Not many screenies today, but lots ta do.
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17th Felsite, 15~Migrants. Again. 21, this time. I’ve no clue why they continue to make the trek here. We have no lodgings for them, and aren’t that concerned with making more. For this reason I’ve ordered everyone without a useful purpose into the military. We don’t need this many dwarves sitting around uslessly.
One dwarf in particular approached me, wearing a rather impressive cloak. “I am Logem Floorslide,” said she. “Show me to the dungeons. I have pressing work to do, and living in this disgusting jungle will not keep me from it.”
I blinked. “…Dungeons?”
“Yes, dungeons. Underground, you know? That sort of thing?”
“…We don’t dig underground.”
She looked around, suspiciously. Through her narrowed eyes she began to take in her surroundings: A large wooden cabin. A short tower littered with animal dung and bits of meat. The walls. The moat. Admittedly, we weren’t yet a true castle, but… hey, we were doing all right.
“Hmph. Fine. You, pilgrim! Show me to my quarters!”
I hastily signalled for the poor peasant she’d pointed at to take her around the long way, and had Ducim the crippled mason whip up a whole bunch of furnishings.
As I made my way back to my office amidst the bustling horde of newcomers, Julius ran into me. The kid had become a pretty impressive mason, though not quite as good as Ducim. “Mister Quinn! Uh, listen, sir, there’s something up there.”
I was a bit confused. “Explain to me ‘something,’ ‘up,’ and ‘there,’ please.”
He paused to recompose himself. I’d guess wherever ‘there’ was, he’d run back from it. “A hole in the mountain, sir!”
I looked up towards the mountain range. Nothing new there. “Seems fine to me,” I said.
“No, sir…
In the mountain.” He walked me there, and I saw it – just poking out from between two rocky faces coated with webbing, a large, deep chamber. How deep, I couldn’t say.
Deep.
“…Huh.”
“Isn’t it cool, sir?”
“I’m not sure about ‘cool.’ This warrants more investigation, at the least. How’d you stumble across this?”
He blushed a bit, embarrassed. “Well, I know I was supposed to be working, but some of the new guys were talking about this hole they saw, and it sounded really cool, and exciting, and…” He looked away momentarily, then back again with earnest. “If you’re gonna explore it, can I come?”
“No.”
“But—”
“No. I’ll send in… I don’t know, one of the miners, Grath and Randall, and maybe someone… ah, Bodark. He’d love this sort of thing.”
I grinned behind my beard. Bodark was terrified of heights – I’d discovered this after seeing how reluctant he was to build up on the walls, or run any errands along the mountainside. But he also had enough pride to take my ‘casual’ offer as a challenge. He’d do it, all right.
We headed back to continue plotting out the hovels. I went back to the comfort of my office. For once, I held the higher ground against my rival. Or the lower ground, rather. I put my feet up on my desk and took a nap, grinning all the while.
---
Yeah, that bottomless pit’s actually been exposed this whole time. Been going out of my way to keep it hidden from readers, since it was only baaarely visible to the outside and it seemed weird to me that the dwarves would just know it was there.
For reference, the new arrivals (within spoilers). Most are in the military now; didn’t mark who specifically. There was another dwarf named Ingish, so I gave her to TheHunger since his own Ingish died. She's, I dunno, first Ingish's daughter I guess. Weird for a girl to take her dad's first name, but hey. Dwarves.
M – Adil Heavenclasp (stonecrafter)
M – Alath Cusproad (brewer)
M – Alath Metalsoar (fish dissector)
F – Atir Washtower (peasant)
F – Dodok Lancerbend (carpenter)
F – Ducim Bellflight (wrestler)
M – Ducim Truthfulpaint (peasant)
M – Erush Windbearded (gem setter)
M – Fath Whipnation (peasant)
F – Ingish Splatterbolt [TheHunger] (wrestler)
F – Logem Floorslide (DUNGEON MASTER)
M – Minkot Metaltax (siege operator)
F – Mistem Curlbridge (bowyer)
F – Momuz Squidtorch (leatherworker)
M – Obok Spikemansion (peasant)
F – Olin Vesselyor (peasant)
F – Rigoth Modestrack (blacksmith)
M – Stukos Crafttattoo (mechanic)
M – Udil Mansionsink (butcher)
M – Iton Hoofmirror (animal dissector)
F – Iteb Vesselspeak (animal dissector)
And on top of our champion marksdwarf, five knights, and three squires, there's another 17 useless recruits that will hopefully absorb enemy fire while the real military charges from behind. Wahaha!
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Topic: The Castle Mightygrips: Cancelled. [community] (Read 48132 times)