Drumwalled 4: The Act of Violence

Drumwalled Chapter 4: The Act Of Violence.

We arrived during winter, snow thickly covering the ground. Barrels, and supplies scattered everywhere across the snow. Everything abandoned. We were the latest batch attempting to conquer Drumwalled. This time, we brought military. Our leader, and doctor, would be seeing this through. We had a rather strong guard with us as well. The place is a mess. And we had to clean it up.

We had been told the reports of skeletal wildlife, but it's hard to imagine groundhogs and buzzards taking down dwarves.

One of our early tasks is removing the ice from the lake that refills every year that drumwalled happens to be under. The ice is useful for building, so it doesn't bother us much. We start filling our stocks as soon as we can. We've moved the meeting hall down to the fortress entrance itself. It should be safer then sitting here in the open. We also set a part a place in the keep for a graveyard. The digging should be very quick this year.

As custom of Drumwalled, our engraver makes his mark on the entryway. Our engraver seems to follow the style of the other dwarves before us, choosing to draw another of the founding dwarves fleeing into the woods.

Every dwarf is working non stop, doing the essential things for the planning. The Dwarf counsel has come up with a plan for Drumwalled, and if we are lucky, we're going to make it to phase 2.

The stench of rotten flesh fills every room. It's a horrendous sight. It takes its toll on the workers bringing the stone from one of the rooms up to our stockpile. We're getting all of the rubble away from the fortress entrance.

We're probably taking in to many projects, but the council has ordered us to make a monument to dwarven determination. So, we are going to start a tower made of solid ice. The first wall is planned out distant to our current position.

We have issues clearing our enough storage space for our needs. Specifically, there is so much stone coming out of this fortress, that It's flooding the higher levels.

We set out plans for the main hallways. They're going to be grand. We are also cutting out a new backup storage space for the lakeside camp.

Considering that we have done so much work already, we carve out more evidence of our work here on the walls. While we continue the massive mural of despair, we get some familiar sights. Original members running away... probably the single most famous event that has happened in Drumwalled. However, there is a new well designed image on the wall of more recent history. A work of Kol, the miner, who drowned in the lake nearby. Our entire history is going to be contained in these walls if this keeps up.

The last of the stone from one of the back rooms is removed, so I give the order to smooth out the floor. We're going to be civilized after all.

The plans for a temporary living quarters, that will someday become our main barracks is planned out just as the snow begins to melt.

It's the 27th of Slate, year 7. So many years of work have gone into this fortress.

We begin construction of a roof for our main entrance for the camp. This building will be destroyed eventually, but for now, we might as well make it solid.

More drawings are added to the entryway, now on the floor. Our artists feel it's just a big canvas waiting. The usual is drawn, dwarves in the fetal position dehydrating, a goblin massacre of dwarves from the winter of 5, a Circle, a weapon rack (The symbol of the Act of Violence) and people running away from this place.

Summer is upon us, and not a single skeletal animal attack. I'm beginning to believe that the reports were exaggerated.

Our efficiency might be lowered, as we have acquired migrants. I'm only hoping I can get them all working diligently. Either that, or I'll finally start that military we haven't needed yet.

We get a miner, which will help us out a lot. A Soap Maker, who shall not keep that job for long. A farmer, who we don't need, yet. A fish cleaner... that one makes me wonder, are these dwarves coming here on their own will, or are they being sent here by their lords. If so, what are these lords thinking?

A Thresher... trapper quite a lot of animals.

DF 3: Return To Drumawlled

Bogaces, the Awe-Inspiring Disemboweled Bane-Rhythm of Chewing.

Set out with 900 helms, 1200 ale.
Some cows, and a lot of dogs.
In winter of year 4 they set out.

When they arrive, they begin digging out the rest of the old dwarves project, the entrance to the underground base. One of the dwarves starts smoothing it out as well.
Meanwhile, new stockpiles are built, and we put up some doors, hoping to finally keep out some of the skeletal woodland creatures that keep attacking us.

Is there any logic why Drumwalled was built on a lake? It filled up again, and its frozen. I'm quickly sending dwarves to mine it out before it melts. Wait, it melted, water is everywhere! Luckily it has enough room to spread out. No one drowns.

Summertime comes quickly. We've got major construction done on the fortress. We have new stockpiles, and have finished the entrance digging for the fortress. We've also left our mark engraving some of the walls. One of which, is about the founding of Drumwalled.

Our engraver is much more skilled then the previous one.

We've also begun collecting all of the left overs from the previous settlers. As well as slacking off.
Lazy dwarves...

Just as we begin to dig down, for Drumwalleds entrance, some migrants show up, and immediately are attacked by skeletal wildlife. Only two dwarves show up, a miller, and a weaver.

Suddenly a group of skeletal elk decide to raid our outpost, trying to kill a few of us. The two immigrants quickly get drafted into a makeshift militia group called the gilded stones. Unfortunately, the militia apparently are more interested in filling their water flask. Chaos everywhere.Its a failure of management on epic proportions. The dwarves desperately re arrange the entire base, while being chased by skeletal elk. Eventually the cows come out into the fray.... and beat the crap out of the elk?

After anarchy breaks out, everyone and everything begins beating the utter shit out of the skeletal elk. I don't think we lost anyone yet. Skeletal buzzards begin assaulting the food stockpiles.

One of the puppies has grown to become a dog, and is named Erith Oslansazir. He's very muscular, and is gigantic overall. He has white hair, gold ears, a pumpkin tail, pumpkin head, gray front paws, copper rear paws, dark skin, and ash grey eyes. Possibly the most epic dog I've ever seen. Oh, and his left ear is broken.

Meanwhile, down at the entryway for the fortress itself, I notice one of the engravers has been working. There is an interesting new engraving.

"Engraved on the wall is a finly-designed image of Rimtar Birdbolts, the Dwarf by Besmar Rithulmebzuth. Rimtar Birdbolts is traveling. The artwork relates to the flight of dwarf Rimtar birdbolts into the Praries of Blame (Where we are) in the early spring of 3. "

... As in my first exploring party?
Wow, that's harsh. Also...his name is a pun.

Back to the battle, its depressing how much better the animals are at fighting of this menace than we are.

11 members of the undead still walk this land, however we have killed 7 undead creatures already.
Not a single dwarf has died yet.

Also, Erith, is owned by our militia commander. Erush Thalallor.That dog is so aweosme.

I've ordered for the wagons to be destroyed. They're cluttering up my outside.

Kol, my minor has drowned! HOW? WHY? NOT KOL!
Followed by a dog suffocating. What is going on?
Eeith is dead! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO... I've never felt so bad for an animal ever..

Upon investigation, it apperes that Kol threw himself into a nearby lake. Damn. My steel pick is down there with him. This isn't good. He probably killed himself after seeing how pathetic our military is.

I draft a couple dwarves into our millitary. A one of them throws a tantrum.

The engravers have covered the entryway with engravings of... circles?

The dwarves are pretty angry. A couple of them are throwing tantrums. The smoothing of the entrance is going well, however our digging has stopped due to our only pick being with the body of Kol.

Autumn is here, this might mean a visit from merchants. Fun stuff.

And now our military leader is throwing a tantrum. A swarm of skeletal buzzards have shown up.The engraver is cornered by a skeletal muskox.

The weaver has cast themself into the lake as well.

Not much can really get done. The miner is gone, and the engraver is missing. The chef is dead, but he never did anything anyways. The undead are still attacking, now its a skeletal horse. Maybe someday this land will be purged, but for now, we continue to die. It makes me wonder how many dwarves I've lost to Drumwalled.

Some migrants have shown up. Specifically, we have a new engraver! I just hope he isn't obsessed with circles. and death.

The lakes have frozen over, and I don't think we are geting our trade caravan, so no pickaxe for us.

Just as snow fell, our carpenter came down with it. As in, he died.... Skeletal horses everywhere.

A caravan from a new civilization has shown up. We also caught a Kobold theif. The cow is chasing him down as we speak. Unfortunately, everyone is being attacked by multiple undead. We're abandoning the fort. There is nothing left for us to do.

DF: An Army Approaches.

Over 50 Dwarves climb up the Blizzard Of Sadness, to Fortressdespair.
Every one of them, a soldier. The artifact is gone, and the storage supplies have been scattered all over the mountain. The dwarves run around trying to gather the supplies they can find.

The Recreation of Buzzards, the new local government, engraves their symbol onto a wall.
Chaos begins, dwarves are throwing tantrums. A Jewler dies of thirst.
A familiar scene, as dwarves fall down left and right.

Death count: 82 Dwarves.

Thus ends the story of Fortressdespair.

DF Update:History.....

A small blip in the history: In the early spring of 14, The Curses Of Innocence founded Fortressdespair the Rapid Doomed Hell of Ice.

Fortdespair the rapid doomed hell of ice, was a mountain fortress. It's nature is still an intriguing puzzle to the learned.


But this story isn't over.

DF Update: Failure to Fail (Failed in the end)

The dwarves arrive from the mountainhome "The Rainy Helm".

The first thing we notice is a Chasm on one corner of our land. We have no idea what lies inside of it, and have no intention of finding out any time soon.

Our leader, Kol Cattenag, is a nervous dwarf, who is eager to help others, and finds it rewarding.
He might be useful, unlike most leaders.Dwarves set out to clear away stone, and put up the wooden walls of our first building.
It's quick work.

The local weather does not take its time to hit us with a snow storm, just as half of the walls are up, our dwarves are already freezing. During the storms, I notice one of the dwarves running across the stone, chasing after a marmot.

Later on, a few beds are made, however we have to put a roof over our heads before we can use them. One of the dwarves goes to the wagon to grab a bottle of rum, when suddenly a skeletal marmot attacks him! The wardogs go bounding off in the direction of the dwarf, and probably save him. I'm to busy watching the construction to notice.
I'm told one of the Dwarves has become an animal caretaker. Fair enough, Someones has to take care of the war dogs.

Later on, the hunter is attacked by a zombified mountain goat. This place is quite hellish. Everyone is still alive however, and construction is going well. There is a pile of marmot bones, so the hunter must be being a little... overzealous.
Our hunter, while attempting to eat. (Marmot?) gets attacked by a skeletal marmot. This is getting old fast. But really, why are there marmots, and goats here, in a mountain range encased in ice? That's what I want to know.

Well, the hunter has been struck down. He wasn't very important anyways.. but this is bad news for the rest of the fortress.
The animal caretaker seems to be doing well. At least something is getting done, unfortunately,t he dwarves are being rather dull, and not mining down in the ground where they should. This is getting worse...

I deciede to have the workers dig a channel, right away, they hit jet. Not a bad find. Meanwhile, another dwarf tries to hunt, and gets attacked by a zombie mountain goat... A group of dwarves brought some marmot corpses to spread around the wagon. I wonder if they think it will stop the undead that are plaguing us. Hunting is now banned, no one is aloud to hunt.

Summer has come now, we are about half way through our pit we are digging. It's a hell of a lot of effort, but there have not been any recent deaths. Things are looking up.

There are Marmots EVERYWHERE.

Some immigrants show up.Who the hell would want to come live out here? A stonecrafter, a clothier, a soap maker, and 2 peasants show up. All is fine, so long as they can fend off the constant zombie onslaught. If nothing else, they are bait for the undead. On a lighter note, we've struck brown jasper.

We also begin construction of the Granite Tower, what will someday be a heaping monolith on the horizon for all to remember us by. The immigrants are put to work carrying granite over to the construction site. It's going to take a long time, but it will be well worth it when it is done.
And proof, that dwarvenkind can conquer anything.
One of the dwarves deciedes that it is a good idea to start hunting. Zombie goats follow.
This terrain seems to be letting us off easy. Or at least this first year it is.

Autumn is finally here. Its about time.Winter is going to hit any second.

On the ice of the glacier, a mahogany wagon appears, its a caravan from the dwarves!
They are here to trade with us and see how our efforts are turning out.

Meanwhile, a zombie war seems to be raging outside, as dwarves run to grab... who knows what to bring back to base. Also, we have struck hematite, which really makes me wish I wasn't making a granite fortress. Hemetite would make an awesome tower.
One of the stray war dogs gives birth to a puppy.
And we don't trade anything to the caravan, as they don't have enough animal strength to carry a few tons of claystone. I'm also finally getting a roof on the first building I made. We might finally have our bedrooms set up someday. The dwarves have begun to complain about always drinking the same alcohol. To bad. It's all we have.
Go eat a zombie marmot...

Ok here is a new one. We struck petrified wood, underground, on a mountain, bursting out of a glacier, that does not have a single tree, let alone plant on it...

As the caravan leaves I put in an order for more wood, granite, plump helmets, and... reluctantly, Dwarven Ale. They leave, and I will not see them again until next year I assume.

Just before winter comes, another batch of immigrants comes. I'm shocked that this fortress is doing so well. A fortress with 3 beds, no income to speak of, on a haunted, evil, freezing glacier mountain thing across the world from the mountainhome, attracts immigrants. Life must suck in the mountainhome. This time, my immigrants include, a minor, dyer, cook, and peasant. a bone carver, a weaver, and another peasant.

I am informed that Backpacks are in high demand, and I will be recieving 200% bonus to profit next visit.... this affirms my suspicion that the mountain home is going through some rough times.

The fortress is now 20 members strong.

Now that it is so large, I have a sort of crazed mob that attacks random jobs that need to be done. Its really funny. Also, one of the dwarves have claimed a craftsdwarf workshop, and has started a mysterious construction... interesting.

The construction has been complete, it is a claystone crown named Thilsegnugreth. It is valued at 3600 monies.

Here is the desctiption:

"This is a claystone crown. All crafsdwarfship is of the highest quality. It is encrusted with claystone. This object menaces with spikes of claystone"

This is exactly why I love Dwarf Fortress.


Winter is FINALLY here.

A peasant dies from thirst. It suddenly occurs to me, we have no water here whatsoever.
That brings the deathcount to 2. And I've struck tigereye. At least being in a mountain, I have some nice rocks. Another peasant dies from thirst. This isn't looking good.

Death count 3.
One of the dwarves begins throwing a tantrum. This doesn't last long, as they die from thist almost immediatly. 4...5... we are not going to make it through the winter. 7 our leader has died, and a new leader chosen.

All I can do is watch as they all die of thirst slowly.

8 There is chaos, a tame mule is killed as one of the dwarves goes bezerk. Followed by a war dog. 10 A stone crafter etches out a mural before dieing. The subject...
Thin crosses, a tower cap, which is the symbol of the Curses of Innocence, dwarves, and finally, a hatch cover. 18 dwarves dead. Only one remains.

It's Geshud, maker of the only artifact here. The clay crown.
She is ecstatic. Oblivious to the chaos around here.
She trudges through the snow alone, bringing bodies to the graveyard.
Finally she goes inside, and dies. The last of The Curses Of Innocence.

Fortressdespair the Rapid Doomed Hell of Ice

Deep in the south, in the center of a haunted glacier, there lies a mountain range to terrifying for civilization. In the year 13, a group of dwarves leaves for this mountain range. This site would be known as: " Fortressdespair the Rapid Doomed Hell of Ice."

Among them, a carpenter, a marksman, and a group of peasants. The weakest of dwarves cast out into the harsh cold tundra.

Their wagon is loaded with supplies. With little hope of success, they were not given much by the mountainhome. They have 100 plump helmets, a type of purple vegetable that grows underground. If they have to die out here, they will die well fed. They are also given seeds in the event they find a way to farm out in this cold climate. Of course, with respect they carry 95 bottles of dwarven rum. Some of the dwarves would prefer wine, or beer... but It's rum or nothing.

The rest of their supplies include wood, and granite blocks for building, and a copper crossbow that belonged to the marksdwarf. He is equipped with only 5 steel bolts however.

They are also given 4 war dogs.

The group is dubbed "The Curses Of Innocence" after the very fact that they are trying to settle this mountain.