Overlording the Underworld
Werebeast topples statue in a temple. God of Temple gets involved. Double cursed werebeast?
Night Clerk of the Apacalypse.
Elle: Just so long as you clean up the save before you pass it on so we don't have any graphics issues down the road.
Who watches the watchmen?
The leadership of the fort is in chaos. The blood of both the cursed and the fallen soaks into the floor stones.
''"Where is Lance?"
"Dead."
"Find his wife then! Where is she"
"Also dead, protecting her bady."
""Surely they have other next of kin?"''
"His name is Likot and he's five. The other two children are younger yet"
"What about the nobles?"
"The mayor is still alive. The manager, bookkeeper and broker positions are all posthumously vacated."'
A long pause. A deep breath. "Krutz..."
10th Granite, 221
My name is Deler Sebsurcatten and my life has been cursed.
I came to Solonsched nearly two years ago lured by the tales of vast wealth in precious metal and a temple to the mist god[[note:Shoveth Hoodguises]] in the planing stages. I arrived to find a mess run by an incompetent dwarf and many fools, and it got worse from there. The late overseer was making progress in improving the quality of living until Armok sent the curse of transformation on us and my second son has been maimed and crippled and possibly cursed.
I've taken to the mason's shop to vent my grief and frustration on some stones but it's not enough. Already, the next full moon approaches and the only thing anyone can agree on is that the curse has no cure. Things must be done and many of them are going to be unpleasant.
11th Obsidian
I went to the Mayor Meng and gave him a piece of my mind. He has been hit as hard as any of us and I would feel sorry for him if he'd done more than mope. To my surprise, he sat silently through all of it and when I was done he looked up at me and said "All right. Do it."
He named me Overseer on the spot. Lance's wife, Elle, had been next in line but she died with him to the werebeasts. Said I reminded him a bit of her.
Well then.
I have ordered all standing jobs canceled for the time being. Everything is secondary now to containing the curse if we can. Everything from the hospital level down will be declared off limits. I've drawn out plans to floor over the stairs, carving upwards from the intermediate stairwell to facilitate the evacuation. Anyone with open wounds must be assumed to be infected with the curse and confined there. Anyone who cannot leave the hospital on their own power must be abandoned to their face. Someone asked me what I would do about my son. He is already dead.
12th Obsidian The Elven caravan has been here for a day now but I am not going to deal with them now. I have, however, asked the Mayor to take the place of the broker and recommend names for the other administrative jobs. Apparently we have a professional administrator and clerk from the recent waves of migrants.
13th Obsidian
People are resisting the evacuation order. Whose bright idea was it to build shrines next to the hospital? The other children are also a trial, some too scared to leave their bedrooms. And of course some are horrified by the plan to abandon the wounded. I need to make it plain that they will do it or they will join them permanently.
By my estimate we have about nine days before the next full moon.
(OOC: I've tried using a civilian alert to get everyone who can be gotten upstairs up but it's not working. Not sure what's up.
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Tuefel the other problem is that DF Hack is not out for this version and I'm not sure what cleaning the save entails.)
edited 24th Jul '16 12:10:02 PM by Elle
Overlording the Underworld
Deleting the tileset files from the save.
You realize that if you cut off the bottom of the fort, you're in it for good. Those weres are never going to starve or thirst to death, especially not with a cistern in play.
I have an idea about that and it involves floor grates and water. But that's long term planing and I'm still in triage mode. We don't have the military orginization to do anything about it that way and I've never touched the justice system.
edited 24th Jul '16 1:03:19 PM by Elle
Impossible Gender Forge
Reminds me of when I tried an over ground fort and lost it to were geckos.
Night Clerk of the Apacalypse.
Elle: You and I think alike. We could also dump prisoners in there with them and open the locks when they turn.
Who watches the watchmen?
Man, just after I get those temples set up and we're set to lose them? lame. is there no way to wall up just the wounded area? :c
"Coffee! Coffeecoffeecoffee! Coffee! Not as strong as Meth-amphetamine, but it lets you keep your teeth!"
(Lance, at a later point maybe. There is one temple above the level which I've removed the diety association from so anyone can worship there for now.)
15th Granite
Everyone who can come up has finally come up. I've ordered the rest of the floor sealed. One dog won't leave the side of his dying master. One of the cursed is a mother with a baby; we had to bring him away forcefully. People will have to leave their beds and some possessions behind for now. One of the dwarves I meant to name manager is among the injured; I have given the title to the bookkeeper instead.
The next few scentences are written with a shaking hand
I went down alone to try and do what I could for the doomed. Any left in their hospital beds are currently unconscious. I kissed my son goodbye for the last time then covered his face with a pillow until he breathed no more, but in the last moment his body convulsed...I...fled when it was done. The next thing I remember someone was shaking me out of my drink and trying to pull me to the upstairs dormitory.
Obsidian 16
The seal is finished. Gods have mercy on us and them.
Obsidian 17
I'm trying to get things back to a semblance of working order. I'm having the dining room rearrange to fit people, I've ordered stray animals rounded up, I'm having rooms dug out for a new office and workshops, I'm having stockpiles reorganized, I'm setting new standing orders for production. Something needs to be done about a front gate but it has to wait for the elves to leave. Most importantly, I've ordered the creation of slabs. We've had to abandon bodies and the stench of death is wafting up from below.
edited 24th Jul '16 3:45:21 PM by Elle
Luckily that was the good temple any- oh jeez the masterwork statue is down there. that sculptor is going to be PISSED.
"Coffee! Coffeecoffeecoffee! Coffee! Not as strong as Meth-amphetamine, but it lets you keep your teeth!"
Overlording the Underworld
Answer: Use the flooring to ride out the first change. Stockpile blocks near that flooring and as soon as everyone changes back, unfloor one of the stairs and send the weres to wall up the stairs. Use burrows to pull it off. Only thing you ultimately lose besides furniture is my hospital.
The change will heal them all and they can be put to work sealing themselves in when they survive the night.
edited 25th Jul '16 5:09:42 AM by Journeyman
Overlording the Underworld
Elle, the weres haven't got you yet, have they?
I haven't touched things in a few days, expect more activity from me closer to the weekend.
Night Clerk of the Apacalypse.
No worries. Just let us know when you get back to making dwarves suffer in the name of the dark gods I mean manage the fort and save it from impending disaster.
Noted Elle. I can only imagine just how much of a blame my dwarf-equivalent would have suffered for everything that conspired.
in all fairness he'd probably be dead and/or a werecoati.
"Coffee! Coffeecoffeecoffee! Coffee! Not as strong as Meth-amphetamine, but it lets you keep your teeth!"
Night Clerk of the Apacalypse.
Because I was bored and my turn was cut short from things happening IRL.
Obsidian 221
We are cursed and the damned fools have brought it upon us all. My sudden and strange illness was just a portent of things to come and we did not heed the message. The priests threats may have been idle this far from the influence of the religious orders but the wrath of things beyond our reach is not. I was a fool to take the Gods so lightly and they punished me for it. That was our warning, a sign to change our ways unless terrible things befall us. We did not heed those words. Gods forgive us we did not heed them.
Instead of building a grand temple to the Gods they immediately descended into the expected blind tendency to build only for their own gods. For that we have been cursed and likely damned. They may mean well but there are some things you just do not tempt fate with. While I am not a true believer of most of the deities of our peoples, I at least recognize it is better to have cautious respect in regards to temples and holy sites. Now I know better. Respect and devotion to our tasks is demanded by our Gods and they will not tolerate our failure to adhere to our duties.
The shoddy efforts on the temple and the general lack of dedicated shrines built in a unified temple has brought us misery. Dwarves of the mountain home have died on our land because of it. A trader and mule were pulled into the waters of the falls and dashed upon rocks and lost in the roiling cauldron of water below. While we have a site to worship the God of the mists it seems said God is not looking upon us favorably. It was likely just yet another warning that we failed to pay heed to.
We are punished further still by a dread fiend has been slaying our forts children draining them of their blood. It is either a vampire, a dark being that feasts on blood in some manner, or the results of a sacrificial ritual to gain the blood of the children. Regardless of which we must find them and stop them to find peace and seek forgiveness of the Gods for our failures.
So to punish us all for our shortcomings and failures of our duties a foul were beast cursed of the earth was sent upon our settlement. A were Coati {A sketch of a normal Coati is seen on a page of the journal}
◊ {on the page adjacent is a misshapen creature that is a blend of man and beast with slathering jaws, sharp claw tipped hands, and murderous eyes}. Many were injured before the beast was subdued. The injuries of many were very severe some did not live for long. To make matters worse the curse can be transmitted to those assailed by the foul and cursed beast. Drastic measures were taken to safe guard those that remained. The wailing of the bereaved echoes loudly in the halls.
We are doing our best to entomb alive those that are injured by the beasts and bear the curse. It is impossible to tell who was inflicted so the cursed and merely wounded alike must be buried alive. When the madness comes the cursed will kill anyone who is not one of the monsters. The curse will keep them alive from even starvation and lack of water. A terrible fate that will drive them to madness. However they still may be struck down by various other means. They can be drowned, burned alive, killed by arrows and weapons, and even dropped to their death's. We must find a way to end their curse for good and then inter their remains in a sealed tomb in the bowels of the earth.
We have many tasks ahead of us to move ahead and appease the Gods before we can rest. We must put down our cursed numbers, inter the slain, raise memorials, build proper walls and gate, train crossbow dwarves even if they must fire sharpened bone at foes, and then put forth the utmost effort into building the temple to all the Gods proper.
However our troubles do not end there. I had finally remembered the sealed cylinder given to me at the outset of our journey. In my mind numbed state I had hidden it in a carved alcove with a simple wood panel in my room to protect it from my impending loss of self. I had found it almost by accident as the panel was carefully disguised and had heard the odd thunk of a hollow space as my pick handle was rested against the spot. The panel thankfully opened easily revealing the tube I had thought lost.
The contents of the message are disheartening. My sickness of course struck the day before I was to open the message. It details the careful details and reminders in building the temple to avoid angering deities unduly. We have failed in this task. The instructions are written by several priests but the key points are that the temple was to be to all Gods inside its walls. There should be places to meditate and worship alike and no one God above others should be favored.
Sound advice. However what is much more troubling is the dire warning of the cults of the dark and forbidden Gods. The Gods our people had worshipped in our distant past when our ancestors had struggled in fear and darkness. Before we were nations under the mounts before we were even truly dwarves. Their names are foul in writing and when spoken. Their names are harsh up on ears even in a whisper to all but the mad and the cultists themselves. We are to guard against them as they would build their own dark altars in the dark corners of the fort or even in the dark bowels of the earth. They have their own aims to summon dread things from the depths or other worlds that the world might be torn asunder and made anew in a terrible dark light. If possible they should be stamped out with a vengeance.
The days are dark and as if to punctuate that fact I keep finding small foul idols carved of bits of bone, stone, or wood stashed in the dark corners of the mines and even one was found by a tree outside our walls. The idols look to be carved of monsters and foul beasts. Others are carved of cool dark stone that look like men, Goblins or Dwarves but for strange alterations like extra eyes or mouths where none should be. The carvings are ugly and alien in their presence. I have smashed several that I have found in the mine as I find them. I may draw dangerous attention to myself but I will not let these foul idols sit free in the mines.
There were several copies of the instructions and the guide and instructions to keep a copy in the over seers office, post one in where the architects may study the requirements, and one in the meeting place so that all may understand it. However there were other copies of the warnings as well meant for the overseers with each commanded to make a copy. We are to create reports to give to the liaison when they visit our fort every year for trade and negotiations.
If I had not fallen ill then briefly mad perhaps we could have avoided our tragedies. I have labored through the night on my own free time to create a copy for all the previous over seers to have. I will take the tube and the original to current overseer Deler who has suffered dire tragedy in these recent days. I must also bring them an idol found in the mine so they know the threat we face. I will insist it be smashed after it has been seen.
I can only inform the others who have overseen the temples efforts of what was missed and that we must do in our our best effort to get into the good graces of the Gods again. May they forgive us and spare us further wrath.
edited 27th Jul '16 7:40:39 PM by TuefelHundenIV
Who watches the watchmen?
(Small correction to your journal, Tuefel: Elle died in the first werecoatl attack. I'm giving mine and Lance's name to the surviving kids but I'm playing this turn (at least) as "Deler", a Suspiciously Similar Substitute.)
Night Clerk of the Apacalypse.
Darn no Elle II?
Who watches the watchmen?does that make my attempts at creating shrines Too Little, Too Late?
edited 27th Jul '16 7:39:52 PM by Lanceleoghauni
"Coffee! Coffeecoffeecoffee! Coffee! Not as strong as Meth-amphetamine, but it lets you keep your teeth!"
Night Clerk of the Apacalypse.
Lance: Well it certainly seems that way. Vampires, dwarves and mules tumbling into the falls, and were coati certainly make it seem like we have pissed off the gods.
Who watches the watchmen?I can only hope I go down as a "He Tried, but it was already past the point of no return"
"Coffee! Coffeecoffeecoffee! Coffee! Not as strong as Meth-amphetamine, but it lets you keep your teeth!"
Night Clerk of the Apacalypse.
I had to surrender my turn so I barely got anything done at all.
Who watches the watchmen?
If Elle II survives childhood and it passes back to me again I might run as them. Didn't want to do the child overseer thing.
edited 27th Jul '16 8:05:29 PM by Elle
Ok, so...I usually play with graphics. I know the rules say ASCII preferred but I need all the help I can get. I've been looking at the fort in a non-graphics instance so far but I'm jumping over now. If anyone has a problem with this, speak up before I get too far.
The pack I'm using is Ironhand
.
P.S: Werefort temple isn't going to work: Werebeasts are building destroyers. We can do one or the other and I want to see if I can at least salvage one.
edited 24th Jul '16 9:12:00 AM by Elle