2nd Moonstone, 255
There were five dwarves outside when the goblins came. Steedat Ducimatham was walking toward a jute bag left in the almond grove. Eral Ekasterith was senseless, dazed, stricken by melancholy, after the death of her husband Ingish Endokular and her brother Ace Tobulenshal. Kosoth Mengbengang was outside to give somebody some prickle berries to eat. The child Stodir Mergecrypt had taken a bath and was now playing by the well. And Thikut Rulmeng was fishing in the ocean.
The almond grove being northwest of the fortress, and the goblins coming from the same direction, Steedat was the first to notice the approaching forces. (Eral was actually closer, but she either did not see the goblins, or did not care.) He immediately turned around and shouted at the other dwarves to get inside. Kosoth, who was just 2 dekots from the entrance gate, shouted the warning inside. From there, it was carried by the child Avuz to the militia commander, who issued two orders: the civilians to be inside and the militia to guard the entrance. Nomal Nazushlolor did not feel comfortable leaving the fortress open, but the current bridge and lever system was such a mess that she didn't have the option of closing specifically the inner bridge. She had to either leave the fortress open or abandon anyone outside to die, and she chose the former.
But this time it did not matter. The four sane dwarves were inside far before the goblins reached the fortress.
6th Moonstone
Nomal Nazushlolor was discussing her problem with her fellow speardwarf Zutthan Oddombavast as she walked to the training room. "The three members of the Guardians are currently trapped between the two bridges, and the existing lever can only raise and lower both at once. The goblins are right outside, so we can't pull that lever, and none of our mechanics will assemble a secondary lever to tie to just the inner bridge." She exhaled sharply. "The Guardians are strong, but they will starve before the goblins do."
Zutthan looked over at Nomal. "If everyone else is busy, and if you'd let me off duty for a week or so, I think I could cobble together a lever," she said. I've never done it before, but I'm confident I could do it given enough time." Nomal agreed to this, gratefully. "Thanks, I owe you a favor," Nomal said.
As Nomal pushed open the hatch to let the two of them upstairs, she heard the sounds of battle coming from the training room. The two militiadwarves rushed to the room, but by the time they arrived the battle had already ended. The mutilated corpse of a large and humanoid chameleon sat in a spattering of blood on the wooden floor, below two recruits. It seemed that Cerol had indeed been infected last month during the werechameleon attack, but thankfully he had died before infecting anyone else. The quick reactions of the axedwarf Ezun Nokimgerig and the captain Astesh Kubukamith had prevented a potential disaster - the two had laid into the werechameleon even as it was transforming, hacking its limbs off and stabbing its legs. On the ground, the werebeast had posed little threat, only managing to snatch at a wrestler's foot before being stabbed and finally decapitated by the swordsdwarf Lokum Tunmorul.
7th Moonstone:
Dozebom's Journal: Apparently, we are under siege. I discovered this when I asked the manager to organize the construction of a large wall outside. I am annoyed that nobody tells me important things, such as "there are a ten goblins outside, four of which have ranged weapons." Hm. Well, we can stay inside for now, I suppose, but what of the quota?
9th Moonstone:
The corpse reanimated, was put down again, and reanimated again. It was killed just barely over the bonesand. One recruit is already paralyzed from a dread neck kick (not a kick to the neck, but a kick from a neck). This is bad.
And apparently there are two corpses of the same person? Reanimation doesn't produce extra copies... this makes no sense.
Now Urist is dead. Over the bonesand. This is very bad.
10th Moonstone:
Dozebom's Journal: There was a backlog of crimes, which I just went through today. Due to the numerous recent deaths, most of the convicted dwarves could not be punished, but many dwarves are still happy to have justice done.
11th Moonstone:
Dozebom's Journal: I have come to a realization concerning economics. It is a very bad idea to export coins. Yes. That must be it. That's the word for trading coins away. Exporting them. Anyway, I have told the fortress not to export coins under penalty of beating and jail.
14th Moonstone:
Dozebom's Journal: The justice squad has been savaging our soldiers. This might be an issue. Also, the child Thikut Romekavuz is throwing a tantrum about war, and the child Tosid Usenolon has finally started his strange construction. Good, I was starting to worry that he would go insane about not having bones. (Which is ironic, given that we have far more bones than anything else, but they were in the form of skeletons and not individual bones. Since we didn't need yet another death, I told the butchers to break apart skeletons until he had enough bones.)
18th Moonstone:
Dozebom's Journal: The militiadwarves have named the mutilated corpse of Cerol Oddommakas that they are standing over and constantly putting down. They say it is because it killed Urist Domasushrir, so it deserves a name. They are calling it Zonnulom.
Yes. Sure. That's fine.
19th Moonstone:
Dozebom's Journal: The child Tosid Usenolon created an earring out of mudstone, and claimed it as an heirloom in the name of the family ancestor Cerol Rigothzon. The earring is encrusted with gems, decorated with leather, and encircled with gems, bone, and wood. It is also adorned with hanging rings of mudstone, which is a bit too meta for me. It has a spike of sheep wool to pierce the ear, which just baffles me. Additionally, Tosid managed to include two miniature images - one of a human dying in the Urn-Ocean of Snot in 252, and one of a dwarf becoming a baroness in 204.
20th Moonstone:
Dozebom's Journal: A huge, bloated crocodile with knobby antennae has been sighted in the second cavern. That's the cavern that the giant pit is open to. I hope the crocodile cannot climb. Why hasn't anyone finished flooring over the pit?
I ordered the militia to guard the staircase next to the pit, in case it can climb. The militia that is not currently trapped between two bridges, that is. Mechanics! Fix that bridge! Why won't anybody do anything?!
23th Moonstone:
Dozebom's Journal: I got tired of waiting for the mechanics, and ordered the masons to deconstruct the inner bridge. I also told the inactive soldiers between the bridges that they could do so themselves, as all of them are masons. Nobody did anything, but Noloc apparently teleported through the inner bridge and is now getting a drink. I will go mad after a year of this. I am certain of that.
24th Moonstone:
Dozebom's Journal: There were existing work orders to build a roof for the militia's room above the longhouse. Dwarves keep hauling up wood, seeing a goblin lasher outside, and running back downstairs in fear. The goblin cannot reach you! Either build the roof or stay down!
26th Moonstone:
Dozebom's Journal: There has been an open path to the outside this entire time, through the trade bridges. Apparently the goblins didn't notice, and the standing order to not go outside kept the dwarves from exiting. But I cancelled that order to see if that was why the mechanics refused to hook up the lever to the inside bridge, and so outside the dwarves all traipsed, to pick up items that were left outside. I barely noticed quickly enough to hurry them inside, and the bridge is still open. Nobody will pull the lever to close it. I don't think the goblins noticed, but they've had somebody at the front gates this whole time, so they're bound to realize that there's another entrance.
I need a drink.
Oh, and also a visiting human maceman decided to leave, so the goblins killed him. They're standing only a dozen Urists away from the entrance.
I figured out why nobody will pull the lever - the umpteenth lever room, which contains the levers that control the bridges that seal the trade room, was not included in the official designation of Inside because it was forgotten, because it is in such an obscure place. Why?
27th Moonstone:
Dozebom's Journal: The bridge was closed just in time - the goblins arrived at our doorstep just a few minutes afterward. And there is also a gorlak sitting in the trade depot. It's wild, but hasn't attacked anybody yet. I don't even care at this point.
28th Moonstone:
Dozebom's Journal: From atop the longhouse, no goblins can be seen. But they can be heard in the tunnel to the trade depot, killing a stray llama that wandered outside. Wouldn't it be nice if we could trap them there? There's even two bridges, either of which could trap them there if closed. But nobody decided to hook a lever up to either of them, so they sit there useless.
13th Opal:
Dozebom's Journal: We have successfully rescued Limul from the caverns, where he has been for the last month. He *would* be stonecrafting right now, since he is the only stonecrafter and we need mugs and jewelry to cheer people up, but apparently he threw a tantrum once and now he needs to be beaten up. I don't know why I decided to enable the justice squad to punch people.
14th Opal:
Dozebom's Journal: Our only stonecrafter and our only carpenter are both chained up. The carpenter keeps throwing tantrums and trying to punch people, but he can't reach anybody. An axedwarf is in a cage and the captain of the guard has been chained. This is going too far.