13 HematiteOne of our scouts reported that the human caravan was on its way. As a precaution, I am ordering the military to be put on alert and stationed near the gate. Once bitten, twice shy.
While directing my fellow dwarves in the transportation of our trade goods, two things pertaining to the defense of the fortress came to mind: The first was that the kennel, stationed beyond the fort's gate, needed to be moved to the inner courtyard. Dogs were becoming more numerous by the month in the fort, and unlike cats they could be trained for war.
The second was the small pile of crossbows in the weapons stock room and the bones littering the landscape. I had been tinkering with plans for a crossbow that required no dwarf to fire it, instead being triggered by targets crossing into its line of fire; a "sentry crossbow," if you will. This would make for as good a time as any to test it; bones would make for a very cheap, very effective source of ammunition.
19th HematiteA human has sprung from ambush!
...yes, while there were humans at the trade depot. I'm... not quite certain myself. Judging from the reactions of the traders he didn't seem to be with them, though they may have just been afraid of the goblins that appeared with him. Thanks to my foresight two dwarves - one of whom was Ducim - were on hand to mete out punishment with their macuahuitls.
No sooner was that threat dealt with than another human leading a group of goblins appeared to the south, with a goblin snatcher far to the north. Reprisal was swift and brutal.
Fortunately the merchants survived, and our trusty broker Alath Kuletdumat was able to negotiate for a not insigificant amount of meat and liquor, some cloth, leather, metal bars, two spare anvils and about 50 iron bolts, all for some kobold clothing. Wonderful creatures, kobolds; fragile, no sense of self-preservation and always dressed in the finest giant spider silk.
When queried as to what I expected of him next year, I suggested that perhaps he could bring more food and, weight willing, more metal bars. The ones they brought with them were remarkably cheap, enough so that buying them and crafting them into trade goods would grant us an incredible profit.
28th HematiteWell, I suppose that now is as good a time as any to prepare for the next wave of immigrants.
18th MalachiteStill no magma. A great deal of platinum, though.
25th GalenaSummer has been quiet. No goblin ambushes, no immigrants, the farmers have been hard at work building up our stores of booze, the miners have been busy belowground searching for the magma pipe... I have taken to building additional traps around the entrance to keep myself busy. Ducim seemed to take umbrage at this; when he spoke to me he said that I don't think that he's capable of performing his duty. I replied that while I cannot fight anywhere near as well as he can I still feel responsible for the safety of my people and am willing to do what I can to ensure they stay safe. Besides, I said, if they ever brought in archers you and your men could stay behind the doors and ambush them in close range while the stonefall traps did the work. Judging from his response ("More rubble, less trouble, da?") he seemed to understand.
1st LimestoneOne of our children has been struck by inspiration. Evidently this has happened before.
He scooped up a double armful of logs and some uncut peridots before making a beeline for the craftsdwarf workshop. Fort's full of child prodigies, I'll say that much.
8th LimestoneAban came out of seclusion this evening carrying this with him:
We appraised it at 27,600. I've a mind to dig out a room and gather up some sand to make glass display cases for all the artifacts we produce. Perhaps some other time.
9th LimestoneMerchants. Fellow dwarves this time. As soon as the call went up Ducim organized his men and set up guard near the gate, stood around for five minutes, then promptly went to bed. Perhaps he has faith that his fellow dwarves will be able to do what humans cannot. Regardless, I exchanged some goblin clothing for about a dozen assorted metal bars, some spare bits of steel armor, a few spools of thread, even more alcohol and a great deal of meat.
24th LimestoneAnother goblin ambush. They seem to be targeting our fisherdwarves; two wrestlers charged after Ablel Ninganul, chasing him down an embankment before strangling him to near to death. Ducim arrived in time to kill the goblin, but Ablel's windpipe was crushed; he was not long for this world.
This cannot continue.
It will not be a thing of beauty; I asked the masons only that they build it as fast and as securely as possible regardless of what stone they required. But once it is finished, we will have a protected source of water within our walls for both fishing and drinking.
Of course, no sooner did I order this than another goblin ambush lead by two humans made its appearance close by, many of whom were carrying crossbows. Incensed over the loss of one of our own, our champions charged through the hail of arrows and dealt with them in a manner which they deemed most appropriate.
25th TimberIt is done. Our water source and fishing hole is now safe from ambushes.
4th MoonstoneIt just dawned on me that there was a small fortune in clothing and armor waiting to be claimed just outside. Waste not want not.
It's entirely feasible at this point to base our entire economy around collecting the spoils of war of goblin sieges, trading the clothing to the merchants and melting down the unwearable iron and steel armor for later use. Though judging from the absolutely enomrous pocket of magnetite to the southwest I doubt we will ever need to rely entirely upon outside sources for iron.
20th Obsidianoh geez oh armok there's kittens in the fort who let them in they'll fucking doom us all
locusts, tiny furry locusts
23rd ObsidianWithout any prior warning Shem, one of our woodworkers, began speaking in tongues before running off and claiming a carpenter's shop, babbling about paying tribute to beings from beyond time. Though in retrospect, I suppose the entire point of sudden, gibbering madness is the suddenness of it. At least they manage to be productive.
1st GraniteSpring has come. It has been a year since I placed myself in charge, and I find myself reflecting on the state of the fort:
The fort's defenses are more than adequate, though there's certainly nothing stopping me from building more traps; word has it that goblin armies can get rather large in these parts. Food and alcohol are plentiful, and should something as disastrous as a liquor shortage occur we have a safe source of clean water. The goblins and kobolds have been kind enough to supply us with enough clothing to trade for whatever we may desire in the future, and though our military is a mere six dwarves, they have proven that any one of them is more than the equal of an entire squad of goblins. Though there have been hardships and lives lost, I believe that the fort is in far better shape now than it was before I assumed leadership.
Still no sign of the magma pipe, or the obsidian which surrounds it. I'm not a geologist, but I seem to recall that mining a series of tunnels that criss-cross the entire bottom layer of the plot is a sure-fire way to find a tube full of molten stone that goes below the earth's crust, much less passes through the layer that one just tunneled through.
As for myself, I shall step down from my leadership role (ceding it to the former expedition leader, Alath Kuletdumat) and continue working on the mechanical aspects of our fort. I feel that my sentry crossbow design can be improved somewhat: The speed of the firing mechanisms could be improved, and the bolt container could be widened into a larger hopper design to hold more ammunition. Assuming that the general construction of the ballista firing mechanism could be scaled down, its bolts could be wrapped in oily rags and fired through a flame as a slower, but more powerful supplement to the rapid-fire bolts of the crossbow; both could be combined to
(the notes degenerate into formulas, sketches and barely-legible handwriting)Fatjewels, Start of Year 4Your turn, Geo. At least I think Geo is next; someone (read: Doom) needs to get a turn order list all up ins.