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."
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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!"