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Chapter 7: Spoils of War
Journal of Thrakha'zaguul.
The warband lets loose their battle crys and race outside to face down the elvish assassins. Mavj charges to lead the assault, disarming several of the elves. Our ranged attacks do not pierce the enemy's mithril armor, but volume of fire causes a great deal of pain and distraction. Dohon and Broken Mind fight like demons: and in very short time the ambush is broken.
Galena 252:
A moody crafter bellows: I need bones! for the ancient art! The timing of his madness is excellent. Elves are a plentiful and renewable resource. Behold <<Snaakhaazagrak>> "Problematic Clinch", an elfbone maul, wrapped in rare silk and emblazoned with the image of a nether horror. The butcher-shop and the boneyard are busy.
Limestone 252:
There were 8 migrant survivors, including the 2 rescued wrestlers and 2 corsairs. The corsairs volunteer for Gamerlord's gunnery squad. With four talented gunners it is now past time to better equip them. Using iron in stock from the Dwarf-raid: a Metallurgists' shop, for brass. A goblin tinkerers' brass flachette gun fires with tens of times the force and velocity of a simple blow-gun. It is a good choice compared to pistols, since darts are plentiful and bullets are expensive.
Lasher-recruit Agrat is found dead: we learn later by reading his tomb-slab that he was killed by a giant tick. A reminder of the dangers of these savage wilds. The ticks stupidly killed themselves on our single stone-axe and bone-spike trap. Talata: a surviving migrant-wrestler who still has both hands, is drafted to fill his spot.
From the dead elves we gain many items of mithril. Their small armor and small helms can be re-forged into proper Orc-sized gear at the Molten Pit. Such "makeshift mail" has some ill-fitting gaps and so provides only 80% coverage, but mithril is lightweight and can be layered with another piece of armor. In this case we set it up with a stockpile link accepting only unusable armor. I do not to give "repeat" orders to the foolish workers, or they sometimes waste time and coal by re-fitting the same item multiple times. Alternating armor and helms in small batches is the best practice. Also in this case we do not order the worker to "destroy armors in the melt," which would produce only slag-products: malachite, dolomite, potash, rusty-iron.
The elves also bring us mithril blocking bracers: a shield that orcs like to equip as a status symbol, but in combat far inferior to a solid orcish kite shield. I will order these melted down in the Smelter to recover the mithril. The elvish great-hunter's spears are deadly enough, but lack the elegant brutality of a true warrior's weapon. They are also too large and unwieldy for smaller orcs or snaga: so these may someday end in weapon traps or the melt. For now, they are stashed in the armory. Firehawk speaks: where are the elven bows? where are the enchanted arrows? But these elves brought us no bows.
Sandstone 252:
A small unremarkable group of migrants. The military gets some live practice against a particularly vicious group of wild-monsters (centaurs and giant jumping spiders). The foundation for a Factory is finally placed.
Timber 252
The fall caravan has arrived with our ordered crates of iron and steel, and our seeds. Our homeland brothers share with us news and rumors: Human and Dwarvish forces have been sighted in the hinterlands. These pinkskins fight with a tenacity greater than that of the elves; they will bring a powerful force and siege a fort for up to 9 new-moons, cutting off trade and all contact with the world. We must prepare to bring the fight to their siege-camps. We begin by laying around the fort: foundations for sentry towers north, south, east, and west.