((Note: Character gen snapshot was taken at end of turn. Her condition was "fine" when I started.))
((MAP))
Ah, a swarm of many fluffy wamblers. How cute! I love to sit and chat with the wamblers...This is a very scary place, my friendly wamblers... vicious, cruel beasts attack us just about every season. It's hard to survive, and yet you, a pack of defenseless critters, seem to fare just fine.
"Kuzzle! Kuzzle kuzzle!"You make such cute noises! You know, I'm generally always tense and jittery, but admiring your soft fur and your careless meanderings around the magma pipe soothes the nerves. I know! I shall name myself after you! 'Kuzzles' the Animal Caretaker, at your service!
Zon Uveliden approaches. No, don't be scared, little wamblers! Aw... you're running away.
"Zaneg! Hey, listen, you're always very active and almost never feel discouraged, right? You're also one of the only dwarves currently not ready to wig out. Why don't you take over for a little while?"
"My name is no longer Zaneg, Zon. It's 'Kuzzles.' And I rescind my title of Animal Caretaker! From now on, I am to be known as the Wambler Whisperer!"
".....Riiiight, maybe I'll ask someone else."
"No, wait! Let me help! I find helping others very rewarding! Please let me take over? I have some ideas that will save lives against the hordes!"
"Weeeeelllll...... alright, but don't get crazy! I swear, if I find out you're building a statue to some kind of furry woodland critter, we're sending you out after the high elves alone!"
Gulp. "No statues, promise! Not a one."
Zon leaves. Oh, the wamblers, you return! 'Kuzzles' needs to leave to do some work around the fortress... but, don't worry! I'll write everything down so that I can return and tell you all about it. Goodbye for now!
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I take a look around the fortress with a new eye. Little wamblers, if only you'd understand, a dwarf is often called into duties they are not immediately prepared for, and must view their world from a new perspective when needed!
The first thing I notice is a big cloud of smoke over the main gate. Wait, how did that get there?? I can't find anything burning, and it soon dissipates, so... I guess... I won't worry about that? Maybe? This is going to bug me all day, little ones. Maybe you saw something, and you can tell me where the smoke was coming from when I reunite with you!
As I told Zon, I have a plan to easily dispatch invaders. It's a simple plan, really. If you have seen other dwarven forts, oh cute fuzzy ones, you'd most likely have seen similar constructions, but not known what they were for! It is simply several bridges spanning over some gaps full of magma. You know not to touch magma, right? It'll burn your fuzzy little tails right off! There will be pressure plates to raise the bridges beneath our foes and drop them into the magma. You might think it gruesome, but know that they mean to kill us! I politely ask our miners to dig north, around the extreme Eastern border of our domain, so that they can begin the construction along the Northeast side.
Oh! There seems to be an open pit of magma gaping wide open in the floor! This will simply not do! What if a fire imp climbs up and sets the fort ablaze? I floor it over immediately, only later finding out that for some reason there was a nickel cage floating in the magma beneath the area we just floored. How very peculiar... I wonder at what might have happened here?
Minkot the Tanner, injured in the latest conflict, is begging for water, but we have no source! Where do you drink, little wamblers? Probably some place outside of our domain, I'll bet. I order the miners to dig all throughout the land in search of an aquifer, including up inside of a mountain where I see some sand. But alas, there is none to be found, and our thirsty warrior soon perishes. Oh! The brutal life we must live down in this hole.
My trap will require many mechanisms, so I set our mechanics to work making many of them. Meanwhile, îton the Miner is taken by a mood! She's the Expedition Leader, isn't she?? It looks like Nomal has been assigned the new leader in her stead... A week later, îton leaves the Mason's shop with The Scaly Conflagration, a Mica door!
We haven't found water yet, but inside that mountain we find a vein of cassiterite, and another of gold. Yes, gold! We can create goblets from it for trading. In the meantime, we've also gone through the steps of creating Night crystal. But... what does one
do with Night crystal? I'm not good at these sorts of things... let's make goblets out of it, you can't go wrong with more wealth!
What's that? Oh... you're getting confused, my diminutive friends? Hm... well, maybe I should start dating my entries. I'm sorry, I can't recall the exact dates those events occurred, but I'll begin keeping track now.
On 20th of Granite, Early Spring, bugbears sprung from ambush! Oh, no! The trap isn't nearly finished yet. We seal off the gate for the time being, but it's enough time for two kobolds and an orc thief to rush in, all at the same time! I kill the orc myself... We defeat the thieves, arrange the military, and open the gates again to fight the bugbears. Oh! It was so gruesome, little wamblers! Two of our fellow dwarves were killed in the conflict, but we've won the day. More priority is focused on getting that trap ready. Feb Besmaretost and Tirist Rigòthsolon will be remembered. This includes one of the miners, so I ask one of the peasants to take his place.
A week later, I'm forced to endure a putrid smell... Ew! The rotting corpse of the orc thief somehow found its way into a refuse stockpile right next to the meat stockpile! Why?? Why do we have a refuse pile right next to the food?! I don't want to smell rotting flesh while I'm eating perfectly good flesh that's sitting on the floor, preserved inexplicably by the properties of a stockpile. The refuse pile is removed so that the orc's body can be taken to the proper stink room.
On 4th Felsite, Late Spring, Nil Besmalerom, Clothier, takes a fey mood and demands cloth! Well we don't have any! Fortunately, we do have Pig Tail, and Nil just wants plant fiber, so we get a farmers workshop and a loom built and weave some pig tail. Thank Armok he doesn't want silk! The fates have forced us to begin a clothing industry, though to be honest I don't intend to pursue it without silk. Nil also demands a log, and we're in luck to find only two logs laying outside. Nil made The Trampled Claw, a pig tail coat.
On 25th Felsite, the magma trap is almost complete! A green glass pump is installed and used manually to pump magma into the chambers beneath the bridges. But I get ahead of myself, my silly little balls of fluff! Before tapping the magma vent, we build a small filtration chamber using a fortification to prevent fire imps from getting through and accosting the pump operators, or wandering the halls of the fort. A second fortification is installed at the other end of the tunnel, this way if we ever dump enemies inside without magma, and they're just wandering around looking to kill something, they can't get close enough to the pump to scare the operator away!
On 10th Hematite, Early Summer, The Silver Xelic caravan has arrived! A vile force of dyansauri has arrived! Oh, no,
not at the same time!! ((Movie))
Well, looks like we're getting Silver Xelic trade goods for free this year... I just hope they don't get mad! The bridge trap isn't done yet, though...
On 24th Malachite, Mid-Summer, I'm told we're critically low on booze! How could this have happened?! It seems that the new food stockpile I created to hold the excess plants is to blame... all of our barrels ended up in there, leaving no empty barrels for booze making! I quickly rectify this by reducing the number of barrels allowed in this stockpile, creating more barrels, and dumping the contents of some of the barrels to empty them. Hope nobody minds their dwarven ale tasting faintly of slime mold... The food is unforbidden so that it's placed back in the stockpile where it mysteriously won't rot, even though the difference between the dump and the food pile is one measly urist in distance. At our worst, we had 9 drinks left - and now we have 100. Amazing how quickly those numbers can change when you add an additional brewer and still! We also happen upon a vein of native copper, and produce more barrels.
On 13th Limestone, Early Autumn, the magma trap is complete! But you were there, weren't you, little wamblers? The attack took place right near the place where you scurry to and fro beneath the shrubs.
((Movie))
I'm sure you remember the saurian screams erupting from the ground beneath your little paws. Don't be alarmed, I would never hurt any of you like this... Unfortunately, the silver xelic liaison didn't make it inside... What a fool! He was right near the entryway, and could have outrun the dyansauri and made it safely inside the fort! Why did he have to turn around?
The attack reveals some weaknesses with the pressure plate system. So, I have them all removed, and replace the very first one only. This way, the bridges won't fall out of synch and the trap as a whole will be more reliable.
The very next day, on 14th Limestone, the high elves attacked! From one siege into another! The fates surely frown upon me... Having seen the fate of the dyansauri during their approach, the high elves know better than to enter the fortress through either entrance - one is trapped with magma, the other with cages that will likely find themselves submerged in magma!
((Movie))
This is where I put my tactical prowess to use, and slowly kite and harass the elves away with careful micro-managing of the troops. It's a slow process that takes a few tries, but in the end we succeed in chasing them away without any dwarven casualties.
I notice a problem taking shape regarding my orders for dwarves to stay inside! Many are cancelling their jobs, even though their jobs are indoors. How could this be? A brief study indicates that sunlight, that wretched foe to those of us who dwell beneath the earth, blocks the path between our farms and the rest of the fortress. The dwarves will not pass through the sunlight for fear of injury and for fear of breaking my orders. I'm not used to having that much power! The simplest remedy is to expand the path so that dwarves can walk around the sunlight. I also claim the exit as a Low Traffic area - oh, you wouldn't understand this, little ones. It simply means that I would prefer if dwarves walked around the sunlight if they do not need to go through it, but they can if they must go outside.
The high elves are chased away by 8th Sandstone, Mid-Autumn. Quickly, hastily, I order everyone to bring as much of the silver xelic caravan goods inside as possible! Stockpiles for the goods are hastily placed just beneath the soil, unfortunately without a sense of order, I must admit. It is more important that the goods make it underground than for them to make it underground orderly! You would know this, dear wamblers, with the way you stash your berries before the coming of winter without organization.
Best of all, we have a supply of wood now! I order up some beds, since we're all tired of being forced to sleep on the ground. I don't have time to place them, however, as the coming of winter shall make me hibernate. I give leave of my control of the fortress to whomever shall take it next.
Farewell, many fluffy wamblers! Until we meet again.
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Topic: Sparkgear IX - Revenge of Sparkgear [Magma flood in progress. Blame the Spoon] (Read 56708 times)