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Author Topic: When the Carp Cry : Definition of the Perpetual Witch  (Read 24192 times)

Katsuun

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When the Carp Cry : Definition of the Perpetual Witch
« on: June 03, 2009, 06:01:22 pm »

The current story can be found here:

When the Carp Cry

Click on the link and ignore the below.



After deciding that I'm too impatient to actually play a full community game of Dwarf Fortress, I remembered the awesome works put up by JackRabbit, Iiutem, and MetalMillita, the ones that used entirely ASCIIDraw to tell their tales. ASCIIDraw, I have some experience with already, and it seems a much easier medium to work with than Dwarf Fortress itself. It sounds heinous, I know, but I don't have the necessary patience to play out a full game of Dwarf Fortress. Thus, I have decided to do this:

This will be a mystery/action adventure/war tale made using ASCIIDraw, with inspiration from the anime When the Cicadas Cry (or Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni). I apologize for bad quality pictures, I'm not exactly the best with ASCIIDraws interface. I also apologize for cliches or the fact that this has been done by others before, but I think that unlike most things I've started before, I might actually not abandon this. (To the players of my RTD, it seems as if I'm still going strong with that one. Time will tell). And so I present...

When The Dwarves Cry : Episode 0 ; Before

"Cue anime theme music:" Higurashi OP 1



The thing stood on the edge of the cliff, looking out from his vantage on top of the world to the lands below. High winds rustled through the mountain top, sending cold chills through his body. But he was unmoved. Instead, he scanned his surroundings, idly, as if bored. The mountain was bare, only a few hardy grasses and weeds able to brave the rocky soil and billowing winds. A gust of wind whipped across his face, leaving it a pinkish red. He scowled, annoyed, and drew his fur closer to himself, then returned to his gazing beyond the cliff, into the abyss.

The view, considered the best in the whole empire, moved him little. He watched the minute figures scuttle about on the ground like ants, happily oblivious to just how large the world was. Fools! How sickening it was to be amongst them, to listen to their mindless banter, to force himself to stomach their disgusting faces, filled with hope, optimism, and lord-knows what else. And yet... it touched him, in a vague sort of way. He knew the thought was weak, for those who seek comfort, not power, who's ambitions ranged to nothing more than feeding themselves and their families. But he could not suppress it. But even as the thought nagged at him, he knew the time was coming soon where he would have to dismiss it for good.

"And the time is soon... He mused to himself. The world as they knew it would change, so very soon, a mere blink for Mother Nature herself. He looked one last time upon the valley, the very one that holds... no, held his people.

He also took this time to examine himself. Short and stocky, barely standing above a Kobold in stature, his beard, long and unkempt, covered the vast majority of his face. Well kept bears were a sign of beauty and health amongst his people, and letting his beard go as wild as his had was a sure sign of madness. But to him, it just signified how far gone he was, from his people, from the world itself. He had little time. Rousing himself, he coldly turned his back to his homeland, perhaps for the last time...





"You sure this is the house?" The pikeman prodded at the ground beneath his feet, metal blade making a distinct, thudding noise on the wooden path. Before them stood a good sized log cabin, the type of house that a man of his upbringing would neither want, nor could afford. The dwarf grimaced, the sun beat mercilessly down upon his head, making him feel a vague nausea in the pit of his stomach. He would have loved to go into the burrows and have a nice ale, but he had a job, unfortunately, and he had already taken his break last month.

The child nodded. He was small and wiry, unusual traits for a dwarf, but his eyes possessed a keen glint that hinted at an awareness and intelligence potentially rivaling that of his much older fellows. He was of great interest to the courts, and it was hoped that he could grow to an advisory position, perhaps in the King's throne, as an adult.

"Right." The pikeman grunted and gestured at the door. "Lets take it down." His fellows stowed their hammers, pikes, or whatever, and proceeded to take turns, bashing at the door with their elbows, the door shaking with each blow.

While his companions were heaving and grunting and hurling themselves at the door, the leader took this time to examine his surroundings. The path was neat and tidy, the shrubs lining the path were in order. And yet, something seemed amiss, but he couldn't put his finger on it... As he walked around the house, he took the time to admire the supple wood that the trees had, noting the fine beds that could be made with such wood... but it seemed strange that the trees had never been harvested, despite their proximity to the Empire's domains...

The trees. It suddenly dawned upon the dwarf what was wrong with the scenery. The trees did not grow near the house. Now, trees were all but gone in the lands near the Empire's fortresses and outposts, but they always left some sign... a sapling or stump, so that the forests could grow for more harvesting. But here... they were gone. The pikeman scratched at his beard, wondering at the faintly disturbing fact, until a resounding crash came from the houses front, followed by shouts of success.

They were in.

They filed in in single file, the child and the leader taking up the rear. As he entered, he felt a keen disappointment. There was plenty of wooden furniture, a large table and some chairs. But there were no bodies, there was no blood. Just an empty house.

"But... I'm positive that I last saw my friend in here..." The child seemed stupefied. The pikeman ordered his men to spread out and search the rest of the house. He and the child went into the adjacent kitchen. There was one of those new gadgets, the tinderbox that brought up a flame to heat food, and an ice tray on which things were keep cool until eating. But again, no bodies. The child sighed, and in his head, the pikeman sighed as well.



"Looks like we came this way for nothing."

He turned to take the child and go back into the main hall and reunite with his men. That's when he heard the door shut.



That's it. Go ahead and request characters if you want, I'll incorporate them. Hope you liked it, and their's more coming soon. 
« Last Edit: November 26, 2009, 10:03:07 am by Katsuun »
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how would a Fortress based curse work?

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Rocks fall, everyone dies.

Sans context.

Katsuun

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Re: When the Dwarves Cry : [Story]
« Reply #1 on: June 04, 2009, 06:02:02 am »

No one? Do I fail that much?
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how would a Fortress based curse work?

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Rocks fall, everyone dies.

Sans context.

filiusenox

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Re: When the Dwarves Cry : [Story]
« Reply #2 on: June 04, 2009, 09:53:53 am »

I guess give me the kid if he doesnt die.
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"No, I'm being obstinate for the sake of I hate you."

Labs

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Re: When the Dwarves Cry : [Story]
« Reply #3 on: June 04, 2009, 11:54:27 am »

Ill take a swordsman.
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I like to slip into bear caves around midnight and gently caress the carnivore inside before leaving a small cut of fresh fish and sneaking out.

Katsuun

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Re: When the Dwarves Cry : [Story]
« Reply #4 on: June 04, 2009, 03:26:20 pm »

Ill take a swordsman.

Uh... there were no swordsmen... oh well, I can always turn one of the pikemen into a swordsman if you want.
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how would a Fortress based curse work?

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Rocks fall, everyone dies.

Sans context.

Labs

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Re: When the Dwarves Cry : Episode 0; Before
« Reply #5 on: June 04, 2009, 04:02:24 pm »

Naww, I'll take a pike. I'm not picky.
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I like to slip into bear caves around midnight and gently caress the carnivore inside before leaving a small cut of fresh fish and sneaking out.

Jackrabbit

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Re: When the Dwarves Cry : Episode 0; Before
« Reply #6 on: June 04, 2009, 05:41:23 pm »

Axeman! Me take axeman! I'm liking the story so far.

Also, yay I started a trend!
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Katsuun

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Re: When the Dwarves Cry : Episode 0; Before
« Reply #7 on: June 04, 2009, 05:49:36 pm »

Well too bad, I already put the sword in my pictures:

And yes you did:


The door to the bathroom was sealed. And he had a man in there. There were shouts, his men tries to pry the door off its hinges, to no avail. The chaos was significant, the child; Filiesenox, or "Fil", had been herded to the rear of the group, watched over by two of his men, one with an axe, and one with a hammer. The others continued to widly strike at the door, all semblance of stealth having been lost. As his swordarm, "Labs", hacked at the door, the leader noted, with some worry, that the man trapped within had not spoken since the door had been sealed...

He watched as the door shattered open, a strong blow from Labs successfuly splitting the door down the middle with a resounding crack. They set to work on the splintered remains, and within moments, had a small opening into the bathroom. When they sureveyed the interior, they saw a small toilet, sink, and a shower installed into a corner. But no soul breathed inside the room itself.

One brave soul, Jack "Rabbit", an axeman, steadily stalked into the room, keeping axe aloft in case of traps. The others kept their hands on their weapons, tensed and ready for attack. The axeman made it past the sink. But still nothing.



Looks like we got nothing here... Jack hefted his axe and brought it lightly down onto the toilet. The porcealan was chipped, slighlty worn with age, and yet the machine looked like it was rarely used. The axe struck, and a strange noise resounded. It sounded vaugely... hollow. Hollow!

"The toilet!" The leader jumped with recognition. "It's in the toilet!" His men stared at him, looks of derision playing heavily on their faces. But he knew he was correct. "Go on, open the toilet lid!" He gestured impatiently at Jack, who proceeded to gingerly lift the lid. The leader held his breath, the vauge creaking of the rusted seat echoing as the toilet seat rose. He stepped forward. "Well?" Jack shook his head, scrutinizing the interior of the toilet as one would a digusting bug that had crossed ones path. The leader let his breath go, sighing as he scratched at his beard. "Nothing?"

"Not from what I can tell... its dark... kinda deep..." Jack prodded at the toilet bowl with his axe. The leader was about to order another search of the shower, perhaps the idiot had locked himself in there. But then, a crash rang through the room. Shouts came, both the leader and Labs, who had been in the doorway of the bathroom, threw themselves back. Coughing on a thick, choking dust that hung in the air, everyone crowded into the bathroom, staring with awe at what they saw.

The toilet was gone, replaced by a gaping hole in the wall, exposing a few wooden pipes that hung in crooked angles from out of the gaps that the toilet had left. Water silently dropped out of the pipes, where they fell into the hole and could not be heard. And for the hole itself, it was impossible to see the bottom. Only the vauge glint of what they could assume was the axe of the unfortunate dwarf that had been standing there but moments ago. Labs shouted into the abyss;

"You ok? Where are you?" Nothing responded. Only the silent water, forming and swelling at the pipes edge before falling into the abyss, moved. The leader realized that he was holding his breath. But to his immense relief, after an extremely long pause, Jack responded.

"Yeah... yeah..." His men exchanegd looks of relief, and "Fil" seemed to lose a whole bodies worth of weight. The leader ran tired fingers through his beard. It had been a long day. Gesturing to Labs, he pulled from his pack a legnth of rope. Labs nodded and firmly grasped the rope. Taking hand of the rope, the leader slowly rappeled downward, into the dank hole. As he slowly passed downward, he disturbed several cobwebs that were in his path. He shuddered in disgust, he hated spiders. Grimancing, he kicked away the last few webs and slid to the ground, where the unfortunate Jack sat on top of the rubble of the now destroyed toilet, silently rubbing at his head and cursing under his breath.

"By Armok... that was..." He trailed off. The leader walked over to him and offered a hand to pull him up, gingerly brushing off cobwebs in the process. The air was thick with them. For his part, Jack remained still, mouth opening and closing uselessly, like a fish out of water. He was pointing at something, and it seemed to have utterly rendered him speechless. The leader turned around.

"Gods..." A trail of blood. Splatters, smears, leading up to the oppisite wall. And lying in a pool of blood...

A hand. A dwarfs hand.





MAOR COMING UP!

This takes much longer than I thought, I'm still not done with the Intro Episode. But keep reading anyways!
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how would a Fortress based curse work?

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Rocks fall, everyone dies.

Sans context.

filiusenox

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Re: When the Dwarves Cry : Episode 0; Before
« Reply #8 on: June 04, 2009, 06:48:08 pm »

can i have my characther shout: "let me out of here its the gloamglozer let me out!!!"
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"No, I'm being obstinate for the sake of I hate you."

Jackrabbit

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Re: When the Dwarves Cry : Episode 0; Before
« Reply #9 on: June 04, 2009, 06:49:47 pm »

Blimey if that wasn't a quick update.
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Labs

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Re: When the Dwarves Cry : Episode 0; Before
« Reply #10 on: June 04, 2009, 07:53:37 pm »

I like. Moar! Moar!
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I like to slip into bear caves around midnight and gently caress the carnivore inside before leaving a small cut of fresh fish and sneaking out.

TheNewerMartianEmperor

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Re: When the Dwarves Cry : Episode 0; Before
« Reply #11 on: June 05, 2009, 12:57:50 am »

Great so far.

I'll take a dwarf!: Youngbeard the crazed

Profession: Hammerdwarf

Really crazy guy, in his periods of lucidity he's rather nice though.
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Once tried to conquer Earth, and succeeded! Too bad it got really, really boring, really, really fast.

One day, we shall all look back on this, and laugh. Sorry about the face, by the way, and the legs, and the eyes, and the arms. In fact, sorry 'bout the whole body.

Jackrabbit

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Re: When the Dwarves Cry : Episode 0; Before
« Reply #12 on: June 05, 2009, 01:00:16 am »

Youngbeard? I'm sensing a pattern here.
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TheNewerMartianEmperor

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Re: When the Dwarves Cry : Episode 0; Before
« Reply #13 on: June 05, 2009, 01:07:14 am »

Don't worry, if he's related to Oldbeard, then it's by enough generations to ensure that he has almost no genetic relation to him.  ;)
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Once tried to conquer Earth, and succeeded! Too bad it got really, really boring, really, really fast.

One day, we shall all look back on this, and laugh. Sorry about the face, by the way, and the legs, and the eyes, and the arms. In fact, sorry 'bout the whole body.

Jackrabbit

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Re: When the Dwarves Cry : Episode 0; Before
« Reply #14 on: June 05, 2009, 02:09:12 am »

Will you be introducing Midlifecrisisbeard at any point?
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