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[Mulch Diggums]

Wonderfull story, all but the hint of some one dieing.. I hope its not mulch.

[Jamini]

12th Limestone - Rikkir's Log

Disaster!

Young Lokum Libashrur (Frea's fith youngest daughter) has been stolen out of our grips by a goblin snatcher today. Apparently she had been playing outside of the walls with her older sister Jack when the goblin had jumped the two children and snatched away the larger of the two before either could react. Frea is still in shock, and the rest of us are soberly devastated at the loss of the life of one so young.

When Pete went out to try and track the girl, he had been attacked by the Goblin master theif Smunstu Zolakzozo, who took a chunk out of his ear before escaping with a gleeful sneer.


18th Limestone - Rikkir's Log

A kobold thief was found inside the walls today, one of the first ones we've seen in a while. Normally the dogs catch them before they even get past the gates, so finding one just outside of our trade depot is distressing. I only felt marginally better when Pete sent it's head flying over the forge.

I'm starting to worry about our defense. Tomorrow I will take a look around the edge of our home for gaps in our walls.


19th Limestone - Rikkir's Log

A hole in our defenses!

A small platform we had hardly noticed when building the wall, a scaffold built to help in the construction of our foritifications. What was to be our ultimate armor against attacks became our weakness when the first of the goblins discovered it.

Unfortunately, we had not noticed them within our walls until they had already bypassed the gatehouse, shooting the dogs dead. By the time everyone was alerted and awakened to the threght, they had already deactivated our traps and let the second compliment of their forces, led by the elf Acithi Inoolova Decaebe.

Frea was the first to arrive on the scene, charging the goblins with one of the many spears that we had captured from previous raids. Her face grim as she battered her way to the goblins. With a fierce cry as the rest of us turned to follow her down the road she embedded her spear into the chest of the nearest goblin, discarding the weapon as the creature gurgled a death scream. Now unarmed, she dodged another two blows, taking numerous scratches from the weapons and nail of the goblins as she brought her two meaty hands around the throat of the elven leader.

The elf was suprised by the ferocity of her  onslaught, falling back as the rest of us reached the fray. Mulch's blade and Pete's axe cutting through the wrestlers and macemen like they were churned butter. My own pick ran red with blood while Ukat set bolt after bolt into the heart of the more cautious goblins. As we fought, Frea and the elven leader tumbled on the ground, the face of the elf turning redder and redder as she gaped for air like a fish out of water.

Finally, the battle was over. The last of the goblins fled from our counterattack, screaming as they raced towards the hills. Ukat scoring the last kill as her bolt nailed one of the wrestlers directly in his back. For a long time everything was silent, the children watching from a safe distance away.That was, until we heard Pete cry out.

He stood over Frea and the elf, tears running down his craggy face as he pulled his wife from the rapidly cooling corpse. The wound in her chest evident to everyone present. Her eyes were sticky, filmy and distant as she smiled at him and coughed raggidly, asking for water as the blood rolled out of her chest like a brook. She asked about the children, if they were safe. She asked about Pete, and was glad that he was not hurt. In the end however, her brook of blood was finite. There was nothing we could do as we watched our close friend... and beloved leader... die.

May the memory of Frea Libashrur live forever in the halls of Ulolgeshud. Defender of her people to the last!




24th Limestone - Rikkir's Log

Pete has been trying to maintain order now that Frea is gone. Her death has weighed heavily on the old dwarf, and although he cries about her less now, it seems to have marked him in ways that none of us can explain. He is more taciturn and short-tempered than ever. When Feb asked if he could help with the Woodcutting like Ukat does in the winter, the older dwarf had nearly decked him. Snarling more than saying that the child was too young to help still.

I've been trying to get a date set up for a new election. But it's not so easy to do that. Echo claims it's bad taste, to find a 'replacement' for Frea so soon after her death, and Pete has outright refused to agree on a date to hold a new election twice now.

I need to talk to Ukat and Mulch.

16th Moonstone - Rikkir's Log

Pete found a goblin snatcher outside of the west exit today. With a furious roar he charged the thief and sent the goblin flying. His blow so great that the goblin's right arm was blown off and landed in the moat. Afterwards he seemed a lot less depressed, and has agreed to a time to elect a new expedition leader.

The kids are making a game of trying to fish the arm out. Bless them.



The Events of Moonstone 21st

The day had begun ordinarily enough. The morning had been full and busy, Ukat, Rikkir, and Echo enjoying a midday picnic snack of Dwarven Syrup roast outside of the Mead hall. Rikkir had been spending hours talking with Echo, working out some issues involving food production, while the latter had wanted to talk about setting up an artificial waterfall in the middle of the dining hall. All around them Rikkir's children, and a few of the Libashrur clan, were playin games with one another. Their giggles and yelps bringing a feeling of joy to the three content women.

Suddenly the door to the smithy opened with a great bang, the sound disturbing a number of roosting cardinals as the owner of the forge ran out into the afternoon sun, her tattered red coat shining brightly.

"Spiders!"

Ukat stagged as the sun hit her eyes, swaying as if sober while her close friends looked on. "Listen my friends, and rejoice in fear! They come for us, their slow ticking and tacking as their every movement brings them closer and closer to our home!

Quiver! Can you not feel it? Hidden deep in a world that has never seen the sky it comes, like lightning, to strike into our home and bring fourth despair and destruction!" The children's attention was quickly ripped from their games, the youngest fleeing as the mad smith shouted her words towards the sky.

"Yes run, run and be afraid. For none shall survive the might of the great spider save for the chosen few! Can you not feel the poison in the land, the result of the great spider controlling all of us like marionettes? Feel it and tremble oh companions and friends, for the end is here and it wears the face of the great eight-legged monstrosity!"

With hardly a glance at each other the three dwarven woman raced towards the smith, their tunics flapping in the breeze as they approached the mad smith, the first one arriving being Ukat. A trace of syrup still on her lip as she raced forward and grabbed the lunatic metalsmith.

"Abod? Abod stop, snap out of it, it's me! It's me Ukat, can't you understand?"

The smith's eyes rolled back into her head and her body went limp as the mechanic shook her, a low moan emerging from her mouth as she struggled to speak. "Feel the pain of the poison, the poison below the earth. See it, the glittery treasure. The soft flaxen wool so prized from our ancestors. We have it, it is there, waiting. Come... come get the most precious treasure of all dwarves and goblins, the most dangerous... the most precious..."

"Ukat, look at her, she's gone." Echo said softly, putting her hand on the mechanic's shoulder, guiding both of them towards the forge.  "Get her inside, before the children see any more."

Rikkir quickly looked back, nodding as she spotted the two men running over from their workshops. "Madness, it's like the time Pete was possessed. We need to find and excorsize this demon quickly, otherwise we are going to lose our friend.." With a hurried motion she ushered the three other women inside and motioned the men to follow, shutting the door quickly behind them.

[mainiac]

I was just thinking to myself "okay, Frea's finally showing some leadership..."

[Frelock]

Well, shucks, she's dead?  That's mildly disappointing to me.  And just when she and Rikkar were starting to get along again...

Eh, life goes on, right?  If you don't mind, I'd like to take on Frea's eldest non-claimed son (there is still one left, right?).  His name shall be Fre, in honor of his mother, and he shall be on a personal quest to become both a great cook and a mighty wrestler, killing elves and feeding the fortress as his mother did (basically, train him in cooking with wrestling every now and then until he becomes adept or talented, then his only training will be fighting until he finally becomes a hero).

Out of curiosity, what tomb did Frea get and what's engraved there?

[illiterate]

If there are any unclaimed dwarf-babies, I'd love to have one named for me as well.

If the child can be steered to mechanic or mason it would suit well. 

[Jamini]

The profiles of Fre and Illiterate




27th Moonstone

"Pete! Pete where are you?"

Rikkir's voice echoed through the catacombs beneath the village, only the echos of her voice responding as the whispered through the empty sarcophagi and opened doors. As she walked from room to room, the memories of those lost came to her. The death of Sarek, the stoic axedwarf.  Slain ignominiously without ever revealing his family and friends. The snatching of her eldest son Solon, a child who had shown so much potential lost to the cookpots of the goblins. The sharply felt pain of the recent loss of little Lokum, who's voice will never again grace the streets of her birthplace.

As she passed through the last portal, to the resting place of Frea, Rikkir paused, regarding the big man who had introduced himself nearly fourteen years before with a single curt phrase. The well-worn axe that had hardly left his side in all of that time lain gently across the golden tomb that held his wife, and her close friend and rival. No tears stained his hardened face as he stood there, either unaware or unconcerned that he was being watched as he stared at the inscription on the golden headstone.

The Absolute Angel of Armor
 Leader of The Last Fortress
Frea Libashrur
1060 - 1064
b.1031
d. 1064

May Ziril the spark of heating,
long fuel your oven's fire
for all of your afterlife.


Rikkir paused for a moment, slowly approaching the woodcutter and laying a gentle hand on his shoulder. Her voice tender, "Pete, it wasn't your fault. None of us could have seen it happening."

The older dwarf looked down at the small leader, her thick and honest frame bringing a smile to his face despite the grief that was openly visible upon it. "How is Abod?"

"Unchanged. But we think we have an answer"

"Oh?" The woodcutter's voice was slightly harsh as his eyebrows raised in surprise, "Well?"

"Mulch and Echo did a little digging into Frea's belongings. Did you know that she had a huge collection of books and tomes saved from before we came here? And we think we found the answer."

Pete's expression didn't change at the mention of rifling through his wife's things, so Rikkir moved on quickly. "The books tell of several expeditions to chasms, to get silk and the like from the resident cave spiders. Remember, that's what we thought was the answer at first."

"We spent hours looking around the chasm Rikkir, we didn't find anything." The woodcutter said curtly, pulling open his pouch and rifling through the plant threads that were stored there. He knew more than anyone that there was no silk in the chasms, because he was still the weaver for the group after all of those years.

"Exactly, remember how curious Frea was about that back when we first discovered it? Well, I was looking through the book and I think I found the answer. I think we have a giant cave spider in the chasm."

For the first time since he had started speaking to Rikkir Pete's composure shifted, a shiver running up his entire body as he remembered some of the stories he had heard about them. "Rikkir, if your right..."

"Yeah, I know, they're dangerous... but Ithe facts add up Pete."

"Clear eyes, if that's the case then none of us are going. Haven't you heard the stories? They can rip a dwarf in two in the blink of an eyes, and a single bite from them is enough to paralyze you for life. They can shoot webs that can snare a full-grown dragon in seconds... and no dwarf ever sees them until it is too late. Are you trying to get us all killed?" The woodcutter crossed his arms, shaking his head, "No way, I can't let you get yourself killed like that. I don't care if your our leader."

"I'm not asking permission Pete." The shorter woman replied with her eyes narrowed, "Abod will die if we don't find it. You've been with Frea for over a decade, more than long enough to have read enough of the histories to know it's true. The insanity will spread and grow until it consumes her completely unless we find the items she needs. Besides, I'm pretty sure I know where it is."

"Oh?"

"The spider needs a safe place to rest between hunts. In that place there wouldn't be any chasm animals. No corpses, no bones, just nothing until we try and search it. There is such a place in the chasm, I've seen it, and I'm sure that if we know where it is we can catch it and use it."

The woodcutter's eyes went wide as Rikkir talked, his composure breaking down and his face turning a livid red that hadn't graced it in years. "Are you MAD? Those things are monsters! Just open up that hole and it'll come out and rip us all to shreads, cage or no cage! I've said it before and I'll say it again, you might be my friend. But you have no common sense Clear-Eyes. What if it webs you before you can run away? What if it breaks the cage? What if you fall into it's lair and get eaten! No way! I won't let you go. I'll lock you in the prison if you try."

"Mulch and Ukat would break me out, and even Echo has agreed already. You might veto just me, but not the three of us Pete." Rikkir replied, thrusting her chin out defiantly. "This is happening weather you want it to or not."

Pete looked down at her face, his anger diffusing as quickly as it had built. It was quickly replaced by the cold wariness that he had assumed ever since Frea's death. A distant disconcern about everything living, even his own children, that had hardly made spending time with him bearable. "Then why tell me. Go do it, get yourselves killed. Mulch can join me then at the table."

"Mulch is coming with me." Rikkir said softly, her eyes cast towards the floor as she realized what her words had done to the defeated man, "I'm asking you because... well... I want you to come with me too. There are a lot of monsters down there in the chasm, not just the spider. We may need to fight them. And if I'm right, then any mistakes mean that my children would be orphans. I need you Pete, your caution and muscle. You're not doing us any good moping here anyway. Abod is our friend, and was Frea's friend too. Would you dishonor her name by letting her die?

Silence reigned in the tomb, the gold in the doors and on the Sarcophagus glimmering faintly with a light reflected from the door outside. The crecent moon above the burial reciprocal catching the light in a faint twinkle. Above the shouts of the children and the calls of Mulch and Echo for everyone to come to dinner rang softly against the smooth stone. Finally Pete shook his head and looked up, regarding the woman who he had spent so many of his years working and in contention with. "If I was twenty years younger, and fifty times less ornery, I'd ask you to marry me Rikkir. Mulch doesn't know what a bargain he got with you. I will start getting suited up after dinner."



27th Moonstone - Rikkir's Log

In order to reach the region where we believe the great spider lives, I need to dig past a tunnel that is inhabited by Troglydytes. Together Pete and I engaged in a firce battle with the monsters. I felled one, and Pete seemed to become superdwarven, doding every blow that was sent at him and retaliating by taking the lives of the remaining five. It seemed that the spirit of Ziril was guiding his actions, leading him the clear victor in our contest.



3nd Opal - Rikkir's Log

Time is passing so quickly, now that we have a deadline. Abod's madness grows worse every day. We need that silk, we need it badly. We have located the spider and have begun operations to lure it to use it's deadly webs, and then to trap it. Unfortunately, the spider is of the hunting variety, meaning it only uses it's webs when attacking a creature. To get it to use it's deadly weapons, we will need live bait. I've decided to sacrifice a male cougar we received with the elven caravan.

My only hope is that we are not too late.


15th Opal - Rikkir's Log

The spider, which we have named Evalaco, is finally captured.

Pete is rushing down there now to collect some of the precious webs. My only hope is that he is not too late in weaving them.




19th Opal - Rikkir's Log
Abod has finished her work. A silver weapon rack of unparalleled quality. Encrusted with Prase, lined with dog bone, and encircled with bands of silver.

I have asked her to allow me to place it on the second floor of the temple in homage to the legends of a love affair between Sarvesh and Likot. While reluctant, she permitted me to place it there on the promise that it be used as more than a simple decoration.

[mainiac]

Appeasing a powerful magic with a desperate quest against a deadly enemy deep in the bowels of the earth?  That's not just dwarvenly.  That's beyond quality!

Nice to see that Illiterate is going into the noblest of professions.  May his constructions crush many elven skulls!

[Maggarg - Eater of chicke]

I'm waiting for the day I can grow into a swordmaster, just like my namesake.

[Sukasa]

I'll grab one of the kids, if I may.  If possible, either Mechanics, military, or mining in that order if possible, unless of course something causes them (preferably him) to gain legendary skills in something else.

[illiterate]

and was anyone heard to say

Spoiler: "tasteless" (click to show/hide)

"Hey abod, nice rack!"

??

[Jamini]

and was anyone heard to say

Spoiler: "tasteless" (click to show/hide)

"Hey abod, nice rack!"

??

I lawled.

Putting up an update.

[Jamini]

The Profile of Sukasa Eshan (Who is not featured in this update)


He has the makings of a great king in there... a love of a metal that he has never seen before and never WILL see.

11th Obsidian - Rikkir's Log

I popped into the kitchen today to see how Echo was handling her new food preparation duties. While our stores are adequate  for now, both of us were fully aware that stopping the chain of production for food and booze could be devastating for both morale and the eventual health of the village should something go wrong.

I really wish I hadn't.

When I popped in I was greeting by the sight of a younger middle-aged dwarf pouring syrup into a heated stewpot filled to the brim with chunks of more scorched syrup. As I watched, she ladled a spatula into the pot, where the tip promptly dissolved, and pulled one one sticky strand. Cooling it by plunging it into a flagon of ale, and then eating it whole. I mean, seriously, it had enough sugar in it to kill a horse elephant with diabetes alone.



I think I'll stick with eating our other foodstocks until Echo gets a little better about this
 whole cooking business.




1st Granite - 1064

http://mkv25.net/dfma/poi-8017-thegatehouse





11th Granite 1064 - Rikkir's Log

The elves have come back, seeking death. I will give it to them, Likot permitting, which she does.





10th Felsite 1064 - Rikkir's Log

Two of the elves's pack animals went berserk today, kicking their master's to death. A fitting way to go, for an elf.




10th Hematite

Tirean has been possessed!




11th Hematite


The elves and goblins have returned. This time their leader arrived in a great fanfare, his body weighted down heavily with the remains of multiple enemies. We took a short break from work and watched them as they tried to cross the trap line. It was morbidly hilarious.





18th Hematite 1064


Maggarg told me today that Tirean has stopped gathering materials, instead spending her time sitting in her workshop and muttering about the qualities of different possible ingredients.

I spent a short time talking with her (or at her, she really didn't notice me) and I have surmised that she wants a shell of some kind. Unfortunately, that is the only item that we have absolutely frigging NONE of. I've asked Pete to do a little fishing in the cistern, but since it's a closed system I doubt there is anything alive down there.



20th Hematite

Inconceivable! Somehow, surviving in the watertight cistern of water that has been built beneath our tombs, Pete has found and fished out turtle. However, he insisted that we gut it and eat it for the shell, rather than simply removing the shell. When I questioned him about it he told me, "My father was a fish cleaner. We just do things this way. Doing it any other way might result in mistakes, losing the turtle meat we worked so hard to get."

I stared at him for a very long time after he said that, before giving up and going to my room with a massive headache. Either way, now we need somone to eat slimy, disgusting, raw turtle. Of course nobody wants too (especially since it has no sugar) so I've mandated that everyone will go hungry until the turtle is consumed at Tirean can complete her work and not go insane. To save my child I will tie the next dwarf to get hungry down and force it down their throat whole if I need too.



26th Hematite


Success! On a dare by Illeit, Sparrow actually ate the turtle. Providing Tirean with the shell she needed. It's a good thing too, I was starting to get quite hungry from following my own mandate and not eating anything until somebody ate the turtle.

I've told Pete to keep fishing for a little while longer, so we can have a small stockpile of turtles available in case this happens again.




1st Malachite


Tirean is finished, her creation is a Pick made of wolf bone. She has named it Tumamkesh Govos Ibel, "Moraltail the Leaf of Zentiths."

On the handle an image of the world is emblazoned. A truly masterful rendition at that. It's a shame it's worthless for actually digging with.




27th Malachite
I have brought my twelfth child into the world today. An achievement that I felt was noteworthy.

On another note, it was a boy.




13th Sandstone
Ukat has been possessed!
What demons lie in this area that bring such insanity to our people?







19th Sandstone
I have repelled the demon that has possessed my old friend. Reclaiming the artifact Kabzursul. A Tetrahedrite Mechanism worth 25,000 Gnomeblight coins





1st Granite, 1065

It appears I did not export my map in year 1065.




5th Granite, 1065 - Ukat's Random Letter

I have an idea!

I was looking at the Giant Cave Spider's cage today, considering it's venomous power and unparalleled arachnid strength. It was mesmerizing, it's placid black eyes sensually drawing me towards it's cage while it's spinnerets waited idly as I putted about the cage stockpile. Oh how I yerned for that silk, so pleasent and smooth... and only avilible when the great spider was killing something.

That's when it struck me. Why couldn't we let it kill things? Say, a labyrinth below the temple, chock full of goblin cages, pitfalls for the goblins, and cage traps. If executed properly, not only could we easily dispost of any prisoners stupid enough to attack us, but we could also gather tons of the valuable and wonderful silk from our fell beats.

I've told Rikkir about it, and she has put it to the others.

[illiterate]

I just want  to say that I absolutely love the way you're taking care of the dwarves that become possessed.

You took on GCS, put your entire tribe on a hunger strike so someone would eat the turtle.. 

I realize population is limited, but taking on the GCS wouldn't have seemed like the smartest bet.  You could have lost other workers to the spider and still lost the possessed one. 

It's refreshing after so many threads where the "voice" has a noble and callous tone towards the other members of the tribe, chuckles wryly about a possessed dwarf being starved to death rather than risk a tantrum around the other dwarves. 

Kudos.  I rarely find time to play the game, but this thread keeps my coming back to the forum every day. 

[Jamini]

I just want  to say that I absolutely love the way you're taking care of the dwarves that become possessed.

You took on GCS, put your entire tribe on a hunger strike so someone would eat the turtle.. 

I realize population is limited, but taking on the GCS wouldn't have seemed like the smartest bet.  You could have lost other workers to the spider and still lost the possessed one. 

The only real risk to any dwarves would be if spiders can climb their webs across z-levels. I knew where it was by elimination (no other chasm creatures in it's home) and I knew I could capture it in a cage trap provided it didn't eat my miner. Just to make sure that it didn't kill anyone I had two other legendary dwarves covering Rikkir, and all of them were in plate armor (I turned on hunting for Rikkir when the wildlife were slugmen, meaning she wore what armor she could plus her trusty/deadly pick). I doubted that the GCS could have killed three legendary dwarves with "No Rank" and higher weapon skills at any rate.
 
The turtle on the other hand I just handled in a way my previous experiances taught me was the best. The new stock screens make it very easy to forbid meals until the elusive shell is produced. With over ten dwarves it's pretty often that one or two will get hungry after a week or so, and the more you have the more they eat.
 
In both cases the touchiest part was how long the operations took. Near the end of the GCS capturing operation I was getting really nervous that I'd run out of time. Finding it and getting Ukat (who is not legendary and at that time had no agility boosts!) to build the trap took the longest. Granted, I could have shot the spider dead, but I wanted it alive in case I needed silk in the future.

[Beardless]

How did you do that?  I had the same situation with the shells in my own fortress a while back, and following the same steps, it took me two months to convince one of my eighty dwarves to eat a turtle.  I think I had more than one turtle prepared, too!

By the way, I've been enjoying the story immensely.  I also like the way you've handled the possessions, making it something really strange and downright creepy rather than the "ho-hum, another possession" like so many do.