Ablel Helmedbattle the Fresh Wrath of Martyrs
Ablel's career in the military began from the moment he arrived in Starswords as a adequate speardwarf, armor user, shield user, fighter, and wrestler. It begun in earnest soon after when he and his unit ventured into the caverns beneath Starswords to confront the forgotten beasts that had slowly been accumulating since the foundation of the fortress. The first forgotten beast they met, and the first to die, was Umuz Siegednights, a gigantic humanoid composed of salts. Wielding a newly-forged adamantine spear of exceptional quality, Ablel struck this fiend down with the help of his squad. Over that year he would strike down a further seven goblins and a second forgotten beast, a huge eyeless dragonfly with a poisonous bite called Rushan, with this same spear. A third forgotten beast, Isa the Playful Witch, he killed with a fierce kick that dispersed entirely the steam that formed its body.
It was only by chance that Ablel arrived experienced with a spear instead of his favored weapon, a mace, and it was again by chance that Ber Labormesh, the fort's primary weaponsmith, felt himself irresistibly drawn to the forges early in the year 557, the year after the above events. From here he grabbed (through use of forbid) adamantine, along with some leather and glass, and forged a mighty spear he named The Unwelcome Desert, which bears an image of the fortress's foundation in green glass. This weapon was quickly assigned to Ablel, and his old spear was sent to the forges to be decorated in commemoration of his achievements.
In the next two years he only scored seven more kills, but two of those were forgotten beasts. The first was Ultush Washedswam, a six-legged turtle with lidless eyes, with goldenrod scales, and dripping with noxious secretions. This fiend he had again slain with his bare hands, the kill registered to his person but not his spear. The second was Esp the Deep of Mites, an enormous belching, croaking cobra with lidless eyes, two long, straight horns, emerald scales, and a poisonous bite. This foul beast he struck down with a single, quick thrust that shattered through the creature's skull, destroying its brain and killing it instantly. At some point during this period, the armorsmith Ushrir Inkfainted felt himself pulled to the forges as Ber had been, and (again, through careful use of forbidding) amassed a collection including adamantine, clear diamond, and star ruby before setting to work. He forged a breastplate that bore an image of a spear in clear diamond. It was named Dabbledhail, and quickly added to Ablel's equipment.
In the late spring of 559, he stepped into a pool containing some of the condensed poison vapor of Kogan, a towering, feathered... er, shrimp. This poison was the second to truly effect denizens of the fortress, although the beast itself was easily handled by two groups of mostly untrained, unskilled dwarves clad in iron and sworn to ensure creatures with such toxins are slain long before they reach the fortress - a task in which they are generally successful. Ablel was hospitalized, dizzy, nauseous, and partially numb. A doctor quickly diagnosed him.
Then he smacked him on the side of the head, called him an elf, and pointed out that there were children who had recovered from this toxin. Ablel washed the forgotten beast extract off his left foot and marched back to the barracks, leaving a green trail behind him.
It was his first visit to the hospital.
One other thing about Ablel that deserves to be mentioned is his disposition: he has great intuition and a stunning feel for spatial relationships, an unbreakable will, enjoys the company of others, is honest, compassionate, confident, and friendly. Admittedly he's no engineer, as his analytical abilities are poor, he has trouble focusing, he's disorganized and kind of impulsive. In short: he's the goofy, good-natured jock from every sitcom ever.
Ral Galleyabbey the Even Wealth of Strangeness
Ral is Ablel's protege in a way. Arriving half a year after her comrade, Ral fought alongside him in the siege of 556, although she only brought one goblin down and had her left foot and nose broken for her efforts. Her foot was cleaned, sutured, set, and dressed, but took a year to heal. Her nose, which could not recieve a cast, was left broken and became infected. Assuming that she would die of infection, a small tomb was prepared to hold her in death, as she would have been the first of the adamantine-clad honor guard of Starswords to die as a result of combat. Her foot did heal though, and by this point Ablel had taken up his new spear, and in honor of her recovery Ral was offered the old spear - which had been decorated with images of The Unwelcome Desert in silver and black bronze, in addition to a few other decorations. In what remained of 557 she accomplished nothing.
It was during the winter siege of 558 that she proved her worth: she was the first to respond to the battle cry and she charged the invading force of goblins and trolls without backup. She claimed ten lives, three of them trolls. During his assault two quick-reacting members of the fortress's crossbow-armed guard unleashed a hail of bolts that killed three more goblins, and between Ral and the guards both of the two goblins leading the assault had been killed. The remainder of her squad arrived mostly to chase the invaders back to the edge of the map.
Now with eleven kills to her name, she has truly earned her place in this prestigious military squad, at least until the infection claims her.