User:GhostDwemer/ChanneledKisses

These are the chronicles of the Dwarven settlement of ChanneledKisses. I love Dwarven names. Founded in 1051, ChanneledKisses sites in a wooded valley below a towering volcano. The mountains are rich in marble, while the rock salt of the wooded valley holds coal and iron in abundance. The site has no flowing water, only a scattering of murky pools. But with ready magma, coal, iron, and flux stone, our hardy band of settlers knew that there were few sites with as much potential. And being far from marauding Goblins, the Dwarves hoped that they would have a little extra time before the inevitable raids began. With a little extra time, a site like this should reward raiders with nothing but hot and pointy death.

"We'll keep a low profile, fellows," said Ingiz Isanbomrek, the plucky young lady leading the group. "This site is rich, rich beyond dreams of avarice. But we don't want to let everyone know that, do we? We don't the hordes descending on us. And by 'hordes' I mean those lazy loafing Urist-come-Latelies. If we find gold, we don't even smelt it." She ignored the chorus of groans and protests from the other Dwarves. "We smelt steel, brother. Cold, hard steel, sharp as we can make it. None of us are warriors, but by next year, we will need to be. Even as distant as they are, the Goblins will never let us take a site like this uncontested."

The group's Cook/Weaponsmith, one Avuz Adilmangoz, suggested that, perhaps, those loafing newcomers who were bound to show up could be shown which end of a spear to hold and which end to put in the Goblins and thus be put to good use, when they weren't smelting metal for him to make pointy. Avuz is just selfish that way.

So they worked through the spring, making a small but comfortable and more importantly, self sustaining hamlet. First the band dug out some large halls in the soft loam of the valley floor. Ingiz knew none of them were miners anymore than they were warriors, and so a bit of training in soft soil would make mining rock much faster later on. Taking turns with the unfamiliar picks, they worked to create a long entry hall, wide enough for wagons. "I don't think anyone uses wagons anymore, boss," said Sakzul Zanegmal, the group's carpenter and chief medical dwarf, but the rest of the group agreed that the wagons were simply leaky, and would be back as soon as they were patched.

"Let's put in a big pool of magma under the hall, if things start getting Gobliny, we can dump 'em in!" suggested Asmel Udimush, the farmer and jeweler of the bunch. This was heartily agreed to, and a trench was dug. Sodel Akilamfol, the mason and architect, took a walk around the valley, thinking about the best way to build the defense. The valley formed a huge square with mountains on three sides, open to the north. After consulting with Ingiz, Sodel decided to wall in the valley and remove the slopes, forming a relatively safe enclosed space. "We'll put in fortifications and a walkway above the wall, to let our marksdwarfs fire at seiges," thought Sodel, "and a tower near the entrance, to fire down at any that make it into the baily. In fact, we'll put in some fortifications on the ground behind the wall, forcing invaders past the tower, and letting marksdwarfs in the baily fire at them the whole way as well. If we make the tower three stories tall, we can have squads train and sleep in it, too. And behind the tower, we'll put in an archery range."

The dwarfs also put in some clever twisting tunnels that appeared to provide a shortcut into the fortress. Invaders would go down the shorter tunnel, through all the traps, and triggering a bridge that would throw them backwards down the hall. Then back through the traps and down the longer tunnel, also full of traps, and with the same sort of bridge-a-pault at the end. The magma trap would kill some, and keep the rest out until the militia and guards assembled in the main stairwell. Once in place, the bridge would be extended again, and the invaders let into the meatgrinder. A gate in the outer wall would let them segregate invaders into manageable groups. The tower could also be reached from the main stairwell, and eventually, ballistae would be placed guarding the approaches.

(stuff to write: exploratory mining reveals huge iron and coal deposits, first militia set up, marble mining up the mountain, immigrants, first trade with dorfs, big wave of immigrants, trade with elves and humans, expanding militia, breaching the first cavern, first ambush (went well, 1 dead), Amber McWebbyStagasaurus shows up below, we get a mayor, second ambush (not so good, 10 dead including expedition leader and mechanic, next time set alerts/burrows!), We are Bothered by Flies, er, bugs which prevent us getting a barony, which brings us up to where I'm at now, winter 52-52. Third ambush went well, interesting case, two squads plus about six goblin snatchers. We lost only two, killed six, captured eight! Our mayor loves copper, and is apparently upset by the shortage of helms 'cause we can't sell 'em anymore. Not that that was the plan anyway. We fill her spacious rooms with copper furnishings. The Guard is formed, and the Captain promptly beats someone to death. For what? Captain meets out justice, crap, did I miss a mandate? No helms, check, make copper crap, double check, why did she beat one of my best furnace operators to death? I freaked out when I saw the 'struck down' message and him outside, I thought he'd been ambushed and put the fort on alert, sent the squads out there, but nothing. So I checked the reports, and then her thoughts. "She took joy in slaughter recently. She has seen death. She beat someone recently." Yikes! Elven traders come, followed by an ambush. I'm seeing a pattern. Are they in cahoots? We lose six, but the newly formed squad of Guards, made up of our best, plus some nice military immigrants who helpfully show up right before we really need them, comport themselves very well. No goblins captured. Twelve killed. My injured keep dying of thirst, evidently, I need a lot more buckets. )