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Author Topic: Libashabod (Axestrike), a tale of lies and conflict [Starting!]  (Read 6021 times)

Dozebôm Lolumzalìs

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Re: Libashabod (Axestrike), a tale of hardship and war [Starting!]
« Reply #15 on: November 04, 2018, 10:47:06 pm »

First Year

15th Granite, 125

The wagon rolled to a stop by a small pond. To the east, a steep grassy foothill. To the north, a dense forest. To the west, a small stream. This was it. After two weeks, the dwarves had finally reached Libashabod.

Zuntîr sat down on the wagon. The journey hadn't been easy. The constant walking, the short nights with watch shifts, the thin cloths they used as makeshift bedrolls, the difficulty of finding a solid path for the wagon... after all that, the dwarves were weary and sunsick. But this was just the beginning of their duties. Zuntîr took a deep breath and stood up.

"Alright. We're here. The first order of business is to establish temporary formal positions. I will be the expedition leader, manager, broker, and bookkeeper. Ïteb will be the chief medical dwarf." The older dwarf nodded at her. "Nix will be the militia commander."

"What does that mean?" asked Nix.

"Not much for now, and you'll likely be replaced once we form a true militia. All you need to do is assess and coordinate training, alerts, schedules, and so on," Zuntîr told her.

"I can do that," Nix said confidently.

Later that day.

"Where's the pick?" asked Nix. "We don't have one," explained Zuntîr. "To save on costs, we're going to smith all our tools on-site. That bring me to the next topic. Justin, can you make a temporary metalworking area?" Justin confirmed that he could. "Then Justin should work on constructing that. If you need any help, just ask one of us."

"I can construct the workshops myself, but I'll need an architect's help designing them. And I'm not skilled at wood burning," Justin explained his needs.

"Kivish is an architect and Ïteb has experience burning wood," Zuntîr told him. "You're both willing to help?" They agreed. "It's decided then. The three of you have the project of creating one bismuth bronze pick and one bismuth bronze axe."

"As for the rest of us, I'll be planning the outpost design with Kivish's help. BlueKanary should gather food from the forest. She and Nix can also train. Sigun... you can help anywhere you like, or just wait," Zuntîr said, turning to the grumpy old dwarf. He only shrugged and sat back down.

27th Granite, 125



Twelve days later, the sound of a hammer against metal rang through the foothills. It stopped early in the afternoon as Justin dropped the hot pick into a nearby bucket of water. Sitting down on the wagon next to a pile of celery and prickle berries, he waited a few minutes for it to cool. "Nix, your pick is ready!" he shouted across the pond as he pulled it, still warm to the touch, out of the bucket.

Nix and BlueKanary stopped practice-brawling as Nix walked around the pond. "Thanks, Justin. It looks exceptionally good," she told him as he gave the pick to her. "Perhaps this was worth the wait." BlueKanary, seeing that Nix would be busy, wandered back into the forest to find more shrubs. They already had 49 plants (she'd counted as she picked them), but they could always use more, and it wasn't as if she had anything better to do.

Nix walked up the hillside to where Zuntîr was standing. She had her notebook out and was looking over some diagrams. "You have your pick? Good. We're ready to begin mining out the entrance," Zuntîr told Nix while gesturing at the rocky slope. Four metal spikes marked where the miner was to carve the hole. "I couldn't have finished this quickly if not for Kivish. Where is she, anyway?" asked Zuntîr.

"She's been praying to Ralavuz. It seems we're close enough to the mountains to feel her presence," Nix postulated.

"Interesting. Well, I'm going to check on the food stocks. I'll be just down the hill if you need me," said Zuntîr.

Zuntîr's Notebook: Initial Psychological Notes

How is each dwarf handling the expedition life so far?

Overall, morale seems to have improved. This is probably because we're not constantly on the move like before. Another cause could be the satisfying work many of us are doing.

Nix and BlueKanary seem the happiest of us all, perhaps because of their deep friendship. They have bonded over their mutual desire to learn brawling.

Nix, along with Kivish and Justin, also seems to enjoy conversations and the craftsdwarfship of our makeshift forge. BlueKanary also seems satisfied with her herbalism skills.

Sigun and Ïteb seem a bit detached. Ïteb has complained to me that worms crawl on her while she sleeps. To be honest, I can't enjoy these social interactions much either. But we're doing alright. It'll be better once we've dug in.

That reminds me - another thing Sigun, Ïteb, and I have in common is that none of us can do our true jobs for now. I have no office, Sigun has nothing to craft with, and Ïteb has no hospital, no mechanisms to work on, and no cloth to weave. That probably explains some of our relative unhappiness.

28th Granite, 125 - Zuntîr's Notebook

Kivish seems to have started something. Ïteb is now praying to Ûd, and Justin is meditating on jewels. He waited until he had finished the bismuth bronze axe, though, which is how Kivish is currently chopping at a ginkgo tree next to the pond.

1st Slate, 125 - Zuntîr's Notebook

Today is a day of bad news. Sigun tells me that the sand here is too loamy to be used for glass, and BlueKanary tells me that there are almost no fruit trees in the area.

2nd Slate, 125 - Zuntîr's Notebook

After spending two days meditating on jewels, Justin says he can feel Doren Sosadber. It is remarkable that the gods notice us even without a temple. Perhaps this bodes well for Libashabod.

Nix found an amethyst cluster while mining out the outpost entrance. Truly Doren Sosadber has blessed us.

5th Slate, 125

Nix drove her pick into the sandstone, chipping out another piece. A spot of darkness in the wall caught her eye, and she put her eye next to the wall to inspect it. She rubbed her thumb on it, then pulled out a chisel and broke some of the dark rock off easily. "Soft and black," she muttered, "that rules out obsidian and onyx."

She walked out of the wide hallway and down to Ïteb. "Ïteb, can you tell if this is jet or lignite?" The wood burner took the sample and turned it over in her hand. "Hm," Ïteb said. She started a small fire and put a thin metal needle in it for a few minutes, then took the needle out and held it against the rock. She then pulled out a hammer and crushed it. "This seems more like wood than coal, yes. Probably not lignite," Ïteb frowned. "At least it'll be easier to mine through, right?" she asked. "Perhaps," answered Nix.

Zuntîr's Notebook

Nix found jet (rather than lignite) today. To offset the disappointing find, she also found tigereye while excavating what will be the outpost's main staircase.

6th Slate, 125 - Zuntîr's Notebook

Praise the miners! Or the miner singular, I suppose, since we only have the one. Regardless, we have found native gold and copper! I decided not to have Justin smelt it, as it's too valuable to risk bringing outside. We can wait until the permanent forges are dug out.

8th Slate, 125

The dwarves stood around a barrel of ale, using cupped hands to bring the drink to their lips. "I miss mugs," Nix said.

24th Slate, 125 - Zuntîr's Notebook

These hills are filled with minerals. Nix found lignite and galena while mining out the staircase.



We have been busy for the last few weeks trying to store all the food we have. We've had to cram the trade depot room full of barrels, and if you're trying to get to the staircase, you need to step overseas er piles of meat and gems. I did not think that we would have the problem of too much food. I will have Nix dig out a dedicated food storage room somewhere off the staircase.

3rd Felsite, 125 - Zuntîr's Notebook

Somehow, BlueKanary found black sand while trying to farm outside. Good! I have ordered a makeshift glass furnace set up.

9th Felsite, 125 - Zuntîr's Notebook

Nix has dug out an area in a higher part of the hill where there is loamy sand. BlueKanary can begin farming there. Nix also found native copper and lignite while digging the tunnel upward.

Kivish has been busy logging for the past few weeks. We will have plenty of fuel to smelt our plentiful ores with.

11th Felsite, 125 - Zuntîr's Notebook



Nix finished the food stockpile and BlueKanary has tilled the sand. Now we can both produce food and store it.

22nd Felsite, 125 - Zuntîr's Notebook

Work continues on the basic farming and masonry areas. Justin is currently setting up a mason's shop while Nix mines out stone storage. The rest of us are moving raw food into the farming area so BlueKanary can cook it.

1st Hematite, 125 - Zuntîr's Notebook

Summer has arrived. I have made some sketches of the outpost as it stands today.

Spoiler: summer sketches (click to show/hide)

6th Hematite, 125

BlueKanary held out the food. "It's a salad!" she told Sigun.

"Really?"

"Yes, see the asparagus and garden cress leaves?"

"It just looks like a pile of leaves to me..." muttered Sigun.

"It's flavored with garlic and onion," explained BlueKanary.

"Are you sure that was a good culinary decision?" asked Sigun with a hint of disdain.

"Of course!" BlueKanary asserted. "I am a real cook who makes good food."



"If you say so..." muttered Sigun as he took the food and walked to eat it in the corner of the room. "When are we getting tables and chairs?" he complained to noone in particular.

12th Hematite, 125 - Zuntîr's Notebook



The dining hall has tables and chairs now. It still looks like a construction site. It's half-dug-out, intersected by half-excavated ore veins, and is weirdly shaped to avoid the nearby aquifer. But at least we can sit down to eat, and it's a place to gather and talk that's not outside. We can now avoid the sun if we want to, which most of us do.

15th Hematite, 125 - Zuntîr's Notebook

I decided to celebrate the new dining hall with a poetry recitation. I went with the Devious Word and Roughness, a cheerful poetic riddle about family. It was enjoyable.

16th Hematite, 125 - Zuntîr's Notebook

Apparently Kivish has been logging this whole time. I was wondering why I hadn't seen her for days. She says she thinks there are about two thousand logs outside, and she's an expert woodcutter at this point.

21st Hematite, 125 - Zuntîr's Notebook

We finally have a job for Sigun - Nix has dug out an area for a craftsdwarf's workshop and the outpost needs mugs. He asked me to wait until he was done telling the story of the ascension of King Dodok in the fifth year. I didn't know he was interested in early history.

The permanent metalworking area is partially complete, so I told Justin to tear down the makeshift area outside.

23rd Hematite, 125 - Zuntîr's Notebook

I seem to have gotten Ïteb interested in the Devious Word and Roughness. Sigun and I listened to her recite it. It was delightful.

2nd Malachite, 125 - Zuntîr's Notebook

Kivish stopped logging for a day to design the permanent smelter, and now Justin is smelting the plentiful lignite into coke.

Nix finished digging out a room near the trade depot to house trade goods, furniture, and assorted other items.

12th Malachite, 125 - Zuntîr's Notebook

We are running dangerously low on alcohol. Nix had to drink from the brook. I ordered BlueKanary to stop making "salad" and make alcohol instead. Hopefully she can't make that taste like garlic.

Annoyingly, part of the farm ceiling has collapsed. Hopefully we can reinforce it with solid dwarven stone.

Some migrants arrived. The first was Rimtar Iklistdodok, a professional bookbinder. Why the king would send a professional bookbinder to a military outpost, I have no idea, but perhaps it was for his brokering skills instead. He is an adept negotiator and persuader, he told me. I suppose he could be lying, but lying is only a form of persuasion, so he'd be skilled anyway.

The next was Mörul Feblolok, a great stoneworker. Good. This means Justin can focus on smelting and smithing instead of masonry. It also means we might get a better-looking dining hall now. Mörul brought his two-year-old daughter named Mafol Tomusåblel. Mörul's wife, Rakust Gusilgídthur, is a novice marksdwarf and a great fishery worker. Was she sent as a professional civilian or a recruit? I'm guessing the former, given that her husband is also here. I guess we can always use more food. At the very least we can trade it for weapons.

Spoiler: Mörul Feblolok (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Rimtar Iklistdodók (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Rakust Gusilgídthur (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Mafol Tomusåblel (click to show/hide)

The arrival of migrants reminded me that we should set up dormitories at the least. I decided to use an old but trusty bedroom design with a few modifications.

21st Malachite, 125

Rakust dragged the turkey corpse into the shoddy dining room and dropped it on the floor next to a swarm of flies. "Here is this turkey which I killed. I feel nothing about killing it. I killed it for our food, not for sport," she announced.

Sigun just stared at her until she left.

Zuntîr's Notebook

I want to make something. I feel restless. This roast is really bad. Celery, cabbage, and strawberries do not go well together.

I think I am the least happy dwarf in this outpost. Even Sigun seems to be happier reciting poetry. My poetry. The poetry he wouldn't even know about if I hadn't recited it.

That's it. If he's stealing my poetry, I'll steal his job. I'll make a wooden mug or something.

24th Malachite, 125 - Zuntîr's Notebook

Rakust ran out of her silver bolts and left a yak collapsed in pain. I asked BlueKanary to put it out of its misery. She knows how to brawl and the yak's almost dead, so I think she can do it. Just choke it, right? She looked a bit scared but said she would.

4th Galena, 125 - Zuntîr's Notebook

BlueKanary is in the hospital. She spent the last week wrestling with the half-dead yak until it kicked her in the leg and she had to crawl away. Rakust carried her to an empty room we're calling a hospital, although that isn't as altruistic as it looks, coming from the person who refused to finish what she started and kill the poor yak.

Ïteb is worried about BlueKanary - we have no soap, and her wound is open. She'll need sutures, dressing, and a crutch. We have all but the latter, so I told Kivish to make a wooden crutch.

8th Galena, 125 - Zuntîr's Notebook

Ïteb treated BlueKanary's leg and says she's fine now and doesn't need a crutch. We can save the crutch for later, I guess. Given the purpose of this outpost, we'll need it.

9th Galena, 125 - Zuntîr's Notebook

With BlueKanary in the hospital, our dwindling alcohol supply entirely disappeared. I told BlueKanary that dwarves died if they didn't get alcohol for a month, and she rushed to the still.

Also, since BlueKanary is our only butcher, the turkey corpse rotted. I had somebody drag it outside. Why did Rakust bring it there in the first place?

15th Galena, 125 - Zuntîr's Notebook

Rakust has turned to the safer job of fishing. She says there aren't any fish in the southeast ponds. There are southeast ponds?



Rakust! Why would there be fish there? That's little more than a puddle! Go fish in the brook instead.

Somebody told BlueKanary that dwarves would not, in fact, die without alcohol. Despite her incredible weakness, she can be very imposing. Perhaps she got that from the week spent wrestling a yak. Thankfully, she's still making alcohol. Unfortunately, all I can find is turnip wine.

18th Galena, 125 - Zuntîr's Notebook



Nix finally finished mining out that lignite and is now mining out the bedrooms. She finished the dormitories first, so we'll be sleeping in a dormitory for now. Except Nix and I - we've got bedrooms. But I helped build the dormitory, so I think I'm being fair.

BlueKanary is meditating on darkness. I am slightly worried.

23rd Galena, 125 - Zuntîr's Notebook

I finally got an office. It's just a corner with a desk in the dormitory, but it means I can manage and track stocks much more easily. I'm setting up a work order to keep at least a hundred drinks in our stockpiles at any given moment. I’ve also asked Justin to begin smelting the numerous boulders of ore around the fortress.
« Last Edit: November 05, 2018, 01:46:37 am by Dozebôm Lolumzalìs »
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NRDL

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Re: Libashabod (Axestrike), a tale of hardship and war [Starting!]
« Reply #16 on: November 04, 2018, 11:16:19 pm »

Jesus. Forgot how useless unarmed was with zombies. Would you mind training Nix with a spear instead? Swords just make undead more difficult to fight, and I'm not sure how effective blunt damage is in this version.

I like the layout of your writing, actually makes it easier to read, compared to a lot of succession and community forts.
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Dozebôm Lolumzalìs

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Re: Libashabod (Axestrike), a tale of hardship and war [Starting!]
« Reply #17 on: November 05, 2018, 12:00:40 am »

Jesus. Forgot how useless unarmed was with zombies. Would you mind training Nix with a spear instead? Swords just make undead more difficult to fight, and I'm not sure how effective blunt damage is in this version.

I like the layout of your writing, actually makes it easier to read, compared to a lot of succession and community forts.
Would a pick work as well as a spear? You are a legendary miner. (That is, you are/will be a legendary miner in mid-fall, where I currently am.)

Thanks. Could I ask which parts of my layout contribute to this? (It's for the sake of finding what works and experimenting with what doesn't.)
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Sigtext!

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Re: Libashabod (Axestrike), a tale of hardship and war [Starting!]
« Reply #18 on: November 05, 2018, 12:13:03 am »

It's the constant dividing of paragraphs into short two sentence paragraphs, even single lines. Much easier format to deal with than walls of text.

Also, I'd love to be a fighting miner. It's just that I always thought uniform issues would lead to dorfs not actually arming themselves with picks as a military weapon. Probably just an older version issue.
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Dozebôm Lolumzalìs

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Re: Libashabod (Axestrike), a tale of hardship and war [Starting!]
« Reply #19 on: November 05, 2018, 01:28:08 am »

It's the constant dividing of paragraphs into short two sentence paragraphs, even single lines. Much easier format to deal with than walls of text.
Ah, and there I was worrying that my paragraphs were too short. Good to hear.
Quote
Also, I'd love to be a fighting miner. It's just that I always thought uniform issues would lead to dorfs not actually arming themselves with picks as a military weapon. Probably just an older version issue.
That issue still exists AFAICT, but I’ve found that disabling the Miner job allows Nix to use her pick in combat.
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...Simplification leaves us with the black extra-cosmic gulfs it throws open before our frenzied eyes...
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Sigtext!

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Re: Libashabod (Axestrike), a tale of lies and conflict [Starting!]
« Reply #20 on: November 05, 2018, 02:21:49 am »

Pick is more like a sword or axe towards humanoid-sized undead, tbh, being easily capable of limb removal.

Well, sharp stuff can also still leave mangled corpses, just something to consider.

Dozebôm Lolumzalìs

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Re: Libashabod (Axestrike), a tale of lies and conflict [Starting!]
« Reply #21 on: November 05, 2018, 03:32:37 am »

Pick is more like a sword or axe towards humanoid-sized undead, tbh, being easily capable of limb removal.

Well, sharp stuff can also still leave mangled corpses, just something to consider.
I’m curious why. What property of weapons determines limb removal chance?
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...Simplification leaves us with the black extra-cosmic gulfs it throws open before our frenzied eyes...
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Re: Libashabod (Axestrike), a tale of lies and conflict [Starting!]
« Reply #22 on: November 05, 2018, 10:46:18 am »

At least my salad was "well-minced" and the garlic will help protect us from vampires, right?

Wrestling a Yak for a week eh. Intriguing.

Meditating on darkness is probably fine, I'm pretty sure the fortress doesn't have windows.

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Re: Libashabod (Axestrike), a tale of lies and conflict [Starting!]
« Reply #23 on: November 05, 2018, 12:26:13 pm »

@Dozebôm Lolumzalìs: Contact Area. Pick's contact area is 100 (and it has *2 velocity), which is five times what you see on, say, spear stab.

Of course, even spear has been known to cut off erstwhile limb on occasion and with repeated use (there at least used to be kind of exponential growth for contact area when hitting same spot for pulping damage). Mind, I don't make full sense of how a guy with pick can remove an uninjured limb on first strike, but I haven't seen pick bisecting torsos, unlike axes, which is where they're more like spears.

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Re: Libashabod (Axestrike), a tale of lies and conflict [Starting!]
« Reply #24 on: November 05, 2018, 04:04:43 pm »

Can I request my highest moodable skill be weaponsmithing?
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Dozebôm Lolumzalìs

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Re: Libashabod (Axestrike), a tale of lies and conflict [Starting!]
« Reply #25 on: November 05, 2018, 04:10:49 pm »

Can I request my highest moodable skill be weaponsmithing?
Sure, that shouldn't be too hard. Your current highest skill is masonry, but it's only at Proficient.
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...Simplification leaves us with the black extra-cosmic gulfs it throws open before our frenzied eyes...
Quote from: Salvané Descocrates
The only difference between me and a fool is that I know that I know only that I think, therefore I am.
Sigtext!

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Re: Libashabod (Axestrike), a tale of lies and conflict [Starting!]
« Reply #26 on: November 05, 2018, 05:53:35 pm »

Can I request my highest moodable skill be weaponsmithing?
Sure, that shouldn't be too hard. Your current highest skill is masonry, but it's only at Proficient.

In that case Masonry is fine. I didn't want to mood as an armor Smith and make a gauntlet.
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Skurkanas

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Re: Libashabod (Axestrike), a tale of lies and conflict [Starting!]
« Reply #27 on: November 12, 2018, 01:37:51 am »

I'd be down for a turn if you'll have me.

Otherwise just dorf me as a random axedwarf and write tales about my inevitable death in battle from FB-ichor
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Azukash

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Re: Libashabod (Axestrike), a tale of lies and conflict [Starting!]
« Reply #28 on: December 17, 2018, 04:09:40 pm »

I'd like to claim Zuntir. Give her the nickname bing or binging with the  lowercase. Eventually I'd like her to be the chief medical or just full time doctor. Maybe even a scholar/dwarfish scientist
« Last Edit: December 17, 2018, 04:25:06 pm by Azukash »
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Grimmash

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Re: Libashabod (Axestrike), a tale of lies and conflict [Starting!]
« Reply #29 on: December 18, 2018, 04:30:03 pm »

Hi!  Can I be dorfed (anyone will do, I only ask that my "bio" get posted).

Thanks!
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