Muthkat and Colonel Ironbeard walked the long patrol route around the fortress in silence, scanning the horizon for any sign of the dead. No matter how far they looked, though, there were no dead to be found. Finally, the Colonel spoke, his gaze fixed on the horizon, "Do you think they are gone, lass? I haven't seen any for months now."
"I can't say, Colonel. It could be that they are gone, or they could just be biding their time."
"Aye, aye," the Colonel said, and they remained in silence for several minutes more before Muthkat spoke up, "Have you heard that the others have taken to calling you the steel warden, sir?"
A weary grin briefly graced the Colonel's face, "Aye, lass, and a mighty fine nickname it is. I couldn't ask for a better one. And they be calling you the Berserker, on account of how you fight, two-handed axe and all."
With that, the two of them reached the fortress and were relieved from patrol duty.
Senshuken raced into the dining hall, excitedly calling out to the off-duty militiadwarves, "The Berserker and the Steel Warden are dueling in the barracks!"
With cries of surprise and excitement, every soldier ran to the barracks and gathered into an ever-growing circle around the two dwarves. With a handshake and a bow, the duel began.
As soon as the duel began, Muthkat lept forward, swinging her bardiche around in an arc to strike at the Colonel. A massive clang resonated through the room as the colonel blocked the strike with his shield, and the crowd gasped in surprise. Muthkat was impressed: no other dwarf she had dueled had been able to block such a strike without being driven back, but the Colonel held his ground. She rained blow after blow on the Colonel, forcing him backwards step by step, but nothing got past his defenses.
The colonel blocked yet another strike with his mace, taking another step backwards. His arms were numb from the force of blocking blows, but he could tell Muthkat was tiring too. Her strikes were less precise than at the beginning, and her relentless assault was beginning to slow down. All he needed was one opportunity to get under her guard and it would be all over. Suddenly, Muthkat leveled a strike at his upper torso, and instinctively the colonel raised his shield to block it.
He realized too late that the attack was a feint. Muthkat dropped her axe, leaping forward and knocking him to the ground. One of her hands pinned his mace arm to the ground while the other pulled a short sword off of her belt and held it to his throat.
Silence fell across the room, followed by massive cheers. Muthkat stood up and unhanded the colonel, who slowly stood, and the two shook hands with slight grins on their faces.
"That was a clever move," the Colonel Ironbeard said, rubbing the back of his head where it had struck the ground, "I'll have to look out for that one in the future."
Muthkat grinned, "I figured that you wouldn't see that one coming. That's why I asked Senshuken if I could borrow his short sword, in case I ever felt the need to pull that trick."
"Aye, aye. That was well done, lass. I can see why they call you the Berserker. It was an honor to fight against you."
"Indeed. It was an honor, colonel."
Colonel Ironbeard walked the perimeter of the fortress alone, watching as the nightly fog rolled in to cover the land. As he walked, he reflected on many of the good things that had happened this past year. A full-time military had been established, morale had greatly improved with the lessening of the undead threat, and nobody had died in recent memory. And yet, he still felt a sense of dread, but he couldn't quite place a finger on what was causing it. It wasn't the elves: while they certainly had the numbers, being immortal and all, their wooden weapons were of little consequence against even the relatively light armor the soldiers were equipped with. It wasn't the undead: he had long since accepted them as a part of life in the fortress.
With a sigh, he turned and headed towards the gate. There was little point in this mental exercise if it didn't turn up anything, and he needed to lead a drill soon.
I'll claim the title of "Steel Guardian", if you will.
Also, I'd say that if the undead are gone we should begin fully utilizing the caverns for resources: plant gathering and web gathering and whatnot. This would, obviously, require military action and likely result in some deaths, but that's kind of the point. No need for the fortress to become stale. If not that, then yes, refill the undead creatures, but even that might not work for !!FUN!! because of the skill level of our best military dwarves.