Journal of Overseer Fugue,
The Wandering Lord (Part 1), Mid Autumn, 140Not but 5 days since the caravan of the Reclaimers had left us, a small group of travel-warn dwarves arrived here, apparently following the merchant's wagon-trail. The 9 of them were exiles of Distantrope living in the wilds as we had been, each rag-clothed and near exhaustion. They were invited into the great hall below, where we celebrated their arrival with some smoked camel meat which was quite difficult to procure, and a cask of one of the finest vintages of mushroom wine the Reclaimers had brought. The leader of the group introduced himself to us as Legon, the Wandering Lord, and after our small feast shared his story with us:"It was decades ago, back in the year 106, that I and several others managed to escape the fall of the mountain homes, and the goblin assault on the day of Shadow-Sun. As the 3rd son of the late Baron, and the last surviving dwarf of noble blood, I lead a small band of our brothers and sisters to found a new settlement away from the carnage that was all too fresh in our memories. Lacking time to prepare, we embarked with little more than what tools we had been carrying, a few pack animals, food, and drink.
After months of travel, we founded a small community in the copper-rich hills to the south of this desert. At first, we had no proper mining tools or weapons, and were left crafting crude implements of stone and wood. Our homes were built strictly aboveground, as our mining was limited to piercing soil in hopes of striking copper. With steadfast labor came prosperity, though, and after decades of toil, our settlmenet had grown in size and prosperity, protected by stout stone fortifications and wooden spikes. We had a strong copper and bronze industry, ranches of muskoxen, and acres of farmland growing what crops we could on the surface. However, these all paled in comparison to our crowning achievement; a beautiful spiral tower made of polished copper, which gleamed brilliantly in the sun as a becon to all other wayward dwarves.
Sadly, it was this symbol of our people's salvation that also brought us the means of our damnation. During nights, guards began to report shadowy figures stalking around the outskirts of the settlement. We found no evidence of these visitors at first, and the sightings were dismissed as visions brought by too much rotgut and sewer brew. After several months passed, though, the sightings returned with increased frequency. Livestock began dissapearing, our children went missing in the night, and some guards and scouts claimed to see these shadowey figures stalking the city streets, leaping over the walls and into the woods before anyone could draw near. We drafted guards to patrol the city at night, while able-bodied citizens proweled the forests, but none who ventured out saw anything.... at least those who returned. Except for the dissaperances, we had no idea what was truely going on... at least not until a party happened upon the shallow ditch filled with blood-stained leaves where we found poor Katsuun..."
At this, Legon indicated a dwarf at the table, who continued to staring at her empty plate with a blank expression, before he continued."She was bloodied, and just barely alive, having concealed herself in a leaf-filled ditch before losing consciousness. Her body looked as though it had been mauled by beasts, covered in deep gouges and claw marks as it was. We brought her back to the settlement, and treated her until she regained consciousness. For days on end, she babbled on and on about malevolent spirits, the "Fangs of the Old Forest", who had stolen her comrades away. Her mad ravings continued on and on about these shadowy spirits, and her condition worsened for it... luckily Grinfeldon, an old Court Alchymist, was able to give Katsuun a concoction which helped her forget whatever horrible things she had seen. Even though the memories are gone, the scars on her mind still persist..."
He paused there, as a dwarf woman surrounded by two children, whom I assume to be Lady Legon, put a hand on his shoulder. He nodded, and looked back to me."I wish to share the rest of our story with you, but my companions and I are very travel-worn... and the memories of these events still hang heavily on our hearts and minds. I ask you to let us rest now, and I will resume the tale come morning."
We lead the dwarves to the rough bedchambers that had been carved, and supplied them with makeshift cots. Although Legon's claim to nobility is somewhat dubious at best (every noble house was tortured and slain by the Demoness, to our knowledge), with Grime's claim of shadowy figures lurking around our settlement, receiving word of these "Fangs of the Old Forest" is troubling to say the least.<><><><><>
Part 2 is forthcoming, along with our first wave of Immigrants! Huzzah!
P.S. I only got 1 male in the immigrant wave, and they were married with kids. I slotted that one to Lord Legon, and added the rest as whatever dwarf had the most appropriate skillset or personality. If anyone has an issue with having a she-dwarf, let me know so I can retcon them out, and wait for the next immigrant wave to add your character in.
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Topic: Blacksun: The Dwarves' Last Stand [Community Fortress] (Read 12080 times)