Bay 12 Games Forum

Well, now that I think about it, I don't really know what I'm doing, but it seemed a good idea at the time. For dwarfkind and the mountainhome.

Datan has dragged me along on this fool's quest, though he gave guarantees that the journey would be safe, and so would the fort. Still, I'm going into unknown territory. My mountain kin whisper terrible things behind my back, that I'll "break the world", that my leaving will bring untold consequences, for good or ill, to the world. I scoff internally at them: why would they think such a thing?

Before I tell you much about myself, I have to tell you about Datan. He's the kind of dwarf someone like me can look up to. He's a strong magician, having battled or stopped countless goblin invasion in their ever expansion to the east and towards the mountains. He knows how to make us immune to temperature and the fallings of the sky, how to make us not crave food or drink. He's not a supernatural evil being, not a vampire or necromancer or were-thing, his daily job is actually an axedwarf. Watching him, it seems silly to believe he wields so much power, yet he does and I do not doubt him.

He has told me stories of the deep since I was a dwarfling, of great cavernous expanses to those brave enough to see them, of great magma sees, of adamantine and greater beauties and horror below. Recently, he has had visions of slade (with a D!!!) towers, but we go not to them now. We go exploring. He has especially told me about the deep dwarves, the illusive kind that I am just aching to find. And this is what led me here.

After so many stories, I finally petitioned to the mountainhome for an expedition. Why not go adventuring myself, you ask? Because I'm not that suicidal, not yet at least. With an expedition, I have supplies and animals more in abundance given to me by the home, for our fortunes rise and fall together. Alone in the wilds, I fear not even Datan would follow.
 
They have sent me far from the home, citing that if I attract unduly attention, it would be on my head and on those foolish enough to accompany me. Datan was first to volunteer, of course, and five more followed.

Since hunting dogs, war dogs and even regular dogs are needed where they are, I have taken 40 stray puppies with me to act as a future army. I have confidence that one of my new companions would be more than eager to teach them the art of war once they grow up. I have also taken as many picks, anvils and steel bars (apparently they didn't have any iron at hand) as I can: better be prepared as much as I can.
So here we are, far from the mountainhome, with mainly the assurances of Datan.
Granite 14: I've already drawn a plan for the first levels and how I want to go about it. It isn't perfect, but I hope it's effective.


I've set myself up with a cushy job as a mechanic. Mechanics are safe, I'm told, at least those that only work in their workshops. I should find a reason to do just that and only that and not be the one sent out to construct and load cage traps. Yes, I'm the same one that wanted to meet the deep dwarves, but I have to take care of my safety to survive such a meeting, you understand.

Day WHAT?! One of my miners has become king. Just like that. His requirements are staggering! He's going to die of a broken heart, poor guy. Not much I can do than quaranteen the poor... but then, they may appoint someone else as king from my squad again? They wouldn't dare... they're not that crazy... are they? Armok save me from fools and madmen...

Oh well, moving on. I had ordered to build a Masonry, I created a Mechanic's workshop myself and a butcher shop for ol' Datan, since he doesn't have any trees to chop. I might just put him on hauling duty, he likes to be inconspicuous like that, occasionally chopping wildlife that our dogs or hunters killed. I've had my mason construct doors, a chair, a table (for me) and a coffin, in that order. Because let me tell you, the more you build, the more doors you'll need. Doors are close requirements after beds (which we won't have much of either until we find a cave) and clothes (of which I heard fearful tales of forts crumbling because of pissy nekkid dwarves). Not even Datan's magic can protect us from such calamities if we're not careful! I'm also putting Ber on the mining detail, because we'll need another miner once Sigun, our illustrious king's heart gives out, and we need to find those trees (and that spider silk, and those deep dwarves) as fast as possible. I've already found a way to... isolate Sigun before it's too late. I just hope it works so his future madness won't drag us down with us.

Poor fellow, he had such high ambitions too.



6th slate: my first cave!
[to be continued]
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OOC & Improvised bug tracker: So, in for a penny, in for a pound. Since I got the king in the first go, I have to go on with what I have. And I don't have much lack, to be honest.

Do you think I can actually save him?

Nobody was prepared for them. For the portals to open. For the invasion.

At least, not in this way. They'd all seen the movies with the aliens or the illuminati taking over the world, with Godzilla, with Cthulhu. They were certainly not expecting bearded half-men with picks, axes and magma throwers.

The portals opened in many parts of the world, important and remote likewise. It wasn't even an organised invasion of any sorts, and the first mentions of these creatures led people to hysterics... of laughter. A man reporting savages with picks started digging through his basement, presumably to the other part of the world. A whole city claiming that their destroyed building weren't the result of some freak hurricane, but of some "reshaping" they could barely understand. Mountains defaced, at first attributed to alien messages and wonders from the sky. But it's not the sky they came from, nor where they were going.

And then they hit the cities. A concentrated wave of 50-60 for many a million-plus location. You'd think creatures like these would be easily killed by a sharp shooter or a missile. You'd be wrong. They brought their physics with them from their world. They brought what some said was magic.

They would raise walls around themselves, impregnable walls, unminable, untouched by radiation. Radiation, actually, it seems they were immune to, as they would be sometimes seen using pitchblende in the most uncommon situations, from making hammers to kitchens to walls. But the walls were the biggest problem: from granite, to obsidian, to soap, they were impregnable. "Roofs" had the same properties. You could nuke an entire city, and they'd still be there, long after the roaches would keel and die. More impressively (and especially worryingly) they were able to give the same properties to the outer areas of the walls they'd carve themselves, be it in concrete, soil or deeper levels. And the medieval "fortifications", that they would carve out of walls, would keep almost any bullet, any projectile outside, and make even sharpshooters for some reason flinchy and unstable.

And God did they smell. And drink. The first thing they'd do would be to raid liquor store, sometimes drinking on the spot, or filling their barrels on the same spot! They even had ways, those that retrieved some of the barrels would say, of putting "layers" of drink one over the other in ways that would not mix, but be able to be drunk each separately. They'd come out of nowhere, taking erratic paths, ironically quite the opposite of drunkenly, mechanical even, and take things, and store them for who knows what purposes.

The abilities they brought from wherever they came from were as marvelous as they were absurd beyond measure. Man always dreamed of breaking the laws of physics for their own purposes, dreamed of some better sorts of physics, but definitely not this. Great towers were raised, mountains were leveled, or turned into lakes, seas and oceans were bridged over... in stone, and some even reported levels of seas or oceans completely drained, while the rest of the body of water was standing at its normal size, but not advancing on their "fortresses", as if scared by the ferocity of their picks and their ingenuity.

Oh but they made beautiful things too. Incredible things. Men and women's eyes would water when they would see these masterpieces, guarded fearlessly by the dwarves, and for some it would be the last thing they'd see, and yet others would say that to have seen this, they must surely have died satisfied of life. There were some creations that would bend reality itself with their majesty, to the apparent lack of interest of their wearers. These were indestructible, and varied in form and utility. Indeed, rock glowing beds without coverings except exquisite jewels carried as shields and ponderously dragged everywhere were perplexing for anyone who watched such a weird spectacle.

They would eat just about anything except insects, bugs and the occasional small rat. Cats and dogs, beautiful pure-breed pets were torn from the humans and taken to blooded and bone-swarmed "workshops", they they'd be butchered, very often with axes. The only good thing was that they weren't cannibals, nor intending on using the remains of what was later discovered to be as "sentient beings". Though some groups would stoop as low as to hunt down and butcher humans to consume them and make bolts or spears or amulets out of their bones, these were fortunately the exception and not the rule.

But it wasn't an invasion in the usual sense of the word, as they didn't take lands, or keep them for very long, or used human industry to adapt to their own. Indeed, if only they had come along, maybe an uneasy truce might have been held between the two races. Since their arrival, humans had learned some of their language (for they didn't bother to learn the humans') and - after getting over the shock that it bore striking resemblance to many an ancient language of humanity - and were making headway with at least some of the tried. Uneasy peace was settled, merchants would come and go from their camp usually unmolested, and they didn't ask for much except raw and unique material - of which any human willing to trade was much in lack of, still they tried - and seemed to respect the truce upheld by the sanctity of traders.

But they did not come alone...

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OOC: I have some more ideas, but I don't know when or in what form I'll post them. Too much and too disorganized for now, but I'll see what I can do. Tell me if you like it/if you've thought about it/if it's been done before.