So I'm sketching out my latest masterpiece to be engraved into the new bedrooms for the children. I'm trying to come up with a good subject (hee hee...flies...I still giggle every time I think about that one), and am trying different ways of showing the comedic hilarity of the migrants getting slaughtered by skeletal elk.
See, I know I've got a whole 'nother year before I have to put away my Art and do the dreary work of running the fortress.
Or, that is, I
knew. Because next thing I know, Gord's found my little hiding spot, and is looking at me all nonchalantly, which is hard to do when you've got one eye, and so I immediately know something's up.
"What's up, Gord?"
"Nothing. What'cha drawing? Nice weather, right? Hey, how about those migrants? How's Navi and the kids? BythewayI'vedecidedtoskipleadingthisyearsogohavefun. Oh, hey, look at the time, catch you later." And with that he near ran away.
Well, two could play this game. I put away my drawings and wandered off to find Don. "Hey, Don, what's up?" I began. He looked at me suspiciously, with that same look he gave me when he came around asking if I knew how eighteen some dehydrated dwarf bodies ended up in our old bedrooms. So I launched into, "Nice weather, right? Hey, how about those migrants? BythewayI'vedecidedtoskipleadingthisyea..." but got cutoff before I could finish.
"No," Don grumbled. "'m busy. Don't shirk."
Not being able to argue with Don when he was in one of his moods, I tried to find Gord so I could tell him not to shirk too. But wouldn't you know it, the bastard had disappeared. Oh well. Looks like my next masterpiece will have to wait.
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I'll admit that when I'm not in charge of the fortress, my mind can wander a bit, and perhaps I can miss small day-to-day matters. So it came to be that I was standing outside, looking around, and yelled out,
"WHERE THE ELF DID MY WATER PUMP TOWER GO?"
Because I was relatively sure it was there yesterday. At least a few weeks ago. Probably. Navi explained to me in that "calm yourself down" voice she has that after some baby drowned in it, it was collapsed.
I pointed out that babies should not play near water pump towers. Navi gave me The Look. I asked if the baby was hers. She gave me The Look again. I decided to let the matter drop.
And now what's this in the shrine? Gem windows? Those are pretty. And now...hey, what's this? A bedroom and farm and whatnot, just downriver of the dam. Heh. That's pretty funny.
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The year starts with the naming ceremony. Since I'm leading things this year, I get to pick who gets named, so I pick Navi and mine's kid, Inod Ekastbomrek ("Safewhips"). We decide to name her 'Roland', which sounds elfy to me, but I'm not going to bring that up to Navi.
Keyan and Talakin can't decide on a name for their new kid, Lolor Nicatbomrek (that's "Chainwhipped"), so there's no naming ceremony for her this year. I think Chainwhipped is a great name for a dwarf, personally.
First order of business: Armok-damn it, I *will* have a pump tower, and I *will* have a fountain, and I'll post up huge "You must be bipedal to be near this structure" signs if I have to. THESE THINGS WILL BE DONE. I kept a copy of Don's plans.
But first, ewwwww, those skeletal mountain goats are *looking* at me again.
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So, Keyan, Apple, and Navi are told to dig a moat around the northeastern quadrant of the area around our fortress. Myself, Don, Talakin, and Gord sally forth to destroy the skeletal invaders and protect the miners.
The plan works flawlessly, except...well, apparently some of the rugrats have started to walk. And apparently no one's explained to them that "vast waste of skeletal animals and goblins is not your personal playground," because they stream out into it, singing, "La la la, hello Mr. Skeletal Horse, what's your name?" while we try to run as fast as we can to smash the thing before it caves little Madison's head in.
No injuries are sustained, but I do consider locking the children into their bedrooms for the time being.
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14th Granite: Supervising the construction of pump tower Mk II, I notice a goblin sneaking towards our fortress to kidnap one of our children. Unfortunately, it attracted the attention of a herd of skeletal horses, and became gooey bits really quickly.
All of a sudden, goblins spring from ambush to attack the horses. And then a second group. And then a *third* group. The horses munch on them all for breakfast. I make quick sketches.
17th Granite: The elves arrive to trade. As our records show we don't have anywhere near the number of logs we need to reconstruct the pumps (what *happened* to all those?), I order them let in. Unfortunately, they don't have any logs. We trade them some musical instruments for their stock of barrels and alcohol. For some reason, I don't feel compelled to kill them, so let them go on their way.
29th Granite: Migrants arrive. I leave them out there. Skeletal muskoxen must have caught their scent, because they charge the migrants quicker than I think I've ever seen them move. It's not even a contest. Soon it's only dwarf chunks as far as the eye can se...wait, is that a child? Yes, a child of the migrants is still alive. Ran away, it seems. He's blubbering something about missing his parents. I walk over to the wall overlooking him. The conversation goes something like this:
Child: "Please, sir, let me in! My mum and dad have just been git! I'm hungry, and I'm scared, and....waaaaah!"
Magua: "Did I just see you run away from those skeletal muskoxen that killed your parents?"
Child: *whimpers* "Uh huh. Got slaughtered, they did. Please let me in! They'll come and kill me out here for sure!"
Magua: "We don't reward cowardice in the face of battle here."
Child: *sobs*
Magua: *tosses down an axe* "Go kill those who killed your parents, and then we'll talk."
Child: *wails*
And then I went back around my business. When I looked later, he hadn't so much as touched the sword, was just huddled into a little ball whimpering to himself in front of the door. Weak.
7th Galena: My darling Navi has given birth to another girl! Muthkat Shetbethsigun (Twinkletours). I guess our celebrations set something off with the child still hanging around outside, because he was pleading for some of the cake. As if.
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Time passed more or less uneventfully for the summer. The humans arrived to trade, but I was too engrossed in the construction to care about them, and they eventually left. The only other item of note was that no migrants arrived during the summer months (finally!). That annoying brat was still outside, occasionally pounding on the door and throwing curses against us, but with all of the sounds of building, it was easy to ignore. He's apparently living off the vermin who roam around outside.
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10th Limestone: The dwarves arrived to trade today. The moment they appeared on the horizon, that brat outside ran towards them, sobbing, bawling, tripping over himself, thanking them for rescuing him. He got about halfway there when the goblins struck.
I made some sketches.
After they dealt with the child, they attacked the caravan. Managed to kill someone, because the caravan turned around and left. Oh well. Nothing we needed from them anyways.
I make orders to dig a moat around the northwestern quadrant as well.
3rd Sandstone: Talakin gives birth to a daughter as well! Muthkat Fikodsumun (Glazedgriffons). With this, we are rather outnumbered by the babies and children around. I suppose it'll be great in 8-12 years, when most of them will be able to labor, but it's incredibly annoying when I'm trying to secure new land and the children want to run out into every likely ambush spot imaginable.
On the other hand, the pump tower is complete and operational. Time to begin work on the fountain. I post a big sign on the tower that says, "DO NOT DESTROY". After some consideration, I add a "PLEASE" onto the beginning, and a "THIS MEANS YOU" onto the end.
22nd Timber: I'd thought that we were more or less invincible at this point, but Don suffered wounds fighting some skeletal horses today. I told him that he shouldn't go out with armor, but...there's no arguing with Don. He complains about the pain in his neck. I know he's a pain in my neck. (Hee hee. I'm so funny.)
3rd Moonstone: Don is all better. That was quick.
14th Moonstone: Scanning the outer lands, I see a thief making off with <<-Steel Plate Mail->>. Lucky bastard. That'd be enough to retire on back home. Here it just sits out in the open. Crazy world we live in.
In addition, I watch some kobolds spring an ambush on a skeletal muskox. Hilarity ensues.
1st Granite: Wordlessly, I hunt Don down. We don't have to say anything. He knows. And then, finally, I get back to my art.
(OOC:
Northwest quadrant still needs some channeling to be complete. Walls would be nice, but I was too busy on the fountain.
The fountain, speaking of, is incomplete. There's also no drainage for it (yet), so for God's sake, don't turn it on. All relevant levers are located just south of the pump tower, but again, no drainage + incomplete == do not want.
The pump tower could be used for something else, but do keep in mind that's highly pressurized water in there.
Didn't make any new bedrooms, which in retrospect, I probably should've for the children. There's bunches of them now.
Mmmm. Food and booze production was turned off, since we have plenty (and I wanted the workers). Armor and shields were turned off so that people could be activated and attack immediately rather than wandering off for 20 minutes to pick up equipment. Navi was set to unarmed when I turned her mining labor back on.
Think that's it.
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http://www.walkingshadows.org/cmcguigan/founders/founders.zip
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Topic: The Founders. [Succession & Community] (Read 12796 times)