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Moltenchannel's council decisions

Our uniform shall be blood (red)
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Danger room training shall be forbidden.
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Total Members Voted: 0

Voting closed: April 02, 2013, 10:22:42 am


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Author Topic: Moltenchannels - The magma flows - FINAL TURN (Ardentdikes II)  (Read 383852 times)

notquitethere

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Sometime around Autumn, Aste the giant crab came up from the caverns below. Everything started out so auspiciously: the plan to connect the cavern where Zabrok danced his perpetual dance with the surface had succeeded. While it hadn't drawn out the regicidal pyromaniac, a bunch of other beasts had come up. This Aste was to prove our downfall.



At first it seemed promising: he emerged to duke it out with what I believed to be the dismembered hand of a prior beast. He emerged at the same time as a necromancer decided that now was the time to strike. He was siftly peppered with bolts, given that necromancers are just soapmakers with pretensions of grandeur and not gods.



While the humans were distracted by the speaker-with-the-dead, Aste (having apparently been murdered by the hand and then raised as a zombie) crabrushed the men!



A report from the men that survived that day:

"We had expected a army to meet us when we left to crush the dwarves of Moltenchannels who had defied us for so long. The zombies too were not too great a surprise, though the land is awash with bubblebulb and the trees are full of cheeping keas, you know, the kind that get in your hair. Necromancers, well, where there are zombies they aren't too far behind. Hamstermen? Well, you get them everywhere nowadays. But a monstrous undead horned crab with little wings?!



When Aste fell for the second time the fortress rejoiced. But their joy was all too shortlived.
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Urist McKiwi

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Impossible!

...Kea don't cheep.

I think for the rebuild effort I will have to seal off that passage to the caverns. Also: Why didn't you Shroud of Armok them?
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notquitethere

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While all the dwarves vs humans vs zombies vs forgotten beasts vs necromancers action was happening on the surface, there was immense flooding in the lower caverns. The trouble happened to be that a floodgate had been smashed apart and now there was another eldritch horror stuck in the plumbing.



This capacity for floodgate destruction should have set off alarm bells, and failure to act when we still had the chance cost many lives. Unfortunately, at the time we we were distracted by a giant forgotten spider beast webbing everything from here until next week.



While dwarves were sent to their pointless deaths eventually beat the spider menace through attrition, Urist the Grey finally succumbed to the healthcare in the fortress, despite it having improved somewhat since Cutey's demise (he was, after all, taken to his bed rather than left to die on the battlements, which was more than Adil got).



The fort had, by this stage, moved into full beast-killing mode, and an attempt was made to defeat them, though there were still many left, and more arriving all the time, each more absurd that the last.



Some beasts spit poison, others shroud themselves in smoke and flames, and yet more lurk beneath the water and wait and wait and wait.



The fight within the fort nearly put out the more famous of the dwarves still living. But it was always essentially under control, bar a dozen or so expected fatalities. Mad Meng himself had a second brush with death, but his sharp-shooting won out.



So confident were we that most of the winter was taken up by an elaborate scheme to pick off three beasts by luring them close by dropping peahen chick over the wall and then shooting them from above.



In the end it was deemed more effective to just send in a dozen dwarves to finish the job with proper weaponry. While all this was happening, the humans had gotten fed up with the undead, the eternal siege breakers, and had gone home. As soon as they left another threat appeared on the horizon.



Werepanthers really were the least of our worries. No, and here I say this with a heavy heart: our problem was Aste. His corpse, raised a second time by agents unknown, trampled down into the tunnel carved out by the behest of Cutey almost a decade ago. It had been kept tight shut this turn with an artefact floodgate but such beautiful furniture was no match for the might of the twice-raised crab. Before the fort knew what hit it, it emerged inside and there was nowhere left to run.



The remaining might of the fort was sent to destroy him and stem the undead tide long enough for a mason to plug up the hole and save the fort. This might have been possible, for Aste fell once again and though many more dwarves were lost, the undead were momentarily pushed back from the tunnel. And that's when the goblins arrived.



Their ambush was swift and brutal, and many that might have been saved the carnage threw their lives in the name of 'picking up equipment', the deadliest phrase in all dwarfdom. Children ran senselessly into a barrage of bolts as the foul goblins wreaked their revenge for Ngom and Amxu and all their kinsmen slain or still rotting in cages. Nobody was left alive on the surface of the fort, even inside the high walls. The doors inside were locked shut and the remaining 31 dwarves greeted the new year in pain and despondency.



Though over the year they had bested a full eighteen forgotten beasts, it had come at a terrible price. The upper fort was now awash with goblins and over 90 dwarves had died. Udib Wastedlabor had survived, along with Lucky II, Sebastian2203, and Urist McKiwi V. They were still protected by a Royal Mace Lord, but the rest of the survivors were decidedly less useful. There were 13 children, three peasants, three other nobles and three other farmers, at best a leatherworker, furnace operator and a gem cutter. Finally, miserable and in chains and walled in for eternity, the vampire Ustuth still paced. While the others discussed leaving this forsaken place, Ustuth, like the hundreds of dead before him, would never leave.


The save game is here.
« Last Edit: August 03, 2014, 09:51:24 pm by notquitethere »
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notquitethere

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Also: Why didn't you Shroud of Armok them?
Copious amounts of magma would probably have solved many of the problems that beset me. I— I forgot it was even an option.
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Urist McKiwi

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Ah well. I'll do what I can. I've replaced the raws because I'm not using a texturepack. I'm going to engage the goblins and undead with long range weapons and magma artillery to kill as many as I can, then I will abandon and reclaim, then play one year (or until my reclaim team die). Already lost another soldier: bled to death while under attack by a zombie.

1st Granite

Urist McKiwi V sat in the ruins of McUrist's, near the tomb of the old Count. Around him, blood and decaying remains were smeared over the remains of a once opulent mountainhome. On his knee, there was a book. And that book was making him angry.

McKiwi read of the purpose of Moltenchannels as discovered by his predecessor, Urist McKiwi III. He read of the dwarf McDuck, imprisoned behind the very fabric of the universe itself. He read of the mission of Udib the Priest, and of the dark energies that had twisted this fortress over time. And then he realised what all that "cultist" business of the last few years had really been about. What a mess.

"McKiwi? Is that you?"

McKiwi shut the book with a loud thud. Before him, a frightened and sad looking axedwarf stood. "Zasit. Glad you made it. Anyone else left?"

"A few. The priest, a few cultists, and a handful of other soldiers. Some children, too."

"Children? How many?"

"A dozen, maybe"

McKiwi stood silently, for a moment.

"We can't stay here. It's suicide. We have to get them out of the fortress. Make for the old mountainhome, see if we can find somewhere new to settle."
"Agreed"

"No! We must stay!"

McKiwi turned to the figure who had appeared from the stairwell. "Udib Wastedlabor. Nice of you to join us. We were just leaving."

"But McDuck! We must-"

"With a handful of scared soldiers and a bunch of children? We have lost, Udib."

"No. We have not lost yet. Give me a week, and I will have a way. The old magmaworks will let us clear the outside, and then you can take the children away. I will seal this place as I sealed Ardentdikes....it will be weaker, but it should hold long enough. I will NOT LET HIM OUT!"
"Then why do the whole cult thing? Why the secrecy? I don't trust you, priest."

"I do not ask for trust. I ask for time."

A pause.
"Alright, Priest. One week for the plan, then we're burning the goblins and getting the hell out of here."


'They've broken through!'

"Ok, scratch that Priest. You've got maybe an hour. I'm heading for the levers, everyone else will hold them off long enough for your mumbo-jumbo."


Edit: THis place may be too much of a mess. We're fighting off the goblins and humans, but I can't get anyone down to the levers.
Edit2: Invaders all dead or captured. But I still can't reach the levers. It's been more than half a month. I hope to get things reasonably under control soon though. Quick poll: Should I trigger the magma flood? I've ordered the device primed, so once I can get someone to the levers it should take long to activate it. The question is more about the reclaim than anything.
Edit3: on the plus side, I'm up to nearly 60FPS.
« Last Edit: August 03, 2014, 10:10:53 pm by Urist McKiwi »
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Urist McKiwi

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17th Granite

Things had, surprisingly, quietened down. The few goblins that had made it into the fortress had been fought off by the handful of defenders, and the breach in the fortress walls made by the nurse had been sealed. But everyone in the fort knew it was only a matter of time before the place fell. Udib pored over tomes in his office, having ignored the "one hour" deadline anyway, and McKiwi barked orders for the priming of the magma weapons having realised just how complex the operation to activate any of them would be. Soon, Moltenchannels would fall. But on their terms.




---------------

Alright folks. So what are those terms? Shall I flood the fort with magma, killing everyone but burning away everything that was killing our FPS? Shall I leave everything ready to go? Or shall I build supports everywhere and collapse us into the caverns? Personally, I am tempted by the magma purge. I've always wanted to do it, but never had the excuse.

Edit: That being said, it has taken me nearly a month to get people to stop picking up equipment and build one wall tile. Pulling a lever may take the entire year.
« Last Edit: August 04, 2014, 05:03:30 am by Urist McKiwi »
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Triaxx2

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I vote to PULL THE LEVER!
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Wastedlabor

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Ah well. I'll do what I can. I've replaced the raws because I'm not using a texturepack.

Aw, you could keep the descriptor_shape_standard file, it has all the nice themed engraving texts.

Edit: I vote for a generous amount of lever pulling too.
« Last Edit: August 04, 2014, 02:58:14 pm by Wastedlabor »
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He stole an onion. Off with his head.
I wonder, what would they do if someone killed their king.
Inevitable, who cares. Now an onion...

Urist McKiwi

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I just overwrote the old raws, so some stuff may be lingering. There's still some...oddities...showing up. Still, the FPS is reasonable.


So I'll get everything stable, then pull the levers and kill the fort. Should I then reclaim, or will we go on to Ardentdikes III?
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Ghills

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The glorious magma-flooding legacy of Ardentdikes lives on!

I say new fort.  Maybe even in DF2014. By the time we're ready to move on, the worst !!BUGS!! might be fixed.
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I AM POINTY DEATH INCARNATE
Ye know, being an usurper overseer gone mad with power isn't too bad. It's honestly not that different from being a normal overseer.
To summarize:
They do an epic face. If that fails, they beat said object to death with their beard.

Triaxx2

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I suggest that we declare the activation of the flooding mechanism as the 'official' end of the fortress, but that we go ahead and try to reclaim until we have a chance to move on to 2014.
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Ghills

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I suggest that we declare the activation of the flooding mechanism as the 'official' end of the fortress, but that we go ahead and try to reclaim until we have a chance to move on to 2014.

The thought of trying to clean up the fort after a reclaim makes me go cross-eyed.   It's bad enough now.  Post-reclaim item scattering wouldn't be fun at all.

Unless we allow DFHack for the cleanup. Still tons of work, but potentially manageable.  We could write it up like friendly ghosts. If we have violent, non- corporeal Urist McDuck, we can definitely swing friendly, non-corporeal Urist McHack.
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I AM POINTY DEATH INCARNATE
Ye know, being an usurper overseer gone mad with power isn't too bad. It's honestly not that different from being a normal overseer.
To summarize:
They do an epic face. If that fails, they beat said object to death with their beard.

CaptainMcClellan

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Oh. :| See what happens when you mess with Terry while I'm on vacation!

Urist McKiwi

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23rd Granite, 1103
McKiwi V stood at Udib's desk, his backpack filled with supplies for the trip away from the fort.

"So. Got a solution yet?"

"I believe so, yes. We'll need to manually open the magma purge system to prevent the breach under this fortress from being exploited. That, plus some simple work on my part, should be enough to establish a seal.After that it is a simple matter of getting ourselves out and finding somewhere safe to live."

"Sounds good. I'll get everyone ready and-"

"Ah.....there you are....My old friend Udib."

The two dwarves turned to the door to see one of the children, standing with an intense stare, shaking slightly. Udib's face drained of colour and his voice trembled slightly.

"McDuck!"

"Yes, yes. It's me. By proxy, at least. But I can see a way through here, priest. I'm looking forward to having some legroom again. The bloodshed here has broken the minds of many of your survivors. Perhaps you two are among them? Perhaps not. But either way....there is no way out. I have a hold on them now. And I will find a way to break through, take control, and free myself. But just in case....allow me to make up for lost time!"

"NO!" screamed Udib, as the posessed child produced a dagger and lunged at him. McKiwi intercepted with his warhammer, smashing the weapon out of the child's hand. McDuck hissed at him, and ran from the room.

"Urist.....I am so terribly sorry. But we cannot escape from our fate now. If McDuck is truly this strong, this close to breaking through....there is no way out for us that will not doom this world to McDuck's presence. I can seal him, but as long as we live he has a crack, a means to push through and take control. And if he does.....all is lost."

"So we must die?"

"We must."

McKiwi stood for a moment.

"Very well."

McKiwi turned to look around the ruined fortress that had been his home. Honestly, he thought, being burned to death wouldn't be that bad after all this. He made for the stairs. It was time to pull the lever.

----------------------------------------------------

Edit: Well. Here we go. It's almost the end. Next update will be when I can get the little blighters to actually pull the damned thing.

(Also, we did have a child go mad. Not actually possessed, but eh close enough. Did we ever work out why McDuck is such a threat, BTW?)
« Last Edit: August 05, 2014, 01:17:45 am by Urist McKiwi »
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Wastedlabor

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On Ardentdikes, McDuck murdered enough dwarves during rages that he became an enemy of our civ, even though he kept being voted as mayor. Even our one-dwarf blazing-fast death-storm Urist Tomesglades ran away scared from him. We had to confine him inside a small section of the fortress because he would have murdered the whole fort otherwise.

You know what, migrant?  Why don't you hold on to this warrant and, you know, maybe slide it under the Mayor's door when you get a second.  Thanks, man.    Never open the door though, no matter what he says.  Hmm?  Well, because he's actually more of a mass-murdering, psycho enemy of our civilization than a mayor.  But his mandates are quite reasonable.  Politicians, am I right?  Ha ha ha!  Seriously, don't open that fucking door, migrant.
« Last Edit: August 05, 2014, 05:10:27 am by Wastedlabor »
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He stole an onion. Off with his head.
I wonder, what would they do if someone killed their king.
Inevitable, who cares. Now an onion...
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