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Author Topic: One Dwarf Against the World  (Read 241032 times)

Solara

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Re: One Dwarf Against the World
« Reply #75 on: March 11, 2007, 02:28:00 pm »

What has become of poor Urist?
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Eiba

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Re: One Dwarf Against the World
« Reply #76 on: March 11, 2007, 03:35:00 pm »

quote:
Originally posted by Solara:
<STRONG>What has become of poor Urist?</STRONG>

She has exams... Or rather, I do... And papers... multiple...
That, and the next update is intimidating full of action and dwarves and death... It'll take a while to write...

Never fear, this is far from abandoned- in fact just last night I was testing to see if I could do something... and I can... and it'll be really, really awesome... (Probably the update after next.)

...

Actually, I think I may have enough time to write an update...

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Eiba

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Re: One Dwarf Against the World
« Reply #77 on: March 11, 2007, 07:45:00 pm »

Rigoth Tristber liked what she heard. She had been petitioning the king for months for a chance to lead an expedition, but her requests were always denied, as she only had five dwarves in her party, including herself (she was known as Tristber to her party members, as their smith was also named Rigoth). This merchant (Urist was it?) having heard of her plight, had offered her information he guaranteed would be helpful... for a modest price. Tristber bit.

And now she lead her band of five "immigrants" to the "established fortress" of... what was it? Tholoddom the name on the books... Deep Cloistered... Well, it seems that the Mad Dwarf, who had been cloistered deeply by herself, had died after killing everyone who tried to settle, though the merchants were the only ones who knew... They also knew that there were plenty of supplies waiting for them (or so the merchant said), and so there was no need for royal support... The merchants guaranteed that they'd return in a years time. There was some dissent in the party about departing in the fall, but Tristber explained that the region was so warm that the seasonal difference didn't matter, overriding the advice of her farmer, Asteth.

There was one issue though, the mountain was supposed to be full of Gems, or so the rumor went. Tristber was walking down the streets of Liruksibrek, looking... She reflected on one of the reasons she wanted to leave the capitol, the economy was terrible... The tunnel was filled with beggars, mostly the unskilled under-classes who couldn't make their own way, but there were also quite a few... She'd found what she was looking for- a sad looking dwarf holding a sign- "will haul for food." What caught her eye was the lime green guild uniform- a Jeweler.
"What's your name?" Tristber asked.
"Melbil... do you have work?" This dwarf was desperate... Good.
"You won't ask questions or talk too much?
"... Yeah."
"Come with me then."

---

The Twelfth Day

It promised to be an uneventful day... Urist felt relaxed, having had no dealings with the outside world since the humans... Perhaps they'd forgotten about her. That would be nice, she could create her glorious monument in solitude, and then present it in completion to the world- surely then she'd receive her recognition!

Let's see... what more was there to do? She did seem to be set for the necessities, though, as she brewed up a new batch of Dwarven rum she reflected... She could use a more reliable source of alcohol... the plants weren't the issue, she had piles of pig-tails, it was just that she only had the one barrel... And no more wood... Well she had a little bit (the other day, she'd mad a point of dragging the remnants of the wagon inside... Along with the first metal smith’s anvil). She decided that she needed another barrel... That meant making an axe, and chopping down wood... To make an axe she'd need a metal forge going... She supposed if only she had something like coal she could make an axe... To find that she would need to bridge the chasm and mine deeper into the mountain...

And so, she built a bridge so that she could dig, so that she'd have coal, so that she could make an axe, so that she'd have wood, so that she could make barrels, so that she could drink... Such was today's project.

---

Tristber's party was in high spirits.
Rigoth Rigothudos the smith, or Rigothudos as he was called to minimize confusion, was joking with Rakust the miner. "And so the elf stood between him and the 'tree' raised his bow and said, 'I'd sooner see a dwarf die than this tree.' And the axedwarf was all like, 'That's no tree you fool! It's an elephant's leg!' The elf turned around, and was crushed by the bloodthirsty beast!"
Rakust laughed heartily, but Tun the craftsdwarf was less amused.
"That didn't even make sense," she said as Rigothudos rolled his eyes, "For one thing, elves are so tall the elephant's body, not their leg, would be at eye level- and elephants are by nature peaceful creatures! Why would it just up and kill that elf without any provocation? Not to mention the fact that elves have that thing where they're all friends-to-nature and such..."
"Aw, c'mon Tun," Rakust, who had enjoyed the joke, said, "It was just a joke! And it had a dead elf in it and everything!"
"Humph," was the only reply Tun gave.

"Um... excuse me?" It was the new recruit, Melbil, who was looking about timidly at the dark forests, "Are we far enough out that you can tell me where we're going?"
"Oh, right," Tristber had forgotten about him, "We're heading for the Mad Dwarf's lair."
"What!?" Melbil had clearly heard the stories, "But, but we'll surely all die! I... we can't go there."
"Nah," Tristber was relaxed, "It's okay because- and this is why we didn't tell you sooner, by the way- the Mad Dwarf is dead. We didn't want you blabbing about it back in the capitol, as it's not common knowledge yet, and we paid good money to those merchants for it."
"Okay... but... How much can we trust these merchants?"
"... Don't worry about it, it'll be fine..." Tristber was reassuring herself too... "And don't hesitate to ask any questions you may have."
"... Uh, in that case... did anyone bring an axe?"
"What?"
"For wood... don't we need an axe to cut wood?"
"Uh..."
"Don't worry about it!" the other Rigoth, Rigothudos, replied, "I'll make one! I'm a metal smith after all!"
"Besides," Tristber went on, "There should be all sorts of supplies laying about that the Mad Dwarf made... She probably had an axe..."

---

Yep, making an axe was no easy task...
The bridge was made, and Urist had started digging...

---

The mountain was finally in sight. The dwarves were generally enthusiastic, except for Melbil who was still wary of the situation, but they had arrived.

The first thing to do was establish what was up... There was a locked door, and a gory tunnel with an adjacent switch room, just as the merchants had said...
"Let's just bust down the door," Rigothudos suggested.
Tun was quick to shoot down that idea, "Fool, you think the Mad Dwarf lived this long if you could just walk down the main entrance? It's gotta be trapped."
"Tun's right," Tristber said, "We should dig a new outpost... there." She pointed north, a ways up the cliff face. "Rakust, you get busy digging, Tun, I know your specialty is crafts, but try to make us a couple of doors, Asteth you go out and try to gather plants."
"Uh, I'm a farmer... not an herbalist..." Asteth pointed out.
"Yeah, well until we get some fields up and running, you'll have to make yourself useful in other ways..."
"Speaking of useful, what about me?" Rigothudos asked.
"Right, you and Melbil go down to the trade depot, the merchants said it was loaded with supplies."
"Err... what about you, if you don't mind my asking?" Melbil said.
"... I'll fish."

---

Rigothudos wasn't bothered by the ominous jungle, or so he told himself, but he was forced to admit he was more than a bit crept out by the gory corpse filled tunnel to the trade depot...

"Ain't what you were expecting when we offered you a job, eh Melbil!"
"... Well, I was expecting a few less corpses..."
Rigothudos laughed heartily. He had been wondering if this timid jeweler had an ounce of humor in him!
There was the trade depot...
"Okay, let's see what goodies the Mad Dwarf left us!"
"Are you sure you'd be interested in what a homicidal maniac would consider a 'goodie'?"
Riguthudos laughed again... but he wasn't sure he liked this fellow's humor after all...

"Is this all?" Melbil sounded resigned, as if he'd expected this.
Rigothudos was just confused... Hadn't those nice merchants said there were tons of supplies? All that was here was... a bag of sugar...
"Well, at least we have that delicious barrel of Swamp Whiskey we found outside!" Rigothudos was inclined to look on the bright side, no point in moping.
"But how long with that last six dwarves..."
There were few people that Rigothudos didn't get along well with... Melbil was definitely one of them...

They returned with the sugar and whiskey, and Tristber put them to work- Melbil would rig up a coupled of boulders to drop from the ceiling on intruders, and Rigothudos would... clean turtles... Pah! He was a metal smith, not some... turtle cleaner...

Nevertheless, things progressed smoothly, and a young fortress was soon established.

Dead turtles smell... pretty bad Rigothudos thought...
"Hey Tun," he called, the dwarf in question making tables and chairs nearby for the newly mined dining room, "Wanna go look for the dead dwarves in the woods? It'll be cool- we might even get some spiffy boots or something."
"... Uh, no. In case you haven't noticed, we have a new outpost to establish, and we don't have nearly as many supplies as we thought we did."
"Aww, but this pile of turtles I've been mucking around with will feed us for a year, and that Swamp Whiskey will last... What more do we need?"
"How about a place to eat those turtles, unless you want to sit on the ground."
"Phst, you're no fun... Hey Rakust!"
Rakust, who had been mining, just came out for a quick drink. Rigothudos made the same proposal to him, as Tun pretended not to listen.
"Hey, that sounds like fun! You've always got these great ideas." Rakust proved more cooperative...
As they left Rigothudos turned back and stuck his tongue out at Tun, who responded in kind. That dwarf was okay. Even though she picked on him, Rigothudos was inclined to forgive her.

As they neared the river, the two dwarves noticed something odd...

---

Urist continued to mine, as the cat played with a crippled bat nearby. Things felt... peaceful.

---

Tristber was used to fishing in the cave river... These swamps had nothing but turtles in them, and to catch them she had to get down in the mud... it wasn't pleasant... She decided to try fishing in the river instead...
"Elephants! I tell you they were Elephants!"
"But Elephants... don't they have skin and flesh and stuff?!"
"Whatever they are they're big, and they are bloodthirsty, and they saw us!"

Tristber was surprised to see Rakust and Rigothudos charge out of the woods and run right past her, "Run!" was all Rigothudos said...

Run from what? Then she heard it, a terrible thundering gallop, crushing the underbrush and knocking trees out of the way- She still didn't know what she was running from, but decided she had better run anyway.

The sound was getting louder- whatever it was gaining on her. She just about ran into Asteth, who was gathering plants. She gave the same one word of warning that Rigothudos had given her, "Run!"
"What, why?"
Asteth didn't argue for much longer.

They ran back to the encampment, which was in a state of confusion.
"I tell you! Bloodthirsty elephants! They're coming!" Rigothudos was desperately trying to get Tun to believe him.
"I already explained, elephants are peaceful creatures."
"But... are they still peaceful when they don't have any skin or flesh or stuff!" Rakust was still terrified.

"He's right," Tristber shouted, "we have to be quick, they're right behind us!"
"Wha- AAHH!" Asteth suddenly shouted.

He was down, and there was, just as Rigothudos and Rakust claimed, an Elephant, somehow bereft of flesh and skin and stuff...

It stuck a tusk through Asteth's skull as all the other dwarves looked on helplessly...

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Eiba

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Re: One Dwarf Against the World
« Reply #78 on: March 11, 2007, 07:47:00 pm »

Mmm... Quarry Bush Leaf Biscuits! Is there anything finer? Well... maybe Dwarven Rum...
The cat had dragged a bat back with it... Urist would have to dispose of it sooner or later...

---

It towered before Rigothudos... What... what was it? He was paralyzed with fear, as a second emerged from the woods...
It seemed as if in slow motion as the two ivory behemoths charged at him...
Was... was he about to die?
"Run, you bloody idiot!" Tun's voice shook him to his senses, but too late, he wouldn't be able to flee in time... He tripped and cowered on the ground...
But then, Tun shouted "Hey, you big undead idiots, over here!" She waved her arms, and the creatures took notice of her... She began to run to draw them off, but they were too close...

   

"TUN!" Rigothudos was in tears... This wasn't supposed to happen! He backed up to the cliff face... The beasts approached... But Tun, Tun was dead!

   

Rigothudos would say something silly, and Tun would insult him... That's how things were, but Tun was dead... Tun had given her life to save Rigothudos... On the surface, it seemed as if Tun and Rigothudos hated each other but... that's not how it really was... in fact... the truth was...

"Rigothudos! Over here!"
Rakust had hid in the merchant-killing tunnel, he was now peaking out and gesturing for Rigothudos to join him...
Without thinking Rigothudos ran towards the hiding spot, but with the elephant hot on his heals...
"No, wait, not over here! Go away!"
Rakust realized that the elephant following Rigothudos would kill them both if he ducked into the cave... Rigothudos did too, and ran past the cave, but it was no use.

   

Rakust too! Not just Tun, but his best friend Rakust too! Dead... they were all dead... This wasn't supposed to happen! They were supposed to all live together, happily working here... away from all the complexities of city life... Rigothudos was supposed to be happy... He would have married Tun, maybe raised a kid... But now... Tun was dead, lying in a pool of her own blood...
Rigothudos fell... Why was he running? Why should he keep going? They were dead. Soon he would be too.

 

---

"Wow! This could be useful!" Urist was talking to the cat. Together they were sitting, looking at a river of molten rock and bathing in its heat... "I don't think we'll need wood for our metal working operation." Things were going just great.

 

[ March 11, 2007: Message edited by: Eiba ]

[ March 11, 2007: Message edited by: Eiba ]

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Eiba

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Re: One Dwarf Against the World
« Reply #79 on: March 11, 2007, 07:49:00 pm »

Tirist ran... It was all in ruins, her party was dead... She was, as far as she knew, the only survivor... But she wouldn't die! They wouldn't get her! So she ran. She was good at running... It sounded like there was only one behind her... She headed for the river with some vague notion that she'd cross it, run through the jungle and escape...

She saw the river, and looked about for the ford... She had to hurry as the colossus was on her heels. All of a sudden, the water churned- from the depths, right in front of her, rose the elephant bones- covered in algae and river plants, it was a dark mass, with bones gleaming underneath... There was a tremendous thud as it took its first step onto the land, she heard the other beast fast approaching from behind it's thundering crunching clattering gallop, and she mad a quick mental calculation and ran upstream.

She kept running- two giant beasts behind her... She found the ford, and crossed, the elephants moved through the water as fast as she did on land, but she kept running... She had no idea where she was running, and before she knew it, two more beasts had joined in the chase.

Four of them! Four gigantic masses of animated bones and ivory, tearing through the woods- they made a tremendous din, galloping and clattering... rather disconcertingly they made no animal noises- they didn't trumpet as you'd expect elephants to do so... Tristber imagined them as mute businesslike killers, assassins who had only one single goal in mind...

And there was Tristber... the little fisherdwarf dogging between the plants and around the trees, as the colossal beasts perused with their killing intent... The size disparity struck Tristber as amusing... on one level- on another she was utterly terrified.

But she wouldn't let them kill her! She started ducking and moving about through the undergrowth in an effort to throw them off. She would survive! She was determined!

She crossed back over the river, growing weary, but still determined, she would survive! Looking back, she saw she'd lost two of her pursuers.

She took heart, and put her all into loosing the last two. She would survive! Ducking and weaving through the trees, around the swamps all of a sudden... The cliff... It was a long, long way from the outpost, looking back there was just one skeletal elephant that had kept with her.

She wouldn't die!

It charged; she became enraged; she would take this beast on! There was only the one! She could take it!

She wouldn't die, she would survive!

It wasn't over! The elephant lunged, attacked, gored her in the chest, smashed up her legs! She would survive! It mangled her arm, and splattered her blood on the rocks. Its foot held over he head, she was in unimaginable pain, but she Would Not Die Here!

Her willpower alone could only go so far...

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Eiba

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Re: One Dwarf Against the World
« Reply #80 on: March 11, 2007, 07:50:00 pm »

Ooh! Coal! Gold too, but coal was useful!

Lots of coal!

More coal than she'd ever need actually, she seemed to have gone a bit overboard with the mining... It was late, so Urist headed back to her room...

It was a good day, Urist reflected. Good things had happened. She went to sleep in her peaceful world, content.


The Twelth Happy Night

---

Oh... Oh damn... They had all died... Melbil was alone... There was no one here... just him... and the beasts...
Somehow, that didn't surprise him. He'd always been incredibly unlucky... The fact that he survived the devastation was evidence of that...

But he was alive, and perhaps he'd live long enough to be rescued and suffer more miseries back in the capitol... Perhaps he'd be blamed for their deaths... That sounded like something Dwarven Justice would do...

For now, he would need a pick... visited Rakust's corpse and took up his pick.

He felt kind of guilty about plundering the dead... To make amends he set about converting what was once to be the dining room into a tomb... Though as he crudely crafted coffins out of stone, he grew more and more tired, untill he fell asleep right there in the mud...


The First Miserable Night

---

Yeah, technically there's still no confrontation- between Urist and the outside, that is. But between the Elephants and the Immigrants? Lots.

(Hell yeah, 9 pages on MS word)

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Xeirxes

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Re: One Dwarf Against the World
« Reply #81 on: March 11, 2007, 08:59:00 pm »

This is an amazing piece of story, REMEMBER TO BACK UP YOUR SAVES so we can continue to enjoy this for a long time  :D
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Slartibartfast

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Re: One Dwarf Against the World
« Reply #82 on: March 12, 2007, 08:32:00 am »

Ah great, pretty good update, but most importantly it leaves a lot of potential for a super mega awesome update in the near future  :)
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But what do I know?
Everything I say should be taken with atleast 1 tsp. of salt, and another liter of Dwarven Wine is recommended.

"I thought it was the size of the others!" said Vanon. "I guess it was just standing further away!"

Poil

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Re: One Dwarf Against the World
« Reply #83 on: March 12, 2007, 12:44:00 pm »

Incredible. I love how the dwarves die painfully outside while Urist doesn't even notice it.  :)
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[DEMONLORD]

Solara

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Re: One Dwarf Against the World
« Reply #84 on: March 13, 2007, 02:35:00 pm »

All right, an update! A big update too, definitely worth the wait.  :)

Even with no confrontation between Urist and the others, the story is better than ever, and I'm interested in seeing what happens to Melbil. Wonder how long he and Urist'll be there working on two entirely seperate fortresses before they notice each other...

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Mind War

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Re: One Dwarf Against the World
« Reply #85 on: March 14, 2007, 09:43:00 pm »

I know your probably sick of the same people commenting on how awesome your story is, so i though i might drop a comment: First of all, i think it is amazing, extremely well written and composed. Also it is very clever the way you seem to entice everything that happens, (even the little things) Looking forward for more updates, but school is definately more important. Keep up the great work, and hopefully i will continue commenting as time progresses.

I WANT URIST TO DIE!!!!! dont know why, but i want her to commit suicide, (i am predicting a fairly in depth background story involving her father and herself. Maybe some insight on why she is so "stark raving mad") i think back story is always interesting and really makes the story evolve.
(seriosly though, have urist become even crazier, build a statue garden and somehow drown herself in magma, as dozens of migrants watch as her body slowly melts away by the heat of the magma!!!!
Anyway, as i said, keep up the great work.............................................................................  ;)

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puke

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Re: One Dwarf Against the World
« Reply #86 on: March 15, 2007, 01:13:00 pm »

the writing style is just brilliant, especially how in game events are tied together through the narative.  i especially enjoyed this last installment that told the two stories in parallel.  wonderfully done.

looking forward to more.  and i, for one, do NOT hope that the heroine dies.  but i do anticipate additional ammusing and harrowing situations, bringing doom to visitors and establishing a thriving little one-dwarf-utopia inside the mountain.

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TotalPigeon

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Re: One Dwarf Against the World
« Reply #87 on: March 15, 2007, 03:20:00 pm »

Oh yeah, enough of these story threads go under as it is because of "apparent" lack of interest, I for one really enjoy them but then again, I rarely show my appreciation so I guess I'm just as much to blame. So just to say, this is a really great story, please keep the updates coming I really want to know how the fortress turns out  :D

Also, everyone else reading this thing, and all the others on the site, show some damn appreciation! Lots of interest are what keep these things going, but if you don't post it no one knows you're enjoying it!

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Armok

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Re: One Dwarf Against the World
« Reply #88 on: March 15, 2007, 03:57:00 pm »

Thiszs szstory haszs my bleszsing... aszs I am the God of blood... and thiszs szstory iszs bloody...
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So says Armok, God of blood.
Sszsszssoo...
Sszsszssaaayysss...
III...

Jaqie Fox

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Re: One Dwarf Against the World
« Reply #89 on: March 16, 2007, 01:01:00 am »

Wow.  Very good storytelling and very good gameplaying. I am enthralled! keep it up, please?
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