Bad luck, cave ins and bears: Part 2

Winter 1054

Alcohol, nil, food, nil. The dwarves of the Anger of Angry are forced to hunt vermin and drink from the one unfrozen muddy pool in fort. Morok and 2 other dwarves have starved to death after being unable beat the cats to the rats, their bodies are interred in the communal graveyard outside the fort.

Finally a farmer wakes up from his hunger induced stupor to go outside to gather some plants to eat. However during this brave and noble expedition to great outside to save his friends he attracts the attention of a bear who was investigating the refuse pile and graveyard. Scared by the site of this fierce creature the farmer drops the herbs he was carrying and rushes inside, bear in tow.

A hastily constructed militia is assembled, equipped with the spare mining picks and copper battle axes from last years caravan and ordered to kill the lone bear. However in the confusion the only command the squad hears is “kill bear” and with no armoury dwarf to report to the intrepid dwarves charge into the fray.

The bear faces 10 of The Anger of Angry’s “best” dwarves and quickly defends itself. One swipe of its massive paws quickly knocks 2 dwarves unconscious, their mauled bodies impact for corridor walls and quickly bleed out. 2 more have their limbs removed in jaws of the enraged beast and share the same fate as their brethren. The remaining 6 dwarves subdue the bear bruising it all over before eventually strangling it to death. Heavily injured the dwarves celebrate their victory with raw rat and cockroach, before passing out emergency hospital that now occupies the dormitory.

Safe in the knowledge that the bear menace has been dealt with the farmer returns to his previous task of collecting plants to sustain the fortress. The first 2 trips outside proved fruitful, and the dwarves dine on bloated tuber and tend to their wounded. The 3^rd trip attracts the attention of another bear, apparently the first one had a mate, and that mate is now looking for revenge. A new militia is pressed into service, only 4 dwarves but carrying the spares picks and axes they charge, only to drop their weapons just yards from the bear and attempt to strangle and punch it to death. The bear quickly dispatches of 3 of the attackers before the fighting its way to the dormitory come hospital.

The bear mercifully ends the suffering of the previous militia before killing the remaining attacker. Bruised and bloody Artishu, the bear now named due to the number of kills he’s earned, wanders through the ravaged fort. The inhabitants are in throws of grieving by smashing everything in site, including each other. Artishu at this point has no trouble in killing each of the dwarves in turn until all that remains of The Anger of Angry are the blood soaked corridors and one enraged bear.

Bad luck, cave ins and bears: Part 1

So first real post and first real story about one of my current addictions, Dorf Fort (Dwarf Fortress for those not in the know). This is a story about how a 1x1 cave in can cripple a fortress.

Summer 1054, 2 years after striking earth and the fortress The Anger of Angry is chugging along just fine with a population of 27. My leader and his fellow legendary miner college are working far in the basement of my fort preparing what is going to be a giant dining hall to keep my Dorfs happy. There they are happily digging away through the tough stone many levels down whilst their young apprentice is up on the surface cutting a sky light for my farms so they can expand upon the crops the produce.

Unbeknownst to the 2 experienced miners their apprentice 7 levels above them has made a fatal flaw, in his inexperience he’s channelled in the wrong order leaving a 1x1 square of earth precariously attached. Unwittingly he continues on with the task and causes a cave in, the whole fort rumbles for a second as earth crashes down into the farming level. Morok, the apprentice, arises from the dust remarkably unharmed and surveys the damage. The cave in has caused part of the farming level floor to collapse so he rushes down stairs to see what else has happened. The hole continues down through the trade level, the storage level, the craft level, the mineral level, the housing level.

However when Morok reaches the housing level he hears a commotion. His cave in caught a poor hauler who was in the temporary dining room and crushed his legs and the table he was dining at. It also crushed the hauler’s pet dog, distraught at his injuries and the loss of his pet the hauler slowly bleeds out in a nearby bed room which was converted into a hospital.

With a guilty heart Morok seeks to finder his masters and explain what has happened only to find that they already know of the cave in. Morok picks up the crushed helms of Tun and Celen and stoically places them in the armour stockpiles before placing their corpses in the graveyard.

With the leadership dead the fort falls into disarray, the remaining 24 dwarves neglect to check on the stock levels of even the most basic things and when the dawrven caravan arrives in autumn their ruthless traders take advantage of the new inexperienced broker and demand much for even a simple barrel of ale.

The Winter looks grim, the dwarves of The Anger of Angry stoically and foolishly surge on without appointing any new leadership.

To be continued

Blag on the Inter-tubes

So I have a blog. Not sure why I have a blog but it's probably something to do with my mind not wanting to focus on the "important" things in my life. But anyway, the point of this blog is to be an outlet for my random ramblings, rants and ruminations.

Here you will learn about my current addictions (Dorf Fort and WoW), my ideas to change the world and the fact I'm probably a huge RP nerd.