21st Malachite, 209, Mid-Summer
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Kyronea, you go-getter! Training you up on cooking was an excellent plan - and a most profitable one, at that!
Our fortress shall want for nothing - well, except for a taste of those forbidden roasts. Not quite masterwork quality yet, but getting there! Now, we could substantially increase our profits by rotating the crops to increase production of sweet pods and whip vine flour, but... wait, but what? Why shouldn't I do just that?? We already have a wide variety of foods, the profits from the roasts allow us to buy all the food we want from the caravans - not because we're starving, but for the sake of keeping variety in stock - and if the workers ever start to get unhappy, we can let slip a few roasts to get their spirits up.
Ugh, speaking of unhappy dwarves...
A cave spider died in the bestiary, disgusting most of the military and anyone else who sought the peace and comfort of a restrained grizzly bear lately. A cat probably dragged it in there. I honestly don't understand how a cave spider can cause that much stink! It's just a little thing! Well, if that cat's owner had done the right thing and accepted the cat's gift, this wouldn't happen! Some people just don't appreciate cats for their aloofness... isn't that right, Astesh, Olin, and... hmm, didn't I have three cats? Did one die of old age and I didn't notice? No, of course not. I'm sure it's perfectly alive somewhere and no harm whatsoever has come to it. This is most assuredly the case.
I can tell Reg is going to be difficult. Right now, her mandates include the banning of gold items, picks, and shields, all at the same time. Picks and shields really don't cut into our market at all, but it's the fact of the matter! Who does she think she is, waltzing in here and making all these restrictions on what we can and can't export? The gold item mandate is the worst, but it still doesn't matter with the roasts... come to think of it, thost roasts may very well save our lives in the end... or at least put off our eventual demise.
Oh, and because Asob said so, we're also not allowed to export beds. Just in case, you know, the fancy takes us.
"Hey, beds are important! You've seen Somberswallows the Odorous Typhoons, haven't you? I worked hard on that Garnierite bed..."
"Gah! Don't do that, Asob!"
"Don't do what?"
"Sneak up on me! Can't you just, you know,
walk?"
"Ok, seriously? This joke is getting old. Everybody keeps saying I randomly appear and disappear, but that can't be. I distinctly recall walking from the dining area all the way to your room several stories below."
"Uh huh. How many steps did it take you?"
"Only two, no doubt because of my genius work regulating traffic in the tunnels! I didn't even know I was such an architectural genius like you!"
"I thought you didn't like my architecture?"
"Oh, not at all! Your magma trap turned out nice."
"'Turned out? It's finished?!"
"Right on the first of Autumn, too! Perfect timing!"
There it is! The upper level of the tower, in all its glory - and look! All of the vomit cleared away with the passing of the seasons!
Regrettably, there are a large number of garish floors sticking out of the sides of the contraption. This was the only way I could get the walls in place without letting the dwarves trap themselves. I had once asked that the floors be removed after use, but guess where the dwarves wanted to stand to remove them? That's right... on the side that the floors were meant to prevent them from getting stuck on! On the other hand, they might actually promote the spreading of magma in a way, so maybe it's not all bad. If they get annoying, we'll have to go to the trouble of building stairs up to them to remove them.