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[Bearskie]

The moral of the story is that Dwarf Fortress, like real life, does not obey the rules of traditional narrative structure.

*sniffs* So true.

[escondida]

Notice: Adventurers wanted to discover the fate of the fortress of Lanterngroove. Has it fallen, or does it still stand? (Whichever version of history you choose, note that there may be necromancers roaming the fort, thanks to cages being emptied on retire/abandon. If you don't have tar or xz available, 7zip will handle extracting the saves.

Spoiler: Location (click to show/hide)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

A handful of dwarves stood huddled in a small, well-appointed room. One dwarf stood apart from the others, thoughtfully stroking her grey mustache, staring into the blazing fire before her.

"None of you have had any word at all from Lanterngroove?" she asked.

"Ever since the old Outpost Liaison retired there with the Queen and King, there's been little heard from this new capital of theirs." said a richly-dressed dwarf towards the back. "Everyone knew the bastion was bound to fall, so close to the goblin lands and so far from the Deep Roads."

"It can't have fallen," cried another member of the group. "Were not its warriors the mightiest in the land? Were not its artificers the most cunning, its masons and architects the most skilled?"

The room erupted into argument, some claiming that the great northern fortress of Lanterngroove had fallen to the goblin hordes, others that the silence from the new capital was simply due to the capture of merchants and messengers on the road.

"Be still," said the dwarf by the fire, quietly. The others in the room turned to listen to her. "Obviously, arguing about it won't bring us new information. We need to send someone to investigate why there has been no word. Send for messengers; we will scour the land for a worthy adventurer to discover the truth."

[Bearskie]

I've found myself in possession of some much-needed free time, so I had the sudden urge to go on a spelunking adventure! Time to get my old archaeological boots out. Below is Aiwha's Fortress of Cheese, and it's seriously impressive.

The Fortress of Cheese

Disclaimer: In preserving narrative structure, the plot may not be as linear as it originally occurred. Some save-scumming may have been involved (only once!).



I still remembered walking down those hills, just speechless at the sheer scale of carnage that I saw. It only got worse towards the fortress itself. This was Geshud Shokmag, otherwise known colloquially as ‘The Fortress of Cheese’. After my experience, I can safely say that there is no cheese whatsoever to be found. Treasure, on the other hand, I can attest for. But it is not the only thing one finds around here.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Call me whatever you want, professional looter, thief, smuggler, opportunist. It doesn’t matter now. I just wanted to see what I could scavenge from the wreckage. Dead fortresses are rich pickings, especially if you’ve got the knack for sifting through huge piles of detritus junk. Momma always said that was a useless skill to have. Growing up, it turned out to be incredibly useful in my line of work. But momma never told me it’d kill me in the end.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The building was huge, imposing. Turned out the entrance was bloody tiny though. I was prepared to get down to business, the real work. Every fortress has a hoard, no matter how small. But every hoard has a guardian as well; goblins, guards, reluctant owners, you name them. We've learnt how to handle all these situations, otherwise you wouldn't stay in the job for too long. I just wasn’t counting on it being a bleeding thirty-foot high therapod.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Shitshitshit. Still gives me anxiety attacks just thinking about it. Thing moved way faster than it was supposed to. I didn’t pay attention much in class, but something that big should never be moving so damn fast. Took him two steps to clear the hallway. I hadn’t even started running.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Then the adrenaline kicked in. They say I’m one hell of a runner, but you learn to rely on more than just your two feet in this line of work. You have to have your wits. Any regular thief would have started running for the hills there and then, and five seconds later, he’d be without his upper body. There’s no outrunning a beast like this, so I did what I had to.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I jumped through the fortifications, ran like hell to the nearest lever, and sealed myself inside.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Wow (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: What was this place (click to show/hide)

[evictedSaint]

The star fort is super impressive

[NJW2000]

Classic defence architecture, but never thought I'd see it done with ballistae in Dwarf Fortress. Nice.

[escondida]

That is a lovely bastion. Shame I only got to see the front gate. (-:

[Bearskie]

Hey escondida, I've been trying to play your fort, but it crashes every time I get near the site. Can't help but feel that I didn't extract your file properly since the compression format isn't entirely familiar to me. Could you reupload the save in zip or 7z instead?

PS. If anyone else is interested in exploring even more fortresses, I'll be porting a couple of old saves over from the reddit sub. Also considering giving each fortress a warning or difficulty level of sort, especially for the clown-infested ones.

[escondida]

Ah, man, that stinks. That wouldn't do it...if the fort were improperly compressed (and it isn't (-: ), it just wouldn't play at all.

(half an hour after writing that sentence)...okay, I tried getting an adventurer to the fort in a never-compressed version of the world, and I'm getting extreme lag and then a crash at the fort. I think it may just be the game trying to deal adventure-mode-ifying the sheer number of items and creatures accumulated over the years. Dang it.

[Bearskie]

Lol, now you've made me want to play it even further. What a shame . I've added u/Bric3d save to the fortress list. It's an old region with not one, not two, but three player fortresses! (and not all of them have demons, so that's good)

Now, continuing where we left off....

The Fortress of Cheese

It has been five days. I found out soon enough that there are more than just forgotten beasts living within this place. Fell beasts borne of fear and terror. I saw their shapes one night, as I made my way through one of the fort’s dark passageways, as they saw me. And so I ran, sprinting through endless halls and staircases, every step of mine matched by the endless clinking of its blood-soaked mandibles.

Don't know how I survived. Just ran, and never looked back. Hardly know what the beast even looks like, but I know it’s there. It guards the central staircase now, ever vigilant, ever watching. It waits patiently for my move.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I don’t want to die, but death seems inescapable in this fortress. Bloodstains line the walls and floors. Dead elves laid to rest beside gorlaks; mangled dwarven corpses forever intertwined with their goblin counterparts. One day I found a dead dwarf resting on his deathbed. He looked to have died a peaceful death – so detached from the brutality I see scattered around this place.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

It is a beautiful fortress by design. If you close your eyes, you could just imagine how it must’ve been in its heyday. Even today, the many fractals showcase an elegant aesthetic rarely found in most fortresses. But pay a closer look; realise that things are amiss. The tables and chairs are heavily damaged. Beds aren’t where they should be. Multiple doors have been ripped clean off its hinges.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

There is an old naked dwarf wandering about in the darkness. I came across him one day, with his tattered garments barely hanging onto his skin. He calls himself the Duke. His face is gaunt and stretched, but it is his eyes that truly scare me. They are the eyes of a person who has gazed into madness. I fear he is lost, both in mind and in soul. I fear that if I stay here any longer I might end up like him.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

So much treasure lying around in this place. Huge stockpiles of precious metal, gems, furniture. Everything in this fortress is easily worth millions of Urists in total. Many would be willing to die for such a hoard; yet I’d give it all for a chance to live. _{I just don't want to die}

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

In a dark room deep within the fortress are the remnants of a mighty battle. You can tell this by the dead monsters on the floor, all twisted and gargantuan in size, that lie silently in the darkness. Their mangled body parts are unrecognizable in bizarre shape and form. I rarely stay here long.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

And even deeper still, where the walls glow blue, I can feel a cold draft billowing up from below…

[MobRules]

The new update provides a lot of opportunities to make much more interesting ruins to explore . I'm in the process of designing a fort now that I hope will entice! (And no circus, this time. Sorry 'bout that previously.)