I recently decided to try my hand at a fortress 'story', and rather than go for the norm, I decided to write an 'epic', or an incredibly long poem. Originally it started out as a quick ditty, but it's turned into something much longer. I've finished the first chapter, and if there's interest I can continue.
Hehe, I don't know if I'll have 'signups', but almost everything in the poem relates to something that can happen (or at least is referenced) in DF, so feel free to suggest twists and turns. Look out for those references too (All names are in Dwarvish, Elvish or Human, so you can look them up if you're so inclined.)
Chapter I
To the Coast!
I’ll tell you the legend of Sodel Udir
A dwarf with a name that has come to mean fear
I’ll show you the doom of his lost fortress Ur
In the spines of the north where the dark creatures stir
Sodel was a dwarf with a pittance of fame
A few meager outposts and coins to his name
But Sodel was eager, with a generous hand
And one night in a tavern met a rambling man
As foolish as tall and as quick to let slip
The tale of a journey by cart and by ship
To the Northlands of ice, the Glaciers of Death
Where the cold absolute froze the heat of man’s breath
Spoke the man:
“In the peaks of the mountains
Where the Goblin-kind sleeps
Lay two waterfall-fountains
As if Earth herself weeps
And deep underground
Beneath snow, ice and granite
Where the magma is found
In the core of the planet;
Lies adamant blue!
God-given ore!
Lodes of it, too-
This metal of yore.”
The human continued to all who would hear
Lungs exhaled vigor as gut inhaled beer
Sodel held back and let the night run its course
And at closing met the man at the side of his horse
The dwarf asked again of the adamant blue
Softly inquired if the tale spun was true-
The man would not answer, with regret on his face
As if he left something behind in that place.
Sodel had no patience for wordless remorse
His tone and his words grew as equally coarse
He held the man down in what seemed like a trance
And offered him death or this one final chance
“Take me to the land of the spines of the north,
Where winter most cruel brings the ice spirits forth
Bring me to the mountains where Earth-Mother weeps,
The Glaciers of Death and the Goblin-kind keeps!”
The man had no choice and relented as such
And cursed his loose tongue for revealing so much
And woke in the morning to find the dwarf staring down
With gold in his eyes and cold sweat on his crown
They traveled at first from the glint of the sun
Beside them the brook known as Estvod did run
At week’s end they reached the red fort Sitalnïr,
The dwarven-kind’s gate to all beyond here
They gathered a band of dwarves fearless and strong
And promised them riches and fame before long
Foothills of gems and tall mountains of gold-
They promised it all for the brave and the bold
In the end five were swayed by the pair’s silver-tongued speech
They scrounged out their things- a mere pick and pack each
And all were then ready, and all was it should be,
For as Sodel said, “Seven, brave seven are we.”
The seven descended to the land of the men,
Through each peak and each forest , each river and glen
Through towns of the humans and halls of dwarf-kind
With the riches ahead bubbling inside their mind
They came to the forest that would lead to the coast
Though they knew of its dangers they knew not of its host
There were many to list and more yet unseen
As they cut a great swath through the ocean of green
The gigantic spiders whose name meant ‘Death Pains’
Whose bite was like steel coursing into man's veins
The ettins and giants displaced from their caves
Sent travelers here to their earliest graves
Suddenly there came a sound like a horn
There were eyes drenched in canopy, darkened with scorn
In the limbs of the trees from the thick of the woods
Came the elven-kind hunters, faces covered by hoods.
One spoke:
“I am Ithiri Ithithe Ithi Othrel!”
“Prince Gold Butterfly of the Elves,” said Sodel.
“Thou hast tainted mine lands with thine covetous hands,
Thy offense to the glades I shall pay back in spades!”
The others then brandished a number of bows
Arrows pointing at dwarf or the man that they’d chose
They waited, strings tightened for royal command
To send the intruders to the Halls of the Damned.
“Descend, my friend archers!
Aim clear without fear!
Strike them through with thy yew
And remove them from here!”
At this the brave seven sped out of sight
Into the woods and away from the fight
The elves followed quickly, dancing through the trees
Hunting their quarry as quick as the breeze
“To the caves!” screamed Sodel, “We will hide in the murk!
Where the cowardly elves and their kind will not lurk!”
The seven had vanished and the elves gave pursuit,
Into the depths of the cave Al-Zarut.
And outside the cavern hid the magnificent band
A trickier seven there was not in the land
And the elf-prince’s folly was made all too clear
As the giant cave spiders came skittering near
The elves were pushed tight into the cavern’s black core
The spiders descended over the elf-prince’s roar
Sending Ithiri Ithithe Ithi Othrel
Prince Gold Butterfly of the Elves straight to hell.
The band traveled into the wood through dark night
And beheld a grand view at the dawn’s blessed light
Allas Zavaz, the Momentous Sea!
The end of the earth for all those who were free!
And beyond it the ice of the Glaciers of Death
Where the cold absolute froze the heat of man’s breath
And in the peaks of the spines of the land of the Fell
Slept the adamant blue- there awaiting Sodel.
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Topic: The Epic of Sodel Udir (Read 29562 times)