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[varnish]

((raws changed, thanks. of course, there are no yaks in the fortress yet, so testing will have to wait))

From the Journals of Aban Brothertreaties, Early Summer 203

An elf caravan at the gates! Should that be surprising? I don't know, I just know that any reminder that there's still life outside of Oceanbridge is astonishing these days. It might be worth asking them just how bad the world is these days, but there's no telling if we'll get an answer.

Well, we'll trade with them. Going over the records though, I think we shouldn't trade all of our goods this time.



I don't want to know where that came from.

.............................

While Aban did her best not to terrify the new arrivals, Balnash and the Soldier did their best to make sure they weren't killed by anything terrifying. This meant standing watch over the front gate, and keeping a watchful eye out for dangerous wild animals like giraffes.

Balnash himself was more worried about the elves.

"I don't understand. I've never met an elf, but I always heard that they were peaceful... peace loving people?"

"It ain't the elves. It's what follows them. Half the time they show up at the gates, all peaceful and charming, like you said. And not a day later we got a siege on our hands, from whatever monsters followed them here. Maybe they don't mean to lead 'em right here, but I just don't trust elves."

The Soldier nodded. It made some sense. Especially, she realized, now.



"You're right, I'll admit it. Look out there." She picked up her own spear and pointed. "Those ape men are back."



................................

Next: A Quick Fight

[Nathail]

Excerpt from the Journal of Nathail, Animal Trainer of Oceanbridge

So, elves have arrived. The relatively good sort. Since there aren't any yaks for me to train just yet, I decided to help them unpack. For some reason, they had a circlet made out of elf hair. I didn't get a good look at it, since it had a few lice still crawling around it and I don't want to get the animals infected. The only nice thing about lice is that they can't hold their liqueur. A bit more booze than usual for a few days, and any that got on me will be poisoned. Pity elves can't take enough alcohol to keep themselves clean, but you can't expect a lot from a race that lives in trees...

[varnish]

The Siege:

Even the ape men seemed taken aback by what they found at Oceanbridge. Normally they charged at the fortress gates in a noisy mob, hardly seeming to care about what waited for them. They leapt from tree to tree, and crashed through the underbrush, and knocked each other around in their enthusiasm to get at the dwarfs.

Now they picked their way slowly through the ashes of the old jungle.



One or two of them hooted, but softly. The largest ape-men lead the way, Balnash and the rest of the militia watched them as they inched around dry pond bed, looking for all the world like they were walking on the edge of a cliff.

Then one of them burst into flame.



Balnash stared, then turned to the others and said, "What in the goddamned hell was that?"

The ape-men were still a long way away, but the dwarfs could hear it screaming over the sound of the waves. The ones around it scattered in every direction, before suddenly bursting into flame themselves.



One of the other speardwarfs answered the question as well as she could. "Well, Balnash. The ape-men appear to have taken up spontaneously combusting. That... that's obvious, isn't it? Oh, and look, now the giants are attacking them! I don't know why they're doing that."



The Soldier was watching the battle, and she was also watching the flames that were spreading from the bodies of the now dead ape-men. She made a decision.

"Get back inside, people, and close the gate! Fire's coming!"

The militia marched back inside the gate, passing by some very worried looking elf merchants.

Aban had just finished saying farewell to their leader. As she watched the approaching inferno, she said. "Um, I think you might want to stay here for a while, actually. Please try not to catch fire yourself. There's a lot of flammable stuff around here."

.........................................

Next: What Just Happened?

((Seriously. I'm not sure why this is happening.))

[peregarrett]

A few theoretic causes:
- There are fire-breathing creature somewhere. Or those stranglers acquire fire-breath, but without fire immunity.
- There are some raws glitch that makes water to be magma-like, or give overheating syndrome to them. Are you sure you haven't doubled yak's entry while modded?

Or it's Rakust's gift. Puny mortals can do nothing with that other than pray and hope for better.

[Nathail]

Perhaps some of the old artifacts are out there? I think they burn forever.

[Di]

Depends on what was the cause of the original fire. If you've used dfliquids there may be  some heat traps remaining, inspect the place where combustion happened with df probe command. Some tiles may have their temperature really high without the reason.

[varnish]

Depends on what was the cause of the original fire. If you've used dfliquids there may be  some heat traps remaining, inspect the place where combustion happened with df probe command. Some tiles may have their temperature really high without the reason.

((This might be it! I'll have to take a look. I did try to change some salt water into fresh water earlier. Though I'm not sure if I want to fix it, if this is the cause. Anyway, quick update:))


From the Journals of Aban Brothertreaties

We've got another fire on our hands, but it's all right! There's still not much left to burn, so after eating through a few  trees, and a goblin or three, it went out without much fuss. And that's fine. But it leaves us with the question of "why"? Why did the ape-men catch fire like that? Is it connected to the whole Rakust thing? Something sent to try to destroy us again? But  then, the fire protected us! Maybe there's something else going on here?

Or maybe the ape-men are just very dry and tindery, and we never noticed it before. Maybe they're always bursting into flame, back in the comforts of their homes. I really don't know.

But meanwhile some animal trainer has taken to chanting strange chants, and locked himself up in a mason's shop.



The fact that it happened so soon after the siege, and so soon after the fire worries me. Who knows what might come out of there?

...................

Next: A Mystery

[Nathail]

Excerpt from the Journal of Nathail, Animal Trainer of Oceanbridge

...Oh, and we were briefly under siege. Some Dark Stranglers, apparently. Supposedly, they caught fire before they even made it to the walls. Whilst I'm not particularly surprised that there are Stranglers here (the six-armed skeletons were a pretty big clue), it is unusual that they're bothering to attack this place. Stranglers are brutal and cruel, to the point where even I cannot train them, but I wouldn't have pegged them for stupidity. Even chickens learn to run from dogs, and chickens are about the dumbest animals since whatever fool thought trading ox blood with fledgling fortresses was a lucrative business...

[varnish]

((spent the last few days on the road. this is it for today))

A Small Mystery:

Remalle came up from the tombs (where he had been engraving some really nice pictures of ferns), when he heard what was depicted on the new artifact.



He looked at the stone hatch for a long time before saying, "Yes, all right, it's strange. I don't think I ever met Naithal. I know he wasn't here when this happened. But it's very accurate."

Balnash was holding the hatch up so it could be seen, and he said, "Accurate! That ain't even close to how it was. I dragged your carcass out of here m'self, Remalle, because you were too beat up to move, remember? Do you see me anywhere in there?"

"Ok, no. Unless you're represented by the limestone spikes, I guess. But it's an... accurate likeness of what I looked like then, I think. It's just strange."

It was a very strange artifact. But it was also not a very important one, and in the weeks that followed it was dumped into a furniture stockpile, and forgotten.

................................

Next: There Are Other Gods

[Nathail]

Aww. Aren't artifact hatches immune to building destroyers? It seems like that could have been useful.

Excerpt from the Journal of Nathail, Animal Trainer of Oceanbridge

*The following is scribbled into the margins of the page*
I made a hatch. I quite like it. It's a very nice hatch. It has spikes, and a picture of some dwarf on it. I never made that hatch. I need a drink.

[varnish]

To clarify, the artifact hasn't actually been thrown away. I'm sure I'll find a use for it somewhere. Story-wise, it's a different... story.

[Nathail]

Ah, no worries then. Maybe we can use it to cap the clowns at some point.

[varnish]

((rough times. my youngest nephew has pneumonia. not fun))

From the Journals of Aban Brothertreaties

I'm getting very worried.

For the last month, nothing has happened in Oceanbridge. Ok, that's wrong. I mean, a lot is happening! The bridge is getting longer, and so on. We've got plenty to eat, enough to drink. The refugees have settled in, and most of them don't even look terrified any more (except when Mr. Anderson conducts one of his "sparring" sessions). That trainer who got possessed is happily training again, getting us some nice war elephants.



The rather grim doctor named Croaker has even started a party.



So, all is well. Except I know that it isn't. It never is, really. And I've been having dreams lately,  about fortresses, and Tholtig, who is our god of fortresses. They don't involve nice things happening. I think it's a message, but I don't know of what. We're building the bridge! We're doing everything right, right?

But I know that something's going wrong.

.............................

Next: Elections

((I don't think Aban knows Croaker that well. It's possible that they've never even met. Yes, I like to try to keep that stuff straight it my head. Maybe I need a chart))

[varnish]

((I'm going to bake a cake))

The Election:

"The votes have been counted. Lorbam Gebzefon, by the consent of the fortress Oceanbridge, you have been elected mayor." Remalle read the results and stepped aside (and then stepped out of the room, and as far away as he could. He had been through a few elections before).



Some of the dwarfs applauded, but most of the crowd simply looked on in silence as a tall, somewhat older dwarf stepped with care onto the golden table. She had greying hair and walked with a slight limp, but otherwise looked as sturdy as the granite walls themselves. She held up one hand. Several of the more experienced dwarfs held their breath.

She then proceeded to speak in a calm, even tone. "Thank you. I feel your trust is in me is well placed. I will guide this fortress, our new home, to the best of my ability. I hope the rest of you will work alongside me to make this a safe and prosperous settlement that..."

While Lorbam continued speaking, Gar nudged Aban and whispered, "So, Aban. How the hell did this happen? I thought we were the one's in charge here!"

"Well... I've done some counting", Aban said. " You and I and Remalle are the only people left from the early days. Then there's the one's from a bit later, like Neo, and Croaker. But if you look at the majority of us here... most of them are new refugees. So I guess they just wanted one of their own. I'm ok with that. It's easier to run this place when you're not in charge."

"Give me a break. That's bullshit."

Aban shrugged "She seems nice enough anyways. And sane enough. That's an improvement right there."

........................

"Lorbam is insane! You've got to do something."

After the election party had ended, Aban had gone back to her own office. To  her surprise, the Soldier was waiting for her there.

"She... uh, she didn't seem insane. To me. She was very calm, up there."

The Soldier was also almost shouting at her. "You don't know Lorbam! I do. She and I come from the same hill fort. She's not just a worshipper of Rakust, she's almost... When the dead started attacking us, I'm sure she was happy about it. And I've heard stories about her going to the north and living with the Jotunar there. There's nothing wrong with being a follower of Rakust, but what she does... it's something more. And it's not normal.



And now she's in charge, and those ice giants are right outside our gates. This is dangerous; you've got to believe me."

Aban sighed, and said "Ok, I do. It would have been nice to have a good mayor for once, but obviously that's not what we get here in Oceanbridge!"

"Oh. I'm glad you believe me, then. Surprised, but glad."

"Well, there's not much I haven't seen, Soldier. This isn't exactly a shocking revelation to me. In fact, I could tell you about... well, never mind. I'll try to find something we can do, if things start going wrong."

"Thanks."

...........................................

Next: Statues

[Nathail]

Excerpts from the Journal of Nathail, Animal Trainer of Oceanbridge

...Got me training war elephants. Now, there's nothing wrong with war elephants, elephants are big, have spears built into their mouths, and are possessed of an easily unlocked bloodlust. But the thing is, they are big, have spears built into their mouths, and are possessed of an easily unlocked bloodlust. Still, so long as I don't let them taste dwarf blood, they ought to stay under control, and it is better than having the Jotunar in here...

...Elected a mayor today! Lorbam Gerbzefon should be a good mayor. I haven't spoken to her a lot, but she seems to be very calm and rational. I don't think she would ever not make a hatch that she never made. Or was it not make a hatch she didn't not make? At least the elephants aren't not coming along nicely. I'd never not train one of the ones I didn't train. I need another drink.