2nd year of the reign of Aldehenkaru’hktanah Sit’marihu, 13th King of Roegudok Hall. It had been several weeks since the demon had managed to launch a surprise attack in the main hall. The Home Guard was left with twenty dwarves, including Kijik, barely enough to patrol the main hall for any sign of trouble. The dwarf king still replayed the events in his mind over and over. If only he had prepared better. If he had been able to create the poison crossbow bolts he had read about in Sylus’ book, then they could have put the demon down before it destroyed most of the Home Guard. He knew it wasn’t his fault. There hadn’t been enough mithril on hand at that time to create the shafts, and Sylus had explicitly said the powdered poison needed to be applied to mithril. As it was, Al had been fortunate that Benbo had been marching a contingent of cavedog riders back in from practicing maneuvers in the valley outside of Roegudok Hall when the demon attacked.
