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Author Topic: The Ageless Apples of Fort Fatjewels!  (Read 8264 times)

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Koah

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Re: The Ageless Apples of Fort Fatjewels!
« Reply #20 on: September 22, 2008, 03:10:58 PM »

4th Granite

I've heard that nature abhors a vacuum.  As much as dwarves may not like to admit it (feeling that it gives them something in common with elves), they, too, are a part of nature.  With the former Lord Shinra returning to his position of clerk and the unfortunate death of Lord Doom a vacuum has been left in the leadership of Fatjewels, and I have taken it upon myself to fill this void.

I have been monitoring the progress of the fort for the past two years, and it appears that there is a great deal of work to be done.



Our food and alcohol stores were about average for a fort this size, I noticed, and we were in no fear of immediate starvation.  The lack of dedicated masons and metalsmiths was unnerving, though after asking around I soon realized that there were others in other professions that took upon these roles as necessary, and I saw no need to alter this at the time.



One of the previous rulers had seen fit to secure the entrance with a grand wall; a commendable gesture, to be sure, but the unlocked doors proved to be a great security hazard.  So, too, was the crack in the wall just outside the cluster of workshops.  This, along with the rows of traps, would require more work.

I was heartened to see all the barrels, however.  I am a firm believer that no fort can have enough food in reserve, and I plan on expanding farming operations and filling each and every one of these barrels in short order to ensure that we will be able to deal with sudden influxes of immigrants.

...and whose bright idea was it to leave all those mugs lying around?  We need some friggin' bins, stat.



Housing is quite spacious, which is rather unusual in this day and age.  To the south is the dining room and barracks.  Placing the barracks between the entrance and residential section was a clever move, ensuring that even in rest our army would be able to defend its people.

To the southwest of the main fort a mine had been built, only reachable by overland travel.  I ordered it sealed and drafted up plans for digging to it from belowground in order to minimize contact with hostile forces.  On top of that, I pulled up the primary geological survey ordered by the late ruler Doom and discovered that there was a magma pipe somewhere in the vicinity.  Discovering the location of the pipe was of the utmost importance.

But none of this explains just who I am, does it?



I am O. Hakubi Stinthadnirmek, or "Theaterdefense" in the Dwarven tongue, so named for my ancestors' encouragement of the fine arts.  But myself?  I'm an engineer.  That means I solve problems.  Not conundrums like "what is beauty," because that would fall within the purview of your conundrums of philosophy.  I solve practical problems.  For instance... how am I going to stop some big mean goblins from tearing us structurally superfluous new behinds?  The answer...



Use a trap.  And if that don't work...



...use more traps.  Like these hand-carved, gear-mounted little old numbers designed by me, built by me, and you'd best hope...



...not triggered by you.


15th Granite

Kadol Shorastemor has been acting... unusually as of late.



He raves on about how his creation requires gemstones, silk cloth and shells, the latter two of which are nowhere to be found in the fort.  I fear he may go mad from being unable to see things to fruition, and have locked the door to the workshop and ordered construction of his coffin.  Better safe than sorry.


17th Granite

An elven caravan arrived today, followed by a goblin snatcher attempting to capitalize on the distraction that was the fort's occupants attempts to transfer mugs on at a time to the trading depot.  He was repelled, to be sure, but I fear that next time we may not have as many eyes keeping watch.  As such, I have leashed two war dogs near the entrance to ensure that none will be able to sneak in without their knowing.

As for the trading, the merchants seemed to feel that several dozen mugs for several barrels of spirits was a respectable deal.  Perhaps there is a chance that they may not be as unenlightened as we first thought.


24th Granite

Ambush!



For some reason a pond outside the fortress' walls was marked as a dumping spot for stone, inspiring the goblins to stage an assault on Kib Udizdegel.  Fortunately Kib is an excellent runner, and as of this writing he is handily evading one of the goblin wrestlers.

Unfortunately, the other members of the ambush seem to have not taken the bait: A lone goblin swordsman breached the walls and butchered the Elven caravan before charging the fort.  Upon his entrance a stone-fall trap broke his left hand and right leg, as well as knocking him unconscious.



Before his body even hit the floor Ducim Cogtomus, head of the military and a hell of a fighter, dashed past him and cleaved his head from his shoulders as casual as can be without even breaking stride before rushing through the front gates to slay three more goblins.  Had I not been there I would not have believed it.

Alas, the attack managed to claim the life of one of our miners, Athel Sarveshamith.  I have ordered a series of chambers for burial excavated so as to give him a proper interment.  On the upside, with the elves dead we're free to reclaim both our mugs and the goods they brought for trade.


23rd Slate

Primary excavation has begun on the shaft leading to the base of the fortress site.  If there is magma to be found, I shall find it.


1st Felsite

That's that, I suppose: Poor Kadol's gone completely berserk, slipping through a quirk of the architecture to kill Medtob Menganam before being killed in turn by Ducim.  Misfortune comes in droves, it seems.

Though no sooner than I write that than I hear word that immigrants have arrived.  Twenty of them, to be precise.  Fortunately we have just enough rooms available for them.


20th Felsite

Excavations have turned up a great deal of gemstones, but no magma.  Until I have located it I have ordered all forging-related tasks to be put on hold.

In other news, I have condensed our local mug collection down into a devil's dozen of wooden boxes and cleared the main hallway of clutter.  Quite a bit of work for only three months, I'd say.
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Koah

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Re: The Ageless Apples of Fort Fatjewels!
« Reply #21 on: September 24, 2008, 04:30:24 PM »

13 Hematite

One of our scouts reported that the human caravan was on its way.  As a precaution, I am ordering the military to be put on alert and stationed near the gate.  Once bitten, twice shy.



While directing my fellow dwarves in the transportation of our trade goods, two things pertaining to the defense of the fortress came to mind: The first was that the kennel, stationed beyond the fort's gate, needed to be moved to the inner courtyard.  Dogs were becoming more numerous by the month in the fort, and unlike cats they could be trained for war.

The second was the small pile of crossbows in the weapons stock room and the bones littering the landscape.  I had been tinkering with plans for a crossbow that required no dwarf to fire it, instead being triggered by targets crossing into its line of fire; a "sentry crossbow," if you will.  This would make for as good a time as any to test it; bones would make for a very cheap, very effective source of ammunition.


19th Hematite

A human has sprung from ambush!



...yes, while there were humans at the trade depot.  I'm... not quite certain myself.  Judging from the reactions of the traders he didn't seem to be with them, though they may have just been afraid of the goblins that appeared with him.  Thanks to my foresight two dwarves - one of whom was Ducim - were on hand to mete out punishment with their macuahuitls.



No sooner was that threat dealt with than another human leading a group of goblins appeared to the south, with a goblin snatcher far to the north.  Reprisal was swift and brutal.



Fortunately the merchants survived, and our trusty broker Alath Kuletdumat was able to negotiate for a not insigificant amount of meat and liquor, some cloth, leather, metal bars, two spare anvils and about 50 iron bolts, all for some kobold clothing.  Wonderful creatures, kobolds; fragile, no sense of self-preservation and always dressed in the finest giant spider silk.

When queried as to what I expected of him next year, I suggested that perhaps he could bring more food and, weight willing, more metal bars.  The ones they brought with them were remarkably cheap, enough so that buying them and crafting them into trade goods would grant us an incredible profit.


28th Hematite

Well, I suppose that now is as good a time as any to prepare for the next wave of immigrants.


18th Malachite

Still no magma.  A great deal of platinum, though.


25th Galena

Summer has been quiet.  No goblin ambushes, no immigrants, the farmers have been hard at work building up our stores of booze, the miners have been busy belowground searching for the magma pipe... I have taken to building additional traps around the entrance to keep myself busy.  Ducim seemed to take umbrage at this; when he spoke to me he said that I don't think that he's capable of performing his duty.  I replied that while I cannot fight anywhere near as well as he can I still feel responsible for the safety of my people and am willing to do what I can to ensure they stay safe.  Besides, I said, if they ever brought in archers you and your men could stay behind the doors and ambush them in close range while the stonefall traps did the work.  Judging from his response ("More rubble, less trouble, da?") he seemed to understand.


1st Limestone



One of our children has been struck by inspiration.  Evidently this has happened before.



He scooped up a double armful of logs and some uncut peridots before making a beeline for the craftsdwarf workshop.  Fort's full of child prodigies, I'll say that much.


8th Limestone


Aban came out of seclusion this evening carrying this with him:



We appraised it at 27,600.  I've a mind to dig out a room and gather up some sand to make glass display cases for all the artifacts we produce.  Perhaps some other time.


9th Limestone

Merchants.  Fellow dwarves this time.  As soon as the call went up Ducim organized his men and set up guard near the gate, stood around for five minutes, then promptly went to bed.  Perhaps he has faith that his fellow dwarves will be able to do what humans cannot.  Regardless, I exchanged some goblin clothing for about a dozen assorted metal bars, some spare bits of steel armor, a few spools of thread, even more alcohol and a great deal of meat.


24th Limestone

Another goblin ambush.  They seem to be targeting our fisherdwarves; two wrestlers charged after Ablel Ninganul, chasing him down an embankment before strangling him to near to death.  Ducim arrived in time to kill the goblin, but Ablel's windpipe was crushed; he was not long for this world.



This cannot continue.



It will not be a thing of beauty; I asked the masons only that they build it as fast and as securely as possible regardless of what stone they required.  But once it is finished, we will have a protected source of water within our walls for both fishing and drinking.

Of course, no sooner did I order this than another goblin ambush lead by two humans made its appearance close by, many of whom were carrying crossbows.  Incensed over the loss of one of our own, our champions charged through the hail of arrows and dealt with them in a manner which they deemed most appropriate.




25th Timber

It is done.  Our water source and fishing hole is now safe from ambushes.


4th Moonstone

It just dawned on me that there was a small fortune in clothing and armor waiting to be claimed just outside.  Waste not want not.

It's entirely feasible at this point to base our entire economy around collecting the spoils of war of goblin sieges, trading the clothing to the merchants and melting down the unwearable iron and steel armor for later use.  Though judging from the absolutely enomrous pocket of magnetite to the southwest I doubt we will ever need to rely entirely upon outside sources for iron.


20th Obsidian

oh geez oh armok there's kittens in the fort who let them in they'll fucking doom us all



locusts, tiny furry locusts


23rd Obsidian



Without any prior warning Shem, one of our woodworkers, began speaking in tongues before running off and claiming a carpenter's shop, babbling about paying tribute to beings from beyond time.  Though in retrospect, I suppose the entire point of sudden, gibbering madness is the suddenness of it.  At least they manage to be productive.


1st Granite


Spring has come.  It has been a year since I placed myself in charge, and I find myself reflecting on the state of the fort:

The fort's defenses are more than adequate, though there's certainly nothing stopping me from building more traps; word has it that goblin armies can get rather large in these parts.  Food and alcohol are plentiful, and should something as disastrous as a liquor shortage occur we have a safe source of clean water.  The goblins and kobolds have been kind enough to supply us with enough clothing to trade for whatever we may desire in the future, and though our military is a mere six dwarves, they have proven that any one of them is more than the equal of an entire squad of goblins.  Though there have been hardships and lives lost, I believe that the fort is in far better shape now than it was before I assumed leadership.

Still no sign of the magma pipe, or the obsidian which surrounds it.  I'm not a geologist, but I seem to recall that mining a series of tunnels that criss-cross the entire bottom layer of the plot is a sure-fire way to find a tube full of molten stone that goes below the earth's crust, much less passes through the layer that one just tunneled through.



As for myself, I shall step down from my leadership role (ceding it to the former expedition leader, Alath Kuletdumat) and continue working on the mechanical aspects of our fort.  I feel that my sentry crossbow design can be improved somewhat: The speed of the firing mechanisms could be improved, and the bolt container could be widened into a larger hopper design to hold more ammunition.  Assuming that the general construction of the ballista firing mechanism could be scaled down, its bolts could be wrapped in oily rags and fired through a flame as a slower, but more powerful supplement to the rapid-fire bolts of the crossbow; both could be combined to

(the notes degenerate into formulas, sketches and barely-legible handwriting)




Fatjewels, Start of Year 4

Your turn, Geo.  At least I think Geo is next; someone (read: Doom) needs to get a turn order list all up ins.
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James Edward Smith

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Re: The Ageless Apples of Fort Fatjewels!
« Reply #22 on: September 24, 2008, 05:34:03 PM »

I'll have to play my turn on Saturday, that okay? I might do some Friday night if I don't go out.
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Shinra

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Re: The Ageless Apples of Fort Fatjewels!
« Reply #23 on: September 24, 2008, 08:00:20 PM »

If there's magma, and the bottom floor has none, then it has to be a pool. That means it could potentially be anywhere in the plot. I built a good number of wood furnaces, and there may be coal somewhere. Any map with a mountainous biome usually has some - if you find coal, make it into coke and smelt away.
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James Edward Smith

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Re: The Ageless Apples of Fort Fatjewels!
« Reply #24 on: September 24, 2008, 08:36:24 PM »

Having to do all your smelting with Charcol or mostly Charcol is a pain in the ass. I've done it before though, I just base a lot of my heavy defences around stone hurling catapults, marksmen behind fortifications who don't need heavy armour, wooden giant weapon traps, and lever released dangerous animals. Finding large deposits of coal makes it completely fine though. Coke production still requires an assload more manpower than magma smelting, but at least it's fast so if manpower isn't a problem for you then it's almost as good. Charcol is just too damn slow though.

Magma and water trap rooms are cool too, but I've never had the guts to attempt to set up a system of them.
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Zaratustra

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Re: The Ageless Apples of Fort Fatjewels!
« Reply #25 on: September 25, 2008, 12:28:15 PM »

Uh, the turn order is like, on the first post.

James Edward Smith

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Re: The Ageless Apples of Fort Fatjewels!
« Reply #26 on: September 25, 2008, 03:12:33 PM »

Perhaps, but I really don't understand that turn order. I was the first person to reply to this thread so why am I number 80 or whatever in the list. Also, why did Doom say I was next?

I'M CONFUSED!
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Shinra

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Re: The Ageless Apples of Fort Fatjewels!
« Reply #27 on: September 25, 2008, 04:58:10 PM »

You didn't call a place in line; You simply said 'you'd play if others were interested'. Since other people called their years, you got pushed to the back.
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Kayin

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Re: The Ageless Apples of Fort Fatjewels!
« Reply #28 on: September 25, 2008, 05:16:21 PM »

Just go next, I'm a little busy currently so it'll work out!
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Doom

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Re: The Ageless Apples of Fort Fatjewels!
« Reply #29 on: September 25, 2008, 06:14:45 PM »

Yeah, Zara's up next, actually!

Reworked the year order to account for a Kayin absence. If he returns, we may let him cut in line.
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Kayin

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Re: The Ageless Apples of Fort Fatjewels!
« Reply #30 on: September 25, 2008, 11:53:53 PM »

I'll be good after wednesday!
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Zaratustra

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Re: The Ageless Apples of Fort Fatjewels!
« Reply #31 on: September 26, 2008, 12:19:55 AM »

Almost done. One season to go.

Zaratustra

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Re: The Ageless Apples of Fort Fatjewels!
« Reply #32 on: September 26, 2008, 01:07:29 PM »



The expedition leader seems to be increasingly more nervous about the lack of magma.

"I don't think there's any magma here, chief", I tell him.

"What? We were specifically looking for areas with magma and underground rivers!"



"Are you sure it wasn't magma -or- underground rivers?"

"Uh."

While they're busy arguing whether there is magma or not, I gather my fellow miners and start reassigning work. We miners have been doing everything: Masonry, engraving, mechanics. Nothing more fair than a miner being the mayor.



A... spiked chair. Nice.



The elves come in, but are ambushed.



They're trounced by our guards. I have no idea what was done to these fellows, they're like all five feet tall and speak like Robocop.



A batch of migrants arrives every season. The bedrooms have to be inflated severely.



I order a new, less cramped area for workshops built along with mayoral offices. The dining room is increased in size as well.



Humans come in and offer lots of metal and other things for trade. Their prices are ludicrous, but we have lots of loot from the fallen goblins and elves.



An artifact was lost! I order the other artifacts to be stored in a safe position and mount the artifact grate as some kind of sculpture in the dining room. It works beautifully.



I decide to make a pump from the underground river. Much digging and building is done, with the help of the exploratory shafts built into the mountain.



After eleven windmills, the pump starts working. I leave the specifics of the irrigation system for the next year.



The dwarves have even weirder things to trade. Engraved musical instruments? I order them to bring more useful things.



One of those coffins holds two bodies. Apparently whoever walled the coffin in did so from the inside. Frightening.



We have blue diamonds and you decided to use peridot to make a mini-forge. Great. We'll be sure to keep it safe.



Two towers for eventual siege machines and crossbows were built while the guard took care of defenseless sasquatches.



All in all, the population has nearly doubled this year. I leave additional planning to my close advisor, Mr. Geothermal, and leave him notes (press shift+N) regarding the operation of the levers and what to do upon my eventual burial, near the water pump system I am so proud of.

http://zarawesome.googlepages.com/region2.zip

Koah

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Re: The Ageless Apples of Fort Fatjewels!
« Reply #33 on: September 26, 2008, 01:20:20 PM »

Quote
One of those coffins holds two bodies. Apparently whoever walled the coffin in did so from the inside. Frightening.

For the love of God, Montressor!
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Shinra

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Re: The Ageless Apples of Fort Fatjewels!
« Reply #34 on: September 27, 2008, 01:19:13 AM »

Quote
One of those coffins holds two bodies. Apparently whoever walled the coffin in did so from the inside. Frightening.

For the love of God, Montressor!

Is it possible to post-humously nickname dwarves?

Just a thought.
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James Edward Smith

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Re: The Ageless Apples of Fort Fatjewels!
« Reply #35 on: September 30, 2008, 01:19:17 PM »

Oh, by the by, I'm gonna have to forfeit my turn. Sorry guys, just to much school and meeting with golfcourse owners at the moment.

Kayin beam, activate!
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Re: The Ageless Apples of Fort Fatjewels!
« Reply #36 on: September 30, 2008, 01:22:04 PM »

There's a 3D fortress-rendering tool floating around.  Somebody should post some screenshots with that.
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Kayin

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Re: The Ageless Apples of Fort Fatjewels!
« Reply #37 on: September 30, 2008, 01:47:22 PM »

I'm good, I'm good, I'll try and be done by thursday!
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Fredward

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Re: The Ageless Apples of Fort Fatjewels!
« Reply #38 on: September 30, 2008, 03:27:21 PM »

O hay. So I don't have a desktop yet, but I seem to have fiddled with DF enough to make it run tolerably. So I can take my turn after Kayin.
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McFrugal

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Re: The Ageless Apples of Fort Fatjewels!
« Reply #39 on: September 30, 2008, 03:57:31 PM »

Tolerably with how many dwarves?  If you only tested it with 7, a full fort of 80+ will be much slower.
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