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[Martian]

An airlock? The depot is in its own walled enclosure with two drawbridges. One leads inside your wall and is normally closed, the other outside and is normally open.

When the traders are in the depot close the one to the outside and open the one to the inside.

[Kanute]

I think your suspicions about Arnmod may be correct. However if the Fort is going to be sealed up tight for the forseeable future, perhaps Scarbasement can't afford not to have a crossbowdwarf.

[Dame de la Licorne]

5th Galena, 209
A spy!  We have discovered one of the human crossbowmen lurking to the southeast of our gate!  He claims to be friendly, and wishes to join us, but we are smarter than that.  He cannot ignore the fact that so far out of the eight humans accompanying the goblin invaders, seven of them have been crossbow or bow wielders.  It is clear that Tuxumstozu has sent him to spy on us, disguised as a caravan guard.  Hah, now he will pay the price.  He should have left while he had the chance.  Arnmod, Libash and Vucar will deal with him, forthwith.

[Kanute]

I know I may be jumping the gun a little bit here, but how will positions like the Hammerer and Dungeon Master (is that the title?) get filled in a generational fort?

[Dame de la Licorne]

I have some ideas for those, you'll just have to wait and see.  But I will consider any ideas readers come up with.

[Dame de la Licorne]

22nd Galena, 209
My records show that each caravan seems to arrive some time between the 10th and the 17th of Granite, Hematite and Limestone.  If the dwarves behave the same way as the humans, and since they are from Kabcatten and not Olon Thasdoth, I have no reason to believe they would do otherwise, we will lose the benefit of all the wagons each caravan brings, ready to load up with junk we don't need.  I will try to counteract this by ordering the gates opened only on the 10th of the relevant months, and closing it as soon as the last trader is through.  This will, of course necessitate a military presence, but Arnmod is coming along so well in his training that I do not believe it will be a problem, for now.

[Dame de la Licorne]

16th Limestone, 209
As planned, the gates were opened a few days ago, and the dwarven traders came as usual.  I went out to greet them, and fetch a sock I noticed had been forgotten outside, when the goblins ambushed us again!  I'm now sure that they have a constant sentry watching our gates, and as soon as they saw it opening they must have sent for reinforcements.  I remember nothing after the arrow I evaded, until I came to myself surrounded by pieces of what once had been several goblins.  The accounts of the others within view relate how I attacked the goblins with my axe, each move seeming deliberate as I avoided their attacks without taking a single injury.  I have heard of martial trances and assume I was in one, but I have never seen one and now I don't remember mine!  Most annoying.
On another note, Arnmod took out two of the attackers again by using his crossbow as a hammer.  Though we need his marksdwarf skills, I'll have him train as a hammerdwarf as well.  Incidentally, hopefully this will help keep the peace between him and Vucar.  I don't want to have to deal with murder.
Ablel was also involved in the battle, at Arnmod's side for whatever reason.  She was hit from behind (these goblins are as cowardly as they are sneaky) and has now been consigned to bed with a broken pelvis and appears to have some difficulty walking aside from the break.  I hope she'll be alright.  Litast is beside himself, as it's the first time she's been injured and he clearly doesn't know how to deal with it.  I managed to get his mind off it for a bit by telling him to forge that hammer for Arnmod.  Maybe if I give Litast enough work, he won't have time to worry.

[Dame de la Licorne]

15th Moonstone, 209
My dearest Zuglar has been training her art.  I swear her engraving is truly legendary, even though she does love to draw scenes from the many stories surrounding the goddess Datan.  I'll have her engrave my office.  Oh, wait, I don't have an office, I've been using the dining room all this time!  I'll have Ablel carve one out for me, when she gets better, and Zuglar can engrave that.  A prosperous fort needs to provide a fine office for the manager and bookkeeper.

[Dame de la Licorne]

24th Obsidian, 209
Kib has given birth to her eighth child, a boy named Lorbam.  Lorbam...one of the truly old names whose translation in the new tongue has been lost.  I recall it means something about a "standard flag", but whether it's true translation is a military flag (military standard) or just a commonly used flag, I don't know.  So much has been lost through the ages, but Olon Thasdoth has not joined those ranks yet.

[Dame de la Licorne]

13th Granite, 210
The elves came back.  Apparently they didn't take the hint last year, when we refused to open the gates for them.  This time they were allowed in because Libash noticed several interesting-looking cages atop the pack animals, and he pulled the lever himself without consulting me!  Talk about independent.  What if there had been goblins in the vicinity?  There weren't fortunately, but a dwarf has to think of such things or they behave rashly, just like Libash.
It turns out that the elves brought both grizzly bears and black bears, so I suppose I can't come down to hard on Libash.  Think of it, trained bears to protect our doors!  And now we have a breeding pair of each so the future holds bear meat.  Things are looking up.  The elves tried to throw in a hedgehog and a rat when I bargained for the bears, but I refused.  I think I might have scared them a bit with the force of that refusal, actually, but fear is good for them.  I mean, there's a reason why I tolerate the cat and even see to it that no one else bothers her.  Although I suppose I could have bought the vermin and given it to her for some extra practice, but with all the native vermin we have, I don't think she needs it.

[Dame de la Licorne]

5th Felsite, 210
"Bloody 'ell!"  Durien cursed as he was knocked over by a mountain goat for the third time in the minutes since he had entered the courtyard.  "Dratted mountain goats!"
"Calm down, dear.  It wouldn' do ter offend Datan by cursin' 'er goats.  B'sides, ain't they purty?"  Zuglar gazed about her at the herd of gamboling goats with the pride of a mother looking upon her offspring.
"Purty, yea, I guess.  Bu' we got--"  Durien counted, scratched his head, recounted, and finally gave up as the goats kept milling about and messing up the count.  "We got over t'irty o' th' critters!  'n' all bu' one o' 'em are female!  We can' live li'e this!  We'll be driven ou' o' fort 'n' home in months!"
Zuglar glared at her lover.  "They're Datan's chosen ones, we will no' kill 'em!"
"Hummph!"  Durien stalked a few feet away, still glowering at the goats.  Suddenly he brightened.  "I know how we'll kill 'em wi'out angerin' th' goddess!  She'll tell us which ter kill and which not!"
Zuglar shook her head condescendingly.  "I haven' hear' from 'er fer a while.  Sartainly nothin' 'bou' killin' 'er faverite critters."
Much as I love her, there are times when she really annoys me.  "No, no," Durien said aloud, "We needn' bother 'er wi' contactin' yer over such trivialities.  We'll use 'er temple.  I'm sure b'tween us Ablel, Ast 'n' I can come up wi' somethin'.  I'fact, I'll speak to 'em righ' now."
You may speak to them, but I'll see to't not a single female goat dies.  And Zuglar followed more slowly, thinking of ways to save her beloved goats.

[Dame de la Licorne]

11th Hematite, 210
Using the same strategy as we did for the dwarven caravan last fall, we opened the gates yesterday, and this morning discovered the humans coming at a fairly brisk pace across the valley.  I counted six wagons in this caravan, one more than the one two years ago, so they seem eager to make up for their mistake in sending the wagons on before discovering whether or not we were going to open the gates for them.  This time the entire procedure went off without a hitch, the human traders were able to enter our fort and the gates were closed before any lurking goblins were able to attack.  The humans hadn't brought much of interest, but we traded all of the junk at our disposal in exchange for wood.  There is always more lying around outside, for those brave enough to get it.

[Dame de la Licorne]

21st Hematite, 210
This afternoon Libash was drawn to the gates by the sound of angry barking, and then yelps of pain.  He called me over, and as we listened we looked at each other and realized that we had never brought the war dogs chained outside in to safety, and they were clearly involved in a battle.  Rushing to the fortified level of the courtyard walls, we looked out and saw the dogs valiantly fighting off an attacking party of goblins.  Though they managed to kill some of the goblins, we forced ourselves to watch as the remainder slaughtered our faithful four-legged friends.  Although I would have liked to rescue them, we have suffered too many nasty injuries, and I ordered the gates to remain sealed.  The dogs will be buried once the goblins have left.

[Dame de la Licorne]

23rd Malachite, 210
After more than a month cowering behind our gates, the humans have finally decided to leave.  The surviving goblins left after killing our dogs, or at least the ones we know about left, there may be more outside.  I chose not to mention this detail to the traders, as I felt they might never have left otherwise.  Fortunately their departure was as uneventful as their arrival, and we sealed the gates as soon as the last pack animal and mercenary had left.  Now we need only wait until the dwarves come and go, and we can close the gates until next summer, allowing us to concentrate on the projects we have underway.

[Dame de la Licorne]

7th Galena, 210
Ast and Ablel have finally come up with a design for Datan's temple which will allow us to contain the mountain goats and use them as a source of food, according to the goddess's will.  Although the design is fairly time-consuming, it is also moderately simple, and even Zuglar had to admit that it is probably the best way to deal with our nearly fifty mountain goats.  Everyone's temper has been getting rather short as the goats keeping interrupting all the jobs we have to do, getting in the way and knocking dwarves over and into walls.  I think Zuglar realizes that if she didn't agree to some form of containment and judicious culling of the herd, pretty soon everyone would be blaming her directly.  They are already letting her know in no uncertain terms how they feel about her Datan's ban on the butchering of the females, and it isn't pretty.  Even I have been getting some of the flak in spite of the fact that many of them are my friends, just because Zuglar and I are in a relationship.