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[Bluerobin]

Aww... you got me beat up already? 

Should be interesting.

[chonger]

21st of Felsite, 202.
 
"Giant bat! Everyone outside! Now!" Eric cried, "Now!"

Strife was the first dwarf out; His copper pick barely slowing him down. Robin was ahead of him - almost home, but still too far away.

Robin had made it over the ridge. He was on the clearing leading to the main shaft. His legs felt like clay; His lungs burned like magma; His eyes stung with sweat, and the stench of the bat nauseated him. The bat was a hideous thing. It was as large as a vulture. Its body was covered with scars, hairless except for random patches of long gray weedy tufts. But the worst was the stink. Robin had smelled it even before he saw it. 

The bat crashed into Robin, sending them both tumbling along the ground like a large leathery boulder. Strife was on top of them in a flash, striking his pick with force enough to split granite. A geyser of green ichor spewed from the creature, but it didn't even flinch. Coolhat and Maggarg quickly joined them, hacking away at the creature with all their might, also without any apparent effect. It was a flash of steel that finally put it to rest. Rimtar arrived and sliced off the bat's body with a well calculated strike.

Robin stood up. He was covered in green and red. The bat's head was still attached to his right arm; Its large, cold fangs buried deep into his flesh. With his good arm, Robin pried the monster's head loose and tossed it to the ground. It was dead. It was dead long before they even met.

Eric convened an emergency meeting that night. It doesn't look like he was going to have Sunberry wine anytime soon.

[Keldor]

Looking at my profile, I notice that Keldor was "forced to talk to someone annoying lately"  Does this mean he already has a grudge, and if so, against who?

[chonger]

Here you go:



OOC: Moved all the images to a different host. I didn't realize photobucket was resizing all my images and converting them into huge files (100kb - 200kb). The thread should load much faster now.

[Bluerobin]

Wow... disagreeable much?  I'm hoping "Long-term acquaintance" stays that way rather than becoming another grudge.

[sonerohi]

He said my hat smelled bad! I hat him I hat him I hate him! Keldor started it all!

[Maggarg - Eater of chicke]

Huh, young folk.
In my day we never 'ad time fer grudgin'. I were down the mines all day and night.
'Undred years on I'm still down the mines. Lest this place ain't wet like that blasted salty mire.

[Keldor]

Bah!  Those miners and their silly mines!  I can't see what ye would possibly see in dark, cold corridors and deep featureless pits.  Fer meself, I'll take a nice mead hall, with hot food an' good ale!

Oh, yeah, if ye see that Coolhat, tell her she need to be washin' that grimy old piece of headgear.  I know that the grime help to protect the head, but by Armok's beard, that hat is simply ridiculous!

As fer that Strife, she should stop pesterin' me about that damn pick shaft an' make herself a new one!  It's not like it be very hard!  Just find a nice stick and smooth an' shape it so the head fits on.  At the very least, she could bring me the wood an' make sure to do it when I don't be busy cookin!

OOC:  I've rarely seen dwarves with a single grudge, but Keldor has TWO!  I suppose he must be the dour, grumpy type.

[chonger]

7th of Hematite, 202.

Hoary marmots are large rodents that live mainly in alpine areas. The hoary marmot has thick, silvery-gray fur on its head, shoulders and half of its back. The hoary marmot eats a variety of grasses, green plants and seeds. It often eats snow to get the water it needs. - Dwarfcyclopedia

The skeletal hoary marmot has no fur. It thrives off a steady diet of unlucky dwarves.

The dwarves slumped against the entrance to the fort, exhausted from their battle with the skeletal marmots. Maggarg was the first to get back up, scavenging the bones of the dead/undead/un-un-undead. "Hey, Maggarg! What are you doing?" Keldor asked.

"Don't you worry, I have a plan". Maggarg had carved out a crossbow and bolts out of the bones of the undead. To him, there was only one way to avenge the attack on Robin. He would slay every damn bat he sees with the bones of their brethrens.

A tiny head peeked out from the entrance to the fort. "Well, back to work!" Eric prompted his dwarves, "The clock is a-ticking! We need to be ready before winter!" The dwarves reluctantly headed back into the fort. Rimtar stayed. She stood intently, watching the north. The rest of the dwarves shuffled into the cave, leaving just Rimtar and Eric outside.

"What's wrong?" Eric asked.

"We think we've been hearing the howls of wolves at night." Rimtar replied, "They are coming from The Old Forest, and they seem to get closer each night."

"Yeah, I remember hearing the dwarves talking about wolves." Eric shrugged, "Hmm... well, there's not much we can do about it. Our numbers are too few." He looked at Rimtar and smiled, trying to reassure her, "Let's just go inside. Don't worry about it."

Rimtar sighed, "I know.... But we can't just sit here and wait, Eric. They are coming for us. I don’t know how else to put this, but we're the only edible things around here."

Eric wringed his hands, "Well, what can we do?"

Eric looked at Rimtar with an awkward frown, waiting for her answer. Rimtar didn't know what to say... "Aye... Forget it, I'll figure something out."

That night, Rimtar found herself standing at the foot of the Teeth. She swung her axe hard, biting into an ancient high wood. "Eric was right", she thought, "We are too few to hunt the hunters." But she said she'd figure something out... it's a long shot, but it was a shot. She'd cut down The Old Forest.

[chonger]

EDIT: I made a mistake here. I found out that the merchants do not always come from the save civilization you come. Need to rewrite this part of the story...

EDIT: Nope - Even worse, I had been using the wrong originating civ! I had this fortress mixed up with a previous test fortresse. I will fix this in a moment.

[chonger]

14th of Limestone, 202


"Traders from Kivish Nokgol, the Lancer of Riddles, have arrived!", Keldor came running to Eric, "Eric, they are asking for you. Come!"

"Traders from Kivish Nokgol?" Eric was shocked, "... Are you sure?" He could not believe what he heard, but he still allowed Keldor to lead him down the hallway. Is this is a joke? Maybe the dwarves are throwing a surprise party for him? Could it really be traders? Eric could not figure out how they got here so soon; It took the Connected Board 5 years to get here!

Keldor brought Eric to the trading table and introduced him as the broker of Channeledwanes. After some brief exchange of pleasantry, Eric asked the master trader the questions that were burning on his mind. "How did you guy find us? How did you get here so fast?"

"Remembered the credit forms you filled out back home? Well, I don't know how the company knew you were here... They just told me to come and find you." The trader forced a smile, "It actually took us quite a while to get here. You guys have gone pretty far north!"

The trader laid out a map before Eric, "There's really only one way to get here, north and around the Teeth."



"The whole trip took about 4 month. Well, there was just one way. Our men are digging a tunnel across the Teeth to make future trips quicker. Why do you ask?"

"We can talk about that later; It's not important. Let's get to business. What did you bring?"

The fort was lacking in trade goods except a few stonecraft Maggarg has created in his free. In return, the dwarves were able to obtain some fresh booze and meat for the coming winer.

Later, Eric was able to figure out what had gone wrong. Strife, and the Elven map Eric had acquired directed them to go west. This was the path they took:



Eric would explain to the dwarves that the Queen of Kivish Nokgol had created a special trade route to Channeledwanes. It would be a testament to the great potentials of this fort.

[chonger]

16th of Sandstone, 202

Migrants have arrived!

We have:
Cheesemaker
Fish Dissector
Fish Cleaner
2 x Peasant
Metalcrafter
Butcher
Ranger

[chonger]

21st of Sandstone, 1 Channeledwanes

Immigrants have been flocking to Channeledwanes with dreams of freedom, wealth, and a chance to make history. The latest wave of immigrants volunteered to join the much needed defense force. This is an engraving of four recruits fighting against a zombie bat.



21st of Sandstone, 202
We have arrived in Channeledwanes, for better or for worse. The mayor has drafted us into the "militia", telling us we must earn our keep. He then told us that our equipment will arrive shortly. There are undeads everywhere. Why did the Queen send us here?

The mayor is calling for us. There is some kind of zombie bat outside that he wants us to get rid of. I hope we survive through the night.

[chonger]

21st of Sandstone, 202

OOC: I think we can write off Vabôk the Ranger. He is missing his left lower leg. He is unconscious (but conscious enough to know he's unhappy). It took 8 dwarves to bring the bat down, including Rimtar (with a steel battleaxe), Coolhat and Strife (with picks), and a new recruit armed with Maggarg's udead x-bow.



This is a picture of Vabôk's leg. I wonder if there's some way to preserve it. I wish a dwarf makes an artifact weapon out of it.

[Keldor]

Well, by Armok's bloody beard, that funky philosopher back in Abbeyverse was right!  The world really do be shaped like a giant plump helmet!  How else can ye explain us gettin' here, unless Eric's sense of direction is even worse that I thought!