Fwarf Dortress (whatever)

Eagerly hoping for migrants I readied some extra beds, just in case the influx was larger than I anticipated. It was kind of a tough call because beds take wood, which I don't have much of here, and a jaguar has been stalking in the only area with trees left. Just as my carpenter finishes up some barrels and begins building beds, migrants show up. Thank god! My 5 dwarf-run fortress was doing great, but simply lacked the dwarf-power to get any larger tasks done. I hoped for at least 5 more migrants, hopefully with advanced skills, and hopefully carrying useful goods. I got 18!

After some minor freaking out, I ordered my now Legendary miner to carve out some modest dormitories to accommodate the influx, along with a large circular bedroom/study for himself. Something befitting his legendary status. As it turned out, 23 seems to be a magic number for my fortress. I was a little short on workshops, but that was easily remedied. Tasks are getting completed at a steady pace, and all is right with the fortress. The only problem I've run into, is the incredible amount of stone I've accumulated with all my mining. I have a few peasants doing the hauling of most of the misplaced stuff cluttering hallways and workshops, but there is a so much damn stone! I figure it will take at least two years to get all this stone out of the way at the current pace. I'm tempted to just reassign everyone to stone hauling and get all this shit out of the way!

I got an alert that a dwarf was interrupted by a fire imp, and went to take a look. Somehow the dwarves can see though vertical layers of lava, and are usually frightened by a fire imp dawdling several levels down inside the magma vent. When I checked the unit screen I was worried to see the blacksmith was the one interrupted by the imp. Uh oh. He has been turning out crafts, and weapons in his workshop for a long time. If he's seeing imps in there, that could mean they've found the hole in the vent I've dug. Sure enough, not only was one imp working its way through the lava channels to the soft underbelly of my fortress, he'd brought two of his friends with him! Strength in numbers I suppose. I had no experience with fighting or military other than equipping hunters with crossbows, and having them down small game, but I guess it was time to learn. I drafted my legendary miner (ultra-strong) and my hunters, and trapper into a soldier squad and figured out how to send them to fight the imps. I had read imps could hurl fireballs, and did NOT want to get a fire started in my fortress since they're very difficult to put out. The drafted dwarves rushed into the lava access tunnels just as the imps came up the stairs to meet them. Short work was made of them and the fortress was safe for another day.

My fortress was bustling with work, and food and drink stores were high. All was well. Then a dwarven grower was taken by a strange mood. I had read about these moods and knew that he had gotten a brilliant idea in his head and was going to work single-mindedly to make his amazing craft, and attain legendary status in the process! However, if he requires materials that I don't have, he'll go crazy and likely remove his clothing and go for a dip in the magma pool. Not quite sure what a grower would make, I watched him closely. He wandered around a bit, and then claimed the craft shop. So much for my bolts getting made... He ran outside and grabbed some wood from a stockpile, and returned to his workshop. I sure hope he finds what he needs, because I don't want to have to close off that shop so he starves to death after he goes nuts. He sets out to find another item and begins wandering to a far off corner of the map to find... more wood. I guess he wanted that specific kind of tree wood, because he passed the stockpiles on his way out the entrance. He returned to the workshop and I was alerted that he had begun work on a mysterious project. Alright buddy, I'm going to have a legendary woodcrafter, and an artifact to boot for the cost of two logs of wood. A short while later he emerged victoriously and beamed with pride at his masterpiece;

A tower cap timber ring of the highest craftsdwarfship. The ring is adorned with spikes made of highland timber.

Well shit... it-- uh... it's not exactly legendary armor or a weapon of some kind, but it sounds pretty amazing. I guess...

The now-legendary woodcrafter gets to work on those bolts I ordered, and quickly completes the first batch Usul the woodcrafter has created a masterpiece! Oh REALLY? I imagine wooden bolts made by a legendary woodcrafter would fetch a high price with the traders, and hardly take up any weight! Awesome.

My fortress is still full of stone (but that problem is slowly being remedied), and I've yet to come up against any significant challenge (knock wood (maybe)) so I'm trying to think of an elaborate project for my dwarves to work on. Something along the lines of a large tower or an underwater dining hall made of glass. Or perhaps I should prepare for the inevitable titan or dragon attack. Hell, I'll probably just pull the wrong lever and screw it all up. :)

In other news, my steam trap didn't work since steam seems to only rise one level. I'll have to rework my plans. Possibly requiring water be poured over an area to seep down into grates rather than the mixture taking place over two vertical levels.