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No, I want to see the fort cave in on itself naturally (may be a little boring but the fortress goes on longer.)

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Total Members Voted: 23

[Splint]

1st Granite, 228

Happy new year journal! Turns out the frost giants wanted to trade! Turns out they rely on trade to ge things they can't get themselves; they had all kinds of leather and cloth from silver xelic and elven lands, a few miscellaneous metals (the ingots in question having the symbol of a nearby Dyansauri nation,) but what I was most interested in was their weaponry. I heard tell of the Dread Arms of the titans of the tundras, but gods damn! We bought one of them to place in a weapon trap, just to see what they can do.

Oh and did I mention these guys are dicks? The guards went and killed two hamster men for fun. Even I wouldn't do something like that. Anyway, one barracks building is almost finished. Just need some windows and a finished second story.

12th Granite, 228

Frost giants packed it in and took off today, and the windows were finished for my squad's barracks. Going to see about getting Thor's squad set up next and getting Firecrazy's squad on full-time training. Anvil said she could make something much more effective for them to use in battle, some kind of big-ass crossbow called an arbalest, or some such nonsense.

22nd Granite, 228

-Once again an added slip of paper is glued in; Selore's penmanship appears to have improved greatly-

Tulon Tomebrains, Female, Great Armorer, Blacksmith, and Metalcrafter.
Dodok Speechlesstorches, Male, Husband of Tulon, Adminstrator and Hammerdwarf.
Crimson  Dunespaddle, Female, Daughter of Dodok and Tulon, 10.
Chryso  Beardedinks, Male, Son of Dodok and Tulon, 9
Tetra  Amazedrags, Male, Competant Marksdwarf and Great Metalcrafter.
Jaguar Steelearly, Male, Great Animal Trainer
Mica Mountaincobalt, Female, Novice Metalcrafter.
Tun Letterclasp, Female, Soaper and Great Glazer. Would make fine Warrior.
Nautilus Smithmeshes, Male, Husband of Tun, Great Marksdwarf.
Citrine  , Female, Great Animal Caretaker, Would make fine Warrior.
Doren Stillchanneled, Male, Husband of Citrine, Great Stonecrafter, proclaims skill with starmetal -What the hell is Starmetal? Need to ask Lizard to find out; Selore seems to like her and I haven't had the time to ask her myself.-
Onget Palacestrong, Male, Great Wood Burner.
Mar Machinerinses, Female, Wife of Onget, Great Trapper with still in mining.
Malfol Silverlimb, Male, Great Clothier.
Prase Lancedseared, Male, Great Weaver.
Rakust Sectcrafted, Female, Wife of Prase, Great Miller.
Longland Wavecrystal, Male, Great Glassmaker
Garnier Soakedbronze, Female, Wife of Longland, Great Stoneworker
-From here the list ends, with a note from Selore-

TOO MANY!

25th Granite, 228

Put in for some beds, armor stands, all that good stuff in the barracks. We also have a fuck-all huge surplus of people at the moment and not enough work for them all. Both Selore and I have resolved to give up on taking down names unless someone she deems of note crops up (Soldiers or metalworkers for example.) We now stand at 111 Dwarves.

I allowed Nautilus and Jaguar to go on a hunt as well. As valuable as their skills are, I just don't know what else to do with all these people... I know that the High Elves will be in Gravel lands by the end of summer so I'll be sending a letter with them to have any further migrations canceled. We're having enough trouble dealing what we have!

11th Slate, 228

Ferro, Dreamerghost, and Myself have all been named as Swordmasters in the eyes of our peers... I feel... Honored. I'm sure Thor's squad will be seen as hammerlords before long.

I've decided to OK Lizard's request for a speardwarf squad as well. Titus will put some shields together and Anvil's just put out the first of four spears for the squad. Once all our construction work is dealt with, they'll be able to begin training. Meng, Eral, and Doren will be her subordinates and she's gone with “Goannas” as the Squad's name; says it's some kind of lizard.

Speaking of which, I'm going to go back through ou work force and see if I can't get a couple more miners and find a good spot to strip out more building materials. I'd use the orthoclase, but... Ugh, it's just such an ugly color... Like, jeeze I dunno. Muddy piss or something.

20th Slate, 228




That wood burner Zulban started shouting some incoherent nonsense and he made a fancy toy hammer. Jerk used some platinum in it too. But, it has Ebea all angry from when it died so that's a plus!

5th Felsite, 228

Dragonfly is now a legal adult, with all the privileges and obligations that entails. He's been assigned to the Axedwarf unit. Ilral and Solon, our manager and bookkeeper respectively, have also finally been moved up into administration, across from Zacen's accommodations.

21th Felsite, 228

It appears the high elves are back for trading, and with a much needed shipment of lumber to boot! We're all going to be on alerte, as I'm sure we'll have unwelcome vistors hot on their heels.

-

Yup, found a dead bugbear jammed in a weapon trap.

23rd Felsite, 228

Normal hippies showed up. Had a minor construction accident as well. No deaths, but the main gate got busted and a few people got knocked out. No worries though.

28th Felsite, 228

Found a dead human and two more bugbears in the traps. One of the knife-ears says the human looked like some local werebeast that's been harassing caravans and livestock on the fringes of Dyansauri land and up until now, their patrols missed him. Guess those traps were one hell of an investment! We've also finished minting the coin to pay the buyer back for that coal shipment.

Plus by year's end, we should have soap! But before that the barracks still need windows, and the tertiary gates need to be installed in a gatehouse. And fortifications need to get finished on the upper barracks too...

19th Hematite, 228

Finally out of coal to make more forge fuel. Oh, and Zacen lost the mayoral election last week. Evidently she won on the grounds of being a one of our Forgemasters and made her first mandate: She wants raven beaks. I had to explain to Selore that Raven Beaks are a kind of hammer, not actual raven beaks.

The girl means well, but it does get tiring at times having to explain things some of the children picked up on easily to her.


So, we got another junk artifact, a new mayor, and I'm sick of tracking migrants. We're sitting on close to a hundred and I doubt we'll ever get that many claims. New squad founded, as per Lizard's request though as it stands building has made her too valuable to put on training just yet. Anyway, there's another update! Glad to have all you guys on board still!

[Mephansteras]

Could we get some shots of the fortress? I'm curious to see how it's expanded out.

[DreamerGhost]

Could I get name of trapbait werehuman? I plan to write a short story with him.

[Splint]

The werewhatever's name was Nithim Ocdausu. I dunno what he was because he transformed back to a human without being discovered and got mulched ona trap.

[Monitor Lisard]

"From the personal log of Lizard, construction worker:

We've close to finishing our main barracks - windows are still being constructed, but we have almost completed the building itself. I also got a short letter from the overseer - he informed me that I now command a squad of three speardwarves called "Goannas". Sounds great, doesn't it? We had discussed the equipment of the squad. He said that it would be a good idea to use tower shields rather then round ones, and I agreed. Had to look through history books to find out how were that tipe of infantry called. Hastati, actually. He also said that he would rather use my engineering skills during this times. I understand his reluctance - the fortress has been expanding, and, although now we have many new workers, we still need more experiensed foredwarves. Anyway, I'm ready to start training with my new squadmates.

In another news, somedwarf wasted another good chunk of bauxite on a toy axe. If only the general knew about it... There is no point in returning to the mountainhome right now - the valuable materials are either being wasted or used in the local construction works.

About the construction. I tried to teach Selore some useful crafts, including masonry and architecture. Good thing Splint considers orthoclase "too plain" .After hours of churning out tons of mediocre-quality crafts, she finally managed to construct a superiorly-made figurine of her boss. She used chalk for that one, so it would make a fine gift. She was also interested in metalcrafting, so I asked Anvil to give Selore some lessons. Obviously, our best weaponsmith knows better about that stuff."

A small note appears to be scribbled at the bottom of the page:

"Starmetal. Denser than iron, probably steel also. Rare (small clusters)? Used for alloys. May be alloy itself. More info needed.
Nevermind, just the tribal word for adamntine. It's rather interesting though, where did they find said metal. Did they barter with trading caravans?"

[Splint]

Starmetal is actually a term I went with as a tribal term for adamantine. meaning that guy has strand extracting skill.

[Monitor Lisard]

Should I rewrite the note or this delusion can be used as "intended"? Like, Splint asks Lizard what the hell is starmetal, she searches it in her mineralogy books, finds nothing and asks Selore.

[Splint]

Whichever you prefer is fine, just wanted to give a heads up. I always imagine tribals referring to it as starmetal, though why exactly I dunno.

[DreamerGhost]

Spoiler: Werebeast short part 1 (click to show/hide)

I had received a most peculiar note today. It was delivered by an arrow, while I walked patrol near the entrance to the fortress. I looked towards the walls and trap lined gates, but there were no one in sight. As I tucked the note under my armor I looked around for other dwarves, in case the note was personal. And personal it was.
To DreamerGhost
I see you have found quite a nice place for yourself. I have seen caravans leaving so delightfully happy about the trade, and rows of migrants going here. I could hear people talking and warriors parading around with masterwork weapons. I’d be interested to see things up closer, make a more personal assessment of this wealth. Surely, you would show your luck to an old friend? I’ll wait for you inside, in the storage rooms.
Nithim Ocdausu
With a curse I rushed off towards the stockpile floor. Nithim was a crafty bastard. He wasn’t a cursed werebeast who had no control over himself as many thought. No, he was a shapeshifter, similar to myself. Although there was a major difference between us. Where I could create anything temporarily, he could change to but one form, alas, for however long he wanted to. Also, he knew that I would protect him, try as best as I could to keep him out of trouble, for if he got caught, he would surely drag me down with him. Spiteful bastard, he could floor me with a single shout to the dwarves. I could try to fight him, but if he turned, then he could hold out long enough to draw crowds to all the commotion and then shout out against me. No, I’ll have to play his game for now. Storage room was thankfully empty. Empty of dwarves, I mean. There were enough boxes to build a castle or two.  Many places to hide, even if you are a human. Dwarves always built their fortresses with large enough corridors and tall enough rooms for any race to feel comfortable in. It was all made this way that they could have tourists and not run into problems later when walls were too close for a human to pass. If architects were incredibly bad, you couldn’t even make them wider, because there were rooms only few inches of stone away. And Nithim was always a good sneak. As I cursed silently after accidently falling over a random pile of rock crafts, something lifted up my helmet and I felt a hit directed to my head. It took all my willpower to not start shouting at Nithim who was standing behind me, my helmet in hand.
-The hell you are doing here, you old weasel. Did you get bored of taunting those lizards?
-Nice to see you too, you rotten idealist. So you’re a dwarf now. Last I heard, you were leading goblins to a more civilized future. What happened?
-An axe to the face happened.  And how did you recognize me?
Nithim smiled. –As much as you try, you can’t pretend to be a true dwarf. Especially when playing a guard. You stand there like a statue.  No spiting, no snoring, no milling around, no beer in hand. Also, on night shifts you could see so much more than a common dwarf soldier. Those that can see that far in the dark already have severe cave adaptation, standing guard in the sun would leave them dizzy, and they would be spilling their lunch all over the place. Also, I sneaked in and checked the records. Your habit of using same name every time is really silly.
My next wave of curse seemed to be rather hilarious for him. After I stopped cursing, and he stopped laughing, he finally revealed why he was here. Coins. Anvil and the rest of our blacksmiths were minting coins to repay for some coal shipment I had never heard about. And he wanted them. Way to the forges was closely guarded, however, and he needed someone to help him sneak past. By schedule, all soldiers were appointed to be guards in key positions on each fourth day, so that there would be plenty of time to hone our skill. My next shift would be down in the forges. That was the time to strike.

Happy Armokmass to all.

[Splint]

Anodder lovely contribution! Much appreciated, and Merry Armokmas to you too man.

[Splint]

5th Malachite, 228

The two young lads Dragonfly and Thikut have come of age and are now ready to serve. I've assigned them to a recent arrival to the Squad designated the Ripperjacks. We can have one of the surplus citizens fill out the Wolf Spiders. I'll have to go over the stocks and make sure they have enough swords handy, and once a barracks is complete they'll begin their training immediately.

We've also put it to a vote and since it was Zacen's idea to dig in here, she'll be the one to represent us when the time comes to appoint fortress nobility. Also a humorous note is Morgan's first mandate was met by Morgan herself! Evidently she was just looking for an excuse to make some raven beaks without Anvil yelling at her for wasting metal.

I've also decided that we'll need chains built ahead of time to avoid undue injury and went ahead and asked one of the smelters to make use of the piles of tetrahedrite we have laying in storage. I've also found we're short on shields and swords, as well as armor. I'll have to ask Solon what we have in stock so we can correct this.

28th Malachite, 228

I've reminded Selore to cease taking down names, and only record arrivals of great workers and those dwarves with military skills. If it isn't obvious journal, more mouths have arrived. We should probably start looking into establishing a farm but we're not exactly hurting for food thanks to ample imports.

-a small note is attached, clearly written by Selore-

1 Great engineer
1 Macedwarf (perhaps suitable for training peacekeepers)
1 Great Forgemaster (Weapon, armor, and furnishings)
1 Great Starmetal Extractor
1 Great Alchemist (A useful mentor to the dwarf Dezz)

Total new arrivals: 13

2nd Galena, 228

Checked over the stocks and the Ripperjacks should have some fine steel blades ready by tomorrow. Anvil's an amazing artisan and I've never seen such blades come out in a matter of hours; Just a matter of getting a bit of steel made.

We're also still hard at work sealing up the below ground sections of the fortress; Don't want another rot spewing.... Thing, crawling up out of the depths.

10th Galena, 228

One of the new arrivals from last month is one beast of a marksdwarf! He's already brought in two giant sparrows! Guess we could always use the bones for training ammo and more meat never hurts.

18th Galena, 228

Human wagons are trundling along towards the fortress, so I sent word for stuff to be brought up and for the troops to be on the watch for any suspicious movement; goblins and the like love to make their attacks during trade season. Also made sure to have the coins brought up.

19th Galena, 228



The damned once-dwarves attacked at high noon today, evidently fed up with waiting in the heat; While it didn't make their intrusion any less unwanted, I can understand them getting uppity. It's so hot out there that much of the grass was already dead from the heat. They announced their presence with an attempt on Grimmash's life, and the shot missed him by mere inches I'm sure!

Their first salvo of bolts missed us all completely as those on station (I had gone to get lunch after informing the others of the caravan and Ferro was picking up a new shield,) rushed out to meet the enemy. According to accounts, Maskwolf dodged two shots while Thor batted one bolt right out of the air!



Despite slamming into the wall of a dried pond, when the enemy sergeant came at him his swing was wild and glanced off the hammerdwarf's chitinplate cloak and Maskwolf returned the favor by outright shattering the attacker's lower leg with a well aimed blow from his hammer while Thor bashed him in the back from behind. Dreamerghost apparently went into a full on martial trance, his movements becoming disturbingly fluid as he ducked and dodged every bolt fired at him.

By the time he and Mad Bomber had gotten into the fray though, the enemy sergeant was good as dead according to them: Maskwolf had shattered his axe-hand and Thor broke both of his legs above the knee with that skullcracker of his. The poor sod must've been to weighed down by that heavy coat of plates he was wearing. Dreamerghost put the traitor out of our misery with a cut to the head. Evidently the fool neglected to wear a helmet.



Unfortunately, some of the stray bolts exchanged by the chaos dwarves and off-duty Wolverines resulted in Titus taking a bolt to his leg. The pain was simply too great and he only bade it two hobbled steps befor he blacked out.



Thor, upon hearing someone shout “Titus is hit! Someone get him out of here!” then proceeded to quickly charge out of the pond and take the leg out from under an aggressor and smash his head in, then moving on to another while he was reloading. Mad Bomber meanwhile, simply plowed through the one Thor had bypassed, caving in her skull and continuing on without so much as stopping.






They all leapt on the last survivor, and none of them are really sure who got the kill.

Trade is underway now, and I told everyone first come first serve on the attire of the dead traitors, provided they wash them first.

1st Limestone, 228

Autumn's here, and with it came a weaver shouting some broken combination of elvish, dwarven, and dyansauri. We'll have to throw up some clothing shops for him.  Bouth every bit of food the caravans had, but I may need to check and make sure we got all their booze too.

22nd Limestone, 228



Ferro finally named his blade. The Rasps of Thinning. I think I can agree to the thinning aspect of it. That weaver took over the clothier shop we tossed together in a hurry but just keeps shouting things and mumbling about silk, a commodity that while we can get at it isn't really worth doing so. Hopefully he can hold out until a caravan from home arrives.

Thor and Mad Bomber have also been named Hammerlords, and I think they earned the title after that clash with the chaos dwarves!

1st Sandstone, 228

A chaos dwarf almost made it out of the fortress with a child, a little boy named Urvad! Maskwolf ran the thief down, as the bastard slipped by me when I swung on him and with myself and Mad Bomber the three of us cornered the traitor and severed him from this plane.

17th Sandstone, 228

Titus got out of the hospital the other day, all bandaged up and with a walking stick. Parson says there wasn't any permanent damage and that Titus is one tough old bastard. Put in an order for the remaining armor stands and weapon racks we need in the barracks topside, and the Wolf Spiders can begin training. Adil's constantly tending to Anvil's life work, making sure it's sharp and oiled and shiny, so I think The Celebrated Soul is calling to her to fight. Frankly she seems much less opposed to it than she used to.

Most of the fortress is almost sealed and safe at long last, and we now have a proper equivalent to a gatehouse, just need the mechanisms and two more gates to solidify our holdings aboveground. I also need to look into securing a safe water source underground for Selore; I don't want her wandering around topside to get water. She tried to use the wells but evidently no matter how many times Lizard tells her to use the rope and pulley to bring water up she still gets her head stuck in the opening. I don't even know how she manages that but she does.



19th Sandstone, 228



Mistem, that weaver I told you about before journal? Well, he lost it and now he's running around stripping off his clothes and blabbering on about clouds and silk and a whole host of other nonsense, and he attempted to have Selore give him a piggy back ride shouting something about horses with stripes the whole while. He's still running around giggling like a loony despite her tossing him into a wall. Guess we'll have to get started on a cemetery...


So there's another update! Chaos dwarves took a swing at us and the worst we got was one wounded carpenter who didn't even suffer any permanent damage. The barracks are largely finished (next update will have screenies of them) and complete with fortifications, we sent off the 2000 gold coins in the gold bin as I said we would and I found out at least in centuries past, we had a necromancer for a general.

Anyway, all is well, we have burgeoning youths ready to fill the ranks, new workers, and all that good stuff!

[4maskwolf]

"Ssss... Sir..."

Thor looked away from where the rookies were sparring.
"Yes, Maskwolf?"
Maskwolf's eyes seemed locked on his feet, but when he spoke his voice was firmer, "Did we have to kill them, sir?"
Thor frowned, "What do you mean?"
"Well, sir... couldn't we capture them, or injure them and let them escape, or do something like that?"
"Would you prefer to let them come back to fight us again?"
"No, sir, it's just..."
"It's just what, soldier?"
"What if they have a family back at home.  What if they are only fighting us because their leaders command it? What if all they want to do is go home?"
Thor sighed, "Look, soldier.  Try not to think about those things.  The only thing you need to think about is getting back to your family.  Every battle, keep that locked in your head: I need to return to my family tonight.  There may be some of them who are like that, but they aren't going to stop because of it.  Nor can you.  Just remember your family, how they need you to return after the battle.  That should get you through the battle.  Do you understand?"
Maskwolf looked up and nodded.
"Good.  Now, go home.  You can leave early today.  Just make sure that you don't flake out in the middle of battle.

[Splint]

Make me feel guilty for those poor choas dwarves why don't ya?

[Monitor Lisard]

"From the personal log of Lizard, construction worker and etnographist:

"Have you heard the latest news, my scaled sister?" - Today Selore seemed a bit more talkative then usual. She must have been very embarassed after that well incident - after I managed to get her head out of that opening, Selore looked pretty ashamed. Ever seen a blushing tiger? Me neither, because her face is actually covered with thick fur. Anyway, she came into my room today and, after a moment of hesitation, sat on the chair next to my bed.
"What's the matter?" - I asked, putting my sociology book on the desk.
"We got ambushed by a pack of the broken ones. They were armed with gear bows, but the guards quickly dispatched them." - Selore grinned: "You dwarves are brave hunters and warriors."
"Excuse me, ambushed by what?" - I thought I misheard the word. The tigerwoman gave me a surprised look.
"The broken ones. You haven't heard about them?" - she furrowed her brow: "You call them... mmmur... Dark dwarves. Or chaos dwarves."
"Oh, I know already. Yeah, the chaos dwarves. Have you met them before?" - I asked her.
"Not really." - she responded: "But the shaman told us stories about them back when I was a cub."
"Stories? Could you probably tell me some?"
She looked doubtful. I knew the tribals tend to keep their myphology to themselves, even if they are asked about usual bedtime stories.
"Well, I think I can. Follow me. I need some herbs for the ritual." - She got up and walked to the door. We made our way to the storage room where she grabbed a bundle of blade weed, a earthenware plate and a flint. Then we returned to my room. She sat on the floor, put a plate in front of her, placed a bit of blade weed on it and lit it. I quickly grabbed my notebook and a pair of quills.

"Listen closely, the Scaled One" - she said in a singsong: "I shall tell you the story of the ancient times, when the spirit of Great Tiger wandered the earth, and when colossal beasts struggled for power.

Once there was a dwarven tribe, rich and strong
They knew not only copper and iron, but also bronze and steel
Their warlord ruled the earth and lead them to victory
They grew crops, and built the cities
Gold and gems covered their clothes
But the avarice grew, their minds were engulfed by greed
They dug through the earth, and they mined too deep,
They revealed the ancient evil, known as the Whirlwind.

The evil spirits tore their souls apart and assimilated them,
The dwarves turned into monsters
They did not die, but neither they lived
Their leaders accepted The Whirlwind as their master
Now these dwarves wander the earth, seeking for blood.
Childern cry, and peasants desperately flee, and warriors grab their arms.
All shall beware the broken ones!"

I wrote down every word of her. Of course, it is a myph, but the information can still be useful. What did the dwarves find so deep? Probably admantine. Ancient stories say that adamantine veins lead straight to hell, but... Molten rock? Maybe it was something other?"

[Splint]

21st Sandstone, 228

More migrants, 16 apparently and none really notable save a few with past military training. Selore told me there were two mace and an axedwarf mixed in with two marksdwarves. With this batch I had one of the summer migrants, a peasant named Erith, take on the role of Captain of the Guard. His squad has been designated the Stoneflies and the squad members under the separate rank of Peacekeeper.

Unfortunately this also means that the Wolf Spiders will have to wait on getting to see battle, as Adil has been pending imprisonment from when Endok was mayor and will be jailed for 76 days. She was upset of course when Iteb (one of the two new peacekeepers,) showed up and demanded she go with him to the prison, but better jail time than a beating.

17th Timber, 228

Vamarii on the way here, so the home caravan is not far off. The stand and rack orders were finished before Sandstone was out, now we just need to finish the windows for the barracks.

20th Timber, 228

Fucking xelics. Jumped the ass end of the vamari caravan. The two foxes running reguard fought hard, but the spearfox didn't survive the fight. However she did take two with her, and we killed two ourselves, though the enemy sergeant and two others escaped. One our way back, Ferro ran into a second squad, a mess of hammerbugs lead by a macebug who had blundered into a trap. Damned thing was leaking  ichor and vomit everywhere when Ferro put him down. The rest of the bugs scattered with their sergeant cut in half and missing an arm, so we'll remain on watch until trade is concluded.

22nd Timber, 228

No activity for two days' worth of patrols. We're gonna pack it in.

10th Moonstone, 228



Bought every drop of booze and every bit of meat and cave lobster the caravans had! Selore seems to love cave lobster. Oh, and someone has been acting... Funny. A stonecrafter went tearing through the fortress screaming about something, what though I have no clue.

And Mistem finally stopped blabbering about nonsense and died of thirst. We found him hiding in Selore's tipped over basket clutching a severed xelic head (When the hell did he go topside?)

By sundown, Doren, the stonecrafter, had gathered a bunch of crap and begun work on something.



21st Moonstone, 228



Another useless bauble, but hey, better than Doren ending up dead right?

26th Moonstone, 228

The Hammerheads had to respond to a distressing call today... Stodir the Hunter and Soaper, was struck down by his quarry. They heard him shouting bloody murder and rushed out thinking it was another kidnapper, only to be greeted by a horrible sight of Stodir being torn to shreds.



They got there quickly enough to kill three offending bugs, and upon inspection Stodir was more beaten to hell and full of busted bones than anything. May need to put together a traction bench. A bowyer named Rith was the one who cam out and dragged the mangled soaper to safty.

11th Opal, 228

Monitor's mother seems a bit frantic. Evidently she can't find the little tyke anywhere, but I'm sure her kid's here somewhere. There's 130 something dwarves in this place after all.



Oh, and Morgan just made the most outrageous demand this place has seen yet.



I am NOT risking lives on an expedition for some fancy blue crap we don't need!

12th Obsidian, 228

Finally found out what the fuck Starmetal is. Lizard was trying to tell me for weeks but the general commotion and all the construction work left little time for either of us to talk. Just some backwoods tribal term for adamantine; probably kobolds or something seeing spires and ripping out loose bits before getting scared off by the underground wildlife.

Oh, and hobgoblins are here to trade, so chances are that means it's ambush season again. But, we're starting to run short on drink and I need to consult our bookkeeper on how many spare barrels we have so that can be corrected.

Oh, and it was brought to my attention that nobody fucking buried Mistem, or even bothered digging out a funerary space. I already have my hands full training and constantly having to look over reports at the end of the day all piled up by my bedside, to say nothing of Selore's constant running around keeping tabs on things for me with Lizard's help; but even they can't be everywhere at once and they didn't even know where the hell Mistem's corpse went after we moved it out of my room.

20th Obsidian, 228

Frost giants won't be trading with us this year. An ambush party of goblins apparently. Found two dead pack animals, their attendant merchants, and two dead goblins.



Of course it'll be blamed on us, I'm sure. So we'll help ourselves to the wreckage.

21st Obsidian, 228







10th Granite, 229

Fortifications are almost finished and the Wolverines now have a barracks to call their own.



They'll be on full-time training soon enough. I also checked in with Erith about Adil's prison term and found she got out around new years, and has been melting down stray bolts and arrows. We've also been picking dead goblins out of our weapon traps and a row have been installed behind the main gate, to deter future kidnappings. Yes, kidnappings. We did a headcount and not counting Mistem, we're missing Monitor and there's no sign of the kid anywhere. Clearly a snatcher slipped through after we moved into our barracks.

14th Granite, 229

I've ordered the cemetery be expanded and once we run out of pyhillite, to start using orthoclase for coffins and slabs. The others are all understandably unsettled by my orders for a cemetery this large, but I can't help but feel like something horrible is going to happen and I'd rather we have somewhere to quietly stuff everyone before we start to dying like animals.



15th Granite, 229

Or maybe not. Nearly the whole fortress seems composed of that lovely light gray stone, so as much as it pains me to do so, we'll have to bury Mistem in a wooden casket. We need the stone for other things and more important workers. I've also told the troops we'll all be receiving metal sarcophagi, in the event of something unfortunate happening. I'm going to put in for enough steel to be made for each sergeant and myself to receive a steel one, while all other soldiers will receive an iron one. I'll also make sure our forgemasters all receive similar burial accommodations should something claim them as well. They deserve that much.

21st Granite, 229

The troops seemed overjoyed to hear I was putting in for copper flasks for all our soldiers. Good to see them all in such high spirits from something so simple!

9th Slate, 229

Apparently my “Stop filing migration papers to Carryscar” request went unheeded. More migrants arrived.

- Once more Selore's writing is found on a note attached with a bit of thread-

1 Great surgeon and wound dresser
1 Great marksdwarf (directed to Sergeant Firecrazy)
1 Great leatherworker
1 Great war machine engineer
1 Great Armorer
1 Novice marksdwarf (Directed to Sergeant Firecrazy)

Total New arrivals: 12

10th Slate, 229

Begun making coffins for some of the valuable workers. The doctors and miners are getting first dibs on stone coffins. Oh, and someone found Mistem's bones tucked under her husband's bed. So she's finally been laid to rest.

14th Slate, 229

I talked it over with the Forgemasters and have resolved to petition for us to build an official branch of the Gravel Metalworks Guild. Considering our impressive number of exceptionally skilled metalworkers, I think the king and the guild council will approve. Anvil of course has been selected as head of the local guild should we be successful.

12th Felsite, 229

High elves inbound, so that means it's “bandits try to wreck caravans” season again.





Yup. Caravan wrecking season again. It's the fucking bugs again, this time though they aren't fucking around. I poked out to see who was there, and they're riding all manner of critters, from camels and giant thrips to alligators and fucking wooly mammoths.

The elves are coming along the brook and are trying to haul ass into safety, and we're closing the east and west gates. Knowing these arrogant fucks they'll end up charging right through the traps and if nothing else we'll be dealing with significantly weakened opposition.

Once more, may Amas watch over us and see us to victory. Because this is gonna get ugly.


Danananaaaaaaaaa! Another update for my adoring audience! Seems we have visitors. Anyway, we had some minor trading hiccups, some goblins died, the new year came, and now we're under seige by, who'da guessed, VIOLET XELICS! And it looks like they really don't plan on fucking around this time. Also, mistem evidently died and rotted to bones in her apartment. So... my bad on that one.

Also, as requested, here is a quick go over of the fort!


Main entrance complete with finished barracks space! Look at dem windows! Luxurious!


The gatehouse, now fully built and having a regular gatekeeper moved in. The statues consist of dwarves, hamsters, and the rise of two chaos dwarves and a xelic as enemies of the fortress. Said enemies are also very dead now.


Our current industrial heart, also including Anvil's abode.


Administration. Not pictured: Zacen's unfinished accomodations.

And below, is the residential area. Fairly basic, and includes the hospital. There's a shortage of doors and such, but nearly everyone has a bed.









So there's another update! Hope you guys enjoy!