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[Kipi]

   The spring was closing to end when the word was spread that elven caravan had arrived the entrance. Knifeled ordered some of the crafts to be moved to the depot while she went outside to meet them. It was rare that elves were so eager to trade with dwarves, especially when there had been several wars between the two races. More alarming though was that how the elves knew the location of the fortress? The entrance was only small ramp at the surface, not enough for the elves to actually notice it, especially since no scouts had ever been seen around the fortress.
   "Greetings! We are surprised to see your kind here."
   The leader of the caravan lifted his hand in greeting. "We heard that you had established new fortress around these parts, and we saw an opportunity of trade here."
   Knifeled guided the caravan to the depot before replying: "Yes, well, that's one thing I'm curious. How did you know we were there? We haven't seen any of your kind around, so you have heard about us from where?" There was suspicion in her voice by now.
   The leader answered nervously: "Well, I don't know exactly where the information came, though I was ordered by our leader to come here."
   Knifeled nodded, studying the goods the caravan had brought with them. Suddenly she halted, picked up one wooden toy and turned to the traders. "Where did you get this?!"
   In confusion the leader of the elves replied: "One of our caravans brought that, along the other toys in that bin, from location north and west from here. Why?"
   Knifeled's face was red by now, her voice rising high when she answered: "Because this toy," she dropped the toy and picked up several others from the bin, "and these as well were my brother's! I recognize these markings, as my brother used mark all his toys with dagger!" She was screaming at then. "My brother, along my two sisters, uncle and aunt were killed in goblin raid twenty years ago! The goblins took EVERYTHING with them! The only way you could have got these things is by trading with goblins!" She threw the toys towards the elf, who evaded the impact barely. "KILL THEM! KILL THE TRAITORS!"

   The battle was over quick, though the result was messy. Both elves tried to escape the two soldiers, one fighting unarmed and other with bronze mace, but sadly they in panic they decided to run down the stairs. It was easy task for the soldiers to follow them down, bruising and finally killing them. In the end there was lots of blood and vomit everywhere near the stairs.

Spoiler: Scene of Battle (click to show/hide)

   Sadly, the dwarves didn't come out unscratched. Well, the commander did, but Erkki took some serious beating before the elves were killed. Good thing was that the wounds he took were minor one, mostly causing him to vomit everything he had been eating that day and made his head ache. After quick check the doctors said that no further diagnosis would be required, as no serious nor permanent damage was done. Still, the suggested that Erkki would have few days of from duty, mostly because the urge of vomit and aching head.
   After the fight was over the dwarves begun studying the items the caravan had brought. Among the goods there were several indications that the goblins had done some trading with elves, as there were dozens of toys produced by dwarves. It was also probable that the elves wouldn't have gotten those goods without peaceful trading, so it was clear that goblins and elves were working together. What would elves gain from such alliance though was unclear to dwarves.

[Kipi]

   It had been almost three weeks since the beginning of summer when another wave of migrants arrived. When Knifeled interviewed the them she learned that the liaison had noticed the lack of smiths in Craftwaters, so the group of migrants was formed mostly by smiths of various fields. This was good thing indeed, as now they had one smith for each forge, which in turn would speed up the process a lot. Among the the smiths and furnace operators there were three other dwarves, in total of nine if the whole group was counted, who did not have proper job to be assigned. Knifeled decided that it would be best to form two squads, one working under the commander and one under the sheriff. It was also clear to her that, while proven her ability in fight, Erkki was not good candidate to be assigned in serious military. Instead she was moved to work under the sheriff, who was chosen among the migrants, and her position was filled by one of the fresh citizens.

   The fortress Craftwaters had already grown big, considered as village by the standards of queen, so it was necessary to form a council to run the fortress. The first meeting took place three days after the last bunch of migrants had arrived, and it was held in the dining hall.
   "Greeting everybody," Knifeled begun. "I'm happy to see all of you here. As you know we have quite big fortress in our hands now, with over fifty dwarves living here. So, I decided it would be best to form a council, which responsibility is to make all the decisions here. Now before we go any further I would like to introduce everybody who I have invited as well as introduce the fields of responsibility they have. First of, as you all know, my name is Knifeled and I'm the leader of this fortress. Under my responsibility are trading, diplomacy and managing the working orders. Now, first on my left," she pointed the dwarf sitting next to her, "is Firecrafted. Her responsibilities are the masonry and mechanics, so everything related to those must go through her first. Next we have," her pointing hand moved to next dwarf, "Goldrouted, the military commander. He is in charge of our primary squad. Next," her hand moved to next dwarf, "is our new Sheriff, Craftedecho. He came with the last group of migrants so he has still some learning to do around her. Next one is Shortbell, our chief doctor. I think it's clear to everybody what she is responsible of." She grinned to Shortbell. "Next we have Ironflags, our bookkeeper. Next member of this council is Machineoracle, who is repsonsible of mining operations as well as stone detailing. Next member is Swalloweddiamond, who is in charge of woodworking. Next member is Taricus, who oversees the metal industry, which I'm happy to say is finally running in full speed. Now, last but not least, we have Shieldpeaceful, who is in charge of food production," she gave the whole group big grin, "and more importantly, she is in responsibility of alcohol production. Now, welcome again and have a seat."
   Everybody sat down, and the barrel of plump helmet wine was passed around to fill the mugs.
   "Now, our first topic is the elves. How should we deal with them? Any suggestions?" She glanced around the room, waiting for anybody to answer.
   First speaker was Goldrouted. "As most of you know, we killed two elven merchants about month ago. We also discovered that the elves have been trading with the goblins, which we can not tolerate. Now, my suggestion is that we slay every elf we see wandering around our fortress."
   "I agree with this statement. Any objections?" Knifeled studied every member of the council with his gaze. Nobody answered. "Alright, I take that as negative answer. So, it's decided, we will not tolerate any elves around here, and any of them trying to reach the fortress will be slain if possible. Now," she took a sip from her mug, "we get to the other topic, the military. Goldrouted here will be in charge of our primary forces. Do you have anything to say about them?"
   Goldrouted shrugged. "Haven't been able to meet any of them yet, and we don't even barracks now. Also, we have no equipment, so we are not ready for any form of fight at the moment."
   Knifeled nodded, then continued: "Craftedecho, as a new sheriff you are also in charge of small squad. Now, I assigned two soldiers under your command, one of them being Erkki. Any comments?"
   Craftedecho placed his mug on table and burped. "Not much, I as I have seen neither of them in real action. I know she killed the two elves, so I kinda wait to see her in action myself. Otherwise, our situation is similiar to Craftedecho's."
   "Okay, so we need equipment for our squads. Taricus, what's the situation at the forges?"
   "Pretty good, we have flux now, so production of steel has begun. I estimate that we have full steel equipment for both squads soon enough."
   "That's good to hear. Now, Shieldpeaceful, how's the food situation?"
   "We are doing okay, though variety would be a blessing. So far we can produce only plump helmet ourselves, aside the meat we get from the butchering. But we need to do some trading with humans and mountainhome to have the variety. Of course, if there is more elven caravans coming our way, we can expand our supplies by looting them. Also, it would be good if we got at least one or two kitchens running, though for that we need cooks, which we don't have."
   "So, I propose that from next wave of migrants we recruit couple cooks to under your command. Is that acceptable?"
   "Yes, it is, though we don't know when they will come, if they come. But we can wait for now."
   "It's decided then. Now, Machineoracle, do you have anything to report us?"
   Machineoracle shrugged and replied: "Not much. The smoothing of the dining room is under work, as you can see by looking around right now. We still have work to do before we can begin the engraving. Also, we have not discovered any veins of adamantine yet, though that too is under work."
   Knifeled nodded and looked around her before continuing. "That's alright. Now, does anybody has something else in mind?"
   Swalloweddiamond lifted her hand. "I have. We need more bedrooms. Our current dormitory is not enough for the population we have now and so few citizens are forced to sleep on floor. That's unacceptable now as we have capability for making proper accommodations."
   Knifeled studied her for a moment before replying: "I know it's not enough, but I suggest we wait a bit longer so that we can begin moving our fortress closer the furnaces. But to do that we need proper military to clear the cavern. Before that happens I see no reason to waste time on something we probably will not use after short period of time. Any thoughts?"
   Nobody replied for a moment and finally Swallowediamond nodded. "I don't like it, but for now I follow you suggestion. We wait for a while and see if we can conquer the cavern. But I pray it doesn't take too long."
   "So, I think that matter can be considered as solved for now. Anybody else?" As nobody said anything she finally continued: "Well, if nobody has any other pressing matter I call this meeting done. Next meeting shall be held, unless situation requires otherwise, at the beginning of fall. You are dismissed."
   And so was the first council meeting finished. This moment marked the new beginning of new era in Craftwaters, as the fortress had just taken step towards real and organized fortress.

[Urist is dead tome]

I wanna be a loser sent on a suicide mission!

[Erkki]

Did I kill an elf? 

[Kipi]

Sorry for lack of updates, have been sick last couple of days. Going to post new update today.

@Urist is dead tome:
You are in, though what name shall I give you? Your screen name is a tad too long for this... 

@Erkki:
Not an elf but two elves. Goldrouted was fighting with bare hands, and unarmed is too inefficient in .18...

[Taricus]

I'm a council member 

Any special treatment for it

[Kipi]

Well, you character has possibility to affect things in Craftwaters...

I was also thinking on giving each member of council private bedroom, dining room, office and tomb. Not yet though, after the cavern has been conquered. 

[Taricus]

A private suite! *faints*

[Kipi]

Of course, the position in council may, and probably will, be insecure, so there may be some battles for power happening sooner or later... 

[Kipi]

Chapter 6 - Under The Reign of High Council

   "Knifeled! Wait for me!"
   Knifeled turned to see Firecrafted trying to catch up with her. She was exhausted, she probably had ran all the way from the masonry to the forges where Knifeled was paying a visit. "Slow down and take a deep breath. Now, what do you want to tell me?"
   Firecrafted halted, trying to recover before speaking, which took few moments. "Testorbs has withdrawn inside the crafting workshop and doesn't let anybody in!"
   Knifeled stared her confused. "Err... who is Testorbs?"
   "She is one of the children living her! Now hurry, we must get her out before anything happens!"

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

   Knifeled and Firecrafted ran all the way back to the workshops, and there they saw that lots of people had already gathered around the crafting workshops, cacophony of voices echoing everywhere.
   It took Knifeled few moments to get through the population to reach the door. She knocked it but hear no answer.
   "Testorbs! I know you are there! Come out now, nobody is going to be angry to you!"
   There was no answer. Knifeled and Firecrafted looked at each other.
   "What is she doing inside there anyway?" Knifeled look around her, trying to find someone with the answer.
   "I heard her talking something about artifact she wanted to create. I don't know anything else," Firecrafted replied.
   "Fine, anyone else?" She looked around but nobody said anything.
   "Anyone?" Still no answer, which begun irritating her.
   "Fine! Somebody should keep on close watch in case Testorbs comes out. If she does grab her and bring to me. I will not tolerate children running around and interrupting our work. Now, back to work!" She glared around her.
   "And that's an order!" she shouted with angry voice.
   The people scattered in no time, leaving only Knifeled and Firecrafted standing near the door.
   Knifeled sighed. "Keep your eyes on this workshop, will you? When she comes out I want her in my office immediately."
   Firecrafted nodded in acknowledgment.

   It took several days but finally Testorbs came out from the crafting workshop. Firecrafted had, as she was commanded, been keeping her eyes on the situation and immediately grabbed the child and begun carrying her towards the office of Knifeled. The girl was kicking and screaming but Firecrafted was too strong and too big for her, so eventually they reached the office. Firecrafted knocked the door and after given the permission opened it and stepped inside, still carrying the girl.
   "I did as you told me to. This girl is Testorbs."
   Knifeled nodded in acknowledge, then turned her eyes to the girl.
   "Now tell me, why did you do that? Why did you lock yourself inside that workshop?"
   The girl was still sobbing and didn't answer.
   Knifeled rose her hands in frustration. "I have no time for this! The human caravan has come and I should be meeting them, not sitting here trying to discuss with some little girl who doesn't say anything, just cries." She stood up and shouted. "Silence!" SHe shat down again as the girl had stopped crying and was staring her in terror.
   "No, listen to me Testorbs. I'm not angry to you, I just want to know why you did that? You knew the children were not allowed to work inside workshops so you had no reason to do that."
   Trying to hold out the tears the girl answered: "Bu... but I had to do that! I had to!"
   "Could you please explain me then why?"
   "I... I found this construction plan. It belonged to my grandfather." She gave a piece of paper to Knifeled.
   "My dad didn't want to complete the item in that plan, they weren't in good terms when my grandfather died. But I always wanted something that would remind me of him. So I had no other options."
   Knifeled studied the plans for sometime, then replied: "Could I see this ring?"
   Testorbs got something from her pocket, then gave it to Knifeled. Knifeled studied the ring for very long time, comparing it to the plans in front of her. Her expression was showing both surprise and bride.
   "Testorbs, you did this ring all by yourself?"
   After the girl nodded she continued. "You know, this ring is remarkable. Extraordinary work, not many woodcrafters would have been able to accomplish something with such quality like this ring." She gave the ring back to Testorbs. "Now, one final question. Are you aware what leather you used in that ring?"
   The girl shook her head. With small grin she continued. "The leather you used is from elf. Two elves exactly, the ones Erkki killed. You saw that battle?" The girl nodded. "Well, you should be proud of this artifact. And please, show it to Erkki as well. I think she would love to see the results of her deeds in such wonderful object like that ring." She waved her hand. "You can go now. And please, stay out from the workshops until you are either reached the right age or you are specifically told to go in. Those places can be dangerous for children without knowledge of the tools inside."

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

   After the meeting with the girl Testorbs it was time to deal with the caravan. Fortunately it was well known that the humans were at war with goblins, so there was no fear of treason from them. Unfortunately the caravan had not much the citizens of Craftwaters demanded, so Knifeled only bought few barrels of alcohol, few pieces of raw glass, bunch of bolts and couple metal bars. On the other hand the leader of the caravan promised that the next time they should be able to bring more the stuff required.

[Kipi]

Note: From now on I try to make shorter updates. And more pictures, just to avoid the wall of texts the updates have been thus far. Just for the comfortably of the readers... 

   26th of Galena was the big day in Craftwaters. The joyful laughter spread like wildfire with news of latest discovery; the adamantine! Miners had finally discovered a vein of adamantine just south and west from the forges.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

   It seemed that everybody had their own opinion where the adamantine should be used; statues, crafts, weapons, armors, nearly everything was suggested. For this reason Knifeled decided it would be best to gather the council to make the decisions.

   "Greetings my fellow members of council," Knifeled begun. "I think you all know about the discovery of adamantine. Now, our task here today is to decide what to do with it. Any suggestions?"
   "I say we equip our soldiers with adamantine weapons and armor!" Goldrouted shouted.
   "I agree with him. We need better equipment. Everything else can wait!" Craftedecho replied.
   Knifeled looked at everybody in the room.
   "Any other suggestions? I agree that weaponry and armory should be top priority, but what else do we need?"
   Long moment passed with silence. Finally Firecrafted raised her hand.
   "I suggest we construct grand meeting room for council. With adamantine furniture inside."
   Knifeled studied her for a long moment, then replied: "Anyone has anything against this?"
   As nobody replied she continued: "Well, if no then I think we have an agreement here. First we concentrate on weapons and armor, then we shall construct grand council room. You are all dismissed!"

[Urist is dead tome]

Ooh! Ooh! I wanna be "Bombur". And can my profession name be "local Bombur?

It would be best if it were a fat dwarf.

[Taricus]

I'm guessing the council is a meritocracy, right?

[Kipi]

   After the meeting of council Knifeled saw that the time had come. It was time to prepare to move the fortress deeper, closer the forges.
   The plan was formed by several parts, and it was time to initiate the first part. This part contained the moving of the industry, and the first task was to prepare one floor for storages. This floor was planned just above the forges, and above that would come all the workshops. This way everything would be close to everything, no time wasted in moving long distances. Efficiency was big word at that time, and Knifeled want to hold on that ideology. If something could be done without wasting too much time and effort, then it should be done that way.
   Mining the storages in the rock would also mean that there was going to be lots of loose stone lying all around, which must be hauled away from cluttering the storages unnecessary. Knifeled was not waiting with anticipation that task, but on the other hand it has to be done.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

   The idea behind the layout of the storages was that each room could be expanded if there were any need. This was to avoid more clutter and easy access to all the materials and products without having a labyrinth of tunnels and rooms filling the whole room.

[Kipi]

@Urist:
So, fat dwarf in military? Let's see... Ah!
Bombur Keyhorns:
Male dwarf, short, fat and calm. He also has hardly any confidence.


@Taricus:
Well, not exactly, it's more like who Knifeled happens to like, has at least some skill in the field and who happens to be alive. So, it could very well be that at some point somebody kills council member just because of jealous, or Knifeled decides to execute somebody or strip the rank of council member. Who knows? I don't.