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[DI7789]

This is a community story, anyone may choose a dwarf as long as one is available. It will be done using ASCIIDraw8.

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Year 300, 1st Opal

It was this year that would be the turning point of Zasit Emendustik's life. She would be a pioneer of all the Dwarves in the world. She would be the first Dwarf to travel the sea.

It all began in the Mountainhome, Zasit, the Captain of the Guard and one of the King's most trusted friends, was called in to the King's Office. As she pushed open the door, she saw the King's face. It was aglow with joy, his chest had puffed out noticeably (which was difficult, considering his beard obscured a good portion of his stomach from view).

"Come in, come in Zasit. I'd offer you a seat but the workers haven't finished transferring the contents of my old office in to this one."



There was a pause as Zasit took all of this in.





Zasit looked at the King for a moment, then nodded courteously and exited the room. Over the course of the rest of the day, she gathered up the six crew members and introduced them to one another. The King was quite accurate in his descriptions:

Urist the Axeman was a relatively looney individual. The story about him felling a Bronze Colossus with a headbutt was completely true. Except for one part, Urist didn't actually realise there was a magma flow behind the Colossus, he just thought a headbutt would be particularly effective.

Medlob the Carpenter was a careful dwarf, he was a perfectionist with his crafts and promised to be a perfectionist when it came to the boat. Any flaw, he promised, would be dealt with quickly.

Likost the Swordsmaster was a rude and harsh taskmaster. After meeting with him, Zasit decided that she would feel very sorry for Cerol, who would undoubtedly end up being trained by him.

Bim the Fisherman was a feminine Dwarf, her looks were helped by the length of her beard and rumours persist that she has had as many as five other dwarves at her bed. A trait that, Zasit decided, could serve quite a helpful purpose on a particularly long voyage.

Kadol the Brewer was a happy dwarf, constantly drunk and never hung over, he was the life of the party. Indeed, many parties had been thrown by him and he was a legendary host. He was slightly put off by the thought of being out at sea, but seemed to lighten up when Zasit told him there would be little else to do other than to get drunk and to party.

Cerol the Soap-maker was a total novice, a wimp. His beard was short and his stature made him look like a dwarf among dwarfs. Although Zasit held out some hope that he would serve useful in the long journey to come.


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That is the introduction. The story will revolve around these seven seafaring dwarfs. Feel free to choose a dwarf and add a custom name. If you wish to join and all seven have been taken. Have no fear, I will work you in. Next update will be tomorrow at around 6pm GMT

[weird beard]

I'll take Urist the mad axedwarf, if you please.

[CJ1145]

I'll take the swordmaster. Could you give him a parrot, please? Maybe they're sailing and it shows up? It's not even a pirate reference, I just love parrots. Except the Captain Morgan's... *delves into deep thought*

[ein]

I don't really want one of the first dwarves, but is it possible that a miner named Ein is somehow picked up out of the sea? I like miners. too bad they're more useless than a soap maker on a boat though.

[DI7789]

3rd Opal

There was a long distance to travel to Abbeyboard. Even with the horses the King had so graciously provided. For the day, they travelled in complete silence. The Mountainhome had been a big place and the group of seven barely knew each other beyond their first introductions. It wasn't until the sun began to set that they set up camp, they were in a large forest with trees that stretched far above their heads. They chose a small clearing and lit a small fire out of a quarry bush and some wild strawberry bushes. As they sat around, conversations started up, Cerol, Bim and Kadol started chattering amongst themselves, the main discussion appeared to be Kadol's legendary party-goer status.

Urist and Likost approached Zasit, who invited them to sit beside her. It was clear by the look on Likost's face that he had a question.
"Speak your mind, Likost." Zasit said warmly, Likost seemed slightly taken aback,
"How did you..." He began, but Zasit just smiled and waved it off with her hand, Likost stopped, reconsidered, and began again. "Well...me and Urist were wondering...what possible use could two members of the military be on the ocean?"

Zasit pondered for a moment, before answering, "Have you ever known any Dwarven venture that didn't involve perilous danger? Even back in the Mountainhome, just going to a booze-up could be dangerous if the King ordered skylights to be punched through two floors above you. And the sea is far from safe. Do you remember the expedition lead by that stonemason a while ago? To dig in a Dwarven Outpost on a beach?" Zasit asked.

"He said it would be the chief exporter of glass within five years..." Likost recalled vaguely.

"Not two weeks after he departed, the King decreed the expedition had been lost." Zasit said, somewhat ominously. "But the rumours at the time...gigantic skeletal serpents leaving the ocean to devour all of the dwarfs. Beasts twice as dangerous as carp, swallowing three dwarfs whole."

Likost's eyes widened slightly, it was disconcerting to see a veteran of combat show signs of being scared. Zasit concluded, "THAT is why we need military on this expedition...where's Urist?"

As if in answer, there was a creak, then a crash as an immense tree fell. Zasit and Likost had to leap out of the way as the tree thudded loudly to the forest floor. Urist emerged from behind the tree trunk, holding his axe across his shoulders and looking quite proud of himself. "I've eaten deer. I needed a toothpick." He explained. Likost and Zasit exchanged glances hopelessly as Urist ran his axe slowly along the edge of the trunk, pulling off some of the bark and picking his teeth with it. Zasit asked, "But...why cut down the tree?"

"Have you ever seen a dwarf just carve off some bark to make wooden mugs? No. Even though it would only take a small amount. It is clear we must fell trees to get the full use out of them." Urist explained. For a supposedly insane dwarf, his explanation was hard to argue with.

Zasit paused. thought for a moment, then, resignedly, said "Maybe...maybe I should get some sleep"

4th Opal

After a restful night's sleep, the group set off again, by the afternoon, they had reached the harbour town of Abbeyboard.


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Sorry for the abrupt cut off, next update in about three hours from now. (And expect it to contain more images than before to make up for the lack in this post)

[DI7789]

Opal 4th Contd.

The group reached the town of Abbeyboard by the afternoon. The sun was at its highest point and the dwarfs were feeling parched. They had no time to get refreshments though. As they approached the gates, a panting human diplomat rushed up to meet them. "Zisat? Greetings, we have been expecting to meet you." He said

"My name is Za..." Zasit began to reply

"...Delighted to meet the rest of you too. Now, if you'll follow me, I'll show you to your ship." He interrupted Zasit and then swiftly took off, walking through the main street. The dwarfs ran to keep up with him, eventually they reached a wooden jetty. They all stopped and gazed on to the mega-construction that lay before them. They all tentatively stepped forward, following the diplomat up to the gangplank that connected the ship to the jetty.



"Wow..." They all echoed simultaneously. The diplomat rocked back and forth on his feet, clearly very pleased with himself. "The dwarfs who brought us this said you'd be impressed" He said with a smile.

"Now, let me take you on a grand tour..." He continued...



"This is the lower deck. We offered to install beds, but the creators of the boat refused. They have their reasons, I suppose. Sorry for any inconvenience." The Diplomat said. He saw Urist gazing lovingly at the ballista. "Ah, those are your ship's armament, unfortunately, they come unloaded, but I'm sure you've come equipped with more than enough."

There was a pause as Zasit looked guiltily at the ground, Likost sighed and gently pressed his palm to his face. The Diplomat ignored them, then took them back to the top deck.




The group of people barely squeezed in in to the Captain's office. The Diplomat thought of explaining what the room was. But it was quite obvious. They looked around, then left.


"There is a sort of...'hidden' room built in to this ship" The Diplomat explained, and led them to the gangplank and told them to look down. They saw a crystal glass window. "Behind there is the power room, there are six furnaces down there operating purely on an unlimited supply of stored power."

"How is it...unlimited?" Zasit asked.

"We don't know, it appears to be an unique dwarven invention. It doesn't even require anyone operating it. It just...runs. It appears to be the only method the ship uses to move through water."




"Finally", the Diplomat said, "If you look up, you will see the Crow's Nest. You keep sentries up there."



"Thank you", Zasit said. The Diplomat bowed politely and then left the ship. Zasit turned to her crew and came to a sudden realisation. She had no idea how to operate a ship. Nobody had taught her anything except the layout...oh well, everyone must learn through trial and error at some point.

"Okay, Likost, go back to where we left the supplies and load them on to the ship, take Cerol and Kadol with you. Bim, do you think you could get up to the Crow's Nest? Take your fishing rod with you, I don't know how long your line is, but see if you can cast it from there. Urist...how would you feel about being First Mate?" Zasit said. She hadn't heard much nautical terminology in her time, but what she did know was being put to good use.

Urist nodded enthusiastically, then asked, "What do I do?"

Zasit smiled, "Make sure everyone follows my orders."


---------------------------------------------

Next update tomorrow at 6.

P.S. I hate Imageshack.

P.S.S. For those who are curious, David is not my real name. I'm paranoid about the whole "personal details on the internet" stuff, so whenever I make something that will go on the net, I do it under a different user.

[DI7789]

Sorry for not changing the character names, this comes this update

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5th Opal

All the supplies had been loaded, the ship was ready to cast off. Except for one or two things...

"where are we going to go?" Asked Likost. Zasit stared at him blankly. "We've got to have somewhere to go, I understand the sea is a big place, and to get lost would be as good as getting killed," he continued. Zasit groaned, "Its just one problem after another" she said, annoyed.

"Well...as I see it, you're gonna need a map, and something to draw on it...or just a marker. Look, I've got my sword, I'll see if I can carve it in to the wood". It took him a good ten minutes, but eventually there was a rough carving of the port and most of the ocean on the wall of the office. Zasit studied it for a moment, then took Likost's sword and planted it firmly into a spot that was directly east of the port. "We're going there". She said, and then it was decided. For after she said that, Urist burst in, panting. He asked, "...can I be called Weird Beard from now on?". Zasit exchanged looks with Likost, then nodded slowly. Urist then walked out of the door, followed by a curious Likost. Zasit studied her map for a few moments, removed Likost's sword and then left the office with the other two.





Urist had fallen to the side while holding the gangplank, the miner was standing with a shocked look on his face. "You nearly forgot me!" He said triumphantly after he'd recovered.
"....Who are you?" Zasit asked
"My name is Ein" He answered, "The King sent me along after you, he said that it was punishment for my crime."
"What was your crime?" Zasit inquired
"Oh, the King asked for some crystal glass and it wasn't made in time." Ein answered
"So...you're a glasscrafter, then?" Zasit continued
"No." Ein said.

Zasit blinked unbelievingly, then nodded and said "Welcome aboard Ein".

The ship had left the harbour now, apparently the gangplank was the only thing keeping it in place. The furnaces below chugged along quietly and the water gently parted to let the ship through.

"Okay. Now, Likost, I want you to take Cerol and Ein down below deck, train them in how to handle a sword. We may need them. BIM! You alright up there?"
"Yeah! Just fine" came the shout from the Crow's Nest.
"Good. Urist...um, I mean...Weird Beard. Look menacing. Kadol, I want you to ration the booze and make sure there's enough plants left in case we run out. Medlob, check for the slightest imperfection in the ship's hull and try to fix it. You have your duties, get to it."

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End of update, next one coming at 10pm GMT
Only just realised I've accidentally made Urist purple. It'll be fixed in the next update

[DI7789]

6th Opal

It had been a hard day at sea. The crew were going about their daily duties.





Visible not too far in the distance, a gigantic black shape was emerging from the heat haze. After observing it a bit more carefully, Bim concluded it was a boat made entirely out of Obsidian, and there were many hunched over figures scurrying about on the deck. She slowly realised what it was..."GOBLINS!" She screamed, "GOBLINS ON A BOAT!".

Within moments, the entire crew had rushed out on deck. Urist was fuming with anger, Zasit had a look of concern on her face. Likost bit his lip, Cerol, Kadol and Medlob's eyes widened, the only goblins they had ever heard of were the ones that sieged the Mountainhome every so often. They had never even seen live ones up close, but now there was an entire ship of goblins heading towards them. Ein was slowest to react, but quickest to think. "We should return!" He said to Zasit, she looked at him, then turned back to the distant goblin ship. "BIM!" She yelled, "How many are there?"

"About twenty on deck, more on the lower deck, I guess" Bim yelled in reply. Zasit looked at the group on deck. One Swordmaster, a veteran of many a conflict. One Axedwarf, looney enough to take on an entire army on his own, probably looney enough to win. Two conscripts with swords in their hands. A Carpenter, and a Brewer. "No." She said, "We can take them".

"But...what if they have catapults or ballistae? We can't return fire, we have no ballista bolts." Kadol said, Zasit admitted to a slight flaw in her plan there. Suddenly, inspiration struck. "Kadol" She said, "Get two barrels of booze."

All the while, the goblin ship was drawing closer.

Later that day





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Next part tomorrow at 6pm.

[DI7789]

Sorry, I may have to make today's update tomorrow. Unfortunately I have quite a lot of very important work to do

[weird beard]

I was perfectly happy with being called Urist... but it's all good.

How are you actually doing this? I'm curious.

[ein]

It's a program called AsciiDraw.

Also, in case it comes up (spoilered for HFS):

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Ein is a demon hunter. He could care less about the adamantine, he just wants to find and kill the demons.

He also loves microcline and thinks everything could be better if it was made out of or decorated with microcline. Keep in mind though, Microcline isn't as eye-burning as DF makes it.

[Labs]

Well I think it is. Btw I'll take Nim.

[DI7789]

Excellent, and good to have a personality for Ein

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6th Opal, contd.




There was a tremendous crash as Urist used his axe to crash through a portion of the obsidian wall. Inside he caught a fleeting glimpse of many goblins, the unluckiest of which was directly in front of him. Urist collided with him and sent him flying.



Goblin and dwarf came crashing to the ground, Urist looked up and saw a goblin who looked surprised, too surprised to act. Urist took his advantage and swung upwards with his axe, catching the goblin in its fat stomach. The goblin yowled in pain and fell back, clutching at the bright red wound in its chest. Urist quickly hopped to his feet and brought his axe down to finish the goblin.

Every other goblin around had just observed this with morbid curiosity, as Urist finished. He glanced around, then yelled "WHOSE NEXT!?" And leapt at the nearest foe.


Back on the Dwarf Ship, Zasit was surveying what little damage she could see on the goblin's vessel. Likost was with her, he spoke up, "We should get our ship in closer. There must be a way to control her direction." He was right, up until now, Zasit had been relying on the ship itself to steer in the right course, she had no idea how to turn it. "There must be something, a mechanism or lever that controls how it turns." He continued, Zasit replied, "Well, it must be hidden then. But there can't be that many hiding places..lets think..."

"I've got it" Likost shouted triumphantly, and Zasit followed him as he ran in to the captain's office. She reached the door just in time to see Likost tipping over her chair. "A chair with no table? That Diplomat was lying." He said, and sure enough, there was a mechanism that resembled a wheel mounted on a long wooden pole hidden just underneath the chair. The wooden pole appeared to extend below, probably in to the engine room. "Here's your ship wheel" Likost announced.

"But why was that Diplomat lying?" Zasit asked, Likost shrugged, "A question for another time, Captain." He answered respectfully. Zasit walked over to the wheel and gently turned it. It responded quickly to her touch, both her and Likost felt the ship tilt to the side and realign itself in the way the wheel was pointing.

They rushed outside, Bim, up in the Crows Nest, was holding on to the side rails for dear life. Once the ship stopped tilting, she hurried down, the sudden movement had taken her by surprise. But now they were heading straight for the goblin ship, and the distance between them was getting less and less by the second. "Likost", Zasit ordered, "Get Cerol and Ein, give them the best weapons we have. I believe there may be a fight ahead."

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To be continued later, it may be tomorrow, it may be 10pm tonight, I'll have to wait and see what life has to say about it.

[DI7789]

Sorry for this, I have revision to do and while I'll still try to update throughout the week, I can't afford to waste too much of the weekend. There will be updates soon though, I promise