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[RedWick]

5th Opal, 1053 - I swear, I'm about to shut down all production just so that I can set everybody to getting everything to where it needs to be.  It feels like nothing is getting done around here!

A few days back, while digging out a new chamber for my craftsdwarves, Sigrun uncovered another vein of copper.  

Lòr's earlier prediction about the entire mountain being riddled with the stuff is proving to be quite accurate.  I wonder why he decided to accompany me here when he could so clearly be living a more lavish life in one of the other, more prosperous outposts serving as a surveyor?  Probably wanted a bit slower of a life.  Heh...had he known about the kobolds, maybe he wouldn't have come.

Under Lòr's suggestion, we've begun tapping into some of the visible outcroppings of copper and aluminum along the mountainside.  Our inital copper veins have dwindled down to nothing and our armorer, Urist, has been busily hammering our extracted goods into plate armor with the hope of fulfilling the human's request for armor.  Last count put us at about 38 suits, with eleven of those suits having gone to my fortress guards and my marksdwarves.

Beyond that?  It's been a pretty slow winter.

[RedWick]

15th Slate, 1054 - Oh Armok no!  One of my lookouts has just spotted a group of migrants and they're approaching directly through the kobold camp!  And I can't send anybody over there quick enough to warn them!

[RedWick]

15th slate - Six dead, including the Dungeon Master. At least one more who doesn't look like she'll make it.  

I'll have to give Rith ònulallas a commendation for the efforts I saw him take after the dungeon master was stuck down.  As the only on amongst the group with any military experience, he took charge and had everybody try to stay low and hidden.

The only upside to the entire thing is that the kobolds have now lost their leader and their second in command.  I'll have to send a runner back to the mountainhome to let them know that at least one menace won't be bothering them any more.  Once the funerals have taken place, I'll send my marksdwarves down into the valley and have them take care of the rest of the kobolds.

There was such a feeling of helplessness watching the whole thing play out through the eyepiece of a spyglass.  If only I had been more proactive in clearing out the menace.  If only I had just told Doren and the rest of the Rough Trades that they could just go and do what they've been trained to do.  This senseless slaughter of innocent dwarves could've been avoided.

Damn it, I'm an artist, not a military dwarf!

The survivors are approaching.  I should go tend to them.

[evktalo]

Wonderful story. Very dramatic, that wave of immigrants. Poor guys.

[Moocow]

Thank you Redwick. You have inspired me to play the game in a whole different way.

[Wolfius]

It's unfortunate that cave critters don't reproduce or anything - attrition'll eventually cost you your best antagonist.

[RedWick]

quote:Originally posted by Wolfius:
<STRONG>It's unfortunate that cave critters don't reproduce or anything - attrition'll eventually cost you your best antagonist.</STRONG>

*whistles innocently*

[RedWick]

20th Slate - Everybody's dealing with the tragedy differently.  Lòr's spending his time wandering around, trying to figure out, as he says "The perfect place to dig".  One of my woodworkers has gone crazy, claimed one of the carpenters workshops and is now busily gathering up odds and ends from around the fort.  Discarded bits of bone and shell, a block of microline, and some copper bars, amongst other things.  And he keeps muttering to himself.  Others are listless.  Nobody seems to want to do much of anything and it's wearing me down to get anybody motivated.  I've taken to retreating into the library I've had constructed, though there are hardly any books on the shelves.

[RedWick]

16th Hematite, 1054 - Gods, why me?  The human caravan arrived with Turot Melakel in tow, and what's nipping at their ankles?  A small gang of goblin marauders!  Three years after our arrival to this forsaken hellhole, and now we have to deal with goblin attacks!

The pressure of running this place is getting to me.  The dwarves here aren't able to even keep my sand supplied filled, so I can't even lose myself to my glasswork! I took out some of my frustration on one of my metalsmiths and I didn't even feel bad afterwards.  Hell, it felt good.

[RedWick]

2nd Galena, 1054 - I lost another two dwarves today.  One of my woodcutters and one of my workers.  They were ambushed by a small squad of goblins.

When I surveyed the area, I noticed also that one of human merchants who was slow to pack up and leave with the rest of his fellows had also been beset by the goblins.  Both him and his bodyguard were slain.  

From what I could make out, the goblins were getting ready to carve up their bodies for a feast.  I hope that I can retrieve my dwarves before they...

I dare not put that thought to paper.  It's too grim.

[RedWick]

9th Galena - Gods help us!  They've found the lower gate!

[Dwarmin]

This is a good story! Got my pulse racing!

[RedWick]

12th Galena -

While slamming into my lower gates, the invaders tripped the traps that I had set up earlier.  Many of them were slain instantly.  Others were merely wounded.  With the causalities that the marauders took though, they've decided to move on to greener pastures.

The final body count, including only my dwarves who died during the attack, is five.  Of them, two were amongst the shining stars of this fortress, having crafted two of the artifacts that I often bragged about to my autumn liaison.  It seems we'll be able to recover them too, as the goblins remained ignorant of their true value.  Had they made off with them though...

This year has seen too many deaths.

[RedWick]

12th Galena - Thob Olinrurast, in his wartime duty of lookout spotted a tall figure on the horizon.

We'll fight until the last.  Smokeclasped will not fall while there is still a breath in my body!

[RedWick]

14th Galena - Inod Dodókrobek got the thing's attention and drew it up towards the upper gate where there still remain some traps unsprung.  He tripped while running and his wife, with their child strapped to her chest in a truly dwarvern fashion, charged the thing, crossbow loaded.  They paid for their bravery with their life.

Her child, which she managed to fling away before this thing crashed down on her body like a mountain, landed nearby in the mud, still alive.  Crying for his mother.

Still the thing charged.  

I ordered my dwarves into tight squads, based around their fortress duties.  The woodworkers, I armed with ropes and chains, and set them up towards the entrance with standing orders to wrestle the thing to the ground, in the hopes that we could possibly subdue it and cage it.

It finally reached us. Kadol Giginlitast charged out to get the monster's attention in the hopes of giving the rest of his squad a chance to circle around.  He was swatted away like a buzzing insect, dying immediately from the immense strength of the creature, but he gave his squad the opportunity to start throwing ropes around colossus.

When all was said and done, the brave dwarves of the Silvery Eagles pulled the thing down to the solid earth and bound it with wrought chains.  

And now, it sits in a cage, awaiting my decision as to what to do with it.