5th Timber"Urdim who?" I said. Must be a recent arrival. "Has he claimed a workshop?"
"No," Peregarrett said. "He's just standing around."
"Oh, great. Does anyone know anything about this guy? Wait, what workshops
don't we have? Jewelry! Someone build a jeweler's workshop!"
9th Timber"He's claimed the workshop, Mr Madushkubuk."
"Good," I said, and promptly forgot about it. There were rhodolites littered all over the bedroom layer; surely this fellow would find one he liked.
13th Timber"I am honestly impressed," the liaison said, stepping gingerly over the sticky floor of the gate barracks (we hadn't quite figured out how to get the blood off there, and Katana reasonably pointed out that there was probably no point; it would just get dirtier). "You seem to have made yourselves quite at home here."
"It's not that bad when you get used to it," I said.
twangSNAP twangSNAP"..Excuse me. I... think I need to deal with something upstairs..."
"Just a couple of snatchers," Amante said. "Shall we stay on alert anyway?"
We were more careful this time about salvaging gear for trade. I put both marksdwarf squads up on the walls, overlooking the area, and had the Crystalline Oceans out and standing guard. No goblins appeared.
6th Moonstone"Ambush!" shouted Vudnis, up on the ramparts.
She and three other dwarves of the second marksdwarf squad had been chatting idly on the walls, when she happened to glance down and spot the goblins creeping toward the gate; they whipped their bows out and started firing, with more enthusiasm than accuracy. The lead goblin, an axeman, blundered into one of the new cage traps, and the Crystalline Oceans rushed out to engage the remainder.
New recruit Velg got winged by an arrow which did superficial damage. Her return blow won her her first kill.
Final tally: one goblin taken prisoner, four goblins dead. Some of the melee dwarves would need medical attention: Katana had taken an arrow to the left arm, and Velg had been hit again, a nasty shot to the lower body. She'd probably be all right, as long as Dr Kosotham saw to it promptly.
Katana, Nevyn and Logem the speardwarf now had three kills each; Oddom Dedukmeng the macedwarf and 'somebody' Graspedpick the axedwarf had two. Ahra and Momuz were in the lead with eight each. That steel spear was a monster.
Of the new marksdwarves, Lafiel had scored her first kill.
"The Cave of Glaciers?" I said. "Where did
this come from?"
"Urdim made it," said Peregarrett. "You know, the moody gemcutter?"
It was beautiful. I didn't want to waste such a work of art. What a shame it would be to just stuff it full of plump helmets and put it in a corner.
"You know," I said, "I think we need another ashery."