Prologue"No. Absolutely not"
"I... beg your pardon?" the guildmaster managed, caught completely off-guard by the refusal.
"I said no. There is absolutely no way in the Hells that you'll get me to sign on to this idea. Not in a dozen ages"
"Do you realise-"
"... that I'm talking to the master of the Colonisation Guild? Yes. I don't care if you were Armok himself. If he came up to me with such an elfheaded idea I'd tell
him he could find some other dupe. I'm not doing it. Not in a million years. I'd honestly prefer you just petition the king to toss me in the dungeons. I'm not doing it"
"The region-"
"Is a swamp. No solid ground for miles around. It's not even possible to dig in such an environment, too much water, and there's so much risk of flooding that we'd have to build the settlement on stilts. A treetop village built on bloody stilts! We might as well just live like bloody elves! Oh, no, wait, we
would be bloody living like bloody elves!"
"If you'd let me-"
"Finish your sentence? So you could try and dupe me into thinking that this
isn't one of the worst ideas the guild has ever tried to foist on us?"
"IF," the guildmaster continued, in a voice loud enough to drown out the guilddwarf's constant objections, "you would let me finish, I could explain to you that this settlement would be not just a, but
the gateway to human, dwarven, and dare I say it, even elven trade from the whole of the south. With the way the elves have the western forests sealed tight, anyone who wanted to do trade with the mountainhomes OR the rest of the continent would have to do it through you. The Swamp of Dyes is the perfect place to build
this settlement, if not the perfect place to build
a settlement. This would secure the trade dominance of the Mountainhomes for centuries and jab the elves right in the eye, and you're the only one we trust to do it"
The guildsdwarf stopped for a moment to consider this.
"I still don't-"
"In five years, your trading post will be the envy of this nation and every nation beyond. We know that you can do it. We have faith in you. Have some faith in us. Spend five years of your life building this outpost for the glory of the Mountainhomes and then, if you really cannot stomach the thought of staying, come home. You'll be a hero and a rich, rich dwarf. Then, the guild will allow you to build the next settlement wherever you wish"
"You - you mean,
wherever I wish?"
"You need only point at a map and demand the supplies and the wagon will leave within the week. And if instead you choose to stay at the trading post, Lord Merchant you shall remain, and we'll all grow richer from your efforts"
The guildsdwarf stroked his beard and gave some serious thought to this.
"We'll need wood", he finally decided. "We'll need a hell of a lot of wood..."
DetailsWorld MapEmbarkDwarvesObjectiveTaking 5-year-long succession turns, construct a thriving trade outpost on stilts in the Swamp of Dyes. If neccessary, eschew the traditional methods of dwarven construction and build the fortress entirely out of wood and any other available construction materials you can lay your hands on. Build a north-south road to ensure travellers safe passage through the swamp. Prove to the world that dwarves can thrive
anywhere - in caves, in forests, in savannahs, in glaciers, in tundras, and yes, even in a swamp. Destroy invaders, forge trade routes, and importantly...
...
MOST importantly...
... rip the elves off bigtime.
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Topic: [5yr Succession] Ogredtazuk, Swamphuts - Histories of Water and Mildew (Read 1645 times)