The Surface Hold
Fortify the North Pass, 351/200. Completed.
(1 Stonemason Die + 1 Beardling Die.)
99+95 = 194
Despite the delays last year, or perhaps because of it, Clan Shatterspear and its Beardlings have put to work in the North Pass with exemplary haste. The wall has been built tall and thick, there are powerful bastions cutting forth into the Pass where future artillery pieces might go and in the meantime where Quarrellers can gain vantage on enemies pressed against the wall. The Gatehouse is double fold with heavy stone gates set into the front and back with a lattice that can be released into place from above to replace the front gates should they be lost and to trap the enemy in a death trap between the lattice and rear gate.
Along the length of the wall, towers have been raised in place with several levels to allow for Quarrellers to strike against the enemy as they proceed along the North Pass. With the work completed swiftly, Elder Voddor has the time to shore up the defences with a great wave of inspections. Master Stonemasons take hammer and nose to the base of the wall to search for any weakness and expunge it, the modifications to the design of the fortifications have not been too great to bear for the original foundations and the Shatterspears have enjoyed having the spare time to really participate in the wedding festivities.
Extra Tall and Thick Fortifications built across the North Pass.
North Peak
Decorated Greatmantle Clan Residences, 145/110. Completed.
(1 Warsmith Die)
53
There's only so much work left to do before your Clan can be moved into the mountain and with comfort so close at hand there's a push amongst the Greatmantles to get it all finished for the wedding. The Greatmantle Clan Residences have therefore been carved from North Peak with all the necessary space for a Noble Clan. Your own new Residence is quite comfortable with a number of luxuries added into the structure. Some waterpieces in communal areas, and the central events hall where your wedding is due to be held has the Clan Heraldry carved into the back wall. The arteries of the district are broad, and you've heard a grumble or two about the lack of proper defences at the join between the Clan Residences and the Entrance Hall.
Greatmantle Clan Residences built in North Peak.
Bronzeplaits Clan Residences, 114/100. Completed. 1x Nat 1.
(1 Brewer Die + 1 Beardling Die.)
1+86 = 87
The Bronzeplaits Clan Residences have been carved from the mountain alongside your own. They have easy access to the Brewer Hall on the same Level of North Peak and have enjoyed some minor luxuries as the Clan of the Lady of the Hold. Work carried on through the year at a steady rate and was expected to be finished in time for the wedding. A significant delay only saw it completed as the year came to a close, however.
It would appear that the North Peak did not escape the Time of Woes unscathed, and a chasm has cut through it where the Bronzeplaits Clan Residences are. They have carefully bridged the chasm and erected great supports throughout to prevent the Residences from tumbling into the depths of the mountain, but it does mean that building work in North Peak will need to be done with extra care and will demand further work to reinforce structures built across the chasm.
Bronzeplaits Clan Residences built in North Peak. Future building work in North Peak has +10 to target.
Ironplough Clan Residences, 167/100. Completed.
(1 Farmer Die)
95-5 = 90
The Ironplough Clan Residences stretch on from the Entrance Hall close to the gates out onto the Surface. The Farms continue to operate without significantly affecting the Clan's efforts within the Hold and the Farmers have been hauling great quantities of stone from North Peak. The Residences are spacious enough for a Clan that spends so much time out under the sun. With their industriousness you can only wonder if Sun Madness is actually a benefit amongst the Farmers.
Ironplough Clan Residences built in North Peak.
Stonebeard Clan Residences, 157/100. Completed.
(1 Miner Die + 1 Beardling Die.)
67+90 = 157
As befits a Miner Clan, the Stonebeard Clan Residences have been struck from North Peak within the same year they begun. Expertly hewn hallways and chambers reach out onto the First Level of North Peak and the Stonebeards have moved into the sanctuary of the Karak. For many of them, they shall hope to never again journey into sunlight. Miner Clans are especially prone to Sun Madness, and to the Gold Sickness too. The Matron who taught you the art of healing supposed that it was the natural result of breathing in too much dust in the poorly ventilated environments of the Underhold.
Stonebeard Clan Residences built in North Peak.
Shatterspear Clan Residences, 17/100.
(1 Stonemason Die + 1 Beardling Die.)
5+12 = 17
Clan Shatterspear has put great effort into the North Pass, and far far less into the North peak. Perhaps it is noble of the Stonemasons to ignore their own needs for the good of the Hold, or perhaps it is foolishness. A few simple hallways have been cut into the North Peak, where the Shatterspears might one day dwell. But that day is not soon to come.
Leadbeard Clan Residences, 5/100.
(1 Warsmith Die + 1 Beardling Die.)
3+2 = 5
Your Clan has not much impressed the Leadbeards. Very little work has been done on their Clan Residences this year by Longbeard or Beardling. Built into the First Level the Leadbeard Clan Residences currently amount to a single roughly shorn hallway stretching on from the First Level's Receiving Hall.
Brewer Hall, 139/100. Completed.
(1 Brewer Die + 1 Beardling Die.)
9+49 = 57
The Bronzeplaits have raised up some new pillars to shore up the ceiling and smoothed out the Brewer Hall to avoid any working accidents. A Master Brewer won't suffer much more than a bruised pride should they go heels up with a keg of Ale, but so much spilt Ale should be wept over, and such an event should be avoided. A small Cooper Station has been built into the rear of the Brewer Hall such that the Ale can be kegged and made ready for storage.
Brewer Hall built in North Peak. +15 Ale and – 20 Crop per turn.
4 Levels of Huge, Fortified and Decorated Upper Stairs, 149/130. Completed
(1 Miner Die + 1 Farmer Die.)
13+55 = 68
While the Beardlings have continued up into the Third and Fourth Levels of North Peak the Stonebeards have worked on the decoration of the Upper Stairs. Statues have been raised in alcoves built into the walls of the staircase and tapestries have been cut into the stone with smooth expertise detailing the histories of each of the Clans of the Hold.
Fortified Receiving Halls have been built into each Layer with the staircases passing through a narrow hall one step below the Receiving Hall to enter through the gates into each Level. Guardhalls have been set into place above these narrow halls where defenders can rain down doom upon those who have dared trespass so far into a Karak. Naturally North Peak becomes much smaller as the Upper Stairs ascend and, in order to leave an appropriate skin of stone over the Fourth Level of North Peak, Elder Artrum has decided to advise that a Fifth Level is simply not possible unless you have further intentions to expand beyond the mountain itself.
You do not need to be an Elder to recognise the foolishness of making such designs, the Dawi are meant for the Mountain and removing that protection is not a work that has been done in any of the Old Holds. The Ancestors were clear about the division between Surface Hold and Karak, so too should you be, one does not simply blend in and out of the other.
Huge, Fortified and Decorated Upper Stairs to Levels 1, 2, 3 and 4 of North Peak.
Runelord Challenge
Rune of Slowness on South Peak, 2/4 turns completed.
Challenge Level: 20
79
The Rhunrikki has again journeyed up South Peak to the site where the Rune of Slowness has been taking shape. A handful of Beardlings, none of whom joined him the year before, have been drawn from the Clans to haul more tools and supplies up the South Peak. Evidently Gutfroy sees no need to keep them close at hand for he has sent the Beardlings straight back down the mountain with instructions only to bother him if a Dragon or something similarly dangerous has chosen to encroach upon the Hold.
Since no such creature does visit Karak Drekfut, the Rhunrikki manages to continue his labour over the course of year and even someone without the Blood of Thungni can see the rough shape of the Rune of Slowness taking shape overhead. It will be some time yet before the rune is ready to be struck but progress is steady and coming along as expected.
Rune of Slowness reaches 2/4 turns completion.
Personal Challenge
A Lordly Wedding, Success.
Challenge Level: 70. Costs 10 Steel Ingot.
(Lord Gartrim + Lady Daungrumm)
58+63 = 121
Your wedding is to be hosted in the freshly built Greatmantle Clan Residences with the central events hall being used to host Clans Greatmantle and Bronzeplaits and the Elders of the rest of the Hold. With only one Ancestor Cult to hand, you opt for a traditional Valayan ceremony which broadly favours colours of silver and blue decorating the halls.
Your bride awaits you at the front of the hall with an array of sworn Hearthmaidens of her Clan behind her. Jewels and jewellery adorn her plaits and dress and yet all you can see as you stride through the hall is her own beauty. Elder Matron Gorgissa leads you through ancient Valayan vows to Hold, Clan and one another.
The ceremony goes off without a hitch and without a great feast the Clans start to sprawl out into the Residences to make merry and enjoy themselves. Yourself and Daungrumm move through the area receiving congratulations and thanking guests while her Clan Hearthmaidens and a handful of trusted Longbeards follow behind carrying small chests. As you come upon the Elders of the Hold you stop, clasp them close with a firm grip and open one of the chests.
A mark of the union of the Smiths and the Brewers, master-crafted drinking tankards each one engraved with an image of the two of you in ceremonial dress flanked by the Ancestors of the recipient Clan dressed in their own wedding wear. The Greatmantle Clan Lorekeepers had to journey deep into their memories to find the names and descriptions of the various Clan Ancestors, but the Elders are ecstatic at receiving your gifts and swear they shall be prized heirlooms for generations yet.
You and Lady Daungrumm Bronzeplaits are married. Clans Greatmantle and Bronzeplaits are Enthusiastic. All other Clans are Pleased.
The Throng
Range beyond North Pass
Greatbeard Gallick sends out his Rangers beyond North Pass to get a view on the lay of the land. They make steady progress through the mountain range and note that the peaks neither grow nor diminish as they carry on into the north. However, a few minor ranges of mountains do reach out into the west and those do diminish rapidly into but rocky hills.
The western slopes of the northern range play host to shattered black castles but no inhabitants. Perhaps because the Urki and Grobi have driven from the land for the Rangers have identified that the minor ranges that branch off are overladen with Urks. They spill out onto a blackened plain behind the mountains and squat in the ruins that inhabit it.
Meanwhile the east slopes look down on more of the vale below. Some larger rivers feed into the great river on the horizon and the Rangers have come upon the first signs of civilised life. Large wooden fortified towns where every longhouse emits smoke through a small hole in the roof. The grasslands are awake with livestock and horsemen roam the roads between the towns. On a large hill beside the range a stone castle has been raised up and appears to be inhabited by the same sort of folk. Umgi are a questionable sort, your kin have found them worthy of most serious Grudges and yet all the same they have proven formidable allies as well.
The Rangers are turned back when they hear the roaring of a Dragon in the north, it would be certainly unwise to lead it back to the Hold and so they leave before its attention can be gained.
Spy on neighbours beyond East Pass
Thane Arzil has sent forth Rangers from the East Pass to spy upon your neighbours in the Vale below. They have moved through long grasses to and lain low upon shallow hills to watch the bridges and cabins of this land. After many long weeks of observation, they have determined that the cabins stand empty, and the bridges go unmaintained. A sorrowful state of affairs but the workings are all wood so there should be a fresh slate by the time a new migration of Umgi arrives.
And yet there is smoke on the horizon, the far bank of the great river to the east is inhabited with the same sporadic cabins and with those who would dwell within. The Rangers work their way across the Vale and try to watch those beyond the great river but have been unable to find an existing crossing to reach the far bank. Worse yet, they believe they have been spotted. An island in the river appears to be a rudimentary watchtower and a creature was seen crashing through the river to the far bank and away. The Rangers say the creature was once an Umgi and soon became a Bear.
You have heard of Skin-wolves, servants of the Violent One more often than not, and of Olrik's Kin who served an Umgi Ancestor God of theirs. One, Dumi that you are sworn to destroy, and the other, faithful allies in dark days. Skin-bears, however, the Lorekeepers know little of. Perhaps they are servants of the Bear God of the Umgi who trade with Karak Kadrin.
Watch the Grobi beyond South Pass
Deadeye Stoneskin has led his Rangers on a scouting mission through the South Pass. Assigning small groups of them to various peaks with the task of counting Grobi and mapping their routes was the easy part. Sniping the damned creatures when one of his Rangers revealed themselves and doing so across the gaping chasm between two mountains in a howling storm, was the hard part. He's quite sure the Grobi who saw his errant Ranger are dead, but the bodies were unrecoverable and the Grobi will know that Dawi dwell in the mountains nearby.
The Ranger has been taken to task, and quite thoroughly informed that it would have been better to take his chance with the avalanche than incur the Deadeye's fury. When Deadeye Gromurd informed the Ranger he should remain within Gromurd's arm's length until informed otherwise you didn't think it would go on to the extent it has. But now the Greybeard has spent four months forever within Gromurd's reach.
The Deadeye's report on the mountain of the Grobi continues to insist that they are exceedingly numerous to be confined to one mountain and that the tunnel network below must be swarming with tens if not hundreds of thousands of them. The Hold should beware of being careless in connecting to the Underways should they be discovered for the Grobi have certainly breached them.
He does also note an oddity about these Grobi. They are not green-skinned. Being high in the mountains rules out Wutgrobi, being a pale flesh tone rules out ordinary Grobi and so willingly traversing the surface rules out Drazgrobi. The northernmost Holds of the Karaz Ankor come across the fourth kind, Hargrobi more often than the rest. The Umgi call them Hobgoblins and they are often found in servitude to the Dawi Zharr. Perhaps some more evidence that these are the Mountains of Mourn.
Hunt beyond West Pass
Elder Urtain sends his Rangers west and down into the woods to hunt. They have found much more food than before; the deer are strung up on shafts to be carried back to the Hold and there are more than a few bundles of rabbit to enjoy. The Rangers have two significant discoveries to mention in the west.
Firstly, they have discovered Goats who must have wandered down from the mountains and gotten lost. The Ironploughs spend much of their efforts on working farms but as with all Farmer Clans their Beardlings are trained as Herders as well. The Ironploughs then are very excited to start a herd of Goats. They warn however that Goats tend to need open plateau to flourish and that they will need to leave the safety of the Surface Hold to maintain them. Sun Madness, you whisper to Daungrumm who rolls her eyes at you and is much more polite to Elder Garin.
Secondly, they have returned with troll stew. Apparently there are caves under the woods where Trolls dwell. So far they've only come across a rare few who wander out at night, and they did track one back to its cave. It isn't an infinite source of stew but conversely it isn't an infinite source of danger either.
+14 Meat
Edit: The Greatmantle Clan Residences were supposed to be Decorated.
