Post date: Feb 19, 2018 3:47:34 PM
--- By Gromlin Sharptongue
Whether it's the many casualties of the recent campaigns or the fact that there are simply fewer youngsters around now to pick up an axe, one can't ignore the fact that those few Longbeard guards and dwarrow-soldiers that are around in the Blue Mountains are in sore need of some rigorous training and discipline.
No doubt that was the main reason for Lord Kandral Strongbeard of Durin's Folk to open up a new military academy in the Ufhirth Homestead. The former site of an Iron & Sword forge has been transformed into a bustling military academy complete with all the latest in skirmish technology. The Durin's Folk Military Academy becomes the fourth Durin's Folk kinhouse-sized mansion in the hall (after the kinhall, lore hall and craft hall). Apart from tactical miniatures, armour displays, training dummies and exclusive map table the hall also comes equipped with guard-beds and a private ale room (for when the lads need some unwinding after all that training no doubt).
This reporter spoke to Neeps, a hobbit (can you believe it!) who has been hired to clean the new hall and serve the new eager recruits; and when asked if he believed the halls would now be much safer he had this to say:
"Yes sir, this hall was a right mess when I first arrived - bits of cheese and sausage all over the floor, empty ale mugs everywhere - and you wouldn't believe the state of the outhouse! But all it really needed was some hobbit sense and a mop! Now, these dwarves can get on with what they're good at: whacking foes with their big axes, and not worrying about whether anyone made the goat stew."
An eager hobbit to say the least, just what the Military hall needs if you ask me, for when I walked out I bumped into one of the new recruits, a rather scruffy looking, ale-reeking, tangle-beard by the name of Bazzuntarg, who said: *hic* "Wuzzat?? A hobbit in our hall?? I thought it was one of those goblins got out of prison. Anything that gets me off latrine digging duty is fine with me. Oh...wait...or was that scrubbing pots in the kitchen...or both...*hic*", he added while scratching his beard.
That reply no doubt a keen military tactic in action, as it confused and frightened me at the same time.