Dwarf Fortress: The RP (Dead)

[Zacharine]

STE3L
Group Name: Hammer Steel

Headaches are becoming a constant, in addition to the cramps and waves of weakness that still plaque you even weeks after the battle. Though if from poison, or simply the matters of leadership, you are not sure.

The training room has effectively halted. As the plans become more and more detailed, the amount of required gears and pulleys and rope seems to keep increasing at a greater pace. By your rough estimates, as the plans stand now, the gear system would take more room than the entire fortress combined, weight almost as much as all the stone you've mined, and have such a power requirements that even several windmills would not suffice to get it moving.

Ambition is all well and good, but with no actually skilled mechanic comfortable with his craft, you're beginning to see there is no way for training equipment to be built on room scale.

It has led to a fringe benefit: the main drive-shaft, you realize, would make for a mighty useful source of power for an actual millstone. All you need is the actual millstone, the wooden power axle, space for both, and a small windmill topside. Preferably directly above the millstone, as otherwise you'll need to add gears and horizontal shafts - on the other hand, having some disconnectable gears might be a good idea for controlling the millstone. Of course, that increases the complexity and size of the whole machinery.

Your farm, while large and tended, doesn't seem to experience all that much growth. The soil is good, and kept moist. But the seeds seem almost...reluctant... to grow. The mushrooms are pushing up at rapid rate, but even they seems somewhat smaller then they ought to. At first, your dwarves made no note of it, but as the harvest size seems to stay the same instead of expectedly increasing, Rue Steelspark as your dedicated farmer and cook brings you the bad news. The mushrooms taste normal, and your plant-heavy meals are still filling and nutritious enough. However, if the expected harvest size for plants doesn't improve, there might be more than a little tightening of the belt later down the line. You are out of underground seeds and mushroom spawns for the moment however, so just increasing the cavern size and farming area won't as such help. Not until the amount of mushrooms increases and spreads, or you gain more seeds for the other plants.

The few weeks that you've had traps out have brought to you only a few catches; some moles, but mostly brown and black furry creatures, slightly larger than an adult fist that seems to prefer to jump in trees and eat seeds and nuts from the forest. They don't provide that much meat as they are fairly skinny, but you can't tell if this is normal or not. They do taste great, and make for a good soup once skinned and drained of blood. Hoping for more successes in the future, you've managed to double the amount of your deployed traps.

You order a small alcove at the lower level of your fortress aside for the well, and the digging begins. And while the digging is being done, your masons construct the actual well. They also carve several ducts into the rock walls, leading to the well and to be later connected to the small ducts you're planning for the fortress.

You're almost out of bandages and sterilizing plants, and entirely run out of purgatives and pain medicines for you, and the altar you've consecrated is not of great comfort as for the third night in a row the pain keeps you awake, cutting your rest short. Once again, you curse the spiders, and the mystery they represent.

 

[Zacharine]

Pyroguy86
Group Name: Iron Fists

The beginnings of the Clan hall start to come about slowly. Your picks are in somewhat poor condition and your clan have never been terribly good miners. But progress is constantly made and with you at the helm the rough dimensions begin to take place.

With a concentrated effort going on at both the new Clan Hall, and the old mines, mining at the old tunnels is slow. All they produce is rock, rock and more rock. For now, the gold has been left alone at the end of a single tunnel. The rocks that do come out contain only trace amounts of ore, and could be refined into something more concrete only with great effort. Grimhein can only shake his head as his reports remain unhopeful.

Food in the forests seems plentiful though, even as the wolves remain agitated. Didoof has taken up the practice that only in groups of three or more do they venture outside, meanwhile preferring to finish the palisade around the village. An so it is, ere the week is over. And as you walk trough them in the fading evening light, you can only compliment him on work well done. The village now stands secure from all directions, with the wooden palisade covering all approaches. With the steep cliffside being the only exception, but that you deem even more secure. Only a fool would try to scale it down, and only a lucky mountain goat might actually succeed without breaking half its bones.

But the following night, you stay awake trying to hear to sounds of the forest. It is a full-moon out, and normally the wolves would be howling like mad. But not this night. They are quiet, and only occasional yelps and yips from nearby your palisade make you think they are there at all.

The mystery deepens, as the next day you find a half-eaten corpse of a stag lying in the grass on the forest edge.

This is the first time you've seen wolves not eat something after killing it and dragging it to somewhere for later use.

Come to think of it, why was the stag in the forest edge in the first place? They often prefer deeper parts, for more over and chance at evasion from predators.

Watching the sunrise, you are not comforted when Grimhein comes to report that a barrel of fairly fresh ale in the storehouse has gone stale almost overnight. But thinking of might be and giving in to fears yet unrealized is not productive, and you have a clan hall that needs building. But now, half your dwarves are without job; there are not enough picks to get everyone digging, your storehouses have remained at an acceptable level with your fairly constant hunting and the palisade is finished. The village could use repairing and rebuilding as always of course, but it might not be the best use of manpower at the moment. It is only Didoof bringing you a piece of meat on a loaf of good two-year old dwarven bread that you realize you've spent nearly the entire morning contemplating on the state of you once-glorious village, skipping breakfast involuntarily.

 

[cnordskog]

We will start carving out living areas, dining areas and a storage area in which to store parts of the wagon. two dwarves will be sent down to the pond to fish( If we have the tools for it) they shall always be two ( fear of carp..)we will also start prepearing a few fields so that we can grow food. also if we have the time we should start digging a irrigation canal so that we wont have to walk an hour for water.

 

[Zacharine]

And as a bonus, here is a sneak preview of the map I'm working on.

As you can see, it's still very much a work in progress.

Spoiler

 

[DragonofDecay86]

Grimhein stood in the camp clearing while the other dwarves, all but Didoof and Bardon, carryed lumber and other tools in order to repair the ruined buildings. Grimhein stared down at a map that showed the land around their territory. Grimhein had kept this map since the nobles had ransacked their land, and he planned to use it now. The map was sat on a table, mugs of stale beer sat beside the map. Gert and Adam, two other dwarves, stood atop the palisades, looking out over the forest with their badly damaged crossbows and rusty arrows.

"So what have you decided?" Didoof asked, looking at Grimhein expectantly.

"We need to figure out what animal, or creature has done this to the stag from earlier." Grimhein said, thinking back to when they had thrown the stag over the cliffside. They had cleaned up the scene to the best of their abilities, so that no wolves would stray too close to camp.

"What would you have us do my lord?" Bardon asked, taking a drink from his stale beer and grimacing. The beer had gone bad, but for now thats all they had, besides the rainwater.

"I need you and Didoof to go off into the deeper parts of the forest, but be careful. If something seems dangerous I want you out of their immediately. You will have all the equipment you need for a two week long trip, swords and bows, not to mention the food and water you need." Grimhein said, grabbing the map and beer, and motioning for the others to follow him.

They did as he wanted them to, following him into the half-built Clan Hall. He motioned for them to grab the pre-made packs set up against the wall, each carrying two weeks worth of venison, and canteens filled to the brim with fresh water. As they shouldered their packs, Grimhein sent for three more dwarves; Argen, Argan, and Bagont. He asked if they would take up Didoof's hunting duties while he was away, and they nodded , grabbing bows and daggers and eagerly leaving the camp.

Soon Didoof and Bardon were off as well, disappearing into the woods. Grimhien had a feeling that he had just sent them to their deaths... but he couldn't worry about this. He sighed, setting his map and weapons down so that he could help in the reconstruction.

Spoiler: OOC @SakSak

That is a very good map.

 

[KronosTalon]

Dral stood up in the first room his clan had digged out. He wa there leader, and the others knew it. Older and wiser, but still as strong as the rest."I think
you know why I called this meeting to order... But for those of you that don't, listen up. We are very lucky to have come to this spot, the rock is good, the basalt even better, but I hear that we are, Not starting as we should be. We need to bunker down and focus on the task at hand brothers, Yes the rock is very good, But it's useless if it's not out of the ground. So this is what is going to happen. We are going to start mining it out with purpose. No more waiting around to admire it, just do the job thy needs to be done." He looked around at some of the others and they looked like they all trusted his judgement, so he continued. "Furthermore, I would like a small party to go out, with whatever weapons and armor we have, and look for food, Also see what grows naturally here, it will help us in the future. And lastly, this is directed more towards you masons, We need a proper clan hall, so we don't have to conduct our business in here, start working on one if we have the supplies. Now everyone, hop to it, the future of our clan depends on it." He said as he walked toward the caverns and grabbed a pick and started mining alongside the other dwarves.

 

[green00706]

Algrim stood from the rock he had be resting on and called for his second in command Ulrik. " Ulrik," Algrim said, has the dwarf approached him, " We must increase the amount of food we currently have." Ulrik nodded his understanding. " So I need you to organize these tasks with the rest of the clan." Algrim told Ulrik. " Yes sir." replied Ulrik with a look of concentration on his face. " I want four dwarfs to create non-lethal traps made out of wood varying from small to large, I also want one dwarf on constant wood cutting duty." Algrim pause to make sure Ulrik understood then continued " We will require two dwarfs to farm, I want one dwarf farming underground and one farming on the surface. The three remainind dwarfs including me will continue to shape our underground fortress with one constantly digging a mine shaft in a spiral like pattern, going down diagonally every few hundered feet then turning. the other two will dig out a dinning hall and if they have time, some smaller dorms." " Is that all?" Ulrik asked. " One final thing once the four dwarfs have finished build the non-lethal trap i want them to be sent on a expedtion to set traps, see has how i doubt they will have many large traps with them send them with meat to set in the traps to lure in animals. Give them about 4 days worth of provisions and remind them ot gather any berries or fruits when outside." Algrim ending on the note and set to work.

 

[Zacharine]

cnordskog
Group Name: Striking Hammers

Week 2 of September, Year 767 of the Fourth Great Count

Dwarves of Striking Hammer are busy building your Fortress, Lorenkos. With so much to do, the first facilities are small and a bit cramped, but that can be fixed later with time. The dining hall is a small room, with a few tables and chairs made from the local wood. Small rooms for every dwarf are being dug underneath the level of the main entrance, but only six are finished so far and the walls are yet rough, and somewhat unappealing sandstone and silt. But it will service.

The original alcove was quickly enlargened, and bucket after bucket of loose ground was quickly mined out and carried away. And as days passed, the wagon slowly began to empty, pieces and item finding a place in the small storeroom. But most importantly, the drink and food was set aside, what little of it remains; a week of comfortable eating, two by rationing it, three for absolute bare minimum. So far, your attempts to fish haven?t been all that successful. A couple of small hooks were quickly made from superfluous metal shaved off of the cart. A bit of thin rope and a few young birches make for decent, if not long lasting, fishing rods. But it doesn?t seem there are that many large fish in the quasi-lake ? what little the fishers have brought back are but the size of a hand and once bone and the less tasty innards are thrown away, not a lot is left for eating. Fresh food is always good of course, but taste alone does not fill.

As soon as this became apparent, focus was laid to a farming area. A small plot was cleared turned and tilled in notime aboveground for the few human and elven seeds you have, and an underground cavern began to take shape in the sandstone and clay layers of the hill. Thankfully, the ground is quite suitable for mushrooms and so in three to four weeks you can expect a first harvest. At that point no one will starve, but that is pretty much it. Dwarven sugar is out of season but the though Pig Tail might give a harvest ere spring, as could the nut-bearing Quarry Bushes and the Dwarven Wheat, but only if planted quickly. Only by focusing efforts to expanding the farm can you plant more than one of those however.

As it is, no dwarf has had free time and a free shovel to begin creating the planned small water-channel from the lake. But so far, your supplies of rum, beer and ale have kept everyone going. But at the rate they are going, they?ll barely last until the end of the month. And that is a bit of a concern, as dwarven ideals of water-use are quite clear: for the sick and injured, the children and elves only.

 

[Zacharine]

green00706
Group Name: chãn nuôi

Week 4 of June, Year 767 of the Fourth Great Count

With expert hands, a veritable pile of traps is created, from wood and cord and rope and carved clever little wood mechanism your clan knows inside and out, before even the first day is out from your order. And then, they are let loose to the forest around.

While they are out, your woodcutter keeps selecting and felling larger trees from nearby. And in the evenings, when he finally lays down the bronze axe, he gulps down several pints of beer and is audibly thankful of the little shade the trees provide in the hot summer sun. But progress is clearly made, and logs keep piling near the main entrance.

The farm plot outside is a short walk away from your main entrance, on a flatter land nearer the forest edge. It isn?t large to start with, but it with good rainfall it ought to provide a harvest or two of Longland Grass before winter settles in. The underground farm is in fairly similar state. Not that big, but all the seeds that you could, you've planted. Mushrooms ought to give their first harvest in a couple of weeks, and steadily every few weeks after that as long as they receive even basic farming care. Quarry Bushes out to mature in a few months and the first of Pig Tail reed should be ready for harvest at the end of autumn, slightly after the Wheat is done. If all goes well, you'll be able to live over the winter with the autumn harvest and constant mushrooms, but that would leave little seeds for the spring. Your main concern is the lack of Dwarven Sugar; good for making rum, nice spice if cut properly and packs a wallop of energy if you can hold the ultra-sweet taste down raw. You'll manage without for years if need be, but it is a lack in the basic dwarven food-plant department.

The main mine shaft you begin digging is slow to get going after the first few levels. Once you ran out of silt and sandstone and into a layer of chalk, your mining speed was significantly reduced. The white, porous stone is decent construction material and can contain deposits of many kinds for all uses. If luck is with you, you won't be needing deep mine shafts in the near future to gain access to some of the grounds' more common treasures. But the rock is also not that valuable as a trade-stone: porous, at times somewhat brittle and, as far as item carving is concerned, its just 'yet another rock'.

When your little expedition returns, it is done without the traps. All have been placed and set, and now only wind and rain can carry the scent of dwarves away, and allow for animals to be caught. The meat within, while not raw, ought to lure in the more predatory animals.

The herbs and plants found in the forest, contain a lot of entirely unknowns to you. Some you recognize as edible and as good seasoning herbs, but most are stuff you've never before seen. It seems only few of the plants native to the mountains and the sparse forests directly beneath also grow here.

The forests themselves are quite active in the animal front. Various ground-dwellers and tree-climbers, mostly herbivores it would seem. A few snakes were spotted. But larger tracks also seem to preclude the existence of larger animals. Herbi-or carnivores, they can't tell. No signs of the larger felines of the arid plains were spotted, but it might be off-season for them to venture into deeper vegetation, or they could have also been hiding.

 

[Zacharine]

More up a bit later. tomorrow morning ~GMT. Finally had an idea on how to make a tricky part of the map even halfway well, and I don't want to lose the idea amidst all the other ideas I get while writing the posts.

Dammit, my fic muse is like on crack or something. I just can't stop having ideas.

 

[Zacharine]

KronosTalon
Group Name: Ironbrow

Week 3 of July, Year 767 of the Fourth Great Count

In your presence, the digging continues at a more rapid pace. Whenever someone slows down too much, or looks to be daydreaming, a bit of a sideways glance from you, digging the hardest all, is enough to remind them what this is work and not a hobby. And so you continue tunnelling down a bit, before branching out to dig out rooms for yourselves. The going is fairly fast and if the miners keep at it, they'll have a small space made for everyone before the change of the week, though they'll be only empty rooms at that: rough walls, no furniture, no doors. Seeing the good going, you head upstairs to plan out the place of your hall inside the fortress. Straight ahead in the main hallways would be the most dominating position as the fortress now is, but hardly the most defensible; you can't exactly trap your main hallway easily, or at all safely while it is in daily use and any attacking force would find the hall pretty much the instant they gain a solid foothold.

You grit your teeth at the ancient dilemma no-one has yet solved. Defensibility, or availability and visibility.

On the way, you see your best mason and his apprentice doing their best to carve rock chairs and tables for your clan hall. From the looks of it, as soon as it is dug out your dwarves can move the furniture in and smooth and build the walls as it is being dug. All in all, with your expertise in mining, with a full clans effort is ought to be done in a few days once you actually start. Of course, the clan hall could be built outside as a separate structure entirely, but the workload would be at least double, without even counting constructing the foundations.

The two dwarves unable to do anything else form lack of mining equipment and buckets to haul rock out from your main shaft, were sent on a short expedition around your main hall. Two days they were away, and they report fairly positive news. Herbs and shrubbery, though never strong points for your clan, are known or at least mostly identifiable. This includes wild-growing Quarry Bushes with their though but tasty and nutritious nuts, and several berry varieties. The biome is quite similar to that of the hills around Mountainhome. Mountain goats, rock snakes, small lizards of various kinds and some birds of prey. Trees, while sparse, do grow a bit thicker and taller once you get downhill enough towards the plains. Can't be called a proper forest though, but animal life should be more plentiful in there than in the mountains. They do bring back some meat: a mountain goat, neatly killed by a crossbow bolt. One of your dwarves had gotten lucky, while the goat was preoccupied by the shrieks of a hunting eagle, and managed to take the goat down form a respectable distance of nearly 80 paces.

Fresh meat is good, but the goat will not last beyond a few days with the entirety of your clan eating it.

The small stream you spotted earlier converges on other streams, but even from a distance it doesn't seem like a proper river. From what you remember, with the exception of the other large river flowing trough the arid plains, there are no waterways from these mountains. And that river start much further to the north if you remember the local geography correctly. Perhaps the stream you see ends up in a small pond or lake somewhere, or slowly dries up or drops underground as it flows towards west.

 

[cnordskog]

Hmm, ( Im still working on making up names and such for the dwarves so its kinda just strategy so far^^)

I want them to focus on the farming apparantly there aint much fish and the little we get is to much resources used on to little gain, focus on planting seeds underground as they are the easiest to defend against wild life etc.

Try to get a still up and plant dwarven seeds to be used as food and for brewing ( im thinking plump helmet but im not sure I have any seeds, Pig tails are used for clothing if im not mistaken.. and im unsure of the others^^ not the bets DF player.

So Plant food plants and build a brewery try to get that water supply secured aswell.

 

[STE3L]

1. try and safely collect some of the nuts and what not the furry ones eat.
2. work on getting a team together for a trade party, we need more supplies and helpfully someone with knowledge of the forests topside.
3. prospect for more ore and any granite suitable for a millstone

as for myself, continue to work myself through the pain and drink plenty of water, hopefully that will slow or dilute the remaining poison.

 

[STE3L]

sak sak, can you please quote me so i know when you have replied. i haven't been checking the thread of late.

 

[KronosTalon]

Every dwarf in the clan began to gather in the main entrance, Dral had called another meeting and no one was to miss it.After all the dwarves had settled in the arrangement made by the Mason, Dral stood and walked in front of them all."Brothers, we have learned a great deal about perserverence and how to get things done. But there is still so much to do. First and formost, we need a fresh water source. Now we all saw a river a bit far off, I need three men to head out that way and follow it down, Try to find a lake, For that would mean water for a good time. Now secondly, We need to get working on the great hall. But this is a problem that has perplexed me until today. People want the hall to be viewable and nice to the eye, But that lacks protection in case we are attacked. I propose we make a grand staircase that leads up to the great hall, And that defensive measures be taken to make sure if the time does come to defend our new home, we are ready and waiting. Everyone got that?" He looked at all the dwarves, none questioned his word." Good, Now I will need 75 percent of the mining force on this job, as it will require some skill, and I place the Mason in charge of this project. Lastly, we must start farming some sort of crop for food. I need another 3 men to head out and bring back berries n such that they had found out while searching. Bring these plants back, roots attached, and we will see about planting them and making more. That is all. Toward the future of Ironbrow!" He yelled at the end, and there was much cheering.

 

[green00706]

Algrim stood outside discussing what the clan needed to do with Ulrik. "Ulrik," Algrim said " I want you to talk wiht the rest of the clan and see if they know of a settlement where we can purchase Dwarven Sugar. After that I need two dwarfs to mine out the chalk, I want two more dwarfs to craft Thrones, Tables and a door to the entrance of our fortress." Algrim paused has Ulrik said " How complex should the door be?" " It only needs to be a simple door that our horses can move out of the way when the need comes to be, I want two dwarfs to dig a irrigation channel to the farm outside, I want one dwarf to use the excess wood we have to build beds and to move the beds inside once they finish them, I want our woodcutter to continue to fell trees." Ulrik nodded " anything else?" Algrim thought for a second then replied " I want the dwarfs currently on farm detail to continue farming but seeing has how the farm's won't come to bloom for a few weeks have them make fishing rods and fish when they have the time."

 

[Zacharine]

Posts will be up tomorrow afternoon (26-27h from now)

 

[Zacharine]

Snip

Week 3 Of September, Year 767 of the Fourth Great Count

You order the fishing trips halted, and you can see your dwarves are somewhat relieved. Though if it is from the fear of Carp Of Yore, or from being back to working inside and safe from weather, you do not know.

With so many hands available, tools are forming the bottleneck at this time. However, the farming area underground is quickly enlarged to accommodate all your seeds at this moment. At least, all seeds that are in season. The work is a bit sloppy as far as planting the seeds goes, but it?s not like any of you care; if they?ll grow, you?re happy.

A brewery was constructed right next to the farm, amidst whoops of joy. In anticipation of home-brewed drinks and Plump Helmet wine potentially just weeks away, your dwarves were quick to open your remaining barrel of rum in an impromptu celebration. As you were about to admonish them for squandering your meager food and drink supplies, a veritable pint of rum was pushed into your hands and the heavenly smell took you away.

Your memories of the night remain a bit fuzzy, but you?re fairly certain that you had fun with your clan. You think. Probably. Well, at least there weren?t any damages that you could discern, from the celebration. The farm now needs a little care and time to begin producing food. But the two weeks before the first mushrooms ought to ripen will be though ones; already you?ve been at half rations for a week, and with lack of food the consumption of ale and beer increases as compensation. If your dwarves can?t eat, they?ll drink.

 

[Zacharine]

Snip

Week 3 of July, Year 767 of the Fourth Great Count

It has been almost a week since Bardon and Didoof were sent to explore the forest, and in the mean time your food supply has taken further hits. While game seems plentiful at the outer edges of the forest and the twins of Argen and Argan, along with Bagont, have kept a supply of fresh meat constant, it would seem your stores have been infested with rats. Hardly any bread remains, half the seeds look spoiled and with stale ale being your only drink the clan mood isn?t that good. At least the stormy clouds overhead are dissipating, having rained their water away as they climbed the mountain range and reach the western side. Still no rain to the plains, you think out loud. The seasonal winds pretty much ensure it.

At least the rebuilding effort has gone forward. One more building stands repaired, after simply tearing down the old one as rot had taken everything but the foundations, and you make another small mark to the map. Only six more buildings are unrepaired, and one of them was burned to the ground by the Nobles raid to your village earlier.

But construction work outside makes for hungry and thirsty dwarves, and the stale ale tastes frankly horrible. Only the fresh meat so far has kept your clan from fighting their frustrations out.

Then again, perhaps a good fight would settle the mood somewhat. It has been years since their last good fight against anyone, and more and more are thinking they ought to have given the Nobles? soldiers a good beating.

Nevermind that it would have been tantamous to suicide.

But either way, somehow their violent tendencies must be curbed at bit. Other clans direct their attentions to crafting, mining, feats of masonry or daring training with murderous animals at times like these. But Iron Fists have always been fighters, and that instinct has been bred to the bone.

 

[Zacharine]

More in a couple of hours, a bit of research ended up taking more time than expected, and now I'll have to go back to lectures.