Bloodline:Tinbolt Chapter 2

This log entry is from the bloodline game Tinbolt.

The journal of mattmoss Idrenrít, peasant.

1st Granite

I came to Tinbolt last autumn; I heard they were in need of a few extra hands to move rocks, and since there was only slug watching going on at home, I came to Tinbolt with nothing but the clothes on my back. Those I came with actually brought tools, which in hindsight was a good idea.

As expected, I spent the next several months moving things around. Rocks, mostly, but also food, metal and the occassional log. A simple life.

Now, as with most Dwarven outposts, leadership changes every year. To me, that always seemed rather dangerous and unstable, since there was the distinct possibility that I would be chosen to lead for a year. As things go, that has now happened. jdarksun Olinfôker tapped me on the shoulder this morning, mutterred something about embracing the life of an accountant, and handed me the keys. Joy.

I took a tour around the place to get an idea of what might need to be done. For 14 dwarves, our foodstocks seemed to be rather low. Our stocks of wood were nil. There were plenty of other things that would need to be done as well, but I considered these two the first priority. You can't make certain kinds of items without wood, and you can't do anything with hungry dwarves.

I had a talk with the farmers and cooks on the state of the food supply, and marked off some groves of trees reasonably close to be chopped down. The wood cutters looked uneasy and kvetched about goblins and spiders, but I told them we needed those logs.

14th Granite

Elven traders arrived and unloaded their goods today. It was fortunate that they avoided notice from the various nasty denizens in the area. I'm hoping they have a bit of wood to spare, but Elves have this thing about trees and plants, so I am not expecting much.

Some dark gnomes ran in and stole a few drinks from the depot. Stupid gnomes.

19th Granite

jdarksun was busy smoothing floors downstairs. I asked her politely to do that another time, as their was trading to be done. We handed over a bunch of rock salt trinkets -- mugs, toys, instruments -- in exchange for what little wood they had, a few barrels and bags, and several stacks of cloth.

Oh, I also pushed jdarksun to trade for a fair spear the Elves brought. I could see the goblin forts across the chasm, and the spider webs located everywhere brought chills to my spine, so I figured we needed to work on getting some recruits. Mental note to see about getting our own weapons and armor produced.

24th Granite

Lòr Rakustsodel, our sole combatant, is now watching over the depot at my request, as the gnomes keep harassing the Elves and our own. During her watch, I saw one gnome approach the depot. Lòr stepped forward to meet the gnome and swiftly lopped off the gnome's right arm. A moment later, Lòr swung a mighty stroke with the blunt side of her axe, killing the gnome and sending it flying back 40 feet. Amazing...

4th Slate

I am now quite concerned about our food supply. We are just getting underway in farm production, and twenty migrants arrived today. Twenty. While they might not might sleeping on the floor, they are definitely going to start eating through our food. I wanted to ask our farmers how they might speed things up, but they were napping. Argh.

With all the cloth that was lying about, and since I was mostly still hauling rocks, I was going to some weaving some of that cloth into bags and shirts and such. But as one of the new migrants was a clothier, I decided I would join Lòr in military service. I picked up the spear and began learning from Lòr.

Seeing how many dwarves we now had, I decided to give Lòr the official title of Sheriff. She immediately turned to me and demanded better quarters, an office and several items for both. I wanted to knock her senseless, but decided we needed a Sheriff and she was the best person. I gave into her demands, and instead took my anger out on a barrel of ale that evening...

10th Slate

The elves finally left. Good thing, too... That flowery stench was awful.

13th Slate

Safety in pairs? Ha! Zasit Therlethadil went out to fish with someone and ran into the giant spider Umârato, a fearsome creature. Umârato decided that Zasit looked like a tasty snack and chased her for a long distance. Tired, Zasit finally turned to face the beast and was torn to shreds.

Knowing the tendencies of our race, I cautioned the other dwarves not to go out there for Zasit's clothes, fashionable as they might be. What I did not realize immediately is that Zasit had a pet mule, Solon Deteslikot, who decided to go visit her master. Umâtaro picked up the mule's smell and chased it... right back to our fort!

14th Slate

The other dwarves ignored me, or didn't take my warnings seriously. Several of them went up to the surface and were dispatched by Umâtaro: Deler, our trapper... Morul, one of the recent migrants.

Umâtaro began chasing Cog Nishmishthem, our new weaver. Mafol ùshrirstukos, also a recent migrant peasant, attempted to save Cog by stepping in front of the great spider. Mafol was lost, and sadly her sacrifice did not slow Umâtaro down. Cog ran well, drawing the great spider far away from the fort, but in the end she also fell to those fangs.

Mafol and Cog... While you shouldn't have gone outside, your sacrifice will be remembered.

Sadly, our "military" was asleep during these events... and by that, I mean our Sheriff Lòr. I would have gone outside myself, but Lòr hasn't really taught me how to fight yet.

18th Slate

Lòr woke up... Great.

I decided we needed more than just Lòr and myself. A few of the peasants have been recruited. I'm discussing with the miners where to dig out a barracks so the lads can train. I need to also figure out how we're going to make some more weapons and armor.

25th Slate

I remembered that one of the new migrants, Vucar Kuletlulâr, is a bowyer of some skill. I asked him to setup a workshop and start making a few crossbows so the new recruits don't feel so naked.

4th Felsite

Tulon Unibkutam, a peasant, wandered outside today and was found by the hated Umâtaro. Sadly, Tulon is rather lacking in brains; instead of coming back down into the fort, he ran full around the chasm. He died at the foot of the goblin fortress, killed by Umâtaro.

Here's hoping spiders like goblins. For breakfast.

26th Felsite

I had a chat with the farmers today. Our foodstocks are a little better balanced. I allowed them to cook up some of the plump helmets and dwarven beer to make some decent meals. Our seed level is still good, and we have plenty of wine. I feel more relaxed about our food situation, provided we don't get any more migrants immediately.

Iden Onolodshith, a milker, hasn't had much to do since he arrived. Which is not surprising, since we have no animals to be milked. I asked him to pick plants when he arrived, but today he started acting very strange.

Iden grabbed a few logs and started working at a frenzied pitch in one of the crafts workshops, completely ignoring Led Kelatul who, due to a lack of beds, was sleeping under a workbench. Led woke up sometime during Iden's task and quietly, wisely backed out.

2nd Hematite

Summer has arrived, and so has Iden's fey mood. He came out of the workshop, a cedar idol in his right hand he calls "Bem Gesis".

Iden now feels like he could do anything with wood, and feels stronger and more agile to boot. I'm not sure about his claim, but I decided not to test him further on this. The man seems unstable.

I wish, however, he had chosen some other material for his idol. While it is worth a hefty price ($4800), he is unlikely to let it go. And we really needed those logs for other things.

22nd Hematite

A human caravan arrived! They unloaded their wares and jdarksun came up from below to trade. I think she managed a good deal. Again we traded away tons of little stone trinkets.

In return, we took what little wood they had, some barrels and bags (you can never have too much storage!), another mining pick, a bunch of seeds, strawberry wine and sewer brew, some stacks of leather, and a few bucklers and a shield.

I saw those bucklers on their wagons and made sure jdarksun knew to get them. She is growing in skill in her dealings with the various caravans that come, and getting good deals. I told her to use her own judgement in making some offerings of more stone goods -- it's not like we're running out of rock salt any time soon.

11th Malachite

The humans are packing up to leave.

I heard that Vabôk Tandodók, one of our planters, has been killed. I don't know where... My information is secondhand, and no one I've talked to yet is the actual source of that rumor.

Dumed Olonmafol went out to look for him and was killed by Umâtaro. The whereabouts of Vabôk are still unknown.

13th Malachite

We found Vabôk's body today. Dwarves rushed out of the fort in haste to get Vabôk's things. I scolded them, that Umâtaro was still nearby and what they were doing was a very bad idea. I hoped that warning would get them back inside without further incident.

Too late, it seems. The spider is in hot pursuit, chasing them back here. The humans are just staring out; I yelled a warning to them to prepare a defense, and called Lòr and the rest of the squad up above ground to assist.

The humans were a tad confused and our squad was not as quick as I had hoped. Only Lolor Sákrithùshrir came out quick; she and I went to face Umâtaro. This was my first real fight, and still none of us had proper training yet.

Thankfully, we were victorious! Lolor reached the great spider first and did most of the work, hacking the spider apart, while I harried and distracted from the side. The other recruits, the Sheriff, and a few human swordsmen ran up as Lolor delivered the killing stroke. Umâtaro, who had killed many a dwarf, was now dead, and we were unscathed. I was much relieved, and treated Lolor to many a brew that evening.

20th Malachite

The humans stayed another week, after the scare of Umâtaro, but finally left today.

18th Galena

I asked Led a while back to make some bone crossbow bolts so our potential marksdwarves might train. Stupidly, she's beed searching inside the goblin forts for bones. I was certain there were some closer, so I don't know why she felt the need to sneak around in such a dangerous area. I forbade her to go back there.

1st Limestone

Autumn has arrived, and I am feeling good. Half a year of my service is complete without too many disasters; I hope I can finish the year just as well and hand off to someone more skillful than myself. Then I can focus on my training.

Speaking of training, the barracks are now ready so us recruits can begin training proper. Huzzah! I make a point to suggest we train without weapons first, until we are more experienced.

16th Limestone

A dwarven caravan has been sighted. But also goblin invaders! I'm not sure if they are related to the local goblins, but an influx of more of them can't be good.

I've been told that Kulet Emalèrith was out hunting and took a nap on a hillside right near the invaders. Argh...

23rd Limestone

The invaders found Kulet and killed him. Lesson learned: don't sleep outside when a siege is in progress.

The dwarves arrived and finished unloading their goods. As usual, we traded away crates full of rock trinkets. There wasn't a whole lot of variety to the dwarves' inventory, but we did bulk up our foodstocks with a lot of meat and ale. Also took some leather bags off their hands.

5th Sandstone

jdarksun had a chat with their liason about future trading. No specific requests were made of them, but they had a few for us.

Musical instruments and backpacks? I wonder what sort of marching band they have...

The supposed goblin invasion seems to have stalled. They seem confused, or perhaps they don't know where we are? I'm surprised they don't ask the natives for directions.

19th Sandstone

The dwarven caravan left a few days ago. I'm glad that I was able to meet with each of the representatives of the area, though I leave all the details in jdarksun's capable hands.

Rigòth Thakmeng, our resident Jeweler, got into a strange mood today. He ran into his workshop and started screaming, "I MUST HAVE GEMS TO CUT AND SHAPE!! BRING ME GEMS!" Seriously, why doesn't he go out and find them himself? It really irks me a bit, since he cut and shaped all the rough gems we had only days ago. Now he wants more... Sheesh.

I asked the miners to go digging out deeper and see if they could find any. jdarksun was getting a bit bored with her books, so I handed her our spare pick and she seemed fine to get to digging for a while.

23rd Timber

Not much lately. Rigòth is really creeping everyone out, as he's still yelling out for gemstones to work with in his workshop. The miners are still searching. I'm worried that Rigòth might snap...

1st Moonstone

Winter is here.

A survey from one of the miners indicates that a small cluster of gems could be found down deep and near the edge of the chasm. I gave them permission to search. Down and down they dug until they came upon their prize.

jdarksun was there and was the first to chisel out a rough peridot that we hoped would calm Rigòth. At that moment, a gremlin jumped out and attacked. jdarksun easily overpowered the gremlin, killing it almost instantly.

To our great misfortune, jdarksun was off balance at the end of the fight and tumbled backwards into the chasm. I was not there, but the miners with her say they could do nothing to prevent her fall. When I pressed them for more details, they didn't have much else to say except they errands putting gems into stockpiles.

jdarksun, you will be missed greatly.

A minor consolation is that the peridot brought up from those depths is exactly what Rigòth was wanting; he begins his work.

5th Moonstone

Rigòth has finished his creation: Ilbådmangròd "Guileashamed", a fine looking peridot idol.

Rigòth holds it tightly and won't show it to anyone for more than a moment, so we have no real idea of its worth.

The loss of jdarksun has left us without someone to trade, someone to manage the books. Sadly, there is no one here with such skills, and no one really knows how to follow jdarksun's accounting. I put Urvad the blacksmith in charge of those tasks, just because we need someone. Seeing as our foodstocks are much better, it would be great if we got a migrant with such skills, but with my luck.... sigh.

I think I'll go kill the practice dummy.

20th Opal

More migrants! About nine... no, ten? But I fear for them; they are so close and yet so far. They arrived on the far side of the chasm, behind the goblin forts.

The migrants try running past, but goblin children scare them.

1st Obsidian

The migrants have decided to try and force their way through and around. A few goblins stood in their path, but the group of angry, scared dwarves took them out and continued running. A little more than half made it through... six?

One migrant, Rakust, was wounded in the leg and can't move, and there is a fisherdwarf and two children out there. I'm hoping they try and push through soon.

Mistêm Ilralalmôsh tried running around to help the wounded dwarf, but got frightened halfway there and decided she had things to put in bags and stuff... coward.

2nd Obsidian

Led Kelatul, a bone carver, has taken over the crafts shop. She's acting strange, almost possessed, demanding we bring her shells, cloth, thread, leather... skin? What in the world is she thinking of??? I'm not even sure we have all those things. I better take inventory... Geez, like I've nothing better to do.

7th Obsidian

The lads and I have been sparring, practicing. Many of them are competent axedwarves now... seemed like none of them wanted to use the crossbows, but we'll certainly keep them for future recruits. I've better at using the spear, but still have a long way to go.

I suggested to my fellows that we need to go out and help those last few migrants, who are still stuck outside beyond the goblin forts.

I should have kept my mouth shut until practice was over. Sheriff Lòr turned to say something to me just as someone was swinging at her head. She's got a bad injury. We offer a hand and help her lie down.

9th Obsidian

The Sheriff is dead. Suffocated and choked on her own blood. Damn this place. First jdarksun, now Lòr.

Our best dwarves die in what should be safe surroundings. I've decided to take over the Sheriff's duties, since I can't ask anyone else to take over such a position. I'm beginning to think the place might be cursed.

19th Obsidian

I got a report that those dwarves are still across the chasm, paralyzed by fear of some goblin child in a diaper. This is getting ridiculous. Every time someone goes out to help, they get scared and come running back. I was happy when Umâtaro died, as I thought that would be the greatest of our problems. Sadly, our greatest problem is goblin children.

After a bit of thought, I talked to our engineers about building a bridge across the chasm that would get them a way here without having to go past the scary goblins. "No problem," they said. I ordered it done.

23rd Obsidian

I asked about the state of the bridge today and not a stone nor log has been laid towards its construction. When I asked why, the engineers complained that they were too scared to go past the goblin fort.

I asked why they wouldn't start on our side of the chasm.

They didn't know.

I cried today.

1st Granite

I end my stewardship of Tinbolt today. I never really wanted to run this place, or any place. Hopefully, I will be allowed to train and continue on as Sheriff. I think, with time, I could do well. At least until the curse claims me.

I'd like to think I've done some good. Our fortress is now up to 33 dwarves from the 14 when I started, though that may drop to 29 if those dwarves across the chasm cannot be saved.

Our food and wood situation is vastly improved. Umâtaro is dead, as are a number of the harassing creatures nearby; the squad patrols did some good in that respect, allowing our herbalists and woodcutters to get much needed resources.

Led is still possessed but has run out of the workshop. I think she is collecting what materials she needs for her construction, but am uncertain. Whoever follows me should keep an eye on her.

Our biggest loss, the one I take most personally, is that of jdarksun. Aside from being a friend and incredibly capable dwarf, we are still at a loss to how to interpret her numbers. I provide my own accounting of our status, which is woefully incomplete.