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[craftinater]

Its no problem XD take your time i know how long these games can take and how long it takes to make the characters more than just a sprite on a ASCII screeb

[Lovechild]

5: Darkness

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Smunstu immediately took steps to improve the defenses of Colormirrored.

"Gather up every goblin who can use a weapon", she told Toki, "and start training them. Delph will get them outfitted."



Toki's squad expanded to eight goblins, and they gave themselves the title "Mirrorguards". One of them, called Dreadfulroars, even claimed to have killed an elf once. Also present was Lockmaligned's wife Turmoildevils, who had some skill with a hammer.



The cage traps by the cavern entrance were complete, and they had already caught a couple dralthas. Hopefully some trolls would walk into them soon.



In the mid-spring, a large group of goblins arrived, seeking their fortune at Colormirrored.

"They're still coming here, even with the war going on?" Delph said to Toki, as they watched the new arrivals enter the fortress.

"Maybe they think the elves will overlook this place", Toki replied. "Or maybe they're looking for danger. Or maybe they're just that greedy..."

Whatever the case, there were now fifty-four goblins living in Colormirrored. It was turning into a real settlement.

"I think - " Delph began, when suddenly... the ground shook. Goblins screeched, stumbled and tried to keep their balance. Then came another quake, stronger this time.

"Mirrorguard, with me!" Toki shouted. "To the caverns!"



A titanic worm burrowed its way through the rock. It had wandered blindly in the deep darkness for eons, only approaching the surface when it sensed the presence of warm flesh.

In a rain of stone shards, the worm burst into the cavern. A massive maw was the only thing that distinguished one end as a head. Its long body was covered in square plates of shell. Black feathers grew from the cracks between them, moving in rhythm with the worm's undulations.



In  the trembling cavern, the Mirrorguard found themselves charged by a pack of panicking troglodytes.

"They're running from it!" Toki shouted. "Cut them down quickly!"

The Mirrorguard made short work of the cavern-dwellers. Stoodthieves got two of them, his scimitar stained with troglodyte blood. But the quakes only grew more intense, and now the goblins could hear something gigantic crashing through the cavern toward them.

"What is that thing?!" Lockmaligned shouted.

"Do you know the legend of Cuthabe?" Toki spoke calmly, but loudly, to be heard above the din. "The first worm, that burrows through the earth eternally?"

Lockmaligned's eyes widened. "Are we fighting a - "

Cuthabe burst through the stalactites, its gaping maw poised to swallow the goblins in one gulp. They threw themselves aside, and the worm went between them. The goblin warriors ran at it again and hacked at its sides, but its shell plates deflected even their steel weapons. White gas issued from its body, causing the goblins to cough.

"We can't hurt it!" Stoodthieves screamed.

Cuthabe turned around, and sped towards the goblins again. But this time, the axegoblin Paintmaligned seemed to have an idea. He scrambled up a tall stalagmite, right in the worm's path.

The other goblins scattered. As the worm churned towards Paintmaligned's stalagmite, he leapt from it, and swung his axe. The blade went right between two shell plates on the worm's forehead, and got stuck. Cuthabe began thrashing this way and that, Paintmaligned desperately hanging on to the axe. He managed to grab onto the axehead, and began pushing it down to the side like a lever, bending the shell plate it was stuck under. He pushed, and pushed, and with a pop, the shell plate broke off! Paintmaligned was flung away into the distance.

Toki saw her chance. She leapt at the worm's side and clambered up on it. Then she ran along its length, up to the head, where the lost shell plate had exposed a square of soft flesh. Toki plunged her scimitar into it.

The massive worm burst through a few more rock pillars... but it was just from momentum. The quaking earth became still. Cuthabe, the first worm, was dead.

Shivers ran through Toki's body. This felt unreal. When she had gone into the cavern, she had been ready to die. It would have been fine death, killed by a beast from the dawn of time. But instead, she lived on. And the beast was dead.

Paintmaligned, bruised but alive, hobbled up to the other goblins, gathered around Cuthabo's giant corpse. None of them knew what to say.



"We..." Toki began. "We survived."

When the Mirrorguard returned to the fortress, they were met by one of the newly arrived goblin families.

"How'd it go, boys?" the father of the family said.

"What was that thing?" the mother said.

Dreadfulroars and Jackalstokes of the Mirrorguard gasped.

"Dad?" "Mom?"

It was indeed their father Nater Kissedmaligned and their mother Raspedpoisons, along with their three younger siblings.

Nater introduced himself and his family to Toki, and continued:

"So my sons ran off here, reckoning this was where the action was. Guess they were right. Me and my wife would love to join them on the field. Would you be fine with us setting up our own squad, as a family? Me, my wife, and our oldest children. Under your command, of course."

"Certainly", Toki said. "I'm happy for all the soldiers I can get."

"We could call ourselves... the Blood Warriors."

Toki smiled. "That's a very wholesome name."



Dreadfulroars and Jackalstokes transfered over to the Blood Warriors, and Delph got to work on making Nater and his wife some equipment.



In the late spring, a troll finally blundered into one of the cage traps! Smunstu went to see it.

"Perfect!" she said. "Now we just need to tame it..."

"I can help with that." Markscourge had come to see the troll as well. She felt a duty to work for the fortress, especially now that even her brother was working.

"You're an animal trainer, huh?" Smunstu said. "Then please do. Let me know if you need anything."

Smunstu walked away from the caverns. She was pleasantly surprised that a goblin had volunteered to do something, without her having to yell at them. But why not? Colormirrored had grown into a proper community, and she was the authority around here -

Suddenly, Smunstu heard footsteps behind her. Something heavy hit the back of her head, and everything went dark.

Here's a list of the new migrants:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Family:
Nater Kissedmaligned, male peasant and axegoblin; husband
Raspedposions, female fishergoblin and swordsgoblin; wife
Stealbent, 12 year old daughter
Cunningsteal, 7 year old daughter
Wraithchill, 2 year old son
Dreadfulroars and Jackalstokes are also children of this family

Family:
Fellcosmos, male bone carver and pikegoblin; husband
Wretchscourges, female glassmaker and wrestler; wife

Family:
Ghoulcleans, female clothier with combat training; wife
Colorhated, male peasant with combat training; husband

Family:
Scorpionblushes, female siege operator, siege engineer, mechanic, and pump operator; wife
Werecuts, male mason and wood burner; husband

Stolenlances, male metalsmith, lye maker, and crossbowgoblin
Bufffell, female mechanic and pump operator, new overseer
Joinedevils, female siege operator and bowyer
Relievedthief, female furnace operator, weaponsmith, armorsmith, metalsmith, and metalcrafter
Dreadfulseizes, female siege operator and knife user
Wiltmalign, male siege operator, siege engineer, mechanic, pump operator, and clothier
Sculpturepoisons, male armorer and wrestler
Wereseizes, male miner and woodcrafter
Bouldermonster, female mason
Lessonmenaced, male tanner
Fraypoison, male herbalist
Boatvice, female woodcutter and bowgoblin
Shootsins, female engraver and wound dresser

And here's Nater's personality:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[HakuryuVision]

Ooh yeah!!
Toki: 1
FBs: 0
I think i've picked the right Gobo!

-------------------
Something i've always wondered: Goblins are (about) the same size as dwarves, right?
I know you can pick up dwarf clothing and wear it as a goblin in adventure mode, but will goblin citizen pick up new clothing  made for dwarves?

I remember you can specify the size when giving detailed orders in workshop, so i'm not sure if that's something have to keep an eye on.

[delphonso]

Elves goblins and dwarves are all the same size, so their clothing is interchangeable as well.

[Salmeuk]

Any updates on this? I enjoyed the story immensely!

"You see, I am an engraver." Scrappy was going to propose a grand engraving in the temple of Ágesh. A battle scene, two great armies clashing, with lots of beak dogs. In the temple, goblins would see it for generations to come, and say "Scrappy did that" -

"Is that so?" Smunstu said. "Go smooth out the floor in the Strangled Hall then."

"What? No, I - "

"And when you're done with that, you can do the same in my office." Smunstu walked off.

This is how I imagine every engraver gets their start in a dwarf fortress. Full of naive creativity, ready to explore the wonderous medium that is stone, only to get told to crawl around on their hands and knees and make nothing but a perfectly smooth surface. How sad that more credit isn't given to the upstart engraver. By the time they are 'skilled' enough to engrave an actual scene or a small symbol, they've become jaded to the world.

If you wanted to start again in the new version I would be interested in something like that, too..