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[callisto8413]

Dwarf Fortress - The World Of Bones - The Adventures Of Callisto

Callisto Thola “Callisto of the Vales” had been a clerk in Testpacks, a human hamlet, and rarely went far.  She was a casual worshipper of Udir, the Goddess of Consolation.  Testpacks was controlled by The Courageous Councils.  Though Callisto belonged to the civilization of The Good Faith.

She was a human with dark tan skin and extremely long dark hair to match.  She had a recessed chin and her slightly upturned nose was short.  Her slightly large-irised teal eyes were slightly wide-set.  Her looks were the norm for her people.

And she had a pet war elephant called Lekli Gomori.

She had decided it was time to leave Testpacks.  First she asked a one of the farmers about the region.  She learned that there were nineteen other villages in the area.  All used the market at Warmthamazes.

She also learned a little about what was outside the Testpacks.  Which wasn’t very helpful.

She collected her equipment.  Which included a copper buckler, a iron mace, a copper mail shirt, a copper helm, and two waterskins.  Plus some coins and food.

Testpacks wasn’t very big.  It had a Shrine and a bunch of houses.  The place only had a few hundred humans.  Mostly farmers.

She decided south was as interesting a direction as any and headed that way.  So she, and her Elephant, went south and entered the Desert of Equaling.  Which wasn’t hard to do as it covered most of the Erased Continent.  Also known as the World of Bones.

What would she find?  Good times?   Death?  More farming towns?

[King Zultan]

Posting to watch the adventure unfold.

[callisto8413]

Dwarf Fortress - The World Of Bones - The Adventures Of Callisto

Callisto, and her Elephant, continued south.  There wasn’t much to see of the landscape.

Mostly sand, clay, and a not a lot of plants.  And fewer animals.

Night came.  But just before it fell Callisto saw a river in the distance.

She stopped to light a fire, had some water, ate a meal, before going to sleep.

When she woke up she drank some more water, ate another meal, and headed in the direction where she had last seen the river.

She found a river.  A small, thin one.  She refilled the one waterskin she had been drinking from and pondered which way she would follow it. 

It would be a source of water and might help her find other settlements.  She headed south.

She found and killed a small bird.  But it was too small to butcher.

Then they found a fat alligator.  She, and her Elephant, soon made short work of the creature.  She then butchered it.  She was able to get 21 meals of meat and 22 bones.

Following the river south they noticed a Fort to the east.  So they headed over to see who lived there or if there was anything to find that was worth grabbing.  They found a gate on the north side of the Fort.

What would they find inside?  Friends?  Foes?  Angry alligator people?

[callisto8413]

Dwarf Fortress - The World Of Bones - The Adventures Of Callisto

So Callisto, and her pet war Elephant, entered the gates of the Fort.  She examined one of the walls and found it made up of Saguaro Rib Logs.  Weird.

Inside there was three buildings.  One seemed to be a mess hall or dining room.  One was empty and showed no signs of being used.

Then she found the barracks.  For lack of a better word anyway. 

She examined the humans before her.  Most seemed to be civilians.  Cheese Makers, Farmers, and so on.  She tried to find the most important one to talk to.

The most interesting piece of information she received was that the Fort traded with nobody.  It was “insulated”.  Which was a interesting word choice.

She decided to examine the southern wall by entering one of the towers and going up.

The walls didn’t go up very far.  They were only three stories up.  Surely enemies could scale them?

When came back down but realized it was a small Fort with only three buildings.  An empty one, a mess hall, and a sleeping area.  It had no workshops or any way to survive on its own.  It must have been some kind of military post or base.

She decided to head back to the river.

On the way back to the river Callisto had some mule spleen and some water.

The river cut south into some hills and then turned west.  Callisto and her pet continued to follow.  It was the best source of food and the only source of water.

It was getting late.  So she decided to start a campfire near the river and go to sleep.

When she woke up the next morning she was very hungry and ate two meals worth of food and fulled herself up with water directly from the river.

Now she would follow the river westwards.  Where would it go?  Would it go to the ocean or some lake?  Or disappear into the ground?

[callisto8413]

Dwarf Fortress - The World Of Bones - The Adventures Of Callisto

Callisto felt a little full but was willing to keep tracking west and following the river.

The river finally turned south and seemed to end in the lake or small inland sea.  She noticed that a river also linked to the large body of water in the south.

But soon she realized the water was flowing.  It wasn’t a lake or sea.  It seemed it was just the river having widened itself to a massive width.

Along it lived flocks of geese, a few snapping turtles, and a gator here and there.  Maybe it was more of a marsh?

She moved south to meet the ‘slim’ part of the river.  After a few hours she noticed a lake to the west.  It had no rivers linked to it.  As she was hungry and thirsty she decided to visit and have a meal on its shores.

As she approached the shore she ate some gator meat and drank some water.  She went to try to full her waterskin and her pet shoved her into the water.  Luckily she knew how to swim and got back onto dry land.  But she wasn’t too dry herself after that.

She than carefully filled the skin and moved south along the shore.  There was no wildlife to be seen here.

It was around noon so she decided to head back towards the river and continue south.

Soon she noticed something to the west.  Another Fort?  And to the east another river.

So of course she went to explore the Fort first.

It was a Fort.  And seemed to be much bigger than the last one.  Funny enough as she got close to it time seemed to slow down. 

She finally found the gates in front of a weird ramp.

What would she find inside?  More civilians?  Soldiers?  Gold?  Sandwiches?

[callisto8413]

Dwarf Fortress - The World Of Bones - The Adventures Of Callisto

Callisto entered the Fort, with her pet, and approached the first building.

It seemed to be a dining area.  With books on the floor and a dwarf.

She didn’t have enough room in her bags to carry the books so she decided to read them while talking to the dwarf.

She read two books and greeted Kol Amber, who was a Lasher, and seemed friendly.  The dwarf even petted her pet Lekla.

Turned out Kol was very happy to talk to somebody and that the Fort was ruled by the Society of Balding.  The Fort was named Brushedstars and Zolak Dungdungeon was the commander.  Like the last Fort there was no trade.

After reading some of the books, while the dwarf pet the elephant, she heard a lot of noises outside approaching the building.

Soon the building full of heavily armed goblins.  She kept her hands empty and watched them carefully.

She decided to greet one.  A maceman, by the name of usbu Amulsmunsti seemed friendly enough.  He even petted the elephant.

Callisto decided to search the other buildings and leave the locals alone.

The next building was split into two rooms that just had books.  She picked them up and read them before moving on.

She noticed that three of the books had been about Forts.  And well written at that.

The next building was sleeping quarters full of goblins and humans.

Being somewhat crowded, and not wishing to talk to anybody as they didn't really have much interesting to say, Callisto left the building and moved on to explore the walls.

She worked her way to the top of the walls, which were twice as high as the other Fort, where she had a meal while looking over the wastes.

She decided to leave the Fort and explore the river to the east of the river she had been following.  She believed she could find the source of the mystery river.

Night fall before she could reach it.  So she started a campfire and went to sleep.

What would the other river take her.  To its source?  To sauce?  To the middle of nowhere?

[callisto8413]

Dwarf Fortress - The World Of Bones - The Adventures Of Callisto

So Callisto, and her beloved elephant, woke up the next morning and headed east to find the new river.

Once she reached it she headed north to see where it ended or where it started.

And she found the end and explored it.  They found a bunch of small streams combining together.  Suggesting this was the source of the river.  And also found food in the form of a badger.

She butchered the kill, make sure her skins were full of water, and decided to follow this new river southwards.  Maybe the two rivers would meet.

In fact the two rivers did join up and continued south.

She stopped to eat and drink before moving on.

Soon she found a area which, once again, the river seemed to have spread out.  Like a small lake.  Which seemed to create mist or fog?  Turned out the clouds were rain.

There seemed to be a couple of saguaros and highwood trees growing near the lake.  And there were also herds of hippos and many ducks and ospreys.  The lakes in this world seemed to be a great place to live near.

Why do people NOT live near the lakes?

After a break to eat and drink from the river she continued south.  There seemed to be so much life along the rivers.  Which made sense.

Then the river ended.  And she had to make a choice.  Strike out to the south and continue to explore.  Or turn around and find out how far the first river went the other way?

And why were there buzzards here?  Shoo!

[callisto8413]

Dwarf Fortress - The World Of Bones - The Adventures Of Callisto

Callisto decided to stay with the main river and head north.  At least she could travel knowing she was near water and animals to hunt.

Turned out buzzards were not worth killing as they didn’t have enough meat to be worth it.

It takes a few days to pass the two Forts and other lakes she had found. She found herself at a massive lake or inland sea.  A new one.

It seemed very big and seemed to generator its own weather.   She explored the shores to see what wildlife lived here.  Sadly the rain make it hard to examine the region and she decided to follow the waters north.

When it was time to settle down and make a camp her Elephant ran after some wildlife.  Which ran so fast she could not see what it was.

Callisto hoped her pet would find her in the morning after she had her fun.

By morning her pet was back.  And even after eating a meal and having some water her tummy still growled.   But she lets the snapping turtles she passes alone.

A few days later, to the east was a massive lake.  Bigger than the others.  And while the river splits to feed, or come from, the lake it also continued north. 

She pondered continuing to head north.  Or checking out this large body of water and, maybe, even settle down there?

[callisto8413]

Dwarf Fortress - The World Of Bones - The Adventures Of Callisto

Callisto decided to check out the largest lake she had ever seen.  And maybe follow any new rivers she found going to or coming from it.

Callisto circled around the lake but noticed little in the way of wildlife.  At that point she decided to follow a new river heading south from the lake.

She followed the river till nightfall and went to bed.  She was woken up by a pack of dingoes.

They kind of looked as surprised as she and her pet Elephant.  Maybe they had noticed the campfire and didn’t realize she was there also?

Either way it looked like a fight was on.  The dingoes rushed her and her pet.  And almost overwhelmed them.  She was pinned under one and bleeding.  But she fought back with teeth, mace, and buckler.

Many was killed and the rest, wounded, ran off.  Her pet was wounded and she went to it to fight off the dingoes who were attackinbg it.  She brought her pet back to the fire before going to sleep.

The next day she butchered one of the dead dingoes for its meat.  She had been wounded but she had healed during her second sleep.  And her pet seemed to have recovered also.

Now where to go?

[King Zultan]

I hardly ever see lakes in the game but you seem to be finding loads of them.

[callisto8413]

I hardly ever see lakes in the game but you seem to be finding loads of them.

Yeah.  Kind of weird.  This is a world based on DarkSuns and there are no oceans.  But rivers and lakes do exist.  Which is good otherwise I would have run out of water days ago.

[callisto8413]

Dwarf Fortress - The World Of Bones - The Adventures Of Callisto

Callisto and her pet sleep for another four hours and wake up in the late morning with a flock of vulture nearby.  Maybe drawn by the corpses of all the dingoes?

She had some gater meat and drank some water before moving on.

And finds the edge of the world.  Seems it just stopped.  Oh well.  Callisto decided to return to the river and continuing north.  So she refilled one of her waterskins, which was empty, and heads back.

But not before trying to walk right up to the edge.

Funny.  It was like a invisible wall. 

It took about a day to get back to the main river which Callisto has decided to name the “Main” river.

She stopped to make a fire, eat, and sleep.

After waking up, filling the waterskins, she moved north and found another lake.  Was it the source of the river?  Or the end?

Callisto and her pet explored the shores.  She wondered if there was another outlet.  Maybe to the north?

And noticed a town or hamlet to the north.  Maybe worth a visit?

And directly to the east seemed to be something.  Buildings?  Before heading over she ate some meat and drank some water and took a nap.

The structures seemed to be religious in nature.  In other words she found a shrine.

The statues were interesting but meant little to Callisto.

After checking out the roof Callisto and her pet went inside, out of the rain, to check out the rest of the shrine.

It had more statues but nobody seemed to be attending it.

After leaving the shrine she found a pedestal with a four sided die.

Of course she had to toss it.  Why not?

“Do Not Avoid A Necessary Conflict Today.”

Callisto frowned and pondered the idea of avoiding a necessary conflict.  Why would anybody avoid a necessary fight?

She placed the die back on the pedestal and decided to head north to the populated area.

The nearest Hamlet was named Fedleaps.  And the nearest structure was named the Page of Honeys.

Callisto didn’t remember such names and approached the Page of Honeys.

Humans.

The first human she talked to was Nilun Ngilshopapos a axeman.  Who had very little information for her.

Though it seemed the Page of Honeys was where the government ruled from.  Was it the local mead hall?  Or City Hall?

And there were thirteen other villages nearby and the main trading market was at Warmthamazes.

She left, noticing she was out of water, and went to refill her skins at the lake.

She had run out of rivers.  And now had some interesting villages to explore.  Should she explore them or go off to explore where the rivers didn’t go to try to find more Forts or Shrines?

[callisto8413]

OOC : Wait...Warmthamazes....we started in this region!   Or in one of the other villages....I've gone in a big circle!!!!  Well, I have been following the rivers so I guess I ended up coming back. 

[King Zultan]

Walking in circles isn't always a bad thing as you get to see things you didn't see the first time.

Also why not head to the towns, they always have interesting stuff going on in them.

[callisto8413]

Dwarf Fortress - The World Of Bones - The Adventures Of Callisto

After a short nap in the wild Callisto went back to explore the hamlets to the north.  Would there be shops to trade her meat for more equipment?  Maybe another backpack?

The local farmers seemed to grow Fisher berries.  Good for brewing.  Maybe they brewed the berries, as wine could last longer in storage than the berries, and then traded it to caravans?  Not that Callisto every noticed caravans.

By nightfall she found the hamlet of Fedleaps.  She decided to explore the hamlet and find a house she could sleep in.

She found a house with some humans and asked to sleep there.  She was told she could.  So she slept in a corner with her pet. 

The next morning she ate breakfast and then went to find a store in the hamlet.  And found none.  It was all farmers’ houses and a shrine.

Though she did find a useful well to refill her skins.

Of course the well had a few humans around it and she talked to a few of them to try to get an idea of any shops in the area.  There were none in the hamlet.

She left to the east and approached Threesavages, a new hamlet, on the hope of find a shop or two.

Like the last hamlet, it was all houses, one shrine and one well.  She didn’t bother to ask anybody any questions. 

How would she find the MAIN trading town?  Maybe if she asked where Warmthamazes was?

And somebody was able to tell her.  There was even a tavern there!  So she would just have to go northwest. 

So off she went.  She passed a few hamlets, first Rinsedassault, then Cobaltway, then Searingtrust, then Tenderperplexed, while traveling.  She noticed that the hamlets seemed to have a lot of trees among the fields.  Were the people trying to push back the sand and heat by creating their own forests or were they using trees to keep the soil from blowing away?  Or were they making wind breaks?

In the last hamlet she found traveling monks.  But more importantly a NEW river.  Where she refilled her skins.

It also suggested that the local natives were slightly smarter.  They had at least built their houses and farms next to a water source.

The map showed Warmthamaze was only to the north.  Maybe a few more hours away.

In fact there was a road to it.  It was just north of Tenderperplexed.

So she was now here.  But the edge of this “Town” was abandoned shops.

Maybe trade wasn’t good as the farmers had said?  Oh no!  Would the tavern still be open?