Journal of Kith

The Journal of Kith is a short story based on Dwarf Fortress about a dwarf's quest to rediscover the legendary fortress Boatmurdered, told in the form of a series of diary excerpts.

The following article is a /tg/ related story or fanfic. Should you continue, expect to find tl;dr and an occasional amount of awesome.

Journal of Kith

1st Granite: Kith Sividsgun, first entry in my journal! I'm on my way, a personal quest to re-discover the nigh-legendary fortress and mine, Koganusan (note-when translated to the common tongue, this means Boatmurdered. What a vulgar translation), lost a scant dozen years ago. I could find no dwarfs willing to take me, for some reason, (they always spouted some supernatural gibberish about the place, something about fire or some such), and the elves I approached were…less than helpful. (I believe what they said was something of, “Demon death place”, but my elvish is a little rusty…), so I have hired a stalwart group of human adventurers to guide me.

2rd Granite: Second entry. Adventuring is not what it is in the legends. Last night was spent very uncomfortably on rock hard ground-must see about obtaining better sleeping accommodations. 3rd Granite: Purchased more blankets from a group of traveling minstrels we passed. They performed some lovely quaint pieces-for some reason, not all of my companions enjoyed their rendition of dwarven wedding hymns. 5th granite: Nothing of note lately, other than one of my companions complaining about some of the bread I brought from home. Claims he chipped a tooth on it—what nerve. My mother baked this bread for me just last year, its perfectly ripe! Chipped tooth indeed.

10th Granite: Adventuring seems to be rather boring. No bandits, no evil goblins, not even a kobold so far! Nothing like in the stories. In any case, we are still a good month or two away from Koganusan, or so my guides tell me-they warn it may take longer, since they’re map is several years old, and rather faded.

12th Granite: It seems I spoke to soon last time! Just yesterday, we were set upon by a small group of goblins, which my companions handily dispatched while I did my best directing them-they seemed to ignore my orders, but were successful in dispatching the evil goblins in any case. Huzzah!

17th Granite: No excitement since the goblin attack. Have begun carving an amulet to alleviate boredom.

28th Granite: Have successfully carved amulet of Granite. It menaces with spikes of Onyx. It depicts a human and a goblin. The human is striking the goblin down. With the close of Granite, My first month of adventuring comes to an end.

8th Slate: We stopped at a human settlement to rest and replenish our supplies. I purchased a small amount of stone to carve more amulets on the road, as the one I made before fetched a decent price in town-they seemed to think it exotic, for some reason.

15th Slate: Have finished another amulet. This one of sandstone. It menaces with spikes of sandstone. It menaces with spikes of leather. It depicts an image of a tree. It depicts an image of a dwarf. The dwarf is making a rude gesture at the tree.

19th Slate: We were ambushed by kobolds today! The cunning little bastards set a trap-fortunately, only two of my companions were injured, and nether very badly. For some reason, the kobolds set their trap with glass blades, which shattered on my companions chainmail. We dispatched them easily—I brained one with my chipping hammer when he impaled his hand on one of the spikes on the amulet I was making.

24th Slate: Finished another amulet of sandstone. It menaces with spikes of granite. It depicts an image of a dwarf. It depicts an image of a kobold. The dwarf is striking the kobold down.

26 Slate: Stopped at a dwarven mine, Febducim, to restock and rest. Ahh, it felt good to sleep with a good hard roof over my head, none of that silly sky business. Oddly enough, when I mentioned our quest over dinner, several dwarves went pale, or looked at me in shock. One, an odd chap with both chain, and plate mail on, with two swords, actually flung his dinner at me (what a waste of a fine dwaven ale) and stormed out of the room. I could get no information out of them regarding Koganusans location, or, indeed, anything after that.

27th Slate: Today, before we left, the odd double armed, double armored dwarf pulled me aside, and told me not to seek out Boatmurdered. He called it a dark pit of evil, and told me I would burn if I went there, then wandered off muttering something, “All burn” or something. What a strange fellow

28th Slate: Today, my second month of adventuring comes to a close. Nothing of note happened today. Have begun work on another amulet.

7th Felsite: Finished amulet today. It is carved of talc. It menaces with spikes of talc. It menaces with spikes of talc. It depicts an image of dwarf. It depicts the image of a human. The dwarf is conversing with the human.

19th Felsite: Finished amulet today. It is carved of Gneiss. It menaces with spikes of shale. It menaces with spikes of slate. It depicts the image of a human. It depicts the image of a human. The human is laughing at the human.

22nd Felsite: We suffered an injury today-one of my companions stumbled while we were refilling our water supplies at a river, and was knocked unconscious when he struck a rock underwater-it took much effort on our part to pull him out, the female he travels with having to dive in after him, while the rest of us hauled her out with a rope while she held on to him.

25th Felsite: We are forced to postpone out quest for the time being, as my companion needs at least a week to heal, perhaps two if he takes ill of pneumonia. We have settled in, of all things, a mixed human dwarven settlement. I was not aware any such thing existed. In any case, it means we all get the lodgings we wish-I, in a nice, snug room underground, with a proper ceiling, while my companions insist on staying in the human in with the ceiling of wood. Odd creatures, humans.

28th Hematite: My human companion came down with pneumonia, stranding us at settlement (Kosothlular to the dwarves, Sentil to the humans) for over a month! Fortunately, he recovered, and today, we once again set out on the road. Again, though, I could gain no information about Koganusan from the dwarven inhabitants, other than cryptic warnings not to go there. I did, however, gain a small hint from a waitress at the Inn my human companions were staying at-she claimed her father had visited it before it shut down, and said his stories placed it, according to my companions map, just over a month away! 14th Malachite: Finished an amulet today. It is crafted of dolomite. It menaces with spikes of gneiss. It menaces with spikes of limestone. It depicts an image of an elephant. It depicts an image of a dwarf. The dwarf cringing. The elephant is laughing at the dwarf.

25th Malachite: My companions claim we are close to Koganusan, according to the map! We sighted an elephant on the horizon today.

28th Malachite: Finished an amulet today. It is crafted of Onyx. It menaces with spikes of jet. It menaces with jet. It depicts an image of an elephant. It depicts an image of a dwarf. The elephant is striking down the dwarf

10th Galena: We have sighted Koganusan today! My companions claim it is but a week’s forced march, a fortnights easy march from our position. I must say, even from this distance, something seems…off about it.

11th Galena: Finished an amulet today. It is crafted of jet. It menaces with spikes of granite. It menaces with spikes of sandstone. It depicts an image of a dwarf. It depicts an image of an elephant. The dwarf is making a rude gesture at the elephant.

25th Galena: Finished an amulet today. It is crafted of quartzite. It menaces with spikes of quartzite. It menaces with spikes of timber. It depicts an image of a dwarf. It depicts an image of a dwarf. It depicts an image of a dwarf. The dwarf is cringing. The dwarf is on fire. The dwarf is in a fetal position.

28th Galena: We are close. Perhaps a week more of marching will bring us within easy site of Boatmurdered, with another few days bringing is to the entrance. Truly, this is an historic find for dwarven kind.

4th Limestone: Success! My previous estimates were far off-we reached the entrance to Koganusan today! My companions wish to make camp for the next two days, and explore the surrounding countryside before venturing into the mine itself-despite my excitement at finding the legendary site, I saw their wisdom, and agreed.

5th Limestone: The forest surrounding Boatmurdered is…strange. The trees and plants are stunted anr warped, and the ground is absolutely full of igneous rocks and, strangely, pumice, indicated several lava flows in the past. I do wonder…is this what that strange dwarf meant with his “burn” comments?

6th Limestone: My companions are uneasy. Today, we found the rusted remains of literally dozens of goblin styled and sized weapons and armor, as well as the bones of what seem to be several elephants. Speaking of which, we have spotted an herd of the beasts across the river we crossed the other day. I can’t help but feel that they are…staring at me.

7th Limsteon: Finished an amulet today. It is crafted of obsidian. It menaces with spikes of basalt. It menaces with spikes of granite. It depicts an image of a dwarf. It depicts an image of a elephant. The dwarf is in a fetal position. The elephant is striking the dwarf down.

8th Limestone: I managed to convince my companions to keep on in our quest, and today we unblocked the entrance (what blocked it looked disturbingly like a pile of bones…of what sort, I cannot tell) and entered Koganusan. Immediately upon entering the mine, we found many engravings on the wall, seemingly done by an engraver named Sankis. Oddly enough, he claims the titles “Emperor” and “the Beardless” in differing pieces…The engravings themselves seem to detail a great, epic battle between the dwarves of the mines, and many elephants. Several others deeper in the hall show a siege, or perhaps several sieges, by goblins, while some deal with thefts and incidents with mandrils and still more elephants.

9th Limestone: We have found still more engravings by going further into the mines. Several are…disturbing, such as the ones detailing what seemed to be a flood of lava engulfing a caravan, as well as elephants and goblins. The screaming humans are so…detailed. Another engraving (titled, The Grave of Green Biles) shows a single human on fire…screaming…burning…screaming…

10th Limestone: The dwarfs of Boatmurdered seemed to have a strange fascination (or hatred) of elephants…there are many, many engravings, statues, amulets, and more depicting them in a variety of ways. In cages, being killed by dwarfs, killing dwarfs, in many poses, killing more dwarves, killing goblins, and killing more dwarfs. One of my companions vomited at the sight of one such series-a battle field, a wardog giving birth, the puppies joining the fight, elephants and dwarves hacked and trampled to death. Someone saw fit to add, at the end, a crudely hacked out message. “WELCOME TO FUCKING BOATMURDED. ABANDON ALL HOPE, YE DORFS WHO ENTER HERE”

11th Limestone: Finished an amulet today. It is crafted of granite. It menaces with spikes of jet. It depicts an image of a dwarf. It depicts an image of a tentacles demon. The tentacle demon is doing an unspeakable act to the dwarf. My companions looked at me strangely when they viewed it.

13th? Limestone: Oh gods. Oh dear gods. What have we done. My companions…two are dead. I don’t know where the other two are. We, we set forth deeper into the mines, and out of nowhere, we heard a roar, a demonic roar of rage and pain and hatred. A-a dwarf, I know not what else it could be, flew from a dark hallway-and, as he did, he burst into flame! Wreathed in flame, head to toe, his beard burning as a forest fire, his eyes glowing the white hot of forge-metal, and, in seconds, he had wrestled one of my companions to the ground, and he burst into flames as well. When another tried to give aid, the demon dwarf grabbed him, and, and slammed his head into a wall. It...sounded so wet...I fled, to my eternal shame, I fled, and now I am lost within this place.

??? Limestone: I am afraid. I am going to die in this place, this accursed place. I met a young girl in this place, claiming the name Dodok. How a child, a mere dwarven girl could have survived in this place, I didn’t know…but…now, I have an idea. A horrible idea. Because I came upon my final two companions…unfortunately, that demonic, fiery dwarf had just finished butchering them. Literally, butchering. Whirling, he grabbed me by the neck, and the heat…I could feel the heat of his hand on my skin, and it blistered. The only thing that saved my life was the girl-she threw the amulet I had given her at the demon, the stone thing shattering on his head as she shouted “No, no, bad uncle Sanki! Bad!” The dwarf dropped me, and the little girl took his still burning hand, leading him away...but the flames didn’t touch her. Why…why didn’t the flames touch her…? Furthermore…Uncle Sanki? Was that demon dwarf the engraver whose work we found so much of, Emperor Sankis, the beardless?

??? Limestone: I stared at a river, a chasme filled with magma for what seemed like hours. The forges along its banks stood, rusted and useless. I do not know how much time has passed. I found a small storage of food, so at least I am not hungry. I have found dozens, hundreds more carvings by Sankis, and others, and a multitude of riches in other forms. I would trade I all for a passage out of this hell. No sign of the demon-dwarf, or the strange little girl.

??? Limestone: I found more carvings. I found the rulers tombs. Emperor Sankis’ was…empty. The door was smashed open and…and the stone around it blackened, scortched.

???: I fear I am going mad. I found an engraving of an elephant trampling a dwarf. It’s eyes…they followed me. I felt as though it wanted to kill me. Then…I saw the demon-dwarf again, playing with the little girl. He glared at me, with those eyes, until she giggled and threw the stone they were tossing between eachother back at him. When they left, bored, I found the stone. It was a dwarven skull.

???: I finished an amulet today. It is crafted of granite. It menaces with spikes of timber. It depicts an image of a dwarf. It depicts an image of a human. The dwarf is striking down the human

???: I finished an amulet today. It is crafted of basalt. It menaces with spikes of basalt. It menaces with spikes of granite. It depicts an image of a dwarf. The dwarf is on fire.

???: I finished an amulet today. It is crafted of timber. It menaces with spikes of leather. It menaces with spikes of granite. It depicts an image of an elephant. It depicts an image of a dwarf .The elephant is striking the dwarf down.

???: I finished an amulet today. It is crafted of sandstone. It menaces with spikes of sandstone. It menaces with spikes of leather. It depicts an image of an elephant. It depicts an image of a goblin. It depicts an image of a dwarf. The elephant is laughing at the dwarf. The goblin is laughing at the dwarf.

???: Finished an amulet today. It is crafted of dolomite. It menaces with spikes of petrified wood. It menaces with spikes of alabaster. It depicts an image of a elephant. It depicts an image of a tentacle demon. It depicts an image of a dwarf. The tentacle demon is doing an unspeakable act to the dward. The elephant is laughing at the dwarf.

???: Finished an amulet today. It is crafted of quartzite. It menaces with spikes of slate. It depicts an image of a dwarf. It depicts an image of a dwarf. The dwarf is on fire. The dwarf is striking down the dwarf.

???: Finished an amulet today. It is crafted of marble. It menaces with spikes of jet. It menaces with spikes of onyx. It depicts an image of an Elephant. It depicts an image of a goblin. It depicts an image if a human. It depicts an image of a dwarf. It depicts an image of me. The elephant is on fire. The goblin is one fire. The human is on fire. The dwarf is on fire. I am on fire. The elephant is screaming. The goblin is screaming. The human is screaming. The dwarf is screaming. I am screaming.