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[Dame de la Licorne]

Sorry about the lag, classes got in the way.
Current named dwarf stats are as follows:
Bricktop:
Ultra-Mighty, Unbelievably Agile, Extremely Tough
Legendary Miner, Proficient Wrestler, Novice Grower, Dabbling Swimmer

Viktoria:
Strong, Agile, Tough
Proficient Glassmaker, Talented Miner, Dabbling Grower, Novice Wood Burner, Dabbling Wrestler

Thrakor:
Very Strong, Perfectly Agile, Very Tough
Legendary Miner, Dabbling Grower, Legendary Record Keeper, Dabbling Engraver

Korbin:
Very Strong, Agile, Superdwarvenly Tough
Legendary Engraver, Adept Mason, Competent Stone Crafter, Proficient Building Designer, Dabbling Grower

Arnar:
Agile
Proficient Mechanic, Dabbling Grower

Kroma:
Strong, Very Agile, Very Tough
Animal Trainer, Proficient Animal Caretaker, Adept Stone Crafter, Skilled Marksdwarf, Dabbling grower, Dabbling Wrestler, Novice Cook

Watson:
Very Strong, Very Agile, Tough
Carpenter, Proficient Mason, Proficient Speardwarf, Shield User, Novice Armor User, Dabbling Grower, Dabbling Butcher, Expert Wrestler

Taalen:
Strong, Tough
Fisherdwarfm Novice Armor User, Proficient Wrestler

Nosey:
Extremely Strong
Potash Maker, Adept Wrestler, Novice Armor User, Dabbling Shield User

[Dame de la Licorne]

24th Granite, 1055
The dratted Elves had returned, to Surath's annoyance.  At least this time they brought plenty of wood, in addition to the ubiquitous rope reed cloth.  Though why they thought any self-respecting dwarf would want some of that when they had plenty of cave spider silk was beyond her.

[Dame de la Licorne]

11th Slate, 1055
Nosey came into Surath's office late that morning, concerned.  "I have good news and bad, I'm afraid."

Apparently things had been going too well lately.  Surath sighed.  "Tell me."

"The good news is we've managed to kill off all of the flying menaces, so unless new ones migrate in, we're safe in that front.  But the last one was very close to the chasm, and we noticed some giant recluce spiders."

Surath winced.  "How many?"

"We saw five, but there are so many nooks and crannies that there could be a lot more.  Even if those five are the only ones around, they are still a far more serious threat than the flying menaces ever were."

"Why is Watson not telling me all this?"

"He's on bed rest with an arm wound.  I didn't think it could wait until he got better."

Surath sat back, thinking.  After a moment she looked up, "Will spiders be caught in our traps?"

Nosey hesitated, "I don't think so, I've never heard of it happening anyway."

"Hmmm.  Alright, don't spread the news for now.  We don't want a panic.  I'll speak with Watson and see what the best approach may be.  You and Taalen keep those dwarves training, we'll need them whatever Watson and I decide."

Nosey nodded.  But he cautioned, "This news can't be kept secret for long."

"I know."

After Nosey left, Surath sat staring into space.  Five giant recluce cave spiders.  But they had survived this long by the grace of Armok, and she hoped that grace still held.

[Dame de la Licorne]

14th Slate, 1055
More new arrivals had come, and the news they brought was sobering.  The Queen had apparently lost every bit of good sense she had ever had and was concentrating solely on the discovery and mining of new adamantine veins, to the exclusion of everything else.  The Mountainhomes....were starving.  Cursemountains at least, had food even though the location was less than ideal, and it was for that reason alone that the migrants had directed their steps here.  The few planters and the siege engineer who came were welcomed, but the others received a cold welcome, for Cursemountains did not need more useless dwarves.

[Bricktop]

15th Slate 1055

Bricktop: Looks like things are really getting bad in the mountainhomes. Its obvious why, there's nothing there. The entire mountain is drained of anything valuable so there's no jobs left there. The queen spending loads of rumours of adamantine seems to have made the situation worse. Oh well, if they do a job they're all welcome. Any of these new-comers want to be in the mines, well, I'll soon get them working. Then we'll see what they're made of.

More importantly though, I really do need to talk to Surath about how things are going here. She just doesn't seem to be keeping track of the mood in the place at all these days. I mean...its getting quite bad. If this is the best place in the kingdom to live, things are really getting bad. Its making everyone...tense. They might be happy enough, for the most part but still, if things start going wrong there's no knowing what'll happen. The fact that rumours about Giant Cave Spiders have been going around really doesn't help. I mean, if there are some giant spiders, I'll deal with them. Me and the lad Thrakor could probably give one a run for its money, and if we have some of the soldiers helping then they should be no problem. Still, it probably is just a rumour. I'll deffinetal;y have to tell Surath about this though... people are certainly getting tense.

[Foamy]

14th Slate, 1055

Watson: I've been on bed rest since the latest assault on the creatures outside. While the action was welcome i have been unable to write due to an arm injury i sustained.

There are reports of spiders in the chasm. As enthusiastic as i may be to hunt the creatures that plague these lands i am no fool. Surath has asked for a meeting soon to discuss the problem. I think that i will suggest we send scouts out to accurately document their movements and numbers. Then we can calculate the risk they pose to the fortress. I expect attacking them would be useless until we have a larger and better equipped army so I will recommend traps in the hope they can be of some use. Perhaps a pressure plate that will seal the fortress as a last resort with a manual override inside.

[Dame de la Licorne]

26th Slate, 1055
Surath had spent the past several weeks discussing the giant cave spider threat with Watson and a few other trustworthy dwarves.  Nosey and Taalen had been sent out as scouts following Watson's suggestion and they had been gone almost two weeks.  Their return, however, heralded good news.  As far as they could tell there were only the five spiders, and they currently had no way accessible way out of the chasm to threaten the fort.  Of course, there was Kroma's statue garden and the overflow system from the tower-cap farm, but both 'entries' were carved into the sheer rock face with no way for the spiders to reach them.

"Unless they can climb walls like their vermin brethren," muttered Taalen.  

"That's unlikely," responded Nosey, "we were right above one of them and from the way it was acting if it could have scaled the chasm wall to get us, it would have."

But they all agreed that heavier defenses were called for, just in case.

[Dame de la Licorne]

28th Slate, 1055
Bricktop came to see Surath, surprising her since he rarely left the deep mines, to raise the issue of the low morale in the fort.  It had been raised by the increased production of alcohol, nearly a quarter of their food supplies were booze since Surath's injunction at the beginning of the year.  But the tenseness was a problem, Surath agreed.

"But," she added, "I have just the thing.  Come with me."

And, refusing to answer his questions, she led him down to the Grand Gallery, where none but the masons and engravers had been allowed since the completion of the excavations.  Bricktop stopped and his jaw dropped in shock.  No longer were there rough walls, or littered stone, or anything remotely temporary.  Instead, the walls and floor were covered in engravings as far as the eye could see, and the central bridge was now a walkway worthy of the Mountainhome itself.  On either side the emplacements for the three planned statues were yawning holes which the initial stages of the statues failed to fill.

When Bricktop finally recovered the use of some of his senses, he turned to Surath who was smiling at his reaction.  "When the statues are complete," he said, "this will be a place to rival all known constructions."

"That is the plan.  And I think it's far enough along that the others can come down when they wish, now that all of the smoothing and engraving is complete."

Dwarves, after all, took delight in underground constructions.  The grander the design and the better built it was, the happier they were, and the Queen, with her impossible demands for ever more adamantine, had severely stunted that joy.

[Xotes]

I finally got interested in this, so I'm popping on in.

Name: Silverus.
Gender: Male
Profession: One of the older recruits that haven't been snatched up.

Backstory: Two words: Magnificent Bastard.

[Nos3y]

My character needs more self-righteous, pompous ass attitude. Reporting to someone about something is ok, making sure they know that he could strangle them with his beard then use the corpses as weapons justifies his character. That being said...
OMG Nosey is actually being used in a story!
*proud*

[Dame de la Licorne]

30th Slate, 1055
One of the wrestlers came into Surath's office that afternoon, insisting on the command of his own squad.  Not even glancing up from the work orders, she told him to go talk to Watson.

"He's on bed rest.  And anyway, are you or aren't you in charge of this fort?"

Surath looked up.  "Who are you again, and what makes you think you're capable of leading a squad?"

Drawing himself up to his full height of just under four feet, the dwarf replied, "I am Silverus!"

"Silverus," mused Surath, "Yes, Watson mentioned you once or twice, I think.  Oh, yes, you were the one who started naming cave swallowmen, weren't you."

"If I am to fight them, they need to be worthy of a fight!  Nameless creatures, pah!"

Surath shook her head and sighed.  "Well stop.  It's a waste of time as they'll never amount to anything anyway.  And about your request, Watson's Captain of the Guard, he decides who's squad leader and who isn't."

"But the current leader of my squad is an incompetent!  She never trains!  At this rate my squad will be the first annihilated should we ever have to fight anything more powerful than the occasional scorpion or flying menace!  I demand either command of this squad or transfer to either Nosey or Taalen's squad!"

Surath had to concede that he had a point.  "Fine.  You may command the squad but, it is only temporary.  When Watson is back on his feet he will make the final decision."

It being better than nothing, Silverus left vowing to make his new squad the best trained in the fort, starting with the ex-squad leader.

[Dame de la Licorne]

13th Felsite, 1055
Thrakor's wife gave birth their second child, a daughter, that evening.  SSurath announced a fort-wide party to celebrate the new life, with unlimited quantities of alcohol, and Kroma entertained with her flute.  She'd gotten quite good at it over the past several years.

[Dame de la Licorne]

27th Felsite, 1055
Surath was startled when a report reached her of one of the children acting strangely.  Surath went to see the child, and found her just as she was kicking one of the craftsdwarves out of his workshop.  Such behavior in a child would not be tolerated!  Surath grabbed the girl intending to punish her and for the first time got a good look at her face.  Her shock was great, for the child had the aspect of one fey.  Surath had accepted that there were times when the adults went off and created strange, useless objects, but she hadn't thought children were susceptible.  In her surprise, her grip had slackened enough that the child was able to squirm free and rush off to the nearby bone stockpile.  Surath sighed, and shook her head.  Children really did seem to do as they pleased.

[Dame de la Licorne]

4th Hematite, 1055
The fey child had completed her creation, a floodgate.  Made out of salmon bone.  The thing was decorated with shad and salmon bone and menaced with spikes of goat leather.  She had also included a picture of Surath meeting with the human traders.  The name of this creation?  Kurel Gomath, the Lion of Legends.  Her parents attempted to convince her that such a name was most inappropriate for a floodgate, being better suited to a weapon or some such, but the child refused to rename it.  The Lion of Legends it was and the Lion of Legends it would remain.

[Dame de la Licorne]

11th Hematite, 1055
"Heeeelp!! They're going to destroy us!  Everyone run for your lives!"  It was one of the new arrivals, in a down and out panic.

Watson, who had finally recovered from his injury, stopped the dwarf to question her, but could get nothing coherent out of the terrified dwarf.  It was another dwarf coming close on her heels who was able to explain.

"Goblins!" Exclaimed Watson.  This was much more troubling than any wild animal.

"Ah, we can take 'em."  said Nosey, more than ready for a battle.

"But we need to see how many of them there are before we lay plans," replied Taalen, the cool-headed one.

Watson nodded in agreement.  "Taalen, go reconnoiter.  Report back once you have a good idea of the exact condition of the enemy.  Meanwhile, all non-military dwarves will be required to stay inside, for their own safety."  He grinned, "somehow I don't think anyone is going to argue with that."