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[Dame de la Licorne]

20th Slate, 1056
Lately Watson had been worried about the lack of a fortress guard, particularly since the latest goblin incursion.  After discussing the situation with Surath, he chose several promising dwarves to become guards.

[Dame de la Licorne]

3rd Felsite, 1056
It was the third time that same dwarf had gone down the hall with a bucket of water that morning.  Surath stopped him and asked, "Surely there are others who can do that?  Don't you have other things you need to do?"

The dwarf replied, "Oh, but I like helping the wounded, it makes me happy.  And I'm sure Armok approves of my caring for the injured soldiers."

"What's your usual profession?"

"Gem cutting, but that's pretty boring.  I'd much rather help the wounded."

Surath thought for a moment.  It was true that few dwarves liked giving food and water, most attempted to ignore the wounded as much as possible.  Having a dwarf who actively sought them out was not a bad thing.  Surath still hadn't forgotten Jusk's death, dead because no one wanted to bring him food or water.

"Alright, how about you get a new title and a new job?  You'll be the fort's primary healer, and that'll be your only job when there are wounded.  When there aren't, you're free to do what ever other jobs you like, of course."

The new healer grinned, "Thanks!"  And he headed off to give the bucket of water to Watson.

[Nos3y]

Hah! I'm an Animal! Nice portrayal of my dwarf too   I'm proud of my military Midget!

[Foamy]

Did Watson get hurt again? Also thanks for giving him such an important job.

[Dame de la Licorne]

Every time he fights something he gets a yellow injury, it seems.  And you did ask that he be Captain of the Guard.  

[ February 12, 2008: Message edited by: Dame de la Licorne ]

[Dame de la Licorne]

10th Hematite, 1056
The human traders had returned, accompanied by a merchant prince.  Their wagons were piled high with the logs for which Surath had negotiated.  The little empty space was taken up by more alcohol and various useless items that the fort could make for itself.

[Dame de la Licorne]

14th Hematite, 1056
Nosey's squad was out patrolling the perimeter, as was his wont ever since the goblin attack that spring, and they fell into an ambush.  Nosey was dumbfounded.  "An ambush!  Sprung by a single kobold?  Get 'im!"  And matching word to deed, the entire squad jumped the would-be thief.  "That'll teach 'em.  Now if some goblins would just show up, I'd make up for not killin' all of 'em last time."  

Later, when he returned and made his report to Watson, the kobold's target quickly became clear.  The artifact pig iron idol which, since its crafter's demise, had been sitting abandoned outside the fort.  Watson commanded it be brought safely inside, especially since it was currently one of the fort's most valuable items.  It must not be allowed to fall into the wrong hands, under any circumstance.

[Dame de la Licorne]

18th Hematite, 1056
It never rains but it pours, thought Surath at the end of a charged week.  The latest incident involved a goblin and Thrakor's daughter.  A goblin master thief, to be precise.  Fortunately one of the wrestling squads had been nearby at the time and had come charging to the rescue, but Kroma was the true heroine of the day.  She had fired a single arrow, killing the goblin instantly.

However, how the goblin had managed to bypass the traps at the entrance to the fort was a concern.  She went over the entire trap plan with Arnar and the other mechanics, and finally noticed what she had previously missed.  There was a little-used entrance that had been built when the trade depot had been moved to a more defensible location.  That door was trapless.

"By Armok's beard!"  Surath swore.

"We'll get it trapped, and keep it locked until those defenses are complete," said Arnar.  "Goblins won't come in through there twice."

"See that they don't."  And then Surath smiled.  "But it was unlucky of the goblin to wander into the middle of a squad."

The other dwarves chuckled.  Goblins were a menace in fighting, but it was well-known that their intelligence was far beneath the dwarves'.  Their threat was due to the numbers they could draw upon, not their strategy.

[Dame de la Licorne]

19th Hematite, 1056
Another kobold had appeared.  It had clearly panicked at the sight of the well-defended fort with the bloodthirsty Nosey standing guard outside the gates and was running when it was first spotted.  It took Nosey longer to clean the blade of his axe than it did for him to chase and kill the creature.

[Nos3y]

Huzzah, with every Kobold and Goblin slain, the stronger I become!

[Dame de la Licorne]

20th Hematite, 1056
Barely had Nosey returned from dealing with the kobold, than another ambush was sprung, this time by six goblin spearmen.  They converged on the single dwarf, but clearly hadn't anticipated just how tough he was.  Especially once several wardogs joined the fight.  The goblins managed to kill off two of the dogs, but seemed incapable of landing a single blow on Nosey himself.  By the time the rest of the squad arrived, four of the goblins lay in pieces at Nosey's feet.  The five dwarves and their trusty dogs made short work of the other two goblins, with no further injuries to themselves.

"It seems news travels fast."  Remarked Watson that evening.  "Notice how they ignored the civilians around and went straight for Nosey?"

"Bring 'em on!  Try to attack my home, will they?  The fewer goblins in the world the happier I am."  And indeed it seemed Nosey was on a one-dwarf crusade to rid that region of every goblin he could.

[Dame de la Licorne]

22nd Malachite, 1056
Surath had finally finished validating the latest series of work orders for the fort, and turned to find the Merchant Prince waiting patiently.  "What, are you still here?  Do you realize your merchants left several days ago?"

"They know where to go.  But we need to update the trade agreement, as is the case every year.  Are you free to meet with me now?"

Surath had left him hanging for the last month while she took care of other pressing business.  There was still pressing business, but she supposed that the sooner she dealt with the human, the faster she'd be able to get back to dwarven tasks.  Her part of the negotiations was very straightforward, as much wood as the wagons could carry and the rest of the space taken up by alcohol, with the occasional piece of food.  The merchant, on the other hand, required anvils.  50 anvils.  "Are you humans going to be working metal that seriously?"

"Although the cratftsmanship of the dwarves is unparalleled, there are a few things we must make for ourselves, since the dwarves do not forge them.  Such as pikes.  And to do so, we need anvils."

"I'll see what I can do," said Surath, "but you must understand that there are other tasks which supercede the making of anvils."  Surath had become such a good persuader, that she was able to convince the human merchant without a great deal of difficulty, and convinced him that musical instruments and other baubles were better commodities.  The newest trade agreement was quickly concluded.

[Dame de la Licorne]

7th Galena, 1056
Another metalsmith had completely lost it.  After pleading for several months for some copper, and not getting it, he cracked into a babbling wreck.  Surath was not pleased, for he had been one of the better armorsmiths.  "Why was he not provided with some copper?"

"He wanted copper bars, and all we have is copper weapons," the dungeon master replied.

"Well, why didn't you melt those down then?  Especially as there is a pile of them just across the hall from the smelter."

With a smirk, she explained, "You ordered all extraneous metal items melted, and the iron is more useful than the copper, since it can be smelted into steel."

"So you decided to trek all over the fort in search of iron items and ignored the copper sitting right there!  It wouldn't have hurt you to smelt a few of those just help another dwarf out?"

"Copper's worthless, it's the iron that is important."  And the dungeon master ended the conversation there by the simple expedient of firing up the smelter to melt an iron boot, gift from the goblins.

Surath went to Watson.  "Can't you do something about her?  She deliberately sentenced a perfectly good dwarf to death by smelting only the iron items!"

Watson shook his head.  "Much as I would like to, she hasn't technically broken any laws, so my hands are tied.  The minute she steps out of line, I'll take care of it, but until then..."

"Well, in that case, I'm going to be keeping an extra close eye on her.  Now that I think about it, she never does anything that's not connected to the metalsmithing operation in some way, and I've gotten complaints about how she bosses the other metalworkers every waking moment of the day."  And Surath returned to her office, where she spent several hours considering and rejecting various methods of punishment that did not involve the dwarven justice system.

[Dame de la Licorne]

16th Limestone, 1056
The dwarven caravan had returned, this time with five wagons and multiple mercenaries to guard them.  The extra space was devoted to the many logs Surath had requested, in addition to the stone, and the trading was accomplished quickly.  But there was something missing and it took Surath several days to put her finger on it.  The liaison was missing.  When she asked the merchant, he shrugged and said it wasn't his concern.  He was just there to trade, liaison or no liaison.  "But how am I to say what Cursemountains needs?"

"Not my problem."

Clearly, the merchant was only interested in the bottom line, and in nothing else.

[ February 15, 2008: Message edited by: Dame de la Licorne ]

[Dame de la Licorne]

22nd Limestone, 1056
Thrakor's wife had again given birth, to another son.  It seemed the Channelwondered family was determined to populate Cursemountains all on their own.  This boy they named Sigun, meaning Tour in the old tongue.  Surath had to ask, "What did you give him that name for?  Do you expect him to leave and tour the world?"

Thrakor shrugged, "My wife chose it.  Since I named our first two, I figured she could name this one."

There was clearly something odd about that dwarfette, thought Surath.  But then, Cursemountains had that effect, particularly on those that had been there longest.