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Author Topic: The Insidious Sons of Steelhold -- Revival Succession Fortress  (Read 266675 times)

fractalman

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Re: The Insidious Sons of Steelhold -- Revival Succession Fortress
« Reply #330 on: January 08, 2014, 10:41:16 pm »

d-b-d to dump the cages, then keep reclaiming untill the gobs are out of toys. Don't dump them individually via loo(k). 

Most lag is caused by dwarves times stockpiles times items times pathing, though some forts truly do get enough items that the items alone can lag the fort.  You can probably put a dent in the lag by marking most of the bedrooms and most of the food-quarry as restricted traffic areas-dwarves don't need to sleep very often, and I don't expect they need the northern part of the food room. 

IC: that was close. Too close. I Cannot count on Emdief thinking I'm a hallucination a second time. 
« Last Edit: January 08, 2014, 11:51:21 pm by fractalman »
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This is a masterwork ledger.  It contains 3719356 pages on the topic of the precise number and location of stones in Spindlybrooks.  In the text, the dwarves are hauling.
"And here is where we get the undead unicorns. Stop looking at me that way, you should have seen the zombie deer running around last week!"

MDFification

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Re: The Insidious Sons of Steelhold -- Revival Succession Fortress
« Reply #331 on: January 09, 2014, 09:53:14 am »

Emdief, Last of the Mad Overseers (until the next turn)

3rd Opal

My hospital is built. My final acts are underway. Only one thing remains for me to do.
A monument to the revolution is to be dug. A monument that previous Overseers would not have dreamed of. Well, maybe they would have, because they were a pretty imaginative bunch, but this will be the first large aesthetic addition to Steelhold.

8th Opal

A monument commemorating the revolution is being dug as we speak. I was afraid I'd not see it completed before the year's end, when I intend to give up my position as Overseer. I am no longer afraid of that.
I will of course not see it smoothed properly, so if it will reach its full glory it will do so after my reign.

26th Opal

HAIL TO THE REVOLUTION

17th Obsidian

Melek has given birth to a girl. I didn't even know she was married. Apparently she has an adult son outside of Steelhold and another son here.
I turn my attention back to the monument. It is still possible for it to be finished in time! Only so much more left to smooth!

22nd Obsidian

An ambush! Curse them! Fortunately my marksdwarves were practicing nearby. All civilians manage to flee the invaders, who are subsequently turned into pin-cushions.
There's also a giant cave spider in the depths. I'm ordering the door to the caverns locked. More permanent measures will need to be taken to ensure our safety... and capture the beast. Think of what we could do with those webs!
Also a baby has died of thirst. Negligent parents. Negligent, negligent parents.

1st Granite

It has been precisely one year since the revolution. I call together a meeting of the council. They will have to select my successor. I'm finished.



The save is HERE. If you don't finish the monument, terrible terrible things will happen. Like the fort being ugly. Other than that really nothing will happen.
But yeah, very accomplishment, such revolution, wow.
« Last Edit: January 09, 2014, 09:19:30 pm by MDFification »
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4maskwolf

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Re: The Insidious Sons of Steelhold -- Revival Succession Fortress
« Reply #332 on: January 09, 2014, 12:31:05 pm »

From the shadows, the masked dwarf watched the congregation of the false gods.  He would not act against them, not directly, despite his threat to the contrary.  To do so would be to provoke outright warfare between the two groups, and while the spawn of the true gods were his to command, one lapse of attention and they would destroy the fortress.  He knew the truth: a truth withheld from all other mortals by the false ones.  The false gods were too afraid of the consequences should the truth become known.  Even what remained of his congregation did not know the full truth, not yet.

What remained of his congregation... Emdief had done what he had intended to do.  First slowly, then in groups, most of the believers had proved themselves false and left.  Only a few remained.  To pass the time, he participated in the fractaldwarfs idiocies.  The fractaldwarf was the only other magic user he had met, and a temporary alliance was better than outright war.  Meanwhile, he had been learning the extents of the fractaldwarfs capabilities.

Unbeknownst to Emdief, the masked dwarf had been examining the Thaumometer.  What he knew about it did not explain the magic-dampening pulse that it had unleashed when he tried to force the truth out of Emdief.  His probing had discovered that the gem at its heart was not, as he had suspected, a sunstone, the usual stone used in thaumometers, but was a wood opal.  Wood opals, unbeknownst to most mortals, had magic dampening properties, though their scarcity and small size meant that they were not highly effective.  The masked dwarf had surmised that the energy amplification that the thaumometer used to detect magical signals had the side effect of amplifying the properties of the opal.

Lorius stopped his sermon and turned his head towards where the masked dwarf was hiding.  The masked dwarf gave a slight nod, then faded back into the shadows.

4maskwolf

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Re: The Insidious Sons of Steelhold -- Revival Succession Fortress
« Reply #333 on: January 09, 2014, 12:36:30 pm »

If I were planning to do a hell breach, I'd paint the halls with demon blood and let the magic users be consumed by the beasts once and for all. You simply do not comprehend my unfathomable hatred for overuse of the magic plot device. Deus ex machina all up in this penal colony.

Honestly, I don't think Steelhold is a particularly heinous offender there. And all of maskdwarf's magicking is what gave me the idea for the whole conspiracy. My previous idea was far more boring.


Go hyperbole or go home.  :o



Emdief paused for a moment. Could he - was Emdief still a he inside? - trust the former overseer? Emdief decided that he could. He was tired of trusting nobody. Rhaken had taken him in when Emdief needed a protector, and Emdief had lost first his sanity and secondly his life defending Rhaken and his organization from his enemies. If he couldn't trust Rhaken, he couldn't trust anyone.
"I... can confirm that the masked dwarf is a human woman, like you say. I've seen that twice now, in both bodies I've inhabited. Whether or not it's that particular human, I couldn't tell you.
What I can tell you is this. It's not common knowledge in the fort - I've even kept it from most of the council, to avoid a pogrom - but some of the adamantine has been, eh, stolen. In fact, it's been regularly siphoned away so far as I can tell since the anarchy. And I know why. The masked dwarf - although I suppose we can stop calling it a dwarf now - claims that it wanted it for study. Understandable, for a human - if they could figure out how to mine it and forge it, they'd be our rivals in the field of metallurgy. However, I've recently found out something much more worrying is going on. Through some process, it has been absorbing the adamantine into itself to bolster it's own magical abilities.
Since I found this out, I've had the adamantine watched and counted regularly. No more has been taken. However... though I'd rather have stayed away from the whole thing, I have picked up a thing or two about thaumaturgy.
I think the masked prophet has gained enough power to cast spells, at least weak ones, without the consent and support of it's demonic patrons."

Honestly, at the start the masked dwarf was only supposed to have minor magic powers.  Asmoth added the reanimating the dead thing and I added the consigning soul to demons as an interesting plot twist that went nowhere.  To be honest, I think that Fractal (no offense) has been the one using far more magic than I do.  For the most part, my "dwarf" merely cloaks "him"self in shadows, hiding from the view of the regular dwarves.

fractalman

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Re: The Insidious Sons of Steelhold -- Revival Succession Fortress
« Reply #334 on: January 09, 2014, 01:22:46 pm »

Yeah.  Although, aside from the animated skeletons which were set up before my turn even began, my dwarf is also cutting way back on magic use...except to detect other magic via indirect methods.
I think it's a good time to try and explain the mechanics behind how mask's powers' and my powers interact.
location: magma glass furnace.
IC:
I hold the slightly warm and soft, crudely-made vial in a gloved hand, a couple inches above the table.  I let it drop.  The result is a slight cracking and deformation of the vial.
"This...is basically what normal magic does.  the more will applied, the greater the result." I say.
Then I stick the vial into the furnace.  I do not double-dip it. 
"And this...is basically the way your mask works."
I pull the vial out, and allow it to deform just from gravity.
"Makes it easier to shape the world to your will, but it's also relatively easy to shape it back, which is probably why dwarves don't seem to suffer any long-term negative effects from your memory manipulations; you basically shape them into a state that won't store long-term memories, but then...ah, never mind."
I dip the vial-ok, so it's not even a vial at this point-into some water, and take it out.
"and this is how my power works."
I tap the mess lightly with a hammer, and it shatters.

"My power makes the fabric of reality more brittle, easier to shatter.  Then I stick the easy-to-move pieces back together and hope they stay together.  So, there you have it: my latest guess as to why our powers interact the way they do.  By the way, thanks for correcting me on my misunderstanding, I didn't realize the demons were descended from the ones you worship."
Logged
This is a masterwork ledger.  It contains 3719356 pages on the topic of the precise number and location of stones in Spindlybrooks.  In the text, the dwarves are hauling.
"And here is where we get the undead unicorns. Stop looking at me that way, you should have seen the zombie deer running around last week!"

MDFification

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Re: The Insidious Sons of Steelhold -- Revival Succession Fortress
« Reply #335 on: January 09, 2014, 02:28:27 pm »

If I were planning to do a hell breach, I'd paint the halls with demon blood and let the magic users be consumed by the beasts once and for all. You simply do not comprehend my unfathomable hatred for overuse of the magic plot device. Deus ex machina all up in this penal colony.

Honestly, I don't think Steelhold is a particularly heinous offender there. And all of maskdwarf's magicking is what gave me the idea for the whole conspiracy. My previous idea was far more boring.


Go hyperbole or go home.  :o



Emdief paused for a moment. Could he - was Emdief still a he inside? - trust the former overseer? Emdief decided that he could. He was tired of trusting nobody. Rhaken had taken him in when Emdief needed a protector, and Emdief had lost first his sanity and secondly his life defending Rhaken and his organization from his enemies. If he couldn't trust Rhaken, he couldn't trust anyone.
"I... can confirm that the masked dwarf is a human woman, like you say. I've seen that twice now, in both bodies I've inhabited. Whether or not it's that particular human, I couldn't tell you.
What I can tell you is this. It's not common knowledge in the fort - I've even kept it from most of the council, to avoid a pogrom - but some of the adamantine has been, eh, stolen. In fact, it's been regularly siphoned away so far as I can tell since the anarchy. And I know why. The masked dwarf - although I suppose we can stop calling it a dwarf now - claims that it wanted it for study. Understandable, for a human - if they could figure out how to mine it and forge it, they'd be our rivals in the field of metallurgy. However, I've recently found out something much more worrying is going on. Through some process, it has been absorbing the adamantine into itself to bolster it's own magical abilities.
Since I found this out, I've had the adamantine watched and counted regularly. No more has been taken. However... though I'd rather have stayed away from the whole thing, I have picked up a thing or two about thaumaturgy.
I think the masked prophet has gained enough power to cast spells, at least weak ones, without the consent and support of it's demonic patrons."

Honestly, at the start the masked dwarf was only supposed to have minor magic powers.  Asmoth added the reanimating the dead thing and I added the consigning soul to demons as an interesting plot twist that went nowhere.  To be honest, I think that Fractal (no offense) has been the one using far more magic than I do.  For the most part, my "dwarf" merely cloaks "him"self in shadows, hiding from the view of the regular dwarves.

Hyperbole life ain't easy.

EDIT: Also dumped the writeup for the council meeting on you Gnorm. Ehehehe.
EDIT2: When Gnorm next comes online he should add the following to the grandfather clauses; "Do not rename an already named dwarf, even if you want them dead". Me doing that has never sat well with me - if Fractal was supposed to die he should have really died, and subsequently not have come back from the dead, which I never would have done if I hadn't executed him improperly anyway.
« Last Edit: January 09, 2014, 09:23:23 pm by MDFification »
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Gnorm

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Re: The Insidious Sons of Steelhold -- Revival Succession Fortress
« Reply #336 on: January 10, 2014, 03:28:56 am »

Ah, the time has come for my turn as overseer in this great fortress. Say your prayers!

Prologue: The Rise

The council members made their way to their respective seats. Discussion was scarce, for not one of them truly knew what to make of the situation. Emdief's mental health was -- to no one's surprise -- quickly deteriorating, and it was the duty of the council to elect a new leader. Every dwarf in the chamber knew and understood that the wrong choice could end in the ultimate end of the fort.

Corley entered the chamber last. He did not don his ordinary jacket, but rather a new tailcoat and vest. He slowly stepped towards his chair, designated as his for his position. He sat down and removed a pipe -- to the surprise of everyone -- from his pocket. He packed the tobacco firmly into the bowl, and lighted it with a small flint. As he drew the smoke in and out of his mouth, he seemed to take on an entirely new appearance; his appearance mirrored that of a great leader, rather than a young dwarf.

"In the seventh year after the creation of the world," he began. His voice was smooth, clear, and slow. Some thought it to be the sign of a madman; others thought the exact opposite. "General Tomesbores of The Gloves of Admiring drafted The Fundamental Orders of Sprinkledlabor. This document has formed the basis of our society ever since its creation. I ask each and every one of you: 'what does this document mean to us?'"

He paused, then proceeded to remove a scrap of paper from his pocket. It was worn, tattered, and yellow; the ink was faded and it had run across the page many years ago. He carefully unfolded it to display to his fellow council members, who were shocked by what they saw.

He held it up for a moment longer, then set it down saying: "Don't be alarmed by what you have seen; the scroll is not the original -- which is in a glass case in the capital -- but rather an ancient facsimile. Nevertheless, the values outlined within in hold true today, even if the copy is not original. The Fundamental Orders declare that dwarf has many rights; the right to work and make a living, the right to worship the gods of the land as he pleases, the right to dangerous weaponry, et cetera."

Corley removed his pipe and let loose a long stream of smoke from his mouth, which swirled up to the ceiling. Two young dwarves entered the chamber, carrying a large sheet of paper with the most clean and careful writing.

"This," said Corley, "is the charter that will bring such rights and values to this fortress. With your signatures, we can properly determine a new leader, and ensure that he follows the natural rights laid out in this document. No longer will we need to fear the threat of an unjust leader, for a leader will no longer have the right to be unjust."

The document was set down on a table, with a quill and well set right next to it. Almost a minute passed in silence, before Jovus finally rose from his seat. He nervously made his way to the document and signed his name. Although he preached his beliefs, in reality Jovus always yielded to authority. Other figures began to follow the dwaf's example, and made their way to the document. Corley noticed Melek looking at him; she looked so sad, though Corley couldn't tell what it was that made her this way.

Eventually, everyone -- however reluctantly -- signed the charter. A dwarf has willpower greater than that of a human, but their minds and work ethics are weak. Every dwarf has a breaking point, and the politics of Steelhold was the breaking point of the entire fort. Out of pure desperation, Corley's constitution was put into effect, securing certain rights to the dwarves. Those who chose to read more carefully, however, noticed that it effectively promoted Corley as overseer of the fortress.
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And we were this close to yet another victim of Gnorm, the Overseer Killer.

MDFification

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Re: The Insidious Sons of Steelhold -- Revival Succession Fortress
« Reply #337 on: January 10, 2014, 10:44:33 am »

I guess it's time for me to write an epliogue as Emdief's spiral into paranoia and madness reaches its conclusion. Here's hoping your project makes him/her a legendary badass.



Undated; Presumed to take place some time in the spring of 259

The monument is almost done. Almost done. They cannot stop it now. Things will never be the same again. The revolution will live forever in the minds of the dwarfs of Steelhold. We'll never go back to how the way things were. Onward goes the march to freedom.
Onward without me.
They've written some charter to govern the fort from now on. Smart. That's something the revolution needed. Legitimacy. Stability. Only they've chosen Corley to lead us. Corley! It's been a mere five years since he was a child. There's not even a touch of gray in what little beard he has grown. Corley, who watched Rhaken and myself, always looking for weakness, always hiding his disdain and malice.
What have they done? The council wasn't raised because they were the most intelligent - they were raised for being the most powerful players in Steelhold's politics.
There is one thing I can still do. One last gift I can give to the fort. And I've done it. Rhaken thought he'd kept its location secret from me, but I've done it. Lenehan's machine is only so much rubble, now. Your family's legacy, Corley? Had you but one less follower, I would have spoke plainly about your family's legacy. Madness, elf-fondling and murder are your father's virtues. I'm sure whatever hell he's in, he's disappointed in your loyalty to your race.
I only have momentary instances of lucidity now. I'm too far gone to be retrieved. My soul is pure, but my mind is corrupted. Had I the stomach I'd end it. I'm not afraid of dying again. But I have a purpose here. A purpose not yet fulfilled. Modi's vengeance. The masked prophet must burn. It must burn.

And they'll remember me as a madman. And let them. I was the leader the fort needed, not the leader they deserved. Maybe now we'll finally have some semblance of stability. I'm not hopeful.
« Last Edit: January 10, 2014, 12:16:21 pm by MDFification »
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fractalman

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Re: The Insidious Sons of Steelhold -- Revival Succession Fortress
« Reply #338 on: January 10, 2014, 01:26:09 pm »

Poor Emdief.  The time spent as overseer was harder on his/her mind than I would have expected.
It would be so easy to reveal myself to him, right now, shatter his mind and soul beyond all chance of recovery...
I owe him too much. Even though he tossed me back through the portal while I still had a headache, without the pair of custom-made cobalite mechanisms to modulate the power, without his observation that my original blueprints called for an unecessary verticle axle between the gearbox and the windmill...I might still have saved meta-reality, but I'd never have been able to repair the worst of the damage to the original portal.  I'd have been able to close the rift with lesser amounts of power, or lesser mechanisms, but it'dve been closed forever...

Alas, his madness also means I can't try to comfort him.  He might realize it's me.  Something about the way I move around or talk, I think.
But perhaps, some day, I can consider letting him back in on the plans...[ooc: yeah. it's a stupid move.  My character is somewhat aware of that, but is shoving the evidence of just how much Emdief hates magic to the side in the name of...honor. ]

....
I sat with the kids, telling them the story of how an elf wound up with a horse named dragon, when the kid outside yelled "HEY! LOOK UNDER THERE!"
The skeletal wolf reverted to bin form even as Lorius said "Under...where?"
The kids hooted and roared with laughter as Lorius walked in.
"...And so the drunk human said, 'there, see? a dragon! Get rid of the dragon! Take it awayyyyyyy!'. And, well, the elf wasn't about to turn down a free horse.  But the elf wasn't exactly fluent in human grammer, so she thought dragon was the horse's name.  And that's how an elf wound up with a horse named dragon thanks to an un[holy]...er, epic mixture of 5 different beverages.  Ah, lorius, what can I do for you?"
Lorius grinned slyly. "Actually, it's what I can do for you. I imagine telling stories has left you quite parched.  Why don't I tell a story for now, hmm?"
I get up, and bow slightly. "Why thank you, Lorius. "
As I left, Lorius began to tell an epic tale of dwarves versus forgotten beast. there weren't many of those left these days...
_____
When I was far enough away, I snapped my fingers in irritation.  Lorius, the spymaster, had found out what I was doing with the kids. At least what happened wasn't a completely one-sided reveal. He knew, now, what game I'd been playing with the kids.
But I'd also confirmed he WAS the spymaster for rhaken.  Usually, I have to struggle to read facial subtleties...but that particular joke? I've watched untold numbers of dwarves reacting to that particular joke.  Lorius...well, in the end, it amounted to lorius trying to play that one move at one level higher than the rest of the dwarves around here, which meant he was a spymaster.  any other move, and I might not have been able to get a good fix on the level of deception.

I grinned. 
_____________

cat likes recent moves.  cat to move: meow.
dwarf to move:______
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This is a masterwork ledger.  It contains 3719356 pages on the topic of the precise number and location of stones in Spindlybrooks.  In the text, the dwarves are hauling.
"And here is where we get the undead unicorns. Stop looking at me that way, you should have seen the zombie deer running around last week!"

Oshha

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Re: The Insidious Sons of Steelhold -- Revival Succession Fortress
« Reply #339 on: January 10, 2014, 03:13:16 pm »

Corley thinks he's clever getting put in power in such way. Maybe he is, but he didn't fool me or Rhaken. Plus the charter give me a right to have temple. It also helps that Corley will be a good leader, one that will restore proper order to Steelhold, rather than just order to the latest threat or problem. However Emdief may be going insane, but he hasn't lot just yet and maybe not for a long time even if he will be verge for that entire time. And our objectives align for now as we both have the same enemy of the Oku and Emdief will still be a useful ally in defeating him. Meanwhile I still haven't spoken to Melek. She seems to be avoiding me. Also I finally managed to gain the ability to sense when Oku is watching me. Its far more than I thought or would have been comfortable with. Yet now I have managed to get the lighting in the temple just so that no shadows, a impressive feat. Especially important since Oku has been spying on some of the sermons. I have also noticed that the moody dwarf with undead pets, seems to think I am the spymaster and Rhaken is my agent. The poor fool.
« Last Edit: January 11, 2014, 02:17:12 am by Oshha »
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I give the following note to Rhaken:
I suppose you know who I am by now.  Please keep Lorius from stabbing me when I set up my room next to him.

fractalman

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Re: The Insidious Sons of Steelhold -- Revival Succession Fortress
« Reply #340 on: January 10, 2014, 05:02:59 pm »

o....K....

Lorius did NOT know me before the face change, and therefore, is NOT in a good position to associate "uristmcnobody" with "fractaldwarf", elite spy or not.  If you wish to be the one to tip the bean-can about me the rest of the way over, I expect a half-baked or better description of HOW your character finds out. 

Also: perhaps my use of the term "spymaster" was incorrect...

...My character knows that you report to Rhaken and not the other way around.   He is merely uncertain whether you're more loyal to rhaken or to yourself.
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This is a masterwork ledger.  It contains 3719356 pages on the topic of the precise number and location of stones in Spindlybrooks.  In the text, the dwarves are hauling.
"And here is where we get the undead unicorns. Stop looking at me that way, you should have seen the zombie deer running around last week!"

4maskwolf

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Re: The Insidious Sons of Steelhold -- Revival Succession Fortress
« Reply #341 on: January 10, 2014, 06:43:16 pm »

So you are launching a blood vendetta against me, eh?  Alright, then, challenge accepted.

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Re: The Insidious Sons of Steelhold -- Revival Succession Fortress
« Reply #342 on: January 10, 2014, 08:47:27 pm »

So you are launching a blood vendetta against me, eh?  Alright, then, challenge accepted.

Just make sure you vendetta correctly. Like, start with really low-level insults at a high frequency. Then just move to painting the walls and ceiling with gore with alarming speed.
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4maskwolf

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Re: The Insidious Sons of Steelhold -- Revival Succession Fortress
« Reply #343 on: January 10, 2014, 08:54:36 pm »

Actually, I have an idea... Oshha, would Lorius participate in an assault on the masked dwarf?  If Emdief led it?

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Re: The Insidious Sons of Steelhold -- Revival Succession Fortress
« Reply #344 on: January 10, 2014, 09:04:46 pm »

Actually, I have an idea... Oshha, would Lorius participate in an assault on the masked dwarf?  If Emdief led it?

Emdief probably wouldn't lead it at this point. Not enough paranoid scheming. Emdief's increasing paranoia will go nicely with an ever-increasing demand for complexity. Like, (s)he won't plan to kill the maskdwarf unless it simultaneously defeats the FPS, drains the ocean, catches a giant sperm whale which is subsequently brewed into +whale tallow roasts+ and served in a victory feast at the memorial.

Although... acting as Modi's instrument of revenge might work. Emdief would probably go along with it if someone ordered him. And last time I checked, Maskdwarf kind of dragged Modi back from the peace of the grave, almost let her kill her murderer, and just sent her back like he was dismissing a servant.
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