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[TheFlame52]

Edit: looking at LV ... Maloy, why are there 63 Warriors of Udir roaming about now. 43 of them in Razorbridge. Did you start a lesbian angel cult?

I laughed

[Eric Blank]

Here is the last bit.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The Ritual of Death



The shrine was complete, and in two weeks, the ritual would commence. Pik and Desli, along with the human necromancer Thine, collected their things. Thine brought all the collection of necromantic tomes from the Museum. Desli had befriended the human farmer Edri. And Pik brought a steel short sword taken from the dwarves' armory, and spent his last night in isolation in his quarters. The two slabs were placed opposite each other in the shrine, inside the ring of statues, under the light of the waning moon cascading down the smoothed shaft above it. But the time wasn't quite right. With two weeks to spare, the trio left for a short trip to Boltspumpkin, and ensure Thine had acquired all the available secrets. They had, thankfully.

Obsidian 28th, 999

The party had made it back to the shore of the lake the night before. They broke camp around noon. Desli finished up the last of her bone figurines, packed the ones she liked in her bag, and threw the rest in the fire pit. She rolled the dice she had taken from the shrines of other gods on her journey. Bad luck, bad luck, bad luck, "Turn back." four different gods signaled their disapproval, but they would be ignored. They werent the gods for whom the ritual was being performed. They grabbed their bags and headed across the snowy fields to where the mountains rose up over the lake, and followed the cliffs back to the fortress entrance. By night they arrived, and found the fortress in disarray. Wild beasts from the mountains had descended upon the fortress, and dwarves caught outside were being attacked by undead animals. This biome wasn't reanimating, they had been animated by necromancers, of which there were several, panicked and fighting wild wolverines and yaks. Duck corpses flew circles around the fort exterior, pecking at dwarves as they ran for the trapped entrance.

The party ran towards the entrance, swatting aside zombies and enraged yaks. Resurrected hands of planesgifts and goblins stood in disbelief in the snow outside, watching the mess around them. The necromancers weren't giving orders. In the trap corridor, the corpses of dwarves, turtles, and goblins that had never been cleaned up clogged the first few traps. One of the necromancers lay dead at the corner. Finally inside, the party quickly descended to the living quarters, where they luckily found Edri. She followed them down to the catacombs. Pik then locked the doors behind them. There they waited for the last few hours. Cries echoed down from above, but eventually died down as shouts from the militia erupted.

Eventually, a knock came at one of the doors, from a steel gauntlet.

"Pik? Thine? Are you in there?" The militia commander's voice was distinguishable enough to Desli.

"We're fine," she responded. "Edri is with us too. What's going on?"

"We don't know. We were attacked by wildlife around dusk. Then the necromancers mucked things up raising the dead. We just put down the last of them. Do you need any help?"

"No," Pik's voice was clearly commanding, "we can't afford any interruptions."

"Fine. Yell if you do." Boot falls and slamming doors signaled that the commander had left.

"Okay, the stars are almost right, just a little longer." Thine chimed in. She had her books arrayed against the walls outside the doors to the shrine proper. The last few minutes of waiting were unbearable. Thine and Desli passed it by discussing what they would do afterwards.



"Edri, Desli, you have to start the ritual." She handed Desli a scroll and a piece of chalk. Desli knew it was a diversion.

They entered the shrine and walked into the ring of eleven statues, each depicting one of the gods of death. Between them, the two demon slabs stood, one under the statue of midor and one under the statue of The Black. Desli pointed at the center. "Okay, the scroll says first we need to stand at the center and face the statues. You face Midor, I'll face The Black." The two stood back-to-back. Silently, Desli unbuckled her axe. "I'm sorry," she whispered.



The axe struck perfectly, Edri's blood spilled in the circle, and in moments she lay limp. Desli walked out. Thine entered. She performed the resurrection, and Edri shuddered, gasped, and began to stand. Pik was there before she was even upright, and his blade plunged into her chest. The body collapsed again, and again Thine resurrected her, this time with a different spell. Desli's axe split Edri's back open. Again she awoke and rolled over. Pik's blade nearly cleaved her torso in two. Enraged, she awoke and lashed out as Desli's shield crashed into her skull. Pik's sword removed her head. She shuddered and lashed out wildly and was cut down by the axe. She sputtered putrid pus and clawed at her assailants. And was finally put to rest permanently. The ritual consisted only of betrayal and death, and it was done.




The trio left, Desli and Thine shaking visibly, Pik stoic and cold. They split, now, Pik going down one corridor, Desli hurrying down the stairs, and Thine collecting her books. Levers were pulled, and the shrine was sealed. They left the fortress, and headed back towards Boltspumpkin. They didn't sleep that night, or the next. They did come upon the shrine of Seasoncanyon. There they found the body of an old adventurer, Donas Silenttowers, whom they had read about in the Museum. They took his sword, and brought it along with the book collection back to the museum.



Afterwards, they departed for the south again. Pik soon lost his powers, his injuries healed, and he and Desli both realized they had lost all knowledge of their other skills. The next full moon came, and Pik did not transform, his curse seemingly vanishing with his new life.

[kesperan]

That was oddly sombre... poor Edri.

What was your official Museum submission of those items/artifacts?

[Eric Blank]

Like just one? The sword I guess.

[Maloy]

That was an incredibly dark ending Eric! I like it! Also heck of a way to break into year 1000


TL;DR

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

-We breed the warriors of udir and release them into the wild
-We duplicate Midor's divine metal and flood the market with it (Maloy aims to copyright her image so he owns it)
-Build an armory for passing adventurers to freely pick up Blistered Metal Gear(Mostly finished)
-We build an elven enclave north end of Razorbridges
-Arthur leads a squad of Elves to kill as many goblins as he can ultimately ending in conquering Tormentlives in hopes of drawing the Most Sin to try and reclaim it from him rather than invade others.

The reason why dark pits don't become abandoned despite having no population seems to be because of a glitch. Normally you have A group that rules a site government and then a civilization. But in some of these dark pits they have more. Civilization -> Lakemenace site government -> dark pits site government -> the group that rules it. So even if I kill everyone as long as the Lakemenace site government lives it can't truly be destroyed.
I tried to take Lakemenace which is a massive dark fortress, but the game required that we kill its 10k goblin and 10k troll population before it would let me conquer. While this was possible it also entirely went against the spirit of an adventure mode game to wipe out 20k members of a hostile group in fortress mode
I had to end fort shenanigans early and didn't finish the adventurer armory. A undead weremoose killed multiple elven children and infected several warriors of udir. It left me depressed so I retired to focus on other things.

Entry 2 - Arthur and Arandil

Prosringis was without a doubt the most intelligent and worthy being to ever live. So great was her genius that she didn't even need her head! The only two beings capable of competing with her vast superiority were her two comrade kobolds. When the foolish wolf man resurrected them they decided to set off immediately(plus the lizard thing scared them)! It was kobold destiny to conquer the world and the trio decided to find old dens of their fellows to help lead them to their proper destiny. Sadly, each lair was empty. Long empty. Some even had other monsters living in them now. This simply wouldn't do and with no clue where to go she relied on the traditional kobold tactic of: guile

They went back to the stinky dwarf bridge and asked to stay where they could build a base to inevitably take over the world. Well, the others asked. She used kobold sign language to speak with them, but they had to speak to others using words. It's fine, really.


The Elven Smith
Arandil sat at the tavern enjoying mead with his "uncle" while Razorbridge was all a-flutter with noise and activity. The town had settled down since his childhood and had a small, but hearty population. It's dwarves all successfully emigrated to other locations as originally planned, but now busy again. He looked to his uncle, the wolf lord of Makbor
"Uncle, you have a knack for being a source of mayhem wherever you go" Arandil said
Maloy chugged his beer, the first he had in decades mind you, and called for another "That is not intentional at all! The dwarves here just really appreciate my patronage!"
Arandil chuckled and supped on his mead before the wolf lord continued "Well, how goes your trade? You wish to become a smith, yes?"
"Not just a smith, uncle. The best smith! and uh. Not so well. My only client is my mother who comes into town every few years, buys a few hundred arrows and leaves again. Dwarves don't want to give me a chance since they have their own reliable smiths."

"Hmm how is the family?"
"Lythiene up and disappeared recently, but she is more like mother so I think she is likely off adventuring. Aleratha took up a job as a performer here recently, actually. When she isn't doing that she wanders the woods looking for nuts and berries and praising Cacame. Mother I mentioned is gone most of the time on some important mission in the homeland, and father is on a personal crusade against the goblin horde"
Arandil detected Maloy tensing up when he mentioned his parents and took the time to mention "Mother isn't angry at you anymore I think. Father seems more sad than mad. I really think you three can patch things up again"
The wolf lord gulped down more beer "relationships between adults can be complicated sometimes, Ari"
"I'm 36, uncle"
The wolf lord laughed and scratched his head trying to hide his embarrassment "Already?! Well, sounds like I owe you a bunch of presents to make up for it and it just so happens the favor I want to ask includes one!"
Arandil arched his eyebrow as the wolf lord reached into his bag. He took out a dark metal bar. On the surface it looked like it had been scalded by extreme heat to leave it blistered and partially melted, but in reality the blisters were actively shifting and moving like it was alive. Arandil's mouth was left agape as he touched the bar and Maloy spoke "Metal belonging to the realm of that stupid goddess Midor. Produces some of the finest and strongest materials you can imagine and you can have this one and more on one condition"
Arandil did not even pause to reply "Name it"
"Help me get revenge on the goddess"
"I'm no warrior, uncle."
"and I'm no warlord, Ari. How does one get revenge on a god? Go ahead and guess"
"An army"
"No, they don't live in this world. Think harder"
"Kill their worshippers?"
"That would be funny, but also melodramatic. Look harder"
He stared into the bar of divine metal for a long while "You take what's theirs?"
"Bingo! that's my boy! We're gonna use an old dwarven magic to make more of these, and we are gonna take all of what is hers!"
"Divine metal already exists in the world though? How will this hurt her?"
Maloy stood up in excitement
"Because I'm gonna humiliate her with it. Imagine: blistered metal mugs, pots, chamber pots, instruments, coins, scroll rollers, book covers, and every other household item all blistered metal! More than that I'll put her face on every single one! Ari, I am going to become sole propriertier of her image and metal. I'll put her face on chamber pots and I'll flood the whole market with this stuff until it loses all value. No more goddess of death, but goddess of the chamber pot! Hahahaha!"
The wolf lord laughed into the air loudly interrupting the other patrons. Ari quietly supped before saying "So you want me to forge chamber pots to become a legendary smith?"
Maloy calmed down immediately and sat again "Yes and no. I already hired the workers who will make more of this stuff for you. Use most of it for however you want. Make your father legendary weapons and armor and what not, but on the side don't forget to do this task for me. In return you can make gear that the greatest warriors would want to wear, deal?" he extended his hand.
Arandil considered it. As quirky as his uncle was his powers and this opportunity were very real. It was an impossible offer to pass up especially with his lack of clients thus far. He took his uncles paw and shook it.
"Alright! I paid for you to have a proper forge built and for you to have a house in it! Good luck and don't let those beautiful cyclops women distract you from your work!"

Arandil spent years in his smithy doing just as he set out to. Dwarves and warriors of udir would often come to handle smelting for him. Although it took six long years he succeeded in both equipping an army, flooding the market with household items, mastering his craft, and avoiding the dalliances of the many cyclops women whose numbers had multiplied many times over.

They build an Adventurers Armaments building upon the bridge and set out a call: Any who need weapons or armor may take freely. Including the great artifact battle axe: Sub Kas

Last Stand of the Eagle
Arthur held the letter he had finished reading in his hands motionless staring out to the sea. After a few moments he allowed the wind to pick it up and take it into the ocean.
The letter was the latest he had received from the humans he had given land to. Another letter of the type "We are leaving and the land is yours again for all we care." The last lord of this particular land passed and rather than his heir take it he cursed Arthur's name and told him he could have it back. Could Arthur blame him?
Half the human lords rather than ruling their own lands chose to defect to the goblins instead who offered wealth and resources.

The other half of the lords now had to compete with human traitors and goblins. Only three dark pits remained independent still.
Arthur's plan had failed and he had to take responsibility. That's what a good teacher would say.

His homeland had declared war on what was basically the rest of the world. He had stayed out of it. In fact, because of the war being an elven merchant in the forests was essentially illegal as his people had no one to trade with. That left a slew of associates jobless and tradeless. A small collective had come to him in Razorbridge and erected a village on the north end of the bridge.
Surprisingly, it wasn't hard to convince them to help him fight the goblins. The merchants had no animosity towards the other nations whom they had traded with for centuries and understood that the elven war was likely manipulation by the Most Sin. So, they joined with him to wage war on the true enemy. There was a hiccup though:

The commander of the military in Razorbridge(and surrounding region) had disappeared. Rumor had it that Eral had led some great heist on a human lord and fled with the money likely retiring on an island somewhere. Dwarven bureaucracy was inefficient to the extreme and it could be decades before he was officially unseated from his position. While he was gone no new military could be organized and so they had to improvise. Arthur formed a town guard with a captain, which could only have ten members max to stay within the bounds of dwarven law. Sadly, his political status excluded him from captainship and so he gave it to his old associate Romimi.

Over the years the elves would conduct raids all over goblin lands. Wearing the special divine metal that his son had acquired the elves were nigh unstoppable. Over the years as well many of the elves had children of their own in the small town.
It seemed as if they truly were building a life away from the war and manipulations of their own people. Arthur missed his own wife, but it was in her nature to wander and when she did visit they held each other close. She avoided speaking of her activities, but he trusted that she was likely fighting the Most Sin too in her own way.

Arthur did not trust these women Maloy had raised and they multiplied incredibly. One lost her cool and started a fight with a group of dwarves. She injected them with poison from her stinger and kicked each one off the bridge to drown. She was exiled as a mercy.
Others tried to be helpful and even joined the guard to help them. They needed it for even 10 elves were hard to pull into this one man war.

Three women joined them and three of them died in their third outing. Arthur and Romimi's squad was outsmarted and ambushed at a dark pit and the women laid their lives down to allow the elves to retreat. They returned home defeated only to have three more step up without a moment's hesitation "We fight the eternal war" they declared.
"What is this eternal war you speak of?"
The beautiful creatures began to don their armor "It is THE war. The only war. Do you not know of it? You clearly fight in it"
That was the most he could get out of them it seemed as the rest of their answers on the topic sounded nonsensical to him, but he could not deny their strength.

The years of raiding were actually only training. Romimi needed to take the time to learn goblin strategy, tactics and psychology. This was all training for the great battle of Lakemenace
The goblins rarely actually lived in any of these dark pits of the border lands, Arthur had observed decades ago. They still technically occupied them and used them as outposts for drop off and resupply from raids, but the true source of them was Lakemenace the legendary fortress
This legendary battle would see the entirety of the leadership of that dark fortress destroyed, but the horde that ruled it was unassailable. Despite ambushing leaders the horde used its press of bodies to block the elves from the fortress itself. They could not claim it.

Arthur and Romimi conferred and decided to set their sights lower: tormentlives. A nigh abandoned dark fortress south of Razorbridge. Taking it was simple as their was no one to stop them and it provided a few advantages for the war to come:

1.It stood in the middle of the collection of border dark pits allowing them to reach any single one within an hour at most
2.Any and all raids could be easily intercepted
3.Boasted a massive and neglected armory
4.Enraged the goblins and acted as a beacon making the creatures attack them rather than others.

the next several decades would likely test these immortal warriors more than they had ever been, but Arthur believed in them all and would stand with them.
After they left the dwarves were offered a barony for Arthur's achievements. Deciding they liked government officials who didn't talk much they elected the headless and immortal kobold Prosringis

(final entry to come)
I switched in and out of adventure mode for this one, but like I said last time my goal going forward for Arthur was to max out his stat in Leadership. Let's see what several decades of constant attack by goblins does for him!

[kesperan]

So you managed to make infinite blistered metal by melting down ammunition? Nice.

An army of fanatical blistered metal covered bloodthirsty angels sounds pretty scary.

[Eric Blank]

I was in the process of doing the same thing, using the coin method.

[kesperan]

I was in the process of doing the same thing, using the coin method.

From what I gather you can make insane amounts of metal by melting coins but only if you split the stacks somehow. Any tips on how to do this?

I have used the metal leggings smithing before when I was short on steel, they have 150% return.

[Bralbaard]

I like all the new crazy stuff that is happening, like the resurrected race of angels. Incredible how the world keeps doing unexpected stuff.

From what I gather you can make insane amounts of metal by melting coins but only if you split the stacks somehow. Any tips on how to do this?

I have used the metal leggings smithing before when I was short on steel, they have 150% return.

One method would be to split the stacks in adventure mode. Tedious work, but it has a high return. For fortress mode I've heard that locking a tantruming dwarf up with a stack of coins may get the dwarf to throw the individual coins around.
I think you can also split the stack using the trade interface by selling individual coins and then buying them back.

I'll try and update the first posts and turn lists later today, and have started writing down my recent adventure. It may be a while before I post because I want to add some artwork.
I have not heard anything yet from Unraveller.

[Maloy]

So, I actually used menacing spikes. The return rate on melting is 1.5 bars. Not as much as ammunition or coins, but way less tedious

I could just set melting and forging on repeat and save my sanity(and a tantruming dwarf's lol)

[Lurker Z]

One method would be to split the stacks in adventure mode. Tedious work, but it has a high return.

That's awesome, I can't believe I haven't thought about that before. It means it'd work on arrows/bolts too, regardless of metal. In fact, another way would be to make them bolts, then just assign a hunter and melt the bolts individually.

The adventure mode part has the issue of both being tedious and that it should be done before embarking/reclaiming, as retiring and unretiring always causes (fixable, but tedious) issues.

[kesperan]

Yeah, menacing spikes is 150% same as leggings so mixing those would level armour and weapon smithing for your elf smith.

Only problem is melting masterworks gives bad thoughts.

[TheFlame52]

A surplus of masterwork menacing spikes is never a bad thing.

[kesperan]

A surplus of masterwork menacing spikes is never a bad thing.

Indeed.

I think it should be your turn next if Unraveller doesn't take it up. It's been three days since Maloy posted the save.

[Bralbaard]

To be fair, I did not immediately see the save game so I only notified Unraveller on the 12th. Anyhow I vaguely remember Unraveller was busy these weeks, and that is why the turn was moved down earlier.
Maloy was ready much earlier than expected, so the turn might have arrived to early for Unraveller?

If nobody objects I'll just move Unraveller down a spot, I'd love to see the storyline for Silverthrone continued.