#highcanyon

1st of Slate

Working away diligently with the kitchen and still list ïteb mumbles under her breath "Leaves...cook, fruit brew, grain...er...brew. Sazir we are going to need more barrels."

Huffing away working on making a bed Sazir mutters out as he hammers a side board into a leg "Yeah I know...but you also want beds. I'm only one dwarf ïteb. Soon as I get this done and the three doors you want I'll get right on it."

ïteb rolls her eyes over it as she gets up the check on the miners. Upon getting to the back of their little safety hole she notices the stairs suddenly disappear "Satkud! îton! What in Armok's name did you do!? You dug out the stairs!"

Down on the next level of the fort that was to contain the farms and under ground fields there was a beat of silence before Stâkud's chipper voice pipes up "Ooops...îton told me to clear this area out...um...I'll uh fix that right away."

ïteb sighs as she hears îton roar out as he notices what his companion has done "îton Where the blood hell did the stairs go?!"

The only sound the drifts back is the rapid sound of Stâkud running off yelling "Fixing it!"

ïteb looks down the hole again and mutters out "îton....I'm holding you responsible for this because this shouldn't have happen." An annoyed grumble down in the hole accompanied by digging let ïteb know that îton had heard her and wasn't very happy with either of them. Rolling her eyes at the two ïteb heads back with an idea as she heads off outside.

Looking over the area ïteb goes to take some rocks and heads off carefully marking out an area on the top of the plateau keeping an eye out for any useful trees and making sure the area she's working on is contained inside. "Okay this is one corner....off down here is another corner and we'll go all the way to the rift and back up to there....Yeah that will do it."

Zaneg watches what ïteb is doing with curiosity before speaking up "Sooo pasture or gathering area?"

ïteb pauses and looks over the area "How about both?"

"Yeah sure that looks good." Zaneg goes to grab one of the the two trusty yak bulls that hauled there wagon to this area. As he gets the shaggy grey colored creature into the area an all mighty horrid bellowing noise rises up echoing out of the canyon. Both Zaneg and ïteb race over to the edge while the others go to dive for cover in the underground. The only one not to dive for cover was Lór who was already looking around with interest before heading over to investigate as well with Momuz trailing behind him as always. ïteb and Zaneg are wide eyed and horrified as they watch five huge round, hairless creatures swimming through the river. One of them opens it's mouth and lets out a loud belching bellow.

Lór grins as he whistles excitedly "Boy aint them some big critters! I bet I could take one out?"

The image of those huge tusks comes to ïteb and Zaneg's minds as they look at each other before looking back at Lór and both barking out "NO!" ïteb continues "Didn't you see the mouth on that thing! It could eat you in one gulp and we wouldn't find a single bit of you left!"

With a snort Lór stalks off Momuz still happily trailing him. "Yeah yeah...yer just an elf at heart. I'm gunna try ta take one down. Better get a cutt'n table set up. I'll be bringin home tha meat."

Watching the suicidal marksdwarf head off ïteb and Zaneg look at each other again. Zaneg shrugs and heads off to get the last Yak into the pasture. ïteb wonders for a moment just how suicidal Lór is going to be in the near future.

9th of Slate 250 ïteb is working away brewing down the crops into drinkable alcohol. Zaneg is likewise cooking everything he can into prepared meals humming away as he works. A horrifying bellow rolls up the side of the plateau. Quickly the two of them race outside to go look they are soon joined by Såkzul and Sazir. Down below they watch as Lór keeps firing his crossbow happily wasting the few copper crossbow bolts they had made into the thick rubbery looking hide of one of the river creatures that has wondered out onto land.

A wince crosses ïteb's features as another bolt strikes home and gets lodged firmly in the gut of the creature "I told him not to."

Zaneg scratches his beard "Yeah....I doubt he listened."

The wide eyed Såkzul whispers out "What in Armok's name is that monstrosity? Was that the thing was bellowing out a couple days ago?"

All ïteb did was answer Såkzul's question with a nod. Sazir mutters out "So should I make a coffin....or should I make more barrels to store meat in."

ïteb mutters out "I have no clue."

"Well the rate he's going through his crossbow bolts...I guess I'll make him more." Såkzul sighs as he heads off, "He's broken nearly all the copper ones."

Heading back to the kitchen to finish up a lettuce leaf roast Zaneg mutters out "Yeah probably. It's taking a hell of a beating from him."

ïteb gets up as well and heads off upstairs "Yeah...I'm going to set up the butchers shop and tannery just incase he does manage to kill it."

Lór cackles happily as he fires bolt after bolt towards the strange river creature as it staggers and retches trying it's best to run away from him. He continues peppering it with what bolts he has. Eventually he reaches down into his quiver to grab a new bolt and feels nothing. Glancing down his eyes verify what his hand already has found out. That he's ran plum out of crossbow bolts. Cursing away Lór stomps off back to the fledgling fortress as the creature takes that chance to stagger off out of Lór's reach.

18th of Slate 250 ïteb heads outside to gather some items from the wagon to bring inside. As she passes by the refuse pile her nose wrinkles up as a stench wafts towards her. She turns and looks over towards the pile to see what it is. Several rotten lettuce heads and rotten prickle berries have been thrown on the pile. As she's looking over it Zaneg comes out carrying yet another wilting rotting piece of food and throws it on. ïteb can't help but yell out "What is this!?"

Zaneg gives ïteb a confused look as he throws what he brought out. "What? It's rotten I've been finding it as I was cooking. We don't want it contaminating the rest of the food stuff."

A paniced look washes over ïteb's face as she rushes off towards the burrow and looks over the food stockpile. Sure enough quite a bit of it isn't properly stored in barrels and the precious fresh picked food is starting to wilt and rot. Hurrying outside ïteb looks around and finds Sazir working on a stepladder. "Barrels we need barrels and a lot of them soon as you can!"

Sazir gives ïteb a confused look as he looks over the half finished step ladder before speaking up "Okay okay I'll cancel what I'm working on and get to working on those barrels pronto for you."

As ïteb heads off she thinks she can hear Sazir grumbling under his breath about her being as bad as the old overseer. ïteb winces at that as she can't help it. Someone has to be in charge and trying to keep things running and right now food is to precious to waste.

Getting back to the still ïteb goes to cleaning it out and looks over the seeds that she's scraping out of the mash barrels. An idea comes to her as she remember what her brew-master told her a long time ago. 'The still always gives back what you put in. So that it can always continue to go unlike the kitchen which only takes.' Sorting out the assorted seeds ïteb gets the bags from the storage area and sticks the seeds inside with a smile "The Still gives the kitchen takes."

21st of Slate Looking over what was left in the wagon ïteb looks up at the sky getting worried. The Yak are getting restless which usually always meant one thing. Rain was coming. Heading off down into the hole she went to look for either Stâkud or îton finding them all the way down at the bottom where they were finishing up the last touches on the temporary trade depot. "Stâkud, îton I was wondering if you two could please dig us out a couple storage rooms?"

îton gives ïteb a sideways look "Why?"

Motioning towards the outside ïteb speaks up "Because it's going to rain soon and we still have things on the wagon we need to get under cover."

îton gets up and heads outside to look up at the sky with a sigh he heads back "Let us get done here and we'll get right onto it. I won't guarantee that we will get it done in time though."

With a nod ïteb heads back upstairs "Okay thank you."

Stâkud blinks as ïteb heads off. Leaning over she whispers to îton "Did she just thank you?"

îton mutters out confusedly "Er...yeah I think she did. When we get done with these storage room lets get the farms up and running. It will give her more to think about then running around here all the time worrying."

With a nod Stâkud puts the finishing touches on the Trade Depot and goes to head off "Okay done here lets go."

26th of Slate Rain starts pattering down outside as ïteb takes the last of the wasted food outside. The stock rooms are....partially dug out but she glares at îton and Stâkud who are at that moment dragging a couple logs over to the small storage area next to the carpenters work shop. "No wonder it's not progressing faster."

15th of Granite 250

The group of seven look out over the edge of the steep cliff. Stâkud and îton gauge the steepness before Stâkud laughs "This is easily climbable it's not all that bad!

ïteb gives Stâkud a bit of a glare at that "Climbable for us maybe but our draft animals not so much. I suggest we dig in temporarily up here."

îton looks down squinting and judging some things with his thumb before giving a declaration "There's a good notch down there that would make a great easily defensible fortress entrance. This here is not easy to defend. Easy to see people coming but not easy to defend. I say we go down and dig in."

Looking around at the flat land around her ïteb grumbles out "This would make a good place for outdoor farms. There's fruit trees about. We can dig in here and dig down to where you want to go just as easily."

Heading over to the canyon îton looked down looking over the exposed face "Fire Clay, a bit of loamy sand, clay.." îton makes a concerned noised as he grumbles out "Claystone....not good, gypsum the doctors will like that. Plenty of coal seams, gneiss.... Hate to say it your deciding to set up camp in a place with an aquifer I bet. We'll have to be stupidly careful to not strike it."

Stâkud winces "Not an aquifer anything but that. Those were a bugger in mining 350 to learn how to drill through."

Going back over to the group îton scratches his burnt umber beard at the base of his large braids. "If we stay going straight down through the big old pillar of rock I think we will be okay. I don't think there would be an aquifer this far up."

Giving îton a glare Stâkud points out something "What if we encounter a sand layer under all this...or something mud or....anything with an aquifer?"

îton shrugs "Then we deal with it. Lets get going on digging out a temporary shelter under this flat bit and then we will start an exploration down towards that notch and then just under it. if we don't strike the aquifer after that we should be fine."

Throwing her hands up in the air Stâkud grabs her pick and heads off with a huff "Fine fine may Armok protect us in the endeavor...if I die make sure I get a gold statue in my honor."

ïteb shakes her head before going to take stock of the area around them. She motions towards the trees and then off to some shrubs "Sazir find some non-fruit bearing trees and cut them down. I trust you to know what trees those would be and get to making some beds and doors. Zaneg you and I are going to be harvesting whatever we find up here that is edible. Såkzul move things inside when the miners are done and then get to making nest boxes. Er...Lór I...don't know exactly what you should do?"

The stout marksdwarf snorts as he gathers up his crossbow and his pet wardog Momuz, as he grumbles out "I'm goin’ ta scout oot this area an’ see if thur’s ‘nything good to hunt an’ keep mah eyes out fer ‘ny bad'uns."

For a moment ïteb isn't sure what to say so instead she shrugs before heading off "Okay fine whatever."

Quiet this whole time Zaneg speaks up The Notched Corridor. That's what we should call ourselves. Has a good ring to it.

ïteb thinks for a moment before mumbling out while picking some prickle berries "Yeah fine that sounds good. We are The Notched Corridor."

Five days later the intrepid group let out a bit cheer as ïteb and Zaneg heaved the last pieces of the kitchen and the still into place. The most important thing any of them could have created. Sazir grins as he goes to fashioning barrels in celebration "Dwarven rum here we come!"

ïteb has a proud smirk on her face as she looks over the produce collected and marks down what ones to cook into meals and what ones to use in brewing. She's already eyeing some pomelo's that have been brought in wondering just how they would be brewed up "Well we won't starve or die of thirst now."

The group up top jump a bit startled as an excited yell rings out from inside the the workings of their fort. Stâkud cheers out as she comes running out "Platinum! We found some Platinum! We found some Platinum!"

Looking between each other the group heads off town the tunnel and descending the huge staircase that is the main center of the fort. They find îton carefully expecting a small shiny bit of silvery grey metal sticking out from the wall in the stairwell. Ited raises a confused eyebrow as they watch îton 'lick' the spot and smack his lips before mumbling out "Yep that's platinum...won't dig it out now. To precious."

Prolouge

On the world Xah Acath (The Dimension of Prophecy) the Ushillòr (The Icy Tools) have decided that the mountain homes needs expanding. They select an intrepid group of seven young dwarf children to be part of the expeditionary force to set up the foundations of a new stronghold that they hope will surely become a thing of marvel on the same vein as Etaszaneg (Joinedrelics). The children are carefully schooled in only the most important parts of their culture. Two are chosen to learn the craft of farming, cooking, and most importantly brewing. One is chosen to learn the craft of carpentry and woodcutting to help craft the needs of the early fort. Another learns the role of stone and bone carving so that the fort can in its early days be able to produce goods for trade. Two study relentlessly under the miners and stonecutters learning how to create the sturdy bones of the fortress. Last of all one to study under the tutelage of a great marksdwarf so they can hunt and protect the group on their journey. Finally in the year 249 of The Age of Myth the nobles convene and decide it's time to send their intrepid colonists on their way. Preparations are made packing the wagon with all the goods needed to start the fort including a healthy starting flock of poultry to provide the travelers with a quickly established supply of food, and leather. The seven chosen are given their farewell ceremony full of pomp and circumstance before being sent on their way with a map directing them to where the new outpost is to be founded. They head off their hearts full of vim and vigor as they travel across the vast open lands to their new home in The Last Continents!

The seven head off to their new location following the map and asking. Eventually after the beginning of the new Dwarven year the group finds they are close they head along through a woodlands and spot a high ridge in front of them. They debate for a moment on if this is a good place to start. ïteb Amemgeshud looks up at the high ridge and says that he is going up to the top to see what it looks like on the other side. The others worried about being left alone out in the open under the massive expanse of sky go to follow them. As they crest the top of the ridge they feel the wind blowing along and whistling. In front of them a little way a great cleft divides the ridge in twain. ïteb goes to look down carefully into the cleft and spots the river far below he goes towards the north as the others follow. The seven young explorers are stunned as they look off the edge of a massive cliff amazed at the view below. As they look over the view ïteb mumbles to himself "You have only enough supplies to get there, but always remember with stout labor comes sustenance. Whether by bolt, plow or hook provide for your dwarves." Lór Oddomlaltur mutters out "Ere the tigers get hungry"

List of Dwarves

Stâkud Dalzatast (Matchsabre) F - Skilled Miner

îton Keskalag (Shootdaub) M - Skilled Miner

Sazir Momuzdolek (Cryptcomets) M - Skilled

Såkzul Tunneth (Doorbalance) M - Skilled Stonecrafter

ïteb Amemgeshud (Curledfortress) M - Skilled Brewer - Leader

Zaneg Bomrekbesh (Whiproasted) M - Skilled Farmer

Here is where we are going to lay down the bones of newest fortress of The Icy Tomes”