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Author Topic: The Insidious Sons of Steelhold -- Revival Succession Fortress  (Read 266637 times)

Deus Asmoth

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Re: The Insidious Sons of Steelhold
« Reply #675 on: March 05, 2014, 06:07:49 pm »

Yeah, that sounds good. My explanation for only a small group starting the fortress was going to be that the majority of the dwarven civilization that took in the refugees don't believe their story, but the monarch decided to cooperate with them for whatever reason.

I was also thinking of having Kivish as the hero of the Steelhold legend, since the dwarfs would be unwilling to believe their queen would turn on them. I was also thinking that the three creators of the Bloodkin should go by titles rather than names. The ones I've come up with are Hellraiser for Corley and Chainlord for Shank, but they don't sound right, and I can't think of one for Asmoth besides the Heartless because of her chest scar.
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Rhaken

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Re: The Insidious Sons of Steelhold -- Revival Succession Fortress
« Reply #676 on: March 05, 2014, 08:24:30 pm »

The way I figure it, it all went something like this:

Refugees from Steelhold arrive in the nearby settlements, tell their tale, get ridiculed. They flee across the continent, back to Chainbell, Sprinkledlabor and Paddleunion, spreading the tale as they go. The way I see it, the ones that went to Chainbell got arrested for heresy or somesuch (I picture the place as being run by the Tenebrous Abbey, the temple where Tun and Likot were cursed with vampirism and set this whole thing in motion).

This would take years, and in the meantime, the refugees' tales would spread and grow into folklore and old wives' tales. Until the actual outbreak. Within a short time of it, several groups of each race (probably mavericks, and probably inspired by the Steelhold Ascended) would have built ships to take them across the sea, to new lands or at least a good death. The dwarves who arrived in the New World would spread inland and form settlements, and mark out a new Year 1.

While this is going on, the Bloodkin are consolidating their power in the old mainland, destroying and enslaving as they go. At this point, two things can happen:

-Either the colonies continue to spread across the New World for a while, completely oblivious until the Bloodkin invade;

-Or a new wave of ships reaches the New World with warning of the Bloodkin, followed shortly by the monsters themselves.

This would affect the circumstances of the founding of the sequel fort. It could also lead to interesting write-ups - though poking around in Legends mode would be slightly more awkward, since there will be Bloodkin there one way or another, when historically there weren't. Though I'm sure I'll think of something when I do my Legends-diving.
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MDFification

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Re: The Insidious Sons of Steelhold -- Revival Succession Fortress
« Reply #677 on: March 05, 2014, 09:34:09 pm »

I was kind of angling for The Witchdoctor for Asmoth, if we're talking about titles.
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Gnorm

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Re: The Insidious Sons of Steelhold
« Reply #678 on: March 05, 2014, 09:46:19 pm »

I was also thinking of having Kivish as the hero of the Steelhold legend, since the dwarfs would be unwilling to believe their queen would turn on them. I was also thinking that the three creators of the Bloodkin should go by titles rather than names. The ones I've come up with are Hellraiser for Corley and Chainlord for Shank, but they don't sound right, and I can't think of one for Asmoth besides the Heartless because of her chest scar.
I think that Jackal should be the main hero. As for Kivish, I think that she would be a good-guy in folklore, but a more minor figure. As for the titles, "Hellraiser" sounds more like a childish rascal than a villain. I think "The Baron" would be just fine.

This would affect the circumstances of the founding of the sequel fort. It could also lead to interesting write-ups - though poking around in Legends mode would be slightly more awkward, since there will be Bloodkin there one way or another, when historically there weren't. Though I'm sure I'll think of something when I do my Legends-diving.
The bloodkin in the past can simply be ignored, unless someone introduces time-rifts into the story.
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Deus Asmoth

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Re: The Insidious Sons of Steelhold -- Revival Succession Fortress
« Reply #679 on: March 06, 2014, 05:08:33 am »

So this was my initial draft. There's going to be a lot of editing and stuff, e.g. Jackal will be the hero of legend, which makes a lot more sense.

The legends say that in the year 250, the Last Queen drew all the evils from the world into one fortress, even going there herself to ensure that none of the demons contained within could escape to wreak havoc on the now peaceful lands. The place was named Steelhold, for the spells the Last Queen used to bind the demons were stronger even than the great dwarven metal, second only to the blue walls of Armok, and it seemed for a time that all would be well. But the archfiends of Steelhold were sly and desired freedom. The Baron posed as a friend, luring the Queen into the fortress with tales of escaping prisoners and fractures in reality itself. Her loyal companions were turned to the side of evil by the Witchdoctor, who granted them eternal life and eternal damnation. Among them was the Chainlord, he who steals children in the night, binding them with metal and magic to be his slaves and his meals until the end of time. It seemed the Queen was defeated and the archfiends would regain their freedom, but Armok himself was moved by her plight to send four of his champions to destroy the fortress. It is said that the battle lasted for hours, but the demons could not withstand His holy might and they were cast down, and Steelhold was engulfed in magma and obsidian.

What is known is that after Steelhold was mysteriously destroyed, three new creatures of the night appeared, each similar but distinct. For perhaps a hundred years they fought against the civilised creatures of the world (and the elves), but were repelled by a combination of superior numbers and better focus. The first recorded appearance of what can definitely be identified as one of the Bloodkin was in the year 375, though it is likely they were around much longer, their tendency to kill everyone involved in a battle being unhelpful when attempting to document them. Since that time, they wiped out almost all life on the continent. Those that could flee did, and those that could not died.

Their advantages appear to include agelessness, superdwarven strength, toughness and agility and an ability to heal that grants them near invulnerability. Their weakness, if they have one, is that they are often distracted by the blood of their victims, allowing others to escape once they have begun to feed. This, it goes without saying, is of little comfort to the victim. Faced with a seemingly invincible foe, the few that were able to flee did so, crossing the oceans in search of a new home. We can only hope that the Bloodkin will be satisfied with the lands and prisoners they have, for if they come again, only Armok himself can save us.


The king closed the book with a sigh. “This is what we must be prepared for.”
“But they’re just a children’s story!” the general exclaimed. “Lies that the refugees from the east told us to make us feel sorry for them!”
“My mother was one of those refugees, if you’d care to recall,” the king said quietly. “And if the Bloodkin are just her deranged fantasies, then explain the report your own scouts gave us.”
The general snorted. “A lone dwarf covered in scars. It was probably just some shell shocked veteran who was thrown out of his home.”
The king’s eyebrow arched magnificently. “The report claims he was twice as strong as a normal dwarf-”
“Vampire, then.”
“-and when they cut off one of his hands, it continued trying to kill them-”
“Vampire necromancer. I’ve seen it happen, a hero drinks the blood of a vampire accidentally, then decides to climb a tower once he realises that zombies aren’t so eager to attack him anymore.”
“-and though they cut him many times, he healed nearly instantly.”
“Vampire necromancer werebeast, then.”
“I don’t think that’s very likely, general.”
“No, what’s more likely is that some recruits with no experience panicked the first time they came across an enemy that was actually trying to kill them! If these ‘Bloodkin’ are so dangerous, how did it only kill one of the scouts?”
“The report claims that the others fled while their foe was busy devouring their comrade,” the king said, glancing at the battle report. “And I don’t plan to let these creatures take our lands because we were too busy arguing amongst ourselves to fight back.”
“Arguing amongst ourselves!?” the general spluttered. “The greenskins are getting bolder in their raids every year now that the elves think they have a peace treaty with them! We had three border disputes with the humans in the last year alone, and as for the treehuggers,” he turned to spit in disgust, then realised the king probably wouldn’t appreciate his golden floors being tarnished. “They smile at us and talk of peace, plotting ambush parties all the while. Your grace, we just don’t have the resources to waste building a stronghold against a threat that mightn’t even exist!”
“You’re right, of course,” the king nodded. “So I’m sending a group to strike the earth here,” he pointed at the gem encrusted map inlaid into the surface of his desk. “Seven dwarves in a strategic bottleneck can accomplish what a thousand couldn’t on an open battlefield. And even if I’m wrong, an extra source of income wouldn’t go astray.”
“But you think that they’re going to die there,” the general frowned.
“I’ve told them all what the situation is, and they seem eager for the challenge,” the king shrugged.
“And if they fail?” the general asked.
“Then we can only pray there are more lands to the west,” sighed the king.

*         *         *         *         *

Welcome to the Demon’s Gate; You Shall Not Pass.
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Gnorm

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Re: The Insidious Sons of Steelhold -- Revival Succession Fortress
« Reply #680 on: March 07, 2014, 09:46:14 pm »

Anything to report on the modding process, 4mask'?
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4maskwolf

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Re: The Insidious Sons of Steelhold -- Revival Succession Fortress
« Reply #681 on: March 07, 2014, 09:48:11 pm »

4mask is done, I just am too lazy to try to formulate an OP right now.  It'll happen this weekend.

4maskwolf

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Re: The Insidious Sons of Steelhold -- Revival Succession Fortress
« Reply #682 on: March 08, 2014, 04:57:09 pm »

Hey, does someone else want to put up the OP?  I've got a lot on my plate this weekend and modding is about as much as I can do right now.

Deus Asmoth

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Re: The Insidious Sons of Steelhold
« Reply #683 on: March 08, 2014, 09:20:01 pm »

I could do it, but you'd have to wait till Tuesday, I'm having upload/download problems at the moment.
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4maskwolf

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Re: The Insidious Sons of Steelhold
« Reply #684 on: March 08, 2014, 09:30:40 pm »

I could do it, but you'd have to wait till Tuesday, I'm having upload/download problems at the moment.
Fine by me.  We'll start the new game then.

Deus Asmoth

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Re: The Insidious Sons of Steelhold
« Reply #685 on: March 09, 2014, 09:45:35 am »

Who's taking the first turn, by the way?
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4maskwolf

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Re: The Insidious Sons of Steelhold
« Reply #686 on: March 09, 2014, 10:00:22 am »

Who's taking the first turn, by the way?
Apparently me.  Plus, I have the save, so it makes some amount of sense.  You can take either the first or second, though, because you are making the OP, which helps a lot.  It's your pick which spot you want.

Gnorm

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Re: The Insidious Sons of Steelhold -- Revival Succession Fortress
« Reply #687 on: March 10, 2014, 07:52:20 pm »

Is the sequel still set to begin to-morrow?
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Deus Asmoth

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Re: The Insidious Sons of Steelhold
« Reply #688 on: March 10, 2014, 10:06:56 pm »

Barring major incident, yes. I'm fine with Mask taking the first turn, but do we have seven people who want dwarfs so we can fill out the founders? I can only think of five, but it's not a major issue.

PS, how soon can we expect bloodkin to start trying to kill us? Immediately, or not until we have a reasonable amount of wealth?
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4maskwolf

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Re: The Insidious Sons of Steelhold -- Revival Succession Fortress
« Reply #689 on: March 10, 2014, 10:44:50 pm »

I'd... Actually have to check the entity raws. Also, we'll recruit new people. That's part of the idea. The game will wait into we have all 7 people.
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