Small update now, because I'm going to be AFK for three days, starting tomorrow.
14th of Opal:
Finally, my sentence is up, and I can get back to writing. I have betrayed both Agercus and this fortress, and made a mistake that may cost us our secrecy.
As I mentioned before, I was fancied myself in love with the merchant Tulon Staigazkikrost. When she was stricken by melancholy, it felt like my heart had been ripped out of my chest. Why? Why must such a beautiful, kind, and loving dwarf be taken away from us? *The page is tear-stained here.* I had talked with Agercus, but he refused to let the merchants go. Therefore, I took the matter up with one of our weekly councils. I have included the record from that meeting here:
Adilmezum Weekly Council Transcript
14th of Timber, 1051
Agercus: This meeting will now come to order. First, a report by SirPenguin on the mining efforts.
SirPenguin: Mining continues on the new sleeping chambers. With any luck, we should be done by the end of the year. Dresdor and Orycteropus are both improving in mining, though I wouldn’t trust them with a vein of iron just yet. Speaking of veins, a vein of bituminous coal has been struck, and though we are not currently mining it out, its location has been noted for future use.
Agercus: Thank you SirPenguin. And now a report on stocks by Kenothen.
Kenothen: Stocks remain high. We have enough fish to last at least another year, if it does not rot, and the first harvest of plump helmets has been successfully harvested. Booze stockpiles also remain high. The transfer of goods from the main entrance to the new stockpiles is almost complete; only a few more logs are in need of hauling. Currently, I would approximate our fortress wealth at 20,000 ☼
Agercus: Thank you Kenothen. Now, is there any other business to bring up?
Kenothen: Actually, yes. I would like to reintroduce the topic of our treatment of the merchants from the dwarven caravan.
Agercus: We have already discussed this in private.
Kenothen: Yes, but I believe that we should discuss it here, in the council, in order to come to a more appropriate conclusion.
Agercus: Fine, the chair opens the question on the merchants, and recognizes Kenothen as the first speaker.
Kenothen: Thank you. I believe that we all know what happened four days ago in the trade depot. One of the merchants went berserk, and began attacking everything around him. The guards were forced to kill their comrade. I believe that this is a clear sign of the decaying mental health of our new friends. Homesickness has taken hold of them, and I fear that if the trend continues, there will be none alive next year. I therefore propose that we open the drawbridge and let them go.
Agercus: I’m afraid there is a flaw in your logic. If we let them go, they are sure to die at the hands of the Enders.
Kenothen: There is no proof of that. There has been no sign of an ambush or a siege, or anything to suggest that the enders lie outside waiting for us.
Agercus: Every Mountinhome is destroyed! Who do you think they will go to? The elves? They will be forced to wander in the wilderness until either the enders or the wolves get them.
Kenothen: But they are sure to die here as well! Look at poor Tulon; she’s starving to death.
Agercus: Only because she refuses to eat. These merchants bring about their own demise with their decisions. We offer them food, drink, even a place to sleep, and they refuse! We have withheld no comfort from them, and yet they decline it all, preferring to sit in their wagons and eat stale traveler’s bread. If they die of hunger, their deaths are not on our hands.
Kenothen: And if they die from the enders? How is that on our hands?
Agercus: Because we can stop them from leaving! We can’t force them to eat, but we can force them to stay here, where it’s safe!
Kenothen: Safe?! The only reason we are safe here is because the enders do not know where we are. How long do you think that will last? We are in as much danger as they would be were they to leave.
Agercus: Which is precisely why we cannot let them leave. Do you think the enders will grant a quick death to those poor merchants? No! They’ll torture them, and ring every last scrap of information out of them, including the location of our home!
Kenothen: Which they will eventually find anyway!
Agercus: Nonsence! Here, we are well disguised. They will never find our location. Even if they do, we have the contingency plan.
Kenothen: Hiding behind another wall? Do you really think that will fool them?
Dresdor: Actually, with a little preparation, I…
Kenothen: We risk no danger in letting them go that we do not already face. If your defenses are so great, then we any information they give will be useless to the enders. They have not been down to the lower levels, and even if they did recall the general area, I doubt they could tell the enders the exact location of our entrance. That’s if you’re correct and the enders do torture them and the are weak enough to give into such crude methods. And if I am right, and the enders do eventually find us, then we lose nothing by letting them go now.
Agercus: This is going nowhere. We all agreed to make them stay, and they will stay. That is the final decision.
Kenothen: I didn’t here a vote.
Agercus: Fine. All in favor of keeping them here?
SirPenguin: Aye
Dresdor: Aye
Orycteropus: Aye, it’s too dangerous to let them go.
Arkaim: Aye, we can’t take the risk.
Thurin: Sorry Kenothen, Aye
Agercus: There’s your vote. Now abide by it.
Kenothen: I refuse.
Agercus: Don’t you dare touch that lever. Stop Him!
Agercus: Now you’ve let some of them out! If the enders find us, it will be on your hands. Therefore, I sentence you to two months of hauling stone out of the new bedrooms. And if you pull that lever again, I'll let Dresdor give you a hammering!
SirPenguin was nice enough to give me the news during my second week as a hauler; Tulon had died. Hunger, homesickness, whatever ailed her, it led to her death. Only two of the guards escaped during the brief moment that the drawbridge was down. I betrayed my friends, and couldn't save the one I love.
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Topic: Adilmezum, Flight from Evil (Community Fortress) (Read 3896 times)