Ringfissures, 303

[Quor]

From the journal of Quor Enôrsolon

19th Obsidian 302:

And so it begins.

It would seem that I have been drafted into service even sooner than I expected at the bequest of my predecessor. Indeed, after but a few hours inspecting the halls of Ringfissures I can certainly see why the fortress is so in need of my services. The place is mess; I can hardly describe it adequately without the utterance of oaths. Mounds of stone fill the corridors, heaped up in great piles along with precious food and delicious alcohol. Fields big enough to feed a fortress twenty times its size sit fallow because the farmers have neither the seeds nor the labor to sow them. Finally it would seem as if every pond within the vicinity has been drained by a labyrinthine network of subterranean channels the purpose of which I cannot even begin to fathom.




Well let it never be said that Quor Enôrsolon is unworthy of a challenge. My first matter of business looks to be a general review of the work force skills and priorities. Sloth breeds elves so I’ll have no loitering in my fortress. Those will appreciable talents will be drafted into the occupation best suited to them, as for the cheese and lye makers, well… There are plenty of stones that need hauling. The myriad of tunnels leading into the underside of every pond within the region is, thankfully, a problem easily solved. They’ll be walled up soon enough lest our enemies use them to bypass our defenses.

Defenses I should probably point out that consist of but a single solitary rhesus macaque chained to our front entrance.

I have a great deal of work to do.

21th Obsidian 302:

Fortress affairs are still chaotic but I feel I am a great deal closer to reining them in under my control. My immediate concern is, as always, the construction of a grand obsidian obelisk, an undertaking of such proportions that the mind boggles out the labor required. Still before any tower can rise its foundation must be true and that is what I intend to ensure in the coming months.

22th Obsidian 302:



I’ve selected an ideal location for the grand obelisk and directed the miners to construct a tunnel to the site. So long as they remain diligent it will be completed with the arrival of spring and I will be able to devote the new year to excavating the foundation.

1st of Granite 303:

I may be at odds with his design aesthetics and inventory management but my predecessor’s early retirement has allowed me to start the year of 303 with the foundation tunnel in place. I’m off to a good start and I intend to make it last. I’ve issued orders for the miners to begin work on mining out a secondary fortress adjacent to the foundation so that they are not forced to slog all the way back to the fortress proper for food and ale.



12th of Granite 303:

Elven traders have arrived. You can imagine my surprise when I learnt we weren’t already at war them. Still I guess it is possible they might have something that the fey Tun Dumatginet might be able to put to use.

18th of Granite 303:

Unsurprisingly they did not. Still at least they were willing to accept some of our lesser rock crafts in exchange for bins and cloth. I have also instructed the masons to wall off the magma forges incase the furnace operator Dumatginet should turn homicidal.

[Quor]

19th of Granite 303:

What fortune, first elves and now goblins. The green wretches have apparently seen fit the stage an ambush. I’ve instructed all dwarves to stay inside and left the drawbridge purposely down. If they do plan to invade they’ll have to march their way through an impressive assortment of cage traps.

25th of Granite 303:

It would seem that one of the goblins has decided to dispatch our pet rhesus macaque only to be caught in cage trap himself. Naturally his comrades have elected to pull back rather than risk sharing his fate. I really need to devise some needlessly horrible fate for the wretched creature.

1st of Slate 303:

All is quiet for the most part. The elves are packing up to go and Tun Dumatginet has at last succumb to melancholy. Given the situation it was the best we could have hoped for.

5th of Slate 303:

It has been a busy day. Migrants arriving and elves leaving, both good causes for celebration. Regrettably the migrants had the misfortune to stumble into our resident contingent of marauding goblins forcing me to quickly field-draft the majority into military service. Unexpectedly my impromptu squad of novice wrestlers fared well, dispatching all of the goblins and only losing one of their own ranks in the process, a Adil Litastrimtar. Of particular note was the performance of the former lye maker Vabôk Sarveshurrïth who chased down and killed two goblins without taking so much as a scratch.

6th of Slate 303:

Unable to cope with his failure Tun Dumatginet today elected to do the noble thing and threw himself into the magma surrounding those furnaces he so dearly loved.

11th of Slate 303:

The masons have finished tearing down the wall blocking off the way to the forges, with Tun having taken his own life it seems unnecessarily to leave them idle for any longer.

1st of Felsite 303:

Work on the foundation fortress is at last complete; dwarves laboring on site will now have access to food, drink and beds in between shifts. The excavation of the foundation pit can now begin in earnest.




5th of Felsite 303:

I find it alarming the number of parties the children of this fortress insist on hosting. It seems as if every second day I have to disband yet another celebration.

3rd of Hematite 303:

We’ve cleared out the uppermost level of the foundation pit and have begun work on the next level down. In order to help speed up the mining effort I’ve elected to personally assist the miners in their labors.



8th of Hematite 303:

Work is still going ahead as planned, though the long hours I’ve been spending in the pit are starting to show. I have plans to draft more miners to aid us though and I’ve also instructing all dwarves even remotely skilled in stone detailing to begin work on the fortress’s many worn corridors.

11th of Hematite 303:

Disbanded another party today, will those children ever learn?

12th of Hematite 303:

A human army has arrived and set up camp on our south-western border much to my dismay. To prevent all our loggers and fisherdwarves from being cut down one by one I’ve forbidden them from traveling to the surface and assigned them to hauling our plentiful abundance of stone into the refuse pits.

[Quor]

17th of Hematite 303:

Phrost re-elected as mayor. It would seem out former expedition leader is still popular with the proletariat.

2nd of Malachite 303:

Phrost has mandated the construction of bucklers, something which he and I both agree on.

19th of Malachite 303:

Wood stores are getting low even as our demand for bins and barrels increases. As for stone I estimate we have enough to last us until the end of time itself, give or take a year.

7th of Galena 303:

Our blacksmith Tholtig has become stricken with melancholy after a poorly timed possession. Thanks of course to the human siege there have been no traders with which to barter for the necessary supplies he required.

24th of Galena 303:

In a familiar scene the melancholy Tholtig today threw himself into the magma surrounding the forges. This is starting to become a fortress tradition.

1st of Limestone 303:

Autum has at last come and we are finally out of wood. This blighted siege has gone on for too long. Were I a general I would muster an army and meet the human force head to head but as I am an architect the finer nuances of battle evade me. Still, there is no trade yet devised that a dwarf cannot turn to war. It will take time sure enough but I believe I have just the plan to put an end to this tiresome blockade.

3rd of Moonstone 303:

It has been some time since my last entry, so hectic have the last months been. The excavation of the pit is continuing at an astounding pace thanks to the drafting of additional miners. As for my preparations to dispatch the human invaders, though not yet finished they are rapidly nearing completion. Soon I will have turned the foundation itself into a weapon.

On a site note it would appear that one of our stonecrafters has been especially industrious.



1st of Obsidian 303:

At last the time has come. We have completely mined out the three uppermost levels of the foundation pit, channeling around the sides of the upper two so that they rest only on the support columns. I have also installed two floor hatches on the top level, one forming a makeshift bridge to the adjacent dried out pond bed (into the side of which I have dug stairways to the surface) and the other connecting the level with the rest of the fortress.





My plan is simple insofar as its implementation goes. I will order one of my champion wrestlers to the surface to act as a lure for the human army. Their forces will then pursue this lone dwarf down the stairs into the pond bed, across the floor hatch and onto the top level of the foundation pit whereupon the lure will withdraw into the fortress proper and the floor hatches will drop away, trapping the humans. The supports, which our engineers have kindly rigged to explode will then be made to give way, killing the accursed humans and ending this petty incursion.

This is my plan, now all that is left is the execution.

[Quor]

11th of Obsidian:

It is done. Still I am overwhelmed by the magnitude of what we have accomplished. I selected Vabôk Sarveshurrïth, one of our finest wrestlers, to lure the enemy troops into the pit. What I had not counted on however was the hesitation of the humans. It took some effort for Vabôk to goad them down from the surface into the darkness of our subterranean foundation. When they did finally descend though it was with an alarming speed. I of course ordered Vabôk to withdraw immediately but he had already been cornered by the cursed humans. Realizing that I could not risk waiting a moment longer lest the humans retreat I threw the levers connecting the floor hatches and supports.







Never before have I felt the earth tremble as it did at that moment. Our scouts on the surface reported great bellows of dust rising high into the sky from the holes above the pit. Immediately I dispatched a contingent of champions into the lowest level of the foundation even as the dust had barely begun to clear. What they found was the human army, some dead, some unconscious, all of them badly wounded and the cause of it all right within their midst: Vabôk Sarveshurrïth.




Such was the lone champion’s fortitude that even mortally wounded he continued to bludgeon the humans with his bare hand. Only when his comrades had finally put down the last of the survivors did he submit to death.

For the annihilation of the entire human army he gave his life.

13th of Obsidian 303:

I have instructed the miners to begin construction on a series of tombs adjacent to the foundation pit to serve as the final resting place for Vabôk Sarveshurrïth and any others who might give their lives in the construction of the obelisk. I’ve also begun work on mining out my own personal quarters, something which I have neglected for long enough.

19th of Obsidian 303:

It has been a year now since I took up the leadership of Ringfissures. I take pride in noting that the halls are now largely free of impediments, the farms better tended and we have a contingent of champions to take over from that solitary rhesus macaque. With only a matter of days before I am to stand aside for my successor I take pride in my administration.

1st of Granite 304:

And so it ends. I have weathered ambushes and sieges, melancholy and possessions; I have collapsed caverns beneath the feet of invaders and watched the dust billow up into the sky.

These are the times I will remember, I but ask that time remembers me.

Quor Enôrsolon
Ringfissures Foreman

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[bobothebum]

Holy.

Shit.

Epic, Quor. I would've never handled that siege as masterfully as you.