The Continuing Adventures of The Secretive Brunch

If you'd like to follow along with the continuing adventures of The Secretive Brunch and the history of Phantomdaggers, you can do so here.

--
two birds on a wire

The History of Phantomdaggers, Chapter III

1 Granite

A happy new year to all! The winter has passed, such as it does in these lands, and we are that much stronger for it. I am known as Benjamin, Master Mason of the fifth degree and Master of the fledgling lodge of Phantomdaggers. It is, I believe, a testament to the waning influence of the Grand Lodge of Hammerbreads that I must cede my authority to this farcical triumverate. All freemasonry is at an end, some say. Doubters, all! I have none whatsoever, and I put no stock in those who would deny the benefit of a strong and morally upright masonic sorority. We simply must be mindful of our words and deeds, and dwarves young and old will flock to our doors.

My fellow leaders are not masons, of course, but I must admit that they have ruled well. We are snug in our caverns, and the stores remain tenable. Indeed, migrants seem to flood in by the dozen, no doubt encouraged by tales of Masonic glory. Most of them are not fit to gaze upon the Great Hall, but there may be a few that can someday hope to achieve our ranks.

2 Granite

Mosus has completed her apprenticeship, and become a Master Mason of the third degree! It is a relief, I admit, to have another fully initiated into the sorority. She has already been serving as the Senior Warden in practice; I will send a letter with the next caravan to make her position official.

5 Granite

Yesterday I ordered the chippies to claim the last remaining trees in the area. They set off enthusiastically; theirs is an endangered profession, it seems. The terrain has proved challenging, and the mountain goats, while not hostile, seem to be pestering them. Libash has always seemed easily distractable to me.

11 Granite

With an eye towards those mountain goats, I have set Soxgaspa to guard the cave entrance. It is elegant and well-worked, to be sure, but nothing but a few poorly maintained traps separates our valuable stockpiles from thieves and intruders. I must remember to bend our efforts towards the common defense in the future.

15 Granite

So much to do! With some help from Evan, who is a wizard with the books, I have dramatically restructured our work force. Joshua certainly was soft on the immigrants; I have heard tell that he did not discourage the epithet "useless" in their presence, and they seem to have taken it to heart. I have simplified the workers into a mere dozen professions, and set them to promoting the general welfare. The peasants I have drafted into a nascent "militia" of sorts; of yet we have no weapons, of course, but farsightedness is a virtue.

This restructuring has dramatically cut down on idling and general buffoonry. I do hear grumbling from time to time, but most dwarves appreciate the opportunity for hard labor, when it comes down to it.

18 Granite

Several days ago, I paused the exploratory digging efforts and ordered the construction a rudimentary barracks near the cavern entrance. After a resentful nap or two, Joshua managed to dig out the place. It's nothing to look at, yet; I will place screw pumps inside shortly for the militia to build their strength. It will be shoddy work, to be sure, as charcoal is even harder to come by than wood, but it will serve for now.

How we all long for the heat of a magma furnace! I will resume the exploration in short order.

24 Granite

Another party at the statue garden. The area will simply have to be expanded, but there are more pressing matters to which I must attend.

26 Granite

Disaster! The elven caravan approached over the hills, and it was nearly to the cavern entrance when it was beset by a goblin ambush. The goblins killed one trader, pursued the other, and then turned their attention to our near-defenseless fortress.

From the instant that the call of "Ambush!" echoed through the fortress, it became clear that most of the newcomers would be useless in a crisis. They rushed about madly, some pouring out of the fortress as if to flee. Perhaps goblins were a mere children's tale to some.

Luckily, I was not the only one to keep my head. Joshua and Sibrek herded the peasant fools inside, urging them to make for their bedrooms and lock themselves inside. I had the handlers muster our remaining war dogs, and Oddom rounded up his chippies as a hasty militia. The miners made ready with their picks near the entrance.

Before long, they were upon us. Armed or otherwise, the chippies set upon the goblin band mercilessly and made quick work of them, but not before beloved war dog Cog Alathostar was cut down where he stood. The few cage traps that had been set proved their worth as well; a couple of goblin prisoners will provide a grim entertainment for our vengeful crew.

On the whole, a troubling encounter. I will attempt to prioritize the development of a proper militia at once. Oddom says he will assist me in cursing some sense into our dwarven comrades.

1 Slate

Cleanup from the goblin raid continues. One bittersweet note; the elven traders dropped their merchendise as they were cut down.

3 Slate

Evan has struck cassiterite, a smeltable metal. Without magma, it is not of much use.

9 Slate

Although one elf did escape from the disaster of 26 granite, it seems his message of danger was misunderstood entirely. Fully 20 new migrants wandered into the fortress today, bringing issues of overcrowding to the fore. I do not know that we possess the wood to construct 20 new beds.

On a happier note, one of the migrants brought word from Hammerbreads that Evan has formally been appointed the mayor of Phantomdaggers.

13 Slate

I have attempted to sort out the most recent crowd of inexperienced fools as best I can. They lounge around the Great Hall, laughing and talking, but they can't seem to be bothered to sponge down the walls of the cavern entrance, where miasma has taken hold. Perhaps it will repel the goblins as well.

22 Slate

I assure you that it was only a formality, but Evan seems to have taken his mayoral posting a bit to the head. Not only does he now insist that he is entitled to larger quarters, but he has decreed that earrings are not to be exported under any circumstances. I am just now constructing a jewelers; perhaps he has friends in Hollowdell, with whom our trade might one day compete.

27 Slate

I must record yet another mishap. I had ordered the area above the entrance dug out, to give us the upper hand in the next goblin raid. Josh and Sibrek went at it eagerly, as usual, but perhaps a bit too eagerly; the entrance to the cavern collapsed upon them as they worked. Those daft miners! Sometimes their lack of foresight astounds me. Josh is unconscious; I had him dragged back to his quarters. Luckily, I had thought to order the construction of several buckets before the fortress ran out of wood entirely.

Sibrek may be worse off. He was hurled up into the air and landed in one of the cage traps. Before I could stop them, a mindless peasent hauled him down to swelter with the caged goblins! I gave the poor fool nightmares. Sibrek was already awake by the time we managed to get him out, and he seems none the worse for wear (apart from his dignity).

6 Felsite

Rimtar Ostarkivish, one of our best farmers, has been acting oddly of late. Yesterday at supper he became very animated about crafting, extolling the virtues of chesnut and tourmaline to his friends. Several of our more skilled craftsdwarves were within earshot, and I'm afraid they did not take it well. Had the company been sober, I'm sure it would have come to blows. I thought it was just a passing oddness, but now Rimtar has claimed a workshop as his own and seems to be raiding every one of our stores at his leisure. Anyone who comes near him gets an earful of curses. He has taken most of our remaining wood, which I had planned to use for more beds. I am glad our chippies found a few more far-flung trees last week; the look in Rimtar's eyes suggests that the alternative would be inestimably worse.

10 Felsite

Rimtar has finished his creation, a chesnut amulet. It's very nice, but I wish he had not used so much of our scanty wood stores.

I'm afraid Josh's injuries are more severe than I first imagined. Our healers tell me that a falling rock struck him in the spine. We can only hope that his sharp wit remains intact when he awakens.

13 Felsite

There are several rotten animal corpses in the statue garden, and no one seems to want to remove them. I wonder how they got there.

21 Felsite

I have taken on Urist Tegiraban as an Initiate. She is utterly inexperienced, of course, but I have been watching her for several weeks, and she shows promise and moral fortitude.

2 Hematite

Joshua is back on his feet! It seems that the entire fortress has a spring in its step as summer dawns. He is aiding me in a tricky mining project that I have undertaken; his expertise in this area is invaluable.

We have struck garnierite, another smeltable metal. The mountain taunts us.

5 Hematite

A miner scrambled up from the depths today. Exploratory digging has become increasingly far-flung; he traveled more than a mile to the surface. The report is strange... a huge, open pit, set far into the mountain. He claims that the stones he tossed did not hit bottom.

10 Hematite

Blast! Errant boulders have deterred another caravan from visiting us. The summer will be a harsh one indeed; we are out of barrels and wood, and are sorely in need of lumber.

12 Hematite

Thank Omer! I managed to clear the boulders in time, and the caravan has arrived. Let us see if we can salvage our precarious resource imbalance.

20 Hematite

The trading was a marked letdown. The lazy humans had nothing but a large quantity of cloth and a bit of meat. We traded them out of all of it, and still have dozens of useless stone crafts lying about.

20 Hematite, later that day

Miners report a magma pipe! Further careful investigation will proceed henceforth.

2 Malachite

We are out of barrels, and very nearly out of booze. This is going to get ugly.

4 Malachite

Evan's absurd demands continue. He thought that smoothed walls would be more becoming of a mayor's bedroom. I had Urist engrave a pair of blazing suns above his bed. Hopefully it will keep him up at night.

7 Malachite

We have struck lignite! With a bit of luck, we can get a rudimentary smelting operation going even before the magma is tapped. This is a thrilling development; the whole fortress is reverberating with excitement. Also, we are out of booze; metal barrels will be essential.

8 Malachite

And hematite, nearby! The smiths are salivating.

25 Malachite

Chaos. Too much to do. There are frogmen in the well.

8 Galena

The dwarves refuse to use the new refuse pile. Miasma abounds.

18 Galena

Oh hell. Unexpected magma breach.

1 Limestone

It has been an eventful summer. I will attempt to recall the more important events for the sake of the records.

We have been out of booze for months, subsisting on water and hating it. My compatriots carry themselves shamefully, sluggishly. But what to be done? There are no barrels, and no wood in sight. The lignite strike was a lucky find, but without a seed, it is useless; some amount of fuel, however small, is required to create more.

Our chippies managed to find a single tree that had thus far been spared. The wood we burned into a tiny lump of charcoal, just enough to smelt lignite into coke, the tiniest dusting. But that was enough to produce more, and by now coke production is starting to ramp up.

This effort seems wasteful, given the presence of lava, but any chance that a metal barrel could be created more quickly had to be siezed. The use of lava is a time-intensive process, and one must be careful. After weeks of digging out the extent of the warm rock, our miners set upon a plan; a series of tunnels below, and a huge production floor above. They set to work, doing their best to get through the working day on water alone.

Alas, my inexperience with the devilish trickery of magma here presented itself. On the lower, exploratory level, the warm rocks gave way, and magma stealthily began flowing through tunnel after long tunnel. One of the brewers, Fikod Tileshvabok, was the first to happen upon this dreaded magma wall; he bravely sounded the alarm, and his voice echoed up the staircases before ominously falling silent. The militia rushed into the depths with floodgates, and managed to seal the corridor, mere meters from the stairs. Fikod was not so lucky; he simply disappeared. The fortress's first casualty was mourned by all.

And so the fortress stands; still in chaos, but now there is hope. Soon the magma works will be complete, and the booze will flow again.

3 Limestone

Olin Sigunamund has had an ugly run-in with a wild horse. His badly mangled leg is a testament to his poor skill as a hunter.

10 Limestone

The caravan from far-off Ezum Caneth has graced us with their presence. Four wagons! What treasures lie within, I wonder...

12 Limestone

The caravan is unloading its goods, and as soon as Evan finishes marveling at his outsized quarters, we can begin this long-needed exchange. Among our trade goods are 117 pairs of earings, banned from export. I wonder what Evan plans to do with them.

24 Limestone

Wealth beyond measure! After more than a week of tedious meetings, and a rather slothful nap, Evan has managed to remove himself to the depot. Ezum Caneth is renowned for their vast, underground tower-cap forest, but I dared not hope until I saw our chippies hauling off bundle after bundle of the finest tower-cap logs you could imagine. To think, the traders seem relieved for us to take the burden off of their hands-- they charge but a pittance!

Evan is ecstatic; he will take to the books for weeks after this, I think. In a fit of generosity, he suspended his ban on earring exports.

9 Sandstone

Everyone has been frantic lately, hauling goods back and forth. We could not trade half of our finished goods simply because we have no bins, so they are scattered willy-nilly about the fortress; even with nearly everyone pitching in, we could not carry everything to the depot in time. But we have booze again!

3 Timber

I never thought I'd say this, but we need more dwarfpower. Everyone is running about, moving lumber and stone. We still have not finished distributing the goods we received from the traders.

9 Timber

A few migrants trickle in. They will be set to work at once.

19 Timber

Evan demands a piccolo. I can't fathom why; none of us has the skill to play it.

23 Timber

I have begun the construction of what I hope will be the first of many roads. Someday, they will be paved with gold...

1 Moonstone

Winter has arrived. The brook is frozen over and frost settles on my beard, yet I am optimistic. Slowly, slowly, we are replenishing our stocks of barrels and beds, working through the gigantic mass of wood that we acquired last season. The magma fill is nearly steady enough to begin smelting, and four forges stand ready to produce steel of wondrous strength and beauty. And if the goblins think to trouble us again, three squads of legendary wrestlers stand with clenched fists and hardened minds.

9 Moonstone

The barracks is a pigsty. The soldiers have strewn rotting food about the room, and no one seems to want to touch it. If they want to wrestle in their own filth, so be it.

13 Moonstone

One Zolak Ongongaspuz, Goblin Master Thief, stumbled into a cage trap today. After he was taken to the dungeons, I went to speak with him. Much to my surprised, "he" claimed to be a misrepresented freemason! I was skeptical, but he presented himself well, so I queried him more closely. When I asked him for the local grip, however, he just stammered, nor did he know the words of the Grand Lodge of the Mountainhomes. A clever imposter, but an imposter nonetheless. He remains caged.

14 Moonstone

Another snatcher, the partner of the first. Their uncoordinated bumbling is the laughingstock of the fortress.

16 Moonstone

I have ordered the slaughter of some of our horses. They have been breeding absurdly of late, clogging up the hallways with their noise and filth.

19 Moonstone

The magma forges will one day be useful, I'm sure, but for now the magma is simply not reliable enough. I have ordered the construction of some temporary coke-powered smelters and forges; we will resume the old ways for now.

21 Moonstone

Gobbos! The lookout must have been sleeping, as we did not hear the cries until they were nearly at the entrance. There were two groups this time, seven in all. Luckily, they were distracted by a stray cat that led them nearly a kilometer afield before they caught up with her. By the time they regrouped, we were ready. I stationed all three squads near the fortress entrance, but this precaution proved unnecessary. Most of their number were undone by traps, and The Reputed Bolts made short work of the last, although one of our war dogs was wounded in the exchange. Our dwarves performed admirably in the crisis; no panicked running about (at least, no more than usual). I am delighted with the state of our armed forces to date.

6 Opal

I have ordered the construction of spartan bedrooms for the military directly beneath the barracks, complete with cabinets. Perhaps a bit of ownership will encourage the wrestlers to clean up after themselves.

11 Opal

Our beloved Sibrek is dead. He had been rather down lately, complaining of the sun and the dullness of our wine. Several days ago, he disappeared, and his whereabouts were unknown until a chippie returned to the fortress in tears today, having come across his corpse perched on a wall. We will have to begin long-overdue construction of a graveyard postehaste.

15 Opal

Another ambush! Our chippies had worked right through the traded wood, so they were out in the field gathering more. The goblins cut down several horses before setting their sights on Eral Osustustuth, a chippy with his baby girl. Eral is truly lucky to be so light on his feet; even with their numbers, she led the goblins on a merry chase about the plain. She escaped entirely unscathed; her baby suffered only a scratch on the arm. Our brave fighting dwarves were not so lucky. I had hastily assembled them and sent them out into the field to rescue Eral; the Purple Wires were the first to reach the goblin train. All but two gave up pursuit to face them, and the battle was joined. Our boys made quick work of two goblins, but Udib Atheluthmik, a poor peasant, found himself surrounded and cut off from his comrades. He struggled valiently, killing one gobbo and wounding another, but he was tragically struck down by a vicious mace blow before help arrived. Soon the Reputed Bolts arrived and mopped up the remaining opposition; the fight was over.

Our fortress's first military casualty, but I daresay it won't be the last.

23 Opal

Olin Sigunamund, the hunter who has been wounded for nearly a year, has been miserable lately, shouting his complaints to the walls. I suspect he has been sleeping poorly, as his bedroom abuts the dining room. I have moved him to a new one; he limps down the hallway now.

2 Obsidian

Mosus gained the third degree today; he is a full mason! I have taught him the rest of the grips and signs.

5 Obsidian

We have exhausted the small hematite vein. I have switched production to garnierite for now; better nickel than nothing.

9 Obsidian

Ninglimul Othosingtak the Jeweler has sculpted a brilliant yellow statue, carved entirely of zircon! I will place it in the crypt, a fitting tribute to our fallen comrades.

14 Obsidian

Perhaps looking to the future, Evan has banned the export of steel items. I do not think that compliance will be an issue.

18 Obsidian

Olin Sigunamund, hunter, has passed away. He had been refusing all food or drink for weeks, just limping around the great hall, looking forlorn. He will receive the solemn buriel that he deserves.

1 Granite

We have survived another long winter. Many challenges lie ahead of us (booze levels drop dangerously low once again), but I judge the fortress to be strong. Some spoke of a curse, but we have seen something else entirely; a blossoming of craft and skill. Long live Zimeshurist, long live freemasonry!

The History of Phantomdaggers, Chapter II

1st Granite

Spring has come to Phantomdaggers, and with it, our hopes for the new year. I am Joshua, chief miner of the Secretive Bunch, and I give you my tale, and the tale of my people.

The stony walls of Phantomdaggers hold great promise - who knows what great mysteries and treasures lie within? By the golden lyre of Esrel Kebul Nish, the Sparkle of Trade, I swear that I will not rest until I have uncovered them all!

And yet not all is well in Phantomdaggers. This fortress has languished under the ineptitude of Evan "The Dunce" - perhaps this new year will give him a chance to right his wrongs. There has been too much focus on the petty niceties of agriculture, while red-blooded, four-legged meals walk among us! We need to find iron, though the obsidian to the north, near the pool uncovered by Evan's stumbling bumbling, bears some promise. And I long for a quiet bed of my own, far from the clatter and din of our workshops.

Enough talk - there's crafts to be made.

5th Granite

Enough crafting - there's digging to be done. First step - expanding storage space. Then the bedrooms. While sleeping on the cold stone floor, I had a vision - a fractal pattern, infinite, beautiful. This shall be my guide.

10th Granite

Mica! Smooth, glittering mica!

Seriously, fuck this. Mica, orthoclase, microcline... the gods conspire against us, barring our way with these worthless stones. I am a dwarf! Give me iron, or at least zinc. When I behold a fine floodgate, wrought from zinc... it is then that I know true beauty.

Hold that thought - another vein of microcline! Esrel give me strength.

Thob complained of having nothing to do - Evan has given him the task of smoothing the floor and walls of the Great Hall, using nothing but a wooden augur. This indignity cannot stand.

15th Granite

The Elven caravan has arrived. Perhaps Evan will emerge from his dungeon long enough to offend them.

The brook has thawed - its waters flow freely once again. Its power must be tapped.

1st Slate

Sibrek and I finished clearing out additional storage space below the Great Hall - I consider myself quite the miner, yet I find myself in awe of his abilities. He digs through sand as though it were loam, and loam as though it were air.

Not all of us share this work ethic - that worthless Thob has grown weary of his stone-scrubbing and is throwing a party. Perhaps he should invite the elves - they will make a fine company.

Evan managed to pull away from his books for a moment, and ran off - straight to Thob's party. And yet when Oddom and Kadol showed the slightest signs of idleness, he drafted them into his daft stone-smoothing crusade immediately! Despicable. The elves grow more impatient by the day.

7th Slate

The first of what will surely be many migrants have arrived. They're a sorry, scruffy bunch - perhaps a few months in Phantomdaggers will whip them into shape.

8th Slate

It's worse than I thought. Two carpenters and a woodburner (we have no wood), a weaver (we have no thread), an herbalist (the only thing we grow are plump helmets), a fish dissector (he's welcome to try his hand against the lizard-men), a fishery worker (he can make friends with the fish dissector!), a cheese maker (no milk)... the list goes on. We must make haste to complete the new bedrooms, but this lot doesn't deserve the luxury. It'll be stone detailing for the lot of them.

I've mentally created a new category for these new migrants - I lump them all together as "the Useless". Perhaps in time, they'll be good for something other than military service or manual labor - but I'm not holding my breath.

16th Slate

Work has begun on the bedrooms. Door and bed production ramped up to maximum.

19th Slate

The merchants have departed, unmolested by trade. Damn, damn, a thousand times damn.

10th Felsite

Bedroom digging has been completed. It's just as magnificent as it seemed in my vision - now to flesh out the petty details of doors and beds.

17th Felsite

Construction has begun on a walled-in outdoor farm plot. Evan's hope is that this place will one day be a center of art and culture, and dwarves will come from all over the land to see the great outdoor walled-in farm plot of Phantomdaggers.

He stepped outside to commemorate the occasion, and promptly vomited. Serves him right.

10th Hematite

The human caravan has arrived. Evan has a chance to redeem himself.

18th Hematite

A plague of kobold thieves! The very sight of them makes my blood boil ever since they tried to steal my ring. One escaped - the other was brutally splattered against the wall by the human guardsmen. My fellow dwarves swarmed out of the fortress to swipe his gear, like some sort of gruesome pinata.

Benjamin has been engraving the walls of the Great Hall. His imagery is striking, to say the least - his rendition of the foundation of Phantomdaggers brought a tear to my eye, I'm not ashamed to admit it. I loved it even more when it was repeated six other times on the same stretch of wall.

Evan has redeemed himself; the trading was mutually profitable. We bartered for several iron anvils - it's good to see that we're planning ahead.

Then again, we also bought eleven barrels of cow cheese.

5th Malachite

I was hard at work carefully carving rock crafts for trade, when all of a sudden there came a dreadful din from the Great Hall - a cave-in! Sibrik is unconscious, along with several other dwarves, a musk ox, and a puppy.

The cause was clear - Sibrik had managed to craft a superfluous flight of stairs, but, lacking the wherewithal to deconstruct them, simply dug out the rock around them, with little regard for the consequences. I must say, this has somewhat diminished my respect for his mining abilities.

He re-earned my respect, however, by promptly regaining consciousness, going back up, and finishing the job. No serious inujuries were sustained by any involved.

10th Malachite

I see that Benjamin has seen fit to commit the tale of the kobold thief and his righteous destruction to the walls of the Great Hall. Every time I see it, I stop for a moment and stand in wondrous awe.

26th Malchite.

Another influx of migrants. Phantomdaggers can now proudly boast of possessing a pair of highly trained cheese makers. If anything, this lot is worse than the last.

Evan has conspired to place his sleeping chambers directly adjacent to mine. His snoring keeps me up until dawn.

3rd Galena

Imush, one of the non-useless new migrants, has been put to work training some of the worthless strays taking up space in Phantomdaggers into proper beasts of war. Properly deployed, these will help protect our fortress from skulking kobold filth.

11th Galena

Sibrik caused another cave-in during the excavation of the Great Hall. At this point, I think he's just showing off.

16th Galena

The excavation of the Great Hall is complete, miraculously without further cave-ins. When Benjamin's engravings are finished, it will truly be a wonder to behold.

13th Limestone

Udib the Carpenter has created a magnificent alder chest, depicting Ingish Tongslabored and his ascension to leadership of the Hames of Adventuring. Truly a work of art - it has to be seen to be believed. I have quietly arranged for it to be brought to my room, where I can privately contemplate its beauty.

2nd Sandstone

I have struck stibnite. Magma may be nearby.

11th Timber

Another round of migrants - two more fisherdwarves, two more woodcrafters. They cavort gaily in the statue garden while I ceaselessly toil below, searching for magma.

3rd Moonstone

On a hunch, I dug down near the riverbed. My pick revealed a dull glitter - a vein of native gold. We must investigate! My months of digging shall not have been in vain.

And yet, I fear. The Curse of the Third Year approaches... but we must focus on the present, and not think of such things.

20th Moonstone

A rhesus macaque made off with several useless items. Stupid monkey.

I have sussed out the scope of the gold vein. It is sizeable, and will certainly make us all rich dwarves. And yet, I cannot help but feel disappointed. Gold is not iron - it is a thing of beauty, not a thing of use. Still, it is a good sight better than this damned microcline that haunts my every tunnel.

22nd Opal

The engraving of the Great Hall is complete. It is a sacred place, a magnificent place - when one enters, one is surrounded by graven images of dwarves, roaches, and (my personal favorite) The Spots of Knighting, an alder chest.

3rd Obsidian

Construction of well halted temporarily due to frogmen.

1st Granite

The well is complete, and not a moment too soon - our alcohol supplies are running dangerously low. Is this the beginning of the Curse of the Third Year? Esrel help us all.

The History of Phatomdaggers, Chapter 1

I, Evan, leader of the Secretive Brunch, have struck the Earth at Phantomdaggers on the 1th of Slate, year 38. I and my six companions have struck out from the safety of our nation, the Hames of Adventuring, to build a fortress to stand the test of time. I am a metalworker by trade; my companions are Benjamin the Mason, Joshua the Swordsdwarf and Stonecrafter, Sibrek the Peasant, Thob& Kadol the farmers, and Oddom the woodsman.

We followed the frozen river thirteen days from the dwarven outpost at Hamerbreads, until I saw a butte of microcline rising above us. I climbed the slope, thrust my axe into the cliff side, and felt the blessing of Omer. By my beard, I know that these are rich hills. We tunneled thence immediately further in and further down. I know that this flat topped hill should someday make an excellent battlement. I decided on the full turn corkscrew design heading downwards through a sheet of alunite into dark basalt. The extrusive igneous rocks are a good sign that there may be magma deeper below, and aye, who knows what else?

7th Slate, year 38
Further below we have begun construction of the first few rooms--nothing but a barracks and dining hall so far, which in time shall find a new purpose, I be sure. Once the beds were moved in, all of us took a much needed rest before moving the new obsidian furniture into the dining hall.

19th Slate, year 38
I gazed upon four mighty horses which roam the plains above our new home. Then I became disgusted by the sun and went inside to update records in the dining room. We are running low on booze it seems.
Another note about the plains, Oddom tells me that the terrain here has precious few trees, located mostly to the southeast. We've already cut down half of them building beds and barrels to hold our food. The fields are however an abundant source of fruity berries should we have to resort to them (I prefer plump helmet mushrooms myself of course!).

2nd Felsite, year 38
Joshua struck a formation of yellow zircon near the barracks today. I ordered him not to mine it until we were more skilled in such extraction. I think he's had too little ale lately, for he disagreed, and furthermore he made it clear then and there that he did not approve of my leadership. He stormed off to his craftshop, refusing to do any mining all day. I have asked Sibrek Becorrigoth to take up the second pickaxe and "pick up" the slack. His work be excellent thus far, I declare.

24th Felsite, year 38
I had the farmer boys set up a still this morning. Now we have ourselves a real home! We had to place it outside, but the weather has been getting better everyday, and it will do until we have more space cleared downstairs. Cheers!

18th Hematite
Joshua has been sulking in his workshop most of the time, and I saw the fruits of his labour today. He created a masterpiece, an obsidian ring. Almost on cue, two kobold ratlings were spotted running about the fortress. The hothead former miner took off after them to protect his precious creation. When he returned I uttered a sigh of disappointment.

9th Malachite
I finally decided to order Joshua off of crafting duty entirely for a time, and had him carve me out an office into the basalt walls near the barracks. He still bears me a grudge which only burns stronger with time, it seems.

With safety in mind, I plan to set up a mechanics shop so we can build some traps up above.

15th Galena
Sibrek began excavating a sand pit with Joshua today in the south of the outpost. Soon we'll have more food, and booze too!
My first mechanism, a pit trap assembly, was a total failure, some of the lowest quality work, and I threw it into the refuse pile. I'm going back to work on the books.

9th Limestone
With the coming of Autumn, we had our first birth in the fortress late last night, a puppy.

16th Limestone
The Dwarven caravan from The Hames of Adventuring arrived two days ago. By Omer's Axe, I thought they'd never arrive. Our edible plant dishes are down to a scant 39...

First, I gave 840 ducats worth of obsidian offerings for the King in Ezum Cenath. I then traded everything but Joshua's Obsidian ring for food, picks, cages and leather goods. I do believe that I've become a competent appraiser after that ordeal.

Horse foals were just after the sale, I'm glad we brought a breeding pair along, as they make good eating. The farmer insists it is a blessing of Komut.

I spake with the diplomat for a while and agreed upon a fine trade deal for next year. I insisted that they bring some iron in case we cannot find a source, and asked for some platinum too while I was at it.

Our stocks are up to about 80 foodthings, enough to last us a year without immigration.

18 Sandstone
Merchants departed today. I set our new miner Sibrek to making mechanisms. Benjamin has smoothed out fine fortifications near the main hall.

1st Timber
We have yet another masterpiece obsidian ring from Joshua's workshop.
The new mechanisms are turning out to be no better than mine. I suppose he'll learn with time.

Fell into a deep slumber on the 28th of sandstone that lasted until today, I dreamed of new a better things for the fortress, but I realize my time as overseer is running short. I worry about the curse of the third year, but I must keep such thoughts away.

When I awoke, I Realized that the caravan drivers have been trying to get my attention for a few days now. Since we had been removing the ramps from the microcline hill, we eliminated the path they used to arrive. It seems that some boulders were in the way of their
route, and they couldn't leave until I had Benjamin smooth them down.

5th Moonstone
Winter has entombed us. The brook has frozen and we now rely on only our rum to sate our thirst. The trees have lost all color and the earth is hard as iron.

19th Moonstone
We desperately need a source of Iron. I haven't crafted with metal in what must be a year now. I yearn for the clang of steel in our fortress. I've begun doing some mining myself towards a new storage a level below the halls. Up above, I've decided to use the wintertime to strengthen our security with rock fall traps and cage pits. We used some middling quality mechanisms, since these types of traps are one-shot only.

9th Obsidian
As I was mining to work out my frustration in an exploratory passage, I stumbled upon a massive underground pool. A lizardman chased me all the way to the barracks, whereupon he seemed to think better of it and hurried back into his murky depths. Perhaps they need the water to survive? Regardless, I had the farmer affix a door that we will not open again for a long time. Further in that direction lies granite, which is generally rich for mining, but poor in the iron I so desire.

1st Granite
My time here is over. It's been rather slow, as I'm told first years may go, but the fortress is on solid footing. The combined wealth of the estate, by my estimate, is 50,000 ducats. To the new overseer, I suggest mining further down and to the southwest, under the river. Perhaps then we may find the makings of true steel, eh? I haven't put much focus on making our great hall resound with the crashes of forge hammers, but now with our strong start, it is surely time to do so! It is also my will that the arch of the great hall be completed and the chamber smoothed. And be sure to carve out some proper bedrooms above it! I've grown sick of listening to Thob's snoring.

Maybe The Internet Is A Good Thing After All

I can't help but feel good when the top two stories in the New York Times are about the use of the Internet to fight oppression - one in China and one in Iran. I'm not naïve enough to think that technology alone can defeat tyranny, but it certainly helps.

Now imagine a world with ubiquitous strong crypto, where anyone could safely and anonymously speak - and at the same time, everyone on the Internet could be clearly and unambiguously identified, if they so chose. The implications of this are vast, and instead of expounding on them, I'm going to bed. But I get the sense that we are living in an era of free speech the likes of which the writers of the First Amendment never imagined - and yet, they somehow managed to make the right choice. That's foresight, right there.

--
I'll tell you once more before I get off the floor

Outliers
Until a man is twenty-five, he still thinks, every so often, that under the right circumstances he could be the baddest motherfucker in the world. If I moved to a martial-arts monastery in China and studied real hard for ten years. If my family was wiped out by Colombian drug dealers and I swore myself to revenge. If I got a fatal disease, had one year to live, and devoted it to wiping out street crime. If I just dropped out and devoted my life to being bad.

Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson

In Malcolm Gladwell's book, Outliers, he talks about something he calls the "10,000 hour rule", which is basically the statement that if you do anything for 10,000 hours, you will be good at it. He (or possibly someone else entirely) further argues that "talent" as we normally think of it doesn't really exist - if you're "talented" at something, what it really means is that you love it so much that you're willing to devote 10,000 hours to it.

Lately, I've been thinking that this might apply to relationships as well, based on two observations. One is that two people who don't love each other can build a functional relationship, if they have to - this is how marriage worked for a very long time. The other is that two people who do love each other are not necessarily inherently capable of building a functional relationship.

This is because a relationship isn't just about love - love is important, but there's more to it than that. Maybe the word I'm thinking of is "compatibility". Compatibility might be inherent, to an extent, but a large part it's learned. No two people are perfectly compatible right off the bat - part of any healthy relationship is learning to forgive each other for your flaws, and love each other in spite of (or even because of) them.

My point is that compatibility doesn't come automatically from love, but love makes it easier to develop compatibility in the same way that "talent" makes it easier to develop expertise. You can be compatible without love - it may not be a happy relationship, but it will probably be a functional one for the purposes of familial stability and so forth.

Now, before you start frantically wondering if anything is wrong with the relationships in my life - these are nothing but idle musings that in no way reveal my inner thoughts.

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like a moth before a flame