You're in Kadzar! Profile on the first post.
![Wink ;)](http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/Smileys/aaron/wink.gif)
Also, I've spotted giant cave spiders! Worse of all, they not far from the temple and Tarran's house. (No Tarran, this is a coincidence, I did not drive it to your house with sticks. I promise.)
2nd Sandstone 674Ibruk's temple was finally finished. It's foundations were made of gneiss, its outer floors of slate, columns of schist, walls and doors of iron and shale and phyllite altars. The inner floor was cobaltite and the roof was microcline. Beneath the temple plants grew, entrapped and encircled by the foundation walls. Various figurines of the gods had been made and placed on the altars and there was talk of possible statues. Ibruk, leader of the religious community of Nomekast in all but name, had placed one of his most fervent students, Kadzar, as Chief Priest of the temple.
The barracks for The Noiseless Metals and The Tusks of Silver were completed, with armour stands and weapon racks for every soldier, and archery targets for the marksdwarves.
Progress on the tunnel had slowed down, due to massive hauling of boulders out of the way, but cage traps were being set up, and the drowning room only needed its floodgates to be linked up. Meanwhile, the hospital was all-but finished, just needing several beds to be made to house the infirm who didn't need a traction bench.
Work on Tarran's lake-side cottage was progressing steadily, with most of the walls set up so far. The swordsdwarf had also got Muenster to agree to fit in gem windows. Delta had been seen asking Torvold about the feasibility of draining the lake to build an underwater home, and several other Dwarves were beginning to take an interest in making their own homes.
Strange noises from the caverns resulted in a blacksmith, Id, being mauled and killed by a giant olm. The giant olm, now nicknamed Balumid, was promptly dispatched by Rion in a bloody display that saw its head and two of its legs fly off. Two giant rats later scurried through the caverns and up into the fortress proper, only to meet their deaths at the hands of Johann Schmidt's axe. The three corpses were soon butchered for meat, a rare luxury in Nomekast, which survived only on a diet of plump helmet and a mix of Dwarven wine and ale.
5th Sandstone 674 - MorningIbruk had just finished the Morning Rites dedicated to Kol Esdorkol, god of travellers and patron of the month of Sandstone, when it struck him. It started with a growing grin, and then a deep, joyful laugh, and he ran off from the cavern back into the upper levels of Nomekast, singing various hymns with gusto. He grabbed some stone, cobbling a craftsdwarf workshop together and began collecting materials at once.
The rest of the fortress was at a loss as to what to do. Several suggested that this was one of the fabled strange moods that were heard of in various fortresses, but no one knew exactly what to do. Kadzar suggested that, being a prophet, Ibruk was simply receiving guidance from the gods who were now pleased with their new temple, Reg suggested that he had gone stark raving mad, and should be sent to the hospital at once, Spartan advocated simply throwing him out in case he went berserk, as was sometimes heard of in these cases.
But there was no real consensus on what to do, so they simply watched as Ibruk collected two bars of iron (despite Tarran's anger), some dog leather, along with a pile of donkey bones, dog bones as well as Balumid's bones. Then he sung no more and began to work furiously, masterfully manipulating the varied materials.
6th Sandstone 674 - Noon"No, no, no. All I want to do is some tests to see exactly what this...'hangover' is." Reg assured Fori. Fori had been walking down the ramp into the caverns when the doctor had ambushed her to ask if she would comply with some medical tests to examine the hangovers she had been suffering from due to the potency of Dwarven alcohol.
"I am not a medical experiment to be tested on." Fori protested.
"But it could save lives! What if this 'hangover' spreads across the species-barrier to Dwarves! It could paralyse the whole Dwarven population!"
"I already told you it's not a disease! It's a common reaction in non-Dwarves when we drink too much alcohol."
"Too much? You barely touched a drop!"
"For a Dwarf, yes. But not for an Elf."
"It's true Elves can't hold their drink, but that's not the point! What if it
is caused by a disease? Do you want the entirety of Dwarvenkind to be cursed to slow down to a snail's pace just because you refused to do some tests!? You vicious Elf! Think of the people who might die!"
"Hey!" came a call. It was Stas, enshrouded with his usual cloak, "Ibruk's finished...whatever it was he was doing, and I do think you two should come see rather than argue."
- - -
Ibruk had toiled night and day without respite in his work. And now he proudly held up his work,
"Behold! Laniruthmik Ritholvashzud - Slyshaken the Noble Disembowelment!"
The Dwarves crowded round, examining the statue, there could be no doubt that it was masterfully crafted,
"See! The gods bid me to create this figurine engraved with the death of a Nothing by a Goblin as a sign! We must hold out an open hand to our old enemies, as we have with Fori, the Elf! The pure Goblins - rare though they might be - are enemies of the Nothing too, and may be saved! So may the Humans! We must strive to bring forth enlightenment to ALL races!"
The crowd began to thin now, with only Ibruk's most loyal followers remaining where they were,
"This sign is clear for all to see! Nomekast shall rise! The gods have decreed so!"