Village Shemonul "Plankwaywards", Malachite 264
Ambushes keep harassing the fort as traders venture into the area. The goblins upset surviving merchants greatly, and I have not been able to trade for a great while. The last two human diplomats from Dur Mundung "The empires of Portent" have fallen prey to the invaders after visiting the duke and the civilization declared war on us for being unable to protect it's dignitaries. I have a hard time baby-sitting my own nobles and children (many were snatched) as it is, I simply cannot spare any dwarves to look after foreigners outside of the fort. What I can spare however, are -iron bolts- to shoot at human invaders. The small incursion of human pikemen lead by a swordsman on a camel (of all things) was quickly repelled with few survivors on the enemy side. The next visiting dignitary sued for peace. I accepted as it was nonsense to continue fighting with a common enemy already trying to slaughter both of us.
The goblins remain a a constant nuisance. They're no match for our militia in warfare and our traps capture many of them trying to sneak inside the fort. Their true target is not treasure, but rather our young ones. While I strictly forbid them to go outside, they refuse to obey and galavant off to the pools for a sip or battlefields to retrieve spoils (why one would want to wear a loincloth off a dead goblin is beyond me). Just last Slate little Dastoth Lisatoslan (Notchwound) thought it would be fun to wander off outside, was stabbed by a goblin and stuffed into a sack. Luckily the attack was witnessed by a marksdwarf on the rampart who managed to injure the gob before it ran out of range. The dogs and a nearby member of the militia managed to catch up to him and save the child. The kid had a broken leg and had to walk with a crutch for a while after the hospital took care of him. I have to find a better way to secure the offspring. A concerted effort from the gobs to siege our settlement seems likely, but has not occurred thus far.
Also a problem (again) is the refuse. We're a good bunch at recycling, very little gets thrown on the pile. The corpses of dead goblins do not have any other use than just decay. Though I do find the militia practice with bolts made out of strange bone once in a while. They snicker about about it when they find me wondering about it. "Only good use for a dead gob". I do not understand, but the Duke is raving enthusiastic about any kind of bolts so I won't inquire too much. The piles are filled with various parts of slain enemies. Perhaps I should issue my melee militia with not such sharp weapons? In the mean time I'll issue more blocks to wall off even more property for stockpiling corpses. If only I could trade them.
Praise to the miners! The prospecting mines have found a great sea of magma, with several spires of raw adamantine! An interim forge area has been erected, fueled by the intense heat from the depths and my craftsdwarfs have started on extracting the strands from the ore. It takes an awful long time, but the results will be the grandest set of armor to commemorate the selection of the champion! I have several soldiers who have distinguished themselves eligible for the position.
Not long after the discovery of the adamantine one of the farmers got a bout of inspiration and threw one of the craftdwarfs out of his workshop. He created an artifact goblin bone cabinet.
Which explains a lot.