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[ToonyMan]

I can't wait!

[Rysith]

I must admit, that went remarkably better than it seemed like it had the potential to. Clear planning comes through again, I suppose.

The Tooninator, Shoruke, and I were the first to cross the bridge and charge the three orcs, even with our steel plate weighing us down. I arrived first, swinging my axe across one of the lashers, striking his lower body and left hand and sending him staggering back. The Tooninator was close behind me though, scoring a telling blow on the other lasher with his sword, piercing her chestplate and hitting both of her lungs and her heart. His next swing sent the lasher flying backwards into the wrestler, momentarily stunning the wrestler as the dead corpse landed heavily on him.

Shoruke used the opening to swing in with her pick, striking a glancing blow to the wrestler's upper right arm. Despite the lack of armor, the blow didn't hit true, but as the wrestler turned to confront Shoruke The Tooninator severed his left arm at the elbow. As the orc recovered from the shock, Shoruke was able to plunge her pick deep into his stomach, shattering his spine and sending him flying backwards where he landed, vomiting blood, with his liver, spleen, and both kidneys flopping out through the hole.

I, meanwhile, had followed the lasher I had already wounded, and was trying to get my axe around his shield when Shoruke tackled him, bringing him to the ground and denting his helm with the butt of her pick. As I was preparing to swing, I suddenly felt a tug on my leg. The wrestler had crawled over to me, despite his wounds, and was trying to pull me down to the ground. I had heard Flint tell stories of their ability to keep fighting, but this was beyond anything I could have imagined. I turned my axe swing to hit the crawling wrestler in the back, finally ending his life.

Shoruke, recovering from the tackle faster than her target, was able to stand up and swing her pick into the lasher's chest, dealing a wound that would have been fatal to anything else. The lasher, though rolled over and to his feet, letting out a fearsome roar of defiance before lashing out with his whip, striking The Tooninator in the leg. He was weakened, though, and I was able to heft my axe to deal him a mortal blow. I was just pulling out my axe when the rest of the militia arrived, out of breath from running in their plate mail.

With the orcs immediately nearby dead, we retreated to the bridge while the civilians went about their tasks. Unfortunately, Tekkud's body had rotted quickly in the heat, though we were able to recover his bones and his armor. Skjald was able to fetch a bucket of water for Goden, and the diplomat quickly made it to safety. With everything that we could do accomplished, we quickly retreated to the safety of the fortress as the main force of orcs were beginning their decent from the forest. Two out of three objectives accomplished, and no losses. Though the time we spent waiting for the civilians to get back inside were among the most tense minutes of my life, it was a much more successful skirmish than I was preparing myself for.

While we were waiting, I took the time to inspect the downed wagon. It looked like it was carrying precious metal bars, bags of seeds, and several logs. I know that I had seen meat and fish in it as well from the fortifications, but by the time we had gotten there it had rotted in the summer heat. At least the smell wasn't noticeable, unlike the rotting head.

With that bit of excitement taken care of, we've settled back in to wait the siege out. I've ordered some tempered green glass training weapons to be made: swords for The Tooninator's squad and axes for mine. This battle made the value of proper training abundantly clear. The glass, coupled with the quality of our armor, should prevent any training injuries.

I also noticed that Tosid has ordered the construction of an unhealthy number of menacing steel spikes. Mosus Olonastod, one of our two metalcrafters, said that his exact words were "Until I tell you to stop". This plan of his is looking less and less pleasant each day.

He does seem to be in a better mood, though, and even agreed to set up the floodgates that we will need to fill the indoor reservoirs, to prevent the need to venture outside for water. All we need now is for one of the miners to channel out the bank of the river. That will unfortunately have to wait until the siege lifts, as I am not eager to risk the outside again.

As the season changes, we continue to work behind our walls, building for the future and the glory of the Theater of Beards.

[Rysith]

Rysith cancels Play Dwarf Fortress: Interrupted by Real Life
Hopefully, things will be back to regular updates. And now, back to the journal of Kib Amkolrigoth!

Autumn began with the orcs departing, apparently satisfied that we were not going to re-emerge from our walls in a reasonable amount of time. I wasted no time in ordering all of the debris from the battle brought inside. The iron equipment will be melted down by our smiths and re-forged, and the goods from the caravan need not go to waste. A fortunate rain has washed much of the blood-soaked ground, and our entrance looks almost inviting now, apart from the beak dog skulls still littering the ground.

We also had a bit of an altercation with Kadol, one of the skeletal batmen from the chasm. He had gotten a bit too close to the fortress for the civilians to feel safe gathering, so I ordered our marksdwarves to shoot him down. Hardly worth mentioning, really, except that I've been keeping careful track of how many there are left. Unlike the skeletal deer that live in the Forest of Funerals and the Giant Eagles that haunt the Unnameable Point, the batmen have been showing a disturbing tendency to wander close to our fort, which concerns me.

No more than two days after the Orcs left, the yearly dwarven caravan arrived, along with Urist Almôshilral, our liaison. When I met with him, he said that they had been camping in the hills waiting for the orcs to leave. I can't blame him, really, after what happened to the humans. I was able to convince Tosid to come out for long enough to trade, as he is the only one of us with any skill at appraisal or bartering, but he refused to meet with the liason. Though I'm no politician, that duty fell to me.

The lists that he showed me! Goods beyond description and number! I only agreed to this position as a temporary measure. How should I be expected to know what the fortress will need in a year! Urist was quite insistent that he needed a list to bring back, though. I'll admit that I was probably dazzled a bit by the variety, and ended up requesting quite a few varieties of precious metals, gems, and leathers. I also requested Giant Cave Spider silk, since we have no way of obtaining that ourselves. I only hope that I've done my duty to the fortress acceptably. Urist told me that the mountainhome needed anvils, crowns, large gems, metal bars, tanned hides, armor, fish, plants, footwear, and goblets. I warned him that while we may not be able to supply the tanned hides or the gems, I would try my best to get the rest of them. The armor, especially, should be more than possible.

When I was finished, I ran into Tosid on his way back from the trade depot. I asked what we had traded for, and he looked at me a bit funny before he rattled off an enormous list of things: meat, barrels, cheese, gems, and several more that I didn't catch. I had no idea that the fortress needed meat and cheese, but we may simply have to do without next year. He also mentioned that the Queen should be very pleased with the token he had sent for her, but he ran off into the depths of the fortress before I could question him further.

The hauling job has proven to be larger than previously anticipated, and I've had to send most of the military back to hauling, rather than sparring. I'm loath to keep that up for long, but it's crucial that we get the equipment safely inside before the winter.

The dwarves outside the fortress have brought with them the goblins, as we expected. Happily, they remain much less competent than the orcs. The first two casualties were goblin master thieves, both swiftly dispatched by The Duke while he was fetching water for our injured soldier. Shortly after that, our jewler came running down from the mountains screaming that there were goblins up there. It seemed that he had been trying to collect some bones up there to make into bolts when a marksgoblin had loosed a bolt in his general direction. I quickly gathered myself, The Tooninator, and Flint to go deal with them.

The battle itself was short and one-sided. Though there were seven of them and only three of us, we had far more discipline than they did. We gathered some distance away and charged as a group, myself and Flint with axes and The Tooninator with his sword. We hit the closest pikegoblin, standing some ways down the mountain as a guard, divided him into rather messy pieces, and kept going without slowing down. Truthfully, most of the battle after that was the three of us chasing down fleeing goblins. None escaped, and I don't think any of us suffered even the slightest wound. We stood guard over the site as we waited for the haulers to gather the equipment from the fallen. Though we have next to no use for it, the last thing I want is for kobolds to decide that we offer a good place to hunt for discarded weapons and armor.

The hauling, especially from the ambush site, has taken long enough that winter is fast approaching. I've pulled the civilians back to the fortress so that none of them are caught far from the gates if there is a siege, leaving a collection of armor still lying on the ground. I would have had The Duke or Shoruke dig us some underground tunnels out to the site, but they've both been occupied by whatever it is that Tosid is planning.

Upon our return, Tosid was waiting at the entrance to greet us, and granted The Tooninator the title "The Lyrics of Noiselessness". He said that it was an indication of the role that he would play in the future of the fortress. I think Tosid's going to snap any day now, but The Tooninator accepted the title, and seems to have gained a more menacing air of late. As if he needed more of one, a dwarf that can outrun an orc while wearing platemail, with a sword at each hip, already seems menacing if he isn't fighting by your side.

Flint ran off as soon as we got back from standing guard, claiming that Tosid had a task for him, and I haven't seen Hat in ages, though the coating of dolomite dust around his masonry shop tells me he has been busy. Some of the furnace operators have said that they've seen Skjald working in the forges alone, late at night. I grow more and more wary of this "project" that Tosid is preparing, and worry at the secrecy with which he and the rest of the original seven are working on it. Perhaps The Tooninator can get me some more information about it, now that he seems to be in Tosid's good graces.

Winter falls around us now, so this entry must come to a close.

[Rysith]

From the journal of Tosid Vodsazir, master mechanic.

Since the Ancients chose me, everything is clear. The design, the implementation, the materials. We have it all, it is within our grasp. But the others! The others do not know, must not know. They would not understand. I've done all that I can to keep them separate, not knowing, but the time is drawing near when I must work directly on the clay they stand on.

The other five have been most helpful in this. They know what the Ancients demand, and what we must do to fulfill it. The Duke and Shoruke, especially: much must be excavated, and excavated in secret, for the first phase. Hat has worked tirelessly to supply the stones we will need once everything is in place, and the all-important grates are already completed by his hand. Skjald's ability to shape the steel has also been invaluable, and without Flint's skill with wood there would be no power, no life.

This season, the steel pillars were placed, and I've begun fitting the spikes. I had to enlist the aid of some of the migrants, I had no choice if I was to complete it in time. They know nothing of the spike's true purpose, though, and I've been careful that only we six place them. We are almost there. Salirsosh waits. She tells me the mechanisms that we need, how they are to fit together, how the system will breath once it is complete. I see it all. It is so close...

[Shoruke]

There is to be much excavating?!? Sounds good! It means I get to practice my mining, which will be helpful when I start bashing orc skulls in full-time.

...At least I don't have Flint's job. I do NOT feel like going toe-to-toe with something seven feet tall.

When you get into late game, draft him into the military (as 'unarmed') and have him fight with a pickaxe and heavy armor.

Which is it?  Anyway, back to the story!

I mean that I don't want to fight orcs right now. Once I'm a legendary miner, those orcs are going to hit the ground like the proverbial pile of bricks.

[Rysith]

I mean that I don't want to fight orcs right now. Once I'm a legendary miner, those orcs are going to hit the ground like the proverbial pile of bricks.

Ah, you hit legendary miner back in winter of the first year. I'm currently being cautious with your military assignments (You're also a master mason, and I don't want you going champion on me before I've trained up a replacement), but training-wise you're good to go. I'm getting you a nice steel pick (and hopefully a better-quality one, once I've got a decent weaponsmith) and you should be ready to join in the first time we face the orcs head-on.

And, since Shoruke's confusion prompted it, here are pictures of the fortress and the dwarves! It's now mid-winter of 110.

Here's the stocks screen:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The topmost level of the fort, showing the bridge (and guard foal), the upper fortifications, above-ground farms, and what will become the statue garden. The two statues placed at the entrance were put there after winter started, so they will be in the next update.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The entrance level, with the entrance, food stockpiles, farms, main fortifications, and the tops of the waterfalls.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The dining level, with workshops towards the river and food preparation to the right. To the left are the fortifications (and steel pillars) overlooking the part of Tosid's project that I've finished. The room with the levers is the control room, with two drawbridges and two sets of floodgates

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The first level of stockpiles, and the first level of bedrooms. Barracks are in the upper left, with weapon and armor stockpiles.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Second level of bedrooms, and the reservoir for the waterfalls. It should be self-regulating, too. The recently-dug area is for the common coffins. The central area is the forge stockpiles, mostly dominated by steel bars. We've got flux and fuel in abundance, why not?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The forge level. I had to place all of the forges at the same time, so I built in some extras. Magma smelters, glass furnaces, forges, and even some kilns in case I ever decide to make clear glass.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The magma pipes, warrior's graveyard, and the first "full" bedroom complex (the first one where it would fit without running into soil). At the left is the magma pipe. This level will also have the minor noble housing, once we start needing that.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The Duke: Kills: two goblin thieves, skills: Legendary miner, talented brewer. Mighty, perfectly agile, and extremely tough.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Shoruke: No kills (Kib stole both of the orcs). Skills: Legendary Miner, Master mason, dabbling armor/shield user, Novice wrestler. Extremely strong, very agile, and superdwarvenly tough

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Flint: 13 kills (four goblins, nine orcs) + four beak dogs. Skills: Adept Carpenter, Wrestler, Competent axedwarf, expert marksdwarf, dabbling armor/shield user. strong, extremely agile, extremely tough

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Hat: Competent engraver, high master mason, proficient stone crafter. Mighty and extremely tough

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Skjald: Proficient Armorsmith, Proficient Leatherworker, dabbling Metalsmith, weaponsmith. Strong, agile, and extremely tough. She hasn't been doing much since the armorsmithing was taken over by Olin before we got magma forges, but with the sudden need for spikes she's coming along nicely.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The Tooninator: 6 kills (a goblin, an orc, two kobolds, two batmen) + 1 beak dog. Legendary wrestler, proficient armor user, professional shield user, Great swordsdwarf. Very strong, unbelievably agile, superdwarvenly tough.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Tosid's plan at this point involves no less than 410 menacing steel spikes, ~150 mechanisms, three screw pumps, 16 steel blocks, 48 stone grates, and other miscellaneous building materials. That's phase one. Phase two is going to need a lot more digging, and probably 3dwarf to really see what's going on.

[Shoruke]

This sounds EPIC. If you need me to help with some other job for it (metalworking, mechanics) then feel free. I could use the spare experience for extra attribute gains 

[ToonyMan]

Looks like we have all the resources we need to take down those orcs!  Just need more dwarfs.





Funny looking tileset too.   

[Rysith]

Looks like we have all the resources we need to take down those orcs!  Just need more dwarfs.

Funny looking tileset too.   

I agree, though they didn't siege this winter. Next summer, hopefully our entranceway will run red with blood! Over the winter, wrestlers started turning into swords/axedwarves, so most of the soldiers are Competent or better with weapon/shield/armor. With luck, I'll figure out DF movies before then, and post one.

The tileset is a standard ASCII 9x9, with smoothed walls. I posted it over here

[Rysith]

From the journal of Tosid Vodsazir, winter 110

Silly Kib. He spent all winter cooped up inside, waiting for the orcs to arrive. Can't he tell that they wouldn't be showing up this season? He doesn't even need them to be here, he'll hide inside anyway! I need to finish the project quickly, or his mismanagement may interfere with the future. He seems happy enough doing minor things and keeping the military sparring in the barracks. The Orcs are like an obsession for him. Soon, though, the Orcs will be of no concern. The spikes don't care how tall they are, they aren't tall enough.

I've also received another message from the Ancients! They sent it through one of the immigrant engravers this time. I can tell that he is not part of the plan: they were careful to leave no memory of the experience in his mind. He made a dolomite puzzlebox, with an image of the founding of Lanternwebs, the first Queen of the Braided Lenses, and a Chimera on it, in steel. This one seems like a warning. All the more important to get the project completed quickly. The engraver must not know of the plan: if he were to know, surely the Ancients would have granted him their skill when he crafted it.

Kib has also been interfering with the plan, though I'm not sure if it's deliberate or not. He ordered The Duke and Shoruke to stop excavating the passage to Phase II to dig out some statue garden that he wanted. I can turn it to my advantage: We can dig out the entrance while everyone is up looking at the statues, and we won't have to dig out the ground beneath anyone's feet.

Shoruke also said that she has found a suitable replacement, and begun training them in masonry and mining. That should free Shoruke up for her part in the plan.

The pump arrangement is proving difficult. Perhaps some bridges would make it easier? They should be synchronized, though. And how would it start?

[Rysith]

Status report, Winter 110, prepared by Kib Amkolrigoth, Champion of the Theater of Beards

The winter passed without a single sign of orcs. I felt certain that they would descend on us the moment that the leaves fell from the trees. Our vigilance was not wasted, though. Several of the recruits feel confident enough with their weapons to abandon the title of "Wrestler", and the others are handling their weapons much more competently now. When the orcs return, they shall taste dwarven steel!

One of our engravers woke up in the middle of moonstone babbling about Vesh Zasit, and after gathering some dolomite, a lump of obsidian, two bars of steel, and two of the rough banded agates we had mined, he set to work and created The Dust of Knives, a dolomite puzzlebox. The strange thing is that he has no recollection of the construction at all. I found him in the workshop looking at the thing with an expression of extreme confusion. Perhaps Tosid is behind this, but I don't think he's capable of wielding magic to control dwarves.

On the first of Opal, a kobold thief who had made it past our watch-foal set foot in our entranceway. Unfortunately for him, he more or less bumped into me and The Tooninator, both of us relaxing after a sparring session. I'm not sure it even had time to realize its mistake. My axe was quicker that his sword, but my blow merely left a gash along its skull, whereas The Tooninator clove it cleanly in half across the midsection, causing it to tumble backwards down the ramp and explode in gore. Hopefully, its disappearance will discourage future thieves.

I've also taken note of the two exceptionally skilled masons at the fortress, and I commissioned two statues made of Dolomite, one of Tosid and one of the Queen, to be placed overlooking the entrance to our fort. Both were exceptionally crafted by Hat, and the workdwarfship was so impressive that I've ordered The Duke and Shoruke to stop whatever deep excavation Tosid had ordered to dig out a statue garden. Imagine, when we can relax surrounded by fine works or art rather than the sandy entranceway!

Tosid has stopped being quite so creepy recently. He seemed almost happy by the puzzlebox, and he's stopped demanding that steel be made endlessly. He came up out of the depths to admire his statue, too, and didn't even object strongly when I ordered whatever he's digging down there paused for the statue garden. I wish he would come to his senses, though. I'm getting tired of making all of the decisions.

The Orcs appear to not have made an appearance this season, but I'm sure that they will be back in the future. We must be ever-vigilant. Now that spring is here, I must go attend to what may be an even greater challenge: dealing with the elves that are sure to come with the newly sprouting leaves.

[Rysith]

Status report, Spring 111, prepared by Kib Amkolrigòth the Fields of Scalding, Champion of the Theater of Beards

As spring came and the trees began to grow green, the elves once again showed themselves at the door to our fortress. Since we knew that the elves would not show up if an Orcish army was approaching, I rescinded my order that all dwarves were to stay within crossbow-shot of the bridge while outside. Our clothes were beginning to wear thin, and so I ordered some of the lesser-quality steel armor that we had lying around brought up to the depot, in preparation for trade.

The laborers were eager to finish hauling the equipment left by the goblins last autumn, as was I: It was miraculous that it had lain untouched by thieves for this long. However, I ordered the militia to change their training weapons for steel ones, and ordered the swordsdwarves, lead by The Tooninator to guard the front entrance while the axedwarves, lead by me, patrolled the route that the laborers were taking.

As I suspected, the hauling had scarcely begun when the goblins sprang from ambush. No doubt they had taken the winter to make preparations. Four wrestlers, two speargoblins, and a human guard leapt from behind the shrubbery as soon as the first dwarf crossed the bridge outside. Fortunately, the first dwarf across the bridge was The Tooninator, closely followed by the rest of his squad. The fight went predictably:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Scarcely had the body parts settled to the ground when a second ambush was sprung. We had set out along our patrol route and the other axedwarves had fallen behind, since they still weren't as proficient with their armor as I was. One of them, Stukos Medtobkoman, was able to outpace the rest of them, but not catch up to me. The goblins, thinking that they could pick at least one of our number off with 5-to-1 odds, attacked: two wrestlers, two macegoblins, and a human bowman. Though I began rushing back to aid her, I need not have worried: she defeated the entire ambush single-handedly before we could come to her aid.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

((Yes, that's two airborne goblins at the same time))

The goblins were clearly getting desperate for something positive to report to their commanders, and shortly after those two failed ambushes, a squad of two macegoblins, two wrestlers, and a human crossbowman successfully ambushed the zombie deer that had been roaming around the northern forest. Though they destroyed the deer fairly quickly, they also ran afoul of Aboasten the Skeletal Giant Eagle, who had been patrolling the northern peaks for several months now. Aboasten killed a wrestler and a macegoblin before the rest were able to flee, and we took the opportunity to destroy Aboasten while it was close to the ground. As my squad stood guard over the remains, the last of the skeletal batmen from the chasm decided to attack, and was quickly destroyed. This marks the first time that the skies over Lanternwebs have been free of the undead.

Tosid proved to be too busy with whatever mad scheme he was planning to arrive at the depot, but I knew that our trade goods would be more than enough to purchase whatever the elves had to offer, so I ordered one of the haulers to do the trading. We got a quantity of wood and several bins of cloth, which we've begun cutting into clothes while we wait for the cotton and pig tails that we have planted to grow. Though I'm sure that the elves got a better deal than they would have otherwise, we only traded away the lower-quality armor, so I saw no great loss in it.

Slate brought a fresh wave of migrants, who seem to have arrived safely despite the dangerous journey. We received two fishery workers, a dyer, three peasants, a stoneworker, a bone carver, a blacksmith, a mechanic, a ranger, a lye maker, a potash maker, a woodcrafter, a brewer, a jeweler, and a planter. With their help, the last of the hauling went quickly, for which I am thankful: I would not want to allow the equipment to sit out during the summer as well. Needless to say, the majority of them will be inducted into the military as soon as Olin can smith suits of armor for them. We will need all of the dwarves we can muster to face the orcs when next they darken our borders.

The migrants also raised our population enough for elections to be held. To my surprise, Tosid was elected as mayor, despite his crazy mumblings and refusal to participate in ordinary fortress life. I can only attribute this to meddling on the part of the other six who started this fortress, but I suppose the fact that Tosid accepted means that he does plan to eventually go back to administering the fortress. He hasn't indicated any desire for me to stop running day-to-day things, though. He did use his new authority to dub Stukos, the axedwarf who defeated the ambush, "Stukos Blockadespread the Distracting Gold of Tributes". The move has made him more popular with the military, but I still think that it is evidence that there are a few loose gears spinning in there.

The last event of note was the strange behavior of Ushat Zaskol, one of our bonecarvers. For no reason that I could determine, he stopped work on the bone bolts that I had ordered him to carve, grabbed some batman, giant eagle, and goblin bones, and carved them into an intricate earring. The body itself is made of batman bone, expertly carved to show the fine lattice inside, with giant eagle bone hanging off it and circles of batman and goblin bone. Though the carving is of the highest quality, Ushat can't remember making it at all, much less why. Perhaps the rumors of an ancient evil trapped beneath these mountains is true.

As spring turns to summer, we prepare to face the orcish menace. Nearly half of our fortress is in the military, all in full plate mail and training for the battle that we know is to come. We shall stand as a bastion of resistance and hold firm against the barbarians that would seek to destroy all civilization!

[ToonyMan]

Resist Resist!!

[Rysith]

From the journal of Tosid Vodsazir, spring 111.

Phase II has hit a snag. There's a vein of tetrahedrite crossing the excavation path, and I know I won't be able to have that dug out without the peasants coming down here to gather it. I've halted work for now, but it seems as if the time when parts of the plan must be revealed to the general fortress draws ever closer.

The spikes are half-done now, though their production has slowed with the order for armor that Kib put in. Hat and Shoruke have also both contributed to the statues that will serve as the distraction while we dig out the entranceway. Kib thinks he can get away with a simple Dolomite statue, but Hat and Shoruke have done many times better: sculpting lumps of pure gold and platinum that we have imported, they have created exceptional statues of dwarven heros, worthy of the greatness that this fortress is destined for. Kib doesn't know yet, though, and won't until he sees them installed next to the dolomite one.

I've nearly gotten the mechanics worked out, and I think that it can even be made to correctly start. As soon as the entrance is clear, we can start the installation.

I've also been elected mayor. It's good to see that the people still believe in my leadership, rather than Kib's. I've commissioned a set of Zinc goblets to celebrate my new position, and ordered some more spacious rooms dug out and engraved for my use. I find its soft gray much preferable to the harsh shine of our steel, and unlike gold or the other precious metals it is not too gaudy for personal use. My election as mayor has also allowed me to appoint Shoruke as the fortress bookeeper. She has said that she wishes to train as much as possible before she faces the orcs a second time, and that training must be mental as well as physical. Though I left our records in good condition, they are always changing, and there is always updating to be done.

The forces moving Ushat seem to be different from those that inspired the puzzlebox, and seem only concerned with the dead. Eyes will be kept on Ushat, to ensure that he is not working against our cause.

Phase I will not be completed before summer, so I will be unable to test it against live targets. A pity.

[Rysith]

Something that neither Tosid nor Kib mentioned was that there is also now an opening for Captain of the Guard. In the absence of someone wanting to take that role, I'll probably leave it empty, but I have no objections to filling it if someone wants to (Tosid should only mandate zinc, which we can import without a problem).

Right now, everyone is working on Tosid's secret project, but if anyone has any other requests I'd be more than happy to try to fulfill them.