Your writing is actually quite good, keep it up please! I think I'd like to take Adil, if it is at all possible.
I'd love to give him to you but... well... just read the below...
Also, sorry for the long post...
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Chapter II: Digging the Aquifer"Pah, this'll be simple!" Id the Architect declared.
"Are you sure?" Ezum asked nervously.
"Come on Ezzy, just follow my plans and it'll all be a cheese walk."
"As long as you're certain..."
And so in the damp ground under the foundling fort, Ezum, Nish, Id and Vabok (the mason was assigned to pump duty on account of him being useless in any other role...) began their work. Construction went well and soon the first segments of wall were in place.
The plan went well, until Nish went to prepare a new channel for pumping. It was an easy mistake to make, digging away the floor above the flooded room below he tumbled into the cold water flooding in through the walls. Never a strong swimmer and stunned from the fall, he drowned quickly unable to make his way up the stairs close by.
Despite Nish's death the team continued with little time spent mourning. They'd already seen many of their friend killed in the shipwreck that had landed them on this island. Shortly after Nish drowned several migrants arrived, a second wave of travellers sent from the mountain homes. A new miner to replace the one lost and some spare hands to man the pumps. With a second pump system in place the construction of the downward stairway carried on at pace... that is until Vabok pointed out a slight design flaw.
"Hey Id, come here a moment." Vabok said, pointing down into the dark, water filled shaft.
"Yeah?"
"Why'd you get the miners to dig a hole there..."
"Well we need to shore up the wall with wood to stop the water silly." Id was confident as ever, yet oblivious to the problem.
"But it lets the water we pump out straight back in..."
Few know the feeling of cold, hard reality slapping them in the face. For Id it felt something like being hit over the head with a very large, still living carp - the carp, aiding reality in hitting Id, was also eating her face off...
Nothing could fix the problem and abandoning the first dig attempt, Id planned a second stair well next to the first. Orders were given and carried out very quickly by the enthusiastic migrant miner - Domas. In fact, he dug so quickly that he didn't notice another flaw in Id's plans...
The channels had been dug wrong... others began to question Id's competence as an architect. Others put it down the loss of Nish. One of the new, older, more crazy migrants even went as far as to say that some great being had told Id to plan the construction wrong. After a few days rest she began another dig. Irony - striking cruelly - found that the new dig spot was dry, skipping an entire layer of aquifer.
A new pumping set up was designed and one day Ezum set about carving the channel for water to be pumped from. He was a fairly happy dwarf and hummed as he dug at the soft ground. He worked quickly and dutiful but all of a sudden the piece of soil he was channelling fell into a staircase below. History was set to repeat it self as the second miner of the original two died to exactly the same fate.
Hardened to death the dwarves showed little remorse... or perhaps they didn't quite care for Ezum. No one really could call themselves his friend if asked.
Determined to make sure that the dwarves death wasn't in vain; Id, Vabok, Domas and a clothier called Sigun who'd been called to man some pumps worked furiously, achieving much.
The layer below was stone, water still seeped from the walls but engrave would be faster than building walls at least.
The channels for the pumps were set up without a hitch this time, that is, until Id realised that he'd designed the system in such a way that none could get there.
'Easy to rectify' she thought. Quickly building flooring over one of the channels and setting up a stairway down proved easy. As she finished her stairs, several of the settlers descended to gather Ezum and his all important socks (which were in short supply).
Only too late did they see the grave mistake. The stair blocked a drainage route for the aquifer and soon a few of the party were washed down, others pushed around as water filled the pumping chamber. A dwarf named Zan drowned down there. Others made it out... somehow... Id pulled herself onto the edge of the stairway and others helped pull her out. Zan - a worse swimmer - was not as lucky.
As tragic as this tale is, there were still salvaged picks, all was not lost. A few agreed they could recover as they huddled round the stairway watching the last bubbles of air pop on the surface... then watching as the water grew still. However, Tholtig - the stalwart expedition leader - became sullen for a while, and once the dark water was still the survivors turned to her for guidance.
But something was going on in her head. Perhaps it was the heat, or maybe the loss of over half her original team. Whatever it was... she snapped.
The former leader of the expedition roared with rage unleashing it upon the closest - or perhaps best - target. Tholtig punched Id in the head so hard her skull shattered and her brain was torn. The lifeless body of the ex-carpenter fell back into the icy waters. A cruel end - perhaps ironic, but later generations would agree that no (somewhat) innocent dwarf deserved to be killed by their kin.
Tholtig was not calmed by this, further enraged she gave chase to the fleeing dwarves up the stairs. The livestock was scattered - one of the pigs managed to fall down the stair painting the walls blood red. Sigun was caught first but span away from the enraged dwarves strikes. So intent was he that he avoided Tholtig's attacked he slammed straight into boulder on the surface, falling over and lying there until the fighting was over.
A brewer named Onul was Tholtig's next victim. Slower than Sigun, he was caught quickly and battered by powerful blows. His death was drawn out as his vomited from pain, eventually passing out only to wake up for Tholtig to land her signature killing blow - smashing his skull and ripping his brain apart. Next was Domas who's brain was ripped from his head instantly. Vabok put up more of a fight but succumbed to the same, brainless smashing fate.
Adil was the next person to be caught. Unlike those before him, he'd had experience dealing with enraged animals and was slightly tougher than the rest. He took Tholtig's blows with a stern face, trying but failing to block them. Slowly but surely the berserk dwarf tired allowing Adil to bring about the wood cutters axe he'd been asked to use. But luck was not with him. The blows came at strange angles or were dodged with supernatural strength. Tholtig charged Adil in a blind rage knocking him over and going for the throat - it would have been all over if Tholtig hadn't tripped on a stone and fell down with the old hunter. Staggering to their feet the two continued, Adil managing to dodge some of the berserker's attacks. Taking a hit to his left arm, Adil leapt onto Tholtig biting into her arm and latching on firmly, but he was losing a grasp on conciousness. Barely a few hits later he blacked out dropping the wood axe. With a final, crushing blow Adil's brains were torn form his head and strewn across the ground.
The survivors fled into the wilderness in a desperate attempt to escape. Over the coming months they would die of thirst, or be ripped to shreds by giant Dingoes or capture and made into some peregrine man's pet.
Is this the end of the fort by Fragrant Waters?...
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(Ooc btw) Hell no! Despite the tedium of trying to conquer the aquifer this was a pretty fun run (in both meanings of the word). I really didn't see Tholtig going all phyco on everyone's backsides like that. Hell, she even had a signature killing blow. I love this game.
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Topic: The Saga of Lisatzefon (Read 1119 times)