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Total Members Voted: 11

[Lillipad]

You don't mind being taken into temporary custody, do you Norrec?

I'll take the female dwarf into temporary custody in as hard-boiled a manner as physically possible, and interrogate Nikoth about his exchange with her.

[V-Norrec]

WHY CAN'T I CATCH A BREAK, HUH?  No really, come on throw me a bone here, I've got nothing to show for all my work other than what I started with and an extra negative trait.

Complain loudly until he gives me my note and ring back.  Lie and claim I'm working for a high-powered noble who has a vested interest in ensuring that the expedition is successful and he would be most upset if I went back and told him some guard captain wouldn't give me the assistance I needed.  ((Come on Liar perk, WORK FOR DADDY))

To Lilli:  Nah, go ahead, I'll act like I don't know it's coming though and continue with my current action.

[FuzzyZergling]

Well, that was unexpected. I thought by skill in surgery would protect me from the horrid tendrels of forgetfullness.

The ribs and sternum are cracked and twisted.
The organs are bruised and slightly pierced by bone. There's bleeding from ruptured vessels.
The skin, fat, and muscles are torn and bleeding.

I start with the punctured organs, removing and setting the bones back in place, and stopping the bleeding.
The ruptured blood vessels are next, they seem to knit together magically under my skilled hand.
I finish with the cleaning (unless that's done for me), and suturing together the muscles, fat, and skin.

I hope that's good enough..

[Rolan7]

(This is too good!)
I find myself certain it's morally correct as long as I'm not caught.  How appropriate that I am most skilled in not being seen.
I carefully approach a surface farm, ignoring the crops - I can find those anywhere - and seeking out some delicious avians.  The fowl beasts will never see me coming.

[Nirur Torir]

Realizing that Sandow Statenskivsky is one of the dwarves who will be on the expedition, I accost him with some roughly sketched out basic plans for the fortress defenses, asking for his opinions (I'll also ask the opinions of anyone else I see who's part of the expedition, if they get near the depot):

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Not to scale. Probably. It's not as though we can do anything exact until we know where we'd be building, anyway.

First, the first floor of the towers. There would be a thin wall around the stairs, protecting dwarves on them from stray arrows that slip in through the arrow slits. Not shown: Pit traps surrounding the towers.
Each tower would have a ballista on top. The platform at the bottom there is a crank-operated access lift.


Next, the entrance.


By having the barracks at the front of the fortress, the military would be close to any invaders. I'll make noise traps or something, alerting the military to the danger.


And here's where the towers would be accessed. Ideally, the stone walls would go down through the soil layers.

[Lillipad]

Nirur, that's a nice design and all, but I have no clue how you expect me to safely dig all of that out.

[Nirur Torir]

If you do not feel sufficiently skilled to dig into the side of a sheer cliff face several stories in the air, it would probably be best to start with the access stairs for one of the towers.

[FuzzyZergling]

Wait, are we starting at the top of the cliff, or the bottom?

[Lillipad]

We're not starting yet Zergling, he's just giving ideas for the build. Right now I'm the only miner(with a penalty to Mining as a bonus) so I'd have to use up a lot of turns digging up room for this stuff, and risk killing myself because a layer of fortress falls on me, or something.

[Shade-o]

Map
Well, I wasn't going to show you until later, but you're already talking about it.
This shows the lay on the ground level. You approach from the north, naturally. The dark green is the conifer forest with a slight spread of undergrowth. The waterfall and river has gouged out a section of the cliffs, and there's a freestanding pillar that splits the river that's almost as tall as the rest of the cliffs. You'll probably arrive before the ice melts, so you can safely cross the river for a while.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

V-Norrec (and Lillipad)

Summoning all your skill in wordplay, you retell your story to Nikoth, but this time revealing that you are indeed an undercover agent for a noble whose name you are not at liberty to reveal. You point out how you have been able to tear through hordes of criminal elements. Would a common peasant be able to do that? That sort of thing just doesn't happen through dumb luck!

Nikoth isn't convinced due to your lack of identification, but your carefully woven tale is undeniably plausible. Your expressionless face also adds an aura of professionalism and honesty. A nearby guard in chain mail and armed with a crossbow approaches and overhears this, and vouches for your actions. Having personally investigated the aftermath of your exploits, they can attest to your super-spy skills.

Nikoth is finally convinced. As he is not entire certain of you, he puts you under the supervision of the guard, and allows you to collect any weapon, plus a shield or quiver, and leather armour from the guard station. The ones that you originally had have already been taken away, and the barge has been captured and is being searched. He also releases all the accumulated investigative files, which should be bolstered by anything else the two of you have learned.

A powerful person(s) is using a loose collection of smuggling rings and dummy companies to divert mass amounts of supplies from the stockpiles that have been mobilised for the upcoming expedition caravan. The diversion would be achieved using a combination of the chaotic proceedings and influence obtained through bribes and extortion.

The goods are to be stored in various warehouses throughout the city until suspicion alleviates, then be transported by undersea barge and overland caravan to other settlements to be traded on the black market. A signet ring used for confirming contact has been discovered, bearing the initials 'RN'. This is likely one of the collaborators directly involved in diverting the supplies.

Multiple premises and stockpiles of supplies have been recaptured, but it is impossible to tell how much remains. Criminal elements encountered by investigators have been disorganised and unprepared, indicating that the vital core of the operation has not been encountered at all. The scale of the organisation implies that it is very large and powerful, and is currently reforming to counter any further investigations by the Guards.

Since you two are the most experienced in this matter, you will both be given a certain level of discretion not normally given to Guards. As a private operative, you are outside the Guard's responsibility and you or your benefactor will be held accountable. Payment is also not an issue for the Guard, as you are already being paid handsomely by your employer.

Since any further investigation will likely encounter heavier resistance, you can take the squad of recruits with you. They will be fitted with leather armour.

There's still a lot of mystery, but you have a solid foundation to investigate from.

See? Good things do happen to cursed people!

FuzzyZergling

Sweat beads on your face as you prepare to cut into the flesh.

You manage to remove all the dead tissue and close the broken vessels, as well as knitting the bones back into their proper shape. As you work outward, you rejoin the muscles and pull together the torn tissue. Finally you clean and suture the skin.

It's not a perfect job, but you definitely saved this boy's life. It will take weeks before he's healed enough to even stand, but your efforts have prevented his imminent death and set him on the road to recovery.

YOU ARE HERO. GOOD WORK.

Good work indeed.

Rolan7

You find a farm, guided by an inexplicable feeling. There is no sign of farmers or watchdogs, so you sneak on. You find a pen with a cow in it, but beef is of no interest to you. Next you find a chicken hut, where several dozen chickens are roosting. You stun several of them with the stock of your crossbow, while the rest scatter in tiny-brained terror.

In order to cover your tracks, you partially eat two of the carcasses in order to make it look like a fox or wolf attack. You then snap the necks of the other two, and quickly abscond with your booty. Before you leave, you throw an egg at the farmer's house.

You later realise that that was your own farm.

[IronyOwl]

Migrant spotted!

Spoiler: "Profitable but soft" (click to show/hide)

Name: Tholtig Shatterbrine
Gender: Female
Deity: Gosmer Silverymine
Caste: Artisan

Skills: Skilled Jeweler, Skilled Metalcrafter, Novice Glassmaker, Novice Stonecrafter
Good Traits: Concentrator, Ambidextrous, Visionary, Pulchritudinous
Bad Traits: Unaware, Unsurvivor, Pampered, Needy

Backstory: Tholtig's mother was a legendary axedwarf who insisted on naming her after some mythical warrior-queen. Her father was an exceptional glassworker. Of the two, Tholtig by far took after her father more, which was a source of endless aggravation for her mother. After all, she'd say, how did she expect to get a good husband if she couldn't shoulder the competition against a nearby wall?

Her father, meanwhile, took a far more lucrative approach to her upbringing, encouraging her skill at making valuable items and instructing her on the finer points of becoming wealthy. While this helped her blossom into a wonderfully skilled craftsdwarf, even her father admits she's a little on the soft side.

The imminent founding of an invincible military citadel sounded like just the chance she needed to become an invaluable source of profits, and had the added bonus of pleasing both parents. It also happened to be a rather timely occurrence, since her mother was starting to consider ways to toughen her up, likely involving locked doors and berserk animals.

Free Items: Skilled Forge Tools
Bought Items: 5 Puppies (250) [One named Rimeshoots, 4 nameless so far], Furnace Tools (150), Bin of Forged Iron Bars (40), 7 Barrels of Dwarven Beer (70), 10 Barrels of Dried Plump Helmets (80), 5 Cloth Bags (10)

[Shade-o]

You just won the empty spot on the expedition. Incredible.

As a side note, you have three artisans, one noble, one merchant, one surfacer and one peasant.

[V-Norrec]

Oh yeah, grab and equip leather armor (woot, 100 DB saved and Cold-blooded negligible now hopefully)

While putting on my armor, introduce myself to the undoubtedly hard-boiled cop guard as Norrec Rikkirmebzuth.  I think about weapon choice and ultimately decide to go with a shortsword of the highest quality I can find and a Buckler, also of high quality.

To start our case I recommend that this amazingly rugged, hard-boiled detective guard go to the law office.  I loan him my obviously worthless contract as an excuse to get into see the lawyer I saw earlier.  I'll stay outside and ask questions about the man I saw leaving the law office earlier.  Those are probably our two safest bets for an early lead.  If neither of those pan out, we might have to start asking around in the slums.

                                         

. . . Artisans, gtfo.  We need farmers, and miners, we can get money-making skills once we get there, we'll all die if we don't get the basics set up though.

[IronyOwl]

Well that was unexpected. Might have felt more compelled to be useful if I'd known I'd be with the first wave.

Having just received news that I will, in fact, be arriving at the invincible fortress when it's just a patch of dirt that will one day be a hole in the ground, put on worried face and take puppies for a walk to forget about troubles.

[Shade-o]

Since Lillipad and V-Norrec are stuck together now, their actions will be decided by whichever one posts first and written from their point of view. The other one might not go along with you plans, though.

V-Norrec

You put on the armour and find that it doesn't quite fit you. Once you remember that you need the 'female' version, you are transformed into a leather-clad swashbuckler, the perfect outfit for close-in fights. You don't really know how you use the sword and shield, but you're sure it will come to you. At the very least you can throw it at them and switch to the staff.

You discover just how often your path crossed with Mikhail's, and you both have a good laugh. You outline your plan to interrogate the senior at the law firm, as it's the only thing that you can think of. There's an excellent chance that he's completely innocent, but it's worth a shot.

The team leaves the docks, you and Mikhail riding a cart at high speeds driven by a grim servant. Cog with a hammer, Kas with a crossbow and Nik with an axe follow in another cart. You arrive at the firm, wheels squeaking as they come to a somewhat abrupt stop. You and the four official guards disembark and pile into the firm, taking the clerk completely by surprise.

All five of you burst into the senior's office, weapons cranked, hefted or pointed at him. You take the lead, being most familiar with this area of the case.

"Know anyone going by the initials RN?" you growl, striking a menacing pose and throwing the ring at him, bouncing off his forehead. He takes the ring and examines the inner band, deep in thought. After some time passes a crossbow (accidentally?) discharges into a wall, breaking him out of his reverie.

"Err... Could it be Rigoth von Nuremburger?" he guesses, glancing nervously at the weapons directed at him (and a crossbow being cranked).

"He have a black ponytail, short beard and a ton of gold?"

"Err... yes?"

"Let's roll."

Going to have to stop your story here unless you avoid going directly to von Nuremburger's estate, as Samthere is supposed to be examining an artifact and I don't want to gut his own story.

IronyOwl

You take your five puppies for a walk to clear your head. You really hadn't expected to be chosen for the initial embark. You see many sights, none of them worth nothing.