Well! Turns out I had real life stuff happening after all. Winter is done, and I'm working on spring tonight. Here's winter.
Should I end the year at next winter (assuming the fort survives), or hang on until the new year? I'm fine either way.
Oh, and here's the very first thing I saw when I opened the fort:
Aaaaaargh! Oh, and the goblin forces are lead by their demonic law-giver. Lovely. Thankfully, they seem to be idling in the hallway.
First impressions aside, let's dive in! I picked a newly-crippled mechanic who recently lost all of her kids for my dwarven alter ego, since if the fortress is going to survive, we need defense first and foremost:
From the desk of Dumed "Escondida" Whippedrings, Acting Overseer of MurderpaddlesMy dearest Stinthäd,
I hope this letter reaches you before you set out for Murderpaddles. I pray daily to Rít and Rîsen that it will.
I am writing to tell you that you must never, ever come to this damned place. Murderpaddles has already taken so much from me that I couldn't bear it if it were to take you, too. Stinthad, [the writing here is illegible] our children are dead. Ïngiz and both Siguns. [Illegible] Most days it's all I can do not to swipe a scalpel from the doctor and cut my own throat. You were right. Moving here was a terrible idea. For your own sake, please, please stay away.
I've attached a few pages of my journal, and a few illustrated legal documents I took when they foisted the job of overseer on me. They even gave me a noble pseudonym to go with it: Escondida. Apparently, I'm one of the few sane adults left in the fortress, so the job fell to me despite the fact that I can still barely walk after losing my leg. And because I am now responsible for these people, I beg you: take my journal and these documents to the Court. We need help here, badly.
I love you. I'll always love you, but let this letter be goodbye.
Yours always,
Dumed
1st MoonstoneWinter. I've always hated winter, and now more than ever. I can feel the chill in my bones; the meager blanket the hospital provides me doesn't help. The stump where my leg used to be aches constantly. But the phantom pain of my leg is nothing. Every time I think of my children, I break down. Stinthäd, if only I'd listened to you! Gods, I miss him. Damn this place. No, every god has already damned this place. All that is to be found here is death and misery and more death.
2nd MoonstoneThe mayor came to me today. He's just a boy, barely older than Ïngiz. They're friends, I think, but I can never remember his name. He tries to be friendly, but mostly he just leaves me cold.
After making awkward small talk, he finally told me why he'd come: most of the population is dead, ghosts are walking the halls, goblins and a [illegible] are beating down our doors, and they want me to take the blame for the fall of the fortress. I'm to be the new overseer, despite the fact I can't even stand.
When I raised that objection, he looked shifty and said that he'd think of something. I didn't like the sound of that, so I asked him to fetch me the remaining corps of masons, architects and mechanics. There is no way a handful of untrained civilians, many of them nursing wounds, can hold out against an army, let alone a demon, so we're going to do things my way: first, we bar the doors against them with something truly impassible, like a bridge. Then we will cave the mountain in on them. I refuse to let Murderpaddles fall. I refuse to let anyone else suffer as I have.
3rd MoonstoneJust as the masons finished the bridge to bar access to the fortress and the mechanics finished hooking it up and were set to pull the lever, one of the three remaining soldiers came running in. He'd been taking potshots at the goblins' [illegible] leader from a safe vantage point, and after dodging every bolt, [illegible] and the goblins just left. Just like that.
It seems too convenient. [illegible] I don't like it.
I have the masons building walls so that we can better control the path enemies take into the fort, in the event of a breach, so that hopefully it will be possible to shut them out before it's too late.
10th MoonstoneConstruction continues. [illegible]
[A diagram of some sort appears to have been badly water damaged]
Re-read some of diary. On 2nd Moonstone, I wrote about Ïngiz as though she were alive. Gods. I completely forgot. I spent most of that day hoping one of the kids would come see me. [Illegible] in the river.
15th MoonstoneThe walls are mostly finished; traffic should enter through one of two hallways. Already have a bridge up to block one inner doorway.
I heard screams in the hall today. My nurse told me that a cave crocodile had somehow gotten into the fortress and was attacking people left and right. I told him to get the damned militia after them, but he reminded me that most of them were dead. So many friends...gone. I shouted at him to get whoever was alive to do it, then, and he did go, though with a baleful look. I'll have to keep an eye on him. I should've kept calm, though.
20th MoonstoneApparently, the outpost liaison from the Mountainhomes was so happy to have survived the seige that he's going to petition to have Murderpaddles made a barony. The man seems a touch addled, though; I hope he tells them how things really are here. We need help, not titles. I let the mayor pick a candidate for baron; he chose one of his teenaged friends. If not for the fact that poor Sarvesh Holdmirrored, his chosen candidate, lost both parents and one of her siblings recently and now has to provide for all of her other siblings, it would be adorable. As it is, I'm just glad she'll be able to keep them all fed.
25th MoonstoneFinally, we opened the gates again! The fresh air seems to have everybody feeling better already.
With luck, there'll be time to design some surface defenses before the next attack comes. I just wish I could help more, instead of being stuck in this bed.
1st OpalThey gave me a crutch! I'm finally walking again! It's slow going and still painful, but it's so good to be moving under my own power again! Apparently the mayor talked one of the doctors into letting me out early!
To celebrate, I immediately got very drunk, then went outside to survey the battlefield.
Somehow, a turkey caught outside during the violence managed to survive. I was inspired to write a haiku.
I then went down to the caverns to try and discover how that cave crocodile got in. It turns out that one of the staircases goes straight through a cavern and is completely unguarded! I immediately ordered some walls and traps erected.
Finally, I went down to the Necropolis. So many dead in so short short a time. I think this place may be evil.
I couldn't find my childrens' graves.
I did find a number of unmarked graves: coffins built for the nameless dead raised by the necromancers who plague this land.
10th MoonstoneSarvesh, the soon-to-be-Baroness, was found dead today. A troll snuck in through the cavern entrance before the traps were finished.
I immediately ordered what was left of the militia to attack the beast.
20th MoonstoneThe troll's reign of terror continues. The militia claim to have been picking up their equipment for the past ten days. A miner taking a rest in the tunnels managed to cut the troll's hand off, though.
The militia finally deigned to show up, but did so one at a time and without any bolts for their crossbows. They were killed quickly.
Luckily, a true hero emerged. One dwarf stood firm and did more harm to that troll than any other managed to, and emerged completely unscathed despite having been tossed against a wall...twice. That dwarf was a tantruming child. Somehow, the beast managed to survive the furious onslaught, but not without some serious injuries.
1st ObsidianI ordered every dwarf who wasn't a skilled laborer or a child to take up arms and attack the still-rampaging beast, when the news I had been dreading came:
I immediately ordered everyone inside, but one of the new militia was still caught outside, and died heroically.
When I wondered where the rest of the new recruits were, when they should have been fighting the troll, I was informed that they were already dying in bed from their encounter. I...I can't believe this.
10th ObsidianThe troll is finally dead. It wandered into a falling rock trap which for some reason was constructed in the middle of a wide public thoroughfare. If not for the fact that it has clearly proved its usefulness, I would have it taken down, but as it is, I'm just happy that the troll is dead. Maybe now we can start to rebuild our lives, even as the dead bang down our doors.
31st ObsidianWhile getting supplies for the New Years party, many people came to me with reports that they had been terrified by a zombie. I was afraid that the monster was in the fortress somehow, but it turns out that they had seen it through holes inexplicably knocked in the walls of the trade depot.
This has only strengthened my resolve. The coming year will see the revival of Murderpaddles, even if it costs me my life!
Poll
6 (30%)
Author
Topic: BLOODLINE! "Murderpaddles" (Read 34380 times)