You spend the rest of the evening talking to some of Abystok's runesmiths.
3
They seem broadly happy that you replaced Sogeljar, who, it seems, made little use of their art out of some belief that the gods opposed it. (The runesmiths hasten to explain that this isn't found in any scripture they know of, but merely an idiosyncratic belief of the former Captain.) However, your questions, no matter how innocuously posed, completely fail to get them to divulge any more about their abilities than you and every dwarf already know: that through lengthy rituals, runic inscriptions, blood sacrifices, and ancient secrets you can't even imagine, they can create magical objects both simple and powerful, which they might give as gifts or, more likely, sell at considerable profit. One interesting fact you do glean about runesmiths is that, apparently, they never use dwarven thralls except for the rare few who are condemned to lifelong thralldom with no hope of redemption, preferring to employ only thralls purchased or taken by conquest from nonmagical races such as humans, because they are incapable of putting any secrets they might glean from the runesmiths' work to use. Runesmiths take their secrecy very seriously, it turns out.
As the festivities finally draw to a close, you begin to feel like the entire party was a complete waste of time for you personally, but you console yourself somewhat by reflecting on the levity of the — your, now — people and their hopes for your rule.
Midwinter, 214You are awoken the next morning by your cousin Nedru, who tells you that he and his associates have finished cataloguing Abystok's treasury. He leads you to the Captain of the Guard's office, where Gostell (having recently evicted Sogeljar to the temple district) and a number of other dwarves you don't recognise, presumably other advisors and officials, await. Nedru, who seems to have appointed himself de facto treasurer, speaks first:
"We wanted to talk to you about starting your rule off on the right foot, cou— er, your highness. Having gone over all the books and our actual stores, we've found that... ah, I doubt you want to hear the petty details, let's just say that, if I had to give it a number, I'd rate our treasury at a
five out of eight, now that we don't have to pay old Hehrcog's crippling taxes. I'd love to see that number get even higher, but we all know that's not likely to happen this year, since most of your income is going to have to be spent getting things into shape... There are easily many things we–"
Nedru gestures toward the group as a whole "–would suggest it be spent on, but we can only afford a few of them, and the more we attempt, the worse off we'll be if something goes wrong. But then, choosing is
your job, after all."
The other dwarves begin talking over one another in an attempt to offer their ideas. After a few minutes you glean the following options.
Select up to four, but, be warned: the more you pick, the more it's going to cost.A) Gostell wants to increase recruiting and salaries for the army, so that Abystok can hold its own as an independent fortress.
B) Nedru thinks you should start by renovating Abystok's centuries-disused royal chambers, to show Abystok's best face to the world (and give yourself some comforts).
C) Another dwarf suggests sponsoring a state funeral for Hehrcog; though nobody in Abystok liked him much, it would show your loyalty to tradition and offer an opportunity to host a few diplomats or dignitaries from nearby fortresses that were also under his rule.
D) Gostell and Nedru both think you should spend some money among the mundane smiths and arms merchants to kit out your soldiers better.
E) Someone suggests having a statue of yourself built in the dining hall, though nobody seems to be quite sure who said it.
F) One dwarf in a particularly ostentatious robe, the court astrologer or some such thing, wants you to commission a magical trinket from the runesmiths.
G) Nedru chimes in again offering to charter a trade caravan with the nearest human settlement, something Abystok hasn't been able to do in decades.
H) Another voice wants to restart Abystok's defunct mining program to seek more mineral wealth beneath the vast ocean.
I) Finally, after everyone else has quieted down, the representative from the priesthood suggests in a calculated way that you certainly must donate some of the wealth to the temples to thank the gods for allowing you to rule.
Poll
8 (88.9%)
Author
Topic: SpamDwarves: Low King Golian Duskbrow of Abystok! (Read 24925 times)