The Lost Colony

We meant to go back, yes we did. We didn't mean to get caught up in our everyday lives. We didn't mean for our poor dwarfins to starve and turn to stone, no we didn't. We wished them the best and left them with plenty of food, but they ate too much of it. Yes, that's it. They pigged out and the food was gone and it's their own darn fault!

To keep the multitude of dwarfin owners, dwarfin avatars, dwarfin creators, and the millions of dwarfins themselves off our backs, it was necessary to concoct a story.

Don't worry. I'll remove these three paragraphs before I submit the post. No one will be the wiser.

"What's going on with Whimsy Kaboom? It wasn't like this when we left."

"I don't know. It's spooky. I see some lights, though. I'm sure our dwarfins are warm and happy."

"The escape rocket is still there. They must be okay."

"Uh-- this doesn't look right. Everything's gray."

"It's just the fog."

"No, it's more than the fog."

"I see some sparkles."

"That's the plants. They survived. I don't think the dwafins did."

"Why do you say that?"

"Uh-- look!"

"The dwarfins are gray, too!"

"Yes they are."

"And their hut is gone."

"I've been meaning to tell you. Dwarfin Fidelity and Trust foreclosed on it."

"You lost it?"

"I was counting on the dwarfins to pay their tier."

"Silly, Dwarfins don't pay tier. They cost money."

"But they all signed the rental agreement."

"A creature that dies after less than two months doesn't have a legally binding signature. I'm afraid the hut is gone."

"And the chairs, and the fireplace, and the ale."

"Not the ale!"

"Yes, the ale."

"I'll miss the ale."
"I'll miss the ale, too."

"Look! They've all turned to stone."

"I see that. And they've aged out and won't be able to reproduce. We'll have to send them all to Andronicus."

"What are all those gray stones?"

"Birthrocks. It looks like they did a lot of reproducing before they ran out of food."

"I'll say! And all the birthstones are mine!"

"We'll never know what happened here."

And we never will. It might have been Halloween mischief. Our Dwarfin sorceress might have gone mad and enchanted the colony. The only clue is this, carved by Dwarfin hands onto stone: