Autumn and Winter 1052, in which three lead sarcophagi are forged.

The Captain in the Crypt

On the vernal equinox, Meng sat down on a limestone boulder in the crypt. He had spent almost three years training Alegate’s militia while the walls went up above him and the delvings were expanded below him. Only now, at the end of the fort’s third year, was the crypt needed.

This had been the fort’s first malachite mine. His own copper helm was forged from this place’s stone. It was close enough to the clay delvings that there was a smell of moist cave-moss and woody tower-cap. The crypt was a rough-hewn thing, chosen in haste so that the dead would not return as ghosts.

Here had been placed three sarcophagi of cold lead, and three bright quartzite memorial slabs.

The Axedwarf and the Werebeast

Meng looked at the center sarcophagus. Inside were the remains of an axedwarf he had never met, but whom Meng would very much like to have met. A traveller said the axedwarf’s name had been Sarvesh.

Building Defences

Alegate was the most secure it had ever been. The wall was mostly done. A score of infantry trained year-round just beneath the surface. A score of archers took turns patrolling the southwest woods, from whence the kobold burglars had been sneaking.

Since the patrols started, several kobolds had tried to sneak into the fort. All of them were spotted by archers or hounds before they got near the bridge. The kobolds had been lucky so far to escape the dogs’ teeth and archers’ bolts. Meng was certain the thieves’ luck would not last.

Most soldiers still needed armor, as the smiths were now slowly producing fine steel instead of quickly hammering out copper gear. But the soldiers were eager.

The Forces of Alegate Sally Forth

In the winter, when a troop of langurs tried to cross the east bridge, the entire military ran eagerly to chase them away from the stores. Even Mayor Argus, who had no military duties, joined in with a steel war hammer and ashen shield.

The archers, having been regularly exposed to the sun, did well for themselves. They quickly turned the thieving beasts into gifts for the cooks, tanners, and bone-carvers.

The infantry did not do as well — many of the dwarves had been below ground long enough to become cave-adapted. Being above ground made them dizzy and nauseous. The handful of goblin and human infantry had no problem being above-ground.

The soldiers were still in the southeast forest when the roar came from the north.

The Duel

Sarvesh, a wandering axedwarf, had just come into sight of Alegate when the were-chameleon attacked. The monster repeatedly struck at Sarvesh, but the axedwarf skillfully parried most of the attacks with silver axe or bronze shield. Sarvesh chopped, and bashed, and kicked. The beast felt no pain, and the dwarf gave no ground. Soon, the beast was bleeding from multiple severe cuts. It looked like Sarvesh would win the day.

The bloody monster managed to catch the dwarf’s shield arm in its jaws, and twisted. Sarvesh’s motley armor kept the infected teeth out of his flesh, but the mighty beast’s wrenching wrecked the dwarf’s elbow, and Sarvesh lost hold of his shield.

The axedwarf did not give up. He hewed the monster’s leg, severing it. The crippled monster responded by clamping its jaws on Sarvesh’s mail coat, and thrashing back and forth viscously. The shaking was so violent that the dwarf’s mid spine snapped. Even as the were-chamelon was killing Sarvesh, the monster’s leg-stump was spewing blood across the ryegrass.

That is what the Alegate militia saw when they came running from the south. They were just in time to see the were-chameleon fall to blood loss. The battered axedwarf, never giving up, crawled toward Alegate for a moment before he died of his own injuries.

This was the first death of a dwarf in Alegate, and the reason the first lead sarcophagus was built. The first quartzite slab was engraved with an epitaph:

The travelers were able to identify the were-chameleon, and a slab was engraved for the dwarf who had been so cursed. The monster’s body would not be put in the crypt, but the slab was set across from Sarvesh’s sarcophagus, facing it:

Deadly Ice

Commander Meng felt pride in these memorials, set for eternity in the bones of the mountain. He felt loss at the death of this brave dwarf he would never get to meet. But his feelings were even more bitter about the sarcophagus on the left.

The Fences

Alegate had several garden plots inside the wall. They were humble things, spread around to take advantage of whatever ground had needed no preparation in the first year of the fort. Now that the walls were mostly up, and the laborers were waiting on the cutting of more stone blocks, work began on a proper farm.

That involved preparing the ground by removing boulders, tearing out shrubs, and irrigating. To simplify irrigation, a screw pump was built at the pond within the walls, and wooden fences erected to channel the water.

This work was still in progress when something unprecedented in Alegate occurred: freezing weather.

Hard Freeze

In the middle of winter, the weather was so cold that all water on the surface froze. The river stopped flowing, the pond inside the wall was covered with ice, and the irrigating water froze as well.

Okgush, the wife of Commander Meng, was out working on the fence in the freezing weather. As always, she had her latest infant with her, the third of their three children.

That’s when the thaw came. Okgush had been standing on the ice, and fell into the pool. She managed to scramble out of the cold water, but lost hold of her infant in the process. No one was able to save the baby.

Later that winter, the pump was engaged again and the pond drained. Meng’s infant daughter was retrieved and interred. Her epitaph read:

The hard freeze only lasted a single day. If only it had lasted a bit longer.

The Explosion

Meng allowed his tears to run their course. As he recovered, he thought about other violence the fort had seen in the past six months.

Piercing the Aquifer

In the early days of Alegate, a layer of saturated sand had blocked the digging. The dwarves were forced to dig a long tunnel west to get around it. Everyone in the fort had wasted a lot of time walking this hall in the course of their work. Some times, the traffic was so bad that dwarves spent more time waiting or shuffling around each other than walking.

Thus Mayor Argus had commanded a more direct route be made. Hana, architect of Alegate, had devised a way; they would clear the sand as deep as they could, then carefully undermine a great mass of soil overhead. Tons of earth would press into the aquifer, replacing the porous sand with a plug of clay large enough that we could carve a grand stairway down to the bones of the mountain. Hana made it clear that there would be danger, but that Alegate now had the dwarf power to accomplish the great work.

Barricades and supports

Tap the first image to open a viewer that shows the captions and lets you scroll through the sequence of events.

The explosion caught Hode and the cats. They were all knocked out by the wall of air that pistoned out of the shaft.

Ultimately, the project had the intended effect. We now have a lead stairwell leading directly into the stone. An area of dry sand has been uncovered, so that the fort now has the option to create glass. Efforts are ongoing to brick over the watery gaps in the stair-room floor, for safety. A brick roof is being built at the top of the sinkhole to prevent invaders from climbing down the pit.

The Unruly Outsider

Meng was glad Hode had survived the blast. But that was not the last danger Alegate had faced.

In addition to the periodic group of settlers coming from the mountainhome, travelers were being drawn to Alegate in increasing numbers. Some just enjoyed The Drowned Langur and went on their way. But 25 had petitioned the mayor for long-term residence. Some were performers, who may eventually ask for citizenship. Most were mercenaries, out to trade service for food and drink.

Those mercenaries were valuable additions to the military. They all had some experience, and some equipment. A few were goblins or humans. No elves had deigned to visit. Some used foreign weapons, like human-style long pikes. There was even a dwarf who wielded an iron whip.

Brawl in the Hall

While the lead stairwell was still being built, Kib the marksgoblin visited Alegate. She was walking the long hall, between the hospital and mason shops, when she got into an argument with Zega, an armorer’s apprentice.

Zega, while an important citizen of our fort, enjoys arguing. She was enjoying the argument with the marksgoblin up until the goblin escalated the disagreement to a fight.

The goblin was not trying to kill the armorer’s apprentice. The goblin left her weapons in their holsters and used her fists, but she was giving the dwarf a thorough beating.

A metalsmith and a brewer, who were hauling a recently-constructed legendary-quality bed, lept to Zega’s aid. The metalsmith’s fists were like iron, smashing flesh whenever they landed. But Zega was a skilled warrior, and gave as good as she got, even though it was three against one.

By the time the goblin finally backed off, the armorer’s apprentice and metalsmith needed hospitalization. The brewer had lost some teeth, but that was not something that could be fixed so he went to the brewery instead. Kib the marksgoblin had many injuries. As a non-citizen, however, she was not taken to the hospital:

Fark, the chief medical dwarf, drafted a soapmaker and and a fisherdwarf as nurses. Their job was to clean and dress wounds quickly, while Fark focused on more complex medicine. After a while in the hospital, both of the patients made full recoveries and went back to work.

Petition

Kib the marksgoblin limped to the mayor’s office and asked to stay long-term as a mercenary. The answer was a resounding no. While her fighting skills were impressive, we could not have a hot-headed warrior beating up citizens over simple disagreements. We will have to remember her in case she returns later and asks again.

Unicorn

Meng shifted, his armor clinking, and looked directly at the third sarcophagus. Thornbeard, the council member who had originally scouted this area for a fort, had gotten a fool idea into his head from taking to a human.

Nac the bard was old by human standards — nearly a century. He had come up the hill from the east, through the enchanted forest. Nac told stories of trees with downy feathers instead of leaves and eggs instead of acorns. He spoke of fields of strange blue grass, and unicorns.

Thornbeard had visions of a great feast in honor of the mayor, with exotic foods filling the tables. Thanks to the mayor’s budding trade skills and the caravans, the fort already had an array of strange meats. But Thornbeard got thinking about those unicorns.

Unicorns are rare creatures. They are not intelligent, but they are beautiful, and treasured by the elves. The fine taste of their meat is legendary. Few dwarves have eaten that dish, but all have heard stories of hunters dying on those spiral horns.

Soon, Thornbeard had a party of the bravest scouts together, and set out to the eastern lowlands.

The Hunt

The enchanted forest was as strange as the bard had described. The scouts returned with bizarre stories, such as when they blundered into a nest of fluffy wamblers, or how ponds would glow at night in the light of the sunberries. Those stories will not be told here. Ultimately, Thornbeard found a unicorn.

The unicorn was strong, and led the dwarves on a long chase. In the end, the dwarves all survived to carry the rare meat back to Alegate. There was a great feast that night.

 

The Third Sarcophagus

Meng sighed. The third sarcophagus had not been needed. But he still felt worried. A lot can happen, especially now that the fort has drawn attention. He wished there was a temple here. It had been a long time since he was a formal member of the Earthen Denomination church, but he still had a spiritual relationship with some of the gods and monsters. He particularly missed praying to Ador Siegescales, god of nature and chaos.

“Walk it off, soldier,” he said to himself. He got up off the limestone boulder, touched his daughter’s sarcophagus once, then headed for the military gym. There was peace to be found in a good drill.

Turn Wrap-Up

Maltose, Fark and Thornbeard are continuing to spend most of their time at the tavern, getting to know the citizens and hoping to find mates. None have found love yet, but Maltose has become a true friend of Ekroh, the goblin bard, who has been written about elsewhere. They have all widened their circle of personal acquaintances, improved their social skills, and learned many songs and poems.

Something of note: Bathru, the Queen’s representative, has carried news of Alegate’s growing wealth and military back to the Queen. There are rumors that Alegate may be promoted from outpost to a barony. If it becomes a barony, two things will happen: we will begin to receive formal delegates from surrounding nations with news from abroad, and we will need to pick someone to be the baron.

The baron is appointed for life. Mayors will continue to be elected and do their current jobs. Whoever is chosen as baron will need lavish rooms, and may start making manufacturing demands based on their personal preference. Once we become a barony, we will have started down the road of political importance, and may one day be visited by the Queen.

If anyone would like to volunteer to be baron, or has a suggestion of who should take the title, say so in the comments!

• Argus, brawler & mayor – mood – thoughts
• Escott, metalsmith – mood – thoughts
• Fark, surgeon – mood – thoughts
• Hana, architect – mood – thoughts
• Maltose, brewer – mood – thoughts
• Thornbeard, ranger – mood – thoughts
• Fortress status here