EvilJoe1 said:
Really sorry for not posting untill now, but I have heaps of overdue assinments, for year 10, and the hard drive I was using to store them was fried by my brother.
- Continue Shaft #2
- See if the diamonds can be polished, not cut, before we set off for trade.
- Pack some of the olivine, granite, copper, tin, lignite, bitumious coal, coal and anything else we intend to trade but only enough to show potential trading partners and wet their appetites..
- Get ready to leave for the trade mission, I will be going and so will most of the dwarves leaving only the bare minimum in the fortress, enough to keep Shaft #2 going, keep looking for some coal, the animal trainer, someone to tend the farms and some of the weapons, but not all of them and little armout, for them to defend themselves. I will also be giving them instructions to be vigilent of the 'Super Crocs', the felines, other dangers, to not leave the fortress unless necessary and then with at least two people, and to make sure the gates are closed at night.
Is that everything?
O, and do I know where Will's dwarves have settled? In theory they would have 'dropped in' on the way through to their new home.
The weather patterns out in the plains are vastly different from what you are used to back at mountainhome. The late-summer storms never came, and the wind changes direction as elves change their minds. Not that your clan spent much time outside, but there are certain things that every dwarf knows. One of these is the stories of the stars, the recountings of the gods as they are written upon the night sky. And as Brock the Deceiver gives way to Yamtaw the Ever-Steady, you judge the month of Limestone to be at hand, or as the humans call it, 'August'.
The chillier nights outside confirm this. Summer has certainly passed, and now would seem to be a good time to put those plans for a trading caravan to good use.
You choose five of your dwarves to go with you, knowing the journey to be increasingly challenging for a smaller group, specially with the felines prowling the area. You carefully select samples to bring with you. Only the whitest marble, the clearest olivine, the hardest granite make the selection, as do the purest samples of the ores and fuels you've found. Thinking the diamonds to be a good ace-in-the-hole should trade negotiations take a downward turn, you try your best to polish them. They do shine a bit more than before after your attentions, but results could have been better. However, no real gem master is at hand and with such small gems there is only so much that can be done without decades of experience.
You also load supplies; a little meat, a barrel of ale, some water, and mushrooms and berries. They should suffice quite comfortably for a one-way trip, but you are hesitant to increase weight of the wagon: you have no oxen or horses to draw it with you, and thus you must push it yourselves, just as you did on your way to Cold Rocks Hold. You must either gather supplies on the route or buy some from Axefell.
Every dwarf going with you takes a shield (both of the reinforced ones among them), you take a set of leather armor and give two more sets to those going with you. Four spears, two handaxes, and a crossbow with 20 bolts will act as your armament. Where the felines are concerned, you are certain you can handle them based on your previous encounter, and any goblins, bandits and other scum and beasts of the earth will not find you an easy target.
You give your final instructions to your animal trainer (now also temporary farmer), as you judge him to be the best one to leave in charge in your absence. And on the warming breeze of a new day, you set off.
The first day, you keep following the river downstream, before coming to a small downward slope that changes to river into a small series of rapids. You never quite see them, but there are felines following based from all the meowing you hear duting the day. Half a day further downstream, you find a part shallow and rocky enough to bring the wagon accross. Your journey slowly takes you further away from the river to southeast, and the woodlands that surround the river. You see no signs of civilization, but do meet a large rock formation that has sheltered goblins a year, if not longer ago. The signs and traces are old, and that is enough for you now. There is nothing of value there, whatever the goblins left behind has been picked clean by wildlife and passage of time.
On the third evening since you left, when the river is leagues behind you, you are awakened from deep slumber.
A shout from your guard for the night calls "To arms! To arms! By Armok, to arms!".
You feel lucky you fell asleep with your armor on. The chaves it caused and sweat that has gathered underneath it during your sleep are welcome alternatives to facing whatever is coming at you, unarmored. You throw off the spare shirt that had somehow gotten on your face, grab your shield and handaxe, and jump out of the wagon, barely awake but ready to defend your life none the less.
Oh, as for Will's dwarves: your settlement is chosen to be fairly well hidden. You had no idea they had left Mountainhome. When they rode trought the plains, there were no great outward signs of dwarven settlement near your home (mainly just some woods cut down, but even then not from a large area), they had no previous idea where precisely you settled to, and your scouts for the area were out only for a day.
With this in mind, convince me why you should know where they are/where they went by, and I'll allow it.
