Yar! The dwarven caravan be here.
We perused their equipment, but it’s apparent the fortresses on their trade routes be fallen on hard times. Their weapons and armour probably be high quality equipment by human standards, but compared to the output of our godsmiths Pyrotechno, Asmoth and Flame III,they be little better than the work of amateurs.
Still, ye can always use extra trap components, so I bought some of those to put around the place, plus a couple drinks of rum fer the look of the thing.
The liason be havin’ nothing interesting to share: it seems the world be a dull place outside Murderflood. The most interesting news from the mountainhome be shortage of meat and tanned hides: hardly the most engaging of stories.
Well, if the world won't bring us good tales, we'll make our own. I showed them The Dome and explained its purpose. The more who see it, the further my grand tale will spread across the world. Of course, the innate greatness of the story I be tellin’ ensures it will be told forever, but teasing ye’re upcoming works be an important marketing skill fer any author.
All will hear of the determination of Murderflood, to live forever or burn with honour, whichever comes first. And my great monument to that determination will be the centerpoint of the tale, the jewel of Murderflood's spike-studded crown.
Yar, another beastie, in the 3rd caverns this time! Ye know what? I honestly don’t care. Just lock the door, maybe we’ll deal with it later.
Dumping of beastie corpses from the caverns be going rapidly. The free time of all dwarves who not be putting the finishing touches on me Magnum Opus be occupied with dragging corpses to the surface and incinerating them in the Dike. The dike itself must be at least 20% molten crundle meat by now. At the very least I swear it’s risen by a few centimeters.
I be hearin’ rumours. Some dwarves are talking of establishing a safe place, outside the range of The Dome, so that some might survive if Murderflood must be cleansed.
Fools and cowards! Don’t they realise that completely robs the narrative of emotional stakes? The story I be tellin’ here not be a fairy tale ta’ tell ye’re kids! It be a sprawling, epic saga of true dwarven mettle against the undead hordes, where the entire fortress could fall at any moment!
But one bright side. Now that I know some among us be...
infested, by this traitorous lack of determination, I can work to counter it. The Dome alone not be enough! We must cut these cowards off at every turn. They must not be allowed to flee Murderflood's honourable fate and ruin my narrative!
I have distributed a variety of designs to random dwarves, to pepper the fort with "devices". No-one but I be knowin’ the purpose of these things, nor havin’ the full picture regarding how they will function. Should the lever be pulled, however, every one of these miracles of engineering will work in tandem to maximise the chaos and ensure no dwarf here takes the cowards way out.
Yar. Should the lever be pulled,
all will burn. My devices will ensure it.
Speaking of burning, our new Forgotten Beastie in the third caverns decided to attack a small crew o’ Magma crabs who’d come up into the caverns through the holes where mushroom roots had penetrated the magma sea.
I thought the magma crabs were done for, but then...
Note for future overseers:
war trained magma crabs. Get on it.
The Lever has been installed.
It is called
Glimmeredscars. Constucted of an
artifact Native Copper mechanisms, it
menaces with spikes of iron and depicts
Tosid raising his silver mace to crush Murderflood's enemies, a
wave of magma burning all before it, a
crown of bone, representing the weight of history and the monarchy bearing down upon Murderflood, and... a
harp? Well, 3 out of 4 ain't bad.
The linkages will take some time yet. I’ve ordered a few magma-safe iron mechanisms built, an’ they be heavy. Also, I need to connect not only the cistern output, but also several of me’ new devices. I won’t be able to test the lever once the cistern itself starts being filled, so it be essential we get everything in place first before filling the cistern starts.
Speaking of the cistern...
IT BE READY.
The
Cistern be watertight. The
Pump Tower be complete. The
Magma Spigot be treated. Dwarvenkind be facing the rise of a new sun, a sun made of silver, but no less fiery than the one that watches over us from the heavens.
The Murderflood Last Resort Cistern aka.
Usanarust, “Murderbowl”. (Unfortunately, the Old Tongue doesn't have a word for "dome")
We might not be able to fill the Dome yet, but we
can start pumping: the Magma Spigot needs to be primed and checked for leaks. With the enthusiasm that can only come of a dwarf being allowed to work with magma, twenty-one dwarves take their place in the stack and start pedaling. Magma flows upwards through the tower, and once again dwarven ingenuity triumphs over gravity and the natural order.
The molten rock reaches the top of the stack and spreads to the end of the spigot, where a glass stopper holds it in place. A spare bar of untreated copper melts into nothing as magma flows over it.
It works! All that be left to do now link up the mechanisms, open the spigot, and start filling.
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Topic: 'Murderflood: (Ardentdikes IIIv3) You, there, grab this save! (Read 228924 times)