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[Haspen]

Penhas the woodcutter/carpenter/what-have-you wants in, then. Hopefully a badass and/or family man?

[Cathar]

Fall 151

New faces

After the unfortunate happenings of the last season – the child of Pasmug attack on the vagrants and the stand-off with the guildsmen, there was some pressure starting to build up on the Thaguk Alnos to get their affairs in order.
They could not let the curse of Pasmug develop among the populationn and they could not let the relations with the guild deteriorate. The ill was clear, but the remedy would recquire some effort.

To that, one would have to add more emerging issues – some shortages were expected soon. The stocks of copper were dwindling, charcoal itself always came in short supply. Housing itself was becoming a problem as more and more people were joining.

The 23 of September, a new migration wave would bring eight more souls to the bridgetown :

• Ketas, suturer
• Teshil, peasant
• Adil, presser
• Sapa, professional soldier and his wife, Perad, merchant and archer
• Tista, stoneworker
• Haspen and his wife, Erab, both peasants



Haspen is born in 124 in Inidinut, a small village a short walk to the south of Kimaeslo Ori. From unknown parentage and having received no mentorship into the trades, he lived a rather idle life in his hometown. He was married at a very young age to Erab, whose father and two brothers became soldiers in the city of Ishaakul, in the southern shore of the continent.

When they became aware that an effort of recolonistion in the Kimaeslo Ori, they prepared themselves and joined the next caravan.

The difficulty was mostly to find themselves an occupation – neither Erab nor Haspen having developped a skill in the arts. As a temporary measure, they were given a place in the militia. Totten took the sudden influx of manpower into her ranks as an opportunity to reorganize the forces.

The new organization would see the forces split into three groups

The branded workers : General arms group under the direct command of Totten. They are meant to be armored-up line soldiers as soon as adequate equipment can be produced
Watchers of the veil : A group of six crossbowmen under the command of Histamine, consisting of six trained crossbowmen, mostly veterans and mercenaries
The Flowery Summit : A fledging axe squad consisting of Toki and two recruits. This squad is not battle ready, neither trained, manned nor geared yet, but will become a frontline squadron given time.

As a sidenote, Splint and Hakuryu, if you want to change the name of your squads, please give me a sign !

Soon after that restructuration of the militia, an gathering was held in the tavern – the population of the town had grow a lot and was in dire need of civil administration. The only noble in the town, Wuspin, refused outright, saying that he could not shoulder that responsability. Histamine, who already had a lot of work with her double responsability as a trade mistress and militia captain, stepped out of her position as an expedition leader.

It was clear to her than she and her friends would not leave the bridgetown to resume their travels now – for as hard as life can be, it is way more comfortable than sleeping under trees and kicking the road.

After some sort discussion, it was decided that the title of Lady should be given to Desli – a young, quiet, unmarried craftwoman. She had been hard at work until recetnly, making valuable craftgoods out of bones – some of them considered as masterworks. The choide of Desli was a very safe one – nothing in her mild character should cause any problem later on the line.



Dotep was taken out of the militia and replaced by another recruit – for he was promoted as a manager and given a room in the administrative manor.



Of course, it meant that Uzu would be left the only sword user in the militia, but I'm confident he can learn by sparring with other soldiers – his iron ringed sword is about one of the best weapons we made so far, and the captains thoughts that, considering Uzu's past as a sellsword and a monster hunter, he would be able to learn by himself.

Stopping the curse

The month of september came and went – and the vagrant Ramstom, who last season fought off the wereskink, started to have some hope in his recovery. He had been bit a couple times – but it wasn't said that he had absolutely no chance of avoiding the curse. Maybe he was immune, maybe he was just lucky ? If he made it through fall, he'd consider himself healthy and stop worrying about the curse of Pasmug.

However, after the sun set on the 11 october and the full moon started to rise and Ramstom went to sleep under his tree, he was taken by violent convulsions. Rofa, an Iferifiyopi vagrant who was passing by, came to investigate.



Rofa was bit multiple times – he was a trained soldier, but he had no chance against Ramstoms monstruous strengh and bestial ferocity. Luckily, his suffering was short as the monster mauled him to death.

Maybe the Thaguk Alnos could have saved the elf –  had they intervened earlier – and considering they had a squad of dogs, specifically trained to hunt werebeasts, standing nearby, it is difficult to imagine their untimeliness as not deliberate.  As soon as the elf died, Figaro unleashed the dogs.



The dogs tore the creature to pieces – surprizingly without sustaining any major injury themselves.

When the sun rose again, Noloc, Ramstom and Rofa were all dead – hopefully, this time, the curse of Pasmug was finally extinct.

Nishtiz iron

About one week after the incident, the Nishtiz dwarves came back to Kimaeslo Ori. Histamine, who conducted the trade meetings, was now a proefiscient negociator and appraiser of goods -and with the summer market cancelled, the town had a lot of goods to  trade. Bonecrafts of excellent quality, thanks to Desli's hard work, have been piled in wooden boxes, alongside yarn and clothes jewelry.

It was low-quality material that was worked by expert hands – a staple of pearlite craftmanship. It was the nature of a pearl to be but a grain of sand worked over years by sea creatures into priceless artefacts – and the people of Kima had made this conversion of trash into gold the backbone of their wealth.



They had a lot to trade – wax crafts, candles, bone amulets, cloth hearrings and so on – the dwarves of Nishtiz shown a lot of interest. Those merchandises would be sold back to their mountainhomes for a wide margin.
In exchange, Histamine bought mostly metals – dwarven iron, and some decorative metals and alloys – gold, electrum, some pewter.

It would not be enough to run the redsmiths working for very long, but it was progress – and more importantly, it was the first time a human nation could put their hands on bars  of that mythical dwarven iron.

Kaos, the smith that was designed to work those metal bars, had difficulties hiding his joy. Hopefully, the swords he would forge out of those bars would mark a turning point in the direction of the war – or at least, he thought, be enough to keep their city safe.

[Splint]

"Welcome to the militia. First lesson comes here and now: When the enemy comes out of the woodwork, and we all know they will eventually, don't bother with anything fancy and gods above do not hold back no matter what. This crew's made up of simple, blunt soldiers and our job's to kill those savages, not dance with them like some trumped up showmen or duelists."


I'm fine with the squad name for now, seeing as I can't really think of anything better. Suppose anyone who earns a title, unlikely as that is, could receive a brand or something as a mark fo toughness or some such for story/roleplay purposes to make it fit though.

But damn am I glad that little fix worked, cause that page with the dwarf merchant was genuinely funny to me.

[Sir Knight]

Oh yay, yay!  Steel arrived?  Fantastic!  Now if only there were visitors from the previous plotline to goggle at this moment.

[Cathar]

Now if only there were visitors from the previous plotline to goggle at this moment.

Well, there's Uzu, and there's Dotep from Thomocemir... But yeah, I wouldn't be against seing more familiar faces

But damn am I glad that little fix worked, cause that page with the dwarf merchant was genuinely funny to me.

Haha, so am I. Now we can make actual progress

Winter 151
Outside news

Rumors of attacks against Thomocemir keep coming to Kimaeslo Ori. However, whereas a decade ago, they only had to fend off assaults from Osme, they now seem to have to face attacks from the sky dwarves of Desor Uzol.

Last summer, a hammerdwarf by the name of Mezbuth was seen snooping around Thomocemir's fortifications. He was however found out by the guard and managed to flee, only to return next summer with two acolytes. His companions were promptly ambushed and killed, and Mzebuth was jailed. The situation seemed to repeat itself in winter, when another scout was spotted around the bordertown – the situation did not escalate as the scout manage to flee.

Other than that, the year 151 was extremely peaceful worldwide. The world seem to keep following its already established trend – the war in the north continues to shift against the empire of Ansgekstozu, with its current emperor under Bomreki custody (there would probably be a historical novel to be written about those events), and the two remaining fighting kingdoms of Bomrek-Laltur and Osmestobϋb are drawing dangerously close to each other.

In Kimaeslo Ori, things are now definitely taking up some pace. With Desli appointed as a new Lady of  the Thaguk Alnos, the bridgetown was now back at behing officially considered an inhabited village, and with the very lucrative commerce with Nishtiz, luck seemed to be smiling again on the colonists.

Projects

This winter, the focus was put on two major projects : carving out more stone bricks to continue the bridge – and more especially the bridge palace on its center – and fielding more bodies in the militia.

For the bridge palace, microline clusters deep inside the caves would have to be exploited – altho not very valuable by itself, microline was used by the previous government to give a blue color to their official buildings, and the Thaguk Alnos was interested in keeping up th trend.

As for the militia, there was a double need to be fullfilled : a need for more recruits of course, but more critically, weapons and armors needed to be produced.

Slowly but surely, the Thaguk Alnos was establishing a stronger presence in the area – with a growing number of men under arms and the recognition of not only the crown of pearls, but also the kingdoms of Iferifiyopi and Nishtiz, it was only a question of time before they started to expend.

The third winter spent on Kimaeslo Ori, however, would come with it's share of issues to be solved.

Vagrants and criminals

Alongside the Thaguk Alnos, two other communities shared the area of Kimaeslo Ori ; guildsmen and exiles from Mong Kima, and looters from Iferifiyopi. Life outside the walls of the bridgetown was stressful, dangerous and uncomfortable.

When the temperature again started to drop at night, it may have proven too much for those who sleep outside yet refuse to burn dead wood. So much so that a cold morning of December, as Toki was walking on the beach, on his way to collect his new equipment as a captain, he was jumped on by an elven vagrant.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The elf merchant misses the militia captain!
The militia captain stands up.
`Toki' Ilrebeksur, militia captain: I was attacked.  I'm panicking!  I'm panicking!
The elf merchant misses the militia captain!
The elf merchant misses the militia captain!
The militia captain stands up.
The militia commander strikes at the Doctor but the shot is blocked with the +ashen shield+!

Regaining composure, Toki avoided the elf's attacks and pushed him back with his shield. The elf fell on the ground and Toki escaped the encounter. When he came back to the village, the story of the aggression started some discussion about the state of the vagrant commuities existing outside Kimaeslo Ori. What do that elf wanted ? Was it because of the wooden shield ? Was it a protest about charcoal being used in the forges ?

The elf  - a gentleman named Mafi – was already known to have a temper. Later on, the record keeper Ozo reported to have seen Mafi attack another elf near the trashpile – the two elves having ripped their shirts off and were bludgeonning each other.



The other elf was discovered dead a couple days later. ; January 5.

Altho what happens between elves may not be the problem of the Thaguk Alnos, we probably should do something about them at some point. But what ? Maybe chosing a heartcaptain would be a start.

Lesno wakes up

Winter days kept becoming colder and colder, and a month passed without incident. Without incident, that is if we ignore the rumors that more vagrants were disapearing in the forest, and an elderly naked women being spotted in the wood margins – only to run away. Lady Desli was proving herself to be extremely skilled at carving bones, which may become our primary source of income in the near future. Masterworks amulets were produced quickly, and we were confident that they would be loved by the elven merchants coming up next spring. Another worker, Othla, happened to be a master leatherworker, and produced some work of art with old tanned skins laying about.  When the Thaguk Alnos discovered his skills, he was commissionned to work on shield and leather armors for the militia – even tho lessons were learnt from the Aconilun about not relying too much on leather for protection, it was understood that leather lamellar armor would complement more protective copper mail. As for leather shields, they were both lighter, cheaper and as effective as wooden ones and were considered a straight-up upgrade for the militia.

In the meantime, The 19 of January, Lesno, who was caring for the cattle since he was brought inside the walls after the monkey attacks since winter 150, and who have taken the seemingly harmless habit to speak with the beasts, happened into a violent argument with a yak and a goat.



After shouting like the madman he probably is, he attacked both animals and slew them.



Lesno not being a mamber of the Thaguk Alnos, no sanction were taken against him – but the militia is now monitoring the madman in case he would take his murderous ways on humans.

Aca Rightlilac, the Fighting Mountain

Born before the first human nations, Aca Rightlilacs was a female cyclop of terrible power. Active during ther whole lifespan in the eastern side of the Land of Oak, she would antagonize  many kingdoms and raid their settlements to feed her insatiable hunger. Altho she would attack indiscriminately goblins, humans, elves and dwarves, she had a peculiar taste for goblin flesh – attacking mostly Osmite settlements as well as those of the kingdom of Spongkunane, another eastern goblin kingdom that we had no contact with yet.

Her last attack, as far as the story goes, happend in 124 in the Spongkunane pit of Smatspoosta, far in the north east.

Aca had two daughters from two different mates. One of them, Usle Glittoerstool the Gray Jewel, having been slain in a spectacular fashion in Thomocemir, in year 135


Poor Usle died after having been knocked unconcious by a mysterious kid

Unlike her less successful mate however, Aca was widely feared by those she encountered, and have been given a semi-godlike religious status – Aca was seen as a symbol for Light, lightning, thunder, strengh, minerals and longevity

It  is unknown why such a creature came to Kimaeslo Ori – but here she was, in the 17 of February, snooping around the bridge. Because she was spotted so early, the militia could start deploying right away, and the vagrants could flee safely.

But for the guard dogs, posted at the entrance of the bridge to stop small threats such as werebeasts from entering the town, it was another story.

When they spotted the massive one-eyed mass of flesh, the pack howled and jumped on her. Aca was not at her first raid – she was a four hundred years old monsters with centuries of brawls, an dstarted to wail on the poor canines.

Under the command ot Totten, Histamine and Toki, the militia crossed the bridge as soon as they could. When they finally reached the monster, two third of the pack have already been destroyed. The militia, however, was highly trained and well armed.



Soon enough, the cyclop was surrounded by the small army, her tendons severed and her body peppered with bolts.

Totten is credited with the kill.

The armor slayers

Lastly, a word about the dwarven iron bought last season to the Nishtiz merchants. Due to the extreme value of the material, it was decided that only Kaos would be allowed to work on it. Due to the reputation of the material to easily pierce armor, it was theorized that swords would be the best weapon to fit the material – combining the propensity of the weapon to lop off limbs to the propensity of the material to go through armor.

Kaos went to work during the whole season. He was a redsmith by profession, and working iron was a quite different process than working bronze – he couldn't mold his swords, and had to flatten the bar under heat.



A bit weary of the process at first, Kaos grew in confidence with each hammer strikes. The results were extremely satisfying.



Two exceptional blades and one finely crafted – those blades are valued over most artefacts coming from Mong Kima. They were truely wonderful blades – almost a shames to have to use them.

Let us hope the trade with Nishtiz continues ; the value it creates is absolutely unprecedented. It may very well be the key of the war in the near future.

[Superdorf]

steel long sword

yesss.

[Splint]

That's my girl. Landing the finisher on a great monster, just as a commander should.

Here's hoping those swords provide a solid showing in the future.

[Cathar]

It was hard to believe that the massacre of Tetzobsha was ten years ago already. Those events, themselves the result of years of rivalry and mutual provocations, changed in a few hours of battle the whole geopolitical landscape of the western shore – leading to the military intervention of Thomocemir and the slaying of Pilalene's forces and royal family.

Pilalene paid a hefty price ; his defense force were crippled, its royal family slain, and its beast army it used to defeat Tetzobsha was ambushed and destroyed by the militias of Desor Uzol.



But those events also cost dearly to Mong Kima. They lost their footing in the west, its second best army, one solid trade center and the totality of Tetzobsha's population – asit was told, there were no survivor.

As it was told... Oko knew it wasn't the whole story. He knew because he was there.

He was a very old militian at the time – 70 years of age. Tetzobsha had a very primitive industrial and agricultural sector and without any trade skill of his own, working in the army was the only way he could earn his bread.

When Pilalene's beast attack hit Tetzobsha, Oko was among the defenders. He fought back the waves of leopards alongside Commander Stipoth and his men, and tried to hold the primitive wooden walls of the fort - he personally slew three of the beasts.

But when he saw the situation turning ugly, he ran to his wife at the first occasion, and fled from the for fort through a hidden passage. He doesn't know if anyone else survived – but at least he did.

His second son, Gatshi and his youngest child, Guki, died on the wall to cover his retreat, as the couple sank into the night and disapeared from the records.

That was ten years ago, already.



Oko was an old man – having turned 80 the 9 of July 151. Having been extremely active with his wife, he had children, grand children, great grandchildren all over the kingdom – and his first great-great grandchildren were soon in age to marry.
As his second daughter, Luthi, died defending Kimaeslo Ori against Osmite forces, he thought that the bridgetown would be a good background scene to spend his last years on Minbazkar.

Alongside his wife and eighteen other travellers, he decided to walk to the bridgetown, and arrived the 13 of April.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

A couple day later, the 25 of April, the elves of Iferifiyopi came back to the bridgetown. They were led by a merchant by the name of Bilalo.

Commerce with the elves always have been made at a deficit for the kingdom of Pearls, but this season was especially poor. The elves usually bring two kind of goods that would be of any value to the bridgetown : beasts and fuel.  Beasts because of their affinity with nature, elves are able to domesticate more dangerous kind of animals than humans are – and pearlites have been looking into making beast armies of their own for a long time. As for fuel, as elves claim their wood is grown non-destructively, nobody minds it to be turned into charcoal and fueling the war industry.



 This year,  however, Bilalo bring no fuel and only a couple beasts, most of them of no interest. Of them, only a male jaguar, fit to start a pack with the female they sold a couple years earlier and in lieue of most-needed fuel, mostly low quality wooden craftgoods.

Not only that – but soon after their arrival, rain started pouring over the bridgetown. The elves – supposedly used to inclement weather, started to complain about the pearlite lack of hospitality.

Sending them back home was not an option – trade was the garantee of peace between Mong Kima and Iferifiyopi, and with the disaster of Kostupu still in people's recent memory, nobody wanted to risk another elven war.



In haste, a flat, decorated roof was built above the marketplace, protecting the traders from the weather. The male jaguar was bought, and immediately taken to Figaro so his training could begin, then let to rest with the female so the next generation of goblin-eating felines could be bred.




The rest of the products exchanged – low quality utility wooden craftgoods – chests, bins, barrels, mugs and the like – against bone artisan craftgoods – crowns, amulets, rings and the like. Because of the massive differential of value between the low quality wooden tools and the mastercrafted bone jewlery, the Thaguk Alnos had to give off the difference to the elves.
A bit of loss in value, acceptable considered that it was the price of peace, and that Kimaeslo Ori's wealth  was converted from animal remains in the first place.

When the elves left, they were in good spirits and promised to come back next year.... Histamine, still responsible for the market of the village, hope they would carry better trade good.

Next in line would be the guildsmen, sometime in summer. Summer's market 151 had been cancelled and the guild was in bad terms with the Thaguk Alnos – no doubt they will come back with their hand outstreatched for donations.

That is, unfortunately, the price of diplomacy.



*-*-*-*-*-*-*

After a few years of training and teaching, Ipan's skill with a spear were now widely recognized throughout the kingdom. He was already skilled when he arrived, but at this point, after honing his skills for many years in a dedicated facility, he has become a proper master. In the very long run, he might be given his own squad, so Totten's squad can specialize in mace art, but for now, he is content providing guidance to recruits on general combat, and the use of various part of their gear – shield, and armor pieces.

As he was becoming a master in his trade, his wife, Ador, was becoming a master in her own right – as a mster miuner and stone cutter. She mostly worked in making stone bricks for the bridge palace – the main project of the town – but during her free time, she also managed to carve herself and her husband an actual three room house in the caverns, not far from the dolomite garden.



Life was smooth for Ipan. He was a high profile man, living in a high profile house, in with a high profile wife. The only two problems in his life were a small difficulty to adapt in his new underground house, and  his social advancement, still too slow for his taste.



“What's frustrating, he said to Ador, is that we have almost everything we need to grow the army : volonteers galore, metal everywhere, excellent trainers and good redsmith to make their equipment”

Almost – as fuel was now severely lacking. Impossible to forge more gear without fuel, impossible to train more soldier without gear, impossible to promote poor Ipan without soldiers !

And fuel itself was getting scarce. At this point, Pearlites relied entierely on charcoal, from exploiting the forest, or from trading with elves. But now – elves came without wood logs, and the forest – it was completely exploited in the east, and extremely dangerous to the west of the interior sea, full of vagrant, elves and monsters – the lumberjacks would not come close it it.

“Worry not !” Ador smiled. “We'll find a solution”

By working in the caves to extract microline, she noticed that large mushroom were growing in the wet parts of the underground cavern – and she theorized that those giant myconids could be converted to charcoal. Those mushroom could not be accessed due to the rushing waters, but surely they could be domestically grown in the upper levels.

“I believe those mushrooms will grow on wet soil, given enough room.” she theorized.”We just need to carve a mushroom farm in the mines”

And so they did – they dug up a twelve meter deep vertical hole over muddy soil, and then crossed their fingers that their plan would succeed.




Worst case scenario, theytd' be left with a bit of dolomite stone to build the bridge with. Best scenario, they can start growing their own charcoal soon.

We can only hope.

[TheFlame52]

Always nice to see Mong Kima pop up in unread replies with Latest Post - Cathar.

These humans are starting to turn into tall dwarves.

[MadMonkey]

You are on a roll Cathar!

[Sir Knight]

"his second daughter, Luthi"?  Was it actually Luki?

Also, what is the vaguely-terrifying beastie in the water on the top right of the final map?  (I think I've asked this question before.)

Also also, I enjoy these updates as ever.

[Cathar]

The creatures on water are the ghosts of pearlite vagrants who get killed despite my best efforts. They get memorialized before they can do any damage tho, so I don't bother mentionning them usually.

Oh and on the top right, it's a raven. It's just a birb nothing to worry about.

Also no, Luki and Oko are unrelated, Luthi was another girl altogether (sorry!). Luki died in another, earlier battle.

[Lovechild]

Hey! I've been absent from the forums for a while, but now I've caught up with this lovely story. Shame about the last bridge crew, let's hope this new gang will have better luck.

I'd love to have a human, maybe someone working in the underground. Named Arko, male or female is fine.

[HakuryuVision]

That is one badass elf merchant. 

Not sure if i remember correctly, but i think growing an underground tree-farm and cutting them still angers elves, even if they are mushroom trees.
...You might want to station some watchdogs incase any unwelcome ambushing tree-lovers appear. *cough* stupid elves *cough*

[Cathar]

Hello, and welcome back ! A lot of padding this season, but we're making headways (I swear).

Summer 152

Ralin comes back home and other military shenaningans

Medical worker by profession, Ralin had settled in Kimaeslo Ori in autumn 149, alongside her six friends, to practice her craft – mend broken bones and heal injuries. However, due to the importance of her position and the dangerousness of the post-Aconilun bridgetown, it was decided that, before she would become the head dtoctor, she would have to  go through rigorous martial training.

In summer 152, Totten – who was supervizing her progress – decided that her training was now enough to insure her safety and released her from service.



Ralin returned to the building that would, from then on, be her home. The small hospital was equipped with two beds, a table for operations and a traction bench to set fractures. Thread and bandages were kept clean in a small wooden chest. On the floor above, all the amenities for a comfortable life – a small office and a little bedroom with a double-sized bed.

The house was dirty – dust and spider web settled in that place nobody lived on for a long time – but all the equipment was kept in good condition. It would take some time to clean everthing, but Ralin felt she would enjoy living here.

Totten, of course, had an idea on the back of her head. Releasing Ralin from service was a bit more than leaving an old friend to rejoin her profession of choice – she wanted to grow the militia to eventually expend the regional influence of the Thaguk Alnos, and Ralin would have been a hindrance to her project.

Now in summer 152, with the news of the trade with most major powers in the area – the merchant guild of the kingdom of pearls, the elves of the kingdom of Iferifiyopi and the dwarves of Nishtiz,  Kimaeslo Ori was growing by the season.

What was but a small vagrant group in a deserted city, less than three years ago, was now a sprawling village of almost one hundred souls.

Totten knew the story of the Aconilun until its gruesome end. She knew that the town couldn't keep growing and remain outside of the war against Osme. Soon or late, the legions of the demon king Lomoth would take notice. Totten needed to prepare solid defenses for the town, that was a given, but she wanted to do more than that : she wanted to get proactive.

There was a couple of targets outside of the town that she would need to attack in short order. First, there was a vagrant camp on the east who have been harassing the  central settlement for decades. Second, the abandonned town of Vucartogum had been invested by bandits and goblins – and could be retaken without antagonizing the regional powers.


The dwarven fort of Vucartogum would make an excellent forward post once taken

And third, the free city of Edetledir had drifted off the autority of the kingdom in year 130, and could be freely subjugated.

A new migrant wave decided her : she would hire more fighters, order more armor sets, field more squads. Soon, after a week-long drafting campaign, he squad was back at full capacity. Uzu's peacekeeping squad was also filled.



Histamine's crossbow squad has been upgraded to six members and Toki's axe squad to four.

At this rate, she thought, offensives could begin as early as 153.

The mine collapses

As the military planning and plotting was happening on the surface, stone extraction was still being pursued underground. Since spring, an attempt to repurpose the andonned underground quarry into an underground giant mushroom farm has been undertaken. Ipan's wife, Ador, an experienced miner at this point, was chosen to conduct the experiment.

At this point, the experiment has been started for three to four mounths and the ground started to spawn fast-growing mushrooms. For a time,  it appeared that the project was taking a good shape : if the mine could start producing wood after having been exhausted out of stone it would help the town a great deal.

It is unknown  if it is due to the overexploitation of the mine or the giant mushroom rhysoms weakening the structure of the farm, but in July 18, part of the structure collapsed, sending tremors all over the village. Some vagrants residinghome in the tunnels, emerged to seek help – two of their friends were slightly hurt, and Ador, who was working on the farm, have been burried alive.

A team was quickly assembled to try and retrieve the poor woman.



They found her body quickly – she had received a load of stone on the head and have died of the first trauma. At least, she died without suffering – meager consolation for Ipan, her now widower.  She was unearthed – then burried properly soon after.

Her death was not only a personal tragedy for her husband and her friends, but also for the village : she was the most experienced miner and stonemason, and replacing her would be difficult.

A survey was organized among the members of the Thaguk Alnos to find a suitable replacement – and the second best in line turned up to be a young man by the name of Arkos. Until now, he had been a daily worker, doing menial jobs here an dhere, without settling into any specialty. His young wife, with no peculiar skill of her own, had recently brought into the militia – it was her who pointed her husband to the administration.

He had a bit of experience carving stone bricks – as such and after a rapid consideration from the town's nobility, he was awarded Ador's trade – so the bridge would not run out of building material.

Spoiler: Arkos (click to show/hide)

  `Arko' Inshem, "`Arko' Overtool", Stoneworker   
"Oh, I don't usually think much."
Within  the last season, he was annoyed when caught in the rain.   He didn't feel anything after seeing the yak cow a yak  cow's dead body.  He felt fondness talking with an  acquaintance.  He felt bitter after getting into an  argument.  He felt bitter after getting into an argument.  He was interested after watching a performance.  He felt  satisfied at work.  He felt satisfied  after learning about simple formulas for certain arbitrarily large  sums.  He felt satisfied after reading An Exploration of  the Sums.  He felt satisfied after learning An  Exploration of the Sums.  He felt euphoric due to  inebriation.  He was content after eating a wonderful  dish.  He felt satisfied at work.  He was  grouchy dwelling upon  being caught in the rain.  He felt euphoric due to inebriation.  He felt  satisfied at work.  He was embarrassed  after sleeping without a proper room.  He was delighted  remembering  watching a performance.  He didn't feel  anything after seeing a rhesus macaque's dead body.  He  didn't feel anything after seeing a rhesus macaque's dead  body.  He didn't feel anything after seeing a rhesus  macaque's dead body.  He didn't feel anything after  seeing a wolf's dead body.  He didn't feel anything after  seeing a rhesus macaque's dead body.  He felt satisfied  at work.  He felt satisfied at work.  He was  content dining in a legendary dining room.  He felt  pleasure near a fine Door.  He felt pleasure  near a very fine Paved Road.  He was delighted  after watching a performance.  He was interested  after watching a performance.  He was interested  after watching a performance.  He was delighted  remembering  watching a performance.  He was  delighted after watching a performance.  He felt  satisfied at work.  He felt pleasure  near a wonderful tastefully arranged Statue. 
He is  married to Anba Stoppedbanners. 
He is a citizen of The Nation  of Pearls.  He is a member of The League of Dominions.  He arrived at  Kimaeslo Ori on the 13th of Slate in the year 152. 
He is  twenty-five years old, born on the 11th of Moonstone in the year 127.   
His straight sparse hair is extremely long.  His ears are  fuse-lobed.  His lips are very thin.  His slightly wide-set ecru eyes are  slightly protruding.  His eyebrows are quite sparse.  His hair is dark tan.  His skin is pale taupe. 
He is slow to tire, but he is  flimsy and quite susceptible to disease. 
`Arko' Inshem likes  satinspar, lay pewter, purple spinel, grown feather wood wood, siamang  leather, shields, catapult parts, water buffalos for their water wallowing,  moon horrors for their macabre ways, the words of The Wisps of Meditation,  the sound of The Meandering Larks and the sight of The Bewilderment of  Laces.  When possible, he prefers to consume sea serpent, sorghum beer and  teff flour.  He absolutely detests blood gnats. 
He has very  good creativity, but he has little willpower, a poor ability to  manage or understand social relationships and very bad analytical  abilities. 
Like others in his culture, he believes that peace  is always preferable to war, is offended by leisure time and leisurely  living, deeply dislikes competition, greatly respects those that observe  decorum and maintain their dignity, strongly values tranquility and quiet,  deeply respects those that work hard at their labors, hates those who wield  power over others, finds the following of tradition foolish and limiting,  thinks the quest for knowledge is a delusional fantasy, respects  fair-dealing and fair-play, finds introspection to be a waste of time,  finds romance distasteful, sees merrymaking as a waste, is put off by  family, finds the ideas of independence and freedom somewhat foolish,  values martial prowess, believes it is important to conceal emotions and  refrain from complaining, values self-control, respects commerce, sees  guile and cunning as indirect and somewhat worthless and finds nature  somewhat disturbing.  He personally respects the law, doesn't care  about art one way or another, sees equal parts of harmony and discord as  part of life and doesn't think much about the idea of perseverance.   He dreams of bringing lasting peace to the world. 
He  dislikes abstract discussions and would much rather focus on practical  examples.  He has great trouble mastering fear when confronted by danger.   He occasionally overindulges, and he is troubled by this because he values  self-control.  He has an active sense of humor.  He has a sense of duty.   He doesn't often feel envious of others.  He is not inherently proud of his  talents and accomplishments.  He tends to be swayed by the emotions of  others.  He can sometimes act without deliberation.  He is slow to trust  others.  He does not mind being outdoors, at least for a time.  He doesn't  really care about anything anymore. 
Overall, he is somewhat  focused with satisfied needs.  He is unfettered after spending  time with people.  He is level-headed after staying occupied.   He is untroubled after doing something creative.  He is  unfocused after leading an unexciting life.  He is unfocused after  being unable to acquire something.  He is untroubled after  drinking.  He is level-headed after eating a good meal.   He is unfocused after being unable to fight.  He is  unfettered after causing trouble.  He is unfettered after arguing.  He is unfocused after being unable to be extravagant.  He  is level-headed after learning something.  He is unfocused after  being unable to help anybody.  He is unfocused after being unable  to practice a martial art. 

A medium-sized creature  prone to great ambition.

The death of Ador would not end the construction of the bridgetown.

Summer market

When she was not busy cleaning her new home or tending to the bruises of the population of the village, Ralin spent her free time socializing at the tavern or lending a hand at the bridge development project. As she had still idle time on her schedule, she decided to pick up a side trade. The goat killed by Lesno last year – now stripped of her flesh – was left in the garbage pξle outside of the walls, she decided to dismantle her body and carved craft goods out of her horns and hooves.

Ralin, turned out, had a talent for that specific trade – probably had she been taught earlier in her life, or picked bonecrafting as a hobby before joining the militia. In any event : soon after she pick tivory working as a hobby, her masterworks joined those of Lady Desli and master weaver Leto. Crowns made of goat horns and bracelets carved into hooves, all of masterful quality, soon joined the collection of cloth and bonecraft destined for export.

When the market day finally arrived, the guildsmen came with assorted sets of metal ingots, cattle and domesticated dogs. Because of the misunderstanding which cancelled the summer market last year, the guildsmen were particularly courted by the townfolks. Their goods were bought at a premium, gifts were generously given, and a week of free time was given to the militia, so the soldiers could partake in the party.


This time, the guildsmen left happy – and the Thaguk Alnos got a load of bronze and iron out of the trade. Even if the trade with Nishtiz was extremely profitable and brought dwarven iron to the kingdom, it was on far too small a quantity to be able to ignore Mong Kima's metals.

This year's trade was alright – new armors and high quality weapons will be made out of it – but most importantly, the rapport with the guild appeared to be mended. Lady Desli and her administration knew full well that no matter their rising military might,they would not be able to expend their sphere of influence without the trust of the central government.

And in the case of Mong Kima, such trust was acquired and maintained mostly through the guild.