ARCHIVE CODE B334: EXPEDITION REPORT #4 -
ARELITON ADOR, BIRTHSITE OF THE RAGS OF PAINT
KUBUK OMUZATON, JOURNEYMAN OF THE ARCHAEOLOGIST'S GUILD
TIMESTAMP: 15th Felsite 2011, day 41 of site exploration.
Introductory thoughts for the day: Long days now spent beside the Waters of Lamentation: site has much to offer us. Interesting evidence here: much to discover about the social dynamics of a newborn nation. Dwarven society has advanced much in the time betwixt, but how much truly changes in dwarf society? My hypothesis comes in the form of a rhetorical question: how fast does rock evolve?
[
Personal note: I hope to publish my thesis on the subject. That two-urist Bembul hopes to steal my glory with his own suppositions that goblins and elves are close relatives by blood. Always playing to the majority, that populist prat.]
Continued by examination of the site reveals my original supposition about a skirmish having commenced consisting of no more than six dwarves and no less than thirty invaders. Goblins, most likely, given the circumstances: out in the middle of nowhere, cursed mountains to the north, and a fully functioning steelworks down below. Like flies to fertilizer, goblins come a-marching to someone else's wealth.
[
Personal note: Humanist goblin sympathizers must keep in mind that goblinkind is a leech upon this world. I don't understand the strange sympathies of humans sometimes. I believe this to be a modern phenomena brought on by the technological comforts that Humankind now enjoy courtesy of their long-standing trade agreements with us. Do they not remember that goblins are evil by their very nature? I blame their short life-spans, the lack of long-term vision and their brickheaded, misguided idealism.]
The Rags of Paint seemed to have been working on a more functional defence system around the time of the skirmish. The entryway to the secondary on-shore fortress leading from the depot had been modified from an access tunnel into a deathtrap for invaders: a narrow bridge had been constructed with hidden shredding traps. On each side, a drop of more than seven dwarf-lengths into a delicately smoothed pit. Nasty stuff. Here's my impression of its initial construction:
Modern alchemical dating sciences never cease to amaze me, even after thirty years as a member of the archaeologist's guild. Chemical tests indicate that the elven corpses preserved by the jungle peat are are indeed from the same year as the goblin skull found at the bottom of one of the murky pools: 1004U. The cause of death was easy enough to determine from the tarnished silver arrowheads jammed between their ribs. From the layout of remains discovered in the area it's not difficult to piece together the course of the battle that commenced here. The elves were unarmed and not armoured, at least as far as one can tell. Elven arms traditionally being made of wood means that termites, large roaches and other wood-devouring vermin will consume them well before they can be preserved by any natural means. I assume these were merchants, and that they were allowed to roam the surface in relative confusion as a sort of early warning system for the military of Areliton Ador. It was not an uncommon practice in that time, post-Age of Myth, especially with the political tensions of the time.
[
Personal note: My associates and I have taken to calling this age-old tactic "Elf radar." It is akin to the now frowned-upon "Kitten radar" practice still used by remote outposts in our more civilized times, which involves tying a kitten to a stick in hopes of luring hidden invaders out of hiding. Elves, being more difficult to tie to sticks, were left to roam the surface unaware and seeking the trade depot. It is a wonder elves did trade at all with our kind historically given the dangers, not to mention our vastly differing viewpoints on the uses of trees.]
The elves were rapidly surrounded. Goblins are excellent ambushers, as history has shown. Naturally stealthy by their underhanded nature, although not quite as adept at it as Koboldkind.
They were pursued and slaughtered with ease. I can find no evidence that a single arrow of elven make was fired, and thus can only assume that these elves were indeed unarmed. As I mentioned before the difficulty of finding solid evidence of elven weaponry is a difficulty for any archaeologist studying thousand-year-old sites, but it is safe to assume the elves perished quickly and painfully. Goblins are unforgiving.
I have reason to believe that the fort itself entered the conflict when a group of incoming migrants, further loyalists to the Rags of Paint, unexpectedly arrived. Areliton Ador's population at the time can be estimated around 44, low for an up-and-coming civilization, and thus the protection of any parties interested to joining such a remote location would have been paramount. The militia at the time, as I have assembled from evidence found within the halls themselves, consisted of eleven well-equipped soldiers. The commander of the military Guudespelur and his entourage were clearly skilled warriors. Engravings of them wielding glowing picks can be put forth as evidence to the fact. The remains of the battle are clear enough as well.
The battle, as best I can piece together, occurred as follows:
The battle in summary: Guudespelur charged out alone against the sum of their forces, blocking every shot from over 7 bowgoblins to meet their footsoldiers in direct combat. As the rest of the military struggled to keep up with him he tore through three in a matter of minutes. Ultimuh, a recently recruited but already skilled hammerdwarf, managed to invert the skull of a goblin with a single blow from his finely crafted hammer. Scaraban was the dwarf who removed the head of the goblin that I first discovered at the bottom of the peat, cleaved it off cleanly with a blow from his pick. At some point two kobold thieves became embroiled in the battle when their hiding positions were discovered and provided a distraction for the forces of Areliton Ador as the goblins attacked them instead. The battle finished with more than a dozen dead and no casualties on the side of the Rags of Paint. Nor injuries, if one can trust the logbook of one Doctor Enolic.
Accidents are inevitable, no matter the skill of the commander. The military remained stationed and on duty defending the collection of the elven caravan's goods and the goblin equipment as well.
Unfortunately for the Rags of Paint, yet another unit of goblins had been watching the battle and had remained cautiously out of sight. They ambushed the collection efforts, as evidenced by our discovery of the teeth of a dwarven child on the battlefield.
Truly a tragedy for Areliton Ador, as a dwarven baby was also stolen in the confusion. The father must have been devastated.
[
Personal note: Any goblin apologists of this modern age must only look to history to see what they're capable of and what levels of depravity they will stoop to. Goblins do not change, they do not evolve. I care not for the evidence collected by mankind. Goblins are experts at deception and lies, for they are all a goblin knows. If goblins have "begun to reform" as the humans claim, it is only that they are advancing the depth of their deceptions to fool modern man into believing them capable of benevolence and compassion.]
These conflicts were clearly the defining events of 1004 for Areliton Ador, but they were not the only points of note. Record keeping manifests state that a metalworker named Solon was caught in a fit of inspiration and produced a very uncomfortable-looking bed constructed entirely out of silver:
In their efforts to construct a pit for captured prisoners, there was some fault in the overseeing of the dig and a miner was crushed under rubble.
Doctor Enolic's logbook shows that the injuries were not fatal: a kiln was rapidly constructed, plaster casts were made and the dwarf's injuries were healed within a fortnight. Enolic and his hospital staff, which numbered five, were very well outfitted for such a small fort. They even had a well nearby capable of desalinating the colloidal salty bog water. Marvelous!
A note in the overseer's diaries states that the stolen dwarf child was replaced by another quite quickly.
Their bookkeeper's notes indicate that he had begun to train in archery in spite of his myopia. Perhaps
to spite his myopia. As a skilled lapidary and budding glassmaker he was able to construct what I can only describe as a pair of surprisingly modern "combat eyeglasses" which allowed him to practice his marksdwarfship with ease.
Ultimuh, the impressive hammerman, appeared to also be a well-trained tailor. In his off-time he had secreted himself away for the construction of an excellently decorated hood in spider silk.
The Rags of Paint seemed to be doing excellent on their own. I am aware that they performed some limited trade with the Wet Papers to send a message to their loyal followers remaining in the old empire, but after they received them they again turtled down and refused to compromise their ideals in the face of their civilization of origin. They absolutely refused contact with the caravan from that year. I found a curious pair of drawings in the bookkeepers office, dated at year's-end. The first showed a caravan liaison standing in the middle of the jungle with no accompaniment, admiring the bloody remains of a battle.
The second showed him surrounded by goblins.
As of today 15th Felsite I have not yet had the opportunity to investigate the efforts of Areliton Ador to build offshore. The effort would be . . . well, difficult suffice to say. It is not an easily accessible part of the site, as per design I assume. I must collect the other workers and come up with a plan of action. The true fort of Areliton Ador is not what I have searched here. These are the dusty hallways of their preparations to true glory.
[Personal note: Night is coming. Will have to continue my report tomorrow. The workers are still disturbed by the sea, which I must admit I have not been looking forward to nearing. I hope to dissuade them of their fears that it is haunted, for such notions are preposterous.]
OOC
Badass military we have so far. Our next effort is going to be constructing a gigantic pumpstack tower which will force lava out to sea and drop obsidian down about fourty Z-levels to create the plug for the offshore construction. As per Valrandir's instructions I'll be using the 3x3 FPS-plus pumpstack design and create a sort of giant magma trough/spout to pour it into the sea. No matter what my FPS will be murdered by this whole operation, but it'll be great to try. If the traitor Besmar doesn't screw everything up.
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Topic: Areliton Ador, Community Fort - XXXXU: [The End] (Read 34272 times)