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[Kuli]

Diaries seem to be popular lately.  That means it's band-wagon time, and the jumping upon thereof.

From the journal of Kuli Problemwalled.

Of the things I have seen in my many years at Migrursut, the event today ranks among the strangest.  Overnight has sprung up a field of grass, green and full of life.  The surface of the red desert has always been inhospitable to vegetation.  How could life emerge so suddenly?

The members of my congregation see this as a sign from Zefon.  I will not dissuade them from this belief just yet, for it brings them hope and renewed faith.  However, I am certain something more sinister is at work.  Is it simple paranoia brought on by my experiences that leads me to that conclusion?  I think not.  The lords of death and nightmares are supposedly dead...but their power lingers on in the harsh sands for certain.  Do the Dread Camels not still walk the land and terrorize the righteous?  This is a trick!  Or a harbinger of something to come.

For now I will only tell Vash of my suspicions.  I will also pray in my shrine for guidance from Zefon.

[Jools]

From the diary of Jools Machinescalded

One of my donkeys seems to be developing a problem with his left front hoof. I'll have to keep an eye on that, don't want him to go lame. Not that I'm the sort of dwarf to kill a poor donkey as soon as he can't carry 5000 tons of rock trinkets up and down mountains, but I do want him to enjoy a high quality of life throughout his elder years.

Everyone seems very excited by the grass growing round the magma vent, but it really isn't anything special. I've seen grass before, and this stuff is rubbish - no real nourishment or moisture in it. No good for grazing donkeys yet. I'll try putting some manure on it, give it something to really grow from.

[Maggarg - Eater of chicke]

Diary of Maggarg whatever my name is now.

I'm beginning to lose track of my aliases. Damn. Anyway, there's something weird going on in this place, and by weird I mean more than normal. I decided to investigate after I finished getting bashed about in sparring.
By the Gods, in all my years of traveling, I've never seen nothing like this.
Overnight, it seems, a meadow has sprung up. Not just anywhere, but in the bare rocks over the magma pipe.
I've seen a few cases of spontaneous germination, but that only normally happens when elves abound.
I think I'll start training harder from now on.

[Glacies]

Journal of Glacies

I appear to have misplaced ledger #12. Damn it. I'll lose my own head next.

Well, it appears that Bertrand has innovated another one of his mad ideas. The magma pit is surrounded by grass and little yellow flowers. Jools, the donkey keeper, informed me that the gras isn't really suitable for donkey grazing until he spreads some shit over it. So I think I'll stay out of there. I'll admit I plucked a bunch of the yellow things for a vase in my room.

Meanwhile, the human caravan is coming. I intend to ask the merchants about Jack. While I doubt they know the specifics, I'm sure rumors of his swordplay are trickling around the continent, and I wish I could get in contact with him again. Perhaps, if I am really lucky, he knows where my sister is.

My visits to Dodok-come-lately's were, for lack of better terminology, very interesting. However, after the third visist, I began to feel guilty about how I am indulging myself. Especially since the fortress was footing the biill. Perhaps I'll talk to Kuli about it. He seems to know what to say, what with him guiding half the fort spiritually.

[Makrond]

Well, okay, because this fell off the first page, I'll do a diary too.

Excerpt from the Journal of Makrond, c.1065

I'm not much of a writer. I never really liked it; my talent was always for leather. But, well... with things the way they are, I just want someone to know who I was.

I fear for our humble outpost. Though I came here but a few years ago, my head filled with tales of untold wealth, this place, well, it feels like home. I'm a simple dwarf; I want for nothing more than rock over my head, beer in my belly, and plenty of leather to work. Lately, though, well, I've been feeling things I've never felt before.

Fear, for one thing. I mean, I've felt scared, sure. Everyone has. But, for the first time in my life, I feel fear. It's something deep and primal; a survival instinct. It's irrational, in a way. But I think this time... well, maybe it's real. Maybe there's a reason to be fearful.

Duty. I'm not much of a poet, or a philosopher, or anything like that. I haven't got a way with words, but, lately, I've felt like I need to help, to defend the fortress against all invaders and, the way Sergeant Towersacks fought... and Shorast died... it just seemed like joining the speardwarves was the right thing to do.

Aryn... what can I say about Aryn? I haven't met the man very often, but lately he seems - well, I can't describe it any other way than crazy. Then again, I haven't seen him for weeks. Does he even leave his office anymore?

Anyway, training seems to be going well. Not that I can really tell; I never really knew anything about spears. I got all the way to the workshop before I realised I hit Varen with the wrong end of the spear. Oh well, I guess even stupid mistakes like that are good to learn from. They're heavier than they look, too.

Before I forget, apparently there's grass growing around the volcano... I've heard of that sort of thing happening, but never in a forsaken desert like this. I fear - yes, there's that feeling again. I fear there's something more behind this... I just wish I could put my finger on it.

[Stravitch]

Should hit 10k views just now! Yay!

[Kuli]

Hooray!  Migrursut is awesome!

[Maggarg - Eater of chicke]

It was awesome anyway.

[Stravitch]

Why was?

[Kuli]

Don't get technical with me, Maggarg.  In no way was my post intended to imply that Migrursut was not awesome prior to its 10000th view.  I was merely using the occasion to celebrate Migrursut's awesomeness.

This thread was, is, and always shall be awesome!

[Maggarg - Eater of chicke]

D:
I didn't mean to be.
Everyone sounds a bit peeved now.
sad face.

[Stravitch]

Oh I was reading the inflection as

I was awesome anyway.

Meaning it used to be awesome at one point, but now it no longer is.

[Heavy Flak]

Whew, I'm finally back.  After a week of eating catered food and drinking my weight in beer each night, I need a vacation to relax.  I kept trying to be responsible, and, you know, get to bed early, but the guys putting this thing on just wouldn't let us be.  My coworker and I stumbled through the revolving doors of the hotel, laughing like lunatics, and one of the Red Shirts in charge of the event grabs my shoulder and pushes me to the side.

"Wrong way, buddy, where ya' going?  Your room, eff that noise!  The party is this way.  What?  No, don't worry, it's open bar, like everywhere else... come on in, just one more beer, what'll it hurt?"

I'm pretty sure after that party I was able to leech a connection from the D.C. Mayor's office, and send some rambling message to Glacies so I probably need to apologize for that. 

I did have an excellent room and access to the concierge suite, a nice view of the Washington Monument, and the Lincoln Memorial from my hotel room, and at the balcony for the after party we had almost a direct view down Pennsylvania Avenue to the white house.  All this "time working" gave me plenty of time to think about both my novel and this story, so that leads me to:

!! ATTENTION !! ATTENTION !!

Unless something terrible happens, the next cryptogram will be posted around, ohhh, say noon on Monday, September 1st.  Unlike the other ones, nothing "bad" will happen if it doesn't get solved, and there's no definite time frame.  This is just a "Thanks" for those waiting patiently, and a more official way for building / character / whatever requests to get thrown in the loop.  As a bonus, it furthers the story some, so hey.  Bonus!

!! END ATTENTION !! END ATTENTION !!

[Glacies]

Everything but the actual paragraph wherein you apologized for being sauced was fine grammatically and spelling-wise. You made one, (1!) typo in the offending paragraph, where you unnecesarily pluralised a word.

*ahem*

Oh, and really glad yer' back by the way. I'm looking forward to the next installment.

[Makrond]

Wait, seriously? Does that mean Ballmer's Peak could apply to writing in general, not just programming?

This bears investigation! By... someone over the age of drinking...