The Dungeon Master returned. "I have brought you a sample of the coins you requested, sire."
"Let me see them." The King inspected one of the coins. The front depicted Kingler's ascension to leadership, and on the back was an image of a coin. "Very nice job on the front. The back... well let's just say that I've seen more interesting coins in my time."
"It's to remind the people that you requested these coins to be made, your majesty."
"I see," replied the king. He browsed through the coins, looking for any misprints, when something caught his eye. "Is... Is that a gold coin?"
"Umm..."
"And here's some silver and copper ones as well! Do you know what you've done?"
"I apologize sire. Once I get started smithing, I find it hard to stop."
"Apologies won't stop what you've started. Once the people find out we've created currency, they'll be clamoring to have some of it. Where are the rest of them?"
"I minted them in a forge above the magma pipe. I like to have my privacy."
"Good, good. There's a door there right? I want you to go there right now, make sure nobody's in there, then lock the door."
"As you wish sire." The Dungeon Master quickly left. Kingler slumped in his chair. Today wasn't going to go well, he thought.
"Having trouble?" a voice said.
"What? Who's there?" asked the king.
"I'm here," said the voice, "In your hand." The king looked in his hand. He was still holding one of the adamantine coins. The engraving of himself was staring at him.
"Oh, it's you," said the king.
"Yes, it's me." replied the ghost. "I see you have done well with the maze. I counted out the area myself. I come with news of your next project. You must invert the tallest tower. That is all."
The ghost vanished, leaving the king's face on the coin in its original position. The king sighed, then called in his top architects and miners to design a plan.
Several days laterThe plans were set. A circular pit was to be dug under the olivine tower, with a section in the center left undug. This section was to be of a square shape that would continue the footprint of the tower down into the pit, stopping just before the bottom.
After many weeks of digging, the hanging tower was completed. Two dwarves were lost to cave-ins, and they will be missed.
Kingler sat in his study. Predictably, the ghost appeared. "So, how is it?" asked the king.
"You've done well. Once again, you interpreted my cryptic suggestion in a way I did not expect, and managed to finish in time. If I knew you'd actually get things done, I'd have haunted the mayor instead."
"Thanks... wait, what do you mean 'haunted the mayor instead'?"
"His reactions might have been funnier. You were just nonchalant about the whole ordeal, getting things done quickly and efficiently. The mayor would have been a much more fun target."
"I was only doing my duty to serve the gods... wait, target?"
"Oh yeah, the whole god thing. Yeah, I made that all up."
"
WHAT!?"
"Oh look at the time, I have things to do," said the ghost, who then promptly vanished.
____________________
SaveMapEdit: forgot to mention a large siege at the beginning of winter. Also, I had [SPEED:0] on the dwarves, which I removed during sieges to make them more fair.
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Topic: The Eternal Halls - An Endless Succession Game (Read 207191 times)