A second variety of dance, spotted in the tavern.An epic artifact:
This crossbow was placed in Olngo's royal villa.
The second layer of bedrooms was finished, and proved more colorful due to the cavern wood beds:
Then,
Goblins.The troops assemble
the odds, not good
the ensuing combat as captured by a magical scrying device strapped to the abdomen of a military-grade fluffy wambler:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WexB_FkTzP8So, the dwarves of Riverend held through. Many were wounded and the hospital was expanded.
One dwarf lost their hand:
but their spirit never broke, and they were later seen leading sparring demonstrations, like nothing had happened:
=======================
The moat shenanigans continued. A second, small holding pool was dug, meant to accentuate the existing design and also provide a staging area for flooding the larger moat.
considerations were taken not to flood the pit too early
Anyways, it also failed. Dissapointingly. It was here the moat project was abandoned, and the fields were left to fallow. Baby toes sprung up en masse once the mud dried.
the ridiculous evaporation rate, as witness from z+2
fields of baby toe plants
Adamantine was discovered, accessible and in large quantity.
Months later, we had produced the first set of royal adamantine armor.
==============================
Maybe this would convince King Olngo to finally show up. His villa sat, complete, for years now, with not a peep from him or his entourage.
only somewhat phallic . . . fit for a bastard King like Olngo eh? The adamantine armor is stored here, for future adventurers.
Flooding the garden pools:
Instead, more gobbos.
The fluffy wambler footage returns:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLQH4eUwGJQThe fighting was not as bad as the first siege, and the legendary fighters won after a lengthy engagement. Of note is the first captain of squad The Spears of Light, Shem, who thought to name his steel spear after the 25th kill. "The Malign Cacti" is the exact sort of name one might expect from a military leader embedded in a faraway desert outpost.
It was after this siege that Olngo's messenger arrived: he had no plans to emigrate to Riverend. He had heard about the failure of the moat, and the constant harassment by foreign goblin invaders, and thought better of visiting. This news was warmly received, since no one really wanted the King hanging around, ordering people about.
The final news of the year was the discovery of the theft of the golden artifact crossbow previously mentioned. Someone, likely a kobold, snuck into the empty villa (where the priceless artifact was being stored) and snuck away without anyone noticing.
Here, the story of Riverend comes to a close, as the dwarfs returned to the rythym of day-to-day living. Nothing ever came of the thing living in the sea, at least that we know of. Perhaps these dwarfs appeased this watery god with blood and violence.
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some glamour shots of the map at game end:
The golden tipped pyramid, flanked by two ranger towers
close up of the hollow interior
same thing in ASCII
The seaside villa, complete with ocean spray
The final overview:
Just over 6 years were spent building Riverend. Total pop was 116 at game end, with ~3.5mill created wealth. Plenty of loot for adventurers if they brave the desert heat and goblin patrols. Is the world a better place? I dunno. some goblins died, adamantine was mined, we killed a few forgotten beasts, and the dwarves spent a majority of the time dancing. .
save here:
https://dffd.bay12games.com/file.php?id=16140The idea is not to make a mega-project as much as spread civilization.
look , in my defense, building megaprojects IS spreading civilization. what is more
civilized than needless construction involving rare metals?