2nd Slate 677 - Afternoon"Come on, get moving! Get that gneiss up there! Or would you prefer to be doing it while the Nothing are swarming you?" Shin called, pushing a Dwarf forward. The architect had taken charge of the building of the secure compound on the surface. With the militia's victory in the offensive, they had won themselves valuable time. It was guessed that it would take at the very least two weeks before the Nothing were a threat again.
A Dwarf can do alot in a week when it comes to masonry, fifty Dwarves and twenty assorted people of other races could do alot more. All other tasks were to be suspended, everyone was conscripted into the masonry, everyone it seemed, except Stas, who again seemed to have found a way to avoid working, Brosso who was working on his circus and disdained working on the surface, and the newcomer industrialist Stronghammer Fireforge, who was working at the forges.
Walls with fortifications were to be built, a great drawbridge would span the the river Squeezemunch, the old stone bridge that had been built to cross was to be torn down and replaced with a larger one. The militia kept a watchful eye, their weapons and armour never far.
16th Slate 677 - Afternoon"Hey look, there's more over here." Rovod called, pointing at a wooden crate. Spartan cracked it open with a swing of his pick, spilling a few short swords out,
"More swords. The Darksquids really must have killed several caravans passing here or something." he said. He and Rovod had been scouring the valley sides for the past two weeks, they had discovered halberds, long swords, swort swords, bows, crossbows, scourges and whips, various trinkets, bolts, bars of metal, blocks of rock, and more. Some of it pointed to Dwarven manufacture, some Human and some Elven. Clearly the Nothing had attacked caravans, and the merchants had abandoned their goods, or been killed.
Corpses were another thing they found. The valley was chock full of skeletons, bones strewn across the place. The supplies would come in handy, but there was that small element of guilt, of taking from the dead. Worse yet, they had no idea who were these dead people, the bones indicated Dwarves and either Humans or Elves, but they didn't know their names, and so couldn't administer the final rites, nor did they know how long they had lain there, or have enough time to take all the remains in, so many there was.
The compound meanwhile, was coming along nicely, everyone was pushing themselves to really work hard, days became a simple routine of waking, eating, working on the walls, eating, working on the walls, eating, and then sleeping. It was hard work, but the fruit was showing.
18th Slate 677 - MorningThe walls of the compound were almost finished, Shin was directing the final touches while was linking the bridges to levers indoors, to raise and lower them remotely. Spartan and Delta, meanwhile, were working on the moat that would protect the walls. While the walls could no doubt hold the Nothing back, they were still a rushed job, and they could afford no chances, so a moat was being dug which would link to the river Squeezemunch. As Delta stopped work a few moments to rest and take a gulp of alcohol, removing the helmet he almost always wore, Spartan began working. Taking his trusty pick, he slammed it into the earth.
The miner woke up about five minutes later to the sound of Delta calling down to him. He checked himself, he was fine, then he checked his surroundings. He was in the old section of Nomekast, the original community way back three or so years ago now, he remembered carving it out. He could have beardpalmed as he realised what he had done. Without checking where they were digging, they had channeled straight into old Nomekast, opening it into the heavens above. He finally heard what Delta was shouting,
"Get out of there before it floods you fool!"
Spartan spun round to the old farms, to see water flowing in from the river. They must have accidentally broke into the floodgate that had once irrigated the farms.
The miner could have beardpalmed again, but he didn't want to waste anymore time,
"Get masons down here, we'll need to seal this bit off!" he shouted up at Delta, before rushing out to safety.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Brosso the Magnificent surveyed the scene with his ever-present pig-tail cigar in his hand.
"Well?" he said, "What have we got? Let's have a shufty."
Bounce stood besides him, the bookkeeper dwarfed by his large physique,
"Five Nothing." she said, "All caught from the cage-traps."
They stood in the recently dug-out stockpile for creatures caught. No one knew what to do with the Nothing that had been caged by the traps during the attack. Brosso had obviously taken an immediate interest in acquiring them for his circus.
"Good, good. Is that all?"
"The horses were killed by the last beast. Two mares and a stallion, the remains were butchered for 29 pieces of meat and three hides."
Brosso took a drag on his cigar, blowing the smoke into Bounce's face. She gave a cough, raising a hand to try and waft it away,
"Can you please not do tha-"
"How can I run a circus on five Nothings? Even I, Brosso the Magnificent, a noble Dwarf of a noble family with a noble history, he who ran the Northern Circus, wouldn't be able to run a circus like that. The best I could do is convince some militiadwarf to fight against them for the crowd's pleasure." he suddenly grabbed Bounce by the shoulder, "Which is not a bad idea come to think of it."
"I don't know if you can take these, you'd have to ask Derm-"
"Let me deal with the Sheriff. The problem is that five is a small number, and we don't have a steady stream of them. What we need is a mass-caging campaign, to cage all sorts of creatures to amaze the crowd. Ahh, back in the Northern Circus we had a pair of Voracious Cave Crawlers who were trained to do tricks, always a crowd-killer, by which I mean they amazed the crowd, not that they
killed the crowd. That would be bad business."
"Well no doubt." the bookkeeper said with a sigh, deciding to renounce in changing the circus-director's mind.
"Well, I must be away, I have business in my office to attend to."
Seeing as he considered himself one of the more - if not the most - important figures in the community, Brosso had demanded an office. This had been met with the apathy and refusal he had come to expect from the lower-class riff-raff and Elf-loving ponces that seemed to multiply in this place. Brosso would see that Dwarven values and traditions and respect for his importance and noble-birth was ensured, but in the mean time he was once again forced to work himself, building himself a spacious office besides Derm's. He had filled it with three chairs, two for himself, and one for his top-hat. He also had two cabinets with his various plans in, and a coffer for his wealth. He had even made his own statue, one of Nekut Glowedguises, the goddess of the Moon. He had been told it looked more like a melting humanoid shape, but he ignored the naysayers.
Brosso stepped out of the cage stockpile, and moved towards the forges, only to stop and stare as he suddenly realised something. There was seven new forges around the magma pool, and two wood furnaces further on.
"Excuse me, Brosso?" came a voice. Brosso spun round, his top hat almost flying off. He recognized the Dwarf the voice had come from, Stronghammer Fireforge, one of the newcomers.
"Did you do all this?" Brosso asked him, waving a cigar towards the forges. Stronghammer nodded,
"Industry is the key to success." he said, quoting the ancient Dwarven classic 'The Art of Forges'.
"That indeed, though you'll want to watch out, I see some wood furnaces there, no doubt those Elves will kick up a fuss."
"Elves are no concern of mine, if they want to look after the trees they are free to go outside."
"Well said!" Brosso exclaimed, taking a puff on his cigar, and exhaling a cloud of smoke.
"I'm glad I bumped into you, Brosso. I was told you are the Dwarf to speak to about tradition."
"That indeed, I - along with Reg - seem to be one of the only in this place concerned about keeping it!"
"Yes, I've always felt it's important to keep tradition going, it has led us to victory and prosperity countless times through the ages." Stronghammer nodded, his calm voice the opposite of Brosso's loud exclamations,
"I'll drink to that!" Brosso said, "Here, ambulate with me," he motioned for the industrialist to follow, and walked off towards his circus with Stronghammer in tow, "here," he announced as they entered the work-in-progress circus, "is a work of grandeur, a piece of art. I am actually in the business, with the good Chief Medical Dwarf Reg Archist as my compeer, of carving a grand circus for all the world to see."
"There isn't much of the world left." Stronghammer said grimly, not letting Brosso's grand words overtake his logical manner.
"There's fifty Dwarves here, and more on the way I'm sure. Morale is important! And - after all - I am an artiste, the audience is waiting for a play, an opera, a show, and who am I to refuse? You see, an industrialist and a circus-director are made to get along. I have dug out some galena, sphalerite and malachite. With these ores I shall create the grandest circus known to all save the gods! Now, if you can smelt me those ores, I can ensure you not only your own private box in the circus, and any other forthcoming events, but also a way to strike a blow for Dwarven tradition! Stick with me and Reg, my good Stronghammer, and together we shall make of Nomekast and
true Dwarven Fortress!"
20th Slate 677 - EveningBy the evening of the 20th Slate, the compound was all but finished. Urist was still linking the drawbridges up, but had insisted he could easily finish it before dinner. The entrance to Nomekast had almost been turned into an island, protected on three sides by a river.
With this protection in place, the inhabitants of the fortress could safely walk out into the fresh air and sun, while Rovod, Doc. Steve and Rar could safely fire bolts at anything outside of the walls, while livestock could graze on the grass. It was not completely finished, Shin had plans for towers, and had discussed with Bayar the possibility of adding catapults and ballistas, but for now, it stood as it was, a sign of Nomekast fighting back, they had struck a blow, and while the Nothing would recover, the community had more optimism now than ever before, things were on the up. They could only hope they stayed up.
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Topic: [Community] Nomekast - At War with Nothing (Read 180275 times)