17th Granite, 203, Early Spring
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Elves are on their way... I'm half-tempted to move the trade depot outside to keep their filth where it belongs, but it's too much effort and they aren't worth it.
The guard dogs also sniffed out a pair of goblin snatchers. One got away... the other, not so lucky.
Make that
three snatchers, two dead. I give respective nods to Stâkud Buzatoslan and Nomal Stâkudduthnur, both Farmers, as they carry their prey to the refuse pile. I decide not to go hard on Edzul Zonkegeth, the Weaver, for letting his get away. I don't want another incident like what happened to Oddom the weaponsmith, and anyway Edzul put up a pretty decent chase.
Asob pops out of the stairs, drops her pick, and rubs her hands nervously at the elves.
"Well, Asob? It's showtime."
"Yes, well... Elves are very stingy. I hope I don't offend them."
"Offend them if you have to! You need to show them who's boss. Just don't offer them any wood and you'll be fine."
The elves were already picking through the craft bins brought down, full of stone toys and mugs and instruments. Asob nervously made her way toward them and began conversing. Amazing. She's a totally different person when it's just her and me speaking. Put her in a crowd, and she shakes more than a purring maggot on a XXpig tail threadXX.
"Good morning," Asob says to the elves.
"Greetings. My name is Liyìÿi Apasifita. We are enchanted by your more ethical works. Let us trade." One of the elves snorted as he glared at one of our wooden bins. Another snickered, as if someone had told a joke.
"Yes, well... can I interest you in some mugs? How about some instruments?"
"Is this not all you had to share last year?" The elf frowned down upon her.
"Well, yes! You can expect the same quality of craftdwarfship here at Severedcoils, heh heh..."
Both of Liyìÿi's companions snickered, and Asob began to look very worried. "We come bearing wood that has been cut
with care, from trees painstakingly felled by elven +Alder Battleaxes.+ It takes several of these wooden axes to chop down a single tree, and we do it out of respect to our mother forests."
"Well, you should try steel some time! Takes it right down, and you can use it again for the next!"
Oops. The three elves glared daggers at poor Asob, who looked like she wanted to shrink away into a puddle.
"We also come bearing multitudes of (Rope reed cloth). We trust you will buy a lot of it, as it is of high value and we come expecting great profits from you as in the past."
"Well, we don't really
need wood
or cloth. We have silk all over the place, and--" Asob stopped herself short, remembering her last mistake. "Yes, well... Didn't you bring any berries or seeds? No sunshine or wild strawberry wine? No exotic animals?"
"
Phah," Liyìÿi spat. "Cheap stuff. We're businesselves, not petty merchants. Those items aren't worth the trouble hauling them."
One of the other elves picked up a «+Basalt drum.+» It is encircled with bands of green zircon. He let it fall from his hands with a clatter. "It's just as well, Liyìÿi. The dwarves want to trade us junk, let us give them junk."
"Now, now, Apasi, we wouldn't want to sell the dwarves
short."
The elves are laughing. Asob is making a plaintive gesture. By now, other dwarves were starting to gather. Legon tensed her grip on her flail and on her baby. Vabôk Lullpaddles, one of the marksdwarves, stood near as well.
And then... Asob's face burned red. The pressure of all those around her, expecting her next move, must have triggered the same courage that had brought her to single-handedly take down the batman who attacked the human liaison last year.
"Very well," Asob's voice was dark and full of hatred. "You want to give us cloth and wood? Fine. We'll take all of your wood, and two bins of (Rope reed cloth.)"
"Ah, very good," said the elf condescendingly. "And how many of your rocks do you wish to give us in exchange?"
"You misheard me, Liyìÿi. I said we'll
take them."
I opened my mouth to protest, but it was already too late. And, after all, they
had insulted our craftdwarfship several times. The elves looked to each other, startled, then noticed the gathering of dwarves around them. Legon stared back at them, as Vabôk trained her Oaken crossbow at the elves.
"Take what you wish," Liyìÿi said after a pause. "We cannot stop you." With that, the elves drew their muskoxes around and slipped past us, disappearing into the forest. Asob still stood, burning with rage for a while, then wordlessly retrieved her pick and went back to carving the baron's chambers.
Looks like it's time to build up a military... and hey, since we still have all of our crafts, we're that much closer to purchasing an anvil from the humans next season. The workers celebrated Asob's courage by giving names to the resident caveswallowmen.
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25th Slate, 203, Mid-Spring
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More migrants, and we propel ever closer to the point of requiring a baron. It occurs to me that in the midst of day-to-day life, our mission has become something of a dream to me. As of yet, I still can't imagine myself arranging the death of a fellow dwarf, but if I don't...
"Twenty new migrants, bringing our total population to fifty, sah! We're officially a village now!"
"Legon," I address the sheriff as she approaches. "I thought counting was my job?"
"Ha, very good sah, but it is a sad dwarf that can't count a few heads. Listen, with all these newcomers, crime becomes an ever-increasing concern."
"
Crime? When have we ever had a criminal in our fort?"
"Need I remind you, sah, of the insane weaponsmith?"
"No, you did a very fine job of handling him yourself. And that wasn't exactly a criminal, it was a strange mood."
"And with more heads come more strange moods, sah! And with more moods and less capable dwarves to guard them--"
"Alright, Legon, you've made your point. More guards it is. But I don't want my dwarves becoming fearful! You're going to receive equal parts of wrestlers and marksdwarves, alright?"
"Wot?! You don't intend to give us proper dwarven weapons?"
"I don't want the workers hurt so badly they can't do their jobs! There will be a military with proper weapons to defend us, and you can keep your flail. Is that fine?"
"...Yes, sah, that'll do."
Legon left. I could tell she was annoyed, as she was already appraising the newcomers to see which potential wrestlers had the broadest shoulders. That wasn't important right now, though. Twenty newcomers means we need to carve more rooms, make more beds and doors... and get that well project done!
Speaking of the wells, they've been delayed because we've crossed a wealth of material in the path of the water. Not to mention dolomite, we've dug up more bituminous coal, bloodstone, and - my favorite gem - carnelian! To make the most of this, we've dug out the walls to access the veins, built an access route to each side of the water ditch, and walled it off so that we don't flood the resources. It will be worth it, even with the delay to the overall project.
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Topic: Severedcoils - Consort Accumulation Challenge (Score: 5) (40d + DnD 5e) (Read 131859 times)