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Author Topic: Whisperwhip: a megabeast steakhouse (Circus Edition)  (Read 135775 times)

Taupe

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Re: Whisperwhip: Obsidian and Giraffes
« Reply #120 on: April 08, 2015, 04:43:39 pm »

I don't believe Quula has made her way into the fort, thankfully. However, something else has...
« Last Edit: April 08, 2015, 11:41:15 pm by Taupe »
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Immortal-D

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Re: Whisperwhip: Obsidian and Giraffes
« Reply #121 on: April 08, 2015, 08:09:11 pm »

War Giraffe, really?  Right, because Whisperwhip has a great track-record of captured animals not trashing the Fort every other month :P  *grabs popcorn*  This ought to be good.

Taupe

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Re: Whisperwhip: Obsidian and Giraffes
« Reply #122 on: April 19, 2015, 05:14:53 pm »

CHAPTER 55: Shortcomings
Year 226
Dumat the Broker

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Turns out, just because you CAN train a giraffe for war doesn't mean you should train a giraffe for war. I mean, in theory it sounds fucking awesome, right? Because it's funny. But after a few months, the shortcomings of using giraffes as warbeasts become evident.

First, giraffes are not exactly ferocious. Sure, they're like super tall and stuff, especilly compared to a dwarf, but they,re not exactly optimized for combat, anatomically speaking. They have small hooves and can't run fast and can't efficiently see what they are fighting without breaking their necks. Also, that neck6 fucking vulnerable target right there. If Andros made a giraffe he'd spray paint the whole thing before strapping neon sticks on it.

Second of all, giraffes aren't carnivorous. On the plus side, it means they don,t get to eat babies. On the downside, they have to be pastured. Lions and wardogs can patrol with the troops, and be fed with steak, but a war giraffe spends it's entire days inside the courtyard eating grass. And by Armok, does it eat a lot of grass. We'd have to pen the entire continent just to keep those stupid things alive. and trust me, they,ll be doing this for a while, because...

Third of all, a giraffe takes ten FUCKING YEARS to mature. tht's right. In order to weaponize the giraffes, we first need to wait a year or two or ten for the merchants to bring a female, THEN wait for them to breed, then wait ten years. Once this is done, we have between 1 and three new giraffes ready to train the army, and half the known flora would be decimated by the parents and their unsatiable hunger.

I don't care, we're still doing it.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
While we wait for the world-eaters to procreate, I focus our workforce on improving the fort. The point is not just to replace dirt by obsidian, but really it,s to improve our fort in terms of efficiency. the jail tower is now used for storing leather, and levers and cells are removed. Convenient place, since leatherworkers, butchers and tanners are situated in the courtyard next to it. a door is dug at the base of the jail to allow easier access to the courtyard. somehow i don't think this will jeopardize our defenses, unless the intestines of slaughtered kittens rise in unison to march against us.

we're also expanding the small furnace room. Behind each workshop, I design new stockpiles to avoid needless hauling. Lye goes next to the soapmaker and the ashery, and Ash should stay here. Potash should also be stored nearby, since the farms are right above, or right below, this floor.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
We spend a few days admiring a new mechanism, truly a work of art. the mayor is there too, because she likes mechanisms, and also not working. After 3 days have passed, she casually declares that the obsidian generator has been running nonstop all this time, and is probably overflowing right now. What? that's like terrible planning on your part, mayor. I ask if she can solve it. Maybe, by running more water into the thing. Or maybe not. look, it's a work in progress, I'm told.

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Open the valve, before lava flows everywhere! As soon as the water gates are raised, water rushes inside the generator and so does... Kel the beastslayer?

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She wants a straggling pond grabber to die by her hands before the magma can claim it. for this delicate task, she brings along some friends, including... her 6 months old daughter. Which she drops near a bubbling magma pool before rushing into battle. That's just poor parenting.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The caverns are sealed, because of Simo the dreaded ankylosaurus. woodcutters are redirected to the old dumpatorium, which now acts as an accidental underground tree farm. All we need now would be to seal it off and connect the place to the fort via some tunnel. But the generator situation is more important right now.

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The army leaves their patrolling duty. Not because the combat is over (altho it is) but because water has raised too high in the obsidian chamber. The tunnels were conceived to clear a small pool of magma, not to fill the whole chamber. now that they were used for the latter, water won't evaporate, and dwarves refuse to enter the place to dig. Lava is stuck in small bubbles, while the rest is a hot pool of liquid disaster.

The obsidian generator is clogged.

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The megaproject has a safety net. All that's needed is for the exterior wall to be breached, so that the water can flow in the lower caverns.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
With the caverns off-limit, reparing the generator will be tricky. We don't have access to the exterior maintenance shafts used to create the thing a few years ago. The spot that must be excavated is unreachable. The next best thing would be to dig under the generator, and then up. To do that we must tunnel into the walls, deconstruct a bunch of stuff, reactivate the old maintenance staircase, and then replug everything once it's over. a lot of work. Going through the caverns is so much easier. I talk with the general, and he agrees. Simo must die. Without obsidian, all our projects are halted, and the fort is not improving.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
With the generator off-line, the mayor has been designing the most impressive well known to dwarfkind. Just... look at this shit, seriously.

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She actually made two. One replaces the hospital well, the other replaces the well draining into the river. Drinking water is now almost as cool in Whisperwhip as getting hammered.

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Enough with admiring well,s however. We have a foe. For the first time, we are engaging an enemy not for immediate survival or glorious triumph, but for pragmatic reasons. Simo Fogsubtle stands between the dwarves and the maintenance tunnel, and repairing our greatest asset won't be possible as long as it lives. for now, the beast swims around, unable to locate any dwarves or cross the chasm created by the retracted bridge. As soon as this bridge is lowered, hopwever, the workers will be free food for Simo. We have control over the bridge, so the timing of this encounter lies on our side.

Disturbingly, Simo is quite content to rest in the lair of another ancient enemy of the fort. The cave crocodile, Purerisks, has eluded many attacks and contraptions created by the dwarves of the wilted sack. Killer of many innocent workers, he now resides in the depths of this underwater lake, teasing the dwarves with his continued existence. now, he has made a reptilian friend.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Purerisks has been driven away by the army when we constructed the dumping bassin. He has been staying out of reach of the militia, but the crocodile knows that we have designed some buildings there. He lets Simo in on the news, and the giant ankylosaurus dives out of the lake, and goes straight at the magma dump.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
if he goes for the door, then it will take him some time. The bottom of the dump is protected by a massive masterwork copper door wired to a lever. It is sealed shut, and only massive amounts of brute strenght will dislodge it from it's hinges. I order a trap to be sprung, hoping to catch Simon off-guard.

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Our legendary miners work as fast as they can. They clear a small chamber right above the magma shaft. Before they can begin channeling the floor downward, I order them to stop...

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...for Simo has come and gone quick as a flash, and tored the door down in an instant. Channeling the trap now would only create an opening for flying monsters into our fort.

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Purerisks has taught it well. Simo causes some mayhem, then retracted to the safety of the eastern lake. There, it lies in wait, out of crossbow reach, protected by the various natural pillars of the upper caverns.

We will have to take the fight to him.

Taupe

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Re: Whisperwhip: Obsidian and Giraffes
« Reply #123 on: April 24, 2015, 01:14:07 am »

CHAPTER 56: The unclogging
Year 226
Dr Melbil, Chief Ragdoll Engineer.


This was a mess. Dr. Melbil had heard about the plans to reopen the caverns and face Simo the ankylosaurus. what a terrible idea, the CRG reflected. The last cursed beast faced resulted in the deaths of three good soldiers, and then triggered the death of a hundred and a half animals. But now it seemed that the mayor, the general and Dumat had all agreed on it. The bridge would be lowered.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
People dislike orders and burrow restrictions. The moment the caverns are reopened, a fleet of random animals rush into the darkness, only to be devoured by Simo, stalking the place.

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The soldiers have not been leniant during their lock-down. A ballista was built, loaded and awaiting. as soon as the bridge goes down, a stressed siege operator unleashed a bolt at a tree and flies of to waste a second. Probably because the siege operators have no military dicipline, no actual training, and also they're twelve years olds. Simo charges at the entrance of BASE1, wasting no time after he's done evicerating various cheetahs in the tunnels.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
With the creature heading toward the base, Asmel's troops mobilize near the ballista. She has a lot of experience on the surface, but has faced very few beasts here in the deep. the general's team is mostly decimated, and none of the other squads is experienced or furnished enough to attack mighty creatures, so the ferocious tools are on duty today. The plan is to lure the monster near the bridge, close it, and shoot at the monster from across the bridge. what happens instead is that the bridge almost crushes Lady Asmel, and locks the monster here with our troops.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The beast is unremarkable when compared to the myriad of monsters this fortress has faced. nobody was injured initially, and soon Simo lies dead near the chasm. The bridge mishaps has created a tricky situation, however. Asmel and two of her soldiers were in close range of the monster when it died. Maybe the blood won't do much? Or maybe it will be the doom of us. such is the way with forgotten beasts, the doctor has learned. This is why they should remain forgotten, and the caverns locked.

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The doctor stands watch in BASE1, ready to evaluate the effects of the cursed substance on the soldiers. A few flights of stairs, and Lady Asmel herself is starting to exude miasma.

uh oh...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Quick! What they need is a quarantine, to observe who'se infected and what's happening to them! The noble tombs will do nicely, for they are nearby, and could isolate the fighters from each other nicely. Asmel doesn't care. she rushes to the hospital and runs straight past the tombs, past her own sepulture, past this bloodied artefact coffin awaiting her, carved from the bones of her fallen enemies.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Behind her, 2 of her squadmates follow, the trio filling the corridors with miasmic clouds of doom. They listen to no orders, no station, no burrow. whatever they carry is going straight into the heart of the fortress. They are dizzy, barely conscious. The soldiers are single-minded. They must go to the hospital, to Armok with the safety of the fort. The doctor thinks of locking those bridges, but it,s too late. Not enough time. Too much circulation, some civilians would only get crushed.

Note to self: BASE1 needs it's own quarantine rooms.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Asmel and her friends make it to the hospital after all. The main staircase is now plagued by miasma. Soon the room fills with the purple substance as well, which in no way helps the doctor's work. Asmel is a tough soldier. If anyone can shrug off a syndrome and get back on her feet, it's her.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
A few days past. Asmel is still unconscious. The doctor returns to the hospital, only to find a pool of blood belonging to his patient. There were no cuts or wounds on the body the night before. Strange. unsettling. Whatever plagues the soldiers is rotting them and causing some wounds to open and leak out. The year has been rather quiet outside, and he's running low on troll blood. Things are looking grim.

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Thob is also dizzy. Altho he isnt bleeding like Asmel, doctor Melbil knows that soon enough, symptoms will appear, and he'll start suffering pain, blood loss and necrosis. Rovod is already starting to feel the effects of Simo's parting gift.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Three days after Simo's defeat, and the caverns once more resonate with the sound of a terrible beast. The workers are evacuated, before they get caugh off-guard by this new menace. No more fighting, the doctor orders. ''We don't know what those creatures do. The next one could very well spell our doom...'' In the bed next to him, the champion begs for food. Alas, she cannot eat anything. her mouth and digestive system are filled with strange blisters and bubbling wounds full of rot and pus. Unless she can shake off the worst of the infection, she'll die here in this bed, her sacrifice made vain by the appearance of yet another foe in the caverns. Had they let Simo be, the two beasts could be fighting each other at this very instant. instead, 3 of their best remaining soldiers are dying a slow death, and for what? 2 days of fruitless maintenance labor.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Not all civilians are hurried to return to base after the alarm is sounded. Ustuth the hammerer likes to live and exciting and suicdal life. He's down there fishing and doesn't give a shit.

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Hurry the hell up, hammerer! This bridge needs to be sealed! If you hadn't been a noble for nearly 3 decades here, you'd be locked on the other side without a second thought, everyone agrees on that.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
There's no easy way to put it. Asmel, youngest daughter of queen Cog Floorquest, and champion of Whisperwhip, is dying. Nothing will save her. She cannot eat, she can barely drink, and her condition only worsens. He cannot save her, and yet he cannot bring himself to kill her. He has sworn and oath. Never do harm. But the champion cannot die like that, shouldn't suffer like that. He visits Dumat, and tells him that the time has finally come. The doctor has no doubt now, Asmel isn't the vampire they believed her to be. Even if she was, she has served this fortress well over the years, and deserve a swifter death than...well, rotting alive.

''Alright, I'll send him. Dumat simply says.''

Years ago, Dumat conspired with the disgruntled soldiers of the seventh squad to counter the general's rising influence and autoritarism. Tun was their squad leader back then, a hunter by trade and the best assassin this continent had to offer. The broker named Tun baron, at the time, for his deadly obsession with querns had not been unearthed yet. It was Tun's influence and... interventions... that kept Dumat alive during his incarceration by the Magical Gloves. Now their greatest and sneakiest killer ruled the nation. Was Tun responsible for the queen's disapearance? Hard to say. Not impossible, anyway.

In any case, the time had come for Lady Asmel to die. Come morning, he would find their greatest warrior dead for good, lying in a pool of blood and miasma. He declared her dead from starvation. no one needed to know, nor would try to disprove the theory. It was better that way. Tomorrow he would announce her passing...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Down in the caverns, the new beast is quite content to swim around pond grabbers without attacking them. It hungers only for dwarves, it would seem.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
No, this beast would not be disturbed. Instead, the mayor would come to suggest a new plan. First, a new tunnel was to be excavated, to connect with part of the maintenance shafts.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
There would then be need for a small tunnel dug alongside the wall. There a weaker, constructed portion of the reservoir can be deconstructed, so that a hole upward can be dug. the water will then leak out into the lower caverns.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The miners get to work, but... they cannot go any further. The deconstructed wall lies above a hole, preventing access to the generator. They'll need a temporary flooring. ''Maybe a floodgate, so we can get in there then stop the water while the miner runs away'' insists the mayor.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The floodgate should arrive soon, but... how do we dig up? nobody knows. Can you even dig up? A new plan is formulated.

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After a long abscence (for this fort) the goblins are back, poking at the less-used defensive structures. The first response is to send Asmel. Asmel was always in charge of keeping the wall. Now who'se the second? Rovod. but Rovod is in the hospital too. The wall is short staffed. A few goblins, but the militia is starting to struggle. The ambush are defeated, but not without raising a few questions regarding the state of the army...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
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Tun certainly missed killing. He goes outside and helps with the goblin-murdering, despite explicitly being told not to.

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Not enough soldiers to run around and defend the valleys. The human merchants are also ambushed. No matter. Soon this fort will mourn more than a few strangers...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
People ask about Asmel, but he still can't say it. He says she's doing badly, but he's doing everything he can. Truth is, nobody can tell. The hospital is a putrid cloud of death.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
''I have another idea'' the mayor explains, still unable to remember how to dig upward. ''we'll dig a tunnel underneath the reservoir's surface...''

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
''..Then we'll create a cave in. The stalagtites will pierce the obsidian's surface and water will drain into the caverns through the new tunnel''.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
...It works. The drain is created. the reservoir fills with muddy dust and clouds of cement as a huge chunk of rock pierces the obsidian crust.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Bingo! Water is draining! In a few days, they'll be able to patch the hole, and get a fresh batch of obsidian to the workshops. ''Oh wait i just remembered, says the mayor. Stairs, we had to use stairs to go upward.''

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Work resumes in Whisperwhip. the miners start digging, and the work orders are filled by the manager. Masons sharpen their tools, and builders ready the scafolding. Soon the massive overhaul of the upper levels will continue.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
The time has come, thinks the mayor. He announces Asmel's death to the fort. One of her companion has also died, while the third is still between life and death. his incredible constitution means there is still some slim hope for him. The fortress mourns. A champion and protector has perished in a truly awful fashion. Ceremoniously, her body is carried to the waiting tomb, an artefact coffin carved in goblin bones and decorated with red zircons and forgotten beast ornaments. The general is quiet. Some say he blames himself for sending Asmel instead of going in her stead like he usually does. It's no secret that aroudn the same time the great dumping began, Asmel and the bronze general had been spending a lot of time talking in secret. whatever the two discussed has left the general... shaken. While he was always a spiritual leader to the army, Asmel was actually in charge of filling the paperwork and covering the details in his plans. With the General's resolve flinching, and the champion gone, two roles have to be filled now.

The general suggests that the title of champion goes to his sister Kel, the Modest Goals. She has grown from a modest fighter to a truly diligent and mighty warrior, and is the fort's most prolific Beastslayer. Surely no one else is as worthy of the champion title, most would agree. As for the question of who should now be in charge of the army, many have candidates. Some captains vouch for themselves. Others suggest mighty warriors. The doctor has an alternative...

''I will slay all the beasts myself!
-Well I will watch over the wall day and night, replies another!
-and I will recruit the whole fort into the army, says another.''

Only one dwarf seems not to share their enthusiasm. she sits at a table, listening grimly, polishing her battle scourge. the doctor adresses her, in front of the whole fort.

''And you, what do you think of all this?
-Me? What does it matter? If it was me, I'd seal the caverns for good, instal traps everywhere, double our walls and hide our children, not that it would matter. Whatever we decide to fight down there, or even up here, is going to kill us sooner or later. Asmel wanted to be a hero, and now she doesn't even look like a dwarf anymore.
-Unenthusiastic as always, my dear Drokles. yet I feel that, considering the horrors that this fort has faced and may still face again, prudence and caution may be the way to go. The bronze general has sent us valliantly to fight, but few of our soldiers are alive now to tell of his boldness.
-Drokles!
-Drokles for commander!
-DROKLES DROKLES DROKLES!''

Taupe

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Re: Whisperwhip: Obsidian and Giraffes
« Reply #124 on: May 01, 2015, 01:25:55 pm »

CHAPTER 57: This place needs more miasma
The fabled year 127
Dumat the broker


This fort is 30 years old! Well, the excursion is, anyway. Three decades ago, I led 6 other dwarves to this fiery savannah under false pretences by the queen. now cog Floorquest is missing, her eldest daughter is rampaging the old mountainhiomes looking for blood, and her youngest daughter has succumbed to a weird affliction. Just as i was beginning to trust Lady Asmel, she had to leave in a most gruesome manner.

I call a meeting to discuss the fort's current situation. One person is missing.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
After three days, we locate manager Stukos, who walled himself inside the obsidian generator's maintenance tunnels. he hasn't been the same since his son ID died a few years ago.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
which is a shame because I need him up and alert. The generator is working once more, so I've resumed the overhaul of the fort. This time the old storeroom are up. I want stukos to discard the old ''just put everything there maybe'' system for a new, better one. This place is closest to the trade depot, so I want copper crafts, totems and random tradeable gizmos in here, to avoid wasting the hauler's time when a caravan shows up... Not that that's the real problem nowadays... You see, we have this strange affliction where...

A miner interrupts my train of thoughts. He screams about a bloodbath.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
...a literal bloodbath, actually. The obsidian generator turns into a pool of sorts during each excavation, and it seems that various war animals are now lying in it, flooding the whole thing with blood. What. The. Shit.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
It's not just lions. War dogs are also reported to have died somehow.

''What do you mean, somehow? surely we can tell what killed them.
-We can't, sir. There's just too much miasma down there to see.''

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

...Just.

...What the shit is happening right now.

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On my way to BASE1 to get some explanations, I see miasma coming out of the hospital. No, wait. it's coming out of this cat. Why is this cat running around, rotting.

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It's a forgotten beast, of course. Apparently the newcomer from the caverns has been rampaging in BASE1 for quite some time. How did it get in? Where the fuck is the milicia?

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However, a guard near the bridge informs me that Enure, the beast that showed up most recently, is still wandering around in the underground lake. then... What is this Lur Gosmerkogan Nar Ngalak that's killing everything? And more importantly how did it get in?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Part of the miasma settles. In the corridor leading to the generator, the corpse of the beast is found, entangled with a dead carpenter. Several war animals are littering the place as well, creating a scene most gruesome. Whisperwhip has seen it's share of gory pictures, but always outside its walls.

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I ask that Dakost Dumattherleth be properly buried and immortalized. I knew the lad well, he was a brave and handy fellow. Now he has given his live to hold the line and defend the fort instead of running.

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I visit the hospital, to learn that nobody is suffering from a strange affliction. The only suitor here is Rovod, third victim of simo's assault, and only survivor of it's deadly curse. Rovod lies there, covered in blisters, between life and death. ''He may live, he may die. His fate lies within Armok's hands now'' says doctor Melbil.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Except that Rovod is no longer the only victim of a syndrome in Whisperwhip. As I exit the hospital, I spot another animal, this time a dog, running around while exhuming miasma. Whatever Lur Gosmerkogan Nar Ngalak brought to the fortress, it was definitely more than a dead carpenter.

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One of the pets is carried to the hospital. Saving a war lion isn,t as important as healing a dwarf, but it's still an important job for the doctors. Soon, the place fills with a strange, purple gas. the hospital is once again a putrid mess.

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A child exploring the generator brings back one important piece of the puzzle. We now know how Lur Gosmerkogan Nar Ngalak came within our walls. Long ago, the lower caverns were briefly explored, but sealed. The milicia stopped to keep tabs on the monsters there, both because they couldn't see them, and because the monsters would never get in. Most of them would get entangled in spore trees or kill each other off, they assumed.

This all changed when a flying creature found a path inside the fortress using the generator maintenance tunnels. Simo was not the only beast to cause havoc among our ranks during the clogging. Those obsidian tables came at a greater cost than we expected. Yet we should have kknown. more than gold and gems, blood is the primary money of exchange in Whisperwhip.

Needless to say, the hole is patched promptly. But how many of those deadly monsters remain in the depths, waiting for a chance to sneak inside just like this one did?

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The caverns are no longer for dwarves to thread. Yet Whisperwhip's wealth is not meager. Non-stop smelting of goblinite has wielded a large stack of copper, silver, and iron. While copper is best used for crafts, and iron should be used on military supplies and engineering, silver is meant to brighten the fortress. I order the newly-unwalled manager Stukos to produce 30 fucking silver statues. A chill runs down my spine when I realize that, had we wasted one more day unwalling the lad, he would have been the first to die by Lur's claws.

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Those statues can't be completed too soon. Miasma is starting to fill the whole fort. I try to butcher the cat, but remember that killing an owned cat is the greatest taboo in dwarven culture. Asking the milicia to finish the pet off is also inconceivable.

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Asmel's death, coupled with countless dead animals and as many contaminated ones, is creating a rather tense atmosphere (it's miasma. The atmosphere is made of miasma). People are tantruming.

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Now is probably time to address another health-related issue. Specifically, the one i was musing one just before the fort was besieged by a flying horror from hell. Remember a while back when we had this other deadly disease infected the cats and prompting them to explode? Well the good news is, according to the doctor, every cat and lion that could die from it has. The main issue is, some animals are carriers, yet don't contract the disease themselves. The main problem with that, aside from some newborn kitten randomly erupting in a geyser of chunks, is that the syndrome is very deadly to animals hauling the trade wagons. Every single dwarven caravan travelling to Whisperwhip is at risk. The other races are also facing the same problems, but since we tax them the instant they appear, their chances of contracting the 'splodeplague is smaller, especially since they only bring one or two wagons.

The dwarven caravaneers have lost 4 wagons so far to this affliction. Appart from the truly horrifying repercussions that this has for our reputation as a welcoming capital, there are other problems. Steel is so far impossible to find in this savannah. Our only way to acquire some is from trading. the elves and humans are useless when it comes to good-quality metal goods, so we need the dwarven caravans to get more steel items. But now, most wagons just explode randomly, leaving all their goods in the fort's entrance, including what we traded to them. This sounds cool for a beginning fort, because free stuff. This isn't so fun for Whisperwhip, where the menacing shadow of FPS cluster is ever-present. Caravans carry a tooon of pointless crap that needs to be dumped lest it fills up the stockpiles with unneeded junk. We can't afford the extra labor. The day 3 or 4 wagons fail to leave the fort is the day this fort crumbles into inneficiency.

Ignoring the traders and waiting for them to leave will not solve the problems. We must discourage them from ever coming to the fortress again. The trade depot must be dismantled during fall and winter.

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Oh, and... As much as i like the special touch that this skeletal diplomat remains gives to the entrance, I'd much prefer a masterwork silver statue in every corner. Masterwork statues of me, as it so happens. Sorry, Lavender Empire Law-giver corpse, but you have to go.

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It's not like we don't have our fair share of death-related features already. the place is a fucking mess, i tell you. Everything is turning purple. The older deadly plague is sort of dormant now, but the latest one is still raging on across the fort.

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Attracted by the putrid clouds, a new forgotten beast make its appearance in the upper caverns. It doesn't look like it can fly. Drokles formulate some ideas on how to deal with it. Maybe some traps or a bait could lure it into firing range of our ballistas? ''Not that it matters, really. Another would just take its place. let's just hide forever and leave it be''.

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I order that some silver statues be further decorated with teeth and bones and whatnot, in case something really shitty turns up. Statues, man, they make everything better.

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Like, just look at this baby. do you really care that your dog just turned into a pile of rotten flesh and tissues when you gaze upon this beauty?

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Ok, apparently this miner still care that his pet died regardless of the statues. Ee wake up one morning and find that some of the infected animals have passed away.

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Truth be told, a lot of animals have been dying of an infection recently.

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But like, i mean, a lot

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I try to cheer them up the best I can. ''Look, people, we are super rich! Seven million dorfbucks worth of shinies! Stop being so sad!'' Some dwarf points out that it doesn't matter because we can't trade it for anything anymore, and we,re all gonna die of a deadly curse sooner or later. Tough crowd. I explain that it,s not so bad. we still have an army, we can sort of deal with the outside world and improve the fort and eventually reinitiate contact with the dwarven world. the caverns are sealed, so now nothing can get inside!

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As I say that, a master thief enters the dinning room, having somehow circumvented our defences, and dodged thirty dwarves on the way without being seen.

Man, this place is a mess.

Dwarf4Explosives

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Re: Whisperwhip: Syndrome testing facility
« Reply #125 on: May 02, 2015, 02:04:41 pm »

At this rate, I think your only chance of long-term survival is sacrificing all the workers you can to wall off the caverns with retracting bridges, followed shortly afterwards by the slaughter of all of your animals. Of course, there's no way you'll be able to pull off even the first step without getting slaughtered.
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

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Re: Whisperwhip: Syndrome testing facility
« Reply #126 on: May 03, 2015, 01:11:31 pm »

I'm still unsure as to what I'll do next. I haven't played for a while, the last 3-4 updates were from stockpiled screenshots. I'm scared to boot the save again, just in case everyone dies from some random syndrome.

In any case, the fort is 30 years old, and that's worth something. To celebrate this milestone, I've updated the DFMA section with a new, more up-to-date map.
It can be found HERE.

« Last Edit: May 03, 2015, 01:31:36 pm by Taupe »
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Taupe

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Re: Whisperwhip: Syndrome testing facility
« Reply #127 on: May 06, 2015, 02:11:28 pm »

CHAPTER 58: Dump or die
Year 127
Dumat the Broker


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Asmel is dead, the general is basically brooding and depressive, the Duke is an obsessive-compulsive quern collector and the mayor is a lunatic. As leader of the original expedition, it falls upon me to take over leadership of this fort as overseer once more. The only dwarf I can rely on efficiently right now is Drokles, our new millitary commander. In the last years, she has grown from a depressing pessimist to a very all-around badass dwarf. Her absurd qualifications and attributes more than make up for her moody approach to life. In the last month, Drokles has been remodelling some of the squads, combining what was left of Mistem's and the general's squads. The Turquoise of hair now total 10 dwarves, even if half of them suffer from PTSD and the others are blind as a mole.

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it seems that even the workers are disapointing nowadays. For some reason, they fail to complete the flooring to the last storerooms because... reasons? apparently there is a mecanism in the way, and some bins that they won't move. I don't know why. We have many iddlers, and lots of room right on the other side of this fucking wall. The elves prove somewhat more useful, and deliver us some wood, and a hippo. Yes, we have a hippo. Trust me, I know what I'm doing. I send the merchants on their way unceremoniously. It's better for them anyway.

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It seems that we not only have many idlers, but about 200 untrained animals. The parents must have died, while the cubs slowly reached maturity. in any case, that's like a ton of dogs and cheetahs and lions that are not trained for war, and won't die in our stead as efficiently. I order that solved immediately. We also acquired a fluffy wambler. Surprisingly, it cannot be trained for war. Neither does the hippo.

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now it wouldn't be a great day in Whisperwhip if a new unsafe animal wasn't introduced to our ecosystem. Iorder those horses we took from the humans to be trained as well. When goblins see us riding horses, they'll shit bricks. Which the horses will hopefully throw back at them. Horses have opposable thumbs, right?

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The hippo is moved to the courtyard, where every previous inhabitant has been murdered by invaders at some point. In about 7 seconds, he proceed to chew half the grass available.

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Reminds me of another animal. I wonder how the giraffe is do... oh fuck the giraffe's dead. When did the giraffe die? I mean it would make sence, with the deadly plagues running around and all. Oh well, double expectations weighting on you now, hippo.

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You can tell the hippo is important because as soon as we move him upstairs, thieves show up to kidnap him. or our children. Both are equally tempting. The army starts running around. I miss the days when we had like 20 guys stationned on the walls at all time.

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The miasma in the basement has finally cleared, revealing a bloodbath. That flying forgotten beast sure caused a lot of trouble. Thankfully, flying forgotten beasts are rare, and we should be safe for a while.

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instead of cleaning the bloodbath, this cook turns around and grab a craftsdwarf workshop instead, overtaken by a strange, fey mood.

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in the meantime, I have a special project for the workers. If you know this fortress well enough, you know that any faith in our masons is duly misplaced. I want the ramps in the farm and the ground under the door covered with obsidian blocks. To do that, tho, I need obsidian downstairs, and a worker. I'll trick the builders into constructing some obsidian walls, then order another one to deconstruct the ramp. THey'll have no choice but to rebuild the ramp using the deconstructed obsidian blocks.

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Yup. They send a child.

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Everyone falls asleep. The only workers here are kids, and they can deconstruct, but not rebuild. There's a mason but he's fucking asleep, and I don't want people to die of thirst in such a dumb way. I order one of the farmers and brewers stuck in there, Firsal, to take over the building job and try his hand at masonry. At least some people here can be relied upon.

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Drokles barges in to announce that a new forgotten beast has appeared in the caverns. It doesn't fly, so she's simply going to keep the bridge raised and hope that the various monsters kill each other. The stories of dwarven lore are ripe with tales of fortresses locking the caverns and letting epic creatures murder the fuck out of each other.

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While this was going on, the moody cook has gathered various materials, and began a mysterious construction. among them is two boulders of obsidian. This ought to be good!

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It is an amulet, depecting forgotten beasts, as well as the late Asmel murdering the fuck out of an invader. It ranks pretty high on the scale of fucking pricey stuff too!

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The celebration is short lived, tho. The death of an animal is reported, succumbed to the mysterious infection that got in through the generator's hole last season.

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I try to change my mind with some new projects. While we are renovating, why not add a fucking moat to this castle at long last? The mayor informs me that, sadly, the noble quarters are too close  to the edge of the map to dig there. Whatever we build, it won't go all the way around the fort, unless we add pumps and drop water above this level.

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The mayor depart, as she must oversee a new activation of the generator. she claims some idlers, and tel them to grab some picks and get their asses downstairs in a few days.

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The traders just don't give a fuck. They are technically departing, but they remain here in the middle of the trading area. are they not aware of the deadly plague chilling just next door?

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Just to prove how fucking dangerous the place is, a giant beetle from hell emerges in the basement. A giant beetle with wings. It flies. It can enter the fortress. Oh shit.

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the general complained a lot about my fucking tight corridors and impractical designs, but who's laughing now? The bridge rooms are now wide as his mom, but the cavern entrance is still easy to seal. The doors will hold the beetle long enough for the workers to block the corridor. between two doors, an open spot awaits. Against all odds, the masons manage to accomplish a task without failing.

There is, however, one big design flaw in the fortress.

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The dumping shaft is uncovered, unfinished, and leads directly to a lot of levels in the fortress. It's essentially a beetle elevator.

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Hey, you, every single person doing things. Stop doing things. The plans have changed. We're doing other things. All work orders are cancelled.

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The beetle wanders around, still exploring the caverns. It hasnt found the shaft yet. This should buy us enough time. Years of dumping hands and socks in a giant shaft has prepared this fortress for a very specific and absurd for of defense against flyiers.

We're going to dump so much shit nonstop that it will get crushed and drown in magma.

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I summon Bookkeeper Led this instant. Time to check what we're dumping. First off, we have obsidian now. We won't need those non-awesome slabs. Goodbye slabs!

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And like, corpses. We don,t need corpses. The beetle looks like it need corpses. That's probably what it came for. Slabs and corpses, plumetting into the magma together. How poetic.

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the beetle isnt there yet. We can't stop dumping, tho, because it takes quite a lot of time for people to resume their duty, grab stuff, and carry it to the dumping shaft. If we take a break, the monster could get in before we can do anything.

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it moves again. This time its north of the river. If it crosses the river and heads a bit south, it will be next to the shaft. we have no way of knowing if it'll take a straight line. Some fliers have made a bee line for the entrance in the past. Other creatures were quite content to wander around aimlessly while killing animals.

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We have some dumpers, but that's not quite enough. something is draining our ressources. The mayor...

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Shoo, miners! Our priority is not to get more obsidian! Our priority is to get less of everything else as fast as possible!

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It seems that the beetle is distracted by another forgotten beast! Soon they will murder each other, yes! just to be sure, tho, we probably don't need those large cloaks anymore. It's not like we'll trade them anyway.

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The monsters ignore each other, and the beetle flies north for some reason. Is it afraid? the other monster has an aura of weird secretions. Parts of the river are filled with the strange mucus. I would run too...

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Tun always knows when querns are needed. They are apparently needed now, it seems. Because survival comes second.

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In any case, the beetle is now chilling in the river, while the other monster is having fun using the old olm-men lair as his sleeping spot. It's almost a mercy that our nobles ran and shot the olm-men with crossbows when they first saw them, because there's a looot of forgotten beasts coming and going around here.

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More animals are dying. They can't be butchered because they are rotten as they perish. Ewww. Well, more dumping material, i suppose! but seriously there's a lot of them.

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I'm not sure the creature knows where it is going anymore. Thankfully, the dying animals ensure that we constantly have more stuff to drop, in case the beetle decides to finally attack.

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But just in case, I doubt those tons of used gloves will be missed.

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The legends are lies. Sll lies. Every single monster is just there, chilling and having friendly banter. They are not attacking each other at all. they are simply... gathering. It is at this moment that we realize the caverns are forever forsaken to us. The monsters will never be cleaned out. Not unless we use some very advanced engineering...

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A dumper is posessed. No, now is not the time! You better make something fucking AWESOME you cunt!

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That's some seriously pricey thing right there. it's a statue. a statue of two different combats. Made of bone. This is both gruesome, improbable, and the most metal thing ever created.

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To celebrate, I declare a new clothsgiving! Children, go outside and grab some fresh socks! everyone, dump your old socks in the lava! Yay, fun for the whole family!

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The dwarven merchants arrive regardless of the trade depot being deconstructed. Despite the lack of space, the merchants grab their stuff and travel by foot to unload random items in the entrance hall. Old habits die hard, I suppose. Suddenly, I almost regret dismantling the depot. A wrecked wagon would mean tons of stuff to dump. Oh well, no need crying over undumped milk, I suppose.

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It seems that the merchants were not the only ones to arrive this fall. a dwarven child is ambushed by a small group of goblin skirmishers. It dies horribly.

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As soon as the militia is dispatched to deal with the problem, a new group appears, this time much farther south. People make it out alive, but a disrupted clothsgiving and most of our soldiers running around means less dumping, which is critical right now!

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Meanwhile, more thieves! The flow of dumped items thins. Kill them quick, then dump every single thing they own!

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More of our animals dying horribly should give us a break, which honestly is a sentence that spells a very grim situation when used to describe a fortress.

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Meanwhile, the list of forgotten beasts living right under us has grown consistently. The first page alone counts five of them.

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The most problematic of them, the beetle Fensast, is now where many of its brethren have met their end. This time, however, the dwarves will not bravely venture in the caverns to face it.

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Dead pets, thieves, overall stress, Mistem finally snaps. Being removed from her leadership position made her very mean-spirited. The fool don't understands that being blind does not a great captain make. Crippled as she is, mistem is still a tragic hero, and her ongoing determination has been an inspiration to the fort. her sudden tantrums will not improve the morale of the soldiers at all.

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Oh, and the death of about 120 animals in the last two seasons is also not very good for the morale of the fort. The forced dumping of the pets' mutilated and deformed, rotting corpses does nothing to counter that.

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less soldiers alive means less backpacks needed. Dump all the broken or used ones! I try not to mention the whole reasoning process in front of our squads, simply explaining that ''we don't need that many backpacks''

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Fensast the beetle is at our doorstep. This has gone out for way too long. Deconstruct the wall and mobilize the army. If it crosses the bridge, we'll risk killing it in direct combat. the raised bridge will ensure that no other beast can join.

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Abort! The beetle flies past the bridge, and head directly toward the dumping shaft. Fuck.

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The soldiers are conveniently already mobilized downstairs. Drokles dispatch one squad to the south, near the bottom shaft. a second squad covers the workshops shaft. a third one will be overseing the entrance of the dumping pit.

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Fensast is just chilling there, toying with us. it knows we'll run out of stuff to dump someday. But for now, we have tons of doors that we don't need, now that we replaced some with obsidian ones.

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Attracted by the scent of blood, it wanders west again, following the trail left by our former champion. The entrance to the lower caverns is called cursed by the dwarves, for various brothers have met a tragic and gruesome end in this specific part of the caverns. We are not facing fenstat here, no matter what.

The beast has seen the entrance to the fort, and chose to ignore it for now. it waits, chatting with his fellow monsters, while learning what it can from the bloodstains littering the caverns. A battle is imminent. The question is, who will give in first, and meet the foe on its terms? the dwarves are sturdy, and patient. The members of the Wilted sack are strong, and have endured much. they will not surrender that easily. Yet, the sack is not bottomless, and sooner or later the dumping will stop.

Fensast has lived for eons. It will wait as long as needed.


*    *    *

OOC: The situation is bad, but the framerate is now excelent.
« Last Edit: May 07, 2015, 01:56:59 am by Taupe »
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Dwarf4Explosives

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Re: Whisperwhip: Syndrome testing facility
« Reply #128 on: May 08, 2015, 12:48:41 pm »

This is just all going to hell in all but the literal sense, isn't it?
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

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Re: Whisperwhip: Syndrome testing facility
« Reply #129 on: May 08, 2015, 01:11:47 pm »

Quote
This is just all going to hell in all but the literal sense, isn't it?
This is but a minor setback. Everything is fine, everything is under control. The fortress is lovely, and welcoming. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Just ask our recent visitors, a group of local merchants!

Oh wait.

Immortal-D

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Re: Whisperwhip: Syndrome testing facility
« Reply #130 on: May 08, 2015, 01:15:10 pm »

OOC: The situation is bad, but the framerate is now excellent.
If that's not the official slogan of Dwarf Fortress, then it should be.

Taupe

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Re: Whisperwhip: Syndrome testing facility
« Reply #131 on: May 08, 2015, 05:19:48 pm »

OOC: The situation is bad, but the framerate is now excellent.
If that's not the official slogan of Dwarf Fortress, then it should be.
Or simply ''oh fuck''

squiddwarf16

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Re: Whisperwhip: Syndrome testing facility
« Reply #132 on: May 08, 2015, 07:35:33 pm »

Just got caught up! Loving it so far! would you mind dwarfing me if the fortress doesn't die by giant beetle next update?
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Taupe

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Re: Whisperwhip: Syndrome testing facility
« Reply #133 on: May 08, 2015, 08:27:31 pm »

Squiddwarf, I took the liberty to dwarf you as the dwarf that was currently swimming in the water, as your name would suggest. That paticular dwarf is no ordinary miner, for he is Dumat's oldest friend, and one of the two surviving founders of Old Whisperwhip. Interestingly enough, at the time of writing, the fate of the fortress lies upon his shoulders.

Chapter 59 will be posted tonight. Stay tuned!

Taupe

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Re: Whisperwhip: Syndrome testing facility
« Reply #134 on: May 09, 2015, 12:38:38 am »

CHAPTER 59: A web of problems
Early 228
Dumat the Broker


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As the 31st year of this fortress draws to a close, I'm told from bookkeeper Led that we are running low on stuff to dump. Obvious stuff, I mean, like blatantly useless things and random broken pieces of crap. Obviously we could dump swords and whatnot, but I'd rather we don't discard everything we possess to stop the flying beetle of doom. We have a lot of copper, moreso than we'll ever need for anything, so I order a ton of coins to be minted. If the worst comes, we'll go full Setzer and spam GP toss down the hole. If we die, we'll die as rich bastards, or at least as rich as copper coins make you.

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Outside, the situation is not quiet either. Goblin ambushes and thieves are rampaging the countryside and keeping the militia occupied, when suddenly a cyclop appears.

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The whole army mobilizes, too happy to meet a foe that is both worthy of their training, without all the cursed blood bullshit. The creature dies... quickly. After thousands of goblins have besieged this fortress over the last decades, even the new recruits are skilled marksdwarves. It is good to see the legendary might of Whisperwhip's soldier in action once more.

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Everyone is not as impressed as I. Before they can leave the region, the dwarven merchants both become stark raving mad, having witnessed countless animals rotting casually while still alive. I guess everyone screaming about the whole ''dump or die bullshit'' didnt help. Simultaneously, their bulls decide to sink into melancholy and begin the slow process of starving themselves to death just outside our walls. If this place hadn't become the poster child for all kind of slow and insidious forms of trespassing, I'd shed a tear.

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For a moment, my heart sink. I'm told that Tun the duke has interrupted his work to rest his injuries. Mind you, I don't love Tun. Guy was mostly a puppet I put in place to control the general and assert my position as overseer. In time he was to act as a mere baron, my personal assassin in case of dire needs. But power and an instantaneous rise through the ranks up to the position of regeant of our civilisation had made the guy... harder to control. No, i cared not for his well being. What troubled me was that I had no recollection of him ever being injured. Ustuth the hammerer had had many a brush with death over the years, but not the Duke. I have him followed.

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Tun ends up in the hospital, sleeping. He seems rather healthy for now, but suddenly I spot miasma coming out of his bed. Has the disease carried by the foul beast finally started to infect a dwarf? Or worse, was most of the fort infested, only the effects were now starting to show themselves? I study tun for a while, and notice a cheetah next to his bed. Maybe the cheetah is infected instead. Most of them are. Maybe Tun simply banged his arm against something. He was a moron. It was possible.

If this was truly the curse then...

Armok have mercy on this fortress.

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On the opposite side of the room, rest Rovod the soldier. He too fll victim to a curse, altho his didn't come from the generator infiltrator, but from Simo. This beast he helped slay, albeit for naught, with the help of Asmel and another. Now only he remained, and although the dwarf still lived, his definitely wasn't the liveliest of existences. If Rovod wasn't dying, he certainly wasn't getting better. For over a year he had survived, between two worlds, oblivious to the outside world. Rovod was the toughest dwarvenkind had to offer. And yet, there he was, kept alive only by the nonstop intervention of our medical staff. If this new curse has infected our citizens, then...

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Enough. No point in thinking about that now. Let's focus on our more immediate problems. the dumping is still going strong, and as a result the resident beetle Fensast is keeping away from the shaft, content to visit the area. It isn't wandering. it is scouting. The other beasts, those he decided to side with rather than attack, cannot fly. Only fensast is able to circunvent the gigantic mushroom overgrowing the caverns. He is doing what the others can't. He's locating the entrances to the fortress. For now, he is exploring the volcano. Two entrances lie there. Thankfully, they are submerged by magma...

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Once it's done, Fensast visit the edges of the map. It isn't leaving. The caverns below Whisperwhip are his home now. Onlythe constant fall of various used items keep him from expanding its lair to the surface.

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Yet more monsters show up for the party. Forgotten beasts everywhere are telling the tales of their kin, who came to this place and never returned. This fort is a mark, a bounty, that every abheration from times immemorial has set its eyes upon. It who destroys the fortress will be renowned for eons by all denizens of the underworld.

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Many tales are told of this newcomer, Snang riddlepuzzle the hellish mystery. His title is truly awesome, in the truest sence of the word. Forget the kids misusing this term on a daily basis. he who hears the name Riddlepuzzle the Hellish Mystery ijnstantly knows what greatness and terror feel like, two sides of the same monstruous coin.

Sadly for us, it can fly. Thankfully for us, this beast has arrived in the lower caverns, the path to which has been sealed by the general shortly before he became basically numb and useless.

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More and more animals are dying. Or simply going missing. Tough luck, kid, your cat isn't coming back home alive. We have lost so many animals, even screenshotting vast amounts of purple anouncement has lost it's thrill.

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However, suicidal bulls are a relative novelty here. I'm sure those traders wouldn't mind if a few of their belongings went missing for over a week... I dispatch a few haulers. We'll need all those bags of dye and random instruments.

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The son of Drokles decides to create something special, and withdraws from society. I'm informed of this in the middle of like 8 dead pet announcements. Hey, just because I stopped caring about them doesn't mean our alert log is free of them.

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Right at the same time, the new year appears around the corner. Like a clock, a few venerable animals die of old age, which frankly is an achievement for any animal in this fortress right now.

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To celebrate the new year, Droklesson finishes an earring, which frankly is amazing, if absolutely useless. it features dying elves, giant monsters, and the artefact throne presiding over the temple to Kadol. at least the son of our new commander has a bright future as a craftdwarf. Assuming he survives...

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Hey, bookkeeper Led, do we need chains for like, anything. Because we have a lot of them lying around.

Led explains that chains are only useful for wells, or prisons. This guy is basically like an encyclopedia, I swear. Oh well, I guess we don't need 96 of them in our stockpiles.

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Same for those bags, really. I mean, I'd expect most of these to be empty, but... we have like 200 bags of dye, as many bags of sand... I'm not sure why. Especially since we haven't even kickstarted a textile industry in 30 years. like, I remember sending a guy to the caverns to bring back webs once, of which he carried back exactly 2 before breaking both his legs in a cave-in. we're not exactly the China of the world when it comes to mass-production of t-shirts.

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Spoiler (click to show/hide)
...although some of our crafters took it upon themselves to turn some bags into true works of art. Dumping all the bags would make a lot of them unhappy. and right now i don't want our resident champion to be unhappy. instead, I'll do something special in order to deal with the bags.

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Ducim is a 13 years old peasant, who for now has received no job except for hauling and dumping. He's been begging me to do something more artistic, but I have zero need for more copper crafts or a 20th bonecarver right now. We could, however, spare one young boy to start a textile operation. Since every low quality or used roll of cloth has been dumped last month, we are left only with the good stuff. I tell Ducim to build a dyer's workshop somewhere in the sweatshop/dorms, and give him free reign over our dye supply. We'll get a ton of higher quality materials with which to make our own clothing, and hopefully about 200 less pointless bags lying around. Hell, if this works I migh use some of those useless plants we've been stockpiling and turn them into dyed cloths to save room.

Truth be told, the farms have been running nonstop for 25 years grabbing as much potash as they ever needed, and i have zero idea what they are producing!

I should probably get deeper into th... OH WHAT THE SHIT

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It's another beast. In the caverns. What is it now, seven? In the upper caverns alone? It matters not, I tell myself, for all the paths are locked to that which does not fly. Even if webs are a terrifying ability, we won't hear about this one for a while, if ever.

But there are more than one webber in these caverns, as I would come to learn...

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Meanwhile on the surface, a new Cyclop shows up, because 3 megabeasts in a season is simply too little. As with the previous cyclop, this one dies without too much of a showdown. In the background, the merchants and their bulls are slowly dying as well, despite being offered food and drinks. they just don,t care. Whisperwhip was too much for their quiet minds. I don't blame them. The goddess of death and blood couldn't stomach it and I'm pretty sure she invented the very concepts that scared the fuck out of her.

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The smelters are reporting strange buzzing sound coming from the other side of the forges. It's Fensast, the beetle, still keeping an eye on the shaft, waiting for a chance to slip in. Under it, the lake is now massively infected with a strange mucus, likely created by another local resident. If this beast continues to spread its vile substance, then, I'm afraid it will travel into the fortress via the pipelines of our generator. Huh-oh. alas, there is nothing we can do about this for now... if ever.

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The elves are back, but there is no trading to be done. We have no need of what they offer, because as saddening as it is, this fortress has no room for more giraffes. Cause they'll die horribly of a deadly plague.

I'm sorry, giraffes. I love you, yet we cannot be together.

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They come into the fort anyway. Oh what the shit, those aren't elves these are goblins!

It's a goblin ambush. In the fortress. They are in the kitchen. How is this happening.

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Drokles mobilizes the entire army. it's time to murder some greenskins before they do some crazy shit to our civilians. One of which is me. Defend me, soldiers! Oh, speaking of which, now i remember how Tun got injured. he wandered outside during the last siege. Maybe we aren't going to all die of a deadly plague.

Or so I tell myself.

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Some of the goblins walk up into the guard tower. This should lessen the danger they pose, as upstairs is where the soldiers are coming from.

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Some soldiers rush downstairs to defend the kitchens, the rest man the wall or run outside. Another ambush has been triggered just south of the fort.

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In the chaos, a tribe of thieves are also trying to get in, snatching what they can. Without the usual guard animals, the soldiers have a hard time covering the battlefield and stopping snatchers.

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Lions and dingos have always been enemies in this fort, for as long as i remember unwisely introducing them to the local ecosystem. Before they all get taken by the plague, some of them decide to lash at each other and kill each other. I would normally be mad at the trainers but... this almost feel like a better way for them to go. Like, you know a fortress has gone through some severe shit when you find yourself saying ''wow, in this time of chaos, our pets are murdering the fuck out of each other instead of defending us, what a relief'' without an ounce of sarcasm. Surprisingly, nobody dies from these skirmishes. Well, not directly.

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Spoiler (click to show/hide)
In the chaos of the goblin invasion, everyone was too scared and disorganized to carry out orders. tun would have none of it. A failed mandate is worthy of a serious beating. The duke's goons are dispatched, and Nish the miner pays with his life. A single unfinished quern was all it took for this honest worker to meet a grisly end.

I find myself planning another regicide, when suddenly more trouble arise.

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First of all, it seems that part of the stuff we've been dumping isnt melting. Instead, a pile of quartzite crap is forming at the bottom of the shaft, because apparently quartzite won't melt. This is something i should have know, since we built gears and magma workshops out of it. In the heat of the moment, we simply discarded everything without looking. Now this shit is there, and it,s there to stay because nobody is going down there amidst 7 monsters to retrieve this shit and trade it away.

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The real trouble, however, comes from the other side of the volcano. The generator, like the forges, is pumping lava from the volcano, but it's also draining the water from the underground lake through 4 pipelines.

In one of these pipes, now lies the source of all this foreshadowing.

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A huge hairy leech, spinning webs, is swimming toward the fortress using the water pipeline. During its watery wanderings, it has apparently stepped too close behind another resident, one which secretes all this deadly mucus wherever it goes. forgotten beasts won't attack each other here in Whisperwhip, but that doesn't mean they are immune to each other's curses. The good news is, that even if this syndrome has not killed the giant leech, it has severely injured it. The bad news is, the leech is now the carrier of said disease. and it has webs. Should it ever come in sight of our dwarves, it will lock them in place, and carry this new deadly syndrome right into our ranks. Even if all our soldiers have crossbows, the one webbing monster we faced was by far the deadliest.

Webs are no joke. Even injured, this leech has the potential to cause some serious damage to our population. And unfortunately for us, it's coming in wether we like it or not.

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Between us and the beast lies one single miner. Squiddwarf came to this continent with me more than 31 years ago, by order of our mysteriously missing queen. He tried in vain to pierce the aquafier in old Whisperwhip, and only he out of 3 miners survived the watery grave. From then on he was known as Squiddwarf, for his uncanny ability to swim back from certain death.

Squiddwarf has no family, no known parents, no children. He has served faithfully as our head miner since he moved here, except for a brief period where he claimed the title of Militia commander, supervizing the escape from old Whisperwhip into the northern mountains when a titan appeared. Up until a more experienced soldier moved to this fort, he meticulously supervized the creation of our first weapons and shields, and nominated the initial soldiers. It was under his orders that the fort was locked down for a year, until that faithful day where Olin Bookdeer sneaked outside to kill two titans on her own, looking for her cat.

Thanks to this brief role as commander, Squiddwarf never took over the role of a mason like most miners and engravers. As such, he was not executed when Tun the Duke ordered a mass slaughter of what he deemed ''lazy masons''. At the venerable age of 118 years, Squiddwarf is a legendary miner, bonecarver, and engraver. Many of the glorious details around the main fort are of his doing.  He has survived many cave ins, a civil war, more sieges than I dare to rmember, and somehow always made it out of the caverns alive when strange monsters or deadly animals attacked.

And today, Squiddwarf is the only person between us and this leech. He has a special mission.

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In a few minutes, the generator will be activated. It is the only way to safely get rid of the leech. However, the generator is full of water. If we activate it now, it will be the last time we put this thing to work. Underneath lies many monsters, including a deadly firefly. There will be no unclogging. For the generator to properly trap the monster in obsidian, the water must be cleared. It must evaporate. This means someone needs to widen the reservoir. Only then will the water be spread wide enough to dissipate.

The leech is slow, and rotting. It is moving rather slowly. In time, it will reach the floodgates and unleash tons of water into the generator. If Squiddwarf hasn't cleared enough water, then the beast wont be killable by magma, and the generator will be lost. At this point, we will have to either seal the place forever, or risk contracting the curse it is carrying unwittingly.


*     *     *

OOC: A friend of mine dropped by for a few moments, and he showed me his fortress. His stockpiles were basically gigantic map-wide rooms lying around in random places. I was currently nearing the end of this chapter, and my own game was running, so I gave him a tour of the place, mostly to show him what I did with the mines, and how they were converted into fancy stockpiles with pillars. Then I explained the situation with the beetle and the dumping, and we played a fun game called spot the various forgotten beasts. It's like playing where's Waldo, except there are just so many of them everywhere.

This game revealed two important things. First, there was a pile of quartzite at the bottom of the shaft. Second of all, there was a leech entering my water access. Huh oh. Was it not for this impromptu visit from a guy on a bike carrying a laptop, I may have spotted the leech too late. I was so focused on tracking the beetle, I foolishly disregarded the other creatures...
« Last Edit: May 09, 2015, 01:00:06 am by Taupe »
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