117
« on: October 25, 2011, 11:41:48 am »
When GroovedDagger, founded in the middle of a foreboding glacier, was just beginning, two dwarves took up arms to protect the budding castle against yetis. They were quickly trained, one in wrestling (he forgot his spear) and one with his hammer. They are not heroes, though, for they killed nothing but thieves and animals. When they fell before a siege of tigermen, the castle seemed forced to seal its doors until the caravan could arrive and hopefully rout the beasts, but a stroke of luck befell the fortress, and one man stood to take his place as the savior of the icy fort. His name was Zon Fikodlikot, or Zon Glazedinked in the tongue of man.
The luck was that in the miners' explorations, they completely failed to pierce the caverns, and even missed the sea of magma, digging until they met the semi-molten stone that separates the world from the Below. Further exploration located, miraculously, a vein of candy very close to the exploration shaft, and careful excavation produced five ores. Quickly, these were processed into metal and then in arms and armor for a single warrior. That warrior was Zon Fikodlikot, the only dwarf of a fortress containing nearly 70 souls who knew anything of combat, and in that only competence with a spear and dodging. He was dressed in mail, helm, gauntlets and boots of blue, and handed a spear of the same, and a shield of wood. The drawbridges were lowered for only a few moments, then closed again behind him, sealing him outside with the ten copper-clad tigermen.
Zon never considered retreat, and charged headlong to meet the great catfolk, most with spears of their own. Despite his inexperience, the dance of a warrior filled him, and he slipped beside thrusts while delivering his own with more expertise than his years or proclaimed ability would suggest. Before the first foe fell, an ambush of goblins carrying hammers leapt from the snow, seeking to take advantage of the chaos and fell this lone dwarf. Zon barely took notice, and as the goblins swarmed in, the blue spear lashed at them as well.
In moments, tigermen and goblins alike were fleeing Zon, who took chase. One marksdwarf, so inexperienced with the crossbow that he'd forgotten to fill his quiver, witnessed, from an unfinished rampart, Zon take down a terrified goblin: the spear whirled in wide sweeping arcs that reaped a hand from the invader before the spear tip ran through its leg, causing it to crash into the snow. The marksdwarf told his companions later that Zon didn't even bother looking down as he put the spear through the goblin's skull, intent on tracking down the other routed besiegers.
In the end, Zon had only claimed five lives, but had saved the castle from destruction single-handedly, and was thus re-named Zon Glazedinked, the Ardent Scenario of Canyons. He now practices alone in the center of the castle's lowest floor, with a complete set of bluemetal armor and shield; the fortress' only complete suit, waiting for the next time he is called to defend the gates of Edtûlurist.
