Once levels 1 through 7 were complete, the next phase of Stasisgem fortress kicked off – to dig as deep as they could go. Gold and silver would have been nice, and indeed my search for gold helped lead to the inievitable fall of Stasisgem, as we will hear about shortly. While I uncovered much marble, and many valuable gems, I never found any veins of metal other than iron. Over the life of the fortress, when the dwarven miners were not digging deeper, they would return to levels 5 and 6 and continue digging in a grid pattern to locate the most valuables. Levels 5 and 6 were set aside for exploratory mining, as they were primarily marble with lots of gem clusters. No enemy from the depths ever made it through this gauntlet, including some pretty ferocious underworld creatures, including the Gorlak, and the Gorlak’s son. In this passage a ballista was erected, as well as a wall of fortifications, behind which the Hammerers had their barracks and training rooms. Level 7 was built with an up stairway at the south end, and a long l shaped passage leading to the downward stairs. With this in mind, Ibuilt level 7, the home of the Brazen Hammerers, and elite squad of heavy armor wearing melee dwarves. With a single step and an enemy can (and will) step out onto whichever floor they want, and this is not good. The dwarves learned early on not to use one central stairway for the entire depth of the fortress. That is saying something about the design, which featured among other things, staggered stairwells. Indeed, during the life of the fortress, no enemy ever managed to breach levels 1 through 4. They were defended above and below, and were intended to be inviolate. These four levels were the main backbone of the fortress. Of to one side, a rich loamy clay was unearthed, and a secondary chamber was mined out for kennels and additional farming, as well as some underground plant harvesting. Carpenters had full time jobs making bins for this level, which eventually numbered in the hundreds. Anything not a treasure was stored here, including food, raw ore, and trade goods. This massive, sprawling series of chambers was home to the main stockpile. Next we come up to sub-basement level 1, or the level directly below the initial fortress. As the fortress expanded to two or more of each type of workshop, more looping hallways were added. Thus the entire output of the dwarves took place on this level, from coal forges, carpentry shops, to clothiers and bowyers, level 2 rang with the sounds of dwarvish industry day and night. This level of the fortress had outer and inner arcing hallways with many side rooms each housing a workshop and small storage area. In addition to the vaults, level 3 also contained an extensive crypt and eventually a rough hewn chamber housed the hospital and recovery rooms as well.Ībove the treasure vaults, we have level 2, the workshop. This massive chamber would contain all the finished goods of the fortress, and its many sub-chambers each housed a specific type of treasure, including one room set aside for nothing but raw adamantium. Moving upwards a level, we come to level 3, intended to be the main treasure vaults of the fortress. This would be where all the housing, dining hall, cooking and brewing would take place, as well as the Royal Chambers and private treasure vault for the eventual leader, once Meng stepped down as expedition leader to make way for a mayor. It was unknown how deep the dwarves would have to dig (level 32 it turns out) and so they planned a newer, larger burrow on level 4. The plan for Stasisgem was to dig as deep as possible, in hopes of setting up a magma forge. Meng, architect and engineer as well as expedition leader, set out the mining plan for the next seven levels. Level Zero was meant to be the bulwark of defense for Stasisgem, and the true fortress would be spread out on the many levels below. When spring finally arrived, Meng and his cronies set about planning the full fortress in all its glory. Earlier the initial fortress, or “Ground Zero” was described, and how it was hewn from the stone of Misty Mountain during that first long winter. The Stasisgem Fortress was built to stand the test of time, and for many long seasons it continued to thrive, digging ever deeper as its dwarves greedily mined the mountain of its gems.
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