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The Tale of Zirilonol, "Firemountain"

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DwarvenLord:
Basic Information

World: Ostarasp

Current Age: Myth

Civilization: The Portal of Climaxes

In the beginning, the Portal of Climaxes was seeking to expand it's power to the east, where the goblin civilization The Sins Of Dancing (And to a lesser extent, The Singed Curses) was growing more powerful. While technically they were at peace, you know how it is with goblins. So from the mountainhomes they sent a expedition to colonize a nearby volcano, hoping it was filled to the brim with valuable ores and gems.They were right, but it would take a few years to discover this, due to the unfortunate events that happened because of the Magma Panic. They called themselves The Fiery Dwellers, and they would colonized the site know as
FIREMOUNTAIN.
Their symbol was called The Greatest Mountain of Smouldering, and was a image of a burning mountain. They really went all into this 'volcano' thing. Sadly, they goofed up in multiple aspects of the embark. First, they exchanged the axe for a silver war hammer, not realizing that the axe was for chopping wood. Second, they didn't know that the mining job interfered with combat, so they brought along a miner/hammerdwarf. The reason they brought those two things is because they heard rumors of fiery beasts rising from the volcano, which happened exactly once, and it didn't even bother them. They embarked on a pretty short 1-2 day journey and arrived right next to the caldera, all that was separating them from certain Fun was a wall of obsidian. Strike the Earth!

DwarvenLord:
The wealth that the mountain held was visible from the surface. There was aluminium, completely exposed on the side of the mountain. Aluminum is on par with platinum in terms of value, due to the 'rarity' of the pure metal. The dwarves did not notice this, nor the second clump of aluminum they dug straight past. What they did notice is the volcanic sand they were digging into. There was quite a lot of it as well. They dug a long corridor that turned at 90 degree angle, went on a little more, till they hit more obsidian. They then dug out the main dining room/workshop area, along with some adjacent rooms for storage. They also set up a training room. The rest of the first year went uneventfully. Then the first caravan from Mistem Lir arrived. They scrounged for things to sell; they had to sell mugs (I went to a dwarf fortress, and all I got was this mug!) and rocks, just to get an axe. By this time, some immigrants had arrived, so the embark barrels were getting strained. They had also dug down, adn accidentally created a confusing mess of chambers and stairways. At the bottom, they started strip mining and only now did they figure out there was aluminium in this mountain. This was the beginning of the Lava Panic.
 

DwarvenLord:
The dwarves had heard of the effectiveness of magma forges/smelters and were determined  to make some. They chose one of confusing chambers below the main fortress to flood with magma. Tholtig Avalkodol was sent to dig a channel to the volcano, then to run out. It did not go to plan.
Tholtig dug and dug till he hit the magma. It rushed out quickly, killing him instantly, then immediately slowed down to a easy-to-outrun slither. The dwarves started to panic, because they had heard stories of many a fortress flooded to to pressure. They ran outside, and stayed there until they were sure it would not flood. They were mistaken; only water behaves this way. by the time they realized this they were dying of thirst. They quickly ran  back inside, but they were dropping like flies. Even worse, Onget Zazmozib, a newly arrived clothier, had a strange mood that required cloth the fort did not have. She went insane. In the end, only 4 dwarves were left remaining. 4! The next season was a difficult one. Two of the dwarves were assigned to gathering plants, one was assigned to brewing, and the fourth was cooking meals. Nil, the brewer, was the weakest of the four. He constantly yelled at the assigned expedition leader, who was gathering plants. He became oblivious once and tantrumed multiple times. This worried the other dwarves, not because they were afraid he was going to go insane but because a dwarven child had risen as a ghost, and they quickly built a memorial slab. They worried that in his rage, Nil would knock over the slab and make the child's ghost come back, vengeful and murderous. Luckily, (As lucky a fortress that nearly ended can be) this did not happen. Migrants arrived, despite the danger. The fortress was unstable though; there was still bodies in the hallways and workshops, causing immense stress. It was about this time that a newly arrived cheesemaker got overwhelmed by an idea. She grabbed some ginko wood and got to work, and created Unos Ralath, The Wail of Lamenting and claimed as a heirloom. Shortly after that, a Wereelephant attacked and killed Nil, the whiny woodworker. He was the only dwarven casualty. (Some animals died, but that was about it.) Then, a little bit later, The expedition leader got A great idea: An obsidian toy boat! (The power of your will isn't going to make it float, dude.) This was the second artifact of Firemountain. On another note, they got the magma smelter/forge working, so all Tholtig's and all those other dwarves' deaths were not in vain. Another dwarven   caravan arrived, and they traded more dead people's clothes for bars of rose gold and other gems and metals in a desperate attempt to make the fortress happier. More time went by. Another wave of dehydration-related deaths happened because they had less drink than they thought. The only really tragic death was Kogsak Godenkegeth, a metalsmith-turned-herbalist, survivor of the Lava Panic, and final member of the original expedition. A few more ghosts rose and were put to rest. Plans were drawn up to drain a pool  that was above the fortress and channel it inside, then build a well above it to provide something to drink. in case they run out of booze again and treat the injured that were produced due to tantrums. More migrants came. Then someone was possessed by an unknown force, claimed a magma forged, and forged  Isanonesh, "The Still Confederation," a rose gold table. It was placed in the main dining hall with a aluminium chair. It did nothing to improve the mood. They decided they needed a industrial metal, something that could be used for weapons. So they dug down... and down... and down... till, finally, they got out of all that obsidian, into a small metamorphic clump surround by basalt. They found gems of all sizes though noth-
Praise the miners!
No, not candy. Hematite. IRON. And lots of it. They had found the treasure trove under the mountain, one that could used to create an ever more precious material, Steel. Though to make steel, they would have to get some flux from a caravan, unless they found some marble. They didn't do anything with the iron, not yet. They were smelting it down first. But then, Nomal Inodul, Hunter, began to stalk and brood. He claimed a butcher's shop, and said he "Needed things... Certain things..." They butchered an alpaca, to see if that was what he needed. No avail. They let the dogs loose to kill some pests. Meanwhile, a human caravan arrived. No vermin remains or flux. They traded some "Exceedingly rare" aluminum, which was as common as copper in this fort, for some buckets and booze, since they were still strained since the last drought incident. And that is were I am now: A useless human caravan, an emo hunter, a lack of flux, and a fortress that is on the edge of a tantrum spiral. Any  suggestions?

DwarvenLord:
A civil war has broken out!
The hunter went insane, killed a few people and was killed. That wasn't the cause. It was when Sakzul Oltarlorbam went insane was when the problem started. He went beserk and was killed. Then a brawl broke out between the killers. Soon the entire fortress was pulled down into a loyalty cascade. To make it worse, migrant arrived in the middle of this mess and it is unsure if they joined in. In fact the leader (me) has no idea who is friend and who is foe.

Edit: I think it stopped? I have no idea. I don't know if it was even a loyalty cascade. There's no more "Urist Mcdwarf cancels Job: Interrupted by farmer" messages. And for a second I thought the mood was going to improve...

DwarvenLord:
(From now on, my posts will probably be short since I only play for about and hour a day, so not much happens.)

After the brawl, things are going well. The dwarves are digging out temples to Sedur and Moldath, smoothing it and engraving it and adding aluminum statues, hopefully improving the mood. Some people have been drafted into the military, and fortunately some of the immigrant peasants already have experience in weapons. Also, one of the four mechanics that arrived were drafted, and all those rangers and hunters were put in a archery squad. They are training as I speak. Other news is that Unib Alathabras, Dwarven Child, has withdrawn from society and is sketching pictures of forests and quarries, both of which we have. We will see what he creates... Bad news: another fisherman went stark raving mad.

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