Player's Log: Dwarf Fortress: The Tale of Ast - Part One

"Dine well greybeard, your coffin draws your flesh down to the dirt!"

    

    Ast is a middle-aged Axedwarf from the city of Musorsong in Behal Birod. Before being an adventuring Axedwarf, he was an apprentice Clothier in his fortress. Since leaving his home, he has learned many skills. Ast was never a people person, preferring the company of animals. He is nervous in crowds and has grown to be a loner and has crippling shyness. Although he has shyness, he makes for a good adventurer. He does not fall in love easily, is very greedy, likes to brawl, is somewhat fearful in the face of imminent danger, and considers spending time alone much more important than associating with others.

    Despite his obvious social challenges, he is a monster on the battlefield. He wields a mace, shield, and a full set of mail armor. Many laugh at him for his studded leather skirt, though they usually are met with the business end of his mace before they can continue their laughter. At the start of this adventure, his occupation is only said to be "Goblin Exterminator".

    He has been traveling along a road for days now, heading toward an abandoned manor called Snoson, which is infested with the green scourge. About an hour or so before he was going to hit the manor, a foul stench rolled in. While he couldn't discern what it was, I presume it was just the stench of the goblins. I was also warned of a Forgotten Beast along with an abandoned human village named Lonoxxo nearby. Rumors say that the village might still have items of use.

    As Ast neared the manor, he grew weary of his surroundings, drawing his mace and shield, as he knew goblins were a slippery sort. Once he approached, he saw the manor in total disrepair, with light leaking through boarded-up windows. As he crept closer in, a large failure on a perception left him tangled in a trap that alerted the guards to his presence. Immediately after that, a goblin archer shot him in the leg with an arrow from a window, his leg armor protecting him greatly.

    He immediately raised his shield and turned to face the archer, walking to a crumbling door. Sensing danger from inside, he bashed the door down with his mace, revealing two more goblins. He then marched inside, immediately striking at the first goblin. He attempted a feint, but failed, then striking the goblin with his weapon. The goblin's chest was caved in by the blow, killing it instantly.

    The archer at the top of the stairwell had knocked another arrow and was preparing to shoot Ast on his next turn. He leaped toward the second melee combatant, making two strikes at each of its legs, both blows crippling the foul beast. He then quickly turned and blocked the arrow shot at him from upstairs. He finally made one last feint and struck at the goblin's face, who was now bleeding out on the ground. Its face was nothing more than a pile of flesh after that blow.

    As Ast ran up the stairwell to strike the final goblin, from below, another goblin came running toward him, although eight yards away. He slammed the goblin with his shield, sending it onto the floor, before striking it in the torso, giving it a nasty abrasion in the abdomen. Its last attempt at defending itself was futile, as it was not able to fire its arrow at me, before I slammed its head with my mace, twice. 

    After being covered in its gore, the goblin that had ran out of a hidden room managed to strike Ast unexpectedly, although neither of the blows went through his armor. He turned to face the goblin, screaming in a rage, swinging his weapon at him...

    And that's where we leave this adventure for today's post. Will the bloodthirsty Ast kill the goblin? Will the goblin strike back at the already wounded Ast? Will elves yell at lumberjack-dwarves??? All will be revealed in the next part of the adventure! Stay tuned!