1st Limestone, 265



The humans tumble forth into the drainage pit as the wave hits, screaming and burbling for air. Their pack-mules kick out with all of their legs but it is to no avail. Splashing and choking on the taste of irony, their caravan strikes ground as it collapses into the caverns, a mess of blood and water and sprained limbs.



Greenskin collaborators deserve no better.

6th Limestone



Forging goes well. Construction on the magma pumps begins although I have no plans for what happens to the magma once it reaches the surface. For now there shall be a reservoir under the mires and future overseers may draw from it as they please.



It seems despite the loss that we have all suffered, life in Gemclod proceeds as usual. I ask Angry Ed what he cooks and he tells me giant rat. I ask him where he got it and he winks at me knowingly.



Leperfish informs me that the engraving of the Great Hall's pillars is finished. He shows me an image of The_White_Crane's bonecraft with pride and I humour him for I suspect this is how he copes with loss.

9th Limestone



I have in my head an idea for how to end the goblin invaders without loss to our warriors. It will be a long endeavour and will require much steel. More ore, more coal, more flux is needed. I order the miners to begin.



TheWhaler continues work on siege operations in the meantime. When the forges finish their current work I will mandate arrowheads to be built. Greenskins shall taste dwarven steel deep in their bellies.

13th Limestone



Angry Ed's taste for unusual meats knows no bounds.



I applaud his effort though I will not taste the beak-monster flesh.

Meanwhile, the head doctor Kaboom Dragoon comes to me with reluctance. I ask him what happened and he tells me.

YeOldeButchere wrote :-

Journal of Yeol Deabo Tcher, Armorer and Weaponsmith of Gemclod

Enzer died.

I suppose it's not surprising that dwarves who fight for a living might die fighting. Even the best armor cannot shield against the icy grip of death. But she had faced death so many time that I thought she was immune to it by now. She has likely saved this fortress more than once, and I respected her for it. Maybe even... admired her for it.

What a fool I've been.

I should know very well by now that this is how things end in this world. Death. That of others, or your own. There is no point in worrying about others when all you can look forward to is loss when they finally get torn to shreds or burned or drowned or decapitated or eaten. I should have learned this by now, but from time to time weakness overpowers me, and this happens.

And then I... well... it reminded me of my family. For the first time in so many years, I remembered what happened so many more years earlier. How They came. How father, mother, and everyone else was killed. How I survived by luck. I thought I'd finally forgotten, but no. No matter how much I've tried.

Oh well. I suppose that even such effective teachers as Death and loss can't completely save me from the weakness in every dwarf.

I'm tired.

The_White_Crane wrote :-

This is a journal entry. It is written in dog-blood ink, on dog-skin parchement.
The writing is jagged, and menaces with spikes of capitals. All craftsdwarfship is of the most mediocre quality.



Journal of The_White_Crane Ducimimush, Axedwarf of the Inky Systems:
That Traitorous Wretch, Boing, sinks further still into Depravity! Enzer, our Greatest Hope lies dead and rotting, for the Usurper's Cowardice was her Doom. A Greenskin Ambush, which could have been Evaded with the merest Sliver of Prudence, felled our Champion. I see now that Boing's Machinations know No Bounds - clearly she will not Rest until all possible Opposition to her Tyranny has been Surpressed. First the Praetor, now our Finest Warrior. Despite this, I feel there is a Light in the Darkness; I may have Found the Praetor. I followed the Usurper one day, as she went about her Business, and I Chanced to see her throwing Provisions into the Checkered Office. No-one has used that room in a Long While, even less so now that Leperfish is so Despondant (though I was Most Flattered by the Fine Engraving he made of one of my Bolts) so why should she be Surreptitiously Delivering Provisions? I am Close to the Truth, I am certain!