The first serious threat to the fortress' security that didn't come from animals arrived today, in the form of a breach of the second cavern layer while constructing the necropolis. By chance, the breach was made at ground level, with a group of ant people almost directly on the other side. The miner chose to fight rather than flee and even managed to deal incapacitating wounds to two of the monsters, but he was overwhelmed and beaten to within an inch of his life before the guards managed to reach him. The battle that resulted left two more militiamen with serious wounds, but at least left all of the antmen dead. The three injured dwarves were brought to the hospital attached to the library and are being cared for by Stukos Rayglutton, the town doctor. Stukos is fairly skilled and the hospital is well-stocked, so the militiamen will make a full recovery, but the miner will be on crutches for awhile and may lose the use of his left hand.
Our first foreign visitor, another dwarf but from a different country, showed up not too long after that. He calls himself a scholar, but he spends far more time in the pub carousing with the farmers and arguing with the bookkeeper than he does in the library. He's ingratiated himself very well with the townspeople, and according to legends mode he's authored several extremely insightful treatises on both engineering and natural philosophy, but you certainly wouldn't guess that by looking at him.