5th of Granite, 1083

Fuck.

I didn't think this through.

If I am in Slaughterwhips, then I am fucking boned.

Just... fuck...

Calm yourself, I say. Nothing good would come from panicking.

Hoookay. Hookay. Let's calmy look at my situation right now.

I am in Slaughterwhips. Looking at the architecture, I guess I'm one of the various bedrooms I build for the peasa-err commone-folks. Yes. I still remember the placements of the furniture back in the game, but it's quite amazing to see it for real.

So I think I am inside the sixth to eighth z-level, inside the civilian bunkers. The smoothed rock here looks like it's made from gabbro, so I think I can confirm it.

The door here is exceptional at best, the other furniture were also of similar quality. Excluding the bed, all of them were made from stone. The bed was made out of towercap fungus, which I think is quite strange. I mean, it looks quite weird, but at the same time it doesn't.

Wait, if the game became real, and I became Minkot, does that mean ther the game would still run on game mechanics, or would it actually be... well... real?

If the former, that would be dangerous, but workable. But if the latter, then...

Well shit. I remember earlier, when I punched myself. In the original game, there was no way I could attack myself, so perhaps the latter?

There's too many unknowns, but the game becoming real and running more like real life seems more likely. I must prepare for that.

But the question is, how can I prepare for that? I literally have nothing right now, except for the base equipment and items that adventurers recieve at the start of the game. I have a whip, which I guess would help me. In the game, it was a dangerous weapon because of the way damage was calculated, but if the game became real, would it still work?

I need to test it out. Though, given my current circumstance, it seems that I couldn't do the experimentation, not in the near future, at least, if I were to act completely sane and not attack anybody on sight. It's too much of a hassle.

My stomach was growling, I had been staying inside my room for what, a couple hours now? Locking up myself inside would do no good, so I must go out and explore the fort. I very much want to see all my dwarves and my creations in the flesh (figuratively speaking), and how the place looks like, now that the game became real.

I walked towards the door, and held the door handle, and opened it.

There wasn't really much outside, when I exited my(tentative) room. The hallways were mostly empty, save for a couple bits of dirt and... is that beer?

Without noticing it myself, I started following the trail of beer. I only noticed it when I arrived at the tavern, a few walkways and a couple flights of stairs up.

I could hear some music inside, and it felt strange. I did not recognize it, and at the same time, I did. The music itself was similarly strange, in that I don't know what kind of instrument was used to play it, but it sounds awfully a lot like guitars and drums and... bagpipes?

Of course, I entered the tavern (which I think is named the Brown Cook). It was so full of people, all of them were joyfully listening in to the music. Some of them were singing alone, dancing to the tune. Their mugs tapping the table to the music, and happily chugged their tankards filled to the brim with wine.

I felt a pang of joy as I watched this scene. This tavern was alive, and was bustling with people. They were enjoying, laughing, talking, they were living out their lives within the game I was playing. It was quite difficult to describe it, seeing your very own characters moving and living out their lives. In a way, it made me feel quite warm and fuzzy inside.

But at the same time, I felt unease. There were far too many people in here for me. My natural shamefulness ticked in, and I felt a terrible shiver down my spine. I tried my hardest to not show it on my face, however. It was simply too embarassing.

Please don't notice me.

I am slowly walking away from them...

I am slowly walking towards the door...

I'm slowly opening th-

"Oh look! It's the Overseer!"

"Sh-The Overseer?!"

Immediately, all eyes were on me.

'D-don't look at me like that!' I scream internally, but for some reason I clamped down my mouth and my face froze stiff.

I heard them say a lot of things, but I ignored them, I was too focused on them seeing me slowly leave the tavern.

They were also frozen stiff, I think it's because I, an unknown dwarf of dubious history, suddenly barged in into their tavern. I didn't want them to notice me, but they already did. It would simply be rude to not say anything when caught. I could hear them say something, but I did not quite catch it, as I was too busy being shocked.

But I was already inching my way towards the door.

Slowly...

Slowly...

I then faced at them. I mean, just look at their faces! They're clearly angry at me or something!

C'mon, say something! Don't dig yourself even deeper!

"I apologize for intruding your... er... merry-making..."

What the hell! It sounded so bad!

Aieeeee!

Swiftly, I left the premises and walked outside the tavern.

My heart was pounding fast within my (bulky and muscular) chest.

T-that was scary... I almost e-e-embarassed myself infront of all those people...

W-well then, let continue exploring around the fortress! I need to find some food after all...

§

I roamed around the fortress.

Since the layout of the fort was already engraved into my mind, I found my way easily into the food stockpile and got some plump helmets and some beer.

Why did I get beer? I don't know, but for some reason I wanted to drink some. And I've got the feeling that if I don't drink this, I would slow down to a crawl.

It tasted rather bitter, though, but it felt good in the throat, however. It's the first time I've drunk wine, at least in real life. I don't know if Minkot in this reality had drunk beer before, but if I were to hazard a guess, I don't think she had. After all, generating a DF adventurer would simply insert that character into the game's history, presumably a month after that. That's simply not enough time to properly insert someone, or perhaps maybe it is?

Anyways, I'm getting sidetracked. I've got food, I've got booze, a full set of armour and a whip. What do I do next? I don't really want to go out, it's too scary outside, on the surface. Undead and nauseating rain of blood, no way. I'm better of staying here underground.

Now that the surface is pretty much barred, could I perhaps travel underground? within the caverns?

No way, there's thousands of monsters and forgotten beasts down there. I don't want to get out. Too dangerous. And I don't even know if I'd return back to reality or actually die here, so I should act that any death here would mean my actual death.

So, what should I do now?

Since there aren't really much problems in the fortress (aside from maintaining the entrance to hell), there's not really much I could do. That said, considering that I did retire the fort, would I still be it's overseer? I did partially remember one of the tavern dwarves calling me Overseer, but that might be just my imagination.

Wait, Overseer?

I was walking through the hallways towards the communal dining hall when I was greeted by an unusually familiar-looking dwarf. Somehow, I could recall his face, but at the same time, this was my first time seeing his face, which felt rather odd, to be honest.

"O-Overseer Tabarneth!" he said. His posture immediately became stiff and rigid, his back straight, and his face stoic

Without thinking, I suddenly blurted out; "Salutations, Urdim. Long live the cause."

What the FUCK?! That was so fucking cringy! It's fucking embarassing! I tried freezing my own face so that he won't notice my own embarassment.

Please don't notice me. Please don't notice me. Please don't no-

"Overseer Tabarneth, our squadron from the surface had spotted something strange surrounding our fortress."

-tice?

As I hear these words, a switch within me was flipped. Immediately, all unneccessary thoughts ceased and my focus was directed towards the topic.

"Elaborate."

"They reported a surge of undead population on the surface. We do not know the cause, but this is troubling." he said, pausing. "But that is not what troubles the surface squadron, a necromancer siege is not something they would be bothered by."

"And?"

"They speak of the land being filled with skeletal dragons, Overseer ma'am."

"Give me the whole report, Baron Roldethilrom. I want it on my office, immediately."

"Y-yes, Overseer Tabarneth."

Suddenly, the man turned towards me, as if to ask a question or to say something else, but he immediately turned away.

The man-err, dwarf left the premises. When he was out of sight, I breathed a sigh of relief.

What the heck just happened?!

Did I, did I just turn into someone else back then?

S-shit! I have split personality disorder! The fuck?!

B-by the way, ignoring the fact that I might have such mental disorder, who was that dwarf? I remember his name to be Urdim Roldethilrom.

Wait, Urdim Roldethilrom?...

Isn't he, like , the actual fucking BARON of this fortress?!

Oh shit. It might turn problematic in the future, sho~ot!

I just fucking ordered around a fucking baron to do paperwork? He's like, a fucking noble!

If it were in the game, I would say 'finally I could order these purple shits to do actual work', but here? Now?

What in the fuck actually happened to me earlier?

§

I immediately headed towards my office. Though I do know the fortress layout, I had not specified an office for myself, and thus I did not know where to go.

But somehow, I wandered to where exactly I was headed to. It was difficult to explain it with simple words, but it's like as if there's some sort of 'string' that enabled me to locate my office even in the absolute darkness.

That strange feeling led me towards the 20th z-level, where most of the nobles are actually placed, and on the western wing. When I was still starting, I designated a separate area for all these places. Most of the rooms placed within the sixth to the eight z-levels were civilians, and had different halls connected to other parts of the fort. They were divided neatly, the craftsmen and smiths were placed closest to the hall connected to the underground stairway deeper in, and the peasants were placed next to the normals hall, were haulers usually stay. These hallways were connected to a militia barracks, where a single guard would stay on guard and pull the lever to lock their designated hall in case of a monster breach. On the commoner housing areas, there were 4 hallways, equating to four soldiers from different squadrons placed on guard. The noble areas, on the other hand, had only one hallway, which leads towards the shelter in case something happens, and the main stairwell, where they would go to work.. Like the commoner housings, there was only one guard in the area.

The purple pricks deserved it.

I wished I simply made it more elaborate.

My office was considerably different compared to my room. This was far more empty and somewhat well-organized? I simply felt rather good, looking at the orderly placement of items. It made me happy.

Anyways, the room is rather spartan in design. It's smoothed, but it's rather small. The items here consisted of a bookcase, some armour and weapon stands, and chests. They were neatly arranged (happy happy), and there were some quires and parchment placed on the containers so that I could write some things.

To be honest, I don't remember assigning this room to somewone named Minkot. I remember one of the seven dwarves being called Minkot, but beyond that I don't remember much.

I then sat on the chair, feeling rather content with myself, and thought about my future. To be blunt, I'm basically trapped here, and to add insult to injury, I, Minkot, am somehow the Overseer despite Minkot Tabarneth not existing before this month of Granite, at least as far as I know.

Maybe the game did become real, and took it into account?

S-scary... The Toady One is freaking scary...

I couldn't just leave, I was, or I am the Overseer after all, the guards would prevent me, and the Death World that lies outside this fortress doesn't look appealing either.

And there's just this strange feeling within me that dislikes the notion of leaving the fort.

Wait a minute, didn't I just fucking retire?

How did this Minkot-dwarf became the Overseer? Was it because of my feelings or something? Or is it because magic actually exist and I just don't know it?

Euurrrgghh... It's so confusing...

Anyways, when would that Baron actually arrive? He's awfully slow...

Suddenly, the door swings open.

Speak of the devil.

"Greetings Overseer, I have brought the report as written by the scribes." he said.

Beside him was another dwarf, this one heavily equipped with titanium armour and a platinum warhammer.

I-isn't that-

"Greetings Overseer Tabarneth." the hammerdwarf said. "I am the captain of the Standards of Balance, Rimtar Ostartilat the Ruthless Cinders of Ambiguity, at your service."

He raised his arm in the manner of the dwarven salute.

Oh shit. Shit just got whack...