silence reigns bloody
through halls gloomy and dim
a faint sobbing comes
This dwarf is alight
The fire causes great thirst
Your fortress crumbles
---
Dwarfs Scream in terror
Behold beasts long forgotten
Fear living vomit
---
Bronze giant stands broken
Despite grave wounds it yet lives
More magma needed
---
Tree quota ignored
Long tears shed by the long ears
I will welcome war
I'm not really happy with this, it's no haiku, but it came to mind after the thread on using cats to explore caves. And a certain cat lovers optimism that it's not a death sentence for them all.
Maybe it's the style, it feels too forced for me, and the end is kinda iffy, and.... but then, we're our greatest critics.
Here it is, as someone might at least enjoy it.
Mewing bundle
Runs from Crundle
Crundle lunges
Before it plunges
Laying stiff
At foot of cliff
Elkbird attacks
Cat ducks into cracks
Forgotten beast
Seeks a feline feast
Titanic thing
With poisonous sting
Towercaps fall
Beast meets wall
Failed charge
By the monster large
Grusome end
As small claws rend
Resounding thud
Floor coats with blood
Haughty huff
From ball of fluff
Distant cries
As fortress fries
Fire creeps
As thick smoke creeps
Cackling imp
Meets paved floor limp
Beloved kitty
Saviour of dwarven city
Purring bundle
Dines on Crundle
Something with the whole fort teaming up to bring down a forgotten beast, a grand feast, then two days later everyone's brains suffer necrosis.
I have too much time on my hands, I saw this and immediately started to write.
If anything, this thread has told me that when it comes to poetic arts, I'm very rusty.
There was a monster called Mot
Who was slain by a drunken old sot
The ale flowed at the feast
made from this forgotten beast
Then later their brains started to rot.
The star of our feast
Forgotten beast from below
In days our brains rot
Oh, terrible beast from below
Your claws dealt us a horrible blow
Our armies found you in your lair
A beast with mint green hair
Beware his poisonous breath!
For the fumes of it spelled certain death
A beast with external ribs
Associated with caverns and fibs
With sword and with mace
We came face to face
To face down this evil
A giant humanoid Weevil
An initial exchange of blows
Left swordsmen in deaths throes
Yet hammers swung true
And into the wall the beast flew
The butchers and cooks hurried
As about the kitchens they scurried
Preparing the corpse of the beast
For a grand dwarven feast
Yet the beast in death still won
While the tales of heroes were spun
Check for danger they had not
So later their brains started to rot
The adventurer
Lost in the womb of the earth
Braves the evil dark
The haggard miner
Carves the mighty earth
With his pick of steel
The embark party
Create their own destiny
Braving the wilderness
The mighty titan
Primordial warrior
Ravages the world
These are some I thought up.
New addition to the collection...
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/ledi/Dwarf%20Fortress%20Haiku/socks.jpg)
As usual, there's a sig/avatar set in the album I linked to last post (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=54681.msg1184514#msg1184514).
In the spring they come,
With the precious rope reed cloth.
The trade depot? Wood
I was starting out writing a haiku, but it evolved into an epic.
Every glorious fortress will fall;
No matter how broad, no matter how tall.
No dwarf can be invincible.
No fortress impenetrable.
Goblins hunting down the dwarves;
Ogres knocking down the doors;
Dragons roasting all in sight;
Kobolds theiving left and right.
Military is in shambles,
Farmers hiding under tables,
Children running to the gremlins,
Drunkards sleeping through the din.
Look at that! It's an engraver.
His last breath is spent on labor.
He's carving up a masterpiece;
He decorates his resting place.
See his chisel work up and down,
The masterpiece is being sewn:
The dwarf drops dead, his final work:
An image of a sock and dirk.
Many years have now passed by.
A lone adventurer tired lies.
He drops his eyes to sleep the night;
Quite aware of that ancient blight.
When come morn the rough dwarf wakes.
He bows his head for Armok's sake.
Entrance to the hold he finds;
In the depths where no sun shines.
The cold rock floor, the humid air,
The dwarf finds rest upon a chair.
All around the dead lie still.
Women, livestock, infants were killed.
He searches the old stores for food,
But finds naught save smears of blood.
Nothing has been dwelling here.
But death scent lingers everywhere.
The lone dwarf gathers his supplies:
He packs his sword, packs his knives.
Takes a step toward the light.
Blinks once to adjust his sight.
Alas! As he departs from the ruin,
A terrible stench surrounds him.
The smell of death! The reek of fear.
Undead creatures tarry near!
He runs fast as feet can carry;
Through the wood into the prairie.
Out from the brush monsters come,
The true icons of hopeless doom.
To Armok the brave dwarf prays.
Is today his last of days?
He pauses to think of his life:
Think of his child, of his wife.
Then the dwarf charges the mass.
Shatters the creatures' bones like glass.
Fo'ard and aft his strong sword swings,
Severing limbs and heads and wings.
The field stained with crimson,
The dwarf's blade hums a deadly song.
The battlefield is covered with corpses.
Relentlessly the dwarf sword slashes.
On they come! The endless swarm.
But this dwarf avoids all harm.
Swiftly he steps, so agile is he:
Marvelled the elves, from up in the trees!
But soon they were pale and aghast;
The warrior - he fell at last.
On his corpse the monsters feed.
Out the dwarf's stolen life bleeds.
But lo, he left a daughter behind.
Later his rotting corpse did she find.
Tears clouded her judgement and eyes,
Horrendous were her screaming cries.
She swore to the spirits. Nay, to Armok!
The undead armies would find their graves yet.
So up the sword and the shield she took:
Her brow was quite mad, her fate was set.
Im sorry but i could not say this is epic Because it is too good for that...it is DWARVEN!!!
River of magma
flowing through the fortress halls.
Miner is an ass.
Elves are trading now
Release the magma please,NOW!!!
They brang tigermen!!!!
The one below is based on a real life event,twisted into df relatedness. (R.I.P Dime)
Go go dwarf metal!
Magma powered guitars,cool!
Dime has been struck down
Bronze Colossus,
Done in by a hammer.
Fancy crab statue.
King is unhappy.
His Mandate was not met.
Hammerer's joy.
EDIT:
I figured this modified version of the Chandler's Wife song would fit this discussion perfectly:
Urist McBroker to the Trade Depot went, some wine and ale for to buy
But when he got there and looked around, no Merchant could he spy
So then he shouted loudly out, fit to raise the dead,
When he heard the sound of a damn hippie, right below his head.
Well, the Urist McBroker being a smart dwarf, he bounded down the stairs
Determined to find out where it was, and catch them unawares
And there he found the hippie, with the duchess, making free
And they were having a meeting as plain as he could see.
Now when the hippie's job was done, the duchess turned her head
And there she spied the broker boy, a-standing by the bed
She said to him, "If you'll agree to what I have in mind,
Why you can keep your life, whenever you're so inclined."
So, many a day and many a night when the duchess had a will,
Down to the mason's workshop he ran, her demands to fullfil.
And every one she made up a whim, she gave to him instead,
Just a little bit more of the mandates to trip his way to bed.
So listen all ye dwarven men, who run the things in town
You'd better keep your duchess locked up, you'd better have her blown.
For If you do not heed me, just as sure as you have a duchess,
Why, she'll be making mandates most every day in the fortress.
Alternative ending:
So listen all ye dwarven men, who run the things in town
You'd better keep your duchess locked up, you'd better have her blown.
So, if you would be kind to her, just tie her down on the floor,
And give her some of that magma flow, so she doesn't rule no more.
EDIT 2: Here's a take on the Needy noble (drunken sailor).
What will we do with a needy noble? x3
In the Fortress mode
Way hay and magma rises x3
In the Fortress mode
Put him in a meeting with the atom smasher x3
In the Fortress mode
Way hay and magma rises x3
In the Fortress mode
Lock him in his room until he starves x3
In the Fortress mode
Way hay and magma rises x3
In the Fortress mode
Drop him in a pit without armor on him x3
In the Fortress mode
Way hay and magma rises x3
In the Fortress mode
Put him in a room with a goblin striker x3
In the Fortress mode
Way hay and magma rises x3
In the Fortress mode
That's what we do with a needy noble x3
In the Fortress mode
Way hay and magma rises x3
In the Fortress mode