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.

Another Forgotten Beast Arrives!!

Coming in from the east through the underground cavern system, a great eyeless tapir arrived. It was massive, with a knobby shell & skill which undulated. It also oozed poisonous vapors. It was known as Dunem Mobmubazsa Doto Kulur, The Mirrors of Night. It wondered around before the closed doors the dwarves had earlier erected to help block incoming monsters before casually smashing them open. The mechanics rushed to get cage traps installed but were too late & scattered before the massive (and almost cute looking) beast.

Members of The Short Sabres rushed to action. The squad that was nearly decimated by the earlier Eel knew well the terror they faced & were reluctant to go alone. But the new militia commander, Shorest knew well the error her predecessor made. Though these beasts are strong, against even poor iron & obsidian weapons they fall without much difficulty. So why flood the area with fresh dwarf bodies to die to the poison vapors when a few "volunteers" will likely do the trick.

So with that in mind, Shorest sent off The Short Sabres to face the creature.

They arrived right as a couple mechanics were fleeing in terror, having abandoned their cage traps. Minkot Niraldomas, the Militia Captain of the squad was first to land a blow, coming around a corner & supprising the creature, he avoided the poison fumes & managed to crack the outer shell & damage the lower body. Behind him were two fresh recruits who joined in, landing blows on the front legs.

The good luck ended there. The beast belched forth more poison, quickly enveloping Minkot causing the Captain to fall unconscious, with wounds to all his body. Then the beast turned to the two recruits who had both continued to damage it & it quickly struck down one of them, ripping the poor dwarf apart.

At this time the rest of the squad was arriving & the sound of battle filled the cavern.

At first it started well. The beast took many wounds. But none seemed to stop it. It's poison belched all over the squad members. There inexperience as sworddwarves did not help them. They did manage to mangle part of the beast, but in the end, they all succumbed to the beast. The last, squad leader Minkot, managing to get a deep lower body wound in, before he finally was struck down. Shorest's plan was all for not due to the inexperience of the first dwarves.

Then the beast continued on & found the mine workers who were working on some Iron veins that ran through the cavern system. The call was placed, all civilians retreat to the fortress. Shorest was still reluctent to send the full Militia down. So she called on The Gloved Chances. Hoping their performance would be better then their last failed attack on a forgotten beast.

The Gloved Chances arrived & the beast immediately closed with the lead two dwarves. They got a couple shots off before being overwhelmed by the beast's stink. However, the beast, wounded as it was continued to mill about the first two dwarves, poisoning them, but not finishing the kill. And another 3 dwarves stayed at range, firing bolt after bolt at the beast. The Mirrors of Night eventually finished of the first two dwarves & moved on to another two. But at the same time the rest of the squad arrived, firing more bolts into it continuing to rack up the injury count on the creature. Until eventually Marksdwarf Asob Solonalath got a shot through & with a great roar the beast finally fell. The sounds of battle ended and the cavern system returned to it's eerily quite self.

The death toll was great. 4 dwarves from The Short Sabres and another 3 confirmed dead from The Gloved Chances & 2 more suffering the insidious poison which would likely be a death sentence. However, compared to the earlier beast, it was much better.