Chapter 85: From the journal of Stinthad Kekimtobul
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3rd Felsite, 1057, Late Spring
So most of the new migrants are pretty unremarkable, having only basic or no skills whatsoever. Still, we can make use of them! Just not sure how yet. Now there is one migrant that caught my eye; Irridium.
Irridium Gankib...that can't be right. Can it? Pretty much everyone knows Irridium the legendary hunter. She's one of the best dwarven archers in all of the Relieved Craft. She slays incredible beasts and travels the world in search of treasure! She wouldn't come to Reveredtour...would she?
I have to find out!
Stinthad: "Excuse me, but you wouldn't happen to be-"
Irridium: "Irridium? Yep, I'm the real deal. I'm guessing you've heard of me then?"
Stinthad: "Oh but of course! Pretty much everybody knows you! You're incredible! I can't believe someone as great as you has come to Reveredtour! But why exactly are you here?"
Irridium: "Well you see I accidentally- no, wait I don't need to mention that..."
Stinthad: "Is something wrong?"
Irridium: "Vacation! That's it! I'm here on vacation! Yes, I've heard such nice thing about Revereddoor-"
Stinthad: "Reveredtour."
Irridium: "Right! That's what I meant to say. So yeah, I'm just here on vacation. Indefinitely."
I've never heard of somebody going on an indefinite vacation, but far be it from me to doubt someone like Irridium! This is so cool! To make things even better, she volunteered to teach Vallorn about archery. With her skills, we might actually be able to have a reliable archery squad!
11th Felsite, 1057, Late Spring
I knew I could figure out something to do with the new migrants! I mean, aside from make half of them into haulers and masons. No, I figured out another use for them. Reveredtour is still lacking in strength, and the elimination of the Steamy Tours certainly didn't help with that. So I figured that I could just lump some of the new migrants into a squad to replace them.
And thus, the Silvers of Heat were born!
There's just a tiny problem; they kind of suck. None of them really had any combat experience. Even the commander Lewism247 doesn't have much experience beyond bar fights. Still, despite this I'm sure they can beat the odds and become a respectable group of soldiers! Steel armor and weapons will certainly help to get them there.
15th Felsite, 1057, Late Spring
Interesting, the moody dwarf has begun working inside a carpenter's workshop. I don't think we've had a dwarf make an artifact in one of those before. Of course I might just not remember, since we do have many artifacts by now. It's weird, you almost never saw moody dwarves back the capital yet we get them regularly over here. I wonder if there's a reason for that.
17th Felsite, 1057, Late Spring
I'm a bit concerned that the goblins might be preparing for yet another invasion. A snatcher was spotted approaching the fort. While snatchers have been alone in the past, more recently their arrival often coincides with an approaching goblin army, as they seem to have to dual purpose of being scouts.
I'm not going to close off the fort just yet, but I'm prepared to do so. For the time being I see this as a good opportunity for the Slivers of Heat to prove their worth! I'll have them stand guard at the entrance to prevent any other snatchers from getting in. Surely they can handle mere goblin thieves?
20th Felsite, 1057, Late Spring
Oh hey, the elves are here! They seem to have brought a rather large caravan to. Our relations with them have definitely improved. Good thing I didn't order the fort closed, otherwise they'd be locked outside-
Irridium: "Stinthad! Quick! I need to talk to you!"
Stinthad: "Huh? What is it?"
Irridium: "You saw those elves approaching right? Aren't you going to give us the order to kill them?"
Stinthad: "What??! Of course not! It's a peaceful caravan! They always come to trade with us in spring. It's not an invasion!"
Irridium: "Shit...well, I don't suppose you'd consider locking them out?"
Stinthad: "Why would I do that?"
Irridium: "Okay let me be honest here; I didn't come visiting this place on vacation. I came here to hide."
Stinthad: "Hide? From the elves? Why?"
Irridium: "Oh it's a silly thing. They are just overreacting. I was just hunting unicorn and may have used a controversial hunting technique to locate them, and it made the elves a bit angry."
Stinthad: "What do you mean?"
Irridium: "Well unicorns are surprisingly good at hiding in thick forests, so I opted to flush them out. It was harmless really. Just burned a few bushes and trees to scare them-"
Stinthad: "You..you burnt down an elven forest?!"
Irridium: "Not so loud! And I didn't mean to! Well, I meant to burn some of it but not the whole thing! Point is, the elves get really mad when you snap a branch so burning down a whole forest...look just don't tell them I'm here. Ever."
Stinthad: "You burnt down their home though..."
Irridium: "You're going to sell out a fellow dwarves to some elves?!?"
Stinthad: "Well, I mean...no, I won't tell them. But this just seems wrong..."
Irridium: "Don't worry about it! Just ignore your conscience and lying will be easy! I'm going to go hide down in the farms until the elves leave. Oh yeah, you know that cripple you told me to train?"
Stinthad: "Vallorn?"
Irridium: "Yeah I heard him screaming something about goblins earlier. I was in too much of a hurry to really listen. Bye!"
Goblins? I guess there are more sna- OH GOD!
VALLORN! NOOO!!
24th Felsite, 1057, Late Spring
Poor Vallorn...he was just trying to protect his family, and he was cut down in seconds by those sneaking bastards! I can't stand those goblins anymore! I'm sick of seeing dwarves die to them without us doing anything but hiding! That's why I made a bold move; I ordered the entire military to confront the goblins. I wasn't going to let them get away with killing Vallorn!
The military stood guard at the entrance waiting for the goblins to approach. Fortunately an excellent opportunity presented itself. One of the elves had wandered ahead of the group and was caught by the goblins. She was screaming in terror as she attempted to flee from the goblins, who had only not caught her because they were preoccupied flogging her horse.
Distracted by the elf, the goblins didn't notice our brave soldiers moving in. We managed to get a jump on them, with one of the goblins being crippled instantly by a powerful barrage of attacks!
So I thought things were going great...but as soon as the goblins became aware the fight they were a lot more dangerous. Despite being outnumbered, the goblins were not discouraged. Their superior fighting skills acted as a substitute for the low quality gear. Despite being clad in steel, they still managed to wreak havoc on our soldier. JackKnife received the worst of it, and sadly perished during the middle of the fight.
Unfortunately the new recruit Max W. Antilles didn't fare any better. Had I been less...enraged, I would've ordered the Silvers of Heat to retreat. They just weren't equipped for this kind of fight.
However, the goblins suffered casualties as well. We may have lost soldiers but we were by no means losing the fight. The goblins didn't seem to notice either, far too caught up in the excitement of combat. Two of them had managed to pull Chaotic Kraus away from the group after he chopped up one of their companions. Things were not looking good for him, as the goblins delivered a savage beating.
However, Root noticed this right away and managed to drive the goblins off of Chaotic Kraus before they could kill him. At this point the goblins noticed that they were losing horribly and attempted to retreat. Root wouldn't have any of this though. Quick and accurate blows to the backs of the fleeing goblins kept them from escaping. In the end, only one managed to slip away into the wastes despite Zenkem's best efforts to catch up to him.
The battle was over, and we had emerged victorious! Granted we suffered losses, but I believe this sent an important message to the goblins; we won't be pushed around so easily anymore! We will become a force to be reckoned with! And one day, when their armies once again come beating on our door, we shall be ready. I'm not going to just let brave dwarves die pointlessly anymore!
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