After finding a site with the potential for a lot of FUN, I've decided to try my hand at doing a DF story fortress. I'm gonna' make this a community fort so, if you want a dwarf, claim a dwarf!
I'll do my best to accommodate.
One thing I decided to experiment with, in telling this tale as it unfolds, is ample use of the stonesense visualizer along with a WoW model viewer; so when claiming a dwarf, be sure to also choose what color hair (blond, orange, black, white, grey) you want in addition to job(s) and gender.
So without further ado...
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A group of seven dwarves set out from the Mountainhomes with what few supplies they could carry; a common story in the history of the dwarven race. Their destination was a mountainous land long untouched by civilization, the Horn of Fragments! The dwarves of Thalal would use the land’s untapped resources to bring about a new glorious era for the dwarven people!
Of course, that’s not what the king told his court after their expedition leader had left his office, charter in hand.
“That fool wants to start a needless war! We’ve been at peace with the elves for almost a generation, yet she and her supporters want to start the Great North War all over again! I will not let my kingdom be dragged into her vendetta!”
“Your majesty, if that’s the case, then why give her and her supporters a charter to start a new settlement? You know they’ll provoke the elves into a conflict if given the chance.”
“True. That’s why I sent them to a place where they won’t have a chance. The Horn of Fragments is perhaps the most treacherous place in the world; they say its hot enough to melt a magma man and it is teeming with vicious monsters. No, they won’t live long enough to provoke the elves.”
They say nobles are at the mercy of a dwarf with a lever, however it is also said that expedition leaders are at the mercy of the king. Hail to the king, baby!
The settlers were led by Sally Cloutedarmors, a political rabble rouser expelled from the mountainhomes for her radical ideology of aggressive imperial expansion. But was her ideology as abhorrent as the king claimed? After all, can the dwarves not all agree that they are superior to all other species, especially elves? All land belongs to the dwarves, darn it, and ought to be purged of the hippie menace! Yet the king insists that an unnecessarily belligerent war with the elves would be dangerous.
“Ha! Our king is a coward, does he not realize that dwarven door technology thwarts their puny minds?”
Regardless… perhaps it wasn’t a good idea to call him a coward to his face…
Sally and her supporters were promptly expelled from the mountainhomes… or as Sally sees it, given a charter to settle a land crucial to dwarven national interests!
Julius Hallshimmered is her second in command. He is often nervous, but a creative sort. He will be the chief strategist, assuming they all survive the new land…
They traveled along a brook until they reached a suitable site to settle.
As if to prove Julius’s point, two skeletal cyclopses suddenly emerged from a nearby cave and charged at the caravan!
The dwarves knew they would have to strike the earth quickly if any of them were to survive. So they quickly dug a ditch around their caravan, though after the ditch was complete, Sally, Julius, and a peasant were on the outside of the safe perimeter! With the skeletal cyclopses closing in fast, there wasn’t much time remaining to dig to safety.
“You, minion!” Sally exclaimed as she grabbed and pushed the peasant in front of herself and Julius, “Go stop those monsters for us. Julius and I are gonna’ dig deep and, uh…”
“Strategize” chimed Julius.
“Aye! Strategize!”
“Well, I’m sure your cowardice is good for the cause…” the resigned peasant sighed as he watched them dig a fox hole.
“For Thalal!” the peasant shouted as he charged the cyclopses. Conviction in the cause powered his every muscle as he raced towards inevitability.
Julius quickly looked of his shoulder as he dug. Most of the peasant was now smeared on the skeletal frame of the cyclops. He didn’t buy them much time. Julius suddenly felt inspired to dig quicker. In fact, he dug so quickly that he left Sally behind when he sealed the way shut behind him.
“Hey, what about me!?” Sally angrily shouted.
“Find your own hole!” was the response.
But it was too late for Sally to find another hole, for the cyclops was upon her! There was nothing left to do but run, and run she did!
Luckily for Sally, she was not alone. One of the horses that had carried the caravan to that wretched land ran alongside her. And luckily for Sally, the skeletal cyclops decided that horse would be its appetizer. As the cyclops mauled the horse, Sally was able to dig her own fox hole. Of course, Sally had also crossed the brook to get to safety, so it would be awhile before she could mine her way to the others…
Of course, the two skeletal cyclopses, with no more prey within reach, decided to surround the caravan. Though they could not reach it thanks to the ditch, their fearsome visage would prevent any dwarves from daring to go near the wagon, cutting the dwarves off from their supplies.
Julius pondered the problem. “To get the supplies, we’re going to have to dig out from under the wagon and collapse it into a hole away from the cyclopses. To do that, we’ll need a support column and a mechanics shop. We can also get some water by tapping the brook, but first we’ll need to control for flooding, which means we need to construct a masonry shop, then one flood hatch. If we start to starve, we managed to recover a donkey which could be slaughtered. Now that Sally appears to be gone, probably forever, I’ll have to assume command.”
And so the dwarves set about fulfilling Julius’s plan whilst unbeknownst to them, Sally was digging a path to them under the river. But soon the scorching heat began to take its toll on the dwarves… they were quickly becoming dehydrated. They needed to tap the brook ASAP!
Just before tapping the brook, a brave dwarf managed to retrieve a rum barrel from the caravan. Julius quickly confiscated the barrel, claiming he needed it to strategize.
As Julius strategized, a worker tapped into the brook. Suddenly realization dawned on Julius, “Oh no…”
To err is human, to flood your home is dwarven.
Julius and the donkey were caught in the flood. The donkey quickly drowned. So much for livestock. Julius clung to the rum barrel as he vainly tried to escape the flood, but it quickly became apparent he would not escape with his life. He gripped the rum barrel tight. So in his final moments, Julius did what any doomed dwarf would do. He drank.
Only a dwarf could manage to find a way to drown in a mountain.
Soon after Julius’s death, Sally finally caught up with the survivors. They told her that the cyclopses were still outside, cutting off wagon access, they had no food (but ample water), and Julius had died.
Julius II first tried fishing… he dug a hole into the flooded part of the base and stuck his hand in the water hoping to grab a fish. That didn’t work. Meanwhile everyone was beginning to starve. The dwarves would ignore everything else and run to the wagon, only to spot the cyclopses and rethink their actions.
It was then that Julius II had an epiphany. They had all seen the cyclopses come out of a cave… there might be animals to hunt and eat in there!
Higgens dug until he breached the cave walls and lo’ and behold, there were live cave crabs there to hunt. The crabs were concerned.
As a hunter bagged a crab kill, a miner raced to warn Julius II that the cyclopses had left the wagon and were coming to the cave. The dwarves were now able to bring the wagon supplies underground and Sally had ordered the route to the cave be cut off. Of course, the miner dug a ditch before Julius II could leave the cave, trapping him in with the monsters.
Dwarven instinct dictates that when cornered by inevitable doom, a dwarf becomes his most dwarfy. Some dwarves confront danger head on, some dwarves ignore danger and head to the nearest booze stock pile, and some dwarves dig. As for Julius II… he dug. He desperately dug into the wall of the cave, even as he heard heavy footsteps echoing through the caverns. He barely managed to seal himself into the enclave he dug when the cyclops rounded a corner and appeared before his eyes. Yet, the cyclops could do nothing, for Julius II was safe. Julius II then dug his way back to base to report his suspicions to the others…
…the cave crabs have formed a necromancer death cult! They were the ones controlling the undead abominations roaming the land!
Of course, now the dwarves have their supplies, including an anvil. And they know where a copper deposit is. The time has come to prepare some weapons and armor. The time has come to fight back!
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Topic: Settling in the Horn of Fragments was a Good Idea! (Community) (Read 4872 times)