User:GhostDwemer/ChanneledKisses

These are the chronicles of the Dwarven settlement of ChanneledKisses. I love Dwarven names. Founded in 1051, ChanneledKisses sites in a wooded valley below a towering volcano. The mountains are rich in marble, while the rock salt of the wooded valley holds coal and iron in abundance. The site has no flowing water, only a scattering of murky pools. But with ready magma, coal, iron, and flux stone, our hardy band of settlers knew that there were few sites with as much potential. And being far from marauding Goblins, the Dwarves hoped that they would have a little extra time before the inevitable raids began. With a little extra time, a site like this should reward raiders with nothing but hot and pointy death.

"We'll keep a low profile, fellows," said Ingiz Isanbomrek, the plucky young lady leading the group. "This site is rich, rich beyond dreams of avarice. But we don't want to let everyone know that, do we? We don't the hordes descending on us. And by 'hordes' I mean those lazy loafing Urist-come-Latelies. If we find gold, we don't even smelt it." She ignored the chorus of groans and protests from the other Dwarves. "We smelt steel, brother. Cold, hard steel, sharp as we can make it. None of us are warriors, but by next year, we will need to be. Even as distant as they are, the Goblins will never let us take a site like this uncontested."

The group's Cook/Weaponsmith, one Avuz Adilmangoz, suggested that, perhaps, those loafing newcomers who were bound to show up could be shown which end of a spear to hold and which end to put in the Goblins and thus be put to good use, when they weren't smelting metal for him to make pointy. Avuz is just selfish that way.

So they worked through the spring, making a small but comfortable and more importantly, self sustaining hamlet. First the band dug out some large halls in the soft loam of the valley floor. Ingiz knew none of them were miners anymore than they were warriors, and so a bit of training in soft soil would make mining rock much faster later on. Taking turns with the unfamiliar picks, they worked to create a long entry hall, wide enough for wagons. "I don't think anyone uses wagons anymore, boss," said Sakzul Zanegmal, the group's carpenter and chief medical dwarf, but the rest of the group agreed that the wagons were simply leaky, and would be back as soon as they were patched.

"Let's put in a big pool of magma under the hall, if things start getting Gobliny, we can dump 'em in!" suggested Asmel Udimush, the farmer and jeweler of the bunch. This was heartily agreed to, and a trench was dug. Sodel Akilamfol, the mason and architect, took a walk around the valley, thinking about the best way to build the defense. The valley formed a huge square with mountains on three sides, open to the north.