13th Malachite, 102, Mid-Summer.
I have come upon an idea. The king's throne room sits bare for now, with a great space between it's chambers. This space, if dug out, would only be accessible through the King's tomb, the furthest from any place any enemy should ever come to be. I think this spot would make a suitable treasury in which to store our finest goods, our gold and silver, at least in enough of a reserve to purchase supplies in the event of a tragedy. Besides, I am sure the king will be glad of the gold so near to his bed and his throne. Eight golden ingots, pure and well smelted, will soon rest as the fruits of the first of our labours. Silver and gold veins seem almost common, and excavations have been fruitful thus far. I have now discovered the entry for wood in our supply manifest, and find my earlier caution laughable. 260 logs of wood sit around the fortress now, I needn't worry for charcoal. Iron, Gold, and Silver are to be smelted in their droves soon enough.
22nd Malachite
New Migrants are arriving, and as they do we are continuing work excavating the second layer of halls, which I have decided will act as a second store-room for raw materials of stone and of wood. I have ordered that several of the animals be slaughtered for leather, to construct flasks and backpacks for our soldiers, along with the beginnings of armour. Horn adornments for our tables shall be a welcome side effect. I was growing unnerved with the number of kittens and puppies scampering around anyway. Eight migrants have arrived in total.
6th Galena
Nomal has given birth to a new baby boy, the second child in our new fortress. We now number fourty eight, quite a formidable sum compared to those who traveled first to this barren spot. We have been fortunate thus far, but I still fear of coming war. The goblins may not have pursued us immediately, but I fear they soon will.
10th Galena
I have come upon a wonderful idea! The folk of the fortress have grown more merry as their numbers have grown, but many of the halls are still barren and cold. I have set Imic, our masterful mason, to work carving statues, at least a dozen, to adorn the king's tomb, the entryway, the gates, doors and corridors in spots. His masterpieces gladden the hearts of all, even his statue of one of our leaders, surrounded by great writhing worms. Obsidian and Microcline alike are carved and shaped into great sentinels of all shapes and likes. The king has grown yet gladder of his dwellings for the adornment.
11th Galena.
The splendour of our gold stocks amazes me. Thirty two golden bars, the finest things we have seen in many a month.No merchant could refuse such payment, and once an anvil sits within our grasp, our armaments may grow and swell ever further! 105 Golden nuggets rest, scattered in the mines and in our new stone stockpile.
21st Galena
I am proud to say that I have doubled the value of our fair fortress in the months I have been in command, from 100,000 to 200,000 in little more than half a year. I was *ehem*... forced, to dig out several veins of gold and silver in the more inhabited levels, leaving blemishes. I have decided to seal these shafts off, with doors allowing access for any future expansions of further mining in times of strife. Perhaps these little spurs of cut stone will save us all, some day.
1st Limestone.
Work continues, furnishing, expanding, and smoothing out this home of ours. It is heartwarming to say that, unless some creature can hack apart the bridge, we are safe. The farms are sealed off, and the gate can be sealed quickly enough. I have assigned several more folk to the militia, armed them as best I could, and set them to train, for the sake of safety, despite all of our precautions, and some of our precious wood will need to go towards cages for traps. Another human has petitioned for entry. Perhaps something is amiss, or perhaps they simply dislike to wander out into the tundra after tasting our fine wine. We are running low on seeds, though four hundred plump helmets are stored and uncooked. I will brew some, our stocks of wine have fallen to only five hundred in the mass of pots. The alcohol remains on the top level, perhaps if any enemy should come they will drink themselves to slumber before they reach the lower levels.
10th Limestone
I couldn't abide it any longer, and I have ordered the construction of a number of cage traps in the entrance corridor, and our wood stocks are not nearly so diminished as to make the risk of wasting some on cages seem unbearable. The next goblin scout party that comes shall find itself swiftly ensnared. It will bring some joy to see their cages carted by. Perhaps we should build a prison, or even an execution chamber, where each of the beasts may be judged for their crimes if they should ever come.
12th Limestone.
The traders have returned, and we were more than ready to greet them. They arrived looking dreary, expecting bones and stone, but as the train of dwarves came out to the depot, bearing ingot after ingot of pure delved gold, their mouths dropped open wide. The King laughed, clapping the trader on the back, and chatting for a while of affairs at home. Things seem dim, and these traders range far in the troubled world. When we looked in their inventory, we found what we have long sought. Anvils! We may finally begin to craft iron, steel and fine crafts of gold! How wonderful this is! We have also acquired some other seeds, of cave wheat and dimple cups. We shall finally have food and drink of something other than mushroom, egg and puppy meat. We shall have beer and bread soon enough, to couple with our iron.
14th Limestone
We have struck pure aluminium far underground, a rare and valuable metal to be sold sure enough.
27th Limestone
More Migrants! Our fortress swells! Nine more brave souls, two of them children, have arrived and seek residence, gladly granted. We now stand at fifty six brave souls, our dear human fellows included. I am sad to say that one of our number has been possessed by some strange force, and now stands still on the surface, uncaring for snow and rain as if a rock himself. I hope to construct a home for him, at least some place of comfort.
30 Limestone.
He has gone mad. Stripped to bare, he has taken to running around on his hands and feet. Gods rest his soul. As he has gone mad, the rest of us have returned to work, Imic most especially, carving numerous masterpiece engravings across the throne room and the King's quarters, to perhaps finally satisfy him. The people are bored, but not greatly so, and so I have set to work attempting to improve life in the fortress, cooking finer meals, brewing beer as well as wine, and displaying Imic's masterpieces prominently.
13th Timber
We need more beds to accomodate us, and so I have ordered the delving of new dormitory halls. We have also elected ourselves a mayor, though considering the King is wandering around, pick in hand, he seems a tad irrelevant. An office will be excavated for him, and for me, in future.
29th Timber
The metal-smith has been taken by a mood after finishing a batch of iron helms for our militia. I had planned on having him set to work producing battle axes, but he seems to be constructing something of his own design.
2nd Moonstone.
I awoke to a shriek. A goblin snatcher or thief had bolted into the fortress, and we found him already caught in a cage trap. He took scarcely more than one step into our home before he was trapped! The little beast will have to be dealt with. Perhaps we shall starve him.
3rd Moonstone
We have installed his cage securely above ground, in the snow. He will freeze to death soon enough, or starve. It is what the creature deserves, as all its foul kind. It will not be carrying our secrets back to its kin now, and if they dare to come for him they will find only snow coated bones.
4th Moonstone
The metalsmith has produced a single artifact boot. Wonderful. Now back to his earlier work.
18th Moonstone
We continue to prosper well, with no follow up to the arrival of our goblin friend. We are producing axes, helms and breastplates, and the militia is training and growing ready. Furnishing the new dorms takes up much of our time, and the quarters of the mayor must yet be produced.
20th Moonstone
I have looked over the books again, and I am immensely glad to say that our fortress has tripled in worth. In the last ten months, we have gone from a value of 100,000 to 300,000, the gold, gems and masses of furniture we have constructed playing a large part. Food and drink are plenty, and times are well. The winter will not be a harsh one, with forge fires at our back, and the chittering of a freezing goblin to guide us should we need to move outside.
The inn, metalcrafting chamber, cooking area, main store-room, dormitories, medical room in development and some of our fine statues.
The King's chambers, the trade depot, store-rooms, barracks and trap corridor.
I can't quite finish this evening, but I wanted to get a post up at least. I'll do my last two months for tomorrow evening! I hope everyone is enjoying my year thus far.