Okay, here is the journal for summer/autumn. I am sorry that it took a lot longer than planned, but I got quite distracted by real-life stuff and the warm weather was not really helpful when thinking and writing.
Journal of Belmondo Astuvel, wandering hunter of the unnatural, 30th Malachite 256:
Vampires...nightly predators, bane of our people, secret movers and shakers to many great powers in this rotten world. Most would consider the self-righteous elves or the vicious goblins to be the greatest enemies of our kind and the reason for the doom of "The Gorge of Vipers", but many wise men know the dark truth. The history of our leaders is full of monstrosities who led us into doom and war in their pride, all while feeding on their loyal subjects whenever they pleased.
That is why I dedicated my life to breaking the grasp of those vile creatures on the world. This place called Watchedgleam, with it's window to hell, attraction to necromancers and the vampiric government, might be the perfect place to start.After arriving at this supposedly safe haven, it seems to me that history is really about to repeat itself. I would guess that roughly a quarter of the population consists of bloodsuckers, which is more than I have ever seen in any other settlement I've visited. With odds like these, just confronting and killing them will not be an option, especially since there might still be a lot of them undetected and on the loose. Subtle tactics should work better, but first I must secure a position of power and start some preparations.
For now, the position as the captain of the fortress guard should suit me well. I was able to keep my purpose hidden from the vampiric mayor
Twangykid and convinced him, that the former captain will be better of in the militia. I promptly recruited a few macedwarves for my justice squad and knotted ties to the resident builders and miners to influence the architure of this place.
21th Galena 256:
Human reinforcements arrived in form of a caravan with a huge group of guards.
Though an army like that might be able to overpower our own at the moment, those two lashers instantly inspired my trust in their intentions. They might even be secret members of my order, purging evil where fate leads them. It is a shame that I can not talk to them openly.
Especially not with an hostile army following them closely. One of our wandering wardogs started barking after spotting a squad of goblins.
Those beings, while clearly being pawns to a greater evil, should not be our main nemesis and only distract us from the real fight. Thankfully
tyrar, apparently a well respected military leader with a long list of kills, quickly led his squad of archers to the walls on his own accord to repell the forces. That leaves me more time to patrol the halls, cast protective blessings and look for the murderers inside our home.
29th Galena 256:
Curses! I already suspected that there are still cursed predators roaming free in our halls and this new victim proves it!
Said victim was found completly dry and already rotting on the bed of his or her apartments. Yes, I was not even able to tell the gender and no one I asked remembered it either, because he or she was considered an "Exile". I find it hard to make sense of those titles, but apparantly there are several members of that caste living among us.
Meanwhile, the battle outside our walls was going in our favor. Our archers spread death among the goblins. Even the arrival of an hostile archery-group did not pose any threat to
tryrar's group.
Sadly a group of swordgoblins disturbed the peaceful traders outside of our walls, who were apparantly having an inspection of our impressive water mechanisms.
I was most impressed, however, by the bravery and tactics of one lone archer of ours, who walked the surface and engaged the raiding groups in dangerous hit-and-run attacks while being barehanded and almost unarmored.
After receiving minor injuries in a skirmish with 3swordgoblins, he ran and led groups of goblins around the area while they were getting decimated by crossbow-fire. After losing most of his pursuers, he turned around, disarmed the remaining two soldiers with well placed kicks and then killed them with powerful punches to the head. Afterwards he was also able to hunt down 3 more of the fleeing scoundrels and dispense the same justice on them. It's a shame that his loyality is already pledged to the so called
Pro Sniper.
The mundane threat was averted for now, which leaves us with the much more dangerous supernatural one.
17th Limestone 256:
The proximity to the lower spheres and the, most likely vampire-mandated, negligence of the fallen has supplied this fortress with a large group of anguished spirits. Thankfully I was able to secure the cooperation of the stoneworkers to lay them to rest.
This particular soul called
TheAxiom was apparently one of the founding members of this settlement. It is shameful that such great personalities did not receive a proper memorial so far.
Also, another victim of the resident vampires has been found, this time in the public dormitory. He was branded an "Exile" as well...I am starting to see a pattern here.
I was able to detect another cursed vampire that claimed to be a harm- and useless "Potash Maker" and hid himself in the smelting-area, though. I sent my guards to bring him before me for...questioning.
27th Limestone 256:
Seven more migrants arrived last week and joined our ranks. Their strong arms will be most welcome as more and more stone-haulers complain about their heavy load. The leaders of our mining and artisan guilds proposed the construction of modern transportation devices called "minecarts". Those petty issues should be none of my concern, but without a working infrastructure, it will be hard to properly equip our defenders with anything but faith and holy blessings.
Speaking of blessings, apparantly a female fisherdwarf of the newcomers was instantly inspired by this place. The moment she entered our halls, she got some divine inspiration and claimed a workshop.
It didn't take long for her to finish her work after collecting some materials.
It might be impressive what she managed to do with those humble ressources, but I don't see a use in such a trinket. Neither will that woman find a lot of work as a skilled woodcrafter, since all the wood is currently needed to make charcoal for our steel production.
Maybe it could at least serve as a symbol for the resistance against the elves and their love for trees.
In more important matters, I was again confronted by the deep corruption of our governance. The vampire-suspect I ordered to arrest was protesting and even resisting against his capture and demanded both a "lawyer" and a more comfortable cell for the time of his detention. Even that cursed mayor supported his brethren with all his political weigth.
My loyal soldier, while not lacking dedication, was not able to go against those orders and neither was I. A satisfying cell was prepared for the criminal and I was forced to refrain from the interrogation...for now. But be assured that their time will come once I sensed a weakness in their structures and managed to free the population of their fear and perceived dependency on their false protectors.
7th Timber 256
Our legendary weaver found another bloodless victim while collecting webs in the caverns. Only a skelleton was left of what once was a dwarf, but there were apparantly traces of vampiric bitemarks carved in the spine.
Why he or she was resting in a bed that some dolt placed in the middle of the dangerous cavern area is beyond me, though. This place might hold a lot of terrible secrets and conspiracies that I still have to uncover.
But first there is more urgent danger showing it's ugly face. Or rather it would be, if it had one.
This is supposedly a burning blob with three tails that quickly started to burn down the underground plantlife.
Unfortunately it was also able to reach the cavern layer above it through some kind of tunnel and catch our legendary weaver who was still collecting the priced giant cave spider webs. He will be missed.
The monster might be moving toward our doors at this very moment, so I already ordered one of our militia squad to meet and end it. My thoughts and blessings are with them.
I, of course, still have to fight my own fights. Another victim has been found just a few moments ago.
I am of to investigate the scene of the crime.
9th Timber 256
Nothing of use was found. The corpse was already completly rotten again and only bones and scattered strips of rotten flesh remained.
On the other front, the blazing blob was quickly defeated by the leader of one of our melee squads. I was told that he cut it down with a masterful stroke of his freshly forged adamantine blade. Unfortunately he was not able to avoid the flames of his enemy and succumbed to the burns. At least he was able to vanquish the danger before it could harm anyone else. He even ordered his subordinates to stay back...his sacrifice will be remembered with fondness.
Now all that remains of this attack are 3 corpses, a broken door and a burned waste.
The trees seem to be resistant to fire, though. Might even the wood be cursed by unnatural forced here?
30th Timber 256
The construction of a proper minecart-system still hasn't begun, so the stone-haulers settled for simple pushing carts for the time being. I fear that we might need to waste a part of our guards for traffic control before they run each other over with those heavy things. Sometimes everyone here seems to be intent on distracting me from my real purpose.
Speaking of distractions: We got another caravan of merchants arriving, this time of dwarven origin.
This caravan was pretty large as well and quickly moved to our depot, which forced most of our workers to waste their time with collecting various crafts and rubbish for the trade. The rewards for our time were mostly cloth, leather, animals and various metals and storage items.
In the midst of the chaotic trading I noticed something worrysome. One of our haulers displayed an unhealthy pale skin and some deep bitemarks in his neck.
After a short investigation it was clear that they were caused recently by a thirsty vampire. Unfortunately he can't remember anything about the crime and only complained about a certain light-headedness, most certainly caused by severe bloodloss. His size saved him from being killed before satisfying the bloodsuckers appetite, but we must keep him under surveilance. The curse might or might not spread through vampiric bites.
I got a bad feeling about this. Winter is coming...and I'm not just talking about the weather.
Okay, finished with that. Another spellcheck will be applied later.
I will take care of winter this weekend (hopefully for real this time).
@Twangykid: Good to see you back.
@Eldes: Done. Welcome to the fort!
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Topic: [Succ. 34.11+] Watchedgleam (necro-, demon- and vampire-con; free elf-delivery!) (Read 80738 times)