I'm getting too Dwarf for this Carp10th TimberToday as I supervised the cleaning of the fort, Lorius Zane approached me, claiming to have captured the Masked Dwarf and asking for the construction of a temple.
I'll speak plainly; he doesn't hold the masked prophet. Our friendly neighbourhood demon worshipper can walk through walls, command the minds of dwarves, and honestly believe that demons have
its best interests at heart, a most remarkable power. I suspect that when he next looks upon the cell of the cult leader,
it'll have gotten bored and wandered off with some dangerous idea in
its head.
As for the temple? Well, why not?
The unhappiest dwarves, including Onul, have renounced the cult of the masked one. Their happiness as a result has started to rebound. Morale is increasing across the board with our rooms cleaned, our cloths new, and our freedom secured.
11th TimberThe dwarves report with great alarm that a human has come!
Why they're so scared of it I don't know. I wish they'd brought a caravan with them. It promptly falls into a cage trap. I guess we'll leave it in there.
Rhaken only needs to have his ankle immobilized for his healing to be complete. This is a good reminder to our dwarves. We must attempt to stockpile as many castes, crutches and splints as possible to allow our fallen warriors to get back to the field. The new hospital is almost complete; as soon as its resevoir is filled, and Rhaken has been cared for, I will designate it the new hospital.
14th TimberThe space for our new temple has been dug! I now wait only for statues of our gods to be produced to adorn the central sanctum.
15 TimberThe inspector has arrived.
It begins.His guards languish in the depot as he is led into the fort. Expecting to begin the inspection straight way, he is instead led to the mayor's office. Fortunately Corley isn't here, seeing as he's 'too busy' to perform his mayoral duties. I served my term as mayor with worse morale than this. But I digress.
It was time the mountainhomes learned the truth. The whole truth. The liaison's jaw dropped as I told him how long Steelhold has been without a warden. How the prisoners had seized control of the fort during the first year. How our baron, appointed by order of the queen, had been an insane political dissident. How the fort had been slipped into anarchy, and how it had been saved by Rhaken. Finally, I told him of my uprising.
He truly was shaken, I'm afraid. He protested that the prisoners must be recaptured, assuming that I, a free dwarf, would naturally take his side. I informed him that the mountainhomes were
mistaken in the terms of of our arrangement. Dwarves serve in Steelhold for life, I told him, but they are free within its walls. If the queen has a problem with how the fort is run, she should make arrangements to have it done herself. Shaken, he departed to inform the government of our disobediance.
Later, to the caravan guards, I let loose at last the secret that had led to my exile; precisely who had purchased my services for that 'heretical' research project. Let's see her majesty weasal her way out of that. If she doesn't keep a firm grip on things at home, she could end up here herself. Might be a good idea, that; we could use her elite guards.
19th TimberAnother siege arrives as the merchants unload their goods! I immediately order the fortress sealed.
With Rhaken in the hospital, I doubt his gang's willingness to fight. And against such a large siege, the caravan guards are no match. I lead the marksdwarves to the fortifications. There is one crossbowman among the goblin forces who looks unusually competent, but we cannot be left completely defenceless!
Suddenly I hear a strange gurgling noise. One of my dwarves takes a bolt to the throat through the foritications, and is now drowning in his own blood. Though it tears me appart to leave him to die, I must save the others from what is apparently a legendary goblin archer. I lead the troops down from the tower to safety.
Above ground, a bolt plucks the baby of my fallen soldier from it's mother corpse.
They will die.
THEY WILL ALL DIE. I order the dwarves back downstairs in disgust, and leave the goblins to their fate on our traps.
21st TimberWe trade away most of our old tattered clothing and crafts for vast amounts of wood, dye and gypsum plaster. Rhaken will get his cast. The mountainhomes were apparently impressed with our 'craftsdwarfship'.
We have more idle dwarves than ever. I'll take the opportunity to clean this fort even further!
NEATNESS FOR THE NEATNESS GOD!I... I'm not sure if I'm in control of myself anymore. I used to be so rational. I'm not now. Sarrak agrees. Say's I'm 'going Asmoth'. Well I'm not randomly shirking my duties to go mining, so I'd dispute that claim, but it's increasingly important to find a successor.
2nd MoonstoneThe traders are getting eager to be gone. I'm half tempted to lower the gate and tear the greenskins apart. However, over 40 invaders remain free, some of them exceptionally dangerous. Our forces outnumbered 2:1 suffered 3 casualties. Our weakened forces outnumbered 4:1 will likely be wiped out, even with the support of the caravan guards.
The goblin archer, however, is unable to stomach the pain when he breaks his hand. I order the marksdwarves to return to their positions. Bolts rain on the invaders, killing many. Our entrance is painted with blood and vomit. I cannot understand why this does not bring feelings of revulsion to me.
I'm afraid Rhaken's lost his ability to stand, but he is rapidly gaining skill with a crutch.
12 MoonstoneThe siege is broken! The gates are lowered, and the remaining wounded goblins finished off. Many wounded goblins escaped us, regrettably. Maybe they'll
TELL THEIR FRIENDS.
Onul's getting better. I looked at her thoughts, and her main complaint was long patrol duty, so no return to active duty for Rhaken's gang for a while.
Rhaken uses a crutch now, but I think he'll be able to resume his position in the army. Because he's still the most skilled dwarf we have.
If anyone has requests for the end of my turn (i.e. what's going to happen) they should probably let me know so I can incorporate it. Otherwise I'll just step down leaving the fort's politics as-is. I won't end the turn for the next 24 hours (longer if there's enough plot developments) though, so you have time!
We have one full season of gameplay left, so if you've got plot, go wild. Also, have a plot justification for the monarch showing up if any future overseer decides to do that. 'cause those guards would be really, really useful for building our military, especially with this slow-ass training process that we can't actually start because dwarves will berserk if returned to duty or removed from their squad.