In mid-Spring of 132, four new dwarves were found outside the fort, milling about. It was a small family: Kib “Bootdashed” was a simple shearer and tanner. His wife, Atir “Stakecopper”, was a clumsy, anger-prone fisherdwarf. The elder of their two daughters, Limul “Squeezeceiling”, was five, while the other daughter, Udib “Splattered Inks” was a mere two.
Cerol, in full steel plate armor, followed by her precious pet goat Unib, were the ones to greet this new group. Though she was no where near as intimidating as the late Dumed, her fully armored figure still commanded respect. Her long, neatly combed sepia colored hair was visible beneath her visored helmet. Her not-so-shiny steel armor, though well made, was a bit too large for her; She was a very skinny dwarf – elf-like, as Dodok had thought. In comparison, the armor was made for a larger male. Still, with some adjustments, it fit her well enough for combat. Strapped to her back was a large, circular shield, and hanging on her hip was a blood-covered battleaxe of the same metal as the rest of her gear.
“Oh, new people 'eh? Well, welcome to whats left of Rimhammer. Be mindful of the blood here in entrance, and don't mind that beak wolf corpse there. Been meaning to move it.. I'll get around to it eventually.
Though Kib and his wife were horrified at the scene inside the door, they went inside anyways.
The fortress was a mess. The hallway, which was 'carved' from clay loam, was covered in various types of underground mosses and grasses, and had various plants sprung up in random spots. Plants like plump helmets, dimple cups, quarry bushes, even the odd tree-like mushroom were everywhere. Dead and trampled plants also littered the ground.
“Don't mind the mess.. the plants have been spreading ever since we hit the caverns. Theres no real stopping them, short of putting stone floors everywhere, and we haven't the dwarfpower to do that.”
And so it was, the two newcomers got to work. Kib, though knowing nothing of mining, went about digging out a grazing area for the baby llama he brought along, so that he could get into milking and shearing it when it was older. Mmm.. llama cheese.. it was something he missed, though he never made any himself. His wife, however, went and did what she did best, besides nagging her husband – fishing. Granted, she didn't do this very well, as she was clumsy, impatient, and quick to anger. Not a good combination for fishing.
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“Ribbit.”
“Ribbit?”
“Ribbit!”
“Ribbit...”
So went the conversation between Rimhammer's newest inhabitants: Frogmen. Not just frogmen, but intelligent, copper, bronze, and steel-wielding frogmen. With a taste for dwarf. And apparently goat. And llama.
It had been a fine spring day.. Kib went about mining the pasture, while his wife, Atir, was attempting to fish outside. Cerol had been sleeping, Dadok was attempting over and over to pick up her sock, and the two youngest members of the fort were playing with the llama in the dining room. On the tables.
All of a sudden, a very loud noise erupted behind a hill not far from Atir. Frogs, it sounded like. Lots of frogs. Atir enjoyed the taste of frogs. Though not quite as delectable as large roaches, she enjoyed them nonetheless. Investigating further, she was not greeted with the small, tasty morsels she had imagined, but instead by a steel mace to her head. And that was the end of that.
As Kib was mining, he heard a large amount of noise coming from the entrance. Figuring it to be his wife, he took a peek. What he saw was even worse than his wife. Frogmen. They had gotten past the traps! Only two of their number were impaled upon the steel spikes. The rest had gotten away with only minor injuries due to the stone fall traps. Just before Kib was struck down, his last thought was that maybe they should've used heavier stone.. chalk wasn't the ideal stone.
Woken up by a sudden hunger for meat and a craving for some fine ale, Cerol had just barely left her room when the frogmen horde stormed into the common area. Though she fought valiantly, bronze and steel maces were just too much for her. She wasn't a fighter.. she barely knew how to hold her axe properly, let alone defend the fortress single-handedly against insurmountable odds. So, just as her predecessor before her, Cerol fell in combat, defending her fellow dwarves.
Unlike Cerol, Dadok was not sleeping. She was in her room, but she had been, for the better part of the season, attempting to put on her socks. With her hands being crippled as they were, this was a very daunting task. She had almost managed to put one sock on, when a frogwoman burst into her room and ended her dream of wearing clean socks.
The two children, Limul and Udib, were still in the dining room when the frogmen came. Like their father and mother before them, they were killed mercilessly. The poor goat, Unib, and the stray llama were also put down. And so ends another tragic story of Rimhammer. Or is it?
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Topic: And then.. there were three.. (Read 1702 times)