Chapter 48: From the journal of Stinthad Kekimtobul
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1st Galena, 1054, Late Summer
Oh, more migrants? Well, why not? I'm always glad to see new faces. I just hope there's not a ridiculous number of them...
Oh that's quite manageable! Besides, we needed some new soldiers to. I just don't get where they're getting these bizarre names from. Foreigners defecting from another civilization to the Relieved Craft? Eh, who knows, who cares. The only one that bothers me is this Root of all Evil. I mean, I'm sure she's a fine person, but who would be so cruel as to give their own child such a name? Then again she is a military dwarf, so it might just be one of their odd nicknames.
Also she seemed to be upset for some reason after entering the fort. I'm not sure why. I mean sure they had to walk around that giant ettin corpse...
...But what's so sad about that? It's gross though. I guess the haulers haven't gotten around to moving on account of it being massive. I should get the Immortal Rags to chop it into pieces for them.
2nd Galena, 1054, Late Summer
Oh boy, I can't wait to see what it is! Typically the metal workers produce the most useful artifacts since they can be used in battle. It's not like he can make something like a bismuth bronze flute, so the result can't be that disappointing. I just hope it isn't covered in weird stuff like the last artifact.
5th Galena, 1054, Late Summer
You know what's weird? Walking into the hospital and seeing a full grown elephant sitting right in the middle of it, it's dark beady eyes penetrating the depths of your soul through a cold, blank stare.
It's pretty creepy. I know why it's there though. It's Alath's pet war elephant. It seems its lust for blood is overpowered by its loyalty to Alath. It's kind of touching, in a very weird way. It looks like it is waiting for Alath to get up out of bed.
Too bad that's never going to happen.
7th Galena, 1054, Late Summer
Hooray! The artifact is finished! It's...oh, another short sword. And it's...made out of zinc?
Yeah, it is made out of the zinc. Why? Why make a sword out of zinc? This is worse than iron! I take back what I said about never being disappointed by metal artifacts.
9th Galena, 1054, Late Summer
I...I went to feed the patients today. But Alath wouldn't get up. I quickly realized that my worst fear had come true...
Alath passed away some time last night. I'd say the cause of this was infection, but I'm not entirely sure myself. There's a slit mark on his throat that I hadn't noticed before, and I found one my missing scalpels near his bed.
He wouldn't have done that, would he?
Regardless, he deserves a proper burial. And a monument. I'll need to think of something suitable.
12th Galena, 1054, Late Summer
It appears that Goden has ordered the masons to produce a number of statues to decorate her office. She was very specific about what she wanted these statues to depict. Most of them have something like this on them;
Not sure what it's supposed to be, but Goden seems to like it so I suppose it's fine.
13th Galena, 1054, Late Summer
The..the ground is shaking again. A massive roar is coming from down below. It's not like Rofa's, but it's just as loud. There's no denying that something...new is down there.
I'm going to go ask Moldath about this.
Stinthad: "Moldath, did you hear that terrifying roar?"
Moldath: "Would be hard to not know of great beast's arrival."
Stinthad: "So you're saying this thing is like Rofa?"
Moldath: "No two great beasts are the same. Yara is much different."
Stinthad: "Yara?"
Moldath: "Name of new great beast. Enormous bug. Many legs. Moves fast, kills faster. Has poison, but grubmen not know what it does. We stay away from Yara. Lives down in abyss, so is easy usually."
Stinthad: "It lives down in the abyss? Oh good, that means it can't hurt us."
Moldath: "What make you say that? Blue lady's temple still there."
Stinthad: "Huh? Well, if you mean Goden's "office", yeah it's still there. But Rofa could only get into it because he could swim. Bugs can't swim."
Moldath: "Bad doctor knows very little about great beasts. No wonder you consult me."
Stinthad: "...crap."
Okay, so it seems like this Yara will be visiting Reveredtour. But we're ready for it this time. There's only one way it can come in, so I'll have the entire military waiting for it. This will be easy! I think. It's just a big bug! Not like it's a...giant worm. Oh god, I'm not even going to think about that.
15th Galena, 1054, Late Summer
Boy, Yara sure is yelling a lot. Rofa wasn't nearly this noisy. Something seems odd though. Maybe I should talk to Moldath again to learn more about this thing.
Stinthad: "Moldath, why is Yara making so much noise?"
Moldath: "Yara? Noise? No, Yara is quiet. Not much noise."
Stinthad: "Are you kidding? Do you not hear all those howls?"
Moldath: "Of course I hear bellows of great beast. But not Yara, is second great beast."
Stinthad: "...second?!?"
Moldath: "Yes, two of them now. Furgig comes to your Reveredtour. Plague of the grubmen. Great flying lizard, likes to prey on young ones. Lost its skin, but nothing else."
Stinthad: "Tell me it lives in the abyss to."
Moldath: "Crypt is its hunting grounds."
Oh no no no no. Why does my luck have to be so bad? Two of these things at once. I need to think...I know! There's no doubt that Yara will try to come up to haven just like Rofa did. And that's where Furgig will be to. So we can try fighting both of them off at haven again. I just have to hope that the military can handle to at once.
16th Galena, 1054, Late Summer
So despite the danger, I've decided to follow the soldiers down to the caverns. Why? Well those radios are a pain to use, old world tech was lost for a reason in my opinion. What good is any of it? Well aside from earth golems. But anyway, I have confidence in the military. I figure if I keep a safe distance I should be fine-
Logem: "Look guys! There's one of them now! CHARGE!"
Wait what?
AH I DIDN'T WANT TO GET THIS CLOSE!!
Oh god look at the size of that thing! It's huge! I...I don't know what to do! We're all gonna di-
Oh...well it doesn't seem like it's that dangerous. Well, I mean the soldier are doing a decent job fighting it.
Yeah, this is working out well! It's too cramped in here for that thing to fly, so it's forced to keep fighting the soldiers! Come on, I believe in you guys!
Jeez, this thing kind of sucks. The military hasn't even been scratched by it yet. For once everything is working out!
Oh god that looks like it hurts. I didn't even realize an arm could bend that way...come on Chal! Fight through the pain! I have total confidence in you!
No that's not how you fight! Oh god, they can't even pull him out of Furgig's mouth! Chal, don't die! Sure, I might not know you. Like, at all. But I'm sure you're a good soldier! You can beat it!
...or not. I think I need to work on my motivational speeches, because that sucked. At least Furgig is pretty much done for after that.
That's what you get when you mess with the best! Reveredtour rules!...dammit that sucked to. Soldiers don't seem to mind though. I just noticed that only a small chunk of the military is here. Where the hell is everyone else?
Momuz is sleeping? How can he of all people be sleeping on the job?!?
19th Galena, 1054, Late Summer
Apparently a human caravan just showed up. Got no time for them right now though, have to focus on dealing with Yara. Speaking of which, I found it odd that he hadn't attacked yet, but soon found out why.
He's preoccupied chasing some poor little octopud through the abyss. I have no clue how the little thing has managed to outrun that massive beetle, but it's serving as a valuable distraction. If it hadn't been down there, Yara might have charged up while we were still dealing with Furgig.
23rd Galena, 1054, Late Summer
Okay, this is becoming absurd. We're waiting for Yara to finally come to us, but he won't stop chasing that octopud. I don't get how it manages to stay ahead of him, but they could be doing this for weeks. But I'm sure the second I order everyone to fall back, Yara will come charging up and ruin everything.
28th Galena, 1054, Late Summer
Okay, what the heck is going on? These two aren't even chasing each other anymore. Their just sitting there, as if they forgot the other one existed. Forget this, Yara is bloody stupid. I doubt it will even be able to figure out a way into Reveredtour if it can't outsmart and octopud.
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Let us take a moment to remember Chal, the dwarf that was crushed by a skinless dinosaur after living in Reveredtour for only a month.
