May this final log of mine be a testament...of my failures and of my attempts to make right.
In the summer of year 112 I worked hard alongside the militia commander and the legendary duke sodafountain to both orchestrate our military as well as grow more civil structures for comfort.
We built a massive outerwall along the north-eastern side where plant life had trouble growing. Here we can safely build the many surface wooden homes that we pumpkins need!
We lost Karm the folk hero who stopped the salamander. A bear was traveling the woods killing traveling specters left and right. Karm pinned it down until help could arrive, but it finished killing him before then.
Our raids continued apace without much trouble until one dark pit had a particularly cunning bogey commander. He chased off our gunners without killing any, but without losing any of his men either.
In response the commander himself departed with a squad of scythes and pitchforks! This is where it began...
The bogeys invaded a few days later. Over one hundred of them. The bogeys never wear armor and aren't nearly as well trained so I had our farmer militia and gunners line up for battle
We were all quite excited to get it over with and enjoy the latest batch of pumpkin cider...
Only...
They swarmed the line. Within moments all our troops were swamped under a mass of bogey bodies and we finally saw what their cudgels could do. Their weapons were hexed and when they finally did hit their mark it dealt devastating damage!
Half our military was gone immediately. We hurried to close the gate before the bogeys got in, and they were already so dreadfully close, but
alas! No one had ever attached a lever to the gate! It couldn't be drawn!
They swarm through our gates killing. When will the other half of the military return? As it turns out we are caught in a glitch. One of the military members is in the hospital with a broken foot and they won't engage in their own battle until she arrives.
So the bogeys kill. Kill and kill and kill some more. Eventually they kill the girl with the broken foot and our forces return.
The bogeys are trapped in our fortress now, quickly routed and killed to the last.
And yet...Over 150 pumpkins have died... We have less than 30 members now including the returned military.
I have personally overseen the worst massacre in the history of our people. It is only by the kindness inherent in us pumpkins that I am not executed or exiled. I will likely go down in history with complete shame and loathing directed towards me for all time, but I must try to make things right.
The specters war effort goes well as shortly after the massacre they conquered a neighboring forest retreat and connect with us economically. Although few pumpkins remain we are inundated in swarms of visiting specters, humans and strangelings.
I accept every single one. Our food stores are massive and can handle two years of the visitors eating our food. We get to over 120 of us within the year from the massacre known as"
The riddled Onslaught
It takes us five months to clear the bodies from the fortress, manor and battlefield outside. All day everyday we find and bury bodies. So much so that we lose two pumpkins more. Their minds snap, like a vine stretched too far, and they sit on the ground until they dehydrate to death. Then they too are carried away.
All bogeys and visitor are dumped in the massive pit in the caverns feeding whatever horrors live at it's bottom.
I also cannot sleep anymore. I go days without sleep and wait for my episodes of depression to make me rest.
It's been a year and we still find bodies, skulls and limbs randomly while working and walking the grounds.
The bogeys have advanced and taken one of the specter's fortresses. Hopefully a terrible mistake with them over-extending themselves, but I decided to make a hard decision.
Almost all our livestock died other than a few great pumpkins. We tamed the wild boars we had in cages and are now using them as pastured animals.
We locked the town up. Walled the front entrance up and waited.
Years passed, but we refused to open even as the liaison came.
Artists, scholars and mercenaries alike would camp in the forests around our town waiting to see if we would open up. We would not.
And just as war had darkened our carved smiles it had darkened the heart of the forest. Wild great pumpkins, bears and even a moose would wander the forests butchering the travelers who would remain for too long.
Both our town and the forest remained under the protection of the great pumpkin spirit, whose statue overlooked the entire region: Scythe in one hand and pitchfork in the other. All who camped near the town and those of us hiding within labored under it's great gaze.
And then as year 5 approached the liaison came again. Unable to get us to open he hurled a scroll over the walls. All it was a news update
The war rages on!
Specter Kingdom's invasion of strangeling forests yields new victories as many forests fall to them!
Bogeys and Specters trade blows hit for hit taking homes from one another!
Last human hold outs desperately hold back bogey onslaught!
Battle for pumpkinhead capital yields no fruit; Surrounding villages and towns left devastated!
The commander and I met briefly in the same room we used to meet Duke sodafountain years ago and discussed what, if anything, we should do.
Within year 5 of isolation our walls fell.
Within moments scores of specters, strangelings and humans ran out from the town fleeing into the forest.
After the dust settled one could hear the sounds of vine-filled boots marching: The pumpkins marched to bring fright to the lands. Scythes and pitchforks at the ready as the great spirit watched from above.
After they departed the shocked travelers camping the woods finally sprinted at full speed to see the town of legends, now open once more!
Our military devastated the rear line of the bogey offensive, but there was little we could do. The bogeys numbered many thousands with 4 different cities belong to them as well as the one they took from the specters.
Instead, once enough damage was down our forces departed for the first time to our long lost capital- held by the mad strangelings of the forests-
We offerred to them what had never been offered to us by either them or the bogeys: Mercy
The commander would bear all the fault for the invading armies many travesties and would be put to death. In exchange the Strangelings would be POW and treated respectfully.
They accepted.
The capital was reclaimed. The lands around it were nearly uninhabited now due to the invaders.
The war with the bogeys raged on and humanity was nearly wiped away, but pumpkins had the choice to return home and dig deep into the soil once more...
And our town...Our town closed it's walls once more to the world to wait for a better age. Yet, still the sounds of forging and farming continued unabated.
The legendary metal works of Sodafountain were sought after across the globe by those who sought to succeed him in his title.
It is debatable whether I made up for my failures in my peoples' eye holes, but I know I've done all I can now. I end my career here with no friends other than the few specters and batlings that didn't lose loved ones in the massacre.
Not the happiest ending, but happy! The world has certainly become quite frightful and so I think that is a win in and of itself!
If we decide we want to play this same save next year we could always advance the clock 30 years or something and play in this advanced world some more!
la-li-lo-le-lu was the only named survivor of the massacre. Almost everyone died. The ghosts almost wiped out the fort over the five years because pumpkin bodies rot before they can be buried and thus require a slab.
Author
Topic: Autumn Kingdom Spookycession fortress - overseers welcome (Read 7663 times)