Technical note: An- An A2 page is a page.154
"You can't be serious," Fourguts replies flatly. He examines your expression for a moment, then turns around and hangs his head. You ignore him though - because you're sick of dwarves dying for nothing. It wasn't really Vabok's ignorance that killed her. It was an ideal. She died believing that nobody could really mean her harm. Her last hours were spent protecting a garden where her children could rest and place peacefully. Now Monom is the only Oshurtirist left and you'll be damned if you're going to go out there and tell her that that training axe didn't mean something.
Okay, maybe it was a little bit of stupidity. But still. Now you have a limited time frame to get the garden walls up before you risk another goblin attack, so this going to take as many dwarves as you can get your hands on. You stride into the party room and assign every single idler a section of wall to begin masoning. The area you're closing off will be a little larger than forty by one hundred squares. If they can't work fast than they'll have to work en masse.
The next few weeks are busy ones. For several days you pace the fortress and send any further idlers outside to help construction. Soon there are dozens of dwarves carrying and working with stone outside at any given time. There are no sightings of goblins or any oneandahalfling races, but the work is not without less deadly interruptions: some trees must be cut down and stray arrows dumped to make room for straight stretches. Where the wall goes up or downhill extra care must be taken to remove slopes and overlap walls to ensure no invaders can sneak over it. A herd of mountain goats occasionally scare edgy dwarves, but there are no reported attacks. A party is thrown - you allow this for the sake of the unhappy dwarves. A carpenter withdraws from society to create another pretty but functionless artifact.
Despite all this, progress goes smoothly The stone wall turns around the brook and rises up the southeastern mound. It lines the forest and heads north, then west. All that remains is a northern jut around a grassy overhang before sharing a wall with your outdoor farm and connecting back to itself. Unfortunately, not everyone is pleased. The King's doctor is the first dwarf to throw a tantrum. A few other angry dwarves stage protests on and off, refusing to work before shortly calming down. They are too few to make much of an impact though, and the majority of dwarves are happy enough to finally finish the walls.
During your break, you meet Fourguts in his office and ask how Monom has been faring.
"Poorly," Fourguts answers, not looking away from his stockpile records. You remain standing for several minutes until it's clear you're not leaving without further details. Fourguts grumbles and turns around. "She slept. She attempted to arrange a meeting with the 'mayor', but the mayor was too busy partying. She got drunk. She tried to speak with the mayor again. The party ended and the mayor ignored her to haul. This, incidentally, is why he can't have the nice things."
"Once a sympathetic farmer informed me, I cancelled all of the mayor's labors. The mayor than went for a casual drink, Monom following him the whole time. She snapped and threw a tantrum. He then attended a meeting with her. She kicked over a table and screamed at him for several minutes before calming down. Afterwards she left to store some clothing, kicking down another table for no evident reason. She is currently idle and quite content," Fourguts finished. "Now go away."
Before landscaping the garden itself, you organise a quick test to ensure the walls are all complete. Two miners are ordered to dig the tunnel connecting the garden and main fortress, but are only allowed to start from the outside. They rush off within seconds and you follow their path. It turns out you missed a small gap underneath the overhang. The passage is walled off and test repeated. This time the miners stand around confused before shrugging and walking off to install some spare coffins. Success! You happily begin digging the tunnel from your fortress, your mood picking up even further when you discover it goes right through a large patch of iron ore.
The next step is for you to clean up the forest you've walled off. Dwarves idle from the wall's completion are put to work again, this time dumping scattered arrows and firefly remains that mysteriously start showing up everywhere. Nobody is willing to touch the bloody pile of Vabok's equipment. Most of the miners busy themselves by digging out iron ore both from the tunnel and the southeastern mound that's finally protected. You deconstruct a small section of wall shared with the outdoor farm in order to place a door and share a seed stockpile. Later, you and few other dwarves make a mad dash to the dead elven merchants, bringing back wood, cloth, and more importantly, seeds.
Underneath the combined strength of dozens of focused dwarves, the garden slowly takes form. Dabbling dwarves volunteer as farmers to grow a wide variety of beautiful plants over the soil. Novice dwarven masons construct several shady gazebos to relax under. Unskilled dwarves happily carry out tables and chairs to eat and laugh over. Professional butchers put away their knives and gently lead horses to add a wild atmosphere to the garden. Confused horses gallop back to the doors and sneak inside the moment a dwarf passes through. Frustrated butchers pit the bloody things back off the southeastern mound and slam the doors in their faces only to find the animals partying inside minutes later.
While the finishing touches are still being put on the garden, human merchants arrive on the horizon. You hurry dwarves away from the fort's entrance and double-check that the garden is safe from ground attacks. Surprisingly, the ambush never comes and the merchants safely begin unloading their goods. One gives you a weird look as you nervously poke your head upstairs. You leap to attention after hearing a
shinnck - but it was only a groundhog who staggers off vomiting. Your new broker cautiously emerges and begins the trading: you offer your old leather and copper armour for their wood, barrels, cloth, leather and exotic food. They demand two large diamonds be added to your goods. The broker eventually argues them down to the armour and one large diamond, still giving them a substantial profit.
You idly wonder how many gems have been cut and stockpiled since you last checked. A wander down to the several stockpiles holding them puts the tally at twenty three large ... and five hundred and twenty one regular. You're fairly sure you don't even have that much furniture yet. Wow.
The day comes.
You firmly order all dwarves to leave their usual posts and congress outside for a celebration. It has taken months to complete: a little cheer is called for. You sit atop the southeastern mound and gaze at the chatting of ecstatic idlers below you. Miners lean toughly against ore they've dug. Busy farmers share stories with the peasants hauling horses away from the doors. A few fishers are nearly asleep by the brook with smiles on their faces. Young children run around the young trees, although Monom stands quietly by herself. You even spot the braindead hunter hiding in the corner with a whole barrel of wine to himself.
"I'm going to practise my aim ... of this wine ... down my throat," the hunter explains with a cough. You wave then look away, catching a glimpse of a wood burner cuddling a cinnamon cat. The wood burner pats the cat and walks off to admire a statue. The cat shudders and begins licking itself sadly, alone.
You wish Foureyes could have been here to see this.
"Attention, please!" Fourguts yells from the overhang. He repeats the cry several more times then threatens to forbid the alcohol stockpile before the crowd hushes in preparation for his speech. "Well, it's taken a while. Forget the sunlight; some of you have walked back and forth over this forest so many times it's a wonder you're not nauseous. If it's not killing you, it's certainly killing the saplings."
Fourguts pauses for scattered laughter and clapping.
"That's not a joke, that's an actual problem," Fourguts adds flatly before brightening his tone. "Of course, the waterfall was never completed and we'll be updating our menus to include horse roast fairly soon. So maybe this opening has become more of a matter of principle than anything else. But principles are what make us dwarves. Strength. Resilience. The capacity for fabric-efficient clothing. When we started this garden we suffered a disaster at the hands of goblins, but what did that mean to us? Nothing! Look around you. When we work hard, we can do anything. A garden. A war."
"Enjoy the greenery while you can - you've all deserved it - because tomorrow things change. We're uprooting wild plants. We're genociding fish. We're genetically modifying the tail out of our pig tail crops. You know one more principle we stand for? Industry. And as of now, this island is our business. If the goblins don't like it or any powers underground want to fight us for control of it then to them I say: we are dwarves. We dare you."
"Oh, yes, there is one more thing. A small change in policy inspired by the elves," Fourguts added. The crowd fell into a disgruntled hush as Fourguts riffled his notes. "We're burning this forest down and using it to forge iron. Enjoy your meal."
The raucous applause and roaring cheers that burst out across the garden can be heard for miles around.
If you and your miners take your picks into battle, turn to page 38.
If you produce numerous iron weapon traps to kill the forgotten beast, turn to page 300.
If you install further assorted traps to kill goblins, turn to page 106.
If you add defences to the garden and seal off your fort entirely, turn to page 295.
If there is absolutely no way the Dwarf King needs five hundred gems, turn to page 102.
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Topic: Choose Your Own DF - Goblin Blight Island (Read 43251 times)