Oh the Fall...

It always happens. The dwarves dug too deep. Greed over Mithril is always their undoing. Daggerbell's fall was no different.

The mining operations where going according to plan, when all of a sudden, a miner digging deeper down a vein suddenly broke into something... unholy. None would live to tell the story. All that could be found in the ruins of Daggerbell, aside from the skeletons of the dead was one dwarf skeleton. Locked in a small side room off the trade post. Scrap marks against the door where he tried to get out. And the walls, covered with the engravings of Demons killing dwarves. And the occasional mushrom drawing. Because, who doesn't like mushrooms... and demons.

Minotaur!!!

A massive humaniod with the head of a bull appeared in the fall of 1057, coming by land through the mountain range and entering the lands of the Daggervale at the foot of one of the twin daggers. It's massive bull head a site the behold.

The military was scrambled. But weapon shortages & dwarves refusing to equip the proper gear meant half the dwarves in the squads lacked gear. Add to that, by the time the beast had reached the far side of the dagger span only a fraction of the squads were assembled.

But for one dwarf that mattered not. Sodel Dastotamid approached the beast with the military captain Rigoth Uzollerom close on her heels. Rigoth wielded a masterwork obsidian blade. One handed down through the ranks from his predecessor, who met an untimely fate in the caverns below the fortress to a poisonous beast. But it was not the Uzollerom who achieved victory. The beast had just charge into a mountain goat attached at the entrance of the span damaging it's neck when Rigoth got there. His blade swinging wildly, somehow missing the beast.

But Sodel had no problem. A veteran of the earlier battle of the serpent-men clearing from early in the fortress, she had experience & still a scar on her arm from that battle. Though she had seemed to misplace her puny war hammer it mattered not. She simply used what Armok provided her, hands. It's not clear what happened as it was so swift. But the tales that seem to stick speak of Sodel jumping on the back of the beast & grabbing it by the horns, twisting it's thick bull neck so fast it snapped.

By the time the rest of the squads arrived, there was nothing to see. Just a massive dead Minotaur and Sodel standing above it. And a military captain who no doubt was still trying to pick his jaw up off the ground.

Dusting off her hands she turned to the soldiers and asking if anyone was up for some Fisher Berry Wine. It is her favorite...

Blue Steel!!

The miners finally struck the mother load. Adamantine. Blue Steel. Get a processing center set up.

Glory to Daggerbell!!!!

Mine Flooding!!

While trying to mine down to the adamantine there was an accident. Damp stone was discovered, but based on the ramblings of the Spirit of Abel, the miners though they were below an underground lake & continued to dig. they were wrong. They broke into the bottom of a massive three z-level lake that was part of the deep & dangerous third level cavern system.

Water started flooding into the tunnels. Exposing the entire mine area to not only the water, but whatever hellish monsters might live in the lower cave system. Thinking quickly, the miners quickly ran back to a near by magma tube they'd mined around & cracked into the side of it. Causing a torrent of magma to come rushing out. The miners just barely got out of the way in time. As the magma went crashing into the water, plugging the hallway with obsidian.

Digging Deeper

The mining on the first cavern area had been going quite well. The Magma Smelters were running near constantly turning gold nuggets into Gold Bars & Hematite into Iron Bars. But the natural resources were starting to dry up, so another exploration was sent out & they cracked into yet another set of caverns before finding any good veins to mine. There was concern this new set of caverns could be the ones that housed the Flaming Jackel that the Ghost of Adil Sigunidok spoke of. But when the ghost was asked. His simple answer was no, because it didn't contain the light blue sparkling...

The Ghost was speaking of Adamantine!!!

Much time was spent speaking with the moaning specter before the dwarves had a good idea where this "sparkling light blue" was at. And then a great project was set about to get to it. The attempt would be to avoid the cavern system with the Flaming Jackal & instead dig around it & come from beneath. But still, an elaborate "plug" would be designed, using water & magma that would seal the hallway down, should anything... unexpected happen.

Rumbling from Below...

There was a rumbling from below & the ghost of Adil Sigunidok moaned out a warning...

Below the known cavern system lays another cavern, a darker land full of more strange fauna, such as blood red trees & shrubs. And a beast has come to that hidden cavern system. Some kind of great jackel composed of flame with large mandibles & a gaunt appearance. Beware!!!

Dormitory Waterfall

Many dwarves seem sad due to the losses in the caverns below the City of Daggerbell. Fortunately the new Dormitory Waterfall appears ready to test out. With all it's piping done, if successful it should bring water from the river above down through the main entrance hall of the Main Dormitory & dump it out in the underground cavern lake. So all the non-noble dwarves that wake up or go to bed can travel past the waterfall & be comforted by it.