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[Glacies]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Well, it was the early spring of 89', and the Queen decided. No elf was to cross the canyon from the Elf-bog into Dwarf territory, lest they slip into the secret woods and back into proper elf territory where they would rejoin the great empire and march back, armed. All of these elves living in the bog were refugees fleeing from the invasion on newly conquered Elfhome, a forest retreat and once an auxillary outpost of the great empire. The hold on captured Elfhome and the outlying border was tenuous at best, despite all the development, and so a team of seven was sent out to create a border fort. Besides, if the humans decided to push across the burning wastes and seek vengeance for the razed colony out in the swamp, it would be better if some scapegoats were around to spear.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Those chosen for the expidition are, from left to right, Ted, a newbie who had just come of age, Jeff, a fisher, Sharon, a lumberjack, Ivan, an experienced miner who used to work as a foreman, Bill, a hunter, Graham, an elderly trapper, and Marissa, a crafter from Elfhome.

The seven were sent to the canyon, where they spent the next year constructing a basic base of operations and a little fort. Bill was elected head of defence, while Jeff and Ted went out hunting for food, and everyone else worked at the fort. The pair of dogs wandered out into the swamp following strange lights at night, and were never seen again.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Unfortunately, Jeff encountered a harpy with a rather cunning side to it. While he was stalking a groundhog, "Helen" as it would come to be nicknamed, swept in silently from behind. It was only the yell of Ted as the harpy smashed his body to the ground as she made her way past that Jeff whirled around. By then, the talons had grabbed his axe out of his hands.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Bill rushed out, but the harpy had already escaped. He dragged Ted back to his bed, where he went mad and refused to eat or drink until he died later in that winter. This was disheartening, but Bill and his men continued on. Bill decided to get some practice in, and slaughtered a group of horses on the western part of the canyon that spring. The elves did not send a trade delegation.

The year passed mostly uneventfully. Bill practised his marksmanship on the local wildlife and a stationary wooden target. In autumn a small trade delegation from the mountainhomes arrived with a handfull of gems and a few barrels of booze, purchased with skull totems.

In the late spring of the following year, a pack of Rhesus monkey-theives decided to rush into the fort and grab what they could. Sharon spotted them in time to raise the alarm and Bill was out on his little tower plinking away at them, and all but one died. The last Rhesus grabbed a large and valuable cat's eye jewel they had intended to use for trading and bolted to the north.

Bill pursued the Rhesus, but instead encountered a pair of ogres. He killed one instantly with his crossbow. However, the other, enraged at the loss of it's mate, grabbed the crossbow out of his hands and threw it aside. Then, it took Bill apart, slowly.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The remaining four determined that staying here was too dangerous, and thus they butchered the remaining animals for food, reasembled the wagon and headed home to the mountainhomes after sorting everything neatly in case a reclaim party was ever sent in.

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More in a little bit.
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[Rysith]

I really like the drawings, and look forward to reading more.

[Org]

I like it.

[Creamcorn]

Neat, but there needs to be someone in the storie who's drawing the pictures, (atleast I think so).

[Glacies]

Later in that summer, the Queen dispatched a lone macedwarf to examine the abandoned outpost. So, trekking through the swamp, Minkot steadily walked through the broken hills and across the mire for three days, until she arrived at the abandoned border fort.

Inside of the tiny pallisade, she discovered a large ledger written by Ivan, the previous record keeper. It detailed the large crate of gems that they had traded for. A quick search revealed two things: The gems were gone, and someone had ransacked the place. Crates were strewn all over the place, and stacks of ammunition were piled wily-nilly.

Minkot took the ledger and two horse skull totems and returned to the mountainhome, where she reported back to the Queen. She explained the state of the fort, and showed her the ledger. Ivan and Sharon confirmed that indeed, nearly five hundred turtles worth of gems were stored in the missing crate. The Queen dismissed the matter. "Oh, well. It's only five hundred turtles." Then, she had a new task for Minkot.

Go to the sinkhole, and slay Furnaceinsights the warm gem. Minkot swallowed audibly, and began trekking across the chasm ridges. There, she discovered that the place was aptly named. The mountain was criss-crossed with chasms stretching far to the earth, and so she spent the better portion of a week walking around them.

Finally, she arrived at the sinkhole in the broken hills. "The Sinkhole" was an ancient crater of silt and limestone, filled wilth pools of quicksand and roasted by hot sun. As Minkot made her way towards the crater, she noticed a harpy holding a tool. A steel battle axe. This harpy, Minkot reasoned, would be the one mentioned in Ivan's report.

Then she saw where it was going. Resting on the lip of the crater sat the largest creature Minkot had ever seen, venting smoke from it's nostrils, it's chin resting in a puddle of drool. "Helen" hopped over to it, and for reasons unknown to Minkot, kicked it. The dragon merely twitched it's hind leg and sighed. There was a *SLISCH* sound.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

As the dragon readjusted itself, something fell out of it's grasp and rolled a few feet from it. It was a long, black-bronze scepter covered in strips of leather, and by god it was the most beautifull thing Minkot had ever seen. Slowly, carefully, Minkot snuck towards the dragon. She eased up until she could feel it breathing on her, then slowly crouched, leaned forward, tentatively picked the scepter up, and then ran like hell north to glorymine as fast as her little legs could carry her.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Minkot met with the King Consort in Glorymine, the original capital of the dwarves. It had seen better days, since it was weathering attacks from the great elven empire on a monthly basis. The Consort barely had time to say "Great. Take the trinket back to my wife. She'll love it." before he went back to planning the next defence.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Minkot walked across the mountain with the scepter and a barrel of rum strapped to her back. It was a week long journey, but uneventfull and thankfully warm. It was just the beginning of autumn when Minkot arrived back, waving her trinket triumphantly. She approached the nearest purple robed figuire. "Your majesty, I come bearing a gift!". Ivan turned to face her. "Er, did you mistake me for someone else? It's the purple robes, I know. Try down the hall." Minkot blinked.  Down four stories after a half day of searching, she finally found who she was looking for. "Your majesty, I come bearing a gift!". The mayor turned to look at her. "Oh, sorry." said Minkot, "I mistook you for the Queen." "Eh, no kiddin'?" replied the Mayor. "She's up on the first floor." Minkot handed the scepter to him. "Tell her I couldn't find the dragon, but I retrieved this for her, alright?" The mayor shrugged, took the scepter, and walked away.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Then Minkot retired. And drew these.

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And that's it. That was my dwarf fortress session today. I exaggerated the times in places, but it's otherwise pretty much word for word.
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[Heron TSG]

nice story. will it continue?

[Glacies]

Maybe. I probably won't continue with this world, but perhaps I'll make this the general "What Glacies is doing when he plays DF, with pictures." thread.

[Maggarg - Eater of chicke]

This is such a brilliant idea.
It enables you to play DF, doodle, and avoid any work you should have done yesterday.