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Eshatan Mirroredgorge Carpenter/Woodcutter

Edzul Plaitedwheel All-Around Medical Dwarf

Nish Paddleblunt Legendary Marksdwarf

Fikod Bookdaggers Legendary Farmer

Sigun Shotsect Axedwarf

[Broseph Stalin]

This isn't really about the fort so much as it is about a little project I've got going.  Consider it an alternative to Dwarven Childcare. After the first post I'll start doing things from the perspective of the children, I will dwarf people but since they can't be assigned roles feel free to give me a little description of what you want their personalities to be like. Also there will be pictures, it's just that I can't actually take a picture of the entire fort so there isn't one in the introduction.

Strongtowers, the gem of the Lenses of Carnality and a monument to dwarfkind. The great fortress and the great tower from which it derives it's name had in seven short years gone from a trading post of seven dwarves to the Mountainhome. After seven years of war and peace, feast and famine, King Ast Rumorlancers  recognized the fortress for what it was. A monument, a symbol for all and sundry that the Dwarves claimed dominon over the land above and the land beneath. That the dwarves were the masters of the waters above and the waters below and the firmament to separate the two. That no longer would their kind suffer the indignities of elves or be troubled by the blades and banners of the goblin hordes. But the king felt doubts. To live in complete safety, to dwell above ground, to lay claim to the sky and renounce the stone and soil of dwarven blood- this would not breed the steely lot made hard by the beasts of the caverns. No, it was apparent already in the young. Made lazy and fat, spoiled by sunlight and strawberries, these children were not dwarves. Softer than the two elf slaves taken from the caravans they could not be the children of Strongtowers, the sons and daughters of the greatest stronghold of the greatest race needed to be the minions of their kind- agile and strong crafty and industrious. And so when the first frost of the year two hundred and eleven came King Ast Rumorlancers summoned his people  and made the declaration that for the good of all dwarves the young would be made hard. Far beneath the tower of stone and brass and far away from safety of the walls they would strike the earth themselves. The caverns were their homes now, if they made a home of the caverns and grew to be true dwarves with the strength to wield a pick or blade in service to they're people they would be welcomed as kin worthy of honor. Though it would be a hard life they would not be on their own. In the years passed Forgotten Beasts had united the dwarves of Strongtowers and the Olm Men of the caverns. This tribe of demi-men would their only guides and only hope of survival. As the first snow fell fourty nine young dwarves said goodbye to their families to all they had ever known and descended into the unforgiving maw of the earth.

All the kids will be assigned to clans based on their fathers last name to make them a little easier to keep track of.

Dwarves:

Spoiler: Clan: Bellnotches (click to show/hide)

Number:3
Mother:Urist/Bonecarver
Father: Kib/Planter

Kubuk
Moldath
Udim

Spoiler: Clan: Helmgaze (click to show/hide)

Number:9
Mother:Ast-Planter
Father: Solon-Butcher

Tun: -Dead, Starved
Cilob
Tholtig
Nomal
Monom
Udib -Dead, neck broken by Nishdalzat the Frogwoman.
Astesh
Erith -Dead, Drowned by Kol the Elder
Zasit

Spoiler: Clan: Gravetorch (click to show/hide)

Number:5
Mother:Ablel-Peasant
Father: Bomrek-Fisherdwarf

Mistem
Tun
Stodir
Kol the Elder -Dead, went berserk before being killed by Lorbam Legendgild
Kol the Younger

Spoiler: Clan: Legendgild (click to show/hide)

Number:4
Mother:Zaneg-Leatherworker
Father:Adil-Planter
Asmel
Lorbam -Dead, starved after being injured.
Thob
Vucar -Dead, starved after becoming Melancholy

Spoiler: Clan: Ivyanvil (click to show/hide)

Number:4
Mother:Ushrir-Bowyer
Father: Sakzul-Engraver
Bomrek
Ral
Fath
Rith

Spoiler: Clan: Pagemiles (click to show/hide)

Number:4
Mother:Morul-Hoardmaster
Father:Kib-Miner
Udib
Bomrek
Vabok
Nil

Spoiler: Clan: Lulledbolted (click to show/hide)

Number:6
Mother:Dastot-Miner
Father: Ustuth-Furnace Operator
Bim
Ral
Udil The elder
Udil The Younger -Dead, rats ate his face.
Iton -Dead, Starved
Geshud
Doren

Spoiler: Clan: Coaljewels (click to show/hide)

Number:5
Mother:Stodir-Engraver
Father:Aban-Soap Maker
Ilral
Datan
Olin
Iral
Logem

Spoiler: Clan: Silverypools (click to show/hide)

Number:1
Mother:
Father: Likot

Spoiler: Clan: Shippointy (click to show/hide)

Number:3
Mother:Dodok
Father: Doren
Likot
Ustuth
Minkot
Momuz

Spoiler: Adult (click to show/hide)

Avuz Lovecracft - Dead, killed in his sleep by a crundle

[Broseph Stalin]

From the Journal of Tun Helmgaze

They gave us a stack of paper and a big block of charcoal to write about what happens, there isn't anything else to do. I don't understand why we can't live in the tower anymore with the grown-ups everyone is very sad. My mom cried and cried when we left, I wish my dad was here but he had to go to a farm two years ago because they needed lots of good butchers.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Itob says he should be allowed to stay because he made an "arty fact" but they made him go with us. It was very hard to see at first, someone fell going down the stairs and pushed everyone else down too. After a while when we could see we looked for the Olm Men but there's nothing except bones some leather and a few wood weapons and shields. Nobody knows how to use them. My sister Udib says that she saw some elf armor in the water and Stodir Gravetorch found  some elf teeth. Nobody wants to stay here.  We walked around for a while and found a big square floor made of blocks. Stodir is five and says he remembers when they tried to build things down here but monsters chased them all away. Stodir's brothers Kol and Kol are afraid of evil underground elves, I've never met an elf but they sound bad I hope the Olm men are alright.


I don't know if it's day or night or how long it's been but we all went to bed and woke up about the same time. My sister Udib went on an adventure and found a pile of mushrooms. The grown-ups dropped them through a hole in the roof to feed us. They don't taste very good. Olon Silverypools was too afraid to follow Udib and then got angry when there weren't any mushrooms left for him. He doesn't have any brothers or sisters to help him that must be sad.

2 Opal 211

The other kids said I have to write down days so we remember how long we've been here. Olon Silverypools says there's something in the water but he's just a baby. There's nothing to do down here, my sister keeps going on adventures sometimes but there's nothing down here to see except weird plants. Stodir Gravetorch and his brothers are trying to fish but they can't make a hook. Kol and Kol say that they might catch cave elfs if they aren't careful I don't think there's elfs in the water.

3 Opal 211

Kol came running to the stone square, he said that a water elf was eating Kol. Udib picked up a stick and went to the water with Rith Ivyanvil. There was an elf frog eating Lorbam Legendgild, Bomrek Pagemiles tried to help but it bit him on the arm and kicked him in the chest. Udib hit it but that made it angry and it started biting he. She kept kicking it but it was strong and hit her hard on the head. Rith started to punch it and kick it and it got scared and went into the water.We found Kol in a corner crying his foot is very hurt he said he had to jump in the water to get away. Bomrek got blood from his arm everywhere and Rith got bit on the arm too. Lorbam can't stand up and her arm and her other elbow are broken. Udib only got hit on the head but she won't talk to anyone and she won't stand up. I don't want to be here anymore.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

4 Opal 211

I found Udib far away from the square, I kept shaking her but she wouldn't wake up. My brother Cilob said I had to go back to the square, I haven't seen her all morning.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Udib Alathesdor , dwarven child has suffocated.

Cilob says they let her leave because she had to go to the farm with dad. I wish I could go to the farm, Cilob says he does too.

[Broseph Stalin]

You might notice this is all happening really fast, you have no idea. This isn't even thirty minutes of gameplay, god hates these kids.

From the journal of Stodir Gravetorch

Opal 211 I don't know what day it is, the Silverypools boy says it's the eighteenth but I think we've been here longer than that.

We've abandoned the Blue Square, it was in one of the few open areas of the cavern but we're all too afraid of the frogman we've named Nishdalzat returning. There's a small space by the water but far from where Nishdalzat attacked that we've made our home.  Kol the elder isn't well. We can't move him and if nobody will go near the water to drink they certainly won't bring him bring him any. It's the same story with the other wounded, they're getting worse and nobody knows how to help them. Udib Helmgaze died a short while after the attack, I helped Cilob move her away from the camp. It hasn't even been a month and we're already on the verge of destruction, we can't last like this. 

Opal 211
 We found a man in the caverns who says his name is Avuz, since there were no Olm men he was sent to help us survive. But because he's helping us they won't send anymore food down. He's already mined an aclove with hatches in the floor. He says that big monsters can break down doors but they can't push straight up. If we cover the hatches from the inside nothing can force it's way in. He's hunting for edible plants and he'll start treating injuries soon.

Opal 211

Kol the elder went crazy when Avuz tried to help him and shoved Erith Helmgaze and  Datan Coaljewels into the water. Datan fought Kol but Erith tried to swim away, she wasn't strong enough to swim back. Datan kicked Kol in the stomach and hit him hard a few times before he could run away. Tun tried to hide in an aclove and found Udib's body worms had gotten to it, we still can't console him.  Kol craweled after us for a while until he found Lorbam wounded in the corner. Kol couldn't stand but Lorbam could barely move, Kol chased her and beat her very badly but Lorbam hit him hard in the chest and he collapsed. I tried to help him but he kept spittng up blood, Avuz said one of his lungs was collapsed fighting with Nishdalzat and the other was punctured by a broken rib when Lorbam hit him.The younger Kol, the one whose still alive, hasn't spoken since. I don't understand how I should feel, Lorbam killed my brother but my brother killed Cilob's little sister and Cilob is still my friend.  I'm not sure killing someone really matters down here.

[Broseph Stalin]

From the Journal of Geshud Lulledbolted.
 Even Avuz doesn't know what day it is, we have been down here for too long. Avuz has been very busy, he looks for food all the time but there isn't anything to eat. I haven't had any food since Tradematch the water elf  broke my belly and chest. Avuz moved me and Datan Coaljewels and Kib Pagemiles to Blue Square so nobody would forget where we were. Bomrek is still laying by the stairs I asked Avuz why she couldn't sit on Blue Square but he just "lost caws" and went back to work. I hope Avuz can find her caws, she hasn't had any food or water in a long time.

Avuz made some thread from plants he said he used pigs tails but I don't think there are any pigs down here. He started to do stitches on all of the hurt kids. I wish he had the whole pigs, I'm very hungry.

My brother Udil tried to find a rat to eat but the rat was as big as a dog and it was very mad. It bit him alot before he got away, Avuz caught the rat and killed it with his pick. Before anyone could find Udil four more rats came, one bit Datan in the arm but Avuz hugged it's head until it stopped. Everyone ran to the cubby hole while Avuz chased the rats but Datan Kib and me couldn't leave the Blue Square. Avuz got all the rats, but couldn't find Udil. I hope Udil found somewhere soft to sleep, he doesn't like it when his pillow is hard.

Tun Helmgaze found Udil, rats ate my brother. Avuz brought rat meat, I'm not hungry. It's spring now. I don't want to write anymore.

[Imp]

I wasn't so sure when I read your first post that this story would be the sort that interested me, but from your second post on I've been fascinated.  Three cries of grief for your tale, for the children cruelly tossed from care to near-total neglect, and for your delightful writing style.

Moar story please!

if this lasts long enough I'd like to be dorfed as the next adult sent down to them, assuming Avuz somehow goes the way of the friendly olm men.  I know that was not a role you were offering to have dorfed... but I want to ask for it anyway. 

If you grant me this, then I'm happy with whatever dwarf you pick for that task, regardless of skills, gender, or other traits.  I'd love to see a screenie of 'my' dorf, and if you dont mind once I have him or her, I'll be adding a few journal entries of its own to the tale.

[Broseph Stalin]

I wasn't so sure when I read your first post that this story would be the sort that interested me, but from your second post on I've been fascinated.  Three cries of grief for your tale, for the children cruelly tossed from care to near-total neglect, and for your delightful writing style.

Moar story please!

if this lasts long enough I'd like to be dorfed as the next adult sent down to them, assuming Avuz somehow goes the way of the friendly olm men.  I know that was not a role you were offering to have dorfed... but I want to ask for it anyway. 

If you grant me this, then I'm happy with whatever dwarf you pick for that task, regardless of skills, gender, or other traits.  I'd love to see a screenie of 'my' dorf, and if you dont mind once I have him or her, I'll be adding a few journal entries of its own to the tale.

I was actually getting ready for some audience participation in regards to adults. Since children are being killed at an alarming rate I was considering having a new adult set sent down every year and replacing the last with bay 12ers voting on who the baby sitter should be. Avuz was necessary at first because without some kind of shelter those kids would already be dead but by next year they may need someone with a different skillset, maybe a farmer or a soldier depending on whether beasties or starvation pose a more serious threat at the time.   

[Broseph Stalin]

From the Journal of Avuz Lovecraft

Granite, I imagine it's Granite somewhere that months and days matter.

I remember feeling anger when I was sent to these fetid depths but as time passes I grow to understand the cold logic of it, Coldlogic in an unrelated but rather humorous note would be a fine name for a fortress far finer than Strongtowers the quite purposeless name bestowed upon my beloved home. The tower may be strong, there's no way to know it's never been tested and with the fact that my labor has hollowed out our beloved mountain it's quite unnecessary in every regard. Coldlogic, I think is a far better name. I remember the spring of 204, striking the earth with the my dear friend Kadol and the love of my life Ustuth, we failed to complete the bridge spanning the volcano to the liking of the Expedition leader “The guard's barracks will not be centered” ,he whined. She he and I broke the bricks of the bridge and were careful to stand at a considerable distance away to ensure our safety but Kadol was not quite far enough to escape flying debris which knocked his unconscious form into the open mouth of the volcano. “To be laid to rest amongst the lifeblood of the earth is the hope of every Dwarf.” Three years later when I fell through the roof and shattered my shin I lay in the hospital looking out the window and noticed for myself the simple and irrefutable logic that while Kadol burned to death there were many other dwarves and the barracks were in fact center. Who else but Avuz Lovecraft could very analytically assess a situaton and decide that three children could be saved but one could not? Who else could have so calmly kept his eyes forward as the lad Lorbam whined for food that could not be spared? Who else could have taken the initiative to establish a garbage dump where he sat so that the children would not linger near him and be disturbed? There is no other who could so very logically realize that even if I could with my complete absence of skill preform the delicate surgeries necessary to piece the child back together that Lorbam having killed the oldest Kol  would never again be accepted by the group and there is no other who could realize so calmly that by digging a hole where he sat that a floor could be constructed overtop of him preventing the release of miasma into our scarce air. Having thrown the corpses of four children now onto a pile and killed with my bare hands five great rats I can say in fair confidence that those of my kind more prone to irrational behaviors and emotions would be quite unfit for this work. Having assessed the situation it's inevitable that more children will die, therefore it is much more important to obtain food (thereby providing for the whole) than it is to preform lifesaving efforts (providing for a single child whose survival is unlikely). It is for this reason rather than any semblance of goodwill or empathy that I am quite happy to report young Geshud is on her feet again, now that she's no longer consuming my attention I can devote my efforts to more important matters such as the cultivation of mushrooms for when the rat meat runs out. I confess that I presumed she would die when she began rejecting food, I thought it would be quite enjoyable for her to consume the rat that consumed her brother. Children have no concept of humor.

[Broseph Stalin]

From the Journal of Avuz Lovecraft

Slate, It would be slate now.

Cilob Helmgaze came into the hospital with a head wound, he said when the rats attacked one bit him in the head and tore out one of his teeth. To suffer in silence, noble. The wound was old and did not require treatment. With Cilob the last of the wounded have been treated and the last of the dead disposed of. The children have either begun to recover from the ordeal or begun to harden, only a few of them are still upset about the deaths. They've returned to the hub of their fortress, Bluesquare, as they know it is the microcline floor constructed originally as an abandoned project to house nobility. They continue to look to me to lead them no matter how many times I insist that they run the fortress and that I exist solely to serve. I've suggested they vote for an expedition leader to give me more organized orders on how to proceed. I don't understand exactly how much I should help them, I've noticed cave spiders running about, they aren't worth note in a fort with a healthy supply of cats but if one were to bite a fully grown dwarf he would stumble and flounder about for the rest of his days I can only imagine their effect on a child. I could warn them but the point is for them to build their own fortress, a good fortress is built by experience and to gain experience there must be mistakes. They cannot continue to eat bugs and drink from mud puddles. They aren't utilizing my services and I must spare my writing charcoal so I find myself quite often with nothing to do. I've been chatting with Iton Lulledbolted, the girl who made Laboredhandled the bone mace wielded by the guard captain about the joys of bonecrafting. She's an odd one, socially awkward and unassertive with a strange obsession with rigid routine.She's also disturbingly joyful given present circumstances.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I've however decided to take a lesson from her on how to spend my free time. When I prepared to start my new hobby I found that Rat Bone is a boring medium. Iton said it splinters too easilly, lacks luster, and the pieces are too small to create anything worthwhile. I made their skulls into totems and when there were no more skulls I made some charming figurines out of the bones of the Olm Men, the children don't like them. I don't think it's related to my figurines but Vucar Legendgild became melancholy a while later and wandered into the caverns, I haven't stumbled across his body but I'm quite certain he's dead.



First person to be dwarfed will be made Expidition leader of the childrens fort.

[Broseph Stalin]

From the journal of Olon Silverypools

Hematite

We took a vote and everyone agreed that I should be leader because I'm the oldest. Avuz said that means I'm boss now and he has to do what I say but when I told him to start looking for food he ate the last plump helmet and told me he was on break. We spent most of the month looking for spiders to eat I thought Ilral Coaljewels the boy was going to starve because he didn't start looking for food until everyone else had picked the safe areas pretty well clean and he's honestly not very coordinated. Avuz ended his break but He'd already picked most of the edible food. Udil Lulled Bolted's said that her mother was a miner and that she said most caverns have three different layers. I ordered Avuz to dig straight down and he found two more caverns. The first one is mostly water and the land was all covered in webber webs, I told him to seal up that cavern because webbers are awful. 

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The other cavern had lots of quarry bush, Avuz collected as much as he could carry and everyone's had enough to eat now. His next job is making coffins, he says he threw all the bodies in a hole but I told him that wasn't good enough. If all goes well then by next month everyone will have a proper burial and we should have enough food to last us a while.

[Broseph Stalin]

Malachite

Bim Lulledbolted was attacked by a group of terrible monsters in the bottom cavern, he managed to escape but he said Avuz was sleeping down there when they came. He kept calling them Crundles and snickering but he won't tell me why. Cilob Helmgaze wanted to look for Avuz but I told everyone to hide in the Cubby. There isn't any food or water stored in here (we'll have to change this) and there isn't much room. Avuz still has his pick, if he can fight them he doesn't need our help if he can't our help wouldn't matter. If anything's happened to him it's going to be a season and a half before someone else is sent down to help us. In the mean time we only have a few quarry bushes and plump helmets with nobody to plant another crop. I don't like being leader Tun Helmgaze cries all the time and Rith Ivyanvil said he saw Lorbam standing over the spot where she died there are so many problems and I can't fix any of them. I hope something changes soon.

[Broseph Stalin]

Limestone

From the journal of Olon Silverypools

Galena and Limestone were boring months. I found Avuz with his throat torn out in the caverns but when he didn't come back I expected as much. I ended the alert when everyone got thirsty and I haven't been able to convince them to do any work. I keep telling them that picking a plump helmet growing on the ground is just like picking one from a farm plot but even when food ran out they wouldn't do anything. I made Nomal Helmgaze my bookkeeper since he can count the best and he says there's enough food for one person to last a season, I thought about hiding the last quarry bushes so I could eat until winter but I couldn't do that to the other kids. The foods all gone and soon we'll be hunting spiders, I'm not sure if everyone's going to make it to the winter. I remember stories of fortresses toppling down after sieges, magma floods, or elephant rampages but I think our fortress may slowly crumble instead.

[Broseph Stalin]

From the journal of Olon Silverypools

Timber
In one month it will be a year since we came down here. We've lost so much. I don't think Everyone's going to make it to months end. the people who ate last aren't off quite as bad and the ones who started starving first managed to find bugs to eat. There aren't anymore spiders and there isn't anymore food, it's hard to hear over the hungry groans. I can see Lorbam too now. She's standing over her skeleton, over the hole Avuz dumped her in. She looks sad. My hands feel floppy, I can't hold the charcoal anymore. I'll write again if they send help in time.

[Broseph Stalin]

From the Journal of Nish Paddleblunts
First of Moonstone 212

Oh Thomal, God of Truth strike me blind if I speak a lie! As I entered the caverns and the door sealed behind me I caught such a sight! A dread troll, larger than any I've ever seen, was so filled with anger and frustration that it looked near fainting. It stood over the mangled and broken corpse of a young boy throttling the body. I fired my crossbow and the bolt landed true striking the beast in the head, lodging itself firmly in the skull. But the monster was not fazed or even distracted and persisted in it's efforts to dissassemble the remnants of it's kill. I fired again and again thirteen times total until the last bolt pierced it's awful head with such force that it protruded from the other side. As  I raised the broken body I recognized the scarcely dwarven face of Likot Shippointy the Engravers son, I knew his mother well. I prepared to bury him neath loose stones with all the proper rights when the tiny chest gave a heave, sucking in air in the loudest most earnest most eager and well earned breath I've ever heard!

He lived! Likot Shippointy torn a sunder by a terrible Dread Troll still pulsed with life! He could scarcely speak but he told me that on the Sixteenth of Timber one of the children was attacked in the deep caverns while searching for food, the beast followed the youth to the place they call Bluesquare and when the alarm was raised the Cubby had to be sealed with only three children safely inside. Instead of hiding he lead the beast away, he finally collapsed from exhaustion outside the door to the Fortress proper. On the Sixteenth the beast took hold of the boys throat and squeezed and on the First of Moonstone, Thirteen days later my Thirteenth bolt struck it dead. He was mauled viciously and throttled for Thirteen days without cease, oh Thomal what strength you grant! What a miracle I've witnessed. But I've come too late for some, Iton Lulledbolted  and Tun Helmgaze have starved this passed month. Salvation children! Salvation is at hand, I come bearing plump helmets and a fresh kill. As I  have snatched the boy Likot from the jaws of the troll I now save you all from the jaws of oblivion!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Seriously, the troll strangled him nonstop for thirteen days. When Nish got there the troll was just constantly passing out from exhaustion. There is no logical reason for him to not be dead.

[Mitchewawa]

First person to be dwarfed will be made Expidition leader of the childrens fort.

Name: Mitch
Profession: Dean

Loving the writing by the way, but you could space out more paragraphs. The block of text is kind of hard to read.

[Broseph Stalin]

Name: Mitch
Profession: Dean

Loving the writing by the way, but you could space out more paragraphs. The block of text is kind of hard to read.

Any particular dwarf you want?

Thanks for reminding me I keep forgetting paragraphs exist outside of research papers.


Also Imp is dorfd as Nish:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

She's a legendary marksdwarf, professional suturer, and has killed twelve enemies three war animals a dread troll and a deep crow.