Arrgg! A kobold has sneaked into my barracks while my soldiers were getting a drink and stolen my artifact crossbow!
You know I've never seen a real-life barracks where they just have some beds and a big pile of weapons lying on the ground for anyone to walk up and take. They usually have some kind of *cough* WALL around them, with *cough* GUARD DOGS near the entrance.
Normally I design my fortresses so thieves have to get past dogs, the barracks, and possibly a meeting area for before they reach any stockpiles. Before this, I hadn't had any thefts for months. I guess I just got careless with this one (I forgot to bring any spare ropes, so couldn't tether a dog in the entrance).
In other news, the curse of this fortress has struck again: a migrant peasant (dabbling mechanic) that I'd set to build a pump got trapped in my aqueduct between the pump and the river, and became thristy and starving before I noticed and got him out. This, plus a miasma, made him very unhappy, causing him to tantrum, smash up my wood burner, go to complain to my mayor, and then
beat the mayor to death.
For some reason, this peasant is now refusing to do any mechanics jobs (he's my only surviving mechanic - the mayor, who was one of my original seven, was my main mechanic), so I can't even build a proper execution chamber for him.
(Other casulties from this site include a farmer who got killed by carp in the first month of the settlement, a migrant wave that walked too close to the river and lost three members to a carp - who now has a name, and a recent goblin ambush (2 squads) that killed my legendary stonecrafter and three other dwarves).