18th Timber"I wonder where that caravan's got to," I muttered, peering out through the fortifications. Nothing moved in the Lonely Jungle right now except hippos and a couple of peacocks. Even the blood gnats were sluggish in the autumn heat. To the far north, something crawled along slowly under a shimmering haze. "Oh, there they are."
"Mr Madushkubuk?" Vudnis was at my elbow; I jumped. "Sorry," she said. "I, um..."
"What can I do for you?"
Vudnis looked nervous and embarrassed. "I--I want to ask a favor. A big favor."
"What is it?"
"Will you put the soldiers on guard, please?"
"The--soldiers?" I stared at her. "Why? It's quiet. You can see for yourself."
"I know, but... I've just got this feeling."
"I'm not putting the soldiers on duty for a funny feeling," I said. Vudnis looked crestfallen. Another idea came to me. "I know! Let's--put that bone armor stand up outside, and tell Ushrir the Crystalline Oceans are to train there for now. They'll be the first to spot trouble, then, if there is any." And I supposed we might as well have the Seas of Silver up on the ramparts too when the caravan came in, just to make a good impression.
"My goodness," the liaison said as he stepped over the sandstone bridge. "You
have been busy, Mr Madushkubuk..." The last time dwarves from Isakudil had seen this place, we'd still had the old wooden palisade. The new wall was now two layers thick on its lower level. The fortifications were coming along slowly. The liaison looked up, and Endok waved cheerily at him through one of the apertures. The liaison paled a little.
"Mr Madushkubuk?"
"Go away, I'm busy."
"But Mr Madushkubuk, you're wanted at the depot."
"Tell them I'll be there in a minute."
"Mr Madushkubuk, are you ready yet?"
"No! Look, you can't rush this sort of thing."
"But Mr Madushkubuk, it's the sixth of Moonstone now. They don't want to wait much longer."
"Look, just--go away and stop bothering me. Can't someone else do it?"
"I'll do it," said Led Lolorilid, the leatherworker.
"What did you get, Led?"
"Two pigs, a chicken, lots of leather..."
"Wait, you were buying
animals? Why?"
"Because they're in metal cages," he said matter-of-factly. "A cage is big enough to yield a whole bar. If we melt those down that's three more copper bars for us. Oh yeah, I got four more steel bars, and some bins of leather, and a couple of pairs of bronze boots because half our soldiers are walking around without 'em. And I got the lye you wanted. And a steel anvil because that can be melted too."
That was a smart dwarf.
I went off to get a drink and take a quick break, came back and found someone else in my workshop.
"Who are you again?" I said, somewhat irritated.
"Um, trigg, sir. Is this all right, me being here? I thought I could be helpful..."
I eyed him for a moment, then picked up a bar of the soap and examined it closely.
"Hey, this isn't half bad. I didn't
know you were a soaper. Well, carry on..."
We're going to need more soapmaking workshops, I thought. Maybe it's time to expand. Move the soapmaking industry below...
25th Opal, mid-winter"So much for your funny feeling, Vudnis," I said, as we stood on the ramparts and watched the merchant caravan winding away through the jungle.
"I'm sorry, Mr Madushkubuk. I guess I was wrong." She still looked worried though. If possible, more than before.
"Well..." I said, "we might as well let the Crystalline Oceans stay where they are now. They'll get fresh air that way, and if anything tries to get in to ambush us, the first thing it'll meet is a bunch of pissed-off soldiers." Ushrir had been grumbling about long patrol duty lately. "It was still a good idea, Vudnis."
Vabok Shovethakrul, a mason, gave birth to another child on the 10th Obsidian.
There were now nine children living in Soaplanterns.
Two days later, Fikod, the son of Urdim-and-Urdim, celebrated his first birthday. I had taken a particular interest in this little boy, the first native son of Soaplanterns. I was still thinking about the curse story, and the strange and unsettling artifacts we had had. Dwarves were beginning to move into the new bedroom suites down below now; if there was anything uncanny down beneath the aquifer, we were now much closer to it than before. Surely if there was anything wrong it would show itself in the children first. But Fikod, so far, was a perfectly normal child. That was comforting.
"Zephyr!" It was Nevyn, looking alarmed. "It's Momuz."
"What's wrong with her?" I said, getting quickly to my feet.
Whoops
I accidentally the mayor in the middle of the meeting (she mandated fine pewter and I was like NOPE.jpg) so we don't get to request anything this year. Oh well.
Nope, we haven't had any humans yet, unfortunately our dear friends the Oceanic Ghoul sieged us through the summer so that put a stop to that. It's a shame because we really could have used the metal stuff they tend to bring. I think we're entitled to humans now, we've had very low fortress wealth for the first couple years because of low production (soap, I'm afraid is not worth very much usually) but it's climbing fast now. We're all getting luxurious 3x3 smoothed rooms with two cabinets and a bed eventually.
I will add a captain of the guard called Justicedwarf. I may just cheat on the mandates though, at least until we have a jail. I've had captain of the guards beat dwarves to death quite happily with adamantine hammers before, so I'm not entirely convinced a wooden sword will save lives
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Topic: Ubenudil, Soaplanterns - Soapmaker's Guild Fort (Read 56987 times)