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[Axle Gear]

It was a horrendous and treacherous journey, frought with peril.  Why, why did the King have to punish them so?  Dwarven justice had never been fair, but this was outright /sick/.  Momuz Nikuz's jail cells were constantly full, mandating that even lesser crimes result in rampant beatings and that dreadful silver hammer that often came crashing down.  And yet still there were too many dwarves.  So those of able body and adequate skill were sent to colonize new fortresses.  A few were successful, most never grew past outposts, and many fell to ruin or became raiders.  Dwarven raiders, the incongruity of it all!  But these ten?  It was not going to be pleasant.  They were equipped for a long trek through the haunted nightmare zones, riddled with zombies and skeletal beasts, necromancers' lairs and ruined cities strewn all about nearby.  Something in the night took their smith, Lokum Rashrigoth, shortly after the journey began.  They decided to send his bereaved wife home to request a new smith.  Without metal
weapons and tools, their already unlikely stay would be further shortened.  They stopped at the only non-elven civilization in the area, Icmon Suku.  "Arch Beast", a damned appropriate name.  The land itself seemed to wish your death.  There, they traded an axe and much of their booze for dogs, which they hoped would serve well as scouts and guardians.  And if need be, food.  However now they were unarmed, aside from their carpenter.  And each of them had a horrendous background.  When they prepared to leave, they then lost their most skilled dwarf, who refused to go on, choosing to stay with the humans.  They were now out a part time swordsdwarf and full time mechanic and bowyer.  Things were grim, at best.

Atir Inodimik was a miner whose ineptitude caused a collapse, taking the lives of three other miners.  He was shy and lacked confidence.  (Unskilled miner)
Ast Tanablel was also a miner, more experienced, who was caught smuggling gems from the King's mines.  He was the brightest of the lot.  (Miner)
Kogan Kibbesmar was a carpenter and logger, who was jailed after a bout of sun-induced madness, in which he very swiftly became an experienced axedwarf.  He remained a skilled carpenter.  He now held the only axe the party had.  (Proficient Wood Cutter, Carpenter, and Axedwarf)
Doren Lokumusan was a mason who had performed no crime aside from failing to do the jobs assigned.  He had been 'reformed', but was still unbalanced.  He would spend long weeks dilligently laboring over the same task time and time again...  (Mason)
Kib Alathrigoth was a farmer, jailed for a domestic abuse habit spurred from poor sweet pod yields.  (Grower)
Kel Onulag was a begger.  Nothing more, nothing less.  Highly compassionate, but oddly disdainful of jobs requiring any skill.  He hauled for a living, until his pauping annoyed a noble and landed him in the hands of 'Justice'.  He was given a hastily written book on mechanics.  (Novice Mechanic)
Kib Ralurvad was a craftsdwarf by profession, but a bard by choice.  Entertainer, but with a dry sense of humor.  He often jokes of the burgoise aristocracy of the nobles, and his humor landed him an eye of contempt from the nobles as an anarchist.  (Bone Carver)

They had brought with them a fair amount of supplies, but much was negligently lost or consumed before arrival, leaving them with 39 portions of turtle, 2 pigtail seeds, 6 plump helmet spawn, 4 sweet pod seeds, 2 dimple cup spawn, 2 cave wheat seeds, 6 dogs, 1 iron battle axe, 2 iron picks, about 28 portions of dwarven rum.  

And so began the fortress of Kinerith, in the land the humans called 'The Granite Beak of Goring'.  Land named because of the strange sandstone mountains that wind bombarded on one side, curving them into a beak-like shape.  The harpies there which threw hapless travellers upon them for storage also had some aid in the naming.

And so begun their nightmare.

[Axle Gear]

Their brave woodcutter with nothing to lose acted as their scout, whilst gathering precious wood.  Upon returning, he informed the others that Elephants had been spotted.  Luckily, live ones.  Two herds, one of three, the other of six.  Nothing else menacing seen.

They would store this knowledge, as they immediately got to work cutting into the mountains.  THey knew the terrain was extremely dangerous, and sought to enclose themselves within Mother Earth's safety shortly.

With visions of grandoire, Kel Onulag had already begun envisioning a complex system of traps and foilers for attacking foes.  The sight of elephants attracts that he set up cage traps outside to attempt the capture of these animals.  It would solve their food problems, and could be used as a defense against less living foes.
Unfortunately, his mind was far bigger than his skill.  FAR bigger.

With their most productive dwarf being Kogan Kibbesmar, they would soon have a goodly deal of wood.

Upon only their 5th day of arrival, they spotted a Jaguar stalking across the river.  Noone dared scout anymore, and they stayed huddled to the entrance.

Only a couple days later, an enormous noise roused them all, making them scout their carpenter once more.  A large pack of 9 gorillas were seemingly at war with a pack of 6 elephants, though no bloodshed began.  And worst of all, the gorillas were headed right for them..
They hastily built a mechanic's workshop outside the rubble pile of the shallow cave's entrance.  They needed traps built, and immediately.  Only then could they even have a chance..

[Axle Gear]

Deep, deep.  Right through the mountains.  They'd need water once the brew was empty, and they'd need to farm.  They needed to find the cave river.  And soon.  The gorillas were getting closer and closer, just across the river now.  It was the 15th of Granite, early spring.  And things already were tense as a crossbow.

Thankfully, the Gorillas never drew near enough to start a confrontation.  The stonefall traps were in place, a horribly weak defense, but it provided a false sense of security.  The carpenter was beginning to work on beds, as the mason worked on complex stone doors that they could lock.  It seemed things may go well for external defenses, so food was the next priority.  But.. they still hadn't found the river..
They had dug deep by now, finding a small deposit of Turqoise.  Not a single ore, however.  The mountain was nowhere as rich as they were told it would be.  But they were all still alive, for now.  It was quiet outside, only the wandering elephant herd made noise, and a wandering cougar glared at them.  And so they rested.  First the mechanic, only two traps left to load.  Then the miners, and soon everyone else.  It was a restful slumber.  By now, both miners were becoming skilled, the experienced teaching the inexperienced.  They had 32 portions of meat, and 14 drinks left.

[Axle Gear]

The next morning, amidst woodcutting, things went sour.  Silently, the carpenter was crept up on by the elephant herd, their crashing knocking over trees and startling him to their presence.  He began to back away shouting, trying to intimidate them, and... amazingly... they fled.  "Perhaps this place isn't so dangerous at all?  Maybe the tales are all just exaggerated?"  Kogan Kibbesmar said, forgetting about the loss they already experienced before arriving.  He happilly returned to work.

The iners were still without water, though they found another small cluster of gems, this time aventurine.  neither was very skilled at removing the gems without ruining them, so they had little to show for either discovery.  The others had joined the carpenter at his request to help keep the elephants at bay, and speed in gathering wood.  Things were great...

Then...

Mandrills.  A party of six.  The foul apes rushed in, dwarves sent scattering to rush into the cave entrance, which was now partially blocked by wagons to slow progress of larger beasts in getting in.  The dogs proved themselves a valuable buy after all as they leapt in to fight.  The violent monkey tore into the dog's left rear leg, harming it greatly.  It retaliated in kind, dealing only minor damage.  The other two dogs rushed in, and tore into it's right front leg, snarling and (whatever noises mandrills make) filling the air.  But there was one cry that wasn't animal.  it was a dwarf, their farmer, caught in the onslaught, a lone dog aiding him.  He flung wildly at the beast, trying to intimidate it, scare it away.  The others were spreading out, tactically surveying the battle.  They had the advantage of brains in battle here.  One of the monkeys screamed ferociously, as the dogs proved to be equally matched, three on three.  But there were yet 2 that hadn't fought yet.
The Mason panicked, feeling inadequate behind their rockfall defense, and darted from the cave and into the wilderness in fear.  One of the miners was just returning from the river, rushing in with his pick to attack the beasts.  It was Ast Tanablel.  The dogs were their defense, but they were proving overwhelmed.  And, their farmer, their invaluable farmer, was in the fray.  He rushed in, pick raised.  In this time, Kib the Farmer had slinked from the fray, his right upper arm torn badly.  One of the mandrill make a triumphant sound as it flung the lifeless corpse of a dog to the ground, having slain it.  Three dogs, all injured.  Two unharmed mandrill, and four others damaged and still in battle.  It was only moments before another dog's days were done, but not before tearing the neck from the viscious creature.  It had been injured in the leg by the farmer, then casually torn to peices by the injured dog, until it was flanked by one of the previously non-combatant creatures.
The Miner was now enraged by this, two of the dogs downed, a farmer injured, and hardly anything to claim on their side.  He fought violently, chasing one from their food stores before it ruined them.  All this time, the mechanic, one miner, and carpenter hid behind their stonefall traps.  Noone knew where the crafter was, and the farmer had fled north from the battle.  At this point he was covered with bruises and small cuts, all superficial, as he flung his pick about wildly.  He had systematically dismantled the mandrill, several mortal wounds inflicted.  Madness flashed in his eyes as he mutilated the corpse beyond recognition
Foe dispatched thoroughly, the miner then went to aid the wounded dogs, or what remained of them, against the monkeys that fought on.  He found that one more mandrill had fallen, the scores beginning to be evened.  Why the hell wasn't the carpenter helping?  HE had the axe!  He rushed in, chasing a monkey away from the fray as he sought to remove the others from the dogs.  It then turned and rushed him suddenly, biting deep into his chest, removing chunks of flesh as it went.  He threw it off and made a single excellent blow, peircing it's chest, quickly bringing it to lay upon the ground, slain.  Two remaining mandrill ran, right after the fleeing mason and farmer.. One hobbled and limped, and the miner-gone-berserk soon met up with it.  It fought wildly, injuring him even more and dempening his mood yet further, but it soon fell as the two remaining dogs tore into it's exposed back.  The last remaining mandrill then returned for revenge.  It was swiftly wiped out.

Finally, all over, six mandrill corpses lay nearby.  A miner, covered in mixed blood.  Two dog corpses.  And so much blood and gore.  As the other dwarves slowly surfaced from the cave, he glared right at the Carpenter.  "BY THE GODS!"  He shouted furiously, "WE FEAST ON MONKEY TONIGHT!"

[Axle Gear]

Two days passed since their first seige from the local forests was survived.  Both miners immediately resumed work.  Still no river.  Kib quickly went about gathering the corpses and promptly butchering the mandrills.  Noone dare protest.  Their food stores were light, and it was a well-earned victory.  One dog had a neck wound that looked at though it may trouble him for some time.  Another was badly bitten on the upper body and left rear leg.  But they were alive, and appeared as though they'd remain so.
Taking it as a good idea, they moved their food stores indoors.  They also would store the bones from the mandrill, having use for them later.  An excellent dinner was underway, everyone but the miners feasting.  Within seconds, the food was soggy, and everyone surprised.  The miners didn't strike water, the water struck them.  Noone drowned, but it was a most frightening experience.  by now they weren't expecting to find it at all anymore.  Furthermore, it had just soaked their entire food stores.  Well, at least we can farm now, and have a safe source of water.  It was now time to break down the wagons and use the wood for something else.
They would plant all of their plump helmet seeds and sweet pot seeds at once, needing a steady source of food that comes without a slaughter, and needing it soon.  The river breached and tunnel dug, they then began work on a bedroom, and a place to eat.  They now had 41 portions of meat, and counting.  But only 6 drinks left.  They also now began the construction of the front doorway.  But realizing how big of a door was needed, it was postponed, only the hinged set.  Perhaps later, when they were better rested and thoroughly drunk.  The mechanic, having made the traps, would now find use as a butcher and tanner.  They wanted armor, after that mandrill incident.
The wagons were dismantled, and the rooms nearly entirely dug.  Sleep came quickly.

[Axle Gear]

They awoke the next morning, stunned to find that Ast the miner had died in his sleep from unknown causes.  The corpse was strangely dehydrated... [FNAR, he refused to ever drink or eat, or even sleep.  Just mine incessantly!  And I thought it was the mason who was the over-obsessor!]
He was carried outside, and a stone coffin hastily carved for him.  A small tomb was cut into the mountainside outside.  They were short one miner.  But they had the basics mined, and now one less mouth to feed.  Perhaps, it was for the tragic better...
They went about carrying the stones from their new rooms to make space for tables, chairs, and a still.  Soon they'd dig out the bedroom.  All the beds the carpenter had finished making were of considerable quality.  They were fine, comfortable beds.

On the 2nd of Malachite, the first of the plump helmets had begun to poke out from the earth, ripe for harvest.  The beds were being slowly assembled.  And a small sprinkling of plants was beginning to grow in the mud.
Things were still underway, when the 8th of Malachite marked the first sweet pod growth.  They now had food, and booze-crops.  Things were looking up.  Things were looking like they'd make it after all.  The next couple days and the beds were constructed.  They took inventory of their supplies.  A lot of bones, skulls, and the like.  40 portions of meat, 2 plants that were edible, and some fat.

In the background, a lone dwarf approached the fortress, heavy with burden.

[Eiba]

I rather like it so far!

My only suggestion: pictures. It's a lot easier to read this type of thing with pictures... It may slow down both gameplay and writing, but it's worth it (if you have trouble managing to take/upload pictures, I'd be glad to help).

[Axle Gear]

Actually, the story just ended very abruptly when a large herd of zombie elephants just slaughtered everyone out of nowhere.

End of game.  =/  I'll make another tho, better~!  With more pictures!

[Axle Gear]

I started another, and it may end up a near-hermit challenge.  All but a peasant were slowly slaughtered by wave after wave of undead.  Their rock traps weren't reloading fast enough.  Heh.

The smith arrived and proved you CAN run like bajesus while carrying an anvil.  So it's a peasant (female) and him roughing it.

Want me to hock up a story on this instead?

[White Elephant]

Please post then new story. I like your nartive description and the gritty feel to the story you have out currently. However it would be nice if you finsihed the current one even if they all die. Well done.