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Author Topic: {succession/community} Kulettögum, Salt Mines Beneath the Mire  (Read 87658 times)

Jools

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Re: {succession} Kulettögum, Salt Mines Beneath the Mire
« Reply #45 on: May 18, 2008, 04:45:00 am »

2nd Limestone:

We appear to have a couple of harpies in the area. Quite why they're here, or what the miner they interrupted was doing so far from the fortress I don't know, but I've politely asked Kazindir to go and chase them away. We could do with not losing yet another dwarf to the creatures of this place.

I asked Kivish to go as well. No harm in overkill.

The harpies are running away, probably from Kazindir and his vast pack of hounds. With justification, it turns out. Kazindir ripped them apart bare handed. I must make sure he gets an axe soon.

Whilst rushing about in the defence of the fortress, our Mayor got ambushed by a saltwater crocodile. The beast is unconscious and injured in several places; sadly so is our Mayor. Hopefully she'll recover, but with both legs injured and her lower body bleeding, she looks like she'll be immobile for a while.

Something tells me she'll use her spare time to mandate things.

8th Limestone:

As we clear up from the crocodile attack, an alligator threatens one of our number. Kazindir dashes off again, heedless of the nearby elephant.

13th Limestone:

The alligator has approached our main gate and started picking on the dogs. Kivish is nearby, and Kazindir is coming back to kill it off. I'd be tempted to raise the drawbridge and let the marksdwarves deal with it, but a caravan has arrived. Hopefully this bunch will trade with us on reasonable terms - if they manage to make it past the herd of elephants they appeared next to.

Maybe they'd like a fresh alligator corpse.

15th Limestone:

We spotted a kobold thief, far out from the fortress. Kazindir, covered in blood and vomit and seeming to enjoy proper fights a lot more than training, has dashed off to deal with it.

The kobold escaped, sadly. Kazindir seems rather put out by this. I told him not to worry, there are always more skulking around.

19th Limestone:

We're getting close to housing everyone now. There are only a couple of bedless dwarves, and most of them are Guards that sleep in the barracks anyway. However, our focus on housing has led to a barrel shortage, meaning our drink supplies have dwindled. I've ordered a rush job on barrels, and quietly stashed away a small supply of my own booze.

21st Limestone:

One of our Miners is possessed, and has claimed a Mason's workshop. I'm hoping for another rock salt item... she's begun work immediately, and rock salt is the only material in there, so I think we'll have another glorious artifact made from salt. The salt must flow!

24th Limestone:

A boy has been born. With this addition to our fortress, and no recent losses to wild animals, I feel we are finally asserting our natural dominance over the wilds.

Our possessed miner has finished. She's created a rock salt hatch cover, encrusted with rock salt. Very nice and appropriate. It might even get used in our giant tower...

1st Sandstone:

An alligator has attacked a wandering Jeweller. And got a bit of a kicking in return. Kazindir's off to finish the job. Meanwhile I'm grabbing some kip; I can't be bothered to trade with the dwarves.

We lost that Jeweller to the alligator, and another woodcutter got heavily wounded, but the alligator is dead now. Kazindir seems to like his new axe.

6th Sandstone:

I make it to the trade depot. I'm thinking we need seeds and booze, and have a ton of rock clutter to sell. I pick out seeds, booze, meat and a few other items - we can always use axes, for instance. I cast an admiring eye over some giant trap components, but they're not worth the price - besides, we can always make our own.

25th Sandstone:

A kitten spotted a kobold thief and chased it away. Meanwhile, the frantic work to store all the food and booze we bought is taking up most people's time.

Our rather odd administrator is still closeted away in his room, muttering about the slow progress on building the tower. Most of the building up is done; but it hasn't gone very far out yet. I consider it slightly more important that everone else now has a room, including all the Guards. Oh, except for the Baby that was born, but he hasn't even had his first drink yet, so I'll sort that out later.

4th Timber:

Migrants! Our third wave this year. Maybe this bunch heard that we all had bedrooms now. An Armourer, a Hammerdwarf, a Peasant, a Miner (called Giftquake? Maybe I should give him a safer profession), a Wood Crafter, a Mechanic, a Weaver, a horse foal and a mule have arrived. We're up to 63 souls, all counted. Time to start on the bedrooms again... and some more fields, and stills, maybe another kitchen...

We've also finalised some trade agreements. Shields and bucklers look like our best bet for trade goods with the humans and dwarves; Armok alone knows what the Elves want.

12th Timber:

Our rock salt tower now reaches as high as we can build it. The odd administrator sent from the Mountainhomes who ordered its construction seems a little more relaxed now. All we have to do, apparently, is build it out at all levels, and fill it with salt, so that Armok may season things properly.

19th Timber:

A harpy approaches from the west, scaring a Wood Burner and eviscerating a war. dog. Kazindir's off to carve it to pieces. It appears to be approaching our fortress; hopefully sheer numbers will deter it from trying to force its way in.

One hit and the harpy is toast. Lungs, liver, kidneys, spine, Kazindir's somehow managed to get most vital organs with one swipe. It's all over bar the dismembering... until a second harpy appears, near our Weaver.

As Kazindir charges heedlessly into battle, a saltwater crocodile scares a kobold out from his hiding place and promptly mangles it. Looks like the wildlife is finally picking on more than just dwarves.

1st Moonstone:

Winter arrives. We're reasonably stable on the food and booze front, still cranking out barrels and beds while the tower takes shape. Our Mayor is still bedridden and unconscious, and Kazindir is running around waving his axe, so that's leaving me to try and keep the fortress from falling apart whilst this mysterious dwarf sent to be some sort of Administrator demands more and more work be diverted to building a giant, useless monument.

Why didn't I take that Trader post I was offered in Boatmurdered? All right, so I'd have had to live with swarms of elephants, goblins and the stench of death everywhere, but at least I wouldn't have to play politics.

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Jools

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Re: {succession} Kulettögum, Salt Mines Beneath the Mire
« Reply #46 on: May 18, 2008, 08:50:00 am »

13th Moonstone:

A fisherdwarf has drowned. He got attacked by a milkfish and fell in to the river. I'm not planning on sending Kazindir out for vengeance on this one, but I think a set of steps to escape from the river might be a good idea.

15th Moonstone:

We all have beds again, plus a few spares. This probably means more migrants soon. I've ordered yet more barrels for food and booze, as we still have stuff left out in the open, plus the construction of another kitchen to cook more of the food into something a bit more palatable than steak tartare.

We're not short of food. Or beds. So obviously our mysterious administrator is going nuts about tower construction. More and more dwarves have ben diverted to the masonry tasks required; we may not finish it before his time here ends, but that's not something I particularly mind. As long as a Hammerer doesn't arrive before then and enforce Dwarven justice in the normal way...

17th Moonstone:

A woodcutter, injured at some distant point on the map and just left there by his comrades, has starved to death. No doubt this will lead to a predictable and immediate lemming rush to go and grab his stuff.

I've put Kazindir on standby just in case whatever wounded him is still nearby.

20th Moonstone:

Ambush! Seven goblin macemen have appeared, sniffed out by one of our puppies.

Kazindir puts all thoughts of waiting for backup aside, and recklessly ploughs into them, supported by only his faithful pack of hounds. The rest of his squad are sleeping, resting, or simply too far away to support him. Dogs and goblins go flying in pieces as he charges at the ambushers, waving his axe around like a maddwarf.

Speaking of maddwarves, our strange administrator is up in the marksman's tower, looking the other way from the ambush and muttering something about the tower.

After mincing the goblin ambush single-handedly, Kazindir has declared that he needs a drink. Nobody objects, at least partially because they're all charging out to grab bits of goblin armour that won't fit them, and maces that they don't know how to use properly. Idiots.

1st Opal:

We're out of empty barrels again, and charcoal. I try to ensure that the needs for these items are fulfilled, after enduring an ear-bashing from the Administrator about the importance of building the tower. Oh, and putting a trap in the entrance - axe blade, serrated disc and spiked ball, so it can deal with any goblin that tries to defile the Salt Cellar of Armok. I go slightly beyond the call of duty and load it with some large copper knives from kobolds, and some of the weapons the goblins dropped - anything that tries to enter the tower uninvited is going to get absolutely minced... as long as we keep cleaning out the trap.

11th Opal:

Our food stockpile has filled up again. I'm going to have to ask the miners to dig us some more space.

Meanwhile, I'm worried about our Mayor - she seems in rather bad shape...

I also designate a couple of full grown elephants for slaughter... and I notice we've got a mating pair of tame warthogs in cages. I'll let them out and let nature take its course - it ought to give us some variety in our diet at least. While casting around for a suitable room to put them in, I happen to notice Keldor's throne room. Plenty of room for them in there, that ought to do for them... ;-D

12th Opal:

The Mayor, Moldath Uzolborik, has finally died of thirst after being bedridden for ages following a wrestling match with the local wildlife. We have yet to elect a replacement - I'm hoping it's Keldor, as then there'll be a set of Decent rooms free, and a hardworking Trader who just happens to merit them.

We'd all be in mourning if we had the chance, but the Administrator is demanding ever more resources diverted to building the tower. While he's not looking I order some more coffins build so that our late Mayor can at least have a last resting place.

24th Opal:

GAAAAAAAARBHIDFOHGDFOHIRGMTSRELOS! ALL HAIL RAKUST!

Diary of Unib Rakustzim, Animal caretaker:

24th Opal:

My friend Dodok the Trader, probably the most stable and uncomplaining dwarf in this place, has become possessed. He's giving the Administrator a damn good run for his money in terms of batshit-craziness. What are we going to build for him, a giant pepper pot?

Anyway, he's grabbed a Carpenter's Workshop, disrupting our barrel supply, and is dashing about like Kazindir when he's got a new axe. He's begun some mysterious construction using pine and cedar, harpy bones, and a couple of jewels. He was particularly frantic about the last bit, screaming "Jewels! JEWELS!" and running in circles in the stockpile, and some of the lads have taken to calling him that.

Diary of Dodok "Jools" Dodokkir, Abbeyverse, 1053:

27th Opal:

I... was possessed by some unknown forces. Apparently ran around babbling like an Administrator. I can't remember a thing about the last few days, but I seem to have made a nice Pine Armour Stand. Its got lots of little pictures of shining suns and stars on it, and a record of the creation of that rock salt earring.

Very nice. Something tells me that despite my construction of it, it won't turn up in my room.

2nd Obsidian:

Goblin snatcher! A kitten spotted it and started yowling, drawing attention to it. Kazindir and Kivish are unsurprisingly sound asleep, but I've called for any other guards who are awake to muster at the main gate.

The snatcher is fleeing. He'll be back, I suppose.

9th Obsidian:

One of our injured wrestlers has gone into a berserk rage due to being wounded for so long. He's one of Kazindir's men; I've sent him to sort the mess out. The guard nearest the berserker has fled like a coward, and a war dog is getting beaten to a pulp instead.

Kazindir has sorted it out; the wrestler now faces even longer in bed, healing. And in Jail, if I have anything to say about it...

...which I don't now that he's dead. I've tried to explain to Kazindir that there are alternative solutions to problems that don't involve hitting things with axes until they don't have any blood left to spill, but he doesn't appear to care.

14th Obsidian:

It appears the toll of building the rock salt tower has finally snapped our already unhinged Administrator. As it became clear that we would never complete it before his year in control ended, he became increasingly unstable - running round and screaming at everyone. And then just yesterday he came out of his room in a perfectly calm mood, approached me and greeted me by name, then glanced at the angle of the sun and exclaimed "Oh heavens! Is that the time? You'll have to excuse me, I'm late for my piano lesson".

He then tore off all his clothes, and sprinted off on a meandering path through the wilderness, gibbering like a baboon. I climbed to the top of the great folly of a tower and watched him until he went over the horizon; none of the local wildlife seemed to want to even try catching him, as if they knew there was something off about him.

Oh well. It'll be a couple of weeks before any new administrator turns up. In the lack of anything better to do, I shall continue construction of the tower until our new ruler arrives and changes everthing. While an incomplete folly is a perfectly fitting monument for an insane dwarf, I feel that if we built up a few more levels properly we ought to be able to use it for something at least vaguely useful.

I wonder what happened to the dwarf who was really meant to have been our administrator for this past year. Nobody that crazy normally gets sent out to rule a fortress. He probably got eaten by carp or something.

15th Obsidian:

Our drink supplies are dwindling a bit. I shall order more barrels, and another still - actually no, I shall let our new administrator do that. I'm going to spend the next couple of weeks having a well-earned rest.

1st Granite:

Spring has arrived, and with it, a new broom to sweep away the mess of the old administration...

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Jools

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Re: {succession} Kulettögum, Salt Mines Beneath the Mire
« Reply #47 on: May 18, 2008, 09:15:00 am »

A few quick note:

1. AN EDITOR! AN EDITOR! MY KINGDOM FOR AN EDITOR!

2. Apologies to Keldor & Kazindir for taking slight (!) liberties with their characters.

3. As obvious, not everything I tried to do got done or worked. We have an excellent B&B here, and the skyscraping tower does go all the way up (well the very top down staircase bit is designated rather than fully constructed, but you know what I mean) but otherwise its pretty incomplete. More barrels, booze, and fields are probably a good ideato keep the fortress running. And while it's utterly up to individual players, I think that leaving the tower incomplete is reasonably fitting - though the lower levels could usefully be built up a bit more and turned into something.

Map & save coming.

THE SALT MUST FLOW!

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Jools

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Re: {succession} Kulettögum, Salt Mines Beneath the Mire
« Reply #48 on: May 18, 2008, 12:26:00 pm »

Map: here

Save: here

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Keldor

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Re: {succession} Kulettögum, Salt Mines Beneath the Mire
« Reply #49 on: May 19, 2008, 01:25:00 am »

dresdor, congratulations, you have won an all expenses paid trip to Abbeyverse!  Your belongings have been transported to the wagon for you, and we've taken care of renting out your room for the duration of your absence.  All you have to do is head down to the trade depot at noon today, and depart on your way!
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If ignorance is bliss, why are my dwarves all tantruming?

Kazindir

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Re: {succession} Kulettögum, Salt Mines Beneath the Mire
« Reply #50 on: May 19, 2008, 04:28:00 am »

:)

Abbeyverse definitely needs to find some metal, although I suppose if the goblins keep coming like that our brave dwarves could just concentrate in the saltmines and melt down goblin iron armour and weapons and make proper dwarf stuff out of it that way!

The humans bringing wood is probably my fault, it's my default "uh, I dunno, bring something useful" response to trade envoys, always useful for charcoal and beds. Or beds made out of charcoal, as the odd insane dwarf decrees.

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dresdor

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Re: {succession} Kulettögum, Salt Mines Beneath the Mire
« Reply #51 on: May 19, 2008, 10:20:00 am »

It lasted a whole 2 months under my care...and was utterly destroyed by goblins.  So I'm going to save-scum, and retry it later.  It was bad...like half the pets killed by goblin bows, then the captain of the guard going berserk, killing the goblins and throwing himself into the river...surviving for about a month killing fish.

Jools

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Re: {succession} Kulettögum, Salt Mines Beneath the Mire
« Reply #52 on: May 19, 2008, 12:18:00 pm »

If you've got a couple of months before the goblins come, you could always alter the Tower to be a collapsing one, lure them into it and pancake the whole damn thing on top of any of them who survive the weapon trap in the entrance... ;-D

Kazindir - we do have some metal - limonite, to make iron, but its the only vein I found, and digging it out means the miners working in some poor sap's bedroom...

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dresdor

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Re: {succession} Kulettögum, Salt Mines Beneath the Mire
« Reply #53 on: May 19, 2008, 02:28:00 pm »

There's some other metals I found before all hell broke loose...I also spent some time trying to completely divert the river.  It failed miserably, and flooded the whole fortress

Jools

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Re: {succession} Kulettögum, Salt Mines Beneath the Mire
« Reply #54 on: May 19, 2008, 02:33:00 pm »

I have no idea if that's possible within the mechanics of the game, but simply trying it in the first place is a noble effort worthy of praise.
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dresdor

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Re: {succession} Kulettögum, Salt Mines Beneath the Mire
« Reply #55 on: May 19, 2008, 05:08:00 pm »

My thoughts were that:

1. We need water

and

2. What's in the water kills/maims most of our dwarves.


So diverting the river seemed to be the only logical solution.  easiest/best way to do it would be to dig a shorter channel between the begining of the river to the end of the river than the path it naturally takes.  Problem is what happens if it decides to flow backwards when it's released, and there are no guarantees that it will actualy work.  Worth doing more experiments on tomorrow.

Kazindir

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Re: {succession} Kulettögum, Salt Mines Beneath the Mire
« Reply #56 on: May 19, 2008, 06:39:00 pm »

What do we need water for? We have a well! Unless someone broke it of course.  :)
Also, there is a grate in the water channel from the river to the cistern, where it passes under the wall. I decided we didn't need carp in the well.  ;)
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dresdor

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Re: {succession} Kulettögum, Salt Mines Beneath the Mire
« Reply #57 on: May 20, 2008, 02:26:00 pm »

Well, the first half of the year was really exciting, and I'll post it tomorrow, and hopefully finish my turn tomorrow.  I just hit winter, and managed to complete a few massive engineering projects of my own (sorry, the salt tower didn't get much work done on it, it's a real pain to have to assign all those floors and walls again and again and again for 15 stories).

UPDATE:

WHile I won't be posting the full log until tomorrow, I am finished.  In the process of engineering a waterfall for our entrance, I nearly managed to flood the whole fort.  I seemed to forget that there was some spillage into an already full reservoir, which overflowed drastically.  The good news is the drainage system for the waterfall works fine...and I almost managed to get the whole thing fixed before my turn was up.

Update tomorrow, now sleep.

[ May 21, 2008: Message edited by: dresdor ]

dresdor

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Re: {succession} Kulettögum, Salt Mines Beneath the Mire
« Reply #58 on: May 21, 2008, 08:52:00 am »

From the log of Dresdor, quartermaster,

With the start of a new year, calls have come out for a new mayor, and Jools has been the only nominee.  As our leader, he will be unable to handle the bookkeeping, trading, and day-to-day tasks that keep our mine running, and so those tasks fall to me.  I’m not a clerk or a trader, but my wife has great faith in my abilities, and I figure this job is better than some others to be had at this place. (namely fishing, as the carp around here seem to think it’s their job to catch us).

Looking around at our fortifications, I notice a severe lack of any real defense.  Yes, we have a wall and one entrance, guarded by a ballista and murder holes for marksdwarves, but beyond that, we have no defense!  I’ve ordered the contruction of a firing platform on the rear portions of our walls.  From here, marksdwarves can target the river, where most of our non-goblin threats come from and the central courtyard, in case a siege breaks the gate.  I’ve also ordered the gate reinforced with warhammer traps, and as soon as we have some spare laborers, I’m expanding our military.


I’ve also noticed a severe lack of a quality statue garden.  Since my wife loved taking strolls through the statues in our old mountain home, I figure this should be a priority, and have the plans for it laid out.  It will be grand, depicting our great heroes (and of course, myself in the middle) and engraved with all our exploits.  

While I’m planning this, some goblins decide to stop by.  Of course, my weapon traps are now in place, and they are quickly beaten back by them and our markdwarves (who arrive as the goblins flee).  The good news is, two of the goblins are now caged, and awaiting whatever punishment we decide for them.  I have something grand in mind.

Dresdor, Quartermaster, has entered a fey mood.  Dresdor has begun a mysterious construction.

Today is the fifth anniversary of my marriage.  Traditionally, the fifth year’s anniversary gift is one of stone.  Which honestly, is the same as every other anniversary.  Given my wife’s love of murals (we had an impressive one at our old home) I’ve commissioned the first mural of Abbeyverse.  I figure it is a fitting symbol for this place.  

*For those that don’t get it, this is an artifact mural of a microline salt shaker.  It is made of bridges and menaces with spikes of genius.


One of our weaponsmiths went mad today and started drawing all sorts of diagrams and images on the walls before heading to the smithy and gathering some bismuth bars…I’m not sure how he forged anything without using any coal or coke, but sure enough, he made himself a war hammer.


*Note: We got a legendary weaponsmith out of it, which rocks

And if the metalsmith going mad wasn’t enough, some goblins decided to stop by.  Led by a bow-goblin on a beak dog, they came for our fortress, most likely to steal our new warhammer.  I got the drop on them, though, with our marksdwarves lining the wall, I waited until the last moment to lift the bridge and lock our gate shut.  One of our warhammer traps knocked the goblin leader and her beak dog into a small pond where they drowned.  It was a good day, about half the goblins were brutally maimed by bolts, a quarter by weapon traps, and a quarter fled like coward (one getting eaten by an alligator).

dresdor

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Re: {succession} Kulettögum, Salt Mines Beneath the Mire
« Reply #59 on: May 21, 2008, 08:53:00 am »

Dresdor has finished his contruction.  Dresdor has created Foekillah “Bloody Goblin Death” an artifact arena.  


* This is an artifact arena.  It is made of rock salt.  There is a design of a “D” in diorite, and it menaces with spikes of uberness.
NOTE: Top lever is for the cages, bottom lever closes the outer door (not shown)


Now one of our metalcrafters went mad.  She claimed the forge (I wonder if maybe the coal fumes are getting to them) and proceeded to make an expensive, but utterly useless, lead amulet.  


*Utter failure is right, this artifact is an utter failure to produce another legendary dwarf.  I was hoping for a legendary armorer.

The statue garden is finally complete, and I took a lovely stroll through it with my beloved.  She took the opportunity to tell me that we will have to expand our bedroom a little, as we have a child on our way.  I thought I couldn’t be happier, and then we got back to our room…


As I slept off the celebration of our impending children, two more squads of goblins showed up, all riding beak dogs.  Luckily, the human caravan was unloading their goods, and we had some support from their bowmen.  Our dwarves mounted the walls again, and prepared for a siege.  Only then did I receive word that both groups were led by marksgoblins.   A dread fear settled in my stomach (although it may have been because of the –quarry leaf biscuits- I think they were starting to turn) as the goblins came closer.  A bloody battle ensued, and we must pause our great plans to bury our dead and mend the wounded.  Because of the battle, Jools was removed as mayor, replaced by one of our war veterans, a marksdwarf.  I thanked the humans for their help, and gave them my condolences, as their liason was shot and killed by the goblins.  We gave them a great many gifts as thanks, and they went on their way.


I’ve decided that our front entrance is not nearly grand or dwarven enough.  We live in a swamp, with very few beautiful things to look at, and so I’ve decided to change that.  I’ve ordered some contruction done, but haven’t told anyone what it’s for specifically.  They can wait to see when it is finished.


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