You probably shouldn't have trusted me not to put in a "surprise". I mean, c'mon, a succession fort with every mod clearly advertised and explained in the OP? Where's the fun in that?
Also that entire reply is going in the quote bank as it caused me to literally pulsate with black joy.
I blame you entirely for this. The tough part will be to be remembered as a tragic victim rather than the cause of all this.
''Why yes, I did did straight to hell, but that was his fault''. More than ever, the road to hell is paved with good intentions...
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
''Hey, Urist, what's that strange, soul-shattering bunch of screams I be hearing?
-Gee, Bomrek, I 'unno. Sounds like, maybe magma or whatever. But the instructions said this is when we should open the last envelope. ''
They retrieve the final, sealed set of instruction from ex-overseer Zaneg. Inside is a complete blueprint of the finished SPIREGATE. so far, each worker division has been blindly following instructions or working on specific parts of the project. It comes with a letter.
''Dear survivors of Clobbermountains,
If you are reading this, then you have followed the plan as I instructed, and SPIREGATE is complete. We should have a supply of demons waiting to crush our enemies, and a way to bypass them to aquire adamantine. In time, we'll be able to rebuild our army and outfit it with legendary-grade equipment. In the meantime, the soldiers are too weak. that's why we need those demons. I'm sorry I mislead you, but it was the only way to salvage the fortress, to survive the next banshee attack.
The water system should allow you to eliminate the demons, in time, when they have outlived their usefulness. Until then, be strong, and survive! You can do this! Remember to unleash the demons once banshees arrive.
-Your fallen Overseer,
Zaneg''
The plan was insane, yet the results were there. To the good people of Clobbermountains (and the larger, insane part), the nature of those demons was still a mystery. The creatures were locked behind a gate. A few ventured near the trade depot, but they backed down and were sealed in the tunnel soon after. There was only one major problem.
The lower gate had been damaged, or wasn't linked properly. There was no way to seal the demons from the spire. Adamantine, by a strange and whimsical mechanical mistake, was out of the dwarven reach.
It was a mere week before the next year. soon, as per dwarven customs, a new overseer would be chosen. Until then, the words of Overseer Zaneg was to be law. The demons were to remain in the tunnel until the next overseer chose to unleash them, or not.
Until someone said the fateful words.
''Banshees! Banshees on the surface!''
The dedicated lever operator was ready. He knew what he had to do. He began the lever activation duty, but when he got to the final part...
''It's gone.'' he said.
''The lever is gone!''Someone had trashed the conveniently-located, publicly available lever in a tantrum. This was some very shocking and unexpected news. They would need to herd the demons back in the tunnel, then open the inner seal to send a worker out to die, and deconstruct the outer gate in the process. A volunteer is chosen. he knows what must be done.
Things are going downhill, and fast. No access to adamantine, and now, the way to the surface will be permanently unavailable. For better or worse, unleashing the demons will be a permanent action. There is no going back. Clobbermountains will be isolated, and the surviving dwarves will have to live their lives in there without any way of seeing the sun again. It is the only way to survive against the banshees, sadly.
''I've had enough of this place!'' announces a dwarf.
''
Fuck this place.
Fuck my life.
Fuck Clobbermountains and fuck His Gaudiness.''
It's another tantrum. The dwarves ignore him. Flint, gaudy guard, draws his hammer. Talking against the king is a punishable offence, after all. They can tolerate children infighting, but not
disrespect.
''Watch your mouth'' says the guard.
''Or I'll teach you.''''
That’s right, I said it, and I’ll fucking say it again: FUCK YOU!!! FUCK HIS GAUDINESS!!! FUCK THE ROYAL ARCHIVIST!!! I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU’LL DO TO ME FOR SAYING THIS!!!
…I don’t care what happens to me at all.''
The guard gets closer. there is no avoiding the hammerin' now. Not after
this. The tantrumming dwarf starts to flail his arms around, trashing stuff around and screaming. The dwarf has clearly gone insane. He's having a mental breakdown in the middle of the fortress. People are looking, waiting. waiting for more, waiting for him to stop. Waiting for the public display of brutality.
''
I will die.
I will die, and then I won’t have to feel grief anymore.
I will die, and then I won’t have to deal with life anymore.
I don’t care anymore.
I’m already dead.''
The dwarf kicks something. Something just within his reach, something easily accessed to just anyone, sitting there in a public area.
I cannot stress this enough.Someone jumps on the lever and flips it back within the minute. It's already too late.
Happy New year, Clobbermountains!*************
So, I'm not sure if there's another turn. Here's the situation in a nutshell:
A tantrumming dwarf kicked the inner access lever
before we could lure the demons back in the tunnel. the gate has been closed, but some greater spawn are in the fortress. What's more, they are right in the central staircase and can get
anywhere. The banshees appeared a week before the year ended (setting up the thing took two full seasons). They showed up the moment I finished the whole SPIREGATE thing and got the demons ready. My turn finished six ingame hours after the lever incident, so that's some fun timing right there. About the same moment, the ambushing banshees were instantly swallowed by a gigantic, well placed cloud, eliminating them utterly. Yes, that's right, not only did everything go to hell with the spawn, but it happened
for naught! Maybe you can salvage the fortress. This will require a lot of planning and some good moves, and also a damn fine amount of luck. Even if you do, we'll have a very shaky population, and we'll probably have to dig and seal a way to the surface just to unleash the spawn against any invading banshees by deconstructing the bridge from the outside. There will be corpses and few ressources and tantrums and miasma and
general unpleasantness. Here's a
quick summary of what happens if you don't do something awesome.
I want to say I'm sorry for what happened, but I'm not.
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Topic: (34.11 Succession) Clobbermountains -- The End(?) (Read 400429 times)