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[Taupe]

Research notes, part 1

We have done it! Skaia and I devised a secret lair where we can work and study without being scrutinized. His mechanical aptitude proved key in securing this awesome room. Minion is proving helpful as well, and his legendary masoning skills are a godsent. He is the one doing most of the physical work, when it comes to hauling and building. Hilariously enough, with most of the fort busy dealing with the sheanigans of a vampire cult, or hiding said cult, we had the perfect opportunity to create the lab in peace. Osp is dead now. I'm told that the channeling plans I created for Mate the 88th did the trick.

Still we must prepare, for more monsters will surely come. If there are shadowy powers running the events behind the scenes, as I have come to suspect, the death of the vampire lord will only create a vacuum that will soon be filled by another beast. It also mean that a precious, if double-edged, source of information has been eliminated. Researching the High Passion's bloodline is now our main lead.

*  *  *

Research notes, part 2

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

A new piece of the puzzle has been located thanks to the genealogy and history books skaia got from the human traders. Buqui has been identified, the father of the High Passion. A very standart man, from what I read, save for the fact that he was known as a worshiper of Nifih. His son, however, is absent from the list of worshipers found in Ost's journal.

When I showed this information to Skaia, at first he didn't see much in it. ''shouldn't we focus on the sons of the son, rather than on his father?'' However, lore searching is akin to mining in many ways. Sometimes, what is lacking is as important as what can clearly be seen. A shining gleam indicates a vein of gems, plainly, but there is also much to learn from the hollow vibrations given by a wall. A cavern, a lake, or maybe some weaker structure. Nothing is something in itself, especially when there *should* be something.

Indeed, why is Buqui listed as a worshiper of Nifih, while his son is not. An ardent believer in all the human gods, named a holy man and the Highest member of their clergy, yet he remains exempt from the list. His father was the last true believer in Nifih. After him, only curses and foul beasts. The question it raises is this: what have the humans of old been doing up to this point, that they stopped doing 300 years ago?

This hints of a forgotten ritual, or a destroyed place of worship. From what I could gather from the history of this human civilisation, there has been much town razing and reclaiming. Not only that, but the short-lived humans usually have shorter-lived political entities. Shifts in power, rise and fall of kings, they are all very common in the human empires. Could it be that during one of those changes of powers, something, or someplace, was lost in DateTattoed, that is now lost to the new generations?

What was it that was lost? And could it be that it was knowingly destroyed, or hidden? Are the reptilian vampires and werebeasts responsible?

The High Passion's heirs may know. A very tedious research awaits us...

[Drokles]

So, thought I'd try out this adventure mode thing.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Journal of Ast

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Finally, today is the day! I have been recruited by SkaiaMechanic as his personal guard. What an honour! Brimming with pride today, I burst into his chambers. I flung the door open and kneeled before my new lord with my spear in hand. "I will follow you, my liege. I will do as you command. Your enemies shall meet their end by my spear!" Skaia who had at that instant just woken up and was still recovering from sleep stared at me blankly feeling no need to mask his restless fatigue, such is the intimate bond between master and servant!
"What do you want?" he asked. I answered "To follow you till the end of the world, if need be! As your loyal guard and servant I shall do as you command." "I don't think I have any guard..." At that my heart started swelling, for I recognized that this great man, who only the day before had indeed installed me as his own true and trusted personal guard, was now too humble to declare openly the state of our relationship believing that such things are best left unmentioned.

Indeed! Yesterday as I briefly looked him in the eye across the dining hall while he was in deep conversation with Taupe II, and the noise was such that one could not hear the details of their discussion, I read his lips as he said "It sure is dangerous in the fort these days". At that moment his eyes caught mine and I understood, yes, I knew I had been commanded to protect this man until death!

Deeply touched by the intimacy of our bond, which must be understood without words, tears made their way down my cheeks as I looked at him. "I understand, my lord." I rose from the floor of his chambers and left the room. Since then I have been following him in the shadows, making sure that nobody sees us openly together. At the first sign of conflict, I shall be ready to protect his life at the cost of my own if necessary.

-----

It seems that Skaia and Taupe II have made a secret chamber for themselves. It took me some time to locate it, but it was enough to follow the one they call Minion. I have heard them speak of beasts of the night of various forms. They have struggled to do research on a particular subject of great interest to them. Human gods, ancient curses. The hamlet of DateTattoed seems to be the centrepiece of all this evil. I know the history of the fort well enough to understand that we have suffered many afflictions of that kind. Do Skaia and the others mean to say that DateTattoed is the nesting place of this evil?

Suddenly it occurred to me that they were aware of my presence. Of course! How presumptuous of me to think that I could sneak up on the great SkaiaMechanic - he was expecting me to follow, to be listening to him and the others! Of course, this is his way of admitting to me the difficulties he faces and the ways in which I can lend myself to his cause.

Indeed, he understands me better than any other dwarf. What a master I have! I listened to them for a while until with a sigh of resignation Skaia admitted that "If only the road was not so long, if only we didn't have such essential duties here, we would be able to go and see for ourselves." I burst loudly into the room knowing that this is the response my master wanted to hear. "I understand, master! I WILL GO!" The men in the room apparently were so overtaken by my resolve that they were in fact frightened by it, for they seemed to recoil into their chairs as if my presence was an utter surprise to them.
"Who are you? GET OUT!" Skaia shouted at me. With a knowing wink I smiled at him sadly, for I knew this would be my last encounter with this great man for a very long time. "I shall, believe me, I shall..." With that I left, and I have not seen my master since then.

OOC:
I want to do a bit of adventuring to see what's going on in DateTattoed. It may be a while before I actually go there, or I may just go there directly, depending on what Taupe and the others write. I have no idea how to play adventure mode though, should be fun.

[Dark One]

Journal of Dark One
15th of Galena

Finally Osp is dead, and this madness has come to pass. Voices ceased, and I can think more clearly. He was trying to alter them all the time, but now it's over. I see what a fool I have been. Now I know that Geshud never loved me, that I have been just a tool. Even though the vampire lord died, a few questions remain. Why have they chosen me? What was the source of the voices, when I heard them before even meeting with Geshud? What was the vampires true goal? Why the nightmares haven't ceased when Osp died? I should never know. Many dwarves have been freed from similar curse to mine. I think they blame me for this madness, but we all were under Osp's spell. Good that I've been strong enough to break free from it in the last moment, and stopped many disciples from helping him get out of his prison. Smunstu really helped me. His brew allowed me to change my voice to the one similar to possessed. But when doing my speech, I felt weird. I felt strange, mystical energies flowing within my body, that there is something good in praising The Light Of Glory, even if I know it doesn't exist. I don't know what to think about it. The whole situation also shows that cults can be dangerous. Scare dwarves a bit, and they start worshipping vampires. Engrave giant serpent in the meeting hall, and they turn in favor of the beast trying to kill us all! They must focus on our dwarven gods, or they would become mad! I think that fortress needs a spiritual leader. The overseer is a wise dwarf, but many question his sanity, even when the elven paranoia ended. I must talk with him to take the title of Archbishop, and build a chapel for our gods. This would help many mourning their dead. This would be a place where one could feel better by being one with their god. I must talk with Mate the 888th quickly. I only hope that he'll forgive me the vampire cult.

Another nightmare with Osp, but this time somehow strange:

Darkness, middle of the night. I go out of my room, and move the corridor towards the meeting hall. Eerie light-blue glow emanate from it. When I enter it, I see dark disciples praying to Osp, who took his spiritual form. I see the ranger Skazul, or was it Stakud? coming from the other part of the fortress. Disciples take him, tie him to the wall using green glowing chain. They call him a mayor! Osp opens his eyes, and speaks to me:

- Dark One! I knew that you'll betray me sooner or later, but since you've been useful to me, know my mercy. Stay out of my plans, do not disturb my disciples and you shall live, maybe I'll bring you Geshud back!

*Osp looks into my eyes, cold chill goes up my spine as he reads from my soul*

- I see that bringing her back won't be necessary! The voices are gone, and this should be enough for you!

As he speaks the last words, explosion breaks the ceiling and the beam of light burns disciples to ashes, frees Skazul showing also his ture form, Iamblichos. Osp looks frightened. And then, a being composed purely of mystical energies appears.

- I am The Light of Glory! Once forgotten, now brought back alive! Listen to me Dark One, as in your wisdom and by pure luck, you gave me my "life" again. Take position of Archbishop, build a chapel to your gods and memorize me within it. I give you my blessing. From now on, you are out of the vampires influence. Blessing also grants you safety from supernatural elements, as from now you can detect powers flowing within the realms, and banish darkness, making its servants weaker. Use this blessing to find a good place for a chapel, but be aware of the dark disciples. Osp can not bring you death of soul but death of body still can be brought to you!

*Beam of light flows within me, Iamblichos escaped when the speech of unknown force began.*

- I am the Dark One, servant of The Light Of Glory, and Archbishop of Doomforests! Beware foul creatures of the night preying on the helpless, as the light flowing within me can banish the darkness of your souls!


I woke up in the middle of the night, feeling sudden rush of refreshing energy. What if it's all true? What if by using trickery I attracted forgotten by sentient beings force? And Skazul is Iamblichos, the spirit of dead gemcutter? I can sense him moving in the darkness, followed by dark disciples and out of sight of innocent citizens. I must ask the overseer about being a spiritual leader of Doomforests, and ask Iamblichos if there is any way I can help him. This is also a good moment to give Taupe's books back, and talk to Smunstu about The Light Of Glory.

[Drokles]

Oh, by the way, guys.

I might want to come back for a second turn. Psycho II is going to have a different focus for his reign, but it will still be quite the show, should the fort survive 'till his arrival.

Done.
I hope I wont regret this...

On an unrelated note, it's interesting how these days, whenever someone signs up for a turn they write something like "In case the fort is alive by then."

Journal of Ast

In my excitement to begin my adventure, I appear to have gotten myself stuck in a tree.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Uh...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Armok help me... One leg at a time..

-----

Most folks at Doomforests seem not to be well-versed in the location of human settlements. DateTattoed could be anywhere...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I have decided to go look by myself. I will go to a nearby human town and ask around. Surely someone there will be able to guide me. But first I need companions to guarantee my safety. Where is the entrance to Doomforests? Why is so much equipment littered here on the ground? I guess I'll help myself to some of that...
Outside the fort I can only find a marksdwarf in a conversation with a wrenman who keeps insisting that "in a time before time somebody attacked somebody". Were you there wrenman? How can you possibly know about a time before time, you charlatan.
I attempt to recruit the marksdwarf, but he simply tells me that death is all around us and it is truly horrifying.
Welcome to Doomforests, marksdwarf.

Found one of the refuse stockpiles which, in its own way, chronicles our proud history. Sane dwarves should really just walk away from here once they see this at the entrance.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Well, entrance is locked. Didn't manage to recruit anyone. Let's just go to this human hamlet and ask around for DateTattoed, maybe someone will want to take up my cause with me. They seem to have settled in the middle of dwarven lands, so they must be good folks, no?

-----

Slowly trekking across the snowy landscape has led me near to a dwarven encampment. On my way I found some dwarves huddled together in a small camp. They were asleep and so I didn't disturb them.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

There are actually lots of those camps, why are they camping so close to a dwarven outpost?

Whoah! Dwarven skeletons?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Did they die in the outpost? WHY ARE THERE DEAD DWARVES IN A DWARVEN TOWN.
Time to jump this wall and find out.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

There's nothing there, not even any dwarves. The town is just a rectangular plateau with dead dwarves on it... No trapdoor leading downwards even.
I don't even know, let's just get out of here.

-----

Finally made my way to the hamlet "Dawnbore", the only human encampment I know of in the Rapid Hills.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Let's see what's in the center of town. Nothing much going on here...

Oh, there's a human crossbowman here. He's greeting me, how interesting! Maybe he wants to go on adventures with me...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Huh, why is he asking me to yield? Let's change the topic...
- How are you feeling today, human?
- You must yield!
- How do I get to Datetattooed?
- You must yield!
- Um.. Can we just..
- You must yield!

-----

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

That escalated quickly!
It is hard making friends!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

In hindsight, he should probably not have walked up to me before attacking. After stabbing him with my spear just once he quickly stopped putting up much of a fight. In the end he left no mark on me whatsoever.
I decided to loot him and leave the area before being assaulted any further.

-----

I found a spearman, Isman Uxenumac, who could give me directions.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

He talks about the Mint Tower, what is that? I wonder if Taupe and the others know.
- Isman: To be honest, I've never been there, so I don't even know what it looks like. Anyway, I don't know why you would want to go there. That area is infamous for its night turnings, you know?
- Me: My business is unfortunately highly confidential, human. I would otherwise share my troubles with one so polite as you. I thank you for your assistance.
- Isman: Don't mention it, just don't get yourself raped by a cave fish man weregopher wampire. I would like to believe in your safety, but you have a worrisome stench of death about you, where are you from?
- Me: Doomforests.
The human stared at me in disbelief at this point.
- Isman: Doomforests! That place is famous for being an absolute hell hole. Look, my cousin is a trader, he tells me he absolutely hates going there, in fact he doesn't earn money from trading with you clowns, he sells his witness accounts of the place as court entertainment! The amount of torment you dwarves can withstand in your fortresses is admirable.
- Me: WELL AT LEAST YOU WONT GET ATTACKED BY BANDITS OUT IN THE OPEN WHEN YOU'RE IN DOOMFORESTS.
- Some Dwarf Marksman: Doomforests, you say? What brings you out here, cousin?
A female marksdwarf approached us and introduced herself as Litast Arbanurdim.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

- Litast: Last I heard, you had a pretty serious werebeast infection in Doomforests.
- Me: Our forward thinking overseer at the time devised a way in which werebeasts can live in peace with other dwarves by utilizing the mysterious magical properties of soap!
As I said this my chest rose slightly and I eyed the human from the corner of my eye. To my disappointment he was smiling wryly.
- Isman: But the werebeast Ast, whose name you share, and her close friends in the caves were slain by Snustrok the snail, no?
Shit! I didn't realize stories about Doomforests were already the subject of ridicule amongst the humans. I am so embarrassed, if he was an elf I would have killed him!
- Litast: A snail! How did you git rid of that one?
- Me: Aye, and a dreadful beast. I was told that it had powers of unnaturally fast recuperation! It took our proudest military dwarfs of "the Kinetic Swans" to get rid of that beast. And even then its blood was cursed, so that anyone who touched it would see his body rotting alive! You humans have no idea of what lurks under the mountains - but for us this is how Armok says "good morning"!
- Litast: Terrible indeed, the humans have no idea...
- Me: Indeed! Why on that same day another great beast appeared, this one a goat with external ribs and an icy breath that would freeze everyone in sight.
- Litast: Surely, that could not have happened in one day.
- Isman: It is in fact the truth, lady dwarf. This is exactly the story our traders have heard.
- Litast: Then, how did you get rid of this new beast?

-----

The stories I could tell of Doomforests went on for a very long time. Even the human did not know the details, it seems, and his tone changed to a more sympathetic one towards the end of our conversation.

- Me: So, after the Goblins killed the goat, the vampire killed the goblins, and the roof crushed the vampire we started wondering if our fort was somehow particularly hated by Armok or whether there were other ancient curses making their mark on our fort...
- Isman: I have other matters to attend to. It was a pleasure meeting you dwarf. I shall always speak favourably of the... Inexorable will to survive shared by your kind.
- Me: There will be more stories for your traders come next summer. How about you, Litast, care to join me on my quest to Datetattooed?
- Litast: I shall join you for I am convinced that you will otherwise die. But you had better bring me glory!

And so we went on our way.

[Drokles]

Just found out about this recently, but it has helped me enough to be a worthy mention on the front page

For playing and chronicling your turn at the same time I recommend using Monosnap as the most convenient way of uploading screenshots.

It's fucking awesome, guys.

EDIT: Anyway, while we're on the subject of the front page, are there any changes you'd like to see? I could put in the effort to catalogue turns better and even things such as journals, if you want me to and think it would improve readability.

[PsychoAngel]

As far as the OP goes, I'm cool with whatever is necessary, really.

"The mysterious magical properties of soap" really got me, Drokles. That was great. 

[Iamblichos]

Drokles, you made my day; that journal had me LOL'ing.  I'm cool with whatever on the first page as well. I will check out the screenshot editor.

As a timely warning, there's a thread in the General Discussion section:

http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=147183.0

That says that DFFD is either shortly going away or (at the very least) changing its hosting.  We should plan now to avoid interruption.  Does anyone on the thread have hosting capabilities for saves?

EDIT: Apparently I am horribly addicted to semicolons.

[Drokles]

"The mysterious magical properties of soap" really got me, Drokles. That was great. 

Your legacy lives on, soapy one

Drokles, you made my day; that journal had me LOL'ing.  I'm cool with whatever on the first page as well. I will check out the screenshot editor.

As a timely warning, there's a thread in the General Discussion section:

http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=147183.0

That says that DFFD is either shortly going away or (at the very least) changing its hosting.  We should plan now to avoid interruption.  Does anyone on the thread have hosting capabilities for saves?

Cool, thanks for feedback!
Oh, that's good to know... In fact, when I first uploaded the save, I used filedropper. I'm not sure how long they keep it uploaded, but it's very easy and requires no account.

[SkaiaMechanic]

I think the front page looks fine, I only have a couple suggestions to make it a bit less spoilery.

For the summary of the year 1055, take out "this allowed one doctor to survive." Also after "A goblin becomes Minister of Agriculture." change the summary to "Also, there was a battle royale between the goat, a goblin seige, a minotaur, some crundles, and two crazed vampires."

For 1056, say something like "Conspiracies, Cults, and Crazies. Mate888 takes back the fort and fights off the Elven Menace while everyone else sits around reading history books."

Also, for Taupe's huge quote near the end, take away everything after "nicely at the end..." So the bullet points and final paragraph, except the first sentence of the last paragraph.

That should be enough to draw people in while saving the shocks for reading the actual story.

EDIT: Your journal is awesome, Drokles. Looking forward to hearing the adventures of my new stalker personal soldier.

[Drokles]

I think the front page looks fine, I only have a couple suggestions to make it a bit less spoilery.

For the summary of the year 1055, take out "this allowed one doctor to survive." Also after "A goblin becomes Minister of Agriculture." change the summary to "Also, there was a battle royale between the goat, a goblin seige, a minotaur, some crundles, and two crazed vampires."

For 1056, say something like "Conspiracies, Cults, and Crazies. Mate888 takes back the fort and fights off the Elven Menace while everyone else sits around reading history books."

Also, for Taupe's huge quote near the end, take away everything after "nicely at the end..." So the bullet points and final paragraph, except the first sentence of the last paragraph.

That should be enough to draw people in while saving the shocks for reading the actual story.

EDIT: Your journal is awesome, Drokles. Looking forward to hearing the adventures of my new stalker personal soldier.

Done. Your edits are very reasonable, and I agree we should not spoil this great adventure for future readers.
Actually, I'm having loads of fun in adventure mode. There's something incredibly immersive about this world now that we've created together that I now get to explore! Ast will make his way slowly towards Datetattooed, but I think that it would be good not go there too soon. I know Taupe has plans for slowly revealing more and more details about his findings, and I certainly don't feel like I'm in a hurry. I hear that you die a lot in adventure mode, so first off I'll just gather loads of companions and see what happens.

[Taupe]

Speaking of consistency and Original posts, I would keep a more stable form for the title. ''The fate of Doomforests: xXVague quote describing the current yearXx. This keeps interests in readers and present the thread as evolving and updating, its a good way to figure out if a new turn is happening, but the consistency of the early text makes it easier to locate for readers. It also prevents spoilers for peope eading ''the killing of the vampire lord'' before they know a vampire lord is there.

Skaia's edits are kinda cool, and go in the same direction. We want to generate interest and puzzlement, without giving out the details and surprises of each turn. Psychoangel's turn description is perfect in that sense.

*    *    *

Research notes, part 3

A human caravan stopped by, carrying with them a message from our brave adventurer, Ast, out in the world to bring answers. He speaks of a new companion, and hints at dateTattoed being to the northeast. The only thing he learned beside a general destination was the name of a famous site, the Mint Tower. The biography of the High Passion contains this relevant passage:


     ''It had become routine for servants of the faith to erect a new cathedral after the town had been swept away by disaster. And the eldest son of Father Buqui rose to fame by commissioning and overseeing such a work. Thus in 755 the Chapel of Charming was finished, standing over the ruined and mazy tunnels that once were the Lovely Temple. By this time, the archpriest Surprisewebs had already been named High Passion for two years. He formed the Strapping Fellowship, which ruled from the Chapel.

In comparison, the Mint Tower was a keep hosting the royals of DateTattoed. Erected in 160 when DateTattoed was founded, it endures to this day still, altho history books and painting from the 7th century make it clear that the Mint Tower was dwarfed in beauty and design by the Chapel of High Passion Surprisewebs.''


755... That's 6 years before the appearance of the first wereantelope in the world. The notes mention it was born in DateTattoed, in the Chapel of Charming. And in the middle of those two key events, the Chapel of Charming also led to the birth of a reptilian vampire. A cave Fish vampire rose to power from there in the year 768. Around this same decade, three more vampires are noted in Osp's journal, for they joined the ranks of the nght creatures in DateTattoed around this period.

The list goes on. In 771, the Chapel birthed a serpent man vampire. In 772, a cave fish woman also took a taste for blood in the chapel. The next curse appears in the timeline in 800. I had to stop there and consult another book. A genealogy book by an old historian named Keanu Reaves, chronicling the various people in the society of Scrubbing civilisation that seemed never to age. Two such candidates for vampirism are detailed in DateTattoed during those three decades inbetween curses. There is also a mention of someone else suspected of being a bloodsucker fleeing to the Mint Tower in 793.

In 802, the High passion is replaced as active ruler in the Chapel of Charming, due to health concerns. He dies three years later, in 805, having been high passion for half a century. The Chapel makes another reach for infamy before he finally dies, and a Skunk fiend is born in those cursed halls a year after the leadership switch. The new ruler will only last 6 years, before vanishing mysteriously.

By 820, three new vampires have joined the dark ranks of the Chapel of Charming. Skaia made a remark about the strange and foreboding connection that this name reveals. Nifih was a Goddess of charm, fertility, and birth. Her chapel was dedicated to the idea of Charm. Charm. One of the greatest powers known and wielded by vampires, as Osp's visit was quick to demonstrate. In less than two seasons, half the fort were willing to elect him mayor, a feat he accomplished with his dark gifts, without even meeting his preys in the flesh. In the Chapel of Charm, deceitful killers are birthed, and conspired together.

*    *    *

Research notes, part 4

According to all the books Skaia got from the human traders, both the Mint Tower and the Chapel of Charm still stand to this day. From what I can gather from an old book on human nobles, prior to 755, DateTattoed was a typical human settlement, prone to attacks, raids, infighting, civil wars, you name it. night trolls, the various wandering minotaur, some warring with dwarven renegates, or dissident mercenaries making a move for the throne. Governments rose and fell like one would assume from a human civilization. Humans are short lived, greedy, and quite harsh and ingenious. Power struggles and succession wars will inevitably lead to new rulers, new groups, new banners, new names, all the time.

Things become different after High Passion Surprisewebs takes over. Despite being a holy man, creator of the greatest cathedral to grace the continent, neither he nor his followers were ever declared a true worshiper of Nifih. Whatever he found in the ruins of the old cathedrals, he used for dark ends. I believe the Chapel of Charm is a cursed building, created to serve a dark purpose. It is the focus of a vampire-creating ritual. Most groups leading from DateTattoed died or were overthrown after a few decades. The Strapping Fellowship, often called the Clean Fellowship, has been in place for over three decades, and still rule DateTattoed.

Why? Because they are all vampires. The Mint Tower, Failnights the legendary and dreadful sewers, the Chapel, even the old labyrinthine catacombs, are all crawling with bloodsuckers. there's not even a doubt that every important dude over there, be it king, bishop or mayor, is a vampire. Most of them were born from the reign of High Passion Surprisewebs, while about twenty more are known to be created since his ''death''. Getting rid of this secret society of night stalkers and reptilian vampires may be an impossible task, but... at least now we an put a name on our real foe. The Strapping Fellowship. Their current leader is known as Pilat Rulepoem, altho that could be any of the old rulers under a convenient name meant for the history books and the faraway nobles. Pilat could be High Passion Surprisewebs himself, for all we know.

I must admire Buqui's son, for in his own twisted way, he did manage to solve political instability in a human settlement, while also ensuring it would never fall to hostile hands.

Yet I must also curse him, if more curses can still befall such a man, for one of those hostile hands is our own. Ast, who is heading there as I write. It is too late for a letter to reach our brave adventurer.

Armok have mercy on his soul.

*    *    *

Spoiler: OOC NOTES (click to show/hide)

That's right people. we are up against a cult of vampire illuminati reptilians.

The plot thickens.

[Iamblichos]

Journal of Iamblichos

30 Galena

Osp's final blow has proven a fearsome one; some days I think it may yet prove fatal.  I am enslaved to my office.  I spend all day in meetings.  I meet with traders, I meet with bookkeepers, I meet with the smiths and artisans.  I meet with the miners to document where they mine; I meet with the woodcutters to count the trees they cut (bloody wanking Elves and their tree-counts.... faugh).

I also get dragged into every grudge, odd idea, whim and bit of trivial speculation in the fortress.  Last week Melbil and Toklud disagreed about who made a particular table in the dining hall.  The maker's mark was only visible when it was disassembled.  What better time to take an entire table apart than early in the dinner hour?  Having upended and pulled the pediment off the table, they took a rubbing and came knocking at my office, looking for records of which artisan used a mark of three strikes across an anvil.  I reminded them that the records for the early days of the fortress were lost, along with all of its inhabitants except Taupe, during the Snail-Goat Incident.  No word on who finally ended up having to (re)assemble the table.  This is how I spend my days.

My course of action is clear.  I must speak to Taupe.  The past few days have shown me any plans I had for the near future are impossible; I can barely get time to facet a stone, let alone locate obscure ingredients and perform lengthy rituals.  Perhaps the good doctor can shed some light on what Osp was, that a simple vampire should display such immense and shocking power.

[Dark One]

Journal of Dark One

Since my dream about the light of glory I can feel the presence of Osp, deep in the bowels of earth. Lately I spend most of my days working in forges, nights following dark disciples, and any sparse time I have helping dwarves mourning their dead. I've seen lots of suffering since my arrival in Doomforests, and there is much more to come. I don't even write down dates in my journal anymore, as it is nothing of importance. If future generations of dwarves ever finds my writings they'll call this madness, as I am calling it right now. Last night I finally decided to give Taupe his books back. When following a dark disciple, I left them on the floor, and knocked to his room. I don't know if he found them, as I had to go quick. I don't know who the dark disciples are. They are secretive, and work out of sight of many dwarves living here. Am I the only one aware of them? When they meet eachother in the dark hallways, they don't talk but communicate by gestures. If I'll be able to decipher the meaning of each gesture, I would be able to infiltrate them. I still haven't talked with the overseer about building the chapel. I am afraid to do this after the vampire cult. One day, the chapel would be built. For now, I teach dwarves in the meeting halls.

The lessons of Dark One

Once in the wealthy and prosperous fortress of Hallglazed, the pride of dwarven civilisation and worst enemy of goblins and elves, young dwarf stood in the great cathedral carved in granite rock and ornamented with gold, sterling silver and cobaltite. Young one confused after seeing the shrines to the gods of misery and death approached the Archbishop and sked:

- Why do we pray to the gods of misery and death? Do we want them to approach our fortress?
- No young one, we pray so death and misery shall avoid our settlement!

Decades of prayers have passed, and the same young one has taken the role of Hallglazed's overseer. But he wasn't strong in his faith. Blinded by his greediness, he saw in praying only a waste of time that could be spent in work. He ordered the cathedral to be sealed off. The same old Archbishop tried to stop it, so the overseer ordered to seal him inside.

Months have passed since sealing the cathedral. Suddenly the wall built to seal it was broken, and a werebeast came out of it. The gods of death and misery decided to take their revenge, so they cursed the Archbishop. The werebeast in its lust for blood slaughtered each dwarf, leaving only the overseer. Soon he went stark raving mad trying many ways to kill himself, but none of them worked, as the gods of death and misery cursed him with the burden of immortality.

When the Archbishop returned to his dwarven form, he was taken by his gods, to watch the dwarfkind so this could never happen again. The mad overseer ventured into the caverns, and it is said that to this day his terrifying screams echo within the bowels of earth. Hallglazed once a prosperous and wealthy fortress, now only ruins haunted by ghosts that torment each brave or mad enough to approach its halls.

And the lesson ends with words:

Pray to the gods of death and misery, as you never know when and how your journey over the mortal plane would come to end.

[mate888]

Well, my silly body decided to get sick and make me vomit my soul off. So there may or may not be an update tomorrow.

[SkaiaMechanic]

Journal of SkaiaMechanic

2 of Hemetite

Strangest thing happened recently. A few days back, a random new recruit barged into my office declaring that I had made him my personal guard. Completely stupefied, I told him I had no such guard and sent him away. A day or two later, while in the secret library with Taupe and Minion, he jumped out of the shadows and declared himself to be at our service. Surprised again, I yelled at him to get away. It was only today that I realized that however that a mistake was made, that I could have used him more effectively. Normally brokers don't have a personal guard. Why would they? It would have to be a crazy situation, like if the traders had the chance to be affected by a wereantelope curse and I was the one lucky enough to stand closest when they turned. But really...what are the chances of that?

...I doubt I'll hear his name again, but I hope this new Ast gets home safe. This is why I detest doing politics. I excel at managing numbers, not people. I need a drink.

Research Notes: Part 1

I've been helping Taupe out with his research. Now I don't know as many languages as fluent as he does, but as a trader I can get the gist of most passages, and point them out if there's something that stands out, especially regarding Datetattooed.

But he's the one putting that together, most of the connections go over my head. It appears his research is proving fruitful, as he finds secrets within secrets.

Instead, I'm using the opportunity to learn a bit of history about our civilization and its interactions with others. Of course, Taupe's using all of the new books cross referencing each other, so I'm stuck reading up on the books that were already here before Taupe the First became overseer. If I have an idea what I'm talking about, the traders will presume I'm smarter all around, and thus more likely to lean towards my prices on our trade goods. Plus, asking Taupe to translate a passage now and again has really helped me brush up on the different dialects of Elven and Human.

So if anything sticks out that I want to memorize for later, I'll write it down here.

So our civilization, the Town of Stroking, has several main deities, other than Armok Himself, of course. The first one I come across is a dwarf god who personifies persuasion, poetry, inspiration, painting, and strength. An artist with the muscle to spare when times get tough. His name? Bobrur the Wonder of Libraries. How fitting. The other gods worshiped by our nation are interesting as well. Mostly dwarves with power unimaginable, but also two animal gods, both of them birds. The Cave Swallow deity Odur the Beard of Periwinkles, whose domain covers all the animals in the world, and the female Peregrine Falcon deity Emuth Towercopper, who represents Earth and Mountains, the Body of Armok.

We are a nation of over 4100 Dwarves, with logs of various animals as pets, but also one Forgotten Beast Outcast. While I cannot find more notes of this creature, I found it shocking that there even was such a thing. What kind of unholy abomination of the deep joins a Dwarven nation after being exiled from (fleeing?) their own kind. FBs are normally hostile on sight to one another, what does one do to be outed by the rest in general?

I found a more disturbing fact later. The exiled Forgotten Beast...was known to be in the location now known as Doomforests.

Was it the Snail? The Goat? Or is there something else in the depths, waiting to be uncovered? Will we ever know?

Our history of wars was interesting as well. Specifically, until the year 1050 no dwarves of any nation had even entered any wars, being a strictly pacifist race, well, politically speaking at least. But on the year that founded Doomforests the goblin nations started attacking our sites. At first I thought it was a mistake, that we just didn't have any information on the Old Wars, but I found plenty of info on the other races. It would explain how in just one year, 1053, the goblin nation The Frilly Plagues took over 10 of our sites at once. We were completely unprepared for the attacks. How long had they been preparing? It is the same group of goblins who have attacked Doomforests in recent years. Our Sister Nation, the Urn of Paint, started their war with these goblins when an Elf residing in a Goblin Conquered town crucified a dwarf. And so began the War of Crucifixion for them, and The Steamy War for us, that continues to this day.
It appears that these goblins were content fighting elves for the past 500 years until 1050, when they appeared to have a civil war, overthrowing their demon overlord that had ruled them for a millennium.

Of lesser note is the other Goblin Tribe, The Nightmares of Warmth who have also declared war against us, but have won no battles or conquered any sites.

And yet, even with a race as savage as Goblins, I personally feel that these attacks are nothing more than their attempts to send a message to not get involved in their current wars. Doomforests is the farthest south the Town of Stroking has ever established a base, while  I think the goblins are trying to dissuade the dwarves by sending a few attacks, to prevent having to fight a war against three races at once. They have their hands full fighting Elves, with Humans not helping matters.

As a race though, we must not be intimidated by these strikes. They are desperate, fighting a foe that outnumbers them 8 to 1. The Goblin Capital for the The Frilly Plagues known as Fishwraith has a grand total of around 900 goblins in one site, with various 100 count camps around it. In comparison, the Elven capital Thinnedbucks for the Lions of Leading is home to over 8500 elves. By my research, this is by far the largest city in the world. Their nation has over 11,000 in total, with enough Grizzly Bears to provide one to every elf and still have leftovers. But their ages-long war is now one of attrition. The elves will win, and the goblins are fleeing, flanked on many sides by two nations of elves and one nation of humans. This is likely the nation our two goblin residents are from.

The other Goblin tribe, the Nightmares of Warmth seem rather content to hide in their Dark Fortress Terrorsplattered in the south with over 1300 of their kind. This may seem impressive, but considering they have almost no other sites except that fortress it's nothing. Their demon ruler was overthrown many centuries ago in 435 by humans and ruled by human kings for over a century. They've overthrown those captors of course, but the power gap was fought over by many. On top of that, The Lions of Leading have killed almost 30,000 goblins from this tribe alone since their demon ruler was toppled. (Not being able to attack back, losing two goblins to one elf, they killed 25,000 humans instead.) They have been rendered far too weak for any expansion now.

Will any of this help in battle? Not likely. We'd need to kill them the same way if they were just hungry and wanted to eat us rather than running from the most powerful nation in the world. But knowledge does help alleviate any thoughts that Armok cursed the Dwarves ever since Doomforests was founded. The events in this world have been leading up to this for a long time. Doomforests is simply the capmark of the new millennium.

There's so much to go over, and I'm still waiting on checking the newer books Taupe is reading up on. But enough research for today. As a closing thought though, it's probably lucky that if Ast were leaving anyways he got out when he did. I wouldn't be surprised of another goblin siege within a week.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

OOC Notes:
I had the luck to get to a computer to run DF on, but it doesn't have any way to unwrap the file from the end of Taupe's turn, and I couldn't install anything to unzip it with. So I'll wait until Mate888 gets the save up before I do more research, to make sure it's up to date.