Journal of the Tavern Keeper Overseer 1st of Malachite 179I love that flail. But flails are an area I am a bit rusty with admittedly and I wasn't as good with them compared to an axe.
In order to dump our prisoners into the execution pit, the pit first needed to be cleared out. Especially once I spotted the sheer volume of ammunition lying around waiting to be collected. To clear out the pit required the removal of an undead giant that had an arm shot off during crossbow training. The miasma had disipated now so it was time to strike down Smug Tuxum...by Armok, thats an awful name. I'll just call him smug tuxedo
It took a week to locate the lever to the fighting pit. It was hard to tell which one was the maintaince wall and which were the fighter access.
At last I found it, picked up Nezclaw's axe Rultangath (its exceptional but not masterwork. The siegebreakers got the masterworks) got Auze to open it once I stepped over the traps. I'll take one last drink for good luck. Lower the gate Auze!
Come on then you shambling mound of sobriety, prove your undead might so I can crush it under my boot!
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Undead giant blood lines the rim of the page
I was holding back to avoid getting my axe stuck and yet I still nearly split the lumbering oaf in half.
Anyway, the fighting pit is clear and I'm welcomed back by a chorus of hauliers stampeding their boots on the dirt floor and their hands together in recognition for my prowess. I'll drink to another successful task.
Soon the tossing pit can be channeled and we can have the arena used as an arena!
I don't envy whoever has to shift Smug Tuxedo's body
Journal of the Tavern Keeper Overseer 21st of Malachite 179One of the previous Overseers was a bit forgetful, unassigning most hauling labours from the fortress population for some project or another but forgot to turn them back on after. So all this furniture and clothing just isn't getting hauled nor dumped because nobody was assigned to it.
Now that they are all assigned appropriately, there is a steady stream of hauling up and down the fortress.
Including the first batch of Raw Adamantine. The craftsdwarf workshop has been manned and our strand extractor is working as I write this. I will smelt the first wafers in the forge, and Bluarian will smelt the first blade. I think an axe, to commemorate me cleaving that giant's skull. Or perhaps a statue- I never did get around to forging a statue of myself destroying the slab.
Making that one out of adamantine would be an excellent trophy to stick somewhere...yes I'm getting an idea now. A grand entrance hall celebrating smallhands' victories over Weevilmessiah. First with the Echnida wars, the capture of the traitor king, the imprisonment of Spriggans...
A beer drop is on the pageBad Recon, only 7 projects at once! There's a reason 8 dwarves or more don't make it out the fortress door. Its bad luck!
*Sighs*In any case, to proceed with the creation of the adamantine axe, in order to create the perfect tool to slay one of the ultimate evils in this world, then we need knowledge. The kind of knowledge that our supposed "Allies" are HIDING from us. The human town of Moistenankles, a small place with some 40 something humans living there is far away from the frontier and about a day's march west. It holds a tome that should be with us here on the front lines.
I speak of "Factual Goblins" a book that goes over the anatomy of goblins and their armies. To know the enemies weaknesses, we must know their strengths so we can cut them down and stamp their mangled corpses into the pits they belong. Be it magma pit or rotting pit for their bones to make new bolts from.
Nezclaw! Gather the siege breakers and retrieve this intelligence! I shall inspect our legendary Fatcat's work on the tombs in the meantime.
By Armok, its beautiful!
Journal of the Tavern Keeper Overseer 11th of Galena 179I think the Siege Breakers need a bit of disciplinary training. One of them decided to
ride out of Moistedankles on a yak yelling obscenities at the humans while flashing Factual Goblins in the air, being naked the entire time. As much as I would like to put that down as hearsay, I found a discarded suit of steel armour in the barracks when designating things to melt.
So much for stealth.
On the plus side they retrieved the book. Myself and Bluarian examined it cover to cover as we began prep work. I then stuck the strands in the smelter and rubbed my hands in glee as it fused into 4 wafers of Adamantine.
I gave them each the once over and handed them to Bluarian to begin work. The battleaxe design was masterful, edged and slightly jagged with heavier bits of metal at the back of the axe to give the blade better control as it carves through the goblin.
Curious, while we got the bellows working I asked him how a Knight of the Microline Order became a master smith, or was it the other way round? Even he was getting eager and working furiously, the pair of us with vicious grins on our faces as we laboured. Raz, Auze and Vabok worked nearby, all keeping a close eye on us, anticipating our results.
"See, I was once a member of the Adamantine order and we were all fighters, but some upstart Duke decided to change our name and take Adamantine for himself. We couldn't argue since he was also the militia commander at the Mountainhomes." Bluarian started
"Ha, bloody nobles. So a Knight first then?" I replied.
"Aye, and he was offended at us all beating him in sparring to boot and generally ignoring him when we fought at Cactushexes. One night ordered us to make weaponry using our beard hair as fuel to replace the coal" He started laughing, most likely in anticipation of what came next.
So did I in fairness.
"When he woke up, his beard was missing, and the noble was never heard from again! Anyway, that's how I lost my place at the mountainhomes"
I winced at that while he gathered the wafers. The flames in the forge seared the room, turning blue from the fire. A purple flame licked out above the magma as the Adamantine melted into shape.
"Now where were we...ah yes. Now, most metals can't withstand having Adamantine worked on them, but I'm pretty certain Smallhands iron can with-"
We were cut off by a small explosion of metal as the anvil shattered. We were both wearing armour so it was fine. Vabok's beer bottle got knocked straight out of his hand.
"What was tha' ye halfwits?"
"The beginning of a new era Vabok" I replied with manical glee in my voice.
Bluarian dragged a steel anvil over. Once more I readied the molten Adamantine and let it pour forth into the mold. The flames went higher once again and it tipped into the axe head shape. Bluarian took one of his beard hairs and put it round his hammer then slammed the mold onto the anvil. The Anvil glowed as hammer blow after hammer blow hit the solidifying adamantine. It glowed and pulsed as it warped into shape until at long last he dunked it in the water to cool it off.
Peering into the water he told me it looked quite promising. Many dwarves in smallhands had gathered around all vying for a look at the first adamantine weapon in smallhands.
I came round the anvil and took the weapon and raised it into the light. A brilliant blue blade shining in the magma light, sharper than anything smallhands had worked before.
An Adamantine axe fit to slay a Demon.
"Smallhands! Today you see before you a weapon, a weapon that will one day change the world! Behold its glory, pass it around, take a celebratory drink from the Tall Bar's stockpiles if you really want to. For tonight we made history!"
The crowd erupted in cheers and it got passed from dwarf to dwarf for a little bit before it was given back to me.
I dumped it in the melting pile immediately after everyone had gone. For all its luster, I could barely consider it finely crafted.
"Bluarian. Next time try forging when you aren't sober. The damn thing's too brittle in places."
He begrudgingly agreed.
Journal of the Tavern Keeper Overseer 28th of Galena 179I bumped into a certain Alath today on the way to the forge. She was always a bit of a strange one, constantly examining herself and valuing introspection and hindsight, all the way to the point of changing her name to Fescue. Not the most dwarfy of names but then again I was saddled with ClaspFought so I can't say much.
She asked why the adamantine axe was in the melting pile and not mounted on a wall as a piece of history. She also asked if I was interested in trying a *Yak tripe roast* made from Yak tripe, strawberry wine and a giant red wing blackbird egg because she thinks it will be good enough to serve in the Tall Bar given the lack of roasts there.
She...had a good point, the Tall Bar menu did need a bit of an update. Tripe and wine pie and a fried egg alongside sounds delicious. I'll drink to her suggestion.
A foxtail millet stain is on the pageWhen it came to the axe, she also had a good point. It really is a piece of history and shouldn't be melted down after all. Its still in the pile fortunately. Smallhand's slow productivity turned out to be useful for a change. Not sure where to put it for now.
She then had the audacity to accuse me of pouring away perfectly good wine. I threatened to pour her wine away if she makes such an accusation again! Down my own throat! That's it, I'll drink her alcohol rations!
I then realised she was, once again, true to her nickname in the barracks, sleepwalking and talking like a queen. Hence the Nap Queen nickname. I just nudged her over to a bed.
Finally I was able to confirm the prisoners had been stripped of their belongings. At last! Dumping will commence as soon as Elpho gets his pick and finishes his...story?
Wonder where he plagiarised this one.
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Topic: Smallhands - nearly 40 years and still tiny! (Read 441397 times)