01 Hematite 83Dr. Urist gazed at the row of vials lined up along one side of her desk in frustration.
None of these will work! Either they don’t stick to the wood, or they rub off too quickly, or they leave a visible residue, or the wood neutralizes the active ingredient.
I need some new ideas.______________________________________________________________________________
Excerpt from the journal of Lotu Sizzlediron, expedition leader.04 Hematite 83Akrul just keeps getting tenser. She’s tasked Mebzuth with making raw green glass, and told Logem to cut the glass and all of the clay loam lying around into crafts. She seems to think that will bring the craft-related portions of the quota back on track
Logem’s been muttering to himself ever since. Something about “ye cain’t
force a gem to take a shape, ye haf t’cut th’ way
it wants t’be cut.” There is something to that. I’ve noticed when mining that sometimes a boulder just stays whole, while other times no matter what I do, I end up with a useless pile of rubble.
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15 Hematite 83“Help! Help!” Lotu called out. “Anyone up there? I need some help!”
Airith came racing down the stairs, only to stop short. “What’er you doin’
there?”
“Uh…um.” Lotu shrugged sheepishly. “I, ah, decided to channel that floor from the, uh, wrong side. A little help, please?”
Airith pinched the bridge of her nose. “Really? With everything I have to do around here, you have to pull something like this? You’re the miner. Couldn’t you have, I don’t know, stopped to think a minute first?”
As she spoke, she grabbed the nearest clay loam boulder and started attaching it in place. “Only a miner. For crying out loud, why did I have to go and fall in love with a miner?”
As she hammered the last corner, Lotu stepped briskly across. Snaking a hand behind her neck, he leaned in for a quick kiss. “Thank ye, darlin’. I’ll make it up to ye, I promise!”
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Excerpts from the journal of Lotu Sizzlediron, expedition leader.16 Hematite 83Udil spotted the humans on his way down to the barracks.
With a glance through Lorbam’s stock lists, I ordered all of our worn clothing moved. I’ll need to remember not to trade away any of the legwear or headwear, but at least it won’t have to be moved in the fall. I also sent all of that useless pile the elves left behind. At least it won’t affect the import cap anymore. And I noticed that Rith has been making a lot of skull totems, so I ordered them sent too.
20 Hematite 83Apparently our first migrants arrived eight years ago today. The only reason I remember is because the axedwarf Lokum tracked me down to inform me of it. And the reason he went to that trouble? He seems to think eight years is some sort of important anniversary, in honor of which he now wants to be called “Sky”.
Sky?
I still can’t believe it. No proper dwarf ever wants to see the sky! Our proper domain is below ground, the deeper the better.
Oh, wait a minute. This is the guy who likes
suns.Well, if he wasn’t nuts when he got here, being exposed to one for so long has clearly rendered him addlepated. On the plus side, now it’ll be easy to tell which “Lokum” we’re referring to.
22 Hematite 83Wait, what? Who?
Without so much as a by-your-leave, this dwarf came waltzing through the gate, across the courtyard, and straight into Dr. Urist’s cubbyhole of a library. Apparently the elves are spreading word of our fight with the werebeast, and he was curious enough to come visit.
He’s now talking to Dr. Urist, who seems rather more animated since his arrival.
25 Hematite 83And there’s another one.
27 Hematite 83Let me just check the current import values before going to trade…
Huh? That’s…higher than the numbers from after the elves left. Oh, wait. Visitor clothing gets counted as imports, too?
Crap.At any rate, I ended up trading for all of the human toys and appropriate crafts. Since they’re made of metal, Bomrek can melt them if he doesn’t like them. I also acquired some more legwear and headwear. It’s not my problem if no one in Swordgangs can wear it.
Unfortunately, thanks to those import numbers, I wasn’t able to get anything useful. But, I did get rid of almost all of the useless elven junk (there are just a couple of clay boulders left that are waiting for Logem to cut them) and a fair amount of our worn bodywear and handwear.
We’re just barely under the cap.
I comforted myself with the reminder that most of the remaining imported stuff will get shipped right back out to Bomrek. We should still be able to import the steel stuff I ordered last year.
01 Malachite 83Besmar has spotted someone lurking beneath the trees far to the east. He says it looks like a human, but it could just as easily be something else. Another werebeast? If so, it should be cowering in fear.
02 Malachite 83Aban has given birth to another boy, whom she has named Rakust.
And he won’t be useful for another twelve years…
03 Malachite 83That creature Besmar spotted turned out to be a human. She finally simply waltzed in today, as if she were entering her own village.
She carried a horn, only she called it a “queci”. Apparently, it makes music.
That’ll be different.
07 Malachite 83Hooray! I found granite beneath the next aquifer level. Woo-hoo! Armok be praised, we are almost through!
I just need to finish this level…
And dig through one more. Airith will need to modify the pumping order slightly, since granite won’t absorb much water.
Still, I can see
solid rock beneath the water!
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08 Malachite 83Lotu was looking forward to his break. Closing his eyes to better appreciate the scent of rice beer coming from the mug he carried, he walked automatically down the ramp into the common area.
“Lotu! There you are!” Dr. Urist shot out of her library and latched on to his arm. Only Lotu’s quick reflexes kept the beer from getting dumped on the ground.
And that would have been such a waste.“What?”
“My…guests are using up all of my remaining supplies. I need more!”
“More…what?”
“Paper! Quires! Ink! Writing equipment, generally.”
Akrul, listening from her chair nearby, shot to her feet and slid to a halt in front of Lotu.
“And I need more paper to send work orders around!”
Often overlooked, Lorbam was also in sitting quietly in his office, updating the stock records. “Lotu, I could use another sheet, too. This one is almost done.” He held up a virtually illegible page covered in squiggles.
Lotu studied the three of them, each in turn.
Minkot is growing more plants than Zutthan can thresh into thread. He thought.
But can we spare someone for paper…?At that moment, Tun wandered into the room, gnawing on some dog meat.
Talk about useless.“Tun!” Lotu waved him over. “How would you like to stop hauling?”
Tun shrugged. “Why not.”
Lotu took that as an affirmative. “We have a millstone and a screw press hooked up on the surface.” Clapping a friendly hand on Tun’s shoulder, he added. “Congratulations. You’re our new papermaker. And these three dwarfs have some requests for you.”
Waving them forward, Lotu backed away. “Excuse me while I finish my drink.” Saluting with his still-half full mug, he escaped to a quieter corner.
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Excerpt from the journal of Lotu Sizzlediron, expedition leader.20 Malachite 83It’s been a long time, but I finally treated my darling to a real date. That human entertained us with some poetry. While it wasn’t half bad, she has some odd ideas about proper poetic form. But, I have to admit, I spent more time enjoying having my arms around my beloved than I did actually listening to the poetry.
We should do that again some time.
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24 Malachite 83Huh? Imic jerked to attention.
There’s a fight somewhere? One I don’t know about?Racing around the corner to the entry passage, he slowed to a halt, staring.
Wow. He’s really whaling on the little pests.Crossing his arms, Imic watched proudly as his pupil made short shrift of the troupe.
A short time later, Udil finally stopped, panting. “Did I get ‘em?”
“Yep.” Imic strolled up. “Ye got ‘em. Nice job, kid.”
Both dwarves jerked up at a sudden shriek. Rounding the wall, they froze at an unexpected sight.
With one punch, Ral ripped a capuchin to pieces, and another fresh body lay a short distance away.
“Remind me t’
never get on Ral’s bad side.” Imic muttered to Udil, as Ral bent to retrieve the handful of brewable berries the capuchins had tried to steal from her.
Udil nodded in emphatic agreement.
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Excerpt from the journal of Lotu Sizzlediron, expedition leader.27 Malachite 83Whew! The third aquifer level is done, and it’s time to tackle the last one.
And I managed to prise a boulder each of tetrahedrite and limonite from the aquifer's clutches. Now if only I could find some flux so Catten can turn the iron into steel…
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04 Galena 83The dwarf studied his hit list. Now that paper was being made in steadily greater quantities, it was almost childishly easy to liberate a sheet here and there for more private uses.
Completing the list hadn’t been difficult. Crossing the names off, on the other hand…
At least there’re only four adults and five children. It could have been worse.But still he frowned.
Couldn’t that blasted werelizard have taken care of at least one of them? That would have made this progress report so much easier!He huffed out a sigh.
I suppose I should be thankful those folks haven’t produced any more children! May they keep working so hard. Hmm, I’ll need to mention that to the Master. But best not to dwell on it. Instead… His eyes brightened on a sudden thought.
Yes, he did want these deaths to be accidents, didn’t he? Well, surely he’ll have to accept that true accidents take time to arrange.Folding the list, he slipped it into an inner pocket and headed back to work.
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Excerpts from the journal of Lotu Sizzlediron, expedition leader.09 Galena 83As summer continues, Akrul is getting antsier and antsier. Apparently the craft and legwear numbers aren’t where she thinks they should be. She’s hijacked Mebzuth to make glass toys. Having finished making all of the pump components we need, it gives Mebzuth something to do. But I hope Mooney doesn’t notice the slowdown in bolt production, now that Rith has been browbeaten into using bones to make the other crafts.
17 Galena 83At last! The last of our three visitors has finally left. Maybe things can get back to normal now? But somehow I doubt it.
Dr. Urist is in an awfully cheerful mood.
27 Galena 83Airith has spent so much time building pumps lately, she’s now calling herself an architect. I brought her some cassava beer since she seemed to want to celebrate.
28 Galena 83Well, I do have to admit it. Akrul seems to know how to get things done.
The toys will be easy enough to finish before the caravan gets here. The trousers? I have a feeling the official numbers are under-representing how many we have. I’m sure I can find a few folks who will be more than willing to donate their tattered clothing to the cause, in exchange for some brand new masterworks from Sodel.
OOC: Having been bit by overestimations before, I have this spreadsheet showing 1/3rd of the headwear and legwear numbers from the stocks screen. Given that, I'm pretty sure we're going to make the entire quota this time around. And having underestimates for the numbers doesn't hurt the Airith/Akrul situation at all.
Current character list:
Olin (Lyra) Coppertargets (carpenter) -> Lyra (alive)
Catten Fencedlearned (bowyer) (alive)
Zutthan Paddledact (thresher/spinner/shearer) (alive)
Lorbam Clawdike (bookkeeper/manager/woodcrafter) (alive)
Minkot Bannerthrone (planter) (alive)
Mebzuth Cudgelleaves (glassmaker) (alive)
Ast (Lotu) Sizzlediron (miner)-> Dame de la Licorne (alive)
Kadol (Airith) Helmflashed (architect/mason) -> TheImmortalRyukan (alive)
Sodel Stockadecharmed (weaver/clothier) (alive)
Erib Razordrinkers (butcher/tanner/planter) (alive)
Logem Laborgirders (gem cutter/woodcrafter) (alive)
Olon Worshipglazed (leatherworker) (alive)
Ushrir (NCommander) Anvildimples (woodcrafter/animal trainer) -> NCommander (alive)
Vutok (Spriggans) Pleatsteels (wood burner) -> Spriggans (alive)
Ral Scalemerchant (brewer) (alive)
Uvash Toolsport (carpenter) (alive)
Mestthos Stafftown (furnace operator/papermaker) (alive)
Edzul Lanternnotched (cook) (alive)
Kogsak (Imic) Stokerblocked (axedwarf/woodcutter) -> Imic (alive)
Lokum (Sky) Weaksilvers (axedwarf/woodcutter) -> Skyclimber (alive)
Udil Roomrouts (axedwarf/woodcutter) (alive)
Rigoth Tinchant (axedwarf/woodcutter) (alive)
Likot (Mooney) Tongsgirder (marksdwarf/herbalist) -> MoonyTheHuman (alive)
Besmar Minepink (marksdwarf/herbalist) (alive)
Ustuth Shieldfences (marksdwarf/herbalist) (alive)
Urist (Dr. Urist) Drilledhatchet (doctor/engineer) -> Gwolfski (alive)
Akrul Glazeletter (manager) (alive)
Sarvesh Mirrorsling (shearer/spinner) (alive)
As Mirrorstockade (mason) -> Another (alive)
Tun Staffpacked (fish cleaner) (alive)
Rith Vesselglaze (bone carver) (alive)
Aban Ransackedmansions (carpenter) (alive)
Ingish Blockadesound (child) (alive)
Nil Goldenname (child) (alive)
Medtob Boatsmessiah (child) (alive)
Id Craftcrabs (child) (alive)
Tobul Cloisteredmoistened (child) (alive)
Litast Citystorm (child) (alive)
Solon Pageletter (child) (alive)
Stodir Hallesteems (child) (alive)
Endok Boltprairies (child) (alive)
Datan Paddledclutches (child) (alive)
Thikut Doorpattern (child) (alive)
Endok Glacierpaddle (child) (alive)
Rovod Claspedlearns (child) (alive)
Goden Keytooth (child) (alive)
Litast Factionmountains (child) (alive)
Avuz Loverknife (child) (alive)
Lokum Tangledattics (child) (alive)
Tayldis (kobold thief)
Logem Echoworked (outpost liaison)
Dodok Charmedmirror (king)
Bomrek Whiptrailed (Swordgangs leader)
Meng Baldarrow (Swordgangs trader/Bomrek’s assistant)
Dastot Brimsrelics (dwarven caravan lead trader)
The Master
Deities This links to the most recent post containing our list of deities.