#regostar

[dwarvendiaries]

Why I haven't been posting about Dwarf Fortress for a short while

Good news: we got a new artefact

Bad news: It's a musical instrument making it hard to draw

Good news: my marks dwarves are all legendary

Bad news: the Chief Medical Dwarf Kol is throwing a tantrum

Good news: it's near the hospital

Bad news: Is that a militia captain fighting too?

Good news: The mayor's coming over to calm her down.

Bad news: they're now fighting

Worse news: Is that a corpse!

Terrible news:

[dwarvendiaries]

The End of an Era

27th of Slate, 538

I left the game idle for a while and sent out several raids. Queen Ducim "Tiger-trainer" Wringmachine the Tame Requirement of Charm was among them as she was a skilled sworddwarf. I thought little of it. She'd been on the throne 3 years at this point and I had already seen her exploits before that as Glovedburies Champion, she was basically unbreakable and genuinely confident.

The Expedition to Doomgripped that fateful mid-spring claimed four lives. This may seem somewhat surprising to an outsider given that the attack was made in ratio of Goblins: dwarves of roughly 100:1 (not including civilians), but the Dwarves of the Lone Vestibule are hardy.

However, this Age of Goblins is cruel. and that is how Zasit Lancecastle the Closed has become King of the Lone Vestibule.

He earned the Epithet the Closed after he beat a few dwarves to death for not fulfilling production mandates and is a former member of our guard.

He's an odd King for sure, given that he is disgusted by power. A look through his profile reveals that he's got quite a reputation the Fortress militia and is the Master of two militia captains. His only friend is Urist Litastebal a fellow Marksdwarf, which is strange given that Urist doesn't really think much of learning and is instead emotional and romantic. The main I know him for is his scholarship as I often see him pondering diseases and social behaviour in the library. Yes, a strange king indeed.

[dwarvendiaries]

Glovedburies is neat! what's the fort's most interesting feature/achievement so far?

The dwarves would probably say the grand temple complex dedicated to the dwarven pantheon, of the Channels of Jumping. It's three storeys tall and the walls are covered in engravings.

All the walls and floors are engraved with pieces like this...

Here's a drawing for a better idea of the scale:

But I would say the most interesting achievement is THE MACERATOR

As you can see it's a pretty deep pit trap, with a bunch of silver spikes at the bottom. But the real reason it's so interesting is that it claimed four lives before it was finished due to me designating the channelling badly.

[dwarvendiaries]

Sandstone Siege

Yay! a goblin siege. And while all my military except the Fortress Guard are out, too

The goblins are gathered at north giving me enough time to pull up the drawbridges.

That sure is a lot

The goblins approach the "pumphouse" funnel home of dismembered limbs.

The Captain of the Guard punches a goblin's head in.

Not my finest piece of design I'll admit, since the goblins get launched over the walls when I raise the bridge under them.

These goblins realise that they got more than they were bargaining for a little too late.

And we clean up a straggler.

[dwarvendiaries]

12 of timber

The Helmed Stones came back.

Disappointing.

[dwarvendiaries]

Giant Lobster

13th of Sandstone, 537

The Arrival of Thisirid "The Unwelcome".

First contact, the marksdwarves spring into action

Thisird sends a blast of flame out at Shorast but she dodges away.

A billowing cloud forms

Thirisid now goes for Libash who wields, Omshit Luslem a superior quality steel shield.

The fighting quickly moves to close quarters

Meanwhile,

Things are heating up

The militia commander joins in.

Finally, Wrestler Udib Berdanlimul slashes off its head with a sword.

[dwarvendiaries]

20th of Malachite, 537

Drainage solutions

Thîkut Ocîmbebzuth is the mother of Kubuk the captain of the Sorcerous Arenas and our most skilled engraver. When the job of mining out fountain drainage from underneath was sent out she eagerly stepped up to the challenge. Digging up from the caverns she mined stairs up until reaching the drainage cistern for the tavern. Water flooded in drowning her for several ticks. But eventually evened out. allowing her to breath.

Of course, she seems entirely unphased by this brush with death, she's legendary in three skills.

[dwarvendiaries]

Glovedburies, 4th of Malachite, 537

The dwarf Thob Uzolraz, fiddles with her long hair as she tells a story to the other two dwarves in the tavern. Water cascades down the fountain to the group's left muddying the floor.

Thob:

Long ago, there was a great fortress, called Toolsystem, in the western mountains of the Universe of Portents. It was carved out of the mountain rock, corridors weaving through the granite-like the winding meanders of a great, great river supplying the human hamlets. In those tributary halls, resided a great Queen of great beauty and strength by the name of Catten Hallgulfs. At the foot of her throne, where Poets and traders would meet with her were the Toy Boat Grizzlerumors, shining with night-black obsidian. No dwarf nor human could stand against Toolsystem.

In the mid-autumn of 127, when the trees shook off their orange leaves like a cloak being shrugged off before bed, something, a roaming beast shuffled into the caverns near Toolsystem. The name of the beast was known by the Lone Vestibule, it was Esaga Uglydeath, called so because if you met it unprepared you would encounter an ugly death indeed. It stood three Urists tall, in humanoid shape, body made of fire burning as bright as the eyes of Armok. On its back was a knobby shell and it smelled like the miasma of 500 tripe biscuits left in the dirt. Esaga slowly marched in, and the dwarves of the Ashen Mines ran in horror...

When Catten heard the news she stood up from the great throne and drew her sword of iron.

"I will face down the beast." she said. And mustered her militia. They gathered in a corridor at corner, swords drawn, armor polished. The sword she wielded was dull now, her days of mercenary work decades behind her now. The firebeast came slowly down the corridor it's flaming light flooding the chambers of those dwarven halls. Catten raised her sword and said,

"I am Catten Hallgulfs, Queen of the Lone Vestibule, keeper of the records of Toolsystem, ex-mercenary and worship of Nekol god of Death. I was there was the world was young. I remember the day you first attacked our citizens one hundred years, and wandered back into the caverns. I was there when you were named Esaga Numaducuthabe, and I am here between you and my people. Mark my words you will never leave this place alive"

And she thrust her sword into the belly of the beast formed of flame. Then Esaga swiped at her with a fiery arm swooping down like hawk that has spotted a rabbit on an open mountainside. The flames licked over her body consuming her flesh until nought but bone and ash were left.

In the halls, that had belonged to the ashen mines were now covered in ash. All the dwarves had fled but a few who were not fast enough. The Queen's words bit into the mind of the beast like a tic clings to the leg of a fisher in autumn reeds. So when it got to the entrance hall it turned in fear and returned instead to chambers enclosed by lonely walls.

The surviving dwarves made their way, wandering night and day, to the remote northern elvish retreat of Authoredwasp. There they formed a new government in exile. First, a herbalist called Éral was appointed Baron, only seventeen with optimism in his eyes. Then a poet called Èrith winner of races, with songs to give hope to the hopeless. Next, Ingish Perplexbooks the old bard of Toolsystem was appointed to the position of Outpost Liaison, his famous poem Tirbute and Nothing More had never rung so true. Then the poet-weaponsmith Lolor, creator of the silver spear Drumbewitches, here poem the Birth of Union to remind the Dwarves of caution. Eventually there was discussion as to who the new monarch should be.

In the end, they appointed Rigòth Admireabbey, a young poet, only 22 years old, who had lost his left arm to a dingo. At his coronation Rigòth recited a poem he had composed himself.

We dwarves, in Toolsystem had plenty.

Now in exile find wisdom, be friendly.

That was how we dwarves of the Lone Vestibule left our ancestral home and started our centuries of exile.