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Gobs

Elves

Dwarves?

[Bearskie]

PRELUDE: Tying up some loose ends

Somewhere in the Land of Curling (not Canada), where the Fingers of Peace bisected the Forest of Carnages and the True Desert.  I do believe that's an innuendo joke.

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Inod stumbled about the dusty plains - hungry, dehydrated and sleep-deprived.  The desert was a barren wasteland, despite it's supposed 'good' alignment.  She knew that there was food and drink aplenty on the other side of the Finger, and her mind and stomache ached just to think of it. 

There was only one catch - the Forest of Carnages was 100% certified evil.

Well screw it, she thought.  She was gonna get to the other side, like it or not. And hopefully avoid catching the attention of that darn undead hog that was hiding out somewhere in the Finger.

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She started to trek towards the mountain, feeling thoroughly dwarfed (heh) by it's impressive scale.  Altogether, they'd been told that it was at least 40 z-levels tall all the way up to the peak.  The ground beneath soon shifted from sand to gravel; her inner dwarven instincts breathed a sigh of relaxation.  This was where a dwarf belonged - in the mountains, alongside rock and stone.

Higher then.  Now she could see the whole desert laid before her, miles and miles of sparsely-inhabited sand.  The 'good' term was a devastating misusage of the word, she decided.  It was said that in the night pixies came out to play, drawing travellers into a neverending sleep before they consumed their very dreams.  Taking supper a bit too far, Inod thought grimly.

The calderon bubbled dangerously as he passed.  It was in the process of refilling itself; now would not be a good time to stray too close, even for a dwarf.  Yet, even the volcano couldn't distract her from the green expanse of land that she could now catch a glimpse of.  Breaking into a run, she slid down the slopes of the mountain, stopping only occasionally to readjust her balance.  But she could see it now - small plotches of blue dotted across the landscape.  Water!

Perhaps she could do it afterall.  Perhaps she could rebuild, with a single pick by his side.  Carve out a mountainhome in the heart of the Finger.  A bastion of hope, in between the neverending war of light and darkness. 

So many thoughts racing through Inod's mind - so much so that she hardly noticed the undead sow that came crashing through her side, smashing his ribs, tumbled down the cliffside, and immediately gored her neck to death.

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Your settlement has crumbled to it's end.

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_____________________

That's a pretty snazzy scene of mass carnage you have there, Timeless.  Although, its arguably one of the best embark sites in this world.  A giant volcano mountain that straddles a good desert and an evil forest?  Gold RP material right there.

[xominxac]

I have no doubts that someone will indeed do something of the like.

[Bearskie]

I'm doing the writeup now but I've finished playing my turn already.  Do you want the save now, or will you wait for my yarn to be spun?


EDIT - Actually, here you go. http://dffd.bay12games.com/file.php?id=10652

[Bearskie]

PART 1 - Snarlgrind

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Hah!  Look at those dwarves – all walking around with their tankards and a pants’ful of swagger.  Just a couple of months ago, going all “Oh lawdy lawdy we’re all ganna die”.  Bah, fools. 

I mean, sure, we were close to dehydration a couple of times, and some of us had to eat those horrible blood gnats for a while (thankfully, not me).  All because the previous overseer didn’t store the food and booze proper. Well now we’re back on our feet, and I’m in charge this time. 

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Things are going pretty darn good if I may say so myself.  The bedrooms and some of the offices have already been thrown up in record time.  You should’ve seen how fast the beds got churned out once we got that knuckle worm infestation.

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The farms are back online, and we’ve got our own little strawberry patch out there.  A little bit of variety in the diet helps boost morale a long way.  Plump helmets, strawberry wine, and fresh eyeballs.  Yum.

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We’ve even struck a gold vein somewhere while looking for the caverns.  Lotsa’talk now about every bedroom getting a golden floor.  Nonsense, ain’t nobody gonna get a golden floor before I do.

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You do eventually get used to the B-grade horror movie out there though.  Almost feels like any other normal place, the definition of which, unfortunately, includes those fucking rhesus macaques.

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“CAAAAQQUUUE!”

“God damn it.  Fath, is that another damn monkey in this damned place?”

“Nosir, the monkeys are all dead.  Those are harpies.”

What.

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I don’t know if harpies are dangerous, but we have to finish the westmost project, and I really don’t want to suspend constructi-

“HEINOUS VAPOUR!”

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*Facepalm* “OKAY, EVERYBODY GET IN, LAST ONE OUTSIDE IS AN UNDEAD THRALL!”

The heinous vapour crawled insidiously across the hills, smelling somewhat like rotten eggs and bad chilli.  Soon, the Project was enveloped completely by the gas.

Ah yes, the Project.

It all started out as an attempt to... you know, just to cement my legacy as the greatest leader this fort has ever seen.  I mean, all I wanted was a fortress entrance that went through the volcano.  Was that too much to ask?

Apparently so, because now Shorast was dead.  I get the feeling that most of the fortress aren’t too keen on my project now.  The purpose of the aqueduct is to drain the magma down to the aqueduct’s level, at which then construction of the tunnel through the volcano may begin.

Eventually, the cloud passes through.  Damn the harpies, you guys are dwarves, now get out and do your jobs.  They cast me a dark look, but soon trailed out into the tentacle-adorned landscape.

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Later on I get an excited call from one of the miners.  Says they’ve found some large caverns of some sort.  Caverns? I asked.  Well apparently they’ve found two. Blimey.

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I intend to go down and inspect the caverns soon, but I stopped by to check on the forges. 

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And lo’! Gold enters the halls of Snarlgrind!  Who would’ve thought that there was gold beneath these hills?

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I’ve already ordered smelting orders, but right now I’m more concerned about the glassmakers.  We only have two bags for sand collection, which slows down production immensely.  Something has to be done.

[Bearskie]

Catten Morulsarvesh, a talented pump operator, stepped up to the plate.  There was a certain finesse about the way a pump moves, a certain skill as to how a person may squeeze out as much fluid as he can in a single motion.  Today, he got to put those skills to the test on a grand scale. Catten was going to empty a volcano.

Or at least he was going to try.

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Success.

Bearskie breathed a sigh of relief.  So much had gone into this project.  To have the first part of the plan working smoothly was a firm pat of affirmation. 

In a bout of melancholy he thought about Shorast, who sacrificed her life for this.  They never did find her body.

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Well, he was a mason afterall.  Perhaps he could make something in her remembrance.

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May she rest in peace upon the lips of that calderon for eternity.

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He snapped out of his reverie as someone from below shouted “MIGRANTS!”  Well, they could use the extra manpower for Phase Two.  He was just about to step down from the mountain when he noticed the curious lack of lacking magma in the calderon.

_______________

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REPORT CONCLUSION:

• Rate of magma loss is low given the size of the volcano.
• However net magma volume is slowly decreasing.
• It might take a very long time for the volcano to empty to the bottom level ^{sorry sir}.

Well that’s shit, Bearskie thought.  They’d managed to hook the pump to a windmill so that Catten didn’t need to manage it all the time, but still.  His gaze lingered on the report.  A very long time?

Very well then.  He had time.  Upon Shorast’s memory, he swore to not rest until he drove an obsidian tunnel through that blasted volcano.

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________________

Meanwhile, Mafol Kubukothil raised his masterpiece high above a crowd of dwarves in the hallway, where all were entranced by the artifact weapon that he had just wrought. 

And thus he proclaimed in a booming, unearthly voice,

“F@&% ALL MACAQUES!”

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________________

OOC:

This is part 1 of 3 of my turn, which ends at the moment I retired Snarlgrinds.  Lets hope the fooze doesn't evaporate into thin air this time.  I used my remaining time to check Legends mode and started a new fort, which I will write about in part 2 & 3 tomorrow. 

Now, i need some sleep.

[xominxac]

Sweet work! I can't wait to see what you plan on doing.
Do you want to upload the save or send me the link?

[Bearskie]

Eh... look 3 posts up.

Btw, im confused.  Why didn't the dead stuff reanimate?

[xominxac]

Huh, I could have sworn there wasn't a link earlier, maybe I was just blind and didn't see it. I'll have another go unless someone new comes by and asks for a turn or Timeless has the time now.

Btw, im confused.  Why didn't the dead stuff reanimate?

Probably because this isn't a reanimating biome, just a thralling one.

[Salmeuk]

Sign me up! I like the format, though we'll have to see if it can provide for the lasting narrative appeal that comes from a slowly-growing fortress.

Be forewarned, I might need to skip my turn should things come up.

[Bearskie]

Well Salmeuk, if you need any more proof of the narrative appeal of this world, I present to you...

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PART 2: Dealings in Twinkledmined

“Things have been going well.  We have established farming complexes and basic necessities.  The entrance has been carved out, and we are in the process of constructing the central defense system.  Soon, Twinklemined shall be impenetrable, and we will use this as a base to deploy our reclaim parties to Ringrider, Athelemgash – that eternal battlefield.”

The militia commander shuffled his report, feeling a twinge of satisfaction as he did so.  Paperwork was never his strong suit, but it’ll do, at least until he got some clerks deported over here to do the writing and accounts for him.

He got up from his seat with the report in his hands and headed to the door.  He reminded himself to check on the armament forges on the way, hopefully they’ve gotten everything set up and running.  A dwarf couldn't feel safe without a proper iron ax to hold.  He walked out of the door – and felt the cold edge of a copper blade by his throat.

“Move”. The voice was low, guttural, and unmistakably goblin.

The commander was led downstairs and through the massive entrance tunnel of Twinklemined.  Saw various faces that he knew, all dead.  Urvad, dead.  Adil, dead.  Sigun, beheaded.  Olin, eviscerated.  He closed his eyes, unable to watch the scene of carnage before him.

Eventually the pair emerged into the sunlight.  By the beach were a number of his dwarven companions, all captured and now being watched over by a gang of bandits.  He was thrown together with them as the goblin – apparently the leader, stood in front of them all.  There was a brief silence.

“I am Niletha Containsmashed.  Many of your folk have been killed by my hands on this glorious day of battle.  We are the Unthinkable Immorality, and from now on, you shall do as we say.  Lest you wish to know the feeling of your eyeballs being gouged out from the inside.

I am Niletha Containsmashed of the Infected Profane of Handles! AND I CLAIM TWINKLEDMINED, IN THE GLORIOUS NAME OF THE FLESHY PLAGUES!”

__________________

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Yep, Timeless Bob.  Your fort has just been conquered by a goblin bandit gang, in Legends mode nonetheless.  To call it an even fight would be a stretch - Niletha single-handedly killed just about everyone until Twinklemined surrendered.

By the way, Twinklemined is now listed as Ruins in the reclaim menu.  So I savescummed and tried a reclaim, which is where things get interesting.  Upon embark I get spammed with "An ambush! Drive them out!" messages.  The former dwarves of Twinklemined are now listed as Hostile in the units menu.  However, they do not attack my dwarves unless provoked, at which then they will dogpile to deadly effectiveness.

Here is the detailed Legends Mode report:

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[xominxac]

Sign me up! I like the format, though we'll have to see if it can provide for the lasting narrative appeal that comes from a slowly-growing fortress.

Be forewarned, I might need to skip my turn should things come up.

Good to have you on board! Feel free to start when ready.

[Bearskie]

Hmm... I've been experimenting with retirement mechanics, and I've found something quite disturbing.  This is a fort that I've embarked in.  All food & drink has been stored in their respective stockpiles.

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Now I've retired the fortress, and reclaimed it.  Two weeks later after the calendar update period,

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Yep.  Retiring evaporates all the booze.  The food seems to be untouched, so I decided to run further tests.

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This is the state of the fortress about eight calendar weeks later, which I got to by starting/retiring various forts.  As you can see, now even the food has been destroyed.

Thus all reclaimed fortresses will most likely start from scratch.  Highly annoying, and possibly highly !!FUN!!.  It is recommended to find a water source asap before retiring a fortress, and upon reclaiming mass plant gathering is recommended as the most practical way to sustain the initial wave of starvation.  Also, prepared meals might be safe, according to the wiki.

[xominxac]

Have you tried using Greenshoot to capture the images? You can even capture just one window with it rather than the whole screen.

[Timeless Bob]

OMG! Evaporating booze is NOT COOL.

[Bearskie]

Have you tried using Greenshoot to capture the images? You can even capture just one window with it rather than the whole screen.

Well shit. Thats cool.

OMG! Evaporating booze is NOT COOL.

IS FUN.

By the way Timeless, what really happened at Ringrider?