Summer 128 - Summer 129

Diary of Urist McAdrian,

2nd Hematite, 128
I arrived at Specialships today. I can recall the exhilaration of seeing the walls as I came up from the south! But then… then I came closer, and noticed some splotches of blood as I crossed the entryway. Some battle had recently been fought here, and the aftermath was clearly evident. Several dwarves were in need of medical attention. Hopefully I’ll be able to sort this mess out quickly.

No trace of Urist McAndrew can be found, though his predecessor, Urist McGreg, seems to be doing his best to manage things once again. He seemed relieved, however, that someone else had come to take the control of this situation.

My initial assessment of the condition of Specialships, and my goals for my year of her governance:
1. There are surprisingly few statues around here. I see no reason for such Spartan living conditions.
2. This area is very clearly dangerous, yet I don’t see a proper burial chamber or crypt area. This must have been an oversight on the part of my predecessors, or else they were overly optimistic.
3. Our defenses are almost entirely trap-based. While I applaud the (over)use of Dwarven engineering, I think the groundwork must be laid for a proper military.
4. Nobody has bothered to appoint a manager, which leaves setting up orders to be very inefficient. I shall address this post-haste.
5. A prior overseer had ordered nothing but plump helmets grown. I think the folk here would appreciate some variety in their food and drink, and I will endeavor to add some.
6. There is a grand, but incomplete, tower on the northern end of the fort. I don’t know its intended purpose, but I think it would make a great area from which to drop goblins and other undesirables to their doom.
7. I hate having to walk past shrubs, as I did on my way here. A grand road, leading south, shall be built for the caravans. Lined it will be statues, and all shall be in awe of Specialships!

16 Hematite, 128
Progress is slow, but I’m getting a feel for things. I’ve created some decent nobles quarters just above the main dormitory setup. Urist McGreg, for his dedication and early leadership, was given one of the 4 rooms I ordered. Our new manager is in an adjacent room. The other 2 remain open and unfurnished, though I may award them to notable dwarves soon.

22 Hematite, 128
The new manager has indeed improved our efficiency. Not having random tasks constantly and arbitrarily repeated will be wonderful. An herbalist was spooked by a badgerwoman earlier today, so in order to avoid this problem in the future, I will appoint a militia captain. One of our animal caretakers seems a likely candidate, having shown considerable martial skill.

The same herbalist also happened to step right by the poor rotting corpse of Udil Noramoltar. This reminded me of our need for a crypt, and so I’ve directed our miners to carve out a burial area on the floor beneath the main dormitory I’ve commissioned it to resemble a dwarf wielding a hammer and shield. Being directly below our main dormitory, I think it will serve to inspire the dwarves nicely.

23 Hematite
Tobul Kumakalath has been taken by a fey mood! I wonder what sudden urge she is feeling?

28 Hematite
We’ve had a wave of immigrants arrive. I drafted several into the military, who I will be housing in the tower. Also, Tobul has created a wooden amulet, menacing with magnetite.

…Whatever floats your boat, I guess?

26 Malachite
I’ve had the first coffin installed in the crypts. The dwarves are still working on smoothing out all of the rough rock, but fallen Udil Noramoltar’s partial skeleton will finally have a proper resting place.

13 Galena
A human caravan is approaching. Rather than making use of our mostly completed granite road, the barbarians decided to come from the north. However, they seem eager to trade and I am curious to know what goods they bring. Urist McGreg is standing ready to handle negotiations.

17 Galena
What horrid luck! Just as the humans arrive, we were ambushed by goblins! I ordered the gates shut almost immediately. Our scant military tried to respond, but one dwarf dove out of the way of a bolt and straight into a trap. Three craftdwarves were trapped outside the gate, and were chased down and killed. When the goblins leave, we’ll retrieve the corpses. Good thing the crypt has been finished!

8th Limestone
I have some real doubts about Urist McGreg. Despite the carnage outside and the traders patiently waiting, he spent the last month or so partying by the lion cage, and then slept for the better part of a week. These traders are getting ready to leave!

10th limestone
I finally got Urist McGreg to the trade depot. I gave the humans many of our low-value goods, and got plenty of exotic food in return, as well as some new plant seeds and some extra cloth and leather. The goblins are still around, so I made a token offering to the humans as well. Hopefully any survivors from this caravan will give these gifts to their king, and he’ll accept it as an apology for lives that I suspect will be lost during the trip.

In other news, I’ve expanded our storage rooms a fair bit, and have ordered the walls of the crypt engraved.

20 Limestone
The goblins have moved closer to the gate. This may be problematic. I’ve ordered all dwarves to remain indoors. The humans are going to make a run for it, I think.

And just as the door is about to open, migrants are arriving. The goblins will surely have a fieldday!

24 Limestone
And it all worked out! The humans lost a pikeman, but the goblins, trapped between a wave of helpless immigrants and angry humans, fell back after running out of ammo. That human took several dozen arrows to fell – long shall I remember is bravery. His merchant companions seem a bit ambivalent towards the loss – presumably their share of the wealth is now all the greater?

3 Sandstone
A farmer has been taken by a fey mood! Hopefully this will not lead to insanity.

10 Sandstone
Turns out our newest artifact is… an oaken figurine?

27 Timber
Dwarven caravan arrived today. Traded crafts for some food, cloth, thread, and other sundries. I would love to know why my predecessor asked for so much cloth. I left them with most of it, since we don’t have a textile industry here to speak of.

13 Moonstone
Things have been quiet. It’s time to make some more traps and maybe finish putting together a crack military squad. If goblins return with crossbows again, we’ll need to be ready.

20 Opal
Things continue to be calm. To help my militia train up a bit, I’m dropping trapped goblins from several stories, letting them fall, and then giving my dwarves free reign to beat the bejeezus out of them. The militiadwarves appear content, and this also happens to be freeing up some extra cages.

27 Obsidian
Multiple births this month. The dwarves have been busy, I see! We also had a dwarf possessed today! I hope he survives intact.

1 Slate
More migrants. Must be a dozen or more of them. Good thing we have plenty of open rooms. I’ve drafted a few more into our fledgling military, but I don’t know if I have time before summer hits to really get things as up to speed as they need to be, here. At least most of our iron weapons and armor will be forged.

23 Felsite
Held off goblin ambush just in time for an elven caravan to arrive. Lost a farmer who was working outside the walks, but otherwise was unharmed. However, our possessed dwarf went absolutely apeshit, and caused considerable damage, killing a speardwarf, wounding several others before being put down by the combined strength of our crossbow and melee squads. So far his body has just been left in the food storage room.

25 Felsite
Traded a large number of stone trinkets and baubles to the elves, in exchange for a king’s ransom of food and seed. Not that we need it, but it will offer the fine dwarves of Specialships more variety!

1 Hematite
And my year-long tenure is over. I managed to accomplish most of what I wanted – the military is starting to resemble something worthwhile, I’ve organized what I could, added a hospital, improved the trap defenses at our front door, and brought great wealth to Specialships. I will now retire from my active leadership, and continue to do my part by taking that managerial role that I was so happy to start initially.

To my successor:
I just started adding a battlement near the gate, and was going to fortify it. If we have one at each side of the gate, that should allow for some decent defense against goblin archers. We have more food than we could eat in several years, and a ton of booze. Perhaps it’s time to explore the caverns?

-Urist McAdrian