Bay 12 Games Forum

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

Poll

Place your bets. Who wins?

100 clowns
- 28 (57.1%)
30 FBs
- 21 (42.9%)

Total Members Voted: 49


Pages: 1 ... 6 7 [8] 9 10 ... 22

Author Topic: Whisperwhip: a megabeast steakhouse (Circus Edition)  (Read 135766 times)

Taupe

  • Bay Watcher
  • Weasel Monarch
    • View Profile
Re: Whisperwhip: Slowly rotting away...
« Reply #105 on: February 04, 2015, 05:55:25 am »

CHAPTER 48: Spring cleaning
Spring of 119

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The last two years have made the shortcomings of this fort evident. Mismanagement and poor design, coupled with terrible decisions from Dumat's reign are to blame. For the first time in over a decade, Whisperwhip has idlers, and I intend to put them to good use. Each of our new project shall be an attempt to set things right.

The first task I set our people to is to tame all those dogs and lions that just reached maturity. Pointless animals are a liability at worst, and a mouth to feed at best. I also assign animals to each civilian in order, by consulting the list. We have about 20 unowned lions and war dogs at the moment, so the first twenty dwarves on the list each get a pet. This should provide a better coverage than Dumat's approach, which was to point a random guy navigating the fort and gift him 12 animals to get done with.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Speaking of useless animals and mouths to feed, the dwarven caravan is still here, over three months after they stopped doing trade with us. Which was exactly a week after they started doing trade with us. I wish they'd just leave. The elven tribute will be here any minute now.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The first priority of this fort would be to upgrade our metalworking facilities, which for now are rather lacking. We cannot tackle this issue until we've adressed another problem, however: the magma forges are ill-situated, and impossible to get to.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Urvad begins a mysterious construction. I wish he was helping with more important projects, but one can hardly argue with a dwarf when he's got that look in his eyes... He grabs copper bars and countless pieces of cat leather. I can't help but think that if we actually had metal worth a damn, artefact creation could be a lot sweeter. Leather pants can only become so awesome, no matter how many zircons you put on it, when it comes to defending the wearer from mighty blows.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Regardless of my initial complains, the resulting quiver is magnificient. Such an item will always be needed by our milicia, and they can carry it around in addition to their armor. Aside from practical uses, The Aura of Allegiance is a stunning work of beauty. Even the name itself conveys an a feeling of pride and bravery. Most of the residents of Whisperwhip are dedicated soldiers, giving this fortress an actual ''aura of allegiance''.

This quiver contains three magnificient pictures. One simply depicts a forgotten beast, a strange image through which many enemies of our past are merged in a single nightmarish foe. The second image depicts a fallen Beastslayer, in all her glory, striking down one of those ancient beasts. The third image immortalizes our most recent fallen, the Axe Lord Vabok, murdering a goblin. Instead of focussing on his final moments, the artist depicts Vabok in one of his crowning moment, so that everyone can be remembered of his bravery and might, rather than his downfall. a truly inspiring artefact, that will be carried around by the soldiers of this fort, reminding them of their duty, and the eternal glory that awaits them, even after they die. Thank you, Urvad.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
In addition to being a legendary grower, she is now also a legendary tanner. This is a skill that should come in handy in the future, preventing our butchered hides from rotting needlessly. Urvad is one of the oldest in this fort, and the civil war has left her injured. She can't move around without a crutch anymore. In a strange twist of fate, her disability and unwillingness to socialize might be the reason she is alive today. A high tolerance to stress, and no desire or ability to lave her room easily has sheltered her from the darkest days known to this fortress.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Speaking of an inability to mvoe around easily, the second bridge room is now complete! where once there were one bridge, there is now three. The days of stumbling around in a narrow corridor are behind us. With this little project complete, BASE1 can now be reached in half the time. True industrialization may now begin!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
First of all, we'll need space to store stuff. I just realized that a single bin can only contain 5 blocks or bars. My initial assumption was that I could save space by having stone boulders turned to blocks, but that was obviously a misconception. The block and bars stockpiles are overflowing, and we need new ones. I order a new stone block storage dug near the workshops. While they don't save up space, blocks will prove much more useful than raw stone when we start to weaponize and improve the caverns. Or need to seal them in a pinch. Yet the main reason I want the storage expanded is to save time. I want to avoid haulers carrying stone boulders and bars all the way to the surface, which would be a terrible loss of time.

Obviously, it would be a good idea to start organizing our stockpiles better, instead of enabling categories altogether. I order those stockpiles to contain only stone blocks, since that's where the workshops for that are. Metal should be a bit closer to the forges. Let's see...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Ah, that sounds about right. Dumat scouted the area as I requested, and designated the upper section of the magma pillar to be excavated. the forges are right underneath this floor, so there is hardly a more convenient place to store our smelted goods. it's not like this giant pillar is convenient for any real facility, anyway.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The drink situation needs to be addressed soon. Unless the elven caravans bring mucho boozo, we will probably run out of alcohol within a year or so. I'd rather avoid being at the last minute for something so important, so I order a few farmers to resume production in their spare time. One of them is a skilled brewer, altho very rusty. If he can delay the shortage for just a few months, then we'll be golden.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
I've noticed that this old farmer is the only one taking care of our booze issue. Everyone else suddenly left to do... something. I look outside the forges, wondering if everyone is down there digging,  when i notice the skeleton of an old dog plunging in the lava. What?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
I get an answer soon enough. Everyone is busy dumping things down the shaft. Why now, tho? This is the first time anyone has ever used this elaborate pit. Now all of a sudden, two dozen haulers are bringing corpses from the dumpatorium to be cremated. I ponder for a moment, and realize the cause: In my frustration, I recently increased the dumping area size to include the borders of the shaft, not just the hole itself. My initial idea was that, if people refuse to use the garbage dumb, they would at least bring a few things closer. If they didnt, it meant that another dumb existed somewhere, forgotten over the years. I had found such a dumb near the river a few months back, which prompted me to do this little test. Turns out, garbage dumbs need a designated square next to the pit to work. now bodies are leaving the sandy dumpatorium by the dozen, to meet a fiery end.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The activation of the garbage chute is a tremendous change to this fort. Quickly, I move to the slaughterdome. I order everything on the ground to be split in three piles. Instead of bringing everything into stockpiles where they'll be useless for years, we'll bring shit directly where they belong. Silver weapons, as well as iron helms and shields, and anything copper is designated for melting. They'll remain there until they are ready to head to the smelter. Tattered cloths will be dumped right away, instead of stored and then traded. We are already offering our goods at an absurd loss just to free space, we don't need the meager value that these rags provide. Leather armors of all kind can also go to the dump, for the same reason. They are worth a bit more than clothing, but we have like 500 of them, and that's just silly. finally, everything else can be stored as usual, which include good cloths, and high quality weapons and armor, as well as leftover bolts from the training session.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
A bunch of kids eagerly set themselves to the task. They are so excited. When you are five, dumping stuff in lava is the greatest thing ever. It never stops being the greatest thing ever no matter how hard you age.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Now, let us begin the smelting proper. I order a third smelter installed, and all three of them are to run full-time. The duchess consort Stukos is in charge of overseing the smelting. She spends most of her days down here with her myriade of kids, angrily reducing objects to a fine liquid paste. I guess she doesn't like being a noble much. She asks if we can burn her husband's godamn querns. I wish, milady, I wish...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
At least the duchess keeps the young heirs on a tight leash. it's more than I can say of Udib the planter, who gives birth in the middle of the savannah, then immediately misplaces her newborn baby.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Just as the elves arrive to gift us with awesome things, the countess announces that the smelting process is going swimmingly. She says that the added sound of melting troll corpses constantly echoing from the magma channels is soothing to the workers ears. I decide to expand the metal stockpile rooms, just to be sure. the miners are already there, so it,s the perfect moment to give them more job. What else would we do with this awkward rock formation, anyway?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The workers are stunned by a monstruous scream coming from the north. Nearby, a giant buffalo with the legs of a spider has entered the caverns, surrounded by a strange aura of burning extract. Leto has come! We cannot abandon the caverns, and our precious magma forges. This creature must be stopped. attacking it en masse could prove disastrous, should Leto's vapors be as malevolent as Grousinder's flames, or Rifi's filth. No, a lone dwarf will have to brave this monster, to minimize the risks of a terrible curse or disease wiping out an entire squad. The beast is too fast to trap it on the other side of any bridge. Someone will have to go toe to toe with Leto.

There would be many dwarves ready to vonlunteer for this task. They are all brave soldiers, but I cannot bring myself to send any one of them to such a death sentence. None but one...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
I alone shall face Leto. I have indirectly caused the death of enough dwarves in the last two years, let this be the last one. I grab my weapons, and venture outside the fortress, to intercept the beast before it reaches the door. It's time to meet our new visitor. By greet, I obviously mean ''break all his bones''. Leto has many, many legs, which mean many, many bones to break. This is both a really really good thing, and a really, really bad thing. sooner than not, I find myself covered with a strange layer of boiling extract. I have no idea if it,ll kill me or not. If i am doomed, then I must make sure that the beast is slain once I hit the ground. Thankfully, this is not the first time I've been on fire and rolling around in those caverns, entangled against an immemorial abomination.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
After a violent struggle, I manage to score a devastating hit, puncturing the creature's lungs. While it continues to exhume a strange extract that boils my very being, it can hardly manage the strenght to launch any real attacks. I pummel the monster with as many blows as I can get, giving it no time to catch a break. I begin smashing his legs one bu one. It has a lot of bones.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
I am exhausted myself. The beast and I are locked in a strange duel, where it can hardly breath, while I overexert myself trying to do more than mere bruises. Shield bashes, unarmed strikes, dagger stabs, warhammer swings.. none seem too effective at finishing off this gigantic buffalo. I finally stand up, and gather my might. It is time to land the final blow. Aim for the head, I think to myself...


''Wow, general, you sure did that monster good. It looks pretty smashed, huh?'' Says Alath the swordwarf, known for her perilous duel against a giant cave spider a few years back.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Alath slaps the buffalo gently on the cheek. It dies.

You.

KSing.

Whore.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
It's probably worth mentionning that, despite this absurdly anticlimatic end to my duel, I'm not dying horribly from all my organs turning into acid. so I've got that going for me, which is nice. We finally leave the carcass of Leto there, and return to the surface, where the elves have inadvertantly let an animal chew his way out of confinement. Good job, elves, you are the best. They reach the depot after much hassle, and start unloading 40 pieces of log, a few wine barrels, and a special set of cages.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
They gift us with those wonderful tributes, and announce that they will be leaving soon. Elves have many flaws, but at least they don't stay around for six months once you've robbed them blind. Four barrels of wine won't do it. We'll need more. The rusty brewer is not up to the task, so we'll need experienced boozecrafters.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The Magical Gloves have grown considerably in those two years of nonstop training. Firsal, for example, is now a legendary fighter, more than enough to handle his own and join the battle when the next siege comes. I announce that only 6 out of ten members of the squad are required to train at a time, while the others may resume their brewing duties. As for the cooks, they have a special task.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
...Take the blood barrels outside and dump that shit!

Our food storage is back under control, without hindering hauling and construction projects too much. A ton of useless junk has been discarded permanently, we've slain a mighty beast, unclogged the fortresses hallways, and optimized the metalworking industry. We even had no death and a new baby! All and all, this was a wonderful season, and good seasons are worth celebrating It's time to unpack the surprise!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Yes!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Not only did we get a giant tiger, but we also received a tiger person thing. I have no idea what it is, but it's the coolest thing ever. It immediately moves to the temple, where it begins singing and telling tiger jokes. The magical talking tiger can also diagnose injuries, somehow. He's greeeeat!
« Last Edit: February 04, 2015, 05:57:02 am by Taupe »
Logged

Taupe

  • Bay Watcher
  • Weasel Monarch
    • View Profile
Re: Whisperwhip: Slowly rotting away...
« Reply #106 on: February 05, 2015, 10:11:46 pm »

CHAPTER 49: Crimson and lavender
Summer of 119

Summer is here! The monstruous spider-buffalo has been slain, and the elves have departed, let's hope we get some free time to...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Nevermind. It's another forgotten beast. Two weeks from the last one. Deadly spittles aren't too much of an issue if people dodge correctly, at least. I'm scarred of filth, on the other hand, but that's mostly because I remember the nightmare that was Rifi, another creature of grime, and one of the fort's greatest enemies. We will face the monster as a team. I gather my squad, and head to the caverns.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Like a swat team, we sneak behind the creature as it tries to jump in the river. This area has been cleared, giving us much space to dodge the spittle. It's time to gank up on this asshole. As soon as it shows its ugly head, the creature is met with a rain of bolts from our overtrained militia. It tries to respond with a projectile, but the emptied cavern give my men enough time and free space to easily sidestep it. Once the beast has been injured by two volleys, I jump in to tank it, while the rest of the squad rains death on our foe.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
it can't punch us if it doesn't have any hands. That's what my advanced knowledge of monster anatomy tells me, anyway. Filth doesn't have much bones to break, so I take out my trusty dagger, who'se name I can hardly pronounce myself, and cut off Baci's hand. Off you go!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The battle rages on, but my team has a lot more experience dealing with giant beasts than Baci could ever be prepared for. He tries to breath more of his extract, but I block each blob masterfully, while bashing it repeatedly. With a hand short, he has a hard time keeping up with two melee dwarves flanking it.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Enough games, it's time to finish this. First, you don't need any hand, buddy. Let me punch that away for you. there we go. Now, a slap on the face is all it takes, or so I learned from our KS master, Alath. So I decide to brush my hand gently against Baci's cheek.

It works. Baci instantly dies. Fuck logic.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
I would like to take a few moments to just point out how dumb the combat situation is getting here. This is the first week of summer. A dragon attacked right before winter, then a Titan, then we had a siege, and then spring came and there was another forgotten beast. Then this one like two weeks ago. That's right, we've had two forgotten beasts show up so close to each other that we couldn't even butcher a single kitty between the two.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The spirit of Baci immediately leaps into a random leatherworker, who proceeds to create a leather headscarf. ''Well fought, little creature. After centuries of rampage, you have vanquished me. This is my final gift to you!'' It is a very ugly headscarf, worth less than those produced by our leatherworkers when not posessed. I wear it nevertheless because that would be impolite not to.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Well, it's now the second week of summer! Let's pick up the ten thousand iron shields lying around the fort and smelt them, shall we? And butcher some dingos while you are at it, they'll feed our magic tiger person.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Or not. Another beast. This one is coming from the lower caverns, and probably can't reach us for now, so it just chills and watch a giant olm go about his business. I hate having eldritch horrors wandering our basement, tho, so I'd prefer if we killed it now, instead of hoping it's not lurking in a nearby lake when we finally venture deeper. Open the plug!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Before the workers can show up, I change my mind. Let's take some time to turn this random hole in the ground into a more sensible defence. I spend the day with Dumat and the mayor designing the blueprints for this level. There shall be two long corridors, with a ballista at the end of each, next to an ammo stockpile. The south area can be used to store food and implement some basic dorms, should we have to send troops in the depth for too long. Before i can dispatch any workers to do that, tho, we have another problem coming up.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Now we know why the Lavender Empire hasn't sent any trader to our fortress in five years. They were slowly hoping to weaken us by denying us trade goods, weapons and food. The mayor took the time to meet the lawgiver of the empire last year, which was a pretty dark time for our army, with people dying left and right, and hopes being at an all time low. The lawgiver must have taken that as a sign of weakness, and decided to begin his assault. A few skirmishers show up, right on the edge of our castle. This would have taken any fort with its pants down.

Whisperwhip, however, is definitely not just any fort.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
As the humans look for some easy targets to start off their assault, they are instead met with a rain of death from the walls. The patrolling marks-dwarves shoot the first human archer dead before he can land a shot. Our civilians would usually be lying around picking up clothes and corpses, making them easy prey to a group of skirmishing rangers such as this one. I assume this is what the lawgiver was counting on. Ah, unbeknownst to him, our absolutely terrible management has thwarted his carefully-prepared assault!

Here's the thing. Sometimes, you accidentally click buttons. One of these buttons actually disable the hauling of food lying around. It must have happened, I dunno, 7 years ago. But for almost a decade, the stockpiles have been emptying drastically, and I now know why. Food hauling was just... disabled somehow. I woke up in the middle of spring and figured, hey maybe ''something'' is wrong in the obscure hidden order menu? So I tried something and now people are hauling all the food. That's right, for maybe 7 or 8 years, butchered corpses were left to rot, and only gathered once the item counted as ''refuse'' and not food anymore. that's also why there is a million barrels in the courtyard when the tower next to it is a giant food stockpile. And that's also why all those blood barrels were lying outside and nobody would touch them, except to dump them. That's also why the kitchens have been am miasmatic nightmare for so long. And yup, that's why the trade depot is constantly full of shit even when there isn't anything to trade. It also means that we turned about 700 animals into rotten corpses for exactly no purpose.

But in the end, it was not for naught, because today is the day that we use our absolute lack of organisation as a mighty shield! The humans have launched their surprise attack, but everyone is inside hauling barrels of fishes that probably died ten years ago. Lady Asmel looks at the archers outside with a strange glee in her eyes. she's jumping in place like a kid awaiting his christmas presents. ''Please, general, let me go outside! I'm bored! Being on the wall all day is no fun!''

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
This happens. Yes, that's the whole combat text. So she did kill a dude by shattering a guy's angle so hard he stopped being alive.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Asmel is back, disapointed to see that there were only one squad of archers to slaughter. She's back on the wall drawing stick figures of dead humans with the blood dripping on her weapon, before it dries up. I order that the human corpses be forbidden and left to rot there at the frontier between SoothedSlapped and our own Duchy. Their skeletal remains decomposing under the arid sun shall serve as a warning to all members of the Lavender Empire, that they are not welcome south of Quula's old tower.

''General, even the dismembered limbs?
-Especially the dismembered limbs.''

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
As soon as Asmel is back to her patrol duty, her squadmates spot two kobolds trying to grab the human stuff. The first one dies to Asmel's underlings coming back to the fort after showing just a moment too late to the party. The Champions rush outside and run after the second one for an extra dose of !FUN! for the kobold. It dies instantly.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Asmel isn't even back from her murder-jogging that a new siege arrives. This cannot be a coincidence. Two days apart. Were the humans in league with the goblins? They have allied with a demonic being in the past, and the power vacuum left by Quula's mysterious vanishing could have led to such an alliance. Were the human archers merely a distraction, meant to lure our forces to the western side?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
That's more likely than not. For the first time in a long while, a group of trolls have arrived from the east, and immediately launch an attack on bridge gate, murdering pigs and forcing their way into the courtyard. The lawgiver's plan wasn't as bad as i first believed. He knows that we now only have one squad patrolling the wall: The Ferocious Tools, led by Lady Asmel herself. But he also witnessed that we respond with every archer threat or thief menace by dispatching the ferocious tools outside to intercept the problem. This would leave us with nobody on the wall, just like now. Asmel is still outside in the plains, and the trolls have smashed their way inside! Immortal-d is hunting various monsters, while the Spinfs of Wheels are in the second cavern mining, and the Magical Gloves are hauling food and brewing drinks. My own squad is off duty after just defeating a forgotten beast and mobilizing against a second one. We have 60 soldiers, yet nobody is currently able to defend the fort.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Asmel's team is ambushed by a group of trolls rolling in from the western side of the castle. She's busy fighting her way out of a foe pile. Meanwhile, a group of goblins and more trolls are taking advancing from the south-east, coming down from Dogshatter Hill, and are marching straight toward the main gate!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
it all happened so fast! they came up from nowhere, fast as lightning, from so many good angles. I realize that the moment the goblins stopped most of their assaults, only to come back stronger and more clever, coincides with the moment the Lavender empire started their trade embargo. The human-goblin cooperation has been going for many years, probably for as long as the Death goddess herself has been gone. The humans aren't the most devastating foes on the battlefield, but they possess a sense of strategy and military tactics that the goblin lack. With the human generals calling the shots, and the goblins acting as shock troops and disposable legions, warfare just became something drastically different here in the northern savannah.

In the heat of battle, Dumat comes to me and explain something he should have told me ages ago. We talk hurriedly as I rush toward the surface, all the way from the deepest tunnels. Surprisingly, the elves have been our only allies. No wonder they supply us with war animals, food, and logs. They know that encouraging our war efforts and providing us with goods is the only hope of seeing the human empire fall, the only way to free their enslaved brothers. Yet to avoid being seen as openly helping us, Dumat and the elven traders have been playing a small masquerade: the elves are seen as reluctantly paying us tribute, as to avoid scrutinity from the lavender faction.

''Why did you never tell me?
-I assumed you'd tell the mayor, who was in charge of meeting with the lawgivers. It was just easier to have everyone out of the loop. I swear, the elves told me they were trying to free their friends, but I was never told the lavender empire would attack us like that!
-It makes no sence, tho! The goblins killed the previous overseer!
-Yeah, of course they did. But humans are short-lived and power hungry. Whoemever is leading the dance now must be working closely with the goblins for years, and arranged for the previous lawgivers to disappear, creating a power vaccuum. How easy it must have been for him to be crowned the new emperor, when he announced that he sealed an alliance with the Passionate sins.
-Hum, human politics certainly is more cut-throat than our own.

The empire has always been hungry for conquest and pillage, and never were afraid to side with demonic powers to achieve wealth. We should have known that the disappearance of Quula would not be the end of their warmongering ways. If anything, the vanishing of their goddess had only fanned their lust for expansion. Quula had began her reign as a warlord, but had grown into a strange contemplative creature in the end, more prone to observe elves than to slay them. now that she is gone, the humans see this as the dawn of a new era of glory and loot.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
I reach the surface. The fort is in chaos. A troll is fending off an army of dogs and lions in the children dorm, and more greenskins are trashing the courtyard. A few dwarves are on the wall repelling foes outside, while a few more rush to defend the courtyard and the main entrance. One troll made it so far as the kitchens. Thank Armok, the civilians are able to escape thanks to my judicious attribution of war animals. Everyone who said it was pointless to award cooks with a war lion has been proven wrong on this day.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
''Why has nobody washed my duchal clothes?
-My lord, it seems that there is a siege going on.
-Sieges never stopped anyone from doing that! Go wash my clothes!
-My lord Tun, that would be suicide! I can'T!
-You are all useless, I'll wash my own stuff then! Go make me 3 querns, imbeciles!''

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Zas the peasant thinks that sneaking outside, ignoring the alert, and passing a legion of trolls is a great thing to do. He wanders outside for no reason.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Some men volunteer to fetch him out. Go get him, quickly!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Duke tun manages to escape his clothwashing adventure unscratched, but there is nothing we can do for the foolish Zas. There are too many foes, and not enough of us available. Now one of our Hammerlords is the one in trouble. Now that there is no reason to hold off the trolls, he must retreat, but the trolls are converging on his position, and fast. We can't let him die that easily. Form a line! If we can help him run fast enough, we'll be within archers range, and the wall guards will be able to give us a hand.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The situation inside the fort has calmed, but now the soldiers are stuck outside out of position. The trolls are coming from the valley, and a group of goblin archers led by elite troops is advancing from the south-east. The trolls will be met with a million bolts, but the troops must retreat to the fort before the goblin shooters get in range! Should I dispatch more troops, and weaken our defences against the western army, or stay there and meet these foes with ranged attacks, and pray that our tropps are tough enough?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
From atop Dogshatter Hill, a goblin leader overwatches the whole combat. Two os Asmel's soldiers were left stranded from the rest, and managed to stay out of sight for the whole fight, picking off stragglers escaping the battle like two jolly rogues. They turn the tide by sneaking up on the leader, and taking him out. The enemy forces break just as they get in bolt range. The loss of their leader, and the rain of ammunition is enough to send them away.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
This goblin makes a last ditch effort to cross the entire map, but one's body can only contain so much blood. he doesn't make it. Soon many will share his fate.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
A squad of goblins is preparing to escape. The full might of Whisperwhip is on the move to destroy them, a torrent of steel, leather and bloodlust. None will escape this fight, definitely not the lone troll hiding in the dumpatorium.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Dumat has been injured by the troll commandos, but I'm told he will heal in time. I hope he regains consciousness soon enough. We'll need information from the elves if we are to stop the Lavender Empire from overtaking this continent and wiping out all other races. Whisperwhip has endured many beasts, and many sieges, but the combined might of the strongest nation, and one of the most populous goblin horde in the world... this is something else entirely.
« Last Edit: February 05, 2015, 10:13:38 pm by Taupe »
Logged

Taupe

  • Bay Watcher
  • Weasel Monarch
    • View Profile
Re: Whisperwhip: At war with everything...
« Reply #107 on: February 07, 2015, 12:37:00 am »

Chapter 50: Dump and dumper
Fall of 119

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
As the army marches back from the battlefield, rain starts to poor on this god-forsaken savannah. This is not a metaphor, the local deity actually got up and left 5 years ago. It's true that we had something resembling rain a few months back, but that was more a glitch in the weather than actual rain. This time, tho, we can actually feel the hot water pouring on our skin from the sky. The sun is obstructed by clouds for the first time in at least two decades, and the bonds that previously gorged themselves on nothing but blood and corpses are now filled with a tamer liquid. Traces of the battle are erased, as blood flows into the ground. In a few hours, the cinder valley of blood and ashes is replaced by a clean field, green and dripping with moisture. For a place where only loss comes knocking, the resurgence of life and nature is seen as a blessing, even by dwarves.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Poor Dumat is still in bed, left severely damaged by a rampaging troll. He smiles as I inform him of the weather ''I wish I could see the rain... just my luck! 22 years in this stupid place, and it has to rain on the day I'm stuck in bed!''

I ponder for a moment about this newfound source of water. Could we actually turn part of the courtyard into a bathing area? I start to reflect on a cool design, but by the time I'm back outside, the skies have cleared, and the sun shines once more. Within less than a day, all the filled ponds revert to sandy holes.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Not all traces of this strange occurrence is gone, however. As I watch over a strange dwarf gathering materials for a weird project, I notice something peculiar near his workshop. Where many years ago a pig shattered on what was then the bottom of our fortress, now grows a patch of luxuriant grass. Devoid of either sun nor water, the touch of nature has found a way into the heart of our home. For a brief moment, I understand part of Quula's growing fascination with nature. then I remember that I'm not an elf, but a manly dwarf general. It's time to focus on something very manly and dwarven, to set my mind straight.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Nothing is more dwarven than a set of murdertunnels set at the bottom of earth itself, designed to counter terrifying forgotten beasts. What should we call this place? BASE2, maybe6 no, that sounds absolutely boring. This place shall henceforth be known as the Murdershafts. Once the tunnels are completed, we'll begin construction of the siege engines proper. The drink situation is stable, we won't need more food, and the farmers are experienced. Apart from some engineers and engravers, I'll try to put the rest of the fort on to clearing our stockpiles. There's too much problems associated with going outside right now, especially for civilians. Now is probably the best time to clear all our needless junk and dump it in the garbage shaft.

I consult Dumat. He confirms what I was fearful of: the dwarven caravan should already be here. Was it goblins or humans that ambushed our brethrens? We may never know. In any case, the lack of wagons confirms my suspicions: setting foot outside of the castle is out of the way. That also means that we'll get no flux stones or anvils this year, which in turn means no steel. Iron is the best we have right now, and there's enough shields lying around to be of use. I order a set of breastplates forged, as well as some more iron bolts. The menace of an unbreakable titan still weights on my mind.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
It's time for the greatest clothsgiving ever. The latest soldiers died mostly next to our walls, so I post a few squads around the castle to allow the bravest of our haulers outside. Led is sporting a giant book in which he keep track of all the chest armors and robes around the fort. Slowly, but surely, we start going through the entire book, noting what to do with each item. This is a time-consuming process, but it must be done. First, every rotten or tattered cloth is to be dumped into magma. I don't care if someone was wearing it, it only makes them unhappy. Second, all good-quality robes and sweaters are to be collected, which will replace the dumped rags we just got rid of. Thirdly, Every large robe is also to be dumped. We have a ton of those in our bins, thanks to so many trolls. If an item is large and made of metal, I want it melted with the rest. Lastly, every leather armor from the goblins is unforbidden and designed for dumping. Once enough iron breastplate have been forged to accomodate each soldier, we'll also discard the untold amounts of leather armors stockpiled in the armory.

People spend 4 months doing just that. Dumping shirts and melting oversized mails. By the time the dumping tunnel is uncrowding, winter is already halfway past. The caravaneers are long-dead, of this we no longer have any doubts. Until further contact with the main civilization, Whisperwhip is isolated from the outside, entangled in a bloody conflict. thankfully, being entangled in bloody conflict is something we've become quite good at.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Oh, and thank Armok combat is our strong suite, because we are hardly worthy of the name dwarf when it comes to masterful works of art. someone just spent 120 forgotten beast bones to make the most plain and unimpressive mini-forge known to our kind.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
It's painfully clear that we'll be using this tunnel a LOT, so once the Murdershafts are fully engraved, I put our stoneworkers on the job here. Right before they start engraving the corner, I stop them. I think I've got a good idea!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
I order a watery trench carved out in the tunnel. This may be the best place to install a cleaning area, since mass-dumping is the only job that ensures everyone will use such a place. In a matter of minutes, the cleaning trench fills with all sorts of washed-off substances. FB extracts, titan blood, minotaur puss, dwarven blood and vomit, you name it. New clothes and clean bodies should give us an edge against tantruming, should any tragedy befall us thanks to this new war.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Armors and shirts are now managed, and pants are next. Before we can get to it, tho, more goblins assault our castle. Stukos tries to run back outside, but the goblins manage to corner him and tear him apart. Stepping right outside the castle is dangerous, even to a veteran like Stukos. The inky Lures had not lost a single squad member until today. The soldiers amass on the wall, ready to unleash bolts and vengeance from their trusty crossbows.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
...But quickly enough, some of them must abandon their post to venture outside. Tun is going out for a walk, with all his labors disabled, and the alarm activated. He's apparently ''on break''. Swiftly, I want a defensive perimeter around the Duke, and I want him back inside within the minute! Bash him senseless if you must!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The Duke is saved by the rapid intervention of nearby soldiers, and the heroic sacrifice of his numerous war pets. Now Tun is back inside, and alive, but he complains that his pets are dead. Fuck you Tun, seriously. Eat a titan pickle.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The goblins are growing smarter with every siege. After they killed one of our elite soldiers, they retreat instead of suffering a volley of arrows. They failed to kill our nobility, but they'll be back for sure. I send some squads outside to get a few kills going, but most of the goblins escape before a fight can occur.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The war situation is escalating with each new encounter. In contrast, the situation inside the fort has improved considerably over the last year. First of all, food is back inside the stockpiles. The improvements made to the bridge rooms have also made BASE1 radically easier to reach. Food and drinks can finally be shared by the miners and stationed soldiers working in the caverns. A lot of the children born after the civil war have finally reached the age of twelve this year. they are now twelve, and considered peasant rather than mere children. For a few seasons, I've been wondering what to do with them. Now I know. The young generation will receive basic military training in time, but their primary job will be to build, maintain, and operate the siege engines we'll be building. A siege workshop is deployed in the empty workshop room of BASE1, and the younglings eagerly start designing ballistas for the Murdershafts. This is only the beginning. we'll install catapults atop the main tower, as well as expand the walls to house more war machines. If the Lavender empire wants a war, a fucking war is what they'll get.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Meanwhile, everyone else is now busy triaging dirty pants from new pants, and dumping shorts into a volcano. This goes on for another three months. The calendar switches to a new page; It is now  the year 120. Life in Whisperwhip is strangely ordered and monotonous, so much that the once cheerful magical tiger we acquired has not had a single conversation since ever.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spring goes by quickly, interrupted only by a forgotten beast and a ghostly woodcutter. The former is quickly dipatched by three combined squads shot-gunning its face the second it jumps out of the underground river.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The latter causes a bit more problem, as I suddenly realize we ran out of coffins. I order more, but everyone is too damn busy hauling pants to get on it, and Tun's constant whinning for more querns have our free masons pinned already. The ghost just hangs in the dumping tunnel, haunting the nearby dwarves, which in this very situation accounts for about 140 people. Morale goes down for a while, but the local residents are sort of accustomed to terrible things, and eventually they get over it. A lot of barfing happens, tho.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
I place a tomb, after three weeks of otherworldly spooking. Then after another two weeks someone actually remembers that coffins must be designated for burials. Then the ghost is still not happy, and we must make a stupid slab for him. There, it's done now. Begone.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Looks like someone went overboard with the whole coffinmaking thing, and created an artifact. Out of a goblin arm. Such a receptacle would be a fitting resting place for our champion, so I order the noble crypt expanded to the north, where Asmel, as well as champions from the next generation, will be put to rest. Fittingly, the crypt is filled with red Zircon. A bloodied crypt and a coffin made from our dead enemies, what a fitting resting place for our mightiest warrior!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Sieges have almost become routine. With the walls staffed at all times, and the outside forbidden, the goblins show up to poke at our defences, but quickly leave without anything noteworthy happening. They won't come too close, and we won't meet them on the field anymore. I know that's what they want, and i won't give it to them. Once our defences have been upgraded, they will know the full fury of dwarvenkind. Until then, I am quite fine with this waiting game. The last goblin squad vanish from our lands just as summer begins. A full year has passed since the humans revealed their true nature. No caravan has made it to Whisperwhip since then. The only thing that comes to Whisperwhip are foes.

Soon, the only thing that leaves will be siege ammo...

Immortal-D

  • Bay Watcher
  • [Not_A_Tree]
    • View Profile
Re: Whisperwhip: At war with everything...
« Reply #108 on: February 07, 2015, 10:53:14 pm »

Seems like Whisperwhip has reached critical mass, of sorts.  Absolutely nothing can threaten the Dwarves- any and all problems are management related.  I think you have 2 options at this point, which are not mutually exclusive; Begin preparations for engaging The Clowns, start a Mega Project.

Dwarf4Explosives

  • Bay Watcher
  • Souls are tasty. Kinda like bacon.
    • View Profile
Re: Whisperwhip: At war with everything...
« Reply #109 on: February 08, 2015, 03:00:49 am »

I'd first clean up the clusterfuck that is the management; block off some rarely-used paths that just lower FPS and just generally try to make the fort more compact.
Logged
And yet another bit of proof that RNG is toying with us. We do 1984, it does animal farm
...why do your hydras have two more heads than mine? 
Does that mean male hydras... oh god dammit.

Taupe

  • Bay Watcher
  • Weasel Monarch
    • View Profile
Re: Whisperwhip: At war with everything...
« Reply #110 on: February 10, 2015, 09:55:05 pm »

The updates will probably be scarse for a while, considering that chapter 50 covered three seasons, and introduced most of the changes I was putting in place. Unless something happens, there will probably be a big leap in time. I just played for a whole year, which revolved mostly around dumping gloves. Apart from sieges (now rather uneventful) and a giant (which Kel beheaded casually in a single lash strike while gathering mittens) I have nothing to write about.

Going to hell may be a terrible idea while we are still wearing mostly leather, but I'm definitely in the mood to get some adamantium down the road, and invade the underworld itself. I feel like that's this fort's destiny. Fun fact, I know nothing about demons, hell, or how to fight then off. Spoilers are not welcome. I've been staying away from any details so far, to ensure that our last adventure will be full of surprise.

Before we tackle on such a suicidal task, there are a few projects I want to try. An obsidian generator has been designed, but never implemented. I'd love to have masterwork statues made of solidified lava, and maybe a giant obsidian spire. Speaking of spires, I also want to improve the fort and turn it into a badass castle. Sadly, masonry work is moving very slowly with the limited amount of workers and the slow process of erecting stone walls. As for the defenses, I've been toying around with ballistas, but apparently they only shoot in a straight line, not up or down, same for catapults. I have a fun design in mind for the outter perimeter, involving a moat, and a line of ballistas, but that will require a massive amount of terraforming. No catapults on top of towers, which is kind of lame.

Before I allocate the dwarves to such tasks, the first thing to do is get the fort up and running efficiently. Workshops must be profiled, equipment must be upgraded, stockpiles must be optimized... At the very least navigating the fort is now possible, although there is a lot of z-levels to go through. Thankfully, metalworking and mining is slowly getting centralized in the basement, while army and food industries are concentrated on the surface. With some tweaking, and a lot of effort, it would probably be possible to keep everyone from having to actually go from one area to the other. Doomforests gave me the idea for a chute, which could be used to send food downstairs to the miners and smiths.

Fort population is now going up, with a bunch of children having reached puberty, and another wave of babies being born. we went from 180 to 158 in the last two years, but Whisperwhip is now sitting at 166 as of the year 121.

If you want to request a dwarfing, be my guest, we have a ton of random epic dwarves just waiting for their turn under the spotlight.
« Last Edit: February 10, 2015, 09:57:23 pm by Taupe »
Logged

Taupe

  • Bay Watcher
  • Weasel Monarch
    • View Profile
Re: Whisperwhip: At war with everything...
« Reply #111 on: February 12, 2015, 01:05:43 am »

Chapter 51: The Prophecy
Fall of 121

The seasons come and go now, just like the haulers do in the great dumping tunnel. As they walk past the cleaning pit, the blood of battles past washes off their clothes, and down the ramp. Countless dwarves step over the sanguine pool as they bring the rags of their fallen to their fiery end. There is no time for training, or cooking, or sleeping. Only dumping.

Clothes are innumerable in Whisperwhips nowadays, both old and new. Just as the dwarves are done with a pile of clothes, another one appears outside the walls, still clinging to a fallen goblin, a bloodied troll, a misguided human. Blood and lavender is their toll, and hauling is ours. With summer begins the long process of footwear destroying, which shall last until fall. 1500 shoes and socks are stockpiled in dusty bins, as many more still rot on the bodies of dwarves and corpses both. Winter is for mittens. Spring is for hats. By fall, every member of the army now has an Iron breastplate, and the 900 leather armors are marked for dumping.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Progress is made, but the hauling can never stop. Legions of knights on horse are pilling up on our doorsteps. Goblins try to drown us under the weight of their gear. Even giants try to join the frey, but are foolishly beheaded by my sister with a disinterested twish of her lash. Enemies are no longer a threat to our lives. They are merely there to slow the all-important process of rags discarding.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Even forgotten beasts of the lesser variants are no longer worthy of mention in the fort. Oh, did you kill a beast today? I guess that makes you a Beastslayer. like basically everyone here. Me, I hauled 12 pairs of shoes today. That's something special.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Inbetween hauling phases, I take some time to manage our stockpiles better. The main issue I have for now is that shields are litterally everywhere. Apparently, the stockpile for armor was set to ''take from a specific stockpile'' by mistake. fixing this only prompts everyone to empty the stockpile. I have no clue where the armors went. none of the other stockpiles accept armor. Guys, where is the armor? I make a new stockpile, and delete the other one. People show up from all around the fort to stash the armor back. to this day I still don't know where everything went for a moment. nobody will tell me. Weird.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The dwarven caravan manages to sneak by this year, showing up inbetween two different goblin assaults. we can't afford the time it takes to haul bins to the depot, so instead, I offer the caravaneers some large gems still lying outside in the grass. Blood barrels were dumped, shields are being properly stashed, and the gems have been traded. I grab a few anvils, just to get some steel. With no flux stone to mine or trade, and no outpost liason to make a trade agreement, melting existing items from these merchants will be our only source of the precious metal. Once the merchants leave, the trade depot is clean and tidy for the first time since it was built. Power to the haulers! Go, efficient management!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
After yet another of their sieges has been crushed, the lavender empire send a friendly human to negociate peace. I ask the mayor to stop doing random jobs and host the visitor, but the lions don't get the memo and devour the messenger as he enters the fort, out of reflex. The body ends up stuck atop one of the trade depot's statues. I can't be arsed to put it down, so there he stays. He's part of the deco now.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
A year later, the Lavender Empire lawgiver comes in person, to bargain a peace. As much as I want to murder his stupid face, something happens at the same moment...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
A trade caravan has arrived from the capital of the human empire, travelling alongside the law-giver. He knows what's up. It's time for some offerings, bitches. We accept your peace, but there's going to be some nifty tributes every summer, or else those rotting skeletons alongside the northern border are going to make some new friends. The human empire doesn't have steel weapons or ingots, but they gift us with silver, gold, gems, as well as 50 barrels of exotic fishes. I mean, I could kill them all, but that'd just be more dumping now, and even more dead knights to smelt in a few months.

The vanquished depart soon after the tributes are offered. The merchants leave first, but the law-giver stays for a night, just to sign some paper certifying that he agrees to be our bitch from now on. Yes, those are the actual words on the peace treaty. ''I, law-giver Kege, admits that opposing the sexy fortress of Whisperwhips was a dumb idea, and henceforth agrees to becoming their bitch'' As soon as he is done, he packs his stuff. As he steps outside, he is greeted by a goblin army.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
''Kege! screams the goblin leader. It's so nice to see you here.
-I...I can explain, this is part of my plan, my plan to get you in the fort!
-I'm done with your lies and your shitty plans. Kege. I know a traitor when I see one. Our deal is over.

The warlord raises his hand, signaling his archers. The lawgiver utters his last words, muted by the whistle of two dozen arrows.

*   *   *

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Between two hauling jobs, I take some time to admire the recent artefacts created by our local craftdwarves. Even the doctor took the time to craft a pretty statuette. Once I put all three items one next to the other, i notice a strange pattern. the first represents a human killed by an elf. the second depicts the death of an elf to some strange monster. The third one comes from a possession. The strange and enigmatic necromancer known as Ohe Closebrain took over the body of a dwarf, and created a buckler out of goblin bone. The item shows the reanimation of an elven corpse.

This makes me uneasy. An elf kills, an elf dies, and elf is reborn, sculpted as a shield, out of the bones of his enemies. I consult with Immortal-D, since he knows a bit about curses and strange omens.

''It's a prophecy'', he answers. ''We have killed humans, but soon a monster will be upon us, to slay us. And in time, another will come, and even in death, another battle will be fought.''
-This is nonsence. Why are you always like this.
-It's just what the artefacts say. Maybe it's not true. But you have to admit, Dumat may be right about the queen... or about Quula.
-Quula is gone.
-But not dead. She may return. and she controls the power of undeath.
-Fine, just to be sure, I'll order the workers to dump and burn corpses when they get a chance. No corpses, no undead.
-Thank you.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The haulers venture outside, only to meet another goblin force ambushing us near the dumpatorium. Curses! I order everyone inside, and dispatch the troops on the wall as usual. Suddenly, at the same moment, rumbles come from beneath our feet. Screams from the cavern.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Down below, a towering eyeless mantis has come to Whisperwhip. Armored with a thick exoskeleton swelling with pus, and setting everything on fire. This is the first monster since the nefarious Grousinder to sport a dangerous weapon. everything recently just try to kill shit with a poisonous bite or a sting.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The beast wanders the caverns looking for blood. The alarm has been activated, but the beast came up so fast after the siege that nobody had time to evacuate yet. Worse still, many miners are currently setting up the obsidian generator, which can onyl be accessed by going around the volcano. They'll be easy prey, unless someone makes it in time!

''I'll go'' Says Immortal-D. I know the caverns better than anyone
-So will I, replies his squadmate Stukos, who already has her gear ready. We are the closest, let's not waste time!''

They rush downstairs, and catch the giant mantis as it's about to reach the volcano. Both dwarves engage the beast, Immortal-D is the best dodger we have, but the smoke obstructs his vision. The fireball comes too quickly. He takes the full impact, yet suffer no damage.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
He begins to feel a strange sensation all around his body. His name is flashing. Stukos has already fallen to the monster. The mantis escapes, heavily bleeding, and missing several bodyparts. Immortal-d wants to give chase, but he cannot. He knows where he is. he can still see the blood leftover by his squadmates. Further down this tunnel lies the entrance to the lower caverns, where Lor, Endok and Doren faced the Grousinder.

''I doubt it'll go much further, not with what I did to him. As of me...''

He knows what's coming. The doctor explained to him the nasty syndrome that plagued his friends four years ago. to hear about it is one thing, but to live it is quite another. but Immortal-D is a brave warrior, and he always knew he'd give his life to save the fort from a monster. At least he,ll die where his men did, here in the smokey caverns. His last thoughts go the the prophecy of the artefacts, as he remembers the second one, the one that speaks of dying to a monster. Then he explodes into a geyser of blood and gore.

*   *    *

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Catten is the one to find the body. you can never really get used to the mess left by the timebomb curse. Stukos and Immortal-D lie dead, their blood dripping all across the caverns. The air is hot and still filled with a layer of smoke. Ashes cover the ground, covered with gore and burning fungi. Screams echo from the lower caverns.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
By the time Catten tracks down the mantis, it has lost consciousness, collapsed on the ground before it could retreat to the lower caverns. Not that it would have done it any good, for they are sealed, and filled with two more unslain abominations. Immortal-d scored some devastating hits.  A single blow is all it takes. With one heavy swing, Catten avenges his squadmates and resume his leadership of the contests of fortifying, or what's left of it anyway. The corpses are carried back upstairs, and entombed alongside their brothers and sisters. The soldiers return from the battlefield, carrying more dark news: the giant war tiger has been slain, as well as two children and three haulers. Two scores of war animals also perished.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The deaths were numerous this day, but none was a gruesome, or as heavy, as the loss of Immortal-D. He was a beloved dwarf, a great military captain, and the proud defender of the caverns. He dedicated his life to fending off the forces of the bird armies, stopping three giant winged monsters, as well as single-handedly murdering a forgotten beast earlier this year. It can be said of very few dwarves, that the world is now a safer place thanks to him. May he rest in peace.

His wife and daughter are devastated, and so is his father, manager Stukos. Captain Atir was his cousin, and tries to say a few words, but none will come. More than just a soldier, Immortal-d was a beloved and cheerful dwarf, friend of many. He was the first to dodge an arrow, but the last dwarf that would ever avoid a conversation or a party. his sexy beard was the envy of all. Hw will truly be missed.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
After everyone else has left the catacombs, I find Lady Asmel, paying her respects to Immortal-D's tomb. I've never seen her emotional, or shaken before. Yet there she is, kneeled before the tomb of our brother.

''He was a special kind of dwarf, she says as i approach.  I doubt I'll see another like him in the few years I have left.
-Yes... He was a brave captain.
-You know what this means, tho. The caverns are not safe anymore, general. More will come, and more will die, so long as we remain here.
-Catten will cover the caverns, in time the recruits will...
-My good general, be honest. do you really believe catten could defend us against such abominations? Even if he was to turn into our greatest hero overnight, sooner or later he will die, and so will we all. there are forces that we cannot hope to vanquish. Dark powers.''

The last discussion I shared with our fallen captain come back to me. The artefacts, the prophecy. If the dead human statue heralded the fall of the human diplomats, and the second item announced the death of Immortal-D to a monster, then... Surely, it cannot be true.

''Milady, you cannot mean... undead? I've heard tales from Dumat, but he can hardly be...
-The broker is scheming, and untrustworthy, yet in this he tells the truth. The dead may walk this place, sooner than we think. Death calls to death. We must burn the corpses, all of them. Should the fort as it is fall to the influence of necromancy, this could be the end of the world as we know it. The eldritch horrors that have crept into our basement are but a glimpse of the true terror that awaits us should this happen. If the corpses in this region walk once more, then nothing will stop them. No, we must burn every body we can find, before she comes to claim her throne.
-Who...?
-...My mother.''
« Last Edit: February 12, 2015, 01:13:12 am by Taupe »
Logged

Immortal-D

  • Bay Watcher
  • [Not_A_Tree]
    • View Profile
Re: Whisperwhip: At war with everything...
« Reply #112 on: February 13, 2015, 10:08:03 am »

R.I.P, me :(  Well I had a good run, lol.  Violent blood-explosion is at least a relatively quick death, if briefly painful.  When you can, please find my Dorf's child and name him "I-D The Second".

''Milady, you cannot mean... undead? I've heard tales from Dumat, but he can hardly be...
-The broker is scheming, and untrustworthy, yet in this he tells the truth. The dead may walk this place, sooner than we think. Death calls to death. We must burn the corpses, all of them. Should the fort as it is fall to the influence of necromancy, this could be the end of the world as we know it. The eldritch horrors that have crept into our basement are but a glimpse of the true terror that awaits us should this happen. If the corpses in this region walk once more, then nothing will stop them. No, we must burn every body we can find, before she comes to claim her throne.
-Who...?
-...My mother.''
.... :o

Taupe

  • Bay Watcher
  • Weasel Monarch
    • View Profile
Re: Whisperwhip: At war with everything...
« Reply #113 on: February 13, 2015, 07:05:29 pm »

I looked the second you flashed. You don't have a son, but you have a daughter. Is that fine with you?

SkaiaMechanic

  • Bay Watcher
    • View Profile
Re: Whisperwhip: At war with everything...
« Reply #114 on: February 13, 2015, 07:52:09 pm »

I gotta say, I always look forward to Whisperwhip updates. Been enjoying reading these out and about on my phone. The literally god-forsaken capital(?) city of the dwarves. Towering above all the grass and ash and thousands upon thousands of pieces of broken bolts. The military-minded fort that changed armies and wars. A black hole growing on the world that armies battle but never escape. I'll take a Dwarfing of some kind. No specific request. Just another victim in the fort.
Logged
I'm running out of dogs. I'm running out of bolts.
I'm running out of dwarves.

Taupe

  • Bay Watcher
  • Weasel Monarch
    • View Profile
Re: Whisperwhip: At war with everything...
« Reply #115 on: February 13, 2015, 09:12:29 pm »

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Skaia, you are the Mayor's apprentice. Not only are you a girl, but you are the worst person ever. You are also the best mechanic available. The mayor will be the narrator for next update, so you should get a decent intro. It's a safe line of work, if goblins don't attack while you reload a cage, or if you don't run into the obsidian generator while it runs (spoiler?).

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
As for you, Immortal-D, even tho you were heirless last time I checked, a tiny dwarven miracle happened before my eyes seconds ago. Your wife gave birth after you died, and it's a boy. I-D the Second is alive! He is known as ''Bronzestaff'' by his peers, and for a toddler, his beard description sounds formidably sexy.
« Last Edit: February 13, 2015, 09:16:47 pm by Taupe »
Logged

Taupe

  • Bay Watcher
  • Weasel Monarch
    • View Profile
Re: Whisperwhip: At war with everything...
« Reply #116 on: February 26, 2015, 12:04:10 pm »

CHAPTER 52: The great cave offensive
Fall of 223
The mayor


Being the mayor is not a fun task. Taking care of strangers, hosting meetings, and spending two years tailed by a creepy god. It's a lot of trouble. The mayor wasn't he most qualified for the title, but nobody in 20 years had run for the office, so he was stuck with the job. Thankfully, he often decided not to do it. Being an engineer was much, much more interesting. It wasn't always like that, no. Not when most of the mechanical duties revolved around wandering outside and carrying back huge cages filled with angry animals. But things had changed in the fort recently. It was time for bigger projects. The mayor loved bigger projects. Especially when they involved lava. Oh, who was he kidding? Everyone loved magma.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Right now, he was in charge of the obsidian generator. It was a good way to get magma safe materials, at the mere cost of acting absolutely not safe toward magma. A fair price. The blood of Armok was not meant to be trivialized. The mayor loved working on the generator, partly because he enjoyed designing things, and also because he enjoyed carrying corpses way less. That's what everyone else was doing right now. Dumping bodies. Dumping arms. Dumping mangled feet. Dumping mutilated skeletons. The mayor did not question the variety of the things to be dumped, but it was certainly gross. Once they had dealt with armors and dirty socks, every higher-up got obsessed with dumping bodies. The mayor found it silly. What was the point of having the greatest dumpatorium in the world if they were just discarding everything in lava?

That did give him an idea, however. Because there was nobody around in the caverns to drag boulders, it was technically his job to do so. the mayor was also having none of that. That's why he ordered every single stone in the area to be stored right in the middle of the generator. Once the machine started, every last boulder in there would simply vanish. it's not like they needed any more stone anyway. Not with delicious, delicious obsidian on the way. The other mecanics agreed with his idea. There once was a lot of other Mebzuth, but most of them were killed by various things. All of those various things were goblins. Now there was only himself left, and other Mebzuth, whom everyone simply called Skaia Mechanic, because she was in charge of the cages most of the time, so she was always under the sun. She was also always mad and depressive. Drokles times ten, essentially. Oh, there was also a new teenager whom the general had ordered to help around, but he didn't count. And he wasn't even called Mebzuth. Clearly the kid had little future in engineering.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The floodgates were installed, and the tunnels were filled and ready for activation. All that was left was for the middle area to be channeled, in order to create a reservoir. The mayor wasn't exactly sure how obsidian worked. He was basically just a mayor with a serious hobby and no prior qualification. He assumed that the two liquids would meet in the middle and make obsidian maybe? Look, it was still a work in progress. They had been working on this thing for a year when suddenly, one of the miners hit something weird. In the bottom corner of the reservoir, a hole opened, and strange noises came out of it. Forgotten beasts. They didn't know the caverns extended this high, and this close. They hadn't explored these levels fully. Or at all. had they done so, they would have known, and probably built the generator here anyway. because being wise just wasn't how being a dwarven engineer worked, man.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The general ordered his own men around the hole. This would be a delicate operation. Any second now, one of the two monsters dwelling in the depths could rush up and murder all the workers. This, the mayor had learned, was a bad thing. The main problem was that the fungi vegetation down there was a mess, out of control and ever-expanding. They would need to reopen the cavern ramp, send in woodcutters, and move slowly toward the generator's underbelly. This would delay the project. This wasn't good, the mayor knew. It was very important that the generator be put to use as soon as possible, becuse... reasons. Look, he just didn,t want to haul bodies for three months while people cleared the caverns.

First, he asked the miners to carve a staircase downstairs directly next to the generator. The masons had been using the leftover boulders in the middle of the reservoir to isolate the generator from the rest of the caverns. As such, the area to the right was a mess of built walls. All it took was two deconstructed walls to open a safe digging path down through a stone pillar. Sure, they were connecting the buildsite directly to unknown horrors, but that would cut the walking by a lot. It also meant that they only needed one block to seal off the stairs if (when) trouble arose.

For a week or two, the general and his men went down into the caverns to kill stuff. And stuff they did kill. They were clearing corridor after corridor, unlocking new areas, trying to locate and ambush the two forgotten creatures living here since a few years ago. One was found totally entangled between two trees. The other they didn't find. This was taking forever. the main plan was to clear the area so they wouldn't be attacked by things while they... rebuilt the floor of the generator by putting blocks underneath? The actual plan wasn't exactly clear. The mayor assumed this was just an excuse the soldiers and woodcutters found to avoid hauling corpses. This was a waste of time. The mayor knew a much better way to seal the plug and kill everything in the caverns at the same time.

''Evacuate the caverns, he screamed. There's something going on with the generator!
-What... what's wrong with it?
-Oh. I just turned it on.''

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The hole was actually the perfect way to test the machine without clogging the reservoir with tons of weird liquids. all the excess lava would just flow down into the caverns. fuck beasts, fuck trees, fuck crundles and sorlaks. He was going to plug the hole using obsidian. Lots of it. Al he had to do was to open the lava valve, then the water valve, in that order. Maybe? Look, this was still a work in progress.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The reservoir is mined in the middle to allow lava to flow to the hole. no way he's wasting time to actually finish this thing properly. That's just sober thinking. Quickly, the blood of Armok fills part of the chamber, and eventually drips into the caverns below. It also flows out of the reservoir and onto the surrounding walkways. Interesting design flaw right there. note to self, magma murderchamber is not safe while in use.

Trees don't burn? Are we serious here? Why are the elves even worried about their safety?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Ok, that's enough magma, maybe. Or not enough. That's magma, that much is certain. now is the arbitrarily chosen perfect timing to open the water valve. Let's see what happens. The water fills the chamber and... Sazir runs inside to check it out. Really? That's just... ok, man. I can't stop it. You are on your own.

Sazir is now incased in osidian. We now have two mechanics. I told you that kid wasn't going anywhere as a mechanic.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
By the time the water flows into the hole, most of the magma has leaked further down the ramps, leaving nothing behind but ashes, small lava ponds and all the untouched trees what the actual fuck. It takes a moment before anything is turned into obsidian, and at some point it's obvious that the project is kind of a failure. We have what, two blocks of obsidian casted at the bottom? The workers will have to go downstairs, walk on these, and patch the hole with more obsidian. At least they learned valuable lessons, like the good water-magma ratio, that incinerating a tribe of troglodytes is hilarious, or simply don't be Sazil.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
the generator hole is fully patched, and the rest of the reservoir is excavated. While this is going on, someone crafts a palm statuette of dwarves commemorating the 25 years of Whisperwhip. The mayor is not sure a palm statuette is the best they could do as far as artefacts go for that purpose, but then again he's also pretty sure that he's not the best person they could choose as far as mayors go.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Now they have obsidian. The main fucking problem is, the stockpiles in BASE1 are full, and everyone is too busy burning skeletons nonstop to dig out any new rooms. Plus, they have obsidian. Everything else must buuuuuurn. Over the next 6 months, the mayor guide the workers to actually do things efficiently. first, use the leftover boulders to seal off the generator for good. Two, dig a tunnel linking the generator to BASE1, but from the generator's side. This way peiople haul rocks into the reservoir, so they can just be destroyed on the next activation. Third, turn one of the tetraedrite vein into an actual workshop area, with two masonry areas, and a bunch of stockpiles for only obsidian. All the obsidian is forbidden from the generator and eventually transported here, because it's the closest place from the generator to the base. see how smart the design is6 The mayor is certainly learning. Manager Stukos announces that only great masons and above can use those two workshops, who by the way are made of pure gold. Because they can. The gold was offered by the surrendering humans.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
A first harvest wields two scores of obsidian, but that's not enough. Most of it is used to patch the hole. The mayor orders a new activation of the device, this time the magma is to stay in the chamber. Once he has a nice coating of lava, he close the magma floodgates and let the water in. What follows is absolutely underwhelming. it takes basically forever for water to rush into the room and fill most of the generator. This is not good. The mayor does not like wasting time. mostly because he's told to put bodies into a shaft while the machine fails to activate. This won't do.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
After litterally over an hour of real-life time, which is a random measure of time the mayor just invented to sound fancy, the activation is complete. The mayor immediately starts designing three other shafts, conecting to various underground bodies of water. If the first tunnel is having a hard time reaching the end of the magma pool, then the solution is (possibly?) to unleash a quarter of the needed water from 4 points at once, which should cut the activation down by a factor of... a number? The mayor has no clue. Look, this is still a work in progress. People start digging tunnels and smoothing them. (ALWAYS SMOOTH EVERYTHING BECAUSE!). Others start excavating the obsidian, while their two best masons begin producing obsidian throne and tables. People drag the current dinning hall furniture out, and replace it with top notch masterwork obsidian things. That's a massive improvement, and not just because all the current chairs in that room are currently xXphylitte throneXx. Altho that would explain why people kept complaining about a lack of chairs. Be specific, people, what you truly want to complain about is the lack of unbroken chairs. Precision of language, Jonas!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Oh, also the general is possessed. That's a thing that's happening, I guess.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Time to replace him as leader of this community. What the general would want him to do, obviously, is to turn the caverns into a dangerous pool for children. Maybe? Look, kids don't know shit, they're still a work in progress.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Speaking of kids, it seems that despite not having an heir upon his death, our fallen hero's wife has given birth to a boy! ID the second is said to have a very sexy and manly beard, even for a newborn.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Oh yeah, and a giant tiger is not doing fine. Actually he's dead. All the giant tigers are dead now.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Oh and all the fisherdwarves. They are being killed by a giant monster from hell shooting webs. Probably should have mentioned that earlier. It's a tick. Ticks are scary.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The general finally snaps out of it, and goes to help his guys down there. The tick shoots webs. That's apparently very bad. Catten the lion lord is the one to score the killing blow. Catten is on the general's squad now, because even the mayor knows that being the leader of a squad of one is really pointless. that's why he has skaia the mechanic with him, otherwise he wouldn't really be the chief mechanic.He's told 3 of the general's soldiers died horribly, and he barely survived. At least Kol the murderer has been eaten by the tick. Yay! Small victories, people, that's how you remain sane.

Also we are now kinda low on soldiers.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The last giant tiger succumb to infection after the fight, because nobody can get to it with all the webs. At least the humans will help us mourn his death by offering us gold and incense and myr.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Obviously there is a siege once the humans arrive, because there is always a siege at all time, ever. Ustuth the hammerer should know better. he's caugh outside. Ustuth is always busy killing animals, or killing fish, or butchering things. Probably because he's a violent person who doesn't get to hammer criminals. The mayor tries not to talk to Ustuth too often. Or at all. Actually the mayor tries not to talk to anyone, ever.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Still, Ustuth is a noble, so it's his duty to visit him in the hospital at least once, and say things like ''I'm glad the milicia risked their life to save you, so you wouldn't die horribly like most civilians we leave to their fate outside''.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The hammerer undergoes like a 100 surgeries. Maybe. Anyway, he finally is in top form with no side-effects at all, and resume his duties like nothing happened ever. Medicine in this fort is astonishing!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The mayor returns to the now cleared generator. Look how tidy and cool it looks! The mayor doesn't like to deal with diplomats, or caravans, or the 7 sieges per year, or forgotten beast attacks. it's just simpler to focus on projects. Once the new shafts are complete, he'll replace all the furniture in the fort by obsidian. Except for metal furniture obviously, because silver statues and iron chests are pretty cool the mayor thinks. Not as much as say, artefacts, but still. Someone made an artefact weapon rack, which was installed on the way to the dumping shaft, so everyone can admire it while dumping corpses all year. Or so the mayor was told. He never actually goes to dump any corpses himself, because seriously. There's also an artefact chair, which doesn't have a use yet. Then the mayor realizes that the Bronze General has not shown anyone the artefact he produced. so the mayor sneaks into his room and take a look.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
It's a wooden figurine, again. It shows not one, but many elves dying horribly to various monsters. The general crafted it seconds before his friends died horribly to also a random monster in the caverns. It probably means something.

The mayor doesn't really care, tho, so he returns to oversee the generator.

Taupe

  • Bay Watcher
  • Weasel Monarch
    • View Profile
Re: Whisperwhip: At war with everything...
« Reply #117 on: March 16, 2015, 10:20:15 pm »

CHAPTER 53: Exploding kitten
Fall of 224
The Mayor


Spoiler (click to show/hide)
A year had passed since the last incident. Well, last incident for the dwarves, that was. The mayor didnt go outside much, because seriously, but word had it that the main entrance was pilling up with more corpses everyday. Goblins, trolls, kobolds... Even tho the dumpatorium was now in disuse, corpses were still a renewable resource in Whisperwhip.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
With the outside halls of death and decay left to the fungi, most of the body parts lying around had been dumped in the fire. The remaining items, mostly teeth, skulls and bones, were stashed in the bonehoard under the craftdwarf workshops. What new bodies the fortress produced were to be stored in new rooms alongside the dumping tunnel. that way, luittle dwarfpower would be lost, even if people stockpiled corpses instead of dumping them immediately.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
What really concerned the mayor, however, was the improved obsidian generator. Even the pond grabbers were enthusiastic, awaiting patiently to enter the room. The mayor also almost accidentally locked the human law-giver in a new water tunnel, but thankfully they escaped in time. Or unthankfully. The mayor hated talking to diplomats. Or people. Or things. The trading was not going so well, as the elves brought no wood this year, nor did the humans bother to bring awesome metals.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Earlier this year, however, something stranger than elves or humans had come to Whisperwhip. The first aniamls they found dead had obviously died of old age... Two new rooms had been carved in the catacombs to house them, using obsidian coffins, because fuck yeah obsidian. The next animals, tho...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
It all started when a new forgotten beast came to the caverns. The upper caverns, that is. Hell, at this point there were 4 or five creatures lrking in the lower level, mostly kept separated by random trees. No, this beast came to the main floor of the depths, and since people were working on creating new tunnels for the generators, it had to be murdered swiftly.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
First thing it did was to dropkick a lion, and leave him to bleed. Then it faced the military, getting its ass handed to him. from the grave, the cursed blood of the creature poisonned three dwarves. dodok the beastslayer, and two other squadmates to the bronze general.


Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
All three bled to death on their way to the fortress. The lion, well, the lion ran back to the fortress too. that's when it all started. The lion was found dead, bleeding, in the BASE1 hallways a few days later. No one bathed an eye then.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
That is, until they found more cats bleeding to death in the following weeks. All three seemed to exhume blood spontaneously until they collapsed from bloodloss. there seemed to be no connection between the cats and the lion, in terms of proximity. Had those cats been pets to the fallen warriors? Everyone assumed they had, probably got infected during the battle.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
then it happened in front of everyone, in the dumping corridor. the cat just, exploded into a pool of blood, walked a few steps, then stopped death. Kinda creepy. The mayor was glad not to be on cat-gathering duties. People were grossed out, and kinda stressed by this strange situation. Especially those who lost pets in such a fashion.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Dwarves seemed unnafected for now. Drokles gave birth to a boy, named Droklesson, and the general's sister also had a baby. everyone said they were cute. The mayor didnt like babies. they were like tiny annoying dwarves that never stopped talking.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Lions were not spared, however. The war beasts also began to spontaneously bloodsplode all over the fortress. The doctor was really confused, and ask the mayor to investigate. The mayor didn't like investigating. Or the doctor. the mayor especially didn,t like dealing with exploding cats. But people somewhat assumed that telling her their problems was what they should do, cause she was the mayor. that wouldn't do. The mayor couldn't stand hearing sad tales on a daily basis. the exploding cat situation had to stop.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Oh, I said ''she''. That's because after nearly 30 years, people realized that the mayor is, in fact, a girl. That,s the first time anyone, including myself the narrator, noticed such a thing. Needless to say, the mayor doesn't have a lot of social interaction.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Like, her human guests are outside getting slaughtered by goblins. The mayor doesn't care. She's just annoyed that storing their stuff from so far away will cut manpower on the generator. Maybe the humans would have been better off in the tunnel, drowned to death. The mayor heard that drowning was one of the less painful death. Or was it the most painful6 nobody knows. Drowning people can,t talk. The mayor knew this, she learned a lot about water recently. so did Zasit the mechanic, but mostly because Zasit ran into the river and turned into obsidian. that wasn,t very smart. now the mayor had a new Zasit, which she hoped would be less dumb than the best. that's why all the mechanics should be Mebzuths.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The worst came when someone started going insane because all their cat had suddenly exploded. Yes. Yes, the tantruming person is named Kikrost. And yes, he is a cripple.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Kikrost is outside carrying shit from dead humans when he suddenly snaps. The mayor is charged with following him and figuring out how to make him happy. she suggests a pick to the face. People insist that she tries something else first. So she starts following kikorst across the plain. In the background, a lion goes *pop*, and people start screaming. yeah, yeah, exploding lion, the mayor knows the drill. Kikrost is surprisingly unphased by this new dead animal, and tantrums pacifically toward the fort...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
...Goes past the entire caravan full of guards, not punching anyone. He's still tantruming, keep in mind.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
He goes down about 15 levels, heading toward the throne room. since he hasn't punched anyone yet, it's clear that his goal as a tantrumming dwarf is to break something, probably a specific item. What would be more symbolic and meaningful than trashing the Rosegold Throne of the duke himself? Nothing that's what. So kikrost heads there, but then he stops in the middle of the quern room. It's fullof querns, but also full of friggin dingos. like, this is where they live apparently? so many dingos. People used to butcher them, but now they just carry corpses and corpses parts all day, for some reason. as a result there's a lot of dingos. And those dingos like querns a lot, it seems. Kikrost stops there, still tantrumming, and... does nothing for two hours. he stands in the middle of the dingo room, angry and immobile. Then he stops, and head back to get lunch.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Kikorst tantrums two more times, but each time he simply roams toward the dingo room, and... stay there. In the meantime more cats and lions are exploding left and right. Clearly something must be done. The dwrven caravan provides little help in that matter, as they show up late, spend a month unpacking, then immediately announce that none of their merchants are available to trade. they inform the local autorities that they have departed, then spent the next 5 months chilling in the hall. Way to do trade, people. At least they didn't bring some sort of diplomat the mayor would have to talk with. Other thing they fortunately didn't bring along: cats.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The mayor starts to crack the case, by investigating the local animal populations. The cats wander the halls, or chill in a specific dinning room, while most lions are outside getting drunk or following soldiers around. The cheetas, on the other hand, have their own colony in the graveyard. surprisingly, none of the cheetahs have exploded so far. Could it be that their isolation has prevented them from contracting what could be a feline disease? If so, everything else in the fort that's wandering around is either a carrier, or an exploder-in-the-making. The mayor doesn't know how to isolate the animals so late. Especially since she doesn't know which cat or lion are infected, and which are not. her best plan so far, is to hope that the problem spontaneously stops and everything gets better. Wishful thinking is the best way to deal with plagues. Or was it the worst?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The location of some of the deaths makes it obvious that controlling the disease is impossible. some cats seem immune, while others suddenly explode in the middle of the barracks, while others -- oh c'mon Kikrost, stop going batshit-- ...while others suddenly start beeling in the outer courtyard. If the disease has made it to the surface, then obviously every cat or lion has probably been in contact with it. At least it isn,t spreading to dwarves. Altho... what if everything in the fort is infected, but the bleeding only happens once the target is weakened enough? Cats go first, then... a chill runs down the mayor,s spine as she imagine all the dwarves, suddenly bleeding to death while working casually. She's seen one of the bodies that came back from the caverns. It's not something you wish to anyone. Not even people who talk to you.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Progress on the generator is going slowly, so the mayor stops for a snack. There are piles and piles of an old forgotten beast meat stored in the food tower. What if the cats are being fed this meat? That would explain why they explode randomly. Altho, the dwarves would also be infected if that was the case. the mayor asks around, but apparently the butchered beast was not the blood-cursing one. Probably. Look, cooks don't know much about curses. Or storing shit in barrels, for what it seems.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The mayor only wish to get away from it all, and spent the year improving the generator, but all the manpower was lost carrying things to, and now from the trade depot, all of that for nothing. 2 months of labor wasted. Next it will be Clothsgiving, and everyone will be busy with that. Do people in this fort not care about engineering? Everytime the mayor tries to convince people to work on her generator, they simply respond by complaining about the exploding kittens. This place is now officially a kickstarter from the Oatmeal.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
It's not just miners that the mayor needs, but woodcutters as well. The southern tunnel is easily flooded, but the eastern one is only openable from across the volcano. To get there, trees must be chopped in order to reach the channeling area, which will connect the water tunnel to the underground lake. It seems that the caverns are becoming more and more overcome with trees as days pass. Even the generator itself has issues with giant mushrooms; the mud carried by the water pipe allows the plants to grow here, even over solid obsidian flooring. Since trees are oblivious to both lava and subsequently logic, they must be destroyed by means of axe. as if they didn't lack workers already!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The merchants start asking questions like ''Why are all the cats wandering in the depot suddenly dying horribly?''. 'Cause you guys are dicks who won't trade with us,'' is Dumat's only answer.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The KS master withdraws from society, and emerges with some useless artefact. Probably just was an excuse to take a break from all the bloodsploding.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
As winter approaches, the miners are finally able to reach the eastern channel. Soon we will have water in the tunnel!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The merchants finally depart, but as they leave the fortress, the ox carrying the wagon suddenly explodes into a rain of blood and chunks. The dwarven traders decide to abandon theis specific wagon on our doorstep, and make their way to the south continent. The rest of the year is spent retrieving random stuff from the useless wagon. There is like six pages of stuff on each square.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The new year kicks in, and animals die, both of old age and bloodsploding. The mayor finally gets some working hands to spare in the midst of spring, and work on the last tunnel is finally complete. trees are cut and rocks are mined. Finally, the improved generator can be tested!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
...Or so she hoped. Once the last tunnel is connected to its own lake, it takes almost a season for the water to fill the whole thing. the northern pipe is incredibly long, and connects to the same lake as the western tunnel, meaning there's less pressure there, and water doesn't fill up too fast. the first filling is always the longest, after that the pipe should be easy to replenish. especially since there won't be need for much water if the pipes are spaced well enough. in the meantime, more exploding cats. the mayor doesn't even care anymore, all the cats can die for all she cares. sometimes people start tantrumming, but she just direct them to the dingo room. Or better, don't talk to them at all. Blood-drenching animals have become a common sight in Whisperwhip after a year.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Some kittens try to adopt a master, hoping this will afford them some protection. Nope, sorry kitty, no cure for the exploding blues.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Finally, the tunnel is at 6 out of seven height! The mayor decides that this is well enough to work, based on some advanced engineering principles called ''being bored''. Activate the machine!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Magma fills the reservoir. It shouldn't take long. The slopes ensure that the magma stays where it needs to be. They only need a 1/7 pool for it to work. Soon enough, the pool is red and steamy. time for the water valve!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Water rushes in from all directions. The magma fills quickly, thanks to the reservoir. Water, however, turns into obsidian the second it touches the red liquid, meaning that the rest of the flow has to go in random directions until it fills the whole room, with no slope to guide it. Obviously the next step in improving the design would be to dig a second level down, so that even after water has created a coat of obsidian, it's still contained within the reservoir instead of flowing to the sides. The caverns right underneath makes that impossible, however.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The new design is a success! The last activation took nearly two hours to complete. this one is fully loaded in about 3 minutes. A net improvement of about all the percents ever, the mayor calculates. Now all that's left is to wait for miners. This takes about a season because the miners are busy dumping the latest siege in lava and stealing their loincloths. Once they do, tho, they,ll have a nice batch of delicious obsidian. They,ll make tables and doors and everything with it, because obsidian is awesome.

They'll also make coffins for all the cats, because this thing activates pretty fast now. come to think of if, the mayor wonder if they could make cats out of obsidian. Probably. Obsidian is pretty awesome.

Taupe

  • Bay Watcher
  • Weasel Monarch
    • View Profile
Re: Whisperwhip: At war with everything...
« Reply #118 on: April 08, 2015, 01:00:24 am »

CHAPTER 54: Pimpin' the place
Early 225
Dumat the Broker

The cat burst outburst had come and gone, without any input from the dwarves of Whisperwhip. The solution was, all along, to run out of cats. The lions had been spared, at least a few of them. Dumat knew little of the feline power struggles taking place in the shadows. He was casually enjoying his meal in the awesome royal meeting hall when the cheetahs tried to seize power. Freed from the oppression of larger cats, such as lions, they knew their time had come. A wild beast attacks the civilians!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Dumat runs out, while the army shows up and take down the beast. It's only the beginning, however.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
People are really upset by all the feline drama taking place recently. The mayor is working on a better obsidian generator, but in the meantime something must be done for the mood. Maybe silver statues are the solution? reflects the broker. From experience, silver statues were always the solution. With 4 magma smelters, an the fort's priority being to get rid of shit, a lot of weapons had been melted. The result was a boatload of silver bars, which in turn meant silver statues. Ideally. The reality was far more disapointing, Dumat found. Even with the normal forges disbanded, metalworkers were still complaining about a lack of coal for the statues. Can't they just use the magma forges?

-You can't just ''forge'' a fucking statue, Dumat. They take time and work and that means reheating the metal to perfect things which you can't do by just dowsing half the statue in a volcano every time you wanna correct something.
-Fine, you'll get your coal. As soon as I can spare some dudes. But seriously, try to make something other than, well, purring maggots.
-We sculpt what we see, and what I see day and night is purring maggots.

In the background, random people were getting mauled by cheetahs. Dumat was sort of over those things. Yes, he made a few mistakes with domesticating every animals. yes, all the lions were exploding and all the Dingos had tried to eat their babies for two decades. And yes now they were chilling in a weird quern room were cripled psychopaths went to unwind. And now the cheetahs were trying to murder everyone. that's just how things work here. He wasn't to blame. the animal workers were. If they weren't hauling corpses day and night animals wouldn't be going crazy.

Not that Dumat minded about the whole corpse-cremating business. In fact, it was the greatest thing this fort could be doing. In the last two years, about 3000 corpses had been dumped in a fiery pit, as well as twice that number in limbs and chopped heads and random bits of gore. The whole fort was doing nothing but hauling skeletons, which is sort of creepy when you see it in action for too long. Thankfully, the job was mostly over. Only the bodies buried in the crypts remained. In case of necromancy issues, all they had to do was to lock the crypts and seal them forever.

Except for the military crypts. Those were open and unsealable, and filled with 2 scores of heroic skeletons itching for battle. nothing he could do about it for now. not without causing a fuss with Asmel and the general.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Speaking of crypts, that's where the cheetahs live, and more of them are going berserk every day. Dumat is receiving reports after reports regarding trashed furnitures, toppled tombs, and mauled civilians. that's the last time he ever includes a new animal in this fort's ecosystem, he swears. As he finish inspecting the military crypts, pondering on a way to seal them in case of trouble, he hears screams coming from the temple next door. By Kadol's feminine beard, could those fucking beasts not trash our holy site? He truly wished the cheetahs had exploded like the rest.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
A few months pass, and spring kicks in. By this point, the corpse hauling is over, and the generator is cooling down. Precious obsidian boulders are being stored in BASE1, ready to be turned into cabinets and other fancy furnitures. Dumat, however, has some other plans. The fort is long overdue for massive improvements, and the aflux of obsidian and spare workers both have created a perfect window of opportunity. He tells manager Stukos to get a few doors built, as well as many blocks. how many, Stukos asks. All of them. A furniture stockpile is designated inbetween the obsidian depots, so that any furniture made there is stored nearby. Adding a nearby craftsdwarf workshop profiled for their best bonecrafters (both named Kel) should provide some decent decorated obsidian doors, more than enough to lighten the moods. Instead of giving everyone some fancy furnitures for now, dumat plans to simply upgrade the doors, which is what everyone sees when they walk around the fort. Clearing the corpses and refuses has revealed just how many teeth, skulls and hooves they have. that number is A FUCKLOAD.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)


The lower caverns have been filled with random monsters for a few years now, but the upper caverns near BASE1 have been dutifully cleared of hostiles until now. Times have changed, however. Immortal-D's squad has been eradicated, and only 3 of the general's squadmates remain. Risking a full squad against a monster such as Simo the ankylosaurus means either an easy victory, or a blood contagion for up to ten dwarves. Risking the general's squad means less casualties in case of a blood incident, but also the death of the army's leader. This would be a fatal blow to the troops' morale.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
No. They will not risk it. Not so soon after the cat burst outburst. The creature may be terrifying, and towering, but it could hardly be described as athletic. The small bridge is retracted, preventing access to the base by ground. the only entry points are through the dump shaft, or from the generator's pipeline. The creature cannot fly, nor swim in magma, and so the fort is warded from it. For the first time in 27 years, on the day the dwarves abandonned the old settlement to hide in the mountain, Whisperwhip is turning its back on a fight. Wether this is a sign of progress, or the beginning of the end, remains to be seen...

The beast wanders the caverns, unable to reach them. Blocks upon blocks are carved, each strike of the chisel accompanied by the shame of the ignored challenge. the very identity of this place revolves around the militia's might and unwillingness to compromise with anything, no matter how monstruous it may be. with simo locked beyond the bridge, this very notion of identity is put to the test. It is time, Dumat decides, to forge a new one. Let Whisperwhip trive, and become a metropolis of architecture and wealth! The fort must live up to it's title of capital.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The first step toward wealth is, of course, to rob the humans blind of their gold blocks. The traders chant of the dwarves legendary craftdwarfship. Enjoy your look at our fucking silver statues of purring maggots, buddy, because that's all you'll get from us. Have you ever noticed that lol looks a lot like a guy being robbed at crossbow point?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
-It's such a pleasant place you've carved for yourself!
-Yeah, thanks for the contributions, pal.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
While the merchants are being freed of their tributes, and the last rebellious cheetahs are put to rest, Simo the ankylosaurus wanders the cavern, tracking down a lion, then a gander locked on the wrong side of the bridge. It seems content to clear the caverns of any life form. Save for one...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
They have the gold, the have the blocks, they have the dwarfpower. it's time to turn this place into something awesome. First, the noble quarters doors are replaced with obsidian ones. next, the walls of the original storeroom are dug out, to be replaced by obsidian blocks. For decades, the upper levels have been left to spore trees and mud, presenting only a façade of architecture around the staircase, while the rest is a mess unworthy of even the lowliest dwarf. No more.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Everyone, start bringing those blocks up from BASE1. Everyone but the furnace operators, that is. Melt those weapons, all of them. The rest of you can go on a Clothsgiving rampage and claim what,s littering the outter gate, if there's nothing else to do.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
A season pass, punctuated by hard labor and slow hauling. A few large gems are traded to the colonies, in exchange for the few steel items they can spare.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
More blocks. We need more blocks! fire that generator once more. Clothsgiving is over, so get to mining a new batch of obsidian, people.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Inspired by our progress, the ghosts of days past claim the shell of Kikrost, to deliver a gift!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Or a.... warning? This strange amulet is heralding, ominous, a strange reminder of the horrors that wait, of the ever-present danger that the queen represents. The queen,s abscence only makes her more threatening. She may never show up, but on the off-chance that she ever does... They must remain ever vigilant, and prepare accordingly.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The storeroom walls are all but done. The flooring will be done at a later time, in tandem with the stockpile reorganisation. Progress is limited only by the constant but slow aflux of obsidian. Old wooden workshops are dismantled, to make room for some decent flooring. spore trees are cut and tossed outside, as the wooden stockpile is next in line for a makeover. finally, the workshops are rebuilt, this time out of solid gold. The carpenters are no longer the worst of the lot, working with spare logs in a dirty and overgrown cave. They now have a workplace worthy of the finest dwarf!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Seasons move by without anyone noticing. People are still focused on the storeroom renovations when the elves return. True to themselves, they accidentally drop a fucking cage and an animal runs free. Dumat has little need for them, nor their trees, as they have amassed enough of the thing for now, and the wood stockpile is still missing, waiting for a new batch of blocks before it can be used again. He's about to dismiss the merchants, but remembers they are here to deliver gifts and tribute, and it would do poorly to refuse everything. Let's take a look at what they have. Wood, wodden this, wooden that, food, but they are swimming in it.

And a giraffe.

A fucking giraffe.

A fucking marvelous awesome giraffe.

...

What.

He accidentally clicked the button while looking at the giraffe's lack of nickname. This is both baffling AND awesome. hear this out.

Giraffes can be trained for war.

Dwarf4Explosives

  • Bay Watcher
  • Souls are tasty. Kinda like bacon.
    • View Profile
Re: Whisperwhip: Obsidian and Giraffes
« Reply #119 on: April 08, 2015, 02:36:24 pm »

Wait, what? Is the giraffe fiend trying to sneak back into your fort by disguising itself as a normal giraffe?
Logged
And yet another bit of proof that RNG is toying with us. We do 1984, it does animal farm
...why do your hydras have two more heads than mine? 
Does that mean male hydras... oh god dammit.
Pages: 1 ... 6 7 [8] 9 10 ... 22