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[Rysith]

From the journal of the Countess îton Gimgoden, Autumn 113

 I continue to be astonished at the speed with which the fortress resumed functioning after the battles of this summer. Not a day passed after the debris of the siege had been swept from the field before the skilled craftsdwarves were back at work, producing more of the fine crafts that I had seen on my entrance to Lanternwebs. Those without skill, or who were skilled only in an unneeded profession, were quickly outfitted in shining steel plate mail, plate mail that they must have simply had lying around for the speed with which it was distributed. Offering all dwarves a chance at glory in craft or combat strikes me as a remarkable service.

I can also see now why they believe a fortress guard to be unneeded. With nearly three out of every five dwarves in active military service, no hostile being could hope to get far into the fortress. And with the fine crafts, food, and drink flowing as freely as they do, who can help but be happy? It seems that nobody here is unhappy enough to commit crimes, and even without the threat of hammering mandates are filled almost immediately. They even gave me a golden door to my rooms without me even asking! All I had done was mention to Unib that my favorite metal of all was gold, and the next day it turned up. I can hardly imagine such a thing happening in the mountainhomes, where dwarves must be coerced to give nobles what they deserve with the threat of jail time and hammerings.

The actual events of the fortress, though, are not worth recording. In the forges, the smelters work constantly to re-forge the iron of the orcs into steel weapons and armor for our warriors, as if we needed more. In the barracks, the new recruits are being trained in the ways of combat by the champions of Lanternwebs. In the farms, our dwarves work tirelessly to provide the others with the food and drink that they require. The entire fortress runs along without fault.

Tosid has come to me asking for permission to begin a construction project in the mountains, which I saw no reason to deny. I've seen that the beginnings of a gate have already been constructed there, and no doubt he intends to expand on that. His project, however, has gotten me thinking about other construction projects that Lanternwebs could undertake, with its skill and wealth. I'm sure that, in time, we may even convince the Queen herself to take up residence here.

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Finishing up summer now, and beginning Phase Two of Tosid's plan. Phase Three is now scheduled for after the Queen arrives, for story reasons. Nothing much is happening, Lanternwebs pretty much manages itself when there aren't orcs to be fought.

The new recruits bring us up to 67 out of 117 dwarves in the military full-time, mostly because that's how many it feels like I need to engage the orcs. They aren't just shields + spears, but it's almost the Spartan challenge.

Since we've got a Tax Collector now, I'll probably be posting stocks + map every autumn, to coincide with his reports to the mountainhome.

[Wizardmon]

This is a amazing fortress, I can only try to dream about making a fortress like this one.

If it's not any trouble, I would like to be a novice swords dwarf.

If Wizardmon is too strange of a name for a dwarf, you can name him Shay Legutko.

Thanks for writing all this.

[ToonyMan]

I'm sure if he allowed 'The Tooninator', he would allow 'Wizardmon'.  Just my thought.   

[Rysith]

Census for Lanternwebs, prepared in Autumn 113 by Endok Dedukrotod, Tax Collector

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

According to the excellently-kept stocks, the wealth of Lanternwebs was slightly greater than 10.3 million at the moment that the dwarven caravan arrived. Due to the odd economic system that Lanternwebs keeps, they have opted to pay their tax communally. Goods, primarily clothing and armor, totaling 103,000 have been entrusted with the caravan upon their departure for transport back to the mountainhomes.

Within the military, many of the soldiers of Lanternwebs have accumulated an impressive number of kills on the field of battle. No less than ten of them have been granted titles, and the moral remains high. This moral is in no small part encouraged by the latest addition to the barracks, a skeletal troll captured from the nearby chasm and held in a steel cage as a centerpiece.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

   
   
   
   
   
   
   

The mood among the non-military dwarves is similarly high. Lanternwebs is wealthy enough to spend resources on everyone, and even as I prepare this report I can hear engravers on the floor above my office covering the walls with images glorifying the skill at crafts and at arms of the dwarves of Lanternwebs.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Despite the apparent danger from invading forces, the military continues to hold the orcs and goblins at bay, albeit with some losses. The proper funeral rites are always held, though, and there seems to be no danger of a breakdown of law and order. I am pleased to report that all mandates thus far have been fulfilled quickly and without complaint.

No other comments. I await the next caravan, that I may properly report Lanternweb's progress.

-------------
A bit boring, but hopefully Endok's census-taking will provide a regular way to display the stocks (and next year, the map). I think it's better than just saying "Here is the current stocks screen, here are the kill counts". That's all the named dwarves with kills, by the way, so if you don't see yourself on it it means that you don't have any notable kills yet. That's not all that surprising, though, since I've been fighting orcish archers with melee troops on open ground recently, which means that I don't send out non-legendary shield users. Hopefully we'll get some more melee orcs in the next few sieges, or some goblin ambushes, and then everyone can get some kills.

Wizardmon, I've got you a dwarf, but since he has a bit of history behind him I'm going to introduce him in a separate post later today.

[Rysith]

Wizardmon knelt on one knee on the packed clay floor of the barracks, his head bowed to stare at his steel-armored foot. In front of him, The Tooninator was addressing the new swordsdwarves, speaking of honor and glory, orcs and goblins, beakdogs and arrows. Wizardmon kept looking at his boot, struggling to keep his mind on The Tooninator's speech. Along the inside of the leg, he could see a complex pattern centered around two interlocking Os, proof that his boot, and indeed his entire suit of armor, had been forged by Olin Oltaros, Master Armorer of Lanternwebs, his father.

His mind wandered back to the journey to Lanternwebs, when he was young. The fear as they listened to the sounds of the night, strange and hostile, huddled in their wagon. The hopelessness as their leader had announced, as their wagon sank slowly into the swamps of the Stinky Murk, that he didn't know where they were or how to get to Lanternwebs. The sadness when his mother, long sickened by the bite of some foul swamp insect, had finally been unable to walk any farther and had collapsed, their leader insisting that they had to leave her behind or all suffer the same fate. And at last the joy as they finally arrived at Lanternwebs, their starving stomachs filled with syrup biscuits and their parched throats splashed with beer and rum.

The Tooninator kept talking, now about the training that he would have to endure as part of the Lanternwebs militia. He knew that he didn't need to listen, now. His father was good friends with most of the soldiers, and had told him stories, late at night, of the clashes between the dwarves and the orcs. He had seen, too, the armor brought down to his father's forge for repairs after battle, the shining steel plates marred by deep dents or pierced through by iron arrow shafts. But his father had encouraged him to join, saying that it would be only fitting for him to be forging the steel that protected his son.

He glanced sideways, and caught the eye of Astesh, kneeling next to him. She, too, had been a survivor of the trek to Lanternwebs, and they had grown up together as close friends. Once they were both adults, that friendship had blossomed into romance, fueled by their mutual experiences on the journey and long hours spent talking to each other once they had arrived. He had been the one to suggest joining the military, but she had said that her father, Litast Koltathur, had been urging her in the same direction. Joking, she said, that he'd be honored to engrave her victories in battle on the fortress walls. Now they knelt, side by side, as The Tooninator continued to give his welcoming speech.

"... And now," said The Tooninator, "Knowing what lies before you, honor and death, orcs and beakdogs, hardship and glory, are there any among you that would turn back? That would falter before anything presented to you, that would not look the very demons of the underworld themselves in the eye without blinking? For that may be asked, even demanded of you should you choose to stay. Let the dwarf who would never retreat and never surrender, no matter the odds, stand now!"

Wizardmon stood without hesitation, feeling the smooth joints of the armor slide against each other as he rose, his gaze locked ahead, his visor up. Astesh stood after him, her face showing the same determination that it had when her mother had been taken in the night by wolves, and they had sworn to each other than they would keep going, no matter what happened. Behind him, he could hear other recruits rising, some of them stumbling slightly as the blood rushed from their heads. Gradually, all twelve dwarves in the room came to their feet, rattling plates as they shifted under the unaccustomed weight.

"Then welcome, my friends." said The Tooninator. "Welcome to the swordsdwarves of Lanternwebs. May your lives be long and your deaths be glorious."

The Tooninator stepped forward, offering a short sword hilt-first to Wizardmon. Along the finely-crafted blade he could see the mark of Skjald, a good friend of his father and the master weaponsmith of Lanternwebs. With her weapons to fight with, his father's armor to protect him, and Astesh's father to engrave his glory for all time, he feared nothing as he sheathed the sword and prepared for his first sparring session.

Wizardmon

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Astesh

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[ToonyMan]

Good read ol'chap.

[Rysith]

From the journal of the Countess îton Gimgoden, early Winter, 113

  Autumn has come and gone, and with it the dwarven caravan. The liason was extremely polite when I asked him if he could be sure to bring some fortification agate for Mebzuth, promising some cut stones next year. I'll have the jeweler set them into a nice ring for him, or something like that. The liason also asked if we still wanted "the usual", which I agreed to. I haven't had a chance to speak to Unib about what Lanternwebs imports, but they seem to have a good idea of what they need.

Has it really been eight months that I've been living here? On the one hand, I can scarcely believe that it has been so long, and I have not even begun to understand the workings of the fortress. Everything seems to work so well, I'm almost afraid to touch anything for fear that it will break. And Unib seems to do it without any effort on his part, too. Every time I see him, he's relaxing with the children in the statue garden. I really must ask him his secret sometime.

On the other, I can scarcely believe that I have seen so much in so little a time. Everyone in Lanternwebs seems constantly busy, perpetually rushing around doing this or that. When I arrived, it was cleaning up after a siege. When that was done, it was expanding the lower caverns. In the summer, it was cleaning up again. During that time, enough images that would have been remarkable at the mountainhomes were inscribed on the walls that they seem normal. Of course, the forges below work constantly to re-forge the battlefield salvage, and the military is training constantly. And none of that compares to the two true works of art that have been created.

These are works that are to Lanternweb's typical crafts as those typical crafts are to the common crafts of the Mountainhomes. The first, named Cuggàn Morusmozib by its creator, was the chestnut ring that I wrote of earlier. The second made me see why its creation was seen as typical. Early in Sandstone the clothier produced a cotton head veil even more elaborate than the ring, four days after waking the entire fortress with his proclamation of inspiration. The headband is studded with steel and encircled with intertwining bands of green glass and emerald-dyed cotton and a spiked halo of giant eagle bones and cotton cloth project around the brow. The band alone would have been an amazing work even without the veil attached. The fringe of the veil itself is done in an astonishing pattern of cotton and more green glass, the green glass picking out repeated geometric patterns that continue until they become so small that they are lost to sight.  On the veil, there is an image of Kib Amkolrigòth the Fields of Scalding delivering the killing axe-stroke to an orc, the needlework both obscuring the face of the wearer and providing them clear sight at the same time. The masterpiece is finished with a scene of the founding of the mountainhomes in a masterfully worked piece of sardonyx, along with tiny hanging rings of steel, to weight the veil. No wonder the dwarves here think of such events as only mildly interesting, if they happen twice a year!

Autumn also brought us a birth, and a death. One of the new recruits, Adtan Stizashkigòth, died in a training accident, despite his armor. His death, though, was eased by the birth of Edëm Onslaughtglove, the son of Momuz Ebalustuth and Bim Ensebeshtân the Mechanical Woods of Binding, two of our sword champions.

Some of the minor nobles have been taking advantage of Lanternweb's wealth for their own benefit, though I was happy to seethe platinum statue that Endok ordered gracing the communal dining room rather than her personal quarters.  I personally will remain happy as long as they export no gold. We'll need all of it that we can get for the project I have in mind. I'm sure that Oddom will be willing to help, once I lay the plans out for him.

[WorkerDrone]

Now then. Gather 'round lads. Here be a fightin' song. Pick up that there fiddle, and no time for dribble. Thats right!

O'!
While we be drinking up there lads, the nobles be callin' plans!
To siege the Orcish Stronghold!

O'!
While we may be short, and they be tall, what a plan it is to all!
The savage lands 'round the Band, but we strike them all down alone!

O'!
While we may be outnumbered lads, don't forget those plans, to burn that Stronghold!
Where you might find the promised lands, there be orcs lads, so bring about, and fire now, for the Dwarven Band!

O'!
So look and hear your old friend the sword, and charge the gates forlorn, you'll be sure to win against that foul Orcish band, fighting alone!

O'!
Nay I say, to those who weep the loss, you shan't be alone, in that promised land!

Warriors Tomb!

Warriors Tomb!

I'a! I'a! I'a!


Ahahaha! 'right lads! Time for some killin'!

[Rysith]

"All dwarves inside!" shouted Tosid. He watched as the dwarves in the statue garden scattered underground to the dining room, their eyes searching for some unseen attacker that would force them deep underground. The military of Lanternwebs had long been strong enough to guarantee their safety outside, even during the orcish sieges, and now they whispered among each other as they speculated what could have worried their leaders enough to hide them.

"Was that really needed?" Asked Flint, glancing at Tosid. "You just need them out of the entranceway, not the whole aboveground."

"It's the furnace operators, mostly." Replied Tosid. "They keep coming out to the pile we've got over there to melt down the orcish equipment. I'm not taking chances with even one of them stepping out there. All clear? Stand by, grates! Pull the Lever!"

The Duke, standing ready at his lever, pulled the blue cobaltite lever. For several seconds, the tick of gears and counterweights could be heard faintly throughout the fortress until, with a rumbling sound, a floodgate beneath the farms slid upwards.

"Eight...Nine...Ten!" Tosid counted excitedly to himself, the "ten" punctuated by the distinctive "snap" as half of the entrance way grates snapped down onto their steel pillars. He continued to mutter to himself until, with another shifting of counterweights, the grates swapped, solid footing replaced by empty air and empty air full once more.

"Stand by, spikes! Pull the Lever!" Tosid shouted, as below him Skjald activated her lever, once more filling the lower levels with the shifting of counterweights. The forest of spikes at the bottom shot upwards just as the grates switched once more, their steel points glittering in the autumn sun.

"A quite worthy defense." said Flint admiringly, as the spikes retracted and the grates toggled again. "Even the strongest army would be unable to resist such a device."

"Stand by, grates and spikes! Disengage!" Shouted Tosid. Within seconds, the entrance had been restored to safety, and the spikes beneath ceased their movement. The Deathtrap of Lanternwebs was operational!

---------
Time for some killing, indeed. We're entering winter now, so hopefully we'll either get goblins (training fodder for the non-champions) or Orcs (worthy opponents and/or test participants for the deathtrap. Possibly both.)

Movie up later tonight! Movie upload delayed, but now available here The grates aren't perfectly in sync, but it still works quite well. Orcs could also theoretically sprint across it, but a squad of dwarves on "hold ground" should be able to handle anything that gets over. Too bad pressure plates don't work in adventure mode, or this could turn into a "Fun" bit for any adventurers.

[Rysith]

"Only a few hundred blocks." Muttered Tosid. In front of him, spread out on the dolomite table of his office, were a set of elaborate plans, their details finely colored in emerald dye. Along the side was a list of materials, scribbled in almost as an afterthought to the grand design: a hundred or so mechanisms and cages, several hundred dolomite blocks, and a single entry for "scaffolds". "But what should the cages be? Iron? Steel?"

"What is it?" Asked the Countess, stepping into the small room behind Tosid to peer over his shoulder.

"Nothing!" Yelped Tosid, frantically rolling the plans together and shoving the roll of cloth under the table. "Why are you in here, anyway?"

"I've been asking around a bit, and it seems like you are the person to talk to about large construction projects." She replied, pulling out a scroll from her cloak and unrolling it on the table. "The deathtrap in the entranceway feels like your design, too. How difficult would it be for us to build this?"

Tosid looked over the scroll, his eyes taking in the grand scheme that it detailed. Where he would have used rock, the Countess wanted gold, seeking to impose her construction from the landscape rather than have it blend in. But, he reflected, when it was completed it would mark Lanternwebs far more than their archery tower ever could.

"We've got the gold, sure." Tosid said, stroking his beard and pointing at the plans. "But it will never support the weight over here. Gold's a soft metal, nice for decoration, but you'd end up with dents and folding in no time. You'd do better to make the sides out of steel. Keeping the center gold should be fine, though. Same with the pillars, really. Much better to have them be steel rather than gold, especially with that weight on top of them."

"What about the statues?" The Countess asked, a worried expression on her face. "Can those stay as gold? I'd like as much of it as possible to be gold, really. It has such a nice shine to it."

"The statues are fine, I'm sure Oddom can make some rather nice ones." Tosid said. "Replacing the outside with steel, you're looking at a few hundred bars of gold for that, and another few hundred of steel. The miners will need to get to work digging out the gold, but we've got a few veins of it, so there should be enough."

"Excellent!" Said the Countess, slipping the plans back inside her cloak. "I'll tell Unib to have the workers get started on it immediately."

Tosid watched as she hurried out of the office and sighed. The nobility were always so impractical with their plans.

--------------------
What do you do when there aren't any sieges? Build megaprojects! Hopefully the winter siege will delay them long enough for migrants to show up, though they might be delayed anyway since îton's project will require me to make several hundred metal blocks, which is going to take a while.

As long as I'm planning megaprojects (and especially since the map is on the DFMA now), any other megaprojecty requests? Phase II and îton's will likely take priority, but I want to have several lined up in case I stop getting sieged for whatever reason. Right now I'd confidently say that we have an inexhaustable supply of green glass, iron, and steel (and stone, of course), and that we can comfortably make plenty of clear glass, copper and gold.

[Xanares]

Back from gfx-card throwing tantrums on me.
I don't have any suggestions for projects; I am enjoying the story though.

[Eagle]

A giant glass quadruple helix, reaching up to the topmost layer. Ive got it all drawn out somewhere, i can post it later if you're intrested.

[Grath]

New poster to this thread, just got back to reading the community games and stories...
I suggest a large temple to whatever god the mayor worships.

[Wizardmon]

A tower with a "charge" on it, so that when things go under it you can pull a lever and crush orcs to death.

[Xanares]

Somehow I like the idea of Tosid moulding the countess project into something of his own liking, like a temple on the outside, but really a deathtrap or something else in the sinister avenue.