Winter

Winter has come. We had some military drills today to see how long it akes our new cave guard to gear up and get to the guard towers. The answer is too long. Ive ordered them to carry their equipment all the time to reduce response time. There are more guard towers on the way but going is slow becasue some schmuck built stairs instead of fortifications!

Winter is almost over and I have sent our warband down into the catacombs to search for water. While there are many alcoholic drinks available, fresh water is a real concern for more than half the year.

Before the warband could group together a Cave Crocodile attacked one of the stragglers! 

The Cave Crocodile approaches Jreebis, the best woodcutter in the fort

Three brave 'bolds were slain to kill the creature and many more injured. Shalger the Warband leader showed up just as Tlotilgus, a clayworker, killed the creature. The survivors named the creature Naquinalari. Its corpse weighed in at 721* (A kobolds corpse weighs just 18*). We shall have its body placed on display in the fort!

The aftermath. Three dismembered 'bolds and a barely dead crocodile

Among the dead:

Brokokostlulin, right upper leg torn off

Blunger, left lower leg and right foot bitten off

Jreebis, right lower arm bitten off, other parts thrown into the lava pool.
Then Shalger noticed the warband was standing in an area covered with GIANT cave spider silk.. they left in a hurry only stopping to carry the corpses away. On the way out they had to deal with a GIant Bat and a Large Rat, suffering only minor wounds.

The warband has also uncovered a curious structure under the magma. Im not sure how they detected it as it is quite deep! Shalger our warband leader already wishes to unearth it and harvest its unknown riches.
[Shalger is our legendary miner who carved out the entire cave so far, and is female]

Spring is here. The underground defences are not yet complete and our overland watch towers are not fully linked. The diplomats seem to be ignoring me and have not told us what we need to provide next year. I'm tempted to lead them into the catacombs and see if it motivates them. We have no hospital for the wounded kobolds but I think they will survive.

[A few things of note for the next administrator. We CAN dig through obsidian, but no rock. Naquinalari's corpse is being carried by Blugkublamin, a Thresherbold. If we want to make something cool from it we need to forbid the corpse once it is placed, or butcher it and then forbid the created items. Feel free to make whatever from them but I would feel sad if it turned into something crappy like leather bags and bone crafts. We also need to have the diplomats do their thing or I fear there will be no caravans next year. Not sure where I was going with the cave design as we need a dining room. But thats no longer my problem. Neither is that loads of kobolds seem unhappy for no apparent reason. Good Luck with our cute and squishy charges.]