Burningcrab: A Dwarf Fortress Story

SenisterDenister · Post by **SenisterDenister** » Tue Nov 03, 2009 6:33 am

[I had found an amulet at a bazaar this past summer, but the merchant also pressed the journal to sell with it, as though they were the same item. Twenty gold. I thought I was being cheated. The old journal was leather bound, cracked and clearly used. The merchant told me this journal's story was well worth the price, though....] 

October 1: I am Dvain Krudenbourg. I'm on a personal quest to re-discover the fortress and mine, Ningoszit (note-when translated from the Dwarven tongue it means Burningcrab.), lost a scant dozen years ago. None of the dwarfs I had found were willing to take me, for some reason. All they said was something about fire and were real superstitious about it. The elves I approached were.... less than helpful. They called it "Home of the Damned" or something like that in their native tongue, so I have decided to purchase a map from one of the former merchants and strike out on my own.

[The next sections are rather trivial, him getting supplies and heading out. However, I found this next part to be rather interesting.]

November 28: My map led me to a small town that went by two names, Kosothlular to the dwarves, Sentil to the humans, this place was interesting, to say the least. Again, though, I could gain no information about Ningoszit from the dwarven inhabitants, other than cryptic warnings not to go there. I did, however, gain a small hint from a dwarven waitress working at the inn I was staying; she claimed her father had visited it before it shut down, and said his stories placed it, according to my map, a few months away to the west. However, when I first mentioned my quest to the waitress, several dwarves went pale, or looked at me in shock. One, an odd one with both chain and plate mail on, and two swords across his back, actually flung his dinner at me and stormed out of the room saying something about. I could get no information out of them regarding Ningoszit's location, or, indeed, anything after that save for that same dwarf had been its proprietor during its collapse.

November 29: Today, before I left, the double bladed, double armored dwarf pulled me aside, and told me not to seek out Burningcrab. He called it a dark pit of evil, and told me I would burn if I went there, then wandered off muttering something, â€œAll burnâ€� or something. Strange.

[More trekking through the woods. There was a dire wolf encounter, but he managed to escape by sacrificing his stash of jerked elk meat. I'll resume the journal upon his discovery of the fort.]

January 23: The forest surrounding Burningcrab is.... strange. The trees and plants are stunted and warped, and the ground is absolutely full of igneous rocks and, strangely, pumice, indicated several lava flows in the past. I do wonder.... is this what that strange dwarf meant with his burn comments?

January 24 I found the rusted remains of literally dozens of goblin styled and sized weapons and armor, as well as the bones of what seem to be several elephants. Speaking of which, I had spotted a herd of the beasts across the river I crossed the other day. I canâ€™t help but feel that they're.... staring at me.

 January 25: I unblocked the entrance today, it had been packed full of bones (all of what I could not tell) and rusting siege equipment and assortments of arms and armors. Immediately upon entering the mine, I found many engravings on the wall, seemingly done by an engraver named Ganghis. Oddly enough, he claimed the titles â€œKhanâ€� and "the Beardless" in differing pieces. The engravings themselves seem to detail a great, epic battle between the dwarves of the mines, and many elephants. Several others deeper in the hall show a siege, or perhaps several sieges, by goblins, while some deal with thefts and incidents with mandrills and still more elephants.

January 26: I have found still more engravings by going further into the mines. Several are.... disturbing, such as the ones detailing what seemed to be a flood of lava engulfing a caravan, as well as elephants and goblins. The screaming humans are so.... detailed. Another engraving (titled, The Grave of Green Biles) shows a single human on fire.... screaming.... burning.... screaming....

January 27: The dwarfs of Burningcrab seemed to have a strange fascination, or hatred, of elephants.... there are many, many engravings, statues, amulets, and more depicting them in a variety of ways. In cages, being killed by dwarfs, killing dwarfs, in many poses, killing more dwarves, killing goblins, and killing more dwarfs. One such was a battle field, it depicted a war dog giving birth, the puppies joining the fight, elephants and dwarves hacked and trampled to death. Someone saw fit to add, at the end, a crudely hacked out message. "WELCOME TO FUCKING BURNINGCRAB. ABANDON ALL HOPE, YE DORFS WHO ENTER HERE"

January 30 I discovered a small dwarven girl amongst the ruins, picking through rubble and bones. As I came near she turned to face me and her face lit up in ecstatic joy. She ran up to me and forced a small pebble in my hand while she yelled, "Shiny!" I looked at the pebble and after I rubbed it once or twice I put it away in my pocket. I couldn't very well discard it there, it might have upset her. In return, I handed her a small amulet I had picked up in Sentil. She yelled in delight and had run away into the darkness of the caverns. She was gone before I even knew what really happened. How a child, a mere dwarven girl could have survived in this place, I at first didn't know.... but.... now, I have an idea why. A horrible idea as to why.

February 2? : I made a mistake. I- I made a big mistake. Oh man. Oh man, oh man. I had continued deeper into the mines, and out of nowhere, I heard a roar, a demonic roar of rage and pain and hatred. A dwarf, I know not what else it could be, flew from a dark hallway and, as he did, he burst into flame! Wreathed in flame, head to toe, his beard burning as a forest fire, his eyes glowing the white hot of forge-metal.... he grabbed me by the neck, and the heat.... I could feel the heat of his hand on my skin, and it blistered. The young girl, later telling me her name was Dodok, saved my life; she threw the amulet I had given her at the demon, the stone thing shattering on his head as she shouted "No, no, bad uncle Gangi! Bad!" The dwarf dropped me, and the little girl took his still burning hand, leading him away.... but the flames didnâ€™t touch her. Why didnâ€™t the flames touch her? Furthermore, Uncle Gangi? Was that demon dwarf the engraver whose work I had found so much of, Ganghis Khan, The Beardless?

February ??: I stared at a river, a chasm filled with magma for what seemed like hours. The forges along its banks stood, rusted and useless. I do not know how much time has passed. I found a small storage of food, so at least I am not hungry. I have found dozens, hundreds more carvings by Ganghis, and others, and a multitude of riches in other forms. I would trade I all for a passage out of this hell. No sign of the demon-dwarf, or the strange little girl.

 February ??: I found more carvings. I found the rulers tombs. Ganghis Khan's' was empty. The door was smashed open and the stone around it blackened, scorched.

????: I have finally come to the realization that I no longer can account for the amount of time I have spent in this hell. I heard the demon-dwarf today. He was stomping along the halls laughing, looking for something. He was flipping over carts and I fled to the darkest recesses of a cavern. I could feel the heat from his burning figure when he began breaking large pots and urns around me, ash spilled out and blanketed the close quarters with blinding soot. His footsteps became closer, his breath became more heavy, excited. He cracked open the last one next to me when I heard the girl squeal in delight and as she ran away he chased off after her. I can only come to the conclusion that they were playing hide and seek.

???? My food supplies are dwindling. I have found the burnt carcasses of unwary kobolds that have also ventured into these halls. Their flesh is immaculately tender, despite being a few days old. No. Too greasy.

????: I stumbled across more engravings today. One showed a squad of miner-dwarves being swallowed by a lava flow. Another showed tentacles rising up from the depths of a cavernous pool and was defiling a dwarf. Another depicted a flood drowning children.

????: I want to go home.

????: I wandered into the old forges of this place, they were cold, unused, rusted over and decayed. In the back I found a switch. I was tempted to pull it, but it was rusted over and wouldn't budge. Oh well, I feel it was for the best.

????: I thought I heard voices, people calling out. Not for me, but I thought I heard a voice asking if anyone was there. I began to track it, stumbling through the caverns before I came to the realization that it was my own. I thought I had begun to laugh, but it only came out as sobs of despair.

????: I fear I am going mad. I found an engraving of an elephant trampling a dwarf. Itâ€™s eyes felt like they were followed me. I felt as though it wanted to kill me. Then I saw the demon-dwarf again, playing with the little girl. He glared at me, with those eyes, until she giggled and threw the stone they were tossing between each other back at him. When they left, bored, I found the stone. It was a dwarven skull.

????: I found a gauntlet. It was studded with copper and itself was iron and blackened through the fire. It showed an elephant posing menacingly. The elephant was screaming.

????: The demon-dwarf found me alone today. Panicked began to run aimlessly through the fortress, looking for a way out. I came across a door and threw myself against it. The rusted bolts squeal in protest before finally giving way to my entry. The chamber was domed, the stones were basaltic, ingenious. The byproduct of extreme heat and pressure. I cursed at myself for fleeing further into this damned place. In the center of the chamber sat a table. It was made of the finest mahogany, sleek, polished, and waxed. On the table where was a single candle in an ornate golden stand, and at its base was an amulet. As I picked the amulet up to study it by the light of the candle, I saw shapes engraved upon the table's surface. I took the candle and bore witness to the most magnificently gruesome sight I had ever behold. It depicts an image of an Elephant. It depicts an image of a goblin. It depicts an image if a human. It depicts an image of a dwarf. It depicts an image of me. The elephant is on fire. The goblin is on fire. The human is on fire. The dwarf is on fire. I am on fire. The elephant is screaming. The goblin is screaming. The human is screaming. The dwarf is screaming. I am screaming.

[I set the journal down and picked up the amulet I had bought with it from my beside table and looked at the amulet for the first time in depth. It was crafted of marble. It menaced with spikes of jet and onyx. It depicted an image of a man, a dwarf and a small girl. The dwarf was on fire. The man was cowering. The flaming dwarf was striking down the man. The small girl was laughing.]