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Naturally. I hope you weren't too put out by your characters untimely death.




Events on the 14th of Timber, 206:

Aban stood over the body of the dead kobold, looking relaxed and happy, which was irritating Teach to no end. “Don't get me wrong, Aban, I'm glad that you were able to spot the ambush so far from the civilians... but why were you out here in the first place? Your post is at the gate, damn it!”

“Well, sir, I was following this groundhog here.” She pointed at a mangled body that may have once been a groundhog.

“I see. And why were you doing that?”

“It gave me this look, man! Like it wanted to attack! It was pretty crazy. So I did my duty, you know? Gotta chase dangerous animals. That's what the boss told us.”

“Dangerous...” Teach shook his head. “Well, good work anyway. Go off duty for a bit. A while, actually. I'll get Cain and her people to hold the gate here. Try not to get jumped by any squirrels on the way back."

"Yes sir!"

The Notes of Jurgen, Archaeologist. 21st of Sandstone, 206

There's been a great deal of fuss up above regarding the recent unpleasant events, some of it even reaching my small office. Not worth it, I feel. These religious types will follow their gods through a whole spectrum of idiocies, and it's a fool who expects them to act any differently. I have other concerns.



Frea has seen fit to grant my request for a limited exploratory dig, over in the small eastern valley, though frankly, I could have used a better set of assistants than the few who have been offered to me. Renna is a fine dwarf with many positive qualitities, but subtlety and finesse are not among them. And what can be said about Red Fortune and Pokpokpok other than... I'll hold my tongue here. “What can be said”, indeed. Ms Fortune, at least, is pleased at the prospect of finding ancient bones and burial chambers, though on the off-chance we did find such things, I cannot imagine them surviving the experience with her.

Still, we are on the great journey now, however it may end. It's a long and difficult road to knowledge, and one should not be surprised that most dwarfs take one look at said road, shrug, and head off to the tavern for a drink instead.

(Next! What will Jurgen find? Artifacts? Bones? Nothing at all? PS, it is the last one.)

From the Journals of Solon Wardbridges, Slate the 6th 206

Well, it was a busy month. Hahaha, and by that, I mean it was the month from hell.

I'm still not sure just what happened up on the tower. I do know that Atis and Kat were somehow crushed in between the gears of the drawbridge. I know that Atis's daughter Kikrost was also on the bridge, and that she fell three stories, breaking both legs. I know that Erith is only unhappy because neither of them “flew to meet Ozor, the Lord of Dreams!”. And I know that Legon thinks the whole thing is a good laugh.

Oh yes... I know a lot of things.

In the meantime, I've got other stuff to deal with. Frea refused to let me see the kings message (even though it was addressed to me), but apparently he's not pleased at our progress. We've spent too much time fighting orcs, and “why are we doing that anyway, I sent you over here to make friends and frolic in the tulips with them”. Anyway, that means orders for charcoal, stone blocks by the dozen, and lots more iron. And I get to handle them all. What fun.



(note: the main body of the bridge is being built too, and has almost caught up with that part, but I keep running out of stone blocks, and the aquifer isn't helping. Any advice?)

Events of Granite, 206: Part Two

Solon was up the stairs and onto the rickety framework of Ozor's as fast as dwarvenly possible. (not terribly fast). Atis, Kat, and Erith were already there. Solon couldn't help noticing that Kat was standing upon what looked like slate stone drawbridge. This was worrying.



“Damn it, Erith, just what the hell do you think you're doing?”

“Preparing a glorious offering to Ozor, Lord of Dreams! And I'm quite glad you could make it here to see, Solon! Ozor is quite pleased!”

“What? Wait, when did I say you could do anything like this? I didn't even want you to build this... thing!”

“You did not! But Frea gave me permission to complete the temple! And so here we are, preparing an offering for Ozor, Lord of Dreams! As I said!”

Atis looked puzzled by the whole exchange. “Hey, guys, do you really need me up here? It's a good view, but I should be down with Teach training-”

Solon began edge towards Erith, taking care to avoid stepping on the bridge itself. “Um, ok Erith, let's not do this-”

“Solon...”

“I mean, it's not like Kat here is even a worshiper of Ozor... That's hardly appropriate, right? Just step away from that, uh, lever... that I'm sure you have behind you there-”

“Solon! Solon!”

“What?!”

“The lever is in the basement, Solon.”

There was a sudden, violent pok.

Events During Granite, 206. Part One

Greatbridge was buzzing with conversation these days, for a wide variety of reasons. Aside from the election of a new mayor and the opening of yet another construction project, there was always the bed shortage to talk about, the booze shortage to bitch about, and the fact that Olon had seen Kivish and Titoo out together by the iron tower, doing Anriz knows what, and well, you know...

That and the fact that the King's messenger had arrived with the fall caravan. Solon and Frea had been in the main office for quite some time now, and bets were being taken on which one, if any, would come out alive.

Meanwhile, Rysith, Aban, Geshud, and Cain were “out on patrol”. These days, patrol consisted of wandering around the outdoor compound, poking at various bushes in the vain hope that something kill-able would hop out. It was the lack of alcohol that concerned them the most, despite the fact they weren't allowed any booze while patrolling. But as Aban would have said, “Rules are made to be shattered into one thousand pieces, melted down, and reformed into whatever obscene shape you like.”

In short, they were drunk, worried that they might not be able to stay drunk, and almost completely surprised when the goblins sprung out of ambush right in front of the front gate.



Rysith was, of course, over the bridge first, crying out “You are all going to die in no uncertain manner!” Naturally, by the time he reached the battlefield the caravan guards had already dispatched  the goblins, settled back down, and started playing a hand of euchre. It was perhaps the least exciting ambush in living memory.



Aban glanced over at Geshud, and shrugged. “He'll get it one of these days, man.”

“Hey, I didn't say a thing.”

“You were thinkin' it, though. Hmm...” Aban paused and looked thoughtful for a moment. “Say, Geshud...”

“Yeah?”

“When you look up at the Ozor Temple, does it look like there's some people up there? You know, up on that little bridge thing there?”

Geshud peered over to where she was pointing. “Yeah, man, you might be right. Looks like a big guy and some little guy. Probably building something or other.”

“Yeah, probably.”

Still here, just haven't had access to my computer for a few days. Getting back to the fortress tonight.

Frea is pretty much the most boring mayor possible. So far she's mandated one goblet. Just a plain goblet. Come on!

(This would have been up sooner, had I not had a terrible revelation: I can't write a good action sequence! Please accept this instead.)


The Plan, as explained by Teach:

Mobilize the Citizens Brigade

Head to the walls, and shoot until there ain't nothing left to shoot.

If that doesn't work, open up the back entrance, invite the orcs in for tea and impalings.

Fightin' if necessary.

Siege should be broken by now.

Head to the dining room for beer and waffles.

............

The first phase of the siege went pretty much the same way that the last two or three had. Teach and his squad went to the walls, peppered the orcs with bolts, and managed to wipe out a squad and it's leader. This time it was Renna who claimed that honor. And, as usual, the orcs stubbornly refused to leave.



That was when phase two went into effect. First, it was Inaluct's job to draw the orcs into the narrow tunnel that Solon had fled to so many years ago. She accomplished this by digging around the channel, running to the entrance, and hopping up and down shouting random curses at them. Not subtle, but quite effective. The orcs charged after her as she fled back into the tunnel, the spearmaster Thisot Bindbad close behind her. They were promtly met by the impalings, but tea was in short supply these days.

Rysith roared into the fray and promptly had his knee snapped by the butt of Thisot Bindbad's spear. The massive orc stood over him, preparing to finish the job, and likely would have if Aban hadn't smashed his face to a pulp (followed by his neck, spine, stomach, and legs).

Teach stood at the far end of the tunnel, firing aimlessly into the writhing mass and somehow managing to only hit orcs. When Solon asked, (or screamed towards him) “What the hell are you doing?!” He simply answered, “Bustedlung knows who to kill.” Somewhat disturbing, but it was hard to fault his accuracy.



Cain proved herself to be actually worth the price of the sword she was using, killing her first orc there in the hall. Of course, the sword had been free, taken from an orc's body in one of the earlier sieges, so she wasn't worth much. But damn it, she was still worth more than Rysith.

For a few moments, it looked as though the orcs would break through, but soon Teach was joined by the rest of the squad. The combination of unerring crossbow fire, the solid dwarfy wall presented by Aban and Geshud, and (Solon though privately), the irritating and constant pok-ing sounds proved to be too much. The orcs, for the first time in five years, broke and fled.



In the end, astonishingly, not a single dwarf had died in the battle. Rysith and Baltiel had both had a leg broken, and Bembul was down with an unpleasant head wound, but otherwise they were casualty free. (Though Rysith couldn't stop looking out for Aban whenever she walked by, that only marked him as a casualty... of love.)



It really was amazing.