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[sonerohi]

Diary of Crush, braindead menial

I kinda liked it when that tigerman thief took my dress away. Even though the species is tigermen she was a tigerwoman. The humans have a word for it, I think. I heard they call it 'kinky'.

[Paulus Fahlstrom]

((Heh, I had to wonder Sonerohi if you happened to be a furry when that happened to you. I really only noticed when I saw the tigerman's corpse and noticed that it had an extra article of clothing. And that it was yours.))

10th of Felsite Late Spring

Work continues as normal on the dining hall and barracks. I believe we're nearing completion of the smoothing process. I believe I'm really getting a knack for this sort of stone work. It's almost as if I can manipulate the stone itself rather than having to chisel things out. In any case, we were all surprised today when Ustuth, our reclusive stonecrafter showed up in the hall holding aloft an earring of magnificent design.

She loudly proclaimed "I give you Taronibesh Ethardraluk, Yelledroast the decent Hail!".

Before quickly disappearing upstairs and immersing herself in a keg of dwarven rum. It's a very pretty earring, but I guess with all the work to do no one really noticed the stonecarver claiming her own workshop and gathering components. So we found out only after she was done. It's very well done, but I wonder what can be done with it.

[sonerohi]

((Heh, I had to wonder Sonerohi if you happened to be a furry when that happened to you. I really only noticed when I saw the tigerman's corpse and noticed that it had an extra article of clothing. And that it was yours.)

No offence to any who are furry, but fuck no to that question. My dwarf is a pervert, and I'm crazy, but neither of us be anything beyond that.

[Paulus Fahlstrom]

15th of Felsite
 
Shouts were taken up by the woodworkers who were the first to see the tired and foot-sore migrants approaching from around the mountain range to the north.
 
Migrants!
 
Pete and I quickly made our way topside. He to see if news had been sent from his home and me with my vellum and quill to record details. I quickly made notes as they arrived.
 
1 family: Animal trainer (male), Peasant (wife), two kids
Animal dissector with two puppies (strange but welcome addition of stock)
A leatherworker, then a Gem setter with a young colt, a carpenter, another peasant, a jeweler with a puppy.
 
A ranger! Apparently it was he that led the group though the wilderness here and I've asked him to have Fre show him the archery range. I've also asked him not to hunt for the time being.
 
A bowyer, a miller, another peasant, a siege engineer (finally someone that can use the workshop we built in the entry hall. Perhaps I'll have it moved elsewhere.).
 
A tanner, a cheesemaker, a fourth peasant, another woodworker, a second bowyer and a metalsmith.
 
21 souls in all. That brings us up in population quite considerably.
 
Apparently this was one of a pair of ships that set sail. The other was lost in a storm and presumably blown off course. They may make for Shellhelms in any case.
 
Reports from the home country are not good. Quakes continue to shake the land and unknown creatures have been spotted issuing from fissures in the ground. The army has been hard put gathering the outlying villages and defending the main encampment. That many dwarves in one location apparently has drawn the wrath of many forces, and apparently undead have risen from the ocean itself to attack the camp.
 
I did notice a disturbing trend. It seems that many of the male dwarves were drafted into the military and so our gender imbalance is quickly becoming profound. It's no wonder Fre is annoyed at Aardvark. Of the now six (or seven) metalworkers, he and Oddbodd are the only males. To make things clearer, out of the fifty-two dwarves we now have here a full thirty four are female. That's nearly a two to one ratio. I hope that doesn't cause too many problems.
 
The newcomers should easily be able to find place in our housing section and though there is still a considerable amount of rubble there, at least they'll have beds and some furniture, as well as privacy.
 
With the increase in population Pete, being officially in charge, announced that an election needed to be held to determine the mayoral position. It's possible that her being one of the first dwarves seen by the newcomers may have affected their choice, but she was voted in as first Mayor of Onol Lened. I've taken it upon myself to record the events of our first years upon our dining room walls, as well as our barracks walls to help those who may not know how to read or write learn their history.
 
I've included some rough rubbings of my favorites.
 
 

 
((The first batch is civ stuff. Coming here in a bit. I thought it amusing that our symbol was one of order and organization. A bin. Nothing more organizing than that in DF. Heh.
 
The second is more about us. Sorry for those not yet mentioned. I looked through all of them and didn't find any with Ragnar, strangely enough. Nor with Der Kartoffel, who provides food aplenty but doesn't do too much as a farmer that's particularly noteworthy. I'll try to include you a bit more.))

[Paulus Fahlstrom]

((Here's the others))

[Maggarg - Eater of chicke]

Those are very lucky male dwarves.

[sonerohi]

That's a really good ratio.

[Paulus Fahlstrom]

23rd of Felsite

There was a certain amount of tension in the air as each of the four gripped their tools of choice. Pete had insisted that with her newfound position it was imperative that the fortress have an internal water source. Crush crouched in the darkness just west of Fre, mace held loosely in his grip. Fre held center position in the rear with a clear view of the small cave that had been carved out. A damp smell filled the air, and with it just a hint of another smell. One not unfamiliar to the four of them. The scent of death. The remains of the first exploration still littered the floor, picked clean of flesh by the remaining troglobites of the river. Ragnar crouched in the shadows just east of Fre, gripping her new copper axe firmly and bracing her feet against the uneven stone floor and mentally noting the location of rubble. Paulus stood nearest the exit door, having just sealed it behind them.

They were unsure how many creatures remained, and didn't want to risk any being able to slip past them into the fortress to wreak havoc. Judging the others to be ready he peeked his head into the darkness to gaze at the cold, clear waters flowing swiftly from their source, a light mist spraying his face and soaking into his clothing as he did so. He could just barely make out several creatures in the water yet, but they seemed not to make any advance. He steeled himself and began digging out another section of stone, widening the hole and with a resounding splash the whole section fell, knocking loose several chunks of rock into the river and significantly widening the hole.

A sudden silence filled the cavern and then a mass of bodies poured from the river, filled with wrath and hunger.

Crush was the first to pick a frogman from the crowd, striking it a solid blow and knocking the soft creature to the ground. Fre began firing into the thick knot of bodies with significant effect, slowing and injuring many of them as Ragnar too sprang into action. A snakeman reared up in front of her, fangs bared and attempted to strike but the bite was repelled by the solid steel of her armor. She clove into the creature, severing a leg and laying it out upon the ground.

There were many of them, and the four soon found themselves outnumbered and fighting defensively, but gaining ground steadily. Crush downed the remaining two frogmen, easily pulping the soft creatures before moving to intercept a snakeman. Fre continued to pour bolts into the slippery mass of creatures sinking several into a rubbery olmman that was the last to emerge, and due to her success quickly became a target for two snakemen who flanked her, looking for an opening. Another bolt took one in the chest, piercing a lung and it fell to the ground in pain, but the second struck rapidly and latched it's head onto her arm, biting viciously and she felt herself loosing control of her limbs.

Terror filled her as her muscles locked due to the venom and she could only just manage to prevent herself from falling face-first, slumping to the ground. As the snakeman loomed over her inert, but completely aware, form she saw a shadow rise up behind the creature, and a glint of copper as Ragnar charged into the creature bowling it over from behind. It stood again slowly, and warily and met only Ragnar's axe, coming in to strike it in the torso. So mighty was the blow that the creature was launched toward the opening in the wall, striking the olmman still standing dazed in that location and knocking it backwards into the water. The snakeman continued it's graceful arc into the far wall, hitting with a wet thud and several cracks before slumping dead into the water.

With that blow the tide had turned, and many of the creatures were now wounded. Those few that were hale could not manage to penetrate the steel of the dwarves as Paulus stood watch over Fre's form while Crush and Ragnar dealt with the living and wounded remaining creatures. It wasn't long until stillness returned, and only the labored breathing of dwarves broke the silence and sound of falling and rushing water.

Their first concern was for Fre, still lying paralyzed on the ground, but thankfully the venom wore off before too long and though she moved stiffly at first she was up and walking before too long. A call from Crush brought her over to the edge of the river moving swiftly into blackness to the west. A single olmman lay almost still in the water, and but for the occasional spasm of pain was almost undetectable. She brought her crossbow to bear and three quick bolts quickly sent a wave of red cascading down the river into the dark.

((Water source is now ours. Crush's kills: Two frogmen, Three snakemen. Ragnar's kills:One olmman, two snakemen. Fre's kills: One frogman, one olmman, many assists. Paulus' kills: One rock wall. ))

[Paulus Fahlstrom]

11th of Hematite Early Summer

A variety of things has kept us busy lately. Ragnar and I were working on clearing the area around the waterfall. We now have a rather nice area that may be used for fishing and potentially, relaxation. I'd like to see a proper well established a little closer to the main working areas of the fortress but that may take a little while. Pete has decided to utilize her position to improve our fortress wealth and mandated the construction of a billion item. Of course, as soon as the bar itself was produced she realized that was good enough since she is our only metalcrafter.

The bedrooms are also now fully finished as well as fully furnished. Though we are in the process of remove the vast amount of loose stone and getting them smoothed. Ragnar continues to work on that as I begin laying out plans for the waterways and well system.

One of the woodcutters under Kolok's direction, Bomrek, saved a peasant from a batman attack recently. They've become quite the annoyance.

Now that I've had time to meet with the migrants personally I recognize several faces from Dorenemal. Perhaps a half dozen in this group, though only one that I knew personally. Tholtig, the once-hunter turned bonecarver at Dorenemal had arrived with the group. I hadn't recognized him when he walked it, he was such a gaunt figure of his former self. And I had been caked in dirt from the mines so he hadn't recognized me.

But we were able to sit in the dining hall and put back a few mugs while he told me how things were going back home.

Apparently, things were not going all that well. I remembered that him and Led, our other crazy hunter, whom I had spent several months with while we were both recovering from the effects of dwarven justice. He too had taken up bone-carving and had quickly become legendary after producing the turtle-shell mini-forge that had inspired so many at Dorenemal. The pair had set out to form a new religious group after I had left to go to Kilrudmorul. Initially it had been viewed with considerable suspicion, but after the massive loss of life and home people had been searching for something more to believe in and it had quickly gained followers.

The Queen herself had initially opposed it, and vehemently so, but after her ... demise, it had been viewed at least tolerantly, by Tosid, the new King. Religion was an acceptable dwarven pursuit and though the deities worshipped often varied, few were considered worthy of repression, at least for him. The nobles that had followed the previous Queen had felt differently, and taken up her view and that of Agna. That the newly created religion amounted to little more than defeatism and that it was to be discouraged. Violently if need be.

After several high-profile failed mandates and subsequent beatings/incarcerations of their followers, in which three had died, one had gone mad due to dehydration and starvation and a fourth had been rendered a near-braindead vegetable, passing out every minute or two they decided it was long past time to move to the new world. Tholtig and a pair of others had gone on one ship, Led and the majority of the flock on the other.

Tholtig was the only one remaining. The other two had been committed to their god en-route. One of swamp fever, the other had wandered off into the swamp chasing some sort of will-o-the-wisp. They hadn't dared to go after him and lose the path.

I commisserated him for his loss, but he seemed not at all perturbed by it, simply saying that Mondul's will.

I remember Led well enough to know that he was highly charismatic, and possessed of a great energy and could imagine him leading sermons in temple's much like Avuz's. But I decided to forbear from asking more questions as we had taken too much time already and I had work to do. I assured him he would have plenty of work here to do and told him he could take over as bonecarver. The jeweler would surely be glad to be able to get back to his own work.

[sonerohi]

Sweet! I Crushed™ those river critters! Go Team Paulus! *respect knucks everyone*.

[Paulus Fahlstrom]

12th of Hematite

The human traders have arrived from Thuromon again, their wide smiles and white teeth showing bright. They always seem pleased to come here and trade with us, as though they enjoyed being out of the sun. The fact that the roof is only a foot from their heads seems to bother a few of them, but they're incredibly tall and we only cut the ceilings as high as a dwarf with a pick can reach.

They've brought much food and drink, for which we are grateful. Fre had just ran out of things to properly cook. Tarantula roasts all around! I thing they're beginning to grow on me. They've also brought a large number of empty barrels, much of it having been used for drink and clean water as they travelled, no doubt.

But best of all was that they brought both copious amounts of wood and several Celestrium bars. Our small stockpile is steadily growing.

In exchange they were happy to trade for many of our stone crafts, and the goblin clothing and other items that we've been sprucing up with sewn images of Cryptmirror and other spectacular images. Many of our stone crafts they were particularly impressed with as several had been decorated with gemstones. The bauxite rings inset with white chalcedony were particularly popular. We also brought out several of the nicer shields that Aardvark had made, engraven on the front with images of the sun, or waves, or trees and other things. They seemed very excited about those as their usual hide-bound shields were clearly inferior.

Pete was happy talking to their liason and would even occasionally lapse into the human's native language, a rapid chittering sounding speech full of clicks and other strange sounds rather than completely words.

Still, good trade and though the dark-skinned humans seem military in culture they're skilled traders and quite personable. Unfortunately such interactions tend to remind me of past friends, particularly Abba, who I hope is safe and well.

[Paulus Fahlstrom]

18th of Hematite

I'm not quite sure how happy I am about the situation but it seems that once the migrants realized that Pete was originally a native and not a dwarf of the Big Knife tribe they insisted on having another vote.

Crush was elected mayor by popular consensus.

I find such prejudice ... distasteful. Not to mention very outside the character that I would like to have in the clan. Strangely enough, Pete didn't seem too disappointed and firmly pledged to support Crush. I must say that initially this surprised me, and raised Pete considerably in my estimation. Until I discovered the pair of them holding hands in the unfinished cavern near the waterfall. Apparently this has been going on for some time without my being aware. Only once have I caught Pete calling Crush by her 'pet' name for him.

'Crushy-poo'

It makes me shudder just thinking about it. There's something decidedly undwarven about such afectations.

I must admit, however, that the pair make a good team. Even when Pete was Mayor, Crush supported her and did what he could to help. Now that it's the other way around Pete is happily doing the same. Of course, I suspect that the mandate for Nickel items, one of Crush's favorite metals was, perhaps, inspired by Pete's mandate for Billion items.

In any case, we've known about an exposed vein of garnierite near the edge of the giant crevasse and we'll set about extracting some of it for Crush. It seems as well that we passed narrowly by a kaolinite deposit while searching for the waterfall and Pete feels it's time to explore it more thoroughly. Rumor has it that the area is known for it's diamonds and that they tend to be in just such deposits.

It gives me something to do while Ragnar continues to work on her engraving. They're converting the mined out malachite vein into a sort of historical area. It'll be smoothed and the walls engraved. The residual deposits on the floor lend it a very pleasing effect.

[sonerohi]

Yaaaaay!!! [Crush mandates the production of happiness 8/8].

[Paulus Fahlstrom]

25th of Hematite

There has been pretty good news all around recently. I've begun excavating the kaolinite deposit and in the process discovered a large deposit of almandine gems, two deposits of light yellow diamonds and two deposits of celestrium. A veritable horde of wealth sitting in a single vein of kaolinite.

Crush was so impressed that he's requested that we continue all such excavations of kaolinite deposits should we come across them in our mining. He's also suggested to me that some improvements were in order to raise morale and happiness among our clan. I'm in agreement and have begun drawing up plans for a well/statuary area that should do the trick. It may take some time to get things working properly, but should be well worth the effort.

In addition, Datan, our legendary weaver, had several run-in's with batmen recently while he was out collecting webs to weave into thread. He beat three of them into a pulp with his bare hands when they tried to attack him. I'm inclined to reward him for his initiative. Two others also had encounters with batmen and dispatched them, though I think they were both woodcutters and had axes. In addition, we've punched through the side of the hill into the level of the nickel ore vein and have begun construction of a walkway, allowing us to reach it. There is a considerable amount of disturbances possible with creatures roaming the area so I've asked our hunter to take up a watch post there for the time being.

Last time he came back for a drink he'd already shot down a batman and a giant bat. The skies are beginning to look a little friendlier now.

[Maggarg - Eater of chicke]

The observations of Oddbodd.
Ahah! We have found kaolinite! what wealth resides in it!
Why, we will be able to produce so many china tea sets! If only I can get the others to listen to me about the wonders of tea. They seem to be confused by the lack of alcohol.