[Fortress defense mod, Pick and anvil challenge: embark without skills and only 1 pick and anvil, extra rules: no cutting trees with wooden axes, no above-ground farming, no trade depot until the surface is fortified and secure. I had earlier played an extinct civilization, but I don't like having only two migration waves...]
The world was beset by evil forces. The great dwarven civililization with the not-so-great name The Tool of Rivers was assualted by vile creatures such as ruthertaurs, legendary War Elephants, and Ferric Elves. In the chaos of their heroic struggle for survival, the dwarf necromancer Urdim Kissedarrows, formerly Baron of the Tool of Rivers, struck out from his tower at Erushkab to conquer the Virtuous Road, the artery linking the Mountainhome with the fortresses of the Amethyst Hills.
The Mountainhomes surrounded by enemies and cut off of supplies, seven brave men and women set out in the year 100 to found Sheget Shin, the Horn of Brightness, at the bridge where the trade route crosses the river. This is their story. It will probably not end well.
Having barely been able to burst through the siege of the Mountainhomes, the seven brave dwarves lead by Dishmab Inchedtower could only take along the most important: a steel pick and anvil. This, and their dwarven cunning, was all that would stand between them and the forces of darkness until the bridge could be reconquered and the caravans could travel the Virtuous Road again:
Arriving at the bridge, they found it suspiciously quiet, with wild horses roaming the grass and not a Badgerman or other horror in sight:
However, they knew that this calm was illusory, and that the surface could only be taken after the outpost turned into a proper fortress. It was time to strike the earth!
While digging out a small room in the first stone layer, they found out Armok smiled on them: they had struck limonite! Wasting no time, they set up a metalworks inside the temporary shelter, and burned the wagon wood down to charcoal, which was used by Ustuth to smelt the limonite, and then by Solon to forge a new pick and a war hammer to cut the trees.
oops.
That was not Solon's finest hour, and having only access to the three logs of wood from the wagon, the situation was hopeless. Dishmab fell to his knees and prayed to Lisig Am, the Berry of Babies, which I presume you only do when you're quite desperate. His prayers where heard, however, by the Goddess of Death and Blight and of Rebirth, and a new log appeared on the Anvil.
While the smith Solon, having come to his senses, forged an iron axe, the miners Fath and Vutok mined on until they found a great cave, as Dishmab had predicted. After a quick survey they decided to settle in a junction of three caves, bordered on the North by a great lake teeming with pond turtles. All dwarves were set to gather plants, bringing back cave wheat, pig tails, quarry bush, dimple cups, and sweet pods. A small still was created for a well earned drink after all this work, and Solon was honourably discharged of his smithing duties to set up the farms for the new homestead using the seeds from the brewing.
After a cave crocodile was sighted, Dishmab ordered blocks to be constructed and a first perimiter wall to be built. The cave crocodile started approaching, but fortunately he wandered further south, giving the dwarves time to finish the wall:
In the top, there is an improvised dormitory and the stairway up to the surface, with two exits to the cave. In the cave on the right hand side you can see the farms and the beginning of the kitchens.
When the first basics of the fortress were set up, Dishmab ordered Fath and Vutok to mine further down, hoping to secure magma and not be dependent on surface trees for firing the smithies. In June, they found their target, hitting stones that were warmed directly by the great magma sea. Having not found a second cavern as Dishmab has predicted, they decided to do some exploratory digging five levels up, and did indeed find a second cavern, although also here no plump helmets were found.
Not wanting to repeat the close call with the cave croc, it was decided to wall off the entrance to the second cavern until the military strength of the fortress consisted of more than the two miners, so Fath and Vutok set to wall up the two entrances they made. Then, Dishmap got a message that Vutok was cancelling the job, because he was interrupted.
By a cave dragon
Vutok lasted not even five ticks, the claws of this creature ripping off his head as if he were a kitten in a (dwarven) kindergarten. As Dessisub, as the dragon was now known, stormed up the staircase to the fortress proper, Dishmab again said his prayers and hoped for a good Rebirth, since Death and Blight seemed all but certain. However, Dessisub stormed into the dormitory, and then just stayed there, not even responding to the dwarves running past it to get at their drinks, which were then stored at the other side of the dorms (I guess they cancel everything in sight of a cave dragon, except for getting to their barrels of rum. Drunken idiots)
Having received a new lease on life, Dishmab spent some time pondering this situation for a moment, until he realized what Dessisub was doing: rather than gorging on the well marinated meat bags that were happily running up and down to the liquor cabinet, the dragon instead was having fun destroying the seven beds that were neatly aligned at the bottom. Dishmab devised a plan: he ordered cage traps to be placed at the two exits, and then waited for the dragon to rush into them after being done with the beds. And the scheme worked!
So, after one year of toil, Sheget Shin was still alive, and now owned a captured cave dragon. In the middle you can see new bedrooms being dug out, although without the dormitory distracting the Dragon no one would have been here to tell you this story. Although they mourned for Vutok, the dwarves were confident that they could conquer and fortify the bridge, ensuring survival and prosperity for the Mountainhome.
The first priority, however, was setting up the metalworks on the great magma sea of Sheget Shin, and equipping an army to deal with the forces of darkness that would undoubtedly knock on the doors soon enough. The limonite would serve for iron armor and weapons, and silver was found for heavy maces and war hammers, and if time permits, to make the halls of Sheget Shin shine with Brightness.
Two questions remain: where could the flux stone that the scouts reported be found? And what does one do with a cave dragon after capturing it?
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Topic: Sheget Shin, the Horn of Brightness (pick&anvil, no trade) (Read 1117 times)