Spring has arrived, and though my grudge with Evan goes back for some time, I will admit that he has worked wonders with the place. His are large shoes to fill - I hope that I am dwarf enough to fulfill the task.
As I strode about the hallowed halls of Phantomdaggers, attending to some minor administrative tasks, I occasionally found myself pausing to wipe a tear from my eye. Such is the beauty of my home, and the engravings of the dwarf and dwarves that bedeck her great halls.
2 Granite
During a routine excavation, Iden Cogesmul struck raw adamantine. Most precious of all the metals. Gods be praised.
9 Granite
A goblin assault approaches, no doubt intent on seizing our newly mined adamantine. I sounded the call to battle stations immediately, and ordered all dwarves indoors. Our will is strong, and our traps are deadly. We shall prevail.
12 Granite
The goblin force consists primarily of spearmen and wrestlers. We stand ready.
13 Granite
I needn't have worried. Benjamin and Evan have formed a crack fighting force. Our wrestlers and swordsdwarves tore through the creatures - our marksdwarves didn't even have time to get into position. Two more for the labyrinth.
Meanwhile, Medtob Stelidatir has taken to muttering to himself. I note that he has amassed a stockpile of obsidian, rubicelles, steel bars, lizardman bones, and adamantine. I eagerly await results.
18 Granite
Medtob has created Eddudnikot, an adamantine earring menacing with spikes of lizardman bone and engraved with an image of two wild strawberries. I think it's time I sat down and had a talk with that boy.
20 Granite
An olmman has somehow escaped from the depths of the chasm. I have dispatched The Bent Tools to investigate, and they have dealt with the threat swiftly and decisively.
22 Granite
The olmman incident has led me to an inescapable truth - we need more marksdwarves. I have set up a cross-training gym, and assigned four layabout peasants to run themselves ragged.
26 Granite
More migrants have arrived, and with them a baron, or should I say, a baroness. (Rawr.) Zimehurst is now a barony! Thrilling. I must scramble about trying to accomodate the newcomers.
1 Slate
The newcomers are beginning to settle in - there are a great many of them. Among their number are a tax collecter and a Hammerer, who gives me the chills. I have the opposite feeling regarding the baroness, who is quite fetching.
19 Slate
I have seen to the Baroness' every need, providing her with a solid gold table from which to dine and a matching obsidian desk and chair for her study. The other nobles can wait their damn turns.
21 Slate
The Baroness has forbidden the export of all pig tail items. I passed her in the hall and complimented her on the wisdom of the decision, pointing out that pig-tail ropes were vital to the defense of the fortress and brought out the natural color of her eyes. She glanced at me strangely as she strode past.
25 Slate
I have commisioned engravings for the wall of her bedroom - I made it clear to Benjamin that there must an image of Eshtan Twisttome striking down Smunstu Fiendprices the goblin during Kok Sox, The Assaults of Whipping. I do hope she likes it.
Unbeknonwst to the Baroness, I have also commisioned the carving of a secret peephole in her bedroom. I have instruted Benjamin to be discreet - I'm sure she won't notice.
1 Felsite
The Baroness has deposited her right mitten just outside her tomb. I wonder if she is trying to tell me something.
7 Hematite
The nobles are finally satisfied with their living arrangements - the Baroness has deposited her left mitten as well. This is somewhat troubling, but examination of her dreams reveals nothing.
12 Hematite
The human caravan has arrived. Evan muttered something about "flooding the bastards". He's quite mistaken - the flooding problem from the underground lake has been dealt with, for the time being.
13 Hematite
We traded some cheap trinkets for tons upon tons of rare metals, and, perhaps more importantly, lumber and barrels. Quite a haul. Decent folk, these humans.
14 Hematite
A fisherman evaded a goblin snatcher, so I dispatched The Bent Tools. He made no attempt to escape them - it was if he had already accepted his fate. I almost felt bad as Athel Mafolsil split the goblin's skull with his hammer.
17 Hematite
Evan has been re-elected. The mayor is dead, long live the mayor.
18 Hematite
Kubuk Savotoddom, or "Stoodcloisters" to his owner, Stukos Giginkeskal, has been caught in a goblin ambush. I mobilized the troops as quickly as I could, but it was too late. In my rage and grief, I sent the brave defenders of Phantomdaggers charging towards the goblins, but this of course played right into their hands. Eshtan Astelrigoth was cut down by crossbow fire before the foul creatures were destroyed. I weep for him, and for us all. Truly, he was the best of us. The Free Lancers, the elite wrestlers, now number five.
12 Malachite
I have conceived of a defensive structure such that its construction shall ensure that the tragedy of Stoodcloisters will never be repeated. A new round of migrants arrived today; thankfully, they are all salt of the earth, with none of the pretentions of the last group.
20 Malachite
My defensive structure is complete - an above-ground catapult outside the entrance to our fortress, surrounded by walls with arrow slits to fire through. It is supplied with ammunition from beneath. I eagerly await the next goblin attack.
12 Galena
Our tower-cap farm has borne fruit, so to speak - we are harvesting the first crop now. This could be the next step towards true self-sufficiency for our fortress.
I elected to test one of the traps so cunningly devised by Evan, should its activation become truly necessary in the future. It floods the trade depot with water pumped (by windmill) from the stream to a chamber above, which then flows down through a hatch operated by lever.
Another lever drains the depot from the south... but there is no way to close the hatch above without opening the drawbridge (and flooding the fortress in the process). I have disabled the trap via the rudimentary expedient of tearing down one of the windmills powering it for the time being - if it is to be of use, it must be re-thought carefully.
19 Galena
Our initial adamantine strike was tantalizing, but we have thus far uncovered only a few isolated clusters, and we have searched the area quite extensively. The next direction to go is down.
20 Galena
Our excursions were successful, though not to the degree that I had hoped. And yet, now that I have tasted adamantine, I long for more.
21 Galena
We have uncovered more adamantine, and platinum besides! This mountain is bountiful. Praise Esrel! I neglected to mention this before, but we have uncovered an entire layer of gabbro, a notable indicator stone.
1 Limestone
The adamantine vein seems to travel vertically. It seems as though it may descend into the heart of the world itself!
7 Limestone
We have struck the mother lode, among a layer of microcline, of all things. I feel almost compelled to dig deeper, and deeper - I must find more!
14 Limestone
Another cursed siege - a frustrating distraction from my mining. I will be more conservative with our defenses this time.
16 Limestone
The baroness was caught outside during the siege. As she fled, she somehow managed to find the time to alter the price of goods.
17 Limestone
The siege has been repelled - we lost many animals, but no dwarves. The dwarven caravan arrived, but the trade depot is still flooded.
I have carved out a new area for our adamantine stockpile - I can hardly believe that we have found enough to warrant this, but there it glimmers, plain as day.
23 Limestone
Another vein of gold. How brightly it shines! And yet, it seems, not near so bright as adamantine...
1 Sandstone
The trade depot finished draining, so I opened it back up - somehow, the caravan made it in. I traded a little, just to be polite, but I think they could tell that my heart wasn't into it.
6 Sandstone
Zasit has found something very strange. We uncovered some kind of chamber, deep underneath the surface of the earth.
There are... people here. Dwarves, and elves, and humans. Some of them... in cages. Zasit and I approached one and greeted him cautiously, but was met with no response.
Delving deeper, Zasit found further horrors. Ashes from what could only be bodies. Horrific engravings. And some kind of glowing pit...
We're going to investigate further.
(Note: The charred remains of this diary's final pages were found several days later, next to Joshua's horrendously mauled corpse.)
In which year was Kok Sox, The Assaults of Whipping?
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