Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Kipi]

Here is the story of fortress Conflictcamp of Fears, founded by only survivors of fortress Spiritgear and written by the leader Rith Lolorsterus. Last survivors of The Dagger of Urns clan, after falling of Spiritgear the clan turned their name to Prison of Doom, chased down by goblins for generations, their only hope is to build new fortress to be able to survive.


Note: As I started playing this fortress again, I may consider to allow dwarves to be taken. The starting seven is not available, though, and due the civilization supposedly being extinct there probably won't be many possibilities other than babies when born.

So, if you like a dwarf, post a name and possible profession and I see if it's possible. Due the limitations of the number of dwarves not all job requests may be possible.

And comments in general are always welcome!

Prologue:

We are the last survivors of The Daggers of Urns. We are also the last survivors from the fortress Spiritgear, which crumbled to its end only year after the foundation. Hundreds of years ago we were thriving community with population over hundreds, perhaps even thousands. But it all fell, and our grandparents had to flee the mountainhome decades ago. With only few survivor left, they wandered around the world, not staying one place too long. The legends go that the original reason of the falling was mad king who refuses to allocate any defense, thus leading to the complete destruction when the goblins decided to siege. The destruction was swift and only handfull survived. Chased by goblin force they fled, hiding where they could. Always the goblins found them forcing the them to move again.

After decades of moving the fortress of Spiritgear was established. That happened at the year 1051, only two years ago. I was with the founders back then. Our hopes were high as there had been no sights of goblins in several years. So we decided to settle down, rebuild our society and revive The Dagger of Urns.

Everything went well, we got some wandering migrants from other fortresses. We never questioned their motives of joining our community nor why they were wandering. Most of them were castouts, but we did not care. And that became the main architect of the destruction of Spiritgear.

It turned out one of the migrants was atually goblin spy. Probably he had been kidnapped by goblins when he was still child, it's known that such things has happened. While living in goblin community he had adopted the hatred against the his fellow dwarves, hatred which has sparked several wars. The same hatred is probably behind the war between us and goblins. Nevrtheless, this dwarf, I don't know his name nore I don't know anyone who does, disabled the defense mechanisms which controlled the bridges forming the entrance to Spiritgear, allowing the goblins enter without obstacles. When the presence of goblins were noticed, they were already inside and the bloodpath had already begun. The battle was short but fierce, and over nearly one hundred dwarves lost their lifes. The number of casualties of goblins is unknown, though the halls were full of bodies at the end of the battle. But finally the goblins were driven out, perhaps one of the leaders were killed. The reason is not known, but we survived.

After the battle it was time to inspect the damages. At first it seemed that only three of us were left. Me, Adil Zuglartost and Avuz Logemgatin. Everybody else were dead. The fortress was completely destroyed and there was no way to get the floors bellow third as the staris had collapsed. So there we were, three lonely survivors of the Spiritgear, wondering what we should do next. It was obvious that we could not stay there, the goblins already knew where the fortress was and that there were still survivors. So we decided to flee once again. There were only one mule alive, so we decided that everything we take must fit in one wagon or could be carried by us. There was also two cats and two wardogs alive, the survival of the dogs still surprises me. So, we begun to collect what we could and could be needed in our journey. Food, alcohol, tools and some luxurities were hoarded, and it didn't take long when the wagon was full.

So, we were already making our leave when Adil decided to check the stairways once more, just in case if there was a way to get down to lower levels. The only reason why we would have wanted to go down there was that down there was the only weapon and armor stockpiles. The only intact weapons we had found were one axe and one pick. When Adil reached the stairs he shouted to us to come quickly. As I and Avuz reached him we heard the same what he had: something was shouting help! Quickly Avuz retrieved the pick while I and Adil removed the smaller rocks blocking the stairs.

After hours of work the blocking was cleared and to our surprise there was small pocet of air and four dwarves alive! They were in bad condition, one of them unconcious, but they were alive. So, instead of three, there was seven of us alive. Besides me, Adil and Avuz the survivors were Kadol Asteshlegon, Momuz Kordamdastot, Dastot Mezurist and Fikod Ushatgusgash. It is, in fact, a small wonder that all of the four were alive. Basing on what Kadol told me they were fighting against the goblins with several other dwarves when the roof begun falling down. One big piece of rock hit Dastot to head, knocking her down. She had been unconcious since. Fikod and Momuz threw their weapons away, grapped on her and begun pulling her towards the stairs past confused goblins. Right after they got past goblins the roof collapsed, burrying the goblins and rest of the dwarves. While the roof kept collapsing behind they tried to rwach the stairs before it would be too late. They never succeed in that as the stairs collapsed right in front of them. They were trapped with no way to get out without tools, trying to stay alive without food or water. They were trapped over week before we found them.

For five days we camped outside the fortress because Kadol, momuz and Fikod refused to go underground anymore. I think the time spent trapped in the tunnels scarred them worse than the actual battle or the idea of leaving the fortress. And I can not blame them, I can imagine the horrors of being down there, trapped without food or drink, without light and no space to move. Over a week in such conditions, and I probably would not want to go underground myself neither. So, we camped outside waiting for Dastot to wake up, which she did during the third day. She did not remember anything since the tunnels begun collapsing, which is probably good thing. After two days of waiting her to recover, and after we were fairly sure that she had no serious injuries, we were able to begin our journey.

Spoiler: The survivors (click to show/hide)

[Kipi]

Chapter 1:

After few months of travel the discussion of what should we do emerged. We all agreed that we should put our past lifes behind us, and the best way to do this was to start from the very beginning. And that means giving up the name The Dagger of Urns. But giving up with name would require inventing the new name. And here became the problem. Everybody agreed that the old name should go now, but everybody had their own opinions about the new one. One name thrown to discussion was The Prison of Doom, and I think Momuz was the one who came up with it. Honestly I never understood the explanation behind the name but it seems that it was in a way cruel joke about how the previous fort became our prison and how most of our fellow dwarves were doomed inside. In the end, I don't really care the explanations as long as we have name everybody agrees with, and if not everybody then at least the majority. Now, only Momuz, Dastot and Adil actually supported the name, but as no other good candidate came out, I decided to make it as the name of our clan. So that's how days of The Dagger of Urns ended and the story of The Prison of Doom begun.

After the name was decided rose the question of new fortress. Hiding was no option, we all were tired of it. What became a problem was that Momuz, Kadol and Fikod refused to live underground anymore. When I asked Fikod about this she said that being burried over week in Spiritgear did scar them mentally, and there was no way they would go deep underground anymore. I don't blame them, though we just can not forget the underground totally. For example, the only seeds we have will grow only underground. So at least farms must be underground. After some discussions with them they all agreed that the farms and food stockpiles could be underground, but not deep. The line they drew was one floor, so they wont go any deeper than that.

Few days before we arrived to the location, which we later decided to become the place of the fort, I called a meeting. Everybody gathered around the small fire with food and drink. It was time to make the final decisions about what we would do. The group of three still refused to live any deeper than one floor, preferably above ground. Everybody agreed that we could not leave the underground totally intact as the farms required underground soil and we would need stone from underground. This time Momuz declared that their demands of staying on or above first floor of underground also includes all the hauling, so all the stone must be hauled the ground level before they would use them. This demand annoyed me and I nearly told them where they could put their demands. Now I think it was better I never said that because to survive everybody would be needed.

The discussion about wether we should build the fortress above or bellow the ground continued about an hour, which ended to decision to build most of the fort above ground, and only parts that require to be undergound to underground. Such parts would be farms, some temporary stockpiles before the above ground warehouses are ready, and mines. Everything else above the ground level.

Next topic of our meeting was how we would actually construct the fortress. Especially problematic would be the defense and the entrance of the fortress. If the entrance defense of Spiritgear was penetrable, even though that was because of spy who sabotaged the entrance, how could we make the entrance of fortress built above ground safe? This was when the perhaps strangest suggestion was thrown: The actual fortress should not be built on the ground level, but actually one level above it, with only one entrance, stairs or ramp up, to the fortress. The entrance to underground should be different than the entrance to the fortress, so that any atttacker heading to underground section would be forced to enter the fortress. Strange idea indeed, but it could actually work. How this would be done in reality depends on the location and shape of the land.

The final issue was the name of the fortress. The only good candidate was The Conflictcamp of Fears. There was some historic story behind the name, but I have already forgot it. It didn't take long when the candidate was accepted, and the tankars were filled and risen for the hounour of new age.

Fourth day after the meeting we finally arrived to location which was okay to everybody. The area was flat, no hills everywhere. There was also brook which would give us the water we need. There was a lots of trees growing everywhere and the grass was growing on sand soil with small boulders of chalk hinting chalk layer beneath. In every way the site seemed optimal for building the fortress, and we decided to stop on western shore of the brook.

The plan of how the construction begins was done quickly, and not long after Avuz was already readying his mining pick. After all, Avuz was the only one with skills of mining, and as we had only one pick it was clear who would get the assignment. Adil was ordered to clear some forrest for logs, which would be used to construct temporar walls and some workshops. These would be replaced with ones made from stone as soon as possible. Rest of us, we will check the supplies to what we have and help when needed.

Spoiler: Embark Location (click to show/hide)

[Kipi]

Chapter 2:

If I remember correctly it was only couple of days after we decided to stop, perhaps either 4th or 5th of Granite, when Avuz came to me to talk some things. The stairs down had just been constructed from food and he was going to start the mining project but wanted to discus some things with me first. First of all he wanted to know what should be put higher in priority, farming or getting stones. I answered to him that we should get some stones immediately so that we could replace the stairs made from wood with stone ones, then concentrate on farms and small stockpile area, and then mining out more stone. Avuz was satisfied with my answer, as it cleared out how he should begin the mining.

Second topic was more difficult to handle. Basically Avuz stated his disgust towards the three dwarves refusing to go underground. While he was okay with the idea that we build our fortress above the ground, he did not understand why I should give them permission to not to take part in hauling stuff, especially stone from the mines bellow the farms. While I did not promise any changes on the matter I promised to talk with them as I agree partially with Avuz. At least they should help hauling the stone which they use themselves, if nothing else.

After about hour or so since talking with Avuz I called Momuz, Kadol and Fikod to meeting. When they arrived to the wagon they probably already knew what I was going to talk about. The sour face of Fikod especially revealed it.

Fikod - "You want to try to change our minds again, Rith?"
Me - "Not trying to anything, just want to discus the situation with you."
Momuz - "Oh yeah? Did Avuz come to complain about us? We know he doesn't like us, he never did even in Spiritgear. And since we left he has practically hated us."
Me - "If you really want to know, yeah, he came to me. But I don't care his opinions about you in general, he had some very good points. And I want you to listen them and hopefully understand them as well."
Fikod - "So, you actually want force us down underground? And who the hell made you the boss anyway?"
Me - "Like I said, I'm not forcing anything or anyone. And you all in a way made me the boss by always coming and asking advices or opinions."
Kadol - "I don't remember coming to ask you anything, ever. So you can count me from this."
Me - "Yes you did, couple of weeks ago you asked my opinions about the priority of different furnitures when the time would come. And besides, it's totally off the topic who is the boss and who is not. I want to talk to you, and you better listen to what I say."
Kadol - "Fine, but don't expect anything."
Me - "Good. So, I know you had to deal a lot when you were trapped down there in Spiritgear. I can't and I won't deny that what you experienced would not be traumatic. But you must admit, we need the help of everybody. And that includes you three as well."
Momuz - "Get to the point. We have lots to do today and I'm getting hungry."
Me - "So, my suggestion goes that all of you agree to help in hauling the stone from deeper than one floor. Only the stones you need for your craft though, and at this point only one level bellow the farms. What do you say?"
Fikod - "Only one level bellow?" She looked the rest of the group, then continued: "Fine. One level. No deeper than that, ever. And only the stones we may need in our craft, nothing else. You got that?"
Me - "Yeah, I heard you. So, get back to your work or whatever you were doing."

The trio left, discussing in low voice. I felt tired, but I had to inform Avuz about the outcome of the discussion.

Later that evening I finally found Avuz from the underground portion of the fortress. He was admiring what he had accomplished that day, and was generally in good mood. It was the perfect time to report him about the discussion.

Me - "I did what you asked."
Avuz - "Oh? So what did they say?"
Me - "First of all, they claimed that this whole issue came up again because you hate them. I want to know if there is any truth behind that."
Avuz lowered his gaze from the stairs, then looked at me.
Avuz - "Yeah, I don't like them. I didn't like them while we were living in Spiritgear, and one could say that I hate them now."
Me - "Why is that? Have they done something to you?"
Avuz shaked his head, then continued.
Avuz - "In Spiritgear, well, we just never got along. Nothing special, we just weren't friends. After the escape they just got more arrogant. Demanding this and demanding that, never taking account what others wanted. I hope you can understand why I don't like, in fact why I even hate, them.
Me - "Yeah, I understand you. And thank's for clearing things up."
He nodded and turned his gaze back to stairs.
Me - "So, as I said, I did what you asked and talked to them. In the end they agreed partially, and from now on they will get the stones, but only stone and even then only those they need, from one level bellow the farms. No deeper."
Avuz was silent for a moment, then turned to me again.
Avuz - "I have also had some talk with people here. And with this I mean I have talked with Adil and Dastot. We have grown tired of that trio and decided that we will begin living underground, like the real dwarf should. They can stay above if they want, but if they decide to not follow us they are restricted to enter bellow the farming level. Trading will happen and thus they get the stones they need and we need the and furniture we need."
I was silent for a long time, then replied.
Me - "Are you sure about this? Are you just going to abandon them outside?"
Avuz - "We won't abandon them. We will trade with them, and Adil is still going to visit outside to gather some wood. And all the food supplies will be shared.But if they want to live outside, we won't help them build their fortress, like they won't help us."
Me - "You know, I have to talk about this with them as well. Hear what they think of it."
Avuz - "Do what you think must be done, but we have already decided. We are moving underground as soon as we can.

I left Avuz there, admiring his work. The whole night went without sleep as I worried the results of splitting our group. This doesn't bode well to the future of fortress.

[Kipi]

Chapter 3:

Somebody please tell me what is wrong with everybody? At first no one wanted to live underground, then we almost had fight in our hands when the groups got separated, and now again we should all live above the ground. What in hell is happening here?

So, it has been three months since we ended our journey and decided build new fortress. We had some serious conflicts when some wanted to live underground and some were against that. Surprisingly, all six fellow dwarves came to me to claim that we should reach the sky with our fortress. The farms can be built underground, as it would be too big hassle to get water upwards. But everything should be build above the grounds, preferably not even the ground level but above it.

I don't know how to react to this. On the other hand I'm happy that everybody is able to come along together again, but on the other hand I'm worried what has triggered this mutual interest. Has there happened something behind my back which I should know? Has there been some threathening, as at least Avuz was especially against living above the ground. Heck, he insisted that I should try to concinve Fikod, Momuz and Kadol that living underground should be the best. Also, why they didn't ask my opinion on the matter? Why did they decided to just inform me of the situation and not ask what I think?

For now I think I will play along, but I have to be more carefull towards everybody. Something is brewing here, I jsut can feel it. But it seems that I must forget underground fortress for now. But someday, and I swear this, we will live like real dwarves, deep in the underground with rough rock all around us.

So, as the plans have been changed, we need to rethink about the layout of the fortress. Wait, who "we"? I mean I, they still listen me on this kind of things. And I should take advantage of it, don't know how long it will remain so. Anyway, we have begun the construction of the foundations of the aboveground fortress. The ramps and first supporting walls, which will form the entrance from the ground level, has already been constructed. The stairs has also been extended to allow access upwards from the location where those go down to earth, and first sections of wall has been constructed as well.

The farming area has been already mined out, Avuz informed me about it yesterday. We already have all the mechanisms to construct the operating system of floodgates to flood the farms, but we still lack the actual floodgates. Kadol should starting making them as soon as she has finished the rock blocks he has been working on. That is, if she doesn't start another brake again, I swear I have seen her spending more time on break than on actual work. And that is something I can not allow any further, though I think I keep my mouth shut about it for now. Can not disturb the calm spirit we have right now. Later, when the time is right, I will inform her, and others as well, about my opinions of how they treat me and their working morale. Though have to remember to leave Avuz out of the discussion, he has been doing fine job all the time. Even I could have not been able to do better in as short time as he has. And that's a lot.

We also had our first blood shed, though it was just that annoying mule that we took along. We didn't have any need for it anymore, so I ordered it to be butchered. More meat is always welcome. Sadly we had to eat it raw, as we don't have kitchen running yet. Soon, I hope though.

Spoiler: Entrance (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Farming floor (click to show/hide)

[Kipi]

Chapter 4:

I don't know how, but today two dwarves came to our camp. They claim that they lived in Spiritgear at one point, but honestly I don't recall either one. Despite the fact that Adil said that he had seen these two few times there I'm very suspicious. First of all, how did they find us? We were carefull to cover our tracks due the goblin threath and none of us has seen anyone following since we left Spiritgear. Or so everybody claims, I'm not even sure if I trust everybody here anymore. Secondly, how come they did survive from the massacre? Where have they been? Why did they leave Spiritgear if they weren't there during the battle? Questions I'm going to get answered.

For now I trust the word of Adil that these two fellow are okay, though I'm going to keep close eye on them. Goden Urrithmuthkat especially seems suspicious kind of person. Bucther who knows the way of military is always suspicious in my book. And his appearance just supports my feelings. On the otehr hand, Tun Lanlarzasit seems like just any average person, though his skills are bit wierd. He has no knowledge of any other work than strand extracting, which seems a little surprising to me. In Spiritgear we would not have tolerated anyone whit knowledge of only one profession which is not very ofte used. So, my question is, what has she been doing when not working with adamantine ores? More curiously, we didn't have any adamantine ore found in Spiritgear, so what were she doing there was nothing to do for her? That is, if they ever lived in Spiritgear in the first place.

Can not talk about these suspicions with anyone, I don't trust them enough. Adil seems the only one who remembers these two, which is strange. Generally I don't trust Fikod, Kadol nor Momuz due their arrogant behaviour and my suspicions that they have done or said something which turned everybody else against living underground. Avuz is too vulnerable to influences so anybody could get the information from him. This is profed by the fact of how quickly he has been changing opinions on different things. Dastot I don't know well enough. Perhaps I should get to know her better, allies is never bad thing. If I win her trust, and decide that I can trust her, she could bring me information of what's happening behind my back. Yes, that's something that must be done.

Back to the situation of the fort, the construction has been too slow for my liking. No farms yet, and the entrance is still under construction. And it's almost the end of Hematite already! Three months and twentyfour days we have been living here, without roof above our heads, and all this thanks to just three person. The only thing that has actually been finished is moving our food supplies down to the farming area. Just safe measure, there has been some wild animals wandering around.

We are running out stone, perhaps I should order Avuz to clear some more for us. And we definately need to hurry up the block production. Perhaps our new strand extractor could help? We don't really need that profession at the moment, nor in any time in near or even distant future, so yes, I think that should be best. After all, I'm not accepting anybody who is not usefull to this fortress.

Spoiler: Dwarf list (click to show/hide)