"Alright, so here's the plan," Splint said to the assembled residents. "We're going to crack the caves back open to see if we can't find some silk. Souvenir shirts seem like a great way to boost our profitability - and shorten your sentences - but I have strict orders to not get any inmates killed if I can avoid."
"The last time we did that Delmont got mauled by a cave monkey," Mosus said, gesturing to her pantsless boyfriend.
"Yep, and his current status as fashionably challenged is also why we're going down there." Splint in turn gestured in the direction of the prison garden. "It'll take a ages for fiber crops to grow, so this is a faster way to remedy the matter."
"Does anyone know anything about engineering?" He asked the assemblage.
No hands were raised.
"Ooookay, does anyone know very vaguely how mechanisms and cage traps work?" A few hands raised at that. "Good enough, that'll have to do. Might as well install a zoo with scary critters while we're at it."
With that, yet more orders were doled out. By Galena, the first bedrooms were ready, complete with bars to hold the prisoners! Though sadly the west wing of rooms had to be greatly truncated due to the presence of water-laden clay making up more than half of it. A masonry had to be built on the level to supply blocks quickly to plug the results of construction.
While it was discusses to leave a few leaks to add a dank atmosphere to the place and improve the spook levels, it was eventually agreed that it might lead to poor reviews among visitors and staff in the future.
Limestone arrived as the work was nearing completion, when Brit ran in screaming about "CRIMINALS! CRIMINALS ARE HERE!"
"Wait, so a prison wagon showed up?" Splint asked as he looked up from the manual about how to handle room assignments in a prison.
"No," Brit said rolling his eyes. "I mean ones that aren't supposed to be here!"
"Well what'd they look like? I'm sure Delmont and Salmeuk can handle them if it's nothing serious."
"I'm sorry, they're what now?"
"You heard me, a damned swamp man, a ghost and a skeleton!"
"Well, they could just be some of the goons the company hires to harass guests-"
"I COULD SEE THROUGH THE GHOST, SPLINT. AND THE SKELETON."
Splint closed the manual at that. "Hrm. This might be a problem then."
"You fuckin' think??"
With that, Splint fetched Salmeuk and sent him out, with him running out flailing his axe around over his head and doing a bad cave bear impression apparently being enough to see the ruffians off.
While other plans had yet to be followed up on by the 9th of Limestone, a supply caravan had arrived minus new convicts. A perfect opportunity to sell off tons of commemorative coins and mugs! And in kind, Splint placed an order for extra fuel, pearlash, leather and seeds for next year, while the caravan master informed him that prepared rations would likely be in demand the following year at nearly double the price they'd normally sell for.
Dozens of mugs bought extra weaponry for the security team and clothes for Delmont, both of which were greatly appreciated by the interested parties. It was truly impressive what simply mass producing souvenir mugs had managed, while platinum coins were used mainly to buy sugar from the prison suppliers and various sundries from an argenta caravan that had decided to accompany them.
Several weeks passed since, with work continuing apace for the reopening of the cavern attraction that had drawn a number of monster slayers to the prison to work as freelance security, when on the 1st of Timber a prison wagon showed up and disgorged 8 dwarves, among them a mystery tactician and an armorer.
The arrival of two master craftsmen, convicted of work violations and sent here for an indeterminate sentence, seemed to push Brit over the edge mentally, as not long after talking to them he took over the mug station and started working on... Something.
A pedestal and a prepared location to store the soon-to-be-resultant valuable were subsequently ordered, with the item being finished just before a pedestal was ready to hold it.
Once it was secured, Splint looked over the maps and nodded in approval. Things were going well, with supplies now aplenty, Delmont in pants and the prison now being deemed worth depositing petty criminals in. However one report caught his eye.
"Thieves" had been spotted by Delmont and Mosus, who both swore up and down they were only at the river to get a drink.
And considering the last one they saw hadn't been a hired goon in a suit (in fact he had great difficulty talking to anyone due to the shape of his mouth,) he felt the need to press Solon and the new armorer about making sure the security team at least had weapons on hand.
He suspected they'd be needed, especially after a "slaughtuar" tried to break in, whereupon it was subsequently killed by the monster slayers making good on their employment contracts.
(The monster slayers jumped his ass and flattened him before I even got a description.)
Other creatures spotted included a so-called "Lagoon dweller" the monster slayers ran off without getting a detailed look at the thing (though the amount of obscentities suggested it was a company employee for once,) leaving at least one prisoner positively terrified!
There was also the sighting of an "Ophidian" in the main entrance, which the monster slayers again engaged without a moment's thought, likely assuming the creature had been there to spring the prisoners.
There was even an honest to gods vampire sighting! Specifically a man who claimed the prisoners would never catch "the great and terrible Susie." Those not startled by his appearance and subsequent retreat were left confused or mildly amused. There was also a rumor that one of Zultan's former coworkers was among the apparent horde of various riffraff and dudes in suits.
All these scares though did make one thing very clear: The prison security team needed to be trained and armored if there were going to be violent louts in the hills and whatever else along with the company goons. Especially after there was a horrible scream heard outside, with Bembul running in absolutely terrified screaming about a possessed corpse.
Splint dared to peek out, and spied one of the Argenta guards battleing the monster, the creature looking like a human but so very, very wrong.
After a long duel, the Argenta slew the monster, his morningstar leaving the abomination's head crushed into shredded, bony slop. However, Splint also spied two strange beings observing from across the river.
One of them attempted to approach the dead creature, but another Argenta security guard, Olarta, charged it pike first. She chased the intruder to the edge of the property, combing back with a pike and armor slicked with bright green blood following the creature's dying cry of "Ack! Ack ack! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHCK!" in the distance. This seemed to prompt a visiting Argenta lasher, Aglargus, to petition to join the prison security force, citing the clearly-abundant potential to prove their strength here.
Not long after, a Gray even arrived, looking to serve as a soldier in the security force, rather than a mere monster exterminator, who also informed Splint that one of the doctors was acting strangely.
Things went quietly from there for the remainder of winter, the inmate finishing his work on the 22nd with Splint watching the labors go by with bated breath, his year as overseer nearing completion.
It's done! Shit got a little... Worrying, and I'm not ashamed to admit I had to take steps to ensure we wouldn't be fucking slaughtered in the space of 30 seconds when some necromorphs showed up.
They might need to be tuned a bit so they don't attack so quickly, because even heavily armored Argenta would frequently get flattened by them when I tried to let things run as is. So y'know. if you see any necromorphs, pull everyone in and lock the doors, whoever has their ire is probably best left to die. Would have honestly also been really lame to get TPK'd by 4 necromorphs in year 2.
We have one merc ready to be filed into a second squad should the desire be there, and I've prepped a storage vault for artifacts so we don't have to deal with dickheads trying to steal them all. When one gets finished, toss it on a pedestal and put up some bars to keep the sticky-fingered louts out.
That said, I have most of the stuff done I wanted done.
- I built a well
- Got artifact storage built
- Prepared a corridor for the caverns
- Got the militia armed, I guess.
- Got most of the populace housed.
- Got a bridge hooked up to a lever in the pumpkin tavern's stem.
- Fort is now littered with depictions of pumpkins.
I would strongly advise the next overseer prioritize preparing the militia for battle, necromorphs do
NOT fuck around and will mop the floor with us as is. It was a struggle for a well-armed and armored Argenta (who are bigger than dorfs) to 1v1 a single one in plain clothes with a knife.
So list for next overseers.
- Get the milita armored and training. We literally can't ignore that now and the inmates can't be spooked if they're dead.
- Need more housing.
- Maybe make some extra preparations before reopening the caverns, because the monster slayers have been our only real defense so far and they're bound to get killed down there.
Here's the save, please read the text file marked "IMPORTANT" to avoid headaches with installation.
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Topic: Spookyfort IV: The Overlook - Overspookers welcome! (Read 17770 times)