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Homicidal, xenophobic, fanatical dwarves in a harsh wilderness.

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An experiment in population control

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The Real World: Dwarf Fortress - Haunted Jungle Edition

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Dwarven Explorers, desperate refugees, and demon-possessed migrants.

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Total Members Voted: 0

[CatalystParadox]

It was reading succession games and other gameplay write-ups that got me into Dwarf Fortress, so I figure its high time I did a little of my own.  Besides, my writing-muscles need a stretch.  I hope this turns out to be something amusing.

Welcome to Zuza Slospu, "The Domain of Omen!"  I generated a small, well-populated, mature and resource-rich world with high savagery for this play, and what I got appears to be a nicely iconic supercontinent. 

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Looking over the map it is indeed PACKED with civilizations of all sorts.  The Goblins seem to keep mostly to the north, the western jungles are home to sprawling, multitudinous elven civilizations, and the humans are all clustered in the southern area below the central mountain range where it is cooler and thus more habitable. Dwarves.... Dwarves appear scarce.... at first glance.  The mountainhomes are nestled among the human cities, in the mountains, and they are the sole Dwarven civilization.  But... who knows how deep their tunnels may go?  Nearly half the continent is covered by those mountains, after all...

An interesting quirk... the eastern part of the continent seems almost entirely deserted.  I wonder why?

Obviously, that is where our hapless dwarves will be going.

[ArKFallen]

A succession game? If you don't mind a first-timer I gladly join.

[CatalystParadox]

That hadn't been my plan, but I'd certainly consider it if there is interest.  I'll name a dwarf for you on embark in anticipation.  Profession?  I'm setting up the first 7 dwarves as we speak.  (Probably going to be heavy on soldiers and diplomats and light on real professions - I'm shooting for a sort of challenge )

[ArKFallen]

Ah! Sorry 'bout that then. I'm watching this. If I'm dorfed I'd like to be a Doctor (heavy on surgery), gender doesn't matter, and preferably easily angered. I can see it now...

Urist McLoudmouth:"Ha ha ha ha! You're useless!" *Laughs and points*
Urist McPissedDoctor: "RRrrrraaagghhh!!!"
Urist McPissedDoctor has begun surgery with an ax!
Urist McPissedDoctor has failed surgery!

[CatalystParadox]

When a doctor appears, you will be Dorfed :-D  I'll start a succession once I get things established, and if interest is low I'll just take extra shifts to keep it going.

We have an embark location!  Seven Dwarves on an exploratory mission - to chart the resources of the blazing northern jungles, lost, in a thick jungle of twisting vines wrapping around misshapen pines, and a filthy river... the smell is like that of a cesspool.  The ululations of goblins can be heard to the east...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The cartographers dubbed this river "Bridgewad the Tempted Rout", according to our best records...  Time to make the most of our plight, and try to survive...

Who knows what this dark forested jungle might produce by night.

((There's a good chance I won't even survive the first year.  Between the salt water and the aquifer, I can see there was good reason no civilized creature dwells on this side of the world.))

[CatalystParadox]

Journal of Litast Udistdeler ("Pleatsteel"), Intrepid Explorer

2nd Obsidian, Year 551.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

It's high time I got out of the stuffy halls of the mountainhomes and saw some of the vast world outside - so when the call came down from the grand and fancy King (ponce) for explorers to travel the western side of the continent, naturally I leapt at the chance.  I picked up my pack, placed an order for a generous load of supplies, gathered a few hardy souls, my faithful Servingdwarf, Bembul, the Cartographer the King assigned us, and bid goodbye to those dank halls infested with cave spiders once and for all, and out to sleep under the open stars.

Luckily none of the other volunteers seemed interested in this region near this stream called "Bridgewad the Tempted Rout" - fools!  They will never know the excitement of the wild jungles.  It is my fond hope that we will find jaguars - most elegant of beasts.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Naming our merry band "Zansongkogan" - The Massive Boat, after the great wooden sea-carts the humans in legend used (Hah!  What a concept! A wagon on the ocean!  Surely the myths of other lands across the waters are nonsense. I am sure any such 'boat' device would simply fall off the edges of the world in no time.) and our supplies purchased, we set out on our way!

Kadol Rakustushrir ("Tombquakes"), the Wilderness Guide I hired, insists that we bring an anvil and a few bars of metal, just in case the worst happens.  I am sure she is over-preparing, but I can respect her thoroughness.  Besides, you try to dissuade that stubborn old harpy.

With our cart of supplies, the military dwarves' weapons, and our dogs (my darling little pup and Kadol's beast of a hunting dog) we embarked.

For the glory of all Ensubdumat!

((Edit: Fixed the images in this post and others.  Twitpic was the wrong idea.))

[CatalystParadox]

When we arrived in the scorching bog hellscape surrounding Bridgewad, we were immediately rushed by a small creature, moving faster than an elven sprinter shot out of a dwarven cannon.

I was not terribly worried about such a small furry creature as that, but ... <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badger#Behavior> Kadol informs me they are dangerous.

Or, she did, after making short work of it with her crossbow and her hound.

Sakzul "Oilvale" Uzolsebsur set to work clearing some of the nearby trees so we might have at least a small area of clear view for our camp, while we survey the surrounding area.  We don't want any more honey badgers rushing us after all - the idea of them bringing down one of our animals seems ludicrous, but I don't want to argue the point with Kadol.

Sakzul's axe makes short work of the surrounding trees, and soon we have a basic palisade constructed.  I set Bembul to work unloading our goods. As the Royal Cartographer Zasit ("Laborteeth") Erithraz walks about the perimeter making sketches and laying down markers, I follow along to gather some seeds and roots for food.  At least plenty seems to grow in the sandy earth here.  After months of travel this dwarf remains a mystery to me.  He seems a fussy sort, and I cannot help but wonder why a scrawny, bookish and conservative sort like him would be driven to such endeavors as these.  My respect for him has grown, as he answers my questions all honestly and with great patience - but he has never volunteered his reasons.  I deem it time to simply ask him in plain terms.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

But before the words are out of my mouth, we hear nearby a deafening bellow, like the scream of some unholy beast, and the earth begins to rumble beneath our feet.  Not moments later we catch sight of Kadol, CHASING DOWN a herd of elephants, one of which she has already laid a bolt into, its blood spewing onto the sand and vegetation in great gouts!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

As we stared dumbfounded at this spectacle, Zasid answered me in a calm voice that belied our mutual alarm, that he does as his deity, Inod Clasptrussed (deity of order, law, and oaths) requires.

I didn't think to ask further.  Kadol brought the elephant down.  We returned to our labors, and I thanked Erib of the Mountainous Rocks that I had hired the right guide.

Bembul's palisade wall had come together and the Dwarves-At-Arms were busy moving the contents of our wagon inside.  This bog was starting to look like it might turn out alright after all.

... What was that thing?  It looked like a rat but its eyes seemed as if they were... they were red, and they seemed to glow.  But I am sure it was nothing, a trick of the light.

[CatalystParadox]

I soon learned Kadol had exhausted our modest supply of ammunition hunting the local pachyderms (to her credit, she brought down three... but how will we ever eat these things! We haven't even had time to set up a butchery yet!), and now her friends Solon and Adil were chasing them down with hand to hand weapons.  While the rest of us try to set up camp, we are plagued by the constant thundering in the distance as the wounded beast (somehow they managed to cut open the poor things leg) crashes through the trees over and over in a wide circle around our camp, late into the night.  I doubt all the markers Zasid laid down will survive this nonsense.

Zasid is remarking to me that unless we are content to live on the turtles and frogs we pluck from the tepid pools around here, we will need to begin digging into the earth to set up farms - his initial survey has revealed that despite the lush vegetation, the topsoil consists entirely of this white sand - which our seeds simply will not grow in.  This could be an enormous project, so we must begin immediately. I order a forge constructed and a pick smithed as soon as possible, and just as I begin making the days notes on the page, the now-constant sounds of the struggle of dwarf vs. elephant suddenly cease.

Oh bloody hell.  Inod have mercy.

Adil's cries are the next thing to reach our ears, as she comes barrelling into view.  "Help, you have to help him!" It seems Solon, the Hammerdwarf, stumbled into one of the murky pools nearby. By the time we reach him, it is too late.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Idiots.

I immediately order that there shall be no more elephant-chasing.  Those wily beasts will lead us to our doom if we continue our reliance on their succulent flesh.  I settle with the others for an evening meal of rare elephant and beer, and begin discussing plans with Zasid and Bembul, both to recover the body of poor unfortunate Solon and to solve our elephant-dependency crisis.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

((I wish I had at least thought to check his name's translation before he kicked it.  If I'm ever going to get any food I'll need to set up a farm, so when I drain the pool and recover his body, I guess we'll call the muddy result the Solon memorial farmstead?))

[CatalystParadox]

So here's an idea.

The way I see it there are three ways to go through this game:

1- make it a succession game, like so many others are, and pass it yearly to a new overseer
2- Dwarf anyone who wants to be dwarfed, and keep you updated on what your dwarf is doing and what's going on, so you can comment, influence what I do, and generally keep an irreverent sort of peanut-gallery going on throughout.
3- Play it out solo.

Any interest in those?  (Adding a poll)

[ArKFallen]

Nice. Within the first year you lose someone to drowning caused by elephants. I predict epicness in the near (enough) future.

[On A Similar Note: I wonder what's going on though, usually by now a thread like this would have had at least 4 different posters. Over the last few days it seems the forum has significantly slowed (except the modding section they just don't stop), anyone else notice this and have ideas on what may be the cause?]

[CatalystParadox]

My guess is everyone is filing their taxes at the last minute!  I'll just hope that everyone who comes back after the lull is pleasantly surprised to find a full page of a play-by-play to read.

Journal of Litast Pleatsteel, Intrepid Explorer
7th Hematite, Year 551

I have not written in some time, as activity has been furious.  We are too disoriented to find our way out of this place, and deemed it prudent to make our camp semi-permanent.  To return to the story of our foundation: I rose late the next day to see Adil sound asleep using our anvil as a pillow ((Sorry, tried to get a screenshot but forgot to pause and missed my chance - she was actually asleep right in the forge on the anvil)) but, to my pleasant surprise, the rest were already hard at work.  Bembul had finished the walls, and was already at work constructing doors for us.

When I looked to my right it became clear what had woken me.  While I slept, a butchery had been established and Kadol was hard at work butching elephant corpses.  It seemed Zasit had said a few words, earlier that day, about our duty to Inod: to work together for an orderly and functional fort, so others did not need to senseless risk their lives pursuing the local wildlife for food.  To work like a "well-oiled" machine, he said.

Some joker thought this was hilarious, and carved the words into the palisade wall: Uzolnom - "Oiledgod".  Not only a terrible quip, but blasphemous as well.  No doubt it will catch on.  At the very least, however, the work ethic our deity demands seems to have finally caught on as well.  I think for now we can let the smartassery slide.

Summer in this area seems to be a time of roving capybara and clouds of blood gnats.  It is only just beginning, but I worry soon the air will be teeming with the vermin.  If no one succeeds in constructing a pick quite soon, heads will roll.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Speaking of rolling heads... Kadol and her dwarves-at-arms have been casting dark looks in my direction of late.  They have grumbled a great deal ever since Solon's unfortunate accident, and with the recent weather, I think I may need to do something to console them before I am dealing with a full-scale mutiny.  I have urged Bembul to hurry her work on our shelter, but unlike the rest she seems quite content, and blithely oblivious of the flaring tempers around us both.  Kadol has never been a patient woman, and the others listen to her...

I asked Kadol to see to the construction of a kitchen and preserving some of the food we've gathered, and called a meeting with Adil to discuss the matter of morale.  She might be as testy as the others, but she is still a reasonable dwarf, and will understand the importance of keeping our band together. And I did appoint her militia commander, after all. 

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

We took a pleasant walk among the berry bushes and talked a little.  Meanwhile, Bembul, bless her heart, managed to get our palisade looking more like a home, doors and everything, a bed for once we can dig some proper rooms, and even a roof over our heads!  Hope is restored and it seems the fighting-dwarves are calming down a bit.  Kadol is even cooking up some delicious elephant biscuits.  Maybe we'll survive 'til winter after all!  Now if I could just get Zasit to do something more useful than sitting and staring at the jungle, trying to draw bloody pictures of it.

Long live Oiledgod!

And with the Summer...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

... Really?!

Confession: I had originally hoped to be plagued by zombies and to bump off most of the migrants under the conceit that they were 'infected' - I'll have to think about where to take it from here.

I have scummed saves of the initial embark and of the state of the fort as of now in case anyone's interested.

[Haika]

I prefer community games, instead of succession games. Or like you say, the peanut gallery option. Write the story, but take some input from others.

On that Note, I'd like to sign up for a Mason if you have one. Nicknamed 'Granite'. Gender unimportant. Maybe give them engraving and stonecrafting as well. Stone Blocks and Stone Pots for the win.

Oh and I'd like to vote to be the ONLY engraver. With lots of smoothing jobs(even if just pebbles outside) to raise skill.

[CatalystParadox]

Don't have one yet, but with these immigrants... who knows.

A mason and a doctor get to live.

(Next time, find out why the others had to die...)

[CatalystParadox]

Journal of Kadol Tombquakes
23rd Malachite, 551

On patrol today, saw the strangest thing.  Battered bunch o' figures walkin', on two legs fer a change, one tall and fat with no hair and a crossbow in hand, coming toward us.  Damnedest thing - a whole herd of elephants stampeded away from this one lone dwarf like she was the most terrible thing they'd ever seen.  Two others came in behind her, one rotund and carrying a hammer, the other skinny as a pole and ragged looking.  Musta been a good 10 minutes before I realized they was dwarves.

Ain't the nearest dwarven lands full three months travel from here?  Somethin' ain't right.  I reported back t' Litast, 'cause as much as he's a git he still seems to be pretty good about makin' the right call in a pinch. He saw it too - one tall, fat, armed dwarf, with a couple pets leading in the others.  There's something right weird about it, I says, and he agrees, and calls for Adil to forge that pick already and start digging.  We'll set up an interview chamber in our new burrow and have some words with these newcomers.  Try to figure why any sane dwarf would come out here.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Journal of Litast Pleatsteel, Expedition Leader
23rd Malachite

The Migrants

In my words with them I found they seem to defer to the tall one, Sibrek, who claims she is a fish dissector - though she is carrying a crossbow as her only tool. She tells me they have come from a small settlement not far from here. Learning of our presence in the area, they came to help us adapt to the harsh surroundings. Sibrek says this, while the others stutter or falter or hesitate.  I find their dynamic strange - I will need to speak to the other two privately. Besides their odd hesitations, I have never seen a dwarf so large as this Sibrek, nor so hairless.  I find her... unsettling.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

In speaking with the others, I have learned they have some talent as an armorer and brewer, and the other as a soap-maker.  I am again baffled as to how exactly this is meant to help us survive here.  I sit now in my newly-dug interview chamber with the armorer, Fath Blockadephrases. He's a likeable enough fellow, but has an annoying habit of snapping his fingers when he's trying to remember something. And seems to be very, very forgetful.

As we sit, he is again trying to recall what he meant to tell me, for the tenth time.  It seems very important to him.  I am just about to call the interview over when he exclaims, "Oh, right!  We're part o' the Basic Roughness too!"

This is incredible, of course.  Our beloved civilization is fully the other side of the WORLD.  What could he mean? These dwarves did not even follow the same gods we do, or any we had even heard of - with the exception of Sibrek, that is, who professed to be an ardent follower of Inod. "How is that possible?" I ask him.  This only triggers another bout of head scratching and finger snapping.  I adjourn our meeting and move on to the soapmaker, Olon Lancerfish. Olon stands tensely in the room (note: make some chairs) He is a jittery, timid, scrawny wreck - I cannot fathom why he would undertake such a journey or why anyone would bring him for it.

"Oh hello," he says, "I was beginning to wonder if you had forgotten about me.  Actually, one time the other two forgot about me, by a brook we had stopped by and they had sent me for water...  There were goblins there you see." What about goblins, I asked.  "Oh... nothing.  I just saw them.  You were probably just held up by Fath's memory, right?" I nodded my assent. "That happens.  He hasn't been the same since the accident."  What accident, I ask.  "Oh he wasn't eating well and was careless at the forge... burned himself badly.  Now he's more careful." 

It quickly became apparent that getting this dwarf to focus was a far more difficult task than I was up to today. But as I turned to leave, Olon shouted, "Wait!  There's one thing... I need to tell you something.  About Sibrek."

"What is it?" I snapped, I confess, anticipating another rambling story with no point.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

"I'll only get one chance to say this." The desperation in his eyes was showing through - I could see the deep reserves of his willpower being tapped, fighting... I do not know what.  "She... makes it difficult for us both.  To speak.  Sibrek."

"She is no dwarf."

-----

In other events, I have drawn up a basic plan for our habitation and handed it off to Adil - She is making progress, but it can be difficult to avoid the wet in this marshy land.  We will need to find a way to dig deeper, and soon.  We cannot hold out forever without good solid stone.



I still do not know what to make of the words of that strange dwarf.  Is he mad?  Are they all?  I must decide soon... they are not happy with the simple lean-to I have constructed to keep the rain off their heads.



--------

So we have a marksman (who for whatever reason still says she's a fish dissector even though thats her only non-military skill - I suspect trickery!) who's tall, fat, hairless, and confident, and her two lackies, a talented armorer and a talented soap maker, each with very specific personality quirks.

Shall I claim some of them to Dorf and re-train as Mason & Doctor?  Speak now or I'll decide myself - nothing to do today but play DF and update this

[ArKFallen]

I say it's up to you whether to take the time to retrain 'em. A mason is pretty easy to train, but a Doctor? Tis a bloody insanity (the most dwarfy kind)!