Granite 25th:
Kulet Arrosdodok: It's... Let's see, it's Alath Gadandodok's turn. He's a sharp young dwarf. His turn should be... 25-1, 26-2, 27-3, 28-4, 1-5, 2-6, 3-7, 4-8, 5-9, 6-10, 7-11... Yep! His turn goes until the 8th of Slate.
Alath Gadandodok:
I'm twelve. I'll be an adult soon, and I'll have to help out with hauling. I don't really like that, but I have to do my duty.
I'm skinny. I have long brown hair and dark tan skin. My eyes are slate grey. I am quick to heal.
My preferences include ash glaze, which will unfortunately not be found within Rockfalls, as we have neither a source of clay nor a quick supply of wood. I also like sterling silver, aquamarine, crystal glass, and amber, none of which will be found in here. Cave spider silk? Nope. But there'll be squares, short swords (Kumil's obsidian short sword), leggings (perhaps), and bags. Also perhaps figurines.
I grew up in the suburbs of the mountainhome. We moved here when I was four. I don't really remember the mountainhome very well, but I do remember figurines and cave spider silk and amber. I liked seeing what was at the trade depot, seeing rare and valuable crafts and materials. I enjoy drinking dwarven beer.
I'm very smart. I'm friends with Urdim, who's also sharp and good with intuition, but he's not good with words. I'm better with words, sharp, creative, but I can't really focus. Neither am I a musical prodigy. Not by far. He has an iron will, though, stronger than mine.
I admire tradition, have a calm demeanor, and am organized. I'm not often happy, and I'm not often straightforward when dealing with others... Everyone has their faults. I can admit mine.
I'm in the dining hall right now, writing this. Vutok's right next to me. We aren't friends, but she's a passing acquaintance of mine. Cerol was one of my friends, but he died. I was six. It's been about six years since he died.
I walk back to my bedroom for a few minutes, then walk back to the dining hall.
Oh, cool, Monom's started a party! Ingish is eating some yak meat next to me. Many people are arriving at the party, including Led, Rigoth, Kulet, Urdim, Mistem (she's my six-year-old sister), and Vucar the Female (Urdim's five-year-old sister). Kulet the engineer, too, and As. As is Urdim's father, and we've talked a bit. We're acquaintances.
Granite 26th:
By the way, my birthday is Hematite 21st. It's coming up soon, early summer.
I wander around, talking with some of the other children, then walk into the statue garden.
Granite 27th:
There's still Monom's pet turkey's corpse in here!
I'm going to go eat. Hope there's some dwarven beer in the food. Unlikely. I'll wash it down with dwarven beer, then. I see several other people drinking in the drink stockpile. Mead, beer, and rum. Also sewer brew. I'll grab a plump helmet.
Granite 28th:
There's a big crowd in the dining hall, so I take the long way around to avoid getting trampled by animals.
Good, filling plump helmet.
Slate 1st:
I go back to the statue garden. I chat for a while with Ingish. He's getting a bit old, but just a touch of gray in his short, neatly combed, brown hair, and his burnt umber skin is slightly wrinkled. We're good friends. He's very calm and genuinely nice, even if he doesn't openly express his emotions to most people.
Slate 2nd:
I'd better prepare for being an adult. I think I'll help harvest some plants. Our skilled planters have planted these plump helmets extremely well, so even in this sand, the plump helmets are the plumpest I've ever seen them. We have to cut them in half, because otherwise we'd get stuffed when we tried to eat them.
Slate 3rd:
I grab an obsidian pot and put it in there with the dimple cups, sweet pods, and cave wheat. Then I go back to the dining hall. I'm surrounded by chicks, puppies, and piglets. Too many animals! I think we should pasture them somewhere.
The party's still going on, with Kulet the engineer, Monom, Kumil, Rigoth, Kulet the farmer (my dad), Fikod, Mistem, and Vucar attending. Beside me, Ushat chomps on a prickle berry. We talk for a while. I recommend that the animals be pastured in the sand level. He agrees.
Slate 4th:
Zasit eats some yak meat and chats with me about the beautiful landscapes he saw in his ninety-three years, but says he has to go and pasture the animals. I guess Ushat put my suggestion into effect.
Now I'm talking with my father, Kulet the farmer. He's telling me about the time a goblin took Tholtig from my mother's back as she was working. He was a very tough baby, he says, and is probably still alive. Hopefully a farmer, but more likely a brainwashed warrior. That's the worst thought of his life, he says, Tholtig being struck down in battle - or worse, killing another dwarf. That is sad.
My father is eighty years old. He's skinny, and his very long, dry, brown hair is tied in a ponytail. His hair has a touch of gray in it. He is getting a bit old, but he's a very knowledgeable father. He's very slow to anger and active, great with language (which is probably where I get my affinity for language), and very good with intuition. He dislikes intellectual conversations, though. No father's perfect.
Slate 5th:
I go back to the dining hall, where Led, my mother, is. She's seventy-seven. She's agile and has a good intellect, a good memory, good creativity, and a good kinesthetic sense. She's not very patient, though. She's nervous but often cheerful. She's organized and likes the stability and security that Rockfalls offers. She's very sincere. She strives for excellence, and worked hard to become a legendary extractor operator.
My six-year-old sister is next to her. She's relaxed and compassionate, though she doesn't like rules, tradition, or people telling her what to do. She's sitting with Vucar, Urdim's seven-year-old brother. My sister was only one when we sealed ourselves in, and Vucar was only two. He likes listening to the stories about trees and rivers. He's also calm and can handle stress. He's organized with his clothes and folds them over and over again until they're perfect. If I were Feb, I'd assign him a job that requires diligence and excellence, but that doesn't require taking risks or making compromises, as he doesn't seem to do either.
Slate 6th:
The party grows and grows, but Atis isn't here. A few people are doing the essential jobs to keep us alive.
Urdim's mother, Nomal, sits next to me. She's very social, but not in a bad way. She's sincere and trusting. She's glad that her son has a friend of a similar age to grow up with as a best friend. Nomal and I are friends, too. I'm glad that nobody belittles me. I am very intelligent and capable of complex thoughts and conversations, although Nomal doesn't really do intellectual conversations with anybody. Intellectual is not synonymous with sincerity, anyway.
Now Kumil's next to me. She tells me about the death of Cerol Amudducim, who will forever be remembered as a brave defender of Rockfalls, using only his hands. He bled to death, slain by a goblin with a silver scimitar in the year 258. He liked rhyolite, pig iron, faint yellow diamond, green, bags, and llamas. He was very cautious and often nervous. He was Iton's lover, and she was heartbroken, never to be the same, when he died. Kumil and Iton have a grudge. Perhaps Iton blames Kumil for not saving him. Kumil says the last time she saw him, he was surrounded by goblins, looking helpless, but fighting until the goblins broke him down. Kumil raced over as soon as she could, but he bled to death. This is very sad.
Kumil says he worshiped Ber Kanlikot and Kol Legononul Lalsazir, the deities of jewels and travelers, respectively. Truly he shall find a place in the depths of the earth. The humans have their constellations, but we dwarves believe that deep inside the earth, further beyond even the legends of hell, lie the most precious jewels in the world: the souls of the brave and heroic dwarves of legend, never to be disturbed. Kol will ensure his safety on his final travels to the deep stones of Ber.
He was very friendly and sincere. Almost everyone in the fort was friends with him, and the morale was seriously low. Only Feb stood between us and a tantrum spiral, and he won. He saved this fort. I must remember to talk to him later and thank him for all the work he has done and is currently doing.
I know what I can do! It just struck me. It shall be my duty to assist him in his overseeing and leading of Rockfalls. There is probably much thinking and paperwork to be done.
Kadol is also twelve years old. He's Urdim's older brother. He's guarded in relationships with others, often nervous, and... I don't mean this in a bad way, but he's odd. He talks to inanimate objects. He's not good with social relationships. He's very friendly, though, but we aren't friends, just acquaintances. I suppose he's sort of like Vutok.
Slate 7th:
Urdim's attending the party, too. I decide to go to the memorial hall for Cerol.
Feb comes in. We stand silently for a while, then we chat. We both admire tradition. I tell him that I'm extremely grateful for all the work he's done to keep us fed and drunk, and to keep us from falling into depression and a tantrum spiral after Cerol's death. He's very glad that some of the children appreciate his work. I offer to help him manage the fortress, and he says that that would be very good.
Slate 8th:
It's time to give this journal up to... Kulet! Kulet Arrosdodok. I've already done him the favor of calculating his turn: Slate 9th to Slate 20th. Feb says he would be very glad to have me as his apprentice and assistant in leading the fortress. He says he has to go lead now, and I must go.
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Topic: Rockfalls the (New) Depths of Volcanoes (Read 3526 times)