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Gorund's Journey; Drumportal, Part I
Groundhawg
It was a grey day, the day I left for the open plains. I had assumed that I would be settling down in the big city. I assumed wrong. Almost the moment I arrived, I was being shipped off. The expedition comissioner told me that my skills would be essential to the founding of the settlement. I was to go with six dwarves, to a remote location, and establish a dwarven fortress. The fortress was to be called Drumportal. It would be a name to honor all dwarvenkind.  :: :: It wasn't three hours out of the city, before the arguing commenced. Arguing of when mealtimes were. I grew irritated quickly, and eventually stopped the cart entirely atop a large grassy hill. I grabbed a paper and quill, and scrawled out a schedule that fit everybody's eating habits as close as possible, and still left time for actual travel! it was no easy task, but getting it done proved more useful than expected. In fact, none of the dwarves with me were literate. They thought me some sort of scholarly genius, and I was named expedition leader for it! :: :: When we reached the point marked by the map, we realized why it was ideal. We saw a large, cliff face, going up very steeply for miles. I ordered the carpenter to cut and haul some logs to a pile at the base of the cliff, and he rushed off eagerly, while the rest of us climbed the mountain eagerly. When we reached an acceptable height. Midheld, the miner and I began digging into the rock cliff face. We made an entrance that was wide enough for only three dwarves, stood side by side, and we raised the cieling to fit two dwarves, standing on each other's heads. We dug in and rooms took form. midheld was a more experienced miner, and flew through the stone much quicker than I did. But nobody minded, I was after all, the "mastermind". We carved out some workshops, a storage area, a dining hall, and some basic housing. Then came the great haul. Everybody dedicated all their time to bringing all our goods inside. Workshops for our mason, carpenter, jeweler and mechanic were built from the stone which we dug. And we built a fairly strong drawbridge in the main gateway. :: :: Within two weeks we were settled. We had also recieved immigrants from a nearby settlement. Our population reached 83 within two years of settling there. But our traders were noticing strange behavior from the elves. The elves became agitated, and jumpy. Our broker was Kilthan Krespool at the time, and he thought it best to ask why the elves were so on edge. A question to which their only response was, "Trees... All trees dead.. Murder.." well it seemed harsh to us. But we left them be. I had assumed that they were just uncomfortable in the deforested plain. But, once again, I assumed wrong. :: :: :: Then the raid landed on our doorstep... :: To be continued...