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WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Soup

Albania

Cats

Traditional Albanian Cat Soup

[Arcvasti]

*grumble grumble* Stupid Joan *grumble grumble*

Also, is raiding really the best source of scalps at the moment? I tried it and it seemed very very slow and tedious.

Its pretty slow until you get enough info to raid a caravan. Then you can reliably get more prisoners from that and get enough info to do it again. A couple times of that and you'll be raiding caravans almost constantly and get a bunch of info for higher tier raids. I'd advise only raiding for prisoners until you have surplus info to spend on scalps. In any case, I'm not sure our military could do much against marksdwarves right now, so killing invaders might not be the best option either. Although they could probably slaughter most poorly-equipped hammerdwarf or axedwarf squads[I've found most dwarven enemies have rose gold or white copper or some other valuable, but useless in combat alloy for a decent amount of their equipment].

[Arcvasti]

20th Limestone: The gnolls panicked and ran off of unhallowed ground the instant the Ghoulish Death Squad came near. I've got them hunting emus instead.

23rd Limestone: I've ordered Razorback make Kamikazi an ironbone scourge of his own. His bone one glances off even the feathery hides of emus. This won't do at all.

25th Limestone: After their evisceration of three emus, I order the Ghoulish Death Squad back inside. This will be plenty of bones and souls for the near future.

27th Limestone: The components for Palu's alchemical grinding systems are finished, so I order some skeletons to hollow out an area for her to set them up in. I have no doubt she'll insist on doing it herself, instead of just trusting Temptsfate's programming for a skeleton to build it for her.

30th Limestone: The wall around the Upper Barracks is finally finished. As our bonecarving skeleton cannot distinguish the difference between making a scabbard and making dice, I've set Emily to make some rock dice once she's done with assembling the last slab for Temptsfate's Graveyard.

1st Sandstone: I call another beginning of month meeting. I'm not even going to bother recording it here because nothing was accomplished. Mainly because Palu [And also Jaso, for some reason] were supervising the excavation of the future site of the alchemical grinders and skipped the meeting.

Spoiler: From Palu's secret meeting log (click to show/hide)

Palu: You sure you weren't followed?
Jaso: everyone is at the meeting the butcher is sleeping and both other ghouls are sparring
Palu: I mean by a skeleton.
Jaso: doesn't matter about those there are a couple of bonesacks a few rooms over digging out the grindery thing for you they're not going to report anything
Palu: In any case, we're going to need to unseat Arcvasti from his position. But doing so through a bloodbath or violence won't work. Catalyst won't take our side and I'm not sure about Azuraal either. We'd have to kill or imprison them, and there are too few Warlocks left to reduce our own numbers like that.
Jaso: how do you suggest we go about removing his power then
Palu: He controls the Tower mostly because of his monopoly on skeleton labour. That and his stranglehold on making Ethereal items make him too valuable to be questioned.
Jaso: wait how does that even work my master is the one who makes the skeletons in the first place so why should they obey only him
Palu: I think he's encoded some sort of way of controlling them into the souls the skeletons are powered by. He treats the souls we harvest and bottles them in hourglasses before they're used for anything. That leaves plenty of room for tampering.
Jaso: i m not sure how he d be able to do that skeleton usually can't tell the difference between most Warlocks
Palu: Really? The skeletons can't tell the difference between two Warlocks who are not their creator?
Jaso: well they can still tell the difference between a Witch and a Warlock but he probably just has them answer to a code phrase or object rather then only obeying male Warlock's
Palu: So that means his forbiddance on my commands also applies to Catalyst?
Jaso: presumably although she didn t use the skeletons much before and avoids them since her bone visions started
Palu: Then your assignment is to find out more about those possible code phrases or items from Temptsfate.

3rd Sandstone: Emily finally finished assembling the last slab for Temptsfate's Graveyard. Temptsfate stopped wandering around aimlessly and started hauling them into a formation in the huge room next to his Necromantic Shrine. I'm glad that's over.

6th Sandstone: The alchemical grinders are fully set up. Palu is off getting some herbs to grind.

8th Sandstone: I realized I'd forgotten to set Insanityincarnate to go rune mine and Jaso's future chambers. I asked him if he would kindly go rune them right now. He did so immediately.

12th Sandstone: Temptsfate is all done hauling slabs and coffins into his odd formation. He is rummaging around in them looking for something. I doubt he'll find anything, but at least its something more productive for him to do in his spare time.

15th Sandstone: I just found out Kamikazi also lacked a buckler. Razorback made him one out of ironbone. At this rate we'll never stockpile enough of the stuff to infuse Joan with ironbone.

16th Sandstone: I'm done Temptsfate's furniture. I order the skeletons to set them up in his rooms. I'm glad that ordeal is over, but I've become more proficient in Sorcery in the process, so I think it was worth it. In any case, I'll have to do it again for Palu and Azuraal and then twice the amount each for me and Jaso and then 4-5 times that much furniture for CptCrunchy. But first, I'll get to stockpiling those emu souls.

20th Sandstone: After I was done with bottling up the emu souls, I decided to go visit Catalyst. We had some bitteroot tea and chatted for a while. She expressed disapointment in the lack of reading material around. I promised her we'd get some scalps for book covers soon.

21st Sandstone: I've started on some furnishings for my Apprentice. I doubt he'll appreciate their lavishness properly, but I'll give them to him anyways.

24th Sandstone: Jaso came to me today. He asked for some medical supplies so he could continue his research and of course also tend to our injured. I said he can wait in line and that I'm swamped with orders like his.

28th Sandstone: While on a routine inspection of the work area, I noticed we had a lot of emu feathers in bags. I asked our Butcher why. He said that feathers are useful for all kinds of things. I asked what sort of things. He said you could make mattresses out of them for beds. I asked how you would do that. He replied that you can't just make mattresses out of feathers, you've got to have some secret dwarven technique before you do. I asked why he even kept them around if he doesn't do anything with them. He said that you never know when you'll need a bag of feathers urgently. Jaso, who was standing nearby said that they have all sorts of medical uses. I instructed him to shut up and asked the butcher if he would kindly dump the feathers into a pond. Having no choice in the matter, he did so. Jaso looked on with interest at my command to the butcher before I kicked him out of the skeleton-filled workshop area. Can't have another surprise vivisection like the one he did on Jaso the skeleton had on the journey here.

1st Timber: I didn't call a beginning of month meeting. I'm behind enough on my work as it is. I did take the time to inspect the Ghoulish Death Squad and the Overlord's Guard. Both Kamikazi and Nuttycompa have benefited greatly from their training and are even more formidable then before. I'd pit them against a whole dwarven hammersquad of the Legion and expect them to come out on top. CptCrunchy hasn't been doing nearly as well, spending most of his time trying to teach Joan how to wrestle. Joan hasn't learned much either, because she's still only bone and not ironbone. They both need a bit more time to train and Joan needs that ironbone infusion.

[Meph]

For some reason I read buckler as butler.

"Kamikazi is lacking a butler" ... what a horrible fate.

[Arcvasti]

3rd Timber: Emily has finally finished making the required different types of dice for CptCrunchy. He then told us that no dice were to leave the Tower under ANY circumstances. He brandished his Wraithblade for emphasis. I assured him I would refrain from trading any of them away to our many trade partners.

6th Timber: After observing how slowly the skeletons worked, I've got Madison and Sarah searching for more gems for Inscriptions. I want to give at least a basic Inscription to all the workers, so they have acceptable working speeds.

7th Timber: After digging only one set of stairs, Madison discovered gold, rose quartz and anthracite. I've mandated that these veins be completely dug out as soon as possible.

11th Timber: Palu is back after a protracted outing. Her robe's pockets are FILLED with herbs of all sorts.

13th Timber: The items for my Apprentice's room are coming along. It turns out it was only an isolated pocket of rose quartz, but I've got my Apprentice working on preparing them for Inscription

15th Timber: There was some sort of commotion in Palu's garden. I went up to check and found Nuttycompa had killed a kobold thief. This means that our Tower has not gone unnoticed. Where kobolds can find us, the Legion can find us. Hopefully they will come. We need scalps desperately. After asking around, it seems that both Kamikazi and Nuttycompa converged on it at the same time. Kamikazi crippled it, and Nuttycompa headshotted it. It died in a matter of seconds. It carried a valuable looking mithral dagger. Perhaps I will find some use for it.

16th Timber: I've taken to carrying the dagger around in my robes. One can never be too careful.

17th Timber: Worried about the recent security breach, I instruct Temptsfate to animate one of our spare souls as a sentinel. He nods, stops endlessly looking through his coffins and goes to get a phylactery for the procedure.

19th Timber: The Kobold also had a gold bag of loot. It is un-openable. I just order it tossed with the bags of feathers.

20th Timber: Using the Kobold's soul and the rose quartzes we found, Azuraal is going to Inscribe Elizabeth with bone carving skill.

24th Timber: The Inscription was successful. Elizabeth is now a competent Bone Carver

26th Timber: Work continues on digging out the gold vein. Warlocks don't value it, but Palu assures me it has potent alchemical properties. Temptsfate raised the soul and we now have a guardian to warn of further interlopers

28th Timber: I'm finally finished Azuraal's furnishings. I've been thinking of making either Palu's alchemy equipment or Jaso's medical supplies next. They both require them, and half the Warlocks have fully operational living quarters

1st Moonstone:

Spoiler: Transcript of the Official Meeting (click to show/hide)

Arcvasti: We've been found. Its only a matter of time before the Legion or some other force comes here in numbers.
CptCrunchy: Our Ghoulish Death Squad is potent enough to fend off any preliminary assault. While your "Champion" still requires an ironbone infusion to be effective, I myself could slay a large number of aggressors.
Azuraal: Our fortifications are no more then adequete. Methinks it would be wise to heed my counsel and build the Tower higher. Mayhaps some marksmen undead would not go amiss.
Arcvasti: The logistics of equipping an archery squad are a nightmare. I don't think it would be altogether practical at this point.
Temptsfate: hORIZONtaLlY woUld SeRVe US beTtEr I THinK
Arcvasti: Yes, I suppose widening the base of the tower or putting up some walls around it would be better, tactically. However, that would have to wait until I'm unencumbered by work enough to make blocks for the wall.
CptCrunchy: Is there any particular reason neither Palu or Jaso could join us? It seems odd they should BOTH have such pressing responsibilities in the lower levels.
Temptsfate: BiOLOgY
**Awkward Silence**
Arcvasti: Well then, everyone back to work. This meeting is adjourned

Spoiler: Unofficial meeting log (click to show/hide)

Palu: You've been tailing him nearly two months now. You can't honestly tell me he hasn't dropped ANY clues as to how to control the skeletons?
Jaso: not any concrete ones
Palu: Just what HAVE you discovered? I'll be willing to accept the most farfetched speculation over NOTHING.
Jaso: the one time he clearly used it he just asked politely i ve tried doing it but it doesn t work the exact phrasing eludes me
Palu: We're still not sure its a phrase. Any items you think he could be using?
Jaso: he hasn t let go of the dagger the kobold had since he got it he visited temptsfate shortly after he acquired it
Palu: But he only got it recently.
Jaso: maybe he thought this would be a safer trigger item then his old one and decided to change it
Palu: Maybe. Keep trailing him and see if you can gather any more hints.

2nd Moonstone: I get some skeletons to haul Azuraal's stuff into place.

3rd Moonstone: I've decided on Jaso's working materials as my next project. I get Razorback to make an ironbone bonesaw, putting Joan's Infusion back another step.

6th Moonstone: I command some skeletons to get started on some of the other componants needed for the traction benches Jasos unfortunately requires. I'm not entirely sure about giving him those restraints, but I suppose I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.

10th Moonstone: I started some skeletons on excavating a hospital area near the Ghoulish Living Quarters.

12th Moonstone: Madison and Sarah have begun digging out an area for Jaso's Morgue, now that we have all the reagents for it.

14th Moonstone: Palu swooped in to supervise the building of the Morgue. As expected.

15th Moonstone: The Morgue is finished. I supposed no one can say Palu isn't good at her [self-imposed]job.

16th Moonstone: CptCrunchy stormed in to tell me he still lacked a 30-sided die. I sighed and asked Emily if she would kindly go carry out that order. Jaso came in afterwards to ask for some cloth or thread. I told him to ask Palu about that, she's the one who knows who to plants.

20th Moonstone: The gold vein is almost tapped out. I'm ready to get them to stop mining it.

21st Moonstone: Or not. They just struck gems.

22nd Moonstone: Nevermind, they struck GEM. Apologies on my accidental use of the plural tense.

24th Moonstone: Emily made the 30-sided die CptCrunchy wanted

25th Moonstone: Apparently he wanted a 31-sided die. Emily is working on it.

27th Moonstone: I've almost completely rediscovered my old talent for Sorcery. Maybe soon I'll break through this bottleneck and start on some other projects.

28th Moonstone: Catalyst visited me today. We just sort of chatted. It was...... NICE. I think I'll have to go see Jasos about this. No, I'm not THAT desperate. I can just imagine it now:

Arcvasti: I have this odd emotion that I don't think I've felt before. Can you help me deal with it?
Jaso: thats a symptom of a rare and debilitating organ malfunction i m afraid i m going to need to replace your spleen
Arcvasti: What.
Jaso: besides just being a fascinating test of a warlocks ability to accept new organs it would also probably boost your immune system

1st Opal: I'm not calling a beginning of month meeting. Especially not if Jaso and Palu[About a third of our Warlock population] are going to be downstairs during all of them.

[Arcvasti]

Alright, this is officially dead. Same virus that narrowly missed Cobaltpacked that I've been posting about a lot lately murdered this. And I can barely keep ONE community fort running with my current schedule. It does, however, deserve a fitting epitaph:

In the Realm of Wonders, deep within the Forests of Burning, lies the Gnomish Gizmoburg of Drivenseduced. Clockwork creatures and automatons patrol its halls. A thousand ticking, clicking, grinding gears count each second as it occurs. The acute observer might notice that, while the ticking of the gears did not change in tempo, the seconds themselves shied away slightly, a temporal state unsuited to reality. The cause of this dilation lay still deeper, near to the life's blood of the boiled earth:
A vast gear, infused with flowing runes, pulsing green stone and the concentrated kinetic energy of a thousand waterwheels, turned and time turned with it. A short figure, even by gnome standards stood, leaning against a wall unnoticed at one end of the chamber. He flips a coin, tossing it into the air only to catch it perfectly balanced with one dextrous claw.

Worlds are like coins. Two-sided, yet connected. But never at the same time.

He tosses the coin again.

The funny thing about causality, is that one person in the wrong place.

He flips the coin.

Can make ALL.

The coin flies, sailing through the air far beyond what it had done the last time it was flipped.

The difference.

The coin bounces off the center of the strange gnomish apparatus and continues its flight.

In the world.

The coin comes to a stop between the vast glowing time-geat and one of the gears that power it, getting jammed between them and grinding the vast machine to a halt.

Gnomes rush around the machine, trying desperately to aver the catastrophe they know is coming. They are too late. The pent up energy uproots the great cosmic gear from the floor, sending it sailing through the air to smash into a crumpled heap on the far side of the room. The fabric of space-time shifts, bends, SNAPS. As the last drops of a reality leak away, the coin lies on the floor, cut perfectly down the middle, each half coin displaying its face to the ceiling.