Today i bring a terrible terrible tale of grief from the young fortress of Highrock.
Tobul and Bemul were drafted into the fortress militia as soon as they arrived to the fort in the spring of 453, as they had no exceptional skills to speak of they would serve as the base of the labor force. They had arrived in the same migrant caravan and had as such taken not of eachother, they spent most of their breaks together. Their friendship soon grew into a romance, and they announced their wedding later that fall.
It is customary in highrock, that the militia partake in some training with arms and armor, Bemul showed great prowess in the yearly training sessions, and cought the eye of the militia commander, who was looking into expanding the active military. He rushed home to his wife with the great news, he was going to be the captain for the newly formed Bravo squad! Tobul smiled back and gave a little announcement of her own.
While it is not unusual to see dwarven women carrying their babies into battle, it was somewhat frowned upon in Highrock, the two previous cases of births in the active squad had resulted in the mother being relieved from active duty until the kid was grown up. Tobul would have none of it, she had worked too hard to join the ranks of Bravo squad, she would not be relieved from duty simply because she and Bemul had decided to start a family.
In the end he got her way, she was not discharged from bravo company, and went on to fight a number of small skirmishes, with her daughter Mafol clutched to her chest.
Then, in the summer of 455, tragedy struck.
The alarm sounded across the fortress, goblins had been spotted by the river. Bemul roused his troops, but realized to his dismay that one of his troops were missing, his wife was not there... She had gone to fetch water for a wounded soldier, and had not returned.
Bravo squad rushed to the river, and drove off the mob of goblins surrounding a dwarf on the ground.
Bemul himself picked up his wounded wife and started running back to the fort.
"I.. couldn't save her" Tobul wheezed "i couldn't save our daughter..."
and she closed her eyes, never to open them again...
Tobul did not take the death of his wife and daughter well... Two weeks later he was found in the cistern of the fort, he couldn't take being apart from his family anymore...