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[fractalman]

If I were planning to do a hell breach, I'd paint the halls with demon blood and let the magic users be consumed by the beasts once and for all. You simply do not comprehend my unfathomable hatred for overuse of the magic plot device. Deus ex machina all up in this penal colony.

Do you realize...
That's exactly what my ending results in in-game?


P.S. what quality of bedrooms is the military sleeping in? Are they sleeping in a community barracks, or are they in overlapping personal bedrooms?  At a max of 10/squad, that's not terribly exploity....
also, turns out a masterwork gold mechanism bumps up an unshared room straight to royal quality. 

[MDFification]

If I were planning to do a hell breach, I'd paint the halls with demon blood and let the magic users be consumed by the beasts once and for all. You simply do not comprehend my unfathomable hatred for overuse of the magic plot device. Deus ex machina all up in this penal colony.

Do you realize...
That's exactly what my ending results in in-game?


P.S. what quality of bedrooms is the military sleeping in? Are they sleeping in a community barracks, or are they in overlapping personal bedrooms?  At a max of 10/squad, that's not terribly exploity....
also, turns out a masterwork gold mechanism bumps up an unshared room straight to royal quality.

Now that you mentioned it... I just drafted them without taking sleeping into account. They're in regular quality bedrooms unless otherwise assigned to a barracks.
Also, my breach and your breach differ only in tone. One is a complex plot. The other is the overseer going berserk and feeding your magic asses to entities you cannot control. 

[fractalman]

nvm

[Rhaken]

If I were planning to do a hell breach, I'd paint the halls with demon blood and let the magic users be consumed by the beasts once and for all. You simply do not comprehend my unfathomable hatred for overuse of the magic plot device. Deus ex machina all up in this penal colony.

Honestly, I don't think Steelhold is a particularly heinous offender there. And all of maskdwarf's magicking is what gave me the idea for the whole conspiracy. My previous idea was far more boring.


Emdief enters my office to find Lorius and I already seated, my injured leg propped up on the desk between the two of us. We had been reminiscing about old times over a mug of dwarven wine.

"No, really, the baron forgot his trousers in the meeting hall. That's how I knew where to send you. Ah, Emdief. Have a seat, lad. Lass."

Our revolutionary overseer takes a chair. The same chair he took almost two years ago now. "This better be important."

"Wouldn't have called you if it wasn't." I pour the lass some wine. "I already brought Lorius here up to speed on the conspiracy. He was one of the agents who tried to get into the Tenebrous Abbey in recent years. If Lorius couldn't get inside, I doubt any other dwarf could."

My leg begins to throb. I shift in the chair. "Now, first and foremost. That declaration to the inspector." I give Emdief a big smile, genuine for once. "That took serious balls, friend. My congratulations. You'd make a pretty good spy. Even I wasn't sure about that particular caper's link to the queen. And if she does decide to move in, we can string that bitch up and leave her on the crossed pikes. After a 'fair' and 'impartial' trial for her vile crimes, of course."

"Now. Recent discoveries. I've spent some time revisiting old records. Again, my agent in the caravan gave me the rest of the info. It turns out that there really is only one dwarf vampire left in the known world. Likot Lockedgears." I let the name float in the air for a moment. It might have faded from Emdief's memory, but Lorius had only heard the tale earlier today. "And what do you know, the son of a bitch is right here in Steelhold." Lorius winces at my colorful language. "Has been for years. I honestly don't know if he fears me or not, but inside that ancient head of his are some of the most well-guarded secrets in the realm. And while I would certainly love to get access to them, there are other ways. Like the queen."

"There's another interesting one. Again, the caravan brought me the last pieces of the puzzle. The human woman Oku Constructcudgel, who slew Tun Cryptscribed, the queen's vampire grandfather, was supposedly struck down by a crone of twilight in 157 and interred as a hero in the human settlement of Rakedsnarls. Agents of mine went to do some friendly investigative graverobbing. The tomb was empty. Had never even been used."

"I looked at all available records on the maskdwarf. Came up almost blank. Like he appeared in the mountainhomes out of thin air. So I investigated the mask itself. And found that the damned thing has been turning up in one place or another, all over the world, for almost a century now. There are reports of masked humans, dwarves, goblins, even elves. Always mysterious, insane, and inexplicable. Always mentions of 'old gods'. My agents went to dig up the burial sites for these masked people, wherever available. All empty, never used."

I give them both a hard stare.

"Oku Constructcudgel is the maskdwarf. I'm sure of it. Yet for all of this, I've no idea what the psychotic bitch wants. Its behavior over the years displays no fixed pattern, not even a pattern of madness. This does not sit well with me. I suppose that in telling the two of you, you'll help me make sense of it all."

Once again, I let the silence punctuate my speech. As I look at the two dwarves before me, I remember my wife. She has finally abandoned the masked one's cult, but that doesn't seem to have removed her mental block of discussing the contents of the sermons. At least she seems a bit brighter now.

It remains to be seen how the masked one reacts to losing most of its flock.

[MDFification]

If I were planning to do a hell breach, I'd paint the halls with demon blood and let the magic users be consumed by the beasts once and for all. You simply do not comprehend my unfathomable hatred for overuse of the magic plot device. Deus ex machina all up in this penal colony.

Honestly, I don't think Steelhold is a particularly heinous offender there. And all of maskdwarf's magicking is what gave me the idea for the whole conspiracy. My previous idea was far more boring.

Go hyperbole or go home. 


Emdief paused for a moment. Could he - was Emdief still a he inside? - trust the former overseer? Emdief decided that he could. He was tired of trusting nobody. Rhaken had taken him in when Emdief needed a protector, and Emdief had lost first his sanity and secondly his life defending Rhaken and his organization from his enemies. If he couldn't trust Rhaken, he couldn't trust anyone.
"I... can confirm that the masked dwarf is a human woman, like you say. I've seen that twice now, in both bodies I've inhabited. Whether or not it's that particular human, I couldn't tell you.
What I can tell you is this. It's not common knowledge in the fort - I've even kept it from most of the council, to avoid a pogrom - but some of the adamantine has been, eh, stolen. In fact, it's been regularly siphoned away so far as I can tell since the anarchy. And I know why. The masked dwarf - although I suppose we can stop calling it a dwarf now - claims that it wanted it for study. Understandable, for a human - if they could figure out how to mine it and forge it, they'd be our rivals in the field of metallurgy. However, I've recently found out something much more worrying is going on. Through some process, it has been absorbing the adamantine into itself to bolster it's own magical abilities.
Since I found this out, I've had the adamantine watched and counted regularly. No more has been taken. However... though I'd rather have stayed away from the whole thing, I have picked up a thing or two about thaumaturgy.
I think the masked prophet has gained enough power to cast spells, at least weak ones, without the consent and support of it's demonic patrons."

[fractalman]

Meanwhile, as everyone else is worrying and wringing their hands together, the masked dwarf and I are enjoying a drink and a relaxed, freindly chat in one of the old rooms.

I dip two mugs into the barrel of brew I've snuck in, and set one on the table. The maskedwarf picks it up and sniffs it suspiciously.

"What is this, something from one of corley's vials?"

I grin.
"Nah. It is what one elf referred to as 'an unholy mix of five different beverages'. Say, how would you like me to add an extra special ingredient?"

The masked dwarf raised an unseen eyebrow. "And that would be?"

My grin streched from cheek to cheek. "A gurantee that your day will be interesting."

Maskdwarf snorted in derision. "I've seen your idea of an 'interesting' day. I think I'll pass."

I raise my mug. "Ah well. To lost homes of eldritch entities?"
Maskdwarf sighs, but goes along with it. "To the lost home of the true gods."
"And other eldritch entities. "
"...and other...eldritch entities. "
there is a pause.
"Which brews did you say you put into this again?"
I keep grinning. "That, dear masked one, is a secret."


Heh. heh.

[Gnorm]

Corley will not be pleased when he discovers that he was not invited to this meeting.
Corley's Log:
Cash for the Merchandise
--
The Dwarven caravan arrived recently and inspection began as usual. Unfortunately, Emdief -- the new resident gobshite -- decided that it would be a grand idea to finally blow the entire ruse that this fortress has been keeping so well. Next, he decided to take my job and meet with the inspector personally. As the liaison left, Emdief decided to shout libelous statements about the queen in his direction. I don't know what he was thinking; such statements -- even if true -- will never change anything. They will be swept aside, and the Queen will send her armies with the intention of burying us.

[fractalman]

Kids are invisible.

They're also willing to chat up with anyone they don't see as an old-fuddy duddy who wants to spoil their fun.  Like parents who scream, yell, and yank their kids away from the cute "monster".  Sheesh. You want a monster, volunteer for exploring the caravans. There are some forgotten monsters down there, though it seems the surviving ones around here have learned that attacking a bunch of dwarves is not a good idea.

But I digress.

I not only don't spoil their fun...

I join in in, giving the blissfull, spoiled, skeletal wolf yet another belly rub. A couple kids outside keep watch.  They learned to do THAT on their own, because they didn't want to get in trouble.

I laugh as this one kid tells me what corley wrote in his log. 
"nah.  Maybe during the rein of Fractal the Unpredictable, but the inspector surely gave a report on how quickly we've improved the defenses.  She cannot have remained queen for long if she did not know how risky attacking entrenched dwarves was.  "

"what's entrenched mean?"
"It means we'ved done a good job digging in and setting up shop."
"OH!"


-and you thought ignoring my pets as a mere humor device was a good idea. HEHEH

[MDFification]

Corley will not be pleased when he discovers that he was not invited to this meeting.

At least his father's tomb will be repaired. Or at least I designated it to be repaired. I haven't checked.

On a gameplay related note, even with his duties removed, Corley refused to perform his mayoral duties, instead sleeping, breaking, eating and sleeping. Meeting with the liaison to conduct a trade agreement was the only time I've seen him outside his room or the dining room. I'm assuming this is due to him being a gentledwarf of leisure. Also, trusting Corley has been confirmed by science to lead to experimentation, insanity and death. Death may be applied to enemies of the fort or the trustee, but it will come.

As my dorf'd character is growing increasingly paranoid and bloodthirsty, the urge to kill all who displease me is rising in real life. Must resist urge to flood fortress/unleash hfs. No political assasinations.

On a completely unrelated note, I have been accepted into Cambridge university and have been drunk for quite some time. Probably going to bed. Ignore my postings that are not plot related, as they are likely ramblings. Want to do a writeup of a discussion of the whole council at some point tomorrow? Anyway G'night.

[fractalman]

I locked the doors on the tomb.

[4maskwolf]

Congrats, MDF. I'll be posting a journal entry soon.

*mutters something about everyone being older than him and in a different time zone*

[MDFification]

Alright then. Going to play the remainder of my turn at some point today or tomorrow. Let us scheme.

There will be a meeting of the council if possible, which I envision going something like this;
1. Independence of Steelhold announced. Debate with Corley?
2. Discussion of succession in some fashion.
3. Discussion of the cult.

Then we have a separate plotline with Maskdwarf, who will react to current events in an unknown way. This plotline does not have to be brought to a conclusion by the end of the turn, but there should be some sort of reaction to losing large amounts of cultists and gaining new self-righteous enemies (as opposed to old, unreasonable and paranoid enemies).
Also skeleton wolves. Really. News spreads, and children aren't know for their discretion. Most dwarves don't take kindly to there being undead in the fort. I imagine either they end up very well concealed or de-animated.

[fractalman]

They can transform into a bin. Namely, the artifact bone bin. 
 However, one of them has either been sealed or deanimated by unknown means (Emdief and maskdwarf would be the first suspects, but other dwarves :could: do it. )

Also, I don't know if maskdwarf is merely playing along with my plan, or if he/she/it is taking my character seriously. that's up to maswolf. 

[Oshha]

I think that Corley will become Overseer in the meeting. Meanwhile I really want to know that weapon Lorius uses. Meanwhile Lorius is going to try and convert the children to the old ways with tales of ancient heroes who started out as normal dwarfs. By the way, could somebody remind me how Maskdwarf lost a lot of followers. I don't remember reading that.

I finished setting up anti-magic wards and defences around my quarters and those of my followers in addition to Rhaken's and his gang's quarters. Plus the barracks. It has worn me out, but at least the Oku or her followers won't be able to magically harm them. They can still don't things the old fashion way, but most dwarves here and elsewhere can deal with things the old fashion way. At least I know what's going on around here. It already figured most it out from stuff I done outside of here as well has asking about and looking at recoreds. I may be an old cleric, but I'm still one very good spy. My followers are growing number. Only a few are truly devoted, but the gods don't mind. They need followers to rival those of the demons. But the news that Oku has been acting without her "gods" consent is interesting. I wonder how thinks will go once the caravan has left and the truce is over? Thinking of which, I am surprised by Emdief's move. While I don't fear or worry about the Queen's wrath as I suffered the old Queen's one and her attempts to kill me for just over seventy years with only a few scars to show for it. I can survive his new one's. However, Rhaken mention Asmoth and her daughter Melek to me today. I heard of those two before and given what Rhaken has told me of Asmoth it may be true. I will speak to Melek later try and see if see she's truly Asmoth's clone like the rumours in dark back at the mountainhomes. If so, I hold nothing against her as she has no part in it and she was created by dwarven science, not magic. Regardless, she could be a valuable ally as she is a dwarf of medicine and science, not magic. Despite possible having such a secret over her, I have no intention of blackmailing her. Still, I will tell Rhaken as soon as I can tell decide whether or not its true. However, the rumours back home and what Asmoth as done here have inspired me to try and get a hold of Asmoth's files. Still I now greatly desire to recruit Melek as either a follower or an ally. At the least, another friend here who I can trust.

OOC: Plotwise, Lorius is about a hundred years old. And again, I really want to know what weapon he uses. And he sees Melek as a useful ally due what he hears both in and out of Steelhold about her and mostly her mother.

[MDFification]

Lorius used an axe. Also, there are still 3 months left in the year following this meeting. There's been a low-level system of harassment and social shunning being leveled at the cult for a year so far - you'd be surprised how well that works in removing a troublesome ideology from your nascent-rebel state.
I'd play today, but I have stuff due tomorrow, so scheme amongst yourselves I guess.
EDIT: Basically finished as much as I can for now. I'm going in. I guess that council meeting will be the end of my turn.


15th Moonstone

The repairs to Lenehan's tomb have finally begun. I now turn my attention to the final projects of the year; completing my new hospital and the temple.
I fear I cannot go on like this. If I am starting to doubt my own sanity, surely others must also. Why, the other day I swore I saw Fractal. His face was different, but the mannerisms were the same. I legitimately considered having him killed on the spot. What has become of me?
I've ordered the looting of the goblin siege. I'm surprised it hasn't happened already. The dwarves may be in high spirits, but they feel more disciplined that one could have expected of this place a year ago. Building, cleaning and liberating aside, is that my true legacy? Giving these dwarves back their pride?

Minor expansions to the main fortification, namely expanding corridors for faster troop movement and the construction of more cage traps, are being undertook. Cleaning of the fort continues. The number of dwarves idling is something that truly warms my heart. When I took over this fort, all were frantically working just to stay alive. Now they have leisure time and can respond to any commands from the overseer's office. Social reoganization is a resounding success. If only I could find rooms for all those children. And deal with all these prisoners. Oh well.

I have stumbled upon the mother of all rubbish heaps;

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

It figures that it was located in Fractal's old alternate entrance. It really does.

21st Moonstone
The new hospital nears completion. This one will have sensible stockpiles and facilities to spare in case of emergency, in addition to a water source.
I'll leave a note to my successor: Produce more booze. While we're currently brewing faster than we're drinking, our plant yield is not going to keep up with the demand forever. We will likewise run out of meat and fish. Thankfully or not, depending on your taste, we will never run out of eggs to eat.
I order the harvest of many of the few trees remaining above ground. In order to solve our wood supply problems, we'll have to wait until the tree farm yields fruit or explore the caverns.


I'm drafting a squad of lasherdwarfs with all these copper and silver whips lying around and us needing a new squad in general. Do you think that's exploit-y due to whips being OP as hell? Is this awesome? (y/y) Steelhold has jedi now. Or rather, sith. Poorly trained ones.
The FPS has gotten really bad. I think it's due to the 320 - odd caged invaders. I'll go read a wiki page and learn how to strip them of their weapons and use them for live training, I guess.