In the time period going from early winter 145 to late spring 146, an important number of events occured, both locally and globally. Following those events is, as we'll soon see, absolutely necessary for our survival.
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On the life of Elder Valken, carpenter of Thomocemir
Following the conversations about the safety in Kimaeslo Ori, extensive research has been performed on the werebeasts known of the kingdom. Indeed, if the Riverguard of Thomocemir is known to have slain most of the feral creatures that plaggued the region, at least two of them are known to still live ; Hustrà, Zothoabo's wife, has been imprisonned in a secret house, located under a glass bridge, and Valken, the carpenter of the Riverguard.
If Prince Ryukan of Thomocemir could assure us that Hustrà was still under tight locks and would represent no danger, the strange case of Valken was, however, another story altogether.
Valken was bit the 21 may 132 by a wereskink called Rusna. Because Valken was a childhood friend of the lords of Thomocemir, he wasn't killed, and instead kept in a close house and closely monitored.
The effects of the curse would then be studied. Among other things, Valken aged abnormally quickly ; his hair whitened and wrinckles appeared on his face. His physical abilities, however, increased by a significant margin. Confinement, however, proved itself enough to prevent the curse from spreading, and a limited form of communication could take place.
But somewhere in winter 143, for Ino knows what reason, Valken disapeared from his jail and we lost his trace. Search parties gave nothing – torn between their desire not to cause a panic and to protect the population, Thomocemir's nobility decided to, once again, sweep the affair under the rug and to silently continue their investigation.
Only recently was he rediscovered and we had the full story.
After he fled Thomocemir, he followed the dwarven road to the south, and in a few hours of walking on the quickly accumulating snow, he finally arrived in Kodsakzul's dwarves territory, and more specifically, to the fortress of Urvadstettad.
The old and mostly naked man then walked to the local tavern, located in the entrance of the fortress, and was rescued by the human innkeeper, a woman by the name of Stinthad. Reportedly, the two fell in love and married soon after.
Image courtesy of Valken 's player (I'll totally draw that lady again)
The lessons that we can learn from that story are :
• Love indeed conquers everything
• Valken is out of containment and extreme caution is now advised.
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Dealing with scavengers
Winter 145 was very hard to say the least. Torrents of rain and snow poured from the sky for entire weeks, only stopping one or two days at a time before starting over. Temperatures were very cold ; the ground froze, making the work of the fields even more an ordeal than it already was. Still, work had to be done, no matter what.
Joakim and Dengusa Three more projects were going underway : a dedicated tavern to disengorge the longhouse and to advertise ourselves to the rest of the dwellers of the interior sea's shores, and two personal houses made to put a roof over families that come to Kimaeslo Ori, ever too numberous.
Meanwhile, significant progress was made on the bridge and the other side of the sea was finally reached. At the end of winter, the bridgehead was underway and made structurally sound.
Those efforts under those conditions, however, took a serious toll on the Aconilun's morale. Even if no further incidence of violence took place, a downward spirale was clearly visible.
Effects on morale were exacerbated by a number of factors. Firstly, as the bridge finished, a band of rhesus macaques took the opportunity to come again and try to steal our goods, both in the farmer's living room and in the granary.
With a population now made of 66 villagers and growing, and a quickly professionalizing military, those threats were disposed of quickly. In themselves, they did not do any real damage, but their corpses were left scattered in the main street, open to everyone's view. Altho most people were legitimately bothered by the presence of animal corpses near their houses, people refused to do anything about it. Interrogated, asked to or ordered to throw the cadavers in the corpse pile, villagers would repeat that it was
« not their job » and moved away.
One would have thought that such an attitude about the situation would mean the villagers would be alright with the presence of decaying monkey corpses in the main street, but they would continue to complain and argue a bout it every night.
« Fine ! » Gram exploded one day, after work at the tavern. He probably had one too many spelt beer. « Nobody want to move this damn corpse, and I don't want to do it either. As the expedition leader, I hereby declare the places where these corpses are « communal dumping ground » »
He then proceded to throw his refuse next to the rotting body, on the main street, and came back drinking at the tavern.
The next morning, both the refuse and the body were disposed of and moved to the actual dumping ground and the topic was never brought up again.
Sometimes, it takes what it takes.
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A couple of news in batch
• The war in the north grows more intense every time we check. Now the capitale city of Ansgek, Dongmustu, is under constent siege by the dwarven kingdoms of Bomrek-Laltur and Kodsakzul, in addition to the ever so pressing attacks by Osme. Howe ver now that Ansgek's force are dwindling critically, Osme and its now dwarven neighbours are starting to go at each other. At some point, we'll have to get involved.
• Kimaeslo Ori is now officially a village ! Gram is therefore no more an expedition leader. The title of Lady came to Sug, altho we can consider taking it from her to give it to someone we deem more deserving, if you so wish.
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« The most beautiful thing I ever seen »
The other event, however, was much more dire and happened sometimes in the early spring ; then the village encountered its most fearsome foe ; more than the troops of Osme or the gigantic lurking underground horrors,
my own incompetence human mistakes.
In an attempt to securize the platform on which the Aconilun had set foot so far, operations of construction and mining were conducted. However, in the process, a natural pillar was brought down, and torrents of water were poured on the platform.
I'm an idiot Next to Gram who performed the operation, two vilagers were present : Bannic and Ramet, a farmer girl with her newborn baby.
Both were propelled by the sudden stream. Ramet could hang on a cavern wall and crawl back to the surface, but had to drop her infant who almost immediately drown. Bannic was propelled three meters downward and the drop inflicted him serious injuries.
The man would have to wait a couple of days, without food but with water aplenty, until a secondary downward tunnel could be dug to him. Gram and Jalew took him and brought him back to the surface. A makeshift hospital was made in the houses in constructions and Bannic was tended to as much as the villagers could.
When questionned about his experience however, Bannic was surprizingly peaceful.
« I just took a violent bath » he said. « And I was near a waterfall. Have you ever seen a waterfall ? It is the most beatiful thing I ever seen ».
Bannic somewhat recovered, but will walk with a crutch – hopefully, he will recover further, but we don't know at all.
As for the stream continuing to drown the cavern, we will have to find someway to contain it, and hopefully do it before the whole cavern is submerged. Emergency floodgates have been constructed but we'll probably have to wait until next winter before decisive action can be performed.
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Good news at last
Everything is not doom and gloom however, in Kimaeslo Ori. First of all, we finally could produce blue dyes from underground mushrooms. This is the first dye Mong Kima has access to, and while other human factions have access to red and green above-ground colors, blue will definitively set us apart. For now, dye and blue colored clothings are still a luxury product, but we're making ways.
Soon, we should have blue cloths for everyone, and then some to export.
The second new is – we got some important new migrants. First one is De ngusa, coppersmith of Thomocemir that was already alluded to. Coppersmithing is probably one of the most respected professions of Mong Kima, due to the time and price it c osts to train an artisan to an acceptable level. Having another coppersmith, in excess of Joakim, is a true blessing, to the point we're thinking about making them a dedicated, com bined workshop with a wooden kiln and a couple of anvils, so they can work continuously.
Dengusa is the son of Asin and Apba, and therefore the grandson of Sug and Jalew. He also is, for those who followed the previous story, Uzu's elder brother. He's a competent metal crafter and weaponsmith. After finishing his time in Thomocemir's bootcamp, he reforged most of the blades of Thomocemir's knights, and altho he can improve still, is probably one of the best smiths of the country. He is curre ntly 19 years old, and his life has been quiet. The 5 october 144, he married another boy his age by the name of « The Kindled Lute »Tunul, who accompanied him to Kimaeslo Ori.
Tunul is another fine addition to our crew, as he is a former student of Zefer, which makes him a good swordsman and archer, with a lifetime of war experience.
But among the newcomers were a figure that we, in the kingdom , are very familiar with, and we absolutely did not expected, « Freedom-in-the-mist », now 45 years old.
Luki is currently wearing the price of a small castle on jewleries on herThose last years, Luki has been very calm, living a life travelling between village, exercizing a profession of butcher or bonecarver, but refraining from participating to anything violent or related to the country's projects. However, when she came to Kimaeslo Ori, she did so with great pump, wearing expensive jewelerie made in the bones of the dragon she killed, 16 years ago. She was temporarily given a post of captain before we decide to give her something a little more prestigious.
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That's about it, it could have been much worse, tho this flooding is a big time concern. My idea is to wait until winter and seal off the acquifer, one way or the other. Tho it'll be risky, that's a risk we have to take or we lose access to what made Kimaeslo Ori shine so far. And I'm way more afraid of what can happen with water than what can happen with Eldritch horrors I'll be totally honest.
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Topic: Mong Kima - The Nation of Pearls (DF 0.47.05) (Read 254541 times)