Topic: The Story of Atölasob (A Community Fort with an Export Challenge) (Read 62914 times)

Fleeting Frames · « **Reply #285 on:** December 26, 2016, 02:27:00 am »

• Wren man...Hm, probably something around 35k body size. The animal people's lower cap is around there, and wrens are vermin.

Yeah, some visitors beeline straight to petition. I do not understand why or how, but perhaps with correct stimulus one can make any desired visitor petition. There's scarcely any research into it however.

For a lord's consort to do this, away from luxuries of town to a hole in the ground...Welp. I imagine the lord has particularly mean streak.
Perhaps beneficial for the story, though.

• Heh. Surprise bun in the oven. Not something one wants to discover, usually.

What size cutoff are you using for leather, anyway?

I know it's around the point of 2 meat/fat to also give leather, but not sure where that is.

And, huh. 132 animals? I thought you only had like 40.

• Interesting. For this threat to be put on table would suggest that it wasn't on table previously.

I usually like to make map-edge caravan entrances partially or fully isolated (things can still spawn there, but there can be a trap ring on the outside for things that would threaten a caravan, so it's still an improvement).

• Citizens milita? Eventually excellent attribute boosts. But I am not sure how fast military training raises them, expect "the fastest by magnitude". I know dodging needs around 30k exp to max most dwarves spatial sense, iirc - the highest stat, anyway (it can reach nearly 5k max), but am not sure what's the stat gain rate on other stats - if it's same for fighting, weapon, shield and armor, then that should have all their physical attributes maxed around 9 or 10 in weapon skill.

At the very least, it should make the werebeasts less threatening to woodcutters and -haulers, as well as satisfying the needs for martial arts.

I take it Imic will get to lead their own squad of recruits, now?

(Oh yeah...and make sure they don't carry food or they'll steal from the quota).

Dame de la Licorne · « **Reply #286 on:** December 26, 2016, 08:41:42 am »

Quote from: Fleeting Frames on December 26, 2016, 02:27:00 am

What size cutoff are you using for leather, anyway?

I know it's around the point of 2 meat/fat to also give leather, but not sure where that is.

Whatever the vanilla settings are, though game-wise I've decided none of the babies are big enough to give leather until they mature.

Quote from: Fleeting Frames on December 26, 2016, 02:27:00 am

• Interesting. For this threat to be put on table would suggest that it wasn't on table previously.

It was, it just wasn't explicit.

Quote from: Fleeting Frames on December 26, 2016, 02:27:00 am

At the very least, it should make the werebeasts less threatening to woodcutters and -haulers, as well as satisfying the needs for martial arts.

That's the plan. And I'm tired of seeing the martial arts need in red on my civilian dwarves.

Quote from: Fleeting Frames on December 26, 2016, 02:27:00 am

(Oh yeah...and make sure they don't carry food or they'll steal from the quota).

I'm well aware of that. Though since we're going to fail anyway...

- Dame de la Licorne

Fleeting Frames · « **Reply #287 on:** December 26, 2016, 02:57:14 pm »

...Vanilla settings? Come again?

Ah, right. There are mods to make larger creatures yield multiple pieces of leather. That said, I'm not sure they can adjust the minsize for yielding one piece.

Babies meaning...? You're already butchering puppies.

Dame de la Licorne · « **Reply #288 on:** December 26, 2016, 05:45:07 pm »

Quote from: Fleeting Frames on December 26, 2016, 02:57:14 pm

That said, I'm not sure they can adjust the minsize for yielding one piece.

AFAIK, they don't. I'm simply not designating any babies for leather-making.

Quote from: Fleeting Frames on December 26, 2016, 02:57:14 pm

Babies meaning...? You're already butchering puppies.

An animal has grown to become a dog. x3

^Only those puppies.

- Dame de la Licorne

Dame de la Licorne · « **Reply #289 on:** December 27, 2016, 06:43:47 pm »

Excerpts from the journal of Lotu Sizzlediron, expedition leader.

01 Granite 84

I’ve decided to have all civilians train during the winter, since that seems to be the quietest season. At least, no caravans seem to travel then, so we don’t need all hands to haul, as we do at other times of the year. I talked to Imic about it, and he was not convinced any civilian would be good for melee combat. So, since we have plenty of bolts and left-over crossbows, all civilians will train as marskdwarves.

Akrul grumbled a bit, but I stood firm with my “no exceptions!”

Unfortunately Spriggans was not impressed.

Fortunately, she has nine months to get used to the idea. I think it’s best to leave her alone for now. OOC: I have no idea why she was enraged, the combat log for her contained only the one line “has become enraged.”

02 Granite 84

No sooner had I announced my new military training assignments, than Airith promptly went over to the training area.

I didn’t know she was missing it that much!

03 Granite 84

She’s a long way from home.

I just hope she doesn’t start making demands. We have a hard enough time with Bomrek!

After talking to her, I learned she’s from the civ The Corridor of Mastery. We have no obligation to fulfill any of her demands. Whew, that’s a relief.

Speaking of unreasonable demands, I’ve suspended making backpacks for now, maybe the traders will bring some? And I need to find some way of dealing with the leather…

06 Granite 84

We now have nineteen children running around. She and Besmar have named the new addition Iteb.

In honor of the occasion, I sent eleven more turkeys to the butchery.
______________________________________________________________________________

09 Granite 84

Akrul studied the numbers in front of her. It all came down to the leather and the large gems. Walking over to Lorbam’s chair, she swiped the sheet with the latest counts.

Huh. We have a lot of horn and ivory lying around.

Rifling for a clean sheet, she dashed off a set of orders for Rith. She walked across the pasture to the dedicated bone carving crafter’s with a satisfied expression.

No wonder this group kept failing quotas. They have so much stuff they clearly lose track of half of it. We need more dedicated stockpiles.

Reaching Rith’s workshop, Akrul handed over the new orders.

Reading them, Rith protested, “Bu’ the bolts –“

“The quota comes first.” Akrul insisted. “You have a problem with that?”

Grumbling, Rith shook her head and put the bone she was working on aside.

But we need those bolts!
______________________________________________________________________________

Excerpts from the journal of Lotu Sizzlediron, expedition leader.

15 Granite 84

And as always, at this time of year…

I ordered all of our worn silk clothing moved, and also added a few cheap glass crafts and windows, but I think we’ll keep most of it on hand. Bomrek seems to want lots of windows, and with last year’s Capuchin Fiasco, he may order more.

18 Granite 84

As I went to trade, I detoured to Lorbam’s office to check our import numbers.

Fuck. I decided to trade anyway.

I bought a variety of animals for slaughtering, but nothing else was remotely useful.

Those dratted visitors! Maybe some of them’ll leave?
______________________________________________________________________________

23 Granite 84

A distant shout echoed from the depths of The Hole, drawing the attention of passing dwarves. Over the years, they had become accustomed to hearing a wide, inventive array of curses drifting up from the watery depths, but this yell was different. It sounded almost…jubilant.

“Hip, hip, hooray! Whoooeee!” The dwarve were shocked to see Lotu dashing through hallways and up ramps. “Yippee!”

With a hop, skip and a jump, he erupted into the common area, drawing everyone’s attention.

Raising both fists into the air, he sang out in a pleasant baritone, though badly off-key,

“No more water, no more lam,
no more cancelation spam!"

On the last word, he swept off his cap and sent it spinning across the room, straight into Imic, who dodged out of the way.

Seeing the blank look of incomprehension at his improvised poem, he explained.

“The aquifer is done! Finished! History! I’m through to the underlying granite!”

“Now I can dig deep.” In a more moderated tone, he added, “And we happen to have access to rock and metal. And actual gems.”

Akrul led the charge across the room. “Then you need to dig me out an office,”

Imic insisted, “Find stuff to make steel.”

“Dig out proper bedrooms!”

“And a decent dining room!”

“And temples!”

“And proper workshops, so we can get out of this never-ending rain!”

“And! And! And!” The chorus of demands became unintelligible. Lotu squeezed his eyes shut. Why did I bother?
______________________________________________________________________________

Excerpt from the journal of Lotu Sizzlediron, expedition leader.

25 Granite 84

I started digging an exploratory shaft, just to get an idea of what there is down below, and hit marble below the granite.

It looks like the marble is three bots deep, but that should be plenty to get a proper steel works going. And with all of the iron from melting down human-made equipment, Catten has a head-start for making pig iron, and then steel.

I wonder what else is down here?

Uh, we really don’t need this right now. I’m going to have that walled off until further notice.
______________________________________________________________________________

26 Granite 84

Sodel froze as he walked down the ramp toward the common area.

“—covered caverns? I bet there’s lots of spiders down there.”
A second voice said, thoughtfully, “Spiders mean webs. Isn’t there a special paper that can only be made out of webs?”

There was a moment of silence, then the first voice replied slowly, “It does ring a bell. At a guess, though, it would only work with the highest-quality webs.”

Having heard enough, Sodel slipped away. I should have the highest quality webs. That’ll make some good cloth.

Making his way quickly down through the Hole, he started down Lotu’s exploratory shaft. At the bottom, the ramp down into the cavern was obvious, and as Sodel stepped onto the mossy ground, he looked around in amazement. There were several mushroom trees nearby, and in the distance, he could hear some odd kind of half warble, half squeal. Best work quickly. He moved off, heading for the webs he could sense in the distance.

Carefully detaching the first web he found, he started to head back for the shaft, only to stop short at the sight of an almost completed wall.

“Hey! Hey, wait! Let me in!”

Looking through the small crack remaining at the top, Lyra saw the suddenly frantic Sodel. Quickly, hearing the distant sounds and knowing they presaged nothing good, she worked more quickly than she ever had in her life. Ripping the wall she had painstakingly built apart, she reached out to help Sodel past the rubble.

“Whew! I thought I was done for! What made you decide to do that now anyway?”

Lyra was confused. “Didn’t you hear Lotu forbid anyone from entering the caverns? He insists we don’t have the military to defend both the surface and the caves. I think he has a point, don’t you?” As she spoke, she blocked the ramp access once again.

Sodel shook his head. “No. Somehow I didn’t get that message.” He thought back to the two dwarves he had overheard. Though the voices had sounded familiar, he couldn’t quite put his finger on their identities. I need to spend more time socializing. “But you can bet I won’t be going back out there until I have a trustworthy escort. No more exploring for this dwarf. No, sir.”

27 Granite 84

That was close. The dwarf thought, as he went through his rote tasks. It almost worked! Another ten minutes and it would have worked. Why couldn’t Lyra have been faster, or Sodel slower? Now I’m going to have to look for another kind of accident.
______________________________________________________________________________

Excerpt from the journal of Lotu Sizzlediron, expedition leader.

28 Granite 84

Spriggans has withdrawn from society and claimed a crafters’. I guess she can’t exactly make an artifact bar of charcoal or ash.

01 Slate 84

Another human who wants to entertain. Sure, why not? People seem to be happier since dedicated entertainers started sticking around. Though they’re certainly useless for anything else. But if all we have to do is feed them, having them around won’t affect the quota either way.

Hmmm, I wonder. We have occasional warriors stopping by. I wonder if any of them could be convinced to stick around? It would help with our “protect the caravan” orders. Maybe if we’re really nice to other visitors? It’s worth a try, anyway.

Wait a minute! Orda, the Lord Consort, he claims to be a crossbowman. That will be very useful! Yes, we need to treat him very nicely.

02 Slate 84

With the aquifer conquered, we don’t need much power anymore, so I ordered most of the machinery dismantled for parts. I’ve left only the power for the millstone and screw press, since Tun needs those to make paper.

Dr. Urist says that she can draw up some quick trap plans from the existing mechanisms. If properly placed, those should help with caravan protection too. And, since we have access to real rock, she thinks we can make a variety of both simple and complicated traps.

I told her to focus on the simple ones first.

03 Slate 84

Having grabbed some giant two-humped camel bones and a lump of clay loam, Spriggans is now hard at work.

06 Slate 84

In the interest of treating our petitioned guests well, Sodel has agreed to make one complete set of clothing for each of our two human residents. Once that’s done, we’ll have to persuade them to give up their own clothing.

On the plus side, once they do, we’ll be able to trade away their imported clothing, which has to be counting against our cap.

Stupid cap. Why can’t Dodok exclude things like visitor equipment?

08 Slate 84

Huh. You can make furniture out of bones?

If we ever need bolts in a hurry, she can help Rith for a bit.

09 Slate 84

After much thought, I’ve decided to dig out some workshops in the middle marble layer, with some dedicated stockpiles in the upper marble layer. Since steel production is a high priority now, I might as well hit two birds with my digging.

I’ll dig it out section by section, as we need the space or Catten needs more flux. A room for a new smelter will be first on the list.

But it can wait, I need a new crown.

12 Slate 84

That second stockpile is already full?

I really need to get on the carpenters about making some bins and barrels.

14 Slate 84

As they were packing up, I heard another shout in glee. Apparently his wife, Rith, decided that was a perfect time to give birth.

They named the girl Onul.

21 Slate 84

The wood liberated from the machinery is disappearing almost as quickly as Dr. Urist can produce it. Hmmm, maybe I should deconstruct some of those interior walls and rebuild out of stone?

It would certainly make this place rather more home-like… But we have no idle hands to do the building. Still, I’ve added that to the to-do list, if we ever have time for ourselves.

01 Felsite 84

I spent the past week putting various scattered items into bins. And no one looking around would know, there’s such a mess. Akrul’s right, we need more storage.

And I need another miner.

05 Felsite 84

Sky has been training so hard, Imic says he has earned the title of Axe Lord.

Well, once we get some more recruits, he can take charge of his own squad.

07 Felsite 84

Serious steel production has begun.

Catten has designated a temporary stockpile for her bars and flux, while I get started on digging out some space above.

14 Felsite 84

I’ve asked NCommander to make me a steel pick, now that Catten is producing useable bars of it. Once she does, I’ll be able to give my old copper one to Catten to melt. While this good old pick has served me well, I must face the fact that it also counts toward the import cap, much though I wish it didn’t.

27 Felsite 84

My sacrifice has not been in vain!

OOC: Most of this difference is probably due to a visiting human spearman leaving. But I need to get much stricter about using everything we happen to bring in from elsewhere.

Goodbye worthy little pick. You never let me down, not once.

This new steel one has a lot to live up to.

28 Feliste 84

The end of a season now gets announced by a yelling Akrul invading my space. Her demand for an office with a lockable door is looking very tempting. For myself.

At any rate, this time around she was yelling about my refusal to slaughter immature animals. It’s not like they would provide much useful leather.

We are definitely going to fail the leather this year. And possibly the backpacks. Which does Dodok think more important, getting supplies to protect the caravan, or the quota? I know which one I’m going to argue, because that’s going to cover our own arses.

But, I may have an idea for the leather. We have plenty of cloth lying around, and cloth can be used for a lot of the same kind of stuff as leather. Maybe that would be an okay substitute?

OOC: So far, there haven't been as many kids (IRL) as I was afraid there might be, so I've had time to get through spring faster than I expected, especially given all the stuff that happened and decisions that had to be made.

Current character list:

Spoiler: Training in Moonstone: (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Training in Opal: (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Training in Obsidian: (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: The Pale Roads (Axedwarves) (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: The Pillars of Ink (Marksdwarves) (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Scholars (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Joined by Petition (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Children: (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: NPCs: (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Current List of Deities (click to show/hide)

TheImmortalRyukan · « **Reply #290 on:** December 27, 2016, 07:14:58 pm »

Quote from: Dame de la Licorne on December 27, 2016, 06:43:47 pm

Tayldis (kobold thief) (dead, cause of death: elf, discovered in Legends mode)

Awww.... thats sad

Dame de la Licorne · « **Reply #291 on:** December 27, 2016, 07:29:40 pm »

Quote from: TheImmortalRyukan on December 27, 2016, 07:14:58 pm

Quote from: Dame de la Licorne on December 27, 2016, 06:43:47 pm
Tayldis (kobold thief) (dead, cause of death: elf, discovered in Legends mode)

Awww.... thats sad

And the elf responsible killed 37 other kobolds at the same time (midsummer of 81) and in the same cave (several of which we'd seen over the years). I assume the entire group of local kobolds was killed off, because Atolasob hasn't seen hide nor hair of a kobold since.

- Dame de la Licorne

Fleeting Frames · « **Reply #292 on:** December 28, 2016, 10:47:05 am »

- Oh, Spriggans...Got into an argument, much?

Bolts do work best massed, but I'm not convinced you can skimp on them - steel ones seem to be only ones truly useful against anything less fragile than an unarmorered kea or whatnot.

Though thankfully a civilian will shoot a kea if interrupted by one, so there's that.

And I'm not sure it makes for a good cross-training either- to begin with, a dwarf with just crossbow and shield and no skills drills only dodging and discipline, while one with no equpment also obtains fighter, wrestler and observer experience. Then there's the lack of sparring.....

Still, wooden bolts are more useful than wooden weapons, given the dearth of metal. Though attacking with wood is useful for quickly getting civilians enough skill for sparring, and catching up on armor user and whatnot.

- How do you find out the civ anyway? Legends mode or dfhack?

- Well, not like you can make bolts from ivory or horn, thankfully.

- And to think it's the visitors that bring the problems...Well, tourism has it's troubles.

If you accepted any mercs, could replace their clothes, but I don't think you'd want someone who wouldn't eventually work.

However, note that I believe if you accept visitors that makes a spot free for next visitor to come see the fort.

- Aquifer, finally done? Feels like it took forever. Soil and stone.

Well. Now we'll see the actually planned layout of the large 17x17 breach.

Maybe caverns have some animal corpses to tan hides from? Hm, seems not.

Well, you are over FB visit limit, anyway....

Meanwhile, crazy expansive - for initially 25 dwarves, at that! - and grand plans continue. Just have to remember that aquifer floor will leak, but looks like you drew nothing in granite.

And...Where are the magma holes for furnaces and forges, though?

- Now that's a nice artifact....

Ah. I suppose it was created because you uncovered caverns, thus exposing more subterranean tiles.

- Did the kobold-slaying elf at least have any useful combat skills? All the visitors I see are all 3 weapon and 1 in other military skills, no matter the profession.

Dame de la Licorne · « **Reply #293 on:** December 28, 2016, 04:43:57 pm »

Quote from: Fleeting Frames on December 28, 2016, 10:47:05 am

Bolts do work best massed, but I'm not convinced you can skimp on them - steel ones seem to be only ones truly useful against anything less fragile than an unarmorered kea or whatnot.

Since Rith got to work, all bolts are being made out of bones, not wood (since bone is just a smidge better than wood, as far as I can tell).

Quote from: Fleeting Frames on December 28, 2016, 10:47:05 am

And I'm not sure it makes for a good cross-training either- to begin with, a dwarf with just crossbow and shield and no skills drills only dodging and discipline, while one with no equpment also obtains fighter, wrestler and observer experience.

I want my civilians to be able to dodge, it might save their lives.

Quote from: Fleeting Frames on December 28, 2016, 10:47:05 am

- How do you find out the civ anyway?

Legends mode. I have DF automatically make a backup of all seasonal saves, then I make a copy of the backup and use that to check Legends.

Quote from: Fleeting Frames on December 28, 2016, 10:47:05 am

Just have to remember that aquifer floor will leak, but looks like you drew nothing in granite.

Not yet, and I won't until I find (or import) some kimberlite for more color-coding.

Quote from: Fleeting Frames on December 28, 2016, 10:47:05 am

And...Where are the magma holes for furnaces and forges, though?

This level isn't going to be magma-focused. Ever. The magma works will go in beneath the living levels, which themselves will be below the first cavern level.

Quote from: Fleeting Frames on December 28, 2016, 10:47:05 am

- Did the kobold-slaying elf at least have any useful combat skills? All the visitors I see are all 3 weapon and 1 in other military skills, no matter the profession.

I only discovered this in Legends because I was trying to figure out where the kobolds had gone. The elf herself hasn't actually shown up as a visitor, so I don't know what kind of skills she may be generated with.

- Dame de la Licorne

TheImmortalRyukan · « **Reply #294 on:** December 28, 2016, 05:08:45 pm »

I put forward the motion to name a location after Tayldis (i.e. The Tayldis Dining Room, The Tayldis Stockpile...)

I really enjoyed that cute little bugger, even though he played a very small, minuscule role in the story

Dame de la Licorne · « **Reply #295 on:** December 28, 2016, 05:40:39 pm »

Quote from: TheImmortalRyukan on December 28, 2016, 05:08:45 pm

I put forward the motion to name a location after Tayldis (i.e. The Tayldis Dining Room, The Tayldis Stockpile...)

I really enjoyed that cute little bugger, even though he played a very small, minuscule role in the story

I got rather attached to him myself (and had plans for his eventual capture), and am open to ideas. I'm currently leaning toward naming either the current living tower as the Tayldis Tower, since he seemed to appear near that corner fairly often, or the entrance gate/bridge the Tayldis Gate (or Tayldis Bridge), since that would have been his goal. However, if there are other suggestions...?

- Dame de la Licorne

TheImmortalRyukan · « **Reply #296 on:** December 28, 2016, 06:01:17 pm »

Tayldis Trump...
lol, no. But Tayldis Tower does have a nice ring to it, I approve.

Fleeting Frames · « **Reply #297 on:** December 29, 2016, 02:39:51 am »

Mm. K, I'm more in the "citizens milita" for permanent clothes and bonuses to jobs. Even if having hauler gib FB is amusing

You can find out the elf's skills by exporting detailed xml(maybe needs export-legends? That's what I used at the time) and searching for their name in the resulting .xml, though them having ~~3 weapon/1 shield/dodge/discipline/armor is a sure bet~~ certain weapon skills depends highly on generated worlds (genned a different, angrier world and found great merc visitor with masterful quiver and diamond decorations). Probably a decent chance they're great poet or something useless like that, but sometimes you can be surprised.

As for Tayldis memorablia...Hm. Not sure which. Against the tower is Tayldis never getting inside and not caring about it, and against the gate is Tayldis also never reaching it. Bridge maybe be better, since that was more significant than whatever landmark Tayldis walked by, I think.

Dame de la Licorne · « **Reply #298 on:** December 29, 2016, 11:29:42 am »

Excerpts from the journal of Lotu Sizzlediron, expedition leader.

01 Hematite 84

With the steel stocks starting to increase, I’ve decided to assigned Aban to armoring, since we don’t need a third carpenter.

02 Hematite 84

Dr. Urist is going to build traps along the path the capuchins took last year. While there aren’t very many yet, it’s a start.

We’re focusing on stone-fall traps at the moment, since I’m digging out more boulders every day. Mixed in with those are some cage traps. Maybe we can catch some wildlife for slaughtering.

06 Hematite 84

While scrounging around and stacking various trade crafts into bins, I came across several human-made crafts from last year’s failed quota. I immediately sent them down to Catten for melting. That should bring us the rest of the way back under the cap!

13 Hematite 84

Maybe we can get them to take some of the imported things we can’t use, like clothes, away? Just in case, I ordered all of our worn clothing moved, since some of the tattered pieces were imported. I didn’t feel like hunting through our bins looking for more imported stuff, so I sent over all of our finished goods, weapon, and armor bins. I’m pretty sure that there’s some grown elvish stuff mixed in there somewhere.

I almost forgot about the various cages the elves use to deliver leather, but most of them were already in the depot, so no harm done.

16 Hematite 84

As the wagons came in, two of our human guests passed by on their way out. They chatted with some of the arriving merchants for a few minutes, probably telling them about our messy, shallow, unwelcoming home.

Well, good riddance.

But that wren man is still around, flying high above the village. No one seems to have talked to him much, I wonder why he’s still hanging around?

______________________________________________________________________________

19 Hematite 84

Lotu balanced his awkward burden carefully as he moved down the ramp into the common area. Imic was in his accustomed spot, supervising his squad’s training.

“Imic!” Lotu called. “Come over ‘ere a minute.”

Deciding that the axedwarves could be left for a short time, Imic strode over, automatically accepting the bundles of oiled leather Lotu dumped into his arms.

“Wha’s this?”

“Happy name-day!”

“It’s not my name-day.”

Lotu paused for moment. “Oh. Uh, well. Anyway, it’s yours. Open them!”

Keeping one eye on Lotu, who sounded rather worrisomely eager, Imic dropped the bundles on the ground and unwrapped the leather from the top one.

Torch light reflected off brilliant, polished steel as a helm was revealed.

“It’s Finderboards’ first, made-on-site, full suit of armor! Aban just finished it this morning, and I immediately brought it to you! What do you think?”

“Ah—“ Imic paused and swallowed, stroking the tip of a single finger along the crest of the helm. “Wha’ abou’ m’men?”

“Aban’s working on theirs now. And when she finishes with that, she’ll make some stuff for the Pillars of Ink. But this one’s yours. You’ve defended us so long, you deserve to get the first.”

Imic swallowed again, and surreptitiously brushed the corner of an eye. He opened his mouth once, then again. Finally he just settled for a nod, as he carefully placed the helm over his head.

Swiftly unwrapping the other bundles, he strapped on the mail shirt, breastplate, greaves, gauntlets and boots. Moving experimentally, he tested the fit and feel.

Lotu left him to it, satisfied that his surprise had gone over as well as he had hoped.
______________________________________________________________________________

Excerpts from the journal of Lotu Sizzlediron, expedition leader.

24 Hematite 84

Wait, we have what? I thought I’d ordered them all butchered.

After a swift discussion with Erib, it turns out that she’s been so busy with dogs, turkeys and tanning, she forgot about the hippos. And it’s going to be years before those calves grow up.

28 Hematite 84

Another human scholar arrived, and promptly closeted herself with Dr. Urist. That dwarf seems to be very popular among the scholarly crowd. Unless it’s simply that Dr. Urist is our only scholar. Yeah, that must be it.

04 Malachite 84

I finally got around to trading with the humans. While they didn’t bring any leather, they did bring a number of backpacks. I bought them all. I also picked up some more toys to send to Bomrek, so that we can keep the best of ours for our own children. And they had brought a pair of llamas and an alpaca, so I took possession of those too, to add to our wool herd. Sarvesh has been finding the time heavy on his hands, with most of his time spent hauling given the lack of shearing and spinning that needs doing.

In exchange, I managed to get rid of 5437☼, though I kept the toys I imported last year to also send to Bomrek.

Before Trade: After Trade:

Yes! Even with the visitors, we are comfortably back below the import cap!
______________________________________________________________________________

07 Malachite 84

A human bard came racing up to the drawbridge. “Help! Let me through! She’s coming!”

The axedwarves looked at each other in consternation, then shrugged and waved him by.

“Thank you!” The human was almost sobbing with relief as he dashed down toward the depot.

“Wha’ was tha’ abou’?” Sky asked the others.

They all shrugged. “Crazy ‘uman.” Udil said what they were all thinking.

“Or mebbe not.” Imic pointed to the east.

Imic called up to Ustuth, standing on the ramparts. “Spread the word. Get the civilians down into the safe rooms. We’ll take care of this!”

Ustuth saluted, rather more crisply than was her wont, and vanished.

The Pale Roads watched the giantess approach. The creature was as much taller than a human, as a human was taller than a dwarf. Which made it easily four times taller than the tallest dwarf. And it…

“Good gods! She’s bare-assed naked!” Sky burst out in shock.

“Don’t mean she’s not dangerous.” Imic shot back. “Aim for the feet ‘n’ ankles, or knees if’n you can reach ‘em. Get ‘er on th’ groun’, an’ we can finish ‘er off.”

Thank you, Lotu, for finally seeing just how crucial good armor really is. He grimaced as he glanced around the other axedwarves. I just wish Aban’d had time to finish the other suits of armor.

At the moment, the rest of the axedwarves were equipped with an odd assortment of leather and steel pieces, which would provide rather questionable protection.

The giantess approached, each step deliberately placed, causing the grand to vibrate. The dwarves gripped their shields in one hand, their battle axes in the other, and waited.

“Steady. Steady.” Imic murmured, but loudly enough for the others to hear. “Wait... Just a little closer now.”

The closer the giantess got, the more intimidating she looked. How could four comparatively tiny dwarves take on something that size? But they heard their captain’s trusted voice, and they obeyed. They stood, at the ready, waiting for the order they knew was coming.

“Alright, boys. Remember t’dodge, fer Thikut’s sake, and CHAAAARRRGEEE!!!!”

The four axedwarves shot forward, slashing with axes as they went. So much smaller than their enemy, they could only reach her lower body, but they did so with a vengeance. The giantess reached down, trying to grab the pests wielding sharp little blades. But the months they had spent training dodging paid off, and she missed, again, and again.

Realizing that the much smaller dwarves were too nimble for her to grab, the giantess was frightened.

Wanting only to get away from the fierce defenders, she started to run. But, already tired from fending them off, the axedwarves were able to keep up with her. Darting in to inflict another slash whenever they thought they saw an opening, they kept harrying her as she fought her way through the jungle.

Fearing for her life, the giantess called out, to anyone who would listen.

But there was no one to answer, just herself and the four axedwarves defending their families and friends. After almost a day, the giantess, exhausted from the constant battle, finally fainted dead away, crashing through the shrubs and saplings to lie supine on the jungle floor.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, the dwarves started slashing and hacking away at her upper body, but caused little more than bruises and superficial bleeding.

Finally, in a fury of impotence, Imic dropped his shield, pulled back his fist, and let fly. The punch landed squarely on the giantess’s head, and with such force that her head exploded in a shower of blood, drenching all four axedwarves.

Shaking the blood off his hand, Imic studied the corpse. “Tha’s done it. Good work boys. Let’s go home. Drinks’re on Lotu.”

As they started walking back, Imic clapped young Rigoth on the shoulder. “Now ye can call yersel’ an axedwarf.”

09 Malachite 84

As the Pale Roads stepped proudly across the bridge, they could see the Pillars of Ink lounging on the ramparts.

“Wha’? Did ye spend th’ entire battle bein’ lazy!” Imic was affronted. “We could’ve used some bolts to finish ‘er off sooner!”

Mooney called back. “We knew yer squad could handle it, ‘n’ if’n ye didn’t, someone needed to stop the giantess from breaking down walls after the civilians raised the drawbridge!”

Imic glared.

“Besides, if we‘d ‘elped, ye wouldn’ ‘ve gotten th’ kill.”

Still fuming, but with no rejoinder, Imic stomped away to get that drink.
______________________________________________________________________________

Excerpts from the journal of Lotu Sizzlediron, expedition leader.

15 Malachite 84

The bard has spent his visit so far composing a ballad to tell the story of the Pale Roads’ brave defense against the giantess Femeli Naficera Leyaleme.

He regaled us with it this evening. It was quite good.

And while the bard was performing, Lorbam somehow managed to drag the corpse to our defeated titan stockpile. Talk about appropriate timing.

18 Malachite 84

With the jungle clear for as far as we can see, the merchants have gone on their way, thanking us profusely for making the world a safer place.

25 Malachite 84

Airith, Dr. Urist and I have spent the last week deliberating about automatic hauling systems. We can fit four sets of mine cart rails into the Shaft, with a trans-shipping junction above the first dedicated stockpile level.

As our home gets bigger, that junction will be critical for proper sorting of materials to the right stockpiles. But for now, it’s more important to find a way to shorten hauling times with so few hands. At the very least, we can send charcoal down to Catten quickly once the first rail system is complete.

However, to get the minecarts up again, we’ll need power. And if we re-purpose the pump tower, I have some ideas for other uses we can put the resulting permanent power train to…

24 Galena 84

27 Galena 84

Aban had quite the shopping list.

Well, I’m glad she’s found one use for mangled bones that Rith has thrown out as useless. This should be interesting.

28 Galena 84

More yelling.

Yes, we’re going to fail. No, the traps haven’t caught anything. Maybe they’re in the wrong place?

No, I won’t sacrifice animals that are starting to reproduce nicely. Not to satisfy that narcissistic Bomrek.

But, I will include 220 pieces of cloth instead of the leather. It can’t possibly make things worse, and might make Bomrek not angry enough to complain. At least we’ll get points for trying, right?
.
.
.
Right?
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No, I didn’t think so, either.

OOC: The kids continue to cooperate, and the dwarves continue to work madly.
Current character list:

Spoiler: Training in Moonstone: (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Training in Opal: (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Training in Obsidian: (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: The Pale Roads (Axedwarves) (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: The Pillars of Ink (Marksdwarves) (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Scholars (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Joined by Petition (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Children: (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: NPCs: (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Current List of Deities (click to show/hide)

Fleeting Frames · « **Reply #299 on:** December 29, 2016, 04:16:59 pm »

⁓̛ Huh. Would have expected you to make it partial walls. Not that building traps is all that more expensive, granted....

⁓̛ Ah, stuck visitor idiots. Usually it's the pool. Going to build him a platform?

Though maybe not, if the bird doesn't wear much :p

⁓̛ Huh. You'd prefer to make complete suits of armor instead of partials.

And you very well captured the flat-flooted feeling from an unexpected and perhaps large present. Personal experience from few days ago?

⁓̛ Huh. You're using Dr. Urist as a device for the dwarven conspiracy. Mm. Sounds fun.

⁓̛ Hm...Pop hit 50, with all those petitioners I guess.

Still years before they start working, but it's relatively meteoric.

DF sizes are bit crazy though. Bogeymen taking down dwarves, dwarves taking down elephants - who are still smaller than giants.

I think I prefer this to having any giant animal pack member who shows up waltz through armies, though.

On a side note, having recently read the wiki on how damage is calculated I can scarcely believe how effective axes are - every calculation seems to inversely value contact area. Thankfully, once it lands on flesh, bye-bye flesh.

Finally, as for tales, I wonder - does Imic have any abstract thinking needs? They might write a book about the slaying of giantess, if given a pen and paper. Maybe. In a few months.

⁓̛ Huh, ddn't expect y...Wait, we already had this conversation, didn't we?

Unusual minecart double helixes, however. Haven't seen anything like that before - seems like you can fit at most 3 workshops into each corner, though (and only if you floor the downstairs and tear them up afterwards).

Ah - and again, I didn't expect it to be automatic and powered. Well, the sealing of cat access on the sides will reduce it to perhaps half that. And with the workshop spaces down below...

I am certainly curious what you'll be fitting into this 17x17 pierce.

⁓̛ Well, ultimately you never utilized caverns. Not that it'd have been enough, not without help from cavern 5 and slaughering all the livestock.

But oh.

It is not like Bomrek will not hear about the livestock, either from traders or from the new manager. Easy to take this situation as snubbing them.

And with the warning given to Lotu....Well, it is not catastrophic failure, unless somebody wanted to set up citizens militia.

In which case oh, the leather won't do at all. Four pieces for each soul - high boots, leggings, leather armor and waterskin. But now....

News:

Poll

Ignore this, since I can't seem to re-open it.

Author Topic: The Story of Atölasob (A Community Fort with an Export Challenge) (Read 62914 times)

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