OOC: After reading about the reclaim of Battlefailed, I felt inspired to try my hand at reclaiming Failcannon. I've yet to play in a succession fort, and with my turn in Deathgate coming up, My first few attempts ended in failure, but I finally found a way to reclaim the fort, despite the ghosts, forgotten beasts, and massive amounts of flooding. I've currently managed to survive two years, with 28 dwarfs, and have the discovered that Failcannon's new hospital is now its most important industry (and am close to having legendary doctors ...).
I also felt that since Hellcannon takes place in a regenned world, I wanted to give a proper ending to the world of Aluonra. I have no intention to step on any toes, so if there is serious objections to the story, I'll rework this thread to merely document my reclaim efforts. For the most part, I will try avoid references to named players in the previous thread unless those players wish to be included in the plot. I've tried to check all my references to Battlefailed, Faillcannon, and the original reclaim of Battlefailed. I am not the best writer, but I do hope you all find this enjoyable. I will use any constructive criticism to better the story
Prelude
That is not dead which can eternal lie
And with strange aeons, even Death may die.
-- Urist Imiknorris. On the demise of Failcannon.
Minutes from the Court of Dastot Cog, Queen Led Uthmikmebzuth Presiding
Slate 17th, 540.
* Contact lost with Ungègugath.
- Outpost Liason Mörul Nourishedcrystal failed to return to Grapeveins. Third liason lost attempting to visit Ungègugath.
- Reclamation party to be send to the Plains of Ooze next Felsite and report findings.
The world has passed into the Age of Failure ...
Sandstone 18th, 540
The Age of Failure was a time when after civilization faced the horrors they brought upon themselves.
Diary of Dodok Sigunuvas, Historian.
Obsidian 27th, 547
Looking back, I find myself in disbelief that seven years have passed since the event. Few dare to even speak of the event, but I feel that a record must be left for future generations. To know what we did to this world. Even now, we still feeling the aftereffects of that horrid day. All one must do is merely look into the sky, and see the scar reaching from the heavens themselves into the Plains of Ooze. Even the stars themselves have extinguished themselves.
When news reached the court, the Immortal Queen's anger was nearly unstoppable. Her screams had echoed throughout the entirety of Grapevines. I would think the gods themselves would have cowed when they heard. In her murderous rage, she singly tore apart any dwarf apart limb by limb in her path. Its said the streets ran with the blood. I can only thank Rab for keeping me safely hidden during that horrid night.
I digress however. To understand Day of Fail, as I've come to call it, one must know the story of the twin forts, Nokzamungèg, better known as Battlefailed, and its younger sibling Ungègugath, Failcannon. I am not one for stories, so I apologize if my recollections are dry, but knowing of these two forts is pinnacle to understanding what came hence.
Anyway, Battlefailed, as one might have surmised, was founded first, nearly a half-century to the day. Located on the border between Continent of Ears, and the Blueness of Malodors, it was the first new settlement founded since the Immortal Queen took her throne.
At first, Battlefailed was little more of a curiosity. A small outpost in one of the most inhospitable regions of Aluonra, most expected the settlement to abandoned in less than a year. It perhaps a testament to the tenacity of Dwarfiankind that we not only survived, but thrive in such a wasteland. It wasn't long into its foundation that miners struck the most valuable and most dangerous ore of them all: adamantine. Battlefailed had embarked on a goldmine of the stuff, and despite the danger, exports of it flooded the fort with money, and it became known across all of Aluonra as a place of wealth and magnificence. Under the promises of a better life, and new begins, hundreds of dwarfs eventually made their way to those horror hauls. Many lost their lives in the journey, and more still fell to the horrors that assaulted the fort on a daily basis, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
While on the surface, Battlefailed seemed like a paradise, every dwarfs dream. It was only after I began to chip away at the veiner did I begin to understand the true horrors of that place.
I must explain that during the rise of Battlefailed, one of my former students, Avuz ùshrirgasol, had left to Grapeveins to find his fortunes, and find a better life for himself, and eventually found work as a broker. His letters spoke of a majestic city with no second; he had expected it would only be a matter of time before the Queen herself would leave, and crown Battlefailed as her new mountianhome.
However, not everything was as rosy as the stocks sheet would report. Avuz had sent relayed many of the rumors and stories he had heard. Stories of ghostly possessions by dead dwarfs, rivers of poisons running through the caverns, and hoards of forgotten beasts lurking through the depths. At first, I assumed, as Avuz must have, that these were just stories and exaggerations. After all, stories are always more interesting when one embellish a few details here and there. Over time, what was once fact would eventually mutate into fascinating works of fiction.
Even though I had foolishly written off his tales as fiction, I couldn't help but have a sense of dread whenever I thought of Battlefailed. Caverns would depart for Battlefailed, and never been heard from again. Officially, their losses were attributed to goblins and the like. I can not help but wonder now if that was it was a sign for what was to come.
Avuz's final letter had been written in a panicked hand. It spoke of miners who had been had become trapped in stasis midair, neither alive nor dead, walls that would bleed magma in places where there shouldn't be any, and the pounding of the beasts in the caverns below trying to break their way into the fort above. I urged him to leave while he still had the chance, but alas, it was not to be.
One of the monstrosities, a massive scaly stonefly known as Stuzang had finally managed to breach through Battlefailed defenses. I wish I could say that there was one last great stand, one last battle where we stood our ground, but it was not to be. In the space of a single night, there was not a single soul alive in that damned place.
It many not come as any surprise, but Queen Led immediately ordered a reclamation party to re-establish the fort. Seven of our best left for the Planes of Ooze, and as you may guess, were never heard from again. Undeterred, as each party in turn failed, another was sent in its place. Only Armok knows how many souls she sent to their deaths trying.
Rumors abound that the other mountainhomes tried their own attempts to reclaim what we had lost. Some even said that the humans, goblins, and even the elves had tried to claim Battlefailed as their own, only to meet with failure as we had. All I know for sure that for a time Battlefailed was lost to all.
Ah, I'm getting ahead of myself again. Now, one may ask, since no dwarf had survived to tell the tale, how did I recount it all now? As it turns out, there was a survivor, or at least a witness of sorts. Now, I do not claim to know the secrets of life and death, or even to pretend to know what happens when our time comes. As a scholar, and a historian, I would have normally written off what follows as pure fantasy were it not for the collaborating evidence.
A few month after Battlefailed's fall, a dwarf calling herself Andreus began preaching on the streets of Grapevein about Battlefailed twisted history. She recounted the same stories that Avuz had before, and many more. She spoke of Stuzang, and the many beasts that guard against those who dared to defy her advice.and it wasn't until sometime later I understood the true significance. Such heresy again the Swords of Boots was unheard of, and "Andreus" was quickly captured and executed for treason against the crown.
The rantings of a single maddwarf were not enough to deter the brave fools who continued to sacrifice their lives in vain in their attempts to reclaim Battlefailed. I can only guess that is why madness known as Andreus suddenly infected another, this time a young fisherdwarf. The now male Andreus once again preached his tales, and was once again captured and executed.
What followed was could only be described as a strange and perverted version of the game whack-a-mole. For each Andreus captured and executed, another would appear and take its place. Young, old, man or woman, it did not matter to the spirit. They would possess another, and the cycle would continue. Some say that even a bovine began to moo about the horrors, though I suspect that might more embellishment than fact.
Then again, I've also learned that the truth is often stranger in fiction when it comes to the twin forts.
Andreus tale spread throughout Grapevein, then to the other the mountainhomes, even to the most remote corners of Aluonra. It wasn't long before dwarfs began defining the queen's orders on the reclamation. Such a thing was unheard of; her wrath was legendary.
Led began to execute not only those who refused to go, but their families, friends and and loved ones as well. Defiance was treason, and treason had but one punishment. Their bodies were strung up, and put on display. Thousands were slain in her purges for disloyalty. She personally took her royal guard and hunted down Andreus's last re-incarnation.
I could find no record of what occurred, but immediately following that conformation, all attempts to reclaim Battlefailed were halted. Even those whom had taken upon itself to try and raid the buried riches of that place began to avoid it. Andreus's tales had succeeded in convincing Aluonra that some things are better left buried.
I wish I could say that was the end of this miserable tale, but alas, the Immortal Queen was not one to let sleeping dogs lay. As 518 came to a close, seven were summoned to the palace itself. They were tasked in founding a new settlement a few days north of Battlefailed. Officially, the reason was to show our enemies that we will not cave, and to watch over the ruins our once glorious fort of Nokzamungèg.
Few were willing to head into the Planes of Ooze, and fewer still were willing to migrant to Failcannon. Had history played out a little differently, Failcannon might have met its end due to a goblin ambush, or perhaps simple mismanagement. Fate however had other plans that would propel Failcannon into almost unparalleled success.
Roughly a year after the establishment of Failcannon, Kikrost Duralkosoth achieved the impossible. Battlefailed had been reclaimed. Duralkosoth had re-established the fort, and its riches began to flood out into the world once again. Driven by greed, dwarvenkind had collectively decided that the tales once told by Andreus were mere stories. They told themselves that the previous reclaimation attempts merely failed to bad luck or stupidity. Whatever their rationale was, they disregarded Andreus's warnings and hundreds of migrants made their way to both forts in attempt to realize their dreams. It was not meant to be.
My obsession with the two forts had truly began in earnest at this point. Unfortunately, firsthand accounts of life in Failcannon was exceedingly hard to come by. I began to seek out and speak to anyone who had visited either outpost, and interviewed them under the guise of compiling a history of the Plains of Ooze. Each told different stories, but some elements were the same no matter whom I asked; the river of poison, and dozens of horrors sealed below the fort were just two aspects that stood out the most. Others spoke of internal strife, and conflicts throughout those sunken halls.
Duralkosoth's reports eventually made it back to the royal court, and were sealed in the archives. At great personal risk, I was able to obtain a portion of that file, and learn firsthand what horrors truly haunted that place.
Stuzong's rampage through Battlefailed had destroyed many of the retaining walls that had prevented the sea from flooding into the fort. By time Duralkosoth had arrived at Battlefailed, the vast majority of it was underwater. Forgotten Beasts both lurked on the surface and the caverns below. Such behavior was unheard of; forgotten beasts do not hunt in packs, nor do they active patrol the surface of Aluonra. I would not realize the significance of their behavior until years later.
They were actively guarding the ruins. They stood guard to prevent us from returning.
Something had compelled these beasts that these to go against their base instincts, and remain above the surface. They must have known that it would all end in disaster. If we had only saw the signs sooner, then the Day of Fail may have never come to be ...
I will not drone on any more about the horrors of these places. I suspect these recollections would already have bored whomever might find themselves reading this record. In summary, the two forts continued on, withstanding onslaught after onslaught as Aluonra threw her worst to try and drive us out. The stars themselves began to dwindle and fade as time went on. The end was fast approaching ..
In the months before the event, Failcannon had already fallen silent. Rumors abound to the cause, perhaps they had decided to secede from the Sword of Boots, or perhaps the fort had been overrun just as Battlefailed did before it. Other still blamed the goblins. Regardless, the real reason for Faillcannon's silence will likely never be known. A reclamation party had already been planned to be sent in investigate. They would never make it.
Sandstone 17th would forever be known as Failday across the land. The blast could be felt across all of Aluonra. A pillar of light rose up from the the Plains of Ooze. It arced and cackled, and enveloped itself around the twin forts. It arced and twisted ever higher into the night sky, and split the heavens asunder. And the sound, by Rab, the sound it made ...
Failcannon had fallen, and with it, Battlefailed's second life had been taken with it. I have already written on how our Queen took the news, but the full ramifications were yet to be understood.
Any whom dared to approach the Plains of Ooze would be struck down with tremendous force by a bolt of divine retribution from the pillar itself. Undeterred, plans for a third fort, Shashmebzuth, also known as Hellcannon, were drafted. A landlocked island was selected to become the new settlement, but alas, this was not meant to be.
Contact was lost almost immediately. Witnesses from nearby settlements claimed to see the Pillar of Fail reach out, and snuff the new settlement as soon as it had arrived. Any attempts to form new settlements were just as quickly neutralized by the pillar.
The truth soon become evident. We had failed so hard that the world itself rejected any attempts for us to expand. It wasn't long until people began to call it the age of failure. It was a time where we had to deal with the consequences of our actions, and be damned to the hellholes we've created.
I do not know if we will ever make amends for our hubris. I can only hope in time that the Windy World can, in time, find in itself to forgive us ...
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Topic: [Community] Reclamation of Failcannon (Read 1731 times)