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4 (14.3%)

No

1 (3.6%)

It was fun for a long time but towards the end it just started to drag

6 (21.4%)

I wish I could have joined in.

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Total Members Voted: 28

[Gizogin]

[I assume there will be a great many wounded, so both Gizogins and all three surviving G-Bodies will be working overtime to deal with them.  If wierd calls a counsel in the near future, Gizogin will request that a temporary roofed pavilion be made, to keep the wounded dwarves out of the sun/rain.  He can also volunteer to travel to the nearby settlements in his tank, to ask for aid and ferry supplies.

Would it be safe to say that, once the initial panic is over and everyone is at least somewhat settled, a team will be sent in to see how much of the fortress can be reclaimed?  Then, of course, excavation will need to be done, and all the walls and ceilings will have to be repaired and fortified.

As for bogeymen, they don't attack large groups.  Every adventurer knows that even one or two traveling companions will keep the bogeymen at bay.]

[Zanzetkuken The Great]

Would it be safe to say that, once the initial panic is over and everyone is at least somewhat settled, a team will be sent in to see how much of the fortress can be reclaimed?  Then, of course, excavation will need to be done, and all the walls and ceilings will have to be repaired and fortified.

Then doom comes from what I am trying to do...

[WillowLuman]

He demonstrated it twice inside the fortress. It could be argued that the walls he burned through were weak sedimentary stones, like lime, calcite, sandstone, puddingstone, mudstone, etc... that have lower melting points than pure silica.

However, even with crappy "can't melt stone" sustained output, he could still fire a kiln. It would just be tedious and boring.

Still, I don't want to be outside when the sun sets and the bogeymen come out.

There are lots of us; they only attack lone, lost people. And I think anyone among us could kick their asses.

[Zanzetkuken The Great]

He demonstrated it twice inside the fortress. It could be argued that the walls he burned through were weak sedimentary stones, like lime, calcite, sandstone, puddingstone, mudstone, etc... that have lower melting points than pure silica.

However, even with crappy "can't melt stone" sustained output, he could still fire a kiln. It would just be tedious and boring.

Still, I don't want to be outside when the sun sets and the bogeymen come out.

There are lots of us; they only attack lone, lost people. And I think anyone among us could kick their asses.

Considering what the fort has been through, I wouldn't doubt that statement.

[Eric Blank]

[Curses to the bogeymen! They'd never have the gall to attack an entire fortress' population.

I think this will require the remaining month or more of our alotted R&R timeskip to recover from...]
Once outside, the panic of the fortress' seeming destruction soon subsided. Then, the tantrum spiral and panic of those that didn't know what they would do now began to rise. Many had died, although they didn't know how many, and nobody would hold still long enough to do a head count. Figuring they had nothing better to do than get a god-damn headcount started, the food supplier and bookkeeper set to work to divy up the survivors into their respective labor divisions. The head craftsdwarf and head mechanic seemed to be missing. All the children and peasants seemed to be in attendance. It would be slow going, but at least Wierd didn't have any subordinates he needed to account for, so that was one head count down. Eric called his own group over in front of the gate and started taking roll. There were about 17 left, not counting any that may have been over in the grass under gizogin's jurisdiction. Athel was missing, as was Catten, and Degel Famthutmorul. There were, in fact eight or so missing. The farmers head a healthy headcount it seemed. The guards and militia as well appeared mostly intact. The craftsdwarves, carpenters, mechanics, and smiths seemed to be hardest hit, although they were lower in the fortress than the rest and perhaps some had run further downstairs to the panic bunker. somewhere between a sixth and a third of the population was missing.

"Alright guys," Eric said, addressing his crew, "If you've got a pick or shovel, come with me. We'll dig up a good infirmary for the wounded. They're parked over a solid area in the soil right now I believe, and if the doctor says it's safe enough for them then it'll do for now. Everyone else try to help diagnose our chances of getting a better footing in the main fortress."

[Zanzetkuken The Great]

...I think this will require the remaining month or more of our alotted R&R timeskip to recover from...]

And then another month to recover from what I do to the fort...

[WillowLuman]

Or you could just spring it right now and be done with it. If we are going to use more R&R here, I'd like us to get a little more story into it (not disasters, but development) since it would be kind of boring to just to disaster -> skip -> disaster -> skip. I say we keep the story going through the antebellum this time.

As for damage to the fort, I don't think it's completely leveled. I believe that we'd still have at least 3/4 of the fort. If not, it would take more than a month to rebuild. Depending on where the portal was (and thus where the bomb was), different parts might be caved in.

[Eric Blank]

Or you could just spring it right now and be done with it. If we are going to use more R&R here, I'd like us to get a little more story into it (not disasters, but development) since it would be kind of boring to just to disaster -> skip -> disaster -> skip. I say we keep the story going through the antebellum this time.

As for damage to the fort, I don't think it's completely leveled. I believe that we'd still have at least 3/4 of the fort. If not, it would take more than a month to rebuild. Depending on where the portal was (and thus where the bomb was), different parts might be caved in.

Well, if Happyface has been working in the forges like he used to, the focus of the quake and explosion would be in the magma forges. With the magma pump stack, those could be anywhere, but let's say they're not too far below the living quarters in the sedimentary layers.

And losing 1/4 of the fortress may also be a bit of an overestimate. The majority of the casualties would be from furniture or small debri impacting dorf skulls. There are some collapses to deal with, but the majority of the "lost" space would be what thsoe collapses are blocking off.

[Gizogin]

[Yeah, I'd prefer to have zanz's disaster hit now, so that we can get back on track with story stuff and not have to spend two timeskips just recovering from disasters.]

[Zanzetkuken The Great]

I'll spring it when the reconstruction begins, and therefore, everyone isn't in the same area.  I don't want it to happen too fast.

Hey Wierd I want you to bring back the cards for this, but remove the face cards and the jokers.  'Random' and 'what.' basically destroyed the last fort.  In fact, during the sequence, I would like for all of the forumites to use that system.  I am unable to use it due to having planned out what I was going to do.

[WillowLuman]

[Mwahahaha! No one is online right now! Happy 4th to all who live in America, happy day to everyone else!]

HugoLuman hobbled over to Eric. "There's been a major magical disturbance, something to do with mugs. I think the source is moving up this way."

[Corai]

[Mwahahaha! No one is online right now! Happy 4th to all who live in America, happy day to everyone else!

-Why thank you Hugo, means alot.-

[wierd]

Wierd walked up to the doctor.

"Excuse me Doc... I need you to look after someone."

"You and half the damned fort." muttered Gizogin irritably.

"Yeah, but this one's special." wierd smiled, gently shaking the hazard suit so that the living cargo inside was disturbed enough to start squawking and peeping.

The doctor smiled. "Oh, So it survived? Why do you need me to take care of it? I haven't seen it since it hatched, so clearly you can take care of it yourself right?"

"Its just for a little bit. I need to go.....Talk.. With Eric."

"Still havent told him have you?" asked Gizogin dryly. "He's Gonna find out eventually you know."

"I know. Just...Not right now. Not like this." said wierd worriedly. "Just.. Keep an eye on him, and keep him out of trouble. I have to go show this to eric."

"What IS that?" asked the doctor, examining the black obsidian dinnerware. It was completely covered in bas-relief depicting a horrible disaster involving fire, bodies on spikes, and blood spilling everywhere. "Also, is that YOUR blood all over you? Maybe my staff and I should have a look at you...."

"It's a mug. An EVIL mug, apparently. It was involved in some sort of summoning ritual that was running wild in Happyface's old workshop. And no. The mug... ... Puked... it all over me."

"What? Did any rocks hit your head? you arent making any sense you know." asked the doctor worriedly.

"No. No rocks hit my head. Look behind me, leading back to the fortress. See the blood everywhere? The cup was gushing the shit the whole time I was carrying it. Got the crap all over me. I figured Eric aught to know that we had either a completely psychopathic moron, or a traitor, or at the very least a grand fool of an idiot living amongst us, and that's what cause all ... *this*.."  Wierd pointed back up toward the descending stair, the blood trail splattered on the ground leading out of it, and the sunken in and torn up landscape.

"Really now? Are you sure you didnt hit your head?"

"Yes. I am perfectly sure I did not hit my head. Trust me, if I had lost THAT much blood on the way up here, I would have died well before talking to you."

"Well, that's true..." said Gizogin, tilting his head suspiciously at him. "Is that really what happened?"

Wierd didnt like where this was going.

"Look, I didnt kill somebody just to drown myself in their blood, and make a big nasty trail of gore leading up here, simply to create a crazy story about vomiting evil mugs and evil dark portals!" he spat. "Now if you'll.."

"Dark portals? You didnt mention that before..."

"What do you think these creepy ass mugs were a part of, eh? Cups puking out blood arent going to cause earthquakes and horrible death inside the fortress by themselves. No, they were a part of some horrible ritual gone wrong, and some nasty red glowing pit of doom was brewing in Happyface's old place, tearing up the floor, and causing all the earthquakes..."

"So, what did you do about it?"

Gods! could he NEVER get away from this damned doctor!?

"I shoved 500 pounds of ETN down it, and blew it up, that's what."

"Is that what caused the.. uh...." The doctor pointed toward the north-east, where the now sunken pit marred the view of what used to be a scenic hillside.

"Yes. Yes it is. Now, if you'll excuse me..."

"Oh, by all means, but if you decide to come back and have me examine that concussion you obviously are trying to hide, like-- before it kills you-- I'll still be here, taking care of your bird." Gizogin leaned in closer. "If I were you, I'd do it sooner, rather than later."

Wierd felt his eyelid flutter like it did when he was irritated or angry, and let out a low growl.

"You know what, I'll do that. Just as soon as I get back from my meeting with Eric, How's that sound?"

"Splendid! I've already sent one of my worker robots to get some of that ice you were throwing around for compresses. I'll have everything ready for you when you get back. Dont pass out on the way now."

Wierd was miffed. He DIDNT have a concussion. NOTHING had hit him in the head! Clearly, a thorough examination was going to be the only means of escaping the doctor though. Postponing his assessment was as good as he could get for the time being.

"Oh, dont worry, I wont." said wierd sardonically. This was getting tedious. "I'll go have my little chat with Eric, and then be right back."

"Excellent. I'll be waiting. Hurry back now."

wierd groaned and shuddered as he left the make-shift triage camp. The idea of gizogin sterilizing his tools to drill a hole in his head to relieve the pressure of a major concussion was NOT something he liked the sound of. He was very grateful to have NOT had a concussion, despite how crazy his story was.

Blood covered dwarves were painfully commonplace in the relief camps being organized, so his unwholesome appearance was not out of place. In fact, he didnt attract that much attention except from the furnace and forge workers he had freed from certain death just a half-hour earlier. They didnt say anything, just bowed politely in acknowledgement as he walked passed. He returned the gesture with a tip of his head. He didnt have time to engage in idle pleasantries. The sooner Eric got the scoop straight from the horse's mouth, the less time that crazy fool would have to dream up how this was his fault.

Hugo had apparently managed to escape the doctor's watchful eye, (Something quite spectacular, in and of itself, but then again, being swarmed with patients meant he didnt have the staff to keep people put like usual) and was talking with Eric already. That was good. He could use the support. Silently and with purpose, he closed in on the pair.

"Eric, Hugo." he said, trying to be polite about interrupting.

Hugo's eyes were fixated on the cup he was holding in his left hand, apprehension clearly manifest in his demeanor.

"You'd better explain quickly." said Eric bruskly. "Hugo said that the cause of this mess was getting closer, and then you show up."

wierd closed his eyes and took a deep breath. This wasnt going well already.

"I didnt cause this Eric." he grumbled before opening his eyes again. "I was with hugo, talking about what kinds of jobs he could do around the fortress so he didnt get a reputation for being a lazy good-for-nothing, when the shit flinging chimps attacked the fan factory."

Eric made the faintest hint of a smile, before turning to hugo. "Is that true?"

"Yeah, it is actually. We *WERE* in the infirmary. I was asking him if he could think of things I could do to keep busy. I hate just standing around."

Eric gruffed.

"he also wanted me to ask you about getting a room dug out and designated for him. Dwarf sized ones are too small, and his stay at the hospital was almost up... But it looks like we have bigger fish to fry." said wierd.

The smile faded, to be replaced with a frown. "That's an understatement." he growled sarcastically. "What do you want?"

"I saw what caused the quake." he said, before holding up the blood and gore soaked mug. "and I found this in HappyFace's place. Either he, or somebody trying to pin the blame on him had been up to some really fucked up shit in there."

Eric took the mug from him, and looked it over, making nasty faces at the hideous carvings covering every inch of the thing. "Go on..."

"The blood all over it... Came from it..." He took a breath, and swallowed. "That, and the walls.. and the floor... There were a whole bunch of those things down there, spewing blood everywhere. But that's not exactly what was causing the quake."

Eric was looking terse. It was clear that his already bad day was quickly getting worse by this information. Wierd tried to hurry this up.

"They were arranged in a summoning circle like way, and whoever had did it, used them to create a portal to ....somewhere nasty. I didnt know what else to do... so..." He shook. Gods, he hated ratting himself out like this... "So, I blew it up."

Eric's face went blank, and the skin started to color.

"You ... Blew it up?" he asked cooly, in sharp contrast to his clearly livid expression. "do you have any idea how stupid that was?"

He said nothing, he wasnt so stupid as to answer a rhetorical question.

"I've put hundreds of hours into planning, overseeing construction, seeing to supplyline issues, structural requirements, Even the damned aesthetic character of this damned place, AND YOU SET UP A BOMB IN IT!?"

Wierd groaned. This was not going to be a good day at all.

 

[Eric Blank]

"Well, fuck. I guess I can't expect much else, from anyone. Clearly if your solution was to blow it up you hadn't had the time to research how to close it with magic, so that's good. I don't even care anymore: the last time I lost everytihng I'd ever had I figured it isn't even worth starting again, but I did anyway."

Eric pointed towards his blood-soaked boots and trouser legs.

"I found one of those mugs too, in someone's bedroom. Don't know who, either. It was spewing blood and gore all over the fucking place. I thought I'd drank too much, or some jackass had spiked my drink as a prank again."

Eric had left a little trail of bloody bootprints, half as dense as Wierd's, leading in the opposite direction.

"I just hope you didn't kill anybody else in that blast..."

[WillowLuman]

"That thing is making my head hurt. That dark-magic smell... it's really hard on the sinuses." He shook his head to clear it. "Um, did anyone see HappyFace after the cyber incident? I was in the hospital the whole time, so I don't know what everyone's been doing, but did he shut himself away?"