Oh god this post became much longer than I hoped it'd be. The storyman took over, sorry about that. I'll post a short summary to the end of this post for everyone who can't be bothered to read the following rubbish. I played to the start of Autumn today, and will finish my year tomorrow. On Sunday. This is worth to note because at the time I'm writing this, it's 1 AM. Oh god I need sleep.
My name is Flililishlaldin. The band leader sent by Sliplongin, the clan leader. Our force of 21 was told to move to a camp known as Chlilithaymis, to retake it. Contact there had been lost quite some time ago, and from what the leader told me, was probably caused by elves. Or worse, goblins.
It was an unnatural thing in my opinion, to send warriors of the clan to take back a lost camp. Traditionally, such cases where a site was lost to us, it was deemed unlivable, dangerous, for the enemy knew of it's location and would surely return to kill anyone daring to return and live there.
We kobolds live in secrecy, in the dark places. Lost camps are left behind, and survivors of attack relocate. But this was not the case. The leader told me it was because Chlilithaymis was... special. I tried to ask for more information about just what made it so special from the cave we currently resided in, but he just told me that I would have to learn it myself. And with that, I could do no more but to obey the orders given to me.
We were given a little supplies to live on until we arrived, and a little more to survive until the clan could send more supplies to us once the mission was accomplished.
It seemed crazy, but orders are orders. I will not question them, and told all those now working under my command to do the same.
We arrived during the night, and moved with silence through the dark woods towards our destination. We were guided by light, and noise that was not of our kin. I sent a few men to scout ahead, and they soon returned, and brought us closer to the now dead camp.
It was as I feared. Goblins. The scouts said they had spotted taller figures among them as well, most likely elves.
They were having the time of their lives. Campfires had been lit, and around them, the goblins dance and sang their horrible songs. Guttural, vicious songs praising their dark lords and the slaughter they had committed in their name.
There was a smell in the air, that every soldier picked up easily. It was the smell of roasting flesh. A corpse had been set atop on one of the fires, skewered like an animal.
It was one of our kin. It sickened us, but most importantly, enraged all of us. These... things, had been feasting on our dead.
The men asked for us to attack already and give the goblins a taste of their own savagery, but I told them to hold still for now. I had fought a goblin before, and knew that their equipment was strong. A simple assault now would only cause unneeded casualties on our forces.
We had to move in the shadows like we had to this point.
Our moment to strike came when one of the goblins excused himself of the rest, and wandered towards the dark woods to relieve himself. Silent, I motioned for the men to follow, and so they did.
The goblin found no relief but our swords and spears, it was not a fight, it was a simple kill. It fell dead with little noise, which was drowned out by the celebration of the others.
We moved in closer, and while I would have preferred to pick off the enemy one by one, it wouldn't be long until some of them would notice the one missing, and come to the obvious conclusion that someone else had arrived.
From the dark, we attacked. The enemy was taken by surprise, and sent scrambling for their weapons. Some managed, others did not. All around me I heard shouts, screams and curses. Weapons clashing against one another, a shout from one of my men, injured by a goblin who had been able to get a weapon on his hands and fight back, but unable to fend off the rest who went to aide the now wounded soldier. The goblin died with a scream, and the rest of them were thrown in a panicked retreat.
It was reasonable, we came from the dark, they had no idea how many of us there were, and it must have seemed a better idea to run for it than stand and fight. We gave chase, and the whole incident was soon over. How many did we kill, four, five of them? I could not count.
Sounds of our wounded crying out to us in the night were now more important. I sent a few of the men to scout the area, make sure there were no enemies to threaten us, while the rest, I ordered to stand down for the moment, and tend to the wounded.
It took some time to find the entrance to this place, and the rooms where the wounded could be placed, but already I had begun to grasp at the reason why our leader had wanted this place retaken. But it was not until later that I understood it completely.
The scouts returned soon, and told that save for a few snailmen, there were no more enemies in the area. It was a small relief, I fear the day they come back to see if we are still here. But we will be here, and we will fight them just like we did tonight.
The men were exhausted of our journey, and the battle, so for the night, I gave them the permission to have a good rest, but not without setting up a guard duty of two men in two-hour shifts. We could rest, but I would not sleep like a fool with no worry.
The following morning, I woke up refreshed. The bed in the room I had chosen at random helped me sleep well. Those of us who suffered injury had not received any serious injury save for one of our miners, who had his leg smashed by a goblin maceman. He did admit that it hurt, but told me not to worry too much, he would get better in a while.
I finally headed up with the men able to walk, puzzled how they froze as soon as they were above ground, but I soon found out why.
The leader had been right. I understood now why exactly this place was so important.
The strange forms of rock that we had used for cover during our entry here were not rocks. They had been built there by our people here before us. They had been building a tower. It was unfinished, but rose much higher than I ever had thought possible. It was as if it aimed to reach the sky above. Similar buildings were all around us, and much more constructions.
It was... beautiful. Only after I found the message left by the previous leader of this place, did I understand why exactly had they begun such constructions. They had had a vision of a better life for our kind. A life where we would dare take on the challenges of the world, standing proud and tall. They had been cut down in their attempt, but the more I read, the more determined I grew.
Of all those who passed away here, I promised on their memory, that we would not let them down. Here would begin a new story of us kobolds, and we would most certainly succeed.
It has been a week now. We have delved deeper into this place, and all of us have been simply amazed of it all. Tunnels beneath the rock like the dwarves, buildings aboveground like the humans, it was as if the people here had been inspired of all the things they had seen in the world, and brought together them all to this place and build from it.
All we could do for them now, was proper burial. It was not easy. Most of them were badly decomposed, and we moved many to their final resting place underground in the tunnels they had dug. No one could keep themselves from being brought to tears as we moved the adults, elders, and even the children to the coffins of stone. No one called each other out on it. It was hard on us all to bury so many. But we did it regardless, to honor the dead who had created such a marvelous place and paid such a horrible price for it.*OOC NOTE: I sort of forgot about the fact that you can't bury the dead upon reclaim. So don't think too much about the piles of bones in the catacomb area. ...at least I THINK those are catacombs.*
It is the middle of Spring now. I have begun to take pause from our work of burial for our kin, in order to understand this place more. The work has become more slow as my men work to locate the remains scattered around the interiors, and the area surrounding this place, nothing but bones and skulls are left now.
In my breaks, I have walked the empty hallways, the soft ground paths, but with a word this place is massive. I have trouble grasping it all, it is just that amazing. It will take months for me to walk this place freely and without fear of losing my way. Along that, I have begun to take count of our supplies. For the few of us here, they will be enough for quite some time, but of course, I will feel easy once we receive our first round of supplies.
For one, to get more supplies for us, and for second, to let our leader know that we did not fail in our mission.
The men told me that they are done with the burial order. At least, they were unable to find anyone else without a proper resting place.
With Spring nearly at the end, I have given the order to move our food supplies inside. Now I just would have to think of a good place to place them.*OOC NOTE: Seriously, this place has now so many empty rooms that I have no idea what was meant for what stockpiles. Anyone is free to correct my decisions at any point of the game, but for now, the room below the first floor dining hall is where I put all the food our expedition had with them when they embarked.*
Summer is here, and so are the suppliers sent by our home. They approach carefully, but seeing us come greet them, they reply with cheer. We discussed our situation, the victory over the goblins, the discovery that all previous inhabitants had perished, our ceaseless work to bring some order to the chaos that was all around us, but most importantly, to let people back home know that we are alive and well.
We gave them spoils of our victory to take back home. The blood-soaked clothes of those goblins who had attacked this place. It will be the proof required for our leader that we succeeded.
With the pleasantries of chatter now aside, it was time to focus on what was now in front of us. The need for storage. There was a lot of clutter all around, things laid outside under the sun and with no proper place for them that we knew of.
For the time being, I have given orders to the tunneling of new storage rooms, we will start with the logs and furniture that is all around us.
On one of my walks through this place, I came upon something... odd, odd and unsettling.
In a room, in the middle between the butcher's shop and the tanning room, there is a body. A naked goblin corpse. With a copper chopper smashed deep into it's face. Now, if it was that simple, I would not mention it here.
What is unsettling, is that the body has not decomposed at all. Gagombis was there with me, and upon inspecting the body, had to agree. The goblin was as if it had been killed a minute ago. The blood was still flowing from the wound on it's head, forming into a puddle on the clay floor.
I felt that there was something horribly wrong with the place. This particular room, something had happened here, something that had frozen this single corpse in time. I and Gagombis both carefully retreated from the room, and locked the door, careful not to anger whatever spirit of vengeance had taken home there.*OOC NOTE: Seriously, that corpse hasn't rot a bit in all the time I've been in the fort. I'm sure it's a bug, but because these are kobolds, it seemed the obvious reaction to this sort of situation. Call it the combined vengeance of all the kobolds who died here took it upon this one goblin. Also, the goblin is completely without clothing. There's only an iron shield with it, and the chopper all in the same tile. Also, it's sort of awesome how it's just there, with no reasonable explanation.
Not soon after the supplier from the homes left, I received a most surreal report. A slugman had made it's way inside the tunnels, and attacked! But it seemed it's attack was with little threat. Jidiliblolis descended upon it, having dealt with goblins a few months ago, he beat it to death with his bare fists. I have no clue how it made it's way inside, I need to learn this place more to find this possible entryway from outside and think of a way to deal with it.
For the time being, I've ordered everyone to carry a weapon, be it shovel or axe. We certainly have enough of both here.
I need to think of a place to store the corpse as well before it rots and stenches up the place.
Upon searching for such a place, I came across something most extraordinary. Truly this place has many secrets and surprises for us all for months to come.
It was a simple room, full of bars of metal.
And not just any metal. As I inspected the bars most numerous in the room, I had no option but to admit that they were not the ordinary metals that I had seen. The room was full of iron and steel. Had the people here stolen the secrets of steel from the dwarves? I must try and locate the details of the creation of this metal. Hopefully the instructions to it's creation is hidden somewhere in the fort. It would be most appreciated by our home and leader, I'm sure of it.
I received word that a large group of people have been spotted walking towards this place over the hills. Migrants. So soon? Well, I'm sure we have more than enough space to accommodate them, and certainly could use every extra pair of hands with carrying all the things laying outside into their appropriate places.*OOC Note: No mechanics, sorry. Just a siege engineer. Oh well. Maybe next wave.*
To give our miners some work to do, I finally decided the best course of option instead of looking for a room created by the people who lived here, to store corpses, I designated a room to be made close to the craftshop. At least anyone wanting to work with bones and skulls won't have to walk too far for it. As I heard the room previously made by us to store all the furniture was getting full, I ordered some more of the room to be carved out.That's it for now. Will finish my year tomorrow and upload the save. Here's the summary I promised because I'm sure everyone gets tired of reading the above by line 2.
- 21 kobolds were given to reclaim with. I made 'em all stabbers, slicers and choppers. Earlier attempt with shooters didn't go so well. Need better than Novice soldiers for that skill to do real damage.
- Killed 5 of the goblins that were in the area. There were, what, 20 or 25 of them? At least a few of the goblins had names and titles.
- We only had a few injuries, no one died. Hooray!
- Moved all food indoors.
- Turned the expedition leader into the clerk, so the player after me won't have to deal with the hassle of unknown stockpile amounts.
- Farms are offline for the moment until I get some sort of order here, and most of the things scattered all over indoors. It's gonna take a while.
- The migrant wave wasn't anything spectacular. A milker, peasant, animal caretaker, furnace operator, siege engineer, and a kid or two, and a glassmaker. I'm going to give him some skill at glassmaking so we could have some snazzy glass artifact in case he moods.
- We have a load of fish despite the constant eating. But even then, we have a load of bones indoors. A lot, lot of bones. I don't think starvation is an issue for a while.
- My plans for finishing the year are obviously to get a lot of the cluttered items outside indoors so you other players won't have to deal with it(or at the very least, as little as possible given the 2 seasons I have left).
- I think the civ I embarked from doesn't have a liaison. At least one didn't arrive with the merchants. A problem, from minor to major depending on how you look at it.
I think that's about it. If I forgot something of value to note, I'll probably remember and tell about it tomorrow.
