Day 1
Overseer has acquired a box of carved runic symbols from somewhere. He says that he bought them from some wandering merchant. Just a little game to pass the time. Carvings on the box name the game “Runescape”. Symbols look rather interesting, they are made from various materials, though I can’t make heads nor tails of them. Too bad there was no rulebook in the box. Probably something from the islands. Many isolated communities with rich traditions live there.
Day 3
Overseer has gotten really interested in those runes. Saw him today with runes scattered across the table. It seemed that he was trying to arrange the symbols in some pattern or another. Maybe the runes are a puzzle game?
Day 6
Overseer has decided to take a few days off so that he would have a bit more time to search for a pattern among the runes. Well, seeing as the backlog of work that needs to be done extends for a few months, he is well entitled to do so.
Day 9
Overseer has not left his room for a whole day. Some of us are getting worried. I decided to ask around a bit. None of the dwarves here have ever seen lone merchant that would be selling puzzle games, or, in fact, any merchant aside from seasonal ones. Seeing as the seasonal merchants left over six weeks ago, this is worrying. Furthermore, nobody here had ever heard of any game named even similarly to Rune scape.
Day 15
Overseer has spent more than three days in his room without leaving once. Before, he would at least leave to get a drink and something to eat, but recently, even this has ceased. Some had wanted to go see if Overseer was all right, only to find the door to his room locked. People are too worried to talk, the great hall, which once was so full of conversation that you couldn’t hear anything from further than two steps away is now silent as a grave.
Day 18
What fools we were! The writing on the box did not mean Rune Scape. It meant Run, Escape. Overseer has been claimed by some alien spirit, and the remaining dwarves are having their life sucked out of them! They do not notice it, but their once sharp minds are dulling by the moment. They seem to have forgotten how to speak, they are constantly repeating same actions over and over again. The select few who had been of stronger will and noticed what was happening have all but left the fortress. Alas, running away is not for me. I have only one choice now; I must confront the overseer, and destroy the runes.