When we last left our heroine, she had set off from her decrepit homeland of Ishenmistem in search of a new dwarven city to call her home. She hoped to find a place where she could practice her beloved profession, stonecrafting. Her first stop on this adventure was, unfortuitously, the home of an ancient vampiric goblin "doctor" and his subordinates. Right as she was about to confront this devil, Providence intervened in the form of a Fey Mood. After over a dozen hours of banging rocks together in the snow, she produced her legendary masterpiece and christened it... well, she didn't christen it anything (partially because she hadn't the slightest idea what a "Christ" was and mostly because she existed in the database of a computer game, the systems of which did not recognize her talents as particularly legendary). Anyway, she now had something to prove to whatever dwarven settlement she stopped at that she was indeed a skilled stonecrafter. The only problem was that she had no idea where any mountainhomes were (apart form Ishenmistem, but there was no way in Hell she was going back there). She attempted to reconcile her difference with the murderous fiend back in the shack, and he agreed to tell her of all the dwarven settlements he knew of, on one condition: Feb had to deposit her masterpiece at the museum in Dinnerwandered so that all patrons of art could appreciate its magnificence. His flattering description of her artifact did not hurt to convince her to agree. The closest dwarven settlement to the goblin's shack was a fortress called Silverywind to the northeast, on the coast of an arctic ocean. She promptly set off, but not before murdering the grayskinned sage and taking all of his expensive clothes for herself. Upon arrival, she found the fortress to be filled with insane dwarves, poultry corpses, gems, and a dead body covered in disgusting purple goo. Now, at Silverywind...
Feb looked around the abandoned trade depot for gold or gems, but found the place completely empty. Strangely enough, she found a mountain of trade goods to the northwest of the depot itself, along with several dead fluffy wamblers. Amid the mixed pile of refuse and treasure was a campfire burning brightly in the perpetual blizzard that surrounded and engulfed Silverywind. Feb seriously doubted that any of the dwarves she had met at this place had the mental faculties to construct a fire, and concluded that the fire was probably left by another dwarven adventurer (she assumed he or she was dwarven due to the fact that the fire persisted to burn in this unaccommodating environment). Hopefully, then, even if Feb couldn't find a sensible inhabitant of this gods-forsaken place, she might be able to find a sane, homeless dwarf such as herself to partner up with.
From the pile, Feb took all of the gems she could find (four), one wooden bucket (I don't know why), and - most notably- a steel pick! Although it had no notable attributes and was by all means an average/slightly below average weapon, Feb marveled at it. She, being from her pitiful homeland, had never laid eyes on a steel object in all her life, and this pickaxe astounded her. She held it in the air, and vowed to smite any foes or rocks that accosted her with it. The fact that it was covered in that strange abhorrent mucus did not deter her in the slightest.
Feb pressed on exploring, finding an abandoned carpentry workshop and an old mason's shop. She was tempted to create something herself, but found no available virgin stones, and she was unwilling to lug a boulder through a blizzard in her exhausted state just to make a damn puzzlebox.
To the west of the mucus-covered pile of animal remains and (formerly) treasure, Feb ascended an ice ramp (also covered in mucus) to find a building with two doors made of solid gold (one of which was propped open by the corpse of a donkey) and two statues of the same dwarf. On the base of each of the statues was inscribed "Mistem Matchedtool".
Feb assumed that the figure depicted in each of the statues was this "Matchedtool", and derived from the one with the slab that he was probably some sort of mason. Due to the fact that he was immortalized on the outside of this gold-doored building, Feb inferred that he was definitely a man of great importance. Perhaps this slab was some sort of artifact he had created, and he was highly acclaimed for this. Feb's desire to explore this mysterious fortress grew keener from this discovery, and she pressed on through the golden doors (after trying in vain to unhinge them and take them with her).
Inside, she found the place littered with the corpses of more fluffy wamblers, along with several domesticated animals. Facing the golden doors were a pair of iron thrones, and behind them was a set of spiral staircases leading both upwards and downwards. Feb concluded that this place was once the throne room of Matchedtool, but, judging by the layers of dust and mucus on the thrones and floor, it had not been used in decades. She highly doubted that she would find this historical figure (and if she did, he would be either be insane like the others or a corpse). Either way, at the very least she hoped to visit the legendary tomb he was sure to reside in.
Feb pushed the dead donkey out of the doorway, then secured it as best she could and attempted to rest in this mucus-covered throne room. She did not rest easy; the idea that any of the mad dwarves could climb up that staircase and find her sleeping was extremely unnerving. That, and the fact that she was sleeping on a floor plastered with dried fluorescent mucus. She slept with her pickaxe and knife at a short length from her.
Eight blissful (despite the cold, the fear of being killed or raped, and the scent of rotten corpses and mucus) and long-awaited hours of sleep, Feb awoke to the light of day, shining through the walls of ice that the throneroom was constructed from. In this light, she could now fully appreciate the bright colors that the mucus had to offer. She strained to keep from vomiting profusely.
She rushed outside to get some air, only to find it an even brighter shade of purple. This time she
did vomit profusely.
After catching rushing to a clean patch of snow and collapsing onto it, Feb vomited a bit more and caught her breath. When she had calmed down, she at a filling breakfast of wolf meat. She now felt ready to explore further into the fort, and walked back into the throne room and ascended its stairs.
At the top of the staircase, she beheld a truly magnificent work of architecture: a tall and structurally sound tower of ice, with three ice bridges extending from it to the west, south, and north. All of the bridges were sheltered from the freezing cold, apart from slit fortifications in their walls, allowing wind to sweep in and nip at her exposed flesh.
Any fort made of ice was exceptional, but one built to the extent and with the elegance of Silverywind was simply extraordinary.
On the bridges and within the tower she met many more dwarves. All of them were insane, as she expected.
Crossing the bridge to the west, she discovered something deeply disturbing and horrifying. Finding a dead body out in the snow was one thing (something that Feb had experienced several times back home), but what she witnessed now was the site of a massacre.
Four corpses, two of which were mutilated to the point of barely being recognizable as humanoid figures. Severed limbs, teeth, and blood covered this level of the western tower, and all of it was covered with a blanket of the pink mucus.
Upon closer inspection of one of the roughly intact corpses, Feb was struck with realization. She recognized this dwarf.
It turned out that Matchedtool was no more than a common miner, wearing common pigtail fiber and leather clothes, and carrying a copper pick. This begged the question: why was his likeness being displayed in front of a gold-decorated throneroom? Feb concluded that this must have had something to do with that slab. Maybe the statues were put up in response to some sort of slab masterpiece he had made. This peaked her curiosity. This mystery, combined with her ever-present dwarven greed, compelled her to explore the tower further, despite the gruesome scene she had discovered. Hopefully whatever did this was long-dead. But, then again, if this incident had happened so long ago, how were those mindless dwarves still alive?
On the level below (the bottom of the staircase), she found another dead miner in a corner. On the level above (the top), she found a blood-covered set of dwarf-sized clothes, but no corpse. On this level she also found a lever.
Unable to resist her dwarven instincts, she of course pulled it.
Returning to the bottom accessible level of the tower, she found that it connected to and was a part of the outer walls of the fortress, with exits to the north and south allowing access to the ramparts of Silverywind. Having seen all she could in the western tower, she proceeded northwards. Then, when she reached the northwestern corner of the wall, walked eastward on top of the fort's northern wall.
She then arrived at the tower that connected to the center tower via the northern bridge. Exploring it she found nothing but insane dwarves, roof access (which was neat, but yielded no treasure), and a conglomerate lever. She of course pulled it.
Walking along the wall some more, she found two poor dwarven babies, abandoned by their insane parents. Feb tried to take the babies with her, but they squirmed and cried when she got near. Both were on the ledge of either a tower or wall, and Feb did not want to paint the snow with baby blood. Regretfully, she left them where they were, trying to convince herself that if they had survived this long, surely their parents still cared for them.
Finishing her circuit around the wall, Feb arrived at the southern tower, which was empty. She then took the southern bridge back to the center tower and returned to the throne room. Now she would venture into the depths of this place. Surely, if dwarves had constructed such a wondrous structure above ground in the freezing cold, they had carved something equally as impressive below it.
After descending the long staircase down from the throne room, Feb arrived at the end of it and the beginning of Silverywind's subterranean level. The place was a mess, with loose boulders, rushing water from the south, and countless animal corpses filling it.
In the boulder-filled room the west, Feb found highly valuable, both monetarily and in regards to usefulness, treasure.
She particularly liked the shield for its decorations. She couldn't wait to bash a goblin in the face with those walrus bone spikes.
The only regretful aspect of the discovery was that Feb had to take off her priceless shoes in order to fit in the boots. Oh well; she liked having her feet attached to her body more than she enjoyed having them look nice. She couldn't walk well in the armor, never having worn any in her life, but she was confident it would stop the bites and scratches of any dwarf, if the mindless ones decided to attack her.
Feb had to push against the current of rushing water as she explored the southern hallway. In it, she found the corpse of a naked dwarf, next to another dead creature that she could not identify.
In that hallway, she found several rooms fit with beds, thrones, and tables. Each of these rooms was opposite a tomb. It gave Feb an eerie feeling, but she did not have time to contemplate it, as she was focused on not being knocked over by the rushing water and drowned in her heavy suit of armor.
To the southwest, Feb found another downward staircase. Despite the fact that water was flowing down it, and that there was a high probability that she would drown down there, with her body to be covered by water, then frozen, never discovered, Feb dove down the stairs. She could not explain why she was so haphazard with her life; she had a lot to live for now that she had created her artifact and found some decent loot. She just had some sort of extreme thirst for explanation, that would not be sated until the mystery of this place was solved.
At the very bottom of the stairs, Feb discovered the source of the dwarves' gold. Unfortunately, it was almost entirely flooded, and she nearly drowned several times while trying to recover a chunk of the stuff. Finally, rational thought reappeared in her brain and convinced her that it was a bad idea to weigh herself down with gold while at the bottom of a flooded cave. Regretfully, she left all of the gold where it was and tried to swim back to the level where she had found her walrus shield.
Once she floundered her way back to the staircase, it was not too difficult a descent, despite the water constantly pouring on to her. In fact, the mist it produced was extremely comforting to Feb.
Feb's distress at having to leave behind such a bounty of gold was quickly abated when, back near the entrance to the underground tunnels, she found this:
She now had in her backpack too many gems to count, chief among which was an exceptionally cut clear tourmaline.
Then, she found something almost as spectacular: the booze stockpile. She gorged herself on the food and drink stored there, and took a barrel of dwarven wine with her, carrying it uncomfortably on her back. Luckily, dwarven wine is a great way to relieve discomfort.
The rest of the rooms she found underground, apart from a secondary booze stockpile and a room containing a mutilated dwarf, were either empty or full of rough stone. As such, she decided that it was time to move on from this place, but not before taking a final look around all of the ice buildings on the ground level and having a nice, long nap.
Above ground, she found two ice storehouses, one filled with finished goods, and another full of food and booze. From the finished goods stockpile she took a golden goblet, which she then used to drink several cupfulls of dwarven wine from the other storehouse.
Turns out, Feb got to have some gold after all. With the acquisition of the goblet, she no longer felt she needed the bucket, and left it in a pile of purple mucus.
While making her final rounds on the surface level of the fortress, she found two raised drawbridges blocking off the northwestern sector of the fort. One of the bridges was to the south of the sector, and another to the east of it. Feb figured that this had something to do with her frivolous lever pulling, and returned to them to give them each another flip.
Sure enough, that did the trick and Feb was soon in the sealable section of the fortress. There she found the mutilated corpses of several dwarves and animals, along with many industrial buildings such as a leatherworker's workshop, a clothes-making sweatshop, and, most notably, a metalsmith's forge. Here, she found a nice set of copper greaves to go with her iron armor. She also found a stack of gold coins, straight off the mint (and by straight off, I mean they've been sitting in the mint for over thirty-five years). Luckily, gold isn't corrosive, so the coins look good as new.
In the jeweler's workshop next door, Feb found something that made her jaw drop. She also found some gems.
So, just as soon as Feb had found her iron equipment, she found a tremendous upgrade for it. She did keep the iron shield though, even though there was a steel buckler. Walrus spikes trump everything. She kept the spear as only a keepsake and thrown weapon; she still preferred her pick for close encounters - not that she'd had any of those yet. She also took some cut glass and gems from the jeweler's workshop, but they did not compare to her steel treasures. In fact, the practical treasure that she had found made her question all of the jewels she was carrying around with her. They were nice, sure, but they sure were weighing her down a lot. She decided she wouldn't throw them away, but she would stash them away somewhere where she could find them later, but didn't have to carry them around with her.
With all this wealth, Feb was starting to question whether or not she really needed that craftsdwarf job at all. She would still honor that dirty goblin's promise and hand her artifact over to the museum, but she could afford to live comfortably with her current wealth. As such, she resolved to continue looking for a dwarven city to live in, but she no longer wanted to find a job there. Instead, she could live comfortably as a retired adventurer, paying for her luxuries with the benefits of this one lucky plunder. So, wearing her steel armor and carrying a backpack bursting with gems, Feb Minesizzled left the mysterious fortress of Silverywind behind her, and headed on an epic journey northwest, to the fortress of Luckystream that the goblin vampire told her about. Hopefully the dwarves there wouldn't have met a gruesome fate like the ones here; hopefully they would have a place open in their society for a lazy rich dwarf clad in steel.
But still the mystery remains: what drove the dwarves of Silverywind to madness and death? Feb never once encounter a hostile creature or abnormal beast, apart from that unidentifiable one below ground. My money's on the torrents of purple mucus that rained down on them. But still, that wouldn't explain the mutilated bodies. Maybe the dwarves, driven mad by the unholy rain, did that to each other. It is a horrible thought, but very possible.
Part 5
Author
Topic: The Museum: Adventure mode succession world (DF 34.11) (Read 819382 times)