I realize in retrospect that this world is from a short phase where I thought my worlds weren't "hard" enough and so I generated several that had virtually no mineral resources
While I regret this decision I shall stand by it!
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After our emergency meeting we all agreed on a two-pronged approach to the metal situation.
1) Our legendary forge workers would use an old dwarven magic that, for lack of better word, "squeezes" more of a metal out of creations when melting
2)continued import of metal toys. (fortunately our last migrant wave included children to justify this)
Quite a few humans have come through looking for "Worthlesscloak the Pearl of Racing". The first artifact created after our civilization was making its latest comeback. Cross is jotting down details on them to give to the next caravan. Being a member of the guard himself it's a good opportunity to put his name forward
Also our taciturn, yet capable expedition leader The Emerald built an artifact!
Of course since he claimed it for himself he's going to decide what happens to it!
As if to counter our good fortune the gods sent us another trial:
The Inquisition of the Brave Sabres has arrived. Two inquisitors armed and armored to the teeth here to investigate our little town.
Short version:
They're investigating our town for affiliation with the Oar of Battle and we can expect them to be around awhile and often
Conversation:
The inquisitor entered the civic mound flanked by her subordinate although both were heavily armored. The Emerald, Mobius and Heavy Drinker waited inside for this meeting. The Emerald only had a wooden crossbow and training bolts right now and Heavy Drinker was completely unarmed. Although they were both talented the odds weren't stacked well against these two enemies if it came to blows
"I am Inquisitor Zasit and this is Esme. From your eyes I can tell you are all from the lands of the Oar of Battle. Am I to presume this settlement is an invasion?" She said matter of factly
"Err...no. We're independent. Just trying to build a home away from all the wars and such"
Zasit said nothing for a time "...I see." another tense pause "Reports are that the Oar of Battle have been sending men and resources behind our lines. I have reason to believe that they may be using places like this as a staging ground. I will be investigating here"
"For how long" Emerald asked. He was a pretty difficult guy to read, but his annoyance was evident for those of us who knew him for awhile. Heavy Drinker said nothing. Just as when she first arrived her body was on edge with barely-contained superdwarven power. Her face betrayed no emotions, but if anything she seemed like she could kill these two without so much as an emotion registering.
"that is not your concern, Kinsmen" with the last word she did a curt bow and left the mound
Well, this is a dead kea stuck in a door
The inquisitors stuck around for months and reported to no one. Operations ground to a crawl as we had to operate like an actual hillocks.
In the time here they caught two human criminals who had been visiting the town, one of whom had a stolen codex. I asked Esme if they were going to take the book home with them and they said "The book isn't ours and so we can not take it, but the criminal has been brought to justice" hm. Benefits though
I actually caught wind as they found one near my clan-home. It was brutal. They broke his hands quickly to disarm him and then wrestled him to the ground. One-by-one they tore each limb from its socket before beating his head in. An experienced mercenary couldn't as much as land a hit on them
Combat log:
Dead humans have larger armor to melt which means this in addition to what we already have we will have a fully armed squad by the new year.
They did kill a famous dancer though. Her name was Firebrand and many of us had seen her perform at the capitol for the several years she spent there. This was enough connection for the inquisitors who quickly ended her career then her life
They stayed through the summer and the fall. Many travelers wanted to leave our town, but were afraid of being caught outside the drinking mound and killed like the others.
The trade caravan never came. We wondered if they had been killed by goblins, titans, dwarves or merely were waylaid? We'd have to wait for an opportunity to see.
Also one of our children made an artifact bracelet. We'll give it to the mountainhome, if they come back, in hopes that they will send us some more resources!
You find yourself sitting at one of the only three tables in the drinking mound.
With very little to do the dwarves were in the drinking mound more than ever. For any other species so much drinking would constitute a rational fear of low morale, but for dwarves it represented a healthy coping mechanism
One of the newer migrants sits across from you and pushes a mug your way. "Tell me, kinsmen you ever hear the tale of why our eyes are purple?" You nod your head
(Lore Conversation below)
"Long ago we used to look the exact same as our kinsmen in the Brave Sabres. Bright green eyes! Before our cities were destroyed we still had all manner of beasts to fight on the surface, and so many dwarves either fled back to or simply never left the fortresses. As threats pressed in and populations swelled in tight spaces we did what any good dwarf does. We dug down. Very far down. Do you know how many layers of cavern are beneath the earth?" He says in a teacherly manner. You nod
"That's right three. The third is also where all the best resources. I'll bet you haven't ever even seen the first cavern? We've all been on the surface so long. It's unnatural with twisted flora and fauna. Twisted many limbed monsters that feed on trolls and flying eyeballs! plants that look like grasping severed hands and glowing red trees that look like the sprouting veins of a giant beast!
But goblins can't dig that deep so we settled. Soon the majority of us lived in the caves for generations. Over the years of constant exposure to the energy down there our eyes changed, and as we finally dug too deep and unleashed the monsters at the depths of the earth we were chased to the surface, eaten, crucified or enslaved, but still the mutation never left us as the magic of the depths permanently touched us and left us for a sensitivity and affinity for the depths and its treasures." He nods sagely as he concludes "One day we will return to the earth and tame all its many gifts and trials"
You nod and return to your cups as a mound wide song breaks out.
With the year concluding we got little done after the inquisitors arrived, but we will be able to start the new year with weapons and can resume outside operations year round!
Agenda for my fellow agents: The inquisitors will continue to return regularly to peruse our town for sedition. I believe we should let them and work around them as well as we can. If they died or "disappeared" I believe the Sabres would retaliate by sending an army, and we simply aren't going for that!
If there's disagreement we can consider other options
Behind Scenes:
Sorry for a post without our much desired raids, but I didn't want too much time to pass in-game before I posted again otherwise I'd forget things that mattered.
Basically we got sieged by only two dwarves and I locked all citizens up between the bunker, civic, and drinking mounds.
They killed Firebrand who was part of my last fort which makes this very personal for me now
Also I did discover something interesting. In goblin sieges they will attack anything on the map and I assumed that is just how all invaders worked, but I noticed that the "inquisitors" only attack citizens, long-term residents, or visitors who belong to an enemy civilization.
Mercenaries or artists from unrelated civilizations could peaceably walk around the exterior of our fort. It was a very roleplay friendly experience as everyone except for our citizens continued to wander the streets and live life and the inquisitors prowled around above the mounds.
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Topic: Honesthearts - Community Fortress - A simplefarm for secret agents! (Read 5370 times)