked plump helmet right now, and while it's nothing compared to the roasts and stews back home, there's still a certain satisfaction in knowing it was grown, well, maybe not with your own hands, but at least with the hands of someone under your (something has been hastily scribbled out) by a truly hard-working dwarf.

Real salt-of-the-earth types, these lads and lasses. I couldn't be more proud.

 One worrying note, however; Astelmonom mentioned something about giant fireflies flying overhead.

Walls might not work against them, but he's got a crossbow for a reason, doesn't he?

 -Smeg Sanreblikot, leader of Irdumed.

 

EXPEDITION LEADER'S JOURNAL:94-05-06

 

What in all the Gods and Forces? I was promised a garrison, instead I got a gem setter and her child, and nothing else! I suppose they shall need apartments, as well.

Well, fuck it. We'll dig some more. "Junjun" Cattengesis and "Akarin" Athelkivish have proved to be quite capable with their picks, so I'll leave the digging to them.

Still, a gem setter? We haven't struck a single gem so far! She'll be a farmer, and so will her snot-nosed brat, if the fireflies don't eat him first.

Hope the new ones don't expect too much in the way of gratitude.

-Smeg Sanreblikot.

 

 EXPEDITION LEADER'S JOURNAL:94-06-16

 

In the authority vested in me, I have bequeathed myself the positions of manager and bookkeeper.

Two lambs have been slaughtered, but we're running low on drink and food. Hoping the next harvest will be good.

Apartments for the new arrivals have been completed. Turns out our gem setter is a former militia member, and knows her way around the spear quite well, so I was not entirely mistaken in my assumption we'd get a garrison, just vaguely misled over the size of the ordeal. 

Looks like the Queen, in all her wisdom, has decided to (several lines of writing have been hastily scribbled out).

 -Smeg Sanreblikot, broker, bookkeeper, manager, leader of Irdumed, with rapidly graying hair.

EXPEDITION LEADER'S JOURNAL:94-07-02

 

Autumn is here. 

I have formed an impromptu militia, consisting of two dwarves. The commander himself, and the newly-arrived gem-setter, Kib Asobtunom. We don't really have a barracks yet, but could most likely re-purpose the old dormitory to be one.  I fully intend both to be clad in full iron armor, with maces to beat down anything coming our way, but rope reed tunics and leather coats will have to do for now.

I am designating a nesting site for the birds, complete with nestboxes. Perhaps a constant supply of eggs will mitigate our food shortage.

That, or spew out even more of the little buggers. Either way, it's still free food, in one way or the other.

We will have to start digging the moat soon, but our dwarves are all too busy fulfilling orders, mining and chopping down trees to have the time to do so. 

Will need to see about making time for that.

-Smeg Sanreblikot, expedition leader.

EXPEDITION LEADER'S JOURNAL:94-07-12

 

A caravan! Finally! 

We'll have to see what we can trade, since to put it bluntly, we're barely existing at the moment. Seeds are a high priority, as are drinks. Perhaps they'll take some of our iron maces in trade...

Not three minutes after I gave the order, some self-important (several lines have been scrawled over) introduced himself as Mosus Stisazhnokim, and told me he was the outpost liaison. When I asked him where (a few words have been scrawled over) they were last winter, and why the promised garrison was (more scrawls), he just gave me a blank  stare, and told me there were more important things to discuss. 

He handed me a few pieces of parchment, which I filed under "do not open under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES", had me sign a few export and import treaties, and finally let me get down to business.

It seemed as if they were running out of bolts and crossbows, somehow, and I expressed our need for seeds, drink and above-ground plants, which he barely seemed to pay attention to. He also offhandedly mentioned that my fortress attracted no new migrants this season, and I almost (scrawls upon scrawls).

Something about a lack of opportunity and wealth, and housing space, amenities, and so on and so forth. Something will have to be done about that.

A valued part of the kingdom, indeed.

On the upside, the moat is coming along nicely. Just need to fill it with water, as well.

 -Smeg Sanreblikot, exasperated leader.

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 EXPEDITION LEADER'S JOURNAL:94-08-14

 

Well, I expected us to do business, but it looks like we'll have to be self-sufficient for the time being.

The fucking caravan took so long to fucking unload their damned goods they realized they wouldn't make it to the next outpost in time, and so they decided to pack up and leave, without a single item traded.

I had half a mind to lock the fuckers in with the drawbridge, but the trained macemen flanking that self-important needle-dicked catfucker of a liaison made me rethink that.

Fuck it.

Also, the moat that "was coming along nicely" turned out to tunnel straight down into our farms. Luckily, there was no water in it yet, apart from a tepid pool of shitty mud, but now our nest-boxes are exposed to the elements, and any attempts at actually filling the moat would turn our little fortress into an aquarium. 

I designated a few walls to be built at key locations, and then went down to my office to get blind drunk.

-Smeg.

 

  EXPEDITION LEADER'S JOURNAL:94-10-01

 

Winter is here, once again. The walls around the farms are done, and the moat is complete. All that is left is to channel it to the nearby brook, and we'll have something almost resembling a keep!

The outpost liaison has decided to stay, for whatever reason. We finally have some sort of drink production going on, and although we're still eating mostly dried meat and mushrooms, we're scraping by. 

I ordered the smith to crank out as many copper crafts as he could, in case the next caravan decides to come by without excess wankery. 

Also designated another hematite vein for excavation, which after seeing the amount of iron bars we have seems like just adding some icing on a cake, made completely out of icing. Still, we need as much as possible.

Last season's harvest seems to have been alright. Enough to get us into the next season, at least, although I'm seriously considering starting potash production, just so we can fertilize our fields. Besides, all that lamb tallow isn't going to turn into soap by itself, and some of the dwarves are starting to reek.we might need a bath-house, but I'm not nearly enough of an engineer to figure out how to get that going, so washing in the creek it is.

Also, our cat population has exploded, litters upon litters of little kittens dawdling about.

Might come in handy as a food source later, if things keep going the way they do.

Also, designate a tavern, order more bins and barrels from the carpenter. Perhaps we could use some clay to make crafts or goblets or something.

-Smeg Sanreblikot, expedition leader.

EXPEDITION LEADER'S JOURNAL:94-10-21

 

Well, we finally struck green zircon. I instantly designated an area for a jeweller's workshop, and ordered any and all gems to be cut as soon as they were found. The militia is now inactive. 

As far as arts and crafts go, we're definitely making a lot of copper trinkets, fairly high-quality ones at that, and I feel studding them with green zircon would be a very good choice.

We also have a farmer's workshop, so perhaps we could start shearing those animals and setting up a clothing industry. I dug out the peat underneath the keep and had walls built at suitable locations, just so we wouldn't end up with a giant smoking crater in the ground.

As a slight side effect, maintaining the structural integrity of the floor above  has resulted in our agricultural complex looking more like a minotaur's labyrinth than anything else, but it works!

Furthermore, every dwarf of working age now has a proper bedroom and a dining room, with extra space to entertain guests, even.

Hoo-ray. Truly a time for celebration.

Logistics-wise, placed an order for 50(!) wooden bins, and almost felt a spark of joy at "Pridosz"'s expression.

Still, we are going to need those bins once we start getting into the swing of things.

Note: prepare more apartments, and finally get to work on the fucking tavern.

-Smeg Sanreblikot, overworked manager.

 

 EXPEDITION LEADER'S JOURNAL:94-11-04

 

Well, I don't know how he does it, but our carpenter has been toiling day and night, and now we have 50(!) bins, some already being put to use!

I put in an order for 20 beds and left. Could have sworn I'd heard someone scream and throw a hammer into a wall, but can't really be sure.

Prepared three more apartments on the main floor, almost considering starting glass- or earthenware production now, but my dwarves are already overworked as is, so that will have to wait until the next few stragglers get here.

Unsure if I want to build my loom and weaver on the same floor the farm plots are on, future-proofing and all that, but I think we have more than ample space to grow whatever we want to.

In case of a sudden population boom, I might move them downstairs. Would probably be the most efficient this way, though.

Also, side note: designate an area for the leatherworks. Our boots are wearing out quicker than anticipated, and I think we might as well put those slaughtered animals to good use.

Waste not, want not.

-Smeg

 

 EXPEDITION LEADER'S JOURNAL:94-11-18

 

Well, he did it again. 20 beds, ready for use. I told our carpenter we'll need more wheelbarrows, ten of them, to be precise, and left.

This time, I definitely heard a scream. Going to have to double his rum rations.

 -Smeg

 

  EXPEDITION LEADER'S JOURNAL:94-11-18

The wheelbarrows were done ahead of schedule once again. Assigned a few to our ore stockpiles, spread the rest about in a fitting manner.

Saw our carpenter in the dining hall, getting absolutely shitfaced. I have nothing else to trouble him with this time, so maybe it's for the best.

Our resident chef and brewer, "Tool" Morulgatin, has been hard at work in the kitchens. Now that we have a sizable drink stockpile, enough to last us into next season, at the very least, he's been allowed to practice his craft a bit more, and I dare say his duck egg biscuits are delicious.

The improvement in food quality has cheered everybody else up as well, and we have started construction on the ramparts and a militia bunkhouse now. We have another forge up and running, with a third on the way, and we are completely set to produce our own clothes, whether wool or pig tail fiber.

It also seems as if our resident farmer/tanner/jack of all trades, "Danjeng" Gusimubun has been teaching the others the ins and outs of proper plant care and harvesting etiquette. 

A busy man, that.

Probably going to be even busier once our leather-works are up and running, but since there's no seeds left to plant this season he should take to it fairly well.

All we have left to do now is wait, I suppose. We desperately need more idle hands for our workforce, and that'll come in two months, at the earliest.

Expecting a fair amount of silence journal-wise until then, barring cave-in or catastrophe.

Side note: potash production has begun, and it should increase our yields more than enough to last well into next year. About to order a quern or two from our stoneworkers, just so we can grind our cave wheat.

-Smeg Sanreblikot, proud expedition leader.

 

EXPEDITION LEADER'S JOURNAL:95-03-03

Migrants! Oh, I could kiss tyour hairy little feet! 

And then wash my mouth out with rum, and designate a hospital.

///CONTINUE AFTER BUSINESS///