Waiting for the worst

16th Galena


The traders have brought plenty of good things.  For some reason, they are interested in all the bloody clothing that the invaders and wrecked caravans dropped. I am glad to be rid of it, as it is clogging the warehouses, although I hope they don't notice that some of the clothing was from the last human traders who came by.  I also trade more instruments for all their logs, food, booze, foreign seeds (building a greenhouse to raise surface plants safely below ground will bring a welcome addition to our diet), metal, as well as cages and weapons to fill the trap hallway.  Oh, and four more anvils.



With a plethora of trade goods to haul, our society reaches full employment.

With all the pressing tasks that remain undone, I wish we had more dwarves to put to work than our current 97.  A large fraction of them are children or infants as well, who cannot work.

I keep checking the Units menu in hope of spotting foes before they approach, but only a groundhog and a mountain goat can be spotted.

19th Galena


I continue ordering bedrooms outfitted; the first two levels are furnished, and the third has started.  I believe we have more than adequate housing for our current inhabitants.  With things under control, I order the resumption of musical instrument production.

1st Limestone


Summer is over, and the extra mechanics have greatly sped up the installation of our trap corridor.  But smelting is still slow, and we only have 50 steel bars in reserve, nowhere near enough to outfit the second squad.  I will transition our improvised mechanic battalion to smelter operation once the corridor is complete.

Someone questioned my distaste for the pompous nicknames that some dwarves have given themselves.  Bringing up the a form from the hospital, I show them the entry for one of the more egregiously named dwarves:

This form (mandated by the King's own Surgeon General Dwarf, so I cannot change it) only has twenty one blank spaces for letters.  And the utterly uninformative nickname, even after being disemvoweled into complete unreadability, takes up ten of those!  While the form layout is horrible, adding nicknames simply compounds the aggravation.

(There's also a bug in the mac client.  I can't backspace in the nickname field, so I can't even get rid of them.)


12th Limestone


Another sign that my tenure has gone very well.

15th Limestone


The human caravan begins packing to depart.  Two caravans with no goblin attacks continues to unnerve me.  The trap hallway is nearly ready to open, with seven full weapon traps.  The limiting factor has been weapons; as goblins are dispatched, their weapons should be installed in more traps, and channels dug to expose the pits below.

19th Limestone


More migrants have arrived.  We get two decent rangers (I resolve to start a squad of marksdwarves), a High Master Armorsmith (equally talented as our current armorer), a Talented Engraver, and some riffraff who are told to go smelt things.  Our fortress now stands at 104 members.

27th Limestone


More badger clan members arrive to menace the mechanics working on the bridges. The military is sent out for some practice.

"Eat lead! Err, wood, I mean."

7th Sandstone


Open for business.

Seven filled weapon traps, all with masterwork mechanisms.  Anyone who dodges off the trap will either land on another trap or fall three stories down to a hard stone floor.  As more traps are made, more checkerboard squares should be channeled out, to provide access to the deadfall below.

Should any make it through the hallway, they will face a hall of cage traps.  The left lever raises this bridge (to safely reload the cage traps) while the right lever raises the microcline bridge to shortcut the trap hallway.  You can also see part of the drop zone from the traps one level above.

Now all I need are some goblins.