Spring 158The death of NefolàThe direct consequence of the happenings of winter 157 was that an old god, the Roc Nefolà Enorerofa Rèfa Yëmi elected to take residence in the vicinity of the bridge. For months now, the pearlites did not know what to do with her – the ideal would be to capture her, but how? They installed traps wherever they could, but how would they catch a flying monster of this size?
Letting it flying freely was not an option either, as it was scaring the population of the town, and we feared that it would likewise scare the merchants, come the time of the spring festival. To drive it away, Histamine’s crossbows took position on the barrack’s roof and shot a dozen quarrels at her. It was enough to drive her off the bridge for a while… but we knew it couldn’t last. If the monster wouldn’t leave and we couldn’t capture it, death was the only remaining option.
It was the five or march when Nefolà decided to confront us once again. Util then, she has been probing the city for a gap in our defenses, and she finally found one . Spotting an elven vagrant, alone on the western shore – a poor girl by the name of Vinena Tayolyimepe – she decided to make a snack out of her.
By the time the army could react, it was already too late for Vinena: the monster was already upon her and would make quick work out of her. But her death would not be in vain.
The army rushed to the site and were fast enough to catch the monster feeding on the poor elf. It was now or never: they charged the monster.
The battle was short and brutal. The monster was large, but the weapons of the army were especially well suited to fight it. With her wings damaged, Nefolà lost the ability to fly off – dragged to the ground, she was slain by the army. A spearmistress by the name of Laspar Nirsushsath dealt the final blow.
Because old gods deserve respect even in death, Nefolà’s body was destroyed soon after. Maybe it was a mistake – probably we could have harvested its bones for our industry... But no matter.
From now on, its spirit shall live on with us. On its behalf, we shall take revenge on the Osmites who drove her out of her home.
Diplomacy and war-planningLast year, a diplomatic incident had cooled the relations between Mong Kima and the elven kingdom of Iferifiyopi – this is why we were very relieved to see they decided to come back this year. The spring festival could take place and this time, we made substantial efforts not to offend them again. This allowed us to buy a large quantity of fuel – necessary to processs Osmite scavanged gear into gear of war.
Iferifiyopi was not a party involved in the war against Osme. Their territory is located far into the west, and most of their people would likely never meet a goblin. But by providing war beasts and large quantity of fuel to our forges, they became one of our dearest assets in the conflict.
Efforts have to be deployed to please their exotic sensibilities, but those efforts do not go in vain. Their trade and support allow us to sped up force generation, which needs to go full sail ahead now.
This spring, no offensive action was taken against Osme. The death of Nefolà was enough of an adventure and the army needed to rest – but we’re confident that we can push the frontline comes Summer.
In other news, our trade deficit continues its steady resorption. Bookkeeper Oso counts that if we can continue the pace we have for twelve or thirteen months, the bridge would officially have given more than it would have taken from the outside world.
Achieving a positive trade balance is still one of our primary objectives.
Domestic developmentNow that we have a lot of fuel, it is time to step up our industrial production. For a long time, the smith guild has been confined in underground forges carved in the old mines. It was meant to be a temporary solution – but somehow with the time, it ended up becoming the norm. We don’t want to leave our most esteemed craftmen lie more than they ought to in a state of precarity.
One of the large buildings we started to install on the western banks will be the new redsmithing guild. It should be a multiple-story building, with a metal shop on the ground floor, a large classroom on the first floor, forges and furnaces in the second and third floor, the offices on the fourth floor. This project will again take some time, but will become functionnal way before it is achieved.
The other projects in progress are plentiful : the barracks still need two stories and a roof. The bridge granary needs to be expended still, and the mausoleum is far to be finished. All of those projects continue to be worked n, but everything is limited by the rate of stone production.
Vagrancy is still a problemSince the fall of the Aconilun in September 149 – almost nine years ago ! – vagrancy has been a problem in Kimaeslo Ori. Deprived of their legitimate government, a number of small communities decided to inhabit various places around the bridge for shelter and protection – the beaches, the forests, the underground mines…
At its roots, the Thaguk Alnos was but one of those small communities. Although it grew faster than its peers and was eventually formally legitimized as the new owners of the bridgetown – and then by the blessing of the Queen herself, those competing communities never moved from the places they settled in.
During the recorded history of the Thaguk Alnos, we witnessed a number of death among those “vagrants” and their number inevitably diminishes – life in the outskirts of the town is hard and cruel.
But in spring 158, their numbers was still high and conflicts between communities would happen episodically.
Such was the case in May, when a vagrant by the name of Fanu Pumekaslu stalked and killed one of the prized warbeasts of the town.
Trained to trust and obey its human masters, the poor feline was taken by surprise and made no attempt at defending itself ; the vagrant slew him with his pearl iron knife.
That affair caused a commotion in town – not only a warbeast was killed, but it was killed in the oatfield and that scuffle trampled a lot of crops. Most of the springs harvest would subsequently have to be trashed.
Moreover, Fanu was not a member of the Thaguk Alnos and could not be judged by the lady – as he was not her subject. Justice could not be served. There was, of course, a remedy that Lady Desli could use to protect her property: her monopoly on violence. She could just have the man killed on the ground that he is a bandit.
The affair was brought to her, and she appeared visibly annoyed. There was no good available move for her. In one hand, the whole city was pissed about the event. The farmers lost a large part of their harvest, the army lost one of their prized warbeasts and in general, the citizen were made nervous by the presence among them of violent beggars.
In the other hand, was it enough to take a man’s life ? At the end of the day, Fanu was let go.
“I’m not bloodying my hands in that affair” she explained to her subjects. “No pearlite died, and even without the full spring harvest, our granaries are fattening. This is very upsetting, but IO cannot have a pearlite killed over a warbeast.
-What if he kills one of us next? Asked a subject. Are we simply to wait until his first human victim?
-Yes, exactly – Lady Desli responded calmly. If he kills one of you, I’ll give another judgement. In the meantime, I’m not judging a pearlite over a crime they might commit.”
Of course, she knew it was not a good answer. There was no good answer – letting the man live will probably invite more troubles in the future.
In the end, she was ruling on virtue and good principles; it was not meant to be the easy road.
View of the southern gate
