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So this is where went to sleep and where I start of after some 14 hours of sleep and some "borrowed" fisher berries for breakfast and water from the well.
I still plan to make my way to the capital, if only to say I was once there.
Following the main road, I stop in the hamlet Creamlakes. The guys here are also concerned about the vampire in our capital.
And then ....
... the nice stone block road ends abruptly:
Uhm, ok?!
I follow the general direction through the wilderness until it starts up again. And when the sun is directly above me on the 10th Malachite (July) 125, I reach Empiresstring. Right next to me is "The Soaked Abbey", which appears to be a dungeon? I can see water and doors down in the pit.
But first I will chat with the natives.
I come across a large market place with merchants offering all kinds of food and more importantly iron clothing and other metal weapons!
This is good news! Unfortunately I have zero money on me and "borrowing" from a merchant is not a good idea (note the dollar signs at all the items, indicating merchant ownership)!
...
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Starting a chat with a market stall owner, I surprisingly can convince him to join me! Uhm, right. My travelling companion is Uce Scrapepassionate,
a planter equipped with the lightest of garments and a boning knife!!!
But he appears to be quite agitated!
So, there is a goblin overlord here, that needs to be killed and I learn more about Nasnok Jokedtakes, the vampire.
I wander the town some more and see all kinds of proper shops, selling nice weapons as well.
Then I am in front of the keep!
*gulp*
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How do you manage to navigate around with the Z-level stuff? I've tried this and I love the developer's sheer ambition, but the UI is horrendous!
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And probably make a fatal decision: I enter!
I am climbing the towers and they are well guarded with soldiers on each of them. I then open the door to the keep proper:
And stand face to face with the "law giver" (the civilisation head!), which turns out to be Nasnok Pundiklenge (Jokedtakes is the nickname):
The white hair and the human bone amulet are a give away.
There also appears to be some sort of holy man in the room as well and a hammerman soldier. I step closer and make some small talk about her family. Quite some sad stories in there. And she must be quite old. No kids it seems.
And then with my fellow Uce right in front of me I accuse her of being a night creature! (I have never done that in my DF game before, so I am not sure this is the right way to go about this.)
Well, she admits it, I guess.
Lets fight!
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uberfish Wrote:How do you manage to navigate around with the Z-level stuff? I've tried this and I love the developer's sheer ambition, but the UI is horrendous!
The z-level introduction made me quit DF when it was introduced years ago.
I picked it up recently and gave it another go, since they have fleshed out the game a lot. With all UIs, it is merely a question of practise. If you got used to the 2D DF version UI, you will also get hold of the added Z-level, trust me. There are also 3D visualisation tools around that let you see (in game real time) your fortress.
mh
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I start by clumsily throwing my copper dagger at the vampire. It misses by a mile, while the vampire charges the hammerman!!! I guess the hammerman was not in the know and is quite surprised!
However, Nasnok botches up the charge and falls down, now lying underneath the hammerman (the purple à is the hammerman, the green U is the holy man(?). The left most brown @ is Uce, while I, the right @, bravely hide behind him). Note my dagger on the top left wall.
As I move towards the fight Athis Egeshcani, the hammer [b]wo[/b]man defends herself furiously.
Uce is now next to the vampire, which is still on the ground and bleeding already.
And Uce and Athis keep harassing the vampire:
And on the second day of my adventure as a lowly peasant I swing my sword at the law-giving vampire of my civilisation ....
... and miss! Bugger!
Athis, has more luck. Uce less so. The holy man is quite near as well. I assume for now he fights with us against the creature of the night. He sports a slicing knife.
Already the vampire is in a sorry state:
Lets try again to get my sword bloodied...
Drat! That bugger is still quite quick.
While, Uce, Cilko Imerin (the holy ship?!) and myself close the distance to the vampire, Athis lands a blow on the right hand.
Third time's the charm!
... or not! Nesnok even manges to stand up while parrying my slash! But Uce runs tackles her down again. We got her up against a wall as well, which is good! Surely?!
I once again close the distance, while Nasnok rolls away from Uce's strike.
Oh-oh!
I am in front with no support from my allies! (and Cilko even managed to stumble and fall over)
...
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No easy strike possible but I will try nevertheless.
And she is on her feet again.
Quite agile:
One more failed attempt by Cilko and myself and then the vampire actually hits!
Uce has just a bruise on the lower body, while Cilko bleeds from the head.
Athis finally manages to come in range for a successful hammer blow on the leg, while the vampire again scrambles away from Uce's attack.
I see an opportunity to attempt a new tactic ...
... and finally come through!
I am a bit worried that Nesnok tries to reach those stairs to her left leading downwards.
The next strike to her head is parried and she stands up again, scrambling away from another of my sword swings. Uce manages to tackle her to the ground again.
After some more missed or parried strikes we have the bloodsucker in a corner ...
... and I manage to slash successfully at her head.
After some endless parrying and rolling away I finally manage a crucial blow:
She lost her only weapon!
Athis, the hammerwoman has closed the distance as well and joins us in the corner.
The vampire keeps whirling around, avoiding our frantic attacks, when I got lucky and land a slash on her head again:
But being a vampire, she actually gets up on her feet again after such a blow to the head!!! But its a deep wound, heavily bleeding.
A nice slash at one of her legs brings her down again. Unfortunately my sword gets lodged in the wound, so I bash her head with my shield, while my allies stab and hammer away at her. Cilko is a complete fail. But then she is described as "weak" and still suffers from a bruised head. While Uce and Athis are both described as "incredibly muscular".
Uhm, just realizing that from the five of us in this room, I am the only male.
Here is the log of the three of us slashing, stabbing and hammering away on the vampire on the ground:
Nasnok is in a truly sorry state,
but still not defeated!
...
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The fight continues. I manage to land another heavy strike on the head, while Cilko finally gets a stab in.
During a real hot phase of the fight I tear apart the skin of her second toe, left foot with a punch! Surely that will finish off a vampire! Got to love DF combat system.
What a tedious fight. The vampire scratches back some, but Uce lands a heavy blow on her face and three back teeth fly through the room. LOOT!!!
Here is the log of this fight:
Which leaves the Nesnok, the vampire in a real mess:
Growing tired of this bloodbath, I use the ancient vampire killing move of smashing the second finger of the left hand with a blunt weapon. 
There you go! Easy, wasn't it? :D
But yes, I am very pleased. If not for Athis joining the fight and hammering away at the vampire, I would have been dead surely.
So now that we have captivated the civilisations government, I will have a short break.
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Nasnok Jokedtakes (born 25, died 125) was the ruler (law-giver) of my civilisation. According to townsfolk I talked to she killed 480 people as a vampire!
The final blow was done with my iron shield (by pure luck) and so it gets credited with the kill, instead of my crappy copper short sword, which is nice, as I intend to get a better weapon and keep the iron shield.
A large role in the fight played:
Athis Egeshcani, a guard of the keep and hammerwoman. She got out of the fight unharmed.
And:
Uce Bujithethre, my planter follower. She stabbed the vampire with her knife and got only minor bruising to the lower body and the right arm, which will heal shortly.
Furthermore Cilko Imerin, the holy ship took part in the fight but was mostly in the way. She still has a cut open head. We wish her well.
Cleaning up.
I fill my waterskin with some Nasnoks vampire blood! I am covered all over with her blood but will wash that away in the river. The blood in the waterskin will be preserved and might come in handy at some point.
I collect my dagger and all the stuff the vampire had on her, including the teeth. Athis, the hammerwoman, does not hold me in high enough regard to want to join me. I guess she was not very impressed by my fighting. 
Before exploring the cellars of the keep, I will try to sell some of the stuff and get better equipment. The 5 gold coins that the vampire had on her should help that along as well.
Phew....!
mh
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Sold all the items from the fight and my old sword and armor. And bought myself an iron long sword, an iron breastplate and iron greaves for better protection.
Weighs a ton and slows me down.
After a two hour nap in the keep, I plan to seek out that goblin overlord in the catacombs.
mh
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