The armored footfalls were deafening after a century of near silence. The dusty air, long undisturbed by nothing more than the jailers, now trembled with the passing of armored guards. The lanterns lining the walls of the stone corridor grew dimmer as the company approached a long forgotten stairwell, causing one of the dwarves - cloaked and hooded in fine furs and jewels, in stark contrast to his armored companions - to produce a small lantern fitted with red lenses and light it. Now advancing by the sullen red light of the lantern, the company moved down the stairwell.
At the bottom of the stairs the leader of the dwarves stopped to inspect a series of carvings on a nearby wall; ancient records of those imprisoned here for their crimes decades ago. Smiling to himself, the dwarf headed down one of the branching tunnels, waving back all but two of his guards. The tunnel was rough-hewn, jagged shards of rock glinting in the dim red glow of the lantern. A rusty steel door came into view, set into the very end of the tunnel. A small, latched window was set into the door itself.
The hooded dwarf reached for the latch to pull it back, but suddenly hesitated. Hanging his lantern on one of the nearby protrusions of rock, he delved into the depths of his cloak and removed a sheaf of yellowed paper. Bringing it closer to the light, he reread the text.
At the bottom was a hasty note: "CURRENTLY IN BLOCK C, CELL 5 FOR PRODUCTION VIOLATIONS."
Apparently satisfied, the dwarf folded the paper away again and reached for the latch, sliding it back with a sharp click.
"Ahem. Prisoner Tradelance, I am here to inform you that you are to be set free, provided of course, that you agree to a certain set of terms and conditions."
A series of scrapes and grunts preceded the arrival of a bleary blue eye at the latch. It darted suspiciously around, half shut with blindness, observing the scene. Seemingly finding nothing of note, it pulled back, exposing more of a dwarf's face.
"I prefer Jack if its all the same to you" the prisoner grunted. "Whys the mayor down here to see a criminal like me anyways, much less offer me my freedom in person?"
"Oh, I'm not the mayor anymore. I stepped down after the last election; I'm just the hoardmaster now. Then again, you wouldn't have heard of that down here would you have? Simply put, I've been authorized to allow you your freedom, because we need more dwarves out in the field."
"Whats wrong with the young 'uns? There's always more than enough of them to send out any amount of expeditions."
"Things have.....changed since you were incarcerated. The land has changed. With it, new ranges were thrown up, new lakes were formed, and new creatures have been seen. Bluntly, we're overstretched, and we need more dwarfpower to expand and keep our territory. If you accept my offer, you will be granted command of a standard expedition, and your freedom. What say you?"--------------------------------------------------
Thoughts of Jack TradelancedWell shit, I never expected to be let out this early. And in command of six other dwarves to boot. Our group has been named The Brave Dagger, to represent our civilization, the Rim of Memories. The hoardmaster has shown me notes on all six of em, and he gave me a map of where we're headed.
Doesn't look or sound like much fun...better go meet these companions of mine and see what we've been assigned for the trip.
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Whelp, time for me to try my hand at a community fort! Choose yer dwarves and some gear; everyone gets 1400 points worth of gear.
Warning, I have not yet played the new version of DF, and I have restricted myself from viewing the wiki. Expect this fort to collapse in flaming ruin. But hey, losing is fun.
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Topic: Boltcut, the New Expedition - A Community Fort (Read 3892 times)