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[celem]

Introduction

The cold grey dawn greeted the mountainhome and the first glimmers of light were beginning to play across the wide paved road that led towards the legendary doors of rose gold.

Other than the magnificent portal the area in general was less than inspiring; piles of refuse, plant and animal alike, lay
mouldering in the chill air and the ground, a soft peat, squelched underfoot as Lorbam Inethurol trudged towards the entrance  from the curtain wall which could just be seen still to his south in the tendrils of morning mist.

"What kind of general stands the graveyard watch?", he asked himself for what must have been the twentieth time since he had relieved that dumpy marksdwarf atop the gatehouse.
Stamping his steel-clad feet to ward off the cold he approached at last the glimering door and hammered upon it with the haft  of his axe.  The crashes echo'd back from the surrounding cliffs after a moment and something scurried unseen through the  garbage at his back.

"Well open the bloody door then!", he bellowed in poor temper.

At last there was a rumbling and the right-hand side of the great doors swung open just enough for him to slip back into the safety and warmth of the mountainhome.

"Her Majesty has summonned you some 2 hours past.", said the young dwarf who had opened the door.
"She's starting to get a little......", the youngster trailed off as he remembered who he was talking to and bit his lip.
Lorbam sighed and nodded curtly before striding off down the corridor towards the central stairwell which led to the
workshop floors, then the stockpiles, then by way of a deep stairwell to the residential levels. 

Urvad Abrasbomrek, queen of The Narrow Works, had her royal quarters deeper still, several floors below the lowest of
the residential section, rumour amongst her subjects said that this was due to the increased warmth so deep.
Lorbam knew better, he had still been a miner in the days when Urvad had risen to power and had helped to cut her chambers from the vein of raw adamantine they had found.  He reflected half-amused that dwarves bore a strong resemblance to many birds when it came to the 'shiny' department.

As he neared the chambers now however he heard raised voices coming from ahead, he picked up the pace, concerned.  As his worst fears realised themselves he arrived at the black bronze door to the royal apartments to hear his leige in full swing, some poor buggers were getting a real earfull in there.  The queen's voice, never exactly melodious, had risen to the point where Lorbam wouldnt have been surprised to see cracks forming in the walls.

With an inward sigh for whichever fools had managed to awaken her wrath before breakfast he knocked twice and announced himself, the door swung immediately open. 
(Oh how the queen loved intimidating peasants with that little trick, the door was linked to a concealed button in her throne's armrest)
He was greeted by the sight of seven dwarves kneeling before the ornate throne, heads bowed and silent.  The room was far from quiet however since Urvad herself was making more than enough noise.

"Fraud!, Imposters and charlatans!, Thieves and Scum!......Kobolds!", with this last vitriolic insult Urvad at last subsided into her throne and beckoned Lorbam forward with a spider-silk gloved hand.

"These.....", she paused, searching for an insult appropriate and as-yet unused.
"These...elf-lovers, these beardless children have broken the Guild charter", she sighed.
"Last night they were caught in the mason's guildhall playing dice", she elaborated.

Lorbam blinked a few times......nothing wrong with a spot of gaming he thought but kept his mouth shut and awaited further clarification.

"They're not even Masons, their guild-badges are counterfeit, they were cheating at the game and then they started a fight with several off-duty stonecutters over money", she continued.
Lorbam's eyes widened at this, whilst the queen was usually very fair in her dealings with her subjects, she did have a pathological hatred of liars and thieves, these guys were really up to their necks in Goblin shit.

"I have decided", she announced formally, "These ruffians will be banished, exiled from our lands to found their own dwelling as best they may".  "We are not completely without mercy, you shall thereafter be treated as any colony and the matter will be forgotten provided you do not attempt to return".

"Lorbam!, escort these....creatures..to the gates.", the queen waved a hand dismissively and Lorbam hurried to shepherd the targets of her wrath away.  "Oh and Lorbam, directly to the gate, no stop-off at the quartermaster, since they like to take by force and theft they shall have nothing from us". 
The queen turned and headed toward the door behind the throne which Lorbam knew to head to her bedchambers.

After hesitating a moment or two he decided against saying anything more.  To send out an expedition unequipped was unimaginable, yet this was an exile afterall. 
Besides, he had no wish to join them as an eigth member!

[celem]

So.

WELCOME TO PLAYFULOILED

First things first.  This is a genesis mod game
Embark is a terrifying, scorching rocky wasteland, scarce trees and vegetation, river.

There are 0 supplies.  No food, no stones/ores, no pick/anvil, no booze.

The founding 7 are largely unskilled.  For reasons of backstory (and to give em some hope in terrifying biome) I have taken each of the starting 7 to adequate fighter/wrestler/dodger, all remaining points are in intimidation and lying.

I did include 1 male and 2 female mastiffs in the embark, these are representing pets of the initial 7, as such they can not be butchered. ( I liked genesis' mastiffs for my 'thug' colonists )

Dwarfing is available.  Skills can be requested and i'll endevour to make dwarves into what you ask though it may take time.

There is a fair chance of some carnage, so dont get upset if hes eaten by something angry 2 days in

Story is written in a novel format rather than the more usual journal.  This means it is gonna get pretty long, i'll probably create a pdf version or something once it gets to a length where reading it in its entirety in the thread becomes unwieldy


Current population: 20
Death Count:         0!
Year:                    2, Autumn

[celem]

Hehe, Genesis mod has provided me with a lot of surprise laughs starting this fort, update tonight hopefully.

[Keita]

Sounds Awesome!

Dwarf please! designated Brewer or Herbalist if possible.

[OmnipotentGrue]

I'm liking this so far, I'll take fisherdwarf, please.

[Knarfle]

Sign me up! I'll take whatever.

[celem]

Embark

The wagon jolted across the rocky plain and Rith Atisrath cursed as someone bumped into him from behind.  He half turned in his seat to let out yet another curse at the huddled shape in the gloom, he couldnt see which of them it was.  As his eyes returned to the route ahead he caught a glint of light from his right, was that a river in the moonlight?  He dismissed this half-formed thought impatiently, there was no way they would be stopping here at any rate, even by moonlight the plain radiated heat, Rith almost expected the ground to glow a sullen red.

A howl echoed from the darkness to his right and the horse pulling the wagon snickered softly and increased speed. 
"Across the river at least", thought Rith with some relief.  The sound had not been welcoming.

"Rith, what was that?", asked Mosus from behind him, a note of panic in his voice.
"How the hell am I supposed to know?", he snapped back.  "Quit asking stupid questions and just....keep your eyes open."
"For what Rith?", came the morons voice again.  A muffled thud and a yelp of hurt outrage indicated that Knarfle had saved him the trouble of answering this particular idiotic question with application of his fist.  Mosus was a fool, none of the small band really liked him, but he had been a part of their crew ever since Rith had met him as a young teen.  The guy had surely never been born, such a man must have been hewn from living rock, he stood a clear 2 heads taller than most dwarves Rith had met and was about as wide across the shoulders as he was tall.  A mountain of muscle that the crew had put to good use on countless occassions down the years, shield, seige engine, beast of burden, a key to open any door.

Another howl in the darkness brought Rith's attention back to the now.  This one had been from the darkness to his left......he flicked the reins and the horse stepped up another gear.  A chorus of soft growls behind him indicated that the dogs were not happy either, they didnt really belong to anyone...unless the gang could be said to own them.  Rith was glad of their prescence right now.

"Eyes up lads", he growled.
A glance over his shoulder once more and he saw movement from the boys, shapes crowded the rim of the wagon and 6 pairs of eyes scanned the darkness.  Five, he corrected himself, Mosus appeared to have dropped off to sleep.

"We really ought to have stopped in that forest Rith", it sounded like OmnipotentGrue, none of his other lads would use the word 'ought' in the right context.  He was ofcourse right, but Rith had spotted groundhog tracks in the undergrowth and over-ruled the rest.....he detested groundhogs.

"Well, as soon as we're off this plain", he replied.  "I want to make those hills we saw at last light, cant be much....ugh!"
Rith broke off as the wagon gave a violent lurch and a heavy body slammed into him for the second time that night, a nasty splintering noise, unnaturally loud in the dead night echoed out from below him and the floor of the wagon dropped to the ground, throwing Rith into a sprawling heap.  As he groaned and rolled onto his back another howl sounded from the dark and every hair in his beard stiffened.

"Rith!", a call from the darkness.  That was MetalMilitia for sure, the accent of the northern mountainhomes unmistakable.  More voices now, to his left, he scrambled to his feet and shuffled towards the noise, stubbing his toe on what on close inspection proved to be the wreckage of a wheel from the wagon.  A moment later shapes loomed ahead of him and his outstretched arm brushed cloth.
"What the hell happened..""What are we gonna do...""Where'd the horse go?", everyone spoke at once and Rith growled in exasperation eliciting silence from his small band. 

"Shut your traps, the lot of you.  I dont want to draw anymore attention to us, I dont trust this place", he muttered.
"We've got no options, zero, the cart is fucked and we're goin no further.  We're gonna make the best of it and setup shop right here."

"But Rith, you said we needed a rich site, this was our chance you said", sounded like Kol, might have been Morul, didnt much matter.

"I know what I said", he snapped into the dark.  "But like I said, no options.  Could be worse, it's flat and theres a river.  It's hot as a bitch but we'll crack it, we always manage.  Real riches are underground anyway and we got no access till the next passing caravan that has a pickaxe for trade.  We're here lads, and this is us, as soon as the sun rises we'll get to work."

General muttering followed this speech but he could tell by the tone that they had accepted their joint lot, now all that remained was to wait for the dawn and see how fucked they really were..

[celem]

Dawn


It was bad.......

But not hopeless.....

"Alright lads", began Rith.  "Step one, we need food.  This means all of us scanning the entire area for plants growing wild."
"How will we know which are edible?", asked MetalMilitia.
"Dont matter, pick anything and everything", he replied.  "Bring it all back and pile it by the wagon, we'll be eating berries for now but once we got some seeds we can start a little farm."
"But.......booze would be good", this was MetalMilitia again which surprised Rith not one bit, he had always wanted to be a brewer.....or had slurred something to that effect once.
"Booze is great, dont get me wrong.  But we can survive on water if we have food, no-one can live on just booze, mores the pity."  "Booze later lads, once we're planting seed.  For now just pick plants, if you need a drink head to the bend in the river there.......Now I think about it more....OmnipotentGrue, work out some kind of rod and bait, see if theres anything worth catching in that river."

There were general nods of assent from the gathered dwarves but little movement.
"Now!", Rith barked.  "We gotta get moving here!".
OmnipotentGrue headed toward the river at a brisk jog while Knarfle, MetalMilitia, Kol and Morul scattered across the plain in search of plants.  Mosus was still sitting there with a frown on his face, obviously still trying to work it all out.
"Go with Kol", said Rith not unkindly.  Mosus' face brightened and he lumbered off.

With a sigh Rith picked up a jagged piece of wood and began to hack at the earth beside the wagon. 
"Must get a little plot ready", he thought.  Hopefully this would all work out, he was out of his depth here but well-used to not letting his crew catch on.

As the morning wore a little pile of plants began to form beside the cart, they stopped just before mid-day to sort through them and identify the edible varieties.  A couple of bitter wild grapes, some kind of berry in a little clump and a half dozen stalks of some kind of wheaty grass....hardly a feast but at least they staved off the hunger as they sheltered from the blazing sun under the wrecked cart and ate.

[OmnipotentGrue]

Wow celem, this is some great storytelling here - you ought to start a career in writing some time. Feel free to call me something like 'Alligator-bait' (as a nickname, of course) or something of your own choosing that sounds more realistic than OmnipotentGrue, as, well - it doesn't sound realistic for a dwarf at all.

[celem]

heh i do actually have half a novel somewhere that i started almost a decade ago.  Ive always liked creative writing and its easy with as rich a world as DF.  You might become Grue, its a little easier:)

[!!crundle!!]

Make me a short, sturdy creature.

I'll take a woodworker or mason.

[celem]

They lay back under the wagon and waited for the worst of the day's heat to pass, Mosus burped contentedly and picked a seed from his teeth.  As he went to flick it away Rith cuffed his ear and took it from him.
"Saving the seeds Mosus" he said without real rancour.
Mosus grinned sheepishly and nodded.

Rith peered toward the spot where he had turned the soil, might plant the seeds from what they had eaten as soon as this wretched heat subsided.  Get things moving, keep them moving, if he let the little band's momentum falter things would fall apart in a hurry.  At least they had a small pile of food for now, things were moving.

*KETHUMP*
Rith snapped out of his reverie, the lads were looking around wildly.
*KETHUMP*
He scrambled out from the wreckage of their cart and almost fell backwards over his own feet in shock.
About 30 urists away was some hideous beast, a stony looking thing, tall as a troll with batlike wings that creaked as it bounded towards their shelter in a series of short glides that ate up the intervening distance at a worrying rate.

"Lads!!", he bellowed.  "It's goin down, protect the fucking food!".

He was sure they were as scared as him but these were his lads and they performed as he expected, the thundering of little legs pumping told him they were right behind him.
As he neared the thing a tendril of doubt snuck into his mind....he'd read once (he could read after a fashion) about something like this, was this a gargoyle?  They were only supposed to inhabit the most desolate reaches of the world, this was.......this was not great.

All thought departed as he closed the last of the distance and the beast let out a bellowing roar.  Rith answered with one of his own, spittle foaming in his beard as he hurled himself at a leg like a small tree trunk.

The next few moments were a blur, he supposed they could only have been moments but they seemed like hours as the dwarves swarmed over the monster, grappling, kicking, punching and scratching.  At one point he saw Mosus sink his teeth into a wing membrane.  Smoke billowed as Kol, who was an obsidian dwarf, hurled fire at the thing.  Rith coughed and gagged on the thick fumes, damn obsidian's were as dangerous to their friends as their foes, he swung blindly and once more made contact with the beast's leg, he latched on and started pummeling the knee-joint.

At length the thrashing stopped and the dwarves were beating a carcass, Rith staggered to his feet and blinked dazedly in the wisps of smoke, he wiped a thin trickle of blood from his lip and gazed about.

Fortunately the fire Kol had hurled hadnt spread, this accursed plain didnt have grass to ignite.  Their foodpile and little plot had survived the attack.  He made to say something but his voice failed him and he stumbled off toward the river for a drink to ease his throat with the rest of his band following unsteadily behind like a herd of semi-concussed goats.



<<There was gonna be much more, i've played through to the first caravan and taken screenshots, but im having too much fun writing and the first battle deserved a reasonable description.  It was a Giant Gargoyle and actually appeared immediately on embark, I didnt notice and sent everyone but the fisherdorf picking plants with the result that it chased Knarfle about for like 10 days without being able to corner him.  As the benny hill themetune rolled through my head I let him kite it about while I got the farm and a bit of food sorted then brought him back to the wagon for the showdown:)  Genesis threw me a curveball with the obsidian dwarf Kol, acting like a fireimp isnt funny when the dwarf is a wrestler.  All 7 dwarves are now naked since everyone's clothes caught fire>>

[OmnipotentGrue]

Hoorah! I'm sure that this victory is one of many to come for Playfuloiled! Could we see our dwarves descriptions please?

[celem]

I'll get some descriptions up with tomorrows update, its gettin late.  Glad yer enjoying it, havent written in a long time

[Zrk2]

ROFL I will take a dorf, no preference on who. This is community, not succession right? If it is succession I do not want a turn.