Ugh, my head feels like it’s been split open.
I was lying on the floor in a pool of my own vomit. To my right was the most hideous lady dwarf and to my left was a monkey. I really hope it was the monkey that I hooked up with. The way she was looking at me, l think l may have. *shudders*
I attempted to stand up and felt the whole world roll over me, leaving me nauseated in the process.
Note to self: Drink even more next time so that you're still drunk when you wake.
I took a step forward and immediately found my face planted in the floor.
By Armok's bloodied teats, what sent me sprawling?
I unplanted my face, and turned onto my tuchus. What I saw was a rather thick tome, lying with its backside up. On it was an artfully drawn sock.
No, no, nonononono... NO! I can’t be the next chosen overseer...no!
I slowly rocked myself to and fro, oblivious of the blood gushing out of my crushed nose. This is a horror I would not wish upon my most hated enemies, not even the Armok-forsaken mini-orcs who surround us outside. To take over as overseer of Swordthunder sounds the death knell for one’s sanity....never to return.
Suddenly, I was stone-cold sober, headache and pains went away. I was numb, in shock, and perhaps a bit overwhelmed. So this is it. My lot in life. It may “only” be a year, but so much can happen in a year. I hope I live to the end. May ‘Mok have mercy on my beard.
With that thought, I stood up and made my way out the door, leaving behind the hideous and the beast. I go forth to the madness that surely awaits me. Will I prevail or will I succumb to the madness that is Swordthunder.
I just sat in my room, obsessing over my current fate. Suddenly, there was a loud thud resonating in my small room. I looked down and saw a familiar tome. I looked up and saw a rather tall and skinny lady dwarf, could have passed for an elf.
"Who are you?! What is the meaning of this?!"
"Hi, Erica. Nice ta meetcha. I used to run this sprawling insane asylum. The book has chosen you. Why? I don’t know, but it did so deal with it. You should be out here running things instead hiding out in here for the whole year.”
“Yes, I can. You just watch me!”
“Fine, but the book is recording every single thing you do. Future overseers will know that you hid out in here. Think you can live with knowing future dwarfs will curse your name for not stepping up when they needed you most? We have hostile cave people, beasts long forgotten and not to mention restless spirits that still haunt. You should know, after all. You look like you’ve seen a ghost! ha!”
“Just go away!”
“Sure thing, farewell coward.” Her laughter lingered long after her departure, bouncing around the the room like a cat with its tail pulled.
I really need to get a door put up here.
or maybe an isolated room. Yea, that would be better.
If this cursed book really records everything I do, then I really should do something. I’ve never been a dwarf of action, however, so deciding what to do next is difficult. I know I’ll order a room constructed, one with a door and is away from the general populace.
Well, to get started, I must leave my quarters. I stood up beside the bed and looked down. I hesitated for what seems like eons, finally I gathered my nerves and picked up the book. It was musty, dusty, and hefty. I looked out my door, watching the motley assortment of fellow dwarfs go to and fro. They’re out there unaware that their very livelihood could be threatened. They are depending on me to bring them notoriety, fortune, and prosperity. I am no leader, what do I know of politics, economics, and commanding? Well, I guess I should try at least.
“So, McRunaka, how goes the excavation?”
He stood straight, wiping the sweat off his prominent chin with the back of his hand, leaving behind a swath of stone dust. “It’ll be done soon enough, but ya gon’ ha’ta get some folks ta drag dem stones out if’n you want ta lie comfy.”
“I’ll see to it, yes. Tell me, how goes the interacting with our liaison?”
His eyes darkened just bit, so subtle a change in his demeanor that I almost missed it. “That bloody dwarf is gettin’ on my last nerves! I ha’ more important things ta do than ta babysit a messenger!”
“But if he reports favorably, we could end up with extra labor!”
“Then I’ll ha’ta babysit a bunch o’ no-good, lolligaggin’ whingers! No thank ya!” With that he walked away, this...does not bode well.
Despite his misgivings, caravans MUST survive to report our wealth. Their every arrival has thus far coincided with an assault of one ilk or another, negating their chances of survival. This needs to be rectified, and swiftly!
I’ll order a tunnel built to the edge of our realm, then utilize ramps and hatches to let them out to safety. This may take some doing and time as well. Being undermanned will drag this project out to potentially pass my term, but I must start it.
I keep hearing the ghostly wails and keening. I can’t take it anymore. A week on the job and I’m already ready to turn in my sanity slate.
“Argh! These confounded spirits will not let me be!” I plugged my ears with my pudgy fingers in a vain attempt to block the ghostly laments.
“Hey there, coward! I see you’re out of your hole. Still seeing ghosts?” Erica had continued to torment me while I try to do my duties as overseer. She was not a welcome sight.
“Haven’t spotted a one, but their keening persists!” I don’t know why I told her this, perhaps my naivete still rules deep within me?
“Well, If you go slabbing, you might put a few of them down.” There was that smirk she has taken to wearing, like it was her uniform. Slabbing sounds simple enough, but that smirk tells me it may be problematic at best. I must try though. I haven’t slept a wink since the spirits began harassing me.
“I know of a room half filled with coffins. I shall fill the other half with slabs.” I felt proud that I had thought of this.
“Well, that’s a
start.” She laughed and walked away. That ladydwarf infuriates me.
A little more than a month has gone by, and already things have started happening. Zaneg Ustanducim, the Gem Cutter, started babbling incoherently. She ran around maniacally, screaming unintelligibly.
“What in a goblin’s udder has gotten into her,” I muttered.
A familiar shrill voice startled me, “mebbe she’s possessed.”
Armok’s beard preserve me, she’s the last dwarf i wanted to see today, or ever really.
“Just what do you mean by that?”
She shrugged, her smirk persisted throughout the motion. “Sometimes spirits possess people and often they have a strident need to create something.”
I was flabbergasted. “Do you mean to tell me that this is one of those ‘strange moods’ I keep hearing about?”
“It can take several forms, but strange moods really do happen”
I can’t believe that it’s actually happening! I was distraught, “well, what can I do about it? I don’t want to lose any under my care if I can help it.”
She laughed, “if you have everything the spirit needs, then all should be right with the world.”
Have I mentioned she’s infuriating? “And if I do not?”
She laughed harder, “then no amount of counselling will aid her. She will then lose it and, if you are horribly unlucky, she will take as many of us as she can before she takes her own life. I am so glad not to be in your shoes anymore. Stinks to be you though. Good luck!” She spun and strode away at a strut. Yep, infuriating.
So, our gem cutter is possessed, and is in need of a workshop. I hope we have what the spirit needs. If not, I shall have to put her down like a rabid goblin.
The spirit has directed our gem cutter to claim a Jeweler’s Shop. I will be keeping a close eye on her. I do not trust the spirits, in my experience, they are nothing but trouble. And what is that she keeps muttering.
She has started the construction, which mean we had what she needed. Thank goodness for that! What in Ok’s name is she going to do with all those materials? It has better be something good, else she’ll be relegated to Wall duty. Wait, where did
that come from?
NOTE: I will update this post as I write more. This is by no means where I left off. Just where I stopped writing :-p More story is forth coming. So enjoy.
Author
Topic: The Community Reclaims Swordthunders - We need more lunatics to run this asylum! (Read 188224 times)