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[Lalasa]

Yay!  I like my new dwarf.  He is satisfactory!  Thanks for putting his profile up.

[HectorX]

Just out of curiosity, what kind of beard do I have? It says in the thoughts/preferences screen.

Here you go:



Also thought I would put up the list of civilisations nearby... am surrounded by vegetarians! Except the goblins, their name just makes me laugh.



Working on the update now. The fortress is being sulky so I will try to balance reporting on that with reporting on arena combat.

[HectorX]

Taking stock

ShadowHammer continued to pursue the fleeing goblins, chasing them all the way to the edge of the mountain. Spitting on the ground, he turned and walked back to the fortress. His sword was soaked in blood and he winced from the blows he suffered during his fight with the lasher.

Need to get some metal armour... he thought ruefully as he pushed open the doors to the fortress.

He took a pocket-knife from his pouch and carved four notches into the front of his leather armour.


Back in the fortress everyone was distraught, both with the goblin ambush and the number of casualties suffered. Jester, beside himself that he hadn't even been in combat, was in the hospital at the bedside of the two injured dwarves.



Hatchy, wheezing in pain on the bed, reached down and pulled out the arrow which was sticking out of her chest. Jester helped her remove the other one from her arm, both dropping to the floor in a pool of blood. Jester knelt by her bedside, a smile on his face concealing his concern.

"You know," he said, "This is why we have body armour. I know you think you're tough but arrows beat flesh every time."

Hatchy laughed, the effort making her cough. Both of them heard a retching noise. Turning their heads they saw Sibrek the medical dwarf expertly sticking up the hole in Nix's gut.

Jester looked at the chart at the foot of Hatchy's bed. "Could have been worse," he offered optimistically.





Hatchy rolled her eyes. "Yes, well I thought that you would be there to help me. What happened anyway? Last I saw ShadowHammer was trying to be a hero."

"He succeeded," Jester said. "The goblins routed, ShadowHammer took out four of them. We lost some good dwarves though, the town isn't happy at all."

Hatchy sighed, coughing again, and rolled over. "It's only going to get worse," she said. "We should have been more prepared. You and Kivish need to sort out an improvement on defences while-"

A ghost howled its way through the wall of the hospital and out the other side. NRDL? Jester thought to himself.

Hatchy resumed. "You should also bury those bodies out there."

Rollercoaster

As the days passed the goblins continued to test the defences of Battletrials. Another snatcher tried their luck against the cage traps. The outcome was the same as the others.



But tempers continued to flare within the fortress. As the townspeople openly brawled in the streets Kivish and Jester struggled to keep the peace. But the corpses continued to pile up outside the fortress, coffins seemingly being something nobody wanted to make.

The hospital was kept busy with a constant stream of injuries, caused by both dwarves and enemy insurgents.





The Hunters took it upon themselves to act as a vigilante group, protecting the fortress from outside interference while the dwarves tried to settle their differences and mourn their comrades.



ShadowHammer's exploits were celebrated in the dining room in an attempt to boost morale but outside in the hallways, chaos continued unabated. Battletrials was again at war with itself.

Hatchy heard the commotion outside the hospital but was powerless to do anything. The medical dwarves did the best they could to patch her up but it took time.  Nix, apparently a self-healer of incredible power left her side to go and help the fortress.



Finally, the final stitches were made to her battered body. Sibrek declared her fit for duty again.



Hatchy gathered her equipment and walked out of the hospital. She ran right into Jester, who was rushing to see her. They both collided, Hatchy crying out in pain as her tender body hit the cold floor.

"Watch it!" She snarled, getting to her feet and hauling Jester to his. He didn't say anything, simply running off down the corridor towards Kivish's room. Hatchy ran behind him, concerned. He wouldn't just run off like that.

She rounded the corner and saw what was happening. Domas the Leatherworker was chasing after Kivish. Snarling and roaring Domas was striking out at Kivish's frail form.



Kivish though, showing an agility beyond her years, managed to double back. She ran as fast as she could down the corridor towards the approaching gladiators.



Domas saw Jester approaching, war hammer drawn. He charged towards the gladiator, arm cocked back to land a punch.

Jester didn't give him the chance.



Domas fell to the ground. Kivish, who had rounded the corner in terror, came back into the corridor. She saw Jester standing there, blood-soaked war hammer in hand.

"Thank... thank you Jester," she panted, leaning heavily against the wall. "I thought I was done for."

Jester turned, offering a faint smile. "That's my second kill at Battletrials. Both of them have been dwarves. Starting to think this is all I'm good for."

Hatchy put her arm around Jester. "We'll get you into the arena soon enough. For now, we have to stop the rest of these lunatics."

The three of them made their way back up the corridor, into the madness.



===

Shorter update, mainly to show the tantrum spiral that is taking place.

Next update will have some arena fighting... maybe it will help settle everyone down.

[ShadowHammer]

If I go insane during this spiral I'll be so mad. Everyone shadowhammer that has ever been in a story has gone insane. Not this one!

[HectorX]

Trying new things

Kivish was in her office, wracking her brain to come up with ways to end the madness which had gripped Battletrials. Out in the corridors, dwarves driven to madness were terrorising the town. The gladiator dwarves did their best to keep order but it was touch-and-go, with each new day bringing with it news of another death.

Something had to change.

Kivish finished consuming her large pot of dwarven ale, staggered to her feet and walked - somewhat swayingly - into the corridor. She passed one of the gladiators, Crusoe, and dragged him into her office. Pushing him into a chair, she clumsily grabbed a piece of parchment and a quill and forced it into Crusoe's hands.

"You there, gladiator," she slurred, trying to force her eyes to focus. "I need you to write down everything I say and put it in the town notice-board. Can you do that?"

Crusoe raised an eyebrow but nodded his head, putting quill to paper.

"Good boy," Kivish said excitedly, clapping her hands together. 'I, Kivish, Mayor of Battletrials, hearby order you all to shut up and pay attention."

Crusoe wrote furiously, trying not to look at the mayor as though she'd lost her marbles. He could smell her breath. It could have stripped the engravings from stone.

"Firstly, you all need to stop killing each other. Right now. It's not nice and it's making everyone miserable. Secondly, you need to make the following items. Since you're all crying about goblins, these should stop your complaining.





Lastly, I would like to announce that the arena is open for business. The only fighting I will accept in this fortress is if you are a gladiator in the arena. If you persist in fighting in the streets you will end up in the arena fighting goblins.

Signed, Kivish."

Kivish slumped against the wall, passing out instantly, snoring gently. Crusoe stood up slowly and made his way carefully out of the office, careful to avoid waking the mayor. He walked towards the dining room, filled with dwarves seeking refuge from the running corridors battles which, while slowly decreasing in amount, still made the main fortress unsafe. He took the notice and hammered it to the noticeboard which hung on the rear dining room wall. He hammered the butt of his weapon against the noticeboard frame, the sound ringing out across the masses of dwarves.

The dwarves gathered to read the news. ShadowHammer, who was in attendance cracked his knuckles and walked off towards the arena. A crowd of dwarves followed him, cheering and dragging booze barrels with them. The surviving Leatherworker and Bone Crafter, accompanied by Jester and TokimiDwarfy walked out in the direction of the workshop district.

Sakzul the surgeon, upon reading the notice, took a different approach to the notice. Having lost friends to the recent invasion and riots, this was the final straw.

"Enough of this crap," he screamed, punching the nearest dwarf in the head.





Throwing his fists wildly he struck several dwarves over and over, imagining each one was Kivish's face. As the dwarves scattered in fear, Monom the Speardwarf who had been protecting the dining room pushed her way through the panicking dwarves and plunged her spear into the surgeon's hand, sending it flying across the room.

She only needed one more blow to put the Surgeon down. Blood sprayed from the stump that was his hand before, swooning from blood loss, he collapsed to the floor.



Monom jumped onto a table and bellowed at the dwarves who were still in the dining room. "ANYONE ELSE WANT TO LOSE IT!? HUH!?" She waved her blood-covered spear around, droplets of blood hitting multiple dwarves in the face. They all turned white and shook their heads.

"THEN KNOCK OFF THE CRAP AND GET TO THE ARENA."

The dwarves all ran out of the dining room.

Wait for me!

As one united mob the dwarves of Battletrials walked to the arena viewing area. Rushing to catch up to the group was one dwarf who had been conspicuously absent, As the Gem Cutter.

She had been the latest victim of the demon who wandered the halls in ethereal form, possessing dwarves.





The demon who controlled her finished the creation just as the horde of dwarves passed by the Jeweler Workshop.





Taking a moment to compose herself she ran after the crowd, the perfectly-crafted zircon in her back pocket for safe-keeping.

Show time

ShadowHammer stood on the cold arena floor, wheeling his arms several times to loosen them up. Making several practice thrusts with his sword, he looked up at the crowd of dwarves who yelled and cheered, booze flying from their barrels and covering the arena floor.

The crowd were chanting ShadowHammer's name, again and again. They were mad for blood.

It was not long in coming.

One of the Hunters had volunteered to fetch Ngoso, the goblin thief who had been the first goblin captured.



The goblin rattled her cage, snarling and swiping at the Hunter with her dagger as she dragged the cage down the passageway to the arena drop pit.

After several minutes which felt like an eternity, the cage was positioned over the pit.



The dwarves down in the observation area looked up upon hearing the sound of the cage being moved over the pit. The crowd started cheering even louder, their roars echoing through the cavern.

The Hunter grinned, placing her hand on the lever which would open the cage.

"Mind the drop," she said evilly.

She pulled the lever. The goblin fell through the air, landing heavily on the arena floor.

Show time.



Round One

ShadowHammer drew his sword, moving towards the thief, who upon realising what was happening decided the best strategy was to run evade the longer reach of the gladiator's sword. Dagger drawn, the thief acrobatically back-flipped over ShadowHammer, who rolled forward to dodge any backstab attempt.

The crowd roared their approval as the two dwarves clashed in the pit below.

After each combatant parried blows, the goblin got in the first real blow, slashing her dagger viciously across ShadowHammer's lower right leg. The dwarf grunted in pain as the leather boot was slashed, yet the dagger did not cut through to ShadowHammer's skin.

Jester and Hatchy, watching from the viewing area, winced as ShadowHammer jumped backwards, putting some space between himself and the goblin. The two circled each other, trading blows, the sound of iron weapons reverberating around the arena.

Hatchy turned to Jester, mild concern on her face. "Fighting battle-weary goblins is one thing, but this thief has been sitting there, stewing, for months. Do you think he can take her down?"

Jester frowned as the arena crowd ooh'd and ahh'd. "I think he'll be fine. That early strike would have settled him down. Just watch."

Just as he said that, the thief danced under ShadowHammer's horizontal swing and slashed her dagger across ShadowHammer's midsection, carving into the leather leggings of the gladiator. ShadowHammer pulled back, holding one hand to his stomach. He looked down at his hand, relieved that there was no blood.

Hurts like hell... he thought. I'm falling behind here... need to try something different.

He raised his sword as though to perform an overhead strike. The goblin raised her dagger to parry the incoming blow.

Perfect.

ShadowHammer brought up his left foot and delivered a savage kick to the goblin's midsection. The goblin groaned in pain, knocked backwards. ShadowHammer saw that the goblin was off-balance and seized his chance, charging forward towards the goblin, sword pointed forward. The goblin was aware enough to knock the sword sideways but ShadowHammer clattered right into her body, knocking them both to the ground.

ShadowHammer rolled to his feet, the goblin still reeling from the kick and subsequent charge. He raised his sword and brought down the pommel hard on the goblin's left hand. He roared in triumph as he felt the fragile bones in the goblin's hand shattering beneath his sword. He pulled back, looking up at the crowd, raising his hands to rile up the crowd as Ngoso screamed in pain.



The crowd was delirious, chanting ShadowHammer's name as he showboated. The goblin slowly got to her feet, switching her dagger to her right hand as ShadowHammer turned back to face her, swinging his sword through slow figure-of-eights as he waded back into the fight.

Ngoso, wincing in pain and gasping for air, circled ShadowHammer. The dwarf kept swinging his sword through the air in front of him, then with lightning-fast speed lunged forward and stabbed the goblin right through her midsection. The crowd cheered as blood sprayed from the wound, covering ShadowHammer from head to toe. Ngoso cried out as guts spilling from the hole, then cried even louder as ShadowHammer twisted the blade inside her stomach, opening the wound even more. He withdrew the sword and raised the blood-covered blade to the crowd as the goblin reeled backwards, her shattered left hand covering the wound.

ShadowHammer, finished with his latest round of showboating, turned to the goblin and thrust his sword at her midsection. While bleeding heavily she still had enough wits about her to parry his blow, albiet very weakly. ShadowHammer struck again, this time lower, slashing his sword across her upper left leg. The blade sliced deeply into her flesh, cutting through muscle and nerve. An artery was also nicked, blood gushing from the wound as ShadowHammer struck again in Ngoso's lower body, his sword tearing apart her stomach.



Ngoso gurgled, blood flowing from her mouth as she dropped her dagger, moving slowly backwards to get away from the onslaught. ShadowHammer however kept pressing forward, stabbing his sword into Ngoso's chest, feeling air rush out around the wound as he punctured her lung.

The goblin gasped for air, soaked in her own blood as ShadowHammer twisted the sword around in the wound. He withdrew his blade, hesitated for a moment, then raised his left hand viciously punched Ngoso in the face, feeling her teeth shatter underneath his gloved fist.

The goblin groaned, her eyes rolling back in her head, and collapsed to the ground.

"Finish her! Finish her!" the crowd chanted, baying for more blood, their troubles forgotten in their insatiable desire for blood-lust.

ShadowHammer moved forward, over Ngoso's body. He raised his sword, pointed it at the goblin's head and pushed it through her eye socket.

The first Battletrials arena fight was over. ShadowHammer was the winner.



Celebrations

ShadowHammer was carried through the fortress by the dwarves of Battletrials, bringing him to the main dining room. Hatchy and Kivish were waiting for him. Hatchy had a badge in her hands.

The crowd set the victorious gladiator down in front of the gladiator captain and mayor, still soaked in blood. He had a grin on his face, having notched up his fifth kill.

"Dwarves of Battletrials," Kivish shouted over the din. The crowd quietened down. "We are here to commemorate unity, spirit and fighting prowess as we celebrate first Battletrials Arena event with a victory for dwarves over goblins!"

The crowd roared as Hatchy stepped forward, holding out the badge to ShadowHammer.

"On top of his already heroic achievements in saving our fortress from goblin invaders, he has also brought much honour to our fine gladiators with a hard-fought win. To celebrate, we wish to bestow a new title upon ShadowHammer. From now, his name will be..."



"Let us toast to ShadowHammer's success, and many more in Battletrials!"

===

So I may have forgotten to make sure we had enough bolts before you went into battle ShadowHammer. On the bright side, you got a new name!

Let's hope the name means you'll be around for a while.

[ShadowHammer]

Well. The crazed permanency. Huh. Maybe it makes more sense in dwarvish? Wrong translation, perhaps? Or maybe it's a prophecy: I will try to seize a mirror, get caught, go insane, but then fall into cooling magma and become a permanent part of the fort!

[HectorX]

Well. The crazed permanency. Huh. Maybe it makes more sense in dwarvish? Wrong translation, perhaps? Or maybe it's a prophecy: I will try to seize a mirror, get caught, go insane, but then fall into cooling magma and become a permanent part of the fort!

I would wonder if it's a sign that regardless of whatever insanity takes place in Battletrials, you will be a permanent fixture.

Will have to see how much combat you can handle.

[ShadowHammer]

Indeed we shall. Would you mind getting me some metal armor? And, if its not too much to ask, maybe some bone gauntlets too.

[NRDL]

May I make a very special request?

To add some texture to my character, and considering what's happened to him, if you have any dog leather lying around, could you make a hood, or mask or something like that for him? 

[HectorX]

Indeed we shall. Would you mind getting me some metal armor? And, if its not too much to ask, maybe some bone gauntlets too.

Plenty of bone lying around so the gauntlets will be easy. Metal is proving hard to come by but I will definitely be trading for more.

May I make a very special request?

To add some texture to my character, and considering what's happened to him, if you have any dog leather lying around, could you make a hood, or mask or something like that for him? 

I think I have some lying around from a previous caravan... can do this.

New update coming tonight, just playing forward a bit now.

[HectorX]

Actually, here we go... one dog leather:



Hood or mask, which would you prefer?

[NRDL]

Mask please.

[HectorX]

Mask please.

Just checked DFWiki after grumbling at the job queuer... I don't think I can make masks as they're counted as foreign (goblins can make them )

I checked my stocks and haven't come across any masks yet, so I'll make you a dog leather hood for now until I can find a mask.

[NRDL]

That's fine.  I'll imagine that it looks like one of those wolf-head hoods in Skyrim.

[HectorX]

That's fine.  I'll imagine that it looks like one of those wolf-head hoods in Skyrim.

I may have some wolf leather lying around... maybe an idea for a future headgear.

Also, fun times ahead for those who want to know what is happening. Feel free to ignore though.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)