I spent two evenings with one of the goblins who could read and write in dwarvish going through Konkur's hhly. I'm gd I did, because it did inform my decision about whether to close the existing mine or keep w it once yields are reduced. In those notes, he said that the deposit we found would be sidered a small deposit, and he expects that there are probably between a few dozen to a few hundred of approximately that size on this isnd alohough most of them are likely buried very deep underground. In fact, he suspects we'd find many high-quality deposits if we dug deep enough, though the bor would be intensive and limiting in our current state to find them.

  He also expects there are quite a few rger deposits on the isnd than the one we're currently mining. The rger the deposit, acc to Konkur, the more pure the maximum quality of ore that it tends to yield. With that information in mind, I'm leaning towards starting more exploratory mining tunnels after this particur mine's yield drops. If we get desperate for metal iure, we always return to extrag the low quality ore from our current deposit, but we won't find much more quartz doing that, which is another reason to find a new deposit.

  There were notes on processing many different kinds of ore, such as the galena and sphalerite we found, which means I probably fast track those ores to be smelted. In fact, since all of these are sulfur based ores, I should sider building the smelting facility for these ores in the neighb craggy terrain, downwind from the city. Both of these ores, and likely the pyrite, will o be roasted as part of their smelting process, which verts the sulfides of the metals into oxides, and gives off sulfur dioxide gas.

  I'd personally like to modify the process a little to try to capture some of that sulfur dioxide to vert it into sulfuric acid. Though that would be a whole process in and of itself. Using an older lead chamber method for sulfuric acid produ would require that we have a det sourmonia before roceed with produg sulfuric acid. Though I at least build the ore roasting chambers with the idea of rec the gases kept in mind for future expansion.

  Alternatively, instead of using ammonia, we could use the niter we've been slowly produg, though that would mean we won't be stockpiling any more ammunition. If I had to choose between more artillery rounds, or sulfuric acid, for now I'd choose artillery rounds. Eventually, I'd even choose rifles over sulfuric acid produced in this way. I'd much rather build out the hydroelectric facility at our dam, and use that to electrolyze hydrogen and produce ammonia with the Haber process when it es to that.

  Regardless, that's a project for the future. While we could use the sulfuric acid to improve and ge a lot of our existing produethods for materials, all those improvements require we have other materials that don't break down under sulfuric acid exposure. So, first we o actually acquire those materials, like lead.

  I told Karsh about my pn for a new facility for smelting these ores, and he gave me a funny look. Ultimately, it seems like dwarves, and possibly everyone, doesn't really see a with just smelting sulfur based ores in a city, other than the smell that it produces being somewhat noxious. I won't stand for it though. The off gas we're produg is the exact same ohat I used to chemically attack Rathnd's soldiers, so I know first hand that long term exposure is quite bad for you.

  So, despite Karsh's insistehat we could just add a roasting poo the smeltery area iy, I've started building it beyond the b area, in the craggy terrain on that part of the isnd. Given how remote it is from the city, I pn on moving the temporary crystal to the b area during this uping spring, so I progress quicker than I currently am in building this facility.

  Roasting ore, besides releasing sulfur dioxide, often frees other toxic materials, such as arsenibsp; Which is another reason I've chosen this part of the craggy terrain to build. Basically, the whole area is going to bee somewhat toxic as a result of the ore roasting process, so I want it to be in a different watershed than our valley. Even if I reinforce the floor with pressed lightstohose toxins are going to leeto the grouually. So, the hope is that by building it far enough from the city, and a moderate distance from the o, that we'll let it slowly leeto the o water, and that'll reduce the tration enough over time that it won't be an issue. Though I might o deission the well he b if things get bad...

  I had to stop my work temporarily as winter arrived. Today, we gave Shasta the new crystal for Kao, and had an iing discussion with her after formalities were taken care of. First, it sounds like more dwarven warlords are ied in the au. They're already building a rger arena on Kao's isnd to hahe au. Shasta said that while Kao is probably currently a little upset about the extra work they're putting into the au again, this new crystal more than makes up for the difference, and she doubts there is any actual ill will. Most of the warlords don't like meeting up with each other, as they're generally rivals and most of them don't like all the formalities involved, so it's more of a disdain for the individuals rather than the event itself.

  The sed piece of info she gave us was quite iing. Many of the coastal regions fag the o and these isnds have noticed a distinct ck of ahan sightings i two years. Normally, there would be a few sightings a year from coastal areas. The northern side of the dwarven ti hasn't noticed any ge, and still spots them year round, but the lower portion of the ti, closer to us hasn't seen them. Shasta looked into the matter more, and it seems like winter sightings stopped shortly before tact was made with us, but there had been winter sightings before that.

  While people aren't willing to risk it just yet, Shasta suspects that year-round travel might be possible now. The timing does seem to line up with whearted using two additional crystals on our isnd, the one by the dam, and the one iemporary bathhouse. Givera evidehat removing our singur crystal during the war with Rathnd seems to have returhe leviathans to the o between the mainnd and here even during wihe evidehat for some reason the crystals on our iso be influeng the leviathans' territorial waters seems strong.

  That being the case, we should probably sider having a year-round military presen our isnd, to prevent an ambush from . Part of the reason the war with Rath as well as it did was because the enemy's arrival redictable thanks to the threat of leviathans. Regardless of whether merts want to take on that risk, militaries might be willing to, so we should be prepared. Since our popution has been steadily increasing though, we should be able to spare a few individuals to work at a small standing military forbsp; As long as we keep people stationed iillery bunkers and one of the spotting camps on the mountain, then we'll at least be able to have an early warning and do some damage to any would-be invaders.

  Third, it sounds like Goppok Kanaga's territory had impressive crop yields st year, which is probably why so many more warlords are ied in the au. I'm hoping he has two more very good years, so that the price the crystal fetches goes up siderably. Though, given the number of participating warlords, I'm probably going to o hold back more of our salt and paper that we would normally trade, since I'll want to give them as gifts again. sidering how much dwarven currency we got from the st au, I'm not ed about cutting our traded goods output affeg our purchasing power any longer.

  sidering all the info I gained from our versation, I'm quite pleased with how everything has gone in the past year. We didn't have any new migrants still, but I'd bet that we'll start to get some applits in the near future if we tio have these sorts of good reports about us floating in.