Chapter 62: From the journal of Stinthad Kekimtobul
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25th Limestone, 1055, Early Autumn
Alright, time to get this fort back on the right track! A lot of problems still exist, but most of them can be solved with what we already have here. Right now we need to focus on defense and efficiency. So it's time that I address one problem that has existed in Reveredtour for far to long.
Our crop industry simply doesn't have a large enough output, and as a result our booze supplies are always uncomfortably low. Up until now I'd been taking the quality over quantity approach to farming; have a handful of skilled dwarves tend the fields, as they can yield just as big a harvest as a bunch of novice farmers. What I didn't take into account was the impact a farmer dying has on production in this method. So I'm to reassign a bunch of dwarves to tend the fields to make up for the lack of skilled farmers.
1st Sandstone, 1055, Mid-Autumn
I've decided to the issue of Avuz murdering two dwarves isn't one we can simply ignore. Now under dwarven law we can't actually throw him in jail, which is actually good since I don't want to. See I honestly believe this was just a tragic mistake on Avuz's part, and that maybe if I talked to him about it we could prevent it from being an issue in the future. So I'm about to have a little chat with him in my office.
Stinthad: " Avuz...you do realize why we're talking right?"
Avuz: "No!"
Stinthad: "You killed two dwarves."
Avuz: "Oh, so what?"
Stinthad: "That's horrible! How can you not see the problem with this?!?"
Avuz: "Well they were mean to me! It's not fair! Why should they be alive when mom died? She didn't do anything, and now she's...gone."
Stinthad: "I understand that its horrible to have lost your mother to tragedy, but you can't just take your anger out on other dwarves. Especially when that involves killing them."
Avuz: "I didn't mean to kill them! I only hit them once!"
Stinthad: "Hitting patients even once tends to have really bad results."
Avuz: "I'm sorry...it's just that I get so angry sometimes. Then the voices in my head tell me that being angry is good, and that I should do bad things. Mom told me not to but-"
Stinthad: "Um...voices in your head?"
Avuz: "Yeah! Ever since that rock fell on me in Goden's office these voices are always trying to talk to me. I don't mind since they're really friendly, but sometimes they tell me to do things that seem wrong. I'll try and ignore those from now on though. Hold on, I think they want to talk to me right now. Bye Stinthad!"
Stinthad: "Wait! What are you talking about?!? What voices??!"
But he didn't listen and went off down into the deep roads. My medical training doesn't really cover this kind of insanity though so I'm not sure what I could have done anyways. Hopefully he really will stop being angry, but in light of his psychological issues that's probably not likely.
3rd Sandstone, 1055, Mid-Autumn
So I've been thinking about new ways we could defend Reveredtour beyond the military. Given what we have to work with its difficult to do so, but I think- wait, what's that noise?
Avuz: "STOP INSULTING MY MOM!!!"
Stukos: "What? Kid, I didn't say anything about your mom. Now go away, you're? OH GOD GET HIM OFF ME!!!"
Stinthad: "AVUZ WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!"
Avuz: "Oh...did I kill this one too?"
Stinthad: "YES!"
Avuz: "...I'm sorry."
I just...I mean...what the heck am I supposed to do about him?!?! He's killed 3 dwarves and doesn't show any sign of stopping! I can't just let him run around punching people! I need to come up with an idea to deal with him that wouldn't be illegal, before he "accidentally" kills another dwarf.
8th Sandstone, 1055, Mid-Autumn
So fortune would have it that our problem with Avuz solved itself. See, Avuz was sitting in one of the empty breeding chambers brooding. He just so happened to be doing this when I initiated a new policy regarding empty breeding chambers. All breeding chambers that are not in use must be locked to prevent...um...dust from getting in. And since Avuz just so happened to be in one at the moment this policy came into effect, he's now trapped inside.
Some might unfairly compare this to prison, however this is a completely legal action and his confinement in there is just a fortunate coincidence.
It's a good thing to. Who knows how Avuz would have reacted if he found out that his sister Ral is...not well. In fact she seems to have gone insane with grief.
Poor little girl. At least she didn't take her frustration out on my patients though.
To make matters worse, we seem to have a krueler problem down in the deep roads.
A deadly one. The military has been dispatched to clean them out.
10th Sandstone, 1055, Mid-Autumn
I had a horrifying dream last night. I'm not sure what the heck caused it but it was the worst one I've had in a long time. I was in some strange room alone. All the walls were glowing blue, and you could hear weird sounds coming from below. It was really creepy, but then it got worse. The ground split open, purple mist spewed forth, and then this horrible creature stepped out! It was the worst thing I'd ever seen! I didn't know what to do, so I just started punching it! I kept punching it but it didn't even seem to care. It just let out this really creepy laugh, and I knew I was about to die!
But then I woke up.
I...I don't know what it was about. I really don't want to. I'm just going to assume it was some random dream induced by drinking too much wine. Though it wasn't completely a dream. It seems I was sleepwalking to, and I actually started beating something up in my sleep thinking it was that horrible monster. Rather, it was poor Lorbam!
I feel so bad about beating him up. He was so confused about the whole thing, and had he not spent so much time protecting me he probably would've just crushed my head. I wish I knew how to preform medical treatment on an earth golem. Though he's tough, so I suppose he should be fine without it.
14th Sandstone, 1055, Mid-Autumn
So...I just found out something horrible. Apparently Thob was looking for new areas to fish down in the caverns when she ran into a...voracious cave crawler. And the results of this encounter were...tragic.
Thob is dead...all of my old friends are dying. First Dishmab, then Zuntir, then Momuz, and now Thob. The only founders left are me, Goden, and Ushrir. I...I can't let this stop me though. Not now. I have to work to save this fortress in their memory. I can't get consumed with grief. Then I'll have failed everyone for sure.
Okay, focus Stinthad. I should probably see how the soldiers are doing against the Kruelers.
...dammit, why is everything failing again!?! Stop dying!
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God damn this update was a trainwreck. It's hard to write a proper narrative when you have to manage a crumbling fortress.
