1st of Sandstone, 125.

I am Ilral Amusewires, carpenter and one of the founding dwarves of the dwarf fortress Lancescour in the Tower of Escorts mountains. With a wagon of supplies, seven musicians arrived far south of our homelands and struck the earth. Our expedition leader, Olin Oiledspiraled, declared himself our manager about four weeks ago. His lover, Avuz Zenithsword, recommended her close friend Zenith Sidepages as bookkeeper; I consider Zenith a great friend, but I’m not so sure she’s a great choice. She’s very friendly but doesn’t deal well with obligations and has no concern with perfection. I feel like a good bookkeeper is a precise bookkeeper.

Olin agreed with Zenith’s reasoning and approached Adil Postseer and offered her the position of bookkeeper, thinking he was talking to Zenith. Adil turned around with a proud smile on her face and Olin quickly recognized his mistake. “Oh, I’m sorry, I thought you were Zenith Sidepages. You’re not the bookkeeper.” and he sought out Zenith and gave her the job instead. I saw Adil start to cry and walk away solemnly.

Over the past couple months, there’s been grumbling about the lack of time and place to worship the various gods. Our manager, Olin Oiledspiraled, has been particularly uneasy lately about not being able to pray to The Chances of Distraction, god of games. Avuz walks around looking dejected from not being able to pray to Babin, the god of death and justice. The young recent arrival, Mosus Diamondtomb, spends a lot of time alone, looking annoyed, uneasy, and downright grouchy. I believe she worships multiple deities and misses her family back home. Even though she enjoys fishing, the rain really gets to her.

They’re not the only religious dwarves here; others have the same problems. Olin declared that a nondenominational temple with multiple altars shall be built just off the stairwell across from the bedrooms,  so all may worship their respective gods. So, we now have a temple. Kib Atticgrove did most of the work, unearthing some emerald and plenty of gabbro and granite. I’m also now wearing a finely-crafted bracelet made of gabbro by Bomrek. I’m very pleased. He does good work.

The most exciting thing that happened recently was the arrival of the Maroon Helms merchant caravan from the fortress of Severemirrors in the far north. The caravan waited some distance from our entrance while their outpost liaison, Dastot Twistlances, took a quick walk around our fortress. He seemed disappointed by our lack of a proper trade depot, went back to the caravan, told them to stay, and returned to our fortress. Though they were some distance away, I counted three merchants, one with an axe. The wagon was pulled by both a yak and a horse. Also, attached to the rear of the wagon was a cage containing a water buffalo.

Meanwhile, Zan engraved the symbol of Lancescour on the wall just outside the future home of our trade depot. So now, all visitors will pass by the well-crafted engraving of The Diamond Chance, an emblem consisting of a pair of sandals framed by a rounded crest. Olin Oiledspiraled chose the image of two sandals “in honor of our journey here.” Perhaps he remembers us wearing sandals; none of us have ever even owned a sandal.

The visiting liaison nodded to Zan as he passed the work in progress and continued to explore our fortress. I noticed that none of his clothing was dyed; everything was left in its natural color. He wore a white cave-spider hooded silk tunic, over which he wore a brown leather robe and cloak. He had no mittens, exposing his white silk gloves. At his feet were furry gray socks and shoes. He was not really dressed for travel, but showed no extravagance. While the top of his head was completely bald, his very long pale-taupe beard and mustache were both double-braided with stripes of gray throughout. He took note of our new, admittedly rough, temple and our meeting hall. He also checked out each of our workshops, particularly the work of Bomrek at the craftsdwarf workshop.

After taking a trip through our storage room and visiting all of the workshops, Dastot asked for directions to our manager’s office. He found Olin Oiledspiraled behind his desk. The visitor closed the door behind him, so I do not know what was discussed. They were in there for the rest of the day. When the door opened, Dastot went to the temple. “Well,” he said, tugging at one of his very long gray sideburns. “I have come not just for commerce and diplomacy, but also relaxation.”

Olin emerged soon after, looking quite proud. “That went well; very satisfying. I like that, Dastot. They want backpacks, crutches, and toys, so we should start making those things. “

He smiled. “yes, very satisfying indeed.”

- Ilral Amusewires