After a lengthy journey, we’ve arrived at Fikodesmul and have set up camp on a plateau overlooking the ocean to the east, a reservoir of water larger than I have ever seen before and on the surface to boot, which I find frankly repulsive. The beaches are littered with driftwood, and snow-covered trees tower above the knotgrass. We will begin digging in for shelter immediately to get out of the fresh air.

As we dig, we uncover tree roots deep in the ground. Anything that blocks the march of progress must be removed!

We’ve secured a source of stone and wood is plentiful, so things are looking up. There are edible fish in the disgusting ocean and we will begin farming plump helmets as soon as an irrigation system is in place.

Led Enamalåth created a masterpiece pear wood chair! The whole colony looks forward to sitting in it.

The trees are starting to bloom all sorts of pretty colors, which really helps take the edge off when we’re forced to go to the surface for wood or fish.

Things are proceeding smoothly. Adil Abankod is producing saleable wooden crafts full time in preparation for the trade caravan’s arrival later in the year. We’re building a butchery so we can round out our diet with some meat. Farming has already started to yield delicious plump helmets.

Migrants have arrived! Only two, but every bit helps. One of them, Deduk Pillarglide, is an expert tracker and is decent with a spear, so hopefully he can supplement our meat production with hunting.

A caravan from Nish Oshur has arrived. All of our crafts and gems up were brought up to the surface for trade. The traders have instructed us to build lots of toys, which will apparently fetch a high price in Mountainhome.

Our broker, Ast úshrirasmel, has somehow gotten himself stuck in a tree and can’t make it to the depot to conduct a trade. He has been fired and replaced with someone more earthbound.

We’ve managed to pick up some metal tools and weapons, a few live animals for slaughtering, and an assortment of fine cheeses for a banquet later.

Former broker Ast úshrirasmel was found dead today on the surface south of the fortress entrance, cause unknown. Clearly he had some psychological issues, so little attention is paid to this discovery. Nonetheless, we’re in the process of digging out a cemetery to honor his inconsequential memory.

Some of us have really taken a liking to fishing, even some of the miners are angling for salmon in their downtime. Who knew grabbing fish with your bare hands could be so much fun? We’ve amassed many a barrel of raw fish, but find the creatures to be unpalatable. Lolar Vutokniles discovered that they taste a lot better when you remove the bones and scales first, so he decided to set up a fishery to start cleaning the hundreds or dead fish we collected over the past year. As fun as it it may be we’ve decided that fishing as a hobby should cease, and only a couple of designated fisherdwarfs should continue to collect more raw fish until our fishery workers can reduce the current stock. in the meantime the miners will have to occupy themselves with more traditional subterrainian, dwarfish pastimes such as drinking and fighting, etc.

Some Kea got into the fortress and made off with some of our precious weapons and ammunition. The entrance the the fortress has been rebuilt with a few weapon traps, stonefall traps, and cage traps to stop intruders in the future. The trade depot had to be moved to a less secure location for now, but we can worry about fortifying it later. for the time being we haven’t seen any merchants yet this year, possibly because the forest has become overgrown with trees, preventing access to our depot.

Additionally we had some new migration waves. more bedrooms were constructed, the dining room expanded. A band of rangers were conscripted into military service for their skill with dodging, weapon, and armor use.

Today our bookkeeper was fetching some gabbro down at the deepest depths of our mining operations (sometimes a good dwarf just needs to get down as deep as possible). While down there he was surprised to find a wolf and her pup roaming about. he dropped his wheelbarrow and fled back to safety. Our military squad, the Amazements of Mirroring were dispatched and took the two of them out without any injuries. Wolf steaks will be served in the dining hall this evening!