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Author Topic: One Dwarf Against the World  (Read 241028 times)

DDouble

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Re: One Dwarf Against the World
« Reply #15 on: February 24, 2007, 10:45:00 pm »

One minor point...Can you please just use one period at a time...not everything requires a pause...it will save digital ink, and therefore help an electronic rainforest...plus make the author sound more confident...
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Eiba

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Re: One Dwarf Against the World
« Reply #16 on: February 24, 2007, 10:58:00 pm »

The Fourth Day.
   
Urist woke early to finish her... project. She worked diligently to attach the machinery to the rock slabs.

Her cat was also working diligently; it was slaughtering every small animal near the cliff face... Urist watched out of the corner of her eye, fascinated, as she continued her work.

       

At last it was done, everything was ready, all that was needed now was to wait for the caravan...

Of course, autumn had just come, and it would be a while before the caravan actually arrived, so Urist decided to start her next project, moving everything deep within the mountain, lest the animated mandrill skeletons attacked... They were already getting more daring...
   

First things first- Urist made a door for her bedroom/work area. Her cat was nearby playfully tormenting a rat...

       

Urist felt she could identify with the cat. Somehow it's presence made her feel better, she didn't know what she'd do if anything happened to it...

       

Well... Life had already told Urist over and over again that nothing's ever perfect...

When the door was in place, she began to dig a deep narrow tunnel deep into the mountain. She was significantly faster at mining than when she had first arrived, so the work didn't take long. As she hacked through a layer of what appeared to be limestone, the cat grooming itself not far behind, she noticed something odd... the rock appeared to be getting moist. One more swift strike and the wall crumbled in a wall of water.

       

The next thing she knew she had been thrown halfway back to the entrance, the water her only waist deep... What of the cat though! She saw it floating nearby, and quickly picked it up and brought it outside...

They both dried off in the sun, the cat looking particularly indignant as it licked the water out of its fur... Urist, not letting a single moment go to waste made another door to separate her bedroom from the rather moist tunnel beyond. When she was done with that the water had receded and the returned into the mine. Her cat, freshly dried, followed.

It seemed there was a subterranean river running through the mountain parallel to the cliff face. That would be useful, Urist thought, for fortification... Then she remembered her enemies were the undead, and a river wouldn't stop them... Oh well.

She set about building a bridge, when all of a sudden she heard a roar coming from upstream.

       

She and her cat were thrown back again by the water, though not as far. The water wasn't deep and she immediately waded back to continue building the bridge... though the cat left. She could sympathize with the venomous glare it gave to the river as it left... There was really no call for doing that to them twice...

---

Reg and Thikut were slowly making their way though the thick jungle... Reg was a merchant and Thikut was an axedwarf Reg had hired for protection. The foreboding jungle they were stumbling through made Reg all the more appreciative of his axe-wielding companion.
"Who would settle in such a sinister jungle," Reg wondered aloud...
"Eh, the mountain is probably rich... And who cares about all the vicious beasties about when you're safely underground?" replied Thikut.
"Rich? You think so?" Reg brightened at the though of exchanging this barrel of Dwarven Ale his mule was carrying for some of those riches... as well as the though of getting under ground.
"Hurry it up now! We wouldn’t want to be in these woods come nightfall!” The voice came from far ahead, from Reg's business partner and longtime friend, Ablel. It wasn't Reg's fault that he was lagging behind, the mule was being stubborn...

       

[Image limit exuded, post split in two- continued next post]

[ February 24, 2007: Message edited by: Eiba ]

[ February 24, 2007: Message edited by: Eiba ]

[ February 24, 2007: Message edited by: Eiba ]

[ February 24, 2007: Message edited by: Eiba ]

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Eiba

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Re: One Dwarf Against the World
« Reply #17 on: February 24, 2007, 10:59:00 pm »

Urist had bridged the cave river and was clearing out a small cave on the other side. The cat had returned and was playfully killing cave spiders at an incredible rate.

       

The two of them happily continued on with their respective pleasures... untill the spiders started smelling really bad...

       

Urist decided she needed a drink, and returned to the entrance, cat in tow.

---

"Stupid mule!" Reg tugged on the rope, the mule tugged back. Reg slipped and fell onto something squishy.
Thikut let out a deep dwarven laugh. "That mule really showed you who's boss!"
"Uuah!"
"I was only joking no need to-"
"No, look!"
Reg held up an arm... Not his arm mind you, but a rotting dwarven arm, covered in claw marks.
"Uuah!" It was Thikut's turn to be disgusted.
Reg had fallen on a naked half rotten dwarf corpse!
"Let's hurry and catch up with Ablel, I want to get out of here as fast as possible," said Reg.

---

Urist was shocked!

       

It was awfully early for the caravan to come! If she hadn't come out for a drink because of all the miasma the cat had caused, she might have missed them!
"Hi!" The dwarf driving the mule called, "I bet you're glad to see us! I'm Ablel, and we're merchants as you can probably tell." He glanced behind him and shrugged before continuing, "Which way to the trade depot?"
Urist took a second to calm down and remember the plan...
"It... It's... uh... It's that way." She pointed to the prepared cave on her left.
"Thanks! Have you all got much to trade with us? I wouldn't want to have come all this way for nothing." He laughed an infuriatingly pointless laugh... What was so funny? What was so damn funny to this guy!? Was he trying to be friendly!? Damn it, this was the very dwarf who threatened everything, who would like nothing better than to destroy everything Urist had worked for, and he was acting to be friendly! Urist fumed, but attempted to respond with composure... she had to play the game...
"Oh... uh... yeah. Lot's of... rocks... No, wait- that is... I mean, lot's of rocks for crafts... We have crafts, not rocks... We have rocks too... but... you probably don't want them..."
Urist turned red... That's not what she had meant to say... Damn this ass of a merchant! Ablel just laughed again. What was his problem!?
"You're a funny one, I like you!" He bellowed, "Well you can tell the others we're here. I look forward to seeing what rocks you've found!"
His laugh pierced Urist's skull, it was all she could do to keep from piercing Ablel's skull with her pick right there.
"Uh... yeah... okay..."
Ablel entered the tunnel with his mule and his axedwarf companion, and Urist went to the switch room and pulled with all her furry.

       

---

Reg and Thikut had just stumbled out of the forest having wrestled the damn mule every step past the river. Reg looked up just in time to see Ablel walking into a tunnel and... it seemed sureal, he couldn't comprehend it... The wall... the entire wall had just fallen... and Ablel... Reg's comrade for many years, Reg saw him crushed... It had never occurred to Reg before just what exactly seeing someone get crushed looked like, but here in front of him Ablel had... burst... red... He didn't want to think about it any more. It was Ablel! Thikut recovered more quickly. "We have to get out of here," he said, "I've seen setups like that before- it's a trap!"

Just then they heard a shout of surprise as a dwarf emerged from a cave right next to that bloody tunnel.

"Ah... more..." the dwarf said, "the trade depot... you want the trade depot right? Merchants? Of course, like the others... The trade depot is there... please hurry, I want... er... we, that is, we're hungry, and... merchants sometimes... I mean, you have food right? We'll trade... rock... rock crafts. Please go in there... please?"
The dwarf began to plead because Reg and Thikut were recoiling in horror- it was clear that this clearly insane dwarf was the one who killed Ablel.
"You're mad! Why did you do that to Ablel! What's wrong with you!" Reg couldn't resist shouting. Thikut had begun to back away.
"Why... what?" The mad dwarf looked back into the tunnel... a pool of blood was leaking out under the slab of rock that rested on the ground. "Oh... You..." The dwarf seemed to transform entirely, "You've seen! We can't have that! You'll take it from me, you'll tell others and they'll take it! I can't let you take it! I need it, I need it to prove them wrong!"
The mad dwarf raised her pick and charged. Reg looked for Thikut, but he was already gone... so was that damn mule, distracted by his rage and confusion Reg had been abandoned and was now standing by himself. He quickly did the only thing he could think of and ran.

       

---

Urist was exhausted and infuriated. She had let them get away! There were more of them, and she had sprung the trap... the trap that took her so many months to build... she had sprung it too soon. Damn! This put everything in danger! People knew, would learn about her... Had that one called her mad? Ha! But... he'd tell other people that she was mad... He'd say "Oi, there's a mad dwarf living in those woods." And with that, she'd become known as a mad dwarf... She wasn't mad! The Society for Reformed Dwarves had called her mad... no "diagnosed" her as mad... And she showed them... She used them to obtain this, her fortress!

In any case, she doubted that whatever tales reached the outside world would inspire dwarves to try and immigrate... But what about further caravans?

Urist had been stumbling inside as she thought, with a vague notion that she had to continue mining... She decided that she should probably have gone to sleep instead, and collapsed there on the floor.

   
The fourth night.

---

Fwew! That took a while! I can go less story-heavy if people want... That was one in-game day, but it took me a couple hours to write... If people would rather hear about my gameplay obstacles I could change focus and it would go much faster...
(For the record though, it's really, really fun to write.)

(Ha! Five pages in MS word! Neat!)

Edit: Heh... Finally got all the images working, thought the second mandrill raid only works as a thumbnail... oh well...

[ February 24, 2007: Message edited by: Eiba ]

[ February 24, 2007: Message edited by: Eiba ]

[ February 24, 2007: Message edited by: Eiba ]

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Eiba

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Re: One Dwarf Against the World
« Reply #18 on: February 24, 2007, 11:06:00 pm »

quote:
Originally posted by DDouble:
<STRONG>One minor point...Can you please just use one period at a time...not everything requires a pause...it will save digital ink, and therefore help an electronic rainforest...plus make the author sound more confident...</STRONG>

Oh, I'm confident, but Urist sure as heck isn't. She's mad, you know.

If it's already bothered you, I expect you'll be quite infuriated by her dialogue!

Edit: Actually, reading back what I wrote, I see what you mean... (Damn it, again? I swear I didn't do that on purpose!) It's a bad habit of mine. (Hah, only one period there!) I can't very well go back and change all of what I wrote, but I'll try to keep that in mind for the future.

[ February 24, 2007: Message edited by: Eiba ]

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JimmyJ

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Re: One Dwarf Against the World
« Reply #19 on: February 24, 2007, 11:45:00 pm »

Wow, the story is really getting interesting  :) I don't really care about the ... thing, it doesn't really bother me  :)
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et out of my signiture!!!!!!!!!!

Eiba

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Re: One Dwarf Against the World
« Reply #20 on: February 24, 2007, 11:57:00 pm »

quote:
Originally posted by JimmyJ:
<STRONG>Wow, the story is really getting interesting   :) I don't really care about the ... thing, it doesn't really bother me   :)</STRONG>

It bothers me now that I notice it. I was writing a post elsewhere and realized that I was using it after every sentence.

In fact, even in those two sentences, I didn't just type "." I typed "...[backspace][backspace]" for both the periods. Why do I do that!?

And also, I'm not sure if I should, but I'll let you in on a little secret: I have no idea how to make the story interesting after this...
(^ Justified "...")

I guess we'll see what happens.

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Momaw

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Re: One Dwarf Against the World
« Reply #21 on: February 25, 2007, 12:49:00 am »

>> I have no idea how to make the story interesting after this... <<

Probably an armed patrol would show up, after the merchant group came running back with tales of murder. A battle against them would not be winnable, so, deception.  Perhaps new settlers come to the site, and everything has to look normal.  But there's a series of unfortunate accidents, and a hidden cave deep in a dark corner of the fortess, full of dwarven bones...

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Momaw

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Re: One Dwarf Against the World
« Reply #22 on: February 25, 2007, 01:03:00 am »

[ February 25, 2007: Message edited by: Momaw ]

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Eiba

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Re: One Dwarf Against the World
« Reply #23 on: February 25, 2007, 03:13:00 am »

quote:
Originally posted by Momaw:
<STRONG>>> I have no idea how to make the story interesting after this... <<

Probably an armed patrol would show up, after the merchant group came running back with tales of murder. A battle against them would not be winnable, so, deception.  Perhaps new settlers come to the site, and everything has to look normal.  But there's a series of unfortunate accidents, and a hidden cave deep in a dark corner of the fortess, full of dwarven bones...</STRONG>



Heh, I wish the dwarves would attack... I should rephrase- I could make the story interesting, but as I'm actually playing the game I'm severly restricted.

For one, the dwarves will never attack- that's just how things are (wait till I piss of the humans). I'll never get imigrants because the caravan was destroyed.

Actually I do have some ideas for later on... I suppose I can just gloss over less interesting events, like I did for the contsruction of the caravan-killing divice (that took a really long time to build with an unskilled dwarf, almost half a year).

I'm sure something will come up.

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Solara

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Re: One Dwarf Against the World
« Reply #24 on: February 25, 2007, 11:48:00 am »

Yeah, it really is unfortunate (and unrealistic) that dwarves never get angry about you killing their caravans.

I'm loving the story, but if there's simply not much of anything interesting happening you might as well talk about how the gameplay, the progress on the fortress, etc. I realize that sadly it won't be possible for Urist to murder someone in every update.

I do sort of envision her as being of paranoid about security and putting traps all over the place or moving to the other side of the river after this, even if that'd be more for roleplaying purposes than practical ones.

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Eiba

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Re: One Dwarf Against the World
« Reply #25 on: February 25, 2007, 04:14:00 pm »

quote:
Originally posted by Eiba:
<STRONG>And also, I'm not sure if I should, but I'll let you in on a little secret: I have no idea how to make the story interesting after this...

I guess we'll see what happens.</STRONG>



Man, Yesterday-Eiba, how ever so ignorant you are...

(Two days played. Story... be written in a couple hours probobly.)

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Eiba

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Re: One Dwarf Against the World
« Reply #26 on: February 25, 2007, 07:36:00 pm »

Day Five.

Urist woke groggily... she wondered what the heck she was doing on the hard rocky floor... The events of the previous day slowly came back to her... One had gotten away... That couldn't be helped now.

---

Reg the merchant knocked back another mug of Dwarven Rum... It had only been a couple (solar) days since he returned to Liruksibrek... since Ablel was killed. He'd been hanging out in the bar drinking heavily, telling his story to anyone who would listen.
"And then this crazy dwarf came out babbling about how we were thieves or something... She came charging at us with her pick with a crazed look in her eye... Urist Borushdumat was her name!"
"How do you know her name if you pissed your pants and ran scared?" That was Doren the metalsmith who had heard the story before. Reg continued intently, completely ignoring the attack on his honor, "Well, when I got back they told me that, according to the records, the miner sent out with the settlers was freshly released from an insane asylum... In fact I'm the chief witness for the prosecution in the trial for the fool who signed the release papers. I'll see that the negligent prick gets a hammering for his incompetence!"
"Bah, typical dwarven justice... 'Hammer the guy who signs the papers and everything's fine' I tell you the system is fundamentally flawed!" Cerol the stonemason was as infamous for his political rants as Reg had become for the story of Mad-Dwarf Urist.
"Damn it Cerol, not again! I'm listening to Reg's funny rant now, not yours!" Doren was more interested in this new story than Cerol's old politics.
"So let me get this straight," a new voice interjected, "There's this crazy dwarf out there who's dug a cave, and managed to build a huge complex trap, and she's all by herself?"
"And who are you?" Reg asked.
"Dastot, miner. I'm looking to found an outpost, and it sounds like one's already been started for me."

---

As she had a breakfast of raw mule meat, she heard a familiar clattering off in the woods... Right, the mandrills- she had already carved out a small cave on the far side of the subterranean river, and so she decided to start hauling all her food there.

She decided more space was necessary and spent the next considerable period of time mining out new rooms. She was glad she'd moved her food when she did, as it saved a lot of walking.

She had a lot of mining left to do. Where it was the food would probably be washed away in spring by the surge of water from the melting snow, so she'd have to carve out a new food store eventually. First though she dug a bedroom for herself, and went back to the entrance to haul her precious bed...

---

Cerol didn't know how he'd been suckered into this... Probobly a result of drunkenness...
He was now stumbling through this deeply unsettling jungle following that gung-ho reactionary dwarf Dastot... It was clear why that oaf was out here, to order people around, but why the heck did he have a pet foal with him? Next to him was another dwarf from the bar, Doren, who it seems just wanted to see the Mad-Dwarf for himself. It was Doren who had persuaded Cerol. "C'mon!" he'd said, "You've always been ranting about those 'oppressive unjust nobles,' here's a chance to build your 'egg-litarian comedy'!" "Egalitarian community," Cerol muttered to himself as he remembered the fool's foolishness. And how was he going to do anything like that with Dastot's dictatorial attitude?

Trailing behind was the only dwarf Cerol didn't know anything about, Onul. Apparently he was another friend of Doren's, another metalsmith as well. Why would a settlement of four dwarves need two metalmiths? And who was going to feed them? Dastot was clearly too thick-headed to have considered that...

---

Good god, they'd come! It had happened! Urist's worst fears realized, that damn merchant had sent them... to steal her fortress! Think quickly...

Okay, she and her food were safe for now. She thanked the gods that she'd thought to move her food stores inside when she had... But she hadn't prepared for this. Oh, why hadn't she prepared for this!

Thinking quick as usual she came up with a plan.

She set about working quickly, digging the tunnel, but her workshops to construct the floodgates were still near the entrance... She hoped that wouldn't be a problem...

---

"Hey! Let us in! We aren't going to hurt you, we just want to help. Is it true that you're stark raving mad?" Doren, master of diplomacy, Cerol thought. Dastot had first heard sounds of work coming from inside, but he'd had the sense to give up shouting after five minutes of unresponsiveness. Doren... well it could be said that Doren was more persistent.
"So what do we do now?" Cerol asked Dastot, away from the racket.
"Hmm..." Was the only reply Dastot gave.
"You've got a pick, you're a miner, aren't you? Let's just dig around the door?"
"Oh," Dastot replied as if surprised, "Er, I mean, Of course I'd already thought of that, how stupid would I be if I hadn't thought of that? Of course the reason that it's a stupid idea is... it would leave the cave vulnerable. Yes, you see, some people just don't have vision: If we make the entrance wider it would be harder to defend later on!"
Is this dwarf serious? Cerol thought, He's not going to do it just because he didn't think of it? "So what's your plan then?"
"Well you see..."
"I'm thirsty," said Onul. It was actually the first thing Cerol had ever heard him say.
"River's right there..." Said Doren mockingly, apparently he had given up trying to persuade the Mad Dwarf to show herself.
"I saw... a ghost..." Onul replied sheepishly.
"That's it!" Exclaimed Dastot.
"Ghosts?" Said Cerol skeptically?
"No, I mean, I was in the middle of explaining this! We wait until the Mad Dwarf runs out of water! She'll get thirsty eventually and have to come out!"
"Right, and what if there's an underground spring or something?" Cerol was becoming increasingly convinced that he was the only dwarf out here who wasn't mad... well, it wasn't much different back home of course...
"Shut up! Anyway, I'm thirsty too..." He stalked off towards the river, foal in tow.
Onul followed, and Doren, following the crowd, did too...
Cerol sighed... he didn't want to be left alone with the Mad Dwarf...

[continued next post]

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Eiba

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Re: One Dwarf Against the World
« Reply #27 on: February 25, 2007, 07:37:00 pm »

Urist had been working furiously on the appropriate constructs to defend what was rightfully hers. She grew exhausted though... She was concerned that they would try to break down the door or dig a tunnel in, but as they hadn't started already, it seemed like they weren't going to.

With the all floodgates and mechanical parts ready to be installed Urist felt safe enough to take a nap before installing them.


The Fifth Night

---

"What the hell was that!? Oh gods, what the hell was that!?" Doren kept shouting as they ran.
"Shut up already!" Cerol replied with little patience. This place was a death trap! What the hell was he doing out here?
It had happened when they were all out getting a drink. Onul started shaking, with fear, presumably, and started whimpering "ghost... ghost..." over and over again. Doren was inclined to mock him, but Datost and Cerol, following Onul's gaze, saw what the dwarf was talking about. Towering on the far side of the river was a massive tower of bones- a skeletal elephant. Cerol was absolutely petrified. Though he was ashamed to admit it, Dastot was the far more courageous dwarf. He immediately leapt into action... really, really stupid action, Cerol though, as the tiny dwarf charged across the ford, yelling loudly, pick held high.

Soon the three surviving dwarves were running back to the mountain, yelling loudly, heads held low.

Cerol and Doren took refuge in an odd tunnel... Cerol hadn't seen what happened to Onul.
"Oh gods, he's dead!" Doren was visibly shaken, "Dastot is dead!"
Cerol had been rather disturbed by what he had seen as well, but when it was put that way, was it really so bad? The oaf had it coming.
"What are we going to do now!" Doren wouldn't shut up... but he had a point. How were they going to leave with a gigantic reanimated elephant corpse standing in the ford?
"Well... we could... make the best of it..." Cerol suggested.
"What!?"
"I mean, we could still wait here until the Mad Dwarf comes out for water, jump her and set up in the mountain." Cerol couldn't believe that he was using Dastot's lame plan, but with Dastot's pick disturbingly close to a bloodthirsty bloodless pachyderm...
"... Yeah... Yeah, that's probably our best bet." Doren seemed to recover pretty fast. "By the way, what's up with this weird wall? You're the mason after all..."
Cerol hadn't really looked at the wall, but it seemed... "Huh, this looks like the design they use for bridges... it's a pretty good one to. I wonder why it's on it's side in here?"
Doren just chuckled.
"What is it?" Cerol was annoyed at how quickly this dwarf had gone from helpless shock and terror to arrogant chuckling.
"Ablel's executioner." Doren continued laughing, "This is so neat, it's just like that crazy merchant said."
"... Oh god... That means we'd better get out of here!" Cerol was less amused.

So they waited outside. And waited. And waited.

---

The Sixth Day

Urist awoke feeling refreshed. She finished off the longland beer, and so thought it best to brew up a new batch before doing anything else. She had found some herbs growing underground in the mud from repeated floodings, and so she brewed up some familiar Dwarven Ale from some pigtails she had found.

The work done, she reviewed the work she had to do... Oh gods! Those damn thieves, she had to kill those damn thieves!

---

"I'm... I'm hungry..." Onul managed to say after the three dwarves had been sitting for several hours. Cerol didn't have anything against Onul, he just seemed shy.
"Now that you mention it, I'm soooo hungry I could eat a horse!" Doren was just plain annoying. Of course Cerol was hungry to, but he wasn't whining about it. He'd rather think about what he could do rather than what he couldn't...
"Ah, that reminds me... Whatever happened to Dastot's little horse?"
"Followed Dastot," said Doren.

"Oh... That's no good then."
"Were you so hungry you could eat a horse too?" Doren began to laugh.
"Oh just shut up."
Doren yawned loudly, "Well I just might do that, I'm pretty tired. Keep watch while I sleep, eh, Cerol?"
"What? Me?" asked Cerol, but Doren was already noisily snoring. Cerol was rather tired himself... Onul seemed to have followed Doren's lead... surrounded by the soothing sounds of snoring dwarves, Cerol began to nod off himself...

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Eiba

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Re: One Dwarf Against the World
« Reply #28 on: February 25, 2007, 07:38:00 pm »

Urist had hurried to set up the floodgates, but something occurred to her. What if they quickly rush in and got over the bridge? She decided to make a few more mechanisms and to modify the bridge so it would retract when she opened the floodgates. She got to her mechanical workshop, but noticed she had used all the nearby stones, not wanting to haul a stone all the way from by the river, she decided she could stealthily grab one from outside (the sound of snoring dwarves was nearly deafening, so she reasoned she was safe).

   

What she hadn't counted on was how much her cat wanted to go outside. Cat's were surface creatures, unlike dwarves, so it stood to reason, but it still felt quite wrong to Urist that the cat would so enthusiastically burst outside like it did...

Upon obtaining her rock, the cat was nowhere to be seen... Urist figured it was either inside, or would have to wait until the stinking thieves were killed before it could return...

She set about putting the finishing touches on her trap.

---

"Great job, lookout!" Cerol woke up under the most unpleasant circumstances, starving, thirsty, covered in mud, and being berated by an blithering boob.
"Oh just shut up, just shut up!"
"The Mad Dwarf probably came out here to get a drink while we were sleeping! It's your fault we didn't see her!" Doren seemed more upset at the possibility that he'd missed seeing the Mad Dwarf than the possibility that he'd missed his only chance to survive...
"Just Shut Up." Cerol was thoroughly fed up with this dwarf, and with this whole situation. "I'm going to get a drink, maybe an elephant will crush me if they're merciful."
"Uh.." Onul was clearly distraught.
"Just let him go, he was getting boring anyway." Doren had a one track mind.

---

Doren was irritated. He was also irritated that he was irritated. His whole philosophy was to do anything possible to keep from getting irritated... He had clearly made a major miscalculation when he had joined this expedition. It had sounded so entertaining and exiting too!
"Hey, Doren..." Oh, Onul... Maybe his hilarious simplicity could cheer Doren up.
"What is it, Onul?"
"Over there..." He pointed.
"And what exactly is over-- HOLY CRAP! IT'S HER!" Things were looking up again! The door was open and staring out at them was the Mad Dwarf Urist herself! "Ha-HA! It's actually her! Hey! Hey! Are you really stark raving mad like they say!? Hey!"
The face disappeared into the cave.
"C'mon, Onul, after her!" He practically dragged Onul along into the cavern.
"Hey, Mad Dwarf, Come out! I just want to talk to you? Are you really mad like they say?"
"Um... Doren?" Not now Onul, something interesting is happening!
"Hey, Mad Dwarf!" Doren ignored Onul.
"Um, Doren, what's that sound?"
"What?" Pausing to listen it sounded like... water? Heh, Cerol thought he was so smart, but there was actually water down here the whole time! That was funny!
"Hey Doren, shouldn't we get out of here?"
"What why?"
Onul began to run.
   
Oh crap, he was under water! The entire tunnel was filled with water... It was that Mad Dwarf, it was another of the Mad Dwarf's traps! Neat! Doren used the last of his strength trying to swim deeper into the tunnel... he really wanted to meet a real Mad Dwarf... It sounded interesting. He wondered what a Mad Dwarf was like... would it be anything like himself?
   

---

Cerol had no idea that he was alone... In fact he was acutely aware that he wasn't alone, two glowing eyes watched him from across the river.

   

After a moment of panic, the creature walked into the sunlight... it was just a little cat. Suddenly Cerol's stomach growled... It was probably a tasty cat...
"Here kitty kitty!" Cerol slowly approached the cat, which just stood there staring at him. When he was only a few paces from it, it darted into the woods.
"Come back here you, I only want to eat you!" Putting aside the fact that talking to a cat to begin with was rather pointless, Cerol felt acutely stupid about what he had just said... He blamed his companions for rubbing off on him. He ran deeper into the jungle after the cat. Why was everyone but him such a damn fool? What was the matter with all these dwarves who set off on this insane suicide mission... Heck, he never would have come himself if it weren't for the alcohol. Damn alcohol. Damn dwarves. Damn everything that conspired to put such a flawless dwarf in such a hopeless situation. And damn that cat for being so fast. He stumbled into a clearing and tripped over a root... no not a root, a bone... Damn that cat... it was that cat's fault that he was about to die...
   

---

Urist was satisfied with her work. When the main hallway drained, there were two bloated corpses left behind. Serves them right for rushing in to steal everything she worked for! Serves them right! Her cat seemed to be fine, it had returned looking particularly pleased, just as Urist was herself. Two dwarves dead in the hallway, how many had come? How many got away? There were three sleeping when she got the stone... She had to be wary, for more might come.

For now though, she decided to take a well deserved break for the rest of the day.
   

She plotted and planed... Against all who would take her glory, her proof of worth, she plotted. None of them would survive. One day, far in the future, she would no longer be called a Mad Dwarf, she would no longer be called worthless, she would be a Queen! No, an Empress! But she'd reign over an empire built by her own hands, greater than any ruler of nations who had ever lived! She would prove them wrong, and become the Greatest Dwarf in History!

But for now... she rested.

   
The Sixth Night

---


Good damn, so many pictures I have to split this post in three!

Someone said I couldn't have Urist murder someone every post, to them all I have to say is... Oh can't I?

For the record, the events are all entirely as they occurred in the game... I for one thing that’s pretty damn cool (obviously the fact that Cerol chased the cat wasn’t for food, and the fact that Doren tried to swim deeper into the cave wasn’t because he wanted to see a Mad Dwarf, but still Cerol actually chased the cat to his doom, and Doren actually spent his last few breaths swimming deeper into the cave).

Upon proofreading, I've found numerous typos... that I haven't the energy to fix. Please excuse them...

[ February 25, 2007: Message edited by: Eiba ]

[ February 25, 2007: Message edited by: Eiba ]

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Solara

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Re: One Dwarf Against the World
« Reply #29 on: February 25, 2007, 08:20:00 pm »

This just keeps getting better and better!  :)

Doren trying to swim towards the river made me LOL. I think if the guy wanted to see a 'mad dwarf' than all he had to do was look in the mirror.  :roll:  

By far the best part was the cat leading Cerol to his doom though, just because it's so cool that it actually happened like that in the game.  

You really outdid yourself on the length of the update too, it must have taken forever to write.

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