Akituh, Snapping Turtle Man
I've been enjoying my time here at, uh, Gremlinfort. As much as I enjoy their acceptance of the minor races I find it a little surprising that they went with such a blunt showing of it. I had expected to find it named "MurderSword" or "BloodKeep" or something equally brutal. It doesn't matter much anyway, it's not like I'm out advertising trying to convince more migrants to come. That being said, I have sent letters to some close friends asking if they cared to join me... The most notable of which being a trusted companion who has accompanied me in many of my endevours, Lorumet, Horseshoe Crab Woman. She is very skilled in underwater hunting and could supply the fort with fish if that blue haze near the horizon is indeed the ocean and not some valley or something. Even if it isn't, she is also a very good brewer. Why she chose two such unrelated professions I do not know, but her blueberry wine is to die for, and we have no lack of blueberries as it is one of our three crops. I should probably should go check if that is indeed a body of water before I start preaching of her skills to the fort asking if she can join. Upon beginning my walk out into the tundra I couldn't help but smell something close to musky decomposition. This seemed impossible at the time because most things in the tundra were buried in the snow long before they had a chance to get to that level of decomposition. I looked around trying to find the source of the smell, waking Urist who had been asleep on my shoulder for the majority of the day's field work. "...hm...what. Akituh, where are we? why are we so far away from the fort.", I wasn't really in the mood to tell him about the letters I had sent back with the caravan that had brought us here. Knowing him he would claim I had the intention of romancing Lorumet, which wouldn't be completely wrong. She's nice, but being a crustacean I feel like we are too biologically different for something like that. "If you hadn't been sleeping all day you'd know! Anyway, do you see anything weird, the stench of old death is on the horizon and I have a feeling things are gonna get weird." I have a much better sense of smell than him, but his bird eyes were almost that of an eagle "Nope... just snow and more snow... wait, wait, there seems to be a group of undead shambling our way." how he said that as if it wasn't a problem I will never know, but before he could protest I was already running back. So long for my dream of peaceful retirement. It seems that the fort had already discerned that something was wrong but I informed them of the threat of imminent invasion. After that I ran to our burrow, not much yet really, more of the start of a hole in the wall but it was home. I pushed aside our spare clothes and other scattered belongings to reveal the spot where I had buried the emergency chest, something I had hoped I wouldn't have to ever do. It was a small thing really, somehow I had managed to smuggle it in without anyone noticing in hope that they wouldn't find its contents and induct me into the military. I have never liked violence, I feel that it is always better to try to talk down confrontation and work out an understanding. But the dead don't take prisoners as I've come to know, and a while back I had made friends with a great weaponsmith (who also received a letter) who had made me a special parting present and taught me how to use it. Urist still hadn't picked up on the severity of the situation, but when he saw me pull out the contents of the chest he knew I intended to defend my new home "Akituh, is that, I thought you got rid of that years ago! You hate violence!" I had pulled out one of my few irreplaceable possessions, a very unique sword. It was an iron sword with a steel edge going around the both sides that had a mild wave to it, supposedly to help with the "cutting" as my friend had put it. "I do, and hope I don't have to partake in much more of it. But not everyone can be parleyed with, and we have one of those special cases on our doorstep. I will be damned if I lose any of my new friends to them!" the people here had definitely come to like me, a few I would definitely consider friends at this point. Before Urist could press the subject I pulled out a small dagger matching the make of my sword."He made you one too Urist, I couldn't bare to give it to you in fear you'd become a violent bird and I'd lose my best friend. But if they make it through us and inside I want you to have it to try to avenge me." I was gonna leave him inside, no way I would risk losing him if it could be avoided. Urist picked up the dagger I handed him and swung it around a little with surprising grace that told me he had a decent amount of experience with daggers. "If we repel them Urist and everything turns out to be fine, I'll look into making us matching holsters. But if they offer to make me permanent military I'm gonna have to decline. We may now be carrying these weapons every where we go from now on but we aren't brutes. These claws and this beak were made to farm, not rend flesh." He agreed to keep an eye on the rest of those who wouldn't be fighting as I made my way to the hastily assembling fighting force to defend my new homeland until we had more willing participants to do so. May the gods have mercy on us and let us live in peace.
Akituh, Snapping Turtle Man