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[The_Fool76]

Take your Pick

Mandy waited impatiently while the traders unloaded their wagons. There were a few crates and bins that could have contained picks but every time she went to look inside one Em would shoo her away. She passed the time by telling the other dwarves to drag up all their roasts as well as a few of the bins of cloth goods and even the bone carvings that Jarvous had made.

“As I've told you... six times now, you can look at the full list of goods once we have finished unpacking. No offense but we have had a few smaller items go missing in the past when we let folks just rummage as they pleased. Besides looking would spoil the surprise.” said Em after catching Mandy trying to open a box once again.

“Sorry we just really need those picks.” said Mandy. “And if you don't have them after leading me on like this I have a pet grizzly bear that I'm going to feed you to.”

“Do you really think that would work? I am an elf after all.” replied Em.

“It would if I cut you into small enough chunks first.” stated Mandy.

Em laughed, “You are far too serious. Besides it looks like we have everything unloaded now so here is the list off goods as promised.” Em handed a much marked up sheaf of papers over to Mandy.

Mandy eagerly flipped through the pages and grinned a big grin on finding the picks listed.


(ZOMG! Picks!)

“So, just how much are you willing to trade for these fine picks?” asked Em with a twinkle in her eye.

Mandy, suddenly realizing that perhaps stressing how much they needed picks to a trader was perhaps not the best of ideas attempted to frown. “Lets have a look at them first.” she replied.

“Sure, after all perhaps we made a mistake on the list or maybe the handles are all rotted off and the picks are rusted beyond use.” said Em.

Mandy really did scowl at this. “I will remind you of my pet bear.”

Em laughed again. “Oh don't worry, your bear is going to have to starve.” She then reached into a box next to her and pulled out a fine bronze pick and handed over to Mandy for inspection.

Mandy looked at the pick resting in her hands and couldn't help grinning. They could finally live like proper dwarves! She looked over the goods she had had the others bring to the depot. “Here, you can have that box of clothing and those stacks of roasts for all of the picks you have.” Mandy knew it was way more than the picks were worth but she didn't really care. She also knew that she probably shouldn't be trading away some of the gloves and mittens they had made for Athel but for the ability to stop living above the ground she was willing to risk being a little short on mittens.

Em nodded looking over the roasts and proffered clothing. “Yes, this will do nicely, consider those picks yours.”

Mandy grinned so much her teeth showed through her beard. They had picks. Letting out a wild whoop of glee, Mandy ran off to inform the others.


(Mandy expresses her joy at finding the picks.)

Probably the most thrilled was Gear who immediately claimed one of the picks and started frantically digging at the ground by the wagon. “No more worry about falling off!” she cried out as a rain of dirt fountained around her. Despite wanting to grab her own pick and join Gear, Mandy forced herself to return to the depot and the waiting Em to trade for some other things they needed, like more cloth. Besides she wasn't ready to let go of her axe quite yet anyway.

[elizar]

 

Humans certainly bring the best of stuff 

I wonder what will happen to the tree-fort. Will it be dismantled for fuel?  Or perhaps kept up as a keepsake (and a fence to keep the goblins out)

[MrLobster]

Woohoo!

[The_Fool76]

My Area is Moist

Gear frantically dug down into the sweet darkness below the ground. She could finally stop worrying that one day she would slip and fall up into that vast sky with no way to stop herself. She still had nightmares about that resulting from that one fateful day as a child.

A goblin siege party had been spotted and the alarm had been sounded to call everyone inside. She had been up playing in a pond when she heard the call. She ran towards the entrance to the fort as fast as she could. The nobles who ran the place believed in just sealing up the fort and out waiting the goblins and that meant that if you weren't quick or important you risked being on the wrong side of the bridge when it was raised. Gear just knew she wasn't going to be fast enough. She shouldn't have been so far from the entrance. When she did round the corner in the wall though the gate was still down despite her fears.

She ran on towards it, the dwarvs inside shouting to her to hurry. The shouts got even more frantic just as she got to the end of the bridge. Apparently the lever controlling the bridge had been pulled and she had only moments to cross it before the complex mechanisms that raised the bridge ground to life. Putting on a last burst of speed that she didn't know she had in her Gear sprinted across the bridge. She had made it almost all the way across when she heard the sound of grinding gears, a sound she would never forget.

Suddenly she was in the air, falling away from the ground. The sky spun above her waiting to swallow her up. There wasn't even so much as a cloud to save her, just an endless expanse of blue. Gear cried out in terror and flailed her arms trying against hope to somehow return to the ground. Suddenly something other than blue loomed up in her vision reaching out to her. She reached forward and grabbed onto the passing treetop with all her strength.

The tree bent and Gear thought her fingers were going to come off but she managed to hold on even when the tree rebounded and swayed back and forth with a motion that threatened to make her sick. She didn't know how long she stayed there hanging upside down at the top of that tree before they eventually cut her down. It was several days later and she was so thirsty that she would have gladly drunk mud. After that it was years before she was willing to go outside again.

Gear's reminiscence was cut short by a change in the sound of her pick against the dirt. Unfortunately the sound was not the solid thunk of stone she had been hoping to hear, but rather a dreadful squeltching noise. With horror she watched the latest hole slowly fill with water.


(Why do the gods hate us?)

[Akigagak]

Aquifier? Seem appropriate.

[The_Fool76]

Yup, aquifer and without stone for mechanisms there isn't a whole lot they will be able to safely do about it. 

The key word there of course is 'safely'.

[rickvoid]

So they get picks, and discover they're sitting on a aquifer. Hilarious. 

I may have to join this one. Must think on what my little doppleganger has done to merit running away...

[elizar]

Oh wow I'm still a DF n00b who has never embarked on a aquifier place. I can't even begin to imagine what to do in that situation.

This is going to be interesting. I got a bit confused as reading Gear's story (goblins now?!) until I realized this was a flashback.

Yeah, sometimes being a speed-reader doesn't help.

[rickvoid]

Oh wow I'm still a DF n00b who has never embarked on a aquifier place. I can't even begin to imagine what to do in that situation.

This is going to be interesting. I got a bit confused as reading Gear's story (goblins now?!) until I realized this was a flashback.

Yeah, sometimes being a speed-reader doesn't help.

I tried it once. Embarked, read up on punching through aquifers. Realized I had three z-levels of aquifers, and all the methods dealt with single level aquifers. Abandoned.

Think I know what I want:
Name: Rick/Rica
Gender: Whatever is most convenient, I'll work with it.
Backstory: Rick/Rica is an Engraver by trade. All other background info will be PM'd to Fool shortly. 

[The_Fool76]

Heh looks like my fort might turn out to be educational as well.


I know two ways of going through an aquifer without either magma or freezing temperatures and I intend to employ both of them.

[elizar]

Well, I kind of lied. I know couple of methods but I can't see them applied here. Such as the magma digging in the obsidian layer, and dropping a floor on it. But neither works as far as I know, as you said, no magma, and the floor has to be rock to pierce through, and all I've seen is dirt.

[Dante]

I've only read the first dozen or so posts, but this is a really engrossing story. Kudos.

However, what's really killing the immersion for me is your use of "your" for "you're" and "it's" for "its". It's a small thing; you're telling such a good story that this is really its only problem, but it's still kinda getting to me.

[elizar]

Dante, take this the good way okay? Now I want to start a community fort just to have a grammar nazi tell me what exactly is wrong with my grammar other than "It needs work" Last time I got "it needs work" It was akin to a brain surgery to get anything more specific out of the commenter, whose point I've taken to heart.

[Dante]

That's why I was very specific.
And I took care to say that this was an excellent story. It is. It is exciting and genuinely innovative... but the misplaced apostrophes almost made me give up on it completely, which is a great shame.

[Grendus]

Oh wow I'm still a DF n00b who has never embarked on a aquifier place. I can't even begin to imagine what to do in that situation.

This is going to be interesting. I got a bit confused as reading Gear's story (goblins now?!) until I realized this was a flashback.

Yeah, sometimes being a speed-reader doesn't help.

I tried it once. Embarked, read up on punching through aquifers. Realized I had three z-levels of aquifers, and all the methods dealt with single level aquifers. Abandoned.

Assuming the 3 aquifer layers were all next to each other, they're easy to pierce. Train up your miner to legendary or thereabouts, then have him quickly punch a hole through all three layers. The top two aquifer layers will drain into the third, presuming he digs fast enough to avoid drowning. Then all you have is a single aquifer layer to pierce, much more manageable.

Also, The_Fool76, did the humans bring no stone? Usually they bring at least one useless lump of worthless rock until you load them down in a trade agreement so deep they can't carry all the goods you requested.