Summer 303: Part 3
"The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death, and we shall overcome this great obstacle not through our faith in the gods, but rather through our faith in ourselves."- Logem Abbyrhymes in Victory by Death
Excerpt from Visions of the Abyss: The Early Years of Bloodyhells by Iyathi "Archereon" Awemedinade:
There are many who have condemned me as a Heresiarch and a madman for my decision to share the secrets of the black arts with the dwarves of Nashonshash, chief among them being my own people. But when I announced my discovery before the fortress, and stated my support for making use of this power, there were very few objections. For, in spite of all our efforts, the fortress was still teetering on the edge of the abyss. All it would take would be one tiny slip up, and the efforts of the year would be undone. NCommander was the first to read the book after myself.
Contrary to what the stories say, practicing the black arts does not induce any immediate changes to one's appearance; he did not become a pale and sallow corpse as is the typical depiction of a necromancer; armed with the knowledge and power of life and death, NCommander was still the same person as always. But he was now capable of things well beyond a mortal dwarf. The most important part being the fact that he was now able to venture outside the safety of the fortress without being attacked, which he demonstrated by casually retrieving a barrel of dwarven ale from the surface. While we locked the door behind him to be sure nothing would wander in, it was only a few minutes before he returned, knocking on the door and questioning our manhood for locking him out. This feat was enough to convince the handful of dwarves with doubts about using the black arts, and soon enough practically the whole of the fortress had gained the same insight as NCommander. With perhaps a dozen dwarves schooled in necromancy, the time was right to begin taking back the fortress.
NCommander dug out a makeshift storeroom just below the surface, and dug a staircase leading upwards behind a sturdy door. With a second door preventing reentry into the fortress, we began the process of recovering the countless discarded riches lying around on the surface. While this process was ongoing, the rest of us were hard at work preparing living space for the new additions to the fortress. Many more trees were felled that month, but by that point, I found myself numb to what once would've been viewed as a necessary evil at best. There was a great deal of administrative work involved in this process, and I spent many evenings shut away in my study checking and rechecking stockpile records, though I was able to dedicate nearly as much time to honing my skills at smithing. The recovery of a number of steel arms and armor was of particular use, and it was not long before Spish was fitted with a full suit of steel armor. Ill fitting and low quality equipment was melted down, and its material salvaged for later use. With my time between meals largely devoted to smithing and administrative work, the fortress was quickly overflowing with extra weapons. In the interest of ensuring the safety of the fortress in the event of a breach, I announced the organization of a citizen's militia; excluding those in professions which require bulky tools as a matter of course, all members of the fortress not in the regular military—myself included—would henceforth be organized into emergency squads of ten for use in the event of a breach of the lower fortress, and would for self defense each carry a weapon and shield if able to do so, with the appointed leaders of militia squads recieving full suits of armor if the fortress stocks permitted.
Excerpts from Collected Logs of the year 303 by Iyathi "Archereon" Awemedinade:
7th Galena, year 303: In parallel with the work on the surface, I have begun a number of projects; firstly, the sealing of the breach into the lower caverns we made near the beginning of the year in order to acquire wood. The entrance is now fortified with a gate and several cage traps. This was prompted by the intrusion of a troll into the lower fortress, which was swiftly put down by Spish, and was subsequently reanimated by the energies permeating these lands which required it to be re-killed several times before it stirred no more. Thanks to his sturdy armor, Spish was completely unharmed beyond some superficial bruising.
Another project is the digging of a shaft going from the uppermost layer of the fortress beneath the aquifer down to magma. This shall serve both as a chute for disposal of our own dead in a dignified manner—cremation by magma being quite a common funerary practice among deep dwarves—but also for the disposal of corpses which refuse to remain still, as well as general refuse.
As part of the continuing effort to move the fortress down to the depths, I have also begun the construction of a new farming area, down much closer to the depths. The flooding of the lower fortress provides an easy point of access for irrigation. It should be noted that, as necromancers require no food or drink to survive, farming is not nearly as urgent a task as it once was. However, for the sake of the denizens of the fortress who have not or are unable to make use of the secrets of life and death, it is important that we maintain at leas some agriculture.
21st Galena, year 303: Work on the surface is proceeding slowly but surely. On several occassions, the dwarves working on the surface have been forced to run for cover by the arrival of the accursed mist, and while none of them have been caught in the clouds thus far, work on the surface is not without its risk, even for necromancers. Meanwhile, down in the depths, we have turned to another source of power oftentimes regarded as taboo: adamantine. Ironically, there was considerably more resistance to my order to begin excavating one of the veins of adamantine which punctured the lower caverns; countless fortresses have fallen, the dwarves say, through such hubris. After slicing clean through a boulder using a sword forged from the priceless metal, most of the dissenting voices went silent. As a precaution, I have placed a hatch cover above the path leading down into the heart of the vein. It took only a short time to completely excavate the uppermost layer of adamantine, and now, several of the citizens are hard at work separating the pale blue metallic fibers from the surrounding rock. The top layer of the vein is incredibly rich with adamantine, and it will be many months before we need to dig any further. As Summer draws to a close, I have begun drawing up plans for a new professional military.
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Topic: Bloodyhells - Succession: Battlefailed #5 (42.06) (Read 140818 times)