16th of Timber, year 202The annual caravan came today and, just like last year, the liaison as well. At least this time the position was given to someone more worthy than some lowly fisher, this liaison is a craftsdwarf.
So, first I met the merchants. This year they brought lots of valuable stuff like cages, metal, food, alcohol and other things we haven't managed to create or gather yet. I had to paid almost twenty thousand bucks but I assure you, it was worth of it!
After the trading was done it was time to meet the liaison. After some random chatting, during which the liaison expressed how surprised she was to see how well we are actually doing out here, it was time to some serious business. I requested some iron, steel, coal and bolts. After that I was given the list of requests made by the nobility back in the mountain home. The list included such things like different types of armor, cheese, prepared meals and wooden figures. None of the things mentioned in the list will be made for trading, so I already threw the list away.
After we were finished the liaison left our fortress. I wonder why she didn't wait for the caravan to be ready, it would have been much safer to travel through these cursed lands while under protection.
3rd of Opal, year 202The upper section of the entrance, also known as archery tower, is ready. The original plan was altered a bit but not much and everything should function as planned. The tower offers clear line of sight to all three directions, making it easier to spot approaching enemies. I must tell you, our masons did a good job with this.
Now we only need some archers to station up there...
17th of Opal, year 202Our smiths have begun the production of weapons and armors. Soon we should have better army.
20th of Opal, year 202Few days ago I ordered the miners to dig deeper. I didn't actually have anything special in mind, except perhaps to find out the mineral composition of the lower layers. What they did find down there was quite a surprise: there is this huge cavern just few floors bellow our noble quarters!
The breach occurred just few hours ago so we don't have actual access to the cavern, but so far it looks rather barren. No trees, no plants, nothing, just wastes of muddy rock floor. When we have our small military ready our miners shall connect the stairs to the cavern and then our soldiers shall take a quick exploration tour inside the cavern.
8th of Obsidian, year 202One of our masons has produced a nice cabinet from claystone. It has few simple decorations, like bands and rings, all of which are made from claystone.
It is actually nice little artifact, at least it has real use. But why didn't the mason put some more effort in it. Not talking about the quality of the actual cabinet but the amount and types of decoration. In my opinion there should be more pictures in it, made by using different kinds of materials.
So, what's the situation with the cavern exploration? Not much has actually happened since the breach, most of the time our miners have been rerouting the tunnels and stairs so that we can have entrance placed on a section I think should be good and easier to protect. In the mean while our masons have been walling and flooring all the gaps so that we can have a safe route to the not yet ready entrance.
12th of Obsidian, year 202Two of dwarves were assigned to military today; Hugo and Winterwrath. I didn't handle the specifics as I thought Murkyring would be better dealing with the details. All I know is that two dwarves entered the military, both received full iron armor set, one got iron axe and one got silver hammer.
Next we shall focus on the exploration of the cavern. But before that we need to get the entrance ready. And that's the task our miner are working on.
19th of Obsidian, year 202Our soldiers are inside the cavern. So far their reports have been quite short, not much has been discovered. At first it seemed that the whole cavern is empty but then our soldiers spotted some cave spider silk webs. And that means there are cave spiders, which means there must be something those things eat. And what I remember from the days I was a young kid my teacher told me that cave spiders and giant cave spiders eat living things. There is also another thing that support the possibility of living creatures down there; our soldiers spotted a cloud of miasma coming from somewhere southeast from the entrance. I ordered them to check it out though carefully.
While our soldiers are exploring the cavern our masons are installing some traps to the entrance. After all I don't want that some strange creature just walks inside our fortress while our soldiers aren't there...