The Watch set out in force. The Commander had taken the risky step of leaving McDuck's chamber unguarded so that they could attack these mysterious cultists with everything they had.
The guardsdwarf had finished disassembling the false wall, revealing a roughly carved, downward-sloping passageway.
"Watch out for traps on the way down," the Commander said, before gesturing for the guardsdwarf to take the lead.
The Commander's warning had been unnecessary. There were no traps or other surprises in the narrow passageway. They had brought along the dog in case they encountered mazes or more false walls, but there were none. The cultists had apparently relied solely on the disguised entrance to conceal themselves. The Watch followed the passage deep into the bowels of the earth, until Obok reckoned that they were at most a few yards above the magma sea itself.
Finally, the passage leveled out. Other hallways branched off, leading to crude rooms with roughly-fashioned beds. In one, a clothier's workshop had been constructed, and dozens of cloaks hung on hooks ("I told you," Zulgar whispered). But they found no living thing in any of the rooms.
"Perhaps they fled their hideout," the Commander said, looking around. "Right, let's head back to the guard po--"
He was interrupted by the dog, which had begun growling at a statue in a corner. The guardsdwarf inspected the statue -- which depicted some sort of horrible, be-tentacled monster striking down dwarves -- more closely.
"There's a staircase here," he said. "Come on, help me move this thing."
The statue was enormously heavy, but together, the nine dwarves of the Watch were able to heave it aside, revealing a stairway. The Commander silently gestured for them to head down it. They descended further, until they could feel the heat from the magma sea just inches below. The guardsdwarf, in the lead once again, was the first to the bottom of the stairs, where he found a heavy stone door. Holding up a hand for silence, he pressed his ear against it. Dimly, he heard the voices of many dwarves.
"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh HFS Inala wgah'nagl fhtagn."He shoved the door open and rushed into the room, spear at the ready. Hooded figures stood in a circle around a table, to which a thin and wretched dwarf was chained. The guardsdwarf was just in time to see one of the figures drive a knife into the captive's heart.
"You are too late, guardsdwarf," the figure said without turning towards him. "The way is opened.
They come."
The earth began to shake, and the cultists began falling to the ground. Flames leapt up around each of them, consuming them, and they cried out in ecstasy as they burned. Pieces of the floor began crumbling away, and a deep red light emanated from the holes left behind. Horrifying screams echoed up from the depths.
* * *
Onu burst through the doors. The marksdwarves began shooting immediately, but their panicked fire came nowhere near the beast. The time had come for Thob Rakustthusest, Captain of Moltenchannels, to show her quality.
"For the Strategic Bodices!" she cried, and rushed the beast. It swept one of its many legs at her, but she parried the blow and struck back, driving her spear through the limb. The beast let out a horrible roar and lunged at her. She caught the blow on her shield, but the force of it hurled her to the ground. Onu reared up over her, but before it could come down, Datan Astellor clambered up its side and brought his hammer down on its skull. The beast stiffened, then toppled to the ground, dead.
Journal of Urist McDonald, Restaurateur
22 Hematite, 1088:Huzzah! We have slain the beast, with no losses on our part! Captain Rakustthusest and Hammerdwarf Astellor will both be given official commendations for their valor.
I've decided to celebrate this joyous occasion by opening my first restaurant. I wasn't sure whether to name it after myself, but in the end I decided that I had to show the world that I was not afraid to have my name associated with the restaurant. So welcome, friends, to the first ever…

…McUrist's! We're serving up fine food for hungry dwarves! Chief Medical Dwarf Cutey complained that our food is unhealthy and "too fattening",

but I don't think anyone is paying attention to her.
25 Hematite, 1088:I've been reflecting on our battle with Onu, and I realized that if we'd encountered any of its noxious secretions, I'm not sure how I would have cleaned out the fort. It looks like previous overseers have made some plans for this, but I sure can't figure them out. So I've started building a system of my own. It'll take magma from the caldera and dump it into the courtyard, where it will trickle down into the rest of the fort.
And speaking of building new things, I'm planning a big watchtower in the northeast. It'll take a while to construct, though.
15 Hematite, 1088:

Great! The newcomers included a carpenter, a siege engineer, and a stoneworker.
5 Galena, 1088:Terror stalks among us.
Fortunately, the foul creature was not as careful as it might have been.

The Fortress Guard caught it and chained it up, but apparently only for 200 days! If we let that thing go, it'll just strike again -- I've ordered it sealed into its cell.
15 Galena, 1088:

I've ordered the militia to prepare for a possible ambush.
18 Galena, 1088:
The kobold blundered straight into our militia, which was still on guard against an ambush. It did not live long.
19 Galena, 1088:Another one!

Several children say it was Ustuch Arzuntir, who has a prior murder conviction.
This one, too, has been sealed in a cell.

20 Galena, 1088:We traded with the humans today. We gave them old clothes in exchange for alcohol, cloth, leather, thread, and cheese (I've got some good recipe ideas involving cheese).
In other news, we're making good progress on the new residential district.

Now we've just got to furnish all of those rooms.
2 Limestone, 1088:After trading with the humans to get some more bows and arrows, I've reconstituted the old bowdwarf squad -- only now it has ten members, instead of three. They call themselves "The Ignited Busts".
11 Limestone, 1088:

I've been told that one of our miners has not reported in in some time. I've made some inquiries, and it seems he was last seen being attacked by a magma crab:
I can only surmise that it killed him; perhaps he fell into the magma.
13 Limestone, 1088:While trying to trace the lost miner's movements, I came across the following engraved on one of the stone tablets in the records:

I'm going to have to have a talk with the parents among us -- they need to prevent their children from chiseling on the official records!
14 Sandstone, 1088:
Poor Ézum had lost a foot in an accident some time ago. She'd gone to the hospital, but none of the doctors had helped her because she "wasn't resting." It seems she finally snapped after months of lying in bed unattended. Of course, now that she's crazy, she's gotten out of bed and has no problem crawling around the fort.
18 Sandstone, 1088:

It looks like Udil Kodvutok, the soldier who went mano a mano with a troll back in early Hematite, is upset at how we remember him (with a snigger at his stupidity, usually). I'll have a proper slab carved out so that he'll leave us alone.
1 Timber, 1088:

There are a lot of them this time: a fish dissector, an herbalist, a jeweler, a leatherworker, a ranger, and an architect, along with another of the curiously shy traders.
2 Timber, 1088:I heard reports of some sort of dangerous creature wandering the residential district. I realize that our defenses can't be perfect, the Guard can't be everywhere at once, etc., and sometimes things will slip through our perimeter. Nonetheless, I would like somebody to explain to me how a
bear got so far into the fort without anyone noticing!

Fortunately, there were plenty of armed soldiers around, and they surrounded the bear and brought it down with their spears without much trouble.
11 Timber, 1088:

Everybody inside!
12 Timber, 1088:Everyone made it into the fort except for an unfortunate woodcutter. The militia is assembling in case we need to make a sortie.
15 Timber, 1088:

I'm not sure that the caravan guards can handle the goblins on their own. I've sent out the militia to help.
17 Timber, 1088:Our soldiers may not be very skilled, but they sure are numerous! Massive volleys of bolts and arrows ripped across the battlefield, and each one of our enemies was met by a half-dozen iron-clad dwarves. The goblins have been driven off, with no losses on our side (though we have two wounded)! The caravan is safely inside.
The soldiers have some troubling reports, though. There were humans with these goblins -- easily identifiable by the way they towered above the battlefield. But more disturbing still, there was one opponent who was particularly tough. When our soldiers knocked her helm off, they were shocked at what they saw:

There was a
dwarf fighting alongside these goblins! What is the world coming to?
Edit: Added some missing words.
Poll
0 (0%)
Author
Topic: Moltenchannels - The magma flows - FINAL TURN (Ardentdikes II) (Read 386179 times)