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[Xvareon]

I need more details. Do you want him to be a soldier due to those dormant weapon skills, or stay a dyer? What personality will he have? etc.

[Chaoseed]

Well, if you're looking for suggestions...could you name the Milker "Leila"?  (No reason, I just like the name.)  I envision her being mostly quiet and keeping her head down.  Until the subject comes to growing, milking or wood crafting--things she knows about--in which case she has no hesitation in speaking up and berating people who do it wrong.  She could take over the farming to make sure it's done right.

[Xvareon]

Perfect. Keep 'em coming, folks, and I'll be able to continue this before long.

[Kc_spot]

OH make him a full-time soldier.  Use his dyer abilities when it's to your advantage.

FOR RAVENCROWN

[Xvareon]

Great. 5 more now, and we can keep going. If not I guess I could use the rest of the migrants myself but this IS a community fortress.

[Xvareon]

Alright it has been over a week since the last migrant wave and I haven't got enough people... I'm just going to continue, and we can try for the next wave.

-----
The Journal of Vergil

2nd Galena, 257, Late Summer

All those weeks of tending a signal fire and braving the giant eagles have paid off at last. Seven Dwarves all told seem to have made it out, and trekked on foot the entire trip over here, although they did seem to bring a few pack animals with them.

"By Armok's beard, I was beginning to think you'd all burnt up! How'd you get on?" laughed Garth as he ran up to meet the migrants.
One of them stepped up from the rear. "We got some advance warning in the villages. A mad Dwarf ran into town one day riding a boar, of all things, holding a spear over his head with a Goblin head on it, screaming 'THE GOBLINS ARE COMING!!'." She paused, produced a hipflask from her clothes and unstoppered it. I swear the smell made Garth drool. "Of course most of them didn't listen... A few of us got out in time, though. There should be more, a group of militia said they'd cover our escape and follow after if they could, but I don't know what happened to them." She stopped to take a sip from the flask, then made a face as she realized it was empty. Now I knew what that delicious smell was; Sunshine, a very rare and sweet liquor only brewed from Sun Berries.

Then I froze. It was so rare, that it was only brewed in a few locations, and those were very well known. If the Goblins had spread that far north already, how long would it take them to find us? We had to consider defenses, and quickly. "We broke west into the woods, wandering for a while, then happened upon some wagon tracks. Traced 'em all the way over here 'till they hit the rock and went away, then we saw the smoke from your signal fire. Damn good thing you have it, too. Spooks that flying beast something awful." Ah yes, the eagle. Come to think of it, it has seemed to avoid our front entrance lately... but I thought that was more fear of the bloodthirsty Dwarf with an axe.

"Name's Anna, by the way. This is Kace, some rookie our Militia Commander sent along as escort. Has a hungry axe, though. And this is--" She stopped short, looking around, then set eyes on a rather short and skinny Dwarf having a serious conversation with Shorna. Shorna handed her a waterskin laden with ale, smiling as she gulped it down like she hadn't had alcohol in days. "Leila!" Anna called over. "I thought we agreed we'd wait until we got settled in before getting drunk!" Leila started, but Shorna retorted; "This is the first real drink she's had in weeks, Anna! Give her a break!" Anna looked ready to slap her, but simply sighed and continued. "And this is Meng, Litast, Unib, and Mistem. Can we save the rest for later, please? I'm a bit thirsty myself."

And so we walked through the doors once more, fourteen Dwarves where once there was seven. Still, we would need much more if the Goblins discovered us.

[Xvareon]

The Journal of Vergil

9th Galena, 257, Late Summer

With all the extra hands around the place, work is proceeding at a very rapid pace. Our new arrivals are putting their skills to use quite well. Leila has taken to the fields with Shorna, they look to be fast friends already -- if only by booze. She can be a bit of a perfectionist at times, but always concedes that Shorna is the better brewer. Anna has made her own Mason's workshop and is busily making much-needed furniture. Once we get enough steel to make some more axes, we should be able to finally bring some wood in from outside, too. As for the others, we seem to have a fisherman, jeweler, soap maker and engraver. An odd assortment, but an interesting one. They seem to be adapting to the fortress life quite well.

I still can't make up my mind about our defense. I conferred with Garth, though, and he's set up a couple traps at the front door. If anything less than a goblin ambush comes, Ludoc always has his axe, too. And with our new recruit, we should be quite safe for a while. I am a bit worried about him, though... he seems to be obsessed with that giant eagle, still. Could he really stay angry that he lost it after chopping up three deer? I know Baron isn't angry. I bet they both have a deal worked out where Ludoc gets to keep some part as a trophy by now... This place is slowly eroding his soul into an axe-happy maniac.

Just like the old Dwarves.

[Xvareon]

The Journal of Ludoc

19th Galena, 257, Late Summer

Much happening today on my way to get a drink. I had just come back from hunting, and stopped in our stockpiles to sample a bit of Shorna's fresh brew, when Baron's voice came from the other side of the door. Loud.

"Ludoc!! Grab your axe, we got an intruder!!"
I dropped everything and ran out the door to quite a scene. Baron was standing in the bedroom main hallway, yelling obscenities at a very small and lanky creature in a loincloth, carrying what looked like a dagger. A Kobold. I remember swinging my axe inaccurately due to still holding the drink barrel, getting it fetched up in his left hand I believe. I collided with the creature and we both went down in a heap. I lost my grip on the axe... Then everything is fuzzy after that. Baron tells me that I must have gone berserk and just blacked out while my body was in kill mode. He says it went something like this...



He says I quite literally bit the Kobold's arm off, then freed my axe and chopped him in half on the floor. Then I chopped the next one's leg off and proceeded to swing at it overhead multiple times, but it SOMEHOW managed to parry it with a silver dagger as it crawled bleeding out the door. I then reversed direction and ran back down the hall at the sound of another one which Anna had barely dodged. I am very lucky I was encased in steel plate, 'cause I took dagger hits on my right lower arm and right foot. Just bruises, though, so they'll heal fast. I am then told I chased him to the door, chopped off one of its legs and one of its arms whereupon it died from bleedout. I found the one who survived outside and buried my axe in its head. It is around this time my memory snaps back, and I remember Baron and Deler running out to me.

"You just saved our asses right there, Ludoc," Baron laughed, then frowned. "Are you hurt?"
"No," I said. "Thanks to this." and rapped my fist on the cold steel across my chest.
Deler smiled warmly. "Glad to see it being put to use. I really owe you thanks, though, Ludoc. You probably saved my cat from getting killed back there."
Baron frowned at her, to which Deler replied; "And us, too, of course."
Out came running Kace, holding an axe in his hand but no armor, looking around intently. If it had been up to him... "You're late," I called. Kace looked over, saw the dead Kobold and frowned with slumped shoulders. Anna walked out the door calm as you please, nodded at the corpses and said; "Good work. Now we'd better get this cleaned up, you can't chop a cloud of miasma in half with that thing."

[Baron Baconeer]

This has been my favourite reading for a while. Keep up the good work.

[Xvareon]

The Journal of Ludoc

26th Galena, 257, Late Summer

Garth and Deler have been digging way down recently, spurred on by their discovery of coal, iron, and most recently, sapphires.  And they've found something very interesting.

Garth had struck a cavern system. While digging out another set of staircases to keep going down floors, he found himself digging into the roof of a vast cavern roughly 30 feet from the floor. He beckoned us all to look; there were lodes of metal ores and gems just sticking out of the rock pillars around the cavern. From what we could see there were also some ponds of water at the cavern's low points. The whole place looked and smelled of damp and stale air.

"How do you want to proceed?" Vergil asked.
Garth took a moment before replying. "Let's floor up this here hole first. Ya never know what kinds of beasties might be lurking down there. I'll make a map of the features we can see from here, then maybe we can scout out a bit more later." He paused. "Or maybe we could just throw sir-bite-your-arm-off down?"
Baron just shook his head. "That was luck, Garth. And he was dealing with Kobolds. Look there." and pointed to one of the larger ponds. A massive crocodile crawled out of the water and onto the sandy beach, then let out a threatening hiss. "He's going to need more than just luck if that's the least of our worries."

[Xvareon]

The Journal of Ludoc

3rd Sandstone, 257, Mid-Autumn

The female cat Deler has always had hanging around has given birth to two healthy kittens. Very cute creatures, I must say, though Garth seems to be more concerned about their killing habits.

"Good, two more turtle killers." Garth said with a grin. "Can never have too many turtle killers."
"Excuse me?" Deler said with a frown as she petted the mothers head.
"I hate turtles, lass. They spread syphilis, you know... I got syphilis from a turtle once..."
Vergil grinned and said "Are you sure it wasn't one of your gn--"
"Vergil!" called a voice. "Could you bring me another rock? this damn bridge is huge!"
"Alright, Dorfette," he called back. "Why don't you take a break for a little while, though? you've been at that for days!"

Dorfette has been working practically nonstop on a large bridge; we decided to move our main entrance elsewhere and start designing the fortress proper. Where we are right now is really only a workshop area, anyway. We are currently designing the main entrance hall, adjoining rooms, and some fortifications above the bridge. Anna has taken up a taskmaster role quite well and has drafted in most of the less skilled people here as masons, and work is progressing at a rapid rate, though I can't say I care much for their idea of punching a skylight into the hall with that... eagle still at large. I'll have to deal with it eventually; I will have blood-- (the journal cuts off here...)

-----
"auugh!!" Ludoc yelled as sweet-smelling liquid spilled over his head, some onto the pages of his journal. "Quit it, Shorna!"
She just laughed, but raised the mug back up and plunked it down on the desk. "You need to lighten up, Ludoc. Quit writing in that journal for once and come relax! Or if you really want blood that badly," she said as she walked back out the door, "then go kill another deer or something. Whatever makes you happy, I guess." and shrugged as she walked off.
He had to agree, though. It was probably time to relax, especially after she'd practically ruined his journal. He closed it, picked up the mug left behind, and drank what was left.
But that eagle...
...
that EAGLE...
He slammed the mug down on the desk, rose from his chair and took his axe hanging from the wall, then stomped out the door.

[Xvareon]

The Journal of Baron

19th Sandstone, 257, Mid-Autumn

That damned Vergil. Ever since I tried explaining to him the virtues of judicious consuming of your enemies sapient or otherwise so as to not waste meat, he's been treating me like some crazy madman, calling me a cannibal or what have you. I just don't understand it; they'll eat the flesh of those plentiful deer and mountain goats my young friend Ludoc keeps bringing in so kindly but draw the line at anything that talks. Maybe it's just because they're ugly Kobolds, I guess... I'll try to convince them again next time we kill an Elf or something.

-----
As he wandered outside to gather up the last of the corpses Ludoc left behind in his rampage, Baron caught sight of something familiar. Five other Dwarves were coming over the hill, with various animals in tow. "Well," he said, "If that ain't a sight for sore eyes." Then took a deep breath, and with a voice loud enough to wake the dead;

"FREEEESH MEEAAAAT!!!"

His voice echoed through the mountains and made every Dwarf in the group stop dead in their tracks. A cow paniced and nearly broke its tether. Ludoc came up panting behind him, and said; "Where? Where?" then saw the group of Dwarves. "Ah," he said in comprehension.

"MIIIIGRAAAAANTS!!!"

-----
Migrants have arrived. I'll list them below and you can claim one if you like, though not if you've already claimed one for this story. Please remember to state your Dwarf's name, personality, and other information when you post to claim a Dwarf.

'Aez', Miner, Male - CLAIMED (High Master Miner, Talented Siege Engineer, Novice in Macedwarf, Shield User, Armor User, Fighter, Dodger, Observer, Appraiser, Carpenter and Animal Caretaker)
Leatherworker, Male (High Master Leatherworker, Competent Butcher, Novice in Animal Dissector, Cheese Maker, Bowyer and Wood Burner)
'Kipi', Strand Extractor, Female - CLAIMED (Adequate Strand Extractor)
Gem Cutter, Female (Acclompished Gem Cutter, Talented in Armor User, Fighter, Kicker, Dodger, and Observer, Adequate in Trapper and Weaver)
Fishery Worker, Female (Adept Fish Dissector, Proficient Furnace Operator, Talented in Fisherdwarf and Fish Cleaner)

[Argonnek]

Ooh, I can see the strand extractor and Deler getting into many arguments over the usefulness of strand extracting. It's only used on adamantine, which Deler strongly believes is a myth.

[Baron Baconeer]

Besides, you can make these sweet little backpacks from kobolds.

[Xvareon]

Man no one else is wanting to join
guess I'll have to just take the migrants myself. btw Baron now has a Grudge against Vergil.