The merchants sat in the depot deep underground, waiting for the broker to arrive. The merchant leader had been a merchant for a many years, and he'd traded with dwarves, gnomes, humans, elves, even goblins and orcs on occasion.
This depot wasn't terribly different from any other; it was built next to a storehouse and embassy, with a roughly constructed torch illuminating the room. What was unusual about the depot was that it was built entirely underground, and with no access for wagons from the surface. The traders had to lead their animals down stairways and narrow corridors into the darkness. On their way to the depot, they saw a vast dining hall, and the distant glow of what was unmistakably magma. They also passed dozens of dwarves, moving with the slow grimness of sobriety. If the fortress was rich, it was at a steep cost.
As they started unpacking their wares, a number of dwarves outfitted in finely crafted armor but wielding crude copper weapons in their hands. The dwarves here were nervous and on edge, and the bodyguards gripped their weapons more tightly.
This fortress was rich, no doubt, but it was unstable. Far better to offload their wares and leave, then linger in this remote and isolated fortress.---
Winter comes upon the fortress, and while I wouldn't say we're in crisis mode, we have some big problems. A dead dwarf in the caves, ambushers, an alcohol and food shortage, and low morale are making the fortress unstable. Our priorities this month are increasing happiness and stability. I start by ordering the fields to be enlarged.
I also buy a bunch of booze and meat to keep us fed for a while for some visiting traders. The trogolodytes seem to have left without a fight, so I open up the deeps to collect Murple's corpse. He'll be interred in our new cemeteries in the top of the spire.
Kaos has been made an engineer's guild dwarf.
Spascala goes ape on some lanky grey lach..es? Lachi?
In any case, some lanky grey guys get impaled by the military commander. She has yet to be injured in battle! SHE'S INVINCIBohshit.
Ughorn Mistsin, made of flesh and spits webs. THAT'S NO GOOD. Fortunately, no one is in the caves at the moment, and I simply lock the door.
Meanwhile, the forges have been revolutionized. We have smelters, forges, crucible, a blast furnace, greatforge, glass furnace...my main worry is that I'll run out of space before I get to higher tech stuff.
Next up is producing the high-quality metals to actually utilize in our forges. I immediately begin research on another crucible to speed up cobalt refinement. I also he do have quite an array of metals now, and I queue research on minting, another metallurgist, magic, invention, and golemification.
I turn Spascala into a legionnaire. She's been getting enough kills, might as well get some experience out of it.
Freezair and Haemish get pet dire lionesses, but I'm still waiting for a male lion so I can get kittens. Dire kittens, no less.
Oh, and as an aside, you can transmute wolfram into mithril? Sweet. Sounds like a fair deal to me. Speaking of fair deals, Mahrgell becomes legionnaire, which taps out our current money supplies.
I am finally able to get some crytal glass windows in.
You know, this is the first time I've been able to have a crystal glass industry? It's amazing how magma streamlines...everything really.
I've also prettied up the dining hall a smidge.
And, while trying to get Oldark to stop chasing the fortress psychologist so he can hurry up and forge me some more bloody statues, the year comes to an end.
Hmm...still haven't finished the new farmland...I'm beginning to think a new miner might not be amiss.
Not a whole lot to report. The fortress is ticking along nicely...not many real problems this season. Nothing more problematic then a trapped dwarf and trying to get the metalworking process streamlined. Nothing really all that exciting...Oh, by the way, are there any nice and easy means of taking shots of the whole fort?
I don't see the beastie anywhere at the moment, but I haven't revealed the entire cavern yet, so I don't know if it's gone are lying in wait. And anyway, I don't want to send my militia into battle against it without welded cobalt armor, so the caves are off limits for a while longer. Also, I've got a welded wolfram maul coming in for Lenz, and welded cobalt armor beginning to trickle in. Once I smelt a bunch of tin (and transmute it to zinc), I'll be able to mass produce bronze armor to fill out the squad.
I gotta say, alchemy is super useful. With a handful of different types of metals and access to flux, you can make just about everything without much effort. It isn't necessarily good for mass production, but for specialized purposes like nickel for spring steel, it works quite nicely. Plans for next time include more metalworking. After the squad is outfitted, I'm going to send them into the caves, see if I can't find out what happened to the beastie...and to obtain Murple's corpse.
Of our current (named) military, only 1 dwarf remains unguilded. After Haemish becomes a legionnaire, I'll start saving money for a tear of armok; the nasty water is becoming a real problem, and I'd like my dwarves to bathe in clean water to avoid infection. I also have vague plans for an obsidian farm, but don't get our hopes up too much, that is a decidedly long term plan.
The coffers have 500 copper, 2000 gold, and 1500 silver.
Thoughts for Sage:
Sage, Crafter's Guild Tanner, but I use you as a general purpose crafter.
`Sage' Fubegvabok has been ecstatic lately. She has complained of thirst lately. She has been satisfied at work lately. She had a nice bath recently. She dined in a legendary dining room recently. She received water recently. She slept in a good bedroom recently. She admired a fine Table lately.
She is married to `Mahrgell' Finmined and has one child: Ducim Bookknotted. She is the daughter of Nomal Fellshafts and Zuglar Snackmountains. She is an ardent worshipper of Munest the Decency of Mirth and a worshipper of Adil.
She is a citizen of The Seducers of Loot. She is a member of The Wordy Gallows. She is a former member of The Shovels of Obscurity. She is a former member of The True Cult. She is a former member of The Fortress of Insanity. She arrived at Rigothstukos on the 15th of Slate in the year 173.
She is twenty-seven years old, born on the 14th of Timber in the year 147.
She has a tall, narrow body that is just incredibly skinny. Her slightly protruding eyes have thin irises. She is incredibly skinny. She has a very narrow chin. Her ears are fuse-lobed. Her somewhat short ears are very splayed out. She has very low cheekbones. Her hair is clean-shaven. Her nose is quite long. Her nose bridge is slightly convex. Her skin is dark brown. Her eyes are cobalt.
She is incredibly quick to heal and very rarely sick, but she is weak.
`Sage' Fubegvabok likes mineral oil, shrapnel, lapis lazuli, tower-cap wood, the color dark brown, gauntlets, flasks and ostriches for their long necks. When possible, she prefers to consume pond turtle, plump helmet man tissue, orcish tuber vodka and bone bush meal. She absolutely detests purring maggots.
She has a good kinesthetic sense, willpower and a way with words, but she has an iffy memory and a questionable spatial sense.
She is confident under pressure. She is very friendly. She is willing to compromise with others. She lacks confidence. She doesn't go out of her way to do more work than necessary. When she's thinking, her body becomes very still. She needs alcohol to get through the working day. She likes working outdoors and grumbles only mildly at inclement weather.
*CRAFTMANS GUILD* This dwarf is a member of the craftdwarves guild. Most artisans of the smaller industries fall under this category, be it working bone, leather or cloth. The guild even houses the few dwarven scribes and musicians that roam the realm.
It's spring, so there's going to be a few posts with the unabridged thoughts of all y'all, and then I plan to do a lil screenshotty tour of the fortress.
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Topic: Craftrazors: Another 4e Merchant Fortress (Read 17069 times)