Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

Yes.

No, just passing by.

[Superdorf]

If a falling creature lands on another creature, it transfers most or all falling damage to that creature. Flying leaps onto the troglodyte's heads, go!

[Quaksna]

"So, lord, what now?" asked Olmul.
"That's good question. This is situation most complicated."
Suddenly Rikkir tripped and fell down from the cap.
"Aaaaaah!"

"Captain, what are you doing?" asked Duthnur.
"Fools, that's our military plan!" shouted Alak. "Fall in three, two, one..."

Dwarves fell from the mushromm like plums when summer ends.
Troglodytes were... Shocked.
Troglodyte latches on firmly!
"Argh! My back!" shouted Nakuth.
"Finish them!"

They defeated them easily (they had the high ground), but there were some casualities.
"My numb arm is... Numb and badly dislocated now! I can't move it!" said Olmul.
"Heh, I've got rather hard landing." said Rikkir. "Agh, my back! Come here, lad, give me a support!"
"Let's take that plumps! And Nakuth, try to get us outta here!" ordered Alak.

"Hisssss!"
"Hey, that's serpent man! Don't worry fella!" said Alak.
"Hisssssssss!"
"Do you want these plumps? But we need them too!" said Duthnur.

The serpent man watched them carefully. Then he turned and started hissing and pointing in direction, where the tunnel was extending.

"Hmm? What do you have there?"

"Oh no, that's one nasty big cave croc!" said Duthnur.
"Zodostshokmut!" said Alak. "This situation is getting..."

The serpent man crawled back, he was apparently frightened to death.
"Olmul, get Rikkir somewhere where he'll be safer! Duthnur and I will take care of this thing!"

[Superdorf]

Oog. Well, it worked... kind of.

Have one dwarf distract the croc with flashy swordplay and whatnot-- being very careful to stay out of range of those jaws-- while the other sneaks behind it... and jumps upon the croc's back, stabbing at the base of its skull!

[Quaksna]

"Duthnur! Sneak behind it! Look here, look! Who's got a blazing sword 'ere?"

The crocodile was staring at the moving blade. It was extraordinary light for it, weird thing to behold.Duthnur was able to sneak behind, and he leaped on back of the beast.

Duthnur stabs Cave Crocodile 1 in the head, tearing the skin, tearing the muscle and...
Tapping the skull.

Crocodile hissed, he shook Duthnur off and opened its mouth widely, preparing to bite the dwarves.

Alak stabs Cave Crocodile 1 in the mouth, tearing the skin, searing the muscle!
The pain from burned tongue and head wound was enough for the crocodile. It hissed for the last time, it turned and ran away.

Duthnur strikes Cave Crocodile 1 in the tail, bruising the skin!
"That'll teach you, beast! Never ever come back again!" said Duthnur.

"You okay?" asked Alak.
"I'm fine. Let's check the rest."


"Nakuth, how are you doing?"
"It's bad! But if I got to that rim again, I could loosen some stones and we could climb up there."
"Well, I can't climb with this... Agh! Back." said Rikkir.
"Go collect the plumps, Duthnur! Serpent guy is gone, and I am not wondering. I'll try to think of something..." said Alak, and he slowly waddled through the tunnel.

Olmul put Rikkir onto moss, and went to Alak. Nakuth was looking up, thinking. Duthnur collected the mushrooms in Olmul's portable container.

"Hey, Alak, look!"

"Crundles!"

"Oh, these guys. They can't stand against us, even in numbers. Sometimes you can scare them off by yelling, you know..."
The crundles came closer, their eyes stared at the dwarves curiously.

"Hey, back, back!" shouted Alak and swung his sword.
Crundles looked at the sword like hypnotized, turning their heads, keeping coming closer.
"They like it!" said Olmul. "That's neat!"
"Well, if they won't attack us because of our awesome presence... Whatever."

"They're following us!" said Olmul, and laughed.
"Good boys. At least these are obedient, unlike some..."

"Watch your back, lord Alak!" shouted Rikkir. "There's horde of crundles behin..."
"I know, they're my pets!"
"What?"
"Can I keep one too?" asked Olmul. "I found them!"
"I'll consider that..." said Alak, with grin most captious.
"Oh, c'mon! Dwarves, that's not fair, when lord overseer isn't sharing crundles! That's not fair!"
"They need training first, and stop babbling! Nakuth?"
"I can't get there."
Alak was contemplating, he looked at the pack of crundles.
"Gimme your pick!"

"Hey, crundos! The guy with cool sword needs help! You happen to be legendary climbers, nah?"

The crundles, despite their tiny arms, with strength of united pack lifted Alak, and climbed on the rim.
"Oh, that's the boulder pile! Watch out, you guys down there!"

A section of cavern wall has collapsed!
"Hold this, fella!" said Alak and gave one crundle his pick. "You okay down there?"
"It can be climbed, we're saved!" said Duthnur happily.
"Don't you need help with Rikkir? I have regiment of crundles to..."
"No, we're fine."

"Hah, some numb dislocated arm can't stop me!" said Olmul.
"Why were you going to battle with numb arm in the first place?"
"I honor an obligation."
Alak smiled. "Good work, Olmul. You're not as loyal as crundles but..."

"Alak!" called Urnût, coming down from the fortress. "I've got a pick... Ah, you're save... Watch out! There's horde of crund..."
"They're pets!" said Alak. "They'll be trained into useful helpers, you'll see! And I'm designating one crundle farm here."

"Ah, after all this, it looks like plumps are back on the menu, boys!"
All dwarves got +1 good thought. They went up, straight to the kitchen.

[Quaksna]

"Okay. So you brought bag of plumps, that's great." said Ermis. "And bunch of little hungry maws, that are going to sponge on us?!!"
"Calm down, it's worth it!" said Alak and smiled. "They're teachable! I taught them how to kick out querulous citizens from my office. And to not eat the cat. You'll see, they will be blessing to our fort. Now, I need to make a new noble honorary title, chief crundle keeper!"
"You and your weird thoughts! Keep them for yourself!"

"I think Urnût would be a good chief crundle keeper! He's constantly hanging with the nobles anyway."
"It'll be a honor, Alak, but who'll be leading the planter group?" asked Urnût.
"That's true... Let's say... Muz."

"What?" shouted Berath. "Why Muz? Why not me?"
"You're a minor noblewoman! But he looks most like... Common folk. He has the spirit!"
"It'll be a honor, lord overseer." said Muz. "But what does this function do?"
"Eh, it's more a honorary title, not really a function. But you can yell at planters if they are misbehaving."
Muz grinned, he turned and went to plump fields, to find someone misbehaving.

"By the way, find Adur and show him these crundle guys. He's the best animal trainer here."
"Wouldn't he need your sword in order to train them?" asked Nakuth.
"Oh no need for that, they're already influenced by our culture and manners!"
"How's that?"
"They were on break!"



"Okay, so... Crundles!"
Crundles weren't really paying attention.

"Eh... This is cat, you see? You don't eat it."
When crundles saw the cat, they were drooling, and staring at Urnût.
"Cat eats vermin. See?"
He showed them some dead rat.
"You can eat the vermin. You should!"

He threw the rat on ground, crundles ran towards it and great battle for few mouthfuls of meat occured.

"So, Urnût..." said Kin, coming to this newly established crundle colony. "How does the training?"
"They know what they should and shouldn't eat, so we're getting somewhere. But it's a wild bunch, I start to understand Alak at this... Overseeing business."
"Whatever. So they are hunting vermin now? Couldn't they help me with woodcutting, like hauling logs or..."
"They're too small for that. We'll see later, when there'll be more of them."

"Maybe they could help me with food distribution!" said Otad.

"Absolutely out of question!" said Ermis. "Crundles should be forbidden to manipulate with food in any way. I must tell it to Alak, some new laws need to be approved!"
"He has prohibited crundle export." said Urnût. "Some dwarves wanted to smuggle them. If they excel at something, it's protecting Alak and his office. Maybe if we taught them to not eat plumps and forbidden meals..."
"Impossible!" said Ermis.
Alak came in.

"Oh, aren't that mah good boys?"
"They are!" said Urnût. "They aren't attacking other livestock now."
"Good. I want you to treat them as friends, as they're now part of Kudarkalur."
"I'm friend with them!"
"I'm... Passing acquaintance?" said Kin. "Is that the word?"
Ermis was silent, with angry glance.
"You'll get used to them."
Nakuth came in, gasping.

"Lord overseer! Muz is... I don't know, like if he was under some spell! Controlled by unknown forces!"
"What? To the crops, now!"


In this thrilling moment, let's look somewhere else.

Meanwhile...

Udma has just woken up. But Duto wasn't near...

The Kodolith stood up, he looked here and there, he saw him sitting by edge of the mountain, in silence, staring forward. He hasn't turned cacatonic, but he looked devastated.

Udma came closer. He looked at him.

"I don't know whom to believe, Udma. I'm not sure with anything anymore. What if everyone's just lying to us?"

Udma sat too, next to Duto.
"All that time I was doing my job, it feels now... Like it was for nothing."
"Where's the purpose? What should we do?"
Udma drew something in the damp soil with hilt of his blade.

"A rock?"
Udma frowned.
"A toad?"
Udma nodded.
"Well yeah, it can answer all these questions, but is it right?"
Udma shrugged.
"Weren't we too hasty? What if...
Udma didn't do anything.
"You know, it's pretty weird, talking to a person that can't respond. You know what are we going to do?"
Udma wiggled his head.
"We're go after the toad. We can't go back... Not now. The toad's by dwarves. We know some, don't we? Those who traded cats with us, settlers! We'll go there, that's good deal, isn't it?"

Udma chuckled. He stood up, Duto too.

They went on, to the fortress of Kudarkalur.

[Quaksna]

"So, you Fâel guy, we're gonna take a look at Zomus, right? But carefully."
Fâel clucked.
And so they flew. They flew to the west by the mountains, where the fortress should be. It wasn't that far from Exalted one's hideout, and by air was the travel much more comfortable. Pity you, dwarven adventurers, on your tiny legs!
"You know, Fâel, can you do some cooler sound than "Bok bok!" ?"
Now imagine chicken roaring, that was the new sound Fâel was doing.
"Oh nevermind. Stick to clucking."


"Oh lookie there, that must be the Mountainhome! But it's burning and smoking around... Let's land there, on the walls! And no clucking now. It's so dark... It's not even evening yet. Zomus must be here!"

"Scattered dwarven gear, rubbles... Some horrible fight had place here... Seems we're too late."

"Night creatures are crawling everywhere! But where are the dwarves? Hope they're not dead already!"

Suddenly, a beam of weird green appeared from sky, falling to ground. A cloud of dust appeared, and the beam vanished. Soon the cloud disappeared too, revealing a goblin in long coat.

"Oströtakåtôz? Don't tell me there's more of them."

Oströtakåtôz said something to night creatures, they nodded. They all went together into the fortress.
"Is he going on a visit or what? This is very, very weird. And bad."

"Okay, Fâel, seems that we're too late indeed... Let's get out of here." said the toad, and it climbed on the cockatrice.

Fâel took off, but then, they heard incessant cackling from back.

A great swarm of winged bogeymen chased them!
"Oh noes, we've been spotted!"

Toad looses a croak, loud and powerful!
Some of the bogeymen were pushed back by force of the thunder croak, some were pushed in the wings, they started spinning and falling down.

Fâel was fast, but the cloud of bogeymen was getting closer every second.
"Gah, what to do now? I can't croak them all back!"

Toad spits a torrent of water!
The water hits the bogeymen in the wing! Bogeymen is propelled away!
"That's too slow, too slow!"

Then it looked on Fâel.
"It's up to you, friend!"
Toad looses a croak, loud and powerful!
Some healing mist appeared, Fâel bathed whole in it. It was a powerful syndrome, raising all his physical attributes. The bird felt enormous strength in his wings, and started flapping faster. And faster.

Soon the cockatrice flew like windstorm, leaving wind behind, slowing down the bogeymen. Toad and its feathered fellow gained in speed, and were effectively escaping from foul night creatures. Cackling was fading away.
"Look, there's sun over here! We made it! Yippee!"

The sun was slowly settling down, but bogeymen from the Mountainhome couldn't pursue them anymore. They were away from the root of evil, above green meadows, but they had no time to lose.
The toad was gasping, happy and troubled at same time.
"Fâel, Mountainhome is lost, and worse, that foul Ogurxusmzûk made his lair there. We must warn and help the closest dwarves. To Kudarkalur!"
"Bok bok!"

[Quaksna]

"Phew, sun's settling down. We stop here, squad!" said Ïlon.

"Great. Where's dinner?" asked Neth. "Alåth, what did you..."
"Yeah, yeah! Rabbits. I shot two rabbits. Have you gathered some... Eh... Spices?"
"I've got caraway seeds." said Adur.
"I've got night troll loot!" said Gemesh. "But nothing to eat."
"Hmph, two rabbits between... Five dwarves?" said Ïlon. "Not really dividable..."

"A rabbit can be divided into eight pieces, so that's sixteen, for five dwarves... How much is that? Or should we use proper dwarven anatomy?"
"I would call you dorfs, if you were mere civilians. Let's use good ol' dwarven anatomy. I am captain, I want upper body."
"Hey, I wanna upper body!" shouted Neth.
"You can have it, there are two upper bodies in two rabbits." said Adur.
"Can't you count? I want it too!" shouted Gemesh. "You don't count with me?!!"
"We count with you all the time, and it's not fun!" said Neth. "Let's not use dwarven anatomy, let's just chop it in pieces of more or less the same size?"
Dwarves nodded, with Alåth's knife they chopped the meat.

"Let's cook already, soon it'll be too dark." said Ïlon.
"I would roast it..." said Alåth.
"No!!! You'll take pot and you'll cook it! That's order!" shouted Ïlon.

Dwarves sighed, as this really doesn't suit dwarven preferences. And thoughts.
"What's this? A mutiny? Okay, okay! One shall be roasted and one cooked! And no compromises further!"

Smoke of the campfire rose to the night sky. Five dwarves were chewing their dinner. While not too lavish, but they didn't complain.
Suddenly...
"Captain! If my ears don't deceive me, we're surrounded by incessant cackling!" said Neth.
"I must insist! It's hissing!" said Adur.
"No, it's both!" whispered Alåth.
"You remember that chaos in the Mountainhome? Big bogeymen flying in our halls?" asked Gemesh.
"I think you're right." said Ïlon.
Cackling was louder and louder. In the darkness, they didn't see anyone. But soon, light of the campfire revealed some figures, three tall, with pointy ears and vicious blades...

"Oh, not these again! One fight was enough!"

"We're really surrounded, captain. What now?"
"We won't give in to the night. Fight we must, and fight we shall! To arms!"

[Superdorf]

Hoo boy.

How many soldiers do we have, and what are they wielding? How many enemies do we see, and what are they wielding?

[mightymushroom]

Looks like 5 dwarves . . . 1 hammer, 1 axe, 1 sword, 2 spears. Also 3 shields & 3 helmets among them.

The bogeypersons are harder to see in the shadows.

From what I've heard, fighting near a campfire is best done in a way that uses the fire to block one of the possible approaches (such as from behind). It's more dangerous than, say, having your back to a wall because you might accidentally dodge into the fire. On the other hand, if you can get your enemy to dodge into the fire then they're stuck until they burn. Unfortunately I don't know much more than the general theory.

[Superdorf]

According to the wiki and my own experiences both, campfires are-- for whatever reason-- completely harmless to dodge into. (That doesn't mean we can take the campfire for granted, though; Quaksna has allowed real-world logic to trump DF-logic when reasonable in the past, and he'll likely do so again.)

[Quaksna]

Oh sorry guys, forget to clarify. Here you have info:
Ïlon - Sword 'n' shield, armored chest and limbs.
Neth - Big axe, protected head, leg wound.
Adur - Spear, shield, relatively unprotected.
Alåth - Crossbow, knife, relatively unprotected.
Gemesh - Crutch, lacks one leg.

As for the enemies, they don't have armor at all. But they all have blades, and they are night creatures. At the moment, you see six of them.

[mightymushroom]

I must have read an incorrect (or out of date?) adventure manual then. My bad, carry on.

Against numbers like this, I'd guess disabling blows such as legs or wrists. The biggest problem is that the party appears to be surrounded; it'll be tougher to break free even if we put a few on the ground. But maybe make it a running battle if we can? Ïlon has the best armor here, he needs to be the "doorman" if we try. If we're lucky he could enter a martial trance while the others get some room.

_{If we're not so lucky it'll be the unprotected dwarves who trance and refuse to move.}

[Quaksna]

"We can't get through. We must fight them all, it seems!" said Ïlon. "This is going to be tough."

The night creatures stopped walking and started running. With inhuman, ingoblin, indwarven strength and agility their legs ran, Alåth was already aiming his crossbow.

The flying -steel bolt- hits the Night Herald in right lower leg!
The shot effectively spoiled his charge, but rest of foes  was already struggling with the dwarves.

Adur had his spear advantage, and a shield, so his opponent, even with his horrible strength, couldn't hit the brave dwarf.
Neth handled the fight well, Alåth was parrying blows with his heavy crossbow, but his foe was much faster.
Ïlon had to fight two at once, luckily not very experienced ones.

Night Herald punches Alåth in the upper body, bruising the skin!
Alåth falls over!
"We must activate martial trance!" shouted Gemesh.
"How do you want to activate martial trance, huh?" shouted Neth back.

Gemesh strikes Neth with wooden crutch in the head but the blow is deflected by +steel helmet+!
"Argh, what are you..?!!"
Neth was now seeing blurry for a while, and his anger pumped him to the max.
Neth enters a martial trance!

Gemesh falls over.
Ïlon knocked one night herald to the ground, so had enough time to counter the second one.
Neth was running towards Alåth, as his opponent was preparing for final blow.

Neth slashes the Night Herald in the lower body, tearing the muscle!
Neth was slashing like a berserker, Ïlon cornered his foe, Adur was getting exhausted.

Neth and Ïlon slashed till their enemies turned to ash-like powder.
Neth jumped directly to next night herald available, Ïlon did the same. Alåth, not in such life danger anymore, was standing up. Gemesh tried to stand up too, but it's hard with just one leg.

Alåth saw that one of the night creatures is crawling towards Gemesh, he aimed and fired.
Night Herald blocks the flying steel bolt with wooden shield!
Neth cornered another foe, bringing him down. Adur managed to strike his opponent, but his stamina was worse and worse.

The Night Herald slashes Gemesh in the upper body, tearing the muscle! A major artery was torn!
"Argh! For th... Sake o... Fun... Bring 'em... d..."
Gemesh bleed to death.
Neth saw it, immediately running to avenge his friend. Ïlon brought down his opponent, and was running to help the rest. Adur was slowly falling under all blows and slashes of his foe.

Neth slashed the Night Herald over and over, Adur was cornered, and thought his fate is sealed, but Alåth was coming to help.

Alåth bashes the Night Herald with +steel crossbow+, bruising the skin!
Adur stabs the Night Herald with -steel spear-, tearing the skin and bruising the muscle!

Alåth, Adur and Ïlon brought the last night herald down. Neth was silently standing by Gemesh's dead body.

"So it's over." said Neth quietly.
"He was a friend." said Alåth. "I'll miss him."
"He was honorable member of Udirizden. He shall not be forgotten." said Ïlon.

New figures appeared in the darkness. A tall, chubby eyeless yellow something, with some sort of steed with crimson horsehair, and weasel-like creature. They were all furiously snorting, coming closer to dwarves.
"Oh noes, more of them!" shouted Alåth angrily.
"They're far, we might not need to fight them. Or shall we?"

[mightymushroom]

The party is too banged up, they should scamper as Plan A.

[Quaksna]

"Let's get outta here!" ordered Ïlon. "Once somebody told me, you can't escape the night. We'll see!"
"So we just grab the loot and..." started Alåth, but Neth frowned at him under his big helmet.
"How you can think about loot when Gemesh is dead?!!"
"Neth's right, loot from all night troll lairs aren't worth Gemesh's remains. I'll pick him up." said Ïlon, and he did as he said.

"Alåth, cripple them little bit so they won't catch up with us!"

The flying steel bolt hits the Night Steed in right upper leg!

"Have you ever missed in these fights?" asked Adur.
"Nope!" said Alåth with a smile.

The yellow night troll and the steed were slowly creeping, the weasel beast was running on four, and it was getting closer.

Nearby, two figures could be seen, one standing and one lying. The standing one shook with the other one.
"What's up, Udma?"

"Oh, are those... Dwarves? Soldiers? They're apparently on retreat! What's chasing them?"

"Stand aside, tribesmen!" shouted Ïlon in language of men. "Let us get through, creatures of night are attacking!"
"Can we help you somehow?" asked Duto.
"Help would come handy, we're tired and exhausted!"
"Udma, give them support! Go!"
Udma was standing there, staring at Duto.
"Haven't you heard?!! Go and give them support!"
Udma nodded, he came to Adur, he lent him his arm so he could walk better.

"I'll handle this. Run, and don't look behind." said Duto, and he blocked the path. Dwarves did as he said.

Weasel Beast pounces at Duto...

But Duto jumps away!

Duto squeezed the night creature with his leg, pummeling it over and over.

While he was punching it, the other beasts were getting closer.

Dusk Brute misses!
Duto had to stop squeezing an dmove attention elsewhere.

Dusk Brute tries to punch Duto but he jumps away!
Weasel Beast pounces!

Weasel Beast bites Duto in upper body, tearing the skin and bruising the muscle!
Weasel Beast latches on firmly!
Duto grabs Weasel Beast with right hand!

Duto throws the Weasel Beast!
The spinning Weasel Beast collides with an obstacle!
The Dusk Brute falls over!

"Shouldn't your kind friend..." asked Alåth.
"He said don't look behind, move on, squad!" shouted Ïlon.

Duto is surrounded by night creatures.

Duto is surrounded by incessant cackling.

Duto is swallowed by darkness.

...


But the dwarves managed to get away. And they saw sun dawn...