"Wildshroom's offer offended Beetle Queen Corruptspike to the core,
but she needed money and he controlled a dragon's hoard. She had no
doubt that her blood was pure enough to hide the shameful linage of
the proposed offspring, and even less doubt that their fully drow half
sibblings would destroy them anyway in the cutthroat game of drowish
succession. Flawlessly masking her utter revulsion, she accepted the
proposition and lead the crafty rouge to her bedchambers."
-Inscribed upon The Song of GunsmokeSmith Lord Aurora Wordfire, Refuge Queen of Silent Hammers, Empress Consort of the Southernfrost, and Queen Consort of Bedlamb and the Marble CitySkills and Abilities:
-Although my social skills are rusty from isolation, I am highly respected as one of the few remaining first diggers.
-I am the greatest mortal metal-smith and furnace worker, without question. My skills in this area even surpass those of some gods.
-I have also mastered many other crafting skills, unrelated to the furnace.
-So long as my history is recorded in the language of the diggers, my soul and mind cannot truly be snuffed out (Granted by the World Weld)
-I can create mighty artifacts by inscribing the items I create with the great deeds of myself or the item's intended recipient (Granted by the World Weld)
-I am aware of the general location and activities of those who wield my artifacts, and I may exert light influence over their behavior (Granted by the World Weld)
-I can detect the great deeds of others nearby (Granted by the World Weld)
Artifacts and Minions:
The World Weld - Links my soul, the digger language, and the laws of reality itself. Allows me to easily create lesser artifacts.
The Face of Fate - Makes the wearer a mighty fighter and assassin. Wielded by Mril-Minda, who is presently teaching her child how to safely mix and apply poison to a blade.
The Song of Gunsmoke - Boosts the social skills of the wearer and luck of his/her offspring. Not yet wielded by a permanent owner.
Known Mortal Family:
(Husband - Present) All-Lord Ukareem the Silver, Emperor of the Southernfrost
(Husband - Absent) Scholar-King Emscythe, Monarch of the Marble City and Secretary General of the Greatwalls Alliance
(Husband - Absent) Bloodlord Haigen the Usurper, King of Bedlamb
(Mother-in-Law - Present) Trumil, the Slime Mold Hag
(Infant Son) Prince Dremscythe, Heir to Silent Hammers and the Marble City
Holdings:
Silent Hammers: A small city that provides 1 Wealth and 1 Food per month. Houses and defends up to 50 FU to military might. (23/50)
Dung Slopes Fungal Farm: A particularly fertile farm where up to 6 LU can work per month. Typically yields 1 Food per LU of labor.
Oddearth Cliffs Quarry: A mineral rich quarry where up to 8 LU can work per month. Typically yields 1 Stone per LU of labor. Typically yields 1 Limonite per 2 LU of Labor. Typically yields 1 Sulfur and 1 Wicked Salt per 4 LU of labor. Goblin workforce increases chance of positive random events. High chance of being targed by goblin raids. Costs 1 Wealth to maintain per month.
Axeltax at Tunnel's Mouth: A watchtower that Houses and defends up to 6 FU of military might. Yields 2 Wealth/month in collected taxes while at least 3 FU are stationed here. (3/6, Human Phalanx)
Available Military Population:
15-5 Force Units of Human Phalanx (x1.2 Bonus to open field battle. Available for 105 more months, or until the Kingdom of Narm enters a state of civil war)
5 Force Units of Dwarf/Drugar Militia (x1.3 Bonus to defending cities or fighting underground)
5 Force Units of Goblin Warslaves (x.75 Penalty to fighting in bright sunlight, does not need food to act)
3-3 Force Units of Charcoal Tribe Elf Rangers (x2 Bonus to fighting in the woods)
2 Force Units of Drugar Siege Operators (x4 Bonus to attacking cities, x1.5 Bonus to fighting megabeasts, x.25 Penalty in all other combat situations)
1 Force Unit of Weremule Warmonks (x3 Bonus to guarding VIPs, x.1 Penalty against Nickle Silver weapons, does not need food to act)
Civilian Population:
12 Labor Units of Assorted and Mixed Breed Diggers (2 LU to 5 FU Conversion Rate before material mod)
8 Labor Units of Halfling Commoners (2 LU to 4 FU Conversion Rate before material mod)
5 Labor Units of Goblin Slaves (2 LU to 4 FU Conversion Rate before material mod, does not need food to act)
4 Labor Units of Highborn Dwarves (1 LU to 4 FU Conversion Rate before material mod)
4 Labor Units of Highborn Drugar (1 LU to 4 FU Conversion Rate before material mod)
3 Labor Units of Educated Drugar Acolytes (1 LU to 4 FU Conversion Rate before material mod)
2 Labor Units of Human Commoners (2 LU to 7 FU Conversion Rate before material mod)
1 Labor Unit of Hobgoblin Drivers (2 LU to 7 FU Conversion Rate before material mod, does not need food to act)
Basic Resources:
x16 Food (+1 Per Month) - Your people can and do feed themselves, but food from the royal grainy must be provided for people to put aside their own livelyhood and peruse your interests. Spending 1 food allows you to issue an order commanding up to 5 FU or LU. Converting LU to FU will also usually cost additional food. You can deploy trade convoys to try and convert other resources into food.
x23 Wealth (+2 Per Month) - A representation of the various coins and paper currency in your treasury. Used to buy other resources and favors, and is generally the most effective resource to use as a trade good.
+1 City
+2 Axeltax
-1 Quarry
Advanced Resources:
x12 Wood (The most basic construction resource. Artifacts made from wood tend to harness the power of nature)
x6 Stone (A more sturdy and less flammable construction resource. Artifacts made from stone tend to harness the power of earth)
x23 (+3 Per month for 107 months) Marble (A more valuable form of stone that can be combined with iron to make steel at a smelter. Artifacts made from Marble tend to harness the power of light)
x20 Brick (A common construction resource. Brick is already a finished good, and cannot be used as a component for most artifacts)
x9 Bronze (A military resource with a .80 Material Mod. Artifacts made from bronze tend to harness the power of fire)
x15 Iron (A military resource with no Material Mod. Artifacts made from iron tend to enhance the wearer's metalworking ability)
x4 Steel (A military resource with a 1.5 Material Mod. Artifacts made from steel tend to have protective effects)
x4 Bloodstone (A magical military resource with no material mod. Both common gear and artifacts made from Bloodstone are particularly deadly towards all the digger races)
x5 Mithiril (A magical military resource with a 1.7 material mod. When using this as a material for an artifact, choose two other component materials and boost their effect on the finished piece)
x1 Night Mithiril (A magical military resource with a 1.7 material mod. Artifacts made from Night Mithiril tend to aid in criminal activity)
x2 Deep Sapphire (A magical Military resource with a material mod of .5. Gear and artifacts made from Sapphire are great at drawing out the sorcerous power within one's blood)
x6 Sulfur (A magical resource used in the worship of wicked gods and construction of advanced siege weapons. Artifacts of sulfur are favored by wicked gods)
x1 Ensouled Leather of the Sailor (A magical resource gifted to you by the skin cutter nymphs to help tame predator lake. Unknown effect if used outside its intended artifact purpose)
x1 Ensouled Leather of the Princess (A magical resource gifted to you by the skin cutter nymphs to help tame an unruly child. Unknown effect if used outside its intended artifact purpose)
x1 Ensouled Leather of the Champion (A magical resource gifted to you by the skin cutter nymphs as a means to defend yourself. Unknown effect if used outside its intended artifact purpose)
Known Allies and Enemies:
Bardhill County (Ally, Trade Partner) - The fertile and clay rich human territory that completely encompasses your land. The ruler, Count Chance, deeply respects the craftsdwarfshipp and military skill of the diggers. In exchange for resources and a loan of troops, you have agreed to aid him in an anticipated civil war against his fellow counts when the king dies.
Southernfrost Empire (Ally) - The southernmost and mightiest of the northern dwarven civilizations. Southernfrost is rich in bronze and labor. The empire is ruled by your husband All-Lord Ukareem the Silver.
The Greatwalls Alliance (Ally, Trade Partner) - A loose confederacy of prosperous drugar city-states that pays tribute to your husband, Scholar-King Emscythe. Rich in copper, sulfur, and flux stone.
The Kingdom of Bedlamb (Ally) - Nation of drugar ruled by your husband Bloodlord Haigen the Usurper. Rich in iron, flux stone, and gems. Currently defending against invasion from an unknown drugar kingdom, and raids from an unknown dwarf kingdom.
The Beetle Queendoms (Enemy to All Diggers) - A drowish nation that sits between Silent Hammers and The Greatwalls Alliance. Traders can navigate around it, and they are currently too busy dealing with surface elf raiders to pose a threat.
The Pinewoods Tribes (Hostile) Small yet fierce surface elf civilizations that separate Silent Hammers from the Southernfrost Empire and the Kingdom of Bedlamb. They find the very ideas of commerce and industry to be deeply offensive, and slaughter trade convoys on site as a rule.
The Eastvile drone frowns, and you continue.
"I already have a contract in place to make an artifact for the Opal Elves, which should keep me busy for a few months. But if we come to terms, I think I can help you after I'm done with that. Do you have any reason to keep the trident as big as it is? I *should* be able to trim it down to a size suitable for you when I reforge it, which means we could count the leftover material as part of my payment.Your words wipe the smug look off the drone's face.
"You can make an artifact in a matter of months? YOU CAN STRAIGHT UP REFORGE THE TRIDENT? Great Durkim Below, that is straight up impressive darling.""The legends about me are mostly true. You boast,
"and I've recently become far more powerful than even they might suggest. Behave yourself, and come back in a few months with a better offer.""I will do that. I'll come back with the measurments so that one of my colonies larger soldiers can use the thing. My weapons of choice was never the trident..." The Eastvile drone admits as he saunters back over to his wagon to pull out his scepter, which he playfully points in your direction once more.
"Just be careful. I already admire you, but if you keep this up, I may wind up respecting you."---
You gather your court, and explain that once again you intend to enter a trance and make an artifact. Since you doubt there is any way this process will take you any more than four months, you convince Ukareem to stick around and rule Silent Hammers in your stead, even if you should fall pregnant while working. You then explain your intended objectives for the next few months, select your finest sample of marble to complement the singing wood you aquired from the Opal Elves, and retire to your workshop.
---
Time passes quickly while you are in the trance, but so does progress on the artifact. As you complete your project and begin to recover from the trance, you make several observations; First, you appear to be in the early stages of pregnancy, second, a little more than two months have passed, and third you fanatically clinging to an anklet made of singing wood and decorated with marble.
The Song of Gunsmoke:This Singing Wood Anklet is adorned with marble images of drowish queens being defiled my members of various other races. When exposed to enough light, the artifact softly sings and moans like a drow in the throes of pleasure.
The wearer of this artifact has their social skills greatly enhanced while they are dealing with somebody far above their social station. The brighter the artifact's surroundings are, the more irresistible the wearer becomes to those who would normally be interested in someone his/her race, gender, and bodytype. Bastards and half-breeds conceived while either parent is wearing the artifact are born with exceptional health, beauty, and luck. The wearer of this artifact my corrupt, assimilate, and easily gain possession of lesser artifacts not tied to the World Weld.
As you continue to emerge from the crafting state,
you arrange for food to be provided and order 5 FU of human phalanx to deliver the freshly minted artifact to Nazier Wildshroom at once. Then you call upon your court to learn what has transpired while you were occupied.
Progress Report from Hobbit Caravan:The route was interesting. First we traveled through the Pinewoods to reach Pine Hills, a region of The Southernfrost where hill giants live. There we found an ancient ruin built by the stone giants, which a bunch of hobbit 'archaeologists' were busy plundering. The 'archaeologists' loaded a bunch of Iron, Steel, and Mithiril statues onto our wagons, and once this was done we turned around and retraced our steps. On our way out of the Pinewoods, we encountered a few small raiding parties of nasty local elves, but they were quickly put down without significant causalities on our part.
Once we exited the woods, our caravan crossed the Kingdom of Narm to reach the city of Inferno, they royal capital where King Razor makes his home. The halflings living on the foothills outside of town have set up smelters and forges to provide for all the crime families in the entire region! The statues were exchanged for weapons and ingots, which we returned to Branding Iron. The Don has allotted you a cut of Iron and Mithiril bars as payment for our services.
-Princess Myguwen
Labor continues, crop yield meets expectations, whores are still present. We caught some ferral goblins snooping around last week. Under interrogation, the captives told us that some of the Hobgoblins in their tribe wish to kidnap and rape some of my female soldiers in hopes of producing new Bugbears. I turned the captives loose, so that their tribe would know I was wise to their plan. Hopefully that will be enough to prevent an attack, but extra guards would be appreciated for the next few months.
-Phalanx Officer Lexington
Last month we were able to finish hauling the previous brick deal without incident.
This month, me and my dwarven colleagues were able to find three potential brick deals for you to consider:
-A Brickyard in Goldears offered to sell us 20 Brick for 7 Wealth. The seller would be willing to handle the shipping on this deal.
-The Count's men are auctioning off the assets of a bankrupt construction firm, and their are two lots which we may consider bidding on; The first lot consists of 75 Units of Brick. The second lot consists of 60 Units of assorted appraised woods, some of which looks to be of the rare elfish variety. If we win either lot, we would have to either handle shipping ourself or pay a 5 wealth shipping fee.
-A wandering wizard would be willing to trade bricks for magical military resources at a 7:1 ratio, or 5:1 with shipping included. He reckons he will be in the area for three more months.
Slave and citizen alike bowed to the crack of my whip, and a mighty quarry was constructed in your name master! Reports of strange rocks found in the area prove true as well! We have struck common rock, limonite ore, sulfur, and wicked salts! The latter is particular good news, as the peons love wicked salts! ...Although I have a feeling that the presence of this mineral here will draw feral goblin raids if left unprotected. I suggest installing a tower at once.
-Slave Driver Terrorgrin
Here is our report on each main section of the city. Our report divides the town into City Center, North Slope, and Southern Flats. These there areas each assume a degree of digging under the neighboring bits of the Ring of Toil and Ring of Leisure.
City Center: The soil is rocky and stable here. We could dig out an new neighborhood with 5 improvement slots for 40 LU of effort. It also seems likely that we have a vein of common decorative gems under this neighborhood as well, and for the same amount of LU we could add 3 improvement slots and a mine shaft instead. Either way, our digging effort will yield some stone.
North Slope: The soil is rock and stable here. We could dig out a new neighborhood with 5 improvement slots for 40 LU of effort. Some of our surveyors are of the opinion that if we forgo digging here now, we might be able to use this space to drain predator lake right into the lands of the Beetle Queendoms with the scholar-kings help later, if a destructive mega-project suits you. Any digging effort will yield some stone.
Southern Flats: The space available underground is large, but the topsoil is deep and unstable. We could dig out a new neighborhood with 20 improvement slots for 250 LU of effort and 50 Construction resources to serve as support. Our digging effort will yield some stone, but likely not enough to recoup construction resource costs.
Construction Types:
Surface Farm - 10 Construction Resources to Build, 0 Wealth per Month Maintenance. Allows you to send Labor Units of Population to acquire food. Yields vary greatly compared to underground farms. Amount of food given varies by location.
Fishing Village - 10 Wood Construction resources to build. Can only be built in the Predator Shores. Workers assigned to a fishing village are permanently housed there, and provide food for themselves and others.
Monument - 15 Construction Resources to Build, 0 Wealth per Month Maintenance. Erecting Monuments to the great deeds of yourself or your artifact wielding heroes deepens your understanding and control over the World Weld.
Watchtower - 20 Construction Resources to Build, 0 Wealth per Month Maintenance. Houses and Defends up to 6 FU of Soldiers.
Quarry - 30 Construction Resources to Build, 1 Wealth per Month Maintenance. Allows you to send Labor Units of Population to acquire rock. Amount and type of rock given by a quarry is rolled when quarry is first constructed.
Claypit - 10 Construction Resources to Build, 0 Wealth per Month Maintenance. Allows you to send Labor Units of Population to acquire clay. Unlocks Brickyard improvement for your city.
Fortress - 50 Construction Resources to Build, 0 Wealth per Month Maintenance. Houses and Defends up to 15 FU of Soldiers.
Dark Fortress - 50 Construction Resources to Build, 1 Wealth per Month Maintenance. Houses and Defends up to 15 FU of Soldiers. If a Bugbear or other appropriate magic user is stationed at a Dark Fortress, it produces Goblin Slaves.
Scouted Locations:
Predator Shores - Few people have the guts to live near Predator Lake, but fishing villages here can be profitable until the wildlife wipes them out.
Faustian Plains - The low lands that make up the majority of the valley. Unstable soil means complications are probable when building large things, such as fortresses, here.
Dread Swamps - Wetlands on the southern edge of predator lake that are home to man species of man eating beast, as well as the dangerous and drow aligned descendants of the rebel wizard Faust. The vile soil here is good for growing several varieties of magical plant.
Faust's Foothills - Mineral rich hills completely controlled by the dangerous and drow aligned descendants of the rebel wizard Faust. The mountains just beyond these hills are unclaimed by the Kingdom of Narm, and also likely crawling with rebel wizards.
Northern Estates - Human nobles attempted to grow woods to serve as game preserves here several decades ago, only for elves to move in and drive them out. These elves are aligned with the commerce hating Pinewoods Tribes, and connected to them by underground tunnels. The Pinewoods Tribes use this location as a staging area to raid the Beetle Queendoms, and could easily use it as a staging area to attack the rest of Faust's Valley if they chose to do so.
The Blood Pits - A location where cinnabar and fire salts can be extracted via quarry. Elves from the Northern Estates and Faust's rebel wizards fight over this land tooth and nail.
-All but one of the were-eagles have been killed. Their attacks over the last few months have caused little to no damage.
-Count Chance has managed to sell the individuals revealed to be were-eagles in quarantine. You have gained 4 wealth.
-Trumil has tracked the sorcerer down to a human run boarding house in the Southern Flats. She suggests sending somebody with mundane detective skills to narrow it down further, or allowing her to strike down everybody under the roof with a foul curse that cannot be traced to you.
-Since you have fallen pregnant, Ukareem is planning to leave your side within the next week or so. Now would be a good time to wrap up any busniess you have with him, such as planning that monastery.
-A small band of Tiger Heads, a hated digger minority race, attempted to visit and pay you homage, but their presence caused the local population to riot, so Urist the Lefthanded drove them out of town. They have apparently found refuge in Goldears for now.
-Mysterious Drugar, dressed as nobles, have been spotted around the hobbit holes and drug runners guild just beyond your walls over the past few months.
-Those who worked on the quarry are complaining because the Hobgoblin Drivers took charge of the project in its second month, and proceeded to abuse all their workers, goblin or otherwise. As there were no humans present to suffer the abuse, the Phalanx guard chose not to get involved in the matter.
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Topic: (SG) Rise of the Smith Lord (Read 19453 times)