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[Splint]

---++++Nokzamzatthud ++++---
0=Battlejudge=0
We need a motto.

A late night. The group was about to depart, and merely await a dwarf named Doren. They had all only arrived within the past five minutes, so the leader of the group, based upon the fact she was the only one with any paper work, hopped up on a crate. "Right then, everyone, while we wait, I believe introductions are in order. My name is Nish Letmorulush. I'll be leading this expedition."

One woman huffed. "Don't suppose you have actual skills do you?" She said, giving her an accusing glare, one shared with another one. Clearly they assumed Nish was some namby-pamby noble's daughter.

"As a matter of fact, I do!" She said with a smile. "I joined the Miner's Guild several weeks ago, and my foreman says I'm quite competent at it!" She laned back and smiled at the she-dwarf who had asked.

"Much too polite." The other said. "Has to be some noble's brat."

"Riiiight." The accuser said. "Well, I'm Thikut Tekkudestog. Got assigned to this job by the Colonel in Lancegild."

"And what did you do, if you don't mind my asking? Were you a soldier, or?" Nish asked with a cock of her head. Thikut looked away, evidently embarrassed as she mentioned something about fish.

"Uh huh, well a fish disec-"

"Cleaner. I was a fish cleaner before I enlisted." Thikut cut Nish off, looking even more embarrassed, and aggravated, than before. Nish simply nodded, and looked to the other woman beside her. "And you miss?"

"Asob Storluathel. Conscript, but I wanted to be a glassmaker like my parents. They were putting me through the wood burning course when I was handed my duty notice. Not sure why I was put here half a continent away, but I can only make the most of it right?" She said with an uneasy smile. "I always did dream of being a great hero, I j-just didn't think i-t'd be directly... More through traps..."

"Meng and I will make sure you're entirely fine." A woman in smithing attire said, elbowing another whp had a big woodcutting axe.

"Please don't group me with you. I met you yesterday, we're not friends." The woodcutter said with a flat, annoyed tone. "Meng Astilised. Amatuer craftsdwarf. Woodcutter."

"And I'm Urist Imukuzol! Perhaps you've heard of me? Anything I've made?" The smith said with a hopeful smile.

Everyone shook there heads, instantly deflating her spirits. "Of course nobody has..." She leaned up against the wagon and huffed in frustration.  "Suppose this is why my master is sending me. Make a name for myself and all that."

Nish nodded at the three. And then turned to the only male dwarf in the bunch. "And y-"

He quickly snapped to attention and belted out his rank, name, weapon class, and the noble who assigned him to the duty per monarch request for an infantrydwarf. "Corporal Vucar Kisazir, Swordsdwarf in service of Baron Kogan of Constructbear! Assigned to Southern Expedition per request of Queen Rith!" He looked absolutely nerve wracked, and was trembling slightly.

"Oh gods, a careerist..." Asob mumbled.

"Relax Vucar! We're all friends here!" Nish said, holding up a hand.

Vucar relaxed somewhat and apologized. "Sorry, family's always been soldiers, had the regimentation beat into me."

A few minutes and small talk later, and Doren arrived with a wheelbarrow full of obsidian, gold and silver ore. "Evenin' folks." He said as he went round the back and started loaded the rocks into the back.

"You must be the man we were waiting for. Good to meet you..."

"Doren Gatinkubuk." He said as he up ended the wheelbarrow. "And you'd be right."

"Ah! Good, I'm Nish. I'll be leading this expedition."

"Good for you, what noble popped you out to warrant a leadership position?"

"I-I... Well-"

"Save it, don't care."

"R-Right.... All abord everyone! I'm sure the donkey and the horse are getting anxious all tethered up." Everyone boarded then, with Asob taking the reigns.

"Question." Thikut said as she looked over what were at th time a fair stock of food and drink, among other things. "We're our weapons and armor? Thought the baron here was supposed to issue us some basic gear."

"Oh, that? Sold it." Doren said as he took a bite out of a dried cave fish.

"WHAT!?" She and Vucar said in unison.

"Well I had to leave something for the ore and the obsidian. Otherwise it woulda been stealing." Doren said between bites. "Not in the mood to get a hammering."

"Alright, so we ave a thief and someone who dislikes nobles. Anything else you wanna tell us? They you dissect small animals maybe?"

"Nah. Trapper, not a dissector." There was a pause as everyone stared at him in abject horror. "What?" It took a few minutes to finally sink in. "Oh. Right, yeah. I'm a miner as well. Trapping's a hobby."

And then came the collective sigh of relief. Asob urged the beasts of burden onwards with that, though Vucar berated him for beign careless with government property, which Doren blew off as he settled in to sleep and Nish went up to sit with Asob as navigator.


Alright guys, I know I'm back for another one. Believe it or not however, this one is mostly to sharpen my writing skills for a bigger project involving knights and the various horrors of ZM5. However that's going to be fairly intensive on mods from my end regarding a specific character, so I'll both need help with that when I get around to the final bits of mods I want to add (specifically a single-use immortality juice, and fireproof logs, and figuring out a research system for it.)

That means I won't always be doing my typical journal style of writing, but shoot for something more in line Nomekast.

Now, goblins have died out, and humans are getting their asses kicked up one side of The Malignant Beak and down the other. However, I think we have a good premise set up here that outright justifies starting as much shit as we possibly can with the elves and if we want to be extra douchey, everyone else, including our southern neighbors. So it's kinda like Bandithorses (in fact, I had planned to name this fort Battlehorses, but didn't want two forts with "-horses" in the name.) Go show those dudes some love in thier criminal endeavors!

The main difference is we're here for a reason - to anyone else, we're a trade post. But the real goal is as said, a staging point to launch raids on the elves, in a vain hope to take pressure off the surviving humans and slow the elves' encroachment north towards the homeland.

This is our map.

We are deep in elf country, with three civs all jammed in that jungle, with plenty of human holdings likely to contribute troops as well. I can also confirm a Roc, a Hydra, and either 7 were creatures in the general region, or 7 refugees as well, so I plan to act accordingly because of the possible weres. I also don't know if we have any metal or coal on site, hence most of our supplies being that.

MODS IN PLAY
Just some minor mods that I've done, apart from LC's terrible weapons pack. It's almost all just items, basically. Apart from these, there are no other mods.

LC's Terrible Melee Pack - Everyone has been given access to a truly awful array of weaponry fit only for common peasantry - woodcutting axes, pitchforks, and more will give everyone much more ramshackle armies.
Dwarf Great Weapons - Dwarves have access to their own new two-handed weapons, in the form of Dwarven great swords, axes, and hammers.
Variety Weapons - Spiked flails and war picks for everyone who uses metal, as well as flails and morning stars for dwarves.
Hammer and axe pendants - Just for fun. Count as cape/cloak type items and made of metal. Could block an attack occasionally. Somehow.
Hats replace caps as civvie headwear.
Fearless Hounds and Horses - Dogs have been made fearless, and will fight to the death at their masters' sides (regardless of who it is, man, dorf, or whatever.) Likewise, Horses show no fear, as those used in combat (or reared by dorfs) are acclimated to frightening or even downright intolerable conditions. I've also made horses trainable for war.

GOALS
Basic Survival at present.
Pick fights with every elf civ around us.
OPTIONAL: Antagonize The Brave Treaties.
OPTIONAL: Antagonize the humans to the north.

[Splint]

0=UPDATE ARCHIVE=0
UPDATE 1: Piercing Howls
UPDATE 2: Elephantine
UPDATE 3: Journal of Vucar I
UPDATE 4: Multi-Firsts!
UPDATE 5: Artifacts
UPDATE 6: Bad Hunters
UPDATE 7: Bodycount
UPDATE 8: Mountainhome
UPDATE 9: Asob's End
UPDATE 10: Amas is Watching
UPDATE 11: Death to the Forest God

INTERMISSION: SLOPPY IMAGE-ONLY TOUR

[Splint]

BODY COUNT
Standard fare: Red for violence, orange for insanity, yellow for accidents, purple for abduction, and cyan for old age.

RAID KILLS: 1

INVADERS SLAIN
Elves: 763
Humans: 0
Goblins: 0

WEREBEAST TALLY: 6

MEGABEAST KILLS
The Ettin Bokanir Utast Takru, Slain by Colonel Vucar
The Forest Titan Dakaslud Uxo Masnam, Slain by Spearman Iki

0=THE HONORED DEAD=0
The Fort's lost are posted here, along with caravan staff and of course raid casualties.
FORTRESS CASUALTIES: 28
RAID CASUALTIES: 1
FOUNDERS DEAD: 2

Thikut Pickbend, Axedwarf - Killed battling zombie yaks.
Litast Cavelulled, Hunter - Stomped to death by zombie elephant.
Kivish Tanpages, Hunter - Stabbed in the head by a zombie unicorn
Lorbam  Rhythmicaxes, Speardwarf - Suffocated, kicked in the head by elven mount.
Teshil Coasthunder, Spearprophet - Drowned, died fighting the horse that knocked him in a pond.
Asob Dimplering, The Mechanical Shove of Howls, Macelord - Stomped by the war elephant Cato after collapsing from exhaustion.
Tun Wiltedgem, Bard - Killed by Olin Metaldashed's zombified corpse.
Gisep Kindlingkneaded, Human Swordsman - Head gored after blacking out from exhaustion, Killed by an enemy unicorn.
Reg Shootclapped, Axedwarf - Knocked unconscious by horse kick, strangled to death by elf swordsman Mina Urgelizards.
Sidaya Thinleap, Human Spearman - Drowned, knocked into pond by an elf spearman.
Ezum Pulleyvoice, Predator - Fatally injured by tantruming bard.
Iki Praisedgorges, Human Spearman - Infected by werewombat curse, struck down by Colonel Vucar.
Rith Goldcrushed, Dwarven Child - Infected by werewombat curse, struck down by Colonel Vucar.
Kivish Weaktrades, Macedwarf - Kicked to death by enemy horse.
Besmar Axesunken, Performer - Killed by a tantrumming bard.

Raid Death: "sergeant" Kadol Bellhelps, torn to shreds by a lion.

Tirist Graylenses, Spinner/Militia Recruit, failed mood (berserk, strangled by an engraver.)
Anri Kingdomstone, Human Bard - Went Berserk, Struck down by Axelord Zas.
Nesik Fullreigns, Goblin performer - Went berserk, killed by Judge Ber
Tholtig Ripeposts, Bard - Stress-induced madness, dehydrated to death.

Fikod Orbsrises, Bard - Accidentally killed by Guard-issue beating.
Kadol Bellscrews, Predator - Accidentally killed by Guard-issue beating.

Covema Rambold, Human Bard - Old Age.
Olin Metaldashed, Bard - Old Age
Icar Ledbeans, Human Bard - Old Age
Opi Landgulf, Human Bard - Old Age

[Splint]

0=COMMUNITY=0
Art, Journals, RP That is suitably amusing, all that goes here for easy access.

Unkown72
Multi's Journal I
Multi's Journal II
Multi's Journal III

[Splint]

Three weeks of travel, three weeks of seeing the devastation of the war. The dwarves were all nervous of course, seeing as the humans were getting the worst of it. Burned and conquered towns and hamelts, the rare sacked forest retreat. It was no wonder they'd been sent to establish a halfway point with the southern dwarves. Along the way, they had picked up three horses - two mares and a stallion - after they had followed the dwarves for nearly two full weeks and stared at them menacingly every night at the edge of their camp fires, the dogs seeming to not care about them, which made it worse.

It was only resolved when Doren went up to them one night and found that they had brands on them from Channelslid, which told them why the horses had followed them - they smelled dwarves, or perhaps seen them or heard them speaking dwarven one night.

The remaining leg of the journey was quiet, though they heard what sounded like a hyena in the distance during a full moon. Upon arrival, they pastured the horses and the one donkey and rested for the night. Upon sunrise, they became slightly uneasy - on one hand was an unsettling brook that looked like a spindly hand reaching towards their wagon on the hill in the sea of light blue bubble bulbs and snow-white downy grass. On the other, a barren mountain, made from mostly solid dolomite, with exposed pockets of gypsum.



Solid dolomite.

As in no exposed metal like there should be.

Nish began to panic of course. No metal meant no weapons, no valuable trade goods, no wealth, no golden tables or chairs for when she ebcame a baroness!

Her shocked stare at the white-flecked-with-yellow hillside was shaken when Vucar jostled her and told her she was making weird, choked, squeaking-of-despair sounds.

"We'll be fine." He said, thumping his chest. "We brought plenty to get at least the three of us suited up, and we should be more than a match for any elves!"

The fear was obvious in his voice at the end.

Nish tried not to think about it, quickly scribbling up a design for an entrance on the side of the wagon.



Doren grabbed her charcoal stick and quickly widened the hallway with odd notches in it.



"Why on earth did you do that?" She asked, snatching her stick back.

"Gotta think big. Ornate. Notches for statues, a nice big hallway, think big girl! Cause it looks like the gods have given us a right fucking." He said, then he just shook his head and mumbled "Especially you, Doren..."

But they set to work, Nish handing out what few orders she could - She and Doren would begin shaping the outside of the entrance, while Meng lumbered some trees for furniture. Thikut took the carpentry tools out of the wagon and volunteered to do the work, starting with shields for herself and Asob. As the sun waned in the sky though, they heard it: Piercing howls. Ice wolves.

Everyone was shocked at how quickly Vucar had put together a crafting table and demanded two logs. "I can make an axe and a sword with it. Wolves bearing is due south. They'll either come for us or wander in by chance. Need weapons. We kill them fast enough, We can use them. Make armor. Make food."

He seemed to be in a trance as his fearful face worked furiously once he got a hold of a log, shaping it inexpertly to hold a sharpened lump of obsidian. He pointed at Thikut as he worked. "No shield. Axe is too big."

"But-"

"JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP AND ACCEPT IT THIK. YOU'D LIKE TO STAY ALIVE RIGHT?" He said with a twitch in his eye.

" Yeah, but.... Gods damn, man."

"THEN SHUT THE HELL UP, AND LET ME DO MY SHIT YOU WILL GET A WOODCUTTING AXE AND YOU WILL LIKE IT."

"We're gonna need a leader." Urist said, watching the woods closely.

"Well, how about the careerist here?" Thikut said, gesturing to Vucar.

"Works for me." Asob said with a shrug.
 
Once he was done he gathered up their shields, a crude grain flail Thikut had made, and the sword and axe, and threw it all into a pile apart from the sword and a shield. "I ACCEPT THE POSITION OF COLONEL!" He bellowed, clearly scared out of his mind. "PREPARE FOR BATTLE!"

"Vucar, you need to chill the hell out."

"I WILL DO NO SUCH THING PRIVATE. WE'RE FIGHTING GOD DAMN ZOMBIES."



Asob and Thikut looked at eachother and then back to Vucar, who had spun around and was pointing into the woods to the southwest. "FORWARD SISTERS!"

They fell in, weapons in hand. Thikut and Vucar both looked unsteady, like they had trained to fight one-handed and two-handed respectively, while Asob gave her flail a practice swing. Slow. Unbalanced. The two women both simply muttered prayers to their patron gods, while Vucar babbled to himself.

"Amas please forgive our trespass into this unholy mountain you have tried to bar us from. I understand now this pack is a punishment sent unto us to test our resolve. Victory gives bounty, defeat gives death. We shall perform our duties to queen and country and surrender ourselves to the judgment of your antlers." He kept repeating this over and over as well as the phrase "Do not doubt, doubt is death."

All it did was unsettle his sisters-in-arms.

As they moved through the brush they could hear one of the wolves howl, and the response was somewhat distant. "We kill this one and we have better odds." Vucar said as he tightened his hold on his sword.

"Then let's do this!" Asob shouted as she charged out of the bushes and slammed bodily into the wolf, her flail bouncing harmlessly as she swung on the charge. Vucar and Thikut followed suit, with the latter delivering a heavy chop to its head as it stagged up, but this did little to perturb it. It leapt for Asob, only to bounce off her shield, and upon sighting Vucar, leapt for him.

He held it up on two legs as it snarled and scracthed at his shield, its head impaled on the sword from a stab. Its fruitless clawing was interrupted when Thikut sank her nails into its side and hurled it off the newly-christened Colonel. Asob bashed it in the head, twisting it unnaturally and whacked it again with her shield rim, to no avail. Thikut however followed through on an upward slash with her "axe" and shattered one of the wolf's back legs, while Vucar ran his sword through a front leg.

It was at this point they gave up on smashing its head, and started slicing off parts of the thing - first paws, then a tail, as they desperately tried to put it down as a second wolf closed the distance. It was only after an agonizing thirty seconds of desperate slashing and bashing (and a few kicks,) that Vucar sliced off the wolf's head, cutting its snarling off abruptly.

"OKAY! Now that that's d-" Vucar was cut off by another howl as a zombie ice wolf barreled into him. Asob shoulder arged the beast off him as Thikut dove on it as it got up, sinking her teeth into its flesh, and gripping her axe close to the head, slammed it into the wolf's side, cutting it open.

"Move Thik!" Vucar said as she drove his sword into the wolf near the open wound in its side, and ripped upwards, causing it to fall silent and unmoving.

Asob quickly helped the axedwarf up, and they looked at the blood running down her left arm and right hand. "It's fine" she quickly said, opening and closing her hand and moving her arm. "Can still move'em."

"We'll get you stitched up as quickly as we can." Vucar said, gesturing to an approaching wolf. "They were scattered. We can do this."

Asob went around a tree, intending to either flank or head off the next wolf while Thikut and Vucar took positions together and attacked at the same time, slicing the front paws off the wolf, with Vucar bashing it back down with his shield. As it tried to get up, Asob appeared behind it and swatted it into the grass. This aggravated the wolf even more than its hate for life already did, and it managed to flop itself around and gnashed at her, teeth scraping across her right thigh.

"Auhg! You little shit, EAT THIS!" She bellowed in anger and brought the head of her flail in on a wide arc, knocking a tooth out of the beast's head. This didn't dissuade it as it bit Thikut, whom the bash had sent the wolf towards on her foot. She smashed it in the side with her axe in retaliation, and finally a headshot took it down, with Vucar yanking his sword out of its now-mangled head.

Thikut immediately dropped to her knees and let out a mighty huff of exhaustion. "By the gods, what the fuck are these things made of?"

"Undeath and hate." Asob answered, flopping against a tree. Then there was another howl.

"You two stay here. I think I can kill the last one." Vucar said, charging into the woods.

"Arright boss," Thikut said with a wave. "Don't mind us, we'll just sit here."



Vucar wasn't listening. As he cleared two feather trees, he spotted a wolf sniffing about, and it looked up.

The two locked eyes and charged.

The wolf struck first, missing as it swiped its claws at him, to which he countered by kicking it hard in the side. When it staggered to regain its footing, it leapt at him, and he threw up his shield and braced, causing it to bounce off and give him an opening, which he used to slice open its side. Any other creature would have dropped at the crack of broken ribs, but the zombie simply attacked again.

Vucar jumped away, slicing its left front leg as he went, and as the wolf stumbled and rolled, he managed to cut apart its back right paw, leaving it unable to stand. He jumped on it then, and began slashing wildly at it. cutting away its remaining paws and blocking its bites easily. After several slicing at it ineffectively for a full minute, a slash to its head - one of several - finally killed it.

As Vucar returned to the other two, Doren appeared in the brush. "Thought you guys might need a hand." He said, hefting his pick. "But I guess I'll have to settle for helping one fo the chew toys here." He then helped Asob up, while Thikut hopped along with Vucar.

A day later, the two had been stitched up by Urist, and everyone lived in fear of strangled brays, as undead mountain goats roamed by above them.

"Asam is watching us." Vucar said.

Everyone else was hoping that those goats weren't his eyes.


And there's our first update!

I'll be honest, this was the opposite of what I was expecting. I had made ice wolves tamable and added them to mountains in the hopes of training them, but it seems the mountain is a resurrecting biome! So that's a... Mixed blessing, I guess. It also seems there is absolutely zero metal on the map besides the fun kind, which means we will be entirely reliant upon sticks and clubs once we run out of metal that we brought. I had brought that and more coal and obsidian because I hadn't expected the zombies.

So of course we got zombies, which has basically derailed my plans entirely, hence the current title.

Additionally, the fight went way better than I was expecting, with frankly trivial injuries sustained by Asob and Thikut. Also it turns out Vucar is a brick shithouse as far as dwarves go, being indefatigable and mighty. And has a stick jammed so far up his ass you could be forgiven for thinking he was an ultramarine. I had only selected soldiers based on dreams to be soldiers.

Oh, and an owl corpse attacked us while I was settignt his up. Nothing important, but the presence of elephants and an undead owl makes me think zombie elephants might be a thing.

All aboard the fun mobile, right guys? Also, next update will come in the morning or afternoon. Elephants were involved.

[Bearskie]

Another Splint-fort? Man, you just don't tire of these don't you. I'm more a passive reader, but sure dwarf me as Bear.

[Splint]

Another Splint-fort? Man, you just don't tire of these don't you. I'm more a passive reader, but sure dwarf me as Bear.

I almost certainly do not. Just need to find that story that keeps me playing and I think this'll be it until I get my mods sorted out. Hell, I'd still be playing Riverrun if I hadn't lost the save to it.

Gave you a mason married to a legendary gem cutter. Hope that does the job for ye.

Next update: Elephants and migrants.

[Splint]

Mid-Felsite, 538

"Elephants sure are majestic, aren't they?" Doren said one sunset.

"The fuck is wrong with you?" Asob said, stopping at the absurdity.

"Just ignore him." Urist said as she finished up a wolf skull totem. "He talks nonsense every so often."

"Ain't nonsense if it's true." Doren said as he got up. "Doesn't change the fact that the things are fuckin' terrifying, speakin' of which, a horse is attacking one." He made a 'toodles!' sort of motion and swiftly bolted into the entrance hall.

Vucar had already taken off at the mention of "horse attacking," much to everyone's surprise. "AMAS TAKE YOU, DEFILING PACHYDERM!!!" He bellowed as he went. When he arrived, th horse was still vigorously beating the elephant as it tried to escape the horse, only to constantly get its tusks caught on the larger trees. And already exhausted, it could do little as the dwarf came barreling into it with a shining obsidian sword. Unable to do much more, it tried to fight, but the horse had worn it down and it quickly fell to the brutality of the dwarf, which proceeded to mercilessly slash at it's head.

Eventually, it died. Vucar wasn't sure if it was blood loss or if he stabbed it enough to make part of the head collapse, but it was something. Of course there were more angry whinnies and he had to follow that damnable horse.

****

"I can't fucking believe it." Asob said as she saw the horses, rigged up with makeshift ropes made of vines, dragging dead elephants back to the bolt-hole of a fortress. "What in the fuck possessed you two to go out there and fight elephants?!" She said to Thikut and Vucar, who both looked, quite frankly, exhausted.

"The fuckin' horses." Thikut said, dragging her axe behind her.

"I have no idea what possessed them to attack the beasts, but we had to do something..." Vucar said, looking like he was already reliving the horribleness of the past month and a half. Elephantine genocide included.

"How many did you..." Asob counted them out and looked astonished. "How the hell did you two kill five elephants!?"

"I DON'T KNOOOOOOW!" Vucar screamed in despair as he huddled under the wagon, reliving being attacked by the dead, evidenced by his babbling about the howls.

[/i]

****

Mid-Summer, 538



A group of dwarves approached from the south. Dirty, tired, and sober. They were lead by a mason named Bearskie, who introduced himself to Nish, who went with Vucar and Asob to meet the new arrivals at the edge of their camp.

"This is my Wife, Onol Tashlotvutok." He said, the stout woman confirming with a wave and a smile.

"Onol Tashlotvutok, the gemcutter?" Nish said in disbelief. "The one that made The Ancient Fire?"

"Tha's right ma'am." Pride a my family, or so 'm told."

"Wow, guess those gems we found are gonna be put to good use, eh?" Asob said, giving Nish a nudge.

"What in the world are you doing here?" Nish asked in shock at such a skilled dwarf.

"Was visitin' family down south. Got lost." Onol said with a shrug. "'S'all There is to that really. Dunno about those two." She added, gesturing to an engineer and a gem setter named Lokum and Rovod respectively. Lokum found himself quickly drafted and handed a wooden club and a shield, as well as a wolf skull fashioned into a helmet and leather gloves reinforced with claws.

"What sort of elf shit is this?" The engineer said.

"We don't have the proper facilities to arm everyone properly." Vucar explained, looking genuinely sorry. "It'll be a while yet before we have real weapons in hand."

****

Early Autumn, 538

Work continued apace, with the gem setter and cutter busying themselves with smoothing the notches in the entrance hall, and Bearskie carved dolomite statues. Nish went to help Doren finish digging the eventual well, the access to which had already swallowed him. When they broke through the stone and saw eachothers' picks, they congratulated eachother on a job well done. By Malachite's end, rooms for a tavern were dug, and being used as temporary housing, to give those who wished it some degree of privacy.

There were also statues finally being placed into smoothed out notches. Some glorified the gods, others...



Not so much. Everyone began debating on what the thing was meant to be, and eventually came to the consensus of what was known simply as a Forgotten One. That aside, new homes were dug, including two "family homes" that had a second level with three small bedrooms, clearly meant for the children of the two couples. Urist meanwhile was given a lavish home with a connected workshop - currently unfurnished of course.



And before they knew it, early Autumn had come, and with it a caravan from the north. The leader of the caravan, a Craftdwarf named Zulgar, didn't seem impressed with the fortress. "This is supposed to be a trading hub?" The liaison said, clearly skeptical.



"That it is, ma'am. We're ready for commerce!" Nish said. She then shot Bearskie who had brought out a featherwood box and zoned out staring at the alcohol barrels marked on the wagon. "Bearskie!" Nish snapped.

"Huh? Oh, right. Sorry." "He unlocked the bin and opened it, proudly - at least as proudly as a sober dwarf could - displaying the array of trade goods - amulets, totems, figurines, and the like, made from, much to the caravan master's surprise upon appraising them, ice wolf and elephant bone, as well as ivory.

"Where on earth did you find a dead elehpant to carve this stuff from?" She asked, holding up a superiorly made figurine Meng had carved in her spare time.

"We... We didn't find a dead one." Nish said sheepishly. "We uh, we, er, our militia that is, killed five of them."

"Right, with what weapons, that paddle with the bladelets? Or maybe with that hunk of rock tied to a stick I saw your "axedwarf" training with?"

"Yes, actually."

"..."

"Riiiight." Zulgar quickly whipped out a scroll box and handed it to Nish. "Letter from your parents." Then another. "And news from the homeland you may share with your staff."

"I'm sorry, Staff?" Doren said as he dropped a bin of crafts in the depot, giving an accusing stare at the government official.

"Fellow citizens, then."

Nish was quick to hand the liaison a set of paperwork as well, placing orders for drink, ore, coal, metal bars, reporting the abject failure of the survey team to find a spot with ore, and that the place was infested with zombies and that the horses were being unreasonably belligerent with the local wildlife. After that business was concluded, Nish set about her bartering.

****

The four soldiers stood around a table in the future in, a box of items and Nish before them. "Everyone, I'm afraid I was unable to aquire full suits of armor like you asked." The militia immediately groaned in various annoyed tones. "But!" She said as she opened the box. "I did get something."

She set three pairs of bronze boots (one high and two low,) two sets of bronze gauntlets, two bismuth bronze helmets, an iron cap and set of greaves. "I managed to get this, and Asob, while the traders mostly brought mining gear, I did manage to snag this!" The chain of the spike-headed flail hit the table with a thunk. While its quality was about par for a novice smith, it was still a real weapon, and one Asob loved at that! She eagerly snapped it up and flung it around giggling like a child with a favorite toy, and hitting Lokum in the side of his head with her tossed aside grain flail.

Everyone scattered while Lokum hid under the table until she was done, and everyone ewas excused after they tooled up. Because they had all gone without a brew in far too long, and now ten barrels sat in the stocks.

****

Mid-Autumn, 538

Migrants arrived at mid-day, 7 in all. Most surprising however was the arrival fo Bearskie's mother, Reg and father, Nidor; the latter of whom was both a monk of the holy power and an axedwarf. He joined the militia on the spot, stating that "you miscreants look like you scarcely know how to wield your weapons. How are you supposed to kill heretics with such poor finesse?" They then explained their lack of armaments and he simply dimissed it as a minor hiccup in the gods' plan for them.

"Dad, why are you even here?" The mason asked, trying to change the subject.

"Why I was leading this band of pilgrims of course!" He said proudly. "I lost my axe during a scuffle with a few chimps, but otherwise I've protected us well!" He then pointed to the bars that were in place that Nish was hanging a sign that read "Amsel Usan."

"Oh, that's the tavern. Nish told the caravaners to let travelers know we're out here. This is allegedly a trade stop."

"Think she could have chosen a less ominous name?"

"She drew it out of a hat."

"Ah. The Sacred ritual. Of course." He said, suddenly understanding. "Well then, let's have us a look at this supposed Tavern!"

The two dwarves went in and found the othersalready having a dance while the caravan master lead an A Capella rendition of The Phrases of Amethyst (with Asob as the singer,) whilst a dancing line for The Reticence of Smiles had formed almost up to the door.



"Well well! Already it stands full of merriment! A good omen!" Nidor said proudly.

"I suppose we should join in. Frankly none of us have had a break in months, so this'll be nice."

****

Late Autumn, 538

The remainder of fall passed without much incident, though the militia found itself now five strong, all properly armed with metal weaponry, mail shirts and helms, and, apart from Vucar, shields in hand. There was a small tidbit however: Two mercenaries searching for an artifact, a human and a dwarf. A human clad in wooden armor, and bearing an elvish name.

"We should kill'em." Asob said as the militia huddled up in the corner.

"Aye. He's an infidel! And damned dirty elf in a man suit at that!" Nidor added.

"We don't know what country he's from though." Vucar said, humming. "We could anger one of the larger ones if we got butchering every explorer and artifact hunter that wanders into the city."

Nidor and Asob looked at Vucar, to eachother, and back to Vucar. "So?" They said in unison.

"He's a filthy elf!" Nidor hissed.

"And how do we know they aren't spies? or theives looking for a dwarven artifact?" Asob added.

"Doesn't matter." Thikut said, gesturing to the door. The dwarf and elf left, leaving a few of the dwarf's coins on the table as payment for the two mugs of beer they drank and departed, though not in any real hurry.

"Must not be here." Vucar said with a shrug.

Beyond that, only a handful of visitors trickled in, and Asob was forced to euthanize a majestic unicorn following its rather brutal treatment by the horses when a foal ran the poor thing into the herd.



A quiet end to the season.


A bit later than I woulda liked, but I had a commission to work on and errands to run today. I have dwarfed Bearskie, and premptively dwarfed Nidor, should you see this.

I timed opening the tavern well, as Thikut's stress wa sstarting to pile up, but she's better now, with her strss going from almost 2100 down to 80 and dropping. Everyone else is in good spirits, despite the some minor PTSD from the militia since they had to fight zombies and elephants, but otherwise? We're doing great!

We have metal weapons and armor enough for at least the soldiers we have, and Asob finally got a kill, with her shiny new mace no less! Poor unicorn.

But yeah! Still need a motto, and next up will be a journal from Vucar.

[Unknown72]

Hey split! Been a while! A lot of stuff happened concerning me but i'm back and wanna actually participate at least partially instead of just lurking.

Can ya Dwarf me with the name as Multi?

"When everything is going fine, you know something's wrong." Good for a motto? or "Battlejudge - When all goes wrong, blame the Elephants"

[Splint]

Seem a bit wordy. I had considered "WE ARE THE LAW" but then I remembered we're just legalized bandits.

And welcome aboard! Wanna wait until a migrant wave or select a dorf from the extent population?

[Unknown72]

Feel free to dorf me as one from the next Migrant Wave, makes it easier to make journals for them without greatly impacting your current story in any way.

Could always make the motto "Please help" if you wanna keep it short

[Fleeting Frames]

Mm. Like how you described the embark, even if that image is too big for smaller screens.

Though no megaproject plans, on such big embark?

Also, there's nothing stopping sinisters from having husking murk or rain of snow white to my knowledge; near as I can tell only lessening of danger is no giant animals. Though if it hasn't rained by now it isn't going to.

Are you going to set up necrobacon facility?

Like the dance. Don't yet know what to think about everything else. They have personalities, I suppose.

[Splint]

Mm. Like how you described the embark, even if that image is too big for smaller screens.

Though no megaproject plans, on such big embark?

Also, there's nothing stopping sinisters from having husking murk or rain of snow white to my knowledge; near as I can tell only lessening of danger is no giant animals. Though if it hasn't rained by now it isn't going to.

Are you going to set up necrobacon facility?

Like the dance. Don't yet know what to think about everything else. They have personalities, I suppose.

I hadn't had any plans, really. Figured I'd leave that to you guys to decide. Annnnd I have no clue how to resize images unfortunately.

Funny thing though, I figured it'd be raining constantly, being a jungle and all. But it hasn't rained once. Not even evil weather. not that I'm complaining, cause rain is the worst stressor ever..

[Fleeting Frames]

Mm. We'll see; I'm doubtful as even surface castles built over multiple years still take usually less than 48x48 tiles, and this is supposed to be practice fort. Well, there's room, I guess, though I doubt about time to fulfill it.

It's pretty easy to suggest scaleless plans though, but I'll refrain out of consideration for manpower for now.

You can do [img width=123]https://img.png[/img]. Then said image is downsampled and can be clicked on to resize to original size.

Things I dislike about evil rain:
1) It's ugly.
2) It wastes fps.
3) It gets everywhere...Wait, not that one. That it isn't properly weaponizable.

[Splint]

JOURNAL OF VUCAR KIRSAZIR

1st Moonstone, 538

Sword and Mail. the traditional tools of dwarven bandits. I've taken my new blade to the barracks, which still hasn't been roofed over. It's heavy, but it's of fine make. I gave Thikut the shield that should have been hers to start with.

6th Moonstone, 583

Two undead barn owls attacked this morning while we were working on a smeltery outside the main entrance (to give some of us an excuse to avoid cave adaptation according to Nish.) Nidor's pet horse foal stomped the things to death, but I'm fairly certain people are gonna have nightmares over the whole affair.



12th Moonstone, 538

Held a little party for Meng today! She made a stunning figurine of Onol, and she was absolutely ecstatic, because it was a big dream she had. Heh, considering she didn't really know what she was doing and still managed that, maybe the three of us who want to be great heroes will manage to do so?



13th moonstone, 538

Got a chance to test my sword. Bearskie was running from an undead Wombat, and I happened to be at the entrance.



I owe Urist a few sovereigns, because this is so much fucking better than that those obsidian things!

18th Moonstone, 538

A grim dream. Amas had taken the shape of a blood red cloud over the fortress, woke up screaming. Thikut yelled at me t shut the fuck up, and I asked Nish to put in an order for doors so I wouldn't wake people with night terrors.

19th Moonstone, 538

Nish is fucking deaf! I asked for a door and got a cabinet. How the fuck am I supposed to block screams about blood cloud gods with that?

25th moonstone, 538



Yaks. I've told everyone to form up by the gate in the morning. Time to test our new weapons.

****

The squad had positioned itself on a hill overlooking the heard, a ground nest of bees buzzing lazily in the air, accosting Mountain Avens, trying to get pollen from flowers not yet in bloom. "Where's Lokum?" Thikut said, looking around after noticing only one jangle of chain-on-stick.

"Something about Shut eye before the fight." Asob answered. Thikut grumbled in irritation.

"A crusader cannot be expected to burn and purge without a good afternoon nap first." Nidor said, drawing his axe. "Besides, it means more Glory from the Eight for us!"

"He's a fucking coward and you know it." Thikut said, hefting her own shining bronze axe.

"Shut up, both of you. They're down there." Vucar said, pointing to a yak coming up  the hill, one eye hanging from its skull. "LET'S DO THIS! GLORY TO THE MOUNTAINHOME!" He bellowed, and ordered his troops forwards as he charged.

However, being far more heavily armored, Nidor and Asob surged forward and took the first yak with shockingly little effort, the monk managing to bury his axe into the beast, pinning its head to the ground, while Asob wheeled her flail up and brought it down, smashing its skull with a loud and wet crunch. "Hell yeah!" Asob said, tapping shields with the monk. "We owe Urist big time."



"Teamwork in dispatching the unholy ones is always a good thing." Nidor said, nodding to Asob.  He had been filled in on how difficult it had been killing the first batch of zeds with the weapons they had before. He spotted the next, and yelled "Follow me crusaders! FOR THE DIVINES!!!"

"Wait, Nidor, we should wa-" Before Asob could finish her sentence, Nidor had leapt at the undead cattle! And landed flat on its head between its horns. For a brief moment, all three of them looked confused. Then the yak huffed and threw him over the nearby incline.



He hit the ground with a rattle of chain armor as he bounced down the ramp and the clunk of his axe bouncing across the thin topsoil covering the rock. "Nidor, you okay?" Cam a call from above, Thikut by the sound of it.

"Urf..." He grumbled, grabbing his axe and getting up. "Never fear crusaders, the divines have shielded me from the undead!"

Vucar came rushing down, taking up position beside Nidor as the next yak approached. "Sounded more like Urist's mail to me."

"Yes, well. The gods work through our artisans."

The yak charged into them as Asob and Thikut fought the second yak above, with Vucar throwing up his sword, smashing it guard first into the middle of its forehead, and held it in place. "HIT IT! FUCK'S SAKE. CHOP THE FUCKER!"

Nidor complied, and gave it a might swing, bellowing curses as he went! And his axe bit deeply, but sadly failed to disable it or take off its head. It did make the yak stop trying to push Vucar back, and its one eye to Nidor turned and narrowed. Nidor, understandably, hastily yanked his axe out and chopped again, digging into its side before it managed to throw Vucar off and turn its attention to the monk.

This was interrupted by a cry of "SHIIIIIIIIT!!!!" followed by Thikut following in Nidor's footsteps and smashing into the ground a short distance away on her stomach, her own axe bouncing across the ground. And then her shield bouncing off her iron cap as she tried to get up, sending her back down.

Vucar chucked a rock, which distracted it, and as the beast charged a braced dwarf in almost full armor, Nidor leapt into action, smashing his axe into its head as he landed on it! This seemed to finally do the trick, as the yak went down and didn't rise again.



Vucar quickly ran back up the slope, concerned about Asob, just in time to see her send the front portion of its head flying up in an arc from an upper cut of a swing with her mace! The carcass, now without power, whatever that might have been, stumbled and flopped sideward.

****

26th Moonstone, 538

I needed sleep, but the fight was a success. No injuries besides Thikut's bruised pride over getting chucked like a ball over the side of the hill and her shield bouncing off her own head. Two kills for Asob, one for Nidor.

28th Moonstone, 538

Had the dream again. Why?

3rd Opal, 538

Another little celebration! Thikut made her first masterwork cabinet. not bad for a "rock-chomping thundercunt" as Asob so artfully put it during an argument two days ago.

8th Opal, 538

Got a new mail shirt. Feels like a better fit. Old one was put in storage.

16th Opal, 538

Saw an odd sight. Basically Kadol and Urist elbowing eachother while they worked. Speaking of which, Kadol has joined the militia! Apparently he wanted a sledgehammer according to Nish in exchange for being our metalcrafter. Told him she couldn't give him a weapon unless he enlisted in the militia, and seeing as he can handle stress, or so he says, I gave him a greathammer. "The hell is this? I asked for a sledge!" He protests. Well, I told him a greathammer needed two hands two and to suck it up. It was close enough. Fairly certain i heard him complain about it being too well balanced.



20th Opal, 538

I put in an order for a sledgehammer. Kadol won't stop complaining that it's "Not the same."

28th Opal, 538

Sodel got assigned to plant gathering. Apparently when she protested, Thikut backed Nish up and told her that she was gonna do it on the "Fuck you, we like beer and you're the only one who might know what plants are drinkable" platform. Considerign we're down to 70 mugs worth of brew, I'm inclined to agree.

1st Obsidian, 538

Obsidian. Feh. Obsidian.

4th Obsidian, 538

Got Kadol his stupid sledgehammer. Armor in the works. Solid bronze.

10th Obsidian, 538

Apparently, and thankfully, a coati got beaten to death by the horses. From what Doren says, the things are an irritating little bunch. Almost as bad as keas.

12th Obsidian, 538

I think I'm gonna have to have words with Sodel. We need plants. Everyone else is too busy or doesn't know anything about plants.


And here we have a third update! Man, the difference metal gear makes, huh?

Most of the work that got done during this update was more of the main residential thoroughfare being completed, and the militia being armed and armored (mostly, anyway. Still need leg armor.) I also noticed a disturbing trend of militiadorfs biting zombies. Dunno if this is some kind of odd role reversal shit going on or what, but it's strange. Also saw two dwarves using the same workshop at the same time: Kadol and Urist. Rare sight indeed.

Now, due to the horses deciding to fight the elephants earlier and a steady supply of (questionably) edible undead from the mountain, food is a non-issue. We will be fully able to survive off red meat and offal indefinitely. Brew on the other hand, is a different story, as we're down to around 50 units as of this update and literally nobody knows how to forage. We have a well built, of course, but that's more of a bandaid for a broken arm than a fix.

But, that aside, things have gone well. Too well. I get a terrible feeling something either horrible (I'm betting either a vampire or a werebeast,) or stupid is about to happen.

Also, @ Frames: Agreed on it being ugly and an FPS hog, though I'm still confused by the lack of rain. I checked, and I do indeed have weather enabled. But still. Not complaining.