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[Mephansteras]

Hmmm, this will be interesting.

[ricemastah]

I agree this WILL be interesting.

Ahh the power of thinly disguised bumps

[Kuli]

Yes, please return, Heavy Flak.

I want to see this fortress in that Stonesense visualizer.  Are there any save files I can download?

[Heavy Flak]

The events of the 14^th of Opal, 1070

"Oh sweet Kerlig, goddess of pregnancy, please use your horrid powers of baby creation to put this fire out!"



It had happened so suddenly.  Dwarves were crowded around the barrels, their faces and beards smeared with food and drink as they gorged themselves during their once-monthly meal.  Some had dipped their heads inside the barrels, loud noises coming out as they ate great mouthfuls.  Others shoved hands into barrels of whiskey, splashing the drink up towards their faces, their thirst unable to be quenched as more of the amber liquid splashed against them.

Udil Outragegalley was the first to smell smoke.  He was saddened by it, because he knew was was next to come.  Any Dwarf did - the wine barrel he had been greedily gulping out of ignited from the wick and straw placed underneath it, a chain of explosions running down the line. 



When he picked himself up from the scattered plump helmet barrels, Udil finally noticed that his beloved donkey leather dress had caught ablaze.  Screaming, he ran for the door, but his steps became slower, his movement sluggish as his body began to char, as his lungs began to fill with the smoke from his own burning fat.

"I... I'm so tired, I... well, maybe I'll just rest here..."

In two more steps, he dropped to his knees, and face planted onto the stone floor, unconscious.  Burning. 

"EVERYONE, STAND BACK!" Stravitch roared.  He surveyed the situation, before grabbing a barrel of rum and leaving the room.  The other dwarves blinked in confusion.

"What should we do?" one asked.
"I... we should probably take his clothes, and store it somewhere."
"That seems like a good idea," another said.  "We could put them with the rest of the clothes, so that we won't lose them."

"STOP!" Came a booming voice from the doorway.
The dwarves turned to see Cokho Roknut standing in the doorway.  His wizened frame was bent forward, his back bent from years of work, but the Master Hauler had a look in his eye, a look of experience.

"Do not touch that body, or those clothes!" he said.  He limped into the room, pulling up the sleeves of his shirt.  His arms were ravaged with scars, the skin twisted and red.  "This is what happens if you do - if you're lucky!  Leave him to burn out, then we may do something about this... and pray the rest of the booze doesn't go up as well."

"But we can't just leave him there!" one protested.  "And all those clothes, they need to be put somewhere!"
"If you pick up something on fire, it will spread to you," Cokho said ominously.
"Folly," one of the dwarves spat, "It's not alive.  It can't move."
"Bare my warning," Cokho said, pointing one gnarled finger at them.  "If you touch that Dwarf or his clothes until they stop smoking, you too will die... if you want something to do, find out how this damned fire started to spread.  Someone go find Aryn."

[Mephansteras]

Ah, poor burning dwarves. No idea of the danger they're in.

[Jim Groovester]

It's good to see you back, HF. I was starting to worry.

The Notes of Hikan Riddlewire

Everybody said that I was crazy, that nobody would ever try to start a fire in the booze stockpile. "The drink stockpile is perfectly safe!" They said. "With all these eyes watching, what trouble could possibly come about!"

Everybody said that me drinking water was just a phase, that in a week, I'd be right back with them. "Dwarves and alcohol go together like kittens and biscuits," they said. "Why deny yourself what you naturally crave?"

Look who's laughing now!

Bastards. Only one death isn't enough to provide me vindication, though. Shame there weren't more.

[Heavy Flak]

From the journal of Aryn Estetar
17^th of Opal, 1070

It took three days for the body to stop smoldering.  Eventually Cokho gave the alright to move the bones and the charred clothing down to the crypts.  We lost nearly six hundred units of booze in the catastrophy, and only one death and a few sprains in the exodus of the store rooms.  While I don't agree with Riddlewire and his lamentations on more death, I do agree with the sentiment; Rice was the mayor during the construction I believe, and... overlooking this problem was careless.

Instead, I'm being held accountable, of course.  As such I've barricaded the door with my guard bear, and instructed Riddlewire to not let anyone inside under any circumstances.  I'll wait out the smoke - so to speak - and come out in a week or two to check with Roaroak on the progress of Oceansbled.  He said the four pods are almost completely finished; that leaves the main area and we'll be completed.  The excitement is overwhelming.  Even my bear seems pleased.

***

"Hurry, hurry," Adol said, his voice lowered to a whisper.  "We don't have much time."
"I'm going as fast as I can," Major Merkil snapped back.  He held a chisel in one hand, and a hammer he had borrowed from the smiths.  He was taping at the chisel, the small metal wedge cracking at the top hinge on the door painfully slow. 

"It's not fast enough, we're going to get caught.  I can't believe you agreed to the corpses demands."
"She's ON our side," Merkil snapped again, "It's not a demand, it's a truce.  It's working together.  It's just helping each other..."
"It's not right," Adol complained, "It's just not right."

"Gentlemen.  We have company"

The hammerer strode forward, his hatchet face lit by dark shadows from the setting sun.  He slowly pushed his cloak backwards, his hand resting on the butt of his Diorite banded Steel warhammer.  Likot slowly unbuttoned the last two buttons on her trench coat and slid it back with her good hand, resting her gloved hand on the butt of her custom crossbow, The Grooved Days. 

"Stand back, Corpse," the hammerer said, "I see two very naughty Dwarves who need to be paddled, and sent to their new rooms."
"Stand back, Hammerer.  I see a very naughty Dwarf who's about to be filled full of bolts."

The air was heavy with menace.  Adol gawked at the pair, unsure which he feared the most.  The tapping of the chisel was driving him crazy, and with a hard kick he booted Merkil to the side.  The Major stared up in surprise as Adol drew his hammer and screamed, "Against the wall, Maggarg!" With a mighty swing, the door cracked off the hinge and went spinning to careen over the edge and plop into the magma below. 

The hammerer darted forward, yanking the hammer from the thong at his belt.  But he was too slow.  In a flash of movement, Likot had the crossbow lifted and nestled into her shoulder.  She fired a bolt straight through his hand, and it was only his skill that he switched hands before he dropped it.



"Come on, Maggarg," Adol said, "Come on, we have to hurry."
"I'm going to die," Maggarg said weakly.  "I'm not going to..."
Adol reached in and slapped him.  Maggarg stared up in surprise, and Adol gripped him by the arm, hefting him up on his feet. 

As the Hammerer roared in rage, Likot fired off shots quick as lightening.  They thudded into him, piercing his armor.  Blood flowed from the wounds, and with a sweep of his hand, he broke them off.  Just before he reached her, Likot fired a single bolt.  It punctured his chest, and with a grunt, he sank to his knees before her, the wind leaving him as the barbed head pierced his lungs. 

"You know, in all this excitement... I forgot to count just how many bolts I fired.  I could have fired five.  I could have fired six.  I just can't remember.  But what I do know, is you have to ask yourself one simple question.  'Do I feel lucky?'.  Well do ya'?"

With the last of his strength, the Hammerer hefted his hammer with one hand, trying to rise to his feet.  Likot casually aimed and put a single bolt between his eyes.  He dropped to the ground.  Blood pooled around the basalt stones, a spreading puddle of red on the gray beneath him. 

"Oh shit," Merkil said.  "She did it... we... we need to go, now."
"Excellent idea," Adol said, already hauling Maggarg away from the prisons. 

***

OOC Stuff:  Thanks for the concern, Jim <3  I actually got a really nice PM from Flar Moonchill wondering where I was too.  It's nice to be missed. 

I'll be honest guys, I was just burned out.  It's rough, trying to find a job, living off of savings, trying to get published, dealing with the holidays... Stravitch has been giving me crap in real life to keep working on this and I keep brushing him off, but hopefully the muse is back for good.  At least, for a little while.  At least for the weekend

[Groveller]

"Oh sweet Kerlig, goddess of pregnancy, please use your horrid powers of baby creation to put this fire out!"

That has got to be the least effective method of fire control.

[Vayre]

but definitely the most amusing one

[Mephansteras]

Go Adol!

[IronValley]

It's alive!

For a moment there, reading the first parts, I thought to myself: "Damn, he's given up... time for a fortress crumbling fire of doom."

[ricemastah]

Yay for HF!! Welcome back

[Kuli]

Heavy Flak, any chance you could use the Stonesense visualizer and post some screens of the fort?

[Heavy Flak]

Heavy Flak, any chance you could use the Stonesense visualizer and post some screens of the fort?

My god... it's gorgeous...!  I'll see about getting you guys some shots with that!

[Heavy Flak]

The events of the 28^th of Opal, 1070

"Shhh, shhh, shhh," the quite shushings urged out of the darkness.  "This girl's here to do you any harm."

Dodek Theaterinked whirled on her heels, her heart pounding in her chest.  It was dark outside, the blackness cloaking the land, the shadows deep and ominous from the large protecting wall around the fortress.  She could hear the wind howling down below in the valley, and the rustling of sand as it was blown around in little devils of grit. 

"Wh-who's there?" She asked, her voice hushed.  "I'll scream.  I'll call the guards."
"Shhh, shhh, shhh," the voice repeated.  "This girl's not here to do you any harm."

A hard boot struck Dodek in the side, and with a cry she toppled down the ramp, striking her head on the stone.  In her dizzyness, she saw a spark as flint struck stone, and a small pitch coated tinder flared to life.  In the small radius of light, she saw an ash covered face, the mouth inked with black to curve up into a crude smile.  The makeup did little to hide the scars that covered the little girls cheeks and nose and neck. 

"Look at this!" The scarred girl said.  Her tongue darted out, wetting the corner of her lip, and she made a brief face as she ate some of the ash.  "A new play thing.  You're below this girls station, I have bigger fish to fry, but it has been so long since the last time I fed The Need, well... you'll just have to do, won't you."

Dodek tried to scream, but two small, powerful hands wrapped around her neck.  With a quick adjustment of her thumbs, she pressed in on her windpipe, crushing it.  The only response she could give was a bulge of her eyes, and a sickening gurgle.   

She saw a glint of steel in the light, and pain seared up through Dodek's chest, through her arm, in her leg.  The little girl looked to be in extacy, her makeup running in the sweat dribbling down her brow, her eyes rolling back in pure bliss.  As the blood flowed, as the cuts became more frantic, deeper, Dodek felt herself succumbing to the sweet bliss of unconsciousness.  And to nothing more.