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[Kagus]

"Damned kobolds.  As if this place wasn't bad enough."
Thaunar was standing outside in the chilly air of early winter as the corpses were dropped off on the pile outside the walls.

"That was a hell of a good hit, Evergreen.  I don't think I've seen a kobold fly like that before.  But did you have to toss it that way?  You almost hit Silu with that thing."

"Yeah, but I didn't."

"His clothes got spattered with guts."

"He should've moved faster."

"Get back to work."

"Yes master, right away."

Thaunar gave her a mock glare and went back to his chambers to file a report.  He had been awakened by the commotion outside, and had gone up to see a headless kobold sitting with its entrails wrapped around its ankles.  As he tried to sort out what had happened there was a similar scuffle outside the walls, where Togal had made short work of a second brigand by mining into its lungs with her pick.  He liked dead kobolds, but he didn't like the thought of them being out this deep into the woods.  Kobolds are innately superstitious creatures, and normally would've stayed well clear of the blackened forest.  This meant that they were either making special efforts to come and get whatever worthless things the encampment had in its stores, or there was a cave inside the woods.

Thaunar didn't like the thought of that, not at all.  It wasn't just that more would be coming to the encampment, it was that they hadn't been wiped out by the undead roaming the area.  He thought about this as he sat down at his desk and brought out the progress log to put in a new entry.  

__________ • __________

Log entry, 21st Moonstone 1051.

Kobolds attempted to infiltrate the encampment.  Evergreen Telingetur discovered the first while carrying lumber to our stockpile.  Togal Enshallikot found the second.  Both thieves were quickly dealt with.  No items have been reported missing.

--End entry

┤/╟/└/╪/╥

[ May 09, 2008: Message edited by: Kagus ]

[Kagus]

Log entry, 14th Obsidian 1051.

Exploratory tunnels have been dug underground.  Silu Lektadmeng reports that there is a groundwater source not far down.  Mining efforts will be difficult, but I have sent for the required materials.  We will continue with enhancing defensive measures until that time.  

--End entry.

__________ " __________

"Dojango, do you really have to do that?"

"What else are we going to do with them?  Let them rot?"

"Well, yeah.  It's damned creepy."

"It's useful, that's what it is."

"Fine...  Just, don't put the skulls in my bed again like that, alright?"

"Oh come off it.  Turtles need to be kept warm, what does being dead have to do with that?"

"Eeegh..."

Kate walked away as Dojango went back to his work of carving intricate shapes from the bones that had been left behind in the refuse heaps, chuckling as he continued shaping the bones into an interlocking plate that would serve as a passable armor until metal could be used.  Several of the dwarves had needed hobbies to keep their minds occupied, and Dojango had struck upon one that happened to be slightly more morbid than most.

Another smile crept across his lips as he envisioned the reaction that Silu and Togal would have when Thaunar told them to wear the armor for sparring practice.  As he carved, pearl-colored dust fell lightly to the floor to form its own pile next to the woodshavings formed by Kate's carpentry shop.  

┤/╟/└/╪/╥

[Kagus]

*sigh*...   Okay, here's the deal:  Nothing's happening.  The local woods aren't putting up much of a fight.  All the necessities are accounted for, so there's little reason to expand aside from an expensive aquifer-breach to go for metal.  There's a nasty flaw in the watchtower which is making its construction a pain.  I'm hesitant to start expanding the walls, as it's a rather work-intensive project and I don't have the dwarfpower to justify it.

All that, and writing for this fort is growing increasingly difficult.  I've got an ideal fortress state in mind, but it's not a very fleshed-out picture (something I should have considered before throwing myself into it).  I also have a different community fort in the works which will most likely be far more successful.

So I present you, whoever might be reading, with this question:  What do I do now?

I can cut this project and focus on the new one, I can start fabricating events and writing about nonexistant happenings, or I can continue playing things normally and hope that something will come along.

Damn shame that I had to tarnish all the good ideas in this thread by latching them onto a less-than-great fort and location.

[Sean Mirrsen]

I don't know Kagus, the story's nice so far, so letting it go to waste isn't the best thing to do...  yet if there's really nothing happening, and there's nowhere you can get trouble from...  like, say, an underground chasm full of zombie batmen...  

On the other hand, we'd like more D&G.  

So run reveal in search of a hidden feature, and if there's none, I think you might think up a nice fort collapse story involving zombies.  

[Kagus]

It's in the middle of a haunted forest.  There's not so much as a hill around here, let alone a mountain.  It's completely flat.

And those damn zombie deer herds spawn at the edge and never come any closer...

EDIT:  I could use DC to repeat-spawn a horde of undead critters from a single corpse...  But that would sitll only provide zombie deer, or the rare fox (I've seen two zombie foxes in my entire time here).

[ May 13, 2008: Message edited by: Kagus ]

[Mephansteras]

I'd say play it out a few years. See what happens once you start getting more dwarves, goblins, etc.

Just take notes on various things that happen, and see if you've got enough to do some stories out of. I like this story so far, and I'd hate to see it just fade away before the fort really has a chance to get going.

Hmmm...have you gone through the first winter yet? Undead wolves could be exciting.

[Kagus]

Yeah, it's mid-spring of the second year now.  I feel a bit strange going long periods without making an update...

And I don't think this map gets wolves.  So far I've seen deer and foxes, and their zombie counterparts.  

It's heartening to know that you find the story so far to be interesting, as I've really been scrambling to get most of them out.  Those are grasped bushels of straws, those are.

[Kagus]

She was breathing very quietly, her body rigid with fear-induced adrenaline.  She pushed the dry branches out of her way as she kept walking, always looking around to make sure nothing was lying in ambush for her.

She dry branches crackled and broke at her hand, and the near-constant noise served to calm her nerves somewhat.  Her breathing steadied a bit from the slightly strained pace it had picked up after her first hour spent walking in the woods.  She turned her head around to look back over her-

"HOLD YOUR GROUND, OR I'LL NAIL YOUR FEET TO IT!"

She took a sharp intake of breath and spun around to face the direction the sound had come from.  Before her she saw the shadowed figure of a dwarf in a fighting position, feet steadied and shield at the ready.

"I'm not one of them!" she cried back, hoping whoever it was would understand.

The figure simply stood there for a moment, and in her frightened state she considered running away from this unknown dwarf.  Moments passed, and she felt her tension only growing stronger as the dwarf stood silent.

Then it grunted.

"Hrrm.  No, I can see that you're not."
The figure relaxed, propping the hammer it was carrying -she hadn't seen it before now- on its shoulder.

"Come on now, get inside before more of 'them' comes along and interrupts our little chat."

Obediantly, she followed.  Anything would be better than spending another night out alone in the woods.

__________ Θ __________

Log entry, 4th Felsite 1052.

We have recieved a dwarf sent from one of the nearby villages, by the name of Imushmamot.  She states that she was part of a larger group that set out several months ago, but were attacked by creatures similar to the ones we have encountered.  She states that she evaded the creatures but lost her bearings.  She appears fit and has no major injuries.  She has little working experience.

--End entry

[Electrum]

I wouldn't call them tarnished, per se. The idea is sound, and there's nothing you can do about the not-so-scary forest. If you'd be happier running a different fort, put this one on the backburner and wait it out? I think forcing yourself to write would make you resent the fort, which is a surefire way to kill off any interest. Decrease the frequency at which you play it, rather than letting that happen?

I'm sure seeing a fort grow will be interesting in its own right, even if the fortification is a bit disproportionate. Perhaps wolves will show up, or seeds will change? If you don't try to force it, it might sort itself out. If it stays dull, you could cancel it, start over with the same roster somewhere more terrifying and pick the thread back up there, or just go into full-on writing mode if you find you have an excess of creative juices. I'd be sure to read that - your writing's very engaging, after all.

[Kagus]

Hell, the entirety of Liceyi's last post was a fabrication, he retired peacefully in an elven retreat somewhere.  I can do it, it just takes a bit more out of me than mere embellishment.  Well, most of the time.

Heh...  If I push the frequency of playing this thing back any more, the army arc will come in before the next update.

Speaking of which, that gives yet another problem...  When the army arc version is up, I'll be working on a mod I've had planned for some time.  And on top of that, I was planning on making a story fort to introduce the damn thing.

I'm putting waaay too much stuff on my plate...  Oh well, tough jerky.  Bite it and smile.

[Daniel Charms]

I vote for keeping this thing running for a few more years - or until the goblins arrive and kill everyone.

[Kagus]

Yeah, kinda what I'm doing.  I'll work with it until/unless the folks who actually have dwarves invested in the fort say that it's not going smoothly.

Speaking of which, the new gal is open.  She will most likely get conscripted and handed a crossbow (which, ironically, are more effective against the undead now that I've toned them down), but not before some good sparring.  However, if she gets claimed, her profession is of course open to the taker's desires.

From the looks of things, I'll need to do a bit more mucking about than I'd planned, in order to get some real enemies to go up against.  I'm sure I'll be able to find something...

[Sean Mirrsen]

Kagus, I think you can get into a bit of hacking magic.

Specifically, start a new fort elsewhere, name everyone the same, give them the same items and skills, and see if the new place is any better in the "recently undead" department.

That is, of course, if all else fails.

[Kagus]

Just an announcement:

This thread is not dead.  It's just...  'Resting'.  Lovely spikes!

This will be updated sometime soon, but I've got a lot of things I need to do and one of them happens to be moving all my DF files from one computer over to another so I can continue.