Sunday, July 12, 2009

The History of Phantomdaggers, Chapter VI

14 Sandstone

Calamity, tragedy, woe! Disaster has struck our once-mighty fortress. Blood covers the walls, dwarven blood! The tale will chill your very soul.

It is odd indeed that I have taken up the journal on this irregular date. Joshua had more than four months left as leader of Phantomdaggers, so I had sequestered myself among the nobles' quarters, engraving scenes of joy and calm tranquility sure to please the nobility (I would not want to provoke yet another increase in the price of goods!). Suddenly, Evan appeared in the doorway. I gasped-- his fine tunic was soaked in blood.

I had heard whispers of that most precious metal, adamantine. Peasants shouted excitedly through the halls as they hauled ton after ton of this finest dwarven gem. Even as a mason, I feel the lust for its shimmer, its final form impossibly light in your hand. There were whispers, though, that Joshua, who was leading the mining expedition, had discarded all reason, that he was digging deeper and deeper into the mountainside, that he refused food or ale.

Then they came. First, strangeness itself; elves, dwarves, even men emerged from the depths, but whether they were alive or dead, no one could tell. Even now they roam our halls, dazed, uncaring. Then the terrible demons emerged, a slaughter of fire and tentacles. The miners were the first to fall, I am told. Peasants hauling the precious ore were flung willy-nilly, their blood painting the walls in eerie display; the demons were not halted by man, beast, trap, or door. Finally, our military hastened to the scene. Many a glorious song will be sung of the battle that ensued; glorious, but overflowing with sadness and despair. The demons were defeated with fist and sword, but 23 dwarves lost their lives on that fateful day, including Joshua himself, doomed by his folly.

I must take up Joshua's stead, and attempt to tend to the needs of the survivors. I will shelve my own grief for now; only my engravings can tell the tale.

16 Sandstone

I will not speak ill of the dead, but it is hard to tell how many of our fortress's woes are due to the slaughter and how many to gross mismanagement. Even as my comrades return to their tasks, they seem sure of what to do, assigned to jobs willy-nilly. We have no remaining marksdwarves, nor a Fortress Guard or Royal Guard to speak of. Rebuilding the military must be the utmost priority, of course. I have appointed Oddom Solameral the Captain of the Guard, and have assigned him the surviving trainees to patrol the fortress. They are not ready, of course, but the fortress cries out for protection, every corner of it.

18 Sandstone

The word from the human merchants is that tales of our fortress have terrified potential migrants. I can hardly blame them. The humans express their sympathy for the massacre, but seem to be especially eager to leave. They will not consider caring for even a few of their soulless brethren that wander our halls.

I have set all of our metallurgers to making their finest sarcophagi, and have ordered a new wing of the funereal chamber to be dug out.

21 Sandstone

One of the fortress guard had the courage to patrol the adamantine pit today. He emerged visibly shaken, speaking of horrible carvings on the walls. He also tells me that there are still dwarves and other creatures chained and caged in that Godsforsaken place. I gave the order to free them, but I suspect it will take a while for the peasants to work up the nerve.


28 Sandstone

It has been two weeks, and still we wallow in our own filth. Miasma abounds; I have designated temporary refuse piles outside to attempt to relieve the smell. Miasma has seeped into the quarters of the Baroness through the peephole that Joshua had ordered me to carve in her wall. Needless to say, she is furious, although when I told her that it was the last wish of a doomed dwarf she was mollified a bit.

5 Timber

The peephole has been replaced with a solid gold wall. Joshua, your licentiousness shall be commemorated by the ages.

9 Timber

Oddom requested artwork for his new nobles' accommodations. I did my best, but my thoughts have been dark of late.


I did manage a fitting tribute to Joshua. May his craftsdwarfship be remembered by generations to come.


24 Timber

Udil Kollerteth, who is little more than a peasant, has unceremoniously booted me out of my workshop and is gathering adamantine as we speak. I expect nothing less than perfection for all of the trouble.

1 Moonstone

Winter has arrived. The fortress is much cleaner now; the dead are buried. I have ordered the construction of some shops behind the great hall, so that the merchant class might buy and sell their wares.

3 Moonstone

Zasit is rather more sensible than his consort; he has banned the export of adamantine items. I have not even begun to consider the wealth of possibilities encompassed by our possession of so great a quantity.

7 Moonstone

Udil has completed Foundcrazy, a raw adamantine cabinet decorated with the bones of fallen demons. This fortress echoes with tragedy. Nonetheless, Evan estimates that Foundcrazy represents more than a quarter of our fortress's wealth.

15 Moonstone

The last of the half-born have dropped dead of madness and exhaustion. May their souls find peace.

24 Moonstone

Two goblin ambushes in quick succession, each easily repulsed.

28 Moonstone


Those cursed tower caps! I have been moping about all day. It was one of my best works!

8 Opal

A snatcher has taken baby Thob! I have roundly upbraided the Bent Tools, who were on duty at the time.

4 Obsidian

One of my predecessors saw fit to construct a magnificent set of bedrooms above the great hall, all of which are too expensive for anyone but nobles to afford. I am not sure what purpose they can serve; however, I have begun a labor-intensive construction immediately above these ghost rooms.

20 Obsidian

Sodel the Tax Collector has mandated the creation of a pair of stone idols, made in his image. I do believe he is putting on airs.

22 Obsidian

We've run clean out of booze again. Apparently, we lack the appropriate plants. I have sent the farmers outside to gather berries, as they don't seem inclined to grow anything at the moment.

2 Granite

Spring has arrived. I believe the fortress to have largely recovered from the disaster of the deep, except that we sorely lack dwarfpower of every sort. Very little productive work is being done because of the sheer amount of hauling that remains. I have kept the military deliberately under strength, because drafting more dwarves would further lessen our hauling capacity.

Nonetheless, my projects proceed apace, awaiting the arrival of a renewed peasantry.

5 Granite

Minkot Emenmelbil has been badly wounded ever since I took command; I presume he somehow survived the madness last fall. He had only a broken arm, but it had stubbornly refused to heal, and he had grown more and more despondent. Today I am sad to say that he went berserk and had to be put down by the Armored Fences.

12 Granite

The Elven caravan has arrived, if it can be called that. Four elves and their mules, bearing nothing but a few cloth bins and some lumber. I was under the impression that elves did not appreciate the chopping down of trees, but I authorized that stone trinkets be given to them in exchange (a mere fraction of our total trade goods). Evan seemed very reluctant about approaching the depot, despite his duties; I thought I heard him muttering something that sounded like, "...flood the pointy-eared knaves!" I must have misheard, but don't know what's gotten into him.

15 Granite

An ambush! A mid-sized party of goblins caught Rakust Okiramost fishing by the river. Luckily, he is quite light on his feet, and managed to evade the goblins as he sprinted north. There were no marksgoblins, so I sent my military out into the field. They pursued the goblins at a terrifying pace, killing them one by one.


Nightmaregurgled, indeed. Despite his suboptimal flight route, Rakust survived with only minor injuries.

3 Slate

Goddamn kids and their goddamn parties.

10 Slate

What madness is this? I have been interrupted from my engraving to learn that one dwarf is dead, and another severely injured. We are not under assault; what madness has overcome us? I must investigate at once.

This journal was found on Benjamin's bloodied corpse as her body was prepared for burial.

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