25th Granite, Spring 202Medtob did everything he could to speed up the piercing of the aquifer, even trying a new draining method, but there was no way we were going to make it in time. Even if we had managed to pierce it, the chance of finding a gem cluster wasn't great.
I'd previously had a good strong door put on the workshop and locked tight. Somehow I'd known this would happen.
I went down to my office so I wouldn't have to watch them put her down like a mad dog.
Which, of course, didn't stop her dodging straight past the soldiers and running screaming through the whole fort before being cornered right above my stair by Ushrir and Bembul. Her blood spilled down into my office and all over my only table.
Afterwards, it seemed as if I was the only one who even cared that Cilob was dead. Ushrir just complimented me on the quality of my soap as she walked cheerfully by.
The-- what?
--MY SOAP! THIS IS AN
OUTRAGE!
Spring 202, date unknownIt wasn't right for a dwarf to rest in a wooden casket, but that was what Cilob had to have; we couldn't spare the stone for a proper coffin. Maybe later she could be put to rest more appropriately.
Most of the wood being cut was going towards the aquifer project, but I put in an order anyway for more lye. There was tallow lying around unsoaped, and it bothered me.
The liaison's promised horde of migrants turned up promptly on the 27th Slate. What with Cilob and the aquifer to deal with over the winter, I hadn't even given thought to housing more dwarves. There were twenty of them including two children, more than doubling our population. Not one dwarf was a soapmaker. What were they THINKING back at the mountainhomes?
I scribbled out some hasty plans for more temporary bedrooms.
That decided, I came upstairs and found Ezum the weaver shouting at a confused group of four.
"You can't bring that here! You can't! It'll kill the phantom spiders!"
"What's the matter?" I said. Then I noticed the two small children, and the animal that was following behind them.
Goliath Tarantula
Dwarves find the cave-dwelling goliath tarantulas adorable in the same way as humans with cats. These dog-sized arachnids are generally docile but will spit web if threatened, like their massive cousins the giant cave spiders. Unlike giant cave spiders, the goliath tarantula's venom is not considered to be deadly; however it does cause temporary localised numbness, and about one time in ten, subsequent horrific rotting and necrosis of the afflicted body part. Do not annoy goliath tarantulas.
"Look, it's already got a lizard! I know what they're like! They just kill and kill and they never stop! We have to get rid of it!"
"You're not slaughtering my son's pet," the father, a burly tanner said angrily.
"All right," I said, "everyone calm down. Ezum, if the tarantula is confined to the underground, will that satisfy you? The phantom spiders only make webs on the surface."
"Yes, I suppose," she said after a long moment. "But how are you going to do that?"
"Tell everyone to keep the tarantula in the food stockpile and dining area. With any luck it'll content itself chasing lizards in there." Privately I wasn't convinced it would work, but I wasn't about to order a child's pet killed in front of him. I resolved that if Ezum noticed the phantom spider population dropping, we would take more drastic measures.
As I'd suspected would be the case, the young spiders were not terribly pleased at being confined to one area of the fort. Every few minutes a dwarf would have to stop whatever he or she was doing to go and catch one of them as it tried to skitter past, intent on investigating the much more interesting surface world. At least their presence at Soaplanterns would put an end to the horrible things that kept gnawing at our barrels.
14th FelsiteI was digging out bedrooms when I heard the commotion. An elven trade caravan had been sighted making their way towards us through the jungle. I hurriedly laid down the pick and did my best to brush the dirt and mud off myself. It was probably futile by this point.
There were just two of them, and both were thin and weary-looking. They looked shocked as they led their horses down the ramp to our trade depot. "What are you people doing here?"
"We live here," I said, determined to defend our little corner now we had it.
"Live here! Are you mad? Don't you KNOW about the Lonely Jungle?"
"What do you mean?"
The elf shuddered and cringed, her eyes jittering wildly from side to side. "The land is cursed! It's an evil, terrifying place! Nobody in their right minds would settle here!"
"We wouldn't have ever ventured in here," the other elf said, "except our caravan was attacked by goblins and we had to flee into the Lonely Jungle. We're the only ones left..."
A lot of things suddenly made a lot more sense. I'd kill Cog Risenbasen if I ever saw him again.
The elves were willing to trade, eager to do anything that would lighten their load and give them more chance to escape the Lonely Jungle. Unfortunately, I hadn't had time to make more soap. We'd have to rely on Ezum's silk again as it was the only trade good Soaplanterns could spare.
"What on earth is that?"
"Would you like to buy her?" one of the elves said hopefully. She went into a spiel describing the virtues of the creatures, how ferocious they could be if trained for defense, how loyal to their trainers. Regrefully, I declined. The price the elf named we could never have met, not with all our trade goods put together. I supposed we could seize it, the two of them didn't look like they could put up much of a fight against all of us, but then again we'd have to feed the panda, and such a huge animal would doubtless eat huge amounts of food. No, let it continue to be their problem.
They had two small bags of sunberries. I'd only had Sunshine once before in my life. I didn't hesitate about buying the berries, even though they were three times the price of all the other plants. They would be worth it. The elves threw in six chunks of clay, I suspected more to reduce the weight than as any sort of generous gesture. I took them up on it anyway; someone would surely know of something we could do with them.
Now then, there was something else I had to deal with. Something much more important.
"...and that's how it's done." She was going to make a good soaper, I could already tell.
...Hey, these elephant things made really lovely soap! I'd have to get Ushrir to kill another one...
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Topic: Ubenudil, Soaplanterns - Soapmaker's Guild Fort (Read 56908 times)