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[magmaholic]

Three with various unarmed combat skills

Expert mason (m) (competent armor user/fighter/dodger, adequate biter, novice kicker)
High master leatherworker (f) (adept armor/fighter/kicker/dodger, adequate military tactics)
Wax worker (m) (competent fighter/observer/armor/dodger/wrestler)

I'll take the Mason then.
He can get to work on making sure of the Stone Walls after they break through. He is a Defense expert...

now now,if you could have waited,you would be using an artifact bone sword :3
....
Can I take a swordsdwarf?
a male one? He wont have to be a proffesional or sth.
and,and can you say how much is the sword worth?

[Neyvn]

Who said the Mason couldn't be a Swordsman...

[magmaholic]

:C
ok,i will use a mace then

[zephyr_hound]

Now now, kids, don't fight, we do have two artifact weapons after all.

EDIT: and the sword isn't worth much, only 6480 because of the materials used, but it's still pretty damn badass.

EDIT 2: I'm giving it to Nevyn because he wanted a swordsdwarf first. Nevyn, unless you say otherwise, your mason dwarf will go into the military as an Irregular, equipped with the Satin of Sorcery magmaholic I do have a male migrant with proficient macedwarf skill, he's an animal trainer by profession. Yes, no?

EDIT 3: Holy crap, migrant woodcutters just added two bronze axes to our arsenal. I can now add two more axedwarves to the military if anyone wants one!

[zephyr_hound]

Summer (date unknown)

Another group of migrants arrived: twelve of them, bringing our total population to 50. One was a decent marksdwarf, and I told her to go and get herself a quiver and crossbow and then go and talk to Endok. The rest could just try to be useful in some way. They added several more animals to the collection including a breeding pair of alpacas.

We were now eight levels down and the aquifer was still going. On the plus side, we now had over twenty units of sandstone available. I decided to start using it instead of wood to wall off the aquifer; we could save our wood for more important things that way. Like, you know, soap.

Suddenly, there was a twanging noise from up top, and then a shout of alarm. "Snatcher! Protect the children!"



A goblin snarled at us and shook the bars of the cage that had sprung up around him. Medtob's traps worked better than expected.



It was the first time I'd ever seen one in the flesh. He was an ill-made sort of creature.

"Say," Ushrir said from behind me, avariciously, "that's a nice knife he's got."



"It sure is," I said. "Shall we take it off him?"

The goblin cursed and spat at us through the bars. It missed.

"Why not? And let's take his clothes as well." If I wasn't entirely mistaken, that was a giant cave spider silk cloak--that must have cost a bit.

Ubenudil was shortly richer by one iron dagger, various clothes and a rather nice bag.



We threw the now naked thief outside our walls to make his way wherever he could. The dwarves jeered after him as he jogged sullenly away. "Hey, greenie! Tell your buddies not to mess with us!" He was unlikely to last long in the Lonely Jungle without his gear anyway.

Moments later...

twangSNAP

"Zephyr! We got another one!"

"Great. Strip him as well then."

twangSNAP

"Zephyr!"

"Yeah yeah, I know, just let me move this ca-"

"Zephyr! There's a bowman! LOOK OUT!"

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

How do the goblins have iron and we don't?? We're doomed... also yay I detected the ambush and ow my arm

[Yoink]

Oh SOAP! D:
Time for those bone weapons to prove their (un)worth!! Damn those goblins... Guess they're sick of smelling like sewers...

[magmaholic]

EDIT 2: I'm giving it to Nevyn because he wanted a swordsdwarf first. Nevyn, unless you say otherwise, your mason dwarf will go into the military as an Irregular, equipped with the Satin of Sorcery  magmaholic I do have a male migrant with proficient macedwarf skill, he's an animal trainer by profession. Yes, no?

yes,of course C:
he can stick with his original name,i think

[zephyr_hound]

Summer (date unknown)

"Get the Soapmaster inside safely!" Ushrir yelled. "And everyone else too--get below ground now! That's an order! I'm taking charge!" Madushkubuk could be a pompous little tit at times but he didn't deserve to die out here in the foul mud of the Lonely Jungle. She turned to face the goblins, grimly gripping the little junk mace she'd been given. It was all she had and she would make it count.



The first goblin fell easily, his iron cap failing to protect his skull against the ferocity of her blows. She hadn't expected speargoblins to pose a threat to her anyway. It was the bowman she was really worried about. Out of the corner of her eye she saw him deliberately raising his crossbow, slotting a bolt into the firing mechanism.

Distracted, she didn't see the other spearman taking aim at Tobul the axedwarf beside her.



The bowman fired. Ushrir batted the bolt out of the air on pure instinct. "Someone get him!" she bawled. But the spearmen were in the way, forming a living shield to protect their precious archer; they'd have to be taken out first.



Tobul was on the ground, and they were stabbing her. She's a goner, Ushrir thought with the cold clarity of battle.



Four versus four now. Equal odds, if the goblins hadn't been far better armed and armored than the dwarves.

The bowman fired again. Ushrir dodged, Momuz ducked, Nevyn the new recruit dived to one side, and the bolt flew harmlessly past all of them and landed by a murky pool.

It was Momuz's turn next.



We're dropping like flies, Ushrir thought. Curse this wretched place!



Suddenly, something buzzed past her. The goblin who had been creeping up behind her screamed in agony and fell back.



"Hey, scumbags!" marksdwarf-Muthkat yelled jubilantly from atop the palisade. "How do you like our bone carving?"

"Thanks!" Ushrir yelled up to him, then turned back to the crossbowman. "Now..." she snarled.

The bowman had a bolt already loaded in his crossbow; it fired with a twang, but the shot went wide. He lowered the bow and stared at her, eyes wide and horrified. No, not at her--past her. At Nevyn the recruit, who held the artifact bone sword. "Listen," the goblin stammered in broken, guttural Dwarven. "Listen! Please! Dwarf musn't--"

But whatever it was she mustn't do, she never found out.



Nevyn had asked to wield the bone sword as a favor, and since nobody else wanted to touch the accursed thing, it had been granted. He lacked skill with it yet, but that hardly mattered; the bone blade seemed eager to spill blood. He scored a dozen minor wounds and reduced the goblin to unconsciousness from the pain before Ushrir mercifully slammed her mace through its skull.



One speargoblin escaped, too swift for Bomrek to run him down, though she tried her best and he lured her a long way out into the jungle before she knew for sure she'd lost him. She began the long, weary trudge back to the palisade to rejoin her squad.

The Crystalline Oceans were victorious, but at a sad cost. Ushrir and Bomrek were unwounded; Nevyn had taken a minor cut to his right lower arm, and Momuz, sadly, was unlikely to use her left arm again.



They only realized about the second group of goblins when they heard Bomrek's distant scream. The cunning speargoblin had not, in fact, been running in mindless terror; he'd had a plan all along in luring her away. Four lashers and a hammergoblin sprang from hiding and surrounded her. Bomrek's guard was down, she was hungry and tired and merely thinking idly to herself about which roast she might pick from the stockpiles for her well-earned dinner. She died in seconds.



"Back to the fort," Ushrir said through clenched teeth. "Retreat. We can't beat them equipped as we are. Let the cage traps pick them up."

"Permission to take pot-shots at them from the walls, ma'am?" marksdwarf-Muthkat shouted down.

"Granted."

The goblin hammerman grinned as she led her squad towards the humble wooden palisade. These dwarves would be utterly defenseless, there was nothing here for them to use. No clever tricks with levers, no burning liquid fire to pour on them, no shining armors to shield them. This land had nothing they could use, and she knew it. They would--what was that zipping sound?



"Bastards," marksdwarf-Muthkat muttered, and took careful aim again.

[Neyvn]

Woot go me!!!
Regardless You need better defenses tomorrow...

[Yoink]

Ouch! And on top of that, potential infections!
...Mr Madushkubuk will be furious at the blatant misuse of soap!

[magmaholic]

At least we now have goblinite.

[zephyr_hound]

1st Limestone

"Isn't it a good thing we've got lots of--"

"Don't, Madushkubuk," Ushrir said. "Don't say the 's' word. I'm warning you."

"But--"

"I will strike you down with my own hands."

The doctor had dug out a small room in the lower silt loam layer, and put three beds there. It was a sad little excuse for a hospital. I didn't bother going down there; not that I didn't trust Ducim, but once I'd gotten over the initial fright, my injury really wasn't that bad. It was almost healed already, in fact.



I got wounded, I thought with something like pride. In battle. Me! I'm a war hero.

We had lost two dwarves, and I guessed we could still lose Momuz, but we'd killed five goblins, and we had two more goblin lashers trapped in cages. All their gear was ours now. All right, we probably didn't have anyone who could use a maul or a scourge, but we could sell the stuff in exchange for weapons we could use, or even melt it down and make our own. That... really wasn't bad. Hah! Suck on that, liaison! We could totally survive here.

More cage traps, more marksdwarves...

"Excuse me, Soapmaster." A voice broke me out of my idle thoughts. "I'd like to volunteer for military service."

"Who are you again?" I said, looking up.

"Zon. Zon Dumatthad."

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Ber the Irons of Gravel is a female dwarf goddess of minerals.

"I'm fairly proficient with a mace myself, and I reckon I could be useful."

"Well, I'm sure Ushrir would be glad to have you in the Crystalline Oceans, but we only have the one mace right now, and she's using it..." I considered the matter. "Tell you what. As far as I know, there are two pieces of tetrahedrite left. I'll authorize one to be smelted and made into another copper mace. When that's done, it's yours."

We needed to get through the rest of that aquifer, I thought as I wandered away. How many more layers could there possibly be?



16th Limestone



"Another one?"

"I'm afraid so, Soapmaster."

"That craftsdwarf workshop is cursed."

"At least she's picking things up."

"Well, let me know if she stops."



20th Limestone

"She's stopped, Soapmaster."

"Oh gods."

"No, I mean she's stopped gathering stuff. She's working on it now."

"Really? Well, that's a mercy." It was nice for something to be easy for once. I didn't know anything about Asteshrithar except that she was a fairly good shot with a crossbow. I wondered what she'd make.



25th Limestone

"But how lovely!" I said.



A work of art like that had to be worth... oh, I'd say 7200 dwarfbucks. And Bembul was now a legendary woodcrafter. Although when I looked at it more carefully I was surprised at the unorthodox choice of imagery. I'd been brought up myself to revere Kovest. Why had Bembul placed Her next to the image of Clobberdsly? Why was the expression on the goddess's face so strange, so cold? Kovest was supposed to be a kindly goddess. Was She laughing in amusement at the silly thing Her children had made, or was it... despair..?

I felt unsettled, when I should have been happy. Another strange mood completed successfully. Now if only we could get through that aquifer! As far as I knew, they were still working on level eight. I decided to go down myself and offer to lend a hand.

...

"By all the merciful gods, what is this?"



The whole thing was coated in blood, all the way down!

"I don't know," Medtob said, leaving off working the screw pump. He looked tired and sad. "I don't know where it's coming from. It seems like it's coming in through the water. Every new level we reach, the moment the water starts to flow, the blood is just everywhere. And there's more of it the deeper we get."

"We only ever killed three blendecs," I said, shaken. "And that was over a year ago."

"I know that, Soapmaster. I can't explain it."

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I think kobolds are extinct again. I'm not too disappointed about that, although the daggers would have been useful. And blood bugs are the best bugs!

EDIT: just got to level nine. I have reason to believe this is the last aquifer layer!

[magmaholic]

The whole thing was coated in blood, all the way down!

demon blendec curse :v?
or the well of darkness?

[zephyr_hound]

8th Sandstone

Another eight dwarves joined us on today. For once, this lot didn't bring any livestock with them.



Dr Kosotham had treated Momuz, and she was back on her feet and cheerfully cannibalizing the gear of the slaughtered goblins. Somehow she was holding both a shield and an axe in her one working hand. Zon Dumatthel and dyer Logem Rulushsodel, who turned out to be handy with a spear, had brought the Crystalline Oceans back up to five again. Their equipment was still appalling though.



18th Timber

TwangSNAP

The goblins were back.

Endok and Muthkat went up on the walls to watch for more while Medtob reset the trap that had been sprung. We were going to run out of cages at this rate.

"Hey!" Endok yelled a little while later. "Caravan's coming!"



We didn't lack for trade goods this time, anyway. Some of those goblins had had really nice gear.

The liaison wasn't with the caravan. We spotted him a few moments later, coming from a different direction.

"Why's he running so fast?" the doctor wondered out loud.

At last the liaison got close enough for us to hear what he was shouting. "Ambush! Ambush!"



"Oh, carp," I said. "Excuse my language."

I had actually prepared for this, sort of. We had five loaded cage traps. We could lock the inner door, and we had a bridge now that could be lowered to cover the entrance to our fort as a last resort. If the first five bowmen would obligingly walk into the cage traps for us, Ushrir and the Crystalline Oceans might be able to ambush the ambushers and kill the last bowman before he could do any damage.

Of course, snatchers spoiled the plan by setting off most of the traps as soon as the order was made to go below. Four bowgoblins remained uncaged.

"How much will you give us for all of this?" I said, hefting a mound of assorted silk and leather goods into the depot. The merchant looked rather taken aback.

I made the selections quickly: a steel spear, we could afford that. A steel breastplate. A bismuth bronze helm, that might help. All the metal bars. "D-don't you want the lye you ordered?" Yes. All of it. Just put it on the floor there.

"Looks like you've got a bit of a goblin problem," the liaison said.

"Yes but I have faith it will be dealt with very shortly who's the best marksdwarf we've got? Endok put this stuff on and get up on the wall. Wait, have you got any bolts? Go get some bolts. Gods why didn't we put an outer door on the cage trap corridor I am so stupid."



Predictably, Endok fired one shot, jumped away from a bolt and fell off the wall. On the wrong side. The Crystalline Oceans rushed to his defense.



This strategy worked slightly better.

The remaining two goblins hung back, keeping out of sight around the wall of the palisade. They were nervous, trigger-happy.

"Screw this," Ushrir muttered, and stomped outside on her own.

"Ushrir, dont--!"





"There," she said sourly as she came back down the ramp. "You can all stop crying now. They're gone."

"There'll be a second group," the liaison said. "Maybe a third. I know how they think."

Endok wasn't badly hurt, but his leg needed cleaning, sutures and a dressing. Dr Kosotham was on the case. That left us with two marksdwarves. If there was a second bowman group out there, we were done for.

"Excuse me, Soapmaster, but we're almost out of alcohol."

"I don't give a carp! I'm trying to figure out a way to make us all not die here! Go drink blendec blood out of the haunted aquifer or something!"

TwangSNAP

...That was the last cage trap.

"Ambush! There's another ambush out there!"

The leader, another bowman had walked into the trap. The rest of them were speargoblins. ...Speargoblins. They had no ranged attackers! "Where's Endok? Dr Kosotham, we need Endok back up here!"



"I'm not done yet! Damnit, Zephyr, I'm a doctor, not a miracle worker!"

"What do you want us to do?" Bembul the marksdwarf asked. "We can help."

"Get up on the walls," I said grimly. "Start shooting the bastards. And hope there isn't a third ambush..."



"That's ruined her day," marksdwarf-Muthkat said cheerfully.



It was the sixth of Moonstone.

[magmaholic]

We could add fortifications on the upper floor,so that the dorfs wont fall down.
On the wrong side.
Also,alcohol.