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[shadowclasper]

Journal of Hetros
What is it with this place? Bloody elves? Forest fires? Obviously insane dwarves? They all seem to want gems, maybe when the human or mountain home representatives come around again we can request some gems.

Anyway, the trade depot is slowly shaping up, it'll be no time at all before we're done. And that Fortis came up with a rather sound idea, maybe I was wrong about him being an elf sympathizer. I was a bit suspicious at first, after all, what kind of dwarf would suggest a forest preserve?! But then he explained his reasoning that we needed a secure supply of lumber against the forest fires and invasion, so a walled in preserve would help us with that. He's got a good head on his shoulders he does, maybe he was just from one of those above ground dwarf towns, in human lands. Ya get some funny ideas from living up top for too long. We'll set him straight in no time I'm sure.

[Lawec]

Sure thing! Any preference for personality or job?

Cook/farmer, that would be the only preference 

And if you could give me the details on such a dwarfette in the fort, I shall write a journal entry from Lawec.

[Tezcatli]

Here you go, your bride-to-be is the ardent god of victory-worshipping Atis Bimuman. Not a farmer yet, but she's learning to become one.

[Lawec]

A page, torn out from a journal is found on the floor...

The Journal of Lawec

By Armok! I have seen the sweetest of dwarves today. Her name is Atis Bimumam, the colour of her beard is wonderful. The glimpse in her eyes reminds me of the purest of Red Beryl. Oh I am in love... And I shall soon be able to stroke her beard.
I shall take her with me into her room, and offer her the sweetest of alcohol, and plump helmets.
Soon, she will be mine.. My precious.. Will be mine... Myyy... Preeecious..
*The rest of the words are unreadable*

[Fortis]

Ugh, what is with these dwarves and ale? I went to that party that their equivalent of a druid threw (not the best of my decisions, admittedly). I underestimated how much these dwarves can put away. And such potent brew too! I had just one mug, it made ill for days. Fortunately, I was able to stealthily dilute the additional drinks that were poured for me, often substituting water from a flask I carried on my person when no one was looking.

But alcohol aside, I am learning more about these dwarves and their strange customs. Such as their burial practices, and leaving the bodies of their departed to rot away to nothing but bones in a stone container. Just living underground is new for me. Elves have good eye sight, but these constant dark corridors are trying for my vision. I ache for the sun during the day, and for the stars and moon as I sleep. That first night, I remember, I lay awake on my bed, staring at the ceiling with the close walls looming around me. I wanted to go outside, preferring the open grass to this tiny, claustrophobic room, but that would give away my identity very quickly. As it is, I’m glad I have farming and herbalist duty. If they made me mine, or gave me an indoor task, I would be as mad as Goden before long if I had to stay in these dark, sunless corridors day after day.

Still, In a way, I’m glad I’m here. Understanding of the dwarves aside, this wounded forest needs a proper elf to tend to it. I managed to convince the leader druid here that a forest preserve would be a good idea. They were thinking of their lumber stockpiles, but I believe that this preserve will be the salvation of these forests. With the stonework of the dwarves put to good use (credit where credit is due, these dwarves can make a wall as sturdy as the mountain itself), this preserve will be safe from the threat of fire. After the flames have died, the animals will tend to their duties of living, and spread the seeds from the plants and trees abroad to revive the land. It pains me that this will come at the expense of the noble trees being silenced by the dwarves axes, but the forest itself will survive. Still, I will pray to the spirits for forgiveness for the trees that will die.

In the meanwhile, I must see about acquiring a cap for myself. My disguise could use a little shoring up.

[Tezcatli]

23rd Hematite 258

"4 bars of platinum, eighteen logs of various woods, two bags of rat weed seeds, a bag of longland grass seeds, eight lots of five turtles, three lots of five char, and two lots of five dromedary cheese." Sava checked, counting the items to be bought from the Human trader Legu. Three Dwarves arrived at the newly-smoothed and built depot, hauling wooden bins full of finely-woven cloth, "And in return, three full bins of finest pig-tail cloth, thirty pieces altogether."

Legu sighed melodramatically,

"Ach, alrigh'. But only because I feel it is my duty to help you grow in your early years. Do not expect such a good deal in future years!" he said in his thick Human accent. Sava gave the tanned man a smile, knowing that next year they would probably have better quality goods to trade, and that all the Human's bluster was just show. The two shook hands, Legu stooping down to reach Sava. Haspen, his perpetual grim frown on his face, moped past, taking one of the platinum bars and slowly bringing it back into the fortress, mumbling about the uselessness of platinum. As he entered the courtyard, there was a large crash, and several boulders, along with Rice, came tumbling down from above. The Sheriff Jurvana, on break at the time, instantly used this opportunity to flout some authority. She stalked up to the stunned miner,

"What was that?" she demanded. Rice shook himself out of the daze,

"I was channeling out the unneeded ledge that remained from when we flattened the mountain face when it collapsed with me on it, is what." the engraver groaned, picking himself up.

"Psch! You should've been more careful. Continue with your work." the woodcutter chided him. Having said that, she moved off to speak to one of the sparring recruits of the Blockaded Paints, which had recently renamed themselves 'The Squids of Winding'.

That was when the cry was heard.

"AMBUSH! Goblin ambush!" Fortis, his false beard flapping in the wind, and now complete with a pig-tail cap, came rushing into the courtyard, "To the east! A Goblin ambush!" he panted. Jurvana, though dwarfed by Fortis' height in comparison to her's, stared at him as though insane. The Elf-in-disguise shook his hands wildly, "They're going to attack the depot! If they kill the merchants then the Humans are going to blame us!"

This was enough to shock Jurvana into action, she ordered Captain Aban Arustoslan, leader of the Squids of Winding to assemble her squad then pointed accusingly at Fortis,

"Go get Lawec, we'll need his crossbow, and tell Ilral." After a moment of hesitation Fortis did as told. Jurvana turned round to see that Aban's squad weren't ready, when she demanded to know why, Aban stared her down,

"Sheriff Jurvana. You are in charge of the justice system, not the military. We only heed the orders of the current leader of Niltosed - Ilral in this case." Jurvana's eyebrows met in an angry line,

"Yes, but I am her second-in-command. So I also have authority and..." she started, only to be interrupted by Ilral and Lawec's arrival. Jurvana turned to the ex-advisor, "Ilral, I was just telling this soldier that we need to move at once." Lawec answered before Ilral could,

"Aye, I've got me crossbow, yer've got your axe. What weapons do yer squad have, Aban?" he asked. The squad-leader shrugged,

"We don't have any." she replied, looking down shamefacedly at her beard. Ilral impatiently interrupted,

"Look! Captain, you get your men to simply immobilize the goblins and Lawec and Jurvana will finish them off. Problem solved, now get to the depot!"

----

"So no one was hurt?" Lawec asked, looking down at the half-dozen goblin corpses that littered the ground just outside the trade depot. The goblins had caught the Human caravan just as it had left the tunnels into the sunlight. The Human crossbowmen and lashers had quickly made short work of the greenskins without any casualties. Sava nodded, hefting a bag of rat weed seeds he had been bringing back to the fortress over his shoulder,

"Yep, just a bruise here and there, nothing serious." Captain Aban sighed,

"I feel rather cheated." she said, looking rather relieved at not having to enter battle with nothing but her hands as weapons. Lawec gave a laugh,

"I'm sure ye do. Now come on, this needs a celebratory drink. And I believe a new batch of ale has just been brewed, and there's someone I want ye all to meet."

--------------------

14th Malachite 258

"Idiot!" Ilral screeched at the miner before her. Obeying her orders, he had begun channeling a moat for the depot...digging straight into the bedrooms below. Things had been going wrong for her all day. First the peasant, Fikod, that had taken the craftsdwarf workshop (throwing Sava out of it in doing so) had suddenly been struck with some kind of severe depression, and now spent his days moping around, refusing to work, and now this!

"Why didn't you realise the bedrooms were directly below the moat!" she demanded. The miner raised a bushy eyebrow quizzically, replying,

"But Ma'am, you told me to channel that moat out."

"Well yes...but...but someone who doesn't check his orders to make sure they're sensible is worse than the one who gave the order!"

"Well...I suppose."

"Look, find some way to separate the moat and bedrooms without making the moat useless and we'll forget about this."

The miner nodded, hefting his pick and leaving the office, at the moment, Hetros burst in,

"Fikod's drowned! He jumped into the moat!" he declared. Ilral shrugged,

"A tragedy, but one that was sure to come. He was a weak link." Hetros cocked his head to one side,

"Weak link?" he asked.

"Yes. The Enemy can influence the weakest among us to drive us to insanity! They probably hope to cause a civil war so they can come in and take over from the weakened survivors!" she stood up from Kurolrurast, "And that is why we must stop them, Hetros! Convene all the masons you can! It is time we put the Enemy in their place!"

[Tezcatli]

15th Malachite 258

"Gentledwarves, I present to you: Project House Arrest." Ilral declared, setting down a large sheaf of paper with plans drawn on it, "The plan is simple. We will encircle the Enemy with a great wall that will stifle their movement and trap them in their stronghold!" she thumped the plans emphatically, "Then, we will be both safe from fire and from invasion, and we will be able to begin safely extracting magma for use in smelting." A cheer went up at this, magma was something all Dwarves felt some kind of affinity for. Ilral nodded, "Good. We begin work at once! Once finished, the Enemy shall be beaten back once and for all!"

--------------------

Diary of Ilral Arakrovod - 17th Limestone 258

The masons have been slaving away tirelessly for the past few months and the grand wall around the magma pool is almost finished. By Ikud things are going well! The Dwarven trade caravan arrived and we traded away some cloth, stone toys and goblin affects for some more platinum bars, some picks, two battle-axes, lots of booze, meat, bauxite for when we tap the magma, and a nickel cage. History repeated itself once more when our weaver, Logem suddenly took over the clothier's shop, and is currently spending his days screaming for gems! When we bought some from the traders he promptly demanded rough gems. I had the gems roughened but he refuses to accept them. Clearly the Enemy can feel they are being beaten back and are trying to fight back, but we shall never fall! They can take our weaver's sanity but they'll never take our freedom!

--------------------

Diary of Haspen Ukercatten - 2nd Sandstone 258

Ilral has been making us work on her damned wall like crazy for the past two months. The amounts of times we've had to run for it because a fire imp has decided we'd make good toast... And all through this we have Jurvana telling us to work faster, and Ilral raving about how we're helping to defeat 'the enemy'. I think she was too close to the flames in the last forest fire, her brain's definitely melted or something. Just the other day she proclaimed four of the soldiers to be 'Champions'. Champions, bah! All they do is push each other over and get in your way when you've got to lug some horrible barrel of Elven booze from the depot to the storeroom. Not what I'd call champions. And don't get me started on the way they call everyone 'civilian'.

We've finally found some rough gems for the crazy people who seem to want them so much. That Logem is in the clothier's shop now, making something out of cloth, platinum and red beryl. What he's actually going to make from that strange combination is anyone's guess.

11th Sandstone 258

Ilral's ordered the carving of a huge tunnel from the fortress to the magma pool, according to some grand plans she and Hetros have designed or something. Well I tell you, there's nothing grand about forcing people to dig tirelessly for days on end. I though we could rest after the wall was finished!

--------------------

Diary of Hetros Okircog - 28th Sandstone 258

The big magma plans are underway! Soon we'll have access to that lovely flowing magma.

Despite the setback with the moat-digging, the moats and bridges are almost finished, and we'll soon be have a well-defended trade depot (with a few surprises for those Elven bastards). With this and my plans for the magma smelting, I think Ilral is beginning to trust me.

With the wall finished, Lawec is allowed hunting again, he's been spending a lot of time with Atis, a farmer and he's even taking her hunting mountain goats with him. Not my idea of romantic but to each their own, right?

We finally got round to given Fikod the crazed peasant a proper burial. He been buried next to Goden the crazed miller. And speaking of insane, once we gave Logem his damned gems he shut up and got to work. He presented us with his work a few days later, a pig-tail thong encircled with platinum and menacing with spikes of pig-tail and red beryl. He's also - rather vainly - embroidered an image of the thong on the thong. A bit of an anti-climax to a huge fear that we'd get another insane Dwarf. When we asked him what exactly it was he proudly announced it was called 'Organseals', not exactly a very subtle name for a thong...


The current layout of Niltosed as of 28th Sandstone 258. The fortress is to the south.

[Blackburn]

I want a dwarf. Can I have a dwarf?

A metalsmith named Caiman. Preferably male and worships Domas Wealthsbridges, loves metal, gems, and loves working and seeing the weapons, armors, and tools he makes being used. Other than that, keeps to himself and complains a lot and wishes he had a better bedroom. Yep, pretty greedy.


If you can do that, or at least come sorta close, I'd appreciate it.

It's OK, right?

[Lawec]

Great artifact eh? 

[Tezcatli]

Not only that, but it's worth 82k.

Blackburn - Sure you can have a Dwarf. But there isn't any male metalsmiths at the moment. Do you want someone else who'll be trained as a metalsmith?

[Tezcatli]

24th Moonstone 258

All seemed to be going well. The magma tunnel had been dug out, cleared of rock and the bauxite floodgates would soon be fitted. All in all, everything seemed to be going well.

It started with a yell of 'Aaaambush!'

Led by the fearsome swordsgoblin Stozu Egngunsnang, seven Goblins from Ngozoatu, 'The Common Fly', leapt out of their hiding spots, brandishing swords or fists. The Dwarves of Niltosed were caught completely by surprise. In the ensuing panic they all rushed into the double doors that led into the interior of the fortress. Captain Aban Arustoslan and her squad, The Squids of Winding, threw themselves in the way of the Goblins, armed with nothing but their bare hands. They powered threw the Goblins, snatching weapons out of their hands and grabbing them in chokeholds. With the surprise turning against them, the Goblins began to retreat. That was when a second squad burst out, six more greenskins armed with swords and bows. The Squids of Winding didn't even blink, throwing themselves like Furies of Armok onto the Goblin swords and bulldozing them down.

Goblin leader Stozu, in a duel with Kogsak Etestalath was mortally wounded, but managed to kill the Dwarf before bleeding to death. With their dual-deaths, the Goblin morale was completely annihilated, and the last few survivors fled for their lives, chased by four furious Dwarves.

At the end of the fight, Bookkeeper Solon counted the dead; 11 Goblins, 2 Dogs, a Mule and the Dwarf Kogsak. Always looking for more ways to get the military on her side, Ilral announced that he would be given a large burial chamber, fit for a war hero. and that furthermore it was time they prepared a great complex to house the dead, rather than let any concerned friends dig out a small niche in the mountain for them.

--------------------

Diary of Sava Kekimkadol - 11th Opal 258

Ilral's new project, the necropolis, is well underway. The magma pipe is also almost finished, and Ilral wants to open it at New Year's, to celebrate the third year since we've been here as well as the finished project.

In other news, an animal dissector has been struck with one of those crazed moods, he's taken the craftdwarves workshop, several materials, and has begun to work furiously at something. Let's just hope it's not some strange thong again.

23rd Opal 258

As I write this, Solon the Bookkeeper is hacking at the last pieces of rock to free the magma, where it'll course down the tunnel, and stop at the floodgate. Secretly, I have to admit it won't be a great loss if the grouchy git is charred away. The animal dissector, Oddom has finished his work, a birchen crown he calls 'Seshedos' 'The Socketed Amazements.'. It's quite well made, decorated with hanging rings of chestnut, with an image of Dwarves labouring in ash. Ilral has taken it to safeguard it, but she'll probably wear it instead. With the magma pipe soon to open, we've begun work on some large-scale smelting facilities. The first chamber of the necropolis is finished, and Rice and his team are smoothing it like maniacs. I swear that Rice wants absolutely everything smoothed.

[Blackburn]

Blackburn - Sure you can have a Dwarf. But there isn't any male metalsmiths at the moment. Do you want someone else who'll be trained as a metalsmith?

Sure. He'll get better with time.

[shadowclasper]

Journal of Hetros
I warned her, I really did. I told her, "Leave a single space open in the wall, or place a temporary door, or SOMETHING so that we'll be able to channel out the magma tunnel safely from above" but alas, she's too paranoid. I hope the book keeper is fast on his feet, if he ain't he's a dead'un.

Wait... we did put in bars right? or something that would prevent any imps from coming up the magma pipe right into our fortress if we wanted? I'm sure I wrote it down in the plans!?! If they aren't in we'll have to figure something else out I guess.

[Tezcatli]

Diary of Ilral Arakrovod - 1st Granite 259

And the magma is open! It flows freely down our glorious tunnel, filtered and cleansed free of any Enemy agents by the fortifications, down to the magma smelting works. When the smelting works are finished (Rice is insisting on smoothing the entire room before we install the forges. I refused, but he did it anyway) then we shall be able to smelt freely without wood limitations. For the grand ceremony I enlisted Caiman, a metalsmith. He complains a bit, but keeps himself to himself.



With these great forges Niltosed shall strive ever onwards as the greatest mountainhome on our fair planet, and I shall stand as its great Queen!

In other news, Aban, the captain gave birth to a daughter today, she's named the child Nist. Nist is the first Niltosed native, the only one amongst us born here, a great honour.

--------------------

Diary of Fortis Shorastesesh - 19th Granite 259

War has come to my adopted home. Three Goblin ambushes, many of them with Humans probably snatched as babies, attacked. The four soldiers were immediately mobilized, despite having nothing but their hands to fight with. If there's anything that can be said for Dwarves, it's that they're reckless but good fighters. Leading her squad with her own child in her hand (a vicious Dwarven custom apparently) Aban led her four-Dwarf squad against about 21 assorted and armed Goblins and Humans. Tragedy struck within minutes as her baby, Nist, was knocked out her her hand, went flying and was killed on the rocks. This enraged Aban, who flew into a trance and killed four single-handedly. Tragedy struck once more when Lorbam, one of the soldiers, was severely wounded on the torso and the neck, he suffocated to death soon after. It was three against ten, and the Dwarves still won. But it was a victory at a cost, a civilian, one Atis Bimumam suffered a slight wound to her upper body, but she should recover, unlike the soldier who suffered severe damage to both arms, and one of his legs; another soldier almost lost her finger and Aban suffered a wound to the head, as well as the loss of her baby. There was little rejoicing this time as the blood-soaked soldiers marched back.

--------------------

Diary of Hetros Okircog - 21st Granite 259

Ha ha! What a great day! The Elven caravan was found, the bastards had been killed by the Goblin ambushes! It seems I didn't need to even lift a finger! For almost three years I've been preparing a trap for those poncy tree-huggers, and bang, they die themselves, impaled on Goblin pikes. It's been a great day, it truly has.


The current layout of Niltosed as of 21st Granite 259. The fortress is to the south.

[Lawec]

Atis got wounded? 
Oh my. If she ever dies during a goblin siege, let Lawec avenge her by joining the military as a hammerdwarf/marksdwarf