Still no-one else?
Preview: War animals! Ghosts! Elves with awesome animals! New wave of Forest Retreat fashion! A new, awesome prisoner!
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Slate 27, 32
I notice a lot of miasma in the west reverse bridge. Apparently, badgers stink a lot for their size. After having had one in the fortress for a week and a half or so, I agree.
Felsite 1, 32
A mule grew up.
I don't think we'll need to deal with the elves, since they haven't shown their unnaturally clean faces around here yet. Shame, even if they didn't have any awesome animals, they might have spare wood, sunberries, or at least practice for our militia.
Felsite 2, 32
Solon trained a war dog...er, males are a better choice? Whatever.
[Dammit, why didn't Solon train the badger woman? I added [TRAINABLE]...ah, I left out [PET], maybe that's it?]
Felsite 4, 32
Solon trained another war dog. Male, this time.
[Dammit, nope.]
I also notice more blood in the farm plots. Fh 0.8/4.1, at least.
Felsite 9, 32
A giant badger gets angry at the very existance of a yak calf.
It ended...badly.
[Dammit, screwed up the screenshot!...Somehow...]
Not satisfied with killing a yak, the monster turns to Riddledagger, who is working on a north-end-of-the-river project. Time to activate the militia...Never mind, it killed Riddledagger and calmed down, two traits that make this beast who wades through scrapes no longer a target.
[The giant badger was named Scrapewades.]
Felsite 12, 32
Ustuth Uristcatten, a ghostly hammerdwarf, has been seen near the kiln!
...Have we buried ANY of our dead?
Okay, let's get some of these coffins used!
...We only have ONE?!?!?! I'll have the noob-carpenter's workshop get to it immediately!
Felsite 13, 32
Those pointy-ears are cutting it close this year, ain't they? They probably don't have anything good on 'em, but let's check anyways. Besides, with some patience and luck, they might bring exotic critters!
…Holy Armok, their water buffalo is carrying an elephant cage!
[Modding elephants not to graze. THESE ELVES RULE!]
The elves also have a raccoon, a fox, a wolf, a wide array of wooden armor, and a wide variety of other goods.
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From the journal of Apasi Limbplay, merchant of The Everseeing Lions.
These dwarves live in a place called “Dawnstone.” Certainly, at first, it seems nice; bright yellows and deep reds, like the sun at sunrise and noon, show from a distance. Yet it is a fraud. Rotting and rotten corpses of badger men and women are scattered about over the ground. There is a dead yak calf right next to their half-completed front gate, purple miasmic clouds billowing from an entrance west of the river that my hosts tell me are from decaying dwarves and badgers, monsters from the depths roam free on the surface, blood everywhere, fearsome mechanical contraptions by the elephanload, and the sunshine-yellow walls are made from WOOD! It's some kind of fungus-wood, and the dwarves tell me it's grown organically, but I don't trust them. Me and my husband, Imepe Jawticked, mainly came here to see this “Saventrent” thing, a white stone harp with rings of white stone and spines of wolf leather, studded with white stone and clay, and with an image of some mushroom carved on it. Maybe we can trade these spare creatures for some fine dwarvish goods; I imagine that white stone would go well with Princess Niri's bedroom. Maybe we'll discover that these are more kind dwarves than those Cousin Disa met. It took weeks to find all of his limbs.
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Felsite 14, 32
A giant cave spider grew up.
Felsite 15, 32
I found time in my schedule to trade.
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From the journal of Apasi Limbplay.
It took two days of waiting before the trading began. Two days surrounded by animals belonging to these cave-men, watching massive spiders patrol the tunnels underground, staring at the yellow fungus-wood, wishing we could see the glorious sun. Two days of sitting there, staring at the torn-apart badger and the massive cave beasts who likely did the deed, wondering if the dwarves would pull a lever, sending us to our watery grave, wondering if we would face the iron blades of these maniac midgets...I wonder that we did not go mad.
I was therefore pleasantly surprised when the leader of these dwarves, Great-Wyrm Bronze they call him, came and asked to trade the raccoon we brought for a glove. We declined, although the midnight blue would fit well with Her Majesty's wardrobe. They declined, and instead offered TWO gloves, both midnight blue, for the wolf cage. We both knew that the gloves were worth more than half again as much as the wolf, and so accepted the deal. Next, they offered a single giant cave spider silk sock, midnight blue, for both the raccoon AND the fox. The sock was worth more than half again the value of both cages, so we accepted again. Then their leader appologised, but there were no other trades he could make at this time with the state of goods as they were.
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…
Also, a cave spider gave birth. I also noticed a small bird in one of the cages the elves offered. The elves identified it as an oriole. I explained to them that if it didn't get eaten by our cats, it would distract whomever adopted it by flying constantly out of reach. “Maybe if you come with a giant one. Big as a cavy, at least. Ideally bigger.”
I traded a couple items of clothing for a cage, a barrel, and some beer once they were hauled here.
Felsite 16, 32
A hood for an alser spear (not the best weapon, but elves make wood weapons better than we do).
Felsite 17, 32
A shoe for a bunch of berries, then a glove for a bunch of wooden armor. What idiots! They're pleased about this trading!
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From the journal of Apasi Limbplay.
What idiots! They're pleased about this trading! If they simply sold a wardrobe of this blue silk to Queen Ecu, they could practically clean our all of Her Majesty's coffers! Although they don't seem to like wood crafts, so I doubt they'd put much faith in wood coins. They could probably buy out the stables of elephants, though. And there's quite a specialty market for cavern leather, too. All this wealth for a few animals and some surplus military gear! We're so lucky to have been chosen for this! We're even luckier to not have been killed!
They then traded a pig tail dress--also a specialty item--and a llama wool cloak for some river spirits (foul stuff, but then so is all the swill these diggers drink) and a mahogany short sword.
Then, thy show a very unique thing. It's a large, sharp disk, made of some kind of clayey stone. Definitely worth the cloth bin, elephant, and boots we traded it for. No doubt that High Druid Ola will find it useful for a new altar.
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Felsite 19, 32
I choose a spot for a casket for one of our dead.
I trade an alpaca wool glove for a cedar longsword, then a mitten for some berries, a crutch, a cage, and a low boot. I never thought I'd say this, but these elves are nicer than our own dwarven trade partners!
Felsite 20, 32
A mitten and a glove for two wooden shields.
A giant cave spider gave birth to three identical female spiderlings.
A dress for a buckler and a couple boots. The elves look very happy about all of this.
A carpenter walled himself in. Odd, I thought they built walls from the west...
Felsite 21, 32
A cloak for a cage and a bunch of clay.
Felsite 23, 32
The badger woman has been trained in the Art of War.
[Hey, it worked! Sweet!]
She will be patrolling the area just outside my rooms until a better idea comes along.
[Anyone have any idea how to give her weapons?]
Felsite 24, 32
A couple shields and a barrel for a dress. It took a while to reach an agreement, but the elves are still pleased.
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From the journal of Apasi Limbplay
It took a while, but we have secured another dress for Princess Niri's wardrobe. Lovely, midnight blue giant cave spider silk. We will be so FAMOUS and RICH! These creatures are not like us, but they are skilled craftswomen. And men, their males are as important as their females. Weird, but the patriarchal
human societies are completely bizzare!
[This is from the elves' point of view, remember.]
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...
The elephant was trained for war. Excellent.
Felsite 25, 32
I noticed someone walling themselves in. Again.
Several sand bags were traded for two (undyed) giant cave spider silk glove and a dyed sheep wool cloak, then an emerald green rope for a pig tail fiber sock, hood, and quiver. I wonder what their plan are for them; I don't speak much Elvish, but they seem to be talking a lot about their princess and queen, and clothes. Elves. Everything's fasion and celebrities with them.
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From the journal of Apasi Limbplay
We start to notice that some of the clothes are bloody and/or waterlogged. Judging from the leather, miscellaneous supplies, and corpse in the river, it would seem that drowning is a major cause of death around here. They also seem to fight a lot, which makes sense. Still, we need to tidy them up. Maybe red and gray streaks will be seen as fasionable, but the smell of blood won't be. I wonder if the Queen or Princess would notice the difference in shade between blueberry and dimple cup blue? If they do, and we claim that it's 100% dimple cup, we could be executed for fraud. Is it worth it?
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Felsite 26, 32
A couple seed bags for a couple claoks and a robe. A boot for a cap. The elves now have nothing useful to buy. The first carpenter to wall himself in has been badgering me for a while about a meeting, but I have an order for stone coffins to manage and a badger woman guard to check on the progress of.
...She's guarding, I guess.
Felsite 28, 32
Lorbam, the carpenter/mason I've known since the beginning, walled himself in. “Walledeast” indeed.
[Walledeast is Lorbam's last name. Ironic.]
Lorbam swiftly starts taking down to try and escape.
Hematite 1, 32
Kogan Boatblizzards said to me, “There's a snatcher! He's a goblin webber!”
I gasped. “A webber? Those are really rare, aren't th-SARVESH! Where's the snatcher?”
“In that cage trap over there.”
“...Okay, this really could have waited a couple hours, I'm busy here.”
The snatcher will be stripped of clothing and then...SOMETHING will be done.
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Another prisoner! Taming this one isn't an option, though...
Goblin webbers fire webs of obsidian. A bit of work and maybe modding obsidian some should result in an obsidian silk farm!