First Fort: Birutnelas: Stringflicker
Primary Goal: Create a temple to the god of songs.
Secondary Goal: Create a tavern and open it to the public.
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- Diary of Dastot Onoluling “Mountaincrazes”, Expedition Leader of Stringflicker
Bloody hell.
This place is a Nanir-damn mess. I don't blame anyone, I think we're all to blame for it. We've just been getting lazy over the months, and let our responsibilities slip. But gods – there's gypsum in the hallways, all the cabinets have shifted around, and there's a copper spear on the floor from some asshat who barged into our rooms and sang us songs. I'll give it to Moldath. Maybe he can pop a few langur heads off with it later.
It's about time someone took real leadership of this place and got it into shape. I'm not satisfied with the state of the dwarves here. Layabouts, all of them.
Get these bloody pigs out of the dining room! Brew up some new hooch! Get those walls smoothed out!
Ol' Rith Ivyoar gets to work at the still. She's a fine woman, dedicated to hard work and with a good head on her shoulders. She brews up some delicious wine from the purple helmets we have lying around.
Likot Flickerbook takes good care of the pigs – putting them in their place and making some cheese from their milk. She cooks up some simple stews for all of us. I can see the positive effects of all this work already.
I feel a bit of guilt. I haven't been a good servant of Nanir – god of song. Sure, we made instruments, but what are we even doing with them? Just faffing about, keeping them locked up. Gods, only one person came by to even pick them up. I'm going to build a temple to Nanir. It's decided.
Bim Fissurevault smoothes out the offices downstairs. Always been a good friend, Bim. He doesn't like being a loner, but he does it fine – working hard for days downstairs. He told me he'd like more time to make merry and party. I'll think about it.
Olon Roadface puts in the work to make a few more instruments. I'm going to ship a few back to the mountainhomes this year. Olon is a scary fellow, honestly. Never shows emotion, never seems to feel anything. I once watched him drink half a barrel of wine and not crack a smile. I've seen dwarves not feel much after seeing something die, but Olon put on a beautiful langur bone earring and didn't react. Weird one, this guy is.
I convert the dining room into a tavern – just for us citizens. Don't want the word getting out too much, now. You never know who will show up. I drop a chest in there as well so we can fill it with Olon's goblets and mugs.
Moldath Vigorgorge, the old soldier, he's over by the forge sweating up a storm. He's hammering out pipes and laluth pieces while the rest of us carry bars and ore around him. Moldath is a damn good dwarf. He knows what he's about and he's not afraid to do it. Gotta respect that kind of guy. Once he finishes that, he plows through the stone as if it were knee-high water. He digs out my temple for Nanir.
Moldath uncovers beautiful gems filling the room that will be dedicated to Nanir. The walls are sparkling with green tourmaline and schorl. Smooth it out dwarves! Make it as beautiful as you can! Nanir, god of song, deserves our respect!
Uzol Slingclashed, the old bird, she's looking worse every day. Some dwarves just can't handle the pressures of life. One langur scratched her and she can't let it go. Take Likot for example – her left ear is gone, ripped off by a monkey. But you don't see her complaining! And yet, Uzol is here just moping around all day. Maybe she can find solitude in faith. Fear not, Uzol – the temple is almost done. Put your worries on Nanir.
Uzol is at least helping, which I appreciate. She seems to find comfort in pushing a wheelbarrow around, moving stones to the stockpiles.
Meanwhile, Bim, Rith, and I smooth the walls of the temple. The walls are gorgeous, speckled with tourmaline and schorl. Snowstorms rage outside as winter passes. Moldath chisels out a couple of statues for the temple.
I keep seeing Uzol run through the hall and into the office I gave her. When I look inside, I see she has three crowns laying on the floor. In her room upstairs, she has also claimed another crown. What an odd woman. Perhaps that's giving her some comfort, at least. I hope so.
Moldath and Bim finish the last of the smoothing as some statues are put in the temple. I didn't tell Moldath to carve anything specific, so I wonder how he planned to honor Nanir. One shows the dwarf Oddom getting his teeth knocked out by Ubbul, the forgotten beast. Clearly this is a reference to a great dwarven song that...I'm not familiar with. The other...well, this is just Bim.
You know what, it's fine. It's all fine.
I ask all the dwarves to engrave a little something in the temple. Not everyone is a follower of Nanir – but they all understand the value of music one way or the other.
Hmm. Word has it a group of elves living in a cave in a volcano nearby are looking toward us for economic leadership. Perhaps they're messengers of Nanir – the elves have always been a musical lot.
Moldath carved an image of himself which looks quite striking in the schorl gems that linger in the wall.
Bim just drew a circle – not the most creative, but a nice symbol either way.
We decorate the temple with images of beasts and animals, gems and shields, and important historical figures. Bim also put our symbol on the wall – a skink embracing a nashom.
I feel good about my accomplishments here in Stringflicker. Things are a little nicer, everyone's a little happier, and now, I think it's time to open the tavern and the temple to all just in time for Spring. Praise Nanir The Rhymes of Pantomiming!
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I've been hearing rumors from the traders and the occasional tavern visitor. I heard about a month back, a birdman from the wilds showed up in Oldclasped and astounded everyone with its beautiful voice. Iden Ivybridge – a raven woman with a voice of molten gold, as the more poetic put it. And just now I heard of another creature: Bomrek Bridgereward – a magpie woman who can play the strings and the keyboard well enough to charm the gods.
I can't help but wonder if these rumors are true - and if they are, are they emissaries of Nanir? How could they be anything but that?
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I came across two more rumors - this time from Drumhall. Two more avian musicians have made their roosts in dwarven cities.
Stukos Shotshades – a peach-faced lovebird man whose ability to play the horn and flute is unparalleled.
Likot Leaguebridges – a great horned owl man who plays percussion instruments so well, they've been said to move mountains.
I'll continue to listen out for these odd stories. Lead me, Nanir. Are these angels or devils?
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You wouldn't believe this. I was just resting in my room, kicking the cabinet around for old-time's sake. I heard some unusual noise outside, so I took a peek to see if Uzol was off her rocker again, but there, in front of me, were four giant bird-people.
The whole group, calling themselves the Wings of Rock, stood in front of me and asked ME for permission to be performers of Stringflicker. Nanir, The Rhymes of Pantomiming, you do work in mysterious ways. I welcomed the four in with open arms. Great to see new faces around the fort anyway!
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Quite a short one, when written up. I unretired Stringflickers and made a tavern there because I wanted to make a group of adventurers and needed a tavern to retire them in - the tavern down in Brighttorch still doesn't work. The religious side just happened to make more sense - Dastot is an ardent worshipper of Nanir, The Rhymes of Pantomiming, who is the only dwarven god of song.
The goal here is to see if retired adventurers will visit forts as bards and poets. I've no idea, but we'll see! Originally, this was supposed to be Mistem, but...well...he's dead.
The four adventurers are all demi-gods with skills at least at expert in their relevant musical positions. They've all got great musicality as well. All four are worshippers of Nanir as well. This was quite a boring process really - just made each adventurer, retired them, then made the next. Finally, collected all 4 in a group. Fucked it up the first time, actually.
I actually ran into a bug during this. I was playing as Iden, had gotten Stukos and Bomrek already (as adventuring companions, not performing companions.) When I went to talk to Likot, he wouldn't join as an adventurer - I didn't have high enough reputation. But, when I tried to take him as an entertainer I
couldn't perform music. No matter what, it would just say Performing in the bottom, but my character clearly wasn't. No musical signs on my character, no directions for what was happening. Stukos was duplicated - which I think is a common adventure mode bug. I eventually had to disband the whole party, get out of town, and return in order to get the band together. This also meant I had to travel back to Oldclasped to pick up Bomrek a second time.
I also ran into the "sorry, I can't join this troupe" bug again. Bomrek joined but it took a while to get Stukos and Likot in. It actually wasn't until I performed with them in The Brave Trumpets that they finally really joined. I wonder if it is performance based - or location? No clue.