The Log of Idek19th Sandstone 660I've met another fromer member of the travelling group today, but not really in a pleasant manner.
I was drawn to the forges because of some rather loud argument that happened there. When I peaked my head in, I saw no less then five dwarves watching Beirus and a short tempered lass called Misting Walrus yelling at each other.
Aparrently she considered the armor that Beirus forged for our militia of substandard quality and while he made no attempt to claim otherwise, he never said that armor was his forte, he was still quite put out by her attitude. I managed to calm both of them down and after Beirus admitted that her armor was better then his and she apologized for blowing up on him.
From now on Beirus will concentrate solely on weapons and leave the platemail to Walrus.
On that note, I didn't get around to ask her about her nickname yet. Im sure there is an interesting story behind it.
2nd Moonstone 660Since we need far more metal to equip our militia, we have started to mine some shafts to search for other metal veins. We are mostly looking for iron since I fear that copper armor isn't going to cut it in the future.
While digging the first part of the first shaft, Castor struck gold. The weird part is that not a single one of us cares one bit about that.
Dont get me wrong, gold is nice to look at, but it has no practical purpose. To heavy to forge bins or barrels out of it, to malleable for weapons and armor. Wars where fought for this stuff and here we are, tossing it aside.
8th Granite 661Gold, gold and nothing but gold in this blasted mountain. We found a small vein of hematite on the slope and mined as much as we could without opening a path to the outside. We decided to mine deeper and are beginning to dig a spiral of ramps deep into the earth. Once we find a layer that shows some promise, we will carve tracks into it to haul the ore back up to our smelters.
15th Granite 661Today its exactly one year since our arrival at Igrishilrom. Compared to how we started, we have truly come far.
Our number has tripled and while we dont exactly dine like kings, we have enough to keep everyone well fed. Our militia is training every day to defend us against an enemy that so far has made not a single move against us. The threat of the goblins seems farther away every day we live in our settlement.
Im not quite sure when this place became less of a refuge and more of a home to us, but somewhere along the way it happened. While we planned to move on toward the north in the first days here, talk about that plan has died down a lot. The big question is, will it be worth it?
We dont have a live in luxury here, but we are free. Is the risk of moving on really worth a fleeting dream of a golden dreamland? What if we moved on just to find the north conquered by the greenskins long ago? And what would happen to those other unfortunate souls that roam the tundra?
I doubt that we have accepted our last refugee into our halls. What would become of them if there was no one here?
Well, I dont want to make an entry just to ramble so I will report the only noteworthy thing that happened since the last one.
We found some marble on our way deeper into the mountain. Iron ore is still nowhere to be found, but Beirus and Walrus are still very excited by this.
While we lost much of our history and identity in the years of service to the goblins, some skills where passed down and those two still remember how steel was made in the old days.
18th Granite 661I guess I jinxed it when I rambled about other people out there seeking refuge.
Today, a huge group arrived at our doors. No less then twenty dwarves and two elfs, half starved and nearly frozen to death, where brought in by Mafiawhales squad. We ushered them to the rooms near the forges, the warmest place we got, and fetched some food and drink for them.
After getting a bit warmed up, I asked them who their leader was and after some shuffling a dwarf named Pyer stepped forward.
What really got me on the wrong foot, was that she bowed before me and humbly asked to speak with the lord of Igrishilrom. I finally got used to being the de facto leader of the motley band that makes up our population and then someone comes along and declares me a lord.
So I told her that while I was in charge here, I was certainly no lord that sat on his ass and ordered the filthy peasents around. Thank you very much.
She was much more at ease after that. Probably she expected some self important twit to rule this place that would just toss her out if she wasnt groveling enough. At least thats how the greenskins run everything from a dark tower to the outhouse in a troll pit.
Anyway, the truly shocking part was their story. During the winter, Datans group had stopped near the settlement where they where forced to work and some of them had snuck out to trade a few odds and ends with the merchants. However, they also gossiped quite a bit and so they learned about, and I quote her here "the fortress Igrishilrom, that has risen against the greenskin oppression and raises a mighty army to free their bretheren". Suddenly being considered a lord seemed far less intimidating.
I looked around to the others that stood around and listened to her story and the expressions of some of them truly shocked me. Dewsif had the decency to look surprised, but made no motion to contratict that description, Mafiawhale smirked and looked pleased that this story was floating around and Doctor Skull, who was tending to the injured, calmly stated that it was overdue for dwarves to spill blood and sweats against the goblins instead of for them.
Once my attention settled back on Pyer, she resumed her story. Embolded by the tale of some mystical stronghold that bore the same name as our hole in the ground, they started to steal and hide everything they could and prepared to rise up against their overseers. It didnt work out quite as planned, they where found out before they where ready, and the resulting battle was far too bloody. Approximately 20 to 30 of them died, another 20 or so recaptured. They started their journey to us with next to no supplies and lost another eight to hunger and cold on the way.
The two elves that where with them, where actually merchants who they had met on the way and who had helped them out.
It was a lot to digest and I told her that she could stay and everything else would be sorted out in the next days.
I hoped everything would become more manageable if I took the time to write everything down and sort my thoughts, but sadly this isnt the case.
The only thing I know is that I will probably scream my lungs out if I see Datan ever again.
20th Granite 661Getting everything settled is proving quite difficult. Once the hardships of their journey wore off, some dissappointment settled in. We where not quite what they expected. At least they werent downcast very long and instead started working with us to make this place resemble the rumours a bit more.
Im not sure if I like that idea.
The dormitory has become far to small so we will start by carving proper rooms for everyone in the rock. The elven merchants had some wood with them, so we can at least build more beds. Metal or rock would simply get to cold in this place.
We paid them very good for the meager amount of wood they sold us. They helped those in need, without any hope of compensation and giving them a pouch full of gemstones seemed like a good way to show our gratitude. Iamblichos was quite pleased that they liked his work.
The two of them will stay for a few more days and then be on their way. Meanwhile I will probably keep running around, trying to somehow keep everything going.
Just a few minutes ago Fortestro came in and was very excited about something she wanted to show me. Lets just hope its iron ore.
Notes: Since Alev asked, here is a full list of our current military.
1st squad, led by Dewsif - Militia Commander / Axedwarf
ShadowHammer - Hammerdwarf
Vorus - Wrestler
Guylock - Recruit, training for Swordsdwarf
Spehss - Hammerdwarf
one unclaimed Hammerdwarf
2nd squad, led by Mafiawhale - elite Marksdwarf
Alev - Marksdwarf
Torg - elite Marksdwarf
three unclaimed marksdwarves
@bluwolfie: I will keep that in mind for the next updates. Once we got some steel, I wanted to give some of the military some more screentime.
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Topic: The Fell Peak [Community Fortress] - platinum blunt weapons for everyone! (Read 13041 times)