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[Dame de la Licorne]

25th Hematite, 215
"Greetin's humans."  The voice came from behind them, and the merchants turned to face the dwarf.  "I'm Ablel, Durien sent me ter trade."
"Excellent, excellent!"  Doto rubbed his hands together, his anticipation at finally getting his hands on some of the legendary dwarven steel getting the better of him.  But what Ablel brought to trade wasn't steel.  The dwarves had assembled a pile of leather and silk, and although some of it was bloodstained, Doto judged it decent enough.  And since Ablel only wanted the bolts in exchange, he decided it was a fine profit, even if not what he had expected when he set out on this journey.  Then again, nothing about these dwarves has gone as expected.  Their leader is far cannier than I'd planned on.  I'll be glad to leave and get back to civilization.

[Dame de la Licorne]

26th Hematite, 215
I must say the meeting with the human liaison did not go very well.  He had absolutely no explanation for the lack of bolts, and still maintains that he had passed on the word that we wanted lots of bolts.  Hmmph.  Maybe they'll do better bringing the pig iron I ordered, as well as more bolts.  Still, I've come to find that, other than the mercenaries killing any goblins that attempt to ambush, we cannot depend on these human "allies" of ours to bring supplies which we can use.  It isn't as if we're planning on attacking them, yet.  And it isn't as if we can't make whatever we order from them, it's just time-consuming to do so.  Then again, considering that every time the liaison comes he wants trinkets, bracelets and the like, maybe they don't have an idea of what is truly useful in the world.  At any rate, I refuse to waste dwarves on useless tasks just so that the odd human is happy.  We're self-sufficient after all, and only trade to get rid of the junk that seems to keep piling up on our doorstep, and even that is more of an annoyance than anything else.

[Dame de la Licorne]

11th Malachite, 215
Tokxesmomku Smox Ozad, one of the war dogs, has died of old age.  I hadn't realized that any of the dogs were that old, considering that most of them seem to die a glorious death in battle.  Regardless, according to Libash this one has led a long and rewarding life, and I have drawn up plans for an mortuary where the bones of our war dogs may be laid to rest in all honor, since I've noticed that we don't have one yet.

[Dame de la Licorne]

18th Malachite, 215
Arnmod caught a kobold skulking around.  Needless to say it didn't last very long, although he says it tried to run and managed to get a fair distance.  He mentioned that he'd had to put a crossbow bolt into the creature to slow it long enough for him to get close enough to finish it off.  Well, a champion can fight however he likes, and I suppose that is even more true of our Sheriff.

[Dame de la Licorne]

17th Limestone, 215
I was very pleased with our dwarven friends when they arrived this fall.  They brought plenty of steel armor, mostly plate mail.  Although the quality is not as good as Litast can produce, it takes him so long to make a single steel bar that for now it's easier to buy the armor we need.  Especially since we have so much junk to get rid of that it seems as though there is no end to it.  I am glad to trade spider silk and leather garments for useful armor.  I hope the merchants will see fit to bring more next year.

[Dame de la Licorne]

10th Sandstone, 215
Oh most joyous of days!  The gods have smiled upon us!  My dearest, most wonderful darling Zuglar has given birth to a son!  My firstborn son!  In my joy I named him Momuz, but now I don't know why, for it means crypt in the tongue of our ancestors.  I suppose it must have seemed appropriate at the time, but I don't remember anything from those first few moments after the birth other than sheer unadulterated happiness.  Only the best of beers could be better.  My son!  I have great plans for him!

The next several pages detail Durien's precise plans for his son, including his becoming a world-renowned champion and one of the great nobility of the new Olon Thasdoth civilization.

[Dame de la Licorne]

19th Sandstone, 215
In touring the fort, showing Momuz off to anyone and everyone, I encountered Ablel.  She spoke to me of what she considered to be a weighty matter regarding the back exit to the fort or more appropriately, the lack of one.  I had laughed and reminded her that the back exit was located in the walls of the tower, but upon double-checking, it appears that she was right.  In building the tower ten years ago, we forgot to include the necessary exits.  I have given orders for the rectification of this oversight, and each wall of the courtyard will receive a drawbridge, to be opened only in the event of the imminent demise of Scarbasement, to allow all surviving dwarves to flee, much as we did when we fled the Tuxumstozu horde at Olon Thasdoth.  After all, every well designed fort has an escape route included somewhere.

[Dame de la Licorne]

27th Sandstone, 215
The child Nomal has come of age and she came to me almost immediately with a job request.  It seems she wishes to train as a hammerdwarf and, in her spare time, to be a pump operator.  We have no call for pumping here, though I suppose I could think of a project which requires it.  The hammerdwarf training, on the other hand, I was more than happy to agree to, since we could always use more military.  One thing bothered me a little for she is now insisting on being called "Duchess Nukem".  The "Nukem" doesn't bother me quite as much as the "Duchess" part, we don't need useless nobles in this fort.  But, as long as our new "duchess" does her part, I suppose it will work out.

[Dame de la Licorne]

14th Timber, 215
Since Arnmod refuses to spar with Duchess Nukem, I have decided to pair her with her sister Oddom, to learn the basics of wrestling, shield use and armor use.  He has agreed to give them some tips, and I trust that Duchess Nukem will prove to be a quick and able student.

[Dame de la Licorne]

25th Timber, 215
Kib has given birth to yet another girl. She has been named Lolor, meaning letter, a pretty enough name for a girl-child. 

[Dame de la Licorne]

21st Moonstone, 215
Duchess Nukem has been in my office nearly every other day for last two months begging for some pumping job.  As she has become quite a talented wrestler, I suppose she is able enough to defend herself if necessary.  I have asked her to pump out part of the moat, so that we may retrieve some of the goblin metal that has fallen in over the years.  We will see how well that works.

[Dame de la Licorne]

26th Opal, 215
Pumping out a section of the moat didn't work at all, the water fills in faster than it is pumped out.  I'll have to think of something else.  In the meantime, Duchess Nukem still wants to pump so what could I build that requires pumping and isn't useless?  Maybe a water tower?  Waterfalls are always nice to have.  Yes, some kind of waterfall in the courtyard will be good, now to get Ast to draw up some plans.

[Dame de la Licorne]

5th Obsidian, 216
"Durien!  Finally, I've bin lookin' ever'where fer yer!"  Ablel walked into the mechanic's shop where Durien was in the process of making another mechanism.  "D'yer have a minute?"
"I'm busy, find me later."  Durien waved her away rather brusquely, concentrating on the finicky work he was doing.  Ablel frowned, and instead of going somewhere she began looking around the workshop, picking up this, examining that.  "Don'cher've an'thin' better ter do?"
"No!"  She practically exploded.  "That's why'm here!  I've nuthin' ter do!  There's no work fer someone of my caliber!  Jus' measly haulin' tasks!  I want to mine and there's nuthin' planned in that direction!"
"Tha's no' stopped yer before."  Durien frowned.
"What'm I s'pposed ter do?  Dig out th' entire mountain?  Tha's no' difficult.  I want somethin' challengin'!"
"Challengin', huh.  Then dig out another temple or two.  Start wi' Id Datan Avuz, deity of minerals.    I'm sure tha' should be easy fer yer."
Ablel sent him a shrewd glance.  "Dig out a temple fer yer god?"  She probed.
Durien responded with a bland look.  "Yer wanted a job, don' blame me if'n yer don' like th' job yer given.  Now go away'n le' me finish this.  It i'n't as easy as it looks, yer know."

[Dame de la Licorne]

10th Granite, 216
The elves are back, ready to harangue us again about our use of wood, leather and bone.  We don't tell them how to live, what to use and what not to use so I am not disposed to be tolerant when they try to impose their morals on us.  And it isn't as if they bring useful things in trade.  These elves, from the quick look I had in the depot, brought more rope, and trinkets, and armor that doesn't fit, and weapons we can't use.  What a waste of time and space.  There won't be any trading with them this year, and I told our military to keep an sharp eye on them during their stay.  Wouldn't want the elves to get into an...accident.  "Our military", that has a nice, comforting ring to it, even if we only have two soldiers currently.  At least we are slowly becoming more secure and comfortable here.

[Dame de la Licorne]

12th Granite, 216
Up until now, all of the ore that Ablel has found has either been iron or coal or lignite.  Today she reported that she has struck malachite, an ore of copper.  Although not as strong as iron or steel, copper can be used to make just as many things, as well as certain metal alloys.  Vucar is overjoyed, apparently she loves copper.  Both Kivish and Litast are now begging me to import some cassiterite so that we can make trifle and fine pewter items.  I've tried telling them, until I'm blue in the face, that the humans won't bring hunks of rock or ore and that the Kabcatten merchants never take any notice of my remarks and therefore it is very unlikely that we'll be able to get a hold of cassiterite if it doesn't exist in these hills, but neither one seems to want to hear it.  I imagine they'll forget about it eventually, once all the excitement about hitting ore that isn't iron dies down.