The dwarves were surrounded, there was no denying that.
To their south, beyond that mighty gash in the earth, dark, gibbering monsters awaited them.
To their east, a troll had meandered it's way close to their camp.
And to their north...
Onul, miner and expedition leader, tightened her grip on the pick and tried to stop shaking. She could not show her fear to her six followers. Her friends...
Over the sound of the picks crushing stone, a great creaking could be heard. Then, a few moments later, a crash was sent reverberating off the cliff walls.
Onul and the other miner, Catten, both winced and stood motionless for what seemed like eons.
Nothing. The beast had not stirred. After a few more minutes, the small band of dwarves slowly began work again. The log was brought to the make-shift crafting workshop and carved into some bolts for the trapper, Sodel. Of course, it was far too dangerous to actually hunt. She was now their only guard. She would be enough, Onul hoped, to kill some of the smaller beasts that should try and ambush them. She had already bashed a gremlin that had strayed near the wagon earlier to death with her crossbow.
"Alright." Onul said to her as soon as the little stockpile cave had been dug. "See if ye can shoot down some of those beasts over there... I want the area across the chasm clear so we can cross safely. Gods know we can't stay here."
Sodel nodded and marched off silently, and the leader once again joined the rest of the group in order to help with the stockpile efforts.
~~~~~~~~
Sodel looked down into the black abyss, trying her best to ignore the various noises that emanated from it. It seemed to her like an army of dark beasts resided down there. Every so often it looked like something would dart into edge of light for an instant, but would quickly disappear into the blackness again. She couldn't ignore it. Whatever monsters were on the other side of the gap had long moved away, and she felt her attention drawn to this chasm...
Suddenly, she felt something cold wrap around her leg. She couldn't even utter a scream before she was pulled to the ground, mere inches from the chasm edge. In the light, she could see the creature clearly- a winged humanoid figure, black as the bottom of the chasm itself. It took only a few seconds for Sodel to gather her composure, and she instinctively pushed the lever at the bottom of the crossbow, releasing a deadly bolt in the direction of the batman. For a moment, she was unsure of whether it had struck true, yet after a few seconds, the beast released it's hold on her and fell back into the darkness, never to fly again.
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So, let's see how this goes. This is not a community fortress, and I plan on having a definite "end" to it. It won't be incredibly long, depending on what "end" that is.
I'd like to thank
Sinnach for providing the awesome seed for this. It's definitely good for a challenge.
And here is our current situation. I'll get a site map on the DFMA soon enough.
