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[Indagator]

Nice narrative. I'm intrigued so far.

Can I claim one of the next wave of exiles(i.e., migrants)? That is, assuming you survive the desert.  

Name: Boris
Sex: Male
Occupation: Preferably a glassmaker, else a mechanic

Boris was a smalltime counterfeiter with a knack for making fairly close knock-offs of designed Dwarf products. He had the mis-fortune, however, of trying to set up a distribution deal with an undercover Guard. The new Dwarven Malediction against Couterfeiting Act specifies a mandatory sentence of exile for any dwarf caught trafficking in couterfeit good, and so Boris finds himself sent out into the Dreadful Desert

[Istrian]

I guess I'll take a migrant too.

Name : Istrian
Gender : Male
Profession : Clerk (or Administrator), Hunter (with a sword), Siege Engineer (when needed)
Personnality traits (if possible) : not a risk taker, hates other people's company, in control of his own feelings.
Background :
With the revolt that occurred, neighbouring dwarven kingdoms became worried about the political situation. One of these kingdoms decided to begin full-scale espionnage operations and sent Istrian to Luror Kalur to coordinate intelligence efforts and, if necessary, remove any threats that might arise.

[Skanky]

Nice work on the narrative so far. I would like to claim an immigrant.

Name: Viktoria
Profession: Speardwarf

A recruit caught on the wrong side of the loyalty chart, Viktoria has spent a large amount of time in prison recovering from the fighting, and her subsequent capture, during the revolt. She is now motivated by revenge.

[Lord Dullard]

@ Indagator, Istrian, & Skanky:
Sure, I'll include them as soon as we get our first migrant wave.

The Journal of Ézum Moltenglazed
14 Slate, 1051
Work on our farming and 'industrial' area continues unabated. Pix and Silverus have been hacking through the soft loam walls of the soil layers with ease, and both of them are starting to gain quite a bit of bulk from the workout.

Lorgrem has been hard at work building doors and other necessary furniture. He's convinced me that we should plan early and begin digging out areas for future settlement, converting them from use for our present needs to their intended function as we grow. I'm still not certain it's wise, but he knows considerably more than me about this sort of thing, so I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt. And anyhow, the extra jobs are a welcome distraction from the reality of our situation.

One of our farms is now fully up and running, and I've asked Annie Condra to help Icky out with growing and harvesting the crops. She seemed somewhat nonplussed about the idea, but I assured her that it would only be until someone more suitable was available, at which point she could pursue her chosen expertise as a hunter. She agreed, albeit hesitantly.

12 Felsite
The storage and workshop area is almost complete. I've ordered that the stairwell be extended down further into the soil to see what kind of makeup the earth below will reveal. Lorgrem has also designed a rather ingenious waste disposal chamber, which we'll begin construction on as soon as the initial digging is complete.

23 Felsite
The stairwell has been extended down into the rocky layers below our previously dug out areas. Yesterday, Pix and Silverus came up from below, laughing maniacally; when Akroma asked them what was so funny, they extended their arms to reveal heaping handfuls of gold. Fat lot of good it'll do us out here, but I ordered it to be dug out anyway.

Pix suggested we start on some exploratory shafts to try and discover any useful ores down below. Discovering a few veins of copper, lead, or hematite would be ideal, since there aren't enough cacti in the area for us to produce much in the way of barrels or other wooden furniture.

20 Hematite
   
Over the past week or so, Pix and Silverus have both reported finding huge obsidian deposits throughout the exploratory shafts. Today, Silverus came tearing through the hall where I've set up my 'carpentry' bench (realistically little more than a few stone surfaces and some rudimentary tools), shouting and waving his arms like a madman. When he'd finally calmed down, he told me he'd discovered a patch of hot, sweltering stone - almost a sure sign of a magma pool or pipe under the surface. Just minutes later, Pix rushed in to report the same. I told them to dig down above the area they'd been pushing towards, and sure enough, we found a magma pipe!

I'm not certain whether I should be overjoyed or worried. True, magma can be an incredibly useful tool.. but then again, I've heard that the creatures that reside in the fiery substance are extremely dangerous. Amazingly, we still haven't seen any truly worrying denizens of this area yet - unless you count some nosey camels - but I fear that could change at any given moment.

[ March 12, 2008: Message edited by: Lord Dullard ]

[Kaelem Gaen]

(woo! Finally a Community dwarf of mine doing something important!)

Also what exactly are exploritory shafts, they way I do it is straight lines on the same level extending out.. or are shafts more like downward  and Up/down stairs?

[Lord Dullard]

quote:Originally posted by Kaelem Gaen:
<STRONG>(woo! Finally a Community dwarf of mine doing something important!)

Also what exactly are exploritory shafts, they way I do it is straight lines on the same level extending out.. or are shafts more like downward  and Up/down stairs?</STRONG>

The shafts in this case are horizontal ones extending out from the stairwell. Mostly I wanted to see if I could find any decent ore deposits, and was pleasantly surprised by the magma pipe. I knew there might be one in the area, since there's a layer of obsidian here, but didn't actually expect it.

[Lord Dullard]

12 Malachite, 1051
Moltenglazed sighed, setting the head of the heavy iron axe on the ground for a moment, posting his weight on it while he allowed his breathing to slow. True, he was in good physical condition for his age, but he wasn't really young anymore. The few times he'd watched Pix and Silverus dig, he'd wondered where in the world they got all their energy from.

The sound of footfalls from behind him made him instinctively turn, hefting the heavy weapon back into a ready position, his face grim-set. For weeks now he'd been expecting something to attack him out here in the open..

It was only Lorgrem, though; the slightly shorter dwarf held a rolled up chart of some kind under the crook of one arm. "General, I've got something to discuss with you."

Moltenglazed shook his head. The other dwarves had picked up the habit of referring to him as 'General' after they'd learned about his prior military career from Akroma. At first he'd tried to convince them simply to cease, but it had already stuck. At least he was already used to the title, even if it was now officially defunct.

"What is it, Lorgrem?" The mason's refuse disposal idea had been a brilliant success, and Moltenglazed wasn't going to dismiss any proposal that might turn out to be useful.

"My father once told me about a legendary architect who planned to design an entire fortress by pumping magma into a huge, walled enclosure. Out here in the desert, we're hundreds of miles from any real mountains. Building any sort of structure from which we have an optimal vantage point of the surroundings takes years, sometimes decades.."

Moltenglazed frowned. Lorgrem had some good ideas, but the dwarf was a bit eccentric, and this sounded too fantastic to work. Besides, magma was dangerous.

"What in Armok's name are you proposing, dwarf?"

"Ehm. Well. If we built up a foot-thick wall or so for.. well, as many stories as we wanted, really - we could build an entire tower in a few days' time! Well, not counting digging it out once it had cooled, of course.. and building the pump components.. and the walls themselves.."

"Sounds like more work than it's worth. What if the thing sprung a leak? This place is already a barren wasteland, we don't need to turn it into a scorched barren wasteland."

Lorgrem coughed. "Well, that's true. But once we'd actually gotten around to, erm, filling it, we'd save ourselves years' worth of time spent building structurally functional floors, support beams - and it would make us virtually unassailable, just in case goblins.. or paranoid monarchs.. ever decided we were getting too powerful."

Moltenglazed paused, thinking carefully. The idea had its merits, but it was still dangerous. After a while, he lifted his axe again and turned towards the towering cactus he'd been working on toppling. "If you can pull it off, do it. But don't let it distract you too much from the other, more necessary fortress work."

"Yes, sir!" Lorgrem beamed. And with that, he was off like a shot back to the entrance to the cavern.

What am I getting myself into? Moltenglazed wondered.. and, after a stray look up at the blistering sun overhead, he swung the axe into the hardened flesh of the Glumprong with a resounding thwock.

[ March 12, 2008: Message edited by: Lord Dullard ]

[Lord Dullard]

The Journal of Ézum Moltenglazed
15 Malachite, 1051
Lorgrem has enlisted the two miners to help him with his project. I don't have any problem with it, so long as they continue to do their work beneath the soil. We still haven't located any useful ores - just a heap of gold, with some platinum here and there.

28 Malachite
There were a few minor cave-ins today, but neither Silverus or Pix were injured.

Icky has begun turning some of our store of plump helmets into much-needed wine; unfortunately, with our low stock of barrels, there's only so much he can make.

7 Galena
By the gods, this area must be some sort of volcanic hotspot! Pix discovered yet another warm location in the soil, this time just to the west of our central dig site. Some probing tunnels from above proved that there is, indeed, another pool of magma in the locale, although the miners seem inclined to believe that this one is merely a 'bubble' and not a true vent to the core of the world.

20 Galena
Still no sign of hematite, magnetite, copper, tetrahedrite.. in short, we haven't found any ores suitable for the needs at hand. Perhaps we must simply dig deeper into the earth's core to find what we need.

7 Sandstone
"General!"

Annie Condra came running down the loam-walled passage towards me today, the tone of her voice alerting me that something important was happening, whether good or bad. It turned out to be envoys sent from Iddoren. They seemed surprised to learn we were still alive; I smile to think of the expression on the lieutenant's face when I walked up the stairwell to greet him at the depot - the same lieutenant that had brought us here, no less.

They brought some 'supplies' for us, but insisted on charging us for any goods, saying that Iddoren required a token of goodwill for providing us with the means to survive. I merely scoffed at that, remaining at the depot solely to keep an eye on them while they loitered about the entrance. After learning that they would be making another stop in a year's time, I made it clear that we would be more than willing to pay for tower cap lumber. The snaky-eyed lieutenant's tune changed slightly when I handed him a sack of gold dust. I find bribery distasteful, but I fear without resorting to such means we'll never see the supplies we actually need.

[ March 12, 2008: Message edited by: Lord Dullard ]

[Lord Dullard]

25 Sandstone, 1051
Two, almost perfectly in-time screams pierced the air at the dig site. One, however, was clearly male, while the other was clearly Annie's, since she was the only female dwarf in the group.

"Blast it, what's going on up there!?" Shouted Moltenglazed, dropping the large armful of rocks he'd been toting towards the stairwell.

"GENERAL! It's a.. a.. creature!"

So, the day he'd been dreading had finally arrived; some sort of foul monstrosity had crept out of the wastes to prey on the vulnerable dwarves.

With barely a thought, he reached for the rudely-made iron axe that had remained strapped to his back for nearly eight months, as much for protection as for practicality. He was more familiar with the feel of a sword in his hands, but it would do.

The General - as he still subconsciously thought of himself - rushed up the stairwell and emerged into the bleak desert daylight. One of the stray dogs lay slaughtered some fifty yards away in a pool of blood. Some halfway between its corpse and the entrance, a malignant shape blotted out a section of the sky. A jackal's head and furry mane, the wings of a bat, and multiple tails told Moltenglazed what it was, though he'd only heard of the things in legend, and never set eyes on one before.. for which he was glad.

"Nightwing," He snarled. "CHARGE!"

But the other dwarves were either behind him or in the process of backing away from the terrible beast. Its horrible, red-eyed gaze was locked on the retreating form of Silverus, so Moltenglazed took the opportunity to sprint foward, slashing the crude but heavy iron axe in a wide arc down the thing's body.

The blow had far more effect than he could have hoped for. The creature shrieked in pain, tumbled out of the air and rolled several feet away. Low gurgling noises of pain escaped its throat, and ichorous black fluid began to dribble from its mouth.

"By Armok's beard...!" Moltenglazed stumbled several feet away, watching the creature cautiously to make certain it was as injured as it looked. Indeed, it appeared to have been an exceptionally lucky blow, since he'd heard of these creatures killing whole groups of armed dwarves before. Taking a deep breath, he strode forward and delivered the finishing blow, watching to make certain it stopped moving before he planted the axe on the ground next to him.

"General! ..by the gods, look at that thing!" It was Annie, her eyes wide with amazement and disgust.

"Not a pretty picture, indeed.." Moltenglazed turned aside and spat, then looked at the others as they gathered around him, their expressions similar to the hunter's. "Though we obviously need to work on our battle organization. If a creature like this - or something worse - attacks us again, we won't be so lucky. We need training."

His copper-colored eyes returned to the corpse of the abomination. "Let's get it cleaned up, lest it attract others of its kind.. come on, dwarves, we have work ahead of us."

The dwarves spent the next hour clearing the traces of the battle, making certain to dump buckets of water on the oily blood around the stairwell.

"I swear by Ertral, sending us to this place truly shows just how cruel kings can be," Icky grumbled after they'd finished up. He hadn't even seen the creature before it was dead, and had paused for several moments just to stare at it in horror.

"It's true, this place is--" Began Silverus.

"Luror Kalur," Pix suddenly interjected, his eyes gazing off into the distance. He almost seemed in a trance.

"Luror Kalur.. the Cruelty of Thrones," mused Akroma, one hand coming up to stroke his beard. "Dismal. And somehow.. perfect, for this place."

Moltenglazed nodded, folding his arms over his chest. "Well.. it seems our little settlement has a name."

[ March 12, 2008: Message edited by: Lord Dullard ]

[Kagus]

Heh heh heh, nice.  I liked that last smack he gave the beast.

Eh, quick note about good lady Annie before you continue...  She's a murderer.  Mass-murderer, actually.  Sneaks up in the water and snags fisherdwarves or anyone else foolish enough to get close to the water's edge, whereupon she either strangles or drowns them.  Sometimes she takes a bit longer and snaps a few bones before finishing them off, but asphyxia is normaly the preferred method.

I based her name and skills on an anaconda, so she's not exactly adverse to 'hunting' things larger than a marmot.

[Lord Dullard]

@ Kagus:
Hah, sure.   I'll try to work that in somehow, although the logistics involved in accomplishing such a feat will be.. interesting, to say the least.

I might also take a moment to note to everyone here that if you have any juicy-secret character requests like this, you can also PM me with them; that way, I can sneak them up on all the other unsuspecting yokels.. er, community members. Or, if for whatever reason they conflict with some already-planned story arc, I can explain the reasons it won't work to you and possibly work out some kind of compromise.

[Lord Dullard]

The Journal of Ézum Moltenglazed
19th Timber, 1051
Even though the desert sun still heats the sands to blistering temperatures during the daylight hours, the nights are beginning to become increasingly frigid. My bones tell me winter is fast approaching..

Progress on Lorgrem's wall has gone well, as busy as we've been with basic day-to-day needs. The first level is nearly completed, and after that he says he plans to start work on the next.

It has come to my attention that Annie Condra and Silverus have become involved with one another, since neither of them seems especially predisposed to be secretive about it. I don't begrudge them whatever happiness it brings them in this dreary place.

[Kaelem Gaen]

(And here attempts a Journal Entry...)
The Journal and Ideabook of Lorgrem, *striked through*-House of- Helmgirder,
18th of Timber, 1051,

*In the margins is a vague schematic of some mosaic, or monument*  Ah yes, the General gave me the green-lantern on my idea to make a Molded Fortress in this foul desert,  After having got two workers to help me out, the wall has been my big project.  Hopefully it will stand for a long time.  

Something is strange about this place, though it has been aptly name Luror Kalur, as most of us were indeed put here by the Cruelty of the Throne.  A few observations strike me in this dark and creepy place, I heard from the others of a creature that came to give us hell though our General took care of it, for example I am surprised that the river in this area is above ground.  

Though I barely listened to my tutor only picking up on key things to appease him, I remember him saying something about deserts rarely having above ground rivers, if they exist they're usually under a dry river bed, buried in the sand.  Though this place is hellish I already feel lucky that it had an easy to access water source.  Anyways the sun is setting and I still need to do some work on this wall.

---------

(How was that? hope it wasn't to wordy and didn't screw things up.)

[ March 12, 2008: Message edited by: Kaelem Gaen ]

[Dwarfaholic]

Nice story-telling!

"Diary of Icky

I'm writing this on the piece of parchment I found in the wagon.
It's not much, but it'll do for now.

Honestly, it was pretty foolish of me to get caught. It was an obvious trap! I'm luck at least Hacky got away, he told me he'd gone to "Prepare" another fort for take-over."

However, the situation is not as hopeless as I thought at first.
I overheard Lorgrem tell the "General", as he call himself, that more people are coming. With luck, some of them will be loyal to me.

It is a shame that the General must be removed, though. His military skills are quite vital in the defense of Luror Kalur.
But it must be done. I cannot trust him to remain unhostile once we take over.

[ March 12, 2008: Message edited by: Dwarfaholic ]

[Lord Dullard]

OOC Note: Fixed all the date discrepancies. Oops.

The Journal of Ézum Moltenglazed
1 Granite, 1052
The winter months passed us by with surprisingly little in the way of interruptions, although the cold desert nights have driven us underground at an earlier hour than we have become accustomed to. Progress on Lorgrem's magma mold is coming along nicely, and a thick wall now completely surrounds the entrance to our underground complex, though we've left a small opening in order to have a means of egress, and an entrance for traders.

After lengthy, heated debate, we have decided to convert all of the gold ore into barrels. It serves our present needs more fittingly than a heap of useless crafts, and the barrels themselves can always be traded or melted down later, if necessary. For now, though, Luror Kalur will have the most impressive wine stocks in the history of dwarven-kind..

It is hard to believe, but we've been here for a full year now. Though I was wary at first, I've become close to my compatriots. Pix and Silverus are both hardy and dependable, Icky is a decent sort once you get past the brusqueness - and the strange looks he seems to give you sometimes. Akroma has proven to be as hard a worker as he is a tough soldier, and without Lorgrem our little 'complex' would be a shambles compared to what it is now. Annie has also pulled more than her weight, though there's something about her that still seems.. just a bit off, to me. I'm not certain I'd be willing to call her a 'friend' yet, but.. at least an ally.

15 Granite
We were all in for a huge shock today when an elven caravan approached from the south. After readying some basic defenses just to be safe, we met the travelers from the elven kingdom of 'The Blue Ape' (honestly, they come up with the most ridiculous names). They seemed somewhat disdainful, and took offense when they noticed a fish leather thong had accidentally been brought along with some of the other goods we'd brought to trade, complaining about how our stunted race 'revels in death' or some such nonsense. After, they turned their girly noses up and refused to trade. I found myself somewhat irritated, since they'd (ironically) had a small stack of wood that would have been extremely useful, but nothing can be done about it now.