beautifully done. I'm really digging (haha . . kill me) the orthogonal foundations .
edit: place is a bit chaotic but the layout is intriguing. lmk if you have any qualifications for improvements or, like, a style guide for the architecture..
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The map at game start. So peaceful. Look at all that flammable wood lying around.This is what it looks like after only three months. Want to know what happened? Read on....Deep underneath the castle's foundations, and within a great layer of dark slate, Olon Channelmerchant lay on the floor of the guildhall waiting to die. It had been weeks since someone destroyed the ramp leading to the surface, and no one had bothered to give the order to rebuild it. So Olon and about 20 other dwarves were stuck here. The dwarves were too fearful of the many violent captains that ran the show here at Strongtown. These insolent leaders led their squads of ruffians all about, helping only when they felt like it, and mostly just 'training' or loafing about the grassy knolls and hidden meadows.
The many squads of Strongtowns.Only 200 units of dwarfbeers, further proof of negligent leadership.At any given moment, a large portion of the fortress was occupied, talking about fish, .It was time for an uprising! Olon seized the pick from one of the unconcious miners and dug a new path, a path to the surface, and released the almost-dead dwarves to freedom. Most of the freed dwarves then rushed straight to the boozepile and drank themselves into a stupor...
Leaving the dungeons...The topside booze pile was full of drunks.Olon had plans. Crazy plans. While taking long sips from a wooden mug of wine, which was being constantly refilled I might add, he shouted for the captains to assemble.
"The end of your negligent rule is upon us. It is time for the craftsmen and builders to take control and get things done. My first decree is that no dwarf should go without drink!"
And so it was done, with Olon taking great care to ensure the brewers were always crafting, and that this great stock of drink was accesible at all times.
Further, Olon thought up a much improved technique for foundation building.. great ladders and stairs of wood were built, down to the stone, and would be used to support and stack a great number of blocks.
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It was summer when the beast arrived, in the caverns.. the dwarves had not thought to build gates.
"We can take anything the caverns will throw at us." Well, this fire-breathing theropod was about to test that theory.
The commander takes a hit.Commander Lightceilings was first to dash towards the rally, and experienced a great burning explosion immediately upon turning the last corner to the cavern ramps.. the commander fell, screaming from the flames.
The ogre takes one for the team.But whats this? A random blind cave ogre, also happened to be lurking in the stairwell, and fights the creature. Enemy of my enemy . . .
The ogre was crushed in the creatures fists, while Lightceilings bled out, alone. The remaining military took their sweet ass time and the fire-breather retreated below, to the seconds caverns.
The dwarves were bloodthirsty, however, and strove to hunt the beast and take it down for good. All our squads, more than twenty dwarves in all, grouped near the lake's edge. Surely the firebreather wasn't beneath that oh-so placid surface? And surely it could not swim out of fear of extinguishing its eternal flame?
No. Folly, it was, to enter the creature's territory. Great waves erupted from the cavern lake as the towering theropod rushed towards the unsuspecting patrol. Then, it paused, only to release a great breath of stinking gas, which sunk low into the fungal undergrowth and around the ankles of the dwarves.
"Take cover!" screamed the Captain, but it was too late as the flammable gas ignited. The resulting explosion killed a whole squad outright, and the rest scattered from the flame.
Unfortunately, this ambush placed As right between the dwarves and the staircase to safety. A retreat was called, but it was too late for most, and the creature made quick work of the dwarves (who lacked shields to protect from the flames). Many were enraged at the beast and ignored the call for withdraw.
Not much was left of the dead after the fire.===
A plan was put in place to lock the basement, trap this horrible creature below, but the dwarves had no sense of urgency.
Äs heaved its great shelled frame beyond the doorway and into open air, the first time in history that this creature felt the sun's glorious rays, and it recoiled. But Äs smelled blood above, and soon learned the sun was no great danger,
and thus began the complete destruction of Strongtowns. Flame, violence, terror...
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Astoundingly, the creature killed damn near every dwarf in the fortress, 50 total, before deciding enough was enough. The bloodied hulking form was seen retreating down into the foundations, the basement, and the cavern lakes, and finally the darkness beyond.
The only two dwarves left alive were terrified, but alright.
Alath Crowdroofed the Wax Worker and
Captain Rooffires, the
uhm Captain. Both had been topside when the beast invaded and were spared during the subsequent bloodbath.
The two dwarves looked at each other. "So . . . what now?"
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ooc: yet another destroyed succession fortress. wuhhhhh I can only blame the summer haze for preventing me from noticing the large openings to the caverns below, and not installing doors in time. the subquent battle was also less than tactically ideal but the soliders severely underperformed in the most critical moment, that is, the opening charge, when the fighters are fresh and stand a chance at hitting the beast during a distracted moment.
could I save this? perhaps. what say you hedgerow? are these foundations, now soaked in blood, baked in flame, smothered in cinder... is this the story you wanted for Strongtowns, or is a retcon in order?