Deep beneath the Kingdom to the west is the Kingdom of the Dwarves.
The Dwarves live in caves far underground, and they hardly ever come up to see the sun and sky. They don’t like trees, and they don’t like flowers, and they especially don’t like big open spaces above the ground.
What Dwarves like is digging.
Digging in dirt. Digging in sand. Digging in stone. Give a Dwarf a deep, dark cave and a pick and shovel, and he’ll dig until there’s nothing left to dig. And then he’ll dig some more, because that’s just how Dwarves are.
The Dwarves are ruled by the Dwarf King. He has been king for hundreds of years, but even so, he is not an old Dwarf. Dwarves live for a very long time indeed. Some with the longest, whitest beards are even older than the mountains, and at least twice as wise. They can tell you stories about the days when dragons ruled the world, before the human knights came and built the Western Kingdom high above.
There are not so many dragons these days. The humans drove them up to the high mountain-tops long ago. To a Dwarf, that is a good thing. Dragons are dangerous creatures, and they like to live in the same kinds of caves that Dwarves do. Even worse, what dragons like above all else is gold.
Dwarves don’t dig for just any reason. They dig for gold, for silver, for rubies and emeralds and other rare treasures hidden deep in the earth. Dragons don’t dig, but they like the same rare things. If a dragon gets into your cave, it will steal all of your treasure lickety-split. So the Dwarves don’t like dragons very much, and the dragons don’t like them very much, either.
Dragons just sit on their nests of treasure, but not Dwarves. They use everything that they dig up. They make cups and bowls and jewelry and thrones and amazing mechanical devices, but what they are most famous for in all the kingdoms is their weapons and armor.
Dwarves make the best armor in the world. They make it good and shining and strong. They make swords, axes, spears, arrows, and a thousand other things that you may never have heard of. When battle comes, there is no better friend to have on your side than the Kingdom of the Dwarves and its mighty king.
And that is why, when the trolls attacked the Western Kingdom, the king of the human Castle asked his friends the Dwarves for help.
There is only one thing the Dwarves like more than digging, and that’s fighting. A good battle is always a fine time for a Dwarf, and the best part of all is telling stories about it after all the fighting is done. They like fighting so much that they don’t even mind doing it above the ground, with all its rain and wind and trees and flowers and big open spaces with nowhere to dig.
So the Dwarf King sent his best warriors to the Kingdom to the west, and they brought their armor and their axes and their clanking, clattering machines along with them.
Watch out, trolls! Here come the Dwarves!作者: 邁克 時間: 2008-6-12 13:44 標題: 回覆: 【官方設定】Castle Fantasy Era [size=large]The Troll and the Wagon
Once upon a time, there was a troll called Urkt by the other trolls.
He was not the strongest troll, though he was one of the meanest. He was not the biggest or the fastest or the best with a sword.
But he was just a little bit more clever than most other trolls.
The trolls were getting ready to attack the Kingdom. They built many fast ships with big red sails. They built wagons and tall rolling towers and traps to catch their enemies. They even brought giant trolls down from the hills to help them fight the knights of the kingdom far across the sea.
Trolls like fighting, and they like gold even more. So when an evil wizard came to them and promised lots and lots of gold, they said they would fight for him right away. The wizard wanted to take over the Kingdom’s castle, and the trolls were going to help him get it.
Urkt wanted to sail across the sea and fight, too. He was mean and he was clever and he was ready to battle the knights of the Kingdom. But because he was not as strong or as big or as fast as the other trolls, they said he could not go.
It was not fair! But what could one troll do to change their minds?
The trolls were testing their new assault wagons. Each wagon was pulled by a giant troll. It was made to roll across the land very fast to attack the Kingdom’s castle and knights. It could launch big globs of sticky tar to make enemies stick to the ground. With these wagons, the trolls were sure it would be easy to take over the kingdom.
But there was a problem. The giant trolls did not want to pull the wagons.
The giant trolls were very strong, but they were not very smart. And they were very, very stubborn. Nobody knew how to make a giant troll move if it did not want to.
So the trolls decided to have a race. Whoever could get their giant troll to pull a wagon the fastest would get to be a Troll Captain and lead the attack on the Kingdom!
Urkt knew that this was his big chance. You didn’t need to be strong or big or fast to ride in a wagon. All you had to do was make the giant troll run.
But how?
The race began, but none of the wagons moved. The giant trolls just stood there and looked grumpy. Urkt tried talking to his wagon’s giant troll, but the big guy didn’t say anything. Urkt tried yelling, but that only made the giant troll angry. He even tried poking the giant troll with a stick. That was the worst idea of all, because the giant troll bopped him on the head with its big fist and knocked him right off the wagon. Being mean was not helping Urkt very much. Maybe it was time to be clever instead.
Urkt had an idea.
He got up off the ground and ran away. The other trolls looked at him go. They were confused. Where was that troll going? Was he giving up the race?
When Urkt came back, he had a big bag over his shoulder. He put the bag down and took out a long pole. He took out some rope. And finally, he took out a roasted turkey leg.
Now the other trolls were REALLY confused. What was Urkt going to do with all of those things?
Urkt got back up on his wagon. He took the rope and tied it to the end of the pole. Then he took the turkey leg and tied it to the rope. What he made looked like a big fishing pole…but with a turkey leg for bait!
He held the pole up over the giant troll’s head. The turkey leg hung in front of the giant troll. The giant troll’s stomach rumbled. It wanted that tasty food!
The giant troll reached out its long arms, but the turkey leg was just out of reach. It took a step forward, but it still couldn’t quite reach the leg. It took another step, and then another, but the turkey leg always stayed just out of reach.
The wagon wheels started to turn. The giant troll was pulling it along as it walked!
The giant troll walked faster and faster, still trying to get that food. Soon it was running, and Urkt’s wagon rolled along right behind it. The other wagons stood still behind him. His was the only one that was moving.
Urkt was the new Captain…and the trolls finally knew how to make their wagons go!作者: 邁克 時間: 2008-6-12 13:45 標題: 回覆: 【官方設定】Castle Fantasy Era [size=large]Troll Attack!
It was a bright new day in the Kingdom.
The sun was shining, the farmers were working in the fields, and peace and happiness filled the whole land.
Just a little while before, the kingdom was in grave danger. An evil wizard, greedy for the Kingdom’s treasures, sent an army of skeleton warriors and fire-breathing dragons to attack and invade. He wanted to take over the king’s great castle and rule the entire kingdom.
The king and his knights fought back against the wizard’s army. The battle was long and hard, but at last they drove the skeletons back to the lands beyond the kingdom. They chased almost all of the dragons back to their homes high in the mountain-tops. And the wizard disappeared without a trace.
The king declared a grand celebration to be held all across the kingdom. Every village would hold a great feast, with food and music and games for everyone. The king sent his bravest knights on their horses to entertain the people of the kingdom with amazing jousts and displays of their best knightly skills.
At one village near the shore, the celebration was just beginning. Jesters in colorful clothes and funny pointed hats juggled leather balls while acrobats leaped and spun through the air. Knights showed off their swords in friendly duels. And a guard on a high wall by the sea heard the first rumble of thunder on the horizon.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The sound of thunder grew louder and louder as the guard looked out to sea. A dark shadow slowly grew on the distant horizon, like storm clouds rising from the water.
But they weren’t clouds. They were sails.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The shadow on the horizon was made of dozens of dark red sails. Each sail was painted with a white skull with a mouth full of big, sharp teeth.
The guard on the high wall by the sea knew what that symbol meant.
Trolls!
The warning bell rang out. The cry was passed from guard to guard until it echoed all through the village. The sounds of laughter and celebration stopped. Troll warships were attacking!
Everyone knew about the trolls. They came in their ships from a land far across the sea. They were pirates of the land and water who stole gold from villages wherever they went. And they were fierce, strong warriors who would fight for whoever paid them the most.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The sound wasn’t thunder at all. On each warship was a giant troll, a huge thing twice as tall and ten times as strong as its smaller cousins. In front of each giant troll was an immense drum. As the troll warriors rowed, the giant troll beat his drum, and as he beat his drum, the troll warriors rowed.
The drumming was coming faster now as the ships neared the shore. The guard could see the trolls on board the nearest one as they prepared for battle. They were polishing their swords, sharpening their spears, and loading balls of black tar into their launchers.
As the villagers ran for their homes, the guards got ready to fight. They carried giant rocks up to the mighty catapult on top of the wall. They had to stop the trolls before they reached the shore!
One! They pulled the catapults down as far as they would go.
Two! Working together with all their strength, they heaved a massive boulder onto the catapult.
Three! They released the catapult!
As they let go, the catapult hurled the boulder up, up, up into the air. It flew high into the sky, and then it began to fall back down toward the sea. Its aim was perfect. The rock dropped right on top of the first warship.
KRAKK!
It was not the sound of a breaking boat, as the guards had expected. It was the sound of breaking stone. As the boulder fell toward the ship, the giant troll stood up, and with a single mighty swing of his battle club, he smashed the huge stone to pieces. Then he sat down and kept right on drumming. The other trolls laughed as they rowed to the beat of the drum.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
There was only one thing to do. The village needed its secret weapon. The guard who had first spotted the sails on the horizon ran down the stairs on the far side of the wall. He opened a creaking door and entered a hidden passage buried under the ground.
He climbed down, down, down until he reached a gigantic stone door. A knight in silver armor stood in front. The knight knew why the guard was there. It was time to open the door and release what was waiting inside.
The trolls were almost at the shore. They could see the village guards lined up on the wall, but they were not afraid. There were many more trolls than guards. Soon, they would fight. Soon, they would win. Soon, all the gold in the village would belong to them. And then they would sail on to the next village and the next, until they had all of the gold in the kingdom.
Then there was a new sound. It was faint at first, but soon they started to hear it over the loud pounding of the drums. It seemed to come from deep underground, and it was rising toward the surface fast.
ROOOAAAAAAR!
Huge green and yellow wings appeared over the other side of the wall. They flapped once, then twice, and then an incredible sight appeared. An enormous dragon rose into the air, with the knight in shining silver armor riding on its back.
The king’s knights had driven all the dragons away except for one. That one, they had tamed to defend the kingdom. It had once been their enemy. Now it was their friend and protector.
The dragon roared again. Its long tail lashed behind it. Its yellow eyes, protected by the metal armor on its head, stared at the first troll warship.
Then it attacked!
The dragon dove at the warship and opened its mouth wide. Orange flames came out of its jaws as it passed over the trolls. The beating of its wings stirred up huge waves in the water, making the ship rock back and forth.
The trolls were frightened. Even a giant troll couldn’t beat an angry armored dragon!
The giant troll started to pound its drum faster and faster, but this time the trolls at the oars were rowing in the other direction. First one ship, then two, then three, and then every warship in the troll fleet turned away from the shore and headed back out to sea.
As the guards cheered and the celebration started again in the village, the knight and his dragon landed on the high wall. Together, they watched the red sails disappear into the distance.
The trolls were gone, but they would be back.
And the knights of the Kingdom would be ready!作者: loveyuki 時間: 2008-6-12 21:37 標題: 回覆: 【官方設定】Castle Fantasy Era @@~ 好久都沒有看英文了~