PK was pleased with himself.
He plans for the hospital were going well - the first floor was being roofed and the basement was dug out. It would be a serviceable hospital, if a little cramped. The more gruesome of the soap making process would be housed in the basement, to avoid squick; in the same room that will house the apprentices. The second floor will make his own; an office for those so inclined to mental suffering would get to see him at his most private.
With the warmer weather came more migrants, no doubt curious to live a life on the surface. Many immediately threw up upon reaching the tavern, no doubt used to the idea of living a life completely free of the protection of the subterranean rock. The inn was unfortunately covered in festive green speckles. The human traders had been highly amused at our design choices.
The caravan leader, "Err-ik" lustedchapels, tolds us that we were building too tightly to properly accommodate traffic:
- -'Why look, your . . . village is quite nice, it is, but what happens when you attract nobles?'
-'I'm sorry?'
- -'why, theres no room for their carriages
and the peasants. That's asking for a fight between them.'
-'what? Nonsense. Why would we have drawn wagons?'
- -'Heh. You dwarves are an interesting lot. I can admire the dwarven tenacity for space-ial freedom, but, surely you know that we humans specialize in the surface world. Where there is room for it, animals make excellent mounts.'
-'We . . . We dont need some animal to help us stand strong. We have two strong legs. Its just not our way.'
- -You dont ever have pack animals. All your beasts appear to be breed for the meat.'
-'Our farms traditionally dont require extensive tracts of land.'
- -'So I've heard . . .'
He was erring on the side of rude, but I couldn't much fault his curiosity. This was a new style of hillock for us, taken directly from the human style.
Still, I was quite happy to let our broker step in and negotiate for the choice metal, most notably several iron anvils for later melting. steel was, obviously, not present (and I dont know
why I thought it would be when taking notes
), and leather plentiful. It was decent trading, as usual.
Plans for the burial commons were laid out: a Church with an underground gravesite. As far as dwarves go, they deserve better; but at least I encased them in proper stone. I am prepared to evacuate the dead first in the event of natural disaster. Know what else we've apparently been planning?
Darnit, Pencil!
---
Vampire! Some filthy wretch has clawed its way into our village, and has stricken one of us down!. Several dwarves reported the crime, though none had any information for me.
We shall endeavor to rid ourselves of it.