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Wait for the next release. I want usable mugs damn it!

55 (71.4%)

We can use the current one. I like the big trees and slightly smarter dorfs.

17 (22.1%)

I'll take .34.11 thanks. I want to know I'll get to kill things for sure.

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Total Members Voted: 77

[Splint]

Also on "Seige what seige?"

Human "Army" (Likely just a mess of workers given basic training and weaponry with a few actual soldiers leading them) vs Spearbreakers Army AKA the "Enemy Blend-o-matic."

I wonder which won. *Sarcasm*

[Terrahex]

Especially now that Fischer is awake.

anyway, this is my second entry. BEWARE! long entry. I couldn't find a place to break it up. besides, I had to read a lot now you have to read a lot.

Spoiler: Excerpt 2 from the Third Diary of Terrahex the Dwarf (click to show/hide)

Excerpt 2 from the Third Diary of Terrahex the Dwarf

   I went immediately to Splint’s office after returning from the blood plains. The skies were darkening and the last thing I needed was getting shot at by a crossbowdwarf with an itchy trigger finger. I probably wouldn’t get hit thanks to my mastery of staying hidden, but it wasn’t a fun experience just the same.

   I’d discovered that the leather pack slung over my shoulder was weighed down with several days worth of provisions along with several maps of the area around Spearbreakers and other assorted parchments. I knew how to speak Dwarven, Universal, and Elfish, but Goblish escapes me. luckily Splint knows how to read it and that’s all that really matters.

   Splint wasn’t alone. Just inside his doorway leaning against the wall was Rose, his redheaded guard. Next to her was her purple, glowing pitchblende hammer. I soon found, after her employment began, that she was able to see me no matter how well I hid. She still hasn’t told me how she sees me, but I made a conscious effort to get to know her after a few incidents. We were now as close to friends as we could be without really being friends. When I saw her eyes follow me into the room, I nodded to her. She nodded back, the edges of her mouth curling into a smile.

   Splint himself was sitting at his desk as he normally was, comparing last week’s numbers to this week’s. A few mugs were within arm’s reach on his desk for when he got angry and threw one at the wall. I could tell where he always threw them because of the scratches the stone mugs left.

   “Mr. Splint, sir,” Rose croaked, cleared her throat, and went on, “Terrahex is here.”

   Splint looked up from his accounting book, sighed, and then snapped it shut. “Where does the time go?” he muttered to himself. “Send him in.”

   “I am here.” I spoke up, consciously trying to improve my visibility.

   Splint’s eyes narrowed on me. I’ve been told that just knowing that I was there greatly improved how easily I was seen. I had grown comfortable in his prescence after all these years, and his gaze no longer made me sick. “What news have you?”

   “I saw neither hide nor tail of Spawn or the mercenaries from Ballpoint. It seems both are keeping their distance for now, but I know they’re out there. I caught a scout for the goblins trying to sneak into the fortress. I stole his backpack.” Removing said item from my person and throwing it beside his desk so he could read the contents at his leisure.

   “I do like backpacks.” Splint allowed a wry smile to adorn his normally somber face. “But do keep an eye out for the mercenaries. I don’t want you getting hurt.”

   Rose smiled at this. “Fischer sent them packing twice now. I doubt they’d come back.”

   Splint’s smile remained for Rose. “If they were dumb enough to take a beating from Fischer once and still come back, they’ll be dumb enough to come back again.”

   “Perhaps,” Rose shrugged, “But it took them nearly a year to come back last time.”

   “Well we still must be careful.” Splint’s gaze returned to me, still standing awkwardly in the center of the room. “I’m serious, Terrahex. Don’t underestimate them. Mr Frog has told me that they have weapons that fire at a much faster rate than your automatic crossbow.”

   “I’ll be on the watch.” I promised, turning to leave as I sensed the conversation winding down.

   “I really wish you’d think about making your crossbows for us. They could be a valuable weapon against not only the Spawn but also the mercenaries.”

   My Spawnbone automatic crossbow was the first one I’ve made since the vampire wars. I used to be the best crossbow maker in the entire kingdom, but my skills are not what they once were. My crossbow jammed all too often, often in times of panic. It’s been better now because of recent adjustments to the design, but its taking nearly as much time as I spend decoding my two necromancer tomes. I can’t replicate my crossbow in its current state in good conscience. Once I’ve perfected it I’ll hand it over to Splint.

   I was almost out the door when Splint suddenly called for me.

   “Before I forget.” Splint wore a serious face full of lines from all the hardships that the world had thrown at him. “You need to visit Talvi. She’s always asking for you.”

   My blood turned cold at the mention of her name. “I-I have nothing to say to her.”

   “You’re her best friend.” Splint replied along with a disapproving look.

   “Was.” I turned around and strode from his office before I broke down. Before I saw Splint, I had every intention to work on decoding my necromancer tomes after work. Instead I found myself wandering the forlorn halls of Spearbreakers. Spearbreakers had many unused hallways that may have once been for a purpose but were now buried under an inch of dust with the occasional set of footprints running through it.

   I hadn’t talked to Talvi in months. Her trial brought back bad memories that I’d rather forget about her. I missed her of course, but I knew I’d never be able to see her the same way I did before. I thought she wasn’t even able to hurt a fly let alone a sentient being.

   Eventually my meandering led me to the prison. I didn’t really want to see her, but I knew that I couldn’t put it off forever. The prison’s only tenant was in the first cell, separated from the hallway by sturdy iron bars and a heavy metal door that gleamed in the torchlight. She was huddled on the bed surrounded by her cavies, her hair a rat’s nest. Within a day of her incarceration, all of Talvi’s cavies had moved into the prison cell with her. Tomio had allowed Talvi to keep her cavies in her prison cell despite someone having to carry the keys on their person because the cavies kept stealing them.

   Just seeing the bright, smiley dwarf in the dank, bleak prison made me depressed. She looked like she didn’t belong at all. She didn’t even have the heart of a criminal. Within a month of Reudh’s departure to look for the missing Vanya, Talvi had almost outright confessed to killing her unintentionally. The guilt drove her madder than usual and she blathered about everything and kept insisting that she hadn’t killed anybody even if that had nothing to do with the conversation.

   The trial lasted the entirety of a day and was resided over by Fischer, Weaver, Splint and Tomio.  Nothing of this scale had happened before in Spearbreakers and almost the entire fortress showed up for the trial. Somewhere in the mess of Talvi confessing, the fact that Vanya had been an elf was laid out for the entire fortress to gawk at. Tt took awhile for Fischer to regain order in the audience that was packed tightly into the barracks, but when she managed, people were calling for mercy. It seemed as if Elvin life was not quite as precious as Dwarven life.

   Talvi probably would’ve been let off the hook if Splint had not spoken up. Vanya, He said, was a member of this fortress just as much as every dwarf in that room. Elf or not, Talvi had killed someone who had taken part in helping make Spearbreakers what it was. For that, he reasoned, Talvi must be punished to ensure that anyone who was nurtured under the wing of Spearbreakers could rest easy, insured that they were safe.

   Talvi was sentenced to 40 years in prison.

   “Hello Talvi.” I greeted her somberly.

   Talvi’s eyes went round as saucers. She leaped from her bed, scattering rodents, and flew to the bars. “Terrahex!” she exclaimed, reaching to me through the gaps that were just big enough to let a cavy through but small enough to keep her in. “I knew you’d come. I bin tellin’ mahself they must be keepin’ you from me ‘cause us two, we’re like two pees in a bucket-a-milk.”

   I had to smile at that. It is almost impossible not to smile at her southern accent and nonsensical similes. “Well Talvi-“ I started but she cut me off with a string of words that I couldn’t manage to find the end to.

   “They let me keep mah cavies though. I made ‘em. They tried to take ‘em back but I pitched a fit till they put em where they belonged. I told em a girl without her cavies is like an onion without an outside. That’s how I got to keep Johanna and Marty and Chris and Julie and John and-“

   “Talvi!” I interrupted forcefully before it went on too long. She looked at me expectantly with those big doe-eyes she had, making me remember all those fun times we had running through the shadows and exploring the old and deteriorating parts of Spearbreakers along with all the new and exciting parts. I comforted her when overseers threw cavies at spawn. I dealt with her manic depressions and sudden bubbly episodes. The fortress generally liked her and accepted her but I was really her only friend.

   “Nobody stopped me from seeing you.” I told her.

   She didn’t react for a moment, seemingly having a hard time processing what I just said. “Then why didn’t you come to see me?”

   “Talvi, you killed a girl.”

   She stepped away from the bars as if I had struck her. “I… I didn’t mean to.”

   “You pushed her off a cliff!”

   “She was an elf!” The first in a series of tears ran down her cheek.

   “I don’t care if Vanya was a Troll for Armok’s sake! How could you do something like that, Talvi?”

   The only thing that echoed through the prison for the longest time was Talvi’s sobbing. After several awkward minutes, I couldn’t take it any longer. I regretted making her cry, but I didn’t dare apologize. I turned around intending to leave. “Goodbye.”

   “She was my friend!” Talvi yelled angrily to me, stopping me in my tracks. I turned to face an anger stricken Talvi. “She was my friend, and she betrayed me. She betrayed me and tried to steal Mr Frog from me.” I had long known about her childish crush on Mr Frog, but I thought it had subsided years ago. “Please!” She begged. “Please don’t betray me, Terrahex!”

   I was tempted to forgive her fully for everything that she had done, to tell her that everything was going to be all right, but I didn’t know that. She had 39 more years until she would be released.

   “I have to go.” I said quietly.

   “Please come back again!” Talvi cried out.

   “I… I’ll try.” I conceded, turning from her and walking from the room. “I’ll try.”

[Reudh]

Fischer's idea of mercy to her enemies is killing them in a half-second instead of ten seconds.

[Terrahex]

I was reading the TVTropes page and listed under shrinking violet (the shy character) was Vanya (at the beginning) but not Terrahex the dwarf... XD

[Reudh]

Yeah our TVtropes page is a bit dilapidated atm. :/

[Splint]

We have no-one to reliably maintain it because I can't and nobody else is willing.

[Lolfail0009]

We'd need someone sane. It's not that no-one's willing, it's that no-ones ELIGIBLE.

[Splint]

Far as I can tell everyone who's contributed followed quickly with what amounted to "NOT IT." regarding custodianship.

[Terrahex]

NOT IT

actually I wouldn't know how

[Reudh]

Egh, I keep procrastinating for my next entry, and I know both Splint and Talvi are waiting on me.

[Splint]

I'm not. I'm just ina big pile of writers block. If you do do that little nod remeber: Early Sewaturet. If you want specifics on a layout I'll be happy to PM them.

[Reudh]

I'm not. I'm just ina big pile of writers block. If you do do that little nod remeber: Early Sewaturet. If you want specifics on a layout I'll be happy to PM them.

Yes please!

[Reudh]

Here's entry four. Entry five will be at Sewaturet, Splint.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Entry Four

Lurit, Strohe, Tedaz and I camp just out of sight of Ceshcacil. When the sun rises, sickly and weak as it is in this latitude, we head back to Ceshcacil, with out new proposition.

I knock on the door while Strohe, Tedaz, and Lurit wait outside. I am a Lord, or so people seem to think. Hence, I am allowed to visit Lord Tammunique without an appointment.

"Yes? Is that you, Lord Reudh? Do you come bearing women?"

I get a bit of a thrill because I actually got called Lord, but then disgust makes me feel grumpy. Hathur really is a foul man.

"I come in."

I enter the room. Hathur's concubines line the room, in various states of undress still. It is not as much a shock to me as before, but I still am startled. Meek Reudh seeing so many women nude? It is unheard of. Before I came to Spearbreakers, I had not got a wife or beloved. At Spearbreakers, while I was drugged I was obsessed with first Rose and later, albeit briefly, Rochia. Then, Vanya gave me a friendly peck on the cheek, which turned my world upside down. She was the one for me.

I digress. Hathur stood up again.

"I see you have not found me my women. Thus your reward shall not be given."

I stammered a bit.
"I have a proposition for you, Lord Tammunique. What if... What if you refrained from having concubines from your country? By releasing these women to their people, they can help the economy of your country, which helps you better afford protection, and what's more the newly strengthened economy may allow you to import more... exotic concubines."

It was hard to say this, but if it freed the women of the land, then it would help.

Hathur appeared taken aback momentarily, then smiled.
"Wonderful idea, Lord Reudh! You are wise indeed, and a credit to your dwarves!"
I beamed. It felt good to be told I was doing something right. Definitely didn't happen at Dreary Speary. Oh, well... I shouldn't call it that.
Spearbreakers was my home.

"Don't worry, Lord Reudh. I haven't forgotten your reward. I will tell you of Vanya."

My knees went weak. I know I'm a hopeless romantic, but even I was surprised that I reacted such.

"I thank you, Lord Hathur Tammunique, greatest of the humans, glory of Ceshcacil."

He laughed at the praise.
"Reudh, truth is: I know nothing of a Vanya. The name sounded interesting. I had heard absolutely nothing of any Vanya... By the way, I am sure you know Vanya is not a dwarvish name? It sounds more elvish."

Fury rose in me like I had never seen before. Not fear, but fury. This bastard duped me.

"Hathur. You said you would tell me of Vanya. But you know nothing? Bastard. Idiot of the worst kind. You make me wonder why dwarves tolerate humans."

Hathur sat down and flat out giggled.
"Oh, I told you what I knew, which was nothing! I fulfilled my side of the bargain, just as you did (albeit in a different way to the way I expected). I also got my contacts to check if you were who you said you were. You are from Spearbreakers, that much is correct. You are no lord. You were overseer, which is different. You are common. You have no power any longer and are a civilian, worse: a vagrant.
I kindly ask that you leave Ceshcacil. You may take Lurit with you. He does not wish to stay and I will not force him."

My fury absolutely sputtered and died. Hathur Tammunique had a point, even if he was a slimy bastard, he is right. I should leave, to not waste any time. I have tarried enough.


He's still a bloody gormless knurd son of a goblin though.

[Talvieno]

Whoa, wait... Talvi's in prison??  For forty years?? When did this happen? Why wasn't I informed? Aaand... now the whole fortress knows Vanya's an elf, and you say they're prejudiced against her... This makes things interesting, to say the least. Not sure where to go from here.

Great update, though, Reudh. Looking forwards to the next one.

Edit: sorry about the TVTropes page, Terrahex. I was maintaining it for a while, but the character sheet isn't even half-done. RL got in the way.

[Talvieno]

Written somewhat spur-of-the-moment.


reedit: discussion complete, this is canon.
Journal of Talvi Diamondknight, Late Winter 209

This is a giant emu leather bound journal belonging to Talvi Diamondknight. The pages sit loosely within the cover, as if they weren't intended to be there at all. This is supported by the fact that the cover reads "Alchemy and You, A History".

    I told 'em, I did. I tole all of 'em. I told 'em that I killed Vanya, that little sneak. I told 'em I was sorry. I couldn't stand knowing that I'd killed her - me, li'l ol' me. Same as the newt in the waste pile said, "There ain't none more apple peels," I ain't gon' leave here no more. They sentenced me, by my request, to 40 years in prison. Fortress'll fall afore then, sure as anything, but that don't matter none. I gots what I need. I gots my journal. I gots a pen. I gots people feelin' sorry for me. An' they shouldn't, 'cuz I was a bad woman, I was. I'm sorry fer what I did. I shouldna killed Vanya... even if she was an elf.
    'Least, that's what I tell ever'one.
    I ain't that dumb.

    Not too long af'er I made m' last entry, Mr Frog came an' got onto me for eatin' his books, he did. "Talvi," he said, "There ain't no butter in a pecan's eye, you should rightly know that weller'n anyones." And so I did, but he didn' know that. I was eatin' his books on purpose. I knew he'd get onto me fer it. "Talvi, lemme show ya what books are really for, ya hear?" My response was quick. I accepted. See, but inside, I was fumin' with rage and havin' to keep a tight leash on my temper an' all, but he didn't know. He gave me one of his older books an' tole me to read it instead o' eat it. And so I did... Consumin' them with yer eyes beats with your teeth... There's so much more meat on 'em for the eyes. But Mr Frog only gave me that one book. "Alchemy and You", it was. I still has the cover, and I ain't gonna give it back. He said I could keep it, affer all. He said it weren't no use to him none.
    But I didn't stop there. I asked for another, but he said I should read from the Spearbreakers library. But that weren't what I wanted. I wanted to b'come smart as Mr Frog hisself. He's got a full bookcase in his room, dusty ol' books sittin there like ants with a jelly jar. But he'd know if any was missin', he would... So I tried somethin' differ'nt. I'm well and good at takin' pages out of books by now, affer eatin' so many of Draignean's. While Mr Frog was outta his room, I took the pages of "Alchemy and You" and removed the pages of another of Mr Frog's books, replacing them with Alchemy's. The book still seemed full, but it had the wrong pages, was all. Mr Frog never read 'em, so he wouldn't never know.
    An' I read. I read all his pages about portals an' brains an' neurochemistry an' all that stuff. I know how to make potions t' make a person fast, I know how to make a poison that'll boil a man's blood in half a minute, I do. I kept swapping the pages of his books, one affer another, readin' them all in my spare time. Only trouble was Urist... He's in Mr Frog's room quite a bit these days, learnin' or somethin... But Mr Frog ain't never locks his door. I kin sneak in there while Urist's fiddlin' with the portal, or readin' up on books, and steal a book of my own. Mr Frog has sharp eyes, but Urist don't.
    Then I ran out. I'd read all Mr Frog's books. I knew all he kept in there. I started readin' other books in the fortress... An' it finally got t'where I stoled the necromancer tome from Mitchewawa's room. It was in ano'her language, but I knew how to read't, 'specially since I read that human-english dictshun... whatnot stuff. Sure as an ol' mule bouncin' on a bowl of taters.
   
    Now I know how t'raise the dead, e'en if I ain't so good at it. I can make poisonses that'll make it seem like I'm dead m'self. But what good does that all do if Mr Frog finds out, see? An' he did. He found out I was messin' with his books affer th' cover fell offa one. He started watchin' me... Think he may have been lookin' to kill me, even... But it only left one thing t'do. An' I knew what it was.
    Affer stashin' some stuff, I went an' tole Splint what I did to Vanya. I tol' ever'one. They all knows now. But see... I appealed t'their nature. I tol' 'em all how she was an elf. I told 'em I thought she was gonna betray the fortress, jus' like any elf rightly would, see? But I knew better. Vanya weren't like that... a'least, not when we was friends. I told'em how I pushed her off the cliff. I told 'em ever'thing... almost. But what happened was what I thought would.
    They betrayed me. Some of 'em wanted mercy for me, an' I'll remember that few. I said I was bad, an' horrible, and instead of jus' one year in prison, I made 'em give me 40, sayin' I deserved it. I begged for forty, I did. Well, I said "thousand", but they said that was crazy, an' they set it t'that. I also made 'em give me mah cavies so I could keep'em with me. Loki and Set don' really likes the Holistic Spawn's yellin' and yammerin' all the time, but it cain't be helped. I need 'em here. It lets me be happy an' bubbly, keeps me from goin' crazy. I'm a good girl, I is. We all just doesn't see eye to eye all the time, like the farmer an' his weed. I ain't never counted a weed's eyes afore, tho... Anyhow, the cavies keep stealin' the keys, an' I keep givin' 'em back to Fischer. I want them to feel sure I don't never want to escape this little cell.

    They all think I'm outta the way. They think they've put a stop to me. They think I isn't never comin' back to harm nobody.

    They don't know.

    Mr Frog came to me one night, he did, early on. "Talvi," he said, "Vanya didn't die in the caverns. I cain't find her body." I told 'im I didn't care. I was bad and had to stay locked up. It was the way things had to be, I said. I deserved it. He nodded an' left.
    Because I'm my sweet, lovin' self around ever'one, Spearbreakers folk don't hate me. They feel sorry for me. They like that I owned up to my mistakes. Not e'en Mr Frog hisself could tell I was lyin' through my teeth when I said I was sorry. I just get all bubbly or teary when it's needed, I do. My granpappy said I shoulda been an actress once, he did, but I ain't never got the time to catch a wagon. Same as a splinter's hide.

    Most recently, Terrahex came t'see me. 'e was lookin' mighty... hard t'see. Jus' like old times. I tried to tell him of my plans... But he ain't the same no more. He's changed. He betrayed me, he did... said he weren't gonna be friends with me no more. I don' rightly care. I's got my cavies, an' they's all I need. I don't need Mr Frog none. I don't need Terrahex. I gots them. And I gots my plan. I ain't out of the picshur, no, no no. Any little lightning bug with a fever can agree wi' me there. I'm just resting an' waiting. I'll be out afore you know it.
    I don't never forgive.

The bottom of the page is scrawled with arcane and demonic symbols.