Chapter 74: From the journal of Stinthad Kekimtobul
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4th Malachite, 1056, Mid-Summer
Root and Cowabunga canceled both of their patrol orders, a decision I agree with. Why? Well that weird sloshing sound seems to be gone. Whatever was making it seems to have vanished, which is odd but I'm not complaining. The farmers have claimed that they still hear it sometimes, but I think they're just hallucinating. Maybe they've inhaled too many fungus spores and it's messing with their heads.
8th Malachite, 1056, Mid-Summer
I was updating the food stockpiles when I realized that we're actually running out of meat. This honestly surprised me since I figured we'd never be low on meat again given all the animals we have producing livestock. I guess the loss of some cooks has slowed down the butchering industry. Still, it's not a real issue since we still have plenty of meat in the form of prepared meals and the farmers have harvested a plethora of plump helmets. Enough so that we can safely use them in cooking without crippling the brewing industry.
13th Malachite, 1056, Mid-Summer
I was thinking about that old plan of shoving caged zombies outside again. It seemed like a good way to dispose of the zombies and help weaken the goblins at the same time, but I never really went anywhere with it. Can't exactly remember why. I think it might have been interrupted by the siege it was supposed to stop. Well, I just realized that there is a way to make it even better! Rather than put every single caged zombie outside and then link each cage up to a lever, why not simply put all the zombies inside one cage? It's simple and efficient!
15th Malachite, 1056, Mid-Summer
Poor little Woots seems to be horribly upset lately. She won't talk about it with me, but I knew there was definitely something bothering her. She was more open to Goden, who told me that Woots had been having a lot of nightmares involving her dead family. Mainly, her mother.
It's so depressing to see such a sad child. Little Woots misses her family dearly, but now she seems to be afraid of her mother. She's terrified that her mother's ghost is following her around! I'm sure it's not true though. I mean, there hasn't been a ghost in Reveredtour in ages. We don't have problems with them anymore...
Then again...I hate to say it, but a lot of dwarves haven't been put to rest. We simply haven't had the time to expand the graveyard to house more coffins. And then there are those complaints all the workers have been making about strange noises in the carpenter's workshop...
But I still don't think there are any ghosts!
18th Malachite, 1056, Mid-Summer
Today Goden ran into my office in an uncharacteristically good mood. I've rarely seen her so happy. I asked her what had happened and she told me that there had been exciting developments involving Woot's condition. I thought this meant she had stopped hallucinating, but apparently the hallucinations had only gotten worse. Then Woots just stopped talking, even to Goden.
She walked over to workshops and claimed one of the spare crafting stations. She then locked herself inside and began sketching various figures.
I was confused as to why Goden viewed Woots falling silent as a good thing when I realized that she's exhibiting the characteristics associated with a fey mood. Goden is overjoyed at the prospect of one of her "students being blessed by the gods", her words not mine. Personally I'm worried. Children shouldn't act like this, and I fear this could lead to some long term emotional problems. If only this fort had a real psychiatrist. I suppose there really isn't anything I can do but watch and hope for the best.
Hold on, what's that I see out in the wastes?
20th Malachite, 1056, Mid-Summer
YAYYYYY!!!! MIGRANTS!!!!
Wow! It's been so long since we got some new faces around here! I'm so glad some dwarves have finally decided to come live at Reveredtour!
A lot of them actually have some useful skills that will allow them to fill up gaps in our workforce! I'm sure they'll all fit right in! Well...almost all of them anyways.
There's this one dwarf who's kind of...well I don't want to say weird but...okay he's weird. I mean, he won't even tell us his name. Anytime you ask it he just goes on some strange rant about how names ultimately don't matter and where all on entity or something like that. Some of the dwarves he came with say they just called him "Lost in the Void", since his mind seems to be stuck somewhere else. I would've called him something nice than that but the name already stuck so I guess that's what we'll have to call him. He's a bit of an oddball but he's harmless enough, so he shouldn't be an issue. I'm not sure the other dwarves will want to be around him though. To my surprise Goden actually seems quite friendly to him, probably because they share similar religious views, I think. It's hard to understand what their conversations are actually about.
27th Malachite, 1056, Mid-Summer
Well the masons have finished knocking down all the old bridges, and this time nobody fell into the moat and drowned! Now work can start on the new bridge. Thankfully among the new migrants was Rabid, a skilled mechanic, so it shouldn't take as long to complete as I had initially expected.
28th Malachite, 1056, Mid-Summer
It seems that Woots has begun assembling her secret project. Despite being so young, her hands move with the skill and experience of the best crafters Reveredtour has. She could grow up to be a very skilled crafter, assuming this doesn't have any adverse effects on her mind.
4th Galena, 1056, Late Summer
Well, it seems I was completely wrong! The process of making an artifact has had no negative effects on Woots. In fact, she's now happier than ever!
You see I was expecting Woots to make some morbid and disturbing artifact, but what she produced was quite the opposite!
It's a lovely piccolo. A piccolo that menaces with spikes.
Okay so barring the random spikes and picture of elf slaughter, I actually think it's a very nice artifact! Woots definitely enjoys it, as it seems she has a natural sense with music.
The happy tunes she's been playing have been very inspiring. Everyone seems to be in a better mood with her skipping around playing music, and she hasn't once talked about her mother since she made the artifact. Root initially complained about it sounding like "pansy elf music", but was willing to overlook this because the piccolo has a very detailed image of an elf being crushed on it.
Man, everything has been working out great lately!
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