First Defender Besmar's LogEntry for future novel upon retirement27th of GalenaUpon arriving at our
"fort" we had to find the entry staircase and it was covered in half frozen repellant mucus. The stuff smells unimaginable like rotting carcasses, and as we made our way down it led to the first cavern level just as they were told to dig
and we ran into most of their corpses on the way down that had rotted all the way to skeletons. What had done that?
I have heard of great beasts that can melt the flesh off of dwarves or maybe it was the mucus? Either way upon arriving at the actual grounds of the future fort where most of the corpses were the skeletons rose to life as they arrived as if drawn to the new dwarves. Being skeletons they all went down easy and most of it was the livestock anyhow. Mashed and mangled everyone of them to bits!
It looks like before they died they were beginning to erect walls around the center of the cavern layer to hold out beasts
6th of SandstoneMigrant caravan that was scheduled by Imush came in. 9 dwarves. One of them an old matron with her youngest child in tow. Strange place to agree to come, but I guess it's hard to convince normal dwarves to come out here.
Also merchants, but we had nothing to give them.
9th of SandstoneA voracious cave crawler wandered right into our camp while I was making some slabs for the previous team and began attacking. That's weird. Back home in the tunnels one of those things just sees a dwarf it begins wandering the other direction. It didn't get far because Zeb was near and she beat the stupid worm to death. Or is it more like a centipede? Whatever I'll leave that to the scholars, dead is dead.
14th of SandstoneI TOLD FEB HOW TO FIGHT OUT HERE"MANGLE THE CORPSES FEB!" "They get back up if you don't break every major bone in the body!" What does she do? She's a traditionalist and mutilates the corpse and then I have to come and kill this monster again! Almost ate the dwarf that was hauling it to be butchered. I sat around its body until they finished cutting it up this time to be sure.
See this is what I'm talking about with traditions. Dwarves think they can fight the undead the same as goblins.
Also there's been a ghost hanging around. Not a member of the original work team and I didn't recognize her. You only see her on the edge of your vision for a second, but I recognized her gear: she's an axedwarf. I'll have to find her body and her name so I can deal with this. No dwarf needs to be stuck in this place for eternity. Also who knows what this cursed tundra would do to a ghostly dwarf if it can control their bodies.
3rd of MoonstoneIneth the axedwarf has been put to rest. She was probably some monster slayer or adventurer who came out here, but she's dead. I laid her slab out in our new meeting hall. I set up the tavern/meetinghall in the middle of the cavern layer we have
mostly finished walling off
Imush asked what the point was in a tavern and that we should focus on sending more trade goods home and accused me of not taking this seriously, but she yielded.
She's still thinking like a worker and doesn't get it. We need a tavern because we need mercenaries and monster slayers, and it's hard to wrangle those fools in if there's no place for them to go drink at the end of a hard day's killin
15th of MoonstoneUdil, the hunter, is dead. She got nabbed by a jabberer outside the walls. I had already killed the jabberer on my way outside to patrol the area
Before we could move her body she reanimated, and only the Imush and Litast were around as well as that new child. Litast decapitated her with an axe, but she isn't staying dead because he did it wrong. Now both her head and body keep reanimating and we keep having to put both down regularly.
Her body is so destroyed that she isn't much danger, but she'd definitely kill the kid if she hobbled up to him
Also been having more attacks by the wildlife. Again strange. A cave crocodile wandered deep onto land, another voracious cave crawler and a troll.
Did I mention that Feb killed the Cave Crawler wrong
AGAIN? Because she did, and I had to go back and kill it's reanimated corpse. You know what it's like having to wrestle with and bash a giant worm with a massive hole for a mouth covered in teeth that wants to eat you? As fun as it sounds. I'm going to make Feb run laps I don't care if it slows productivity.
18th of OpalWalls up all nice, and many of the massive stalagmites have been mined out.
We killed Udil again who had crawled, as we had already killed her so many times she could only crawl, to the other side of the cavern. She stayed dead though. Now I am not miner, but I did some figurin'. I think the spot we killed her again is actually on the edge of that good forest, and so the magic of the tundra doesn't reach here. Good body dumping area. Heck maybe even a good place to lure beasts we gotta kill.
Walls are up, but we forgot to lock the doors. How did we learn?
Meng the miner died. Thankfully he finished digging our well first.
Troll wandered in and mauled him. Tore out his throat.
I killed the troll. Mangled it where Feb could see how it was done, but the doc wasn't able to save Meng.
I should've stopped Imush from doing it, but it didn't occur to me. With so few beds he made the dormitory also the hospital.
Udil reanimated and murdered the kid, Ustuth, was his name. I put Meng down again, and was trying to fight off the kid. He was so fast and small! So very small....
Feb got a hit in and mangled the kid correctly. Good girl.
Domas the new peasant also died. Troll. As he died he gurgled out "Death I am not uneasy" I guess that makes it better.
I've been spending a lot of time by the pond outside the walls. Being in a cave everything echoes, but it's peaceful here.You could hear the echoes of the 8 remaining dwarves, did I mention we lost more, as the water occasionally broke from a fish(dead or undead). Would've been a fisherdwarf if they weren't always worked to insanity. Not a long lifespan in that kind of work
Course my last peaceful sit was broken. You could barely hear the water break as they silently stealthily swam, but a group of pond grabbers swam into view. Look like drowned corpses just floating in the water until you investigate. Maybe work in other biomes, but who in the hell would get close to a dead body in this land? So I left. Gotta wonder if they'd be any tougher than the undead.
Also unicorns are wandering the surface.
Living ones. Just wandering through frozen mucus like it doesn't smell like a rotten carcass. Part of me thinks they're taunting the tundra. If so I like their guts. We should catch a few.
Journal Entry from Imush the Expedition LeaderEverything is a mess! We've lost half our population already, and have nothing to trade anyone! There's also been no metal ores found yet, and only a few jewels. I have to send a letter back with the outpost liaison to the king, and how do I explain this? Besmar wants me to do what they did in the military.
He says "It's easy lass. What you do is you say in the letter how great things are going and the progress and how victory will be achieved soon! But then you also give him a long list of needs and exaggerate them!"
How would that help? I ask and he says its political. The mountainhome looks bad if they allow a successful expedition to fall. So look successful, but in need!
Letter to His MajestyYour highness!
The Tundra bows the dwarven ingenuity and grit! The dead are no match for us, and we have erected a magnificent fortress in the caverns! Scores of undead defeated and rare valuables found!
On the surface we have tamed unicorns from the forest next door and are building the greatest cavalry the world has ever seen!
Half of our population is deadEnclosed, if His Majesty deems us worthy, is a list of needs that will secure this region for the glory of Rimadgeshud:
100 professional soldier dwarves
200 skilled laborers specialized in cavern work
The finest metals and lumber that can be spared
Letter from Udil "The Hunter" Found under her dormitory bed with a cave crawler bone trinketDear Ustuth,
I hope the mountainhome treats you and your family well, brother.
I am doing well here, although it isn't safe enough to go hunting. I am really making a name for myself and I am hoping to bring our family honor and pay back those undead who've taken so much from us.
The "First Defender" Is kind of weird. He switches from being a humorous fool to a serious leader on the drop of a plump helmet, but that makes sense considering he commanded on the border I guess.
I'm gonna be saving some trinkets to send home to your little ones so let me know what they like! I'm sending one I made with this letter to give you an idea.
Please hug your family for me and let them know I'll be home to visit soon!
Love Udil