Summer is here, and with it come new free loaders and human merchants. The merchants have again failed to bring anything to drink. It’s as if they have been told not to supply our most urgent needs. I sense goblin treachery is at work. Still our brewer is powered by the Spirit of Datan herself! He hasn’t stopped working and the fort finally has a few barrels of drink and our Dwarves are becoming happy again.

The free loaders from the capital are better than the usual crop. A farmer, a cook and a pump operator have come. Mudding out the new farm has been a slow process so far with buckets, dwarves for all their industriousness, are terrible at carrying buckets over a large distance. Pumping water out of the brook will make this go quicker. But how! This has never been done before.

Horror! A veil beast has been seen lurking in the depths below. Onul Nazom’s stench now fills the caverns. The dwarves are concerned and the deeper reaches of the fort seem a little deserted. Trinity had ordered the sealing up of the stairs leading into the caverns, let us hope the architect and masons did their work, for we have no way to stop this creature. Our forges have yet to produce any armor or weapons.

At least the party of 8 that arrived this summer brought a dwarf that knew how to wield a hammer. We must redouble our efforts to ready the fort for war. If the beast is here, the goblins can’t be far behind…

Autumn is upon us. I fear that the new above ground farms will remain a dream this year. The buckets are taking far too long to mud all the rock and the architects aren’t up to the task of building a channel safely for the water. They fear flooding the fort and have declined to start working on it until they study the problem more carefully. The forges are finally lit. The dwarves of the Rock of Chewing are learning their craft on copper. Soon our armies will be able to arm themselves with copper axes and crossbows.

Another dwarf has been taken by a fey mood! Stodir Gutidid, the wax worker, has decided to start working on a metal artifact! He was speaking with Trinity and he was overtaken by a trance at the mere mention of the crafts that are now being produced in our forges. The production of new copper bins have been halted.

Stodir then started scrawling what looks like dead animals and graves. The “Sly Talker” Lesastiden claims Stodir mumbled that he must have Dr. Mccoy! Our Chief medical dwarf Eral Zefonidrath paid him a visit but could not find nothing wrong with him. Apart of the obvious psychosis that resulted in the request for a fictional character.

Stodir finally lost patience with our inability to understand him and yelled out.

I have ordered that a water buffalo and a llama be slaughtered. Armok willing, Stodir will get the bones he needs.

GLORY BE TO ARMOK! ALL HAIL ARMOK!

Mistem Gatizavuz was taken over by a strange mood earlier today. He started babbling to himself, then suddenly stood up and ran to the closest crafts workshop. Lokot Akrulinal was busy making new rock pots, he had the idea that rock wouldn’t offend the elves when they came back to trade next year but he was unceremoniously tossed from the workshop. Mistem had just committed a grievous offence!

A famed dwarf once said, “No one tosses a Dwarf!” Lokot had to be restrained by several to prevent him from exacting revenge. Mistem ignored all the commotion and continued to saw and hammer, mumbling what sounded like Entish of all things! All for the better, I shudder to think what that crazed old maniac would have done to poor Lokot for interrupting him.

We’d seen this once before with poor Ollin, Armok rest his soul. But the signs are already different, it seems that Mistem will be okay. I fear what he is making though, we’ve already lost Ollin to madness. An evil lurks in these halls, I must find a way out!!

New wood burners have been commissioned. The wave of new migrants wasn’t completely useless, they had wood burners, furnace operators and a few blacksmiths. At least we’ll soon be able to forge an axe worthy of me, or perhaps a silver warhammer!
Yes! YES!! SILVER!!! We dwarves do have a liking for all things shiny. Silver war hammers, silver thrones, silver chests and statues, silver cabinets, doors and tables….

<several days later>

…oh and silver pots. I do love drinking my ale out of a silver mug.

Wait! Have we started making charcoal yet!? We need silver!!!

My dwarves are on top of things. Not only have they begun working on producing the charcoal, they have also assigned the store for all the new bars we are going to be making! The Rock of Chewing shall be grander than Moria and Ironforge!

Someone has clearly been talking to Mistem, or this strange mood has given him more powers than I thought. He has crafted a magnificent Silver ring. The crown jewel of The Rock of Chewing! I must keep an eye on him, he has spies. But it is such a beautiful silver ring.

First death in the Rock of Chewing. This is a dark day. We all knew it was coming. Ollin the Dwarf driven mad by his need for leather, locked himself into a room for months without end. He has perished. I know he will be the first of many, but the others still grieve. They do not know the task that is before them.

A casket and engraving has been commissioned for this fallen dwarf.

A new above ground farm has been commissioned. Given the large amount of seeds we have for above ground plants and our shortage of booze, this is a good opportunity to expand! The hill has been channelled from above and a new ceiling is to be build. Once done, a pathway will be dug out to gain access to our new farmland.

We will need to carefully flood the area first to turn the rock floor into mud so the ground is ready for plantation.

It is the 1st day of Granite in the 6th year after Armok created this wretched world. I, Mebzuth “Routaran” Eshonzaneg arrived at The Rock of Chewing only 6 months ago. Since the first day, I knew Trinity would be the doom of this fort. Why Armok condemned me like this I will never know. There’s something about Trinity, something not quite right. She was much to feline to be a real dwarf woman, nothing about her sat well.

I was alone in the dormitory when I heard a rustle at the door. A small note had been slid through. I knelt down and picked up the note, it read, “She will be the end of us all! We are all with you if you demand she step down as leader, we want you to be our leader!”

That’s what I needed, a reason! Trinity could hardly remember what she had for breakfast, how likely is it that she’d remember that the King never told her to give up her position after one year! This is my chance, if The Rock of Chewing is to survive, Trinity must not lead!

Lets survey again what we have here. The entrance of the fort looks good. Drawbridge with a lever and some traps. That’ll keep the baddies out, and a large food stockpile with one seed barrel. Okay.

Next we got our barracks, dormitory and a kitchen area.

Our workshops and dining room. I’m sure the peasants don’t mind all that racket while eating but nobility such as I will not tolerate it. We’re moving the dining room further way from the workshops. Trinity must have forgotten that these were dwarves and not goblins that she was building the bedrooms for.

The bedrooms are moving too, the dwarves in there already are beyond help, the new migrants will not be made to suffer like this though.

Lets take a look at our stores to see what we need. By Datan’s name, we have no booze left!!

We have 2 pints of wine, 20 dwarves and the brook is freezing over. I’m not going to be able to get a cistrine setup in time. Time to panic. There’s still plenty of plants on the surface we can gather. Grapes, potatoes can be brewed into drink. We may yet survive till the next Caravan.

Digging north into the mountain hasn’t been productive so far. We’ve found silver but it’s not material i want to waste as the blacksmiths learn their craft. We must find more copper! There’s Tetrahedrite to the south, lets see if we get lucky. I’ve also ordered some more areas to be dug out deeper, the miners found some Malachite ore. This can be useful.

We are saved! The elves have come! Hopefully laden with booze!

Ah bloody hell. They brought nothing to drink and 5 things to eat with a whole bunch of worthless crap made of wood. 2 Mechanisms and I got everything of value from them. I hate those stupid tree huggers!

At least the brewery is working again. The fort won’t be meeting a thirsty end. We have to make sure that we don’t cook up any brew-able foods.

We need a new bookkeeper to track our stocks. I’ve sent for a new book keeper from the capital, Trinity will have to do for now, that old hag wants a chair now all to her self!

Great! I had 22 more free-loaders just show up and not one knows how to use an axe or a crossbow. Nor a single brewer either. We got a good carpenter, a glass maker and a milkman! Armok why do you hate me so!

Well I’ll put them to work clearing out all the rocks that are lying everywhere in this fort. This is a mess!

The first month of my reign has been stressful but at least The Rock of Chewing has survived another month and the near future looks okay. My only concern right now is that all of our livestock is currently outside. We’ve been here for over a year without incident, the goblins can’t be far. If they were to lay siege now, none of our livestock would survive. We need to find a way secure them soon.

“I don’t think there were any better ideas of Ollin, but I think it’s best for the fort”, Aban was telling Eral Zefonidrath the architect.  “She is clearly insane and appears to be depressed at the same time.  Leaving her in the Jewellers workshop is the only choice we have now.”

As the year draws to a close ‘Trinity’ finally hears some happy news.  “The miners have found a vein of tetrahedrite not far from the surface” Aban informs her.  “And there is news from the workshops, that Master Mechanic Mabzuth Eshonzaneg has crafted three masterpiece mechanisms.  They should be great for trading with the elves.” Aban continued.  “That’s if Mabzuth won’t go crazy if we trade them away.” Trinity retorted.

Now, I know enough about DF to start a basic fort, and get it to survive a year or two.   However, we are hoping this fort will last a bit longer.

After surveying the surroundings, digging in to the closest hill looked like a reasonable plan.  So I set the miners to work and dug a tunnel, with room for a Trade Depot, a staircase and a storage room.  After all we want everyone out of the elements as quickly as possible because Dwarves tend to be a surly bunch.

One of the biggest problems with using this hill in my initial survey was lack of soil for farming.  But we had enough food and beverages to last a little while so, I decided to postpone creating a farm for a while.  So I set about telling the miners to go deeper and create a workshop area.  I also told the woodcutter to fell as many trees as possible in front of the fort.  There does seem to be an abundance of trees.

After a bit of time, the miners dig out an area for stone, wood, workshops, finished goods.  And they are even ambitious enough to make an area for a dining hall and food storage down below.

Next I task the dwarves with building some bedrooms for our band of miners and craftsdwarves.  It doesn’t take too long to hollow out and furnish a few rooms for the existing dwarves.  But as luck would have it as the last bed was being placed a wave of migrants appeared.  Eight more adventurous souls from the dwarven kingdom.

As unfortunate the timing is with the lack of beds, the timing couldn’t be more perfect for help getting the fortress up and running.  The existing dwarves were over tasked and under paid.  With the new migrants it was time to make some farms.  Looking at the top level there appears to be some soil (not much).  The miners quickly dig it out and we create some farms.  At the same time, we finish construction on a trade depot.  And just to make things interesting a thief shows up.  Unfortunately we have no standing army at this point, so what do dwarves do but build cage traps.  So we build cage traps and line the hallway hoping to catch us a thief.

As we finish getting the traps setup a caravan arrives from the Dwarven Kingdom of Ushat Okang.  The traders came a bit earlier than we were hoping, but they bring much needed supplies.  We trade all of our remaining rock mechanisms for food and ale.  The traders get a good deal, but we needed the food and drink badly as our farms were just starting to get setup.

Life in the fort goes on for a bit, we start digging down looking for precious metals.  But continually find no metals.  A fair number of gems do appear.  In preparation for finding metals, we begin hollowing out another area for wood burning, metal smelting and gem cutting.

By now it is starting to get colder outside.  The leaves are falling.  Another thief appears but we are happy with our traps for now.  Another set of slaves…I mean migrants…from home appear looking to help us outlast the winter by eating our food.  Immediately they are put to work building and hauling.

Generally up to this point in the game things have been going alright.  Although we do not have an army, but we have built a barracks (and dormitory for the waves of migrants).  We have been digging down in the earth looking for metals and just trying to get everything stable for the next year.  Unfortunately two unforeseen things happen simultaneously.  And here is where the fun begins.

Although the screenshots don’t show it, we have been digging down our central staircase.  We are about 30z levels down, and *tada* we find a huge cavern.  ‘Trinity’ Ritharuzol our expedition leader curses.  “We need magma for forges, not caverns full of danger” she screams at Alban Uzolbelal the mining foreman.  “Seal up the staircase” she demands.  We can’t oh great leader, we don’t know how to.  “We asked the architects to draw something up but they are bumbling idiots.” Alban pleads.

Meanwhile…Ollin Estilsakzul the gem cutter suddenly seems distant.  He no longer visits the Great Hall, and is sour.  His friends don’t seem to notice, but then he perks up and runs to the Jewlers Workshop and grabs 3 uncut gems.  But, wait something is wrong…he starts drawing pictures of leather on the walls.  But there is no leather to be found.

It is quickly brought to the attention of ‘Trinity’.  “Can’t something be done to help him?”  Trinity asks.  “I’m afraid he just keeps asking for leather” Aban informs her.  “Frankly his drawings and mutterings are starting to panic the other dwarves.  I don’t even want to get near her” Aban continues.  “Was she down in the mines?”  ‘Trinity’ queries.  “That’s the strange part, she was eating fish…” Aban informs her.  “This is truly an ill omen…Ask master architect Zefonidrath to seal her in the Jewler’s shop” states trinity.  “Who knows what she will do next, and we can’t risk the fort.”

What will become of this hardy band of dwarves?  I’m guessing the best is yet to come with an unsealed staircase to the caverns below and a crazy jeweller.

We’re running on 0.40.23. You can download LNP for this version from http://dffd.wimbli.com/file.php?id=8936. This is the linux version. Make sure you have the dependencies installed before trying to run it.

Right click and save this, it’s the save. Remember, change name to .tar.gz.
Extract it into your ~/04024r2/df_linux/data/save/

Then launch the game and continue!