Datenerith Entry 32: Dealing With Tragedy

It is the aftermath of the Calamity of Ware, and morale is incredibly, incredibly low.

Might have something to do The Hall of the Honored Dead needing a second wing all of a sudden.

Overall, casualties came to thirty-four dead dwarves, and countless more wounded. Rakust and his small team of doctors, Sigun, Bembul, and Stodir, have been working pretty much around the clock. There isn't a whole lot they can do. Wounds were washed (thank Armok I learned to make soap!), and wounds sutured with cloth and thread, but there's a lot of motor damage that has permanently left several dwarves with limps and impaired grips. What dwarves didn't die from the rot were treated on a traction bench. That means amputation.

Among the dead counted Zasit, the Captain of the Guard, and the two Zuglars.

We've got thirty-four dead. That's thirty-four sons, daughters, husbands, wives, and friends. We didn't have ten caskets ready to go, let alone thirty. That means a lot of dwarves had to suffer the rotting of their loved ones before they could be properly buried. Throw in some amputations, and a miasma that covered nearly the entire fortress for days, and you've got a pretty unhappy population.

Oh yeah, there was a lot of that.

Muthkat was only one of dozens of tantrums I've had to deal with, but his was the worst. In his rage, he choked to death Bembul Subilzasit, one of the fortresses doctors. For his crime he was sentenced to 201 days imprisonment. Personally I think he deserved a visit from Solon Beridos, but, it wasn't my decision to make. Instead he got to be roommates with Kol the Vampire. Half a year face-to-face with one of those is punishment enough, I guess.

To improve morale, I had Mistem the Cook go back to making lavish meals, and I've ordered Udib to make more statues that I plan on installing by the main staircases. I've also given the entire militia a break from training. I'm worried about having a bunch of unskilled recruits defending the fort, after the death of the melee squad, but the last thing I need now is a bunch of dwarves grumbling over military duty. Hopefully the tantrums will die down, the dwarves of Datanerith will return to some semblance of sanity, and we can put this whole mess behind us.

Well, I guess that kinda shit was inevitable too.