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THE BIG IDEA

Inspired by MottledPetrel's Modded Hell and many huge modpacks before it, I've decided to have a go at making my own collection, but with a twist. I don't want a batshit insane world where namekians are slaughtering goombas with plungers. My goal was to assemble (and tweak) as many mods as I could (I'm not really proficient at reading raws) while sticking to the generic fantasy theme.
You know what's the most interesting? The modpack is stable, probably because there aren't that many complex interactions going on, ~~and the error log is only a meter long~~.

The point is, I want to brag about my creation, and despite being a crappy writer, and not being the most proficient in writing in English, I've decided to do a drow fort story

Spoiler: mods included in no particular order (click to show/hide)

WHERE ARE WE NOW?

The save state is gone, and the story is over. Almost.

DWAR... DROWING

SQ (me) - animal trainer/caretaker/house overseer
Lunardog15 - brewer/planter
~~MottledPetrel - fisherman~~ killed by a firebreathing clown with a chainsaw
scourge728 - animal trainer/shearer
Fred the Mitey (Pikachu17) - miner/house administrator
Darkening Kaos - mechanic/weaponsmith/carpenter
Imic - swordsman/craftsman/house weapon master, leader of the Blackguards
ZM5 - stabber/potter
Schmendrick (FakerFangirl) - shearer/spinner/weaver/brewer
Freshcannon - house priestess, leader of the Helmet Snakes
Asin - House captain, leader of the Steel Samurais
Ombragon - cook

Name, profession, special requests, as simple as that.

GET YOUR OWN COPY FOR FREE (VERSION 1.3.3 - Baggy update) (http://dffd.bay12games.com/file.php?id=13820)

The menagerie and botanical gardens of the drow capital, usually crowded with all kinds of people, were almost completely empty. Caretakers gathered around an empty enclosure, looking at the main gate with excitement.
"This time it has to be something good"
"I dunno, probably a false alarm. Last time they brought another bunch of geese"
"Shut up you two, you're ruining the mood"
"those three false alarms last week ruined my mood already"
"shush! I heard something!"

Suddenly the grand gate began to open. The cavern became silent for a moment, nobody dared to breathe, let alone talk. A wagon pulled by four rothe appeared in the gate, carrying a crate large enough to contain a well fed cow. The drow looked at the crate with anticipation. There's no way it's something mundane again, is there?
The wagon slowly moved towards the empty enclosure. People began to whisper.
"Oh, I bet it's a dragon"
"Maybe a dragonne?"
"Perhaps a dragoon?"
The whispering was cut short by the cart stopping. Four rhinotrolls entered the enclosure and placed the crate on soft moss. As they were doing that, the animal inside made a disappointingly familiar grunt. Many of the caretakers rolled their eyes and returned to their usual work, the rest crossed their fingers hoping for a miracle.

As soon as the rhinotrolls opened the crate, every bit of doubt was cleared - this was a huge waste of time. A fat molebull crawled out. The menagerie already had a herd of those, and this one wasn't special in any way - the same pointy horns, the same shaggy fur, the same round belly.

A young caretaker barged into the menagerie overseer's office.
"Overseer, you said it was "a beast most ferocious", not a farm animal! You've sent our last draltha for slaughter to replace it with this?"
"Now, now SQ, there's no point of being upset over things like this" the overseer said calmly. "After all we're still getting funded. You know, new animals get in, girls from the palace pump gold into my... our coffers."
"Is that all you care about? The previous overseer would send expeditions to the deepest caverns to capture cave eagles, elusive deep stalkers, even ancient constructs from forgotten times, you just cheat the system in hope that nobody will ever find out!" SQ was struggling to restrain herself. If not for two rhinotrolls standing in the room, she would have probably got violent. "You know, if enough people complained to Valsharess..."
"Is this a threat? I can make sure you all mind your own business, after all I'm only treating you as my equals out of my own good will. Maybe you don't really deserve that, huh, quaggoth girl? Remember, as long as I'm on the higher position, you're no better than a slave." That was true, the line between subordinates and slaves in drow society was blury to say the least. SQ hated that fact.
"What if... what if I stopped working for you? Maybe even become your superior?" asked SQ barely holding back tears. "If... if everything goes well, you won't... won't have the right to object."
"I think I know what you're planning. Alright, remember one thing: if they turn you away, don't expect me to forgive you. If you come here to beg me to take you back, I'll have you whipped until there's nothing left of you, and you know I'm not exaggerating.

"Breathe, SQ, breathe..." SQ thought to herself, standing in front of the door to the Surveying and Settlement Ministry bureau "you can do it, just knock on the door, and the conversation will flow on its own. If you chicken out now, you'll have to run away into the caverns where driders would certainly get you. Okay, here goes..."
As she was about to knock, a tired-looking male opened the door "You're gonna stand here the whole day or do you want something signed? If it's the latter, come back in, let's see... next Timber 23. I've got undercoffee to drink and the mistress is on a business trip to Stop-Bothering-Me"
for a moment SQ considered being compliant and going home, but then she remembered the situation she was in. "I... I'm here to... the notice on the wall... please..."
"Ah, that. Can you believe you're the first person to ever ask about this? That's nuts, isn't it? Oh, right, get six more people, supplies, tools and what not. I'll take care of the paperwork." The male slammed the door shut, leaving SQ confused for a few seconds.
"Have I just become an expedition leader?" the girl asked herself "And where am I gonna find six people willing to join me?"

I'm intrigued, even though I have no experience with mods whatsoever...unless editing the files to play as non-dwarves counts. :P

This sounds interesting, I've never seen an over-modded game I didn't like.

oh oh me pick me
btw you may have to deal with many bad puns

Glad I could inspire another modded labor of love, and that apparently Modded Hell is now the highest marker on the "Fuck, we modded it too much" scale :P . And also, yay my mod is being used for something, admittedly before I actually made any of the cool stuff, but hey, you've got the mushroom clubs. It's ironic really, you decided to pick up all the mods I specifically avoided on the basis that they were either too much work or didn't really fit the mood, so I'm interested to see what they contain. I actually had drows in at some point, but they were consistently crashing the game, so good for you for either fixing them or being lucky enough to gen a world where they didn't break everything. I'll take a drow I guess, a fisher who doesn't really care about anything anymore.

Quote from: MottledPetrel on May 06, 2018, 04:09:20 pm

Glad I could inspire another modded labor of love, and that apparently Modded Hell is now the highest marker on the "Fuck, we modded it too much" scale :P . And also, yay my mod is being used for something, admittedly before I actually made any of the cool stuff, but hey, you've got the mushroom clubs. It's ironic really, you decided to pick up all the mods I specifically avoided on the basis that they were either too much work or didn't really fit the mood, so I'm interested to see what they contain. I actually had drows in at some point, but they were consistently crashing the game, so good for you for either fixing them or being lucky enough to gen a world where they didn't break everything. I'll take a drow I guess, a fisher who doesn't really care about anything anymore.

more of "oh god we made some thing modded so much that physics drinks to forget that even happened"

Quote from: MottledPetrel on May 06, 2018, 04:09:20 pm

I actually had drows in at some point, but they were consistently crashing the game, so good for you for either fixing them or being lucky enough to gen a world where they didn't break everything. I'll take a drow I guess, a fisher who doesn't really care about anything anymore.

I haven't seen anything that could break the game in the raws, or at least I don't remember having trouble with this mod.
The only real problem is that there's only 50% chance to gen a world with drows, because there's so many civs and I decided to leave dwarves playable and updated as well.

Overall the whole thing was a good learning experience. Before that I didn't know that [NOEMOTION] makes civilized creatures unable to satisfy their needs. That would explain why Forgotten Realms Direforged's earth elementals and golems would become permanently distracted.
Reaction modding doesn't feel alien anymore, that I finally bothered to take a look at them. Speaking of reactions, I forgot to give drows the wonderworker from expanded good/evil regions. Actually forgot that I added that mod. Oops.

Interested, willing to take a drow of some sort, not sure how much RPing I'll do though

Turns out I've deleted plant_standard somewhere along the way. That would explain quite a lot. It's fixed now, but I'll have to gen a new world now.
Fixed half-assedly implemented Expanded Good/Evil Regions
Gave drows [STRANGE_MOODS]. Always bothers me when modders don't give it to playable civs. It's such an important feature for complete Dwarf Fortress experience

Anyway, I heard that there were no serious raw changes in the new version of DF, so I may as well wait for Dwarf Therapist to update.

Edit:
Added a few more mods: squamous's The Lunar Realms, SeiggrainHart's Seiggrain's Farming and stuff, Kazoo's Silk Eggs. Most spiders from various mods should lay silk eggs now.
Those weren't fun things to implement. Lunar Realms is another total conversion that modifies original files. Farming and stuff has mithril (present in drow mod) and orichalcum (Culture Shock , which I apparently tried to include at some point), and also a few typos in the raws. Silk Eggs were just annoying, and I'm pretty sure I missed some spiders, especially D&D spiders.

I wanted to write something today, but got too invested in adding more stuff. I might try to fully implement Culture Shock tomorrow. I remember getting discouraged by the number of items, especially weapons, but now I feel like I can get through that quickly.

Just want to confirm that you actually gave the drows the reactions from my mod, most of the plants are kinda useless without them.

I should like to be drowed as a miner/Doctor/appraiser named "Fred the Mitey".

Quote from: MottledPetrel on May 09, 2018, 05:33:13 am

Just want to confirm that you actually gave the drows the reactions from my mod, most of the plants are kinda useless without them.

Yeah, both drows and dwarves got all those reactions, and they seem to work just fine.

Culture Shock is in with all of its add-ons by the way. There were some major problems, including duped entries, but it was nothing I couldn't fix. What's left to do now? I was thinking about including the Arctic Addition Mod by Malecus, but I'm not sure if raws are up to date. They probably are, considering they're from november 2014.

Sorry for the slow progress, but it's been a really tough week at work, and it's gonna be a tough weekend at school. Having said that, I'll probably get something done by monday

(https://i.imgur.com/O0ZEL1t.png)

Hey guys, look what I made! I'm not satisfied with drows allying only with horrible monsters though. Apparently most races are good guys despite all those grimdark post-apocalyptic mods squamous keeps pumping out.

A couple of things: the modpack survived the update, Arctic Addition has been compiled and included, a decent world has been genned, but I'm not sure where to embark. Should I go for cold taiga, savage forest, tropical rainforest, savanna? I just don't know yet.

savage something for sure

You got skel-bros though, that could be a good thing. And a savage savannah is fundamentally interesting, lotsa animals to fight, capture and, most importantly, eat.

Drow me as a mechanic/weapon-smith/something-useful-to-begin.

Personal items: I always grab a few boulders of tetrahedrite, it is reasonably cheap and grants two different, very useful metals. Several logs, and some granite rocks.

SQ came out of the ministry building still confused. Six more drows and enough resources to last for the road and building a settlement? How is one unemployed young woman from the slum district supposed to get it all in such short time? Short time? The man in the office hasn't specified that, or anything else for that matter, but SQ just assumed she was supposed to hurry. All she really knew was that she needed to pack what little personal belongings she had. "Off to my room then" she thought to herself "I think I still had some coal hidden away"

Slum district dorms, SQ was standing in front of the door to her room. Somebody had recently plastered a piece of parchment to it. It was an eviction notice, but not the usual one - this notice stated that SQ's possession had already been disposed of, and she had no right to appeal.
SQ couldn't process what she just read, she just stood there breathing heavily. "No, no, NO! This can't... no, this really was my room... All my things!"
While SQ was wrestling with her thoughts, another young woman appeared seemingly out of nowhere. "SQ! I heard what happened! I can't believe they did that to you!"
"S... Scourge? I don't understand! They know I'm leaving! Why wouldn't they let me get my stuff?"
Scourge, like SQ, was a caretaker in the menagerie, and like SQ she was raised among cavern creatures
"I thing I recognized some of the new menagerie overseer's goons accompanying the guards and... Wait, you are leaving? Don't tell me you of all people..."
"Yes, I'm leading an expedition to... I don't really know where to. Looks like someone doesn't want me to get out of here. I have no resources, no people willing to join me, maybe fifteen copper on me, what should I do now?"
"You know what? I'll come with you. I know it's really sudden, but I can't just wait for them to go after me next. I'm sure I can be of some use."
"Thank you, Scourge! Thank you thank you thank you!. What should we do first?"
"Uhh... SQ? You know you're in charge, right? I suggest we go get some food for the road. So what is your first order?"
"Let's go get some food for the road!"

Market district, two young drow women walked around looking for affordable food for their expedition.
"Hey, Scourge, how about those cave celery biscuits? They're nutritious and won't spoil. They're only... WHAT? One billon a biscuit? That's ridiculous!"
"Yeah, that's not happening. Look, there's a mushroom stall there. Maybe they have cheap plump helmets. And... nope, I wouldn't eat those."

"Ugh, at this rate we'll never get this food. Let's... OW, WATCH IT!" Scourge shouted as a male drow carrying two large baskets of fish bumped into her, knocking her down on the hard paved road.
"Sorry, ma'am, if you want to punish me accordingly, do it now. I have fish to deliver, and I'm pretty sure I'm late by several hours. I'm pretty sure it doesn't matter at this point, hmm..."
SQ helped Scourge get up, but instead of letting her go, she held her by the arm for a little longer just in case she tried to get her revenge on the fish delivery man.
"OH I WILL PUNISH YOU, THIS IS MY BEST DRESS AND...!"
"No, mister, everything is fine" SQ interrupted "I see you have some freshly cought fish, are you selling by any chance?"
"Huh? No, not really, I'm just taking them to the store. If you want to buy them, come with me. If you don't, you don't have to follow me anywhere. Well, I won't be mad if you don't come even if you do want to buy, do whatever you want."
The women looked at each other with mixed feelings, then followed the man to the store.

"I'm back my mistress" said the fish delivery man "and I've got..."
"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN THIS WHOLE TIME!?" yelled the drow woman behind the counter "The High Priestess came for her lampreys two hours ago! This could end in a disaster! Hey, who are those girls? Have you been trying to get your tunnel tube wet instead of fishing? That does it, you're fired!"
"Actually, we..." SQ started.
"Don't worry about it, it's all his fault." the clerk said reassuringly, but the stern look returned to her face as soon as she looked at the male again "Hand over those fish and get out of here"
"Sorry mis... ma'am, I don't work for you anymore, those fish are mine"
"Alright, whatever. One copper each!"
"Two copper each and you work for us!" SQ blurted out.
"Sure, why not, better than being unemployed, I guess.
The clerk shook her head disapprovingly but didn't say a word. The three drows went out on the street to talk about their plans.

"So it's a big expedition, huh?" the fisherman said "I think we haven't even introduced each other. I'm MottledPetrel, I fish.
"Yeah, I figured out you fished" said Scourge sarcastically, still holding a grudge for her dirty dress.
"I'm SQ and this is Scourge, we're kind of running away. I'm glad you agreed to come with us"
"Yeah, me too. She didn't even let me have a drink, just work, work, work. Hey, did you get some good wine? We may have trouble finding water on the road"
"That's the next point, let's go!" said SQ before walking out into the depth of the market district.

Market district, outside of the Blind Drider Pub, three drows talk about their plan.
"It really was him, I tell you" said MottledPetrel "the whole bunch of them nobles keep coming here to drink in a real pub. They probably have enough of those stiff upper-class bars in the palace district. Who can blame them, seriously?"
"So what? Are we gonna beg? We sure do look like beggars" growled Scourge tugging on SQ's tattered lichen-fiber skirt "I'm telling you, he won't believe us."
"Hey, giving up without even trying is my job, you're supposed to be encouraging me!" exclaimed SQ with a serious face "so what if they laugh at you, it's not like you have anything to lose at this point."
"Laugh at ME? You're like a sister to me, and I will support you in everything you do, but you started this whole thing, and it's your job to get this guy on our side."
As soon as Scourge stopped talking, she shoved SQ into the pub. It was a cozy place, if a bit run-down. It was the middle of working hours, so there weren't many patrons. Two men, ancient even by drow standards, were sitting in the corner sipping rum and talking about old days. They were not who SQ was looking for. On the other side of the pub was a priestess, apparently waiting for someone, sipping her gin impatiently. She was not who SQ was looking for.

There was a small gathering around one table, six drows in luxurious robed huddled together around a row of unmarked bottles.
"This definitely has some surface grapes in it, the color makes it hard to mistake, let's see..." said one of the nobles after someone poured him a glass of wine, then he took a small sip "Oh, it's Blood Pink year 99. Good wine, but not my favorite half-surface"
The drows cheered and poured him a glass of a much darker beverage "I think it's underberry, yes I'm sure of it, a subtle fungal accent, but that's probably tower cap barrel, could it be Bomrek's Finest? Probably year 95, I doubt you got your hands on a 94, and after 95 they started using fungiwood barrels, which have slightly different smell *sip* I was right. People laugh at dwarven brewers, calling their craft soulless and bland, but I'm sure you will all agree that drinking Bomrek's wine is a wonderful experience, next!"
The drows were happy to oblige. The next drink was a clear liquid with a greenish tinge. An amateur would have mistook it for white wine, but the nobleman knew better "come on! sewer brew? That's good for trolls, quaggoths, and maybe a certain someone peeping over Ipivi's shoulder..."

All heads turned towards SQ who really was peeping over someone's shoulder. Suddenly all drows burst into hearty laughter. The girl became purple from embarrassment as the laughing continues. The sommelier noticed that instead of scurrying out of the pub, SQ stood there with a pitiful look on her face, so as a de-facto leader of the noble bunch he quickly restrained his laughter, forced a straight face and asked: "did you want something?"
"Oh, she probably came to ask for money, scram, serf!" someone shouted "Lunardog, come on, just chase her away!"
"Shut up Mafina, you never earned a copper in your entire life, if it wasn't for your mother's money you would look just like her"
"She's a commoner, Lunardog, it's not about how she looks"
"Then maybe the four of us guys should never talk to Ipivi and Vafice ever again because we are lowly males. Argh, we'll discuss this later, for now...
"You're... You're Lunardog, aren't you" SQ gathered all her courage to ask that question, and she was convinced the noblemen will ignore her but...
"Huh? Guys, could you wait for me outside?" asked Lunardog
Mafina didn't want to accept defeat "You want to be alone with your new peasant girlfriend? Don't get any filth disease when you..."
"If you finish this sentence I'll kick your ass personally, or do you want my trolls to do it for me?"

The five nobles left the pub leaving SQ and Lunardog alone at the table.
"You can sit down now" said Lunardog gently, seeing the girl at the verge of crying. "I'm sorry for my friend, he's one of those people, you know, a rich kid with his head lodged deeply in his ass."
SQ forced a smile despite still shaking "it's nothing, really" actually it wasn't nothing, SQ never felt so embarrassed in her entire life, and even now she didn't really know how to talk to a nobleman.
"Umm... did you want something from me? You kinda got me into an argument with Mafina... No, please don't cry, it wasn't your fault!"
"You... you own the f...farms in the... the Clay Cavern, right? My friend, a...actually my subordinate told me"
"What? Someone works under YOU? I mean, who are you really?"
"I'm SQ, an expedition leader, believe it or not" SQ told Lunardog about her banishment, about Scourge and MottledPetrel. The nobleman could hardly believe his long pointy ears, but SQ got emotional calling the story, and Lunardog couldn't stand it when a girl cried.
"So you really do need money, don't you?" said Lunardog disapointed that Mafina was right after all.
"It's not about money at all! Well, maybe it's a little bit about money. It's really hard for me to ask, but we need drinks and seeds, I know you have a lot of both stockpiled on your farm. I know that it sounds like begging, but...*sigh*"
"If my mother heard that I gave barrels of booze, bags of spores, and her favorite troll slaves to a homeless girl I met in the pub, she would kick me out for good" said Lunardog half-joking "that's why I'll kick myself out first. I can't stand those fake friends, having everything done for me by slaves, this horrid Bomrek's Finest underwine! I ACTUALLY LIKE SEWER BREW! I'm getting my stuff from home and we can go whenever you want."
"What? That wasn't part of the plan, but thank you so much for not making me do anything embarrassing. Welcome aboard. Can I say this to a nobleman?"

WOOOO, PROGRESS! Not actually, but I've introduced 3 out of 5 volounteers, so next time I decide to write something, I'll be able to show you the embark at last. I've actually had to gen a new world because that one was actually garbaggio - all savage areas (in a very high savagery world) were oceans, rocky wastelands, and glaciers, and the evil area I considered embarking in had zombies, and I'm not about that.

can you have mine tell a bunch of dad level puns :D and like cats

Interesting.... (If we're suggesting character traits, can mine be obsessed with some random animal or another

Quote from: SQman on May 13, 2018, 11:17:41 am

"Huh? No, not really, I'm just taking them to the store. If you want to buy them, come with me. If you don't, you don't have to follow me anywhere. Well, I won't be mad if you don't come even if you do want to buy, do whatever you want."

This is basically every conversation I've ever had that involves having someone do something.

Also, it's always nice seeing what the mountain home is like before you set out (I'd suggest buying some of my more useful mushrooms, it will save you some effort down the line).

Loving the start, augers well for the start of a new fortress.

My drow, without knowing how much you have already determined, might well be found doing whatever his/her third job is, trying to earn enough money to continue paying for lessons as mechanic/weapon-smith, I would think that mechanics might be considered heretical in a drow setting and weapon-smithing a noble job, both of which might see a mobile young drow banished/exiled-for-life. If s/he gets caught.

Also, I just released a content update to my mod. It might be too late considering you already have the world, but I'm just letting you know in case you want it.

I realized how easy it is to add new book titles:

(https://i.imgur.com/Xp7avfw.png)
(octocheires are Kalkir, forgs are silanifs, both from Fantastic races)
Also, Pinkwet, hehe

(https://i.imgur.com/u7mnKb0.png)
Now we have a book written by aliens

(https://i.imgur.com/PtTlzuC.png)
I've decided against giving any civilization access to enchanted metals and the magic smelter, but I've left the metals in. We can still raid for artifact +5 steel swords, but we can't make them ourselves. ~~inb4 someone demands +5 silver cabinet in their room~~
(https://i.imgur.com/fjK2zwE.png)
As a matter of fact, neither animals nor climate did nothing wrong. I hoped they would write a book about some warlord or necromancer and use this name. This one was written by skeletons BTW.

(https://i.imgur.com/kHVO9AF.png)
The Enjoyable Treasury is a frog demon civ, and they are getting pounded from all directions.

(https://i.imgur.com/iyrnF6x.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/vQ30LPn.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/Oq4si3W.png)
Some forgotten beasts are made of pretty exotic materials. Snowdust is what frost imps throw at people, dark matter is a "metal" used by some eldritch civs, ancient horn is renamed blackened keratin stone from World of Flesh

Drow me as a male sworddrow named Imic.
But first of all... What are drows, anyway?

Drows are black-skinned white-haired dark elves from D&D. They live underground in matriarchal society, herd spiders, enslave other subterranean races, hate surface elves more than anything for some reason.

And looks like we have full party for the embark. We did need a warrior of some kind, and swordsmen are my favorite.

Somehow I managed to notice that rothe gave sheep milk. Changed to rothe milk, as it should be.

So how well do dwarves and drows get along? I'm just imaging the akwardness between df dwarves and drows, and/or them working together to murder surface elves

Drow enslave/genocide dwarves with extreme prejudice. Often times the dwarves will ally with surface elves just to hold back the drow.

Well thats.... much less fun

Quote from: Lunardog15 on May 13, 2018, 11:38:59 am

can you have mine tell a bunch of dad level puns :D and like cats

If I hadn't included your character already, I'd definitely have him say dad jokes left, right, center, but now it doesn't really fit what I already wrote. But sure, he can be a cat lover, if we ever get a cat, that is. Our civ doesn't have cats.

Market district, near the gates to the Palace district, three drows were sitting on a bench waiting, slowly getting impatient.
"What if Lunardog doesn't come back?" inquired Scourge "What if he just abandoned us and went home?"
"He didn't seem like that kind of person" SQ began, but then she realized: "well, actually how would I know? Maybe we should ask someone else for help? MottledPetrel, do you know any more rich but eager plantation owners?"
"Can't say I do"

Suddenly a wagon pulled by a rothe and a huge spider rolled through the Palace district gate. It was loaded with sacks and barrels, and some other things. Behind the wagon walked two huge trolls in slave collars. Behind the trolls walked Lunardog himself.
"I'm sorry I kept you waiting" he said "I had to figure out how to get this stuff from the storehouse and avoid having to answer questions"
"Glad you made it, Scourge was already considering looking for someone else to help us" said SQ smiling slightly.
"Hey!" exclaimed Scourge visibly offended "I know you want to make yourself look good in front of a well-dressed man, but stop dragging me to your level!" SQ's face became purple, but she didn't get to say a word.
"I'm not walking around the city with this pile of barrels" interrupted MottledPetrel.
"We'll leave it by the Ministy building" replied Lunardog "and since we'll be going through the Administration district, we should visit one of my... acquaintances."

Administration district, probably the only place outside of the Palace district where four drows could safely stray off the main road with only two trolls and a wagon full of goods. Lunardog was the only one who knew where they were going, but even he wasn't sure if they would meet the person he was looking for. Finally the drows stopped in front of a sturdy iron gate.
"Wait a moment, isn't that the Blackhollow Detention Center?" asked SQ somewhat shocked" Please tell me you're friends with the warden, and not one of the inmates" Lunardog didn't reply.

The drows reluctantly entered through the gate. They were immediately welcomed by a rhinotroll in an ill-fitting guard uniform.
"You want see prisoner? Or you city guard? Who you arrest? This pup thief?" the monster pointed at SQ.
"I swear to Lolth, Lunardog! What's going on?" barked SQ looking sternly at the nobleman.
"No, no! We need to talk to the warden, umm... your master" Lunardog talked very slowly, expecting the rhinotroll to not understand the first time. He was relieved to see that the monstrous guard gestured at them to follow him.

Lunardog was the only one to enter the warden's office. The rest had to wait for him again, but this time Scourge kept her mouth shut just in case SQ came up with another idea to impress Lunardog by dragging her best friend through the mud. Being friends with SQ was exhausting, required a lot of patience, and was not rewarding in any way, shape or form, and Scourge sometimes wondered if SQ was actually capable of experiencing positive feelings.
The door to the warden's office opened, and Lunardog rejoined his companions. "He's free to go, we should wait for him outside" he said.

Shortly after the four drows left the prison, the rhinotroll guard tossed something after them. This something was an exceptionally filthy drow, still in prisoner's rags. The drow stood up, looked at Lunardog, and smiled insincerely. "My dear friend, how nice of you to finally come here and get me out of this hole"
"Pleasure is all mine, Fred" said Lunardog coldly "you're crawling with lice, when was the last time you bathed?"
"You should adress me by my proper title, Count Fred the Mighty. And the last time I bathed was when I still lived in my mansion. I may be a bum now, but'd rather make out with a beholder than use a public bath house."
"Fred the Mitey, you mean, M-I-T-E-Y, because at this point you're more bugs than man. And you're not a count anymore. Why have they thrown you into jail anyway? You can't falsify documents from the mines."
"It was just a peaceful protest. They were firing paid workers to replace them with newly captured slaves, and as you can imagine, none of us was very happy about that. Turns out the new slaves were really obedient and did not hesitate to beat up some protesters. Most people got whipping, but somehow they figured out I was the one who instigated it, and they gave me two years. I've been through three months already. Anyway, what have you been up to?"

"Looks like they've got a lot catching up to do" grumbled MottledPetrel "I'm going for a smoke, if you need something I'll be just around the corner."
I'm starving, let's get something to eat, SQ" suggested Scourge "Lunardog left his money pouch in the wagon, and saw a neat looking place along the way". SQ nodded in agreement.

"So... about this Lunar guy..." said Scourge looking from over her undercoffee cup "What exactly are you feeling towards him?"
"What do you mean?" asked back SQ suspiciously "You're not trying to suggest that...?"
"That you have a crush on him? That's exactly what I'm trying to suggest."
"Why would you think that? I mean, I barely know him! Do you think I would just fall for a man just because he's not covered in manure? Wait, no, Mottled Petrel wasn't covered in manure either... Do you think I would just fall for a man just because he's not covered in manure and he doesn't stink like fish?"
"Well, he's a nobleman, he's been quite patient with you, and he's not bad looking. Honestly, I could imagine you catching a feeling for him"
"S...Scourge...." SQ whimpered, lighting up with faerie fire "w...why would you say that?"
"Well, you're not a bad match for him. Maybe if you brushed your hair, used some make-up, ditched this disgusting vest..."
"I'm just trying to be friends with him, okay? I'm not the best at these things. You've known me since we were children and you haven't noticed I've never talked to anyone else much? I'm about to start a new life, and I'm not gonna be an outcast in my own colony!"
"I'm... I'm sorry SQ... I didn't want to make you uncomfortable, I just wanted to know what's going on in your head. Now, could you turn down your faerie fire? People are staring."
"now I feel like casting darkness instead"

"So what you're saying is that you wouldn't even come visit me if I wasn't vital to your plans?" Fred the Mitey asked with disbelief.
"This is where you're wrong - it's not my plan, and you're not vital to it" answered Lunardog " I just think we would benefit from your familiarity with administration, your strong pick arm, and your medical licence that I'm certain that has been revoked at least seven times already."
"I have nowhere to go anyway, so I'll come with you, but I'll do it begrudgingly. Now introduce me to your friends."
"Glad you've finally agreed. Fred, those are my... trolls? Where's the rest?"
"Bwoss, the fish smellin' one went fwor a cig in the alley" explained one of the trolls "dunno what he's doin' out there fwor so long. Them dames took youse cash out to the town, if youse know wh'am sayin'."
"Argh! You two keep an eye on the wagon. Fred, let's get MottledPetrel and go search for the girls"

Market district, magical light of the street lamps was already going dim. Two young drow women were completely lost, stumbling around illuminated by their own faerie fire.
"Damn, I think we've been going the wrong way the whole time" Scourge thought out loud. They were, in fact, in a completely different district, and it was not a good place to be at this time of the day.
Suddenly the girls heard a rythmical snapping sound. Neither of them had any idea what it could be, but they knew it wasn't something you would like to meet in a dark alley.

Suddenly a pack of five rattusites came out from an alley. The ratmen walked menacingly towards SQ and Scourge, aggressively snapping their fingers in perfect synchronicity. Out of nowhere the rat-gangers began singing a bizarre song:
"Rats, we're rats, we're The Rats.
We prey at night, we stalk at night, we're The Rats."
"I'm the Giant Rat that makes all of the rules!"
"Let's see what kind of trouble we can get ourselves into?!"

SQ was absolutely terrified, Scourge looked at the unusual scene with disbelief whispering to herself "What the fuck? What is this?"
"Give us all your bling, will ya, honies?" asked one of The Rats, raising his eyebrow suggestively. "we need it more than you do, I'm sure"
"Yeah, we're gonna spend it all on smokes and booze, right my dudes?"
"You weren't supposed to tell 'em that, fool!"
"We're already nicking their cheddar, why does it matter if they know what we're up to? Chill out dude, you'll pop a vein."
"I'm the Giant Rat, I tell you what to do, get it?"
"When is it gonna be my turn to be the Giant Rat?"

The Rats were about to start fighting among each other, when something hit one of them on the head with a great force. The rat fell on the ground unconscious. The remaining four rattusites turned around to see a young drow man holding a broken wooden pole.

"Get 'im boys!" yelled the Giant Rat before jumping at the drow and savagely beating him with bare hands. Other ratmen joined right after.
"Should we help him, or...?" Scourge suggested, but she knew SQ wouldn't answer, and she didn't actually want to have anything to do with the rat gang.
Suddenly the Giant Rat started glowing "I've been cursed, my dudes! That's wack, let's get the hell outta dodge!" that was enough to scare away The Rats, leaving the beaten up drow man and his rattusite vicltim on the scene.

"Are you okay?!" shouted someone to the girls from behind. It was Lunardog who was runningas fast as he could, closely followed by Fred the Mitey. "Whew, talk about luck."
"Told you they would end up in The Rats territory" said Fred proudly "I've dealt with rattusites before, and I know they are more cunning than they seem. You would think they would get used to faerie fire after living in a drow city though."
"Just... I... I want to forget about this" muttered Scourge. Meanwhile SQ walked up to the drow lying on the ground.
"Can you hear me? Please say something, If you die I'll never forgive myself. "
"Ugh... I'm alive... I kinda wish I wasn't..." the young man grunted in pain.
"Oh, good, let's go then, guys" SQ smiled nervously and turned around. Scourge stopped her, and spun her around towards the battered man.
"What my friend wanted to say was: thank you for coming to our rescue, if we can somehow repay you, Lunardog out there has..." Scourge wanted to continue, but she felt Lunardog's cold glare on the back of her head.
"T...thanks ma'am. I'm already feeling better" the young man got up with great difficulty, but if it wasn't for Scourge's and Lunardog's help, he would have fallen over again. "Ow...I'm Imic, by the way, I'm what you could call a vigilante, maybe a bounty hunter. No, wait, there's no bounty on The Rats, I'm just a vigilante."
"Taking justice into your own hands, eh?" Fred the Mitey, who remained silent to this moment, said "We're made from the same stuff, boy. How about you hang out with us from now on? You see, we're forming a kind of an expedition"
"Fred, first of all, you're a forger, scammer, and a tax evader; second, we just met this kid, and he requires medical attention" Lunardog scorned his old acquaintance "I really don't think..."
"Sure! Anything to get away from this place!" Imic became more lively, completely forgetting about heavy bruising he got from The Rats "Where are we going, and who are you anyway?"
"I'm Count Fred the Mighty, the de facto leader, this is my secretary, Lunardog, and OOOWWWW! WHAT THE HELL!" Lunardog yanked Fred's filthy hair, shaking off a small cloud of critters.
"SQ, please take over from here" said the nobleman.
"Thank you, Lunardog. I'm SQ, not a countess, probably not mighty, the de facto and de jure leader. Those are my friends - Scourge and Lunardog, my secretary - Fred the Mitey (M-I-T-E-Y), and this is... where is MottledPetrel?"
"We must have lost him along the way" said Lunardog "He's probably lost his breath and needed to have a rest. I really doubt someone like him would be a good target for muggers. No offense, girls"
"Oh, and before I forget: we... don't really know where we're going" SQ returned to the main topic "I won't blame you if you change your mind. I actually would if someone told me that... and if I had a choice."
"Oh no, no, no! It actually makes it better!" said excited Imic "The thrill of adventure, the call of the unknown! I wouldn't experience that in the city guard if they accepted me. Umm... forget about that last part."

"That kid's got a good arm, but I should be a goner, his swing is poor at best. No wonder the pigs don't want him on board" screeched someone. It was the rattusite. Despite having been hit on the head with a wooden pole and bleeding from his head, the rodent man got up and didn't seem too bothered.
"You want one more, huh vermin?" threatened Imic "If I had a sword, you'd be long dead!"
"You would be too, my friends would have shanked you. You're lucky The Rats don't harm pathetic runts like you"
"Your rats did beat me up!"
"Self defense"
"You did try to rob SQ" Scourge added.
"HEY!" SQ squeaked.
"We were just asking you to hand over your cheese, if you catch my drift, if you didn't comply, we would have left you two alone.
"That's the stupidest way to rob people" said Fred the Mitey "Although, it's not actually stealing, is it? Maybe you're on to something"
"You don't believe rattusites can be decent people? I can show you if you take me on your expedition. Pretty please?"
Imic was appaled by this suggestion. The plague of the Market District wanted to spread outside of the city? "That's out of the..."
"Sure, we could always use more hands" SQ interrupted. She actually believed the rat creature, and felt bad for him, even though he was a monstrous gangster. "Wait, there's seven of us now. We have a full party!"
"Not quite" Fred the Miey said "the rattusite isn't a drow, so he can only come with us as property, a slave. We need one more person, and we still don't have tools for mining and chopping wood. Imic may want to have a sword too."
"Kaos" Scourge remembered "Darkening Kaos can help us with the tools, and the way her life has been going lately, she may just want to come with us. Also, where the hell is MottledPetrel?"

Next time (tomorrow? monday?) we'll introduce Darkening Kaos, and officially start the fort. I've actually embarked already, but I wish I hadn't because we'll be missing ZM5's Lands of Duality, and that mod looks amazing. Well, the embark is neither good or evil anyway.

One more problem - I forgot to change the name of the fort, so it's Dungeonevened instead of Deepgleam. Not as cool sounding but what can you do? There's no utility that can change fort names, is it?

Edit:
Turns out female drows are natural doctors, while males are natural mechanics/hunters. MottledPetrel, Lunardog, Fred and Imic are actually better mechanics than Darkening Kaos, while SQ, Scourge and Kaos are better doctors than Fred. Let's pretend it's not like this.

plz don't ship me with SQ
the only way I would be ok is if someone finds me a cat, in that case i will be happy

Just another reason for me to try to be a mechanic, rebelling against the 'natural' order, and angry about the enforcement of rigid caste roles.
Also, no pets - absolutely, (psychologically?), allergic to anything that isn't Drow, and possibly troll.

I want to be buds with the rat.

Drow me as a shearer/spinner/weaver/brewer named Schmendrick.

Can mine play matchmaker?

Quote from: Lunardog15 on May 19, 2018, 04:30:37 pm

plz don't ship me with SQ
the only way I would be ok is if someone finds me a cat, in that case i will be happy

I don't really want to ship anyone if it doesn't happen in the game, and for now all drows, trolls, and the rattusite are just friends. I'm going to resolve this subplot very soon, I promise.

I don't know if we'll be able to buy a cat from our allies, but there's always raiding. Pillaging villages in search of a cat is something I never expected to do in Dwarf Fortress.

Market District, two drows stand outside the only lit up building along the street.
"Why are the lights on?" asked SQ " she really should be sleeping at this time".
"She should, but she isn't. You'll understand once you meet her" Scourge said. She knocked on the door, but no one answered. "Oh, right" Scourge pressed the door handle without hesitation. SQ stopped her for a moment.
"Should we be barging in like that? I mean, this is almost like breaking in"
"SQ, how many times have I come into your room uninvited? Kaos is my friend too."
"It's the middle of the night!"
"And you wanted to go as soon as possible, didn't you? Let's get this over with" Scourge pushed the door open. The small workshop was lit up by an oil lamp instead of faerie fire, there were various items scattered around everywhere: disassembled mechanical toys, damaged metal tools, pieces of wood, components of dvargir guns. There was a counter covered in books and scrolls, which served as a pillow for a plump drow woman, who had probably been reading just a few minutes ago, judging by her spectacles still being sat on her nose.
"Kaos, wake up!" Scourge shouted.
The sleeping drow woke up startled "What... what time is it? I have to finish repairing that music box and then...! Scourge? What are you doing here this late?"
"I should be asking you the same, but I'm actually glad we found you. There's one little thing I'd like to ask you.
"Can't this wait? I have a very intricate toy to fix, then I have to finish the rocking chair for old Vado, and I haven't even started making those knives for Iva's restaurant. On top of that I have a lecture in the morning, and a handbook merchant to catch at noon. Then I guess I'll be looking for an excuse why I haven't paid rent this month. The bitch of a landlady almost doubled my rent because she doesn't like me tinkering with guns. ARGH! When did my life get so complicated?!"
"Makes you want to get away from all of this, right?" Scourge said suggestively.
"Yeah, I'm doing my best not to be just another meaningless and forgotten drone, but the harder I work, the more futile it gets. It feels like some invisible force is working against me at all times. I've ranted enough, what exactly did you want to ask me? If it's about the new lock mechanism Icala ordered for her trappers, tell her to come here herself with money."
SQ was eager to explain "I'm SQ, Scourge's friend, and I'm forming an expedition. You could leave all of this behind and start again in a new place. I know it's a big change, and it's out of nowhere, but I see you're a woman of many talents, and you would be a key member of our party. See, Scourge, I told you I didn't need to rehearse this speech any more."
Darkening Kaos hesitated with answering. She's spent most of her life studying smithing, mechanics and woodworking, and just recently she began listening to lectures and buying expensive learning materials. Was she supposed to leave it all for a slight chance of progress?
"Yes, I'll go with you" she said with determination "I had some tools made for miners and woodcutters, but since I haven't received payment for neither of the overseers, we can just take them. Oh, and my best sword! I wanted to present it to the Mercenary Guild, but I changed my mind. I've bought a few bags of raw flarestone for the forge too."
"Wow, thanks Kaos!" Scourge said happiliy. "We'll come here with our wagon to pack all this stuff. You'll get to meet the guys too"

Outside Darkening Kaos's workshop, six drows sit in the loaded wagon discussing what to do.
"I'll go talk to the official in the morning, I doubt they are open this late at night" suggested SQ. "Scourge, can I sleep in your room tonight?"
"Sure, I almost forgot you were evicted. And you're right, there isn't much to do this night, so let's make plans for tomorrow instead? Some of us..." Scourge looked at SQ and Fred the Mitey "...are wearing literal rags. If there's some kind of goodbye parade for us, we should be looking our best. How about a shopping trip?" she smiled mischievously at Lunardog.
"Should I remind you you still have my money?" the nobleman said, looking at the girl sternly. After a few seconds of intense staring, her smile creeped him out, so he agreed "okay, I'll go with you, but give me my pouch back, I need to rent a room in some inn for Fred and myself. Speaking of Fred, Imic, you take the trolls and go wash that guy. I'll write something so you won't have problems with guards"
"I object to that!" Fred the Mitey shouted.
"I don't" replied Imic with a sinister grin.
"Kaos, you can just rest. You've been overworking yourself" Scourge suggested. Darkening Kaos nodded in agreement.
"I guess I'll guard the wagon" said the rattusite.
After that everyone went their own way - SQ and Scourge to Scourge's room, Lunardog and Fred to look for a room to rent, Imic and Darkening Kaos to their own apartments, the slaves stayed in the wagon. Only MottledPetrel was still missing.

Early morning, Slum District, Scourge's room. *KNOCK KNOCK* someone kept wailing on the door. Scourge got up angrily to check out who it was. She was surprised to see MottledPetrel standing in the door.
"Oh, looks like I've got the right address" said the fisherman, but he wasn't looking Scourge in the eyes.
"Umm...do you have something to say or will you let me get ready for..." Scourge just remembered she was still in her underwear. She slammed the door shut in front of MottledPetrel's face.
"Hey, is SQ in there with you?!" shouted MottledPetrel through the closed door "I gotta tell her something!"

After the women dressed up, they left the room and headed towards the wagon. Scourge was still grumpy about what happened a few minutes ago, but SQ couldn't help but giggle "This might sound wrong, but I like seeing you blushing like that, Scourge. If I was a worse person, I would make fun of you, or making some wild, far-fetched connections"
"I get it! You're still upset about that evening! Sometimes you're just unbearable." Scourge grumbled "Petrel, you had something to say, right? Spit it out!"
"Okay, ma'am. So, I was running after the guys last night, when I saw a merchant packing up his stall."
"And you bought something useful for a good price, right?"
"No, I tried to haggle for a nice glass pitcher, but he didn't like my offers and started throwing bags of sand at me. Then I got lost."
"Did you at least keep the sand?"
"Yeah, I've got it here" MottledPetrel opened up his coat revealing two heavy bags. If someone saw him do it, the city guard would have definitely been alerted.
"Oh... that's what you wanted to tell us?" SQ said disappointed "well, at least we don't have to search for you now. Hey, looks like everyone is ready by the wagon. Everyone knows what to do, we should get right to it."
"I don't know what to do" MottledPetrel reminded.
"Umm... I guess you can stay and keep an eye on the rattusite. He's a thief after all."
"We've got a rattusite? I love those guys, they're great listeners even if you have nothing to say. Not many people have this skill, and I often have nothing to say."

Administration District, Surveying and Settlement Ministry office. SQ was talking to the same official she was talking to the day before.
"I've got six more people, supplies, and a desire to get out of here as soon as possible. Umm... I mean the city, not the office. The office too, but it has nothing to do with you."
"What? It usually takes at least a month..." the man said more to himself than to SQ "Well, if you say you're done, fill those documents. This one is about your friends, this one is about stuff and slaves."
(https://i.imgur.com/vlw7S84.png)

"This is the map, notes about the location, about your neighbors."
(https://i.imgur.com/3ZREcIq.png)

"Oh, I see you're stuck on something."
"The name... I haven't thought about it yet"
"This one is my speciality. Let's take this dictionary, mash together two random words... dungeon... evened... Dungeonevened. Wasn't that hard, was it?"
"I'd rather name it something meaningful, maybe... ummm..." SQ was thinking as hard as she could, but nothing came to her mind. She really didn't want to name her colony Dungeonevened "ugh, alright, Dungeonevened it is."

Market district, clothes store, two drows are talkin while looking for new clothes for the expedition members.
"How about this one?" Scourge asked Lunardog, showing him a fancy hat encrusted with rubies.
"No. If you really cared for my opinion, we would have been done long time ago anyway."
"Oh, but I do need your opinion on this" Scourge pulled out an extremely provocative dress "You think SQ would like this?"
"I don't think she would wear something this revealing. You should know better anyway, you've known her since forever.
"I actually wondered if YOU would like to see HER in this dress." Scourge raised her eyebrow waiting for answer.
"What are you talking about? Let's pay and go back to the wagon, you look fine without a hat"
"You're avoiding my question"
"No, I'm ignoring your question"
"Come on, you're no fun at all! I've seen how you look at her, and I've seen how protective you are towards her. Are you telling me that's nothing?"
"Alright, I'll try to explain it to you: she's not my type"
"That explains nothing!"
"I just don't know how to interact with her! She gets upset over the smallest things, cries a lot, I just feel sorry for her. Personally I thought I was a bit too patronizing, but I see you're looking at this situation from a different angle."
"So... you don't really like her?" Scourge felt disappointed, but she wasn't sure why.
"I do like her, but not like that. I know she considers me her friend, but sometimes I feel like her foster father, and this is weird."

Lunardog and Scourge looked at each other in awkward silence for a while.
"You know, I had the same conversation with SQ yesterday" Scourge admitted "I must say you took it much better than she did"
"Go figure"

Lunardog and Scourge rejoined their friends by the wagon. They handed the new clothes to SQ, MottledPetrel and newly-washed Fred the Mitey.
"Let's get changed, guys let's go" Scourge said. The four of rag-clad drows went to look for a place to change
"Do we have to take those trolls and the rat?" Darkening Kaos complained "I don't feel comfortable with those savages around"
"Those trolls are my slaves, I'm not leaving them here because someone can't understand how good it is to have servants" Lunardog answered.
"Well excuse me, your highness, but those monsters eat people down in the caverns. I can't blame you for not knowing that, with you having spent your life surrounded by perfumed monsters that would have ripped you apart if they weren't whipped into submission every morning."
"Cut it out, will you" Imic said from the top of the wagon" If it wasn't for the trolls, Fred would be still crawling with bugs. I tell you, he was struggling like a crundle in a bag"
"That's the point, they're violent, brutish and..."
"Everyone ready? Let's go!" SQ shouted having come back with the rest. "Destination: Dungeonevened!"

Outside of the Great Mithral Gate, the expedition members are rethinking their decision.
"I heard of this whole sun, but I never imagined it would be this horribly bright" SQ complained.
"Remember when you told me I'll be fine without a hat?" Scourge asked Lunardog "Is it too late to go back to get it?"
"Yes it is. Just wrap this scarf of yours around your head, maybe that will help"
"S... stop your whi...ning. It's not that... that ba...ad" Kaos was obviously bluffing, as she was only half-conscious herself.
Fred the mitey couldn't participate in the conversation, because he was busy projectile vomiting over the side of the wagon.

"You okay there, boy?" MottledPetrel asked Imic, who was sitting next to him.
"Just a little dizzy, I've been through worse"
"Good. Kids these days have such weak stomachs, that's why there's so few fish cleaners in the docks lately"
"What do you mean by kids? How old are you?"
"One hundred ninety four long, hard years"
"I guess it's fair then. I'm only one hundred forty eight"
"Y'all old" the rattusite joined the conversation" I'm thirty two, and I don't feel like a pup"
"You think that's old?" MottledPetrel asked "I don't know if it's true, but the female troll is over four hundred years old"
"Which one is it?"
"Beats me"

(https://i.imgur.com/xMnbMxt.png)

The wagon continues its travel through the rolling grassland, one of the troll noticed something out of ordinary
"Hey bwoss! There's a bwuncha rothes fwollowing us!" there really were three extra rothes slowly walking behind the wagon "Should I chase them away?"
"Don't you dare!" Shouted Scourge, but then she realized she got worked up over nothing "I mean, rothe are the noblest of animals, they give us wool, milk, meat. If they followed us from the capital, that may be some kind of sign"
"And those spiders hiding under the wagon?" MottledPetrel asked "I guess they're Lolth's holy animals, but they're giving me the creeps"
"Are there any more animals we don't know about?" exclaimed SQ in surprise.
"I've got fleas" the rattusite added.

As the wagon was moving further south, the surrounding was getting more and more dry. Soon the lush green grass was replaced by dried out weeds in various shades of yellow and brown. Darkening Kaos found her old Mazes & Minotaurs manual and dice. She hasn't played in ages, so she was very excited about this. SQ and Scourge joined eagerly, Imic wanted to try too.
"It was a natural twenty, why was it a failure?" SQ moaned.
"We're playing by the actual rules, not your made up ones" Darkening Kaos scolded the expedition leader "If I let you instantly win at everything just because you rolled high, you could just repeat every roll until you get a twenty"
"Everyone plays by the house rules, Kaos, don't tell me you're really that much of a purist" Scourge complained.
"It's in the manual, so that's how it's supposed to be played!"
"Wasn't it supposed to be fun?" Imic asked "we spent most of the time arguing about the rules, when can my Mind Flayer barbarian chokeslam a dragon?"
"You're lucky I let you play as a Mind Flayer barbarian. It's such a bad combination. You should have chosen a psychic or a sorcerer"
"And you wonder why nobody wants to play M&M with you?" said Scourge snarkily. "Reminds me of someone else who hates fun"
"Don't get me into this!" Lunardog protested, correctly guessing that the remark was directed at him "I'm not interrupting your nerd game, so you don't interrupt my nap! We're done with that topic anyway!"

The wagon stopped suddenly near a narrow river. It was a border between a dusty savanna, and a lush forest of sawwood and mahogany, with an occasional orange tree.
"What happened, why are we stopping?" SQ asked anxiously "Is it bandits? Wild animals?"
"No, we've arrived" MottledPetrel said looking around.
SQ snatched the map out of the fisherman's hand "let me have a look"
(https://i.imgur.com/ysU1UsM.png)

"You're right, looks like we're here"
"So... are yo going to say it or..." Fred the Mitey asked with anticipation.
SQ took a deep breath, closed her eyes and said:
"This is the moment we've been waiting for. We won't be any more ready than this. STRIKE THE EARTH!

My drow is the best :D

I've got some more free time today, so how about some supplementary material?

~~Diary~~ Journal of SQ Hateromanced, the leader of Dungeonevened

It's been some time since I've written anything here. The new overseer of the menagerie had us slaving like never before, forgetting that we are living, breathing creatures. Then it was the whole thing with assembling the expedition, now I'm on a journey, and have little to no privacy during the day. We should be there in a day or two, and I can't sleep, so I take advantage of my ability to see in the dark, and finally write something tonight.
So, the whole ordeal forced me to actually go out and meet people. Well, actually Scourge forced me to meet people, without her I would have probably given up. I wanted to write about those people I've met. Well, maybe I'll start with myself in case someone finds this thing hopefully in several thousand years.

Spoiler: SQ (click to show/hide)

I'm SQ Hateromanced, birth name Weri, 127 years old. I can hardly remember my parents, most memories related to my childhood are rather cloudy in my head. I was lucky enough to find a job in the menagerie in the capital as soon as I reached the working age. That's when I met Scourge and the old overseer, my new family. Those were good couple of decades, I've made a few friends, the work was dirty and not that rewarding, but fun and satisfying.
At some point the old overseer got involved in politics, but she wasn't a matron of a powerful family, so she disappeared without a trace. That's when ~~my evil stepmother~~ the new overseer appeared. She started importing farm animals and sending exotic creatures to the butcher's shop, collecting money for every new addition regardless of what it was. All this while making us, caretakers, work more and paying us less.
One day I just snapped. I couldn't live like this, so I quit and that's why I'm in this wagon tonight.

I'm not the best with people, I never were. I prefer when others reach out to me, when others offer me help, when others ask what's wrong. People had told me many times that I should be less passive, take care of myself, but it's harder than this. Being rejected is a great fear of mine.
The thing is, I don't really feel the need to spend times with others, in fact I find it tiresome more than anything. Scourge thinks that isolating myself from the world isn't good for me, even if it's a good way to avoid stressful confrontations, and I try to follow her advice, even if it's just out of fear of letting her down.

Speaking of Scourge:

Spoiler: Scourge (click to show/hide)

Scourge Profanepoisons, birth name Fere, 141 years old. She's been my best friend since I started working in the menagerie. We've been assigned in the same sector. While I was cleaning and feeding the large grazers, she was also responsible for shearing and milking those creatures that required it. She's very fond of the rothe, but she doesn't like admitting it, not sure why.

Scourge is pretty much my only family, figuratively speaking, and the person who keeps me going forward. She helps me when I struggle in social situations, defends me when I'm not strong enough to defend myself. In exchange I need to endure her making fun of me from time to time, but when she does it it's okay, because I know she doesn't mean it.
She can be short tempered sometimes, and holds grudges forever, but she's a good friend.

Spoiler: MottledPetrel (click to show/hide)

MottledPetrel, 194 years old, or so he says. A fisherman we met while looking for food for our expedition. He's quite a mysterious character - he doesn't like talking about his past, and doesn't drop any hints about it. He seems like an easy going fellow, but there's certain sadness in his eyes. Maybe he lost his wife? Maybe he used to be a powerful nobleman who lost everything? I just don't know. Either way he's probably hiding his true emotions behind a gentle smile.
He grew fond of the rattusite we "adopted" the night before embarking. Sometimes Petrel shares his fishing stories (definitely made up, but still) with the ratman, something they just sit next to each other in silence. Maybe MottledPetrel just feels lonely? I should try spending some time with him.

Spoiler: Lunardog (click to show/hide)

Lunardog, apparently of the House Drilledterror. A nobleman I met in the Blind Drider Pub. He used to come there with his friends often, according to MottledPetrel, which is unusual, because that pub is hardly upper-class.
His family owns a large portion of farms in the Tamed Caverns, and some unused land in the Wild Caverns waiting to be tamed. In addition to that, they run many distilleries and breweries around the capital. He knows a lot about wine, and isn't completely clueless about working on a plantation, but doesn't have too much experience. He's used to having everything done for him by slaves, but he says he's not afraid to get his hand dirty. We'll see about that.

Lunardog, unlike some nobles, treats drows from lower classes as people. At first I expected him to chase me away or throw some coins and tell me to scram, but he was surprisingly approachable. He's not really that different from us, people from the Slum District, he's just cleaner and smells better.

Scourge tried to get me together with him, but while Lunardog seems a great person, I don't really know him that well. In fact, I've noticed that he's rather... cold to Scourge, and doesn't treat Fred the Mitey very well. Maybe he isn't that nice of a man after all?

Spoiler: Fred the Mitey (click to show/hide)

Fred the Mitey, as Lunardog calls him is a former administrator, apparently also a former count. He must have been stripped of nobility by Valsharess herself. He tried to start a new life as a doctor, but his forged medical license has been uncovered and confiscated... several times. He found himself in the mines, but was at risk of losing that job, so he organized a protest and ended up in jail for it.
Despite everything he went through (he asked for it, but that's not the point), he's still full of himself and probably doesn't feel comfortable taking orders from someone like me.
He's apparently somehow connected to Lunardog's family, but I don't want to be the one to ask.

Spoiler: Imic (click to show/hide)

Imic, apparently 148 years old, self proclaimed vigilante and, when there's a bounty on his target, a bounty hunter. We met him when he tried to save me and Scourge from a gang of ratmen, but he got himself beaten up instead. I highly doubt he has any combat experience, and judging by the fact he was trying to fight using a big stick, he's not the most successful bounty hunter.
Apparently he's failed the training course for the city guard. As a member of the middle class, he didn't really see any other chances to make it big, so he agreed to come with us. No idea how helpful he will be, but he's well intentioned, and that's what counts.

Spoiler: Darkening Kaos (click to show/hide)

Darkening Kaos Searedfly, a mechanic, weaponsmith and carpenter, a woman of many talents, although I don't know if I'd call those "talents". Scourge called her her friend, but I'm not sure if the feeling is mutual.
She worked many jobs at the same time, because she wanted to study under great masters abroad to escape the monotonous life of a middle class drow woman. That's a sad story - there are many better than her, more talented people working without passion, getting praise for something that came to them naturally. Kaos believes that she could outshine them all, but she won't get a chance because of who she was born as. To me it looks like she's just mediocre at what she's doing, but I'm not gonna tell her that.

Kaos has been experimenting with guns. Not sure if anything ever came out of it, but her landlady didn't like her bringing gunpowder to the apartment.
She's also a horrible Maze Master in M&M, and I'm pretty sure she hates everything that isn't a drow.

Next time we'll definitely start the game, I promise.

This is pretty cool

but I LIKE NERD GAMES :(

You may like Nerd Games, Lunardog, but you don't play them properly. the rules are there for a reason, you know. Now roll a saving throw vs. Dexterity.

I can't believe I managed to survive this week. The worst kinds of people crawled out of their holes to bother me at work, then school the whole weekend. I wanted to update today, but maybe tomorrow? I can't promise anything though

Quote from: FakerFangirl on May 19, 2018, 05:22:41 pm

Drow me as a shearer/spinner/weaver/brewer named Schmendrick.

I already have an idea for this character ;D

Quote from: Lunardog15 on May 27, 2018, 04:04:58 am

but I LIKE NERD GAMES :(

You struck me as someone who would prefer Bloodbowl, a TOUGH nerd game.
In all seriousness, I feel kind of bad for going with my vision for your character, and it's not a wacky one. I'm not comfortable enough with my english to pun it up big time, but you have my word I'll search the entire world to steal a cat for you.

Quote from: Darkening Kaos on May 27, 2018, 06:09:50 am

You may like Nerd Games, Lunardog, but you don't play them properly. the rules are there for a reason, you know. Now roll a saving throw vs. Dexterity.

It's rulebooks, not suggestionbooks after all.

Surprised I haven't seen this until now - the list of neighbors looks really promising.

Can I get drowed? Preferably as someone who'd be a decent or good pic for the militia.

Quote from: Darkening Kaos on May 27, 2018, 06:09:50 am

You may like Nerd Games, Lunardog, but you don't play them properly. the rules are there for a reason, you know. Now roll a saving throw vs. Dexterity.

I rolled a 42 ON A D20????

BTW I can have puns for you all you need to do is dm me

Could you dorf me? Any soldier would do.

Does M&M use dice with more sides than twenty? Otherwise, why are you letting them roll at all if a natural twenty won't let them succeed?

Quote from: ZM5 on May 27, 2018, 12:46:32 pm

Surprised I haven't seen this until now - the list of neighbors looks really promising.

Can I get drowed? Preferably as someone who'd be a decent or good pic for the militia.

I actually had to tinker a bit with the neighboring civs. We were initially allied with pelagics and swinefolk, but I don't like the idea of drows being friends with demonically possessed pig corpses. Human corpses animated by dark magic are way better, and just think about all those bone jokes.

Scaleskins were originally called Nrus, I'm not sure which mod they are from. I changed their name to avoid this:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

You'll get a drow as soon as migrants arrive. Drows have innate combat skills - males with swords, females with maces, so everyone is a decent pick for militia.

Quote from: Imic on May 29, 2018, 07:22:14 am

Could you dorf me? Any soldier would do.

You already have a drow, a proficient swordsman in fact. Turns out the stats you give people at embark add up to the natural skills.

Quote from: pikachu17 on May 29, 2018, 12:52:58 pm

Does M&M use dice with more sides than twenty? Otherwise, why are you letting them roll at all if a natural twenty won't let them succeed?

Bonuses from skills and magic items (that they don't have)? I dunno, I haven't played D&D in years, and I'm pretty sure I played it wrong back then.

(https://i.imgur.com/v7ugTL7.png)

SQ was still standing on the wagon with her eyes closed, basking in her own glory. Suddenly someone pulled her out of her comfort zone with a precisely timed cough. The expedition leader opened her eyes, and realized everybody, including the rothe, were staring at her, waiting for her to give orders.
"So... are we supposed to be doing something or..." Darkening Kaos said impatiently. Out of all things Kaos hated, idleness was one of those she hated the most.
"Well, n-now... let's... umm... S-Scourge..." SQ couldn't stand the pressure. She began shaking, tears glistening in her eyes.
"Umm... Guys, could you take a look around by yourselves?" Scourge asked awkwardly while helping SQ get off the wagon "we have a... situation, as you can see. Come on, SQ, let's sit down and calm you down.

MottledPetrel wandered along the river for a few minutes. He's always wondered what the waters were like on the surface. Turns out it wasn't much different from the rivers underground, but it was still a nice, calming sight for a stressed drow like him.
The fisherman sat down in a clump of soft dancergrass, breathed in warm spring air, and blissfully watched tiny river dolphins splash around in the water. A family of otters came out of the bushes to accompany MottledPetrel. It looked like life was turning out to be good from ths point.
Suddenly a huge, green tentacle rose up from the river and snatched one of the otters from land, then pulled it under water. "So much for a calm life" MottledPetrel thought to himself. He shuddered from the mere thought of what the tentacle monster could do to him if it caught him. MottledPetrel wasn't into those things.
(https://i.imgur.com/E1r46fK.png)

Lunardog and Fred the Mitey sat down on a large dolomite boulder under a sawwood tree.
"Do you think this girl, SQ, is fit to be a leader?" Fred asked with a serious look on his face "We could easily overthrow her by asking nicely, but with slightly raised voices."
"Don't you dare try it. You're the last person I want in charge here."
"I was just kidding, but you do agree it could work. Do you feel comfortable with someone like this ruling in the outpost?"
"...no, I really don't, but I didn't come here looking for comfort, it's just the opposite actually. I want to live for real, not the way the 'high society' expects me to."
"That's why you followed a homeless girl into the most savage wilderness where you're likely to die a horrible death. The adventurous feeling will soon wear off and you'll be crying for mommy in no time. Remember those words."
"I... I'm not in the mood for talking right now. I think I'll check on the girls."

SQ has calmed down and was ready to play her role as a leader.
"Kaos, you work wood and metal. I can't wait to see your masterworks" SQ put on a fake smile, but Darkening Kaos saw right through it. The mechanic rolled her eyes, which was a good enough sign that she understood. "Fred, you're an administrator, and you mine. If Lunardog needs some help in the farms, go help him."
"I didn't come here to be a dirt farmer!" Fred growled.
"Now, now, Fred." Lunardog said through his teeth "I'm sure you will find some time to give your old buddy a hand. And this time I'm not saying this just for SQ's sake."
"Oooh! So you actually..." Scourge jumped in excitement.
"No! I told you already! Stop bringing this up!"

"I don't know what you guys are talking about" SQ said squiting her eyes at her friends "Lunardog, take care of farming and cooking. I want a farm plot up as soon as Fred digs up a hole for us to hide in. MottledPetrel, go fish I guess?"
"That's what I'm here from" MottledPetrel exclaimed "I can do some other stuff if you want me to. I used to make earring out of fish bones when I was younger."
"Fantastic. Scourge, you and me take care of the animals, that includes spinning, weaving, and tanning leather."
"You and me... that sounds exciting" Scourge said with a mischievous smile "Where are you gonna get a whip from to tan MY leather?" SQ blushed like she's never blushed before, bright purple like a plump helmet "Ha ha ha! You're cute when you're so flustered, SQ. Let's go shear those rothe, once we have a workshop, that is"

"A-anyway. Imic, you're leading the 'military'"
"Thank you, miss SQ, I never thought I will ever..." Imic begun, but he was immediately interrupted by Fred the Mitey.
"And you won't. A militia in an outpost like this has to be lead by a house priestess" the administrator explained.
"That's ridiculous, no one here is a priestess!" Scourge complained loudly "Can't we just ignore this stupid custom"
"It's a law, not a custom. I don't want to go back to jail because someone decided to break the rules"
"Maybe someone can pretend to be a priestess?" Imic suggested "miss Kaos, you have the right attitude, if you don't mind me saying that"
"I do mind" Darkening Kaos grumbled "Don't you think I'm a little bit too big for a priestess? That's what instant mushroom soup does to you. Screw the priestesses anyway"
"You know I would" MottledPetrel sighed. He then closed his eyes and started daydreaming about scantily clad women from the temple of Lolth.
"Kaos is too... big, I'm way too small, that means, Scourge, you have to take one for the team" the expedition leader didn't even wait for Scourge to respond "Now that everyone knows their roles, we can get to work! Fred, I need a hole in the ground right here!" SQ then rushed to inspect the spiders hiding under the wagon.
"Hey, I still don't know what to do!" Imic shouted, running after her.

SQ didn't actually know what about the spiders needed to be inspected, so she picked up a stick and started poking the smallest one on the cephalothorax. The arachnid was incredibly patient, and didn't budge even after Scourge joined the poking.
"*cough* sorry to interrupt your... work, ladies, but I need to get my project approved" Fred the Mitey spoke up. Up to this moment he's been sitting on the wagon drawing something on a piece of parchment.

(https://i.imgur.com/3OWBYGV.png)

"Umm... what is this exactly?" SQ couldn't make anything out of the plan, both because she wasn't the most skilled in reading blueprints and because Fred wasn't the best architect.
"It's the entrance corridor, complete with a trade depot, but if you don't like it..." Fred appeared to be legitimately hurt by SQ's reaction. That was the exact moment when he realized why he had been relegated from city planning to accounting all these years ago.
"No, no, when you describe it like that it sounds amazing!" SQ felt the need to console the administrator after hearing his heart shatter into pieces.
"I know you didn't mean it, but thank you, you're a good kid. It will be a shame when someone else takes your place one day"
"What?"
"Nothing, I'm getting back to work"

Imic and Darkening Kaos were standingidly, watching the rattusite chop down an ancient sawwood tree. A surface elf would be appalled at this sight, but the drows didn't think much of it, and were in fact proud that they could fall such an imposing enemy.
"This tree was growing in this very place for thousands of years, and we managed to conquer it to make ourselves chairs..." Imic thought out loud.
"Sawwood is not a chair material" Kaos was more happy to show off her knowledge about carpentry "Unless you like getting splinters everywhere, that is. The tree grows fast, and its wood is dries out fast, so it's good for fueling forges. Speaking of forges, I can't wait to fire up a new forge in this place, maybe the change of environment will get me inspired"
"Umm... miss Kaos, I don't think you'll be forging anything anytime soon" Imic pointed at the wagon "we might have forgotten to bring an anvil"

(https://i.imgur.com/Ka9yL6Y.png)

Fred the Mitey didn't wait for SQ to give him more orders, he knew what had to be done. Under the layer of dry, sandy dirt was a deposit of moist clay loam, ideal for growing mushrooms. Lunardog and his trolls came down the newly created stairs to see how the progress was going. To Lunardog's surprise, there was already a room for a farm plot.
"Woah, I didn't expect you to work that hard" the nobleman-turned-farmer said in a mocking voice.
"I just don't like starving, that's all" replied Fred sarcastically "Can you get someone to help me down here? There's just too much work for a single drow to handle."
"Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for prioritizing that farm plot, even if there isn't that mush room in there"
"It's enough for the eight of us. The trolls only eat meat, right? So what do you say, will you get someone down here to dig with me?"
"I thought you were really digging it when no one bothers you at work."
"Very, VERY funny. Now answer my question."
"We only have one pick and no anvils to make more. Kaos is sulking about it upstairs. Well, you have fun in here, I've got shiitake to plant."

(https://i.imgur.com/DjNXBgs.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/EndEdnw.png)

Everyone except for Fred and Lunardog was sitting outside listening to MottledPetrel's wild fishing stories:
"...and then it turned out he gave me a can of cave raisins instead of worms, which attracted elk birds instead of lantern fish. Can't catch an elk bird with a fishing rod. Is it me or is it getting rather windy?"
It was in fact getting rather windy. The hot wind picked up clouds of fine white sand that was covering the parched plains and woods. Curiously, the sand appeared black while in the air.
"Sorry to interrupt your... gripping story, Petrel, but maybe we should get underground?" SQ suggested, looking nervously towards the trees.
"What's the matter, afraid of getting some sand in your...?" Scourge tried to ask, but SQ quickly cut her off:
"...eyes. Yes, it's not a pleasant feeling at all" then she stood up and gestured at everybody to follow her to the entrance corridor.

(https://i.imgur.com/ShqRap8.png)

"Are we gonna leave those mussels to rot?" MottledPetrel asked
"What mussels?" SQ asked back surprised. It was the first time she heard about this.
"Those mussels I caught" the fisherman pointed at a pile of mussels stacked by the river bank. They have already attracted several large swarms of acorn flies in addition to ever-present regular-sized insects "When did you...? Never mind, let's get all food underground! Quickly, the sandstorm is coming our way!"

The sandstorm was getting stronger with every minute. The drows and their slaves and animals were all hidden underground. Almost all of them.
"Where's the giant spider? It was very expensive, it would be a shame to lose it so soon" Lunardog noticed.
"No idea, I'll go check outside. Don't worry, I'll be fine, it's just a peek" Scourge volounteered. She went up to the entrance and looked outside.

(https://i.imgur.com/VCTSdui.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/54Jxf2j.png)

The spider was chasing an ostrich with arms, as simple as that. When it cought up to the bird, it bit it on the leg. Instead of continuing the onslaught, the spider decided it wasn't that interested in eating the bird.
Scourge shrugged and returned underground to her friends to look at mushrooms grow.

(https://i.imgur.com/luVG5fe.png)

"Huff... Huff... I can't believe you just sat here doing nothing while I was getting a place for workshops ready!" Fred the Mitey was more disappointed than he was mad. "At least get some tools ready, because from now on you're working for yourselves."

(https://i.imgur.com/uPjOKSN.png)

At last everybody was working. Everybody except for Fred who was taking a short break, and Darkening Kaos who was still brooding because of the anvil situation. SQ and Scourge got farmer's workshops up and running in no time, Lunardog was trying to figure out how to build an oven for a kitchen, Imic managed to assemble a makeshift tanning rack, MottledPetrel dropped his fishing tools in the corner and called it a day.
Fred the Mitey had a sudden surge of inspiration. He got a piece of paper and a pencil from his pocket, and started scribbling.

(https://i.imgur.com/i2iRviH.png)

The administrator walked over to SQ and waved the plan in front of her face.
"The wood stockpile! I need you to approve my project!"
SQ has never seen Fred this excited, and on top of that she didn't have a faintest clue why he was acting like this "P-please calm down and stop flailing your arms like that! What's all this about?"
"This is the project that got me into City Planning Department almost a hundred years ago! They never used it, and I was relegated as soon as my mother stopped pressuring them, but I assure you there is simply no better design!"
"This looks fine, I approve. Anything else?"
"Check this out" Fred held the blueprint with his arms extended, then he flipped it upside down "This is the stone stockpile, neat, huh?"
"I...I guess?"
Fred was overjoyed to have both projects approved. If only the City Planning Department overseer could see him now! Then he remembered he had to excavate all those stockpiles by himself. His childlike grin turned into a bitter scowl as he picked up his pickaxe and went down to the lower level.

Some things I noticed while playing even this little:
-drowspiders and giant drowspiders inject "cave drowspider venom". Fixed the name. The venom causes swelling, pain, and loss of consciousness, so as far as spiders go, drowspiders are pusses.
-drowspiders can't be butchered or trained, and they don't even show up on the [z] "animals" screen, but they can be pastured. In Dwarf Therapist they appear as visitors. Could that be because they don't have any [PET] tag? Lore-wise it makes sense - they are sacred animals for drows, so I left it as it was.
-embarking with just one miner was a bad idea
-I'm an idiot for not taking an anvil

I'm really liking my drow, is best drow

No anvil!?!?!? Bugger, ah well, plenty of trees to chop down and make into beds, after hauling shit around.

I oove the updates!

This probably won't make it into the story but:

(https://i.imgur.com/tXfw81l.png)

MottledPetrel had a punch-out with a tentacle monster

(https://i.imgur.com/fs2EE0M.png)

Dwarves are trying to convince us their garbage is a priceless artifact

(https://i.imgur.com/cPLWsGF.png)

An alien wrote a book about himself giving up gelding

(https://i.imgur.com/lksKEty.png)

And then there is a guy who wrote a manual on breathing

I've always wanted a manual on breathing, those things are spectacularly interesting if only for the crackpot theories and wildly apocryphal 'medical proof'.
If possible, I'd like to curate a library and just get tomes of the most outlandish subjects possible.

Quote from: Darkening Kaos on May 30, 2018, 08:11:14 pm

I've always wanted a manual on breathing, those things are spectacularly interesting if only for the crackpot theories and wildly apocryphal 'medical proof'.
If possible, I'd like to curate a library and just get tomes of the most outlandish subjects possible.

+1

Drow me.

Quote from: Darkening Kaos on May 30, 2018, 08:11:14 pm

I've always wanted a manual on breathing, those things are spectacularly interesting if only for the crackpot theories and wildly apocryphal 'medical proof'.
If possible, I'd like to curate a library and just get tomes of the most outlandish subjects possible.

Do we have a new quest? Looks like we do.

Fred the Mitey was sitting in a half-finished wood stockpile, smoked cave fish in his hands. He wasn't happy about having to work by himself, but at least he could take breaks whenever he felt like it, and no one bothered him while he was eating his lunch. Or at leat that was the case until now.
"Fred! Freddy boy! I gotta ask you something!" Fred winced upon hearing Scourge's voice. His day was officially ruined.
"Don't ever call me that again" the miner said, putting his fish away.
"Sure, sure. I wanted to ask you if you know what house priestesses actually do. Looks like I've been chosen because I have the nicest legs, and while I'm flattered that SQ noticed that, I have no idea what I'm supposed to be doing."
"Now that's a hard question, isn't it? I have to admit I haven't spent a lot of time with priestesses, but I can tell you what I heard from others, hope you'll be satisfied and let me eat my lunch. Priestesses sacrifice prisoners to Lolth, take care of sacred spiders, degrade their manservants for very little reason, have drunken orgies together..."
"I can't do things like that!" Scourge snapped "We have no prisoners, and the spiders take good care for themselves!"
"You can always indulge in sinister plotting against enemies real and imaginary"
"So being a priestess is about being bitter and bullying Imic, I get it now. Thanks Freddy boy!

(https://i.imgur.com/mb5O9sf.png)

SQ, Lunardog and Darkening Kaos were standing around a barrel of freshly brewed shiitake wine. Lunardog had a particularly proud look on his face, as the wine was his creation.
"No matter what others may say, shiitake IS a good replacement for plump helmets. What do you think, ladies?" Lunardog assumed a power pose with his hands on his hips, and a triumphant expression on his face.
"I think it stinks and tastes like filthy puddle water" Kaos said bluntly "don't quit your day job."
"This is my day job!" Lunardog almost lost his composure, but he managed to calm down "SQ, why don't you tell me what you think?"
"I... I'd rather not" SQ muttered.
"Go on, there won't be any trouble brewing for you if say you didn't like it"
"I think I prefer filthy puddle water to this, but then I vaguely remember you saying you actually like sewer brew, so I guess it's an acquired taste" the expedition leader admitted, avoiding eye contact with Lunardog.
"A taste I have no intention acquiring" Kaos added.
Lunardog covered the barrel, and shook his head in disappointment "It's been a real barrel o' fun talking with you about personal tastes, ladies. I'm sure Fred, Scourge and Imic will have radically different opinions. I'm NOT taking it personally, in case you wondered." he then went to get more shiitake for brewing.
"He totally took it personally" Kaos sneered.

(https://i.imgur.com/y7cnlJ5.png)

Darkening Kaos wasn't wasting any more of her time. The space for workshop has already been excavated, so she gathered her tools and assembled an array of workshops, and a sawmill. Fred the Mitey watched with bewilderment as Kaos was building a saw out of wood only. Granted, it was sawwood, but it was still hardly a wood cutting material.

(https://i.imgur.com/Ntp0o29.png)

The rattusite put down his hatchet. He was convinced that if he put his heart to it, he could chop down the whole forest in a week, but he liked trees, and SQ wasn't giving him new orders, so he decided to find himself other things to do. He noticed a pile of mussels in the food stockpile, and Petrel's fishing supplies.
"Wow, you're really good at cleaning mussels" Lunardog praised the ratman "although I doubt this is really sanitary"
"Just because he's a rat? I bet his hands are cleaner than mine right now" SQ said, showing Lunardog her dirt-covered hands.
"Listen to the girly, mr. fancypants. You were awfully judge-a-mental right now" the rattusite said while cracking open another mussel.
"I wouldn't let her touch my food either, no offense SQ. How is shearing going anyway?" Lunardog changed the topic.

(https://i.imgur.com/tcVTGyo.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/hKJ0I0s.png)

"This is usually Scourge's job" SQ complained "she did teach me the basics, but the basics include shaving rothe, molecows, and badgerdogs, not trolls."
"I BE CUT! YOU BAD SHEAR! DON'T CUT!" the female troll grumbled.
The male troll looked over from the field and shouted "Calm down, hun! Happens to the best of us! Hey, bwoss, can youse get the other dame to give me a haircut?"
"This much I can do" SQ agreed.

SQ went upstairs to talk to Scourge. The pretend-priestess was relaxing in the wagon, taking advantage of her sunburn-resistant charcoal-black skin. Imic was sitting under a tree nearby, looking at the woman with an absent stare and a slight smile. Neither of them was aware of SQ's presence, even though she wasn't trying to hide at all.
"I'm sorry to interrupt your hard work" SQ said snarkily. The both drows immediately regained their consciousness.
"Oh, SQ! We've just finished our 'training regimen', we were just resting" Scourge made it clear that it was something more than combat training.

(https://i.imgur.com/m2zMyOr.png)

"Yeah... I started shearing animals, and the trolls aren't happy with my work. Could you do some actual work instead lounging here?" the expedition leader asked. She felt guilty for bothering the two, but the job needed to be done.
"Let's go, Imic, take that rothe, and I'll show you what to do" Scourge told her 'servant'.
"Wait, there are only two workshops for that! What about me?" SQ protested.
"You can take a break. If I'm to lead the militia, I have to form a bond with my soldiers, and what's a better way to do it than working together?" Scourge winked meaningfully. SQ didn't feel happy for her friend, in fact she felt extremely jealous. On the other hand, she was happy to have some time to rest. Before she managed to process her feelings, Scourge and Imic had already gathered the rothe and went down to the workshops.

(https://i.imgur.com/ql95yF3.png)

A group of tiny creatures was sneaking in the food stockpile.
"Oi! Amxu! They've got summa that shit-take wine in 'ere!"
"Shut ya trap, Dostngosp! Ya dun wan' 'em ta hear ya!"
"Oi, lads, anyone seen Kupmosp?"
"'e's been climmin' tha barrel o' clams last time I saw 'im. 'e was s'posed ta git us sum."
"Wait, can ya 'ear this?"
"S-s-s..."
"Whazzat, lads? What are ya... lookin'... at?"
"SPIDAH!"
The confused goblizard turned around to see a spider multiple times larger than him brandishing its monstrous fangs "OI! Wait fer me!"
A second later the goblizard was laying on the floor wrapped in spider silk, slowly melting from the inside.

(https://i.imgur.com/n18gHxk.png)

SQ was working outside, looking for smaller pieces of wood to carry to the stockpile. She was still feeling down after learning about Scourge's new relationship. Suddenly Imic approached her with a cup in his hand.
"Miss SQ! I had an idea! You gotta see this!"
"What is it, Imic" SQ responded coldly, freezingly even "I don't feel like talking to you right now, so make it quick."
"O-of course, miss SQ. I've noticed we have a lot of shells just laying around, so I thought I could use them to decorate our stuff with them. This is the symbol of our people, I know it's a bit rough, but I'm getting the hang of it."
"That's it, then. Do whatever you like, carve shells, swing your sword, court Scourge" SQ was getting angrier with every second of looking at Imic. Finally she exploded "Get out of here, NOW! I don't wanna see you ever again!"
Imic, despite being twice the size of SQ, got terrified. He backed off slowly, not saying anything, trying to avoid confrontation. This strategy worked on blind cave bears, but this was more like a rabid moleweasel situation.
SQ kicked a nearby tree branch as hard as she could, and screamed in rage. Then she curled into the fetal position and cried while shaking in anger. Normally she would go talk to Scourge for comfort, but she had no desire to see her friend. She didn't even know if they were friends anymore.

(https://i.imgur.com/CYifK29.png)

Fred the Mitey was in a digging frenzy. He's finished excavating wood and stone stockpiles from soft clay, and felt the need to undertake a more ambitious project. To this moment everyone was sleeping on the ground like animals. Fred quickly scribbled a plan for bedrooms, which he planned to carve out of solid rock. There will be eight rooms - one for each drow, and one extra for an actual house priestess, if someone like that shows up.

(https://i.imgur.com/ZadzMHi.png)

Non drows will get small rooms, simillar to those in the capital's slum district. Those rooms will be a level below the drow bedrooms, because some people didn't like to mingle with lesser races.

(https://i.imgur.com/eYl8NnD.png)

Coal and porcelain! The discovery only fueled Fred's mining rage. He was tearing through soft dolomite like a madman. If solid stone walls couldn't stop him, nothing could. Suddenly he dropped his pickaxe, ripped his shirt off, flashed extremely brightly with his faerie fire, and yelled: "UNLIMITED POWER!"
"SHUT UP, YOU ASSHOLE!" Lunardog shouted from upstairs. This stopped Fred's momentum completely. He remembered he was an administrator above all, and getting this excited about digging was basically accepting his position as a pitiful lowlife. His magical light has faded completely, leaving him to ponder his fate in darkness.

Meanwhile, everybody on the surface felt an eldritch presence.

(https://i.imgur.com/XZbCi3Y.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/WQNz5Jz.png)

The tiny creatures didn't seem hostile, but their alien appearance was unsettling.

(https://i.imgur.com/oDD3Bqw.png)

Spring ended, making way for summer. The first month passed quickly and uneventfully. First underberries started going ripe for the harvest, and the stockpile for cloth and leather industry were already partially done. That kept both Lunardog and Fred busy.
SQ was wandering around the burrow, doing odd jobs to keep her mind off the issue with Scourge and Imic.
Scourge still wasn't done with spinning the rothe wool. She did notice that something was wrong with her friend, but was reluctant to ask, instead she's been spending whole days by the spinning wheel.
Imic felt extremely uncomfortable, hiding from SQ's sight. He more or less barricaded himself in the craftsman's workshop, carving little stars out of mussel shells.
MottledPetrel didn't care about other people's drama. In fact, he was perfectly content to spend the days collecting mussels just to avoid getting involved.
Finally, Darkening Kaos was too busy to care about anything. She managed to finish the order for beds, now she was working on cabinets. Then she had to construct barrels and bucket for the shroomery, and mechanisms for the silk reel and the spidery. It wasn't much different from what she had been doing in the capital, but this work at least felt meaningful, and no one judged her career choices. The only thing she was missing was her forge, with an anvil, tongs and hammers.

(https://i.imgur.com/LxnaGDd.png)

The life almost became monotonous, until one day MottledPetrel came running to SQ shouting: "Migrants! Migrants on the horizon! I think they're from the capital!
"W-what? I thought... I thought we would get some kind of warning to prepare beforehand! We have to assemble a commitee of some sort!" a different expedition leader would have handled the migrant situation on their own, but SQ wasn't particularly fond of meeting new people. "Get everyone here, we have to decide who's on the commitee."
MottledPetrel hurried to fetch everybody. Luckily he managed to do that in a couple of minutes instead of hours, like he often did.
"I'm in charge, so I have to be there, even if I don't want to" SQ began. Everyone nodded in agreement "Fred is the administrator, so he should be a member of the commitee too, to take notes if nothing else" everyone nodded again, no one could disaggree with that "Who else... Lunardog, you know how to deal with snotty high-borns, don't you?"
"I prefer 'arrogant nobility', but yes, you could say that"
"Great, you're in. Next, Kaos, umm... I don't think there is a single profession you haven't dabbled in. Think you could be able to tell a master from an amateur?"
"I don't know, as you said, I've only dabbled in a lot of things" Darkening Kaos hesitated "Not sure if I'm..."
"That's great to hear, you're in!" SQ interrupted "That means we have a full commitee. Now let's wait for..."
"*COUGH* Aren't you forgetting about something?" Scourge cut SQ off.
"I'm not really interested in Petrel's opinion, so..."
"How about me and Imic? Mostly about me, because Imic is, well, Imic"
"And what exactly do you have to say, Scourge? You're not a real priestess, and you're not an expert on anything that I'm not."
"I'm also your best friend, almost a sister in fact"
"But am I your best friend? Or maybe you think I'm just a parasite that stuck to you, and you can't get rid of it. I've been nothing but trouble to you, with my crying and temper tantrums, you can't expect me to believe you think of me as a friend!"
"SQ..." Scourge was shocked. She stared at the expedition leader with disbelief.
"Enough! Commitee, to the wagon, that's where we're welcoming the migrants."

The four drows gathered on the wagon. They were all uneasy because of SQ's recent argument with Scourge, and the fact that a wave of migrants was getting close wasn't making this situation any more pleasant. Lunardog, being the tallest, stood up to look around. He saw two drows making their way through tall savanna grass.
"Umm... How many do you expect, SQ?" he said
"I dunno, maybe twenty? That's reasonable"
"There's two"

The two travellers stopped by the wagon. A male of average build and a sly smile, and a corpulent female, visibly exhausted. SQ recognized the male.

(https://i.imgur.com/GmIkilp.png)

"ZM5?! What are you doing here?" she shouted in surprise.
"Oh, I knew I would be greeted by cute girls, but you, SQ? And who are those other two beautiful ladies?" ZM5 was obviously too distracted to answer SQ's question.
"Oh, let me guess..." Lunardog mumbled grumpily.
"One beautiful lady" the newcomer corrected himself, centering his attention on Darkening Kaos, who didn't know what to say, as she wasn't used to flattery. "You know that gnomes greet each other by kissing? How about we greet each other the gnomish way?"
"I think I asked you a question, ZM5" SQ said sternly. Even after the outlash at Scourge, the rest was surprised to see the girl behave so unlike herself.
"Okay, darling, where to start... Okay, you know about my pottery shop, right? It's been twenty years since I opened it, and I've decided to celebrate it properly. I went to the pub with a bunch of friends. I was hoping to have a good time, drink beer, maybe meet a cute priestess, but then there was this guy, this brute harrassing a defenceless lady. If there's one thing worth fighting for, it's a lady's honor."
"Ah, we might get along well then" Lunardog said, having already forgotten ZM5's recent mistake. "You may be a middler, but you have a noble spirit"
"A noble spirit, huh? Anyway, that bastard knew hehad no chance against me, so he pulled out a dagger, but as you know, SQ, I'm somewhat of a dagger enthusiast myself. Turns out he was a lawman, and the lady was running from the law. I was given a choice - coming here or rotting in jail"
"That's exactly what I expected from you. Is there something you're particularly good at?" SQ inquired.
"Pottery and knife fighting, but you already know this. I also know my way around mechanisms, and I can shoot crossbow, but every man should. Where is Scourge?" ZM5 added out of nowhere.
"Why would she be here?" SQ growled with hostility in her eyes.

ZM5's relaxed expression became completely serious, signifying that he accepted the girl's challenge "you can't lie to me, Weri, you wouldn't come here without her, and there is no way she could let you do it. Something happened between you two" SQ shuddered when he addressed her by her birth name "I know you have... problems, and I know as a fact that you wouldn't get this far without someone who can deal with them."
"I don't have problems any, Lerine" SQ tried to say ZM5's true name in the same hair-raising way, but she failed to achieve the effect "I'm as capable as anyone"
"Someone could just ask you to give up your position, and you would" this time both Fred and Lunardog shuddered, having remembered their conversation from the day they arrived in this place. Did ZM5 know? "Such a filmsy, delicate creature couldn't possibly stay in power on her own. You're just not fit for that, neither physically nor emotionally. Fere spent her life protecting you from your own weakness, you can barely function without someone like her."
"How do you say those names so... powerfully?" Fred butted in, but was ignored.
"I haven't talked to her in a month, I don't need her anymore." SQ replied to ZM5
"Check. She's here, and you can't deny it any more." ZM5's uncaring expression returned on his face. "We'll continue our little discussion later. For now, I gotta find Scourge and thank her properly for keeping you alive. See ya!"

"Is there... anything going on between you and this guy? You seem to know each other pretty well" Lunardog noticed.
"That's a story for another time, right now I... we need to get rid of him" SQ said as if it was something obvious.
"Too bad we're a commitee, and we decide together" Lunardog protested. He felt like he was talking to an impostor, not the real SQ. "He's a decent man, maybe likes women a little too much, but no one is perfect, and that's not the worst negative trait to have."
"I agree with Lunardog" Darkening Kaos joined the discussion "He's a charming... I mean talented man. Twenty years of mastering pottery is nothing to sneeze at"
"Sure, let a troublemaker like him in just because he can talk to women and make useless clay trinkets" the expedition leader did't want to give up. "Count Fred the Mighty, you're the only reasonable one in here, tell them we don't need ZM5 in our settlement"
"Do you really think this will get you anywhere? I don't know what happened to the old you, but I will do everything to oppose the new you. ZM5 stays." Fred and SQ stared at each other with determination in their eyes. Finally, to claim his victory, Fred added lightheartedly "I gotta ask him how he does that thing where he says someone's name and everyone gets goosebumps."

SQ stood up and headed to her bedroom. She was convinced that everybody was working against her. On the way she met Scourge who was trying to talk to her, but SQ just gave her a hateful look. Scourge stood there with her eyes wide open, trying to figure out what was going on.

"Good job, Fred" Lunardog said to his old friend. It was hard to guess if he was serious or not "you did exactly what you were supposed not to do, yet I'm glad you did it. I can't stand watching her turning into a self-centered sociopath. The faster we figure out what's going on the better. Meanwhile, I think we have one more migrant to talk to."

(https://i.imgur.com/lm4Tlat.png)

The female drow was still trying to catch her breath. It was apparent that she wasn't in her top shape, in fact she looked barely alive.
"Don't... worry... about... me" she gasped "I'll be... fine"
"I can't say I care about your wellbeing all that much" Lunardog admitted. "Unless you have skills that we might consider useful"
"I've been a shearer... in the slave pits. If you ever wondered... who shaved the 'stray' trolls... it was me" the woman attempted to look proud, but in her state it was near impossible. "I can also take care of insect hives... and burn wood."
"I don't think we need someone like you, miss..."
"Schmendrick"
"Schmendrick" Lunardog finished. He obviously didn't like anything about the woman, her skills, her physical weakness, even her name.
"I don't know, Scourge might appreciate some help, now that SQ doesn't want to talk to her" Kaos noticed "Say, Schmendrick, how do you feel about spinning and weaving?"
"I always had something else do that for me" Schmendrick answered nervously "I've never touched a spinning wheel or a loom. I'm eager to learn, though"
Lunardog shook his head "You won't be once you meet Scourge, but when I think about it, I could use some help with the stills myself."
"Right, we're not exactly in a position to be picky, are we?" Fred the Mitey added "welcome aboard, Schmendrick"

Plot wise: DRAMA
I didn't intend for Imic and Scourge to get together, really. They were the only compatible drows, both being in their 140s. The only other likely couple right now are SQ and ZM5, but they won't be spending much time together once we start training our militia.

Game wise: It didn't go exactly as I planned. There was supposed to be more migrants, including someone who could be a house priestess. A great potter is fine, considering we have kaolinite, but ZM5 wanted to be a soldier, so as soon as we get an anvil, Kaos will forge him a dagger. The female migrant is pathetic, high master in shearing which is instant and doesn't benefit from high skill, plus expert at beekiping which is useless. She probably couldn't lift a dagger, let alone full armor. ZM5 is weak too, but at least his physical attributes are all higher than 20

(https://i.imgur.com/0U8frK6.png)
(the first 6 are physical attributes, 1st is strength)

0 strength everybody. At this point I'm considering keeping Scourge as a house priestess because her stats are really good

(https://i.imgur.com/uaXcUQp.png)

Only Imic (67), Lunardog (59), and the male troll (73) are stronger than her, and those guys can't be priestesses for obvious reason.

Also, Fred the Mitey became a legendary +1 miner in a single season, what a champ. He hasn't found us any metal, but it's just a matter of time.

Woah

Hahaha, I gotta say I like the way my drow is written. Really curious to see what comes of the plot once we get sieges and megabeast attacks, along with the caverns getting opened.

Sorry, a lot of plot and very little gameplay today.

Spoiler: WARNING: silliness and blatant JoJo reference (click to show/hide)

SQ was facing Scourge and ZM5 on top of a nondescript building, their hair swaying in the wind. multiple ゴ symbols hovered in the air around them.
"I knew I couldn't trust you two from the start. I was just waiting for you to betray me, and I gotta say you've chosen a great moment"
"It wasn't a choice, we needed you to realize our plan" Scourge said "but now you've overstayed your welcome. 「Atom Bomb Baby」, let's take out the trash!" A feminine humanoid figure materialized behind her out of thin air. It looked as if it was wrapped tightly in a black and yellow tape, its eyes were glowing brilliant white, and the same glow was coming out of its head imitating a wild storm of hair.
"Yare yare dawa! Now that you called your stand against me, I have no reason to hold back! 「Bed of Roses」!" SQ caled her stand, a figure resembling a humanoid wrapped in thick, thorny vines, with a rose bud where its head should be. "Let's start with learning about their plan."
「Bed of Roses」 launched its vines to entangle Scourge and her stand. ZM5 couldn't allow this to happen.
"「Sweet Dreams」, protect Scourge! If SQ somehow gets out of this alive, knowing what we're up to might get problematic!" a veil of pink mist surrounded Scourge and 「Atom Bomb Baby?, successfully blocking SQ's stand's vines.
"W-what? This shouldn't be possible! 「Bed of Roses」 can break any barrier!"
"Looks like we have the same type of stand, baby doll. Your mind reading power has no effect!" ZM5 shouted dramatically.
"That's bullshit!"
"I know, right? Imagine if it was something cooler, like stopping time, that would seriously cripple your stand's usefulness"
"Enough of the chit-chat! I'll light you right up!" Scourge's stand emerged from 「Sweet Dreams」 and charged at 「Bed of Roses」. The stands clashed into a flurry of punches and vine-whips "Muda da! You can block all of our punches, but here's something special! Start fission!" 「Atom Bomb Baby」 started glowing and radiating with immense heat, and probably something else too.
"No! I couldn't foil your sinister plans after all! Whatever they were!" SQ shouted before being vaporized by Scourge's stand's fission attack.

SQ woke up covered in sweat. She couldn't tell if the dream was a work of her slowly going insane, or the mussels she had for dinner the previous day. All she knew was that she needed a drink. She put on her shirt, and left her empty, dark room. That place was unsettling to her - she was used to her cramped two by one urist room in the capital's slum district. Everyone seemed to be asleep at the moment, SQ couldn't even hear anything from the carpenter's workshop where Kaos was usually spending days and nights.

She made her way to the food stockpile, quietly stepping on cold stone and soft clay with her bare feet. She didn't even want to light up her faerie fire, relying completely on her limited darkvision. She finally reached the row of barrels in the stockpile, picked up a wooden cup from the floor, then started searching for a barrel containing marrow wine. Seemed like all that was left was shiitake wine after all. SQ sighed quietly at the thought of drinking the foul brew. As she did that, she started glowing, but it wasn't her magical light.

"Oh, what a coincidence" ZM5 was leaning over a wall just a few feet from SQ. She was surprised she hasn't noticed him up to this point "A bit late for a walk, isn't it, SQ? And in your shirt and panties only."
"I could ask you the same, maybe without the panties part, but I know you were waiting for me here. How did you know I'll come here tonight?"
"First, I sleep here until I get a room made for me. Second, I knew you wouldn't be able to sleep after what happened yesterday "ZM5 moved closer to SQ, but the girl stepped back "Listen, I don't particularly care what you think about me, but you really should..."
"You have no right to tell me what I should be doing. I know the rest accepted you, but those traitors will eventually pay for this mistake " SQ's whispers were bone-chillingly cold. She was completely serious about this, to ZM5's shock.
"This is going too far! I talked to Scourge, she said you're avoiding her for some reason. She doesn't understand why."
"Oh, that's what she told you? Have you talked to her boy toy? Maybe he will tell you?"
"Here we go, now we're making progress" ZM5 clapped, congratulating himself on gaining ground over SQ "The girl is a real eye candy, I'm surprised it took her this long to find a boyfriend. That makes you uncomfortable, doesn't it?"

"That... that's not the point! You're changing the topic!" SQ started panicking, she wanted to continue the battle on her own field, but wasn't able to push ZM5 back.
The man took a step forward, forcing SQ to take another step back "You were the one who mentioned this 'boy toy' person? Say, is it the Imic boy who works in the craftsman's shop?"
"Why are you calling him a boy if he's almost twenty years older than you?"
"Who's changing the topic now? It's probably him, because he's serving in the militia under Scourge, judging by his sword and silly helmet. I think I have you figured out by now. You're jealous, but not because Scourge has found a partner and you haven't, you don't care about those things. You're angry because you think Imic is closer to Scourge than you are. Check." ZM5 nodded and smiled. The battle was over, and he was victorious once again. "Go to bed, baby girl, because you have some apologies to make tomorrow. Oh, and next time if you decide to go on a late night escapade, don't go barefoot. It's sad to see a cute girl like you going down with a cold"
SQ wanted to say something mean, but the words got stuck in her throat. She took a quick swig of shiitake wine, then tossed the cup to the ground. She then went back to her bedroom, completely ignoring ZM5.

(https://i.imgur.com/W64vm8b.png)

The next day the atmosphere was red hot from tension from the very sunrise. It was even getting to MottledPetrel who had nothing to do with anything that was going on. He was the last one to wake up, as usual, and as usual he headed straight to the river to collect mussels. On the way he tripped over something.
"Who the hell dropped their trash in the middle of the field!" He yelled, more because he was expected to rather than because he was legitimately angry.
Schmendrick stumbled towards the fisherman "Oh, that's where I left it! Heh, sorry about that "It's my crossbow and my quiver, I'm no markswoman, but walking through the wilderness without a weapon is dangerous."
"Maybe I should get a crossbow then?" Petrel thought out loud "These tentacle monsters wouldn't know what hit them"
"You can take mine, I don't think I need it anymore. But if you want a quiver, go to the cloth stockpile. The expedition leader wanted everything made of cloth stored in one place."
"That's too much effort, you can take your crossbow to the stockpile"
"We don't have a place to store metal goods, so I'll just leave it here. The bolts too."
MottledPetrel shrugged indifferently. For a minute he wondered if emptying the quiver before hauling them to the storage room was the most ergonomic action, but then he decided this was a silly thing to think about, so he made his way to the river.
(Apparently every migrant will be coming with a crossbow because of their natural skills. Free metal i guess)

(https://i.imgur.com/Ae8wWjZ.png)

Fred the Mitey was showing SQ his new plans for a trash pile and workshops for bone carvers.
"...and this is where the trinkets will be stored" the miner explained "I have an idea for disposing unusable trash, but I'll have to have a word with Kaos first."
"Yeah, whatever "SQ brushed him off. She couldn't think about anything after her encounter with ZM5, especially since the potter was watching her from across the corridor at that very moment. She gave him a cold look, but he smiled warmly.
"Excuse me, Fred, but I have things to do"
"Good, I used to enjoy talking with you back in the day, but now..." the miner didn't know about what happened last night, he wanted to take on the 'new SQ' by himself, but he didn't have ZM5's charisma.

SQ approached ZM5 with her arms crossed defensively "Why won't you leave me alone? I 've never been better, stop pretending there's something wrong with me!"
"If you don't want me watching over you, then maybe go ask Scourge to do it instead? You almost promised you would do that" the man didn't even pretend this confrontation was on equal terms. His unsettlingly sincere smile was not disappearing from his face any time soon. "She's at the spinning wheel just behind the corner, if we spoke up she would be able to hear us."
"I never promised anything. I went to bed without saying anything. Check." SQ replied, imitating ZM5's way of ending conversation.
"What do you mean 'check'? I still have one more move. SCOURGE! SQ wants to have a word with you! Check. You'll thank me for that later." ZM5 nodded, turned around and disappeared downstairs.

Scourge came out of the farmer's workshop. Usually full of energy, today she looked depressed and completely drained.
"SQ? You... you really wanted to talk?" she asked nervously.
"No! Yes... maybe." SQ wasn't ready to confront her friend, especially not in this state.
"Oh, okay. I'll be going back to work"
"No, please!" SQ grabbed Scourge by her scarf "I'm not sure what to say, but can you stay with me for a while?" the expedition leader realized she's been holding back tears. She's decided to let them go, like in the old days. Scourge did the same, but she somehow seemed happy. She was just about to embrace SQ, but was pushed away. SQ's eyes were burning with hatred once again "No, what am I doing?" The expedition leader exclaimed "I just can't let you get away with everything so easily!"
"SQ, what are you talking about? I've got enough! Explain yourself at once!"
"I don't need to listen to you anymore! I finally realized I'm stronger without you! Don't get in my way!" SQ walked away hastily and left Scourge alone, seething with anger.
"This is getting out of hand" Scourge thought "ZM5 knows something he doesn't want to share. I need to have a word with him."

ZM5 was busy bothering Darkening Kaos at work. The woman was surprisingly happy to have company, probably because of ZM5's smooth talking. Suddenly someone pulled the potter by his robe so hard he almost lost his balance. He turned around to see Scourge looking at him with fire in her eyes.
"Okay, sweet cheeks, how about you tell me what's going on?" Scourge growled menacingly.
"No can do, baby, but if you really want to talk so badly, let's go somewhere more... private" ZM5 obviously wasn't taking Scourge's outrage seriously "How about my room? I get lonely out there sometimes"
"Why did I think you had at least some decency? Sure, if that helps me get some answers from you, but don't get any funny ideas"
"Of course, Imic wouldn't be happy if we..." ZM5 made his next carefully planned move.
"What? How do you know? Okay, let's go to your damn room!" Scourge took the bait.

The two drows entered ZM5's room. The man snapped his fingers and lit up the room with faint faerie fire. It's worth saying that casting faerie fire doesn't require snapping one's fingers. Scourge rolled her eyes and activated her own, brighter light.
"Come on, baby girl, you ruined the romantic atmosphere" ZM5 said jokingly.
"Where should I begin?" Scourge refused to acknowledge ZM5's remark "Right, how about you tell me how do you know about me and Imic?"
"Literally anyone could have told me. I learned about it from Imic himself"
"Hmph, I have no way to disprove it right now, but know that I don't believe you a bit"
ZM5 shrugged indifferently "Then why even ask if you're not gonna believe me?"
"Doesn't matter. I know you've talked to SQ at least twice since you arrived here. What were you two talking about?" Scourge assumed the most menacing look she could.
"We haven't seen each other for many years, it's only natural to try to catch up with an old friend."
"Am I not your old friend, ZM? I don't remember you trying so hard to reconnect with me." Scourge raised her eyebrow. ZM5 was obviously lying.
"You know how SQ is, if she noticed I paid more attention to you than to her, she would get offended and wouldn't want to talk to me" ZM5's face suddenly became serious" Come on, Scourge, say it. Like in the old days."

"Check" Scourge said quietly.
ZM5 clapped enthusiastically "You said it! You said it! Now your thoughts, please."
"You learned about me and Imic from SQ, that's obvious"
"Correct, baby"
"You had no reason to hide it from me, you just wanted me to play your stupid little game"
"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't. Or maybe I wanted to check if your mind is still as sharp as it used to be"
Scourge decided not to continue with this topic "It's also obvious that you've talked to SQ about the 'issue'. You called me so I'd talk to her, because you thought she would explain everything to me"
"Yes, and..."
"...and it didn't go so well, but you weren't surprised at all. Your conversations with SQ didn't exactly go well either"
ZM5 frowned in an exaggerated way "Unfortunately it's gone too far already. I couldn't make her do the first move. I want to hear the final answer: why is she mad at you, and by extension, me? I already dropped a hint for you, I'll be disappointed if you get it wrong"

"I got... close to Imic, and SQ didn't like it" Scourge muttered vaguely. ZM5 wasn't satisfied.
"Was she jealous because you got a boyfriend before her? Did she have a crush on you or Imic?" the potter inquired.
"We've been best friends for a hundred years now, she never really opened up to anyone else but me, and to be honest, I've never been closer to anyone else either. I started spending more time with Imic after we... got to know each other better one day. SQ doesn't understand relationship the same way we do, she thought me hanging out with Imic meant that I've abandoned her."
"That's my girl! I knew you could do it! Now that you know what's really going on, you can go fix everything"
"I'll do it tomorrow, I don't want to bother SQ anymore today. Thank you, ZM5, I'm glad you're here with us."
"Checkmate"

More PLOT tonight.

Spoiler: ??? (click to show/hide)

Two drow children, a girl and a boy, were running through narrow alleys of the capital's Slum District. It was far into the night hours, so it was only them and the people chasing them.
"F-f-five, I'm scared, how... how much longer do we have to run!" the girl wimpered. She was almost completely out of breath, and if the boy wasn't dragging her by the hand, she would have fallen behind long ago.
"Shhh! If we're to lose them, we need to be quiet" the boy whispered.
The children didn't know where they were going, they could only hope they don't hit a dead end. Unfortunately, that's exactly what happened.
"This is the end, we're dead" the girl signed in Drow Sign Language. Her hands were shaking so much it was difficult to understand.
"I've got an idea" the boy signed, then yanked the girl's hand towards the closest door. He knocked on the door, making sure that whoever lives in that room hears it, but at the same time he isn't making too much noise.
"I swear, if you want me to clean the draltha enclosure in the middle of the night again..." a woman's grumpy, sleepy voice could be heard from inside. After a while the door opened, a very young woman, maybe in her thirties, looked at the children in surprise "Hey, you're not Lithéme or Mevena! I need my twelve hours of beauty sleep before I dive in draltha shit in the morning, leave me alone."
"We're being chased, let us in" the boy signed.
"Come in" the woman signed back.

The room was very small, like all rooms in the Slum District, but it seemed even smaller because of how messy it was. A faint smell of manure emanated from a pair of filthy shoes standing next to a tiny bed.
"Heh, sorry for the mess, I didn't expect visitors" the young woman chuckled "So... who was chasing you and why?"
"Five, who... who was that? I don't understand!" the girl desperately tried not to scream out of fear and confusion.
"Those were..."
Before the boy finished the sentence, someone started wailing on the door.
"Open up! I know you're hiding them!" a voice ordered.
"Yeah, no. I'm not hiding anything, let me sleep!" the woman shouted back.
"Want us to break down the door?" the voice threatened.
"Be my guest, we'll see which trap you'll activate first: sawblades or giant corkscrews" the woman bluffed.
"What are we doing now?" the voice asked.
"You never know with those lowlifes" a second voice responded "She's probably lying, but I don't wanna find out. Let's get out of here."

SQ woke up covered in sweat again. This dream wasn't as bizarre as the last one, but SQ still needed a drink after that. She put on her shirt and her heavy boots, and left the room. Maybe if Fred approved the order for tables and chairs, the room wouldn't be as creepy? Then again, he didn't have a desk for doing paperwork either.

The expedition leader cursed herself in her head for going out barefoot the previous night. Her throat was sore, and her nose stuffed. She was seeing with her darkvision; only shiitake wine was left, so why would she bother with seeing colors? When she reached the stockpile, she picked up a cup from the ground. It had a very crooked four-armed star made of shell attached to it.
"Hmph! I should have told Imic to stop doing this" SQ thought "He should be training instead of carving shells"
She lifted the lid of a nearby barrel to see that there wasn't much inside. Due to her short stature, she needed to go head down into the barrel, holding on with one had to get a cup of the horrid liquid. Actually, SQ was starting to like shiitake wine for what it was.

"Trouble sleeping again, SQ?" Someone called. SQ lost her balance for a while, which almost made her fall down into the barrel. She lifted herself up to see ZM5 looking at her smugly "In your panties again? At least you're wearing shoes this time."
"Five! I mean..."
"Oh, It's been such a long time since you last called me Five, that's cute" ZM5 smiled, legitimately moved by SQ's slip of the tongue "Those weren't the best days, but everything was so simple back then."
"Why aren't you in your bedroom? Were you sleeping here in dirt just to talk me?" SQ inquired. She wasn't angry, to her own surprise "please don't make it a nightly thing."
"Ha ha, don't worry about it. I just really wanted to apologize to you, that's all"

"A-apologize? Fi... ZM5, I thought..." SQ was expecting everything, but not this.
"I came here to meet you and Scourge... and for that other reason. I expected to see the cute meek girl from the last time we've seen each other, but I wasn't prepared to see that you've changed so much."
"I... I have changed for better. Why am I the only person who realizes this?" SQ stared at her feet, not willing to look into ZM5's eyes.
"I wanted to tell you I'm sorry. Sorry for not helping you out straight away"
"WHAT?!" SQ got angry at herself for not getting angry at ZM5 before "Oh, this is the part where you get all serious and begin your 'game', right? Why is everything a game for you?"
"Ha ha! I've already won this game. I just want you to know I could have won the moment we met" the look at ZM5's face wasn't mocking or triumphant - it was friendly, which infuriated SQ even more.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"I wanted Scourge to figure everything out by herself, but it turns out she needed a little help. You'll have two battles ahead of you tomorrow, better be ready."
"I'm... I'm tired of your chattering" SQ sighed "Nothing you say makes any sense"
"I'll tell you something that makes sense: I'm glad you decided to wear boots this time around. I think you caught something already, and I wouldn't want it to get worse for you."
SQ was still angry, but she couldn't help but smile. She downed her cup of shiitake wine, and went back to her bedroom.

(https://i.imgur.com/9G2ma6j.png)

Imic was tired of eating only mussels and underberries, and he was certain that others would also appreciate some diversity in their diet. As a self proclaimed vigilante, he decided that bringing real meat to the butcher's was an act of justice - the drows deserved to eat something different. He picked up his sword and a wooden shield decorated with shell stars, and went out to hunt.
A giant louse just happened to be wandering around the woods, looking for fresh blood. A fine target. Imic rushed to slay the monster.

(https://i.imgur.com/wL5y6QX.png)

The first blow landed flat - Imic hoped that no one saw that, because that would have been embarrassing. He decided to try stabbing instead, but that failed to do much damage. The insect apparently decided to strike back, because it turned towards the vigilante. Imic panicked, but his reflexes were somewhat unusual, because instead of running away, he jumped at the louse and bit it on the head. The monster changed its mind about attacking its assailant, but before it managed to run away, Imic was already slashing at it furiously.
The louse has collapsed on the ground, but it was still twitching. Imic tried to finish it off with one final stab, but the creature was still twitching, and his sword was stuck. The drow started punching its prey mercilessly until its leathery chitin armor was ripped open in so many places, there was no way it could be alive. Maybe it could? Imic didn't know much about insect anatomy.

(https://i.imgur.com/XvwEOqH.png)

(https://i.imgur.com/KxMdrGk.png)

Meanwhile, Fred the Mitey was dealing with other giant bugs. The spiders needed to be contained, but neither SQ nor Scourge were in the right mindset to care about them.
"Just keep them in here, I'll tell the new guy, ZM the 5th, or whatever his name is, to get the sawmill going" Fred instructed the rattusite.
"Sure thing, I'll make sure those eight-legged dudes don't skedaddle anywhere"
Fred was satisfied with himself - he was giving orders that were followed, and he was the one pushing the settlement's progress. On the other hand, he didn't feel like he earned this position of power.

(https://i.imgur.com/RqtVoYR.png)

SQ and Scourge were both working at the looms. They avoided looking at each other as much as they could, but in reality they were both gathering courage to speak. Scourge knew it had to be done, so she spoke up first.
"SQ, remember our first days working together?"
"Mmm..." SQ tried to appear uninterested, but she raised her head to look at Scourge.
"You seemed really strange to me, I mean, you still do, but back then I thought I'd never get used to it. I'm glad I finally did"
"Hmm..."
"I'm still struggling to understand what's going on in your head sometimes, and I tend to make the biggest mistakes when I think I have everything figured out. The worst part? Sometimes I don't even realize what I do wrong" Scourge smiled in a sad way, hoping that SQ would return the smile, but she didn't.

"Oh, so we're talking about that again. You know what you did, ZM5 must have told you"
"Exactly, I needed his help to understand what's going on. Now tell me why you're mad at me" Scourge replied deadly seriously.
"What's the point? You know already!" SQ was losing her patience.
"Start with 'I think', please"
"Argh, all right! I think you've grown tired of me, I think you value your stupid romance with that meathead Imic more than you value our century long friendship. I think..." SQ stopped.
"You think... Have you wondered what I was thinking? Do you really believe I would want to cut you off like that? I thought you would be happy for me, but instead you decided I didn't want to be your friend anymore!"
"I... I decided? It was you who started spending more time with Imic" SQ started shaking. She was slowly realizing the true nature of the problem, but she was not ready to admit it.
"That happens when you start a relationship with someone. Can't blame you for not knowing that, you've never had anyone besides me and ZM5. Thinking about it now, maybe I should have explained everything to you sooner. Listen, I could never abandon you for somebody else, and I thought it would be obvious to you. Apparently it wasn't, I'm sorry" Scourge found herself at SQ's workshop, with her hands on SQ's shoulders, staring into her eyes intensely. Considering all the awkward positions she had found herself in in the past, this situation wasn't too bad.

Scourge fully expected to be pushed back again, considering she was invading SQ's personal space by an extreme margin. Instead of pushing Scourge back, SQ wrapped her arms around her and squeezed as hard as her skinny arms could.
"I'm so sorry, Scourge! It's not your fault at all!" SQ finally cracked. Her battle with herself was over "You... you couldn't know...! I didn't want... didn't want to listen, I thought I was better wi-without y-you, but I was... I was wrong! Five... ZM5 wanted to help me but..."
"P-please, stop... squeezing...! Can't... breathe!" Scourge managed to whisper. SQ realized she was crushing her friend's ribs, so she quickly let go. Scourge just then noticed her scarf was soaked with SQ's tears "Ugh... It's... it's fine now. You know I can't stay mad at you. Ummm... how about we take a break? You'll get all this wonderful rothe wool wet, heh" Scourge smiled sincerely, and was delighted when SQ returned the smile.

Despite the room being lit with faerie fire, one corner was suspiciously dark. ZM5, hiding in the shroud of his magical darkness, clapped for himself. All players of his game were winners that day.

What I didn't include is that ZM5's drow worships an another drow, a melancholic alchemancer, not a deity, demon or megabeast. I didn't know that was even possible.

I had no idea that was possible either

I'm kind of surprised the weirdest things on this embark so far were those teardrop-shaped floaters. Giant louse seem really mundane compared to a lot of stuff that could be popping up.

Quote from: ZM5 on June 07, 2018, 05:50:33 am

I'm kind of surprised the weirdest things on this embark so far were those teardrop-shaped floaters. Giant louse seem really mundane compared to a lot of stuff that could be popping up.

Besides urhags we only had giant insects and demon ostriches with hands so far. That and a couple of tentacle monsters that were slaughtering dolphins in the river. Having said that, it's only summer, so we definitely haven't seen everything the embark has to offer. I expect dinosaurs and crazy d&d monsters to show up any time now.

Quote from: scourge728 on June 06, 2018, 07:27:57 pm

I had no idea that was possible either

It's no joke, this madman is worshipping a sorceress goddess.

(https://i.imgur.com/NJp3hHV.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/ZyCkwso.png)

HOLY SHIT GUYS, IT'S THE GRAND MATRIARCH:

(https://i.imgur.com/jA9vbnu.png)

ZM5 is worshipping the valsharess as a living goddess. She could migrate to our fort and hang out in her own temple. Isn't that something?

SQ was trying to catch up with everything that happened in the settlement during her month long hissy fit. Actually, not that much was done during that period, maybe except for the spider enclosure commissioned and excavated by Fred the Mitey.
While inspecting wood and stone stockpiles, she noticed something unusual: the female troll was chiseling something out of dolomite. According to Lunardog, this troll wasn't born in captivity and wasn't properly civilized, so it was even stranger to see her working with precise tools.
"Ummm... What are you doing? Carving blocks?" SQ asked.
"YOU IS WRONG, RUNT-BOSS!" the troll answered with her booming voice "I DO ART!"
"A-art?! What sort of art can YOU be doing?" SQ didn't know trolls understand the concept of art, but she realized that she shouldn't be admitting to it "Not that trolls can't be artists, some of the best artists I know were trolls."
"STATUES OF ALL DROW! I IS MASON NOW!"

(https://i.imgur.com/7uwJzm6.png)

(https://i.imgur.com/YVlD5Zj.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/LxqntWI.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/geKLqZi.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/V03pUaR.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/HOF0gpF.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/arM0jNX.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/ggRjgTZ.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/e1i6yhV.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/pBj9PGM.png)

"Wow, these are fantastic, all things considered" SQ said. Those statues weren't horrible, but they weren't masterpieces either. One thing that really influenced SQ's judgement was that she was a thirty-five kilogram drow talking to a half ton monster with huge tusks and horns.
"LEARN SLOWER THAN DROW, BUT BECOME MASTER ONE DAY! HAVE ETERNITY, HO-HO-HO!" the troll roared with laughter. SQ was somewhat startled, but the monster's positivity was strangely heartwarming.
"I'll have then installed on the bedroom level"

(https://i.imgur.com/pSBhcpo.png)

There are three ways to get silk from a drowspider - force it to spray web, milk it for unsolidified silkmilk, and unweave its egg sacks. Schmendrick was given the task to sneak into the spider enclosure, take egg sacks from nest boxes, and clean them at the silk reel. For a moment she thought that Scourge wanted to use her as food for the spiders, but then she remembered she was a drow, which granted her an affinity with those creatures.
"I got it, Scourge, now what?" Schmendrick asked, hoping she wouldn't be sent to milk the spiders now.
"Damn, I thought you would chicken out. I owe Lunardog five billon now. Go clean those sacks or something, I'm getting SQ to help me milk those buggers"

(https://i.imgur.com/JicXQSs.png)

Imic and Darkening Kaos were working together at the butcher's workshop, dissecting a giant louse.
"What are those parts? Should I remove them or..." Imic was poking some organs that were protruding from the louse's intestine.
"Wait a minute, where could it be... here!" Kaos found what she was looking for in her thick book "These are... mal-pigh-ian tubules. They filter out waste from the hemolymph."
"The what? I was just asking if they're edible" Imic was getting desperate, he was hoping it would be a quick job, preferably without books being involved "I think this thing is the heart?"
"Let me check... this is a salivary gland, the heart is this tube here" Kaos poked a tubular organ with several openings.
"What? It's on the wrong side of the body! And it has holes that I haven't made!" Imic stopped trying to understand insect biology "Can we just cut out all things we recognize and be done with it, miss Kaos?"
"I was waiting for you to say it" Kaos slammed her book shut, and reached for a knife to get the job done once and for all.

(https://i.imgur.com/8DTxlk1.png)

"Scourge! Scourge!" SQ was running around the settlement helplessly, calling her friend.
Scourge came up from the almost finished smeltery "Could you have a mental breakdown a little bit quiter? We're waiting for Kaos to set herself on fire while burning flarestone."
"The baby is on the way! The baby!"
"I didn't know you were pregnant, SQ" Scourge said, probably not seriously, but SQ wasn't sure "Who's the father?"
"It's not me, it's the troll! Fred is a doctor isn't he? Get him into the mason's workshop!"

There was no denying it, the baby was definitely a troll - sixth the size of an average adult drow, shaggy fur, unsatiable appetite. A new life came to be in Dungeonevened. Someone could have said something profound, but after watching a troll give birth, no one was able to say anything.

You see what I mean now? We need more and better books of questionable science! I really don't want to have to start writing my own, I have too much more important shit to do. And I certainly don't want to be the hauler carrying the unidentifiable bits of louse out to the refuse pit.

I wasn't aware trolls could be masons..... huh, learn something new every day you you shove a dozen mods together

Quote from: scourge728 on June 07, 2018, 05:56:09 pm

I wasn't aware trolls could be masons..... huh, learn something new every day you you shove a dozen mods together

Trolls coul always have professions, they're just slow learners. I had goblins bring troll beekeepers and architects to sieges in vanilla.
We don't have any drows commited to masonry, so the troll had been churning out coffers and statues.

Quote from: Darkening Kaos on June 07, 2018, 05:55:58 pm

You see what I mean now? We need more and better books of questionable science! I really don't want to have to start writing my own, I have too much more important shit to do. And I certainly don't want to be the hauler carrying the unidentifiable bits of louse out to the refuse pit.

I'm sure there is a skeleton out there who's written a book on which parts of a giant louse are edible. Hopefully the next migrant wave will be more substantial so we can get the militia ready for pillaging.

Yeah, trolls and other semi-sapient creatures (ogres in vanilla, or eliminators/gorecyclopes from my DD:DA pack) can have professions, though from what I recall you can't toggle them without DT (and ones you buy from caravans can't have professions switched on even in that way, since they don't count as belonging to your site government).

They make babies like crazy too. In a (hopefully) long-lived fort you could potentially draft them into the military - obviously the rate at which they gain skills is abysmal, but their size should make up for it, especially if they're also armored.

I can't even properly express how salty I am right now. My laptop decided to crash while I was saving a rough draft of an update in notepad. I've written some stuff about our drow civilization and nearby eldritch cults, and then I played a little bit. Everything is gone, and I'd rather just play right now.

Quote from: ZM5 on June 08, 2018, 03:53:23 am

They make babies like crazy too. In a (hopefully) long-lived fort you could potentially draft them into the military - obviously the rate at which they gain skills is abysmal, but their size should make up for it, especially if they're also armored.

The fact that they can wield two handed swords with one hand excites me for some reason. Too bad we can't make armor specifically for trolls. I'll probably have to dig through raws to check what other creatures have comparable size.

(https://i.imgur.com/5GxhjkQ.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/oX0pLFq.png)

Darkening Kaos was walking on the surface, looking for bolts and crossbows that ZM5 and Schmendrick have left behind. Suddenly something red flashed in the grass. Could it be the priceless spartan metal? Yes, those were definitely bolts made of spartan metal. Kaos rushed to pick them up, but she wasn't fast enough. A bizarre little monster jumped out of water berry bushes and grabbed the bolts with its beak.
"IMIC! COME HERE AND KILL SOME VERMINS!" the bolts were lost, but there was also a diamondium crossbow laying around, and another rexagon stalking the plains. Kaos couldn't let more metal to go to waste.

(https://i.imgur.com/WIR9waP.png)

"Imic, you lazy bum! What took you so long?" Kaos was furious over the lost scrap metal.
"Not my fault, miss Kaos, SQ stopped me on my way" Imic responded "turns out she won't banish me for getting engaged to Scourge"
"Uh-huh... If it was up to me I would kick you out for not defending priceless metal"
"Oh, don't worry, I have some stuff in my craftsman's workshop"

"Scourge, I've talked to Imic! He's not mad at me, and he called me his friend! I have a new friend, Scourge!" SQ was jumping around excited, risking spooking the spider that was being milked by Scourge.
"Wonderful guy, isn't he? When a real priestess arrives in here, we're gonna get married and live happily ever after, and maybe have like seventy children... no, that would totally ruin my body, maybe twenty will be enough." Scourge was getting excited just from thinking about her future with Imic, meanwhile SQ's good mood was gone. "Oh, I'm sorry, SQ. Maybe I shouldn't talk about this kind of stuff with you. Don't worry though, I swear I'll find you a good man to settle down with!"
"Here we go again..."

(https://i.imgur.com/a3FRJiD.png)

Fred the mitey and ZM5 were standing in front of the entrance to the settlement. No sugarcoating it, it was just a hole in the ground.
"A tower" Fred said suddenly
"A tower?" ZM5 asked
"A tower" Fred confirmed
"I'll get the sawmill going"

(https://i.imgur.com/juE2guo.png)

The first floor was done. The second floor had to wait until someone chops down the trees around the tower.

(https://i.imgur.com/9AhaENS.png)

The rothe herd was growing. Three bulls were born in the span of a week, but not a single cow. Scourge was over the moon anyway - a rothe is a rothe, the noblest of beasts.

(https://i.imgur.com/WaLw1FZ.png)

Speaking of Scourge, she was trying to place a statue near the tower staircase, when a herd of abrians bursted inside. Their eyes filled with hate, their feathers smelling of brimstone, there was no doubt those were creatures of the abyss.

(https://i.imgur.com/2fWydEq.png)

Scourge didn't care about the creatures's origin. She was heavily outnumbered, so she called Imic, but if it was a one on one fight, she would have strangled the feathered menace.

(https://i.imgur.com/aRkLZ2s.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/rELJE9o.png)

The swordsman came running from underground. He gestured at one of the monsters, and cast faerie fire to make it easier to hit. This scared the abrians, and set them running awaybefore they could be touched by Imic's blade.
Imic didn't want to give up so easily, so he dashed after the birds. Two stragglers were quickly dealt with. Having a long, thin neck is good for looking around grassy plains, but on the other hand it's an invitation for swordsmen.
Imic wanted to continue the pursit, but he got lost in his own cloud of darkness.

SQ was hanging out by the sawmill, where ZM5 was working. They were talking about the last twenty years, when they couldn't see each other.
"...I never actually found out if they were involved. One corrupt nobleman I can deal with, but a whole clan? I know my limits." ZM5 rambled "In the end, I realized the investigation wasn't going anywhere, so I just focused on my pottery shop."
"What about the menagerie overseer? Have you... acquainted yoursef with her?" SQ inquired.
"She's a feisty one, that gal, but hard to reach without raising suspicions. All I got from her was a solid slap to the face, not even a word. If I pressed too hard, I would have got you and Scourge in danger, and you know I wouldn't want that to happen. Honsestly? I don't think she was involved."
Before they could finish the conversation, a troll came down the stairs and shouted:

(https://i.imgur.com/kqW5nmi.png)

"Migrants? How many?" SQ asked.
"Uh... This many" the troll showed eight fingers. "They have animals with 'em too."
"Gotta gather the commitee! That's Lunardog, Kaos, Fred and Scourge, can you do it, troll?"
"Sure thing, bwoss!"
"Why don't you want me on the commitee, baby doll?" ZM5 pretended to be offended.
"Don't be silly, ZM5, if you started hitting on everyone and everything vaguely resembling a woman, someone could get a wrong idea about this place."

The commitee gathered in front of the entrance. Unlike the last time, when ZM5 was dragging half-conscious Schmendrick behind him, this time the migrants moved at a reasonable speed.

(https://i.imgur.com/8ZHrAXG.png)

A well-built woman emerged from the group. She had a mannish pompadour, and was wearing a leather jacket over her robe. A stiff upper lip and an arrogant look in her eyes suggested that she wouldn't be a pleasent person to talk to.
"Which one of you, losers, is the leader" the menacing woman asked.
"It's me, SQ Hateromanced, welcome to my..."
"Yeah, whatever. I'm Freshcannon, leader of the Helmet Snakes, don't get in my way." Freshcannon reached to her pocket and pulled out an ivory comb. "Oh, I guess I'm a priestess of Lolth too. They sent me here to provide you with spiritual guidance or some shit."
"YOU are a priestess?!" Scourge couldn't believe Freshcannon's words.
"Got any problems with that, bitch?" the priestess bared her teeth, and pointed at Scourge with her comb.
"No problem with that, but I've got a lot of problems with your attitude... bitch." the fake priestess growled back.
"Ladies, please calm down!" Lunardog pleaded. With those two the things could easily get out of hand.
"Shut up!" both women shouted in unison. Lunardog frowned and crossed his arms in a grumpy manner.
"I'm the house priestess around here, and you WILL listen to me!" Scourge continued.
"No, you're fucking not! You better pray that Lolth doesn't turn you into a drider for such blasphemy, because I'd personally rip each of your new, spindly legs off, and it would be personal! I've been sent here SPECIFICALLY because you DON'T have a priestess."
"I-if I could... Scourge, you weren't doing anything as a house priestess anyway" SQ interrupted "What difference would it make if you gave up your position?"
"Fine, but I'm doing it for you, not for this... this..."
"If you finish this sentence..." Freshcannon was losing what little patience she had.

"For Lolth's sake, stop this bickering!" Fred the Mitey was getting impatient. He was supposed to be digging out a dining hall, so that the drows wouldn't have to eat on the floor like animals "Tell us what is that you do, Mistress Freshcannon."
"As a leader of Helmet Snakes? I take care of my little... let's call them a troupe. You see Bireta and Melici over there? My people. Helmet Snakes rule!" the priestess shouted to her two leather-clad friends.
"Helmet Snakes rule!" the two repeated.
"As a priestess I make sure that no one leaves Lolth for Eilistraee or Vhaeraun, or some other troublesome deity."
"I was asking if you can do anything that's even remotely useful for us" Fred wasn't satisfied with Freshcannon's answer.
"If I was a different priestess, I'd call you an insolent male, but I don't give a shit if it's a man or a woman who wants to start something with me. If you want to know that much, I'm a world class markswoman"
"And that axe on your back?" Darkening Kaos noticed.
"Oh, this..." Freshcannon looked nervous for a while, but then she returned to her usual, menacing state. "I'm also a mistress of an axe."
"No offense, but this isn't battle wear. It's been used to chop wood." Kaos refuted her bluntly.
"I'm tired of talking to you, losers. I'm gonna go check out what kind of militia you've managed to assemble."

"NEXT!" SQ shouted.
"Asithi, fish cleaner"
"Really? Do you know anyone named MottledPetrel?"
"No, I really don't."

"NEXT!"
"Biretha, Helmet Snakes rule!
"uh-huh, what can you do?"
"I make crossbows. You could say I'm talented"
"Whatever you say..."
"Damn, I'm good."

"NEXT!"
"Liceyi, you could say I'm a farmer, but..."
"But...?"
"I'd be lying if I told you I'm good at it. I'm an aspiring poet, though."

"NEXT!"
"Melici, Helmet Snake"
"..."
"I make cheese and soap. Actually, I'm an important figure in the cheesemaker and soapmaker's guild"

"NEXT!"
"Menari, gem cutter and cook"
"Weird combination"
"Just wait until you try my schorl-quarry leaf special!"

"NEXT!"
"Tharumi, high master of the spinning wheel!"
"Oh, that's actually helpful!"
"But I believe my place is in the army!"
"Aren't you a little scrawny for a trooper?"
"Huh?"

"NEXT!"
"Vemini"
"..."
"..."

"Wow, all of those guys are kinda useless" Scourge noticed "Maybe we should turn some of them away?"
"We let Schmendrick in, those guys stay too" SQ protested.
"And I've already designated their crossbows for melting" Kaos added.

(https://i.imgur.com/QjXchrL.png)

"Okay guys, you can stay!" SQ said to the seven drows. "Now for the animals..."

(https://i.imgur.com/pE3LN9a.png)

"A bat of some kind..." SQ wasn't an expert on bats, and neither was Scourge.
"It's a Desmodu bat" Biretha the Helmet Snake clarified "They were domesticated by a race of bat people who were eradicated a couple centuries ago"
"Neat, it would be hard to catch in the wild, I bet"

(https://i.imgur.com/8H0qKom.png)

"Two young ironheads, a cow and a bull. We could have a breeding pair right here." Said SQ excitedly.
"I don't like these buggers all that much. They're the antithesis of a rothe - mean, ugly, and not useful at all" Scourge shook her head at the animals. The ironheads looked at her indifferently.

(https://i.imgur.com/OyG42yd.png)

"Oh, I know this one, it's a bugbat!" SQ misidentified the little critter.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's a bugbat." Scourge agreed.

(https://i.imgur.com/mdDg2bG.png)

"Ugh, an occula, they're common ironhead parasites." Scourge said, jabbing the poor creature with a stick.
"Dislodging them isn't fun, but look how cute it is!"
"Sometimes I worry about you, SQ... I mean, more than usual."

The commitee was disbanded for now, and the members headed underground. On the way, SQ almost tripped on something. It was ZM5 laying on the ground with a hideously swollen eye.
"Fi... ZM5, what happened to you?!" the expedition leader was shocked, not because ZM5 was injured, but because for some reason everyone else ignored him.
"SQ... I... I think I'm in love. What a woman! What a punch!" ZM5 mumbled.
"Is it Freshcannon?"
"Fresh... cannon, huh? That's her name? Oh boy, she ticks all the boxes!" ZM5 said, lifting himself up.
"Your only boxes are 'looking vaguely feminine' and 'actually being a woman', so it's not that hard." SQ snarked "Hell, you called Lunardog a beautiful woman, so I guess he checks one of the boxes."
"Very funny, baby doll. I'll have you know that you check only one box too" ZM5 smiled meaningfully to let SQ know he was joking. "Anyway, my delinquent angel dropped this."
ZM5 gave SQ a small scroll with an official stamp of the Ministry of Surveying and Settlement.

since your now setled and not on an expedition, I guess you can call yourself a house overseer
good luck
wothana (the guy from the minestry)

SQ decided to ignore the fact that the letter was written horribly unprofessionally.

(https://i.imgur.com/JRUs6VA.png)

"SQ, I'm a house overseer now! House Umbralrelief, how about that?"
"How about house Hateromanced? I think the letter might have been for me." SQ smiled at ZM5, waving the scroll in front of him playfully. "You shouldn't have opened it in the first place. Oh, and I want an extra storage container in my room now. And move Scourge's statue from Freshcannon's room."
"Now that you got a snazzy new title, you think you can order me around? You know I can still do this, right?" ZM5 effortlessly lifted SQ off the ground. The overseer was struggling to free herself, but ZM5 just held her and laughed.
The newcomers were just coming through the entrance corridor where SQ and ZM5 were celebrating SQ's promotion in their own, peculiar way. Some of them lost all hope for the future.

I was hoping to get a miner in the second migrant wave, but a heavy steel axe is good too. Admittedly, Scourge has better attributes than Freshcannon, but in-story stuff is more important.

And it turns out that drows can cast faerie fire and darkness spells in game. Who would have thought?

Damn, that's a shame - I'm curious about the eldritch cults to be perfectly honest, as well as the relations our civ has with them and our neighbors.
The ironheads you can war-train, actually - would make pretty neat pets for the military. More occulas could be useful since they'll hunt vermin - I don't know if there's any particularly bad ones aboveground, but some of the underground ones could rot food or sting dwarves.

What a load of useless Drider turds these migrants turned out to be. Wouldn't be surprised if their most important contribution to society is to be sacrificed with a blunt knife ... I certainly would risk the edge of a sharp knife on any of them. And a house priestess!? I'd be surprised if she actually knew what one did, she fooled the others with her arrogant demeanour, but that was pretty shallow ... perhaps I had better take a step back and watch that one, there is something about her that ... well, I dunno, it was not priestess, more assassin. However, I need to make sure before I confide in Scourge.
All that precious metal lost, as if I wasn't depressed enough without an anvil, or the comforting warmth of a forge, I think I might murder a few trees and turn them into something more useful, like chairs, or tables, perhaps ... ... ... Actually, the tower Fred the ~~tick~~ ... er mite is half-heartedly building looks interesting, I might ~~sit and watch~~ supervise the progress on that for a while.

Spoiler: Edit: OOC - RAW question (click to show/hide)

Quote from: ZM5 on June 10, 2018, 04:54:06 pm

The ironheads you can war-train, actually - would make pretty neat pets for the military. More occulas could be useful since they'll hunt vermin - I don't know if there's any particularly bad ones aboveground, but some of the underground ones could rot food or sting dwarves.

The two ironhead we've got are both calves and pets, and we need them for our zoo. Maybe in a couple of years.
Drowspiders already hunt vermin (or at least would, if I hadn't locked them all up, whoops), and the only vermin I've seen so far are goblizards

Quote from: Darkening Kaos on June 10, 2018, 08:41:41 pm

In the context of the mods, what is aether? My drow has a preference for it and I'd like to know whether it is a metal, wood, cloth or whatever. If it is a metal, is it weapons-grade or furniture only?[/spoiler]

It's a weapon-grade metal from Seiggrain's Farming and stuff mod, probably light and sharp, but I'm not sure.

(https://i.imgur.com/E9Dtu2v.png)

Freshcannon called the militia members to her office to evaluate their equipment and skills. She wasn't surprised in the slightest when only Imic and ZM5 showed up.
"Okay, that's exactly what I expected from this hole." the priestess said, looking at the two men "You with the sword, can you even swing that thing?"
"Yes, mistress, I'm really good at it." Imic answered proudly.
"It's up to me to decide. And you, creep?" Freshcannon asked ZM5 "You couldn't take a punch, what makes you think you can stop a dwarf's battleaxe?"
"Hah, it's quite simple, my little spiderling! The secret is to avoid getting hit. Once you get that down, you're unbeatable."
"Where is your weapon?" Freshcannon noticed that ZM5 was unarmed and unarmored. "Are you actually a member of the militia, or are you here just to piss me off?"
"They took away my dagger when they arrested me back in the capital..." for a moment ZM5 wondered if it was a good idea to tell the priestess about his mishap "It's a long story you don't need to hear. I volounteered for the service so I could spend some quality time with my lovely old friend Scourge, but seeing how an even more gorgeous lady took over, I'm not planning on quitting."
"One time wasn't enough? You want me to make your face symmetrical again, or should I go for the other eye this time?"
"Come on, baby, don't be so cold!"
"Rrrghh! You're now Helmet Snakes." Freshcannon was speaking through her teeth. She couldn't stand ZM5's compant for much longer. "Not official members, not even honorary members. I'm just used to calling my people Helmet Snakes, and I won't make an effort to remember a new name. Okay, Helmet Snakes out!"

(https://i.imgur.com/i3qxlgd.png)

Lunardog was working at the still, brewing underale, and occasionally looking at Menari who was cooking something in the kitchen. The cook would bring seemingly normal ingredients for his dishes, but Lunardog felt suspicious. When Menari once again left his station to fetch something from the stockpile, Lunardog sneaked up to the kitchen. At the first glance there was nothing out of ordinary - mussels and louse parts were abundant, so it's no wonder a cook would use them, but Lunardog noticed something that could be easily overlooked - a small pouch.
Overcome with curiosity, Lunardog opened the pouch. It contained fine black powder. What could it be? What if it was poison? Should he alert SQ?
"MY SCHORL!" Menari came back earlier than Lunardog expected "Hands off my special ingredient, dirty thief!"
Lunardog made a mental note not to eat anything that Menari cooked.

(https://i.imgur.com/iS2lY4E.png)

Nobody could say that Darkening Kaos disliked progress, but this time she had mixed feeling looking at the first bar of metal produced in Dungeonevened. It was a small bar of crude bone, ancient bone that turned metal-like through the ages. The only problem was that the bar has been made by melting bolts and crossbows, not by smelting ore.
The drows haven't dug deep yet - fred was busy all the time, stone was abundant, and there was no anvil to work the metal on, but Kaos knew this could turn into a huge problem if not addressed properly.

Kaos decided to take it straight to the highest organ of the local government.
"SQ! We have to talk!" She said, barging without a warning into the loom area where the overseer was weaving silkflower cloth.
"Gah! Don't scare me like this!" SQ jumped in surprise "You of all people should know better."
"Sorry about that, but I think you should know that we barely have any metal." Kaos explained "I'd be more comfortable if the stockpile was, I don't know, fuller."
"Is it really that important? You know Fred is busy."
"We don't even know what kind of metals there are down there. I'd like to know what we're standing on..." Kaos stopped for a second. SQ thought she heard her chuckle quietly "literally and metaphorically."
"Okay, okay, I'll get Fred looking for ore."

"There's one more thing I'd like to ask you. What do you think about that priestess?" Kaos whispered. If Freshcannon heard this, she would have to ask SQ to help her as the overseer, then SQ would cry, so they would need to ask Scourge to tell SQ to stand up for herself, and it would be a huge mess.
"I don't know... She was rude to my two best friends, but she does have a cool haircut. Oh, and I like the way she points her comb at people. Maybe I should get a signature trinket too..." SQ wondered.
"You're a strange person, SQ"
"I get that a lot."

(https://i.imgur.com/t3mEBa7.png)

Fred struck the earth once agian in search of ore. He struck coal and compact clay, and found a few shiny red rocks, but the real success was finding quartzite - a new stone layer. Who knows what can be found here. Suddenly...

(https://i.imgur.com/NjePHmR.png)

Diamondite, the ore of diamondium, a very valuable metal. The metal can be used for weapons, tools and armor, but nobody could really tell how effective it would be.

(https://i.imgur.com/74kboIF.png)

Meanwhile, the first masterwork was made in Dungeonevened. Unfortunately it wasn't a legendary sword or a throne of pure mithral, but a handful of little stars carved out of mussel shell and stuck into a chair. Imic was proud of himself nevertheless.

(https://i.imgur.com/BpchlAx.png)

Not a single drow realized that it was already winter. The area has been hot and dry the entire year, and there was no way of telling until someone notice something moving on the horizon. A caravan from the capital! Lead by the icedweller, Weri Sofipualetha, who rushed forwards to speak to SQ before everyone starts stampeding to the trade depot.

(https://i.imgur.com/ljfCXtA.png)

SQ's heart was pounding harder than ever. She was expecting bad news, even though there was no reason for there being bad news. "W-what do you mean by 'situation'?"

(https://i.imgur.com/XorUwpG.png)
"...so I might have overdramatized it." the human woman admitted "Anyway..."

(https://i.imgur.com/opfpr60.png)

"We would appreciate if you brought metal of any kind, coal, maybe some lye, goblinium cages... umm... I think that's it." SQ said, writing it all down at the same time.

(https://i.imgur.com/sioue2S.png)

"And we will pay well for weapons, especially quarterstaves, and fish, prepared meals, and rings" the icedweller informed SQ. "Now tell your people to bring everything you want to trade to the depot, our rothe are on the way."
"Rothe? You don't have a wagon?"
"There's a rock in front of the entrance, we wouldn't be able to get in"
"WHAT?"

(https://i.imgur.com/9l5qsqd.png)

"Oh for Lolth's sake! I'll get someone to get rid of it." SQ said and left her office with the diplomat.

(https://i.imgur.com/JrKoeQ0.png)

Fred the Mitey decided to put his financial talents to good use. He managed to convince the traders that the shell amulets that Imic made were actually worth something. They were exchanged for an anvil, some rope, a few buckets, miscellaneous plants and fungi, and three backpacks for the militia. Several bales of cloth and silk were given as an offering to the Valsharess. It won't hurt to have friends in the highest of places.

Darkening Kaos wanted to build a forge as soon as possible, so she visited the trade depot as soon as she finished other work.
"Fred? Where is the anvil? I thought you got us an anvil." the smith asked. She didn't know herself what she would have done if Fred forgot to buy the anvil.
"Imic was here first. No idea what someone like him would need an anvil for."

(https://i.imgur.com/ItHCgkh.png)

We can start seriously thinking about defending ourselves now. No idea what diamondium is for, but according to that one dfhack plugin, it's sharper than iron.

There are some problems I've noticed while playing:

-Drows are human-sized despite being the smallest of elves in d&d. The women are slightly bigger than men, which is also not quite consistent with d&d. I guess it's because their connection to spiders, or to justify their matriarchal culture, but I'd prefer their matriarchy to be completely cultural, without women being physically superior. edit: albinos are larger than normal drows for some reason.
Changing their raws during the game probably won't do anything, and even if it will, the existing drows will still be giants by elven standards. Probably. Maybe it would break everything? I think I'll make a back up and check it out. edit: Yup, everyone is still over 60k, smallest being SQ at 61k and largest being Imic at 75k (women were supposed to be larger...), but they can't wear human sized clothing now.

-Diamondium smelting and making refined diamondium in the crucible may be switched around. I don't like using exploits, so I'll fix it later. For now we'll be smelting in smelters.

-I forgot that vermin escape from cages when you buy them. I wanted to give my drow a cave roach pet :'(. I want my roach back!

Darkening Kaos will haunt the trade depot whenever there are merchants, she will urge the broker to purchase any items made of aether, or even bars, raw ore, whatever, she can get her hands on. Any bars should be kept in a small stockpile deep inside her domain where only she can access it.

Spoiler: OOC (click to show/hide)

Quote from: Darkening Kaos on June 12, 2018, 05:13:13 am

Darkening Kaos will haunt the trade depot whenever there are merchants, she will urge the broker to purchase any items made of aether, or even bars, raw ore, whatever, she can get her hands on. Any bars should be kept in a small stockpile deep inside her domain where only she can access it.

Spoiler: OOC (click to show/hide)
Any chance of getting hold of the raws, SQ? I'd like to gen my own world and experiment with a few ideas.
Also, try to keep my mechanics skill as the highest skill, if she has a mood, I'd really like it to be based on her mechanics skill.

I've already made a personal forge for you, and it probably won't hurt to fit it with a mecahanic's workshop and a small stockpile of aether bars.

The raws are coming soon. I still have to fix bulk diamondite smelting, make dwarves playable again and remove spidery workshop from dwarves (they can't tame drowspiders anyway).

edit:
Here it is. (http://dffd.bay12games.com/file.php?id=13820)

This is definitely not the final version, and I already see some issues with it:

-I have shrunk the drows form 65k-70k to 60k all over the board, but I haven't changed their weapons. That means that drows smaller than 57500 will have to use drow long swords two-handed, and won't be able to use drow two-handed swords at all, while lances can be used only by exceptionally large drows above 62500.

~~-I haven't actually taken the spidery workshop away from dwarves, if they even had it. It's useless for non-drows, don't build it.~~ dwarves don't have that workshop anyway.

-The default tileset is Duerer. I know some people may not like this.

-Some mods are outdated, but since I've tinkered with some of them, I'm kinda afraid to touch them

I'll fix those things, but not today.
I'll eventually make a thread for it in the modding board.

I have a feeling that with the basic Drow personality, she will restrict who is allowed into the area, only those with the appropriate skill-set and personal vetting will earn permission. As you can imagine, that might not be many at all, perhaps there is a low-security area where the common rabble work, and a smaller area where only the elite work, with individual high-value workshops and personal workspaces as befits the needs of a master craftsdrow.

Quote from: Darkening Kaos on June 12, 2018, 04:31:34 pm

I have a feeling that with the basic Drow personality, she will restrict who is allowed into the area, only those with the appropriate skill-set and personal vetting will earn permission. As you can imagine, that might not be many at all, perhaps there is a low-security area where the common rabble work, and a smaller area where only the elite work, with individual high-value workshops and personal workspaces as befits the needs of a master craftsdrow.

Personal workshops for the best craftsdrows can happen, but I probably won't be restricting movement. Your drow will have her own forge and mechanic's shop regardless of skills, because named drows should have it better.

It was a pleasant afternoon, SQ was sitting at her desk writing in her ~~diary~~ journal. On here right there was a bowl of mussel chowder, on her left a cup of underale. It's been a long time since she had such a good time. Suddenly someone knocked on her door. She reluctantly closed her journal, and got up to check who it was.
SQ gasped in surprise when she saw a line of drows waiting for her outside. "W-what's going on? Have I done something wrong? I'm so sorry!" she wimpered seeing Freshcannon in front of her, with her usual menacing stare.
"I'm not gonna lie to you, it's just not my style, a lot of drows are pissed about some petty bullshit, and I've got something important to tell you too, so get off your skinny ass and listen to your people." The priestess assumed her signature pose, and her comb stopped uncomfortably close to SQ's face.
"Do... do come in"

"Tell me, SQ, who's your patron god?" Freshcannon asked while combing her hair.
"That's a very personal question... I've been told it's very rude to ask." The overseer said. She remembered being scolded many times for asking inappropriate questions in the past, and this was one of those questions.
"If you want to be a moral authority, why don't you become a priestess? Oh, right, you wouldn't survive the initiation because you're a wimpy piss-child, not a real woman." Freshcannon was getting irritated.
SQ's eyes started watering up, but she didn't want to show weakness in front of the priestess. Unfortunately she was horrible at managing her emotions. "P-please don't call me th-that! I... I could be a... a p-priestess If I wanted!".
Normally the house priestess would bully her victim some more, but there was no glory in making a little girl cry. Granted, this little girl was almost one hundred thirty years old, but it didn't feel like it. "Will you tell me already? I have little patience for people like you." Freshcannon didn't mean to sound harsh, but that's just who she was.

(https://i.imgur.com/K7FfV5x.png)

"Ne-Nelare Maroonoils" SQ replied "The old menagerie overseer was an albino, and..."
"I'll stop you right here, because I just don't care, although it's a fine deity choice. He's also one of my patron gods." Freshcannon attempted not to intimidate SQ any more than it was needed, according to her. "The point is, when was the last time you prayed to the Ruby-Eyed?"
"I don't remember..." SQ scratched her neck somewhat embarrassed.
"Exactly. You're evidently not the most ardent worshipper, but some people have more faith in higher powers than you." The priestess started combing her hair again and stopped maintaining eye contact with the overseer. SQ felt relieved not to have Freshcannon's piercing gaze directed at her. "They feel uneasy because there isn't even a single shrine in this hole you call a settlement."

(https://i.imgur.com/fckUPKM.png)

"The pile of planks over the entrance would be a good place for a shrine, but I'll leave the planning to you." Freshcannon tucked her comb back into her jacket's pocket. "I can't give you orders, but I can make suggestions and tell you to follow them. Heard me? Build shrines so people can pray."
"Understood. Is that all?"
"Yeah, for now"

As soon as the priestess left the room, Darkening Kaos came in.
"SQ, first of all, thanks for telling Fred to dig deeper." She started before even closing the door. "I even had him make a room for my own personal forge, and I think I'll ask him to expand the room to make space for a mechanic's workshop."
"Kaos, you should thank him personally, I did nothing, really. Although I appreciate that you took your time just to tell me that." SQ didn't actually mean that. While that made her feel warm inside, staying alone in her room had the same effect.
"That's not everything, though. I wanted to ask if I could keep a small stash of aether just for personal use." Kaos felt weird asking this, but she was so fascinated with the mysterious metal, that it didn't really matter.
"Aether? We don't have any, do we? I mean, sure, if you want it so much..." SQ was trying to figure out why Kaos would need to stash aether in her workshop, but she couldn't think of anything.
"You know, there isn't much documentation about this metal-like substance. It has some fascinating properties that those close minded scholars weren't even trying to understand. Actualy, the whole academic society is just a bunch of hacks who care only for fame and money, not actual progress! We should cherish the simple people who try to understand the world their way, there's a lot of wisdom in their works!" Darkening Kaos was getting a little bit too excited.
"So... you're saying we should just ignore the actual educated people's findings and listen to people who still think creeping eyes feed on evil?" SQ asked.
"Wait, they don't?"
"They don't. I'll keep an eye out for more... dubious books for you, though."
"Thanks a lot, SQ. I'll be going now. I need to work on my mechanics skills in case we need them."

Kaos left the room. A second later came in Lunardog.
"Oh, Lunardog! We haven't talked in a while!" SQ brightened up. This conversation won't be any more confusing than Kaos's ramblings. "How's it going? Does Scourge still pester you?"
"She's a real scourge of my existence, heh. Although she's no longer that commited to making my life hard." The brewer noticed a cup of underale on SQ's desk. "How do you like my underberry ale? I'm berry proud of how it turned out."
"It's pretty good, unlike that pun"
"Come on, you've been down for so long, I thought a bit of humor would do you good." Lunardog smiled in a friendly way, but SQ could only muster a nervous half-smile. "Well, I consider myself a funny person. Aaaanyway..." He turned his eyes towards the bowl of chowder. "I wouldn't eat that if I were you. That new cook is a psycho who adds crushed rocks to his dishes. That's what I wanted to tell you. See you later."

SQ looked into the bowl of chowder. She noticed some tiny black specks floating about. Was it the crushed stone Lunardog told her about? She didn't get to find out because when Lunardog left, a silver-haired man took his place.
"Why is this settlement not producing gems? How am I supposed to garnish my culinary masterpieces?" The drow whined loudly.
"What?"
"You heard that well, overseer! No more Chowder con Schorl until I get more gems!"
SQ considered telling him that she doesn't want his chowder, but then she realized he was a thoroughly unpleasant person, and arguing with him would be tiresome. "I'll get some jeweler's workshop made. Now can you leave my room and..." She wanted to say 'never come back' but she bit her tongue soon enough.

SQ had enough socializing for the rest of the year, but one more drow came into her room.
"SQ! I've got important news for you!" It was Scourge, more lively than usual.
"Are you finally getting married?" SQ guessed.
"No, I'd rather die alone than let that gutter princess officiate my wedding. Wait, can't you officiate weddings as a house overseer?" Scourge raised heir eyebrows.
"Maybe, but I couldn't do it. I would get nervous and make some stupid mistake, and everybody would laugh at me, and I would be even more nervous, and I would cry, and everyone would get uncomfortable, and... and..."
"Yeah, you could accidentally marry me to yourself, and I'm not sure if you could reverse it." Scourge joked. "Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. You're still my last resort in case the thing with Imic doesn't work out. I know you're not into girls, but you wouldn't say no to me." This time SQ wasn't sure if Scourge was joking.
"Enough about that, okay? What's the big news?"
"Imic, Five, Kaos and I are playing M&M tonight, wanna join? I'm MMing." Scourge was so excited that she instantly infected SQ with her excitement. The overseer intended to spend the rest of the day alone in her room, but the game was much more interesting than that.

Late evening. The five drows gathered in SQ's room. It was the biggest room with a table other than the high priestess' office.
"...Come on! This was such an easy roll, I can't believe I failed this!" Imic complained after his duergar warrior failed to intimidate a svirfneblin town guard.
"I'll let you reroll this time." Scourge said, handing the dice over to her fiancé.
"Hey, Imic, which perk lets you get rerolls all the time like that?" Kaos asked sarcastically "I've been playing since the eighth edition, and I've never heard of that one."
"Oh, I know!" ZM5 exclaimed. "It's called 'banging the MM'."
"I'll have you know It's actually 'improved banging the MM'" Scourge corrected him. "Come on, it was all on meaningless rolls. Not like he coldn't kill that gnome with a single strike. I swear I'm not going easy on him."
"I bet you're not going easy on him in bed either." ZM5 continued his attack. He was having too much fun to lay off.
"You know, I kinda wish you stayed in hiding for another twenty years, maybe you would have matured at least a little bit." Scourge grumbled.
"And what? Let my favorite socially inept girl SQ go mad?" ZM5 ruffled SQ's hair affectionately. The overseer didn't protest "I only tease you because I care. Check."
Scourge rolled her eyes. "Wrong game, Five. Let's get back to M&M."

*snort*

"I feel certain that my diplomacy skills exceed Imic's, after all, my thief/warrior has recently purchased a new Warhammer, (which I have called "the diplomat", by the way)" Prepares to roll THAC0, and grabs damage dice.

I must have overwritten More leather mod at some point. GG past me, GG. That's why I was reluctant to publish the modpack. I'll fix it later, along with the diamondite smelting situation that I messed up even further.

(https://i.imgur.com/VXT3IWZ.png)

MottledPetrel ran into the entrance corridor screaming. SQ, who was picking up spare shell amulets in the trade depot, was surprised to see the fisherman so emotional about something, but she still didn't understand what this 'something' was.
"Petrel? Explain yourself, why exactly is this a bad thing?." The overseer asked.
"Why? WHY?! Boss, this is outrageous! Stealing fish from a fisherman is unforgivable! What if someone stole a miner's pick, a manager's papers, or a patient's kidney?" MottledPetrel was just getting warmed up. "They need to pay with their lives! I am obliged to hunt them down and use them as fish bait! No more mussels, only merchant-fed fish now!"
"Those weren't even our fish." SQ noticed.
"Oh, okay." The fisherman said, instantly calming down. He then turned on his heels and walked away as if nothing happened.

(https://i.imgur.com/pvYoAFZ.png)

Meanwhile, Darkening Kaos was working furiously in her private forge. She couldn't let another anvil crysis happen, so she 'appropriated' a few bars of diamondium to forge more anvils. She was already reaching into far future with her plans. More pickaxes were needed in near future, but at the same time only two militia members had weapons. So much to do, so little time.

(https://i.imgur.com/ORcsDwR.png)

Fred the Mitey was mining out a vein of sphalerite, when suddenly something felt different. This wasn't normal rock anymore, it was something... organic. The texture was simillar to the hide of a giant drowspider, but whatever Fred struck was much tougher, more metal-like and less leathery. Then he remembered that Imic had a helmet made of something like that, but more refined. It was chitin of some massive creature that perished in this very place millenia ago.
Darkening Kaos could make use of this material in her work.

(https://i.imgur.com/CrfVJQR.png)

Biretha, one of the Helmet Snakes, made a peculiar discovery too. Something or someone killed a giant iron-shelled crab outside of the settlement. The gangster-manservant wasn't sure what to make of it, or even who should he report it to, so he just carried the carcass to the refuse stockpile. On his way he met Freshcannon who was carrying a severed head of an abrian to the butcher's workshop.
"Hey, mistress take a look at this. I found this thing just laying there, so since you're already butchering some stuff..." Biretha said, presenting the crab to the priestess.
"Are you suggesting we should just eat whatever dead thing we find on the ground?" Freshcannon asked, with an extremely stern expression.
"It was alive at some point, and someone must have killed it, probably the caravan guards. I think it went something like that:

(https://i.imgur.com/75YW0cY.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/lp4I5fL.png)

"That's bullshit, but I believe it. I'll chop this thing up later."

(https://i.imgur.com/hi9FHKZ.png)

Darkening Kaos wiped sweat out of her forehead, and looked at her latest masterpiece. ZM5 will be getting a new toy later that day...

(https://i.imgur.com/qpKRaSU.png)

...because Imic allready called dibs on it.

(https://i.imgur.com/AqTzuEA.png)

The first tavern in Dungeonevened, the Mahogany Hall was about to be opened. Nobody was really excited about that, because pretty much everyone have spent the morning hauling chairs and tables, so it was hardly a surprise. SQ called everybody over anyway.
"I know, I know, you have stuff to do, but please understand where I'm coming from. I'd rather be doing literally everything other than giving a speech, yet Scourge told me that if I won't say at least a few words to you all, she will take an eri..."

(https://i.imgur.com/j2spoIT.png)

"...and keep trumpeting straight into my ear literally until the end of times. She says it's supposed to help me overcome my anxiety, but the only thing keeping me from a total breakdown is the fact that none of you is actually listening. Oh, and Liceyi wanted to recite a poem." After SQ finished her 'speech', she stepped into the crowd and stood next to Scourge. A young man with sunken eyes and a man-bun stepped out to take her place.
"Mussels in Broth, a slam poem by me, Liceyi Vicepointy" he said. The audience groaned in irritation and disappointment.

"WHAT DOST LIFE?!
AAAAAAAAAH!
YOU ARE JUST A LITTLE CHICKEN! CHEEP! CHEEP! CHEEP! CHEEP!
TURNING THE BATTLESHIP!
THIS BEEF IS RAW! WHERE IS THE LAMB SAUCE?!
KING CRABS ARE NOT REAL CRABS, EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE MORE CRAB-LIKE THAN SPIDER CRABS THAT ARE ACTUALLY CRABS!
IT'S HIP TO FUCK BEES!
..."

The aspiring poet showed no signs of stopping, and each new line was more nonsensical than the last one.
"Psst, Scourge? I think we should drown him in the river." SQ whispered.
"I don't like it when you're making jokes like this, SQ." Scourge whispered back.
"That was not a joke."
"That's why I don't like it..."

"...
PIZZA MOZZARELLA PIZZA MOZZARELLA!
AY, WHERE THE SURFACE WOMEN AT?!
LONG BEARDS ARE A MAJOR FIRE HAZARD! DWARVES WOULD AVOID A LOT OF ACCIDENTS IF THEY DIDN'T INSIST ON BEING SO HAIRY!
WHY IS EVERYONE WEARING THOSE WEIRD SHELL AMULETS?! IS IT A CULT THING?!
I REALLY GOTTA PEE, AND THIS IS NOT A PART OF THE POEM. OR IS IT? FIGURE IT OUT ON YOURSELF!
I'M DONE!"

The drows stared in silence. It was this kind of uncomfortable silence that happens when someone says something stupid, and everyone pretends nobody said anything, but they know this was horribly embarrassing.
"That was... something." SQ said quietly "Everyone can go back to their work now."

(https://i.imgur.com/LIflGOa.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/TNVrkoL.png)

SQ led Freshcannon to the second, and last as for now, level of the tower. It took some courage to do, after making the priestess listen to Liceyi's poetry, but Scourge was right - giving the speech gave SQ a slight boost in confidence. The women stopped in front of the statue of The Ignited Steam, the god of chaos.
"The Ignited Steam, huh? You said your patron god was Nelare Maroonoils, why not build his shrine first?" Freshcannon asked, more because she was expected to say something than out of curiosity.
"Seems like more people here would worship him, at least to me. Oh no, have I done something wrong?" SQ's confidence boost was wearing off.
"No, surprisingly. At least you're good at following simple orders... I mean suggestions. Of course I meant suggestions. A lot of drows can't do even that."
"Does that mean I can become a Helmet Snake, and you will teach me how to do my hair like you do? I bet people would take me more seriously if I looked as imposing as you."
"Not a chance, princess!" Freshcannon responded, surprised by the overseer's weird assumptions. The irony of a priestess calling a former rothe handler a princess was lost on SQ.

(https://i.imgur.com/wg7Chdc.png)

The last day of winter passed peacefully. The arrival of spring marked the beginning of Dungeonevened's second year.

We have a metal and gem industry, a tavern, the first temple, a place for our (now armed) militia to train in. Things are looking good so far

Quote from: SQman on June 14, 2018, 05:10:09 pm

Things are looking good so far

Famous last words

^^ ... or infamous first words.

Spoiler: OOC (click to show/hide)

Quote from: Darkening Kaos on June 14, 2018, 10:25:11 pm

^^ ... or infamous first words.

Spoiler: OOC (click to show/hide)
And what do I do with the reactions file? Is that to be added in somewhere?

If you want to give those reactions to a civ, copy the content of that one file to the entity cile of your choice.
It would be wise to check if I hadn't already done that before.
You also should fix the more leather mod, if you want to play with the current pre-alpha version. The reaction is modded, but the material for leather is not changed to glob, so there will be no tanning. When I get home later today, I'll post fixed raws.

I'm sort of imagining the slam poem night to have gone something like this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcL9UgCCh8o).

Spoiler: OOC (click to show/hide)

Pre-alpha 1.1 is out (http://dffd.bay12games.com/file.php?id=13820)

Leather is fixed, diamondite smelting fixed, drow weapons tweaked.

Quote from: Darkening Kaos on June 15, 2018, 09:08:46 am

I can wait for it to be fixed. I mean, holy shit, I have been trying to play for the last few days, but after a few years off from playing DF, I have completely forgotten how to keep a fortress going for more than six months. I didn't think I ever played this bad ... several fortress have ground into the dirt, half of my shit has been stolen as soon as I arrive, drow have gone insane 'cause they don't like sleeping in the dirt for the first year. Back in my day, you slept in the dirt, and you thanked the overseer for giving you dirt to sleep on. FFS. Time to start again, maybe I pack a few more War Boars this time.
Oh, and homunculi are super awesome to have as slaves ... well they are not slaves, they are constructed magical beings. Relatively fast, strong, don't eat, sleep, drink booze ... at least not that I have seen.

Weird, my drows weren't such whiners. Having said that, it's spring year 2, and they still dwell on drinking without cups in spring year 1.
Homunculi are cool, but can you shear them? I thought not, trolls all the way.

Spoiler: OOC (click to show/hide)

You know what I did? I somehow managed to delete material_template_default. Pre-alpha 1.2 is up. Link in the first post.

Spoiler: OOC (click to show/hide)

Quote from: Darkening Kaos on June 16, 2018, 07:52:48 pm

Ah, I wondered why I suddenly had a lot of CTD during world gen, thought it was something I was doing wrong.
Also, why is every world generating a drow society that is on the verge of dying out? Is this the same for your current world, SQ? The last Drow civ and dying out.......would be happy just to have a choice of civs, even upping the number of civs and sites in world gen options doesn't help.

Drows always sucked at surviving worldgen, and since I lowered their size they are probably even wimpier. You just have to be lucky to get a stable civilization.
I still have 65k - 70k sized drows, and the civ isn't dying, but isn't doing that great either. From what I understand, there is just one site besides ours. It has about 200 drows and is surrounded by dwarven fortresses. I wouldn't be surprised if one of our girls became a grand matriarch in a couple years.

One more thing: diamondium smelting is still fucked up.

SQ and Fred the Mitey were standing near the almost-finished barracks, watching the drows build the roof.

(https://i.imgur.com/Fsiejw9.png)

"Fred, why do we even need this building? They could just train outside. Scourge and Imic did just that before." The overseer said, frowning at the building. She didn't like change, even in the horizon, and now that life in the settlement was getting comfortable, it was less distasteful to complain about things no one else cared about.
"Scourge touching Imic inappropriately wasn't training." Fred replied. "Besides, do you like getting caught in the sandstorm?"

(https://i.imgur.com/Wdz9t2s.png)

"It's the worst thing ever. Good enough reason for me, though." SQ agreed with the administrator, training outside might have not been the most pleasant after all. "But... why do we even need a militia for? We're not bothering anyone."
Fred was amused by SQ's naivete, but at the same time he understood that a simpleton born and raised in the capital's slum may be ignorant to the world. "Heh heh, you do understand we're a part of a great drow nation, right? We can't just do our own politics, we're nothing on our own. I took a look at the map, and it turns out..."

(https://i.imgur.com/LK0m8dJ.png)(https://i.imgur.com/xuH9hVH.png)(https://i.imgur.com/KYqhpf9.png)

"...we're near the border of the dark elven empire. Those cousins of ours hate our guts, and the general consensus is that we should kill them on sight too. I'm not saying you have to agree with that, but they know and they aren't happy about it.
Besides, the frontier is crawling with the most disgusting criminals to have ever walked the surface. The degenerate outcasts formed their own society centered around pillaging and murder, and it's just a matter of time until they come here looking for easy loot.
If that wasn't enough, clacker necropolises sprung into existence for some reason. It probably has something to do with the tombs of sorcerer-kings in the west. Those skeletons hate the living, and there's little point in attempting diplomacy. Any questions?"

"I'm... not comfortable with so many people wanting to kill me." SQ felt a little sick. She was very much content not knowing about the dangers from outside. "I think I need a drink."

(https://i.imgur.com/9KLHVFp.png)

SQ went down to the animal pens hoping to find Scourge. She did, in fact. Scourge was crouching by a nest box in the drowspider enclosure, poking egg sacs.
"Scourge, I'm not feeling too good." SQ informed her friend from behind the fence. "Can you take my place and oversee for a while?"

"Come here, then. This will cheer you right up." Scourge said, making an inviting gesture.

SQ came into the enclosure, crouched by the nest box next to Scourge, and stared intensely at the eggs. She couldn't see anything out of ordinary. "Scourge, we've been unraveling those egg sacs since we got here, there's nothing special in..." before SQ could finish, Scourge cast faerie fire on the eggs, causing them to glow. Outlines of two tiny spiderlings could be seen inside. "They have your eyes, Scourge! If you had eight tiny red eyes, that is."

"See? You're fine." Scourge said with a cheeky grin on her face. "Kaos is making something in the forges, let's go bother her a bit, okay?"

The two women headed down to the metal works where Darkening Kaos was working on a statue. SQ and Scourge were looking from a distance as Kaos was making basic mistakes, burning her hands, and making a complete mess in the forge. She was absolutely livid about something, and it wasn't about shaping the gleaming chitin.

"Argh! What are you two looking at? Can't you see I'm trying to work?" The smith growled upon noticing the onlookers.

"Are you always this angry when you work?" SQ asked timidly. "That would explain quite a lot, actually."

"Believe it or not, I've finished one statue already. I turned away for just a moment to get more of this shiny chitin, and look what happened!" Kaos didn't have to explain anything - the statue wasn't there. "I bet it's Imic again! He has no respect for other people's property! He even broke into my room to take stuff from my personal forge!"

"He's training with the priestess and her thugs right now." Scourge said with a hint of disgust. "He does have an apprentice. Tharumi, if I'm not mistaken. The small guy who wanted to be a soldier."

"And he taught that Tharumi fellow to steal from me whenever I'm not looking. For a person calling himself a vigilante, your boyfriend has a bizarre sense of justice." Darkening Kaos calmed down somehow. "Oh, SQ, that statue was for your room, so it's your problem now.

(https://i.imgur.com/W5zmbEg.png)

Eldritch presence could be felt once again, but this time it weren't just urhags. Creatures of the deep decided the drows were worthy partners in trade. Two wagons pulled by giant crabs of various species accompanied the fish people.

(https://i.imgur.com/pPMzlD3.png)

Most of the drows of Dungeonevened gathered in front of the entrance to see the peculiar guests.
"Cloth and amulets to the stockpile! Quickly, before someone spooks them!" MottledPetrel was yelling like a madman, and in fact there was some madness in his eyes. "I've never caught a fish like this before! Our crafts will make great bait! We'll eat like high matrons!"

"Have you gone completely insane, you moron?" Freshcannon scolded the fisherman. "Those creatures are tainted with darkest influence, eating them would probably turn you into some kind of freaky monster, and I'd have to put you down. They are disgusting, and whatever the hell they worship is an affront against Lolth and the lesser gods. I think we should just slaughter those fuckers and bury them somewhere where no one's ever gonna dig."

"Umm... what if... what if we just trade with them?" SQ suggested "They have cages with exotic creatures, and look at those crabs."

In the end Fred the Mitey managed to exchange all amulets and cloth for animals, crutches, buckets, sheets of kenaf paper, and bars of iron and aether.

"What do we have here..." SQ and Scourge were inspecting the newly bought animals.

(https://i.imgur.com/p4KDNUU.png)

"It's a stork!" Scourge exclaimed instantly after seeing the black and white bird. "They deliver babies to people!"

"I don't think that's true, Scourge. Or is it? Maybe that's how it works on the surface?" SQ suddenly realized that storks may in fact deliver babies to non-drows. She's never seen a human or a dark elf being born after all.

"I was just kidding, but now I'm not sure myself..."

(https://i.imgur.com/XtcTmxh.png)

"Those things are huge! I wonder if we could breed them." SQ said, sliding her hand over the mottleworm's smooth mottled skin. She then realized her hand was covered in thick slime. "They could make good war beasts, or if that doesn't work out, meals." The overseer took advantage of Scourge being distracted by the worms, and wiped her slime-covered hand with her friend's dress.

"HEY! Don't ever do that again! I don't know if I'll be able to wash it off!"

(https://i.imgur.com/SSZGTV7.png)

"This thing is creepy... it doesn't belong here... it... it feels wrong." Scourge tried not to look directly at the monster, but her eyes were somehow drawn towards it. She was shivering as if in fever. She wasn't really scared, she was deeply disturbed.

"It's an animal like any other, just uglier. You're really judgemental towards animals, Scourge." SQ joked to lighten up the mood, but Scourge still stared at the fisher from Outside wide-eyed, breathing heavily. SQ was getting worried, so she cast darkness at the cage, covering it with a veil of pitch-black smoke. The monster started screeching in surprise and savage fury. "Woah! I didn't know what I expected, but at least you don't have to look at it anymore, eh, Scourge?"

"T-thanks SQ. I could almost forgive you ruining my dress. Gods, what a horrible creature, that bird! Is this how you feel all the time?"

"Only sometimes..."

(https://i.imgur.com/w2luEPz.png)

"Look at this! If I had a human frame of reference, I'd compare it to a lignified flower of a coniferous tree." SQ said weirdly specifically.

"What?"

"What?"

(https://i.imgur.com/wwyQbHD.png)

"A thunderlizard, not made of thunder and not actually a lizard. It's for people who think they're too cool for a good old riding lizard, but too cowardly for an Allosaurus" Scourge said.

"Nobody said anything about riding it. And who in their right mind would want to ride an Allosaurus? That's madness!"

"You're a boring riding lizard person, aren't you, SQ?"

All that really happened was trading with pelagics and building the barracks. I've started making diamondium armor for the militia

I learned a few things:

-Aether is comparable to iron in its properties, but can be used to make hettlion.

-Drows love trinkets. Lunardog is currently wearing three shell amulets.

-Abrians aren't from the D&D pack after all. I thought they were.

-Schmendrick is so weak, she's being slowed down by her own clothes. I've never seen anything this pathetic.

A. This continues to be hilarious
B.Schmendrick really IS pathetic

Aside from that weird bird-thing, those are some oddly normal animals the pelagics had. Kinda wonder what they'd even use the storks for.

Obviously, they cut the legs off the storks and use them as straws to suck out the souls of their victims.

Spoiler: Edit: In a neighbouring universe...... (click to show/hide)

Darkening Kaos stood on the first level of the Trade Warehouse, admiring the eye-wateringly bright view, surrounded by mechanisms he had declared should be sold to the traders. Of course, from day 1 he had been carving out the mechanisms which had been the only trade item when the traders came.

(https://i.imgur.com/rO8FOZe.png)

The Trade Centre was made entirely from Mica blocks, the overseer made this choice early, well, the choice was not that difficult, they had found shale and mica when the Mole-kin had dug into the side of the hill. Shale was a better stone for Kaos to work with, so he settled into work quickly. The Trade Depot itself was on the ground floor, entirely surrounded by stone blocks, "For security reasons", the overseer had muttered at the time, although it was more likely that the Brass Golem, Tulon, who had built and then claimed the Carpenter's workshop took quite a long time to get around to carving out the wall grates that filled the gaps between the pillars. Access to the warehouse was from underground and still relatively insecure, only a Gear Golem patrolled the passageway at present, although Kaos was aware of plans to add far more weapon traps down there than they actually had weapons at the moment. The current plans for the Trade Warehouse was for it to be six to eight floors high, each level was to have a universal stockpile which would accept everything below masterwork quality, which would then slowly filter down as it was sold.
At that moment a humonculus zipped past into the next stockpile, picked up a relatively massive mica block and staggered over to the stairs to extend the floor above.
Kaos sighed and considered his next challenge: the broker had bought a few weapons from the traders and wanted to know how effective they were. Serendipitously, they had also caught two velociraptors, but not before they had ganged up on a Cave Lynx and ended its life. He came up with a simple idea and the overseer had issued orders, it was ready to test and he slowly walked in the direction of the main entrance where the velociraptor awaited its fate.

(http://i.imgur.com/MpJqNes.png) (https://imgur.com/MpJqNes)
click image for embiggening.

Yes, a simple idea. Put the weapons to be tested in a weapon trap and run a wild animal over it. But, Kaos was already not impressed with the first weapon, the Gold-enfused Orichalcum War Hammer had felt far too light when he was installing it ... ... ... and just what the hell was 'enfused' supposed to entail? Maybe it was meant to be infused, the trader might make a simple mistake like that on the cargo manifest. The second trap had a steel Warhammer - odds on the velociraptor getting past it where shortening amongst the fortress gamblers. the third trap had a Diamondium Short Sword that the human traders were rather too desperate to sell - that should have raised the Broker's suspicions immediately, but it was light and the edge looked ... well, sharp, so who could tell? Finally, just in case, there was another cage trap, just in case the velociraptor assistant was able to dodge/survive the weapons. Kaos only needed to ask the nearest humonculus to 'Pull the Lever' to start the experiment.................

With a start, Darkening Kaos awoke, she gasped against the silence of the sleeping fortress and considered the very strange, oddly detailed dream she had just had. She didn't know what a velociraptor was, but approved its execution for the wanton murder of a Cave Lynx. And she would adopt a few things she had learned, especially the title of 'Chief Engineer', yes, she liked the sound of that. Of course the weapons testing facility would need to be built, if only to see if such a simple plan would produce actual results.
...
...
...
.......... Kaos also would mention the construction of the Trade Warehouse to SQ, it did look elegant in its functional simplicity.

Quote from: ZM5 on June 17, 2018, 11:02:36 am

Aside from that weird bird-thing, those are some oddly normal animals the pelagics had. Kinda wonder what they'd even use the storks for.

Babies.

Spoiler: ??? (click to show/hide)

Three young drows, two women and a man, were sitting together in a café, talking to each other in drow sign language.
"...I never actually learned his name, I'm just lucky he was well known in the noble circles." The man signed, and at the same time kept checking if no one was watching. "In the end even the grand matriarch herself acknowledged his transgressions publicly. But..."

"There's always a 'but'." The taller of two women commented. "Have you ever finished a case for good, Five? How long have you been in this business now?"

"Officially? Exactly zero days. I'm just a simple potter's apprentice, remember, Scourge?" ZM5 winked as he reminded Scourge about his profession. "Anyway, he was simply stripped of his nobility. Granted, he lost the privilege of living in the Palace District, and will probably have to actually work to support himself, but I wanted him out of the picture."

"He won't be taking any more money from those who need it, isn't that enough?" SQ asked, completely confused. She didn't understand why the investigation had to go on. She had enough of ZM5 disappearing for weeks without prior warning, and him getting tangled into aristocratic plots.

"You know, baby doll, influential people have influential friends, and that means they never work alone. I can't touch the great noble houses, and I know as a fact that at least one of them has something to do with the case. "ZM5 got serious, his eyes started burning with determination.

"That's the point, you can't do anything, so why not just give up?" SQ still didn't understand.

"The thing is, if they know I'm involved, they may try to hunt me down. My only chance is to try to stop them before they stop me stopping them. They will resort to dirty tricks, though, so that's why I called you both here." ZM5's face became even more serious. "I know how people like that operate - they will try to destroy everything and everyone I love to break me. That's why I have to leave you until I solve the case."

"Leave? What do you mean leave?" Scourge signed. If she was talking, she would have shouted it out loudly. "You keep coming and going all the time! You know how much we worry about you?"

"This is the last time. I either get the collaborators or die trying. Don't try to contact me under any circumstances, it's for your own safety." ZM5 stood up and headed towards the door. The women watched him leave, shocked by this sudden decision. ZM5 finally left the café, leaving SQ and Scourge to their own thoughts.

Scourge soon snapped out of the initial shock, and ran outside to catch ZM5, but the man was nowhere to be seen.

SQ woke up in her bed. The vision of the events from twenty years ago made her realize - she needed to see ZM5 as soon as possible. The overseer put on her clothes, including her new piwafwi...

(https://i.imgur.com/oszZfva.png)

...and headed to ZM5's room. She knocked on the dolomite door, expecting to wait for a while, since it was still very early in the morning. To her surprise ZM5 opened the door almost immediately. He was dressed and ready for the day. "Oh, SQ! Did you have a bad dream and need comforting?"

"ZM5, I think I got it! I've solved the case from twenty years ago!" SQ was whispering not to wake everyone up, but at the same time she was shouting out of excitement. The resulting sound was as loud as her usual voice but raspy and awkward.

"Hmmm? Tell me about it, baby doll, who is the culprit? Without knowing that, you surely wouldn't be able to go any further." ZM5 had an ironic smile on his face. Was he not taking SQ seriously?

"It's none other than Fred the Mitey, our administrator. He was forced to work in the mines after losing his nobility, and ended up in prison for starting a protest. Check."

"Good job, SQ, but I knew that from the start, I just didn't know his name back then. To truly end this, you'd have to know which of the great noble houses assisted him. Where was he redirecting the money?" ZM5's relaxed expression hasn't disappeared even for a moment. SQ was getting worried.

"House Drilledterror, Lunardog's family. They own most of the capital's plantations and breweries, so no one would ask questions if they started opening hospitals, museums, and other businesses that get funded straight from the treasury. Since they worked with Fred, those places only needed to exist on paper. Checkmate." SQ grinned widely, proud of herself for solving the case that ZM5 has been struggling with for twenty years.

"You're awfully hasty with your 'checks'. If I didn't know about this, I wouldn't have come here in the first place. I've already finished the investigation. Checkmate."

"WHAT?! You knew about all of this? Then why haven't you done anything?" SQ forgot about being quiet. The case didn't seem closed to her.

"Fred was already punished for his crime and then some more, and Lunardog's mother is out of reach. Everything that could have been done has already been done." ZM5 shrugged. "Honestly, I've grown tired of it all. Since we're both up, how about we get breakfast together?"

The two drows went up to the Mahogany Hall to eat some mussels in peace, but there was one thing they didn't know:

(https://i.imgur.com/cf6KsmR.png)

'Some' was an understatement - it was nineteen drows, mostly male, loafing around in the tavern. They must have arrived at night, when everyone was sleeping, because SQ had no idea they were there.

Suddenly a woman came up to SQ and ZM5. She was easily the most beautiful drow the two have ever seen. She had snow-whie waist-length hair, smooth skin the color of polished obsidian, slender, yet well-shaped body, and delicate facial features accented by her gentle and innocent expression. She did a graceful courtsy, and asked politely: "Excuse me, could I speak to the overseer? My friends and I would like to settle in this fine town."

"I'm the overseer, but I'm not sure if we can accept this many..." SQ started, but she didn't finish, because the beautiful migrant looked at her pleadingly with her big black eyes, sending chills down her spine.

"SQ, stand by your decision, I don't like the look of this." ZM5 whispered. He was leering at the woman suspiciously.

"ZM5, we don't even know what these people have to offer to us, and we could really use some workforce." SQ broke under the woman's gaze. "You and your friends can stay... umm... what's your name again?"

"Nunore Riddletunnels, pleasure to meet you, mistress SQ. Thank you very much for letting us stay." Nunore grabbed SQ's hand enthusiastically. "That's true that most of us have no skills whatsoever, and we're not fit for soldiering, and we didn't bring any riches beyond our crossbows, but I promise you won't regret your decision."
ZM5 looked at SQ in a way that said 'I told you'.

"Let's check out what animals they brought with them." SQ suggested, pretending she didn't notice her friend's stern look. "I assume they left them outside."

(https://i.imgur.com/NX2tK0q.png)

"Oh, a riding lizard! I always wanted to try riding one." ZM5 tried to pet the creature, but it snapped its jaws just an inch away from his hand. "Yikes! They were supposed to be easy to work with!"

"You should never touch someone else's lizard, they are trained to attack strangers!" SQ warned ZM5. "If we just let them be ridden by anybody, we would have all our enemies riding lizards."

"Whatever you say..."

(https://i.imgur.com/f8lvx4h.png)

"Sporewing, we had them in the bird section when I still worked in the menagerie." ZM5 said. "Nasty stuff, once you get into a swarm, you're not coming out."

"Why were they in the bird section? Those don't even resemble birds."

"Someone must have confused one with a fungal crow. It doesn't take much for them to take over.

(https://i.imgur.com/FJHAnPa.png)

"Who... who are you, stranger? Why... why aren't you saying anything?" SQ said to the menacing armored figure. She didn't get an answer.

"Maybe she's shy? Or maybe she's a magical construct, not a person?"

"She could at least answer my questions. Being a fancy golem isn't a reason to be rude."

(https://i.imgur.com/98LnK9P.png)

"And this is..." SQ couldn't even guess. It was a large bipedal insect with impressively large mandibles. "ZM5, I have no idea what this is, but I feel like I won't be able to have out of body experiences when I'm around it."

"You say the wierdest things sometimes. If you're right, then maybe it's an ethereal slayer? Ha! As is a bunch of good for nothing slackers could bind a powerful outsider. It's probably just an uber hulk nymph."

"I don't know..."

(https://i.imgur.com/yA6Y8Ga.png)

"...and this is a spike rat. They spike your drinks when they get into the tavern, so watch out." ZM5 chuckled at his own joke.

"They do? Thanks for the warning! This could end really badly really fast!" SQ seemed completely serious. She looked at the rodent suspiciously as if she thought it was up to something. Maybe she did.

"Are you making fun of my jokes or..."

"What jokes?" The overseer looked clueless, but ZM5 still had no idea what was going on in her head. "Nevermind, let's go tell all those new guys to get to work. We can't let them eat our mussels for free."

"Now you're talking like a real overseer, maybe you've grown as a person after all." It took some time for ZM5 to realize what he just said. "Having said that, I'm sure you'll prove me wrong by having a mental breakdown talking to the migrants."

"Thanks for believing in me."

The two drows went down to the tavern to give orders to the newcomers, but instead of a crowd of useless bums, they only met Nunore digging through the tavern's chests.
"Now what do we have here..." ZM5 crossed his arms, looking down on the woman.

"I'm just checking the stocks, I can't be a good tavern keeper if we don't have enough cups, mister Five." Nunore winked at ZM5 flirtatiously, hoping to wrap him around her finger.

"Baby, only four women can call me 'Five', two of them I've known all my life, one won't ever call me that, because she's kind of a bitch, but she's still perfect in every way, one is a living goddess. You'll never reach their level, so stay in line. Who made you a tavern keeper anyway?"

(https://i.imgur.com/MjeeOGx.png)

"I did. This place needs some loving touch." Nunore answered. She wasn't upset in the slightest by ZM5's rejection, and she wasn't going to give up at the first sight of resistance. "It pains me so much that you don't trust me, but maybe you'll appreciate my work one day." The barkeep put on the most pleasant smile she could muster, which was extremely pleasant.

"ZM5, could we focus on the main issue?" SQ interrupted. "Nunore, what happened to your 'companions'?"

"I told them to find the manager and ask him for assignment. We can't have this many drows doing nothing all day."

"You still think Fred wasn't properly punished for his crimes?" ZM5 asked SQ. Although this was a joke, they both shuddered at the thought of being woken up by a crowd of nineteen drows pouring into their bedrooms.

"Ah, one person started screaming for no reason, just to let you know. I think he went... you know... fey." Nunore added.

"What does it mean to be 'fey'?" SQ asked.

"It's when a man likes men or a woman likes women." ZM5 explained, with a cheeky grin on his face.

"Scourge has been 'fey' all her life, and nobody ever made a big deal out of it."

"She likes men too, in fact she's engaged to one. She's 'fi', not 'fey'.

"Ooooh..."

(https://i.imgur.com/3xx8qn5.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/qgBhGEc.png)

It didn't took long for the wood burner to finish his work. He emerged from the workshop with a perfectly made jet mechanism:

(https://i.imgur.com/F6GPluO.png)

Engraving of giant rats was a strange design choice, but the craftsmanship was beyond masterful.

(https://i.imgur.com/gZUkqBa.png)

Unfortunately it was not the only unusual thing to happen that day. Someone outside started screaming, which reached SQ's ears. The overseer grabbed the eri from the tavern's coffer, and blew as hard as she could.
Freshcannon must have understood what that meant, because the second sound that echoed through the settlement was her shouting "Snakes out!".

The snakes gathered outside to see a hideous kangaroo monster slaughtering a giant longboar.

(https://i.imgur.com/qVjyDIY.png)

It was a horrible sight - the monster was ripping chunks of flesh from the giant beast's face, covering itself and its surrounding with blood. The sound of snarling and crazed squealing was terrifying in and on itself, but the snake knew they would have to face the werebeast sooner or later.

(https://i.imgur.com/mNkm5KX.png)

"Petrel, you idiot! Go inside!" The priestess shouted at the fisherman. MottledPetrel obeyed the order without complaining. "Snakes, hide among the rothe, they will distract the monster... I hope.

"Mistress, I'm scared. Rattusites and abrians are one thing, but this..." Imic mumbled. He was shaking uncontrollably, but his grip on his sword wasn't getting any weaker.

"I'm gonna tell you something, kid: we're all shitting our pants right now, you're not alone, but if you let the fear overcome you, you'll never become a hero." Freshcannon looked him straight in the eyes. The vigilante thought the priestess was lying to get him to obey, but Freshcannon's eyes were as full of fright as his.

"Looks like this might be our final hour... Not how I imagined it, but all things considered, it could be much worse... I guess..." ZM5, unlike Imic, looked calm. He was staring straight at the red morning sky. "Freshcannon, It will be a pleasure to fight and die by your side. Too bad you never got to warm up to me. Heh... heh..."

"This is not the time..." Freshcannon tried to sound stern, but she was moved in a way. The words got stuck in her throat.

"If there ever was the time it's now. Someone will die today, I can feel it."

The growling continued, but the squealing was cut short. The longboar was dead, and the kangaroo monster turned towards the drows hiding in a herd of rothe.

(https://i.imgur.com/Gswcdgw.png)

"Ready your weapons, Helmet Snakes. We either become heroes or leave our loved ones to die, so you better give this freak everything you got!

Spoiler: BATTLE (click to show/hide)

(https://i.imgur.com/FTZn3Mo.png)

"Huh, so much for drama..." ZM5 looked somewhat disappointed. "Checkmate, I guess?"

"Yeah... I have to admit I expected something more from a monster like this. "Freshcannon said, pulling out her axe from the werekangaroo's mangled corpse. "If anyone asks, this was a difficult fight, and we barely came out of it alive. Biretha, we gotta bandage you up like there's no tomorrow."

"Boss, I'm not even hurt!"

"That's the point, fool! Others don't have to know the moster was a wimp!"

First random migrant wave (full of mechanics, gem cutters, and an accomplished soaper), first artifact (a pretty lame one), and a first real threat (not really). We're becoming a proper fort!
If only the tavern and temple worked it would be neat. People are distracted, but won't pray or relax in the tavern, and there are no visitors, even though we have three free rooms for them. Is there a minimum size for dance floor in taverns and temples or what?

I think there may be a minimum size (some dances when you try to perform them in adv mode do say "there's not enough space to perform here) - might want to try expanding them.

Crikey, I'm surprised that weresheila didn't bite anyone - very fortunate.

I think it was stacked fairy fire that made the wereroo harmless. I'm not sure how it works, but the drows were getting good hits against abrians all the time.

The tavern will be annoying to expand - it's right under the river and in the soil layer - but I'll do it. Bummer about the temple, because I wanted it to be in the tower. Oh well...

Why are you calling a useful artifact lame? Better than a bracelet.

Also, are you removing everyone's hunting profession?
Otherwise everyone is going to try to get crossbows, and military people will get screwed up.

do I have the cat yet?

Lunardog15, I will get you a volleyball, paint a cat's face on it and get it delivered, keep an eye out for it.....

Spoiler: Rather than double post..... (click to show/hide)

Son of Edit: Something quite trivial, SQman, spelling error in the "Outpot Administrator".

Quote from: pikachu17 on June 20, 2018, 12:15:06 pm

Why are you calling a useful artifact lame? Better than a bracelet.

Also, are you removing everyone's hunting profession?
Otherwise everyone is going to try to get crossbows, and military people will get screwed up.

A single artifact mechanism that can be used for a single weapon trap? I guess a legendary mechanic is good, but I'd rather get a legendary bone carver. I want my artifact mussel shell amulet.

And yes, I'm removing hunting and designate crossbows for smelting. If I decide to use hunters, I'll have them use bone or wood crossbows.

Quote from: Lunardog15 on June 21, 2018, 01:14:32 pm

do I have the cat yet?

No, we can't buy a cat, we haven't seen a wild cat, and we haven't raided anyone yet. I'll do my best though.

Quote from: Darkening Kaos on June 22, 2018, 01:52:36 am

Son of Edit: Something quite trivial, SQman, spelling error in the "Outpot Administrator".

Haven't noticed that. I'll fix that when I feel like playing with raws.
About pulverisers, I have no idea how they're supposed to work, if there's something who knows, it's GoblinCookie. Nothing in this modpack was made by me.

(https://i.imgur.com/zfmwA5T.png)

Fred the Mitey was still disgruntled about a horde of immigrants that stormed his bedroom early in the morning. As much as he would have liked to see them sleep in the mud for a couple of days, he knew he would be blamed for this, so he had to quickly excavate some bedrooms. The problem? It was nineteen people, each needed a three by three room, and there were also corridors...

"To hell with this!" Fred threw his pickaxe to the ground in a fit of anger. "SQ, Kaos, I'm caling a meeting!"

The administrator's words eventually reached the two women's ears. The three drows met in Fred's office to discuss a serious issue:
"Why do I have to dig all by myself! You've asked me to build bedrooms and expand your little zoo, and Nunore, you know, the beauty who works as a barkeep, said she would be very grateful if I made some more room in the tavern." Fred lightened up while remembering his conversation with Nunore, but then frowned again. "I have too much on my plate right now, a little help would be appreciated, you know.

"Yeah, I've noticed you're struggling to meet your quotas..." SQ said. She didn't really know what quotas were, but she liked that word, it sounded official. "I'm sure if you try just a little bit harder...ow!"

"What SQ wanted to say is: I'll make some pickaxes and she'll find someone to swing them, Is that right, SQ?" Kaos kept jabbing SQ in the ribs with her elbow.

"Sure, ow, that's what I, ow, meant. I said it, ow, you can stop that already!" The overseer snapped.

"I'm sorry, but that was really cathartic, Scourge was right all along." Kaos smiled sincirely, which was rare with her.

"Good enough, thanks. Now get to it, I want the new miners to report to me as soon as possible." Fred the Mitey gestured at the door, at the same time adjusting his position on his chair. He obviously wasn't going anywhere until his demans were met.

(https://i.imgur.com/cg4NdcN.png)

Darkening Kaos headed straight to her own forge. SQ decided to find 'volounteers' in the tavern.

The Mahogany Hall, as young as it was, has seen better days - the back wall has been knocked down, but Fred hasn't started expanding the room yet. A few men from the latest migration wave were playing cards by one of the tables, occasionally looking up to have a peek at Nunore, who was having a heated conversation with the local poet, or at least the poet was having a conversation, because the woman's only contribution was nodding and various "I sees" and "tell me mores".

SQ came up to the table where the men were sitting. Nobody paid any attention to her at first, maybe for the best, but then, against her better judgement, the overseer coughed meaningfully and said: "As the acting house overseer of Dungeonevened, the matriarch of House Hateromanced, and a... uhh... I request that some of you report to the manager Fred the Mitey to be assigned to mining! No more loafing... around?" SQ realized the drows were holding back laughter. "Oh... oh no... please don't...". They did.

Nunore was looking at SQ's pitiful performance from a distance, totally ignoring the poet's rambling. She realized she could get easy points for helping the overseer out. "Hey now, gentlemen, I was convinced you were better than this. To laugh at a poor young girl like that? Not to mention she could have every single one of you beheaded..." The barkeep said, looking down with very convincing fake sadness in her eyes. There was a certain dissonance between her expression and what she said, but no one seemed to have noticed. "I'm really disappointed in you... I guess you're just a bunch of ruffians, disrespecting our mistress like that."

"I'm so sorry, Nunore! I'm reporting to the manager in this instant!"
"Please don't get mad at me! I'll work in the mines for you!"
"I'll respect the little girl, just don't button your shirt up all the way, Nunore, I like it when the three top buttons are undone!"
The men left the tavern in a hurry, leaving shaken up SQ, pouting Nunore, and agitated Liceyi together in the room.

"Thank you, Nunore, I'm so... I'm so gareful you stood up for me, even though you dodn't have to." SQ said.

"I did have to, mistress SQ. If you don't show men their place, they'll try to walk all over you." The barkeep's frown turned into a smile suspiciously quickly. "Especially those noblemen with nothing to do with their lives, you know what I'm talking about, right? You look like a sheltered youngest daughter of a minor noble couple, so I assume you have experience with those people."

"Umm... I'm actually... You know what? That's exactly who I am!" SQ lied. "I've dealt with high-born troublemakers all the time back in the capital."

"Your problems were probably of different nature, though, weren't they? Such a beautiful girl must have had a lot of admirers, right? Couldn't take a step without tripping over some poor obsessed sod, hmm?"

"I think you may be projecting... No, wait, that's exactly how it was!" SQ kept lying. She felt flattered by Nunore's assumptions. Nunore felt happy that her flattery worked well.

"Wow, I wish I could spew bullshit like these two." Liceyi whispered to himself. "I'd be pumping out poems like crazy."

SQ walked down to the menagerie level to check on the newly excavated section.

(https://i.imgur.com/h5RXXXv.png)

The backlog of animals was substantial, and there were many more pressing matters, it was somewhat frustrating. As SQ was thinking about the menagerie project, she noticed a tiny spider crawling on the boardwalk.

(https://i.imgur.com/4NASmT5.png)

They kind of had Scourge's eyes, or at least that's what SQ thought to herself. Shouldn't a priestess be blessing the newly-hatched spiders anyway? Freshcannon didn't seem like someone who would bless spiders, so there was no point telling her.

(https://i.imgur.com/dF4ngA2.png)

Next day SQ woke up to a sound of Freshcannon yelling at her soldiers: "Tomorrow you're waking up even earlier, you useless slackers! We can't allow a freaky marsupial thing to surprise us again!". SQ got out of her bed, opened the door and listened - a sound of multiple pickaxes breaking stone could be heard. Seems like new miners got to work early too. "Wait, maybe it's me who overslept?" SQ thought.
Suddenly MottledPetrel came out of his room. "Morning, boss!" he said. It must have been just before noon already then!

SQ ran out of her room to join Scourge at the looms. Just before reaching the staircase, she was stopped by Lunardog. The brewer seemed worried about something.

"SQ, I..." Lunardog had trouble saying what was on his mind. "Back in the capital... Oh gods, it's embarrassing..."

"I thought we've been over it already." SQ said, anxious about what Lunardog was about to say.

"I guess I'll just say it." The brewer smiled nervously. SQ's expression was even more nervous. "I... I miss my cat. There, the cat's out of the bag. Man, if I held it back for just a second longer, I would have pussied out."

"H-huh? What is a cat?" The overseer was relieved, but confused.

"It's like a surface version of a moleweasel. They make purr-fect pets and I happened to have one back at home... the old home. So... can I have a cat?"

"Why are you asking me? I'm not your mom, you can get your own cat." SQ looked at Lunardog, squinting her eyes.

"How, pray tell, could I do it? I know, I'll go to the store and buy one with hard cash. Oh, wait... "

"Ugh, okay, I'll talk to Kaos about your cat, but right now I really have to get to work!"

"Thanks, SQ! Wait, Kaos...?"

(https://i.imgur.com/QrXenAN.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/ltBuak8.png)

SQ finally reached the looms, but Scourge wasn't there. They were supposed to be doing this together, then again, SQ was supposed to be there a few hours earlier. Now where could Scourge be...?

The soldiers were training in the barracks, Imic and ZM5 were sparring, while Freshcannon was busy reprimanding Biretha for excessive use of the darkness spell against his sparring partner, Melici. Scourge was sitting on the floor near the door watching Imic and ZM5 fight.

(https://i.imgur.com/xdT6Zmi.png)

"Come on, Five! His defense is down, strike him in the stomach!" The woman shouted. ZM5 attacked as he was told, but Imic heard Scourge's words too, and parried accordingly. "What a wimpy swing! I thought you were an expert duelist, Five!"

"I've been through more fights than you can imagine!" ZM5 boasted. "Thugs, hired swords, jealous husbands, anything you could imagine. Once I defeated an elite assassin while having my right hand chopped off."

"You still have both hands, how is that possible?" Scourge inquired.

"I got better." ZM5 responded, before immediately taking advantage of Imic's confusion, and tackling the vigilante, pushing him backwards, then he attempted to stab Imic in the chest, but his attack was parried again. The tip of Imic's sword stopped dangerously close to ZM5's face.

"Nice try, mister ZM5, but I saw right through your tricks! A common cutthroat may fall for your distraction, but a real warrior will know better!" Imic was incredibly proud of his own performance. He didn't like ZM5's fighting style at all, and he knew there was a lot of luck in play, but a champion of justice shouldn't reveal his weaknesses to sneaky backstabbers.

"Look at him, stroking his ego." Scourge chuckled at Imic's boasting. "Speaking of distractions... I think SQ doesn't realize that I heard her come in. Hi SQ!"

"Couldn't you just pretend to be surprised for my sake? Nevermind, are you very busy right now?" SQ asked sarcastically. She was disappointed that she failed to sneak up on her friend. Her piwafwi must have ran out of magic in the sunlight, or perhaps it was never enchanted in the first place?

"Am I busy? I'm currently overseeing the training of our troops, something you should be doing."

"In other words, this pest keeps distracting ZM5 and Imic. Could you take her away before I kick her out myself?" Freshcannon butted in.

"Scourge, people have been looking at me weirdly for a while now. I think they all want a piwafwi like mine, so how about we go make some? I'll even let you have one." SQ suggested.

"Like I need your permission! Sure, I'm no clothier, but I like learning new things, let's go."

(https://i.imgur.com/TXkTGWd.png)

SQ and Scourge left the barracks, only to notice a small group of strangers heading their way, seven drows total.

"You must be SQ, the overseer right? I've been told to seek an exceptionally scrawny woman if I want to talk to the leader." One of the migrants, a priestess, said. "Hmm... stunted growth caused by constant stress, bags under eyes signifying sleeping problems... I suspect social anxiety and some other mental disorders, but I'd have to have a long talk with you."

"Uhh... I... What's going on?" SQ was taken aback by the woman's diagnosis. They've looked at each other for no longer than twenty seconds.

"Woah, lady, just who are..." Scourge was no less surprised than SQ, but being more level-headed, she wanted to ask the most important question. She failed miserably.

"Oh, this doesn't look good, or at least didn't. That's a big scar on your hand, you were brobably bitten by some large animal about... fifty years ago. Flat teeth on the mandible, no upper incisors, definitely some grazer." The priestess seemed shocked after glancing at Scourge's left hand. "You're lucky it healed so well, it's almost unnoticeable."

"What?! How can you see that? There's no trace of... Wait, I can just barely see it when I really strain my eyes, but there's now way you could notice!" Scourge shouted. "And you got the time right too! What are you?"

"Asithi Luredtorments, a priestess of Lolth, and the house cleric from now on. No, that's not up for discussion, unless you want to discuss it with the High Priestess herself." Asithi pulled out an official looking scroll. "If you have any objections, this is the list of grievous injuries that you may suffer if you turn me away."

"I don't even want to read that... Welcome to Dungeonevened, Asithi. Could you introduce your friends to us?" SQ was completely convinced by the size of the scroll. There was a lot of hauling to be done too.

"This is Iquila, an expert miner. Bad back and myopia. This is Obi, a useless slacker, pathological procrastination. This is Uthimi, a high master armorsmith and an expert fish cleaner, no sense of smell, helps with gutting fish."

"Can she clean mussels? We've got a lot of them." SQ asked.

"Something tells me I know what I'll be having for dinner for the rest of my life... Anyway, This is Weri, a beginner fish cleaner, asthma. And this is Weri, one of the best fishermen I've met. Having said that, I haven't actually met that many fishermen."

"They're both named Weri? My name is Weri too. And Imic's... and the outpost liaison's. Scourge, is there any other Weri I should know about?"

"Well, Weri means 'plague' in old Elven, and guess what's the other word for plague?" Scourge answered, making SQ strangely uncomfortable.

"The last one is Yetine, a master hunter, antisocial personality disorder." Asithi continued as if nobody said anything. "I look forward to seeing my new office."

"Ha ha, about that..."

Not much is actually going on. Some PLOT and a small migrant wave.
The tavern seems to work. Kinda. Nunore keeps serving drinks to herself, and reciting poems to the outpost liaison, but nobody else does anything. There's no visitors either.
The temple works, but only idle drows ever use it. Is it like that in vanilla DF?

I love how that poet saw through their nonsense instantly

Deliver the feline volleyball to Lunardog in a public ceremony in the middle of the dining room. Pomp and ceremony, people, praise the celebrations, and you have the right to partay.

(https://i.imgur.com/sWuVW0M.png)

"Invisibility! Disappear! Skiddadle skidoodle!" Scourge shouted at a nearly finished leather cloak, making silly gestures. "Ugh, how do I cast this spell? I figured I could replace endure elements with abrian tallow, but what to do with invisibility?"

"Maybe leave it in a dark room for a while? If you can't see it, it's almost like it's invisible." SQ suggested.

"We CAN see in the dark, though..."

"Oh, right."

On the surface the Helmet Snakes were getting ready to move out once again, this time as attackers, not defenders.

(https://i.imgur.com/YhnadDG.png)

A band of hideous creatures were standing across the river, throwing insults at MottledPetrel and his apprentice Asithi. This couldn't go on for much longer - the productivity of mussel collectors would go down if monsters keep interrupting their smoke breaks.

(https://i.imgur.com/1cu6NCR.png)

The Helmet Snakes finished their work and returned to the barracks.
Freshcannon, ZM5 and Ayanu failed to kill even a single mongrelman, Biretha and Oquari killed one each, Imic and Melici both killed two. One mongrelfolk was still roaming the dusty woods, but after seeing its pack slaughtered, it should have learned to stay away from the settlement.

(https://i.imgur.com/y2j99bU.png)

Or perhaps that didn't even matter. Yetine the hunter decided that a lone mongrelfolk would make an easy prey. He needed just a single bolt to pierce the repulsive hybrid's skull.

Meanwhile, SQ and Scourge were examining Scourge's new piwafwi.
"This cloak is supposed to make me invisible, right? I mean, it's not working for you..." Scourge said, with a generous dose of uncertainty in her voice.

"Mine probably isn't enchanted, you did all you could to make yours work." SQ encouraged her friend, even though she didn't believe any of Scourge's spells actually worked.

Scourge put on the cloak, looked at her hands, then spun in place a few times. "Can you see me? If so, am I at least slightly less noticeable?"

(https://i.imgur.com/NYmfCF0.png)

"You would be much more stealthy without your garish purple scarf." SQ shook her head, disapproving of Scourge's fashion sense.

"It's actually heliotrope, the second sneakiest color after magenta. Don't you know your color theory?" Scourge returned to her old chipper self. Why would she, of all people, need an invisibility cloak anyway? "Let's leave magic to wizards, and colors to artists. The new fisherman's guild headquarters should be ready now, how about we check it out?"

"The what now? Why am I only learning about it now?"

"Should have woken up earlier. The cook boy, whatever his name is, started making fuss about spoiled mussels stinking up the place. We wanted to ignore him, but Lunardog took his side like a flower-smelling sissy he is."

(https://i.imgur.com/jCx72hU.png)

The room was relatively small, with six workbenches for cleaning mussels. The floor and walls were made of clay loam, not unlike the whole upper part of Dungeonevened. Most importantly, there was absolutely nothing to 'check out'.

"Looks like we're all alone here." Scourge said. "Now it's time to get down to business!"

"Ugh, those jokes are starting to get stale after a hundred years."

"Jokes? Oh, heh heh..." Scourge chuckled, realizing what SQ was thinking. "No, I wanted to talk with you about Five and his little investigation. I assume you've asked him about that already."

"Yeah, I've solved the case myself, ZM5 even told me I was right!" SQ boasted. "Can't believe he took two decades, and I figured it out in a year."

"What if I told you Five isn't telling you the whole truth? I've had the same conversation with him, and it ended on the same note - a big fat lie."

"W-what? How do you know what my confrontation with ZM5 went?"

"I might have listened in for a bit... Hey, you were supposed to be surprised to hear that ZM5 had been lying to us!" Scourge crossed her arms theatrically. "Anyway, Fred and Lunarboy's mother... as weird as this sounds, were working together. The truth has been uncovered, everybody is happy, right? Wrong. He's not done yet, but he doesn't want to admit it."

"Can't you just be happy that it's all over? Why do you have to complicate this even further?" SQ was getting irritated. She wanted to believe she could just leave her past behind.

"If it was up to me, I'd leave the case as it is now, but you know Five, he's not giving up even if there's nothing to gain from winning." Scourge paused for a moment. "At least two people directly connected with this case reside in this settlement now. I just hope Five doesn't stir up any trouble... Oh, and please don't start treating anyone differently because of all this. I don't want you making enemies, got it?"

"I've got a great idea - how about we step in and uncover the truth by ourselves?" SQ suggested in her usual way that made it difficult to guess if she was serious. "I bet we could do it in a matter of days."

"Yeah, great idea, detective SQ Justiceromanced. I can only assume you were joking or being sarcastic, but I'm happy you're taking it well."

"Not like it's gonna change anything at this point."

"Looks like you're the optimistic one this time. If I wasn't such a fantastic friend, I'd tell you you should be worried, but I'm gonna trust your judgement instead. Don't get use to it though." Scourge said, with a big grin on her face.

"Hmm... Detective SQ Justiceromanced..."

- - - -

"First day of autumn... still dry and sunny like in summer. Why do we keep track of the seasons anyway if there's no difference between them. Doesn't really matter... what matters is that HE came into my office. A man of athletic build, muscular yet not freakishly so. A soft steel circlet adorning his head, three shell amulets around his neck, resting over a tasteful silk scarf. Definitely a blue-blooded man, but his hands were covered in dirt as if he was working on the fields just a moment ago..."

"That's because that's what I was doing before you called me to your office, SQ. And what's with all this monologuing?"

"Lunardog asked. I figured he wouldn't address me by my proper title - detective SQ Justiceromanced. He was a troublesome type, but to get on top of the case, I need to interrogate everyone involved. Lunardog Drilledterror happened to be a member of a noble house involved in a large scale embezzlement I was investigating."

"Oh for Lolth's sake! I told ZM5 not to tell you about that specifically for this one reason! I knew you would make a scene, although, to be quite honest, I didn't expect this to take such a bizarre turn."

"So detective ZM Truthrelief, fifth of his name, has already had a talk with that nobleman? Wouldn't expect less from him. 'This was a result of my own independent investigation. ZM5 wouldn't want me to get in his way, but this is as important for me as it is for him.' I said."

"Aren't you in your second twenties? I think you're a little to old to be playing a detective like this."

"What an insult! If I wasn't a calm and reasonable woman, I would have shown Lunardog what I think about his remarks. Instead I asked: 'Are you willing to tell me what was your family's role in the heinous crime of one Fred the Mitey Scaldedwitches, or do I have to extract the truth from you by force?' Perhaps I could have been more careful with my wording, because Lunardog was still my friend, but I knew I wouldn't go far if I was beating around the bush..."

"I told everything I know to ZM5, you don't really need to know all the details. I don't have time to play with you, there are marrow spawns to be planted, so unless you want to drink shiitake wine exclusively, let me get back to work." Lunardog got up from his chair and simply left the room.

"Damn, I was so close, too close even. I, SQ Justiceromanced, outwitted by someone like this? No, it must have been ZM5's doing..."

The door opened once again, Lunardog appeared for another brief moments just to say: "I can still hear you! Stop monologuing!" Then he closed the door again.

---

MottledPetrel was walking along the river with his apprentice Asithi. They did that everyday before work, or at least before the first smoke break.

"I rarely say that to people, but I'm impressed by how well you adapted to fisherdrow's life. Waking up just before noon, then a smoke before work, then breakfast break, then a few minutes to rest, an hour of looking for a good fishing spot, then lunch break... Not everybody can live their life like this." The fisherman praised the young woman without actually looking at her.

"The truth is, I lost control of my life long time ago, and while I can't say I like it this way, I can't be assed to get my shit together." Asithi admitted, also not looking at her mentor.

"I'm so proud of you, Asithi. If you were my daughter, you will be my greatest treasure..."

"Whatever, old man."

"Wait, I think I heard something. It sounds like... croaking? Moon toads live in this river, but that's not them..." MottledPetrel started looking around frantically. "I smell brimstone. Wait... moon toads don't smell like brimstone, abrians don't croak... FROG DEMONS!"

(https://i.imgur.com/MxdoxMu.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/ZL15cbj.png)

"We have to tell everybody! Asithi... Asithi, wait for me!"

Asithi was first to arrive at the barracks. Freshcannon rallied her soldiers as soon as she heard the word 'demons' being uttered.
"Army of the abyss is knocking on our door, Snakes. Our supreme matriarch, Lolth, rose above other demon lords in the time before time, raising us above all monstrosities from the putrid pits. Now it's our time to prove we were worthy of that honor! SNAKES OUT!" There was fire in the priestess's eyes, and not a sign of hesitation in her voice. The mood spread across the barracks, giving the Helmet Snakes zeal and courage to fight the amphibian monsters.

Two soldiers were still missing. Ayanu was still putting on his armor, and Obi decided it would be a great moment for a nap.

(https://i.imgur.com/g22hEXz.png)

Fortunately the demons weren't advancing too fast. In fact, they were rather sluggish and uninterested, but there was no doubt that they were there to spill blood.

(https://i.imgur.com/SxgHQwq.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/b5kwo4Q.png)

Only five demons were visible from near the entrance, and their equipment was entirely made of copper. Despite those facts, Freshcannon decided to wait. More demons could have been waiting in an ambush, or maybe they knew some foul abyssal magic. There was no reason to take any unnecessary risk. In fact...

"Mistress Freshcannon, I see more of them!" Imic shouted, pointing south of the tower. "Five to the south!"

(https://i.imgur.com/cOjgSgr.png)

"Boss, I'm sorry, but I can't take it any more!" Biretha said through his teeth. "Those fuckers are going down! Helmet snakes rule!"

"Biretha, you fucking moron! Snakes out!" Freshcannon yelped in shock and disbelief as one of her gangsters drew his scimitar and dashed towards the frog demons.

(https://i.imgur.com/TZRiesP.png)

Biretha immediately cast faerie fire on a spearfrog in front of him, but a large swordsfrog jumped at him from the side. Biretha's reflexes were fast. He struck the monster's leg like a snake striking its victim, making it squirm on the ground pathetically, desperately trying to defend itself.
While the frog demon was preoccupied waving its sword and shield at Biretha and Freshcannon, Imic stepped in and almost chopped off its head with a swift strike of his sword. It was a miracle that the demon could keep fighting with such grievous injury, but the struggle didn't last long.

(https://i.imgur.com/PUSUnnF.png)

A frog demon pikewoman recognized Freshcannon as the leader of the defenders, and despite being blinded by faerie fire, it charged at the priestess savagely. Freshcannon decided not to dull her axe on the pathetic creature, and punched it on the hand, crushing its finger, and painfully twisting its wrist.
The monster was infuriated. It tried to take down the priestess with its entire mass, but hardly being able to see, it crashed into another frog demon. A moment later the pikefrog lost its leg below the knee to a powerful, if not very graceful, swing of an axe.

(https://i.imgur.com/2Upsral.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/rpLpZNX.png)

The frog demons were surprisingly resilient, so much that most Helmet Snakes were preoccupied finishing off the crippled ones long time after disabling them. ZM5 however, was locked in a single combat with a spearfrog. There was no one to help him, just his daggers.
The demon attacked savagely, but ZM5 managed to avoid getting hit. Then he punched the spearfrog, trying to knock the shield out of its hand, but the monster held on tightly. The demon, annoyed by ZM5's audacity, executed two quick stabs - one of them was dodged, the other parried. ZM5 took advantage of his light, wieldy blade, and stabbed the demon's spear arm a split second after parrying. The copper spear hit the ground, the monster's webbed hand hanged uselessly from its bleeding wrist.
A few quick slashes later, the frog demon's inestines spilled from its ripped abdomen.

(https://i.imgur.com/Bgea0iL.png)

All other frog demons from this group were dead, the drows rushed to help ZM5, but before any of them could raise their weapon, ZM5 was already holding the monster's grotesque head in his hand.

(https://i.imgur.com/FEEIFgp.png)

Not wanting to be worse than Biretha, Melici lead the charge at the second group of frog demons. She aimed at the hands of the nearest demon, shattering one of them, then she smashed the creature's kneecap, which reminded her of good old times. As she was reminiscing about collecting donations for the church, Freshcannon jumped in swinging her axe wildly, cutting off a leg and an arm, and making numerous other holes in the monster's body.
ZM5 quickly cut off the demon's thumb, hoping that maybe this time he will be able to keep it for himself, but then he dropped it, after Freshcannon's axe flew way too close to his face. The priestess's swing split the frog demon's chest in two, ending its miserable life.

(https://i.imgur.com/CxI2Tou.png)

Thanks to joint efforts of Imic and Melici, the second demon died a quick death.

The last frog wasn't so lucky, but seeing its painful death, the remaining demons decided to flee. The attack was thwarted with absolutely no losses.

Fortress Defense frogmen ambushed MottledPetrel, but they were big pusses. They never landed a single hit, but our shields took a beating. Good thing there's no weapon damage yet.

I imagine my character wearing a necklace of severed fingers of various species now.
I'm also honestly kind of surprised this first ambush seemed very mild - should take a look through the FD raws, I'm not familiar with them.

"Relatively small"

"Six Fisheries"

What would be relatively big? Even breadbowl only had 3.

(Also, I recall cleaning jobs used to be posted to only 1 fishery, so might want to check if that changed, and if not use a manager order.)

Quote

"What an insult! If I wasn't a calm and reasonable woman, I would have shown Lunardog what I think about his remarks. Instead I asked:

Missing ", somewhere, or was that all out loud?

I don't think you can call the frogmen pussies when their mailshirt is literally crushed to dust with a dagger while they're on (fairy) fire. Though I see no notes on shields being damaged, or any attacks with the done?

(Also, you probably shouldn't use bone maces, since they're likely too light - unless they're modded to be different from regular maces or bone? Seems so, those shots should only bruise, not smash things. )

(I've noticed your little fort thing you got going, with my mods in it too! I think this is pretty cool... I'd like to be made a member of this fortress, preferably as a soldier.)

Quote from: Fleeting Frames on June 30, 2018, 04:11:16 am

"Relatively small"

"Six Fisheries"

What would be relatively big? Even breadbowl only had 3.

(Also, I recall cleaning jobs used to be posted to only 1 fishery, so might want to check if that changed, and if not use a manager order.)

It's small for a guildhall, but DF space is non-euclidean anyway. Mussels are a staple of our drows' diet, and most goods for export are made of shells.

Quote from: Fleeting Frames on June 30, 2018, 04:11:16 am

Missing ", somewhere, or was that all out loud?

All out loud.

Quote from: Fleeting Frames on June 30, 2018, 04:11:16 am

I don't think you can call the frogmen pussies when their mailshirt is literally crushed to dust with a dagger while they're on (fairy) fire. Though I see no notes on shields being damaged, or any attacks with the done?

(Also, you probably shouldn't use bone maces, since they're likely too light - unless they're modded to be different from regular maces or bone? Seems so, those shots should only bruise, not smash things. )

Shields did take damage. I'll replace them with diamondium, which as we know, is unbreakable.

The mace is made of crude bone, a metal from The World of Flesh by Squamous. It's basically renamed iron. There is galena on the map, so I'll make a better mace for Melici later.

Some other things:
-Drows not using the tavern and temple may be a bug. Looks like Nunore will be serving drinks to herself until that's resolved.
-~~Still no visitors, but apparently that happens when you designate a tavern from a table. Let's try to fix it.~~ Nope, still nothing
-Updated to 44.11. Now we can genocide mongrelfolk without serious consequences. Does that sound really wrong to anybody else?

(https://i.imgur.com/kcorRLR.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/888zyk8.png)

As the Helmet Snakes were returning to their barracks, a lone mongrelfolk decided to follow them. Unfortunately it wasn't an expert at hiding. Imic, startled by the hideous creature, resorted to his most basic instinct - biting. The vigilante didn't expect the mongrelfolk to have the same reflexes as him. Unfortunately for the monster, Imic also had a sword.

(https://i.imgur.com/1GYR0Fv.png)

"M-miss Nunore... are you sure you're qualified? Maybe mister Fred or mistress Asithi could do it instead?" Imic curled up on the hospital bed. His shin was bleeding badly, but the thought of Nunore tending to his wound was more horrifying than the vision of slow, dishonorable death.

"Oh, dear Imic, there's nothing to be afraid of, it's just a simple procedure." Nunore said as reassuringly as she could. "Besides, all drow women get basic medical knowledge at some point, just like men learn mechanics."

"Scourge once sucker punched me in the liver, then said she didn't know that's where liver is. I don't know if I should AAAARGH!" Imic screamed as Nunore touched his leg.

"Whoopsie. I'm afraid it's worse than I thought. The good news is that we'll spend some quality time together, the bad news is that the time will be spent on suturing. What's with this frown? I can sing you a song to make you feel better."

"N-no, please, the wound isn't even that deep, it will heal on its own!"

"Oh, I can't watch you squirm like that." An expert listener could hear that Nunore was, in fact, enjoying this. "Fine, I'll bandage your leg and you're free to go."

(https://i.imgur.com/qb1lGOu.png)

Something fell and horrifying appeared on the horizon - a sinister caravan of the undead was moving closer and closer to Dungeonevened. Once it got close enough, one of the skeletal caravaneers let out a chilling cry:
"HEY ANYBONE HERE? *CLACK CLACK CLACK* IF SOMEONE DOESN'T COME HERE TO TRADE, YOU'RE ALL BONED! *CLACK CLACK CLACK*"

"Fred, this will be a weird question, so better brace for it." Scourge warned the administrator after barging into his office.

"Scourge, has your mother not taught you to knock before entering someone's office?"

"My mom died when I was five. Now are you ready for the big question?"

"Gods, Scourge, this is not something you share with people like that!" Fred the Mitey said, appalled by the woman's lack of filter. "Okay, how about that question? It can't be that bad."

"Do you have experience dealing with living dead?"

"E-excuse me?"

(https://i.imgur.com/qVHvMMz.png)

"Hurry up, we have to bring those crafts to the trade depot!" Fred hurried the other drows. "Athara, I'm sure you can carry more than one figurine at a time! Tharumi, what are you doing with those rocks! We need to trade, not cut gems! Menari, what are you doing? Menari! Menari?"

"Wahahaha! Can't stop me now, Captain Nobearrrd!" The furnace operator screamed wildly. "To the jewelerrr's worrrkshop me mateys! Actually, no, don't follow me! Hahaha!"

(https://i.imgur.com/jDojnKh.png)

Menari didn't actually care if he was being followed or not, he just claimed a jeweler's workshop and tools, then grabbed a handful of rough onyxes.

Fred the Mitey decided he wouldn't stay around, waiting for Manari to finish his work, and instead went back to trade with the skeletons.
"Instruments, animals, seeds, a few bars of electrum and... that's all, really. Hmm... maybe a couple of bags of sand. We can give you..."

"WE WANT YOUR FOOD, BONEHEAD! *CLACK CLACK CLACK*"

"What?" Fred snapped. "What would YOU need food for? You're skeletons!"

"I'M NOT ASKING YOU WHY YOU WANT OUR INSTRUMENTS! YOU COULDN'T DOOT PROPERLY WITH THIS SKIN AROUND YOUR CHEEKS! AND SINCE YOU'RE TRYING TO RATTLE ME BONES IN A BAD WAY..."

(https://i.imgur.com/sanZTqx.png)

"...GIVE US YOUR BONES! *CLACK CLACK CLACK*" The skeleton started laughing maniacally, other skeletons joined soon after. "HO HO, IF YOU COULD SEE THE LOOK ON THE MASK OF SKIN, MUSCLE, AND CARTILAGE YOU CALL YOUR FACE! HOW ABOUT DEM FIGURINES THEN?"

"I'm gonna get the girls to check out the animals. You, freaks, can take whatever the hell you want, but leave MY bones alone."

(https://i.imgur.com/S7yvb8W.png)

"That's a good haul, isn't it, SQ?" Scourge said after seeing the animal cages prepared for transport.

"Mmm..." SQ was too busy scribbling something in a tiny notebook to respond properly.

"What are you doing? Give me that!" Scourge grabbed SQ's notebook with a quick swipe. "This doesn't look like your diary, it's not anything official, what could it be? How about I open it and..."

SQ started panicking. "N-no, please! Don't read that, I'll listen to you, just give it back... please give it back..." The overseer started breathing heavily, tears running down her face.

Scourge realized she made a mistake, SQ never reacted like that to Scourge taking her diary. "Oh, that must be really important to you. I'm sorry for taking it from you, but tell me one thing: what is that?"

"T-that doesn't matter! You don't... you don't need to know a-about my inves... about what's in there."

"Hmm..." Scourge raised her eyebrow, signifying that little gears in her head were turning at high speed. "Okay... Hey, check it out, a water buffalo! Remember them?"

"Y-yeah, that's the one that bit you fifty years ago. No, wait, that was a yak... or an aurochs? A bison? Why are surface animals so weird?"

"Dunno, underground we have rothe, tuskoxen and molecows, no redundant bull... LOOK AT THAT THING!" The little gears in Scourge's head stopped completely, she was left with blank mind, pointing at a cage with a tiny furry creature. "IT'S SO CUTE!

"I thought you hated hamsters?"

"It's a cavy, totally different. Hamsters eat their young for no reason, I don't trust them. Cavies, on the other hand, are gentle and kind-hearted."

(https://i.imgur.com/khwgiC9.png)

"And this is..." SQ said, looking at a small six-legged creature. "...an otter?"

"That's one of these animals from the moon, a moon otter. At some point in history a mad sorcerer opened a portal to the moon and let a lot of wacky stuff go through. That's what my aunt told me, at least." Scourge's eyes got a little wet. She wasn't sentimental, but it's been long time since she last thought about her real family." Oh, those were good times... She kicked me out as soon as she was legally allowed to, that batshit crazy woman. How mad she was when I couldn't leave her house because I got stuck on a spider web made by her fifty-seven spiders."

"Okay..." SQ got somewhat upset because she didn't have any childhood memories Scourge didn't know about. "Let's move on."

(https://i.imgur.com/qb9KnrN.png)

"That's a much more reasonable animal. Did you know that some people carve their tusks while they're still on the boar?" SQ shared a piece of trivia with Scourge. "I read it in a book I borrowed from Kaos."

"Hmmm... I wonder if I could make Imic try that."

"You mean carving a boar's tusk, or borrowing a book from Kaos? Because I think there's not much difference between those two things, for Imic at least."

(https://i.imgur.com/A24MsKr.png)

"A bird. Five would know more about it, but the priestess would get her panties in a twist if I showed up in the barracks again." Scourge sighed in frustration. "You should talk to her about my special privileges."

"What special privileges? You're not royalty, nobility or even an official."

"I'm an ex-priestess, and the house overseer's almost-sister, not to mention almost-daughter to the royal meangerie's late former overseer."

"That's a lot of meaningless titles." SQ noticed.

"Oh, I could go on forever." Scourge said smugly. "I'm one of the founders of Dungeonevened, a fiancée of another founder of Dungeonevened, a talented fighter, mistress of two whole spells, the hottest chick in the settlement..."

"...besides Nunore from the tavern, Athara the jeweler, and Freshcannon's left hand Melici, if you like tomboys that is."

"Ow, way to put me down... BUT. Since you're not into women, your opinion on that doesn't matter, I still reign supreme."

(https://i.imgur.com/JxCARfa.png)

"Another bird, but I actually know this one." Scourge proclaimed proudly. "It's a loft owl, domesticated by dwarves, appreciated by everyone. They eat hamsters.

"I see... Do they do anything else?"

"We could train it for hunting or war, but it's a bird, come on now. It's pretty cute and soft too, maybe you should keep it as a pet? Would help you with your... episodes."

"Why do you assume I like cute and fluffy stuff?" SQ said while petting the owl, which really was therapeutic, but she didn't want to admit Scourge was right. "I prefer cave roaches. You know, Fred bought me one when the first caravan from the capital came here, but the little guy got out of its cage and got eaten by a spider."

"Fred got eaten by a spider? Then who traded with the skeletons just five minutes ago?" Scourge pretended to be shocked. SQ let out an extremely long and loud sigh.

(https://i.imgur.com/FhXEdXX.png)

"No, not again! Cast darkness! Darkness!" Scourge shouted, looking at a cage with a bizarre snake-like amphibian, sweating unnaturally, eyes wide-open, teeth chittering. SQ covered the cage with a shroud of darkness without hesitation. "Heh, l-looks like it was my turn t-to have a panic attack... heh... heh." Scourge tried to sound reassuring, but her laugh was unnatural, almost unnerving.

"Maybe you should talk with Asithi about this? You've turned really pale grey..."

"It's fine now, don't worry. It's just... these creatures are from... elsewhere, I can't properly describe it, but I can feel it." Scourge still had a blank expression of a madwoman on her face.

"This again... You know, abrians come from the abyss, and you even had a punch-out with one at some point. I've got a feeling it's not about outsiders at all."

"I'm fine."

(https://i.imgur.com/XtTlmqD.png)

Lunardog and Darkening Kaos were watching the fey furnace operator working. It was an astonishing spectacle - the inspired drow has been working without stopping, and he was working furiously, making exaggerated swings with precise tools, but somehow not making a single mistake.

"It's gonna crack, I'll bet you one silver." Kaos said to Lunardog, despite literally not having a single coin.

"Nah, that would be anticlimactic. He's gonna smash the gem with a hammer and snort what's left of it through his nose. I have no money anyway, so I'm not betting. Scourge never gave my pouch back to me. "Lunardog said indifferently. He just wanted to see the wondrous gem that was about to be made.

"Heh, what a surprise..."

Suddenly the furnace operator tossed his tools at the floor. His eyes widened, and he took a deep breath before screaming from the top of his lungs: "Oberrron, Titania, the wind's a-blowin' homewarrrd, I'm a-sailin' to see you again! HA HA HA!" Then he calmed down, looked at his work - a perfectly smooth black rock with a subtle engraving of a codex - and muttered to himself: "Finally... that took some time, but it was a good learning experience. I'll give it to my eldest daughter, if I ever have one..."

(https://i.imgur.com/edmBMjx.png)

"Huh, I guess that's fair." Lunardog shrugged. "I guess we could tell Fred to get it into the books."

"I don't really care, let's get back to work, shall we?" Kaos didn't wait for the man to answer, instead she picked up a large chunk of rock from the floor and headed straight to her workshop.

Pretty good to see skootals as friendly (sort of) caravaneers instead of siegers - last siege they gave me in one of my personal forts was really damn rough.

Are we going to be conquering people?

Skelebro's are best bro's. It does concern me however, that they traded for our food... the mental image of a skelebro eating a meal makes my stomach turn. Ugh. And to obtain some useless animals in return. At least I have my workshop and a bunch of work to do.

Skelebros trying to eat food comes across as more comical to me, given that the chunks would just be falling through them.

Perhaps they want the food as a curiosity.
"Look dudes, those flashers put these things in their mouths, and Then THEY SWALLOW IT"
"Uncle Stirrup, what is swallowing?"

Skellies probably saw the rothe grazing outside and deduced that our prepared meals were rich in calcium.

Quote from: pikachu17 on July 05, 2018, 05:10:53 pm

Are we going to be conquering people?

I don't know if we can conquer in an updated game. TBH I can't even send raiding parties. It says "cannot order mission without leader". Maybe I need an actual matriarch before I can raid? Is there anything in the raws about that? I gave MILITARY_STRATEGY to the house priestess and nothing.

(https://i.imgur.com/xsfh3WS.png)

The drows are undoubtedly creatures of the deep, shunning the light of the sun and the denizens of the surface. Why is that? Nobody knows, but the ruling caste of the drow society insisted that there is no other way. An outsider could see the rulers of Dungeonevened as revolutionaries standing against all drow values, but in reality...

(https://i.imgur.com/gQwyd95.png)

SQ was standing by the small pond near the entrance to the settlement, overwatching the construction of walls. A builder came up to her to consult the plans.
"There will be some flooring involved, but this pool won't be much of an obstacle." He said.

The worker was unlucky because SQ was in her 'Detective Justiceromanced' persona. "This pool was my favorite pond, but the builder couldn't know that. 'You have to build around the pond, whether you like it or not.' They didn't actually have to do anything, but I had to work on my assertiveness before meeting a second person involved in..." The rugged detective suddenly turned back into a scared, little girl. "Oh no! I almost said that out loud! Forget you heard anything, please!"

"O-okay, overseer SQ, we'll build around the pond, and you haven't said anything beyond that."

---

(https://i.imgur.com/KSzr97j.png)

"Umm... Mistress... Freshcannon... Ugh, how should I address you?" Lunardog asked the priestess, peeking through the door to the barracks. He remembered he'd never actually had a conversation with her.

At that moment Freshcannon was overseeing Biretha's and Melici's sparring. She did that a lot, because leaving those two without supervision could end in a disaster. The priestess glanced at the door quickly before turning her eyes back on her soldiers. "Oh, it's you, sissy boy." She said, not paying too much attention to the farmer. "It's Freshcannon to you, but... Biretha, if you cut Melici's ear off, I'll have both of yours! What was I saying? Oh right, that's not what you came here for, is it?"

"Right, here goes... Is growing crops aboveground immoral, illegal, sacrilegious or actively discouraged for any other reason? We've got some seeds from the skeletons, and we got some from wild plants." Lunardog explained his position. Then he remembered: "And it's Lunardog, not 'sissy boy'".

"Honestly? No clue. It's been almost a century since I last had a law book in my hand, especially of the religious kind... Melici, a dark elf won't hold back because you do puppy badgerdog eyes, only Biretha is that stupid! Oh right, Sissydog, you have my blessing or something to plant whatever the hell you want wherever the hell you want." The priestess was still not looking at Lunardog's direction, but she made a vague gesture that could mean either 'Do your thing' or 'Get out of here before I lose my patience', although it could have well meant 'I don't know, ask Asithi'.

---

Fred the Mitey's office, Fred was completely focused on his books and documents. On the other side of the table stood SQ, trying to have a meaningful conversation with the administrator.

"That man has guts not to offer me a seat.' I thought. 'Is he trying to make a statement? Not only am I a woman and his guest, but also his superior." SQ narrated. She was only a little bit upset, but her character demanded her to blow the issue out of proportion.

"I'll stop you here, SQ. I have just this one chair in the room, and my work is more important than your tomfoolery. You could bring a chair from the stockpile, or sit on the bed." Fred suggested, briefly raising his head from the pile of papers to see SQ's reaction. The overseer opened her mouth to begin another monologue, but Fred was faster. "I'd rather talk to SQ Hateromanced, not detective Hatejustice or whatever you call yourself these days."

"Awww, come on! I-I mean, if that's what it takes for you to answer my questions, why not?" SQ said in a disappointed tone, before sitting down on the bed cross-leged. "So... I heard you weren't exactly good at managing the royal treasury back in Murknightmare. Some money turned up in questionable places..."

"Lunardog warned me you would come to talk about this. I hope your visit will be more pleasant than ZM5's. We're up to a good start, since you haven't brought a knife... How do you spell onyx?"

"O-N-E-X, I think. So, you ARE going to answer my questions?" SQ was surprised by Fred's compliance. "You admit to everything you've been charged with, is that right?"

"Yeah, the money went to large noble houses that would then send it back to me after taking their cut. That way I avoided getting the scheme discovered." Fred confirmed while writing the word 'onex' in the books. "That was after my mother stopped acknowledging my existence. I couldn't live off my family's fortune, and the job in administration wasn't paying enough to let me live in the palace district for much longer. I was becoming a miserable middler with a job I hated and a meaningless noble title. Are you sure it's spelled 'onex'?"

"Yeah, pretty sure it is. You used your position in power to continue living as a nobleman. Okay, that much I understand. You made a deal with some large noble houses, including house Drilledterrors..."

"Drilledterrors, Boatnightmare, Doomfigures... They all promised to stand up for me if I ever get caught." The administrator looked up at SQ again. The woman was making notes in her little notebook. "They all abandoned me after your friend ZM5 revealed my wrongdoings to the general public. The only reason I still have my head on my shoulders is that my mother stepped in, probably just to see me become a dirty bum. I got kicked out from administration, stripped of nobility, and called a disgrace to the family. You know the rest."

"I get a feeling you're giving me the massively simplified version. More people knew about that before ZM5. Maybe not about your role, but about the embezzlement." SQ looked at Fred triumphantly. She finally got him, or so she thought.

"Evidence, dear SQ. You can throw baseless claims around, but they're not gonna be taken seriously without solid evidence. I said the same to ZM5 and de..." Fred bit his tongue before finishing the sentence. "I have to finish this monthly report, so could you leave my room?"

"You're getting awfully defensive, Vathi Scaldedwitches." SQ stood up, slammed her notebook shut dramatically, and looked at the administrator with contempt. A shiver went down Fred's spine. He fully expected the girl to just give up instantly, not become all menacing.

"How do you people do it? I want to be able to influence people by saying their names too! Are you two alchemancers by any chance? I'm still not going to change my mind. Show me evidence that someone was investigating my crime, and I'll tell you everything. For now, go away."

"I'll get to the bottom of this, with or without your cooperation, or my name isn't SQ Justiceromanced!"

"It isn't, though!"

---

SQ stormed out of Fred's room. There was someone else in Dungeonevened investigating this case, and what's more, Fred almost admitted there was someone else was tangled into this mess even before ZM5 got involved. The overseer knew she had to think about her next move carefuly. She needed a while to calm down, and what's the better way to catch a breath than taking care of rothe? She climbed up to the surface to get the animals ready for shearing, but she was stopped in the entrance corridor by an unknown man.

(https://i.imgur.com/vbXwqsw.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/RUaxwyh.png)

The man bowed down low, which might have been some kind of greeting or a sign of respect, and said: "Greetings, we've travelled a long way in search of a new home. I wish to meet SQ-Ithera, the overseer of this land, could you lead us to her?"

"I-it's me... I think. Umm... who are you, and where are your companions?" SQ asked anxiously.

The man kneeled, to SQ's surprise. "My mistress, I'm Asin Badwade, a dishonored warrior seeking redemption. My wife, Efaci-Larami, and our five travelling companions are waiting for me outside. I promised to lead them here safely, so if you intend to execute us all, start with me, so I don't stain my honor once again."

"Why... why would I do it?! What's your story?" SQ was getting more and more confused. Asin's answer only begged for more questions. "We have at least two known criminals residing in this town, three if Kaos really is a worshipper of Vhaeraun like I suspect, and I'm not sure if we need more, especially the dangerous kind.

"I have failed to protect my previous mistress, and I cannot bring myself to take my own life. I understand I do not deserve to live, but if you don't give me a chance to clean my name, at least spare my wife and other travellers, they are not sullied with dishonor."

SQ was speechless - the man must have been confused, personal guards would assassinate their mistresses more often than not, so failing to protect someone was not shameful at all. Not to mention the kneeling. "You can stand up now, I don't really do this social caste thing. I appreciate that you don't insist on maintaining eye contact... Can you introduce me to your friends?"

"Certainly, SQ-Ithera."

SQ and Asin proceeded to the surface. There were six women and a small gloomwing waiting for them.

(https://i.imgur.com/NePnAz7.png)

"This is my wife, Efaci-Larami." Asin stopped by a visibly excited woman. "She is a wonderful person, her humor a balm on my soul."

"That means she doesn't have too many useful skills..." SQ muttered to herself.

"Asin, I told you, I can pick up a mace or a scourge of fangs, I don't want to be assigned to fish cleaning!" Efaci said to her husband. Apparently they must have had a talk about the woman's lack of usefulness not too long before.

"Efaci-Larami, I can not stop you now. Our fate is now in SQ-Ithera's hands..."

"Woah, I don't like the way you talk about me, Asin. I'm not your owner!" SQ protested. "You two can talk this over later, but I need to meet everyone first.

"This is Biretha-Diri, a novice gem cutter... I am truly sorry that me and my companions are not skilled workers."

"It's fine, Asin, you don't need to be so apologetic. Or maybe depressive is a better word...

"This is Melici-Diri..." Asin began before being cut off.

"Biretha and Melici, huh? Are they in a church-approved gang by any chance?"

"What? I... I do not understand. Do you want to punish me for bringing them here?"

SQ sighed loudly. "What does Melici-Di... Melici do?"

"She is a siege ope..."

"NEXT!"

"Nuwetha-Diri here is an accomplished cook, Tharumi-Diri is a miner, and Vathi-Diri is good at gemsetting and stonecrafting. Remember, SQ-Ithera, if the need arises, we will gladly take up swords to protect you."

"Thank you, Asin. From now on you're the first house captain of Dungeonevened. Nuwetha and Tharumi will join our house priestess's squad, while your wife, Biretha, Melici and Vathi will serve directly under you... If you're okay with this." SQ proclaimed. She didn't know what else to do with this bunch. They had no useful skills, and they didn't really look like seasoned warriors.

(https://i.imgur.com/uCFkmXk.png)

"My mistress, it's such an honor... I... I..." Asin struggled to find suitable words.

"Now, I've had a tough day, and I don't have energy to talk to strangers for longer than I have to. Could you find something to do that doesn't involve me?" SQ interrupted less than politely.

---

(https://i.imgur.com/ZgjCu28.png)

SQ led a young rothe bull to the farmer's workshop underground. When she reached to the working area, a horrible stench of rotting flesh hit her with full strength. The overseer was literally stunned by the putrid smell, but it was clear to her that it was coming from the butcher's workshop.

"Miss SQ, this is horrible!" A male voice cried from under the thick cloud of miasma. "Someone left a giant louse heart on the table, and it started rotting!"

"*Cough!* Imic? Why don't you dump it in the trash pile? Gods, this really is awful!" SQ's eyes started burning, but her smell receptors unfortunately did not. "What an idiot let this happen *Cough!* *Cough!*"

"I just got here myself. They have silkflowers laying in the fields too. I asked mister Lunardog about that, and apparently someone said that the stockpile should only take stuff from links, whatever that means." Imic explained, somehow not choking on miasma. "Who in Dungeonevened has this kind of power?"

"Heh heh... *Cough!* I... well, I might have something to do with this... But I bet it was Kaos."

(I keep accidentally pressing [a] on the food stockpile instead of the stills.)

---

(https://i.imgur.com/FdbyV0v.png)

Something even more foul than a giant vermin's rotting innards showed up on the surface. Uthimi Shockhell was already displeased with having to haul frog demon bones into the trash heap, but her work was made even more unpleasant by a disgustingly malformed beast reeking of rotting bile and vomit.

(https://i.imgur.com/PJyJp8B.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/icICFOk.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/6I3cyaq.png)

One of the new recruits, Tharumi, stepped in to save Uthimi. While the hauler managed to escape, Tharumi failed to become a hero that day.

(https://i.imgur.com/R3z9HyG.png)

Imic, on the other hand, had no trouble dispatching the eldritch thief. The swine's head split in two, which actually improved its appearance.

(https://i.imgur.com/W4FwCh8.png)

The aftermatch of the fight wasn't pretty either. Tharumi's face was covered in rotting boils, but she managed to get to the hospital before the problem got out of hand. Nunore quickly drained the diseased pus and sutured the wound on her neck.

(https://i.imgur.com/dQ5u2uT.png)

Uthimi was completely covered in the cursed vomit of the swine wretch. She was carried to the hospital by Lunardog and Schmendrick, who both agreed that the woman was in advanced state of decay.

"Lunardog, this is horrifying! I tried to clean her, but the flesh keeps coming off!" Schmendrick muttered, trying not to vomit on the hospital floor. "I've seen some messed up corpses in my life, but I've never seen a living drow in this state!"

"Gods, where is Nunore? We need all the help we can get!" As much as Lunardog didn't want to admit it, Schmendrick and Nunore knew much more about medicine than he did. "I wish Asithi would come here, but I guess I can't expect a priestess to move a finger when her people need her."

"I'm here, Luney!" Nunore returned into the room with several large bales of cloth and a butcher's knife. "Step back, it's gonna get dirty!"

(https://i.imgur.com/ciHh3sd.png)

Nunore finished the operation surprisingly quickly. Buckets of liquified flesh and bloodied rags were laying around the bed. The patient herself looked nothing like she looked before, her skin was ragged, her eyes were no longer functional, and her breath was quick and shallow, but at least she was alive.

"All I ever wanted was a quiet life, a few men running around doing my bidding, not deeply-lodged psychological trauma. I'm going to get a drink, Luney... come... come join me if you need to... urk..." Nunore was hardly conscious herself, her voice getting weaker with every second.

"Schmendrick, help me get her to the tavern! She needs some rum right now!" Lunardog shouted.

---

(https://i.imgur.com/qjA4cib.png)

A caravan from the capital appeared, and with it the icedweller outpost liaison. After meeting with the diplomat, SQ decided to help with hauling trade goods to the depot. Scourge was already waiting for her.

"SQ, let's go bring some shell amulets to the depot before Fred tells us to haul rocks or some other heavy stuff." Scourge hurried the overseer. It was obvious that she had some deeper motive than that, but SQ decided to take the bait.
The two women reached the stairs, but instead of going up, they went down to the slave bedroom level. After they both entered an unocuppied room, Scourge leaned against the door, blocking the only way out. "Remember when I told you you shouldn't be going around asking weird questions?" She asked. "Well, Fred and Lunardog told Five everything, and I'm getting better and better at eavesdropping. You haven't learned much, have you?"

"N-nothing at all! At least nothing that has any meaning. I just... I just kind of made a fool of myself, but it's okay." SQ was careful not to mention the two new clues from Fred. "I mean, now I know that Fred wasn't some kind of sinister mastermind, just a naive young man who thought he had friends in high places. The noble houses were using him the whole time."

"Hmm, that's new to me. I would say 'good job', but I'd rather you weren't snooping around like that." Suddenly Scourge's eyes lit up, and her mouth contortred into an unsettling grimace. "YES THIS VESSEL WILL DO. COME, DEEP ELF, BE A WITNESS OF MY MAGNIFICENCE." She stormed out of the room, not waiting for startled SQ to follow.

(https://i.imgur.com/wzM0cLy.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/hwx3ZdM.png)

MottledPetrel was doing stretching excercises near the clothier's workshop, preparing himself to pick up a box of troll-sized silk garments. A back injury was the last thing the mussel collector needed. He was relieved when he noticed Scourge coming his way. "Oh, Scourge, I'm glad you came to help me carry this..." Before he finished talking, Scourge effortlessly picked up the box and tossed it across the room, clearing space in the workshop. "...or you could just do this, I don't mind. I'll just wait for Asithi..."

(https://i.imgur.com/dFC36mj.png)

Scourge collected three bales of silk, two stack of abrian leather, and a chunk of dolomite. Everyone, except SQ, who came too close was met with an unnaturally cold stare, some could say it was literally freezing.

(https://i.imgur.com/e4nJ6Jt.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/5G6maG3.png)

"NOW PRAISE ME, MORTAL... WAIT, THAT'S NOT RIGHT... PRAISE ME, ELF!" Whatever was in Scourge's body demanded.

"Uhh... It's a really fine glove, even if just one. It's fit for the great matriarch, and... I would never take it off if it was mine." SQ put on a fake smile not to offend the vain spirit.

"What are you... Oh, cool glove, have I made it?" Scourge said in her normal tone, apparently not remembering what has just hapened.

"You got all weird and loud, weirder and louder than usual, and yes, you made that. I know that's a lot to ask, but could you remember how you made it?" SQ inquired.

"No, I can't recall a single thing, but the others don't need to know that. If anyone asks, I'm now a legendary clothier. Tee-hee!" Scourge giggled, imagining how jealous other drows would be.

---

While Scourge was dealing with posession, Fred the Mitey was making completely different deals. He exchanged ludicrous amounts of shell amulets, spare clothes, quivers and crossbows for miscellaneous metals, coal, lye, and a beak dog. Over ten thousand urists of goods were also given to the traders as a gift.

---

SQ heard from a passing troll that some malcontent mussel gatherer was waiting for her in her office, so she begrudgingly left Scourge alone in the clothier's shop and headed down to the bedroom level.
Someone was standing by her statue in front of the office, and it was not the fisherman. The relaxed stance, the signature smirk, the two daggers hidden safely in sheathes. There was no doubt ZM5 would want to talk to SQ about her investigation, and this wouldn't be a pleasant conversation. The overseer turned on her heel, hoping that ZM5 hadn't noticed her. If there really was a fisherman waiting for her in the office, he could wait for a few more hours.

"SQ, you know your piwafwi doesn't make you invisible, right?" The man stopped SQ. His tone was cheerful and carefree, but he was always like that, no matter his actual mood. "You probably know what I wanted to ask you."

"Y-yes, Scourge is totally a legendary clothier now. I have a meeting to attend, so..."

"You're not getting away that easily, baby doll. You've been talking to Lunardog and Fred about MY finished case, and you got some new facts and some questions to answer. Is that right?" ZM5 asked, but he wasn't waiting for an answer. "You've done a fine job so far, but you'd need to do some serious work to find out more. Of course I advise you not to, and you better listen. Check."

"This case is NOT closed. Scourge told me you're still trying to investigate, and while she thinks this is all for nothing, I believe I can find out the truth, which you failed to do in over fifty years! You say I shouldn't get involved for my own safety, but what could happen to me here? Huh?" SQ was standing on tiptoes to give her speech straight to ZM5's face. In her own eyes she looked intimidating.

"Looks like I'll have to shut you up before you get yourself in deep trouble, you little moleweasel." ZM5 said, pushing the overseer back firmly yet gently, finally pinning her against the wall.

"What are you gonna do? I know as a fact that you'd never hurt me, so stop bluff..." SQ started, but before she could finish, ZM5 leaned over so that their faces were as close as possible. He then placed a kiss on her lips, silencing her just as he promised. Even though it was just a brief moment, the whole palette of emotions went through the woman's head, including feelings she never felt in her century-long life. All she could do was whisper: "F-Five... I... I don't... w-what..."

(https://i.imgur.com/WPuWkIZ.png)

"Now you'll have something to think about." ZM5 said, walking away, leaving confused SQ alone with her thoughts.

Another plot-heavy one, but we've got some stuff done too.

-The wall has been built, meaning that we can control sieges' movement better.
-A small migrant wave - Asin and his harem came to fight for us. Our nimblewright armorer will have a lot of work to do. Kaos can take a break from churning out copper bolts too.
-Established contact with the swinefolk from the warrens. Swine wretches are worse in DF than in Darkest Dungeon, at least in DD they don't make your adventurers' bones rot.
-Scourge made a single silk glove with dolomite sequins. Hee-hee!
-Traded with drows. Too many useless metals. Should have ordered things like steel, refined diamondium or spartan metal, but it's too late for that. We got a beak dog, though. Broke a rule and ordered cave roaches, but vermins don't count so it's okay.
-Tested the friendship room trick, because I heard some people saying it doesn't work. It does.

Looks like even my drow has the same curse my fortress has of getting nothing (well nearly nothing, I believe out of the many moods it has about 3 have been not) but possessions ever. Also I ship it

Bone rot? I knew I'll definitely have to rebalance the vomit attack, but that's kind of surprising - didn't think it'd affect bones. Then again I'm fairly sure I saw rainwater cover the liver and other internal organs of some creatures in adventure mode so something may be off with that.
Still, what happened to Uthimi is horrifying - kind of wondering how she'll function from now on. Hopefully we can get an artistic representation of the surgery.
I don't know what to think about the ship, but the mental image of Drow-Pennywise and Drow-Luigi (female) doing a Chinese cowboy impression is like something you'd see in a tome of forbidden knowledge.

Quote from: ZM5 on July 11, 2018, 02:10:09 am

Bone rot? I knew I'll definitely have to rebalance the vomit attack, but that's kind of surprising - didn't think it'd affect bones. Then again I'm fairly sure I saw rainwater cover the liver and other internal organs of some creatures in adventure mode so something may be off with that.
Still, what happened to Uthimi is horrifying - kind of wondering how she'll function from now on. Hopefully we can get an artistic representation of the surgery.
I don't know what to think about the ship, but the mental image of Drow-Pennywise and Drow-Luigi (female) doing a Chinese cowboy impression is like something you'd see in a tome of forbidden knowledge.

It didn't actually affect bones, but skin, fat and muscles onevery body part had was rotting. Curiously it only said that Nunore extracted rotten tissue only from upper lip.

Uthimi is now blind, but that's the only serious problem she seems to have.
The soldier who got repeatedly hit on the head with a bag at least had to get three sutures on her neck.

Well, that was mildly entertaining.

While slightly formulaic, what's neat about this story is that the overseer suppsedly can't throw baseless claims aroun...but can throw baseless construction orders and job assignments around.

While that mirrors justice system in-game to a large extent, it's still quite amusing, and we all know where such powers lead.

Imic woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of his stomach rumbling. Any other drow would have ignored it and gone back to sleep, but a champion of justice had to be ready to fight wrongdoers at any time. What's a better way to prepare for slaying villains than eating fisher berry pastries at two in the morning?
The soldier headed straight to the food stockpile without lighting his faerie fire, which as it turend out was a good decision. When he was walking past the sawmill, he overheard two people talking. He knew it wasn't a just thing to do, but he hid behind a purple sand wall and listened.

"You did WHAT?" A female voice whispered. "You were supposed to silence her! Couldn't you just shank her and get her out of the picture?"

"What if I shanked YOU and abandoned this case?" A male voice that Imic recognized as ZM5 said. "At this point I'd be willing to ditch you, Zecalo, and make her my investigation partner. After all, she was personally affected by the murder, and you're doing this why exactly? Because I paid you a few decades ago? Or maybe because you feel like you have power over me?"

"You'd choose that demented shadow gnome over a seasoned investigator?" Zecalo, whoever she was, asked. Imic could feel a great deal of enmity in her voice.

"This whole case is as much about her as it is about me if not even more so, so you better fix that attitude of yours. Check." ZM5 growled.

"You've really fallen for her, haven't you? Kinda pathetic if you ask me. Out of all women... Wait a minute, I think I heard something..."
Imic realized his stomach started rumbling again, this time even louder. He ran down the stairs to the bedroom level, but instead of going to his bedroom, he knocked at Scourge's door.

"Oh for Lolth's sake, SQ, did you have a bad dream again? Go away!" Scourge groaned from her room. Imic continued knocking until Scourge opened the door, at which point the man slipped inside. "I-Imic? It's the middle of the night, but sure, I'm up for it." The woman said, shedding her night robe.

"That's not it, Scourge! They're coming after me! They might have heard me knocking on your door!" Imic explained by frantically waving his arms, which Scourge managed to interpret as drow sign language.

"Oh, I'll be putting that back on then... Wait, who are 'they', why are they chasing you, and why come to me? Man, I think this is what they call déjà vu." As soon as Scourge finished talking, someone started wailing on the door.

"Scourge, baby, have you been out just a minute ago?" ZM5 asked through the locked door. "I hope it was you, not another pig monster."

"I was just checking on the ironheads. One of them didn't want to eat yesterday, so I got worried." Scourge bluffed. She wanted to mention hidden traps in her room for the old times' sake, but helping Imic out was more important than nostalgia.

"So you haven't been on any of the upper levels?"

"Huh? No, probably goblizards made a nest in the wood stockpile. I'll get some spiders in there in the morning, can I go back to sleep now?" Scourge asked. She put her pointy ear against the door just in time to hear the sound of two people walking away. Then she signed: "Imic, what have you gotten into? What did you do to piss off Five?"

Imic told Scourge everything he said with the smallest details. The woman wouldn't believe a word if she didn't know about ZM5's investigation. She still had trouble processing everything she heard. "I... I don't know where to start with all of this. SQ or Fred could have some documentation on people, so I could figure out who this Zecalo is. I think I know what murder they were talking about, and I have a good idea about who the 'demented shadow gnome' could be. Thanks for bringing this up to me."

"B-but Scourge, there's so much I don't understand!"

"The last thing I want is to get you into this mess."

---

SQ didn't sleep well that night, in fact she wasn't sure if she slept at all. Unfortunately there was work to be done, and sleeping till the noon only results in fisherman's guilds appearing out of thin air. The moment she opened the door, a blueprint flew straight into her face.

"Oh, I'm sorry about that... detective." Fred's voice said from behind the sheet of paper. "Uhh... are you gonna just stand here? I'd like to have this approved, because your signature is really annoying to forge, which is perplexing, since your name only consists of two letters."

(https://i.imgur.com/pFIzGas.png)

"Mmmm? Oh, you want me to sign something?" SQ asked, trying to focus on the project. "That's a rectangle. Not your best work, if I gotta be honest."

"Have you been to the refuse stockpile lately? Let's focus on aesthetics after we deal with the immediate problem." The administrator pulled out another sheet of paper, this time with a well-made drawing of the refuse stockpile as it was at that moment.

(https://i.imgur.com/X7Q1fPv.png)

"The fishery workers, excuse me, the fisherman's guild members have been throwing all the shells from cleaning mussels into the stockpile and... well, I can't say how accurate this picture is, because I couldn't even open the main entrance doors, but Vemini, that silver-haired bone carver, assured me he drew exactly what he saw." Fred explained.

"That's not a good thing, is it? Oh, the trash heap!" SQ exclaimed as if she was fast asleep up to that very moment. "Sure, we could use more workshops, and I have another great idea, just you wait!" SQ disappeared into her office for a few seconds, then reappeared with a piece of paper in her hand. "I'll have someone nail this to their notice board, that should solve the problem.

(https://i.imgur.com/e8YKxfE.png)

"Let me see... 'The trash pile is a home to the sacred trash spider that happens to be scared of mussel shells of all things. If I see any of you, chuckleheads, put shells in there, I'll make sure you'll end up in the river with those mussels you love so much. I remain, Freshcannon Siegedmenaced.'" Fred read the notice several times, considering all possible outcomes of this solution." You know, you're the least qualified person to manage a settlement, you're friends with looneys and psychopaths, you can somehow fit five loops in a single 'S' in your signature, but I like the way you avoid responsibility wherever you can. Reminds me of me when I was younger."

---

(https://i.imgur.com/v4S37zY.png)

SQ, somewhat relieved that Fred wasn't harboring a grudge, decided she would go straight to work. She missed taking care of barely tamed animals, and just so happened that there were three abrians waiting for her in the cage stockpile. The birds weren't the only ones waiting.

(https://i.imgur.com/0OVsh4q.png)

Scourge and an unfamiliar young man were standing near the abrian cages, holding bags of mushrooms. They weren't sure how to approach the abyssal birds, and neither of them wanted to lose their fingers. Do abrians even eat mushrooms? Finally Scourge broke the awkward silence by acknowledging SQ's arrival: "Hey, SQ! Not looking too hot, want a little challenge to pick you up? Thateme and I were trying to figure out how to handle those buggers. Maybe you'll come up with something?"

"You're not in the best shape either." SQ noticed, taking the bag of mushrooms from Scourge. "Have you tried throwing those mushrooms into the cages? Maybe we should get Five in here... No, on the second thought, let's not."

"Five, hmm? Yeah, I'll need to have a word with you, but it's too much of a crowd in here."

"Well excuuUUUUuuuse me!" Thateme lashed out. "First you make me drag a sack of morels here, then you suggest I should feed demon birds out of my only two hands, now you don't want me here anymore! What am I supposed to do? Go back to the tavern and listen to another of Liceyi's poems?"

"Ah yes, I forgot you're one of Nunore's whiny blueblood boytoys. Just toss the bag into the cage and you're done here anyway, sheesh!" Scourge scoffed. Building a competent team of caretakers wouldn't be as simple as she thought. "Hey, it's working, they're calming down! We should get an enclosure built for them as soon as possible."

(https://i.imgur.com/mo42xPy.png)

---

(https://i.imgur.com/mZSvswe.png)

Fred the Mitey noticed that the supply of diamondium wasn't as great as the counts suggested. Could it be that the smiths weren't actually keeping track of used bars? Fred realized that was very likely, considering that one of the armorers was a golem whose only function was smithing armor. Digging deeper was necessary.

It didn't take long until the miners carving out a new staircase dug into what they believed was an empty chamber, hopefully not filled with deadly gas. After a few more pickaxe swings, they realized they've reached the caverns. One of them squeezed his head through the hole to examine the newly discovered section of the underworld.

(https://i.imgur.com/16XTxkJ.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/XsIrmV2.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/k5PoXQc.png)

Ores of diamondium, silver and titanium, precious gems, tangled mycelium of beardwood trees, majestic tower caps, cave spider webs covered in small creatures. Just like the wild caverns in the capital.

(https://i.imgur.com/YORAnl3.png)

Microscopic spores of umbra reed, jelly cups and copper grass immediately spread across the upper levels of Dungeonevened. It was just a matter of time before the rothe herd could be moved underground where they belonged.

---

"So, an above average sized bird told me that Five did... something to you last evening. Don't spare spicy details, please." Scourge demanded answers, now that Thateme stormed out of the room. "You called him 'Five', which you never do thse days, so don't pretend nothing happened."

"I... it was... we... h-hey, a beak dog, s-since when do we have a beak dog?" SQ tried to change the topic, but she was clearly distressed.

"That's not gonna work on me, or anyone else for that matter. I'm just worried for your safety, now that you're sticking your nose everywhere you're not supposed to."

"Okay, but promise you won't freak out." SQ sighed. Scourge reluctantly nodded, afraid of what she may hear but overwhelmed by curiosity. "There goes: Five and I... we kissed, that's all."

"You WHAT?! Do you even understand how weird that is? Are you even sure he isn't your real brother?" Scourge panicked. She was convinced nothing good could come out of that. "I'd give you some stern talking to, but I don't even know where to begin."

"The worst part is that I don't understand what's going on inside me. It's like something broke, or maybe just the opposite? Ugh, feeling is hard!" SQ grunted in frustration.

"Here we go, exactly what I expected. I can assure you Five is feeling the same way, even if he'd never admit it. If you expect me to help you, I'll disappoint you, cause you two hardly think like normal people. Asithi deals with pathological cases, so go ask her for advice."

"Oh, so now it's a pathological case? You think I'm some kind of an emotionless golem that's just malfunctioning? Because..." SQ's voice cracked, she understood even less than before. "...because I feel that too at the moment. M-maybe people like me shouldn't feel love?"

Scourge felt guilty for not watching her words, but on the other hand she was deeply conflicted about this whole affair. "That's not what I meant... I... Oh, to hell with it, let's go to the tavern and get drunk off our asses! Worked for auntie, works for Nunore, so why wouldn't it work for us."

---

(https://i.imgur.com/qS5abSw.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/mH2sIkl.png)

Iquila was mining diamondite in the caverns just by the staircase. It was pleasant enough, compared to digging in narrow drow-made corridors, and there was always someone passing by willing to stop for a chat.

"Hello, Emura, you've been awfully quiet lately, any particular reason?" The miner asked a passing man who was carrying an ex-cave parrot.

(https://i.imgur.com/KgaPKNg.png)

"You know, we have shrines to The Ignited Steams and Nelare Maroonoils, but I wish there was one for Ayiti too."

"Oh, I understand, my patron gods have no shrines either... Hey, Melici, how's the training?" Iquila switched conversation partners, this time addressing a young woman in full armor.

(https://i.imgur.com/3NtXfmD.png)

"I'm wondering if it's all worth it, risking life for others... I respect Asin's decision, but I don't really feel like I owe all those people anything, you know what I mean?"

"I think so. Hey you, big hairy guy, I don't think I've ever seen you around. Are you new here?" Iquila asked a huge horned figure standing just a few urists away.

(https://i.imgur.com/KTE6MYm.png)

"URGH? GHAR GRUG!" The wild troll answered, slightly confused by the small black creature squeaking at it in a friendly tone.

"Everybody watch out! A troll!" Someone shouted from upstairs. A woman armed with a scourge of fangs ran down to the caverns to face the monster.

(https://i.imgur.com/iOwZsou.png)

Vathi immediately swung her weapon at the troll leg. One of the animated diamondium snake heads latched on firmly, falling the troll to the ground. The lasher stood over the monster triumphantly, thinking it would be the end of the fight. Unfortunately the troll managed to launch itself towards Vathi with its one functional leg, and grabbed her hand. Vathi kicked her enemy in the face, hoping it would let her go, but the furious troll squeezed the woman's hand instead, crushing it completely, then threw her away like a rag doll.

Suddenly the monster felt horrible pain in its injured leg. ZM5, who should be in the barracks training, happened to wander into the caverns and decided to come his fellow soldier to the rescue.

(https://i.imgur.com/kZtzcn9.png)

He was fighting in his usual way, jumping around the enemy, slashing and stabbing at random. The monster roared in pain and anger, but it wasn't ready to give up, even with its reeking guts spilled. Finally Vathi regained consciousness, stood up, came up to the flailing troll, and decked it on the temple with her fist knocking it out. ZM5 began his gruesome display of decapitating the huge monster with his tiny blade. He wasn't satisfied with how long it took him, even though it was his best time yet.

"Glad you decided to show up, ZM5." Vathi said, trying to hide the immense pain she was in. "You should be training with the priestess, yet you're here... Do you have a special sense for detecting damsels in distress?"

"Just wanted to take a walk, my little chantarelle. Alone, I should add." ZM5 replied in an unusually grim voice. "I may be your knight in shining armor, but I feel more like a village idiot... Why am I telling you this? Whatever, it's getting too crowded in these caverns. I'll be in the tavern rethinking my life choices, if any lady needs me.

---

(https://i.imgur.com/8b3U5W6.png)

Pelagics came back to trade again, with them their wagon and pack crabs. They brought metal, drinks, fruit, and of course animals. In return they received tattered clothes, leftover gems, shell trinkets and bolts decorated with tiny images made of carved shell.
(I wish there was a way to forbid decorating ammo. Imic is having a coronary each time the hunter breaks his masterfully decorated bolts.)

"So... what can you tell me about these animals?" Fred asked the pelagic oracle.

"Shuugh! Nuk-nuk *croak* khak'nsakh! C'nhu't okht-shul! Pah kol'nutu!" The fishman responded, pointing at one cage after another with his staff. He might have been saying something very important, or he might have not understood Fred's question at all, but the administrator had no way of telling.

"Hey, you! Have you seen SQ or Scourge? I need them to check this stuff out." Fred called to a drow passing by.

"They asked Nunore to keep bringing them booze until they both black out, so I doubt they'll be up for the task any time soon."

"What's your name, son? And do you know anything about animals?" Fred inquired. Maybe the combined knowledge of the administrator and that random young man will be enough to identify the weird creatures.

"Emura, I'm a brewer, sir. You can make mead out of bee and dewbeetle secretions. That's all I know."

---

(https://i.imgur.com/91LBHgN.png)

"Oh, speaking of dewbeetles..." Emura pointed at a copper-red giant insect. "I have no idea how you milk them, but that's a thing people do."

"I wonder what the first person who ever milked a beetle was thinking?" Fred wondered. "It's not like they could have seen a baby beetle suckling on mama beetle's udder."

(https://i.imgur.com/GwNLwLl.png)

"I've seen some of these. They fly over around here from time to time and don't bother anyone. Scourge refuses to go outside when those guys are out there, no idea why, I think they're neat." Fred mused about urhags, looking the creature straight in the eye.

"Maybe you can make beer out of their tears? I'll suggest that to Lunardog so if anything bad happens it's not on me."

(https://i.imgur.com/L0Mg3Lh.png)

"We have a cavy running around outside, but it's tiny compared to this one." Fred was in awe at the size of the rodent. "On the other hand it's a big grazing animal, so we'll have to wait before putting it in SQ's zoo."

"Why do we even collect those animals?" Emura asked. "The overseer sure seems to think it's really important."

"It's her personal vendetta, if I understood it right. She couldn't afford an assassin, so she came up with this bizarre plan to accomplish... I don't know what. She's a little out there, you see."

(https://i.imgur.com/hs8ZN97.png)

"This one would go nicely with marrow wine!" Emura blurted out without thinking. "I... I mean..."

"It's okay, everyone is entitled to their opinion, even if it's a stupid opinion, like yours. Seafood should be enjoyed with river spirits or gutter cruor if you feel brave."

(https://i.imgur.com/F9gry2B.png)

"Now that must be an outsider form some horrible plane. I place my bet on Gehenna." Fred said, looking at the pterosaur with confusion.

"Far Realm is a low hanging fruit, so I'm not gonna say that... Limbo, maybe? I could imagine a flock of these guys shitting on slaadi from above."

(https://i.imgur.com/bQXLJOE.png)

"As far as snakes go, this one is pretty solid." Emura commented. "I mean, it's bigger and meatier than helmet snakes from down there. It's got a temper too, look how it's eyeing us."

"I've got a feeling it don't want none."

"What?"

"What?"

---

ZM5 entered the Mahogany Hall hoping to see Nunore or Liceyi who would fill him up with rum until he's dead. Disappointingly, there was no trace of the tavern staff anywhere. He did remember passing by a crowd of drows carrying trinkets to the trade depot, so he wasn't too surprised that everyone was busy at the moment.
There were only two people in the tavern, and those were exactly the people he didn't want to see. Scourge was sitting with her face buried in her garish magenta scarf, muttering something, while SQ was sipping a drink from a goblet, looking around awkwardly. ZM5 decided to be a mature adult for once and not chicken out. "SQ... Scourge..." He began.

"Oh, F-Five! Do you re-remember Tabami? What a baz-bastard he wash!" Scourge mumbled into her scarf. "He left me w-when he learned I din' have no... din' have no money! An' dat b-bitch Acere... I'm no harem kina g-girl! Not w-when ther'z quaggothz involved! Ugh!"

"Is she... Is she rambling about her exes again? What's going on here, and how much did she have?" ZM5 asked SQ, taking a half-empty goblet standing nearest to Scourge.

"Oh, umm... That's just half a goblet, and it's not even that strong. I... I wanted to think about what happened last evening, but you see what happened." SQ explained, then she grabbed a flagon and shook it only to realized she emptied it completely. "It's the fourth one already, and I haven't blacked out, or started thinking more clearly, I still have no idea what I'm feeling."

"It did h-help! You jus' admit'd you have a p-problem! I wish Liyetha had tol' me he was goin' bald at th' age o' fiddy instead of hidin' it from me un'er his shtu-shtupid wig! You're a'rredy better than him!" Scourge said, again without raising her head, instead she gave a thumbs-up as a sign of approval.

"You probably think it was nothing to me, right? After all I've been a real heart-breaker, if you don't mind me bragging." ZM5 tried to force a smile, but SQ's sad, dazed expression was bringing him down. "Listen baby d... Listen SQ, I thought it would be nothing, but... Gods, I wish I could just describe my feelings! I don't think it was an okay thing to do! I could have been put to death for that back in the capital!"

"Calm d-down, Five, you dun goofed, an' dat'z okay. I've violi... viole... I've broken a restrinin' order a coupla times, an' Midebi called th' guardsh only once. Dat'z cuz I'm good at shneakin'... Wher wuz I goin' with dat again?" Scourge scratched her head in hopeless drunk confusion.

"I'm with Scourge on this one, you should calm down before I start freaking out." SQ warned, smiling very slightly. Seeing always calm and collected ZM5 holding his head in panic was strangely reassuring to her. "It's embarrassing to say, but... I... I liked it, so I'm not telling Freshcannon to chop you up."

"Heh heh... I knew you would never..."

"That honor belongs to Asin, he won't question my orders."

"Oh, n-now you're crackin' jokes, eh? M-my first girlfrien' was like dat, but there wuz n-nothin' else to her, an' I got bored of 'er in a week. It'z a sher-sherioush matter, SQ! I left 'er for Rame, an' dat wuz a disasht'r!" Scourge slammed her fist on the table in anger, still with her face buried in the scarf.

"Fine, I'll be serious if that's what you want." SQ remembered Rame, and those were not fond memories. "Five, I'm not mad at you or anything, I just don't know what's going on with me. My heart is racing every time I think about that moment, and... I've never felt that good being so close to another person. You know how it usually is with me..."

"I... I'd feel better about this whole thing if I didn't know you that well. Maybe we felt what we did because it was just wrong, I mean..." ZM5 answered nervously.

"You two dun know shit about f-feelings!" Scourge finally raised her head. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying, but her expression was that of anger and impatience rather than sadness. "I dun like it my-myshelf, but you've fallen for each other! Godsh, how could I have ha-hanged out with dense kidsh like you?" SQ and ZM5 both looked at Scourge in surprise. They expected she would decide not to intervene, but apparently what little alcohol she had in her overpowered her no handholding policy. "Thassa worst first date I've ever seen! An' I've been on a date with Ecefe... He wash sho full of himshelf, he dinn' realize when I left..."

"This was never meant to be a date! I came here to die of alcohol poisoning, I didn't expect to see you two in here!" ZM5 protested.

"You're a couple now, deal wiff it!" Scourge shouted before burying her face in her scarf once again. "Oh, I think I've... I've ruined my scarf..."

The caverns have been opened. So far I've seen a troll, a shark troll, spellgaunts

Spoiler: Spellgaunt (click to show/hide)

A darkmantle corpse

Spoiler: darkmantle (click to show/hide)

And a severed head of something called 'jahi', which apparently is a D&D monster that is essentially a three headed ghost snake that mind controls people while feeding on their charisma.

Those spellgaunts look cool, wonder if we could capture one and train it.

Every update, I find my drow more and more amusing

Don't you have to specify to decorate ammo? Or is this not jewelry?

At some point I thought Murknightmare was the only drow site because they have had their asses handed to them by a huge dwarven empire to the south, but apparently the dwarves just kept sending spies for the past 127 years and nothing more. The truth is, the drows never founded any settlements besides Dungeonevened.

The only outright attack on Murknightmare was in 126 when dwarves from a pirate civilization The Slick Ivy sieged the fortress, obviously without the desired effect. After that...

(https://i.imgur.com/SK99bnj.png)

The drows went berserk and started harassing pirate havens and elder crawler towns (crawlers are renamed skathari from The World of Flesh). The drows are obviously not winning those wars:

(https://i.imgur.com/02fjcCy.png)

That's right, Dungeonevened might be larger than Murknightmare right now. Place your bets now, who becomes a grand matriarch after Murknightmare inevitably falls?

(https://i.imgur.com/O4RtRYu.png)

And here is my crappy doodle of named drows.
From the left: SQ, Scourge, Darkening Kaos, ZM5, Fred the Mitey, MottledPetrel, Lunardog, Imic, Freshcannon, Asin, Schmendrick.
Making this took longer than I'm willing to admit

That's kind of sad - hopefully we'll become the capital eventually and be able to rebuild drow civilization, or atleast gloriously die trying.

Freshcannon considered herself a brave person, a 'badass' as she would call herself. Back in the day she caused the high priestess a lot of grief with her defiant nature, yet this very nature of hers combined with a stern glare, spared her many lashes. This time, while sitting in the overseer's office she was nervous. With the high priestess it was a matter of twenty lashes or fasting for two weeks, overseer SQ would instead make Freshcannon uncomfortable with her crying or childish tantrums.

"Do you have to report to me right now? Like, in this very moment? My head is killing me." SQ complained. The four flagons of wine were finally having their revenge.

"Yeah, that's kinda important... You know there were fifty drows living in Dungeonevened?" Freshcannon decided not to tackle the matter head on. "My Snakes were chasing away rexagons, you know, those venom-spitting bastard snakes with legs, and... No one was bitten on puked on, but..."

(https://i.imgur.com/MVPrzMy.png)

"...there are now fourty-nine drows living in Dungeonevened."

"H-huh? Someone... died?" SQ looked at the priestess with disbelief. Dying while fighting monsters or enemies of the drowkind would be understandable, but chasing vermin?

"It was Ayanu, a good man, maybe even a Helmet Snake material. He kinda just slipped and fell into the river. Out of all ways to go... Damn, I'm getting myself down, I can't imagine what a puss... a sensitive person like you must be feeling. I'll understand if you start blaming yourself and thinking you're not a good overseer, but if you're gonna start some drama, could you keep it small for the sake of the rest of us?" Freshcannon was satisfied with her diplomatic skill. She usually prefered putting a bolt to someone's neck instead of talking, but she was proud her tongue was still sharp.

"I'll get someone to make poor Ayanu a memorial slab. He drowned in full armor, right? That will have to be taken care of too." The overseer jotted down production orders in her notebook, then she looked at Freshcannon pleadingly and asked: "Now, can I go back to bed?"

"You're not gonna get all pissy after all? Good, now go drink some water and get some fresh air, lying in bed all day haven't helped anybody yet." Freshcannon commanded, surprised but relieved that SQ took the bad news well.

SQ groaned like a child woken up in the morning for school, but she complied and followed the priestess outside.

---

(https://i.imgur.com/CZxpWMk.png)

Uthimi, the best armorsmith in Dungeonevened was taking it easy that day. It was a while since the last big order, so she was spending a lot of time in the fisherman's guildhall cleaning mussels lately. She enjoyed doing that, because nobody cared how good of a job she was doing.

Suddenly Imic burst into the room, bearing news: "Miss Uthimi, we're one set of armor down! Are you very busy right now?"

"Would I be sitting here with my hands covered in mussel guts and slime if I was very busy?" Uthimi answered calmly. Suddenly something in her changed, her smile turned into a furious scowl. The armorsmith flipped the table she was working at, and shouted: "No! NO! Those mussels aren't what I need!"

"P-please try to calm down, miss Uthimi." Startled Imic muttered. "There are three small lakes in the caverns, I'm sure if I asked miss SQ nicely, she could have a safe road to them made so you could gut some cave fish instead."

"Oh, you don't understand, do you? Come, big guy, I'll show you what I'm talking about!"

Uthimi and Imic ran down to the forge level, then straight to the nearest forge. Uthimi pushed over the inactive nimblewright armorer, found all the tools she needed, and said: "Now, Imic, the first step is to get only the best materials! Wait a minute... HEY SOMEBODY BETTER GIVE ME ROCK BLOCKS!"

(https://i.imgur.com/AdyEHl6.png)

"It's dolomite baby! You shouldn't overdo it with decorations, sticking a heap of shell shavings on a single crossbow bolt have never done anyone anything good, that's the second step."

"I take offense to that, miss Uthimi." Imic objected.

"Good for you. The third step is working like there's no tomorrow!"

"So... You're not going to make that set of armor for the new Helmet Snake?"

"NO!"

---

SQ took Freshcannon's advice and went outside, hoping that the splitting headache would eventually stop. In hindsight it might have not been a good idea, because the sun was scorching the land furiously, and the hot dry wind was kicking up clouds of dust. What's even worse, there was urgent overseeing to be done:

(https://i.imgur.com/G2EAbRg.png)

Twenty-three souls entered through the western gate. This migration wave was the biggest yet, and SQ was in no shape to deal with it alone, but it was too late to assemble a new commitee.

While the overseer was considering her options, someone came up to her and asked: "Excuse me, child, do you know when we could find this town's overseer?"

"Huh? Oh, OH!" SQ shouted in surprise. The person speaking to her was a woman in her second forties, with her face completely covered by her cloth scarf, and the rest of her body hidden under a leather piwafwi. Despite of how well covered she was, SQ noticed a pair of red eyes looking at her. "You're an albino! Brings back memories of better days... days without this damn headache..."

"Umm... So could you get an adult to show us to the overseer's office?"

"It would be me, SQ Hateromanced. I'm one hundred twenty-nine, by the way." SQ informed the woman. "I'll gladly let you stay in Dungeonevened!"

"You certainly seem... excited. I haven't even introduced myself yet. I'm Melici Witchrouted, you could say I'm a warrior of some renown." Melici introduced herself. She bowed down to show respect, but she still wasn't entirely convinced that SQ wasn't just a random teenager goofing around. "You've noticed I'm an albino, but I hope that won't bother anybody too much."

"No, they would have to go through me if they were to have any problem with you!" The overseer exclaimed boisterously. Melici somehow doubted that it would be hard for anyone to go through SQ, but she didn't say anything. "Anyway, does any of your... friends do anything useful?"

"Well, Ayanu here is an accomplished furnace operator, Litheme is somewhat of a legend among hunters, Emura isn't bad either, Lerine is a good tailor, Nunore can dig and gather plants, Oquari is a great mason, Uthimi is a master trapper. The rest is... well, you can imagine... We have a young ethereal slayer too, if you're interested in things like that."

"Ey, Melici, who are ya talkin' to?" A small silver haired woman ran up to SQ and Melici shouting loudly. "Who's this gremlin? She kinda looks like me, but with worse hair! Ho ho!"

"G-gremlin? Melici, explain." SQ demanded. The tiny woman's audacity was shocking, but somewhat endearing at the same time.

"Overseer, this is Yetine Wickedtan, she's..."

"I'm a certified torturer! Well, not really certified, it's more like a hobby." Yetine admitted. "Either way, I whip people. Say, oh-verseer, don't ya need a dungeon mistress 'round in this pit of yers?"

"Yetine, you can't just come here and demand a..." Melici tried to scold Yetine.

"Okay, you're officially a dungeon mistress. Just don't ever call me a gremlin, please." SQ agreed.

"Sure thing, gnome lady! I promise I'll whip 'em good for ya!"

---

(https://i.imgur.com/fEk9eKv.png)

Suddenly a thought appeared in SQ's head: "I should get another cabinet...". Then another thought followed: "People will think I'm selfish and greedy, I should get Fred and Asithi some new stuff too...".

---

(https://i.imgur.com/4uQIkyS.png)

"Wake up, Imic! You missed most of my presentation!" Uthimi the armorer shouted angrily. "Look at this beauty! Wait, what is this armor? I've never seen anything like that before, can't believe I made it... I remember making it, but it's so hazy..."

"Ugh, miss Uthimi, are you okay now? How long has it been?" Imic said rubbing his eyes. "Let me see that."

(https://i.imgur.com/EEvPlLb.png)

"I like the squid image. Maybe you were right, less really is more."

---

A few days after the migrants arrived, SQ and Scourge were slowly making their way down the main staircase.

"I can't believe you've made that little imp a dungeon mistress!" Scourge chastised SQ. "Is this some kind of conspiracy between you gremlins? Unbelievable you chose someone like her over your best friend!"

"Come on, you can't seriously be upset about that! And don't call me a gremlin! She was so enthusiastic I just couldn't say no to her." SQ made an excuse. "Besides, I don't want people whipped too hard, and have you seen Yetine? She's even smaller than me."

"We'll have to work on your assertiveness some more. And to think I believed you were actually making progress, silly me."

The women arrived at the bottom of the staircase. This time it wasn't open to the beast of the caverns, there was a small area with kennels, and a tiny animal cage in the corner.

"So... What was that you wanted to show me so desperately?" Scourge asked.

"First thing: we had rattusites break into the menagerie apparently. Abrians aren't a grateful bunch, so that problem solved itself, and I've ordered to build walls to make sure it doesn't happen again." SQ stepped over a troll corpse to show her friend her other project. "This is the backbone of our new critter industry."

(https://i.imgur.com/F1DsxEF.png)

"Critter industry?" Scourge asked in a deadpan tone, raising her eyebrow. "I haven't seen a single fire snake or a moghopper in this area. Are you sure you're not doing this for yourself? I mean, how much do cockroaches go for these days? A copper a bag?"

"Okay, I just want a cool pet, it's not an actual industry." SQ admitted. "Unless... unless you want to be a guildmistress of the bug catcher's guild."

"Speaking of bugs, I need to go ask Fred about... something. I'll leave the cockroaches to you, cause I know how much you like them."

---

"So, what brings you to my office, Scourge?" Fred the Mitey asked. He knew Scourge too well not to be prepared for the worst.

"Do you keep record of all people in Dungeonevened? I need to check some names. And before you ask - you know SQ would write me up a permit, so you have no choice." The wide, friendly grin on the woman's face would seem creepy for someone who didn't know what to expect.

"Umm... Yeah... I've kept a record, but..." Fred mumbled, searching for the record book. Finally he found it, the heap of paper sheets loosely packed in a folded piece of scrap leather that served as a makeshift binding. "It's rude to ask about people's birth names, you know, so it might be... lacking..."

"Wait, it's all blank." Scourge noticed, shifting through the pages. "No, wait, this one... It's all the founders, ZM5 and Schmendrick, and only the founders' birth names are written here. ZM5's birth name is Lerine, how about I correct your record?"

"Don't, only the house administrator, that means me, should touch those papers!"

"You're the house administrator, and you don't touch them anyway. There's just something delightfully ironic about that, hee-hee." Scourge chuckled. "I haven't learned what I wanted to learn, but thanks for compliance anyway. What now, do I tell Imic about that or...?"

"Could you plot somewhere other than in my office?" Fred said, putting the papers out of sight again.

"One day I'll have a bigger fancier office than yours and I'll kick you out too." Scourge whispered under her breath right before scurrying out.

---

(https://i.imgur.com/2rM9Ymi.png)

SQ stood in her room excited, watching a troll bring a large wooden cage in. It's been almost a week since she first ordered catching vermin, and the wait was unbearable for the young hot-blooded drow.

"Ey, bwoss, mind if I ask youse somethin'?" The troll asked.

"Not at all, go ahead." SQ answered somewhat impatiently. She did actually mind, but she wasn't the type to argue with trolls.

"Why do ya need such a huge cage for this tiny cwockroach? Y'knowhamsayin'? I could fit in there and there'd still be a plenny a space left."

"This is not just a cwock... cockroach! It's SQ2, my pride and joy. Besides, how would the furniture I ordered from Kaos fit into a smaller cage?" SQ askedthe troll as if she expected him to understand. The troll obviously didn't understand.

"Whatever you say, bwoss..." The troll put the cage down by a shiny chitin statue, then headed straight to the door, passing by Scourge. "'Scuse me, I'm walkin' 'ere!"

"You're due for your shaving, big boy, I wanna see you in the farmer's workshop in about an hour." Scourge remarked before entering SQ's room. "Hey, SQ, Kaos complained you gave her some damn stupid orders, like making dollhouse furniture. What's the deal with that?"

"It's for SQ2, my cave roach, and that's not stupid."

"Yeah, right." Scourge scoffed, ignoring SQ's hints about looking at her new pet. "I've got something very important to tell you, so hold on to your panties. Imic and I are getting hitched tomorrow and you'll be officiating the wedding. Excited?"

"W-WHAT? I told you I'd rather not do that! There will be seventy drows watching, and I have just one evening to prepare!" SQ snapped. The suddenness of the news was overwhelming, not to mention the fact that SQ had no idea what a wedding officiant actually does. "At least tell me you have a good reason to not have Asithi do that instead?"

"Ugh, I wanted to ask her, but as soon as I opened the door to her office, she asked me If I came for a therapy session. Can you imagine what the wedding would be like? 'I pronounce you wife and husband, anyway, you have the plague'." Scourge was getting herself riled up. "I'm so desperate I even asked Yetine if she's a priestess, but she said she just likes violence without commitment. Oh please, I would totally do it for you and Five!

"W-what are you talking about! Could you not bring my love life up while it's still in the awkward phase?" SQ blushed like a ripe plump helmet. "Okay, could you at least tell me what my role will be?"

"I asked Liceyi and Nunore to collaborate on writing you a script you'll have to read, then after I wrap Imic in spider web, you'll pass me a white-hot branding iron. After I brand him, you'll shave his head and weave a rope from his hair and tie it around his neck so I can drag him into my chamber and... You know the rest." Scourge was enthusiastic to explain the wedding rite, but SQ went from purple to grey in a matter of seconds. "Is... Is something wrong, SQ? Maybe I'll fetch you some water before we continue planning?"

"No way I'm doing that to Imic! You're taking a husband, not a slave!" SQ protested. She disagreed with many drow customs, especially those involving hurting other people. Being a foster daughter of a worshipper of Eilistraee might have had something to do with that.

"Yetine told me that the branding is a proof of undying love, her husband apparently has ten of those on his back! Isn't it just so romantic?"

"No! Either we do it some other way, or I'm taking no part in this!" SQ finally put her foot down, figuratively and literally. "I don't care what priestesses or other people say, to hell with those traditions! I don't think I'm any better than Imic, Five, Lunardog, even than Fred!"

"Ooh, you're sounding revolutionary right now. Keep it down, cause you never know who's listening." Scourge warned. "If the valsharess knew what you were saying, she would have Dungeonevened razed to the ground..."

"Ngh! Okay, fine, I got carried away for a while there, but still, no branding or shaving, I like Imic's hair where they are and his skin unburned." SQ smiled nervously hoping that would lighten up the mood. That maneuver turned out to be successful.

"Oh, now you're complementing my soon-to-be husband's skin and hair. How about I snitch on you for that." Scourge laughed sincerely, happy to drop the grim topic. "I'll have to tell Liceyi and Nunore the plans have changed. They probably made the branding a central point in your speech. That poet boy is a real piece of work, I tell you. Hmm... Maybe I could get him together with Kaos? No, on the second though, it's a terrible idea. Hey, your cockroach is getting away!"

---

Mevena, a skilled craftsman was working on a chitin road by the western entrance to Dungeonevened. Earlier that day he was observing the Helmet Snakes train in the barracks, and he still couldn't stop thinking about what he saw.

(https://i.imgur.com/zvqODLn.png)

Unfortunately being deep in thought isn't a good state to be in the dry undergrowth of the Rhythmic Jungle. Mevena was brought back to reality by a gruff voice shouting:

"Boys, it's a long-ear! Easy pickings!"

(https://i.imgur.com/hdu53YX.png)

There were five brigands currently visible:
Their leader was Gerhald Nationwraith, a skinny, very hairy man weilding a shoddy rune-metal axe. While he didn't look too dangerous and his equipment was sub-par, the fact that he was leading this group meant that he must have been a man of great cunning.

Right behind him was Frijann Stealseared, a young long-haired man with a goatee. If he wasn't with the rest of the ruffians, someone might have took him for a young nobleman, a travelling bard, or a wizard's apprentice. Even his iron sword, while not exactly new, was well taken care of, shining in the evening sun.

Next was the lasher, Dobluns Glimmeramber, a horrifyingly thin man with deathly pale complexion, and a storm of filthy unkept hair. One could wonder how such sickly individual could pick up a weapon and march all the way from the brigands' territory without dying somewhere on the way.

Behind Dobluns was his polar opposite, Strett Chokescribed, an obese, dark skinned woman with clean-shaved head. She was also carrying a cat o' nine tails like Dobluns, but her arm, unlike Dobluns's, could swing it with considerable power.

The last brigand, hiding far behind her companions was Hein Fieryscalds, a markswoman carrying a large chitin arbalest. Thin and tall, with a long hooked nose, she looked like a hag from children's stories, and probably wasn't a much more pleasant person.

"Snakes out!" A piercing voice from the barracks echoed through the woods as soon as the news of invaders reached Freshcannon's ears.

(https://i.imgur.com/4u67xy8.png)

Slevina, the drow who took the late Ayanu's place, ran outside first. It might have been reckless, but Slevina wanted to prove he was worthy of his position. Fortunately for him, Biretha's war mottleworm slithered behind him, sensing the conflict in the air.

(https://i.imgur.com/7YkmdqM.png)

The swordsdrow saw Gerhald chasing after Obi the bowyer who was trying to run away, but was slowed down by a pile of chitin bars in his arms. Slevina couldn't let the human hurt an innocent drow. He couldn't but he did. Instead of rushing to help Obi, he went back to the barracks and hurried other Snakes, hoping this would count as effort.

(https://i.imgur.com/5dU1upd.png)

Rune-metal was never meant to be made into weapons on its own. Gerhald couldn't even pierce Obi's silk boots, so the bowyer managed to run away almost with only a few bruises.
The brigand axeman didn't continue pursuit, because a flash of faerie fire surprised him greatly.

(https://i.imgur.com/KWYIk5h.png)

Immediately after that, Gerhald felt a sharp pain in his back. Obi the fencer stabbed him right in the spine, bringing him to his knees. The bandit leader desperately swung his arm with the rest of his strength, but Obi managed to catch it with his teeth, biting through the brigand's dolphin-leather armor.
Macedrow Tharumi finally put Gerhald out of his misery with a solid blow to the head.

(https://i.imgur.com/BhqgVPz.png)

The rest of the bandits heard their boss's dying screams, but they had no way of knowing what happend behind the walls. Frijann, being the youngest, was sent to check what was going on. The drows were already waiting for him.

(https://i.imgur.com/gVS1k1n.png)

Melici jumped at the swordsman,hoping to hear the sound of breaking bones, but the human was a capable warrior. Melici proved she wasn't an amateur either, jumping away from a wide swing, then parrying with her mace. The parried attack made her lose her balance, knocking her down on her knees.
Melici looked up at the human bandit with great sorrow in her eyes. Frijann slowly came closer, hoping to grant the drow woman quick death. Suddenly melici punched Frijann's ankle with her fist, causing him to fall over.

"Hey, boss, you saw that? Told ya it would work!" The macewoman shouted to Freshcannon. The priestess shook her head, but didn't bother to come up with a snappy remark. "Now to finish the job! Say good..."

(https://i.imgur.com/zpYKM5x.png)

"...Good blocking, hmph!"
Melici tried to cave in the swordsman's skull, but her blows were blocked and deflected. Oquari noticed that Melici and Frijann were on simillar skill levels and the duel could have gone either way, so instead of standing back with other snakes, he jumped in and stabbed the man with his rapier causing him to drop his shield. Then Oquari stabbed at the human's head, knowing his strike will be blocked.
Melici understood Oquari's plan without words. While the brigand was busy deflecting the drow swordsman's stabs, the macesnake slammed her silver mace into Frijann's back, paralyzing him for good.

This was officially the end of the 'duel', so other Helmet Snakes came to assist with finishing off the young bandit. The one who actually killed the invader was no other than Slevina who cut Frijann's head off with a clean cut.

(https://i.imgur.com/YLJCFlI.png)

When the Snakes were regrouping, an unexpected visitor appeared before them. A swinetaur, half pig half another pig, ran straight into the freshly prepared squad of soldiers. While its tough hide endured many slashes, hacks and bashes, Slevina finally severed its hideous head.

(https://i.imgur.com/1gJxnZ0.png)

The drows moved to engage the two lashers waiting outside.

(https://i.imgur.com/lEaVtBe.png)

Dobluns was first to engage the Snakes. The sickly man was surprisingly fast on his feet, able to parry swings from Imic himself, but being stabbed in the foot and then pushed over made him significantly slower. Slevina was bloodthirsty. He dropped down on all four and bit off the human's round ear. The other drows were taken aback by the swordsman's feral behavior, but that didn't stop them from stomping Dobluns into the ground. Biretha, who was apparently slacking off up to this moment, split Dobluns's head in two with a quick swipe of his scimitar.

(https://i.imgur.com/IE5TdTB.png)

The gigantic woman Strett knew she couldn't save her brother-in-arms, and she probably knew that she wouldn't be geting out of there alive, so she decided to cause as much grief and pain as she could. Unfortunately for her, that wasn't much. Imic struck her liver twice in quick succession, turning it into mincemeat.
Freshcannon lacked Imic's finesse, so instead she targetted the lasher's lower body, the biggest target. The mighty hit spilled the human's guts, but the pain overwhelmed her only after Imic cut her hand off. Tharumi wasted no time, crushing Strett's skull.

(https://i.imgur.com/gdPBiIJ.png)

Hein the arbalist saw everything. A regular bandit would have ran away, but she didn't consider herself a regular bandit. A bolt to the heart could kill anything, and her bolts always struck true...

(https://i.imgur.com/KH9wjLI.png)

...But up to that moment she never had the pleasure to be distracted by Melici's faerie fire. The bolt flew past Melici and Imic and finally got stuck in a mahogany tree's trunk. The macesnake's mighty blow shattered Hein's ankle, making the bandit an easy target for Imic's sword.

(https://i.imgur.com/0R9lssM.png)

Five more brigands sprung from an ambush after Hein's death.
Anir Lurebelches was the leader of this group. She was a surprisingly well groomed woman wielding a hardened bone cat o' nine tails. Her gauntlets were made of high quality steel, while her boots glistened green like orichalcum. She was either very important, or had been very important before joining the brigands.

Thari Bunionclenched was a proud owner of a diamondium battle axe. He also looked out of place on this battlefield - tall but slim, clean shaved, with his long hair in a braid. He looked like he chould have been someone's butler, or maybe he was Anir's butler?

Just next to Thari stood Waldrid Searchswallows, a petite young woman armed with a cat o' nine tails. Her eyes peeking from under her face veil had an exceptionally hateful glint to them, which was made even more unsettling by the fact that her eyes were light grey instead of other brigands' dark brown.

Manni Floodedpit was an axeman, and a good example of the brigand-kind. He could be called skinny if not for the bulging gut sticking out from the front, his eyes were way too close-set for a typical human being, and his hair was patchy and cut rather haphazardly. His family tree's few branches must have been badly tangled.

Some distance away stood Syrjana Streamcity, a swordswoman. She obviously didn't want to be there. Her hands were shaking, and the grip of her hands on the sword wasn't very sure. It was clear she was against attacking an unknown fort, and it was clear to her that she wouldn't have an opportunity to be smug about being right.

(https://i.imgur.com/ShNTOOH.png)

The brigands decided to attack as a group, hoping it would be a better strategy than sneaking around. Thari lead the charge, which costed him a foot in the first second of the battle. Obi made sure that the bandit wouldn't be using his other leg any time soon.
Thari hadn't given up just yet. He hacked at ZM5's foot with his diamondium axe, but it turned out diamondium doesn't cut diamondium.

(https://i.imgur.com/LM68d3n.png)

ZM5 and Obi started stabbing Thari mercilessly, but the human still fought with ferocity. This ferocity didn't mean much, since his blows couldn't break through armor.
ZM5's hand easily broke through Thari's armor, effortlessly ripping what was left of it into shreds. The bandit became enraged, but before making use of his fury, he had his weapon hand slashed by ZM5's dagger, rendering it useless. Finally Oquari joined and immediately found an opening. He pushed the tip of his rapier straight through the brigand's forehead.

When the drows were finishing off Thari, Manni was being held back by Slevina.

(https://i.imgur.com/5pAxHf3.png)

The swordsdrow was struggling against the grotesque brigand. The fight was painfully even, until the other drows joined in, of course. Oquari intervened by stabbing the bandit in the leg, forcing him into prone position.

(https://i.imgur.com/TtR2yrK.png)

Slevina took advantage of the opportunity and knocked the silver axe out of Manni's hand. Oquari and Obi both stabbed the human in the back, tearing the spine, after which Slevina performed a coup de grâce.

Anirr was obviously hesitant to enter the fight herself. Instead she pointed at the drows and barked an order to Waldrid.

(https://i.imgur.com/wOMkcbH.png)

Oquari parried the first strike and retaliated with a swift stab to the spine. The fight against Waldrid was over at that very moment.

(https://i.imgur.com/FWYUIlp.png)

Obi soon found out why Anirr relied on her underlings so much. The woman wasn't an experienced fighter after all. She passed out after ZM5 broke her ribs, then Oquari finished the work.

(https://i.imgur.com/2bKMVIH.png)

Syrjana had a good reason to be afraid too. A single stab killed her instantly, at least sparing her the suffering

Helmet Snakes saved Dungeonevened once again without any losses. Slevina ended up badly shaken after he realized what he's done, but no doubt he will get used to it. Finally the drows can come out to the surface world they should hate so much.

Some things happened:

-First death, a drow dodged out of the bridge.

-Diamondium spacesuit. Drow colonies on Gamma Draconis IV soon.

-Big migrant wave: first albino, and a dungeon mistress.

-Tamed our first cave roach. It escaped and got eaten by a spider. Clear glass terrarium soon.

-Trying to force Scourge and Imic to marry. Brigands interrupted a friendship room session. Checked in DFhack, Imic will marry women, Scourge will marry men, and also likes women. SQ isn't interested in marriage, if anyone was curious.

-Brigands. Not much of a challenge, really.

Some things I noticed:

-Rapiers aren't nearly as bad as I thought, but I bet spears are better. Natural sword skills though...

-The female ethereal slayer baby is actually male, which means that we have a breeding pair of those things.

(https://i.imgur.com/Z2PMhex.png)

-Sandstorms make you a better person (SQ)

(https://i.imgur.com/3IqgUg7.png)

-Sandstorms also make you more whiny (MottledPetrel)

Edit:
some more info from Legends Viewer:

(https://i.imgur.com/erAkU5v.png)

Civilized populations of Murknightmare (Thrones are Fantastic Races' Zion, Fleshmongers are Fantastic Races' Manats, elder brutes are Tavros from The World of Flesh). Four of the drows are the grand matriarch, the hight matriarch, the outpost matriarch, and the high priestess. But wait, our diplomat is an icedweller, why isn't she shown here?

Speaking of the diplomat, she's quite a character. First thing: icedwellers have standard human lifespan, and Weri is a whopping 107 years old.
Her maternal grandmother, Theiralirom, was a mother to two high jarls of the Confederation of Authoring, the icedweller civilization, and many more. She was killed by a badgerdog during an assault on an arctic kobold settlement at the age of 55.
Theiralirom's husband, Bjangak ran away to become a commander of icedweller nomads at some point. He died peacefully at the age of 80.

Weri's mother, Engor, was born in 2, shortly before Bjangak ran away. When she was 6, a drow from the Labyrinthine Nightmare abducted her to Murknightmare where she became a bard and married Olorl Violetdents, another abductee. She was 13 at that point. Two years later she met a legendary elder crawler musician, Zrivthi Raspjested:

(https://i.imgur.com/0PPLEWN.png)

Engor was persistent, an the elder crawler agreed to take her with him to Harshnessscraps, a crawler fortress inhabited mainly by dwarves. This is where things get weird: she moved without her husband in 17, Weri was born in 20. Really makes you think, hmm.... In 23 Engor moved with her master to Fallbuckles, another dwarf infested crawler fort. Poor Engor couldn't know that two years later Fallbuckles would be attacked by the star wyrm Burg Faithfulfeed the Gears of Strangulation. She was 23 when she was killed by the monster. She had four children:

Weri Menacedwatchful, but we'll talk about her later,

Mevena, Engor's first daughter was born in Murknightmare in the year 16. Not long after she was devoured by Slingtorments the Maw of Mirroring, an eyeless winged serpent from the deep that attacked Murknightmare.

Efaci was born in 17, before her mother moved out with her master. She was a feytouched icedweller, and died at the ripe age of 56, when she was struck down by the titan Cow Shellnut the Moth of Ravens, a towering eyeless theropod with feathered wings. She spent all her life in Murknightmare, having a husband and a daughter. The husband was sacrificed by a drow cultist of Tsathoggua, while the daughter was killed by the high priestess's son.

Melici was the only son of Engor's. Born in Fallbuckles in the year 24, he was struck down with his mother in 25 by Burg Faithfulfeed.

Weri's fraternal grandmother, Biejrl Yarnquests, was a common criminal from the Confederations of Authoring. In year 1, at the age of 26 she married the head housecarl, Ignak Bronzetusks. In 18 Biejrl and Ignak lead a raid against arctic kobolds, but neither of them came back alive. Only one kobold and two icedwellers survived the battle, but the general consensus is that the kobolds were victorious, after all they have slain the head housecarl.

Biejrl and Ignak had four children, one of them was Weri's father, Olorl Violetdents. Olorl was abducted by a drow in 3, when he was 1 year old. When he grew up he became a farmer, then in 15 he married Engor, Weri's mother, at the age of 13. They had Meneva, Efaci, Weri and Melici together (did they really though?). Olorl was murdered by another abductee, a pandashi farmer Pacila Roastedstill, he was 26 when that happened.

What about Weri? She was born in Harshnessscraps in 20. At the age of 3 she was abandoned by her mother who moved to Fallbuckles. She had a peaceful childhood, all things considered. When she turned 13, she became a tavern keeper in The Supper of Syrups. Six years later she married Mevena Bandscourges, a mercenary who recently moved to Harshnessscraps from Murknightmare.
In 72, a pandashi-turned-strigoi, Neba Stokeglide the Legendary Riddle rampaged through Harshnessscraps, and attacked Weri, fortunately not doing her any harm. Almost exactly a year later K`Rotah Stancecastle the Rapid Fogs the thunderwyvern attacked the fortress, but Weri was lucky enough to escape unscathed. In 125 she moved to Murknightmare, the drow fortress where her mother used to live, and where her husband came from. Surprisingly, the drows accepted her and made her an outpost liaison for a newly established outpost - Dungeonevened.

Mevena, Weri's husband was a rather boring person, really. He became a soap maker in Murknightmare at the age of 13, but a year later he gave up and became a mercenary instead. He moved to Harshnessscraps, married Weri and had three children with her:

Athara Swelteredwitches was born in 39 in Harshnessscraps. She became a ranger in 51.

(https://i.imgur.com/mUbSta3.png)

Athara was a very trusting person, apparently. She thought she befriended three dwarves, but the squat folks were just gathering information for the Calm Shield, a vast dwarven empire to the south.
in 127, the drows of Murknightmare attacked Harshnessscraps, and while the defenders were victorious, Athara was killed by a nondescript drow. She was 88.

Obi Hellscorching was born in 40 in Harshnessscraps. At the age of 11 he was attacked by the strigoi Rud Unitedpearl the Morose Friend, but managed to survive. A year later he became a miner. In 72 he was killed by Neba Stokeglide the Legendary Riddle, the strigoi who also attacked his mother in the same year. Obi was 32.

Weri's youngest child, Thateme Assaulthexes was the most notable of the siblings. He was born in 42 in Harshnessscraps. In 49 he was attacked by Rud Unitedpearl the Morose Friend, the strigoi who came back two years later to kill his older sister. In 54 Thateme decided he would lead a peaceful life as a craftsman. In 72 he tried to protect his sister from Neba Stokeglide the Legendary Riddle, but he wasn't a warrior, and he was lucky he wasn't killed. In 85 he 'befriended' a dwarven spy of the Calm Shield.
In 117 something must have changed inside Thateme. The 75 year-old craftsman decided to take up a sword and become a mercenary. A year later he met another dwarven spy. What's the deal with those dwarves, seriously. Anyway, Thateme's fighting spirit has been noticed by the elder crawler rulers, who made him a conscript commander. Apparently they expected what would soon happen.
In 127 drows from Murknightmare led by the angler pirate Sontop Trumpetsinges attacked Harshnessscraps. Thateme was leading the defenders, and he was a far better tactician than Sontop, but he had to make the highest sacrifice to save whomever he could. They managed to kill the enemy leader, but Thateme and his sister Athara were slaughtered by drows. Thateme was 85.

(https://i.imgur.com/0lUg9nq.png)

I wish the drows could have grand stories like our diplomat's family, but most of them are older than the world, with the few that are younger being created out of thin air. Next time I'm doing a proper dwarven fort with at least 250 years of history.

Truly nice story, a bit late but can I be Drowed as a cook ? Or alchemist if it is useful with the mods, or maybe both...

Quote from: Ombragon on July 25, 2018, 03:55:11 am

Truly nice story, a bit late but can I be Drowed as a cook ? Or alchemist if it is useful with the mods, or maybe both...

It's never too late, the more the merrier. Alchemist skill is still useless though.

All drows of Dungeonevened gathered in the Mahogany Hall. A makeshift podium had been erected opposite from the door, and it has been taken by SQ. Scourge and Imic were standing next to each other, facing the house overseer.

Scourge was hardly recognizable as she was: instead of a seemingly random collection of garments she usually wore, she was wearing an elegant midnight blue dress that accentuated the shape of her body rather well, and a new silk scarf of a simillar color. Her normally wild and unkept hair was made into a huge elaborate braid. There was nothing playful, mischievous, smug or even confident in her face - she was trying to appear calm and collected, but everyone could see she couldn't be more nervous.

Imic was wearing full armor, except for the helmet, and a piwafwi for extra effect. While that was probably against drow customs, neither of the priestesses protested. Imic's skin, normally charcoal black, had a strange blue tint to it...

"Breathe! Don't forget about breathing!" SQ signed discretely, or at least as discretely as possible while being stared at by seventy other drows.

"Look who's talking." Imic signed back with shaking hands. He had a point, SQ was constantly switching between hyperventilating and forgetting she needed to air to live. It was hard to tell who was the most stressed by this situation.

SQ was about to start her speech, but words got stuck in her throat, which got even worse when people started talking:
"Can I get back to cleaning mussels? Nothing much is going on anyway."
"Say what you will, but the girl is good at building suspense."
"I think she's broken, does anyone know how to fix her?"
"Have you tried turning her off and then on again?"
"My wife would kill me if I was to go around the town turning on random women..."
"Boss, Melici is stepping on my foot!"
"Would you prefer if I started kicking you on the shin, Biretha?"

---

"Here goes nothing..." SQ finally said out loud, which she wasn't supposed to do. "We've gathered here to witness the entanglement of Imic Lanternfiend in Scourge Profanepoisons's metaphorical spider web. Marriage, an act during which a woman takes a man as her partner, companion, slave, chattel or dinner, if she takes the spider symbolism too literally... What the hell Liceyi!?" SQ shouted, searching for the poet in the crowd.

"You're not gonna eat me after this, are you?" Imic whispered to Scourge.

"Can't promise anything, tee-hee!" Scourge giggled.

"... This ceremony will be slightly unusual, because the bride expressed her desire to pledge the same vows as the groom, which will forbid her from divorcing, starting a harem, and having children with men other than Imic. Are you sure about this, Scourge?" The question wasn't in the script, but SQ was concerned.

"If I wasn't sure, I wouldn't be standing here, would I?" Scourge replied without a shade of hesitation.

"Well then... Nunore wrote some flowery nonsense, and I assume nobody would mind if I skipped it." SQ said, squinting at the script.

"A lot of sweat, tears, and morel firewater went into that!" Nunore's voice rose up from the crowd.

"Ugh, fine, I'll read it! Hope nobody will blame me for the HUGE WASTE OF EVERYONE'S TIME!" SQ agreed, more than slightly reluctantly, then she started reading the script: "Throughout the history of drowkind, and even earlier, before Lolth had chosen our ancestors from among dark elves of the surface..."

---

"How are you holding up, Imic?" Scourge whispered, taking advantage of the dire situation Nunore got everyone into.

"I'm feeling better than ever, even though my stomach is slowly turning inside-out... How about you?"

"I just can't wait until the vows. I'll be looking into your eyes longingly without breaking eye contact for uncomfortably long time, but you'll actually find it adorable rather than creepy. I'll sense it somehow, and that will make me feel all warm inside. Maybe I'll tear up a little bit too..." The bride shared her oddly specific thought.

"Oh, as if I wasn't nervous enough..." Imic said, but his soon-to-be wife's words actually calmed him down.

---

After about an hour later SQ was finally nearing the end of her speech. Some drows had already fallen asleep, some were still trying not to, Nunore was listening with pride, oblivious to the effect her masterful writing had on the others.

Imic was spacing out, seemingly looking straight at SQ, but actually not even seeing her. As far as anybody was concerned, he might have been traversing the ethereal plane. Scourge was making silly faces at SQ, hoping to make her laugh and disrupt the speech, but the overseer was too preoccupied with reading the script to notice. Scourge's persistence was rewarded by a single eye roll when SQ finally looked up from over her papers.

"...and with that out of the way, the bride will behave with more dignity now, and the groom will stop his astral projection. Imic, there are ethereal slayers in this town, it's dangerous!" SQ warned. "Okay, looks like we're ready for the long awaited vows. Now, look deep into each other's eyes, become one body... wait, that would be one mind in two bodies, actually. Liceyi, you'll have to explain what you meant later... Never mind, just face each other and answer my questions as one."

The young couple turned to look into each other's eyes. Scourge looked completely unlike herself, her smile was gentle, loving and sincere, not cheeky and mischievous. Imic did notice that the woman tried to blink as little as she could, possibly to creep him out. The groom cracked a smile, finding it endearing that no matter the situation, Scourge would always be Scourge.

"Scourge, Imic, Do you pledge to be there for each other in both the best and the darkest of days? That even without branding, you will not take another spouse if one of you were to die a tragic death? To resist temptations and be loyal to each other no matter what difficulties you'll stumble upon in your potentially eternal lives?"

"We do." Both drows said in unison.

"Disgraceful." Freshcannon whispered under her breath.
"Who would have thought you of all people would be so against a... non-standard wedding like this." Asithi said, having overheard her colleague.
"No, it's not about the ceremony, it's about my best soldier marrying this worthless airhead..."

"Do you pledge to do whatever is in your power that your blooming love never withers? To stop all those who try to get between you?"

"We do."

"Do you pledge you will walk five hundred miles and you will walk five hundred more just to be the one who walks a thousand miles to fall down at your spouse's door? Do you pledge that it's gonna take a lot to take you both away from each other, nothing that a hundred drows and more could ever do? Do you pledge to..."

"SQ..." Scourge said, finally breaking eye contact with Imic to eye the overseer sternly.

SQ got the clue and realized it was high time to move on. "Fine, it's time for the ritual of binding... Asithi, please tell me you brought the sticky spider silk."

---

The house cleric emerged from the crowd holding what looked like a tiny ball of yarn. "About that, overseer... We seem to have no more than three spiders capable of weaving good silk, only one of them is decently sized, and they have all been milked not too long ago. This is all I could gather."

"Oh... This rite is only symbolic anyway..." SQ comforted herself, taking the ball of silk from Asithi.

"No, it's not, it's supposed to keep the groom from escaping while the bride drags him to her den." The priestess explained. "But considering the unusual circumstances, I doubt he will try to run. And it's not like this wedding could go any worse, is it?"

"Oh, I think I'm gonna be sick, all right, if anybody has any objections, questions, or snide remarks, please keep them to yourself, this has been going for far too long already." SQ passed the ball of silk to Scourge. "Do your thing."

"We could always put this off if you..." Scourge began, but stopped to look for words that wouldn't rile SQ up any further. "...If you feel worse for wear. We could do it again without people watching, if you prefer."

"No, we're almost done, and it's your wedding, not mine. Now get wrapping." The overseer refused the offer, but it was obvious that she wanted to run away and hide in her room for indeterminate amount of time.

Scourge quickly threw what little sticky thread she got around Imic, failing to even immobilize his arms, then said "I wouldn't call it done, but... yeah it's technically done."

"I guess I pronounce you wife and husband... You may now go do your thing, I don't care anymore." Most drows were more than happy to leave the tavern. Only a few stayed behind, that included Scourge and Imic. "What, are you waiting for? You still have some work to do."

(https://i.imgur.com/BdVopAx.png)

"We're not leaving you in this state, miss SQ. Besides, Scourge said there would be a reception and a cake OWW! What was that for?" Imic screamed in pain as Scourge pulled his hair.

"I'm so sorry I ruined your wedding." SQ said, hardly holding back her frustration, sitting down on the nearest chair. "I really wanted this to be the happiest day of your lives, but..."

"I gotta admit, it was a disaster, but I wouldn't want it any other way. I knew exactly what I was signing up for by asking you for help, and I'm not disappointed. It was all my fault, really." Scourge decided to take the blame, despite not actually feelng bad about it at all. "I promise, once you finally decide to marry Five, I'll do everything better."

SQ looked at her friend's wide grin, and couldn't help but smile back. "Oh, you'll have a lot of time to plan everything out, maybe eternity. Oh, and, uh... I have a wedding gift for you guys. Imic, as a house overseer of Dungeonevened, I declare you a house weapon master of Dungeonevened. Your new bedroom and office should be done by tomorrow."

"N-no, miss SQ I... I couldn't..." Imic stuttered in shock.

"Of course you could, Imic! We'll have a new room for gods' sake! With an office, and all bells and whistles! Thank you so much, SQ!" Scourge exclaimed excitedly.

"So... what now? I guess you'll go to your room and... you know?" SQ made a suggestive gesture.

"Yeah, we should honor at least this part of the tradition. If we're to have twenty kids eventually, we might as well start working on it now." Scourge shrugged, then grabbed her husband and dragged him out without any further ado. SQ shuddered at the thought of those two actually having children, but didn't say anything.

---

~~Diary~~ Journal of SQ Hateromanced, the ~~leader~~ house overseer of Dungeonevened

So, today was a big day for Scourge and Imic, but I'm not gonna write too much about it, because honestly, the faster I forget about that the better. Not that I'm not happy for them or anything, but... It was just a hard day.

After the whole ordeal I had to take care of some actual overseeing, which I rarely do these days. A man named Ombragon Ghoulmatched approached me and complained about the smell from the tanner's workshop.

(https://i.imgur.com/pAB7yqK.png)

Judging by the grease stains all over him, and his 'kiss the cook' apron, I deduced he's a cook, but it turned out my deduction wasn't necessary. He said he's the leader of the Cook and Brewer Union of Dungeonevened, CBUD for short. Apparently they're unhappy because they have to work in unsanitary conditions, whatever that means, and demanded the creation of a dedicated guildhall, preferably better than the fisherman's guild's. Ombragon said that CBUD may organize a strike if their demands aren't met. I reminded him that I have two squads of armed soldiers, with an option for a third, to my disposal, and I have every right to pacify any unrest.

Talking to him made me realize - the town doesn't work perfectly, some industries are falling behind with production, and some skilled workers complain that unskilled amateurs squat in their workshops for ages, struggling with the most basic tasks. That's obviously not good, so I've decided to play a city planner:

(https://i.imgur.com/owR6S1r.png)

The surface. We probably should just abandon it and start living completely underground, but I grew to like the feeling of wind on my face... except when it carries tons of sand and dust.
We have two shrines in the tower:

(https://i.imgur.com/lSZGhKT.png)(https://i.imgur.com/cGAv9Vm.png)

One to The Ignited Steam, the fiery god of chaos, one to Nelare Maroonoils, the ruby-eyed god of gems. The construction of the third shrine had been suspended some time ago, and nobody bothered to continue it. Gotta take care of it, because people may think I'm playing favorites.

The walls are fine and dandy,but they require some love too. We could build towers in the corners and connect them with battlements, so that the crossbow (or arbalest, or gun) squad that could eventually be made will have positional advantage. I consider drafting some of the better hunters, and giving them light armor, and just letting them train by shooting at the local fauna.
There's one more thing regarding the walls - each time someone attempts to pave the roads around, something always interrupts them, either bandits, stampeding abrians or mongrelfolk. Maybe it's a curse? I wouldn't be surprised, but that doesn't change the fact that we have to keep trees from growing too close.

What's next? Aboveground farms. Right now we grow whip vines, strawberries, starberries, barley, alfalfa, desert moons (silver dye), sponge stalks and something called weed moss. Weed moss spores look exactly like rat weed seeds, so we have no way of telling which one's which. The point is, we're drowning in food and drinks, so perhaps we should get some more utility plants? I'm thinking cotton, ramie, flax, painter's roses, redroot, blade weed, this sort of things.

And then there's the problem of gold stepladders. It was the worst idea ever.

(https://i.imgur.com/Ov7svQX.png)

The entrance tunnel, the ~~bone~~ shell carving area, and the second farm plot. The trade depot should be moved a little deeper, so that rattusites and cave pygmies from the caverns don't harrass the traders. We could also show off some of our bling by constructing the new depot out of gold or something. Mahogany is not cutting it anymore.

The farm plot grows spear mints, ooze blobs, marrow polyps and plump helmets. We should get pig tails, white lichen or dimple cups instead.

I have no idea what to do with the crafting area, if anything. That room is asking for a makeover, but it's just a matter of putting down some wooden panels.

(https://i.imgur.com/eKIebFt.png)

The first floor. The farm is growing silkflowers, underberries, cave sugar beets and shiitake. I'm sick of every single one of those things.

The Mahogany Hall had a good run, but it was made with maybe thirty drows in mind. I'm planning on making another tavern deeper underground. It will be bigger and fancier, and maybe we'll finally attract some visitors.

The hospital is almost out of soap, so I'll have to see to it.

(https://i.imgur.com/FKby2c5.png)

I wonder if spellgaunt soap will have any magical properties, considering they feed on magic.
The hospital should also get a proper floor sooner or later. I doubt any fungi growing there have medical uses.

The cooking/farming area had been neglected for way too long. Chefs complain about tanners, tanners complain about brewers, brewers complain about millers. It's not a pleasant place to work in. The cook's and brewer's guild should help, but I have no idea what to do next.

The one good thing is that we have tons of food and drink stockpiled. Traders should pay good money for that.

Recently I learned about the wonders of terrariums, and I've been thinking, what if we pour water into them and make them into aquariums? That would be an amazing decoration for the fisherman's guild! Sure, they haven't even chosen a guildmistress (or a guildmaster, I guess), and there is no guildy things going on, but I feel like they deserve a lot of credit.

The refuse stockpile is full of things we can't eat, but at least it's no longer filled with shells. Dumping trash into Kaos's 'atom smasher' doesn't seem to be people's favorite pastime, judging by the dead spider that's been lying in the fisherman's guild's door for a couple of months now.

(https://i.imgur.com/XRLZRGT.png)

There isn't much to talk about on the second floor. We could use some more working space for masons and possibly carpenters, and I could order to get some gems from the caverns. That's it.

(https://i.imgur.com/sqmBZdW.png)

The menagerie level, my pride and joy. It was in the middle of being expanded last time I checked. We have an interesting collection so far, but we're struggling to exhibit everything we buy and catch.
I'm worried about the rothe herd's size. We should probably cull the older and weaker ones, or else we'll have to move them back aboveground.
We also have six cages with mongrelfolk in them. I'm not releasing those annoying creatures no matter what, but we can't keep them in the stockpile forever. I've already started working on getting rid of them, but more about that later.

(https://i.imgur.com/VTXcLdP.png)

Bedrooms... honestly, I'm really proud of the setup we've got going, but I admit there's a lot of work to be done. The latest migrants have beds, but nothing else, even though the furniture is ready in the stockpiles, and the corridors are carved out of rough stone, just to name some problems.

Scourge and Imic's new room isn't even smoothed out yet, but it shouldn't take too long. I'll free up their current rooms, move Fred's office to Scourge's room, then expand my own room. I'll get myself a nice new office, maybe a tomb... What? I'm the closest thing this place has to a house matriarch! I'm not looking forward to moving all the statues around, though. Maybe I should get Scourge and Imic a new statue? We'll see about that.

(https://i.imgur.com/qyr6WYz.png)

Slave quarters don't require any changes. Currently we have three trolls (male, female and child), a rattusite, and a baby slave-beast. I considered assigning a room for the nimblewright, but then I remembered it's a golem that doesn't even need to sleep.

The troll child will be officially an adult soon, and I have a plan for him already. NO, IT'S NOTHING WEIRD!

(https://i.imgur.com/qi9MlU7.png)

The forge level is fine. There are no stockpiles for glass and porcelain goods, but we don't produce a lot of that.

Kaos once tried to explain to me how the crucible works, but I didn't get it. I know my way around animals, metallurgy is like the exact opposite!
(OOC: I think I fucked the diamondium refining reactions even further instead of fixing them. I'll try again, but only when I'm done with this fort.)

Uthimi, the legendary armorer should have her own forge instead of sharing it with scrubs. The nimblewright will get one for itself too, because I love that piece of junk so much. How an assassin construct became a smith will always be a mystery.

(https://i.imgur.com/vbL7mfo.png)

I've never been a fan of gladiatorial games, but since we have the caged mongrelfolk on hand, we could make some use of them. Asin's Samurais could use some training after all.

The lead bridge will be linked to a lever to prevent creatures from escaping. The cages will be opened remotely too, all at once.
I'll have the walls replaced with fortifications, so once we have a marksman squad, we can use it to safely dispose of threats if the things get out of hand.

(https://i.imgur.com/lP69mVQ.png)

Finally we have caverns. So far we've seen a lot of annoying things coming out of them: rattusites, troglodytes, cave pygmies, leapworms, trolls, deep stalkers... booby trapping the entrance should solve at least a part of the problem. Maybe we'll catch some interesting cavern monsters in the process, maybe we'll have a ton of mince meat without overworking the butchers. Kaos will be delighted when I tell her how many giant serrated discs we're gonna need.

Not much progress has been made, but we've got the wedding out of the way, and some good planning done.

PTW.

Oh man, I don't think I've ever seen a wedding in one of my own forts yet - did you put them in a friendship suite to develop that?

Definitely build some stuff aboveground. Personal opinion but aboveground buildings can make a fortress look really cozy. Plus something like a tower could warn us of potential invaders or ambushers.

Pff. Harems?

I guess you could have a lover on the side, and that's about it.

Astral projection...Is that actually included in this mod, or is it raw modifications only?

From the comment on the side, it seems like Scourge is marrying up.

Also, I laughed at the "It's mostly symbolic" "no it's not" section. Building exceptions, then pulling the rug out from under them, nicely done!

"I tried my best, and it was a disaster." - "I wanted a disaster, that's why I asked you." was great as well.

[/hr]

That cook should be a crafter. Good creativity, great spatial sense, , likes boxes and bags and -oho- large serrated discs, make this one a dabbling weaponsmith to have an artifact one that will not break.

Gold stepladders...Briefly, it crosses my mind to suggest aluminium ones, and I twitch. Anachronistic, and simultaneously more valuable and worthless.

Two stills should be good till about 1300 population. Are you already past that? :P

Very *nice* observation on aquariums, though!

Quote from: ZM5 on July 30, 2018, 02:49:11 am

Oh man, I don't think I've ever seen a wedding in one of my own forts yet - did you put them in a friendship suite to develop that?

Friendship room. I locked them in one of the trolls' room.

Quote from: Fleeting Frames on August 01, 2018, 05:56:24 am

Pff. Harems?

I guess you could have a lover on the side, and that's about it.

Astral projection...Is that actually included in this mod, or is it raw modifications only?

From the comment on the side, it seems like Scourge is marrying up.

Also, I laughed at the "It's mostly symbolic" "no it's not" section. Building exceptions, then pulling the rug out from under them, nicely done!

"I tried my best, and it was a disaster." - "I wanted a disaster, that's why I asked you." was great as well.

[/hr]

That cook should be a crafter. Good creativity, great spatial sense, , likes boxes and bags and -oho- large serrated discs, make this one a dabbling weaponsmith to have an artifact one that will not break.

Gold stepladders...Briefly, it crosses my mind to suggest aluminium ones, and I twitch. Anachronistic, and simultaneously more valuable and worthless.

Two stills should be good till about 1300 population. Are you already past that? :P

Very *nice* observation on aquariums, though!

By astral projection I meant that he was spacing out in a major way. RP-wise, psychics and phlegmatic alchemancers might be able to do things like that. Also, some D&D creatures are native to astral and ethereal planes.

Moving stills and kitchens out is also an RP decision. We have food and drink out the wazoo, but did you know that tanning leather in middle ages involved the use of urine and feces? The tanner workshop is currently in the same room as food prepping workshops.

SQ woke up in the morning to a strange sound coming from a corner of the room. It was like tapping tiny claws on the stone surface, accompanied by the faint sound of moving something soft on the floor. SQ immediately knew what was going on.

(https://i.imgur.com/ZlnWsl9.png)

"SQ3!" She shouted jumping out of the bed. On the floor nearby she saw a small red spider holding something wrapped in silk. "You pest! I'm gonna find a suitable punishment for this transgression! Hmmm... I can't kill you, you won't leave on your own no matter what... Maybe trial by combat against the mongrelfolk? No, I want those freaks dead... Hmm... I think I've got an idea..."

Suddenly someone knocked on the door. The overseer picked up the spider and went to answer. After opening the door she saw none other than Imic. The weapon master looked exhausted after a productive night, but he was unusually twitchy. "M-miss SQ... I... I have something to tell you, but you look kind of... irritated, so maybe later..."

The overseer took a step forward to release the spider outside, while Imic took a step back just in case. SQ shook her head watching the spider scuttle away. "Why couldn't the sacred animals of Lolth be roaches? Much less troublesome, cleaner, eat everything. So, umm... wanna come in and tell me your business? Or maybe I should get you some tea, since you're shaking like there's no tomorrow. Are you cold?"

"NO!" Imic panicked, despite SQ's response being calm and friendly. This must have been a trap, the weapon master just knew it. SQ was not a reasonable person who would calm down that easily. "I... I mean, I just wanted to tell you we shouldn't export floodgates. Bye!"

(https://i.imgur.com/Q7Yge75.png)

SQ stood in the doorway, looking at Imic who was walking away with inexplicable haste. What was his problem? And was there a story behind the floodgate export ban? On a second thought, SQ would rather not know.

---

A few moments later SQ was dressed and ready to face the day. She decided the best way to start would be to get some fresh air. She's been starting almost every day lately, she could swear that morning sun was very beneficial in some way she couldn't describe.
When she came out of the entrance corridor, two drows surprised her by bursting out of the barracks. The first one was Biretha, Freshcannon's whipping boy, after him was ZM5.

"Don't tell me you're really throwing a pissy fit over that!" ZM5 shouted after the Helmet Snake. "You wanted to train with me instead of your fierce owlbear cub, Melici, so I thought I would use her methods!"

"It's not the same! When she pushes herself to her limit to deny me a lunch break it's admirable, you're just messing with my head for the sake of bullying me, and that's just not what Melici does!" Biretha explained the most subtle differences. "Now leave me alone, I gotta gather courage to ask her to let me train with her again!"

ZM5 watched the swordsman disappear behind the town walls. "Baby doll, you're the last person I should be asking this, but do you understand what's going on between those two?" The man asked, without any prior indication that he's noticed SQ at all.

"O-oh! I think Melici gave Biretha permanent brain damage a few years back. Care to explain what just happened?" SQ asked.

"No, it's not worth it. Besides, I think you're gonna have some stuff to do really soon..." Both drows looked in the distance. There was someone coming their way, and it wasn't Biretha. "I won't be bothering you at work, then."

"I want you to bother me at work! Please..." SQ asked. "We never spend any time together."

"You know what? Okay, but you'll explain it to Freshcannon."

---

Eleven drows in total and their animals passed through the northern gate. They were led by a tall, lanky woman who was carrying a sleeping toddler in her arms. The woman came up to SQ and ZM5 and asked: "Is this Dungeonevened? I heard it's a good place to raise children."

"Huh? Nobody ever tried raising children in this place, so..." SQ answered with a dose of suspicion.

Okay, nobody told us anything, we're just evading draft. Don't get me wrong, we can fight, but we're NOT dying in the elder crawlers' land. " The stranger admitted." Anyway, I'm Athara, I'm a cleric, but I have some experience with animal training. Fecawi is my husband, he's a mechanic, but if I have to be honest, he's not the best at his job... Those are our daughters, Asithi and Biretha."

"Why are those names so common?" ZM5 wondered. "Everybody seems to be named Biretha, Melici, Weri, Asithi... Weird how it is..."

"Wait for your turn to speak, worthless male! Litheme is my fellow cleric, the other Litheme can operate siege machines pretty well, Liyetha is a cleric too, Mefayo is an accomplished wood burner, but you'll probably be more interested in the fact that he's a talented axeman, Melici knows a lot about fish anatomy, and is also skilled in carpentry, Oquari is just another worthless mechanic, Tharumi is a leatherworker, but he's also a fine crossbowman."

"Most of you are going into the military anyway, it seems. We don't need mechanics or siege operators, but our weapon master is looking for new recruits." SQ wasn't even trying to sound enthusiastic about the new influx of unskilled migrants, but she was more than glad to give Imic some underlings of his own. "Hey, they have some cool animals!"

"Wait, are our animals more interesting to you than us?" Athara exclaimed in surprise.

"Get used to it, sweet freeloader, because SQ will now look for every excuse not to talk to you." ZM5 butted in. Then he noticed that the overseer darted towards the various creatures brought by the migrants." Hey, wait for me!"

---

"Hmm... a beak dog pup, but it's just another male. Shame, I wanted to get a few war-trained." SQ said with disappointment.

"Can't have it all, I guess. That ironhead is also male... I think, and it has a collar." ZM5 pointed at the horned creature. "It's not going into battle either. Sheesh, judging by your reaction, I thought you noticed something interesting."

(https://i.imgur.com/bFT5mUs.png)

"Don't tell me this big boy isn't interesting." SQ said, petting the colossal slug, and covering her hand with thick slime. "I don't think we can breed them in captivity, but we could feed the entire town with just this one."

"Yeah, it's pretty useful to have something like this, but again, mottleworms are just as good, and they breed easily." ZM5 noticed that SQ had been moving closer and closer to him, so he quickly grabbed her slime-covered hand, successfully preventing her from getting slug-goo all over his clothes. "Nice try, baby doll, but that's not gonna work on me."

"Aww, Scourge always falls for this!"

"Hey, someone is hauling a cage. Let's go check it out too."

(https://i.imgur.com/wm9ThP7.png)

"One of those things..." ZM5 recoiled at the sight of a huge, eight-legged pig with a mane of tentacles. "One of those alerted us when we were attacked by the werekangaroo, so I should be thankful to them, but... They're just such disgusting creatures!"

"Scourge says they're from the moon..."

"She also told you to lick a freezing-cold nether-cap wood pole when you were fifteen. If I remember correctly she said nether-cap tastes like candy."

"It kind of did, though..."

---

Meanwhile, web collectors were searching for cobwebs in the caverns.

(https://i.imgur.com/FP1Z3pg.png)

Some passages were literally flooded with giant cave lizard blood, but the weavers were prepared for that, they knew the hunters had slain two gigantic lizards somewhere around that area. What they weren't prepared for was the monstrosity that came attracted by the pools of blood:

(https://i.imgur.com/pGZaBQ1.png)

A lumbering pile of black leeches, squirming and shifting, but staying in a vaguely humanoid shape. There was no doubt that the creature would rather feed on warm blood a living being if it had a chance. Dungeonevened was full of living beings, but none of them was willig to part with their blood.

"Samurais, I have been told we are about to face an enemy most repulsive." Asin instructed his soldiers, slowly leading them through narrow cavern corridors. "I expect nothing but bravery and heroism from you, after all you are the finest warriors of Dungeonevened."

(https://i.imgur.com/V5CQ5SJ.png)

"Got sight on the bastard! What the hell is that!" Melici the axewoman, call sign Tin Samurai, shouted.

"Language, Melici-diri! We are not savage barbar... What the...?" Asin lost his composure for a brief moment, but managed to overcome the shock very quickly.

(https://i.imgur.com/DBExqwO.png)

Efaci, Asin's wife, was the closest level-headed samurai. She cast her spell, and began the fight with a solid punch to the monster's head. Unsurprisingly, that had no effect beyond making a temporary dent where the creature's face should be. The leechwalker retaliated, but it was slow, so it's attack was easily parried.
The Iron Samurai's scourge of fangs bit into the mass of leeches in several places. One of the diamondium snakeheads must have burst an exceptionally large leech, because blood started gushing from that point as if an artery had been opened.

(https://i.imgur.com/FL2ozlu.png)

Efaci realized that her bites couldn't seriously harm the leechwalker, but since she wasn't feeling endangered in any way, she decided she would stall until someone more qualified shows up. After a few seconds Vathi, the Zinc Samurai joined the fight. To get a better understanding of the monster's structure she kicked it in the leg, not doing any damage.
Seeing how the mass of leeches reacts to blunt force, the macewoman quickly came up with a plan: hit hard, hope the leeches die. A strike to the arm completely crushed a whole cluster of leeches, but the monster didn't seem to notice. The second blow, a mighty swing to the head, finally fell the leechwalker. Perhaps there was a single leech swarmmaster controling all lesser leeches, or maybe a magical crystal bound them all together, but whatever it was, destroying it caused all leeches to perish almost instantly.

(https://i.imgur.com/2q08exs.png)

It was not the end of the problems from the caverns. Emura, husband of the albino swordswoman Melici, had been collecting webs on the other side. Suddenly what he thought was a clump of black fungus extended its many tendrils and slithered his way with surprising speed. Emura looked around and noticed a few more identical creatures. Even Emura's brightest faerie fire wasn't enough to repel the creatures.

The drow was desperately trying to protect himself, but slimy mold was soft and spongy, impossible to break with bare fists. One of the moldspawns finally lashed at Emura with one of its tentacles, hitting his back and breaking his spine, depriving him of any control over his body below the waist.

Emura was ready to be torn apart by the fungal creatures, but that didn't happen. The moldspawns dispersed as fast as they appeared. After the initial shock faded, the man realized what scared off the creatures - the ground was shaking.

(https://i.imgur.com/LpM6wP2.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/44fxNiq.png)

Heech Cluadmeckl Hichmervop, the ancient enemy of drowkind, forgotten but not dead. As soon as Emura laid his eyes on the monstrous dinosaur, its name appeared in the minds of all drows of Dungeonevened. It wasn't a pleasant revelation for anyone...

---

"Asin, I don't know if you know what I'm talking about, but we need to move to the caverns, now." Freshcannon expressed her concern in a rather cryptic manner.

"The beast... I feel its presence too, Freshcannon-ithera. Samurais, I trust you know what needs to be done." Asin addressed his soldiers. The Samurais weren't as confident as their commander, and neither were Helmet Snakes for that matter.

Suddenly the door to the barracks slammed open and Imic burst in. "Heech Cluadmeckl has awoken!" He shouted. "We need to stop it!"

"No, you stupid meathead, Asin and I need to stop it. Your job is to protect the matriarch, or in this case the overseer!" The house priestess corrected Imic. "Besides, your rookies don't even have full armor, and you look like an idiot in this suit of yours."

"I... I understand, mistress Freshcannon, but the last remark was unnecessary."

"Whatever. See you, space rotheboy! Snakes out!" The priestess nonchalantly gestured at her soldiers to follow her, leaving Imic alone in the room.

---

(https://i.imgur.com/EOKfINc.png)

The Steel Samurais reached the designated position first, leading the rattusite behind them. The ratman was tasked to recover the wounded, if any were found. This foresight turned out to be very beneficial, because against all odds Emura was still alive. The rattusite picked up the paralyzed drow, but before he could carry Emura to safety, Melici the Silver Samurai stopped him.

"Stop right there, rat! This is my husband!" Melici shouted in shock. "Emura, did... did Heech Cluadmeckl do that to you?"

"M-melici... No, some other monsters attacked me... ugh... But I guess I owe them my life. I think Heech ran after them." The man explained. It was apparent that even the simple act of talking was difficult for him. "We can... we can talk when I get better. I don't even know... don't even know if I'll ever walk again."

"Melici-diri, with all due respect, but your husband needs to be taken away as soon as possible. Helmet Snakes are almost here too." Asin interrupted. The battle was drawing near, there was no time for teary goodbyes.

---

Heech, after all this time, was still furiously attacking the moldspawns. Stepping on the fungal creatures had hardly any effect, and so did smashing them with Heech's tail club. The forgotten beast was only getting more and more furious. Freshcannon couldn't allow the things to get out of control. She gave a simple order: kill Heech Cluadmeckl.

(https://i.imgur.com/SsU8v8U.png)

The Nickel Samurai dealt the first blow, a solid hit to the wing. The beast's thick scales deflected the attack almost completely, only a few of them were scratched. The axewoman repeated that action two more times, hoping the first attack was just unlucky, but she couldn't seem to penetrate the dinosaur's armor. She was forced to move back after almost getting crushed by the monster's tail.

The Cobalt Samurai, a spearman, had more luck. His stab went deep into Heech's wing and was only stopped by solid bone. Infuriated forgotten beast tried to strike him down in retaliation, but the spearman dodged easily, and as an ultimate act of cockiness, he punched it on the leg with his fist.

ZM5 didn't want to be outcompeted when it comes to cockiness, so he dropkicked the monster in the throat, actually managing to turn its head around. It ended up looking at the Copper Samurai. Heech moved the rest of its enormous body in preparation for a charge, swiping its tail club just a few inches away from the Cobalt Samurai's face. The lasher managed to dodge the charging dinosaur, and whipped it in the leg, leaving only two tiny wounds where fangs pierced the scales.

The Nickel Samurai was still trying to hack the beast with her axe. She was relentless but uneffective.

(https://i.imgur.com/yby4lys.png)

Asin himself stepped in and stabbed Heech in the leg. His scimitar cut to the bone, but that in no way bothered the forgotten beast. The Steel Samurai knew he could hurt it, so without any hesitation he slashed directly at the monster's back, making the first deep cut.

ZM5 had been observing Heech from the distance since his display of bravado, and seeing it fight gave him an idea that might have been just crazy enough to work. He ran straight towards the monster, holding his dagger in his hand. He hasn't stopped when he was close, and instead he dove right between its legs, holding the dagger above his head. The diamondium blade slid into Heech's soft underbelly without much resistance, and continued ripping and tearing until the forgotten beast's guts were spilled on the ground.

(https://i.imgur.com/rcjm8fe.png)

Asin continued to take advantage of his sword's uncanny power to hurt the monster, and slashed and stabbed without mercy. ZM5 decided it was time to get a memento from this fight, but this enemy didn't have thumbs to cut off. Instead he swiped his dagger right at the monster's maw, causing a hailstorm of small, leaf-shaped teeth. An amulet made of these would surely be a great conversation starter.

(https://i.imgur.com/GqcGzfg.png)

The Iron Samurai lashed strategically at the forgotten beast's stumpy foot. As the snakehead of her whip bit into the flesh, a crack of broken bone could be heard very clearly. The fractured bone couldn't support Heech's colossal weight, so the beast fell over. Despite its dire situation, it still struggled.

(https://i.imgur.com/RXonWRe.png)

After about a minute of all-out brutality, it was obvious who would come out of that fight victorious, but the real question was: how long would it take? Fortunately not too long. Freshcannon climbed the forgotten beast's back, raised her heavy axe, and brought it down with incredible force. The dinosaur's bony back armor split in two, and along with it the creature's spine. All struggling stopped immediately.

(https://i.imgur.com/GkCT9Ry.png)

"That was something..." Freshcannon said, wiping sweat and forgotten beast's cursed blood from her forehead. "I expected more from a bastard this big, but it's another ungodly abomination to my name."

"Come on, spiderling, I deserve this one after that sweet dive." ZM5 joked, but deep inside he was hoping the priestess would agree.

"You can take some of these moldspawns if you want, but better be fast, 'cause I'm going after them too."

(https://i.imgur.com/ybaBJ9B.png)

"You're going to need bigger blades." Melici was already wiping black slime of a dead moldspawn out of her huge sword.

"Get in line, red-eyed freak, we're trying to avenge your husband... oh."

---

As the awareness of the forgotten beast's existence appeared in every drow's head, so did the knowledge of its death. The soldiers were welcomed as heroes, but before they could even think about resting:

(https://i.imgur.com/5iz4VNT.png)

A few of them started rapidly swelling up. All soldiers were rushed to the hospital, where Fred, Nunore and Asithi cleaned off the forgotten beast's putrid blood. Nothing more could have been done at that point.

(https://i.imgur.com/wKgx2Bi.png)

Vemini, the Copper Samurai, was the left to be brought to bed and the last to leave the hospital. Before Fred finished cleaning him, the swelling turned into rapidly progressing rotting, and it even affected Vemini's bones. There was no time to waste, the most gangrenous tissue had to be removed. Fred was not a real doctor, however, and he failed to excise all of the rot. He panicked for a moment and ran to call an actual doctor.

(https://i.imgur.com/qFYE5cs.png)

None was currently availabe, so instead Nunore came back and said everything was fine, but the patient needed to have every joint in his body immobilized for some reason. Fred was in no position to argue with her.
(Vemini's bones and internal organs are still rotting, but apparently that's nothing 20 splints can't fix. At least there's no miasma)

(https://i.imgur.com/KGcoqZO.png)

SQ and Darkening Kaos were sitting in SQ's office discussing the overseer's latest project.

"The first lever will raise the bridge, the other will open the spider's cage." SQ explained, showing Kaos the blueprint. "Someone should of course wall the spider in once we put it in a cage."

"The spider is fully tame, why not just pasture it in there?" Kaos inquired. "And what's the point of that anyway? Its silkmilk and egg sacs can both be made into silk. No, don't tell me it's some kind of elaborate revenge scheme."

"But this spider killed SQ3, probably killed SQ2..."

"And that cocoon over there would be..." Kaos directed SQ's attention to something wrapped in spider web lying under the cabinet.

"SQ4! Now this eight-legged murderer will pay! Maybe if I squish it under the bridge I'll be able to convince the priestesses it was an accident. Or am I gonna turn into a drider for this? Oh no! Whatever I do, spiders win! It's too late, I have to...!" The longer SQ talked, the more scared she was getting. Then she realized: "Wait, I haven't done anything yet."

"Right... How about you just get the spider to the enclosure? I'm sure if we put some traps in the caverns, we could eventually catch an ettercap or a giant cave spider." Kaos was getting ready to leave, seeing how the whole project was a waste of time and resources. "Ah, right, M&M tonight, tell ZM5 if you see him."

Part 2

(https://i.imgur.com/VaLLSyf.png)

Ombragon stood in the doorway to the newly finished cook's and brewer's guildhall. It was finally ready for the ultimate cooking challenge - a forgotten beast roast.

(https://i.imgur.com/PJA17GW.png)

The meat was ready, it was just a matter of picking one chef brave enough to prepare a meal out of a monster that could have killed Dungeonevened's entire millitary force despite being dead. There was plenty of leapworm offall scattered around the food stockpile, so nobody was in any kind of hurry.

---

SQ went to the barracks to inform ZM5 about the upcoming M&M session. She opened the door expecting to see Snakes bickering with each other, Samurais sparring with perfect discipline, Imic's Blackguards standing around confused while their commander is having his day off, the usual. Instead she witnessed the entire forces of Dungeonevened surrounding a single stranger.

(https://i.imgur.com/XZD9MwT.png)

He appeared to be a human, but something about his face and body proportion seemed off, even to drows unaccustomed with the human race. It was obvious this stranger was a soldier, and judging by the way he held his spear, he was not a bearer of good news.

SQ quietly moved up to ZM5 and asked: "Hey, Five, care to fill me in?"

"Neanderthals want to tussle with us. Freshcannon is trying to... negotiate." ZM5 answered. The tone in which he said the word 'negotiate' was mildly concerning. "Listen for yourself."

"You came here, demanded that we surrender, insulted us, our nation, and our gods, and now you think we'll just pack our stuff and skedaddle away? Ridiculous." The priestess had her hand on the handle of her axe the whole time. Perhaps she wasn't sure of her diplomatic skills? "If there's just ten of you, why don't you just stop this charade and go home before we send you to your new home in hell?"

"We did not expect the plague to spread so quickly. A vile force of darkness such as you needs to be destroyed as soon as possible, because with each day you grow stronger. If there is any chance that our small group can exterminate you, we will take it." The neanderthal answered, looking Freshcannon straight in the eyes.

"Admirable. Go tell your men we will defend our town. We will gladly cross swords with a foe who displays such resolve." Asin said to the messenger.

"Asin, you... Those are our enemies, you mix them with mud, not praise them!" Freshcannon lashed out.

"My previous mistress used to say that lack of respect is a dangerous quality to have. That applies to every aspect of life." Asin lectured the house priestess. "For an instance, one of her younger disciples was bitten by a buffalo once. Such a calm animal, you would say, but that's exactly what the foolish girl thought when she let her guard down."

"Did you hear that, Five?" SQ whispered.
"Yeah, and I was hoping you wouldn't catch on to it.

"Snakes out!" Freshcannon ordered.
"Samurais, follow my lead!" Asin called out.

"We have M&M tonight, so don't you dare dying." SQ bid farewell to ZM5.
"Not intending to, baby doll." ZM5 replied before following Freshcannon outside. The overseer's simple words moved him more than any tearful speech would.

---

(https://imgur.com/TyQa6BF)

Both squads were told to wait just outside of the western gate, but apparently Biretha and Oquari had a different idea on how to handle the invasion.

(https://i.imgur.com/PbB3ovv.png)

The first neanderthal charged straight at Biretha, which costed him a foot. Oquari joined the fight and began stabbing the axeman with his rapier, but in the end ending up being a nuisance rather than an executioner.

(https://i.imgur.com/OpmhNKb.png)

Frustrated with his weapon's ineffectiveness, the duelist turned around and placed a powerful hook on another neanderthal's temple. The stout human dropped his weapon and shield, and fell over.

(https://i.imgur.com/pc0u9MW.png)

More neanderthals entered the battle, among them a skilled spearman who managed to land a hit on Biretha, but the orichalcum spear couldn't pierce diamondium. Then the spearman's hand received a stab from Oquari's rapier, then another, more devastating one from Biretha's scimitar.

(https://i.imgur.com/LyuLV8E.png)

The Bismuth Samurai reached the battlefield, and was immediately hit on the foot by an axeman. The same axeman then effortlessly removed the samurai's right hand.

(https://i.imgur.com/y872ld0.png)

From that point it was only worse for poor Rafovi.

(https://i.imgur.com/7akHVra.png)

Fortunately the rest of the drows caught up and began doing what had to be done. The Silver Samurai's sword fell down on an unsuspecting neanderthal, sending his head flying. A second swing hadn't hit that accurately, so the second axeman's head was only colven asunder, not removed from his shoulders.

(https://i.imgur.com/va0mgZC.png)

The Tin Samurai chose an easy target - a prone, paralyzed neanderthal who had been taken down by Oquari's punch. One less distraction on the battlefield.

(https://i.imgur.com/Nfm8ZNr.png)

Finally the siege has been broken. One drow for ten neanderthals wasn't a satisfying outcome, but the loss could only be attributed to Rafovi's foolish overconfidence. While Biretha and Oquari could back their boldness with actual skills, the same couldn't be said about the Bismuth Samurai.

---

Evening after the battle with neanderthals, five drows gathered around a silver table in Imic's new office.

Spoiler: M&M session (click to show/hide)

A fighty update this time, with a secret NWN2:Storm of Zehir playthrough. I don't know how far I will go with that, but I just like writing banter between some of my favorite characters in a simpler format.

Some notes:

-Irinus axes are crapoli, they can't pierce FBs scales or any kind of armor. Freshcannon still decimates everything with her heavy steel axe, so maybe it's a matter of weight?

-Giant cave crabs are ethereal, completely untouchable to mortals.

-I thought the troublesome spider was a baby, but it was an adult female. No silk generator yet, then.

-Roaches keep escaping from clear glass terrarium. Am I missing something?

-Heech's blood caused heavy swelling on almost all of the soldiers, but only the Copper Samurai got full body rot. Apparently rotten bones and liver don't bother him too much.

-Neanderthals are boring if they don't bring war animals. Unfortunately I removed most of Scourge's dinosaurs in favor of Saur Fortress. May try to do something about it in the next version.

Quote from: SQman on August 04, 2018, 02:00:43 pm

-Neanderthals are boring if they don't bring war animals. Unfortunately I removed most of Scourge's dinosaurs in favor of Saur Fortress. May try to do something about it in the next version.

I see how it is, my dinosaurs weren't good enough for you (joke) You could have just added [CREATURE_CLASS:EXTINCT] to them and the neanderthals would have brought them FYI

I wonder if the Bogdanoff twins are behind the loss of the Grug army.

Tanning: Oh. Yes. Thanks for reminding me of it.

Do drows...drink water?

Well, floodgates are more useful than doors or statues as bait buildings.

Hm, wonder if you could actually do brain damage. Maybe by having different blood in the head that on contact with skin decreases skill learning rates and increases rusting rates?

Interesting and unusual value on skills.

I imagined longboar to be something like a chiahuha variant of boar.

Until I read the text after it, anyway.

....I want nether-cap house, in this summer.

That's quite the extrapolation on Heech. What did they do in worldgen?

So, did Melici actually tantrum and attack doctors?

Do the drows of Dungeonevened actually have no sleep/immunity to drowsiness?

Quote from: scourge728 on August 04, 2018, 03:32:52 pm

I see how it is, my dinosaurs weren't good enough for you (joke) You could have just added [CREATURE_CLASS:EXTINCT] to them and the neanderthals would have brought them FYI

They could have still brought Smilodons and short-faced bears. I'll give them dinosaurs from other mods in the future.

Quote from: ZM5 on August 04, 2018, 04:18:29 pm

I wonder if the Bogdanoff twins are behind the loss of the Grug army.

If they brought Chadunga along, Dungeonevened would have been leveled to the... destroyed.

Quote from: Fleeting Frames on August 05, 2018, 01:42:40 pm

Tanning: Oh. Yes. Thanks for reminding me of it.

Do drows...drink water?

Well, floodgates are more useful than doors or statues as bait buildings.

Hm, wonder if you could actually do brain damage. Maybe by having different blood in the head that on contact with skin decreases skill learning rates and increases rusting rates?

Interesting and unusual value on skills.

I imagined longboar to be something like a chiahuha variant of boar.

Until I read the text after it, anyway.

....I want nether-cap house, in this summer.

That's quite the extrapolation on Heech. What did they do in worldgen?

So, did Melici actually tantrum and attack doctors?

Do the drows of Dungeonevened actually have no sleep/immunity to drowsiness?

Drows do drink water, they are filthy elves after all.

About Heech, Ilike to imagine that all forgotten beasts are rooted deeply into people's subconsciousness, but nobody remembers them until they show up. That's why they are forgotten, and that's why they all have names, even if they had no contact with any sentient being.

I have no idea which Melici you had in mind, because every other drow is named Melici. Nobody tantrumed anyway.

Rhenaya's drows do have to sleep, but even if they didn't, I would have modded that out. Making bedrooms is a crucial part of a proper DF experience. I could just write that they meditate like D&D elves, but how would I justify beds?

---

I know it's been almost three weeks, but this update is only plot, no gameplay. I just wanted get this over with, because I really couldn't weave it into the game smoothly.
The next update should be more substantial, and it shouldn't take so long, in fact I know exactly what I want to achieve by then.

Now something actually relevant to the game: I'm really worried that updating to the latest version might have been a mistake. Apparently becoming a barony now depends on the number of subservient hillocks/villages, but we can't get those because I updated from the previous version. I was hoping that once we get a house matriarch, we'll be able to send raiding parties, because right now it's impossible (although this might be a problem with drows).
Also, if we can't get a grand matriarch the right way, we'll have to wait for Murknightmare to bleed itself out completely in their war with elder crawlers, but then I'd have to rethink where I want to go with the plot.

Spoiler: Plot - questioning of Asin (click to show/hide)

Every time my drow shows up, I find her more and more amusing

Obviously, the Melici I meant is the one you mentioned in the update. Though the naming scheme is unfortunate.

-------------------

Huh. I didn't figure drow to care for the dead and buried after they didn't care too much for the dead. This is surprising. Unless they can resurrect people?

You're putting in quite a lot of effort into backstories, in any case.

What's odd is that SQ didn't do anything after ZM5 so blatantly silenced her and placed demands on her, when ZM5 only stayed in room by SQ's grace.

"I'm so glad you finally found some time for your patient, mistress Asithi." Nunore said, leading the house cleric to the hospital. She was barely hiding her disapproval for the priestess's questionable work ethics. "Have you reviewed the documentation? I had Fred take thorough notes during the whole duration of treatment."

"Yes, it's a simple case, all things considered. Spine damaged by blunt force trauma, paralysis from waist down..."

"It's not this one, mistress." The barkeeper started considering if consulting the cleric was such a good idea after all. "This one's blood started boiling, which caused severe damage to internal organs and bones, all thanks to a certain forgotten beast.

Instead of addressing her mistake, Asithi opened the door to the hospital. Nothing looked out of ordinary, but exactly that was a problem.
"So... where is he? You said you immobilized every joint in his body, so he shouldn't have been able to move." Asithi looked at Nunore suspiciously. Did she have to add 'pathological liar' to the barkeep's profile?

(https://i.imgur.com/lTf9b7A.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/NElojHi.png)

Meanwhile, the broken, blinded Vemini was crawling around the town trying to find some work for himself. Other drows were looking at him with uneasiness bordering on disgust.
Unfortunately for Vemini, Freshcannon almost tripped over him on the way to the Mahogany Hall. Being a thoughtful priestess she decided to remove the troublesome cripple from under people's feet, so she lifted him up by his robe and carried him downstairs.

(https://i.imgur.com/o5aq0LN.png)

On the slave dwelling level the priestess came up with a better idea than just dumping the retired Copper Samurai to the caverns and hoping something would eat him. She opened the door to one of the rooms and threw Vemini in, then locked the door tightly. One problem solved, many more to go.

---

Fred the Mitey almost had a mental breakdown when he learned who was waiting for him by the trade depot.

(https://i.imgur.com/3lR2O0a.png)

Out of all people he didn't want to talk to, the skeletons were the ones he didn't want to talk to the most. The administrator couldn't tell what was more offputing: their silly jokes or the gruesome appearance of some of them. It didn't help that the one who delivered the news was Weri the fisherman, who was going through a depressive episode. Above all, Fred was getting ready to go digging for diamondium, something that he enjoyed, unlike trading with skeletons.

"OH LOOK, OUR FAVORITE FLESHIE! IT'S SKELETIME FOR SKELETRADING *CLACK CLACK CLACK*!" A deformed, cancerous skeleton exclaimed upon noticing Fred coming their way.

(https://i.imgur.com/q7OybgJ.png)

"I HOPE YOU HAVE A LOT OF FOOD FOR US! WE'RE ALL SKIN AND BONES! OH WAIT, WE'RE JUST BONES *CLACK CLACK CLACK*!" A serpentine skeleton cackled.

(https://i.imgur.com/s6wVACK.png)

---

(https://i.imgur.com/kUZob9C.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/uASGiyD.png)

Meanwhile, someone spotted other, more sinister kind of undead in the caverns. Spirits of ancient warriors were looking for living beings to slay, swords and axes swirling in a cloud of dust and spores. The Helmet Snakes were immediately called to guard the staircase.

---

(https://i.imgur.com/QZ9iNgg.png)

Asin and his wife, Efaci, were helping with carrying food to the depot, when suddenly the Iron samurai dropped a stone pot she was holding. Asin stopped too, worried that his wife might have suddenly felt worse.
"Efaci-larami, what is the matter? Do you need to take a rest?" He asked, putting away his pot.

"AH, NEW VESSEL, AND A NEW WITNESS! THE LAST VESSEL WAS FINE, BUT THE WITNESS WAS LACKING." Efaci said, or rather something said through Efaci. "COME, I'LL SHOW YOU WHAT MIRACLES BEINGS HIGHER THAN YOU CAN PERFORM!"

"Efaci-larami, is this one of your jokes? You certainly are getting... creative."

"JUST FOLLOW ME!"

---

(https://i.imgur.com/gwZZWiR.png)

The ragewinds, ethereal spirits carrying steel weaponry, were much less dangerous than they appeared. Obi Werelives easily dispatched both ghosts with two quick thrusts of his rapier. When the rest of the Snakes caught up to him, he just shrugged and headed back to the barracks.

---

(https://i.imgur.com/43Gst58.png)

"MEAT, EGGS, FLOUR, PREPARED MEALS... AND WHAT'S THIS BIRD THING? IT'S UNCOOKED! WANT US TO GET SALMONELLA, HUH, FLESHIE?" A colossal skeletal abomination asked, which seriously terrified Fred.

"It's... It's an a-a-abrian, o-overseer wanted to... she wanted to get rid of the su-surplus, so I thought..." The administrator stuttered.

"JUST PULLING YOUR FEMUR, WHERE'S YOUR FUNNY BONE? *CLACK CLACK CLACK*!" The skeleton laughed, much to Fred's relief. "WE WILL ACCEPT YOUR APOLOGY, THOUGH. LET'S SAY... THOSE BARRELS OF FOOD AND ALL YOUR SUGMA!"

"Sugma?"

"SUGMA BONE, FLESHIE! *CLACK CLACK CLACK*!

---

As usual, SQ and Scourge came up to inspect the purchased animals.

(https://i.imgur.com/z2gqfQd.png)

"A duck. We had a lot of these in the menagerie back in Murknightmare." SQ remembered. She suddenly realized that the sheer number of ducks might have been the reason why ZM5 left the aviaries to become a potter back in the day.

"Hey, wanna hear a fun fact about ducks?" Scourge suggested.

"No." SQ already knew which fact it would be.

"Ducks have corkscrew pe..."

"This is a female duck, so it's irrelevant!" The overseer cut in.

(https://i.imgur.com/hbVa8SH.png)

"That's a sick joke nature played on this bird. The only place where hair belong is the only hairless place on its body." Scourge seemed to seriously pity the guineafowl.

"Well, technically it doesn't have a single hair on its body, only feathers." SQ corrected.

"I was trying to give some deeper meaning to this creature, sprinkle a little drama into its existence, otherwise it will be just another bird."

"*Sigh* Speaking of birds, we have another loft owl, this time a male I believe. And..."

(https://i.imgur.com/27HNf1a.png)

"...a big seagull?"

"Why are you surprised? There are lice the size of a rothe running around, and a slightly bigger seabird is strange to you?" Scourge asked.

"I guess you're... Nope!" SQ quickly cast darkness spell at the next cage. "Astral fisher, not something you'd like to see."

"You'll have to let me face my fears one day, you know..." Scourge suddenly felt dejected at the mere thought of actually doing that, but then she lightened up and said "Look at all those bags! Looks like consolidated whining of Lunardog and Ombragon convinced Fred to buy in bulk."

"That reminds me, I'll have to speak with Ombragon about filling every single bag in Dungeonevened with flour. In fact, I'm gonna do it now." SQ proclaimed, and without further ado headed to the chef's guildhall.

---

Scourge, left to her own devices, decided she would go to the caverns to pick up some webs for silk. She was walking among underbarks and shadewoods in search of clean webs, when suddenly a grotesque ooze monster sprung out from fungal undergrowth.

(https://i.imgur.com/sNrKRPC.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/qP3Fddy.png)

The monster shambled towards her, reaching with its slimy arms. Instead of doing the reasonable thing and running away, the woman punched the reason stealer, only covering her hand in its ooze. The slime creature slammed its fist into Scourge's foot, but thanks to her heavy-duty boots, she only got a bruise.
Not discouraged by her previous failure, Scourge performed a few more punches, all with no effect.

(https://i.imgur.com/5E990EK.png)

The reason stealer swung its arm at Scourge, hitting her squarely on the shoulder. At that moment the woman realized this wasn't a game. A horrible pain of shattered bone piercing muscle caused her to flinch, but she wasn't ready to give up.

(https://i.imgur.com/VjkCq9F.png)

Despite the broken shoulder, Scourge still had strength to fight. She charged at the creature knocking it down.

(https://i.imgur.com/tTX8EwO.png)

The reason stealer retaliated by efortlessly smashing Scourge's ankle. The woman was no longer able to fight, but she believed there must have been a way to come out of that encounter alive...

(https://i.imgur.com/aTbHqwj.png)

She was right to be hopeful. The reason stealer caught a whiff of decaying deep stalker remains and shambled away to devour a new mind.

(https://i.imgur.com/8M57g09.png)

Scourge was lying on the soft moss, waiting for the monster to go away so she would be able to safely call for help, but that wasn't necessary. The Snakes have arrived! Behind them Asin's Samurais and even Imic's Blackguards, despite being unarmored.

(https://i.imgur.com/HdBiR9e.png)

The battle, if it could be called a battle, was quick and one-sided. Biretha Hexbanners the Nickel Samurai came in waving her axe, cutting off the monster's leg and turning the rest of the body into a formless pool of inanimate goo.

(https://i.imgur.com/Bor3bPZ.png)

Scourge watched in awe as the axewoman destroyed the reason stealer. Sure, she would have prefered if that was Imic or ZM5, but still, her lifespan was prolonged by possibly several centuries, so she had no reason to complain.
Now she was waiting for Imic to show up and carry her to the hospital. Except it wasn't Imic who did that, but Ombragon.

"Huh? Weren't you supposed to be talking with SQ?" Scourge asked the cook, who was indeed supposed to be having a meeting regarding flour.

"I made Lunardog the guild's speaker. Truth be told, I have no patience for long discussions about other people's obligations, especially if the point is that the other side is trying to blame us for the fact they didn't fulfill those obligations. After all overseer SQ is also responsible for making bags for flour... Scourge?" Ombragon noticed that Scourge passed out when he was explaining. It couldn't be helped, not everyone was made for serious guild business.

---

(https://i.imgur.com/U7FEdO9.png)

Asin came back to the crafting area to check on his wife. Efaci had already began the construction, and the spirit within her wasn't eager to share its secret. The posessed woman looked at Asin in a strangely meaningful way, and the Steel Samurai immediately knew she wanted him to stay by her.

---

(https://i.imgur.com/IV4DVJN.png)

A few hours after Scourge was brought to the hospital, her closest friends and family, that is Imic, SQ, ZM5 and Darkening Kaos gathered by the hospital door and waited until a doctor, or Nunore, lets them in. They were surprised when the one they saw opening the door was Scourge herself.

"What are you staring at? Aren't you glad I'm okay?" She said, even though she was far from okay. Even through the thick layer of silk bandages her shoulder didn't look good, and it was obvious she was in pain despite her trying to hide it.

"Scourge, I... I really think you should stay in bed, I mean, I'm no doctor..." Imic mumbled, still unsure what he should have been feeling at that moment.

"Asithi is a doctor and she said I'll be fine." Scourge assured. "Besides, I'm a lot tougher than you, wimps. I gotta be, with a baby on the way and everything. Anyone else is hungry?"

"Wait, what was that? W-what baby?" Imic turned grey, his legs could barely support his own weight, and his hands were shaking like never before.

"Our baby! Isn't that wonderful? Just nineteen more and we can take it easy." Scourge wanted to come up to Imic and kiss him, but forgot about her broken ankle." Ow! Heh, right... Come over here, Imic, don't make me walk all the way to you!"

While the others were stunned by the sudden news, ZM5 started clapping out of excitement. It's been way too long since he could truly come back to his easy-going self. "To think my older little sister is becoming a mother! Weren't your mother a petty noble of some kind? Then maybe you can rebuild House Profanepoisons from the ground up."

"That would be something, wouldn't it?" Kaos commented. "Oh, and there's so many oportunities for me to shine! You're gonna need furniture for your drowling's room. I always wanted to make a cradle, but never had a chance. Mahogany or wyrmblood? Oh, and I can try making some toys!"

"Five, Kaos, you have no idea how much your support means to me. I would give the two of you a hug, but as I am now I can only hug one person at a time." Scourge chuckled with tears in her eyes. Whether those were tears of joy or pain was anyone's guess. Then she remembered. "SQ, I know this may be a big change, but..."

"O-of course it will be a big change! Now I'm gonna be the weird aunt who sips wine while petting one of her fifty seven spiders, or in my case cockroaches! It's just a matter of time until I develop intense hatred for men and love for tacky porcelain ornaments!" SQ panicked, and as usual nobody could tell if she was serious about it.

Scourge smiled, relieved that the overseer reacted reasonably enough. "Well, you took it better than I expected. So how about those cave lizard steaks? I can't get better if I starve to death, can I?"

---

(https://i.imgur.com/wdalQhL.png)

"NOW MORTAL... I MEAN, ELF... I STILL CAN'T GET USED TO IT... PRAISE ME AND MY MASTERPIECE! RUSTSELLS!" Posessed Efaci shouted, waking up Asin who had fallen asleep waiting.

"Ah! Yes, those are magnificent greaves indeed! Made of ivory! You do not see things like this every day!" Asin praised as he was told.

"What are you talking about, Asin?" Efaci came back to her body, not knowing what was happening. "Are those pants made of bone? Oh, I bet you know how many bad jokes this calls for..."

"Efaci-larami, can I take a closer look?"

(https://i.imgur.com/CF0VtaW.png)

"This is undoubtedly the grand matriarch, Yetine-evala, this here is... I believe it is the high matriarch, Necate-ithera, and... Scourge-diri? Why her? I could understand the high priestess, or even SQ-ithera, but Scourge-diri?" Asin was looking at the greaves from every angle hoping to find answers, but he couldn't find anything.

"Wouldn't it be interesting if she turned out to be a runaway princess? Maybe she's next to the throne and the current high matriarch is an usurper? Could you imagine?" The Iron Samurai was getting carried away by her imagination. Asin just smiled, shook his head and gestured at her to go back to the barracks.

Well, some things happened, all right.

-The guy who got the whole package of Heech's blood syndrome has 10 splints on him, and he's spamming the announcement screen with job cancellations, so I locked him up. If he dies he dies.

-Skeletons took most of our food and some spare abrians. Got some useless metals and tons and tons of bags. Apparently the cooks prioritize single paradise nuts and single leapworm spleens instead of freeing up priceless bags.

-Scourge got badly wounded. I was worried the reason stealer would kill her, but once she fell over it left her alone. I'm pretty sure the monster would have gone its own way if she wasn't so insistent on beating it with her bare hands.

-Efaci made an amazing artifact. 69480 urists worth, but not very useful, since it's made of ivory. I should mention that cragtooth boar ivory is handled as both ivory and bone, so that's why it was a viable material. The spirit that possessed Efaci even referenced the one time it possessed Scourge.

-Scourge is expecting a child. I checked with DFhack.

Thoughts:

-Dedicated corpse haulers/dumpers. The drows are getting seriously upset over piles of dead mongrelfolk, troglodytes, cave pygmies, and trolls...

(https://i.imgur.com/ILMoG1f.png)

...but SQ is getting her kicks from listening to other drows whine. That's because of the one time she got caught in a sandstorm in 125.

-Cavern safety. Important (read: named) drows shouldn't be walking around looking for webs. Also, the two door entrance makes it harder to predict which way a dangerous monster would take. I plan to build a single entrance with a drawbridge and a trap corridor. I had Kaos churning out chitin serrated discs for that.

-Mahogany Hall sucks We need a new tavern.

-Swordnados aren't nearly as scary as they sound.

I like the update, but the sugma joke made me so disappointed in you

Vemini is a problem. A pathing restriction might solve the spam, though I'm not sure what can they do - I kept my armless in military anyway as a meat shield, and I suppose they can discuss in library, though writing requires grasp - and I think bookkeeping does as well. So does mooding.

...Oh, I guess Vemini was a problem. You could still keep him alive with a burrow, though.

I like how you handle skeletals. And birds, jeez.
(Though that will get old sooner than later.)

I however question how one can stab wind.

Scourge is pretty daring fighter. Of course, if they were to die, it'd mean interesting things for the plot.

Pfft on Ombragon.

Hauling food to Scourge...It's a possiblity with burrow arrangement, but should be avoided, for dehydration kills the baby.

And 20 babies? Doable but heh. Will take a while.

These pants of bone....*looks at skeletal caravan meaningfully*

I didn't know possessions could decipt possessions, however. Cool reference to history, there.

Who else is pregnant?

Skelebros are best! Kaos would be rifling through all of their books, scrolls and parchments, whether they were for sale or not.
Turning to one just before they depart and casually mentioning, "Has anyone ever said you would make a great coat hanger?", one might even detect just a hint of venom in her voice, "Bring better books next time"

(https://i.imgur.com/zCJAIZu.png)

I've been wondering for a while why there was so much blood everywhere in the fort, and I suspected it had something to do with Heech's blood syndrome. I was right, but I can't tell if it's a good or a bad thing. The drows will never stop coughing blood, and it's not enough to kill them. One troll ended up in hospital and started leaving teal tracks behind, so the sickness can still spread.
It's not a huge problem, but that's not how forts are usually painted with blood.

Quote from: Fleeting Frames on August 28, 2018, 08:48:32 pm

And 20 babies? Doable but heh. Will take a while.

I didn't know possessions could decipt possessions, however. Cool reference to history, there.

Who else is pregnant?

Having 20 children is easier if you're an immortal elf.

I've seen engravings about fey moods too, so I guess it's a thing that could happen.

I guess most married women would be pregnant, which means none of the named ones besides Scourge. Other ladies include: albino Melici, dungeon mistress Yetine, Asin's wife.

Spoiler: Plot - Fred the Mitey's questioning (click to show/hide)

"Ena Shadydevil... I still get shivers when hearing her name, yet I only ever heard rumors about her." Fred the Mitey said, looking through SQ's notebook. "My job was checking spelling and calculations in new documents, and Ena started her from the very top of the administration ladder."

"Wait, you were just a lowly pen-pusher fixing other officials' mistakes? How did you manage to steal so much money?" SQ asked. Schmendrick who was playing the good cop to SQ's confused cop raised her eyebrow too.

"You really underestimate how little they cared. Truth be told, the offices were full to the brim with corruption, and I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out they had been planning to use me as a scapegoat if anyone ever found out about their crimes. But you didn't come here to talk about me, but rather what I know about Ena's investigation, right?" Fred closed SQ's notebook, and gave it back to its owner. SQ grabbed it quickly and stuffed it into her vest's pocket. Fred then continued "I don't know anything. She questioned some high officials, then disappeared."

"Is... is that it? Come on, Fred, I know there must be a reason why you were so defensive about this topic. Did you think we'd start suspecting you?" Schmendrick appeared calm and friendly, but inside she was steaming with anger. After so much effort just a simple 'I don't know'?

"Yes, that's the reason. Now that I know Ena really is dead, I was considering calling the validity of the evidence into question, because the charges would be ridiculous at this point. A man killing a woman, a high official and the local house overseer's adoptive mother, then tricking the overseer into thinking I have the right to remain silent? I can't prove I'm innocent, and you could pretty much execute me on the spot, SQ. Then I realized bluffing would only make me look more suspicious." Fred's explained himself. "I AM innocent though, and you'll have to believe my words."

"You're not really the most trustworthy person, Fred." SQ pointed out. "But... I believe you."

"SQ, you're the bad cop!" Schmendrick reminded.

"I know, I just wanted to do a dramatic pause! You call yourself a professional investigator, yet you don't even know the tools of your trade. I bet you don't have a cool alias, and you don't narrate your own investigations." SQ scoffed. Once she calmed down, she remembered why she was even in Fred's office. "Anyway, there's one more possibility, Fred. One of your accomplices killed mo... Ena, trying to protect you, or rather the scheme."

"Even if that's true, I don't know anything about that. The possibility of someone else from accounting having Ena killed also exists, but again, I just have no idea. Can I go to the mines now?" Fred asked, looking at the door.

"One more thing, Fred." SQ stopped the administrator. "Thank you for not making this any harder for us."

"Not making it harder? He got us into another dead end." Schmendrick commented, now visibly angry.

"Getting a false lead or convicting an innocent person would be even worse than that if we're going for truth. If we're not moving, at least we're not moving in the wrong direction." The overseer explained her reasoning. Schmendrick was somewhat impressed by this short speech. "Okay, Fred, you can go. I have a meeting to attend too.

"And I have to tell ZM5 he was right all along. I hate that." Schmendrick shuddered at the thought of ZM5 lecturing her smugly.

SQ didn't like holding meetings in her own office. It was her personal space, and having it invaded wasn't in her business at all. Some drows, however, were insistent on talking to the overseer in the office.

(https://i.imgur.com/Wl6jlkf.png)

Asithi the house cleric was outraged by something, but instead of telling SQ straight away, she sat at the desk, looking at the overseer with her eyes filled with frustration.

"A-Asithi, could you please stop staring at me? You're making me uncomfortable. If that's some kind of surprise therapy, I'll have to ask you to leave right now." SQ was desperately trying to avoid eye contact, and with every second of the priestess's glaring, staying calm was getting more and more difficult.

"I just want to get you in the mood, make you as miserable as I am so you can understand the point I'm going to make. I see you're ready." Asithi cracked her knuckles, took a deep breath, and cried: "The patients have no respect for me! That friend of yours left the hospital without informing any medical personnel, the patient with jellified bones completely disappeared, even though he should have been completely immobile, Freshcannon manservant Biretha didn't want to tell me where he gets all those bruises from... And that strumpet from Mahogany Hall says I'm slacking on the job!"

"That's, uhh..." SQ had no idea what to say.

"I think I'm... no, I can't self-diagnose, this would be a bad example for a young, impressionable girl like you, overseer. I know!" Asithi took the closest slip of paper she could find, which happened to be an order for the outpost liaison, and started writing something. When she finished she handed it to SQ. "Here's your medical licence. Now diagnose me with depression."

(https://i.imgur.com/rWjM5ay.png)

"This is ridicu..." SQ bit her tongue fast enough. "You have depression, there's no denying it."

The cleric took the medical licence away from SQ, torn it to shreds and left the room without saying a word.

---

Darkening Kaos was discussing personal matters with skeletons who were loitering at the trade depot.
"So... you got any good books?" She asked.

"GOOD? NO, OF COURSE NOT! WE'RE UNDEAD ABOMINATIONS, EVERYTHING WE HAVE IS EVIL! *CLACK CLACK CLACK*!" One of the skeletons laughed. "GOOD JOKE, GOOD JOKE. WE CAN'T READ WITHOUT EYES, FLESHIE!"

"Then how..." Kaos stopped to consider if talking to the bags of bones could ever be productive in any way. She concluded that it couldn't. "You know, there's certain beauty in your forms... you, for example, would make a great coat hanger, you, pumpkin head, would be a pretty effective scarecrow." The tone of her voice indicated that this wasn't meant to be a compliment. "Next time have a good look around your fortress and bring some books or scrolls.

Disappointed in the lack of new reading material, Kaos turned around, ready to head to the forge, when her eyes caught a glimpse of a familiar face. By all accounts that person shouldn't have been in Dungeonevened. Kaos hurried to approach them.

The young woman caught up with the group of newcomers by the entrance to the Mahogany Hall. She quickly located the person she was looking for.
"M-mistress Yetine Tamelies! It's... It's such an honor to meet you here after all those years!"

The scrawny migrant looked at Kaos with no emotions whatsoever. "Yes, yes, you have all my books. No, I won't sign them. Where's the matriarch's office?

"I attended some of your lectures, even sent you a paper to review! The name's Darkening Kaos or Fecawi Searedfly. Don't you remember?" Kaos wasn't ready to give up just yet.

"Yes, I'll never forget it. After all I've never heard of such absurdities in my entire life. A machine will never be able to suture a wound, let alone do it better than a living person! I read your paper to my colleagues, and they laughed for two days straight." Yetine was just getting warmed up. "I'm glad you stopped attending my lectures, because you're obviously not a healer material. From that single paper I could deduce that you believed there's future in mechanics and metallurgy, and you're a fool if you still haven't changed your mind. The art of suturing and wound dressing cannot be improved, because I, Yetine Tamelies, am the pinnacle of medical ability!"

(https://i.imgur.com/wBdW2dN.png)

"I see you haven't changed a bit, mistress." Kaos said, not discouraged at all. "I gave up on medicine when I realized I'd rather forge tools for causing wounds. There's always been a need for those in Murknightmare. I see you took some apprentices. Are they good at licking your boots, or are they slaves?"

"It would be in your best interest to show me where's the matriarch and never speak to me ever again."

"You're not talking to SQ, but Fred, our administrator might have some work for you." Darkening Kaos still looked at the legendary healer with admiration, but there was also some cathartic sadism showing on her face. "How do your companions feel about hauling corpses?"

---

(https://i.imgur.com/EykCZqZ.png)

With each day more and more horrific creatures emerged from the caverns. The military was informed about a pack of skinless monsters roaming the narrow corridors to the south. Both Freshcannon and Asin answered the call. Imic wanted to go too, but the diamondium shortage left his soldiers underequipped.

(https://i.imgur.com/n9x3gMo.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/gKsvgkW.png)

The beasts' appearance was gruesome, but it didn't take long to dispose of them.

(https://i.imgur.com/sQUY3RR.png)

Uthimi, the creator of Imic's spacesuit, was ambushed by one of the rippers. The armorer sucker punched the monster, then crushed its arm with her bare hand.

(https://i.imgur.com/rOwyBE7.png)

After a solid punch from one of the Helmet Snakes, the ripper keeled over as if preparing for Freshcannon's axe.

---

(https://i.imgur.com/X4FT1E9.png)

"I HOPE THIS WHOLE PLACE COLLAPSES AND BURIES ALL YOU WORTHLESS ASSHOLES UNDER A THICK LAYERS OF RUBBLE! ENOUGH OF THOSE DAMN MUSSELS! THEY EAT FISH SHIT, PEOPLE! FISH SHIT!" The fisherman shouted while kicking barrels in the food stockpile.

Suddenly he felt someone's hand on his shoulder. It was MottledPetrel. "Weri, it's time for a smoke break. We fishermen are the backbone of this community, but if we don't smoke, we get cranky and you're plenty cranky right now. Why?"

"It's... it's all those skeletons! Not the living ones, but the dead mongrelfolk, trogs, humans... Petrel, boss, we're not immortal, despite what the priestesses and bluebloods want us to believe!"

"And? We don't age, but a serious blow to the head can kill us, we've all always knew this, Weri. Tell me, how does this change your life?" Petrel pulled out a pack of cigarettes from under his coat. "Coming with us?"

Weri calmed down as quickly as he erupted. "Okay, thanks, boss."

---

"Every time I hear about anything that happens in the caverns, it involves some horrible monsters! Why is that?" SQ was furious after hearing about the ripper packs roaming the caverns. Normally she wouldn't talk to Freshcannon like that, but she had enough.

"When we were making our exit, one of my Snakes saw a shark troll sneaking around too. If I gotta be honest, kid, I think the problem is with people, not the monsters. I mean, the monsters are nasty sons of bitches, but the dumbasses who run around looking for webs are asking for mauling."

"You're a priestess of a chthonic deity, can't you just chant some prayers, draw some protective sigils, and curse all monsters in existence so they don't bother anyone?"

"You overestimate what I'm capable of. We could spend eternity killing monsters, but I can't guarantee they would stop coming."

(https://i.imgur.com/auVu9I2.png)

"No more collecting webs, then! We can get silk from egg sacs and silkmilk! You know what? I'll have the caverns walled off completely! There's nothing interesting out there!" SQ felt strange satisfaction from making those decision, as if she took revenge on some old enemy."

---

On the surface, just by the entrance to the town proper, a certain drow snapped under overwhelming stress of everyday life.

(https://i.imgur.com/uiTbr5c.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/Z3gnG83.png)

Overwhelmed by rage brewing within her, Asithi started wailing on the first person she saw, and just so happened that this person was Fred the Mitey, the house administrator. The poor man had no chance to defend himself from the crazed cleric's assault.
Fortunately Asithi realized beating innocent bystanders wasn't as satisfying as she imagined, so she headed to the shrine of Otira, hoping that meditation on something peaceful, like fishing, would douse the flames of her fury.

---

(https://i.imgur.com/1U5uSwv.png)

Nunore stood over Fred's bed, admiring her work. She was getting better and better at putting drows back together, and if she started caring one day, she might have even applied for medical papers.

"N-Nunore... I'm glad there are still good women like you around, not just psychotic woman-children, shady sociopaths, and priestesses with anger management problems." Fred said as soon as he regained full consciousness. Seeing the barkeep taking care of him was not only a relief, but also a great pleasure for him.

"Finally awake. I'll go get you a crutch and some water, just wait for me." Nunore was about to go fetch what she needed. "Once you're out of here, please don't overwork yourself, your hip will need some time to heal."

"Oh great, several centuries of a hip pain ahead of me. Am I officially an old man now? Where do I apply for pension?" A lot went through the administrator's mind, but before he could express everything, Nunore left the hospital.

---

(https://i.imgur.com/Vo8QXVn.png)

Ugh, what a horrible season this was! Nothing but listening to whinging, dealing with cavern monsters, Asithi picking fights with everyone!" SQ complained to Scourge while visiting her in her room.

"That and I'm still not quite ready to walk on my own, Five and some others cough blood all the time, and Kaos has been complaining about some new healer lady." Scourge added. "This wasn't a good autumn for anybody, really."

"And diamondium shortage, waves of new abrians, projects to finish... You know, I sometimes miss being a caretaker in the royal meangerie in Murknightmare."

"Being a rothegirl is easier than overseeing a town, who would have thought?" Scourge smiled and got up from her bed. "Okay, enough lying around. You've been working your butt off, now it's my turn to join you... if you help me with the stairs."

"Wait a moment, I promised Melici, the albino Melici, I'd do something for her. Just a moment!"

---

(https://i.imgur.com/xcUcrJ8.png)

"Melici, is there a particular reason why you want to do this?" SQ shouted from the lever room by the arena.

"Yes, being different I need to keep proving my worth all the time or else people would try to keep me down!" Melici shouted back from the arena. She was looking impatiently at hideous mongrelfolk locked up in cages. She couldn't wait to sink her blade into their flesh. "Are you pulling this lever or what?"

"You know you don't need to prove anything? Asin likes you a lot, you're his second most valuable soldier, right after his wife!"

"Pull this lever already!" The Silver Samurai snapped.

(https://i.imgur.com/s334lAB.png)

After a brief fight, the six mongrelfolk's body parts were scattered across the arena. Melici took of her helmet, spit out some blood, then shouted: "Overseer, you can lower the bridge now!" But she heard no answer. "Overseer? SQ, this isn't funny! Get me out of here!"

---

(https://i.imgur.com/RAz3sSI.png)

SQ and Scourge were taking care of abrians in the menagerie, when suddenly they heard Fred the Mitey's voice calling to everyone: "Traders from Murknightmare are here! Gather all your trash and whatever else you want to get rid of and bring it to the depot!"

"Aww, looks like I'm going back to my room..." Scourge sighed in disappointment.

"You can come with me to my office, maybe Weri will take pity of you and gives us a better deal next year." SQ suggested, vaguely humorously.

"Hah, I won't achieve what you already don't. She probably treats you as if you were her great-granddaughter. I'll go with you, though, just so I don't have to lie in bed for any longer." Scourge agreed.

"Age-wise I could be Weri's mother, you know."

"Emotional development-wise and appearance-wise you really could be her great-granddaughter." Scourge pointed out, then added: "Of course only if her children and grandchildren hooked up exclusively with drows. Humans are weird."

---

(https://i.imgur.com/VlpLy93.png)

On the surface Fred was watching the merchants move towards the depot, when suddenly one of the wagons stopped. The slave beasts pulling it were staring with horror at the skeleton of a dead swinetaur thief. After a while they went mad, breaking the wagon, spilling piles of metal ingots and nuggets on the ground. The rest of the traders turned around to avoid the rampaging slave beasts. In the process they also avoided trading with Dungeonevened.

---

Spoiler: M&M session (click to show/hide)

Notes:
-Dedicated trash haulers are a must. Even those few new trashmen managed to do more cleaning in a month than 80 working drows in 3 years.

-Sentient creatures should NEVER be wagon pullers. They cancel pulling wagons at the mere sight of a corpse.

-The house cleric is responsible for law enforcement. That explains why Asithi is constantly pissed we don't have a prison.

-Weri the fisherman has great self-control. He tantrumed twice without ever assaulting anyone, while Asithi keeps attacking drows and animals.

-Getting a legendary wound dresser isn't that exciting when a barmaid can do the same job just as well. A legendary fish cleaner would have been much better.

I think I'd be going insane too if aside from having to deal with regular old rotting corpses I'd also have to deal with punster skeletons.

Strange about the slave beasts though - in my experience I haven't had issues with semi-sentient wagon pullers (though I give them innate discipline which may or may not have something to do with it)

@Blood cough:

How big are the drows? When one of my embarks had permanent blood cough, I found it was deadly to dogs, harmless (blood in body confirmed to not go down via gui/gm-editor) to large livestock, and eventually killed my experimental dwarves in many months with time depending on their body size. Wiki claimed blood cough to be harmless, but I know it is almost harmless now.

(I suspect trained military might have survived.)

@Babies: None of my dwarves in Moonhome died of old age, yet only few got past 20 babies. Unless you modded your drows to have multiple births or something.

You can check how many are pregnant with relations-indicator(in my sig). Based on past experience and you not menioning births in past posts, I suspect no more than 2 are pregnant, unless you have yearly mandatory time offs.

@Military drama:

...it'd be easy to fool these investigators. Look, Fred already blamed things on someone they can't reach.

@Asithi:

Ahahaha. Wait, you enabled medical labours on SQ?

Pfft that's going to be fun.

@Trade:

Wait, did Kaos suggest them to have a good look right after they said they don't have eyes? Pfft.

Anyway, it's quite odd that they accept anything. Can't wait for economy arc.

Oh, and regular vanilla wagons explode at corpses too, this is not the fault of the mod.

@Yetine:

"Legendary Wound Healer"...Oho! That's nice usage of SDL editing.

@Fishertantrum:

I'm curious, does the mod actually have therapists?

You, sir, are having too much fun with the M&M sessions...……...keep up the good work.

As for that strumpet Wound Dresser, one day, at the end of combat, I'm going to get a random arm or leg from the field of battle and take it to the hospital and demand she 'do her best to save her patient', probably followed up with a toy axe mysteriously replacing all her surgical tools.

It's been a long time again. I just couldn't get in the mood for writing, and when I finally did, my laptop's charger got busted. My life in a nutshell.

I know how the cave roaches keep getting out of their terrariums! SQ keeps releasing them for some reason! The previous three were either killed with doors or eaten by spiders, I don't know why my drow thinks keeping the fourth cockroach outside of the terrarium would be a good idea. Well, RIP SQ5, victim of her owner's good will.

Quote from: ZM5 on September 04, 2018, 11:06:02 am

Strange about the slave beasts though - in my experience I haven't had issues with semi-sentient wagon pullers (though I give them innate discipline which may or may not have something to do with it)

Slave creatures handle fear really strangely. While regular citizens just take a hit to mood and continue going their way, trolls keep cancelling jobs and run around scared. Would removing [WAGON_PULLER] work in an existing world?

Five years old Asithi Liegills got bored of playing in the bedroom level's corridors all day, and as a resourceful drowling she was, she quickly found a solution to this problem. She needed to find out what she wanted to do when she grows up. After five minutes of walking back and forth completely lost in thought, she looked at the toy she was holding in her hand the whole time - a bronze toy sword. She knew.

---

Imic was having a hard day. The last day of Moonstone was the last day of training before a month long break for Blackguards, and nobody seemed to be eager to do any training.

"Miss Litheme, we'll be having a lunch break in about an hour, you won't starve until then! Mister Fecawi, I won't believe you have this so-called narcolepsy unless you bring me mistress Asithi's opinion on paper! Mistress Freshcannon, where are you going? Don't leave me with seventeen people to take care of!" Imic couldn't handle the situation, but he remembered what the city guard instructor in Murknightmare used to do in moments like this.

The weapon master went outside, believing that his soldiers would be too lazy to kill each other, and trusting that ZM5 would manage to keep Biretha and Melici from taking their antics too far. Before he could even wipe sweat from his forehead, he noticed a tiny person rushing straight at him.

"Mis'ser, mis'ser, what do you do, mis'ser? Mis'ser, what do you do?" Asithi inquired, pointing at Imic with her toy sword.

"Huh? Oh... hello, little miss, I'm, uh... a weapon master, why do you ask?" Imic answered, trying to sound friendly despite having spent the whole morning with an unmotivated pack of unskilled, undisciplined soldiers.

"I wanna be a weapon mas'ser when I grow up! What does a weapon mas'ser do? Mis'ser, what does he do?" The child looked at Imic with awe. She didn't expect to run into the weapon master himself, but becoming a weapon master would be even better than being just a regular soldier.

"You can't be a..." Imic stopped. Obviously as a girl Asithi would never become a weapon master, but crushing a child's dreams isn't what a champion of justice would do. "I'm tasked with protecting the overseer, but I'm not working alone, I have a squad of... elite warriors under my command,"

"That's what a cap'n does! What do you do mis'ser? What? What, Mis'ser?" Asithi demanded a full answer, not some half-hearted beating around the bush.

"I... what do I do? I guess I make demands, but... Yeah, I make suggestions to the overseer about making things that the town needs the most." The weapon master tried to make his 'privilege' sound impressive, but Asithi didn't look impressed. "I'll demonstrate!"

(https://i.imgur.com/q3yIp4m.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/cnKAQ8W.png)

"Go and tell overseer SQ that we can safely export floodgates now, and also we need a crown. This is your first mission, don't disappoint me." Imic didn't seriously expect Asithi to follow the order, but the girl saluted, turned around on her heel, and ran underground. The weapon master thought to himself: "I'll have to make it up to miss SQ after that."

---

SQ and Darkening Kaos were having a pleasant conversation in SQ's office. Tea and strawberry cake were involved.

"...It's not like I hate her, just the opposite in fact. I admire her, but she's the kind of person you'd rather admire from far away." Kaos explained her relations with Yetine Tamelies, the legendary wound healer. "Unrelated, but do you have any plans for the caverns? You had me making those serrated discs for a new safe entrance, and suddenly you tell the masons to block the doors completely."

"Well, I really want to put some cage traps in there, but look what's been happening in there: most soldiers cough blood from touching a forgotten beast's blood, the trolls are shaken because of all those cave pygmy chunks lying around, Scourge still complains that her arm feels stiff after her meeting with a reason stealer." SQ explained. "It's just a matter of time until something even worse comes out of there, like mind flayers or aboleths."

(https://i.imgur.com/TpfpGdZ.png)

"If there were aboleths in our caverns, they wouldn't have left us be for this long. Come on, we have thirty competent warriors armed by yours truly, so if you keep people from wandering around looking for webs, everything should be just fine." Kaos said enthusiastically, but then she felt the need to explain her excitement: "I just really want this trap corridor built, okay? I haven't been making giant sawblades to sell to those freaky fish people or the scumbags from Murknightmare."

"I'll think about it, but first I want to..."

"Mis'ress oh-ver-sire! Mis'ress!" A squeaky voice interrupted the conversation. Nobody saw or heard Asithi come in, making her sudden appearance startling to say the least. "Mis'ser weapon mas'ser said we can ex-port flooding gates! An' he wants a crown!"

"Don't sneak up on us like that, Asithi!" SQ scolded the child, then waited for her to leave. She was getting nervous when the girl continued to stand in place, looking at her. "I'll tell Imic to make his crown himself, you can go now. I think your mom is in the menagerie, why don't you go to her?"

"Mis'ress, what does an oh-ver-sire do? I wanna be an oh-ver-sire too! Mis'ress!" Asithi inquired.

"Over my dead body." SQ muttered under her breath.

"SQ, what was that? She's five at most!" Kaos whispered.

"Being an overseer is not that pleasant at all. I have to listen to people's complaining, my orders are often ignored, I sometimes drown in paperwork, I get all the blame if something happens to merchants." SQ was obviously trying to discourage Asithi from pursuing her career. It was so painfully obvious that Kaos couldn't help but roll her eyes. "I think you'd make a great rothegirl though, just like your mother. I'm a little busy right now, so talk to Scourge about this, she's the second in command in the menagerie."

Asithi saluted like a little soldier, then ran off without saying a word.

---

Asithi, a drowling on a mission, was running up the staircase to the menagerie. When she was on the right level, she heard noises coming from upstairs, as if someone dropped a pile of heavy items on the ground. As a future overseer and weapon mistress, Asithi had to investigate.

"THE MATERIALS HAVE BEEN GATHERED, NOW IF ONLY I HAD A WITNESS TO BEHOLD MY CREATION..." A spirit shouted through Tharumi Squashhates the jeweler. Then he noticed Asithi looking at him from across the corridor. "YOU, CHILD SKULKING THERE! YOU ARE ABOUT TO WITNESS THE IMPOSSIBLE! THE CREATION OF AN ARTIFACT SO MAGNIFICENT THAT... HEY, COME BACK HERE!" The girl had no interest in such distractions. She was carrying crucial orders, so she couldn't risk falling into an enemy's trap. Tharumi started working reluctantly, disappointed that nobody will see the effects of his work.

(https://i.imgur.com/3bgA48H.png)

---

Scourge was standing by the rothe enclosure, overseeing their marking for slaughter. Lerine Doombranded was inside the enclosure, marking the animals with silver moon dye. As much as it pained Scourge, there were just too many rothe, and culling the smaller, weaker ones would do good for both the animals and the food and textile industry.

(https://i.imgur.com/8pLkdZl.png)

"Lerine, I don't wanna kill rothe! We could just geld some bulls to slow down the growth of the herd." Scourge felt bad for the rothe. She knew that no amount of begging would postpone the order any further, but she felt a strong need to express her displeasure.

"Scourge, you know how hard it was to convince SQ to let us mark eight rothe instead of ten?" Lerine asked, sprinkling another rothe with silver powder. "She's always so timid, I didn't expect her to get so... assertive. Does she always get like this on her 'time of the month'?"

"Hah, nice, I gotta use that one one day. But no, it's not that. SQ's been in a foul mood since her meeting with the outpost liaison, and honestly, I think I should have a word with her before she gets some silly idea." Scourge said. Suddenly she felt someone pulling her robe's sleeve. She looked down to see Asithi looking at her with fierce determination. "Oh, Asithi! Glad you decided to drop in, adorable little things like you are always welcome here. I think your mom is taking care of the abrians right now, so why don't you wait here with me and Lerine?"

"Mis'ress, I wanna be a rothegirl! I wanna ride a lizard an' throw lasso an' shoot rothe stealers an'... an'..." The girl was so excited she forgot she had no idea what else rothe herders did, but that wasn't enough to curb her enthusiasm.

"That's cute, but we don't do free-range anymore, so there's no need for lassos and revolvers. I could use a lasso and a revolver though... Never mind that! If you wanna become a modern rothegirl like me, SQ or your mother, you have to adhere to three simple rules." Scourge cracked her knuckles, overjoyed that she could once again recite the rules she made up over a hundred years ago. "First, you need to respect all animals, not only rothe. That means you should learn about their behavior, be diligent in taking care of them, and not take their docility for granted. Can you do that?"

"Yes mis'ress! Mommy already taught me how to milk a spider!"

"Excellent! Now rule number two: be cute as a button. If your mom can do that, you shouldn't have any trouble."

Lerine's muffled voice suddenly came from under the tightly packed mass of rothe. "I'm not cute, I'm ruggedly hadsome!"

"Keep telling yourself that, sweet cheeks!" Scourge smirked at where she assumed Lerine was, then went back to explaining rules to Asithi: "The third rule: you need to be twelve or older. I lowered it to seven once, but that was an exception. Come back in seven years and I'll make you my personal assistant."

For most drows seven years wasn't long at all, but for Asithi it was literally more than she could imagine. She couldn't be a weapon mistress, she couldn't be a house overseer, she couldn't even be a rothegirl, so what was left for her to do? She looked at her toy sword and everything became obvious - she could still pretend to be a knight slaying vile unicorns and foul pixies.

---

(https://i.imgur.com/g8KfhL8.png)

"IT'S DONE! IT'S... I GUESS I'LL JUST GO, HMPH!" The spirit grumbled before leaving Tharumi's body." Wait, what am I doing here? I was... Woah!"

(https://i.imgur.com/N77OU52.png)

Tharumi couldn't believe his own eyes. Before him stood a cage of pure pyrope, intricately decorated with masterfully worked metal, stone, wool and bone. The decorations included architectural and animal motifs, foundation of Dungeonevened twice, and a priestess of an eldritch entity becoming an outpost matriarch in Murknightmare.
The jeweler wouldn't have believed he was the author of this work if not for the fact that he was still holding tools in his hands and there was nobody around.

---

"We've got cage traps and giant sawblades, what next? You know there's no such thing like overkill when dealing with monsters." Darkening Kaos was extatic knowing that her idea for a trap corridor has been approved.

The young mechanic's excitement quickly spread to SQ. "How about huge retracting spikes?" The overseer suggested. "All best dungeons have spike traps. And swinging axe blades! And monsters! Let's pitch monsters against monsters!"

"Monster on monster action? Great idea! The spikes are too simple though, I don't like taking the easy route. Maybe giant corkscrews instead? Or, imagine, enchanted metal snake heads like those in scourges of fangs!"

"Yeah, sounds fantastic, let's finish the tea and get making this entrance! If Fred isn't busy we can heve it done by the evening!"

Knocking on the door interrupted the conversation. Without waiting to be let in, Fred the Mitey entered the office as if he hed been waiting outside for his name to be mentioned. In fact, that was exactly what he was doing.
"Not so fast, overseer!" The administrator exclaimed dramatically. "Are you aware how much work the miners have in their hands?"

(https://i.imgur.com/B3muGDX.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/i19HkKI.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/L3qvtuV.png)

"We're done with the new dining hall, which was a big job, and now we're expanding the menagerie as you ordered, then we'll be making room for carpenter's and mason's workshops..." Fred listed. "There was also the dungeon mistress and her... unorthodox request."

(https://i.imgur.com/Vo2J1W7.png)

Fred was already a bit flustered after mentioning Yetine's order, but he became even more so and admitted: "That, and I must have also sold all trap components you made at some point, Kaos, because I couldn't find any when checking the stocks..."

"You were eavesdropping, waiting for a chance to make a dramatic entrance?" SQ asked in disbelief, ignoring everything Fred said. "What's next? You're going to create an alter-ego and start narrating everything you do?"

"Let me take this one, SQ." Kaos suggested. The overseer wanted to protest, but she realized she had nothing constructive to say. Kaos continued: "That's a lot of metal wasted. How much of what do we have left?"

"I've got a list somewhere... just a second... here!" The administrator pulled a piece of parchment from his pocket.

(https://i.imgur.com/8ckp3uj.png)

"We've got loads of gleaming chitin, a good amount of silver, some refined and hardened chitin... huh, looks like we're low on diamondium again. At least the Blackguards are fully equipped now. The wagon that crashed carried some ore, but I don't think there was a lot of that." Fred analyzed the list closely.

"Gleaming chitin is too brittle for... for anything, really. Okay, I'll keep making chitin sawblades, but I want someone assigned to making silver hammers down in the forges." Kaos requested.

""Hey, I'm the overseer here!" SQ reminded, putting down her teacup. "Kaos, you keep making chitin sawblades. Fred, get someone making silver hammers in the forges. If your miners weren't so busy, I'd have you send them to the mines to get some more chitin. I'm going to the menagerie to make sure Scourge isn't trying to rescue any rothe."

---

(https://i.imgur.com/gg172QD.png)

Athara Dieabyss left the abrian paddock visibly disturbed. Although it's logical to be disturbed by monsters from lower planes, abrians never bothered her to that day.

SQ, Scourge and Lerine were discussing the latest expansion of the menagerie and what enclosures needed to be built first, when suddenly they noticed their shocked colleague.
"Hey, Athara! We were just having a meeting, if you can call it that. We'd appreciate your input, so... did something happen?" Scourge asked upon noticing Athara's expression."

"Did... Did you know abrians are sentient?" The woman muttered.

"W-what? They don't talk, h-how do you know they can think?" SQ asked, hoping that Athara was wrong.

"I had one for lunch yesterday! We all ate abrian meat at some point!" Lerine started panicking, more because he found eating sentients disgusting than because it was immoral.

"E-everybody calm down! There's one simple solution for this!" Athara attempted to calm dow the menagerie staff. "Forget I told you about it, and under no circumstance let anyone know!"

---

The folowing month was seemingly very calm. Seemingly because mussel gatherers, corpse haulers and surface farmers were often voicing their concerns about sounds they described as 'savage howling' coming from the distance. Those complaints were dismissed by every drow in power, after all the woods were a home to many creatures that could make such noises.
One day the howling started getting louder and louder until finally:

(https://i.imgur.com/AHwuPP0.png)

A gigantic ape from distant frozen lands appeared on the horizon, falling trees on its way with its bare hands, crushing rocks under its feet, looking furiously at the walls of Dungeonevened. The town was on the Saumen Kar's way and it had to be destroyed.

(https://i.imgur.com/aKMx2fb.png)

Helmet Snakes and Steel Samurais gathered by the western gate. The monster could just vault over the wall, but even then it would have no choice but to face the drows.

(https://i.imgur.com/7jTf3VD.png)

Freshcannon was calm, even happy about the attack. Both major monster attacks were finished by her axe, this one was supposed to end the same way. That's what gods wanted.

(https://i.imgur.com/oAtJZ5D.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/RbaBMwz.png)

The monster noticed a crowd of tiny black creatures in shiny shells from the distance. It walked slowly not to startle them, because stomping on them all at the same time would be much more satisfying than squishing them one after another. Once Baranue crossed the gate, the small creatures started waving their arms. The Saumen Kar thought it was their way of begging for mercy. It chuckled to itself in a deep guttoral voice. The situation stopped being funny when the monster's fur started glowing brightly.
Baranue was confused, but it was quickly forced to snap out by sharp pain in its right foot. Melici the Silver Samurai dealt the first blow, cutting deeply and forcing the monster to shift its whole weight to the left leg. Asin took advantage of that situation and slammed his fist into Baranue's left foot, cusing it to fall over.

(https://i.imgur.com/Vkt2w2b.png)

Freshcannon made sure the monster wouldn't stand up by crushing its foot's bones, and later she did the same with its left hand. She had this kill in the bag. Or so she thought.

(https://i.imgur.com/VKdqGUP.png)

Baranue was unconscious, lying in the pool of its own blood, with twenty drows trying to pierce its thick skull. Finally a powerful stab turned the monster's fractured head into a rain of blood and bone shards.

Melici couldn't bring herself to pull the sword out of Baranue's brain, she wanted that moment to last forever. Killing a beast that huge would surely win her respect of other soldiers. Suddenly she felt someone putting a hand on her shoulder.
"Get inside or you'll get sunburnt again, freak." Freshcannon faked concern, but it was obvious she was upset over losing a major kill.

---

(https://i.imgur.com/zfNC7TE.png)

One of the soldiers wasn't in a festive mood after the fall of Baranue. Slevina Faintfolds, one of the Helmet Snakes, couldn't contol himself anymore. He was still dwelling upon being thirsty a year ago, Ombragon's masterful meals weren't good enough for him, a troglodyte bone he saw the other day was still creeping him out, he was sure SQ wasn't listening to him when he was complaining. All those horrible things caused Slevina to release his frustration on the nearest drow.

(https://i.imgur.com/NniDWRH.png)

Lunardog was feeling second-hand embarrassment for Slevina. A trained warrior should be able to hurt him, not just give him a few bruises. Instead of fighting back, the farmer just backed away at which Slevina reacted by rolling on the ground and shouting obscenities.

---

(https://i.imgur.com/MVDxkYR.png)

First day of spring, SQ and Scourge were sitting outside watching the sunrise.

"Another year passed and we're still alive, can you believe it?" SQ muttered, deep in thought. "How long have we been here, four years? It feels so much shorter..."

"Not really, a lot of stuff has been going on. Although I get why you would say that." Scourge stood up and looked down at her friend with an exaggerated thinking expression. "I fell in love, got married, and I'm going to have a baby very soon. You haven't had much going on on the romantic front."

SQ got up too, not very interested in continuing the conversation. Before she could disappear underground, voices from behind the walls grabbed her attention. "S-Scourge, can you hear it?"

"Yeah, and I don't like it..."

---

(https://i.imgur.com/yOJ3Eob.png)

Uthimi Shockhell was slowly backing off along the wall. She had no idea who or what the people in front of her were, but she didn't like the way they spoke to her:

"Come to us, skinless elf, you will fit right in! Our family is always looking for new members! Ha ha ha!"

(https://i.imgur.com/CrrR1Cu.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/e7157bX.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/0ENdFtE.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/STsHbhV.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/tJbwgtN.png)

Uthimi was lucky she was blind, because creatures she was facing were some of the most grotesque. Suddenly she heard shouting from the other side of the wall. It was SQ calling for Freshcannon and Asin. Uthimi decided to trust the overseer's judgement and ran as fast as she could without tripping.

(https://i.imgur.com/HNhuLDz.png)

Unfortunately her fastest wasn't fast enough. A diminutive clown threw a hatchet that hit her in the back and lodged itself in her kidney. Uthimi was sure this was her end when suddenly...

"Hey, freaks, need a strong man in your circus? I've got plenty of mussels!" MottledPetrel shouted, flexing his feeble muscles, holding a mussel in his hand.
The monsters were not amused, but at least they helped Petrel discover a talent for dodging axes, BB gun pellets and fireballs.

(https://i.imgur.com/9KfsoEI.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/m5Y4QFf.png)

This talent went unused, unfortunately, because once the large clown caught up with the fisherman it was all over. The horrible mechanical saw could tear through drow flesh with no resistance, and Petrel happened to be made entirely of drow flesh.

(https://i.imgur.com/1XiSLGd.png)

The fisherman's sacrifice was futile. A many-armed freak smashed Uthimi's head with a cane. Whatever the entertainers wanted to do with Petrel's and Uthimi's corpses was interrupted by the arrival of Snakes and Samurais. The soldiers had no time to be shocked by the monstrous appearance of their enemies or death of their friends, because it was time to kill.

(https://i.imgur.com/kpsYpLv.png)

Tharumi, an inexperienced swordsman, charged straight at the leader of the pack, a spearclown, and impaled him on his sword. Tharumi expected something more from a monster clown, but he didn't complain.

(https://i.imgur.com/ofwIz9b.png)

To the clown's dismay, Biretha the swordsnake appeared with a grin more sinister than any clown could have. He started slowly disassembling the evil entertainer, removing left foot, right leg, and right arm.

(https://i.imgur.com/0J0zhoD.png)

The hatchet-throwing dwarf clown charged at tharumi to protect its master, but due to its comical size he just bounced off. To add insult to injury, or rather injury to insult, Tharumi cut off the mini clown's leg.

(https://i.imgur.com/sNhp6I4.png)

Biretha got bored of playing with the clown, so he took a wide swing and lodged his scimitar halfway through the entertainer's head. Surprisingly it was enough to kill the monster, despite the widespread rumor that monster clowns are hard to dispatch.

(https://i.imgur.com/3GYjXNq.png)

The fire-breather attempted to cut the most fearsome enemy into tiny pieces, but Biretha managed to block even the fearsome chainsaw. Oquari the duelist took the chance and stabbed the dragon-like freak in the foot, causing incredibly complex injury. The monster was still standing, even if barely, but...

(https://i.imgur.com/zwhVNIq.png)

...Biretha slashed so hard that the fire-eater lost his balance and fell over.

(https://i.imgur.com/2L814WF.png)

The mini clown's misfortune wasn't over. The next person to stumble upon him was Melici who took great pleasure in tormenting the weak. She wondered how much of the clown's body could be turned into mush before the creature finally dies. Unfortunately Tharumi was nearby, and to get an easy kill to his name, he chopped off the clown's head.
The fire-eater met the same fate as his dwarf colleague, but the final blow was performed by Biretha.

(https://i.imgur.com/I3b1KeG.png)

The sword-swallower readied her BB gun, took aim and... was forcibly positioned by Freshcannon in a way that it was easy to chop her head off with a single swing. A split second before death she started to question her choice of weapons. Surely, a sword-swallower should use a sword, not a gun.

(https://i.imgur.com/I300VXU.png)

The juggler was unreasonably hard to kill. The whole military force of Dungeonevened was wailing on the many-armed creature, and it had the audacity to brag about its combat skills. Finally Biretha made a deep horizontal cut in the juggler's ribcage, slicing through lungs and heart.

(https://i.imgur.com/et4nLO9.png)

The ambush took lives of two civilian drows, one of which was a founder of Dungeonevened, but seeing how one of the entertainers could breathe fire, the soldiers have agreed that the losses were acceptable.
A great fire from a stray fireball was started on the other side of the river, but it was unlikely to spread across.

---

(https://i.imgur.com/eFLY8S1.png)

"Okay everybody, you know the drill - you bring trash, I sell it to fishmen!" Fred the Mitey explained once again. It was finally time to get rid of some useless garbage littering the town. Hopefully the pelagics won't mind seeing dead clowns. "Wait, the western gate is closed? Who did that?"

"One of your projects required it, or so we though." One of the miners said. "But apparently the bridge would collapse if we dug too close so we'll have to deconstruct it altogether."

"Could you please raise the bridge?"

"And risk squishing the merchants?"

"Good point."

(https://i.imgur.com/DT8NB5f.png)

"They went into the river! If they don't come out..." Fred crossed his fingers hoping there wouldn't be another diplomatic disaster.

"They are fish and their pack animals are crabs, calm down." The miner had his fingers crossed too, just in case.

"They're carrying food, booze and paper! I'm not eating river scum cheese!"

---

(https://i.imgur.com/G3FR9F0.png)

SQ and Athara were carrying a cage from the menagerie's storeroom to the trade depot, when suddenly something caught SQ's attention.
"Athara, look! The egg sac is broken! Giant spiders have hatched!"

"Could we take care of it later? Don't drop the..." Before Athara finished the sentence, SQ has dropped the cage and ran up to the enclosure. "Come on, I wanna get rid of those jammed cages!"

"And I don't want the spiderlings to escape. Three females, great! Now you stay here, little things, I'll be back in a minute." SQ said cheerfully, still ignorant of MottledPetrel's death. She locked the door tightly and went back to carrying the cage.

---

(https://i.imgur.com/Bj5MgJv.png)

The drows of Dungeonevened exchanged crafts and tattered clothes for metal bars, animals, cages, bags and paper. Large amount of items were given to the pelagics as an offering. Fred couldn't guess what the fish people were feeling by their expressions or body language, but he assumed they were overjoyed.

---

"So... are we taking them straight to the store room or what?" Athara asked SQ.

"No, we examine what we got and share our knowledge. Normally Scourge says something dirty or hits on me at some point when we do this." SQ explained. "I... I don't expect you to do that, I'm just saying!"

(https://i.imgur.com/RSJbZv2.png)

"Another pig, well fed, really twitchy." SQ observed closely, but not too closely.

"Oversized tusks with no sign of wear. Reacts aggressively to even smallest movement. It was bred for battle, no doubt about that."

"You know what's weird? There are pig boars and pig sows, but also wild boars and wild boar sows. Shouldn't it be wild sows?" The overseer asked, hoping for a humorous answer.

"That was random... No, if it was supposed to be like that, it would be like that."

"Ugh, good enough."

(https://i.imgur.com/qgBZGhJ.png)

"That's a huge lizard! It's like a better version of our riding lizards!" SQ exclaimed.

"It looks like a monitor lizard. The common ones hunt small animals, while the bigger ones can take down a fully grown buffalo. This one could swallow a buffalo whole."

"Can't wait to see it in action. I'm feeding carnivores today!"

"Suit yourself."

(https://i.imgur.com/EPL1wQu.png)

"Looks like a common kea but purple. Should we give it a wash? I think we might have got scammed." SQ looked suspiciously at one of the pelagics. The fish person inflated his throat for a few seconds, then continued staring blankly."

"Or maybe there happen to be multiple species of parrots that look alike?"

"Where's your imagination? Is Scourge going to be like you when she becomes a mother?"

"I just don't think that angering those guys is a good idea."

(https://i.imgur.com/SY9rk82.png)

"A land octopus, not something you see everyday." SQ reached out to get some slime from the mollusk, but Athara stopped her.

"Were you going to get octopus slime on my clothes, young lady?"

"N-no..."

"Don't lie to me!"

"Yes, I'm sorry mom... I mean, Athara..."

---

A small crowd of drows gathered in front of the hospital.

"Oh, it's so frustrating! I can't shake the feeling I should be at Petrel's funeral! He was one of the founders of this town! He supplied the expedition with fish and fed us mussels!" SQ felt horrible. How would Petrel react to one of his friend ignoring his funeral if he was alive? He would probably be okay with that, but SQ wasn't. On the other hand Scourge and Imic were alive and they could actually get offended. Having multiple friends was so difficult for the overseer."

"How many time have you actually talked with that guy?" Lunardog asked. "I mean, there was always something fishy about him, but I don't eel he would be shellfish enough to demand people who barely knew him to mourn him."

"Gods, I know that's how you deal with difficult situations, but have some respect! For Petrel and for us!" Kaos couldn't help but cringe at Lunardog's inappropriate fish-related puns, but she did understand the need to lighten up the mood. "Anyway, anyone have any guesses what Scourge and Imic will neme the baby?"

"Either Asithi or Melici, statistically speaking." Fred the Mitey answered without a shadow of doubt in his voice. "Biretha and Weri are also likely, with Litheme and Tharumi closely behind."

"Scourge would never choose a common name like that." SQ said. "Maybe something rare like Zecalo, Meli, or something completely out there like Cacame or Yitana."

"Knowing her it could as well be Urist or Tekkud, though I'm not sure Imic would be too happy with that. Heh... Urist, heh heh..." ZM5 couldn't stop giggling. He imagined a baby with a full beard and a horned helmet holding a bottle of ale. Those silly dwarves...

"What if it's an albino?" SQ suggested excitedly.

"You know that's a disorder, not some kind of blessing, right?" Kaos asked just to be sure. "The red stripe across Melici's face is sunburn, not some fancy warpaint..."

"Oh... I knew that!" SQ lied. "Anyway, how much longer can it take? Is she having triplets or something?"

"Gods, I hope not! I barely accepted the idea of two Scourges running around the town, I couldn't take four of them!" Lunardog said half-serously.

Finally the door opened and completely drained Nunore fell out. She didn't smell like wine, so this must have been Scourge's doing.
"Oww... Y-you should give me... give her a few minutes to rest after the whole ordeal." The barkeep-turned-midwife muttered. "Even if she manages to run up to the door and lets you in, you should just tell her to go back to bed... She's really good at forcing a smile... better than me, and I'm amazing at... Ugh, just let me go to bed already!"

---

Half an hour later SQ decided that waiting for Nunore's permission to visit Scourge was a stupid idea, and since she didn't like crowds, going to the hospital a little bit early would be good for everyone involved.

As soon as Scourge heard the door opening she put on her widest grin. She was surprised to see SQ alone, but by no mean upset.
"SQ! I was wondering when you'll drop by!" Scourge half-shouted half-whispered not to wake up the baby in her arms or Imic sleeping in the next bed. "If only you could see Imic's face, he was changing colors like... something that changes colors often! From black to grey to white to green to red! Nunore lasted longer, but she went straight to a weird shade of blue... Oh, where are my manners! SQ, meet Rithesa Nightscorched, my daughter!"

(https://i.imgur.com/4tScFJP.png)

The baby was undoubtedly a healthy newborn drow, with black skin, a lock of white hair and pointy ears.

"I see she has your... ears." SQ remembered this was something people say to young mothers, but then she remembered Scourge didn't like when people commented on her short ears. "I mean, I can totally see your features in her. A-and Imic's of course!"

"You're not very good at this, you know?" Scourge chuckled. "I have to admit something: I wasn't sure if I'm a mother material at first. People tell me I'm too childish, too immature, too impulsive... What if they're right? But then I think about how much I went through with you, and I have no doubt little Rithesa will turn out just fine. Maybe just a little bit weird."

"Scourge... I'm really..." SQ wanted to say something, anything, but words got stuck in her throat. She felt tears appearing in her eyes.

"S-scourge... next time you give birth could you scream like all women do instead of..." Imic grumbled, getting up from bed. "Oh, miss SQ, hello! Scourge already told you everything you should know, I believe? I can't believe I became a father... Just a few years ago I was just a hopeless city guard reject beaten into pavement by a pack of rats. Not to sound ungrateful, but it's even better than being a house weapon master."

"Aren't you taking it too far, Imic? Even, let's say, Biretha could be a father, but weapon master is a prestigious title. Or maybe I just don't get all this pathos around parenthood? I was hoping I would once I become a mother, but..." Scourge stopped and looked at SQ. "Looks like you had too much strong emotions for such a short moment, SQ. Could you tell others they're good to come visit me here? I know Nunore said something about her supervision, but I don't care what she has to say. And, uh... I know how bad this sounds, but tell Five not to get close to Rithesa, will you? The last thing I want is my firstborn puking blood from birth. He'll understand."

SQ walked out still unable to say a word. Only then did she realized what a colossal change just happened in her life.

I intended this to be a peaceful update, but look, a named drow was killed by clowns. And here I was considering a subplot for Petrel...
Anyway, we've killed a semimegabeast and I feel really bad about this. Why? Because this semimegabeast's parents were both monsters of legends with dozens of kills while Baranue only became a historical character after she was killed by Melici. She never got to sow terror among vilagers.
And yeah, Scourge has given birth to a baby girl. I was really hoping she would get one of the super-common names.
Also I learned that abrians in D&D are sentient, just not very intelligent, and they don't talk much. Kinda like dwarves. Squamous made them non-sentient in one of his mods, so our drows will happily eat them.

Hmmmm. A trap corridor. Such a thing conjures up just one word - Overkill.

"Yesssss. Overkill", Darkening Kaos returns to her forge to contemplate making trap components and other weapons to put into floor traps. There will be many...

Asithi the job hunting little girl was great :P

Removing wagon puller should work on an existing world. May also try giving them NOFEAR and innate discipline - I think I use those for the semi-sentient wagon pullers like Eliminators or Ucas.

Holy fuck, that circus freak attack. I definitely did want them to be brutal but, man, I wasn't expecting this level of madness, murder and dismay (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVwqkBG0ulE). Poor Petrel and Uthimi.

Atleast it ended on a heartwarming note with scourge and Imic's daughter.

Poor cave roaches.

The tale of Asithi LIegills was pretty neat alternate perspective, even though I didn't like it much in Bravemule. I think handling things in the present is better, no narrator immunity.

I also wasn't aware Imic made such terrible mandates.

Red Pyrope cage is rather nice (idea), drows can admire it and the creature inside; I like such dual-purpose objects. I think I may make some decorated cages instead of statues.

Smoothed floors in dining hall?

These clowns seem like something of a class cannons from the descriptions (though not from how long it took the whole military to kill the last one), much like vanilla fire imps. How good is aether as material?

There are cases where children are more mature than their parents, I suppose.

Quote from: ZM5 on October 03, 2018, 04:07:36 am

Removing wagon puller should work on an existing world. May also try giving them NOFEAR and innate discipline - I think I use those for the semi-sentient wagon pullers like Eliminators or Ucas.

Holy fuck, that circus freak attack. I definitely did want them to be brutal but, man, I wasn't expecting this level of madness, murder and dismay (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVwqkBG0ulE). Poor Petrel and Uthimi.

Atleast it ended on a heartwarming note with scourge and Imic's daughter.

When I think about it, I haven't seen a single Uca, even though I trade with pelagics. Both pelagics and skeletons use only giant crabs from various mods...

I don't know about the entertainers being that brutal. All things considered, they gave Petrel and Uthimi a rather quick death. All in all only a fisherman and a blind, scarred woodcrafter were killed, which was a good outcome in a fight with monsters that throww acid pies and fireballs.

Quote from: Fleeting Frames on October 03, 2018, 08:23:16 am

Poor cave roaches.

I also wasn't aware Imic made such terrible mandates.

Red Pyrope cage is rather nice (idea), drows can admire it and the creature inside; I like such dual-purpose objects. I think I may make some decorated cages instead of statues.

Smoothed floors in dining hall?

These clowns seem like something of a class cannons from the descriptions (though not from how long it took the whole military to kill the last one), much like vanilla fire imps. How good is aether as material?

I gave up on trying to give my drow a roach now. SQ was constantly releasing them, then some other drow, mostly Scourge for some reason, would run into the roach room to lock them up.

Imic likes crowns and floodgates. He actually made the crown himself, even though I haven't specified it. It was a masterwork cragtooth boar ivory crown.

I considered putting the artifact cage in the grand matriarch's throne room and put a prisoner of some kind inside, but we might not get a grand matriarch at all, so I'm waiting for suggstions what to do.

What's wrong with smoothed floors? A dining hall should have high value, and I'm not doing a mahogany parquet this time. I'll get some engravings done later if I don't forget.

The clowns are very much glass cannons. I can't really read weapon raws, but from what I've seen the chainsaw was devastating, severing limbs with no problem. Their interactions are extremely dangerous too, but they haven't hit anything with them this time. Well, except for torching half of the map with a stray fireball, but that's it.
Aether is garbage on its own, but alloys with copper to make hettlion. I have no idea what hettlion is like.

Early in the morning the entire nobility and administration of Dungeonevened gathered in the Mahogany Hall. Not a single person knew why they were called there, but they were either very curious, or simply couldn't refuse Nunore's pleading. Despite how desperate the barmaid seemed the previous day, she kept the drow elite waiting. Was it a strategic move of some kind or was it just an attempt to make a dramatic entry?

"That good for nothing harlot is just trying to waste our valuable time! Why are we even keeping her here? She does nothing but sit in this roach-infested excuse for a tavern and gives men impure thoughts!" Asithi said suspiciously nervously. "Can we just go? I have things to do!"

The cleric was surprised when the others didn't share her opinion. Fred the Mitey was the first to speak up. "I'm sorry, priestess... No, wait, I'm not sorry. She was the one who set up my hip after you broke it! You were too busy throwing a tantrum!"

"She also did most of the work when Scourge got injured, then she helped deliver our child. Earlier she patched up my leg when a mongrelman bit through my greaves." Imic added.

"She really deserves to be listened to." SQ summed up. "If it wasn't anything serious, she wouldn't have called all of us here. If only she was here with us to discuss the matter."

The door to the tavern opened and Nunore came in. She seemed winded as if she was hurrying to the meeting, but her perfect hair and make-up was a dead giveaway about what was the actual priority for her.

"S-sorry for turning up late! I don't expect the gentlemen to understand, but the ladies should know how important it is for a woman to prepare for the day." Nunore smiled as pleasantly as her state allowed her and looked around to see the other drows' reactions.

"Oh, I can relate to you." Freshcannon said sarcastically, but then she pulled out her comb and started combing her hair, pretending what she had just said wasn't hypocrytical.

"Okay, let's not beat around the bush anymore. The house cleric's duty is to take care of well-being of her people." The barkeep started.

"I know what you're getting to, and you better hope you never end up in the hospital." Asithi growled defensively.

"I'm just saying you caused more injuries than you healed, and you haven't organized any kind of town guard or whatever. I, on the other hand, do most of the work in the hospital, and I'm sure I'd be able to convince people to..."

"Blasphemy! You're not even a priestess! If you say one more word I'll have you thrown into jail and fed only rancid mussels and water from a stagnant pool! Not to mention the whipping you'll get!" Asithi seethed with anger, something she did pretty often lately.

"Woah there! That's mah job, ain't it? Ah take orders from the top brass only, like the oh-va-seer here." Yetine protested, directing all the attention to SQ at the same time.

The overseer felt the stares of the drows, and she didn't feel comfortable with that. She knew she had to make a decision quickly, because every second increased the chance she would break down under the pressure. Without taking a second to think it over she blurted out: "Nunore is right, Asithi needs to go."

"What?" Asithi snapped.

"What?" Nunore snapped too. "I never suggested... I just..."

"You're a house cleric now, Nunore. Imic, Asin, take Asithi away. She must leave Dungeonevend as soon as possible." SQ was terrified by what she was saying, but the words were just flowing from her mouth.

"You can't banish me! The high priestess will hear about it, and the grand matriarch will know shortly after! You won't avoid divine retribution!" Asithi threatened as Imic and Asin dragged her out of the tavern.

Nobody dared to say anything for a good minute. Everything was happening so quickly everyone needed some time to think about the implications of it all. The silence was broken by Freshcannon. "Good riddance. Believe it or not, but she's been questioning my competence as a house priestess for some time now. Yeah, I guess I do more work than most priestesses do." She then looked at Nunore who was still wondering if she should be feeling guilty. "You, barkeep! We have some rituals to do before I can make you an acolyte. I wonder if you can fit in Melici's old vestments..."

"Huh?" Nunore's look of nervous confusion turned into a look of pure shock.

"What? You can't be a house cleric without being a part of the church. Don't worry, a lot of priestesses back at Murknightmare sleep around and nobody bats an eye. You don't need to change your habits." Freshcannon pushed the newly appointed cleric out, assumedly to her office.

(https://i.imgur.com/pFPxeJH.png)

It took SQ two more minutes to come to her senses. She was surprised nobody left yet, so she decided to change it. "W-we're done here, every-everybody go back to work!"

---

In the fisherman's guildhall a different meeting was taking place. Asithi, the new guildmaster was adressing his underlings, including new members. He was actually the least happy to be there, and the fact that he didn't bother to wear a shirt and was still wearing a sleep mask strapped over his forehead was a clear enough sign that he was going to end the meeting quickly and go back to sleep.
"Okay, I'm the guildmaster now that the old man got chopped up into pieces..."

(https://i.imgur.com/RNuh6Ki.png)

"...Anyone has a problem with that?"

One of the fishermen raised his hand slowly, but Asithi looked at him dismissively, so he gave up on voicing his opinion.

"Nobody? Good. Now that Petrel is dead and Weri wandered off gods know where, we'd have to work extra hard to feed the entire town." Asithi expected to hear disappointed groaning, but none of the fishermen could be bothered to do even that. "We would have, so instead I asked the administrator to find me four eager drows to join our guild. I'd introduce them, but I have no idea who they are. Anyway, I don't wanna die a horrible death, so I registered us as a military unit. We'll get weapons when the Kaos girl gets round to making them."

(https://i.imgur.com/tbZ3lJv.png)

"Wait, weren't you a woman?" Oquari, another veteran fisherman asked. "I was convinced you were Petrel's daughter..."

"I get that a lot..."

(I was sure Asithi was a woman, but apparently he's not. Oh well...)

---

Emura Raceddemon wasn't the most busy out of all drows, in fact he was a full-time engraver, so it wasn't very often that he could use his skills in actual work. To keep himself occupied, Emura was doing random hauling jobs around the lower parts of the town.

(https://i.imgur.com/j7yEuvA.png)

The engraver glanced at a boulder he was pushing. That was it, the spark of inspiration Emura needed. He looked around to check if nobody was looking at him, then kissed the rock in gratitude for enlightening him.

---

"...So you didn't take her to the barracks, big deal. You did bring her aboveground! What if light damages her eyes? What if an eagle swooped down and snatched her? What if a snatcher... I don't even want to think about it!" Scourge's motherly instinct kicked in with full force, and unfortunately Imic has found himself on the receiving end. He was supposed to take care of Rithesa until the menagerie caretakers finish pasturing animals in new enclosures. While Scourge immediately realized those animals may be dangerous to a baby, it took her some time to remember her husband was a soldier. She dragged SQ with her against her will for extra authority.

"Scourge, it's my duty to defend the whole town, I think I'm more than capable to protect our daughter from whatever eagles are and kobolds. Besides, the longer we keep her in darkness the more painful it will be for her to get accustomed to sunlight later. I'm more responsible than I seem, really." Imic tried to reassure Scourge, but that didn't seem to work.

"Whatever, just hand her over." Scourge demanded. Imic complied without any further objections. "Thank you. SQ, we gotta change the plan - the megalania isn't getting close to Rithesa, we'll have to pasture something cute and cuddly."

"Fine, I think we can do that, but..." SQ hesitated, but then went on: "you could go on a maternity leave and take... care... of..." The overseer stopped, intimidated by Scourge's disapproving look.

"Are we, by any chance, interrupting something?"

(https://i.imgur.com/l1j8vQY.png)

"T-tharumi?" Scourge stuttered upon seeing the newly arrived woman.

"Tharumi!" SQ exclaimed. "I haven't seen you since you requested to be moved to the reptile section of the menagerie! It was... seventy something or eighty years ago!"

"Yes, uh... that's a little awkward, isn't it." Tharumi started nervously rubbing her ear.

"A little... yeah." Scourge agreed. "Have you got over it already? I mean, I said I was sorry, and it was so long."

"I see you did." Tharumi gracefuly avoided the question. A baby in Scourge's arms was something she never expected to see, and yet... She had no idea what she was supposed to feel.

"Am I missing something?" Imic whispered to SQ.
"Scourge's ex-girfriend.." SQ claified.
"Oh, that explains a lot.."

"A-anyway, the menagerie in Murknightmare has been slowly dying since you two left. The war with crawlers is now a priority to the grand matriarch, so she cuts the costs wherever she can. I've decided I'd help you here instead of getting drafted and sent to my doom. I brought some people with me too." Tharumi pointed at the western gate. A crowd of nineteen drows were just walking through. "Some are really good specialists too: Obi Umbrawheel is an accomplished leatherworker, Obi Tunnelwhisper is a certified high mistress blacksmith, Rithesa Wickedfill is..."

"Rithesa Wicked..." Scourge interrupted. "In old elven that would be... Rithesa Rithesa-Lema. Imic, we should name our second child Weri Plagueplague."

"Miss Tharumi, if any of your acquaintances is interested in military service, I, as the weapon master, can accept one more soldier into my squad." Imic didn't want to sit back listening awkwardly. The migrants had to be processed sooner or later. "Our new house cleric will also be assembling some sort of town guard once she actually becomes an acolyte."

"We could also use some refuse haulers, general haulers, fisherdrows, fish cleaners..." SQ listed less-than-prestigious jobs. "Everyone can find something for themselves. By the way, have you brought animals?"

"We have a young ironhead." Thrumi answered.

"We have five of those already." SQ said proudly.

"Oh, somebody also has a baby molecow, but you probably already have a herd of those."

(https://i.imgur.com/xA3LFIc.png)

"Yeah, we totally do." The overseer lied blatantly.

"SQ, you know she'll be working with us? She'll notice we don't have a single molecow.Why would you lie about it anyway?" Scourge inquired. Machinations of SQ's mind were still a mystery to her after all those years.

---

(https://i.imgur.com/yZTvckN.png)

Three large boulders of white quartzite, a few uncut opals, a sheet of brimstone-smelling abrian leather, a bale of smooth silkflower cloth, a couple of bars of soft steel, and several handfuls of assorted pebbles from abrian stomachs. Emura Raceddemon knew he could make a wondrous work of art with those rather mundane items, but he couldn't fully imagine the outcome of his work. There would be many unplanned changes, corrections, tweaks... There was no point in any further musing, there was an artifact to create.

A few hours later:

(https://i.imgur.com/oPZpiQt.png)

Emura, now a legendary engraver, was satisfied. It was no diamondium space suit, and most gem sockets were filled with regular rocks, but it was still of legendary craftsmanship. There was just one problem...

(https://i.imgur.com/WRpeI6b.png)

The image on the amulet was really small. Emura could make out something that was without a doubt a spike rat, but he completely forgot what the rest of tiny leather pieces were meant to represent. These were probably drows, but why were they surrounding the rat? Emura was done with the amulet, the interpretation was left to viewers.

---

(https://i.imgur.com/CKgM2Nc.png)

The five animal trainers gathered by the abrian paddock. Tharumi looked at the infernal birds with curiosity, but SQ, Scourge, Athara and Lerine were tired of having to deal with them.

"How about we just kill the ones we caught and leave those born in captivity be?" SQ suggested. "Obviously we won't be the ones doing the killing, but you know what I mean."

"We've ran out of bones for the bone carvers too, which really shouldn't have happened considering how many rothe were slaughtered." Lerine added.

Everyone seemed to agree that abrians needed to die, so SQ pulled out her pen, a little inkwell and a crumbled piece of paper and started writing an order.

---

Freshcannon was leading Nunore to the new shrine to Quico the Target of Cudgels. The new house cleric was the most nervous she's ever been, not because she wanted to do her new job well, but because she had no idea what to do.

"Stop fidgeting like that, there's literally nothing that can go wrong! You're going to the shrine of one of your people's gods. You'll be watched by two, maybe three indifferent losers. When I was fresh out of neophyte training, I was assigned to busting skulls of dangerous cultists. That was something worth worrying about!" Freshcannon bragged. "By the way, Melici looked better in those vestments."

"Thanks a lot, mistress." Nunore felt even worse after hearing Freshcannon's excuse for a pep talk. "The thing is, I haven't gone through any training. All you did was to lock me in my room for an hour!"

"Normally I'd make you fast for two weks, whip you to teach you humility, then send you to the caverns for a month to check if you're in the top physical and mental shape. As fun as that sounds, we don't have that much time, so an hour of fasting, a slap on the back and an uncomfortably tight robe should be enough."

"But is that really..."

"Is that really what? I can arrange a full course right now if you don't appreciate my gesture! I can assure you, princess, that you wouldn't last to the end!" The priestess went from almost friendly to openly hostile in a second. Nunore was caught off guard, but she was much more collected than her shaking hands would have one believe.

"All right, mistress, I'm ready. Let's go."

(https://i.imgur.com/BPfcLub.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/yKSM2Dy.png)

"Nobody's here? I'll get those damn morons for this! They were supposed to watch you sanctify the shrine! Ah, whatever, just light an incense stick, say a few nice words to Quico and you're free to go." Freshcannon was disappointed - she wanted to see Nunore struggle with complicated rites, but there was still a lesson to be learnt: "Remember, a lot of things we priestesses do is just for show. Most people don't really believe in the Spider Queen and the rest of greater gods, but they respect women who can recite long, meaningless chants for some reason."

---

(https://i.imgur.com/zsUuI47.png)

"Hey, boss! Damnit, she's not here. Hey, Asin!" Biretha desperately craved attention, and this time it had to be someone important, not just Melici. "Asin, look at this neat trick!" The swordsnake, having attracted the Steel Samurai's attention, started swinging his scimitar at Melici seemingly without any thought, but the Macesnake couldn't parry or block a single tap. Panicked and humiliated, Melici swung her mace at Biretha's legs, but it wasn't just a gentle tap. Biretha didn't expect retaliation, which resulted in him landing face first on the sawwood floor.

"That is... nice, Biretha-diri."

---

(https://i.imgur.com/0nqvlHi.png)

"You've done it once. Just go there and say what you must." Scourge whispered to SQ. It was time to announce the opening of the new tavern-slash-dining hall, Cavernhall, but this time it would be in front of a hundred people, not just twenty.

"It's so easy for you to say! I... I can't! There's just too many people!" SQ was ready to stay in the tavern forever just not to face the crowd. Considering how well the pantry was stocked, she would last about two months. "You're the overseer now, Scourge. I'll just start my life as a hermit in this very HEY DON'T OPEN THE DOOR!"

It was too late, Scourge has already let all the people in. There was significantly fewer drows than SQ and Scourge expected, but again, the grand opening wasn't exactly well advertised. SQ calmed down completely once she realized the ten people who did come went straight to the booze storage instead of waiting for a speech.

---

Athara Dieabyss was inspecting newly spawned mottleworms. The gigantic monsters were born fully formed and ready to multiply, so their population was expected to grow quickly. What wasn't expected was commotion from the occula enclosure. Tiny gelatinous creatures shouldn't make that much noise.

(https://i.imgur.com/pxnBf4v.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/dmJrvpD.png)

When Athara entered the paddock, she couldn't believe her own eyes. A diamondium-clad drow was standing before her, holding a dead occula in his hand. She knew what had to be done. Being the one in charge until SQ comes back, she was in posession of the key to all enclosures. Her own life was more valuable than a couple of parasites, so she backed away quickly and locked the crazed soldier inside.

A while later unexpected help has arrived. Freshcannon burst into the menagerie absolutely furious. Slevina Faintfolds was supposed to be training, not throwing a childish tantrum, torturing creatures that couldn't protect themselves. Athara led the priestess to the right place and opened the door. With an axe in hand Freshcannon entered the enclosure and approached Slevina.
"Don't you dare drawing your sword on me, soldier, do you understand? Yes? Good, I knew you have no balls to stand up to me. Now slowly hand over the sword, take off the armor and..."

The swordsman was more terrified than he was angry at the moment. As the house priestess was getting closer to him, a gap between her and the door was getting bigger. It was Slevina's chance. He darted to the doors, then straight into the staircase where he was met by a curious riding lizard.

(https://i.imgur.com/awocyrm.png)

The reptile regreted its own curiosity. When Slevina heard Freshcannon runing after him, he left the poor animal alone, but couldn't run fast enough.

"Okay, you bastard, I got you! What to do with you now... I'll lock you in giant spider room and tell SQ not to feed them. Or maybe I'll give you to the dungeon mistress, she would appreciate a gift like that..." Seeing Slevina, a master warrior, shake in fear was the greatest pleasure for Freshcannon, but fun always needs to end at some point. "Get out of Dungeonevened if you value your life. You were never a Snake material and never will be! Beating up lizards instead of challenging the biggest, baddest Snake... No dignity at all."

Spoiler: M&M session 3 (click to show/hide)

Not actually that much gameplay this time

-A little bit of clean up happened. Kicked out three most miserable drows - Weri (fisherman, never attacked anyone during his tantrums), Asithi (house cleric, liked hurting people) and Slevina (amaster swordsman, liked hurting animals). Most other unhappy drows are corpse haulers. For some reason Fred the Mitey is the happiest drow in town, despite nothing good ever happening to him.

-I don't see a reason to keep wild abrians around. We have a small flock of fully tame ones.

-The Mahogany Hall was deconstructed and replaced by Cavernhall. Still no guests. We'll have a library soon, with lead bookcases and everything.

-Biretha became our first swordmaster. Imic deserved that more, but who am I to argue with the game.

-NWN2 Storm of Zehir playthrough was bigger than DF playthrough this time, but also not much happened.

Pulled a sneaky on ya. A short update coming through.

(https://i.imgur.com/ipYlH5v.png)

"Gold coin, huh? First time I've ever held one of those... Doesn't feel much different from copper coins I'm used to, if I gotta be honest." SQ said, looking at a coin in her hand. She should have been paying attention to the trap corridor Darkening Kaos was trying to show her, but she couldn't take her eyes off the detailed engravings on the tiny piece of gold.

(https://i.imgur.com/66kEAgS.png)

"Could you at least pretend you care about my work?" Kaos was mildly offended by the overseer's lack of care. SQ reluctantly stopped rotating the coin, crossed her arms over her chest and looked into the corridor as Kaos expected her to. "Here you go, pouting like an angry toddler... Okay, a line of cage trap was set up for your sake, so if any horrible monster comes up, you can pet it into submission, or however you train those creatures. Then we have a hammer trap to tenderize the meat. I used that fancy mechanism with rats engraved on it, because it seemed the highest quality. Next there;s two traps with sawblades to cut up the creatures into tiny pieces. I really should have asked Ombragon what comes first, filleting or tenderizing, but I'm not resetting the traps now. This trap here is a pitchfork trap. It's not finished yet, and I think I'll put a chainsaw inside to spice things up."

"I want some kind of locking mechanism, like a gate." SQ said out of nowhere.

"Gate? I guess I could do that. The tunnel will have to be a little longer, but that's a job for Fred's miners. Anything else you'd like me to add?" Kaos answered, pleasantly surprised by SQ's input.

"Paint a warning on the wall. Something like 'WATCH OUT FOR TRAPS' in huge red letters. And some fake blood splatter for added effect."

"Sounds reasonable, but how about real blood splatter?"

"I like your idea better, do it."

---

In the barracks a certain drow was causing problems, and this time it wasn't either of Snake gangsters.

"Come on! If nobody wants to spar with me, I'll wander off to look for worthy opponents!" Melici the Silver Samurai shouted, looking at her colleagues leaving for their lunch break.

Asin turned around and looked at the swordswoman with pity. "What are you trying to prove, Melici-diri?" He said.

"I have to prove that despite being different, I'm as good, if not better than everybody else! Now draw your sword and fight me!"

(https://i.imgur.com/pyu7nu7.png)

"Melici-diri, you are one of the best soldiers the town has, and everyone agrees with this fact but you. The problem is not what others think, it is your low self-esteem." Asin explained calmly, then turned back and headed to the new dining hall.

Melici looked at the door for a few seconds. Asin's words echoed in her head as she was trying to figure out what to make of them. She dropped her sword, wrapped her headscarf around her face leaving only a slit for eyes, and went to get lunch with the rest of the Samurais, still not convinced if she's proven herself enough.

---

Summer, also known as 'one of four sand seasons' has arrived, and it was the time to get the most dusty bags of seeds from the bottom of food stockpiles. It was time to grow strawberries, desert moons, ooze blobs and underberries. No, that was not in any way a good way to run farms. Lunardog and Fred the Mitey stood outside, looking at the fields and discussing the possibilities.

(https://i.imgur.com/ElVHnld.png)

The first field was set up in a very chaotic way:
Spring - whip wines (booze, flour)
Summer - strawberries (booze, edible raw)
Autumn - starberries (booze, edible raw)
Winter - barley (booze flour)

"I like grain crops because it's easy to preserve seeds for planting, but at the same time we use a lot of bags for flour." Lunardog scratched his chin thinking about possible solutions. "We could get some wheat and oats and make it a full blown grain field, but we already have barley any empty bags..."

"So why not leave it as it is? I mean, it's a food-producing aboveground farm plot, and I see you have plans for the other one." Fred commented. He knew nothing about agriculture, but his job was counting every bag of flour and every keg of wine, so he knew the town wasn't short on food and booze.

"I'd make some simple changes. This year we'll be growing wheat instead of strawberries, and water berries instead of whip vines. Drilledterrors Elven Forest Wine was a berry big hit when I brewed the first few barrels."

The second farm plot had even less thought put into it than the first one:
Spring - alfalfa (edible raw)
Summer - desert moons (silver dye)
Autumn - water berries (booze, edible raw)
Winter - weed moss (booze, edible raw)

"I'd like this one to be for dye-producing plants, but desert moons grow only in autumn and summer. Weed moss can stay, even though moss people don't appreciate the work I put into my Rusty Brew." Lunardog thought about what kind of dye plant could grow in winter and spring. "If only we could get some blade weed or redroot..."

"Alfalfa needs to go anyway, so how about fisher berries until we can find something we can mill into dye?" Fred suggested. He developed a strong aversion to alfalfa because he never knew if he was suppoed to count sprouts or individual leaves of the plant.

"So we do have some fisher berry seeds. Fine, let's leaf alfalfa to rothe, it's one of the worst crops I've ever seen. Now for the underground farms...

(https://i.imgur.com/LFW8tpa.png)

The work on the first underground farm had already begun, but it hadn't gone nearly far enough.
Spring - abyss shades (cloth)
Summer - underberries (booze, edible raw)
Autumn - cave sugar beets (booze, sugar)
Winter - silkflowers (cloth)

"This will be a field for all our textile needs. With the caverns sealed off and about half of our rothe slaughtered, we're gonna need some plant fiber growing all the year straight or we might end up with a long string of problems."

Fred looked at Lunardog, wondering if the farmer actually knew the current state of the stocks. "Are you aware that all abyss shade spores are currently planted in this field?"

"Isn't that a setback, huh? There should be no problem growing more, since I've seen some wild abyss shades in the menagerie. Rothe manure apparently works wonder for them."

(https://i.imgur.com/pgWe1Ib.png)

The last farm plot was an epitome of what was wrong with Dungeonevened's food industry - the farmers would plant anything they found interesting there, without worrying if those plants were useful or not.

Spring - spear mints (tea, edible raw)
Summer - ooze blobs (ooze paste)
Autumn - marrow polyps (booze, edible raw)
Winter - plump helmets (booze, edible raw)

"Marrow polyps freak me out, and ooze paste is disgusting, so let's start planting underberries and sugar beets right here. Seems like we have it all planned. Fred, have you made a note for Ombragon?." Lunardog asked.

"What note for Ombragon?"

---

Sisha Evelapip, a neanderthal knight has never been so nervous in his entire life. The last group sent to eradicate the drow menace from these lands disappeared without a trace, presumably slaughtered, maybe even eaten by the vile deep elves. His squad was much larger than the last, but was it really enough to take down a fortress of the enemy most devious? Time for wondering had passed long time ago - the wooden walls of Dungeonevened were clearly visible.

(https://i.imgur.com/1QlyED0.png)

The neanderthals were not fighting this battle alone. Another enemy, subjugated and forced into servitude, was marching with them - frog demons clad in full armor, armed with the finest neanderthal weaponry. The demons fighting for their own cause were hindered by the lack of proper equipment, but those that were approaching had no such problem.

(https://i.imgur.com/WF5oHAT.png)

Curiously, something different followed the neanderthal army. Two seemingly normal cats were walking among knights and demons with raised hair, ready for battle. The way they moved, and the way they looked around could suggest they were much more intelligent than regular cats, but the very fact that they wanted to fight despite being cats said otherwise.

(https://i.imgur.com/5xkLDg6.png)

The army was hesitant to approach. They stationed near the southern edge of the town and sent cats to serve as scouts.
Darkening Kaos was slowly stumbling through the unfinished moat, dizzied by the sun, completely unaware of the feline running in her direction. The western gate was close, but the cat was much faster than the woman.

(https://i.imgur.com/dPagk2t.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/wnf0Frn.png)

"Ow! You son of a... OW! Stop biting, you fleabag! Hey, you ripped my new trousers! There goes my piwafwi..." Kaos seemed more annoyed than scared by the assault, and for a good reason - bites and cratches of the cats weren't supernatural in any way, and their eldritch meowing was nothing compared to torments of cave adaptation.

(https://i.imgur.com/ngQjHUm.png)

The first cat fell to a mighty kick of a diamondium boot. Perhaps it wasn't the most dignified end, but it was to be expected.

(https://i.imgur.com/i2UFDyG.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/PipN8EA.png)

The second cat, after having its leg cut off by ZM5, was lifted into the air by Freshcannon's axe. Before it could land, it was hit several times. It finally slammed into the ground, but it didn't resemble a cat anymore.

(https://i.imgur.com/j5WA1Pl.png)

The part of the army composed solely of neanderthals moved out upon hearing the infernal noise of slaughtered sentient cats. They headed to the western gate, barely avoiding falling into a cage trap.

(https://i.imgur.com/tAQ1t6T.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/JKwrG3V.png)

Finally a shaggy, gaullinium-clad head peeked out of the moat. It was quickly met with a diamondium morningstar of one of Imic's Blackguards. The knight's skull remained in one piece, but the same couldn't be said about his spine.

(https://i.imgur.com/j4h8nAW.png)

Another axeman noticed what looked like an easy target. Standing in the back and waiting for an opening was Biretha, the Helmet Snake. Having somehow broken through the wall of drows, the neanderthal swung his axe at the swordsman. He didn't expect such a sorry-looking individual to effortlessly, yet needlessly dramatically, dodge his attack. A wide swing passed over Melici's head, alerting her about her colleague's trouble. She was the only one who could hurt Biretha, so the neanderthal had to be stopped. A powerful blow shattered the knight's arm, causing the glowing fairy axe to fall to the ground.

"You owe me one." Melici said, smirking nonchalantly.
"I was never in any danger, you dumbass!" Biretha felt unusually bad after this outburst, so he added: "Are you doing something after this is over?"
"She's cleaning up the barracks with you, now get back to action!" Freshcannon interrupted.

(https://i.imgur.com/jXgJWg1.png)

Melici of the Blackguards was an enigma of a person. Nobody really cared who she was before, but those who saw her fight with a neanderthal axewoman could never see her the same way again.
Instead of ending the barely conscious neanderthal's life, she raised her head and kissed her. If that alone wasn't disturbing enough, the next thing she did was to rip the axewoman's tongue off with her teeth.

(https://i.imgur.com/0RbejS4.png)

ZM5 felt particularly uneasy seeing that for personal reasons, so he took it upon himself to save the neanderthal from Melici. He aimed for slitting her throat, but his sharp dagger slipped and cut too deep. Much too deep.

(https://i.imgur.com/xtn3Ofz.png)

Helmet Snakes and Blackguards fell back to regroup and were joined by Steel Samurais. A pack of frog demons was making its way through the moat, not discouraged by the sight of neanderthal chunks scattered all around.

(https://i.imgur.com/XKlbkpy.png)

Melici was angry about losing her plaything, and her anger could only be quenched with violence. Breaking someone's arms would be perfect, but whose arms could she break? A frog demon spearman came charging at her. The demon had huge arms...
Imic joined in, felling the beast to the ground.

(https://i.imgur.com/UBimYkD.png)

While the others were finishing off the first frogman shock brigade, Tharumi Seducedaub, unnoticed by anyone, ran out to meet the next wave of attackers.

(https://i.imgur.com/x7sEZPZ.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/4ZlWttH.png)

The bold yet careless action would have ended badly if it was made by someone else. Tharumi was focused on one thing - getting a proof of her bravery. An ear of the squad leader was enough for her, so she ran back to brag to other Snakes. The title of a mace lady was finally hers.

(https://i.imgur.com/6MUShBA.png)

Not for long.

(I ordered Snakes, Samurais and Blackguards to station in the moat, but they gathered on a single tile in the fort. They could have saved Tharumi no problem.)

(https://i.imgur.com/G0d7E1l.png)

The second shock unit was defeated. The remaining enemies ran away. In the end twenty seven foes were slaughtered, but one elite drow soldier died to achieve this victory. Biretha Shadydead of the Blackguards had his hand broken too, but this was not a permanent injury.

"Damn it! For fuck's sake! What was this woman thinking!" Freshcannon couldn't hold back her frustration, after all one of her best soldiers was killed. "It took what, three years to make her that good? She had to get cocky and just run off!"

"It's not your fault, mistress Freshcannon..." Imic attempted to console her.

"I know it's not my fault, you thick-headed moron!"

So:

-I forgot to build a proper locking mechanism for the new cavern entrance, but I realized in time. A nickel bridge soon, then we can get trapping.

-Farm makeover. We have a few full-time hunters and an out of control herd of rothe, we don't need alfalfa. We do need some more dye plants, but only desert moons grow around Dungeonevened.

-Neanderthals brought friends. Frogmen on their own weren't that scary, but that's because they had only copper equipment and no gauntlets or boots. Those ones had full armor made of assorted metals.

-A macelord was killed literally a second after becoming a macelord. Damn shame.

-First real battle for Imic's Blackguards. They did well.

-War cats are useless.

-We need proper fortifications for Nunore's River Watch. I wanted to pelt the stationing frogman squad with bolts, but I'm not taking any unnecessary risks.

Grug have idea. Grug bring furry animal Grug see on funny cave engravings! That assert dominance over cave elf tribe!

Real blood splatter on the walls...Hm.

Recently, I had fun with accidentally pasturing(instead of pitting) wild horse. It ran away, and dwarf went after it - but I could no longer pit it. A pity.

But I can't help but think of pasturing one directly on a trap. Or a troll, maybe, for the colouration *whirr*

Ooh, what kind of creatures are dreamland cats? I kinda want to adopt one, would be cool to have a dream pet - none of the hassle of real cat, it'd be like my own yin-yang orb.

I'm sceptical of the intelligence, though, given beak dog recruits.

...That was bit less cute than I hoped. Shouldn't meows be adorable?

Melici...soldiers have a reputation, and Melici goes as far as able.

Quote from: Fleeting Frames on October 24, 2018, 06:33:08 pm

But I can't help but think of pasturing one directly on a trap. Or a troll, maybe, for the colouration *whirr*

Ooh, what kind of creatures are dreamland cats? I kinda want to adopt one, would be cool to have a dream pet - none of the hassle of real cat, it'd be like my own yin-yang orb.

I'm sceptical of the intelligence, though, given beak dog recruits.

...That was bit less cute than I hoped. Shouldn't meows be adorable?

I'm a big fan of lever-operated cages myself.

The dreamland cats are, well, interesting. In Lovecraft's Dream-Cycle cats are as intelligent as people, and even have their own language. By dreaming, which cats are good at, they access Dreamlands. Cats from Earth Dreamlands are just regular cats, but the further they travel from Earth, the more alien they become in appearance and behavior. If I was to guess, the dizzying meowing is a result of dreaming too far.

Spoiler: Plot - considering all options (click to show/hide)

Nunore stood over Biretha Shadydead's bed in the hospital. Any drow capable of clear thought could tell she was bearing bad news by her nervous smile, but Biretha couldn't think straight with the cleric around.

"Miss Nunore, thanks to you I already feel so much better! I can pick up my staff and defend you with my life in this very moment!" The warrior said enthusiastically.

"Yeah, about that..."

(https://i.imgur.com/1a4xeHt.png)

"You're not moving this hand anytime soon."

"Oh..."

---

"Pull the lever now!" Kaos shouted to a drow upstairs. She was in the trap corridor to test the traps in practice, using mongrelfolk as test subjects. The two disfigured humanoids were locked in an alcove directly adjacent to the weapon traps. Now it was just a matter of pulling the lever.

(https://i.imgur.com/kJp2n9T.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/7YKe3Pd.png)

The click of unlocking cages and excited yelping of mongrelfolk could be heard. Shortly after two hideous creatures jumped out into the corridor, but were quickly obscured by a cloud of red mist. When the mist settled, it revealed a pile of mongrelman chunks.
Kaos nodded in approval, then went up to tell the haulers to clean up.

---

(https://i.imgur.com/6KrNcFu.png)

"It's... not working." Kaos was disappointed with her automatic spider milker. The mongrelfolk was supposed to provoke the spider into spraying webs, but no such thing happened. The mechanic was ready for this possibility, so she brought SQ and Scourge with her to explain what she did wrong. "You girls know more about spiders than I do. What went wrong here?"

"Giant drowspiders are actually some of the most docile giant spiders around." SQ explained. "They generally don't attack first, unless they're hungry. The youngest ones, like this one, usually feed on animals caught in their mothers' webs."

"Also, drowspiders don't spray web that much. They incapacitate their prey with pain-inducing venom, then weave a silk cocoon around their still twitching lunch and drag it to their dwelling." Scourge added. "Our traditions like that part a lot, huh? There's a lot of binding and inflicting pain in all those rituals.

"What if we replaced the mongrelman with something more threatening? We've caught a frog demon, so maybe that will be enough?" Kaos suggested.

(https://i.imgur.com/JqXISZd.png)

"You could try. Yetine couldn't forced it to say anything, because they don't seem to feel pain or fear, so maybe you can find some use for it." SQ looked at the mongrelfolk with pity. "We should put this thing out of its misery first."

---

(https://i.imgur.com/9ihQmCV.png)

The seven new migrants were already processed and sent underground. SQ and Scourge stayed on the surface to take care of their animals.

"Don't you feel guilty forcing newcomers to haul corpses? They come here looking for better future, and all they get is psychological trauma." Scourge said to SQ while picking up a young desmodu bat the same way she would pick up her daughter.

"Now I do feel guilty about that... I don't wanna do it myself though, and some people don't have anything useful to them except for a pair of hands. Hey, what are you doing, little guy?" SQ answered while trying to get the attention of an ethereal slayer nymph that was slashing with its scythe-arms at something in a different dimension.

"I really want to disapprove of that way of thinking, but it's hard to disagree when a two hundred years old man comes up to you and tells you he's a professional moghopper dissector, just not a very good one. What are moghoppers anyway?"

"Not something I've seen around these parts..."

---

(https://i.imgur.com/NRLmVLK.png)

"N-no! My project! We don't have any more captives!" Kaos lamented as a frog demon ripped a spiderling to pieces. The monstrous amphibian was completely unaffected by spider venom and continued fighting with ferocity despite countless bites. Finally it stomped on the spider's cephalothorax crushing it. "Note to self: next time no doors. And maybe some more safety measures..."

(https://i.imgur.com/lxiq399.png)

The demon was quickly dispatched by Meli of the Blackguards. The warrior's pickaxe lodged itself in the monster's heart, granting it a quick death.

---

Imic finally managed to round up his soldiers in front of the barracks. He was walking back and forth with Rithesa in his arms, thinking of the best way to present his idea to the Blackguards. Perhaps being direct was the way?
"Listen, Blackguards, we're an elite unit of the finest warriors in Dungeonevened..."

"Except we're the least experienced and most of us had no training whatsoever when we were recruited." One of the soldiers snarked. "Is this supposed to be a rousing speech to raise our morale?"

"I just wanted to make some substantial changes. Mister Meli, what is your profession?" Imic asked the pick-wielding soldier still covered in demon blood.

"I'm a wrestler, that's what I do best besides hitting things with my pickaxe."

"Exactly. Steel Samurais have their cool call signs, and even some of the Snakes use better titles than 'swordsman' or 'macewoman'. That's exactly why we're here now."

(https://i.imgur.com/222DXAg.png)

"...And you, mister Meli, will be... Pick Guy."

"Everyone gets a grand sounding name like 'defender' or 'invisible blade' and I'm just a pick guy?."

"Yeah, I ran out of ideas."

---

(https://i.imgur.com/j3TT7qD.png)

The caverns were opened again. The miners immediately embarked on a mining expedition to resupply the town with diamondium. Refuse haulers went down to clean up troll and troglodyte corpses, mechanics were sent to build cage traps around the more dangerous spots.

(https://i.imgur.com/9gdmP6P.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/xOdmxSq.png)

Biretha Shadydead couldn't continue his service as a Blackguard, so he was demoted to hauling. Unfortunately for him, the leapworm teeth he wanted to bring to the refuse stockpile became a shark troll's treasured posession.

(https://i.imgur.com/P1TJZGn.png)

Fortunately the monster wasn't in a mood for killing drows. It followed Biretha for a while and then went back to wandering around the caverns.

(https://i.imgur.com/rJFhpJ5.png)

The shark troll's stroll was interrupted by the Helmet Snakes who slaughtered it quickly.

---

(https://i.imgur.com/yOLnQdX.png)

Lerine came out of mottleworm enclosure with a puzzled expression on his face. He needed to share his thought with someone, and it just so happened that he met Athara on his way.
"Those giant worms are much smarter than they look, you know?"

The woman winced at her colleague's words. "Not this again! When I said that about abrians, we added another topic to the list of things we shold never talk about."

"Don't worry, I just taught one to obey simple commands, that's all. I don't know how well those things will do in battle, but at least we know it's an option."

---

(https://i.imgur.com/WgrCS2r.png)

The Snakes were searching for a rattusite gang down in the caverns, when suddenly something cought their attention. A small pile of organs was shambling in the fungal undergrowth. After quickly assessing the threat, Freshcannon gave the order to leave the creature alone and continue the search.

---

(https://i.imgur.com/yRBH0kL.png)

After the ratmen were dealt with, a new threat appeared. Ragewinds, whirling storms of swords and malevolence, started harrassing haulers.

(https://i.imgur.com/a4MCtSD.png)

Before any drow got hurt, Steel Samurais came to rescue. One vengeful spirit was easily dispersed.

(https://i.imgur.com/qzNe1vM.png)

The other one managed to kill a desmodu bat by slamming the entire weight of its metal into the animal's head. It was disposed of by the Cobalt Samurai and his spear.

---

(https://i.imgur.com/QbpmvEB.png)

The perishing of ragewinds wasn't the end of trouble in the caverns. Oquari Wealthsnight was coming back from slaying rattusites, when suddenly two deep stalkers appeared near him. The duelist was startled but not scared. As a Helmet Snake he didn't even need his rapier to defend himself.

(https://i.imgur.com/aiZJXi6.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/L5plsDl.png)

For the sake of not wasting time the Oquari drew his weapon and with a few quick stabs killed the sneaky reptiles.

---

(https://i.imgur.com/GlbzCyP.png)

Melici Twinkleshades's bone carving skills were already legendary, but at one point something hit him. People would praise his handwork, compare it to legendary artifacts, but there had to be a way to improve even further, to create a truly legendary trinket. The bone carver dropped the pile of shells he was holding, then looked around and picked it up again. He needed them. He also needed gems, red and brown ones would fit well, and white dolomite. After gathering the materials, Melici started working furiously.

---

"Something in the bushes, something in the river... Probably just mongrelfolk." Asithi, the guildmaster of the Fisherman's Guild, said to his mussel collectors who were voicing their concern. "Aren't you guys too old to believe in monsters hiding in shadows?"

"Asithi, we were sieged by demon frogs not too long ago, do you really think the idea of a monster hiding in the undergrowth is that far-fetched?"

"Fine, I'll tell the house priestess, but if it's nothing, I'll cut your smoke breaks."

(https://i.imgur.com/YIi6Zsi.png)

The fishermen were right, there was something horrible lurking near the river. Freshcannon was alerted about a bear-like creature swimming towards the north gate. The situation brought back a memory of the first serious threat to Dungeonevened - a werekangaroo. This time, however, the military wasn't just a bunch of clumsy recruits.

(https://i.imgur.com/cV8w4Zn.png)

The Silver Samurai started the fight by crippling the werebears's legs, and the monster fell into the river. Without much thought, Obi Umbrawheels jumped after it, hoping it would be a matter of landing the finishing blow. He was wrong. The werebear ripped the swordsman to pieces, taking full advantage of its ursine form.

(https://i.imgur.com/uQuaOPg.png)

Enraged by the loss of another one of her best soldiers, Freshcannon dealt two powerful blows, shattering ribs and disabling the left arm. The pick guy hit the right arm, leaving the werebear with one foot and a maw full of monstrous, cursed fangs.

(https://i.imgur.com/H9q6LUB.png)

The beast's fate was sealed, and once Imic joined the assault, there wasn't even a sliver of chance for it to come out of this confrontation alive.

(https://i.imgur.com/mAdA0IM.png)

The werebear was getting weaker with every second. Seeing this, the drows were slowing down their assault, knowing that the beast would die any second now. Just before it perished, Freshcannon punched it on the leg.

"It stopped twitching, and i was the last one to touch it, so the kill is mine. If anyone's got anything against it, suck it up, 'cause I'm not in the mood for discussions with annoying creeps, white-skinned freaks and other assorted idiots!" The priestess stormed off underground. There was no doubt the death of Obi hurt her greatly, but in what way?
ZM5 could have sworn he saw tears in Freshcannon's eyes. He was hoping this was a mistake, because questioning calm Freshcannon was supposed to be difficult, but with her getting emotional...

---

Spoiler: Plot - Freshcannon's questioning (click to show/hide)

Some good ol' PLOT, but also caverns.

-I finally fixed the name of weed moss seeds. They were called 'rat weed seeds', but I renamed them to 'weed moss spores'. I swear I did that at least twice already.

-I thought Biretha Shadydead would be fine, but his hand is properly fucked up. Better him than someone I (or any character in the story) care about, I guess.

-The half-assed silk farm is working as expected - not at all. I know exactly what I did wrong.

-More replacement soldiers and trash haulers have arrived, just in time for the great re-opening of the caverns.

-I realized I didn't care about any of the Blackguards besides Imic, so I gave them dorky titles. Maybe that will make me more attached to them?

-A lot of horrible monsters in the caverns. For a moment a herd of crystalline chargers (cave goats basically, harmless) entered the map, but they lasted no longer than a week with a pack of hunters immediately targeting them.

-Lost a desmodu bat to swordnado ghosts T-T

-A werebear emerged from the river and killed Obi the swordsdrow. It sucks to be a Helmet Snake. But hey, nobody was bitten.

-We're gonna get an artifact shell trinket! The first one in my career, boy, am I excited. Not.

How on Earth did neanderthals get access to frog demons and dream cats?

Quote from: scourge728 on October 26, 2018, 08:22:15 pm

How on Earth did neanderthals get access to frog demons and dream cats?

With frog demons it was probably conquest, while dreamlands cats are common domestic pets despite being fully sapient.

Guys, I think I found out why we're not getting actual matriarchs! Every matriarch from the outpost variety to a great matriarch is apointed by the grand matriarch. There were also some other wonky stuff with drow entity, like names being defined only for male matriarchs despite the fact only females can hold those positions. There are also 5 land holder positions, but according to the wiki there can be only 3. I tried to fix some of that stuff, plus I made assault a punishable offence. Let's see how that will work out.

(https://i.imgur.com/PHTT4Ik.png)

Hey, we can recover a piece of Obi!

(https://i.imgur.com/nMhuo4V.png)

And there was no need to slaughter mongrelfolk for blood splatters. The soldiers made a few trips back and forth and left a neat trail of their own blood.

SQ woke up in the morning well rested, ready to take on the day's challenges. She almost felt happy to meet people and interact with them. Almost. She didn't actualy want to interact with people, but she wasn't too grumpy about having to do it. She immediately got dressed up, tied her hair in a ponytail, then opened the door. Her optimistic smile quickly changed into a look of surprise.

"S-Scourge? How long have you been standing here?"

Scourge seemed extremely excited for some reason. She was grinning even wider than usually, she was tapping her foot and had no idea what to do with her hands. "Not that long, I know you wake up around this time. I was waiting to congratulate you! You did it on your own, with just a little boost from me at the start!"

"Oh, let me guess..."

"Yeah, I saw you, Five and the priestess go into your room! When is the wedding? If this is supposed to be a surprise, I won't tell anyone!" Of course Scourge would tell everyone, and SQ was completely aware. "Don't you try to hide it from me, it would really hurt my feelings!"

"Sorry to disappoint, but we're not getting married." SQ's day just got slightly worse, but she tried not to show it. "We were just discussing the investigation, that's it."

"Sure, but after her holiness left you had some alone time with Five. I know what you two were doing in there and... I'm still not convinced if it's really okay, but you seem happy in the end, so why the hell not."

"We were just talking! Well, I was just talking..."

"Now I don't believe you a bit!" Scourge grabbed the overseer by the wrist. "Let's talk about it at breakfast before Imic and Rithesa wake up! There's gotta be a way to make you talk!"

---

On the wood and stoneworking level of Dungeonevened an inspired drow was finishing his masterwork. A one more scratch with a chisel, one more stroke with a file... It was done!

(https://i.imgur.com/VnZqnth.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/Ym454KT.png)

The object was a shell helm covered in white rock spikes. On a closer inspection an engraving could be seen: seven laboring drows recognizable as the founders of Dungeonevend. Over the engraved scene was an image of the high priestess, Menari Leanmenace, looking from above menacingly.
"This symbolizes two possible ways to save the drowkind." Melici Twinkleshade thought to himself. "Dungeonevened, a new colony in a new land, far away from old enemies..."

(https://i.imgur.com/b6unfki.png)

"...And the fight for Murknightmare, the proud capital city of the drow 'empire', currently struggling against moon snail men and elder crawlers, with a constant flow of dubious dwarven travelers and pirates looking for a safe haven."

Spoiler: Viisaus (click to show/hide)

---

(https://i.imgur.com/mC1fBTX.png)

SQ and Scourge entered what was once the Mahogany Hall. The tavern had been repurposed into a library some time earlier, but its history was quite apparent. Between tastefuly arranged, completely empty lead bookcases lied scattered instrument pieces nobody bothered to move. On gleaming chitin pedestal presented were The Sweltering Horns, a quartzite amulet, and Rustsells, a pair of ivory greaves. Between the pedestal was a statue of a male drow being struck with cudgels, as Quico, the god of war was usually portrayed. Nobody knew why a statue of Quico was in the library, but it didn't bother anyone too much.

"Oh right, I keep forgetting there's a library here now..." Scourge said, annoyed that this happened again. Then she realized: "Hey, you knew we were going the wrong way! Why didn't you say anything?"

"I was wondering where you were going to take me, so I kept quiet." SQ answered.

"That's why I worry about you so much."

"Maybe it's good we came here, because I just remembered I wanted to ask you something. Do you know anyone you'd call a scholar?"

"Wow, it's been some time since you asked a question this weird!" Scourge exclaimed. "Fecawi, Athara's husband, is apparently an optician. He joined th Blackguards, so if you're thinking about getting him to work here, you're outa luck."

(Fecawi is literally the only drow with scholar skills. He was not supposed to be drafted, for Athara's sake, but somehow he got in... I think I'll replace him with some new migrant.)

---

(https://i.imgur.com/g423SEK.png)

After waking up and handing Rithesa over to Scourge, Imic called his Blackguards to the barracks for training. All nine soldiers showed up, but there was something more than just soldiers.

"M-mister Facawi, what's the meaning of this?" The weapon master asked the swordsman upon seeing five gigantic worms following him.

"The mottleworms? My wife swears she trained them for combat, if you can believe that. They haven't eaten anybody yet, so there's no harm in them tagging along."

"I'll allow it, but I want to be informed about things like this next time." Imic tried to look stern and professional, but in reality he was very much excited about the idea of war animals.

---

Melici Seducedmenaced was going on an abrian hunt. Sneaking through the still unfilled moat was an easy way to ambush prey, but Melici wasn't the only one who had this idea.

(https://i.imgur.com/iOke18O.png)

As soon as the hunter dropped down the slope, he realized he was being watched by five pairs of glowing green eyes. Melici and the shadow gnomes looked at each other for a short while, when suddenly...

"Let's eat him, lads." One of the gnomes suggested. The rest shouted cheerfuly, celebrating their leader's brightness.
Melici started backing away slowly before turning around, running and screaming for help.

(https://i.imgur.com/mimrA0F.png)

The gnomes caught up with Melici in the western gate. One particular gnome started bashing the drow with a small club made of feymetal, but before it could finish its work, Helmet Snakes came to the rescue.

(https://i.imgur.com/zmXX0hM.png)

Legendary warriors of Dungeonevened had no trouble dealing with the diminutive enemies. The gnomes' ferocity wasn't enough to compensate for the difference in size and skill. The only thing left for them was to overwhelm the drows with numbers, so as soon as the Snakes jumped into the moat, a second wave of gnome raiders appeared.

(https://i.imgur.com/su4dYhf.png)

Gnome archers also failed to make the fight equal. The drows had no trouble avoiding arrows, and once they closed what little distance was between them and the invaders, bows and arrows were completely useless.

"Exemplary job, soldiers." Freshcannon praised her Snakes. "Not a single casualty, saved one of Nunore's boys, killed all the wretched midgets. Anyone's got any comments?"

"Yeah, can we have a day off to celebrate the victory?" Biretha asked.

"Anyone else? No? Let's get back to training then."

---

(https://i.imgur.com/vRnLDdb.png)

"HEY, LAZYBONES! ARE YOU GONNA TRADE WITH US OR WHAT? BRING US SOME EATS BEFORE OUR POOR OLD BONES CRUMBLE TO DUST FROM THIS WAITING!"

"Oh no, not these guys! Can anyone trade with them so I don't have to?" Fred the Mitey asked passing drows desperately. "Come on, anybody? Wait, stop pushing! I don't wanna talk to them!"

---

As soon as Fred announced that he was done trading, SQ and Scourge came to examine the haul.

"They didn't have anything too interesting did they?" SQ noticed, looking at a pile of bags and a small collection of cages.

"Is that a surprise? They bring nothing but trash and then expect us to be happy about this."

"Fred, we give them our tattered clothes and disgusting slime paste meals in exchange, of course they won't give us anything better." Scourge said.

"But that's exactly what they ask for! Eh, I need to get away from those creeps, you girls do what you always do." Fred unceremoniously left the depot.

---

"What do we have here... Two cavies! Male and female! So adorable!" Scourge squeaked, not unlike a cavy.

"Another breeding pair in our collection. Hey, troll, mind taking them to their enclosure?" SQ waved at a passing troll. The monster gently removed the rodents from their cages and carried them downstairs.

(https://i.imgur.com/PQKKd8j.png)

"Another creature from the moon, a dragon snapping turtle. I think we should leave taking care of this one for Lerine." Scourge stepped back away from the cage, moving the sleeping baby in her arms as far away from the turtle as possible.

"I know you're making that up. These are regular animals from our world... well, probably."

"See? You can't confirm they're not from the moon!"

"I... I really don't feel like arguing with you on this."

(https://i.imgur.com/WU9nsLS.png)

"Two aurochs bulls. Do you know that they're the ancestors of surface cattle?" SQ shared a bit of trivia with Scourge.

"I know, but what is their relation to deep rothe? Are they like, distant cousins or something?"

"Maybe a spider demon cow goddess took a few of them and turned them into rothe we know today?"

"Don't be silly, SQ."

(https://i.imgur.com/haL53hB.png)

"A honey badger! Bees, snakes, lions? These guys just don't care." Scourge looked at the cage with an equal mix of awe and worry. "Another one for Lerine."

"Poor Lerine... He took your dangerous assignments, does most heavy labor when you take care of your child, Athara has no respect for him, and I think he feels something for Tharumi who prefers women."

"Okay, Athara will take care of the badger, just stop making me feel guilty!"

"Poor Athara... She has two young children to take care of, and she constantly worries about her husband who joined the Blackguards" SQ said. She couldn't keep a straight face anymore, which was quickly noticed by Scourge.

"Playing with someone's emotions like this is not okay! You should know the best, since I do it to you all the time!"

(https://i.imgur.com/VXstgyL.png)

"Ugh! Is this thing even alive?" SQ asked, poking a pile of mucus-covered meat with a stick. The amorfi twitched slightly. "It is... I was hoping it wouldn't."

"Isn't that ironic that skeletons brought a blob of flesh with them? You would think they'd have skeleton dogs and skeleton horses as pets, but look at this..."

"Strange people, those skeletons."

---

(https://i.imgur.com/WVMSxOP.png)

First ever visitor to Dungeonevened wasn't what the drows were hoping it would be.

(https://i.imgur.com/k6xjeT7.png)

The tarveler was a hideously mutated zombie, but it didn't seem mindless or feral. Nunore's River Watch was keeping an eye on the undead creature from the top of the walls.

"You're almost a priestess, Nunore, you should be ruthless, shoot first, ask questions later." The house cleric thought to herself. "But what if there's something I don't know? I don't know a lot of things."
Before Nunore decided what to do, the zombie was already inside, absolutely terrifying everyone on its way.

---

(https://i.imgur.com/2tXZA95.png)

The zombie shambled to the dining hall. It was followed by Freshcannon and her Snakes. It stopped to introduce itself
"Gladis Singedstutters. Heard of Cavernhall. Came to see." The zombie grunted surprisingly clearly despite of three giant tongues hanging from its maw."

The house priestess walked up to Gladis and looked at it closely. There was a certain sinister aura around the zombie, but it definitely wasn't a pawn of any dark power. Freshcannon haven't said anything and walked away, but then she instructed her soldiers never to leave the undead creature alone with civilians whose fear slowly changed into curiosity.

(https://i.imgur.com/YJcAY2e.png)

Liceyi burst into the tavern delighted. Finally someone who would appreciate his poetry.

---

"...so what I wanted to say is: there's a zombie in town, so try not to freak out when you see it." Freshcannon told SQ as they both headed to the surface together.

"What? D-don't tell me... no, we can't keep a zombie in Dungeonevened! That's madness!"

"Well, it talks and seems to like crappy poetry, so maybe it's decent enough to leave peacefuly on its own. Besides, wait, who are those people?"

(https://i.imgur.com/OAY5v2t.png)

A group of seven drows - one woman and six men appeared in the entrance.

"Oh great. I think I'll go find someone to help me with processing those new migrants." SQ grumbled, turning around.

Freshcannon stopped the overseer by grabbing her by the scarf. "You were panning on leaving them to me, right?"

"Y-yes..."

The sickly-looking woman leading the migrants approached the two women. "A local troublemaker harrasses a poor child! You should be ashamed of yourself, lady!"

"Piss off, fresh meat! I was just teling the overseer to stop running away from her problems!" Freshcannon growled, then pushed SQ towards the newcomers. "Go get 'em girl."

"S-so... Who are you and what do you do?" SQ muttered the usual line. She liked how quick it got things done.

"Nuwetha Wickeddie, a fish cleaner, but you're probably more interested in my friends here. Fecawi is a renowned wound healer, Liyetha and Niya are great lumberjacks, Rafovi can work metal, Vathi, the big guy, can work with animals, and Biretha..."

SQ noticed Biretha before Nuwetha could explain what's his speciality. The man's face was wrapped in a scarf in a familiar fashion. The overseer ran up to him excited. "Don't worry, mister Biretha! Nobody here will bother you about your affliction! We accept albinos as eagerly as e-everyone el-else..." SQ lost all her confidence and energy when she finally looked into Biretha's red eyes. The cold look on the man's face was disheartening.

"Hey, freak, lay off with the death stare, will you?" Freshcannon growled at the albino man, giving him the same stare. Biretha retaliated by also piercing Freshcannon with his eyes. "Now I'm getting creeped out..."

"Hah! There's nobody who can resist the snake eyes!" Biretha shouted boisterously. "Sorry about that. I'm Biretha, a hunter, a warrior, a fish dissector! It will be a pleasure to serve you!"

"Snake eyes? I'll have my Snake eyes on you, freak. I wanna see you at the barracks in full diamondium gear. Or did you have a better idea, SQ? SQ? Oh for Lolth's sake!" Freshcannon exclaimed. SQ wasn't there anymore.

---

(https://i.imgur.com/pHAmqxn.png)

The mold monsters of the caverns had an uncanny proficiency at crushing people's spines. Tharumi Hatemiles, a hunter hunting near the cavern lake was ambushed by a cluster of moldspawns, and after a moment he was lying on the ground unable to even gasp for air. The unfeeling fungal creatures weren't interested in an immobile target, so they shambled away slowly, leaving the hunter to die.

(https://i.imgur.com/RQdpZyR.png)

The killer moldspawn was soon tracked down and destroyed.

---

(https://i.imgur.com/ZfQ3WGu.png)

The haulers dropped a copper cage with a newly caught animal in the menagerie's storeroom. SQ and Scourge were busy at the looms, so Athara was in charge. She, along with Tharumi, was examining the beast.

"It's certainly more interesting than the two ethereal slayers the last migrant wave brought. A rat beast like those used by Kabu-smusms."

"This is a rat beast, all right, but what the hell is a Kabu-whatever?" Tharumi asked.

"Kabu-smusms were a tribe of orc-goblin crossbreeds, probably eradicated by dwarves. How come I'm the only one here who knows anything?" Athara was almost insulted by Tharumi's ignorance.

"Maybe because overseer Ena recruited people from Slum district, while you were tending to spiders in temples? Back to the rat. I have a clump of weed moss, and if my intuition is right... It took the moss! See? No need to know history to be taking care of giant rats."

"You don't need to be so proud about it..."

---

(https://i.imgur.com/5JsIG72.png)

The moat, a great project planned out a few years before actually being started, was about to be finished. After disposing of corpses, the drows could finally fill the ditch with river water, and all it took was just a few swings of a pickaxe.

---

(https://i.imgur.com/lE0wkYE.png)

First day of winter. SQ and Scourge were working at the looms with ZM5 keeping them company. SQ's excitement could be clearly felt in the air, because the caravan from Murknightmare was supposed to arrive any day now. There was no corpses lyng around, no horrible monsters other than a herd of abrians, the road was clear of any obstacles.

"You think it will be this time, huh?" Scourge asked. "You know you'll have to talk to Weri about that? Plus there's a matter of you banishing Asithi..."

"It will be fine. Weri will look around Dungeonevened and proclaim me a great matriarch or better. I won't have to say a word." SQ said, concentrated on an almost finished piece of cloth. A matriarch shouldn't be making inferior cloth after all.

"Scourge, baby, I think she's gone too deep into her little world. She'll flip when she doesn't get made a matriarch." ZM5 half-whispered as if he wanted SQ to hear.

"I know, that's why I don't want her to get her hopes too high up." Scourge said in the same way.

"I thougth that at least you two would have some faith in me. I'll even pretend Weri hadn't blamed me for breaking a wagon last year, so you see how much I'm willing to sacrifice."

"Yeah, how will you live without that grudge?"

---

(https://i.imgur.com/qhOYnoV.png)

"INVADERS!" Nunore's scream echoed through the surface. As soon as it reached the barracks a stream of drow soldiers poured out.

"So what is it this time? What do your elf eyes see?" Freshcannon asked.

"Will you believe me if I tell you it's horsemen?"

"Men on horses? Big deal, we've dealt with worse."

"No, no, men who are horses! Ten of them!"

(https://i.imgur.com/5rp3CNR.png)

"Off the fortifications, Nunore! Real soldiers can take care of this."

(https://i.imgur.com/T0SPBwu.png)

"Freshcannon-ithera! Efaci-larami is going into labor! I need to bring her to the hospital!" Asin informed the priestess. Without waiting for an answer he took his wife downstairs.

"Oh for Lolth's sake! There go two good soldiers! Nunore, go help deliver the baby already, I've got a battle to win!"

(https://i.imgur.com/VZf0JGY.png)

Knowing that a caravan from Murknightmare would soon come from the west, the drows decided to meet the equinar assault force far away from the town. The initial charge was far less effective than it was with gnomes, but the horse people were still outnumbered and outskilled. The large mare leading the attack went into a strange trance upon realizing she was surrounded, but ZM5's dagger breaking all her teth brought her back to reality, a reality where she was just about to be killed.

(https://i.imgur.com/wrqKoDk.png)

"FUCK'S SAKE!" Freshcannon yelled when she realized what price was paid for the victory: Fetha Freshdevils was missing a foot, and so was Meli Ghoullures. Liyeta Containedmenaced has lost her left hand. Imic was bleeding from his chest and wrist.

---

(https://i.imgur.com/nkAHThc.png)

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"

(https://i.imgur.com/SrU33rG.png)

"Overseer, there are clowns on the northern road!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"

SUMMARY:

(https://i.imgur.com/qhgPzUe.jpg)

-Damn you, Siege Horse! Equinars are Doloi from Fantastic Races. They took out three good soldiers, hopefuly not also Imic.
Shadow gnomes at least had the decency to go down without struggling too much.

-Asin's wife gave birth to a boy named Melici. What a goddamn surprise, this name.

-The moat has been finished, but I have no idea if it will do us any good. Nobody drowned in it yet, but I feel like it's just a matter of time until someone dodges badly.

-Shell helm, nuff said.

-The diplomat is gone. She's apparently still alive (despite being a 105 years old human), but what a moment not to show up. The population of Murknightmare is about 50. We currently have 117 drows in Dungeonevened. I hope the grand matriarch will migrate once we hit 140, because the plot is hanging on it.

-A drow was lost to moldspawns, and this time there wasn't a forgotten beast to save him. Albino!Melici's husband was lucky to only get parlyzed from waist down.

-Oh, and the first ever visitor! A zombie came to listen to Liceyi's poetry, then left. I could use some mercenaries here!

I wonder, does Viisaus announce his name to everyone when meeting them? "Hey, Viisaus, Footlaws here".

Shame the zombie didn't stay, would have been a good merc and mascot for the fort.

Holy fuck, one siege after another. It seems appropriate that one of their Rhinotrolls is named "Dang". Although it may be an understatement - we already had one clown siege, so now that it's the second one they're really gonna start ramping up their forces.

Quote from: ZM5 on October 30, 2018, 03:17:35 pm

I wonder, does Viisaus announce his name to everyone when meeting them? "Hey, Viisaus, Footlaws here".

Holy hell, I didn't notice that. And no, he doesn't - he's dead.
After the horse siege I'm not worried about the clowns. Equinars had large size and metal armor to their advantage, clowns only have their gimmicks that didn't help them in the last raid.

Let's see how the whole Stonesense thing works...

(https://i.imgur.com/N29gfVD.png)

Starting from the northern edge of the map, we can see a troupe of entertainers who came to slaughter our refuse haulers. They will be fighting our troops on a field of equinar teeth in a few moments.
The road is made of gleaming chitin because we've got plenty of that and it can't be made into anything cool, like traps.

(https://i.imgur.com/PVIiCZh.png)

Fort Dungeonevened in all its glory. You can see a stray capybara walking about, a troll tending to crops, soldiers waiting to be sent to battle, the usual stuff.

(https://i.imgur.com/Aye6Fvs.png)

The shrine tower would me more impressive if I could show it on more than 3 Z-levels at a time. This is the shrine to Otira, the god of hunting, fishing and lightning. I had 2 electrum archery targets built just for flavor.

(https://i.imgur.com/E27aJIO.png)

Food and textiles level. You can see Imic waiting for diagnosis in the hospital, Schmendrick carrying silk from the spidery workshop to the stockpile, Lunardog heading to the fields, the completely empty library.

Aaaaand Stonesense crashed. Again.

SQ ran into the hospital not really knowing why. Out of all wounded soldiers only Imic was already in bed, and he was yet to be taen care of. On the next bed lied Efaci Hexcrushed, Asin's wife, the Iron Samurai, also waiting for a doctor. Surprisingly neither Scourge or Asin could be seen anywhere, which concerned SQ even further.
"Where is everybody? Out of all places this is where I do want to see people!"

"Scourge was here just a moment ago, miss SQ." Imic informed the overseer. "When she learned that I'm in stable condition she went to clear up some things with Fred, like why there's no soap or why the doctors weren't already in the hospital."

"And Asin? I thought he would stay with Efaci?"

"I told him he should go." Efaci explained, unusually calmly for a woman who was just about to give birth. She appeared to be in some kind of meditative trance, or perhaps she was just that good at dealing with pain. "They'll... deal with those enemies in a jiffy... and it's not like our child is going anywhere, is it?"

"With all the things going on right now I wouldn't be surprised..."

---

"Snakes out!"
"Samurais, follow my lead! Blackguards... I don't know Imic-ithera's catchphrase, so just follow me!"

(https://i.imgur.com/bpVgr3F.png)

On the northern road a group of drows were trying to run away from a herd of war boars that was constantly being agitated by two clowns of different sizes. Fecawi Chancetunnels was the slowest of the drows, too slow to run away from battle-trained pigs.

---

Meanwhile SQ was trying to make sense of all this chaos. She was sitting in her office when suddenly the door opened. A slender silver-haired woman with foreign symbols on her leather gambeson. The woman's skin wasn't typical black, but violet. She was a dark elf from the west.

(https://i.imgur.com/b0mGlZQ.png)

A sense of terror overcame SQ. What was a sworn enemy doing in her office? Was it over already? The overseer calmed down once she noticed that two sword-wielding drows came in after the dark elf. That must have been an envoy.

"Weri Efacilidava-wanara, I presume? A matriarch of this mighty fortress?" The dark elf asked calmly, politely even.

"I'm used to SQ-ithera. They refused to make me a matriarch, and now the liaison from the capital is gone." SQ overshared awkwardly.

The stranger was shocked by SQ's response: not only was this woman demanding to be addressed with a honorific signifying superiority, but also admitted to being so ruthless and powerful that she could freely defy her own law-giver by killing the messenger. "I... I'm Feta Lessonshowers and... I c-came to ask you to surren... surrender. I'm a legendary crossbowwoman leading a band of..."

"Where's your crossbow?"

"Shit! I... I knew I f-forgot about something!" At that moment Feta was shaking in her boots, intimidated by SQ's presence. "I gotta tell the g-guys this will not be an easy siege. See you on the battlefield, SQ-d-diri."

"Diri? That's what one of my commanders calls his underlings."

"F-fine, SQ-Ithera, just let me go!"

(https://i.imgur.com/Tyfhlx3.png)

---

"River watch, to the walls!" A brand new cry echoed through the woods. Nunore's marksmen slowly made their way to the fortifications too keep an eye on dark elves.

(https://i.imgur.com/11Fglmx.png)

The clowns and their boars reveled in pain and fear they caused, and the more hopeless the victim the better. As much as death of citizens was always a disaster, there was a silver lining to all of this - every second the clowns spent torturing beekeepers and garbage haulers was an additional second for drow soldiers to regroup.

(https://i.imgur.com/OzqYevd.png)

The small clown beastmaster was first approached by Melici of the Blackguards who landed a solid blow on his chest. The enertainer seemed completely unfazed by that, and even after being stabbed in the kidney he was still trying to overpower his enemies. The sheer difference in size caused the tiny clown to bounce off of ZM5's greaves. Then a shield of one of the Snakes completely crushed the clown's hand, but it still wasn't enough to incapacitate him. ZM5 quickly realized that the only way to drive the clown into the ground was to remove the fiend's leg, and that's what he did.

(https://i.imgur.com/OPB8YD3.png)

Melici the macesnake notice a confused boar trying to hit something with its formidable tusks. The animal was enraged, but also overwhelmed by the sounds of battle and flashes of faerie fire. Melici's swing cut the boar's frantic struggling short by paralyzing it for good.

(https://i.imgur.com/TsYFJkD.png)

Another boar was fighting its instinct that was telling it to devour its latest victim. Clowns demanded it to kill more, but easy meal was already impaled on its tusks. The animalistic dilemma was solved by sharp pain in the leg. The beast turned quickly to attack its assailants, but its head met Biretha's metal-clad hand.

(https://i.imgur.com/5GT9Utm.png)

The other beastmaster, a large clown, quickly realized what was happening. His pie was easily dodged, and his cane almost shattered after being deftly swatted out of the air with a heavy flail. The drows didn't even need hands to bring him down, but once he was down there was nothing left to prove, so he was decapitated by the Silver Samurai who still needed to improve her kill-count to win the approval of her colleagues, or so she thought.

(https://i.imgur.com/UcjYvRO.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/telpuVt.png)

A lot of unaccounted for circus freaks appeared as if out of thin air. The numbers were overwhelming, especially considering most monstrous entertainers was saddled on camels and running squids.

(https://i.imgur.com/iXWFTrr.png)

Litheme the Cavalier ran wildly into the charging crowd of various monstrisities. She shook off various curses and spels cast on her, and even cast her own spell for good measure.

(https://i.imgur.com/xFCllnl.png)

She was not easy to kill, and it didn't take long until the rest of the soldiers caught up with her.

(https://i.imgur.com/kLwlmrL.png)

Fecawi the Doomguide was locked in single combat against Dang, a huge rhinotroll. The savage monster kept goring at the drow, but all attacks were either nimbly dodged, blocked with an unbreakable diamondium shield, or reflected by armor. The swordsman attacked fewer times, but all of his swings and stabs reached the rhinotroll's flesh. The final slash went through the monster's thick neck with little resistance.

(https://i.imgur.com/ctgfT8l.png)

The magician, a strange creature resembling a cross between a dove, a rabbit and some unspeakable abomination, was certainly a high-value target for anyone brave enough to face it. In the heat of battle Nuwetha the mace lady broke the monster's weapon hand, so it was only natural that prestige hungry warriors would flock to it.
Two albino drows showed up immediately, Biretha to show his worth as a new mwmber of the Helmet Snakes, and Melici to satisfy her pathological need to prove herself. Melici's two-handed sword immediately got lodged in the magician's skull, but haven't gone far enough. Biretha opted for a low swing, his orichalcum sword spilled the monster's guts, then on the way back turned its armed into shreds.
The abomination started attacking blindly, but pain overwhelmed it after Melici ripped its stomach open. Biretha, wasting no time, drove the point of his sword into the magician's skull.
The swordsman smiled at the swordswoman from under his headscarf, letting his eyes express gratitude for good teamwork. Melici shook her head in disapproval - she was supposed to finish that thing off.

(https://i.imgur.com/moOGM8G.png)

While boars and squids were well-trained and ferocious in battle, the camels couldn't stand the sounds of battle. They scattered around the woods, still crrying their riders on their backs.

---

(https://i.imgur.com/pQIwcoa.png)

"Feta-diri, we've been waiting here for several hours. Are we attacking or what?"

"Let's just enjoy the surrounding, shall we? The weather is so nice..."

"You're scared, aren't you? And you forgot your crossbow again. Let's just go home."

"I'd rather get flayed alive by drows than listen to one of Feretu-ithera's lectures."

---

(https://i.imgur.com/oWZtAXI.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/rXV4MX1.png)

Camels continued to be a setback for the invaders. In their wild panic they would run straight into the most dangerous warriors and traps with no consideration of the wellbeing of their riders. As ill-natured as camels can be, these ones weren't ready for such a serious attack.

---

(https://i.imgur.com/gFj00Yr.png)

"Such a pity Nunore couldn't be here after all." Fred the Mitey admitted to Imic. "Her diagnosis would be much more meaningful, but judging from the fact that you can feel your hand, I think you should make full recovery. There's one think I've been wondering about. How did you get the wound on your chest?"

"I... I don't really remember. Probably when a horseman tossed me through the air and I skidded on the ground. But I do have this armor, and it's miss Uthimi's masterwork, not to mention the chain mail underneath..."

"Your spacesuit wasn't even dented..."

---

(https://i.imgur.com/WJFQ2da.png)

The last entertainer standing was a sword swallower, a master in swordplay. His skills were about to be tested against some of the finest drow warriors.

(https://i.imgur.com/Wk7JgR8.png)

Mefayo charged boldly at the circus freak, but he found an opponent he couldn't overpower so easily. The sword swallower jumped away, then without much thought parried Oquari's stab. The fencer stopped the freak's bronze sword with his shield, but couldn't find an opening to counter-attack.
Asithi the Lead Samurai didn't have to look for a chance to strike. The blades of her scourge hit the sword swallower's leg with enormous force, bending the knee the wrong way.

(https://i.imgur.com/o7CLAgi.png)

The death came quickly to the last monster clown. Its natural affinity with blades didn't help it survive having a blade of a steel axe dropped on its neck.

---

(https://i.imgur.com/YXt3XZ3.png)

"S-Schmendrick... I'm... I'm dying! Tell Freshcannon it was an honor fighting with her!" Fetha the macewoman said to Schmendrick who was working as a nurse. The woman was bleeding from the head and was as pale as a drow could be.

"Miss, I don't know how to break it to you, but once I bandage your head you're free to go. I'm sure the priestess wouldn't be happy about your early retirement because of a scratch on the forehead."

"She wouldn't, would she? I guess I'll be picking up a mace once again. Gods damnit!"

(I actually retired Fetha because I thought her 'severe blood loss' meant she would die before making it to the hospital. Well, looks like we won't be needing replacement Snakes.)

---

(https://i.imgur.com/E6IO0ie.png)

The fight with dark elves wasn't difficult in the slightest. Half of them escaped once they realized the drows weren't going to just ignore them. The siege has been lifted, and trading with Murknightmare became a priority.

---

(https://i.imgur.com/FGno5zM.png)

Inspired by recent events, Athara Pointyumbral, an inconspicuous trapper, decided that she had to make something special. She took a pile of rat beast bones, and without telling anyone brought them to the craftsman's workshop. She didn't need anything else.

---

Fred the Mitey was in a hurry to finish trading. SQ, or rather Scourge speaking for SQ, announced that such a great victory against three mortal enemies needed to be celebrated. He exchanged bone crafts and tattered apparel for metal, dimple cup and magenta fungus spawns, a riding lizard, a drowspider and a chain golem.

(https://i.imgur.com/0r6ZCxX.png)

"Ooh, you've got scrolls and books! Kaos is gonna love this! Wait, no, it's a leaflet with a guide to Murknightmare. And it's in old dwarven. I mean, it's something, I'll take it."

(Oddom Granitelord, what a name!)

(https://i.imgur.com/KbYV1BS.png)

"'Never Underestimate the Elder Brute', huh? It's a report about a crawler killing a brute in Murknightmare, why is the title...?"

"You buying or not? If not we're dumping it into the river."

"I'll take one copy."

---

(https://i.imgur.com/mQPqDPT.png)

Athara Pointyumbral finished her artifact quicker than other drows did.

(https://i.imgur.com/Wxgl9ih.png)

It wasn't exactly as useful as Uthimi's diamondium spacesuit or as ornate as Efaci's ivory greaves, and it was acually several bones tied together, but perhaps some god would want something like that in their temple? Maybe if Athara asked nicely someone would build a museum for artifacts that didn't get their chance? There was so many possibilities!

-Okay, the clowns weren't that scary after all. The camels foiled their plans big time.

-Two out of ten dark elves forgot to bring their weapons - one elite crossbowwoman and one recruit who probably was supposed to have a crossbow too.

-Two books for the library! They're absolute crap, but it's better than nothing.

-Bone pike. Oof.

Kaos knows exactly how to utilize an unbreakable weapon that no-one else knows how to use...…….

Also, to adjust the number of z-levels in Stone-sense, use your ctrl-mouse-wheel. If you can find the init file for SS, there is an option there for it as well.

Edit: Added Ctrl and a picture.

Spoiler: Big picture of my trade depot, still being built (click to show/hide)

I'm not playing with stonesense any more. It keeps crashing after a minute and there's nothing I can do about it.

SQ, Scourge and Darkening Kaos were in the woodcrafting area looking at the bone lance that was created the previous day.
"I'm not forcing anyone to fight with this thing. It's just a few bones, not even sharpened ones. Good luck killing anything with this." SQ said, not entirely convinced she was looking at an artifact.

"For someone as wimpy as you it may be impossible, but someone could definitely hurt someone using this lance. It's a long, hard object after all." Scourge disagreed.

"Then maybe I could find a use for that." Kaos said triumphantly. Then she noticed Scourge smirking, which made her realize it was a set-up. "Scourge, if you want to say something, spit it out now."

"I understand you get lonely out there in your forge, but maybe you should consider getting a boyfriend instead of...?"

"As I was about to say, I've heard of a few contraptions that utilize wooden spears which could possibly be replaced with a bone lance. In ancient times dwarves would use 'Danger Rooms' and 'Shafts of Enlightenment' to train their legendary warriors in extremely short time, sometimes instantly."

"I think I'll have a museum built instead." SQ knew everything dwarves say have to be taken with a pinch of salt, their legends with a generous helping of it.

---

(https://i.imgur.com/J8fcIxE.png)

"Hey, Imic, were the running squids really, you know, squids? I'd like to know what I'm carving, 'cause as far as I know squids don't have bones."

"They were more like beak dogs with tentacles, I guess. They're one of the moon creatures."

"Let me guess, your wife told you that."

"Is it that obvious, mister Tharumi?"

---

(https://i.imgur.com/JBmxBLq.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/yacnQpU.png)

Something sinister moved among the stone pillars of the caverns. Skum, the slaves of aboleths, were sent by their masters to spy on the drows of Dungeonevened from the shadow.

(https://i.imgur.com/uDqhYjv.png)

The disappearance of their accompanying water elemental forced them to get closer to the town entrance to investigate. That turned out to be a bad move, because the watchful drows notices the sneaking fishmen and raised an alarm. The Samurais slaughtered the skum in a matter of minutes, not allowing them to report back to their masters.

---

(https://i.imgur.com/6evGL3l.png)

Nuwetha Wickeddie dropped a nest box in a riding lizard enclosure. She wasn't keen on spending any more time in there than necessary, so she left the rest to SQ and Scourge.

"Look SQ, it claimed the nest box! It's laying eggs!" Scourge shouted in excitement as a riding lizard deposited eight leathery eggs into the nest box.

"That's great and all, but something about this box bothers me..."

(https://i.imgur.com/K0DaVik.png)

"Is this a picture of me eating berries? I feel uncomfortable now."

"It's kinda cute. Wait, there's a signature here... Tharumi Balanceblack. Maybe he's got a crush on you? He depicted you in such a flattering way, sparkling eyes, long, pointy ears... even though your ears aren't all that long." Scourge couldn't wait to ask Tharumi about that after work. "I mean, he's fifty years older than you, and I always say things work the best if the difference is not bigger than ten years, besides you're already kinda taken, even if not officially, so I won't be urging neither of you to make any moves."

"I'm glad you clarified that, I was getting worried for a while. Let's go see what's new in the storage. I heard they brought something nice."

(https://i.imgur.com/aBhGFfy.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/McZ1LuE.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/TntL0c2.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/CeuxwJK.png)

"Oh great, a whole gang of those guys. We should have a dedicated room around here for rattusite disposal." Scourge suggested, looking at the ratman suspiciously. There was no way it would keep its dirty claws away from the lock for much longer.

"That's actually a good idea. The arena is fine, but it takes some time to set things up properly. The trap corridor is so deep down that it's too much effort to carry cages there. I'll tell Fred as soon as we're done here."

(https://i.imgur.com/BsQBRSc.png)

"Another one for disposal room." SQ said, ready to move on.

"Come on, he's such a charming fellow, this gorlak. I'm pretty sure he would fit right in in our town!"

"He doesn't seem to speak common."

"Neither does Yetine, and you made her a dungeon mistress."

(https://i.imgur.com/jbFcnl3.png)

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" The giant lizard was much more exciting to SQ than rattusites or gorlaks. "Last time the hunters bagged some of these we had so much meat we didn't know what to do with it!"

"I'm no expert on reptiles, but I think this one is male, and I can't see another one."

"Maybe one day we'll get a female, until then..."

(https://i.imgur.com/8QuaBz9.png)

"Oh, a water elemental contained in a cage made of metal bars. N-nothing wrong with that." SQ backed away slowly even though the elemental was completely passive.

"Come on you scaredy-moleweasel, if it wanted to hurt anyone, it would have attacked whoever brought it here in this crummy cage. I'm sure we can tame it somehow."

"Are you going to feed it a mushroom and hope for the best?"

"It worked with pretty much everything so far, so why not?"

"Because it desn't have a mouth or internal organs."

"You weren't supposed to answer that!"

(https://i.imgur.com/YgYRtSw.png)

"You know, I have hard time understanding those little guys." Scourge scratched her head looking at a cave pygmy. The tiny creature scratched its bald head too. "Imagine being the wimpiest of all creatures in the caverns, even cave cockatiels bully you, then you see a group of armed drows covered in blood and guts. What do you do?" The woman stuck out her tongue, the pygmy did the same. "That's right, you run away as fast as your tiny legs let you. Cave pygmies instead make as much noise as possible, then run straight into a corridor lined with deadly sawblades." Scourge grabbed the tips of her ears and pulled them in a way that they almost met on the top of her head. She wasn't happy about not being able to make her ears touch, but the sight of the round-eared pygmy pulling its own ears in frustration was more than enough to make up for that.

"They do seem quite dim-witted, don't they? But then what to expect from creaures whose eyes take almost all the space in the skull?"

"Which is stupid on its own since they shouldn't be able to see anyway, yet they can! Their existence alone annoys me!"

(https://i.imgur.com/zoViLrU.png)

"Calm down, Scourge, and... let's not get close to this cage." The cage SQ had in mind housed a white-scaled humanoid lizard with tiny eyes filled with malevolent intelligence. "White Saurians know spells, or so I've heard."

"Big deal, I also know two pretty solid spells."

"Faerie fire and darkness, sure, but those guys know cool spells like lightning bolt."

"Maybe we could convince this lizard to teach us how to do that? Can you imagine?" Scourge's eyes sparkled with childlike wonder, but the Saurian's hostile hiss quickly reminded her what she was actually dealing with. "Maybe it's a bad idea after all."

---

Freshcannon was overseeing the Helmet Snakes training as usual, and as usual certain soldiers were causing a lot of trouble.

"Boss, please! Yesterday was a hard day, why can't we finish earlier today?" Biretha and Melici were trying their best to invoke pity in the priestess's heart, but Freshcannon knew them too well to fall for their tricks.

"Get off your knees and get back to training, you worthless idiots."

"Do you not love us anymore? Have you lost all traces of respect for us?" While Biretha was ready to give up, Melici was persistent. She just had to finish early.

"Love? Respect? I never respected anybody in my entire life! Maybe except for this here axe, and this shield. In fact..."

(https://i.imgur.com/M1fjIN1.png)

"...I'll be calling this shield Holdconfused the Scratch of Admiration, because it's scratched up and it's a thing to admire. Unlike you, morons, who thought using emotional manipulation on me would be a good idea. You're both staying after hours to wipe the barracks clean."

---

(https://i.imgur.com/4a0SFoq.png)

Deep in the caverns a certain metalcrafter was recovering a cage with a crystalline charger. If large prey animals were casually wandering around, that meant that no dangerous predators were around. Vathi Stabcurse was proud of himself for coming up with that reasoning, but there was one thing he forgot to take into the account - what if the prey didn't know predators were there?
Vathi soon realized his mistake when a pack of deep stalkers materialized dangerously close to him.

(https://i.imgur.com/NzzeIUm.png)

The metalcrafter had more than his intellect to protect himself from the vicious reptiles. Being a large man, he could easily overpower a stalker and slam it against the cavern floor, then throw it away like a rag doll.

(https://i.imgur.com/oALSUBH.png)

The rest of the pack was not discouraged by the death of the first deep stalker, furiously stinging and biting at Vathi, but the drow was quick and nimble despite his size. He managed to dodge all incoming attacks until Melici the Macesnake came to his rescue, brutally mangling the stalkers.

---

(https://i.imgur.com/WRcxZ0c.png)

The six remaining founders of Dungeonevened and ZM5 gathered in SQ's office to celebrate the arrival of a new year.

"Here's to another great year!" Scourge shouted cheerfuly, raising a goblet of forest wine. "May we avoid offending diplomats, properly finish our projects without having spiders killed, keep the fields tidy, not get beaten up by a pissed priestess, not be thrown around by horsemen, not waste our time on questioning people just to learn that a wizard did it..."

"I'm glad at least you had a good year." SQ remarked in an ironic tone, but Scourge knew she really meant it. "I can't tell if it was absolutely catastrophic or just plain terrible for me."

"Yeah sure, keep sulking all you want, but you could have been sent to your death in a hopeless war against whatever they're fighting right now." Fred the Mitey noticed. He occasionally liked whining too, but this was supposed to be a joyous celebration.

"If this war really is going as badly as they say, maybe the grand matriarch herself will pay us a visit sooner or later? Wouldn't that be interesting?" Imic attempted to change the subject, but he had no luck brightening up the mood.

"Her Divinity would never lower herself to the level of people like us. A living goddess mingling with us, mortals? Even exceptional mortals like me? Impossible." ZM5 seemed legitimately offended by that idea. "Anybody got any plans for this years? Enough of depressing talk."

"I'm gonna finally master mechanics and smithing so I'll be recognized for those skills. I've got enough of people calling me 'wood working girl'." Kaos realized what she just said, but it was too late. "No, I mean..."

"I thought you couldn't even get a date, but now I learn you have a nickname like that?" Scourge chuckled. "You're making it too easy for me... Hmm... I guess Rithesa could use a little brother. Oh, and there's so much work to do with SQ's social skills! Another good year ahead!"

"My highlight of the year will be making sure the dye industry doesn't dye, and expanding cloth production. We already have dimple cups and magenta coral fungus, and if we're lucky... Wait, what's with those looks? Do you guys really find plantation work so boring? I'll have you know that..." Before Lunardog could finish, a scream from outside could be heard clearly.

(https://i.imgur.com/6zr2dfh.png)

"Another siege? It's not clowns, equinars, dark elves or shadow gnomes, neanderthals would have announced their arrival... Probably brigands or frog demons." Imic deduced before getting up and running out.

"So much for a nice afternoon, huh?" Scourge grumbled, downing everything she had left in her and Imic's goblets, then sneakily reaching for ZM5's drink.

"I'm going too, but I'm gonna need this!" ZM5 stood up, poured his wine into his waterskin, then ran after Imic. Scourge's hand changed its course, slowly creeping towards SQ's goblet.

---

(https://i.imgur.com/QHM3h90.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/7SjHxef.png)

What caused the alarm was a small birdlike dinosaur running towards the drows near the western gate.

(https://i.imgur.com/oqC9Zxh.png)

Asin happened to be nearby, able to save the haulers before other soldiers could even leave the barracks. The Velociraptor was swatted out of the air mid-jump with the Steel Samurai's shield.

(https://i.imgur.com/t8mbxbj.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/NjDeWFi.png)

To the south a group of gyaa-yothn slowly and unsurely made their way after their theropod leader. The human-faced beasts were nothing more than dumb animals, which meant that the true enemy was yet to reveal themself.

(https://i.imgur.com/v3GhswR.png)

It didn't take long for the eldritch beasts to lead the drows to their masters. A group of brigands emerged from the bushes, but they didn't seem worried about being outnumbered, and the reason for that soon became apparent.

(https://i.imgur.com/tF1YLRE.png)

The ground began to shake as a large number of giant worms with menacing pincers slithered out of the mud. The brigands saddled their annelid pets, readied their guns and waited for the drows to move closer.

(https://i.imgur.com/w76YIFM.png)

The two armies clashed into each other, or rather the drows crashed into the bandits, making a significant dent in their formation.

(https://i.imgur.com/SolMYsa.png)

Imic's hand was already healed after the last battle, and now he was making up for the time when he couldn't swing his sword. Each enemy foolish enough to face him, a human or a worm, would end up beheaded swiftly and mercilessly.

(https://i.imgur.com/hkNvQu7.png)

Brigands riding cravasi and hippocampi were in a better position than their worm-riding brothers in arms. They could cross the river and try to shoot the drows from that distance, but even that would prove futile anyway. The bandits decided the wisest action would be to run away as fast as possible, and so they did.

"Run, you worthless degenerates! I want to see more of you when you come visit next time!" Freshcannon shouted after the fleeing brigands. "I'm telling you guys, fights like this make soldiering really worth the risk."

"I can not agree with you, Freshcannon-ithera. Dealing with losses becomes harder and harder as said losses accumulate. You will remember this conversation one day and realize your mistake."

"Piss off, Asin! I don't remember asking you a damn thing!"

"But..."

"Not. A. Damn. Thing."

"Well then." Asin realized his effort to teach the priestess a lesson was wasted.

(https://i.imgur.com/4zAlrwm.png)

(28 brigands, 24 muckworms, 3 cravasi, 7 gyaa-yothn, 1 Velociraptor, 1 drow with a harmless cut on his hand. I wish all fight would end like this.)

---

(https://i.imgur.com/irYXDfh.png)

Pelagics have arrived to trade as soon as the area was clear of invaders. As usual Fred the Mitey ordered to bring everything the drows would consider trash to the depot. After the last siege there was a lot of trash, which was ideal, since the fish men brought along a lot of wares.

---

"Hey, Freshcannon, remember when you said you have utmost respect for your shield and gave it a cool name?" Melici the Silver Samurai asked. As everyone else she was hauling brigands' clothes to the trade depot, which gave her some time for thinking.

Freshcannon was curious what she might hear, but she tried not to show it. Instead of replying, she raised her eyebrow looking only vaguely at the albino woman's direction.

"I've had some high profile kills in my career, including a giant yeti thing. I'm pretty sure I've got the leader of the last raid too. Do I deserve respect and a cool nickname? I can be..."

(https://i.imgur.com/tskjPhG.png)

"Admiration of Rhyming." The priestess repeated. "I'm still gonna call you a red-eyed freak, but if you really want to tell people you like poetry that much..."

---

The menagerie staff were all excited about the big shipment arriving from the depot. Nine cages were brought down, most of which contained completely new animals.

"Female beak dog, female razorboar... razorsow? Never mind that, we've got two new breeding pairs! And another egg-laying stork!" SQ was trying to behave professionally, but new animals were always so exciting to see. What she saw in the first cage extinguished her enthusiasm somewhat.

(https://i.imgur.com/m4Z0S8q.png)

"Oh. Here I was, believing Fred got us something nice."

"Didn't we already have one of those? I remember seeing one around here." Scourge said looking around for another living pile of guts.

"You're thinking of an amorfi, this is a gutpile. Or the other way around. One is clear and venomous, one is flesh colored and presumably tasty, just don't ask me which one is which." Tharumi tried to clarify the issue unsuccessfully. "Or maybe it's dehydrated floating guts?"

(https://i.imgur.com/rFfOuFU.png)

"And this is a giant lunar mantis. Guys, did you know there's a bunch of animals that came from the moon? I think Scourge told me that back in Murknightmare. Never found anybody who could confirm that though." Something suddenly clicked in Tharumi's head. "Hey! You made that up, didn't you?"

"No! My auntie told me about that when I was a kid! She wasn't the most trustworthy person, I'll give you that, but what would she gain by feeding me that information?"

"What do you gain by spreading it to people who would like to believe you?"

"Maybe if enough people believes it, it will become true?"

"Remind me to never let Asithi and Biretha talk to you ever again, Scourge." Athara said coldly, even for her standards.

(https://i.imgur.com/Vs0EAdV.png)

"What dinosaur is this? I can tell you a lot about theropods, but hadrosaurs aren't my strong suit." Scourge asked, trying to get away from the previous conversation.

"It's not a hadrosaur, so even the most extensive knowledge of those wouldn't really help you. I happen to know everything about dinosaurs." Lerine assumed a pose that radiated confidence. It was his time to shine. "This is a Camptosaurus, a close relative to hadrosaurs such as Parasaurolophus and Edmontosaurus. Hadrosaurs are quadrupedal with their fingers fused into a sort of fleshy hoof. Camptosaurus is bipedal with free fingers on its hands. It can grow up to be about eight meters long, which means that this one is almost fully grown."

"Nerd." Scourge summarized Lerine's little lecture in a single painful word.

"This is literally something that we, animal keepers, should know! Why do you shame me for knowing my trade?"

"Because you're our little brother and we have to make sure you're not getting too full of yourself. We just care about you this much"

"I'm older than you and SQ, and the same age as Athara! I'm not anybody's little brother!"

Tharumi patted Lerine's head. "Aren't you forgetting about someone, little bro? It's about work experience anyway, not the age."

(https://i.imgur.com/rsulMXw.png)

"It's so close... The closest it's been in over a century..." Scourge's breath became fast and shallow, her eyes clouded with insanity. Both SQ and Tharumi quickly gestured at a cage containing a huge black bee, covering it in a veil of magical darkness. "T-thank you... I've heard the chanting in its buzzing, you know, 'Ia! Shub-Niggurath!". Bad memories."

"S-Scourge, it... it wasn't buzzing at all." SQ stuttered, almost as disturbed as Scourge was.

(https://i.imgur.com/uw93Wor.png)

"Is this a mandrill? I've heard of them from Kaos. "SQ remembered." There was apparently a dwarven fortress where dwarves were constantly being slaughtered by elephants, while their dogs were getting the same treatment from those monkey fellas."

"Monkey fellas? Explain your choice of words." Athara demanded.

"I talked to Yetine about the supposedly insufficient size of her creepy sex dungeon earlier today, and she kept saying 'them outlaw fellers' instead of 'criminals'."

"I have a few questions, but I'll refrain from asking them."

(https://i.imgur.com/HoxP7f4.png)

"Some of the brigands rode those creatures." SQ noticed. "Shouldn't they be kept in water?"

"The part with most vital organs is the horse part, so it shouldn't matter that much." Tharumi answered. "Wait a moment, if the back part was horse and the front part was a dolphin it still could be able to move on land, and that raises a question - would you rather ride a hippocampus or a reverse hippocampus?"

"Oh no, it's the mermaid-reverse mermaid problem again!" Scourge exclaimed, having already calmed down. "What was the conclusion the last time we talked about it?"

"We went on a rather wild tangent, but from what I remember we decided that a reverse mermaid isn't that much different from a large carp and those are scary, a fish has got to have a hole somewhere down there, and a humanoid top part gives much more options."

"Regular hippocampus it is then."

---

(https://i.imgur.com/Lo0wcKt.png)

A sandstorm came and with it a crowd of twenty one drows looking for shelter. The migrants were exceptionally average, with unremarkable skills or physical attributes. Two of them were made into Blackguards, some into farmers, weavers and dyers, some into miners, a few were assigned to the hard work of professional garbage collectors.

---

(https://i.imgur.com/FzCkGgV.png)

"C-careful, Schmendrick! It's the one thing you're good at, so it would be a shame if you messed it up somehow." Schmendrick kept talking to herself while carrying a huge sack of live bees through the woods. The area being a grove of thorny sawwood trees made finishing the task of bringing the bees to hives rather problematic.

(https://i.imgur.com/fLSOGAw.png)

---

The Helmet Snakes just finished killing all rexagons around the town. The serpentine creatures weren't large or especially strong, but their venom could bring down the greatest warriors to their knees.

(https://i.imgur.com/CStwma2.png)

"Some of this thing's spittle got into my boot and it hurts like crazy! Would someone help me get to the hospital?" Freshcannon asked surprisingly nicely. The pain was overwhelming, taking away her strength and will to berate her soldiers.

"Gladly, my dear mistress." ZM5 was more than eager to be Freshcannon's crutch, but the priestess wasn't as enthusiastic about this offer.

"Hands off me, creep! It's not that bad, I'll manage... There's that urhag that's been scaring people! I'm gonna get it!" Freshcannon limped over to the creature and hit it a few times with her axe.

(https://i.imgur.com/8dqYNKC.png)

"S-see, ZM5? I'm still... I'm still good..."

(https://i.imgur.com/KtL0LOa.png)

---

(https://i.imgur.com/clc9mVA.png)

"For gods' sake, not again!" Nunore wasn't happy when she saw the first soldier arrive at the hospital. Dungeonevened had its fair share of decay inducing contamination already, and this case wasn't much different than the one involving forgotten beast blood.

(https://i.imgur.com/yKqjphz.png)

"Ah, my favorite acolyte, I'd tell you you did well, but I don't want you to get too full of yourself. On the second thought, screw it, I'm alive thanks to you, so you did well." Freshcannon said to Nunore after finally regaining consciousness the day after her operation.

"Damn right I did well. I had to scrape off parts of your foot bones, but you won't notice anything once the wound heals. According to the girls from the menagerie rexagon venom only causes pain, but the pain is so strong that your body itself tries to destroy affected parts. But I'm a great medic, better than that stuck up academist, the bee-woman or Fred."

"I think I liked you more when you were a servile barmaid." Freshcannon grumbled getting up from the bed.

"I... I'm sorry my mistress! I promise I won't ever gloat over my skills ever again." Nunore undid two top buttons of her shirt, then bowed down low. "Shall I bring your axe, mistress?"

"It doesn't feel that good when I know you're faking it, but keep it up anyway."

Something horrible happened - I've succumbed to the dark side by deleting clown chunks with autodump. Earlier nobody wanted to haul any corpses, but now after a large invasion everybody was going out to get their share of stacking psychological trauma. I kept camel and squid corpses be so we can get sweet meat and bones.

-I had a simple museum built to house more useless artifacts like the rat bone pike, shell helmet, or Scourge's MJ sequin glove. The gem cage was also temporarily placed there until I find a better use for it. Ivory greaves and the rock amulet are in the library, perfect onyx is in the shrine of Nelare Maroonoils, the spacesuit is worn by Imic.

-We're not running out of leather anytime soon thanks to squids, camels and worms.

-Monsters in the caverns are still rowdy, but I try to keep an eye on them. Deep stalkers can be beaten to death by an unarmed untrained drow, and ragewinds don't actually contain any metal.

-I started making a small corridor-based killing room for untamable creatures. It should speed things up a bit.

-First named item! It's Freshcannon's diamondium tower shield, unfortunately without any kills.

-Brigand siege looked much more threatening than it was. The muckworms are large worms with dangerous pincers, but fortunately they're quite soft. Brigands wear leather body armor and no head armor, and their guns are only effective when thy hit, which wasn't this time.

-Speaking of leather armor and not hitting, the River Watch got actual uniforms. Leather armor, leather leggings, diamondium cap, shell boots and gauntlets. Just in case some of those idiots somehow gets off the fortifications and charges at enemies.

-Bought a nice aether display case from pelagics. It's decorated with bone of a dark young of Shub-Niggurath.

-A large wave of unskilled labor. We needed more farm hands, so here they are. We're sitting at 138 population: 129 drows, 3 trolls, 3 slave-beasts, 1 rattusite and 1 nimblewright which I wouldn't personally count into population but okay. Only two more people until we become a metropolis so we can start praying that the grand matriarch decides to migrate.

-Rexagons are such annoying creatures! They get agitated by everything, which makes them puke venom that makes people pass out instantly from pain while the affected body part swells and rots. Rexagons are also item thieves, so they actively seek confrontation. They have CAN_LEARN so they can't be butchered, but they also have a lot of other random tags. They were made by a very inexperienced modder, but come on.

Jesus, those rexagons seem nasty. Hope we don't get too much more of them coming over.

Hoo hoo, brigands ramping up their sieges. Maybe next time they'll bring over 12 pounds of fun.

Quote from: ZM5 on November 14, 2018, 06:26:31 am

Jesus, those rexagons seem nasty. Hope we don't get too much more of them coming over.

Hoo hoo, brigands ramping up their sieges. Maybe next time they'll bring over 12 pounds of fun.

There are so many war-trainable animals the brigands can have that I doubt we'll ever see a 12 pounder. Apparently these days bandits prefer demi-human slave beasts, dinosaurs and sandworms.

The grand matriarch's palace in Murknightmare used to be bustling with life in the old days, but lately it was as empty as the rest of the falling city. Without the servants and slaves even the throne room fell into disrepair, which made the meeting that was just taking place even more depressing than it was supposed to be.
The remaining nobility was about to discuss what to do next, considering the rather poor chances of winning the current war. The high matriarch, the outpost matriarch and the high priestess all stood around the mithral throne. The throne, counterintuitively, was facing away from the entrance and the gathering, obscuring the grand matriarch completely, if she even was there at all. Actually facing the nobility was a different woman, as far as everyone was concerned she didn't hold any official position, but she's been around the valsharess for a very long time so nobody questioned anything about her.

"Her majesty asked me to call you here because some of you seemed worried about our future." The nondescript courtier informed, glancing behind the throne every other second. "It would be a good time to voice your concerns now."

"I'll get straight to the point." Necate Feastmenaced, the high matriarch stepped forward. "We're losing a war here, Murknightmare may fall any day now, so what's the next move? Are we moving to Dungeonevened or do we stay here and die?"

"Leaving Murknightmare to its doom would be the highest form of treason, and you know how much I hate traitors, mistress Necate." The high priestess came up to the high matriarch and looked her in the eyes with intense hatred. The priestess's wounds from her husband's betrayal were still fresh.

"M-mistress Menari, please!" The courtier seemed much more worried about the priestess's threats than Necate.

"Don't you talk to me! We've fought countless battles, and against all odds we're still alive! I'm not letting all those lost lives go to waste just because..." Suddenly the priestess's eyes widened as if she suddenly remembered something she'd rather not remember. Her body started shaking uncontrollably. "I... I'm so sorry... I should have known..."

"Your majesty, I beg you, calm down! You know what Menari's been through lately, so please try to understand!" The courtier pleaded the grand matriarch. The high priestess got a hold of herself as if she hadn't just have a sudden mental breakdown. "Thank you, your majesty... Hmm? A-are you sure? I'll tell them... Our highest mistress said she will move to Dungeonevened if there's no other options. What you do is your choice. Now leave, the grand matriarch needs to rest. Don't look at me like that, I wanted to discuss things in more detail, but someone forced Her Majesty to use her gift."
The noblewomen left the throne room without questions.

"You said that just to remind Menari who's in charge, right?" The courtier asked.

"You didn't let me fry her brain, so..." The grand matriarch replied, actually exhausted by the brief meeting, not by her display of sorcery.

"We'll have to follow through on this, do you understand, Yetine? Necate was right about it being a matter of life and death."

"I know..."

---

In Dungeonevened Schmendrick was working at the loom, trying to direct her own attention away from bee stings and sawwood splinters still lodged in parts of her body she didn't know she had. She stopped the work when she felt someone's cold stare on her back. It was not only cold but somehow also moist.

(https://i.imgur.com/ocz4lOI.png)

When Schmendrick raised her eyes to see who's looking at here, she saw a figure resembling an elven woman in typical drow clothing and a human-style face veil, but it was obvious it wasn't a drow. The small visible part of the figure's face and what looked like its hair, that incidentally suspiciously resembled Scourge's, was composed of a liquid that somehow stayed in place.

"Alu! Here you are! I've been looking for you all over the town!" Scourge appeared seemingly out of nowhere, grabbing the elemental by its waterlogged piwafwi.

"Scourge, what is this?" Schmendrick demanded answer.

"This is Alu, my water elemental friend. SQ said I won't tame her by feeding her mushrooms and moss, but here we are."

"But... Clothes?"

"Yeah, about that..." Scourge blushed brightly. "Alu insists on taking my shape, and she's got a very good idea of what I look like under this dress. Don't ask."

"I'm sure there's a perfectly innocent explaination for this, and I choose to believe it's true, for my sanity's sake. Could you take your watery friend away from all this cloth before everything gets soggy?"

---

(https://i.imgur.com/CvivnUs.png)

"Hey Kaos, I've been seeing you milling around the watermill a lot lately. I've figured you would like it." Lunardog stopped for a small talk with Darkening Kaos on his way to the water berry field. "It's a real marvel of engineering, carpentry, mechanics and whatnot."

"I want it gone. Smashed into splinters." Kaos blurted out without even looking at Lunardog.

The farmer didn't expect that kind of answer, so it took him a few seconds to fully process it. "Why? What's so bad about this one particular water wheel? I've never seen one so well made, so water your problems with it?"

"There are no problems, it's perfect and this is exactly the issue! It was built by some random asswipe who doesn't even appreciate her or his own talent! I don't doubt there was an effort or that the effect is amazing, but it's all for nothing if its creator doesn't understand the significance of creating such masterwork!"

"So... you're mad because you weren't the one who made it?"

"Hmph, that's true, but the way I said it expressed my mental state better. Oh, and the first gear assembly is completely unnecessary. It does stabilize the construction better than an axle... Why can't I make things that are this hard to criticize!"

---

Dungeonevened menagerie, once a small underground chamber for keeping spiders out of harm's way, now an impressive monument to drow mastery over nature, or at least that's what some wanted to believe, but in reality...

(https://i.imgur.com/BKATw7N.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/JbQDjTa.png)

"SQ, the rothe are multiplying too fast! Just today three new calves were born, and we can expect at least five more by the end of the month!" Lerine lamented dramatically, having stopped the overseer at the menagerie's storeroom. "If we don't do something about this overpopulation, they will devour all plant life in the Rhythmic Jungle!"

"Could you... could you calm down a little?" SQ asked, feeling the man's panic slowly infecting her. Suddenly an idea on how to get rid of this problem appeared in her head. "C-could you go and count some of the more numerous animals? Make a list or something, then bring it to me so I can decide."

Lerine couldn't focus on the work at all due to visions of disasters that a runaway super-herd of rothe could cause. SQ wanted to use this extra time to calm down, but she caught herself wanting to go hide from responsibility in her room several times. She narrowly escaped an anxiety attack by reminding herself that she had seen the rothe herd earlier that day, and it didn't look nearly as bad as Lerine described it.

After twenty minutes Lerine came back with a scroll.

(https://i.imgur.com/f56t0bS.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/EZhOsgk.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/6fjR03D.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/lbLDq87.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/8wv8FXb.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/1ygPg8r.png)

"Looks like I overestimated the scale of the crisis." He said. "Turns out there's only twenty two rothe, not two hundred like I thought. It's not the end of our trouble though. Ironheads, mottleworms, abrians, riding lizards, to lesser extent ethereal slayers... If we're not careful the situation with those may get out of hand."

"Let me see that list you've made... Oh, you're right, but... How are we gonna deal with that? It's not like we need any more food."

Lerine brightened up when he heard what could have been interpreted as SQ asking for his suggestions. "Well, ironheads, mottleworms and abrians can be easily trained for battle. In fact Athara gave a few war mottleworms to her husband, which I assume she had already told you about."

"She did." SQ lied. She knew that the creatures somehow found their way into the barracks, but it was her first time hearing about Athara's involvement "From what I've heard, they don't really help that much. Before they arrive at the battlefield, the battle is usually already over. Abrians can be scary, but literally anyone armed with a sword could take on a whole herd. Ironheads sill need some time to grow up, but they're the best candidates for war beasts so far. The rest can be sold to whoever decides to show up first."

"And the ethereal slayers? They all have owners."

"They do? Let's pretend we don't know."

Lerine looked at the overseer searching for clues about the true meaning of her words. She was looking away with unsettlingly vacant eyes, her ears were pointing back, her arms were crossed defensively over her chest, nothing out of ordinary that would suggest she was joking. "I'm not trying to tell you what is right and what is wrong, but selling someone's pets isn't a nice thing to do."

"I know, I know, I was just kidding. No traders show up in summer anyway, so we still have time to come up with something."

---

It was true that allies wouldn't come to trade in summer, but the arrival of enemies was almost guaranteed after a calm, uneventful spring.

(https://i.imgur.com/6sN2zsp.png)

Sound of war trumpets resonated through the mahogany grove. One of River Watch marksmen climbed up on the walls to see who was attacking this time, and this time it was a real surprise.

(https://i.imgur.com/qbfZDdX.png)

A squad of ten skeletons was clearly visible in the clearing to the south of Dungeonevened.

"S-skeletons? Aren't they on our side?" Nunore was confused when she heard the report. Skeletons have been good trading partners so far, even if very eccentric.

"Clackers, my mistress. Their souls are cursed to forever remain in their skeletal bodies, they hate us, and one of them has a gun."

"That's enough for me. River Watch, ready your crossbows! We'll get them from the walls!"

(https://i.imgur.com/sYCca1G.png)

While the marksdrows climbed the towers to get on the walls, Helmet Snakes and Steel Samurais stationed by the southwestern bend of the moat. Clackers, who had just finished slaughtering an iron crab, have noticed the drows and immediately charged to attack.

(https://i.imgur.com/dEass7h.png)

Skeletal form of the invaders, coupled with their advanced metallurgy, has proven to be a serious setback for the drows. Most attacks either bounced off the armor or barely smashed into the bones without breaking them. The situation changed when Biretha decided to show off by disarming a skeletal spearman, then cutting of its skull. The enemy could be defeated.

(https://i.imgur.com/Mr2XQmn.png)

Vathi Moonscourges the Zinc Samurai noticed an opening when a clacker hammerman got staggered by a powerful blow to the leg. Its neck vertebrae were clearly visible from between its armor and helm, which was a clear invitation for an eager macewoman and her silver flail. The undead creature's neck fell apart, and its skull landed on dry grass.

(https://i.imgur.com/JJskp6s.png)

It wouldn't have been surprising if the clacker axeman had been smashed into dust by the punishment it took, and yet it was laughing at the futile effort of its enemies. Even Melici's huge sword and Freshcannon's heavy axe couldn't break its bones. Finally Efaci the Iron Samurai swung her whip. A diamondium snake head bit deep into the skeleton's skull, biting harder with each second. The magical whip's grip proved to be stronger than the skull.

(https://i.imgur.com/l811mBl.png)

Melici the Silver Samurai was getting nervous - so far into the battle, and she hasn't killed any skeleton yet. Those worries didn't last long. The swordswoman noticed a clacker hammerman being effortlessly pushed around by Snakes who knew they wouldn't be able to finish it off. Melici took a wide swing and decapitated the clacker, cutting through its bronze chainmail like it was a regular cloth shirt.

(https://i.imgur.com/roM2XJO.png)

A clacker maceman seemed desperate for Freshcannon's attention. The priestess was quick on her feet, and her arms were stronger than the skeleton's bone limbs, so after testing the waters for a while she swung her axe vertically, splitting a few vertebrae in half, which was enough to shatter the undead.

(https://i.imgur.com/a5e5fGB.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/THkiiSD.png)

The clacker musketeer panicked after it realized the drows could block its bullets with their shields. Before it could decide what to do next, a swarm of drow warriors surrounded it and ripped it to pieces.

(https://i.imgur.com/rJjishv.png)

The last clacker, a swordsman, was cut in half a second after engaging Freshcannon, and with its death the siege was lifted.

---

SQ and Darkening Kaos were standing by a lever in front of the entrance to the menagerie storeroom. The lever was about to be pulled, but Kaos wasn't feeling optimistic.
"This damn installation was made by a whole pack of rookie mechanics with maybe a year of work experience between all of them, with little coordination and no supervision. I'm just warning you that something may go wrong."

"Come on, Kaos, the mechanisms and weapons were made by you, so it shouldn't matter how well they're linked up." SQ did her best to sound reassuring, but the effect wasn't ideal.

"You're not good at flattery, SQ, and you sure as hell know nothing about trap mechanics, but I guess there's no point wasting any more time. I'm pulling this lever, and if we die it's everyone's fault but mine."

(https://i.imgur.com/YAUOc11.png)

Kaos pulled the lever and a sound of cage doors opening was heard. Then a cacophony of grunts, squeaks and shrieks began as the monsters realized they were free.

(https://i.imgur.com/NJcekQo.png)

First on to dash to the door was a meenlock, a twisted humanoid with crustacean features. As soon as it put it foot down in the corridor, a chitin corkscrew came out of the wall with such force that it ripped the monster's head clean off.

(https://i.imgur.com/SOZIhVC.png)

Other creatures were utterly terrified by that sight, but they realized that was their only way out. A brave cave pygmy with no self-preservation instinct ran to the door, probably without any real hope to make it out alive, but to say it was killed would be an understatement. A cloud of sawblades, corkscrews and pitchforks turned the tiny creature into a pile of shredded chunks and a pool of blood.

(https://i.imgur.com/B9ehoYy.png)

Screams of monsters stopped abruptly, which was a sign for SQ that she could send someone to check if it's safe in the killing room. Garbage collectors confirmed that everything was indeed dead.

---

Being dead was a major inconvenience for trolls and gorlaks, but it wasn't the case for all creatures stalking the caverns.

(https://i.imgur.com/2kvxJre.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/CI5jPeD.png)

A devourer was walking the narrow passages, searching for new souls to torment within its unholy body. The abomination noticed footprints left in moss, and with its dark intelligence it decided to follow them to their source. What it couldn't deduce was that its potential prey already knew of its presence.

(https://i.imgur.com/uCUJe31.png)

Imic faced the devourer not knowing what to expect. The sight of the undead made him uneasy, but no monster is too scary for a seasoned warrior. After Imic cast faerie fire, the devourer swung its arms wildly and seemingly without any thought, barely touching Imic's armor. The weapon master felt cocky for a while, but then his body was pierced by a wave of negative energy that seemed to have drained some of his energy.
That wasn't enough to discourage Imic from fulfilling his duty. His blade of refined diamondium cut through the devourer's mummified flesh many times before it went through the neck, severing the head.
Imic was shaken and unreasonably exhausted after the battle. Perhaps a doctor could explain it? If that fails, maybe a priestess?

---

Imic met Freshcannon in the priestess's office to consult his problem.

"Mistress Freshcannon, I asked mistress Nunore about that and she said there's no way that monster could infect me with anything without really touching me or spilling its blood on me." Imic explained in an extremely worried voice.

"Nunore doesn't know shit if I gotta be honest. Did the... let's call it a devourer... did the devourer really not touch you?"

"Touching through the armor doesn't count, does it? That's what mister ZM5 usually says."

"Listen, I don't want him to touch me even when I'm completely decked out in diamondium." Freshcannon scoffed. "Back on the topic, I can sense some kind of energy coursing through your body, so there's a high chance that the devourer put some kind of curse on you."

(https://i.imgur.com/YRybRgq.png)

Freshcannon looked closely at the weapon master. She was more or less sure now.
"The symptoms check out: general weakness and sluggishness, mental exhaustion... As nasty as this energy drain is, you should recover soon enough. Now get out, 'cause if I don't trust the Snakes enough to leave them alone in the barracks for more than ten minutes."

---

"Won't Five be mad at us for going into his room without his knowledge?" SQ whispered to Scourge, standing by the door to ZM5's room.

"It will be fine! You probably spend a lot of time in there anyway, so it's almost like you live there." Scourge chuckled out loud. She had no idea why SQ was whispering, since the Snakes went down to the caverns to kill leapworms. "I'm just surprised you didn't know about his little secret. You should know all nooks and crannies of his room as well as he probably knows your every nook and cranny."

"W-what are implying here?"

"I'm not implying anything, I'm saying it loud and clear." Scourge said with a cheeky grin on her face. "Oh, I get it now! Your room is much fancier so you must do it in there! That makes a lot of sense actually."

"Could we get on with it already?" SQ realy didn't want to be seen, but it would have been hard to miss her, considering she was practically glowing purple from embarrassment.

(https://i.imgur.com/D0MYM7Y.png)

The two women entered ZM5's room with no problems as the door was unlocked. At first glance everything seemed normal, but Scourge directed SQ's attention at something that could have been easily missed.

"See that hatch there? You could take it for a floor tile if there were tiles in the bedrooms. Let's go down and see if it's really true."

"Don't you think we've invaded Five's privacy enough already?" The overseer had no desire to learn what was under the hatch.

"Hah ha! No, of course not!" Scourge opened the trapdoor and went down into the darkness below. SQ had no choice but to follow, at least she believed it was the case.

(https://i.imgur.com/m0FOCBg.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/GytiBGf.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/fywlr3u.png)

"This looks... this looks like a shrine." SQ noticed. "The statue doesn't look like any of the lesser gods though."

"It's the grand matriarch, the valsharess herself." Scourge proclaimed proudly. "You see, I had Schmendrick conduct a discreet investigation for me after I saw Five pushing this statue into his room. This apparently IS a shrine. Have you noticed that Five calls the grand matriarch 'Her Divinity'?"

"Is it normal that I feel jealous?" The overseer asked, blushing even more purple than before.

"Oh, that's almost a confession, how delightful!" Scourge paused for a moment to get a hold of herself. "All right, we've seen everything, so let's get out of here. I'm not sure if it was a good idea to leave Rithesa with Imic who got cursed by a giant soul-sucking zombie, and you probably have some more meetings planned for today."

"Ugh, right. I'll have to be mature and pretend I haven't just sneaked into someone's room to check out a creepy secret crush shrine. Wait, a giant soul-sucking zombie?"

---

(https://i.imgur.com/q6NTLej.png)

Dungeonevened wasn't built with efficiency in mind, but running to the surface for water to clean patients was more than just an inconvenience, considering that the leading cause of injuries seemed to be highly corrosive secretions of various monsters.
Building an underground well near the hospital should have been a priority from the start, yet nobody seemed to care about that for a very long time. Finally Nunore managed to persuade Fred to take care of this problem. His miners dug out a channel leading from the moat to an underground resorvoire. The flow could be stopped with a goblinium floodgate operated by a lever. Over the water was a well made of pure gold blocks, with a golden chain and a wooden bucked with a disturbing image of Ayanu Diedwitches drowning in the river.

---

(https://i.imgur.com/7m7Nfbg.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/swVs3jJ.png)

"Tharumi, I have to show you something!" Lerine shouted to his colleague out of the crystalline charger enclosure. The woman quickly dumped the rest of dead rats into the loft owl aviary and came to hear him out.

"What is it, Lerine? You haven't done anything you shouldn't have, have you?" Tharumi asked suspiciously.

"Of course not! Just look!" Lerine gestured at one of the goat-like creatures. Absolutely nothing happened.

"Mhm..." Tharumi wasn't impressed. Was lerine trying to teach those animals tricks of some kind? If so, he hasn't done a very good job. "Listen, I'm kinda busy, so..."

"Oh, you don't get it, do you? Try casting faerie fire at them." Tharumi did as she was asked to. She wasn't at all surprised by the lack of effect. Lerine noticed her disinterest. "It didn't work! Some sort of aura, probably emanating from the crystals, blocks all spells. That's an important discovery, we have to inform SQ!"

"I'm pretty sure she already knew that, with her having worked in the royal menagerie and everything... You can tell Athara, I'm sure she will be excited about this. Or not if the place she used to work at had chargers. You know what? Just forget about it."

Lerine sighed dejectedly and got back to work without saying anything.

---

The last meeting SQ had to survive that day was one with Asithi Urgedwitches, the head mussel collector and the commander of The Musselbound.

"So what you're saying is your fishermen are afraid there's a big fish in the river, am I right, miss?" SQ gave up on trying to keep her eyes open. It was easier for her to talk to people like that, and if she accidentally fell asleep, she wouldn't have to listen either."

(https://i.imgur.com/Hdddivt.png)

"That fish was waving a staff at us and might have shouted something potentially obscene in its weird language. If it's a deep one, we might have a hybrid outbreak in our hand."

"Or it could just be a lost pelagic."

"Yes, but... Oh, she fell asleep." The young man shook his head. He couldn't believe he got worked over something as harmless as a suspicious eldritch entity in the river where he worked. The overseer was right - this wasn't nearly as important as good night's sleep.

Next day the pelagic grouper crawled out of water and headed to Cavernhall to relax before continuing his journey.

---

ZM5 had no intention to work hard the day before the break, so instead of waking up ridiculously early to train with the Snakes, he woke up just early to eat breakfast with SQ. Despite how difficult it was to hold a converstion with the overseer, ZM5 prefered her company to Freshcannon's for farious reasons.

"Can you imagine, baby doll? Someone broke into my room a while back! You would think that in such close-knit community as Dungeonevened there would be no crime of this sort." ZM5 said, smiling carelessly in spite of what he said.

"T-that's horrible! I hope whoever did it gets punished accordingly." SQ smiled nervously, making her guilt obvious. "I'm... I'm just glad nothing was stolen."

"How do you know nothing was stolen, baby doll, huh?" The rogue had to stuff a large piece of his abrian egg omelette into his mouth to stop himself from laughing. "If you shaw anything, pleashe tell me, sho I can... so I can punish that crook myself with this."

(https://i.imgur.com/xKW8nNn.png)

He pulled out a dagger and put it on the table. "Glimmerwatches the Just Clan, my pride and joy. You know what this baby can do to people?"

Drops of sweat appeared on SQ's forehead. She knew ZM5 would never hurt her, but she still felt ashamed for commiting home invasion. Suddenly she realized something. "This is your parrying dagger. You don't even want to pretend to threaten me with a real weapon?"

"Checkmate. You admitted to being in my room and my secret shrine." ZM5 said to avoid answering the question. "I can't be mad at cute girls, so I'll let you go scot-free. Scourge too, since I saw both of you go into my room."

"Huh? You what?"

(https://i.imgur.com/pzZ8dU4.png)

Before ZM5 could explain everything, a group of strangers entered the dining hall.

"Overseer SQ! Which one of you is you?" A young woman shouted to the few people in Cavernhall. Then she said to herself loudly enough that she could have been heard on the surface: "Hmm... Scrawny, scared-looking, strong smell of farm animals... That one!" The woman accurately recognized SQ and dashed towards her and ZM5. "Overseer, you've probably heard of me, but I'll introduce myself anyway. I'm Uthimi Creedshades, an animal trainer like you, just better."

ZM5 noticed that SQ was overwhelmed by Uthimi's presentation, so he intervened: "What are you chirping about, birdie? Are you supposed to be someone famous? Never heard of you."

"Five, that's her! The prodigy child everyone kept talking about in the menagerie! I mean, she was a child back then .I always wanted to have a word with her, but she never came to grazer section." SQ filled ZM5 in. Her anxiety was slowly being replaced by awe.

"And here we are, having a word." Uthimi seemed happy she could make the overseer's dream come true, but she had more pressing matters to talk about. "We can talk shop later, because now I need to introduce some acquaintances to you: This is Liceyi, she's one of the most famous surgeons and wound dressers around. This woman there is Rafovi, a renowned bowyer. The rest... I bet you'll be able to find some work for them."

---

A group new migrants was killing time on a hunt for giant inscets which would have been much more fun if there weren't five drows running after a single giant grasshopper. Regardless of the entertainment factor, nobody wanted the hunt to end like it did.

(https://i.imgur.com/G5ppKbA.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/YusEXA4.png)

A gigantic pile of snow, so unusual for the area, shambled from the south. A certain feeling of majesty emanated from it, but the aura of terror was definitely more powerful. The name 'Guslo' came out of someone's lips and spread like a disease across all of the hunters. The fabled mountain titan has arrived in Dungeonevened.

(https://i.imgur.com/JvIiNNV.png)

Asithi Liegills, a seven years old drowling, knew exactly what to do in such situation. Shiny trinkets from slain clackers had to wait, getting help was more important.
"DAAAAAAD!"

Asithi arrived at the barracks literally shaking with excitement. She told her father what she saw, and while most people would dismiss a child's story of this kind as active imagination, Fecawi Steppeblack knew his daughter would kill all imaginary monsters herself.

"Blackguards, to arms!" The Doomguide ordered.

"Hey, I'm the commander here!" Imic protested while his soldiers ran after Fecawi. "Blackguards, to arms!"

(https://i.imgur.com/eJFCsvf.png)

Litheme Playfulcurses charged head first at the titan, slamming into its tail and getting a mouthful of snow as a prize. Curious about the cold white powder he got himself covered in, the Templar put his arm all the way into Guslo's body causing its delicate structure to crumble. The snow was quickly blown away by wind and melted in the sun.

"I'm pretty sure Asithi could have killed this one herself. Some titan it was..." Fecawi said, smirking at the idea of his daughter slaying a monster of legends.

---

"ZM5-diri named his parrying dagger, Freshcannon-ithera named her shield... Efaci-larami, do you think I should name my own shield?" Asin asked his wife.

"Absolutely! I'm glad you finally thought about doing something constructive instead of destructive. Maybe this is a beginning of something beautiful? You always seemed like a poet material to me, so coming up with a good name may kickstart a new hobby for you. I'm not suggesting that you should change or anything, but maybe you'd be happier if you had a hobby."

(https://i.imgur.com/Bity2M7.png)

"Vanishedyouth." Asin said bluntly.

"For Lolth's sake, Asin!" Uthimi sighed. Such a depressing name wasn't a good foundation for a rising star of poetry. "Well, at least I know you're the same Asin I fell in love with all those decades ago..."

---

(https://i.imgur.com/0oJJFPX.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/ZzlSD0t.png)

"Oh stop it, there's no way it was her! Huh? I guess it could be true, but... Oh. OH! If that's so, don't spare any spicy details!" Nunore talked with Alu the water elemental in Cavernhall, or rather she was talking TO it. The elemental never said a discernable word during the conversation, but the cleric seemed to understand its thoughts. "If that's the case we should... Yes, you're right, better not meddle."

"Alu! Stop running away!" Scourge ran into the dining hall, holding Rithesa with one arm, and a few bundles of wet blue silk with the other. "Oh, you've made a new friend, that's nice, but I gotta teach you how to dye cloth! Come back to the dyer's shop!"

"Could you not interrupt our... conversation?" Nunore asked, still hungry for rumors.

"She can't talk."

"You can't listen."

"You priestesses and your magic powers... Fine, you can keep her for now, but I want her back after lunch!" Scourge wasn't too happy about the deal. She thought she had a new apprentice, but the elemental wasn't really interested in learning. "Okay, dyeing lessons cancelled due to the only student being absent. We can start a walking course a bit early today, right, Rithesa?"

I planned to play to the end of summer or until something big happens. A siege and a titan attack and still nothing I'd call big.

(https://i.imgur.com/6yn0TZz.png)

Now this is interesting. Clackers are from The Last Age by Squamous, while ekklos are from Fantastic Races, also by Squamous. They both use INORGANIC:SKELETON_BONE (recolored cinnabar), which caused the usual duplication error since both mods have it in differently named files, so I deleted one of the files. Turns out it was the wrong one with the worse name. Not a problem, I can't fix it. And I really should fix ethereal slayer caste names and diamondium refining reactions...

SUMMARY:

-I found out water elementals are human-sized, which means they can wear drow clothes. Accidentally, nimblewrights are also drow-sized, so our resident nimblewright armorer can make well-fitted armor and circlets for everyone.

-We have a functional watermill that powers 3 millstones. Our single quern wasn't doing a good enough job grinding sugar, flour and dyes, so I had to learn how power works.

-Major probems with animal population. Rothe and mottleworms breed like crazy, so we'll sell them to skeletons.

-I didn't expect clackers to be made of stone. Dealing with 10 of them was simple enough, but just thinking about a real siege from them scares me.

-Mincing monsters with traps is as satisfying as ever.

-Imic went from incredibly muscular to corpulent because an undead monster from ethereal plane touched him inappropriately.

-We have a temple to the grand matriarch under ZM5's bedroom. He's still the only worshipper, but other people come down there to eat plump helmets and leave spawns on the floor. Poor guy has no privacy anmore.

-A titan made of snow was killed by a single drow ho couldn't even be bothered to use his morningstar. Why do we have a male maceman anyway?

-Asin's naming game is on point.

-The water elemental shared a rumor of some kind. It's an outsider, and it's probably never been on the surface, but maybe we learned what aboleths or mind flayers are up to? Maybe one day we'll be good enough friends with the elemental plane of water that a marid sultan will appear out of our new shiny well and grant us three wishes?

-A pelagic grouper spearman stopped by. I had to teleport him out of the river because he got stuck. He had some fun in the tavern (watched Fred the Mitey dance with a troll while Scourge was simulating wind chimes) then left.

-Some fresh meat. A high master animal trainer and another legendary wound dresser. I guess she was supposed to be a high master at wound dressing like she is at surgery, but natural skills raised it up to legendary.

-We're now a metropolis, which means we should be up for becoming a mountainhome (grand house?). I've seen a few living deities, but those were megabeasts, not civilized members of my civilization.

Well, atleast even in a heavily modded world one thing remains consistent - snow procedural creatures like titans are so pathetic even a warrior who isn't using his main weapon can kill one without any trouble.

I really wish the AI of amphibious creatures would properly path out of water - it is pretty annoying to get floods of visitors who get stuck in the first shallow pond they walk into.

Quote from: ZM5 on November 24, 2018, 05:18:47 am

I really wish the AI of amphibious creatures would properly path out of water - it is pretty annoying to get floods of visitors who get stuck in the first shallow pond they walk into.

I wish I would get any visitors, even if they were to get stuck in a puddle :-[

I think I fixed diamondium reactions now, but I might have just as well broken them even further. Still, there's no reaction for refining diamondium from bars, only ore, plus smelting in the crucible doesn't give any gold, and I had to tweak it so it doesn't smelt two ore for two bars. Dammit Seiggrain.
Ethereal slayer caste names fixed too, and rexagons were made edible.

"Snakes out!" Freshcannon shouted suddenly, startling everyone in the barracks.

"Boss, are we going to the caverns to stomp some worms again? I'm not saying I don't wanna do that..." Biretha really didn't want to do that. "...but the Blackguards would actually benefit from it, unlike us, ultimate soldiers."

"Ultimate morons, you mean. Melici, go fetch ZM5 and let's go." The priestess was getting more and more uneasy with every second. Whatever she felt was getting closer.

"Can you at least tell us what we're gonna be fighting, boss?" Biretha asked, having noticed that it was not about leapworms.

"Something that came from really far away..."

(https://i.imgur.com/ppTb37k.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/8afkWsB.png)

The Lloigors materialized south of Dungeonevened, hoping to strike fear into drows' hearts with their draconic forms. Being ten times the size of a drow they could terrify their enemies without resorting to revealing their alien nature.

(https://i.imgur.com/HOaNmjl.png)

Helmet Snakes and Blackguards moved out as one body with a single mission - search and destroy any eldritch entities in the area. After locating the targets the soldiers stuck together instead of spreading like they always did. Perhaps it was the sheer size of the enemies that inspired such discipline, or perhaps Freshcannon's insults and scolding finally hit where they were supposed to hit. Whichever one that was, the drow warriors had never resembled an actual army more than they did that day.

(https://i.imgur.com/QsENqmk.png)

The Lloigors, on the other hand, fought as if they weren't ancient beings of pure mental energy, but like a pack of savage beasts, swiping blindly and knocking each other over. Their unarmored flesh was easily torn by sharp steel and diamondium.

(https://i.imgur.com/Dzh6dOi.png)

Freshcannon focused on a single Lloigor, breaking legs one after another until the beast passed out from the pain. Rithesa Wickedfill brought his sword down on the monster's head, splitting the skull.

(https://i.imgur.com/jkhj9Jj.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/kJnJyrQ.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/3KD60Gz.png)

Other Lloigors met a simillar fate, having their reptilian heads crushed without mercy.

---

Scourge was getting to know Uthimi while working in the rat beast enclosure. "I don't know if you know, but you were somewhat of a legend back in Murknightmare. For like a year, at least, because in the end you were just a girl who quickly learned how to remove occulae from ironheads and dralthas."

"Believe it or not, but this moment of fame is what kept me going for over a century now. I'm still better than most people in taking care of animals, but if you start working at the age of twelve, you're expected to be good at the age of one hundred twenty. That's why I keep reminding people who I am, or rather who I was."

Scourge wondered how Uthimi managed to avoid slipping into depression for so long with that kind of attitude, and she would have asked about it had she not bitten her tongue quickly enough. "So... what could you, an expert, tell me about this rodent of unusual size?"

(https://i.imgur.com/xJkZF5H.png)

"Even a troll could make one of those into a war beast. If the legends about Kabu-smusms are real, they were bred to be more intelligent than their masters, so don't bother with advanced techniques. Basic training with treats should be enough. How was that?"

"Huh, actual helpful information? Maybe you're not a lost cause after all..." Scourge said, not realizing she was talking out loud.

---

(https://i.imgur.com/OITVn0D.png)

"THIS IS NOW AN OFFICIAL BONE ZONE, FLESHIES! ALL PEOPLE WITHOUT SKIN EAT FOR FREE TODAY!"

"What? I can't allow that!" Fred the Mitey was outraged by the skeleton's proclamation. As if their presence in itself wasn't outrageous enough.

"IT'S SIMPLE, FLESHIE, YOU GIVE US FOOD, WE GIVE YOU OUR STUFF, THEN WE EAT FOR FREE! YOU GOTTA BE A REAL THICK-SKULLED BONEHEAD TO NOT GET THAT! *CLACK CLACK CLACK*!

"How is this..." The house administrator looked at the trader's eternally grinning face. It wasn't worth it. "Okay, we'll bring you your food."

Enormous amount of food, a few jammed cages, and many spools of dyed camel hair were exchanged for metal, bags, cages and animals. Twenty thousand Urists worth of food was given as a gift in hopes that the skeletons would be more eager to go away if they get enough of what they came for.

---

(https://i.imgur.com/MJParIJ.png)

"Welcome to Crustacean Station, everybody. Meet our resident lobster mobster." Scourge said, to most animal trainers' and the chuul's dismay.

"Cut this crab, Scourge, or I'll go cray-zy" Tharumi played along, somewhat amused.

"They say that while in subterranean seas aboleths are the brains, and these guys are the prawn. They're not very popular though, because they can be pretty shellfish" Scourge continued.

"Enough." SQ cast darkness at the chuul cage and came up to the one housing a stocky, long-haired ungulate.

(https://i.imgur.com/3VQNzpI.png)

"As if we didn't have enough deep rothe, Fred got us one of the surface variety. At least this one isn't going to multiply any time soon." The overseer looked at the muskox closely. "It still counts as a separate species, doesn't it? Its fur is longer, it can't see in the dark..."

"It's actually a musk ox." Uthimi corrected SQ.

"What? We had those in Murknightmare and they were clearly labeled as surface rothe!"

"I might have made that sign..." Scourge admitted. "Nobody said anything, so I thought I was right."

(https://i.imgur.com/QdZrEUP.png)

"Hey, a Velociraptor!" Lerine exclaimed. "Did you girls know that those dinosaurs choose their own owners? You can feed it, pet it, do whatever you like, but it won't guarantee you'll be chosen."

"Kind of like cats... if you know what a cat is." Athara added.

"Oh! Lunardog asked me for a cat once! I wonder..." SQ had an idea, but she wanted to keep it secret.

(https://i.imgur.com/wxpra4N.png)

"Apparently a lot of stuff taste like chicken." Lerine blurted out.

"How much stuff is a lot?" Tharumi asked with genuine curiosity.

"I dunno."

"Such a pointless conversation..." SQ scoffed.

"I'm not forcing you to enjoy talking to people, but please accept that some people can't keep their thoughts to themselves." Scourge scolded the overseer. Then she glanced at Tharumi who was intensely staring at the chicken. "Also, I think it's already lunchtime."

"What, no cock jokes?" Tharumi asked, surprised that Scourge didn't reach for a low-hanging fruit.

"I'm in my second fourties, I'm a wife, a mother, and a backbone of this community. Jokes like these are below me. Besides, it's a hen, not a cock, and you prefer cats anyway."

(https://i.imgur.com/IzfRCp8.png)

"A reindeer. Some surface elves use them for pulling flying sleighs. Their leader is usually a bull with a glowing red nose." SQ shared her dubious knowledge.

"I'm so sorry for telling her that." Scourge whispered.

"What was that?"

"Uhh... I think something's going on with the razorboars, so why don't you go check it out?"

(https://i.imgur.com/ZJUM1s1.png)

In the razorboar paddock the sow was nursing nine newly born piglets. Way too many.

---

(https://i.imgur.com/S7Mw8nj.png)

Fecawi Menacevaulted, a miner and a part-time messenger, was not one to disobey orders, but the situation called just for that. A sudden strike of inspiration caused him to drop his pick and head up to the city proper.

(https://i.imgur.com/OOanlWa.png)

He collected two boulders of galena, a palm tree log and a few bars of zinc. Diamondite, mahogany and gold? No, a true master can work with any material, no matter how cheap.

(https://i.imgur.com/hF6nXN0.png)

The final product was a galena floodgate with a picture of a fish. Someone could find it fitting, some would say it's ironic that a device for blocking water has a fish on it. Regardless, it was the finest floodgate Dungeonevened has ever seen. And the city had only seen a single, pretty meager goblinium floodgate.

---

The summer was very eventful, but the same couldn't be said about the autumn. Even a migrant wave couldn't break the monotony. Nine unremarkable drows with no special skills, good only for unskilled construction work that was taking place all over Dungeonevened.

---

(https://i.imgur.com/IHw2zGf.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/WAV0Wpp.png)

The first days of winter immediately made up for boring autumn. Equinars have arrived once again to satiate their lust for domination, but something was not right... there was only seven of them.

(https://i.imgur.com/L3SDlIf.png)

The horsemen charged as soon as they noticed drow soldiers marching towards them. One of the equinars triggered a cage trap, and effectively removed himself from battle.

(https://i.imgur.com/ALVYHHg.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/gky5Aqs.png)

Asin's sword tore through armor and flesh alike, taking the first two lives in the battle. Two horse heads landed on the ground in quick succession, demoralizing the remaining four equinars. It was too late for the invaders to run, but if they could, they would.

(https://i.imgur.com/7lHxMcB.png)

The battle and the fact that her scourge of fangs couldn't bite through armor made Efaci ponder her own mortality despite her immortality. Or was she pondering mortality as a concept?

(https://i.imgur.com/xJAFTUu.png)

One of the two remaining equinars realized she was surrounded by enemies, and her only living ally was frantically firing arrow after arrow only vaguely at the direction of the enemies. Her eyes started burning with fire as she stood up despite a wounded leg. If there ever was a time for heroism, it was at that very moment.

(https://i.imgur.com/pBTEeGx.png)

Neither courage nor justified rage could keep the equinar up after Asin broke one of her legs, while Melici the Tin Samurai cut off the hoof on the other one. Finally a silver flail crushed the horsewoman's head, leaving only one more on the battlefield.

(https://i.imgur.com/TuMlBsK.png)

The siege was over, no more hostiles sprung out of an ambush, which was surprising but appreciated.

---

(https://i.imgur.com/rN5ZY2o.png)

The fighting was yet to end, as the Melici the Tin Samurai remembered she was caught in the rain one day. Athara Dieabyss was cleaning up after the construction crew had finished smoothing the floors on the forge level. Melici, completely overcome with rage, used the animal trainer as a punching bag to forget about her traumatic experience involving slightly humid weather.

(https://i.imgur.com/UYeraK1.png)

Next was Vemini the farmer, whose foot was completely crushed in Melici's rampage through Dungeonevened.

---

(https://i.imgur.com/bbAwBYS.png)

Once again the caravan from Murknightmare has arrived without the diplomat. The drows of Dungeonevened started hauling everything to the depot - food, leather, crafts, gems. Nobody knew what the falling capital would need all those things for, but offering the caravan gifts seemed like a decent thing to do.

(https://i.imgur.com/5b0bYfv.png)

In reality the caravan brought very little of interest except for a wagon of wood, which was exchanged for a cage full of rothe, riding lizards, mottleworms and abrians.

---

(https://i.imgur.com/QmAF9qz.png)

Lunardog was overseeing the work at the dyer's shops where Schmendrick and a few other farm hands were dyeing bales of abyss shade cloth in barrels of blue, silver, magenta and emerald dye. Instead of actually helping, he was sharing his enthusiasm with his hard working, dye-stained underlings.
"You guys can't even imagine how much colors this project brought into my life. White and grey have their charm, but this green silk is to dye for."

"You're not the best at organizing work, are you, Lunardog? Otherwise there would be some room left for you to try getting your hand dirty if you love the dye business so much." Schmendrick snarked. "Sarcasm aside, the millstones produce dyes much faster than we can use them, the fields produce dye plants faster than millstones can mill them, my gloves slid off into the barrel and now my hands are purple, and some guy is carrying a bag out of here at this very moment."

"Ah, it's just Vemini, one of the cooks. Since the same millstones mill dyes, flour and sugar, Ombragon's boys keep all powdery stuff here." Lunardog looked closely at the bag Vemini was carrying. The cook was slowed down by his broken leg, so Lunardog had all time in the word to have a good look.

(https://i.imgur.com/zpJwV1h.png)

"I know this art style, it's Tharumi Balanceblack. What is his obsession with SQ and berries? That reminds me, I was supposed to..." Before the brewer finished the sentence, SQ came running, covered in sweat and with eyes more vacant than usually. "Here she is! I was just about to go tell you I no longer need your help here. This Liceyi guy agreed to take your pla..."

"I'm so sorry for taking a... I mean, I haven't been taking a nap when I was supposed to be helping you! I was just... uhh... Taking care of a wounded giant salamander, yes!" The overseer shouted out frantically.

"Is this what got you so worked up? It's really not that much of a deal, really. You're an overseer above everything else."

"I know I don't have to keep my promises. I just had a bad dream, that's all. Wait, no! That's not what I..." SQ realized breathing was becoming harder, and blunt pain in her chest was getting stronger. One more fumble could lead to a complete breakdown, so that conversation had to be cut short. "Gotta go now!"

(https://i.imgur.com/jZTVgL8.png)

On her way to her room SQ's attention was caught by a commotion on the carpentry and masonry level. That was exactly how it was in her dream! Something had to be done, so SQ changed her course to stop the project.

"Kaos! I forbid you from carrying on this stupid project!" The overseer appeared in the doorway to the half-finished room. A familiar feeling took over her when she realized all the workers inside were staring at her.

"You just had to call my pet project stupid, didn't you?" Darkening Kaos, who was overseeing the silk farm construction, said without taking her eyes off the plans in her hand. "Fine. Everyone, drop what you're currently doing and go do something else. Overseer's order." The weaponsmith finally glanced at SQ and noticed that the overseer looked exceptionally uncomfortable. "Wanna sit down and talk about whatever is bugging you?"

"You'll laugh at me, but here comes: I dozed off a little after my shift in the menagerie, and I had a... a dream."

Kaos looked at SQ from above her glasses, silently judging her sanity. The overseer looked blurry, but not really insane. "I guess it is some reason to stop a construction. Tell me more, and maybe I'll consider it a good reason too, which I very much doubt."

(https://i.imgur.com/jVEPHu6.png)

"You were planning to chain the equinar prisoner to that wall so it would keep getting sprayed by a spider. Uthimi would bring it here without disarming it. The equinar would then cripple her for the rest of her life with its axe. The project would fail horribly because you assume the prisoner would be docile enough to let people harvest webs in peace."

"Hmm... All right, looks like I'll have to make some changes after all. Thanks for your input, as unusual as it was."

(DF crashed after I finished the silk farm. I'll stick to silk eggs until we catch a GCS or a spellgaunt.)

---

SQ was just about to go down the final flight of stairs when suddenly a sound of metal boots running down the stairs forced her to stop. Freshcannon and Asin were at high alert, chasing something or someone obviously hiding in the lower parts of the city. The soldiers stopped the overseer to brief her on their mission.

"It would be unwise of you to go any deeper, SQ-ithera. A dangerous lunatic is on the loose, and it would be in our best interest if she was to never see you." Asin explained calmly.

"A... a dangerous lunatic? S-should I go to the surface or...?" SQ's day was already quite strange, but she wasn't ready for this news. "What happened anyway?"

"It is Melici Menaceappeared-diri, or the Tin Samurai, as was her call sign."

(https://i.imgur.com/h7lyos7.png)

"The victim was one Uthimi Greenghouls, a clothier. Head smashed in with bare hands. Killing my people on my turf? That bitch is gonna pay for that, this much I can promise." Freshcannon said, not as calmly as Asin.

"Are you telling me... One of the Samurais commited... murder?" SQ didn't want to believe it, but she didn't want to be the next victim either. "So... what now?"

"You don't move an inch until Imic comes to lead you to safety. Us? We're gonna serve some justice old style."

---

Freshcannon and Asin quickly found the culprit, or at least all evidence pointed at her location. That location was the overseer's room.

"Using a statue as a battering ram... I like her style, but I kinda wish she did that in a temple, maybe she'd get a curse in addition to what I'm gonna do to her." Freshcannon joked. Asin wasn't amused at all, and the priestess got serious again too. It was time to enter the room.
Melici didn't resist arrest even for a moment, which Freshcannon wasn't particularly happy about. She didn't even hide her motives when she was being questioned:

(https://i.imgur.com/2gMxyIw.png)

"That rain two years ago... It changed me completely! I can no longer stand the injustices that the world itself is tormenting me with! Grant me quick death, now, if you must!"

Freshcannon rolled her eyes harder than ever before and replied "I know I should consult it with pretty much everyone that counts in this town, but I know what to do. Since you asked nicely to be killed, I won't do that, just to spite you."

"Freshcannon-ithera, what if those are some crafty mind tricks?" Asin suggested.

"If we kick her off to the bush, we won't have to deal with her anyway, will we? With some luck she'll fall into a clown ambush on her way out, saving us all. Could you imagine that?"

---

Being kept somewhere for your own safety isn't that much different from being held hostage, SQ noticed while watching the Helmet Snakes and Steel Samurais train in the barracks. She wasn't worried for Freshcannon and Asin, but she wished they would come back already, because she was getting sick of waiting.
Suddenly someone came into the barracks, but it wasn't who SQ anticipated. It was ZM5, who should have been training the whole time, but apparently he had some errants to run. "SQ, it should be safe now, but I need to have a word with you first."

"Thank gods, I think the sound of clashing diamondium got permanently burned into my brain. I'll be hearing it all the time for the rest of my life. Can we talk outside?"
ZM5 agreed to this suggestion and the two drows sat down by the farm plots, SQ on a boulder, ZM5 leaned on the slab to Ayanu Diedwitches. Just then SQ noticed that the man was holding a small package in his hands the whole time. The drows looked at each other in uncomfortable silence for a while.

"I imagine you're not exactly delighted about a murderer hiding in your room." ZM5 broke the silence, perhaps not exactly the way he should have, considering SQ couldn't have known about that. "Don't panic, it's all taken care of! Please confirm you're not having a panic attack right now."

"It's fine, I'm okay... just felt a little sickfora moment." SQ did a little half-smile. She wasn't the best at smiling, and the moment wasn't the best, so when ZM5 smiled back, she considered this a great success. "This thing you got there, is it why you wanted to talk to me?"

"I wanted to talk to you because it's always a pleasure, so let's take the time to do it properly. Say, how well do you do in a fight, hypothetically speaking?"

(https://i.imgur.com/mzfer73.png)

"I'd say I'm quite a skilled fighter, just out of practice." In reality SQ has never held a weapon in her hands, but she came back alive from the caverns many times, which could count as a victory in a fight against all monsters down there.

"Really now... What is your weapon of choice then?"

"A mace, a flail, a morningstar. I like the simplicity of bashing something on the head until it dies."

"A weapon that relies on its own weight as well as the strength of its user. Come on, a solid silver mace weights almost as much as you, baby doll." ZM5 shook his head, then unwrapped the little cloth package revealing an amber colored dagger.

(https://i.imgur.com/1y38bMb.png)

"This is closer to your weight class." ZM5 said, giving SQ the dagger. "I had a word with Kaos, told her that only her craftsmanship can properly protect the most important people in Dungeonevend, and she agreed to make weapons for you and some other people. As much as I'd love to spar with you, we're just not on the same level, so Scourge, Lunardog and Schmendrick will have to do for now."

"W-wait, you want me to train fighting? I already have so much work in the menagerie, in the office..."

"It's just a month of training per season, half the usual time. You'll be able to spend time with me in the barracks and..."

"Okay, I guess I don't have a choice." SQ finally agreed, in a tone that suggested that lack of choice wasn't a reason for that decision. "I could start right now!"

---

Mevena Ruthlessempires was just another craftsman nobody really cared about, even though he was considered a high master in bonecrafting. He thought that a break from carving bones and shells would be good for his nerves, but there was something pulling him towards a craftsman's workshop.

(https://i.imgur.com/0Nw0utW.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/poufMlL.png)

A pile of broken rat beast bones, a few blocks of polished quartzite, and two handfuls of black pebbles. That was what Mevena needed to finish his magnum opus.

---

(https://i.imgur.com/ms4Aig3.png)

"Hmm... Doesn't get much better than that." Darkening Kaos inspected a refined diamondium scimitar she has just made. The clear, glasslike blade was indeed perfect in every way. She wouldn't have fulfilled her dreams back in Murknightmare, that much was obvious to her.

---

(https://i.imgur.com/WXMcR14.png)

Mevena added last finishing touches, and the strange work frenzy left his body. His masterwork was done - a bone figurine of a drow who drowned a year before. Of course Obi's death was actually related to a werebear attack, but the bonecarver didn't know that. The figurine-Obi's armor had a white quartzite picture of the grand matriarch on the back and a black onyx picture of Obi himself drowning.

---

~~Diary~~ Journal of SQ Hateromanced, the ~~leader~~ house ~~overseer~~ ~~matriarch~~ overseer of Dungeonevened

First day of spring, one hundred thirtieth year Yetine Shadycarries has ruled in Murknightmare. Feels weird knowing I've been in charge of Dungeonevened for almost five years. We've defeated horrifying enemies, unearthed riches of the earth, produced more than we can hope to ever use, yet there's still so much room for improvement. Not everyone is happy with how their life is going, but seriously, how am I supposed to help people who miss their families despite having no families to speak of? Or those who complain about lack of decent meals? I help however I can, for example I had a few new shrines built in the tower.

(https://i.imgur.com/Scww6No.png)(https://i.imgur.com/5rgaix6.png)(https://i.imgur.com/2xINnqD.png)

Ayiti, the goddess of silence got a shrine filled with bookcases, because apparently it's good manners to be quiet in a library. It took some mental gymnastics to come up with this design, but nobody said anything yet, so I assume everyone is fine with it.
Rethi Freshspring, the skeletal deity of death and creation was next. His shrine is was supposed to be furnished with decorative rock coffins, but they stopped being decorative after someone decided to bury their dead desmodu bat in one. At least we have a pet cemetery now.
The last was Litheme Cobaltearth, the goddess of earth and caverns. Her shrine is decorated with pillars of rough quartzite that are supposed to imitate stalagnates.

(https://i.imgur.com/bMPp1R8.png)

The thing most people don't appreciate is how much effort and materials goes into guaranteeing their safety. Fortifications on the walls were built so that the River Watch could fire at the enemy from above, but to this day nobody except for Nunore ever shot a bolt. Not like I'm praising Nunore, because the one time she climbed up there, she fell down into the moat trying to get a better shot at brigands.
Watchmen didn't want to hunt in their shell armor, so they were forbidden from hunting. We'll see how that goes during the next siege.

(https://i.imgur.com/xYkKjX6.png)

I'm happy with how the aboveground part of the city looks like. We have barracks, a well, beehives, a water mill, farm plots, two memorial slabs. That's right, two memorial slabs. Somebody didn't follow the safety procedures while operating the garbage disposal device and got himself disposed of.

I don't like the fact that we're seriously backlogged with dye plants. There are two factors: there are only three millstones for two five-by-five farm plots, and there's also wheat and sugar beats to be milled, taking valuable time.

In the first month of every season the barracks will be completely packed with three military squads: Freshcannon's Helmet Snakes, Imic's Blackguards, and my newly formed Platinum Stars. I should probably think about expanding that tiny building sooner or later.

(https://i.imgur.com/YHfpbpq.png)

The first underground level was a series of huge mistakes. I had no idea the cooks would refuse to carry ingredients downstairs, and the same goes to dyers and their dyes. Had to have a room walled off, and another one is waiting for its turn. Well, I didn't have to, but a well established city shouldn't have large empty chambers.

The crafting room is having a makeover right now. The nickel workshops were replaced with silver ones, a hardwood floor was put in place, and sand walls should be replaced by wooden ones in a few days. It's all for aesthetics, really.

(https://i.imgur.com/akig0px.png)

The food and cloth production level is probably the one I'm themost fond of. I had all crappy wooden workshop demolished and replaced with gold and silver. Almost all surfaces were paved with wooden floorboards, the walls are waiting for their turn.
The library kind of works as intended. People just don't feel like reading the same two things over and over again. Skeletons and pelagics don't bring any new reading material, and traders from Murknightmare claim they can't find any other scrolls or books they could sell to us.

(https://i.imgur.com/hVbIN4q.png)

The carpentry and masonry level... The woodcrafting part still requires paving, and the stonecrafting part is all wrong, with craftsman's workshops being where mason's workshops are meant to be.

The silk farm project hasn't been dismantled. I think I know how to deal with it, we just need a non-tame web spraying creature, be it a giant cave spider, a spellgaunt or an ettercap. No more experimenting on drowspiders.

(https://i.imgur.com/Jgkvc7g.png)

The menagerie, my pride and joy. As usual the main issue is with it not being as big as it could be. Currently exhibited are:
- 1 Camptosaurus
- 3 giant cave salamanders
- 1 hippocampus
- 1 spike rat
- 1 capybara
- 3 giant cave lizards
- 1 dragon snapping turtle
- 1 cravasi
- 1 Megalania
- 7 ethereal slayers
- 1 cragtooth boar
- 6 occulae
- 6 mottleworms
- 1 rat beast
- 3 riding lizards
- 1 parrokea
- 1 kestrel
- 1 guineafowl
- 2 cavies
- 2 shaggy molecows
- 3 razorboars
- 1 dewbeatle
- 4 beak dogs
- 1 giant cave slug
- 1 giant wild longboar
- 1 thunderlizard
- 7 gloomwings
- 6 drowspiders
- 10 giant drowspiders
- 26 ironheads (!)
- 2 aurochs
- 2 giant skinks
- 1 giant louse
- 1 musk ox
- 1 reindeer
- 2 ducks
- 2 astral fishers
- 2 vooniths
- 2 white storks
- 2 desmodu bats
- 10 rothe
- 2 crystalline chargers
- 7 abrians
- 2 loft owls
That's a lot of animals to take care of, and ideally there will be much more.
I should also mention that Kaos's workshop also deserves a little makeover.

(https://i.imgur.com/1n8vf0V.png)

There's not much to talk about when it come to bedrooms. I should have some more made just in case, but that's it.

(https://i.imgur.com/yD6GuA4.png)

I'm having the slave quarters dismantled. Nobody touched these rooms since the start, and I don't feel like assigning a room for every slave beast the migrants bring with them. The slaves can live in regular bedrooms if that's less work for me.

(https://i.imgur.com/eWtWJaC.png)

I was planning on having personal workshop for best smiths made for gods know how long, plus there isn't enough smalters to melt down all garbage invaders leave behind after sieges.
The best part about the forges being this deep is that the floor and walls are made of stone that can simply be smoothed. No wood wasted.

(https://i.imgur.com/BU2l9Og.png)

Cavernhall has seen better days. The holes can be patched as soon as the coal gets taken out of there.
To this day that tavern had only two visitors, both left without saying a word. I understand why people wouldn't trust a drow inn, but we're talking about zombies and monster fishmen, not humans and halflings.

Don't really wanna spend too much time writing tonight, because Five promised to get me out of bed by force if I'm not ready to start training at the same time as the Snakes. I gotta be well rested if I want to fight for my sleeping rights tomorr

---

The overseer was about to finish writing the latest entry in her diary, when someone knocked on the door. Imic came in without asking for permission, covering his eyes just in case.
"Miss SQ, someone is wishing to talk to you, but it's not... he's... Okay, he's a dark elven messenger." The weapon master realized SQ would have to meet the elf anyway, so there was no point in sugarcoating it. "I have no idea what he can tell you that he couldn't tell me."

"I'll be waiting in my office." SQ replied reluctantly. She got up as she was - barefoot, wearing only panties and a shire, with her hair down - and went to the office to sit down behind her desk and pretend to care, like with any other meeting lately.

(https://i.imgur.com/KTnEQzW.png)

"You'll pay for threatening my dear sister and making her listen to Feretu-ithera's lecture!" The purple-skinned elf yelled as soon as he entered the office. He even reached for his weapon, but his scabbard was empty.

"Oh, please! I just wanna go to sleep! Imic, please take him away, I really don't care."

"We've returned in great numbers! Unfathomable forces aid us in our cause!" The dark elf continued shouting as he was being dragged out by Imic.

(https://i.imgur.com/ill7uJb.png)

Ending on a siege tonight. Dark elves, giant bees and horses. The elves wear only leather armor and chain leggings, so I'm not too worried.

Turns out we hadn't been offering gifts to drow caravans at all until now. This offering was good enough.

So, what happened in this update?
-Lloigors attacked. They weren't much different from regular animals. Monstrous size means nothing if you're not carrying a monstrously sized sword. They're pretty much inedible saltwater crocodiles.

-Skellies gave us a lot of animals.

-Galena floodgate. I can still use it in the silk farm, or I can just put it in the museum. I'm not digging any deeper because FPS, so I won't be doing any magma channelling.

-Equinars are running out of steam. They couldn't even field a whole squad this year.

-The Tin Samurai's rampages were worse than most sieges. Athara and some farmer were battered, and Uthimi (fortunately not the animal trainer Uthimi) was killed. Melici and an insignificant tantruming miner were exiled to get eaten by abrians in the bush.

-Uthimi got permanently crippled and couldn't work anymore, but then she got better because the game crashed. Good thing I wasn't in the mood for DF this week, so I was playing in short sessions.

-SQ, Scourge, Lunardog, Schmendrick and Ombragon were put into a millitary squad - the Platinum Stars. I wanted to do this since Scourge's reason stealer accident, but I kept forgetting. Fred and Kaos need to be available all the time, given the nature of their professions, and the rest of named drows are already legendary soldiers.

-A rat bone figurine of Obi drowning, with a picture of Obi drowning on it.

-Kaos is now a legendary weaponsmith and carpenter. Time to pwer level mechanics.

-Atom smasher incident. Haven't had one of those in years.

-Dark elves came to play with their subterranean cousins. They brought giant bees of Shub-Niggurath and countless horses. We weren't running out of meat and leather, but I appreciate this gesture.

… Time to celebrate first. Lock myself in my room with a barrel of best alcohol and drink to the point where Scourge begins to make sense, then pass out happily.

Merry Uristmas everybody!
I was taking a break from writing, and there's a lot of writing to be done for the next update. Meanwhile I've been working on the modpack, crying over squamous's total conversions, appreciating ZM5's mods' compatibility, digging through huge mods to extract creatures and plants, fighting duped body tokens... After a long week of hard work I present to you:

LESS CRAZY MODPACK 1.0 (http://dffd.bay12games.com/file.php?id=13820)

There's many more creatures, plants, civilizations, secrets. Spellcrafts mod opens up a whole new world of magic for dwarves and drows to take advantage of. Good biomes changed from serene to dangerous, and evil biomes from nightmarish to hellish. Drows can now survive worldgen, thrive even, but after that they can't rely on natural skills to defend themselves.

There are some problems I couldn't resolve - slabs can have any secret engraved on them, but they mostly show up as artificer slabs. Drows still can't send raids for whatever reason.

I guess I can give you a teaser for the next update:

(https://i.imgur.com/ZelrFdY.png)

That's all for today. Stay fresh, or whatever you youngsters say these days.

Great work on this! Should make for a fun setting if you plan on eventually making a sequel to this.

Hey, cool, you used Primal. I should play this modpack sometime.

Gotta say, compiling this modpack has taught me a lot about raw modding. I feel comfortable with entities, understand reactions and interactions, can modify creatures to some extent. When I tried to learn on my own I just couldn't wrap my head around anything at all.

Quote from: Enemy post on December 28, 2018, 02:30:25 pm

Hey, cool, you used Primal. I should play this modpack sometime.

Primal was a treat to go through, honestly. There was obviously some overlap with Saur Fortress, Scourge's extinct creatures, and Forgotten Realms Direforged, and I disagree with some decisions (Stygimoloch and Dracorex thing), but overall it was easy to implement and slightly modify, and I haven't fallen asleep checking every single creature, which sometimes happens with big mods (ZM5's Lands of Duality mod actually did make me doze off with its creatures being quite samey and, frankly, pretty uninspired).

As for a sequel...
There really isn't much to do in Dungeonevened right now, so I've already started making plans for the next fort. For starters, a world full of random, crazy civs is not really good for storytelling. I love what Cathar does with Mong Kima, how he tries to make the world seem alive; it's hard to do something like that when your civilization's closest neighbors are a random collection of bizarre monsters. I know it seems weird that I say it right after adding a whole bunch of outlandish civs to the modpack, but the next fort is going to use the modified version of the pack with only 16 civs, 4 in every faction. I already have some ideas:

Spoiler: Sequel plans - civs (click to show/hide)

Tbh I probably should have made less creatures for LoD, or atleast fused some of the biome sets - good biomes in particular gave me a bit of trouble in terms of thinking up creatures so thats probably why it gave you that feeling.

A monstrous human-like heavy hitter eh? Why not Lizardmen ? Even maybe Dinosaur men if you apply the animal man creature variation to one of Primals/Scourge/Saur reptiles.

Quote from: Ombragon on December 30, 2018, 04:47:13 am

A monstrous human-like heavy hitter eh? Why not Lizardmen ? Even maybe Dinosaur men if you apply the animal man creature variation to one of Primals/Scourge/Saur reptiles.

*cough cough mine already has animal men cough cough*

Quote from: SQman on December 29, 2018, 02:16:39 pm

Primal was a treat to go through, honestly.

Thank you for saying that!

Quote from: scourge728 on December 30, 2018, 11:33:13 am

Quote from: Ombragon on December 30, 2018, 04:47:13 am
A monstrous human-like heavy hitter eh? Why not Lizardmen ? Even maybe Dinosaur men if you apply the animal man creature variation to one of Primals/Scourge/Saur reptiles.
*cough cough mine already has animal men cough cough*

That's true, and allosaur men are pretty powerful, played one in adventure mode once.

Dinosaur men will have to be taken into consideration then. Raptor men are boring, though, and I don't want to overdo it. Triceratops men would probably be overdoing it, even though I like the idea. If I understand correctly, animal people's size is an average of the animal's size and 70000, which would bring Triceratops people to little above 6M, larger than an ogre. Allosaurus men would be 2M, which is more acceptable.
If we're talking animal men, I was also considering bear men, aurochs men or Smilodon men.
There's still time to think about it, since the current situation calls for a mostly story update. It's half-written already, but I haven't been in a mood for writing lately.

By the way, the modpack is updated to version 1.2.0. More Stone, Metals, Gem Mod by Urist McGoombaBrother added, plus some minor tweaks and changes. Now dwarves and drows can armor themselves with vanadium steel or hide safely in their painite-encrusted rhodochrosite fortresses.
I could have added that mod with slag and glaze, but I would feel like I'd have to add glaze and slag for other modded metals. Maybe one day we'll see feldspar porcelain large pots glazed with diamondium slag glaze, but not today.

It doesn't have to be just one kind of animal men. I could use the caste system to merge multiple kinds of Scourge's animal men into one seemingly multiracial creature if you want. Adjusting all the sizes to be equal would be easy as well, if you like.

Hey hey, been a while, SQ. What exactly did I miss?

Quote from: Enemy post on January 01, 2019, 01:15:21 pm

It doesn't have to be just one kind of animal men. I could use the caste system to merge multiple kinds of Scourge's animal men into one seemingly multiracial creature if you want. Adjusting all the sizes to be equal would be easy as well, if you like.

I more or less know how to work with castes, but I'm not gonna do it. Dinosaur men keeping together doesn't make more sense than lion men and hamster men forming one civ.
Some new options:
-owlbear men - found them recently and thought they were neat
-minotaurs - a minotaur is actually smaller than a troll, and the only thing that makes it dangerous are its natural skills in striking and wrestling.

Quote from: Asin on January 04, 2019, 10:35:16 pm

Hey hey, been a while, SQ. What exactly did I miss?

In-game? A lot. Dungeonevened is a grand metropolis, and the very heart of drow civilization now, as opposed to a glorified hole in the ground it was when you last commented. The upper levels are getting their dirt floors and walls replaced with wood blocks, workshops are being replaced with gold and silver ones. We produce so much prepared food that we can easily buy whole caravans with just mussel roasts. We have 30 professional soldiers, most of them legendary, all equiped with diamondium armor with refined diamondium and silver weapons. There's also a squad of marksdrows recruited from legendary hunters. So far there was no enemy who was a serious threat to us.
Your drow is still leading his squad, but honestly I have no idea what he does in those three months a year when he's not training. He became a father when his wife gave birth during a huge clown siege they were both fighting against.

In modpack-compiling? Not that much. I haven't touched anything since the beginning up to version 1.0.0 I finished on December 24, then there were a few smaller updates. It was a huge update, and your mods, as many others, were updated in addition to new mods getting added.
Recently I dug out files for Dwarf Fortress from Scratch II, and it makes me want to commit death-pacito, since every single contributor was using notepad++ or whatever it's called, which makes the raws hard to read.

Currently I'm looking for a way to make a block of text more interesting. I may do some shitty art for the next update, who knows.

Quote from: SQman on January 05, 2019, 02:09:12 pm

Quote from: Enemy post on January 01, 2019, 01:15:21 pm
It doesn't have to be just one kind of animal men. I could use the caste system to merge multiple kinds of Scourge's animal men into one seemingly multiracial creature if you want. Adjusting all the sizes to be equal would be easy as well, if you like.

I more or less know how to work with castes, but I'm not gonna do it. Dinosaur men keeping together doesn't make more sense than lion men and hamster men forming one civ.
Some new options:
-owlbear men - found them recently and thought they were neat
-minotaurs - a minotaur is actually smaller than a troll, and the only thing that makes it dangerous are its natural skills in striking and wrestling.

Quote from: Asin on January 04, 2019, 10:35:16 pm
Hey hey, been a while, SQ. What exactly did I miss?

In-game? A lot. Dungeonevened is a grand metropolis, and the very heart of drow civilization now, as opposed to a glorified hole in the ground it was when you last commented. The upper levels are getting their dirt floors and walls replaced with wood blocks, workshops are being replaced with gold and silver ones. We produce so much prepared food that we can easily buy whole caravans with just mussel roasts. We have 30 professional soldiers, most of them legendary, all equiped with diamondium armor with refined diamondium and silver weapons. There's also a squad of marksdrows recruited from legendary hunters. So far there was no enemy who was a serious threat to us.
Your drow is still leading his squad, but honestly I have no idea what he does in those three months a year when he's not training. He became a father when his wife gave birth during a huge clown siege they were both fighting against.

In modpack-compiling? Not that much. I haven't touched anything since the beginning up to version 1.0.0 I finished on December 24, then there were a few smaller updates. It was a huge update, and your mods, as many others, were updated in addition to new mods getting added.
Recently I dug out files for Dwarf Fortress from Scratch II, and it makes me want to commit death-pacito, since every single contributor was using notepad++ or whatever it's called, which makes the raws hard to read.

Currently I'm looking for a way to make a block of text more interesting. I may do some shitty art for the next update, who knows.

Bravo, we've come a long long way since those days, haven't we?

Oh, apparently we're not getting anywhere further because I fucked up the save somehow. I must have accidentally edited something in the save's raws instead of game raws and now everything is gone. Good thing it happened now when we were pretty much ready to wrap it up, just this update and the one after that, but I was so attached to that fort.

"You're probably all really disappointed that I made you get off your asses so late, huh? Don't you worry, 'cause we're fighting dark elves tonight, not any dangerous enemies. Half of them will probably run when they realize they stand no chance against us, and the remaining half probably forgot their weapons again." Freshcannon's half-hearted speech raised the mood of drow soldiers significantly. It was a promise they would be able to go back to their beds soon. "Imic, Asin, we're gonna wait south of the western gate. Nunore, try to get your watchmen on the walls. Snakes out!"

(https://i.imgur.com/CT04wWI.png)

Over forty elven warriors and over thirty war horses gathered in the south. Curiously, the elves weren't riding the horses as logic would suggest. The whole army was a loosely organized horde with no squads or actual leader figures. Some horses seemed barely tame, running around frightened, even though the battle hasn't started yet.

(https://i.imgur.com/EoXBSth.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/eJcfFih.png)

Two giant bees somehow managed to get into the town unnoticed by anyone. Instead of wreaking havoc among the civilian drows, the insects started buzzing over a pot of mead in the food stockpile. A fisherman noticed that and cast faerie fire on them, which was a good enough sign for a drowspider to do what spiders do best - kill bugs.

(Yes, the spider is a scholar. No, it doesn't write books.)

(https://i.imgur.com/25giYUJ.png)

The first dark elf to get close to the walls regreted his decision immediately. A steel bolt hit his shoulder, causing him to drop his mace.

(https://i.imgur.com/fZkq6t8.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/dFVtAEP.png)

Drow soldiers moved closer to bait reluctant dark elves closer to the walls. A few horses and a cravasi had to be taken care of first.

(https://i.imgur.com/pAftjzL.png)

Chasing the panicked horses, some drows wandered too close to the dark elven army, triggering an all-out attack. Almost all-out, because some attackers decided to hide in trees to avoid certain death.

(https://i.imgur.com/Rl4Rf7K.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/gkjV3P4.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/cUpHmOD.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/zcYUFUR.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/8FHci4X.png)

The dark elves stood little chance in a direct confrontation with the heroes of Dungeonevend. A wave of diamondium easily rolled over the invaders, leaving behind a pile of corpses.

(https://i.imgur.com/MzKGJgn.png)

Those elves who thought a high ground would save them didn't know the Silver Samurai's tenacity. In her misguided search for acceptance she climbed the paradise nut tree and slaughtered everyone up there.

The battle has come to an end, all dark elves have been slain, many horses ran away, none of the drows was hurt.

---

(https://i.imgur.com/shFHwWh.png)

Cleaning up after battle was briefly interrupted by an enormous pelagic caravan. The plans have changed - instead of hauling trash to stockpiles, the drows were bringing it to the trade depot.

(https://i.imgur.com/va3qLzz.png)

"Mister Fred! Mister Fred!" Imic shouted, squeezing through a crowd of haulers to talk with the administrator. "We can't sell them our crowns! This is important!"

"Why is it so important, Imic?"

"I like crowns, and those fish people wouldn't appreciate them enough." Imic looked at Fred pleadingly. Fred wasn't sure if that was an official mandate, but he decided to play it safe and not sell a single crown.

Later the pelagics came back to their oceanic kingdom with unbelievable wealth, and all of that in exchange for a few metal bars and few animals.

---

Athara, Liceyi, Tharumi and Uthimi had to examine the purchased animals on their own, because SQ and Scourge were training in the barracks.

"Let's see, two more female thunderlizards, as if we didn't have enough eggs in the stockpile, a male stork and a female Megalania to complete breeding pairs, a giant lunar mantis to replace the one that died of old age not so long ago..." Athara listed, before moving to completely new animals.

(https://i.imgur.com/GdQsMkb.png)

"A plesiosaur of some kind. Teeth jutting out of the sides of its maw like this suggest that it feeds on animals that are hard to get a good grip on."

"Like fish and mollusks. Who would have guessed an aquatic predator would eat fish and mollusks?" Tharumi wasn't impressed by Athara's deduction.

"It could as well eat hard crustaceans, maybe coral or sponges. Sometimes things aren't that simple, Tharumi."

"They were this simple in this instance."

(https://i.imgur.com/Ux3dICW.png)

"I'm at a loss." Tharumi said, looking at a huge beaked monster locked in the next cage.

"Ha! Good thing you have me, an expert on all things alive." Uthimi boasted. "You can tell a lot about an animal by the shape of its beak. This creature is... umm... eh..."

"You don't have to pretend, Uthimi. It's okay not to know something from time to time." Lerine tried to console the young woman, but all his words did was turning Uthimi's confused anxiety into anger.

"Maybe it's okay for you to be ignorant, but I have reputation to live up to! Let's move on!"

(https://i.imgur.com/CaQb0I1.png)

"Remember the worms that brigands brought on the last siege? This is one of them." Tharumi brushed her hand on the giant bristleworm's slimy body. The rest of the menagerie staff stepped away, knowing what to expect. "Oh come on, Scourge would always fall for that!"

"Stupid jokes aside, we could replace the war mottleworms with those clearly superior muckwroms." Athara commented, still closely observing Tharumi's hand. "Even though our warriors could easily defeat them, I think the dark elves would have more trouble."

"Yes, but we only have a single one. What's next?"

(https://i.imgur.com/ZA8EGo0.png)

"Oh, look, a giant crab with a metal shell. You really need to hit its weak spot for massive damage, huh?" Lerine said.

Uthimi didn't like Lerine's comment at all. She had nothing but utmost respect for crabs. "Why would you want to hurt such a magnificent creature? You're such a jerk, Lerine!"

"Aren't you crabby today, Uthimi. I've got this sudden craving for seafood... Let's go get lunch." Tharumi suggested. As she was leaving the storage room, she patted Lerine on the back. It took Lerine a while to realize his brand new silver silk piwafwi was covered in muckworm slime.

---

Scourge lashed at SQ with her mithril scourge, but the house overseer dodged it effortlessly, then swung her dagger so close to Scourge's face that the blade hit her shell earring.

"Gah! Be careful, SQ, This is a real weapon, not a toy!" Scourge didn't have a great time at the training. The mere thought of hurting any of her friends was enough to make her shudder with dread. As much as she wished it would be otherwise, she wasn't a warrior material.

"We're not gonna learn anything if we don't go all out! A troll from the caverns won't stop trying to eat you just because you haven't hit it as hard as you could!"

"SQ, this is a freaking blade tied to a rope, I'm not hitting you with it!"

"Excuse me..." A voice of an unfamilliar woman said, somehow gathering enough attention to stop all soldiers from training despite not even speaking too loudly. "Thank you for your attention. Our mistress wishes to talk to the house overseer, and I've been told I can find miss SQ Hateromanced here.

SQ froze as everyone's attention concentrated on her. Scourge started nudging her gently towards the door, and when that didn't work, she put some more strenght into pushing, and finally got her out of the barracks.

"This is gonna be a disaster..." The stranger whispered to herself, then she addressed Scourge: "I see how it is. We're probably going to need you, so come with us."

"I would follow you anyway, but thanks."

---

The 'mistress' the woman spoke about was standing alone in the field with her eyes closed. She didn't look exceptional - she was wearing mostly undyed clothes except for a blue shirt and mismatched shoes. A cheap-looking bone amulet and an earring made of what looked like a toenail really didn't shout 'mistress' to anyone looking at her.

"Okay, first thing you need to know, you're about to meet the grand matriarch, Yetine Shadycarries. She'll be, uh... hard to talk to. Try not to upset her too much, because..."

"The... The grand matriarch?! I... I can't! I really can't do that!" SQ panicked. The grand matriarch seemed to have overheard that and opened her eyes unsettlingly widely, which SQ noticed and got even more spooked by. "I gotta go! Agh!" Scourge grabbed SQ by the collar of her shirt. It was not the time to run away.

(https://i.imgur.com/6ry44Y4.png)

---
(https://i.imgur.com/n7jRVCY.png)

"I... ah... your m-ma... maje...." SQ stuttered, trying to introduce herself to the queen.

"Y-you... umm... p-plea... no, I..." Yetine stuttered back.

Both women were shaking and breathing heavily. Some strange feeling of rapidly growing unease started filling Scourge's and the courtier's hearts too.

"I think we should discuss this some other time." Nuwetha Ruthlesseven, the courtier signed to Scourge from behind Yetine's back before taking the grand matriarch to the side.

---

After the arrival of Yetine Shadycarries the whole city, now a mountainhome, buzzed with excited whispers, nervous murmurs, and worried grumbles. A regular overseer would have called for a celebration of some kind to show her people they should rejoice, but the overseer of Dungeonevened was hardly regular. Cavernhall was unusually packed because of all this commotion, yet against all odds SQ and Scourge managed to find some space for themselves. This space was invaded by overly excited ZM5 after a few minutes, but all things considered it could have been someone worse. SQ was too busy contemplating her failure to introduce herself to acknowledge his arrival anyway.

"A living goddess, the real deal! Is she really as divine as I imagine her to be?" ZM5 wanted all the information he could get before meeting the matriarch himself.

"Hmm... She's pretty, very much so in fact. Tall, long ears, pure white hair, completely flawless skin, just one or two notches below me, if you don't mind me saying that. But I didn't really see any divinity in her, though now that you mention it..." Scourge's words were interrupted by Nuwetha Ruthlesseven who appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Scourge and SQ just then realized that the courtier looked like a husk of a drow, as if she hadn't slept since previous century.

"Divine? No. Arcane? Perhaps." Nuwetha said, sitting down near the three drows. "Overseer, don't be too upset that Her Majesty doesn't seem to like you. It's really difficult to win her trust, and out of all people you're the one who should understand that the best."

"Hmm? I don't think I follow." SQ snapped out of daze and looked in general direction of Nuwetha.

"She means that the high matriarch has the same problem with interacting with people as you." Scourge clarified.

"It's actually a lot worse in Yet... Her Majesty's case. You can talk to complete strangers, provided you're not too far out of your comfort zone. I'm Nuwetha Ruthlesseven, by the way. Her Majesty never had a chance to practice communication. If she feels upset she loses control of her powers, as you could experience yourself when she gave us all a feeling of impending doom. I was trying to help her from the day we met, but I didn't want to endanger anyone needlessly. You see, Her Majesty is an alchemancer of the melancholic kind."

"A sorceress?" ZM5 butted in.

"That would make her really mad, and that could potentially end badly. From what I heard, Her Majesty learned to control black bile from a coal slab she found in the palatial library."

(https://i.imgur.com/KoQWPzi.png)

"Her Majesty never let anybody see the slab, and nobody ever will, since she smashed it to pieces a few moments ago. It's a huge loss, but at least it was an inanimate object, not some unfortunate drow's brain."

"Should you be telling us about all this?" SQ asked anxiously. A lot of drows in Dungeonevened were somewhat eccentric, but neither of them was an emotionally unstable sorcerer up to that day.

"Of course she should, it's a matter of safety. It might just answer a few questions for us..." ZM5 winked at the overseer discretely. She wasn't really looking at him, but even if she had, she wouldn't have understood what he was suggesting.

"Who are you two anyway? Ah, never mind, the male is right, if Yetine is to walk among all those people, they should know why they randomly start to break down. Barmaid, barley wine!" Nuwetha quickly got comfortable around her new acquaintances. She might have been talking about arcane secrets of the crown, but at least she didn't have to deal with self-important nobles and officials.

Spoiler: Meeting people: Imic (click to show/hide)

"The most important aspect of her magic is how it affects her. You see, her majesty's body is pure and perfect." Nuwetha said, looking suspiciously into her goblet of barley wine. Why did this supposedly exotic drink look like regular cave barley beer?

ZM5 clapped his hands and eyes lit up with excitement. "Ooh, now I can't wait to meet her even more than before!"

Scourge, having actually seen Yetine, wasn't as impressed as her friend. "Perfect body? Not really. Her legs are nice, but she could use a little more volume in the chest department."

"It's the ideal female elven physique, Scourge; like it or not, but less really is more." SQ said, pushing her own underdeveloped chest out proudly and grinning smugly.

"Fine, I'll let you have this one, but Her Highness isn't flat as a board either, so don't take it as a boost to your already overinflated ego."

"Huh? What do you... H-hey!"

"Can we stop talking about Yetine's... shape, and continue discussing her magical abilities? When I said her body is perfect, I meant that she has much more control over everything going on inside her than non-alchemancers - she doesn't need to sleep, never gets tired, can't get sick, and I'm pretty sure if she was a mortal she wouldn't age, if that makes any sense. She still does have to eat, drink and breathe, and she still bleeds when wounded. Only when wounded, though."

Spoiler: Meeting people - Ombragon (click to show/hide)

Yetine Shadycarries wasn't too mad at herself for running away from the barracks; she did manage to introduce herself... in a way. She couldn't hang out aboveground for much longer either, because it was getting awfully windy. It's not like she was in any risk of catching a cold, but even with complete mystical control over bodily fluids, getting sand out of one's lungs isn't easy. The thought of continuous coughing has pushed the matriarch to the very limit - she closed her eyes and walked all the way through the entrance corridor, ignoring loitering drows and croaking fishmen merchants.
Perhaps it was a divine intervention, but Yetine managed to get to the first level underground without tripping and falling down the stairs. She opened her eyes and realized that she had no idea where anything was in Dungeonevened, especially her quarters. Since there weren't many people around, the grand matriarch decided she would explore the city on her own, starting with the source of alluring smell coming from somewhere beyond the food stockpile.

Behind the first door was a passageway with doors on each side. Something was going on behind the door to the right, and Yetine, despite being the supreme leader of all drowkind, was not above listening in.

Yetine easily deduced that the room was a kitchen, and the man ordering people around was the head chef. "...not enough liquid moonlight! The mussel flavor is supposed to be subtle, SUBTLE! Not too late to fix it, Vathi, get to it! The horse roast... Liyetha? Oh, good, I was worried for a second. It's not only a masterpiece of culinary art, but also a testament to drow might; we can't just substitute it with steamed mussels or some other bland, low-effort dish. Oquari, what is it? The recipe, MY recipe, calls for barley flour, not wheat. We can't take any risks while preparing a feast for the grand matriarch. Where's the wine? Where the hell is it? You, you were supposed to order it from the brewers... Huh? Oh, I'll have to go there personally and give them a piece of my mind! Hey, you, you're in charge until I come back."

The chef was getting closer to the door too fast for Yetine to react. A second faster and the matriarch would have been hit on the head by the dolomite door, but that would be preferable to what happened next.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I wasn't aware there would be visitors at a time like this." The silver-haired chef said seeing the startled woman. "I assume you're here to join the chef's guild? On behalf of the guild I, Ombragon Ghoulmatched, have to apologize, because we can't accept rookie cooks today. You see, we're preparing a feast for Her Majesty Yetine Shadycarries. You know what they say, one bad cook spoils the broth."

"I... I'm..." Yetine didn't know if she could admit to being the grand matriarch or to point out Ombragon's saying was wrong. She couldn't articulate neither anyway.

"That's right, you just arrived here from Murknightmare! It's a long shot, but you might know what's mistress Yetine's favorite food is. Well?"

"It's... ca-cav-cavern g-gourds.

"Come on, lady, cavern gourds are barely edible, even cooked. Her Majesty's royal palate would certainly be most displeased with the bitterness. I was thinking sun berries, dragon meat, unicorn milk, those kind of things. You know what, though? I can't really explain it, but I feel really bad for not having cavern gourds in stock right now. One more thing to talk to Lunardog about." Ombragon had no idea he was being magically guilt tripped about vegetables by the grand matriarch herself. Even if he knew, he would have carried on the guild business anyway.

Nuwetha finally accepted that surface barley wasn't much different from cave barley. A woman of her position shouldn't be drinking slave beer, but she didn't want to offend anyone by refusing to do it. While she was sipping her barley wine slowly, she continued talking about Yetine's abilities. "Well, it's a weird thing with her eating and drinking. She can make people, including herself, not need sustenance for a while. She calls this spell 'melancholic persistence'. The affected person always feels severe anxiety though, so Yetine doesn't use that one too much."

"She must have used that on someone if you know how that works." ZM5 inquired.

"Yes, there's a sad story behind it... Most people can endure it and get better after a while, but on that one occasion she also shared her purity with one of few people she ever considered her friends, which resulted in a double dose of magical depression. I really don't like to talk about that incident..."

"I guess I'll ask her about that myself... If I dare. She's a goddess after all."

"She's not a goddess, Five!" Scourge finally snapped. ZM5 was literally the only drow worshipping the queen, and Scourge was absolutely sick of it.

"Then what is she? She can perform miracles, is more beautiful than any drow, doesn't age... well, none of us does, but she doesn't age the most. This is beyond simple magic."

"Oh, shut up already, or I'll tell Nuwetha about your creepy shrine. Oh, wait, I just did. Heh heh." Scourge chuckled mischievously.

"Guys, I dozed off for a while. Could you give me a quick rundown on what you've been arguing about?" SQ butted in.

"I shouldn't have left Murknightmare after all..." Nuwetha grumbled, then started looking around the tavern. "Barmaid, more barley wine!"

Spoiler: Meeting people - menagerie crew (click to show/hide)

Athara needed a break after a long shift of cleaning animal enclosures, but first she had to put all the tools away back into the storage room. What she didn't expect was that she would meet Tharumi entertaining a special guest in the storeroom.

"Athara, I need to show you something!" Tharumi exclaimed enthusiastically. "I found this adorable little thing staring at ethereal slayers, so I just had to show her around. I think I'll keep her." The animal trainer gently patted the stranger on the head. "I don't know her name or even how old she is, and I think she's mute, but I think I'll manage to raise her well."

"I... I don't think you should be adopting her, Tharumi..."

"Is it because I'm unmarried or because I'm gay? I'll have you know I'm as capable of raising a child as you or Scourge! Hell, I'm sure that if I had children they wouldn't be just running around swinging toy swords around like a bunch of savages." Tharumi went straight for the throat, but Athara remained calm despite the personal attack.

"You can't adopt her because she's one hundred sixty eight years old and she's the grand matriarch of The Labirytnthine Nightmare."

Yetine was shocked about getting recognized; she enjoyed Tharumi's headpats more than she would ever admit. She opened her mouth hoping she would force herself to say something, but before she could, two more drows entered the room. Uthimi and Lerine were arguing about something.

"I don't need your help, Lerine! Gods, I'm a professional and you're just an ama... Oh, a new caretaker?" Uthimi quickly forgot about scolding her colleague; she was doing that so frequently that it stopped doing it for her.

"Uthimi, Lerine, this is my new daughter, Yetine Shadycarries. I just got her and she's already a grand matriarch." Tharumi said proudly.

"No, she's not your daughter! You know what? I'm out of here!" It was too much for Athara, so she simply and unceremoniously left to get a drink.

"I th-think I... I think I should go..." Yetine whispered into Tharumi's ear.

"Of course, honey, have fun!"

"This is something I find really creepy: Yetine, as emotionally immature as she is, can make people feel debilitating pain just by flicking her finger in their general direction. She literally tortured two dwarven assassins to death, and is now wearing parts of them as jewellery." That was definitely not something Nuwetha was supposed to tell anybody, but the beer was getting to her head.

Scourge wasn't impressed by that. "Big deal, SQ can cause physical pain by saying realy dumb things; no need to move her hands or even think."

"It's really ironic that you're the one saying that, Scourge. Have I got it right? Is that what irony is?" The overseer looked around to see the others' reactions.

"Ouch! Thanks for proving my point."

Spoiler: Meeting people - Freshcannon (click to show/hide)

For some reason Yetine felt she needed to meet the house overseer again. A level below the menagerie was what seemed like living quarters. The room to the north had a diamondium statue of a tiny woman posing triumphantly, which might have looked like the overseer, but the matriarch hadn't got a good look back on the surface. She stood in front of the door for good ten minutes before she managed to gather her courage and knock. To her relief nobody seemed to be inside.
The door on the south was guarded by a statue of a menacing-looking woman with a strange hairstyle. Yetine had to ask about the house overseer's wheareabouts, and if someone knew, it was the person living opposite of her. The problem was that the matriarch had enough trouble knocking to timid SQ's room, and the statue by this room was really scary.

Freshcannon was in her office, trying to decide if her letter to the high priestess should be snappy, obviously insincerely friendly or audacious enough to proclaim herself a high priestess. She couldn't concentrate at all because of some strange energy lingering somewhere close nearby. She had to check out what it was.
It didn't take long to find the source of the strange disturbances.
"Like a fly in the spider's web, or a rat in a snake's hole. Why are you milling around by my door? Huh? Talk or I'll just assume you're a spy and rip your tongue off." The priestess threatened, looking down at the woman who was probably the source of the weird aura.

"I'm... I'm Y-Ye..." Intimidated by the priestess, the grand matriarch couldn't even begin the sentence. She wouldn't be able to do that anyway, but then she couldn't even more than usually.

"Oh, mistress Yetine Shadycarries! I wasn't expecting you to pay me a visit." Freshcannon said. She didn't seem sorry for threatening the queen herself. "So Murknightmare isn't gonna hold for much longer, huh? How is the old hag doing? Is she dead already?"

"H-ha... o-old h...?"

"High priestess Menari, of course. If she had come here, I would have been the first person to know."

"Uhh... She... She's..."

"Oh, she's fine? Damn, I was hoping she would be dead by now. Never liked her, she never liked me. So... I understand you wanted to meet the local elite, but I really have nothing to say to you." The priestess slammed the door shut.
Yetine was startled, but also relieved she didn't have to continue that conversation. After a few seconds she realized - she hasn't asked about the overseer.

Freshcannon sat down in her chair and looked at the letter she was writing. She quickly took the sheet of paper, crumbled it and threw it across the room. The house priestess's mind was filled with questions and answers, but she didn't feel comfortable linking them together.

The four drows were sitting in awkward silence. Nuwetha had nothing more to say, SQ didn't want to say anything, Scourge was desperately trying to come up with something, but she couldn't, and ZM5 was deep in thought for several reasons.

"I told you all of Yetine's greatest secrets just now." Nuwetha suddenly said. "Now it's your turn to tell me about your special powers."

"You are aware that regular people are limited to two spells, right? Magic isn't exactly a common thing." Scourge assumed Nuwetha had too much barley wine, and maybe she was right.

"You can have special skills without magic. Go on."

"Okay... I know some rothe lights signals and I can imitate them with my faerie fire." Scourge said, making a cup on the table flash with magical light.

"Every rothegirl and rotheboy worth their spurs should be able to do that. I can do that, and I've never been close to one of those filthy beasts." Nuwetha cast faerie fire at her goblet, and while the pattern wasn't exactly right, Scourge didn't know enough about light signals to point it out.

"Good thing I don't have spurs so I don't have to know everything. It would be nice to have spurs that jingle jangle jingle though..." Scourge thought out loud.

"I regularly bring a knife to a sword fight and win every time. That isn't something everyone can do, is it, my insomniac princess?" ZM5 boasted.

"Big deal, you haven't found a match for yourself YET. Nobody is unbeatable." The courtier's eyelids were getting heavier and heavier. She was certainly difficult to entertain.

"We may have to use our secret weapon." Scourge suggested.

"No, she's not gonna believe us; it's just too weird." ZM5 protested. "SQ, can you still do that?"

"Are you guys really talking about that?" SQ asked with a trace of pride in her voice. She hasn't had many opportunities to reveal her secret ability, but so far everyone's been impressed. "I can lick my own elbow."

"No you can't, that's impossible!" Nuwetha's drowsiness completely disappeared. Such audacity to claim to be able to do something like that!

"She may not look like it, but she's super flexible. In the physical sense, that is." ZM5 explained, ruffling the overseer's hair. He accidentally touched the tip of her ear, which sent a shiver down her spine, so he withdrew his hand as fast as he could.

"Oh my." Scourge let her imagination run wild for a moment when she heard what ZM5 said. She realized she started blushing, so she regained control over herself and confirmed "Yeah, she could always do that. Show her, SQ!"

Spoiler: Meeting people - Darkening Kaos (click to show/hide)

Yetine had no choice but to continue the search on her own. Actually she had many choices, as there was a lot of drows in the city, but stumbling around blindly was preferable. She went a level lower just to see a few rooms without doors and cabinets standing around. There were some kind of works going on, apparently. The level below was obviously for smelters and forges. Yetine wasn't accustomed to the heat, but she knew that since regular drows could safely work there safely, she should be completely fine.
Furnace operators were smelting armor pieces in the smelteries, but the matriarch wasn't interesting in talking to them. Something shiny caught her eye in one of the forges. Was it a ple of coins just lying there? It really was a pile of coins.

(https://i.imgur.com/3Py0u11.png)

Yetine liked it when new coins came out; she found it fascinating how a tiny discs of metal with her face on them somehow had value despite not having any practical use. Actually, it seemed like people of Dungeonevened weren't really using money, seeing how there was a pile of silver lying about and nobody was taking any of it.
When the matriarch was pondering money, something rose up from under the workshop. It was a chubby drow woman with glasses and a disgruntled look on her face.

"GAH!" Both women shouted in surprise. The woman from the workshop was, naturally, the first to get a hold of herself. "Oh, you're the one from the coins, Yetine Shadycarries, am I right?"

"I... I'm th-the... gra-gra..."

"The grand matriarch, I know, but I just don't care. I know you weren't the one who made our society into the nightmare it is, where the less you have the harder you're being pushed down, but you're also the one at the very top, the one benefiting from this system the most. I, Fecawi 'Darkening Kaos' Searedfly suffered great injustices as the result of your indifference to simple folks' plight." Kaos failed to mention that many of those injustices could have been easily avoided with right decision, but Yetine didn't know what was going on anyway. "That doesn't matter now. Here in Dungeonevened noble blood and posession mean nothing if you can't make use of them. You see, it's a back scratching system."

"Ba-back scra... huh?" The matriarch finally caught up, but she was as confused as she was before. Was it about proverbial back-scratching or...

"I'll give you a few examples: I'm a simple person, scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. The weapon master will gladly scratch your back without demanding you to scratch back, but you better do it, because you'll feel guilty otherwise. The overseer will want you to scratch her back, but she won't tell you, and then she will be mad at you when you don't do that, then you'll have to press her to return the favor. The house cleric seems to believe she can get away without scratching back if she says something nice and exposes her cleavage enough. The weapon master's wife will promise to scratch your back, then she'll slap you hard on the back and run away, but she will be happy if you do the same to her. With the dungeon mistress it's the same but literally."

"Oh, so... that wasn't..." Yetine was relieved to learn she didn't actually have to scratch anyone's back.

"So what do you say, wanna be useful and help me find my favorite hammer? I just finished making the best freakin' lance there's ever been, went to get some fresh air, came back to clean up after myself, and now the hammer is gone. Who would steal a fifty years old iron hammer? That thing had no value at all, not even sentimental; I was just used to it. If I go celebrate mastering weaponsmithing now, there will be no chance to find my hammer. You see, that would be your first big favor." Kaos put on a friendly smile, or at least what she thought a friendly smile looked like.
Yetine couldn't talk to people, but she wasn't completely clueless. The matriarch had way too many social interactions for a day, and she didn't feel like doing work for a woman she just met. She shook her head as politely as one can shake their head, and backed off all the way to the staircase. She didn't want to talk to the overseer anymore either. She just wanted to meditate for the rest of the day, what was her version of taking a nap. But where was her bedroom, or rather quarters?

SQ and ZM5 left Cavernhall together. The overseer was supposed to go talk to Fred about new bedrooms, including the royal bedroom and throne room, but the rogue had a different idea. Using a simple psychological trick, he took advantage of SQ's dependent personality by simply walking past the staircase into the museum. The woman followed him without thinking, just as planned.
The museum was empty as usual, devoid of any life except for clothes moths circling over the artifact silk glove, and spiders weaving their webs to feast on those moths.

"Hey, why did you bring me here? I have stuff to do!" The house overseer tried to look annoyed, but she was more embarrassed she blindly folowed ZM5 like that.

"I never asked you to follow me here, but since we're here, we can do something I wanted to do for a very long time now."

"W-wait, no! I'm not ready for... I mean... i-if you really... if you really want it this much..."

Much to the rogue's shock, SQ seemed utterly terrified, but instead of going pale grey, she turned deep purple. Suddenly it struck him.
"Oh, OH! No, that's not it! That's not it at all! That would feel so wrong! I..." ZM5 felt as uncomfortable as SQ, maybe even more. The two drows stood there in silence, looking away from each other for a good minute, but waiting didn't seem to improve the mood after that misunderstanding. "That... that was awkward, wasn't it? I just wanted to get to the next step of the investigation, now that a new suspect has appeared. If you don't feel up to it right now, then..."

"I'll be fine. What are we doing now?" SQ put on a bright smile to mask her uneasiness. It wasn't very convincing.

"I'll be the accuser, you'll be the defense. Are you ready? Let the game begin!" ZM5 announced eagerly. "I accuse Yetine Shadycarries, the grand matriarch of the Labirynthine Nightmare, of the murder of Ena Shadydevil!"

Spoiler: Mock trial (click to show/hide)

ZM5 was satisfied with the outcome of that convesation. It was just a matter of time until he would be able to finally take his mind of that case, although there was just a one more question to answer: "SQ, do you have a plan how to approach her? I mean, of course your plan is to leave it to me, but I haven't even seen Her Majesty yet, and you'll be meeting with her again soon anyway."

"I guess talking face to face is the only option. I don't want Nuwetha to get involved, and I also don't want to stress mistress Yetine too much. I know how it feels, and I know what I would do if I could do things she can."

"I'll feel better if you don't tell me, baby doll."

-Dark elves failed to provide any challenge for our soldiers, but again, nobody expected them to.
-Grand Matriarch has arrived. She's a melancholic alchemancer, which means she can manipulate sadness.

Since I've messed up badly with the save, I've decided to finish this story quicky, which means not only that the next update should be the last one, but also that I didn't feel like actually making that shitty art I considered doing. Actually I made a single picture, and I guess I can post it as official art.

(https://i.imgur.com/2mB2UKY.png)

The mock trial part was supposed to have picture like that to give it sort of Ace Attorney feel. This was meant to be SQ presenting an argument. Mind that according to in-game descriptions literally all drows had thick lips and wide noses with convex bridges, so I decided to ignore all descriptions except for size. Not that it matters, since her she has no mouth or fingers, and her nose is just a vague outline. Well, it's just a MS Paint doodle.
That reminded me - gotta add vests to drows in the next fort.

RIP Dungeonevened, accidentally slain by the forumite deity SQman. I imagine some kind of spacetime ripple destroyed the world shortly after the next update you have planned. Bit of a shame imo, now that the grand matriarch arrived.

Any special plans for the sequel besides using the updated version of the modpack? If wanted I could potentially make some creatures for story purposes - returning home tomorrow after the holidays so I'd be ready to work on mods again.

I'm planning on updating Culture Shock relatively soon, with this update focusing mainly on new creatures and stuff. If I get it done before the next update, the Dungeonevened sequel may be teeming with more life.

Quote from: ZM5 on January 06, 2019, 06:49:36 am

RIP Dungeonevened, accidentally slain by the forumite deity SQman. I imagine some kind of spacetime ripple destroyed the world shortly after the next update you have planned. Bit of a shame imo, now that the grand matriarch arrived.

Any special plans for the sequel besides using the updated version of the modpack? If wanted I could potentially make some creatures for story purposes - returning home tomorrow after the holidays so I'd be ready to work on mods again.

Thanks, but I won't be needing any help of that sort. All the things I might need I can make on my own.

I kind of wanted to see what Yetine was capable of, maybe pitting her against a mongrelfolk. And I never got to make her a throne room with porcelain tiles and walls. She could maybe write a book on melancholic alchemancy, which would be a good thing to use in the story. Now I really feel bad about losing this save.

Quote from: Asin on January 06, 2019, 10:35:37 am

I'm planning on updating Culture Shock relatively soon, with this update focusing mainly on new creatures and stuff. If I get it done before the next update, the Dungeonevened sequel may be teeming with more life.

It's in! I updated the modpack to version 1.3.0, and along with it Culture Shock.

I was just about to post this, and I misread melancholic alchemancer as alcoholic alchemancer. I think I know what I'll be working on for the next update...

Edit: A whole day worth of writing gone because my laptop shut down for no reason. I kinda want to die, but I want to finish the story even more. I just need to find a way to half-ass it in a testeful way.

I guess I should make a thread in the modding subforum for the modpack, but for now here we are, the next update. The last one cotained duped raws, and I'm very sorry for that.

This update is basically polishing rough areas, such as the drow entity. According to the wiki, land holder positions go up to 3, and drows had 5. The new positions are: petty matriarch, matriarch, great matriarch. High matriarch got scrapped altogether.
Drows now style their hair like dwarves do, and can send raids as they should. I can also confirm they have more diverse names.

(https://i.imgur.com/IzPLCdA.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/guIkSK8.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/hNafvG0.png)
(oh, Uthimi)

I also don't feel salty about losing a whole day's worth of writing anymore, so maybe the last story update won't be half-assed, and there's a high chance there will be an epilogue after that. I guess that means that the next update won't be the last? I suppose.

Neato - will be a bit sad to see this conclude, admittedly, but it was a fun ride.

I just got back from holiday and caught up...…… sad that the save is broke, we were doing so well, hopefully we can do even better in the sequel, with the new and improved^TM less-insane mod pack...
Looking forward to the conclusion of the saga - might have some more border-line angry/drunk words with the grand matriarch.

Still working on the update!

I had a big think about the civs in the sequel, and I've already decided on some stuff:
-No civilized dinosaur people, owlbear people or minotaurs. The Empire-aligned monstrous race will be devils - human-like demons with goat hooves and a pair of small horns sticking out of their foreheads. They will be human-sized, but with natural combat and social skills, and access only to a unique metal, nevercold brass, so they don't come sieging with copper swords. Probably won't give them outright demonic pets.

-Eldritch monsters will be deep ones. I may or may not give them aqua-plastics and zrbite metals. To keep with the theme, their pets will be lobster men, gillmen, grells and T.rexes. ~~(seriously, somebody should make an X-Com mod)~~

-The demonic monster-aligned civ will be Terror Demons.

I haven't updated the modpack yet, but I can already announce a few changes:
-Coral, kelp, sea cucumbers etc. will only grow in savage biomes, mostly in wetlands.
-Water berries will grow near water in forests, not literally everywhere.
-Removed extra entries for coral. They were still tagged as crystal (Squamous reused raws from The Lunar Realms), so there was no duplication.
-Enchanted wood will require more wood, and probably won't be made in the craftsdwarf's workshop. Same with enchanted brass, enchanted bone and pure jade.

Could you have a look at the new metals that have been added? When setting up a metal ore stockpile, the third entry for types of metal is blank and this might be related to Rhodium. I've dug up Rhodium chunks but not been able to smelt them because the reaction asks for Rhodium ore - however, even after I deleted Rhodium from the RAWS, there was still a problem with the stockpile settings…… apologies for not being more helpful there.

Edit: Wrong stockpile type - fixed.

Today's update's theme: uncluttering the forge! Well, not really, but metals that exist only as tissues or don't exist at all don't need to take valuable space. Still haven't changed hardened wood reaction, but I don't feel like going back into raws right now

-Fixed rhodium. It had nothing to do with the blank third entry which I can't find the source of. Some inorganic must be missing a name.
-Turns out borax was duped. It isn't anymore.
-Massively decreased the weight of World of Flesh plants.
-Removed unused metals: otherworldly metal, galactic metal, cosmic glass, rusty metal, blessed steel, razor wood, hardened fungus
-Runebone, sunlight, wyrdlight and fae chitin made into stone.
-Drows should no longer have access to Doom demons. I don't like the fact that they would have ticks and trites every single time.

Just in case: if you want to update, delete everything in your raw folder and copy all new raws in. A file or two was deleted.

Edit: drows do have access to doom demons. Next update I'll fix that, make chaos daemons not pet material for drows too, fix scale and chitin chests/bags

Something new for you to look at: Bloodstone gems, which seem to generate unholy numbers during world gen. Started a new fort last night, 6x6 and found we had 185k bloodstone gems, which turned out to be more than the top 4 metal ores combined.

Spoiler: DFhack's prospect all is my best friend (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Bloodstone 'cluster' (click to show/hide)

Also Cyclopean Beetele (Beetle?).

hmmm, I should update my mods...

Are you sure those are gems? There's a type of stone called bloodstone, which may spawn in large clusters.

It's in Inorganic_Stone_Gem, which makes it one of Toady's - but Bloodstone is not the problem, just a symptom of another duped raw somewhere. I've been looking all day, but haven't found anything.

The problem might actually be that Bloodstone has both the [IS_STONE] AND [IS_GEM] tags, I don't know what the impact of that might be.

Edit: I went back to an original DF file and Bloodstone there only has the [IS_GEM} tag, so removing it from your version will probably get rid of the flood of Bloodstone gems.

Well, the problem with bloodstone is [ENVIRONMENT:ALL_STONE:CLUSTER:100] who make it appears everywhere in enormous cluster, while [IS_GEM:...] just says it should spawn gem item instead of boulder item. The [IS_STONE] is also defined twice, since it have [USE_MATERIAL_TEMPLATE:STONE_TEMPLATE], and [IS_STONE] is already defined in this template.

All the gems uses [ENVIRONMENT:ALL_STONE:CLUSTER_SMALL:X] to appear in small clusters, so if you want to go back to the same amount of bloodstone as vanilla you should replace [ENVIRONMENT:ALL_STONE:CLUSTER:100] with [ENVIRONMENT:ALL_STONE:CLUSTER_SMALL:100], but if you want it to be a stone you need to replace the [IS_GEM:...] with [STATE_NAME_ADJ:ALL_SOLID:bloodstone]

Version 1.3.3 is up!

Okay, I have no idea what's the deal with bloodstone, because I don't remember ever touching it. It's back to vanilla version.
Chitin and scale chests are now bags
Drows shouldn't shave their heads
Pinkies, trites and ticks are no longer drow pets, chaos daemons are fair game, because they appear only sometimes.
Fixed typo on Cyclopean Beetles and golden lichen

Spoiler: The Yotuns will have a problem with copyright, I think (click to show/hide)

Well, I thought I'd half-ass the ending, but it looks like I three-fourths-assed it instead! Things like that happen when an update that was supposed to take a week takes one and a half month. I just couldn't get back into writing, and X-Com Files is just too much fun. There might be an epilogue as a real ending, bu that's for later.

Modpack-wise, I've been working on that. Some of the latest mods are not in yet, but that's not a problem.
We'll have corn, glass weapons, drow panties again, usable mushroom pikes...
I'll upload whenever I feel up to making a thread in the modding subforum.

For the sequel to this... I haven't even started working on the stuff I'd have to do.
I was half-joking about deep ones becoming an X-Com reference, but I've grown to like this idea. The only problem is, even with this many creatures in the modpack, there are still no lobstermen.
With glass and gem weapons, I'll have to make reactions for glass and gem weapons playable entities will be using. Doing that for drows was a lot of work, I tell you.

One more idea: before starting a new fort, I'll do some short adventures with the sequel-modified modpack. LCM Adventures, if you will. Truth be told, I've been reading Dungeon Meshi, and I really wanna play as an adventurer whose main motivation is eating monsters. I've got sme more ideas, so it won't be only abrian cousine.

Without any further ado, here we go:

Spoiler: PLOT - Ending (click to show/hide)

If this glass reactions are successful, please mod in glass mechanisms.

Quote from: Darkening Kaos on February 24, 2019, 07:48:54 pm

If this glass reactions are successful, please mod in glass mechanisms.

That should be simple enough, unless there's something special about mechanisms that I should know about.

Code: [Select]

[REACTION:CLEAR_GLASS_MECHANISM]
	[NAME:Make clear glass mechanism]
	[DESCRIPTION:Turns a piece of clear glass into a mechanism.]
	[DESCRIPTION:]
	[DESCRIPTION:Uses glassmaking skill]
	[CATEGORY:CLEAR_GLASS]
	[CATEGORY_NAME:Clear Glass]
	[CATEGORY_DESCRIPTION:Items made from clear glass]
	[BUILDING:GLASSFORGE:NONE]
	[REAGENT:A:1:ROUGH:NONE:GLASS_CLEAR:NONE]
	[PRODUCT:100:1:MECHANISM:NONE:GET_MATERIAL_FROM_REAGENT:A:NONE]
	[SKILL:GLASSMAKER]

Would this work? It should, but I'm feeling really out of it today, so I'm not going to test it right now. Of course there will be mechanisms made of other types of glass and gems, so if you want your traps really fancy you can use crystal glass or diamonds.

Yeah, that should cover it.

And now that I have had time to think over the ending, it has made a good conclusion to the story you wove into the game, looking forward to seeing your fort, and of course, I'd like to be involved...…….

I'd definitely want to see the adventure mode stuff as well - should prove to be interesting.

Quote from: Darkening Kaos on February 25, 2019, 05:51:49 pm

Yeah, that should cover it.

No it shouldn't, it's TRAPPARTS, not MECHANISM. Hah, got ya! Because that definitely wasn't a mistake on my end, no sir!

Quote from: ZM5 on February 25, 2019, 06:21:45 pm

I'd definitely want to see the adventure mode stuff as well - should prove to be interesting.

I made this pack with a complete focus on fort mode, so I'm also curious what adventure mode is like. I'll have to get my muscle memory back somehow, because the last time I played adventure was at least two years ago.

Anyway, I dropped in to say that I'm working on entities for the sequel/adventure spinoff. Right now I'm crying over all the metalwood/luminous/glass/gem reactions I still have to make and assign for playable entities.

On the other hand, I took a better look at Squamous's deep ones, and found out they have a larger caste called half-merrow. I can easily squeeze in yet another X-Com reference by renaming that caste to Tasoth. That's good news, at least for me.

Oh, speaking of entities, it will be as follows:

Spoiler: civs (click to show/hide)

I can make most races playable simply by not making them very different from each other. That, however, means that I'll have to make gem and glass reaction for all exotic Hito weapons and whatever halflings will be using. It's gonna take a lot of Pepsi to get me through this...

I've got a good idea what to do with entities now (well, except for halflings), but I realized I've been planning pets the wrong way - just going through raws and adding class tokens where it fits. No, I need a real plan, so here we are again:

Decided:
-High men - common domestic
-High elves - anything goes, just like vanilla elves
-Mountain dwarves - DBDB, Kazoo's tunnel tarantulas
-Wood Elves - like vanilla
-Hill dwarves - DDD, Direforged weaving orsists
-Kobolds - like vanilla
-Deep Drows - default
-Goblins - like vanilla
-Kobolds - like vanilla
-Stranglers - none
-Brigands - rabid gnashers, wolves and 12-pounders, maybe horses; no USE_ANY_PET_RACE this time
-Skeletons - probably nothing

Planned:

-Deep ones/Tasoths - X-Com TFTD references. So far I've got gillmen (ZM5's), hallucinoids (modified deep stingers, also ZM5's), tentaculats (modified grells from Forgotten Realms Direforged), and lobstermen. I may add aquatoids (modified greys or Dover demons), xarquids (giant nautiluses) and triscenes (armless T. rexes with sonic cannons). Bio-drones might be somewhat too... exotic. Actual X-Com deep ones renamed to janissaries like in X-Com Files?

-Highlanders:
*some vanilla animals - sheep, cattle, yaks, horses, donkeys, goats and pigs
*quail - a small ground bird farmed as a reliable source of eggs (6-8 eggs)
*wood grouse (capercaillie, but I'm not gonna put effort into remembering this name) - a large ground bird that can lay up to 12 eggs, but it can as well lay just 3.
*ferret - a small carnivore historically used for vermin control and hunting rabbits in their burrows. Highlanders use them for the former. I'll just use Klisz's ferrets.
*sparrowhawk - a small bird of prey kept for hunting vermin. Pretty much kestrel, really.
*sheepdog - a lage white dog, all there is to it. Used for hunting and war, which isn't really what mountain dogs are the best for, but whatevs.

-Drows:
*some regular drow animals - deep rothe and pack lizard especially. No slaves or evil creatures)
*zee-bat - a cat-sized bat that hunts vermin. Can't use it for navigation on the unterzee, so I have to do with the next best thing. I made it long time ago when I was first considering learning modding; I was really into Fallen London back then.
*beak terrier - a tiny beak dog that hunts vermin. Maybe a tiny jabberer actually, because beak dogs don't live underground?
*elk goose - a small cousin of the elk bird. They are a good source of eggs, and unlike their large cousins, they can thrive on spores and insects, so they don't need to graze.
*giant purring maggot (from fluffyshambler's Caverns Of Peace, Friendship, & Fun). A source of milk in the deep.
*dimple cup cow - a quadrupedal fungus creature with a dimple cup-shaped head. It can be milked for mushroom-milk which can be processed into dye (That should be possible, right?). Also a wagon-puller.
*moonlight moth - a large flightless moth that sprays silk, can be milked for silkmilk, and lays silk eggs. A non-arachnid version of the hairy spider (drowspider)
*cave raptor - a large raptor with white feathers and red eyes, a counterpart to the riding lizard. Used as a mount or attack animal

Not entirely on topic, but maybe I'll try to make a scorrow creature so that non-deep drows can enjoy their own unique curse like deep drows and driders. Some mod already has girtablilu, so that shouldn't be too hard...

-Halflings
*Dark Ages pets - cave lynx (maybe renamed to fit the theme), owl (renamed to loft owl), living statue, hound (renamed to mastiff, maybe mounts)
*hedge golem - from one of squamous's mod. A walking bush shaped into a capable worker
*pony - a small horse, who would have thought?
*riding goat - a large goat that can be ridden into battle by diminutive halflings. Very aggressive. Also a source of milk
*angora rabbit - a large breed of rabbit kept for their soft wool. Not sure how large they should be to make them a sustainable source of wool
*angora goat - an exceptionally sheep-like goat. Pretty much a sheep, but a goat.
*pot-belly pig - small but fast-breeding and fast-growing pig, perfect for meat and leather production
*silver fox - a domestic form of a red fox, hunts vermin.
*rhea - a flightless bird resembling a small ostrich, domesticated for eggs and meat

-Orcs
*Direforged animals - gurisho (renamed to battle cat for that spicy He-Man reference) and leornis, both vicious mounts and war animals
*gobdog - from Asin's goblinoids mod, just like orcs themselves. Another mount/war beast
*bison - a wagon puller and a source of milk, also a large and aggressive animal
Actually I have no idea what to do with orc pets; I don't want to give them generic evil animals, but I'm also not so hot on giving them ice-age animals. D-dinosaurs?

-Hito
*some vanilla animals; definitely cats
*kabutomushi - a giant rhinoceros beetle used as a pack animal or a mount.
*kuwagata - a giant stag beetle, trainable for war. Unlike real stag beetles it grows quite quickly, making it a viable source of meat and chitin
*raccoon dog - a small, incredibly fluffy canine that feeds on common pests
*shiba inu - a small dog, doesn't do much
No idea what else to put here. Wool and maybe silk producing animals would be good to have

I'm not really attached to any of those choices, so I'm willing to change them if anyone comes up with a half-decent idea. I'd appreciate suggestions if anyone still cares at this point.

Quote from: SQman on March 25, 2019, 06:14:37 am

*dimple cup cow - a quadrupedal fungus creature with a dimple cup-shaped head. It can be milked for mushroom-milk

lol...
I think Drow like spiders. Maybe someday goblins will have slaves. Halflings definitely like ponies.

Quote from: SQman on March 25, 2019, 06:14:37 am

D-dinosaurs?

yes

I think Halflings should get miniature dinosaurs, they treat them like lap-dogs - cute, ~~fluffy~~ feathery, dinos the size of chihuahua ... … … filled with razor-sharp teeth, claws that could disembowel a cow, and a temper to put a sugar-rush to shame, but the Halflings love them … … … maybe a little too much.

There are people who still care? If that isn't a motivation to get to work I don't know what is.

Quote from: FakerFangirl on April 04, 2019, 09:12:47 pm

Quote from: SQman on March 25, 2019, 06:14:37 am
*dimple cup cow - a quadrupedal fungus creature with a dimple cup-shaped head. It can be milked for mushroom-milk
lol...
I think Drow like spiders. Maybe someday goblins will have slaves. Halflings definitely like ponies.

Hey now, the dimple cow is the best thing I've ever came up with, especially since I've actually finished making it:

Spoiler: creature (click to show/hide)

Code: [Select]

[CREATURE:SQ_DIMPLE_CUP_COW]
	[DESCRIPTION:A large quadrupedal walking mushroom in a vaguely bovine shape. Its head is shaped like a dimple cup, and its flesh can be ground into dye.]
	[NAME:dimple cow:dimple cows:dimple cow]
	[CASTE_NAME:dimple cow:dimple cows:dimple cow]
	[CREATURE_TILE:'C'][COLOR:1:0:0]
	[LARGE_ROAMING][MEANDERER]
	[BIOME:SUBTERRANEAN_CHASM]
	[UNDERGROUND_DEPTH:1:1]
	[FREQUENCY:5]
	[BENIGN][COMMON_DOMESTIC][PET]
	[PETVALUE:300]
	[POPULATION_NUMBER:5:10]
	[CLUSTER_NUMBER:3:5]
	[WAGON_PULLER]
	[PREFSTRING:blue color]
	[PREFSTRING:fungal smell]
	[PREFSTRING:nutritious milk]
	[SMELL_TRIGGER:10000] cannot smell
	[EXTRAVISION][NOT_LIVING]
	[NOBONES]
	[BODY:QUADRUPED]
	[NO_THOUGHT_CENTER_FOR_MOVEMENT]
	[USE_MATERIAL_TEMPLATE:MUSHROOM_OUTER:STRUCTURAL_PLANT_TEMPLATE]
		[STATE_NAME_ADJ:ALL_SOLID:scrap]
		[MATERIAL_VALUE:1]
		[EDIBLE_VERMIN]
		[ROTS]
		[GENERATES_MIASMA]
		[STATE_COLOR:ALL_SOLID:MIDNIGHT_BLUE]
		[DISPLAY_COLOR:1:0:1]
	[TISSUE:MUSHROOM_OUTER]
		[TISSUE_NAME:outer tissue:NP]
		[TISSUE_MATERIAL:LOCAL_CREATURE_MAT:MUSHROOM_OUTER]
		[STRUCTURAL]
		[RELATIVE_THICKNESS:2]
		[CONNECTS]
		[TISSUE_SHAPE:LAYER]
		[HEALING_RATE:50]
	[TISSUE:MUSHROOM_INNER]
		[TISSUE_NAME:inner tissue:NP]
		[TISSUE_MATERIAL:PLANT_MAT:SQ_DIMPLE:MUSHROOM]
		[MUSCULAR]
		[FUNCTIONAL]
		[STRUCTURAL]
		[RELATIVE_THICKNESS:1]
		[CONNECTS]
		[TISSUE_SHAPE:LAYER]
		[HEALING_RATE:50]
	[BODY_DETAIL_PLAN:EXOSKELETON_TISSUE_LAYERS:MUSHROOM_OUTER:NONE:MUSHROOM_INNER]
	[TISSUE_LAYER:BY_CATEGORY:HEAD:MUSHROOM_INNER]
	[TISSUE_LAYER:BY_CATEGORY:BODY_UPPER:MUSHROOM_INNER]
	[TISSUE_LAYER:BY_CATEGORY:ALL:MUSHROOM_OUTER]
	[BODY_DETAIL_PLAN:STANDARD_HEAD_POSITIONS]
	[BODY_SIZE:0:0:100000]
	[BODY_SIZE:1:0:250000]
	[BODY_SIZE:2:0:600000]
	[BODY_APPEARANCE_MODIFIER:HEIGHT:90:95:98:100:102:105:110]
	[BODY_APPEARANCE_MODIFIER:BROADNESS:90:95:98:100:102:105:110]
	[MAXAGE:60:80]
	[ATTACK:KICK:BODYPART:BY_CATEGORY:FOOT_FRONT]
		[ATTACK_SKILL:STANCE_STRIKE]
		[ATTACK_VERB:kick:kicks]
		[ATTACK_CONTACT_PERC:100]
		[ATTACK_PREPARE_AND_RECOVER:4:4]
		[ATTACK_PRIORITY:MAIN]
		[ATTACK_FLAG_WITH]
		[ATTACK_FLAG_BAD_MULTIATTACK]
	[ATTACK:KICK:BODYPART:BY_CATEGORY:FOOT_REAR]
		[ATTACK_SKILL:STANCE_STRIKE]
		[ATTACK_VERB:kick:kicks]
		[ATTACK_CONTACT_PERC:100]
		[ATTACK_PREPARE_AND_RECOVER:4:4]
		[ATTACK_PRIORITY:MAIN]
		[ATTACK_FLAG_WITH]
		[ATTACK_FLAG_BAD_MULTIATTACK]
	[CHILD:1][GENERAL_CHILD_NAME:dimple cow spawn:dimple cow spawn]
	[ALL_ACTIVE]
	[APPLY_CREATURE_VARIATION:STANDARD_QUADRUPED_GAITS:900:722:545:325:1900:2900] 27 kph
	[APPLY_CREATURE_VARIATION:STANDARD_SWIMMING_GAITS:9000:8900:8825:8775:9500:9900] 1 kph, NO DATA
	[APPLY_CREATURE_VARIATION:STANDARD_CRAWLING_GAITS:9000:8900:8825:8775:9500:9900] 1 kph, NO DATA
	[SWIMS_INNATE]
	[HOMEOTHERM:10040]

	[CASTE:FEMALE]
		[FEMALE]
		[MULTIPLE_LITTER_RARE]
		[USE_MATERIAL_TEMPLATE:MILK:MILK_TEMPLATE][REACTION_CLASS:DIMPLE]
			[STATE_NAME:ALL_SOLID:frozen dimple cow milk]
			[STATE_ADJ:ALL_SOLID:frozen dimple cow milk]
			[STATE_NAME:LIQUID:dimple cow milk]
			[STATE_ADJ:LIQUID:dimple cow milk]
			[STATE_NAME:GAS:boiling dimple cow milk]
			[STATE_ADJ:GAS:boiling dimple cow milk]
			[PREFIX:NONE]
		[MILKABLE:LOCAL_CREATURE_MAT:MILK:20000]
		[USE_MATERIAL_TEMPLATE:CHEESE:CREATURE_CHEESE_TEMPLATE]
			[STATE_NAME:SOLID:dimple cow cheese]
			[STATE_ADJ:SOLID:dimple cow cheese]
			[STATE_NAME:SOLID_POWDER:dimple cow cheese powder]
			[STATE_ADJ:SOLID_POWDER:dimple cow cheese powder]
			[STATE_NAME:LIQUID:melted dimple cow cheese]
			[STATE_ADJ:LIQUID:melted dimple cow cheese]
			[STATE_NAME:GAS:boiling dimple cow cheese]
			[STATE_ADJ:GAS:boiling dimple cow cheese]
			[PREFIX:NONE]

	[CASTE:MALE]
		[MALE]
		[CASTE_NAME:dimple cup bull:dimple bulls:dimple bull]
		[CHILDNAME:dimple bull spawn:dimple bull spawns]


	[SELECT_CASTE:ALL]
		[SET_TL_GROUP:BY_CATEGORY:ALL:MUSHROOM_OUTER]
			[TL_COLOR_MODIFIER:MIDNIGHT_BLUE:1]
				[TLCM_NOUN:exterior:SINGULAR]

Spoiler: plant (click to show/hide)

Code: [Select]

[PLANT:SQ_DIMPLE]
	[NAME:dimple cow tissue][NAME_PLURAL:dimple cow tissue][ADJ:dimple cup cow tissue]
	[USE_MATERIAL_TEMPLATE:MUSHROOM:MUSHROOM_TEMPLATE]
		[MATERIAL_VALUE:2]
		[BUTCHER_SPECIAL:PLANT:NONE]
		[EDIBLE_VERMIN]
		[EDIBLE_RAW]
		[EDIBLE_COOKED]
		[ROTS]
		[GENERATES_MIASMA]
		[PREFIX:NONE]
		[STATE_COLOR:ALL_SOLID:PURPLE]
		[DISPLAY_COLOR:1:0:1]
[USE_MATERIAL_TEMPLATE:MILL:PLANT_POWDER_TEMPLATE]
		[STATE_NAME_ADJ:ALL_SOLID:dimple cow dye]
		[STATE_COLOR:ALL_SOLID:MIDNIGHT_BLUE]
		[DISPLAY_COLOR:1:0:1]
		[MATERIAL_VALUE:20]
		[POWDER_DYE:MIDNIGHT_BLUE]		
		[PREFIX:NONE]
	[MILL:LOCAL_PLANT_MAT:MILL]
	[PICKED_TILE:224][PICKED_COLOR:1:0:1]
	[GROWDUR:300][VALUE:2]

Spoiler: reaction (click to show/hide)

Code: [Select]

[REACTION:MAKE_DIMPLE_DYE_SQ]
	[NAME:make dye from milk]
	[BUILDING:FARMER:NONE]
	[REAGENT:mushroom milk:150:LIQUID_MISC:NONE:NONE:NONE][REACTION_CLASS:DIMPLE]
	[REAGENT:mushroom milk container:1:NONE:NONE:NONE:NONE]
		[CONTAINS:mushroom milk]
		[PRESERVE_REAGENT]
		[DOES_NOT_DETERMINE_PRODUCT_AMOUNT]
	[REAGENT:bag:1:BOX:NONE:NONE:NONE]
		[EMPTY]
		[BAG]
		[PRESERVE_REAGENT]
		[DOES_NOT_DETERMINE_PRODUCT_AMOUNT]
	[PRODUCT:100:3:POWDER_MISC:NONE:PLANT_MAT:SQ_DIMPLE:MILL]
	[PRODUCT_DIMENSION:150]
	[PRODUCT_TO_CONTAINER:bag]
	[SKILL:DYER]

Deep drow will have hairy spiders and monstrous spiders, the ones that replace drowspiders and giant drowspiders since the latest update of Rhanaya's Drow. Those spiders work like half-half-citizens, meaning that they can't be butchered and they can be made into scholars and bards. I think this behavior simulates the spiders' exalted status in drow society pretty well.

By slaves I meant trolls, rattusites, quaggoths and the like, not actual slaves. Kinda wish Toady focused on actual features like slavery instead of worldgen fluff like the villains release, since goblins using dwarven slaves for all their mining needs would be fantastic.

I didn't know what to do with halflings, so I came up with fancier versions of vanilla creatures, ponies included. Can't wait to be sieged by halfling knights one day.

Quote from: scourge728 on April 05, 2019, 09:48:57 pm

Quote from: SQman on March 25, 2019, 06:14:37 am
D-dinosaurs?
yes

Maybe, but those won't be regular wild dinosaurs, but rather domesticated versions:

Spoiler: Orcish pets (click to show/hide)

Tiny:
-Snake lizard - a tiny coelophysid that runs around eating everything small enough to fit in its mouth. They choose who they associate with just like cats, and lay large numbers of eggs.
-Water raptor - a domesticated Halszkaraptor, basically a duck with teeth.
-Bat lizard - a tiny pterosaur that hunts vermin; think Dimorphodon.
-Orcish peafowl - a domesticated Caudipteryx kept by orcs for its colorful feathers rather than for any practical use.

Small:
-Hornboar - a small-ish ceratopsian, more or less Zuniceratops-sized. It's an omnivore, which allows it to actually breed without the risk of dying of hunger on the nest box. Basically a scaly pig.
-Spinetail - a bipedal ceratopsian covered in rigid quills that with some effort can be turned into coarse cloth. Think Psittacosaurus but larger.
-Woolly raptor - a small oviraptorid covered in long, hair-like feathers. This feather-wool can be woven into soft cloth.

Medium:
-Attack raptor - domesticated Deinonychus. It's a hunting and war animal that breeds and grows quickly.
-Emumimus - an ornithomimosaur slightly larger than an ostrich. While it can be used as a mount, a player fort will mostly use it for meat and maybe gizzard stones.

Large:
-Nanotyrannus - While not nearly as large as a wild Tyrannosaurus, this miniature version of the dinosaur king is still dangerous to a man-sezed prey, and as a bonus it usually comes with an orcish warrior mounted on top. Breeds slowly, takes time to grow to full size.
-Herd duckbill - a hadrosaur slightly larger than a water buffalo. Pack animals, not really a sustainable meat source since egg-laying and grazing don't go together at all.
-Hornbeast - a large ceratopsian trainable for war and used as mounts and pack animals. Another mostly NPC pet due to its grazing and egg-laying, since i don't really want a super-overpowered meat source.
-Giant bat lizard - an azhdarchid pterosaur, not really closely related to the regular bat lizard. It's a formidable flying mount and war beast.

No milk sources, but that should be okay.

Quote from: Darkening Kaos on April 05, 2019, 10:40:47 pm

I think Halflings should get miniature dinosaurs, they treat them like lap-dogs - cute, ~~fluffy~~ feathery, dinos the size of chihuahua ... … … filled with razor-sharp teeth, claws that could disembowel a cow, and a temper to put a sugar-rush to shame, but the Halflings love them … … … maybe a little too much.

Oh, fancy Velociraptors, why haven't I thought of this!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I'll give the halflings fancy pigeons too, because I imagine that would be something halflings would be into.

I'll probably have to expand on drow pets too, since their selection is seriously lacking. A snake of some sort would be nice, for example. I may give them abrians and mottleworms, considering how many of those there were in Dungeonevened.

Still only a very faint idea what to do with Hito pets. Had some decent ideas; hardly enough, but still:

Spoiler: Hito pet ideas (click to show/hide)

Before I forget: human, elven and dwarven entities are done. Deep drows need some tweaking, but otherwise they're finished. Next are good drows and their pets that I'm still not satisfied with; halflings, Hito and orcs after that, then NPC civs that will be simple as they won't need glass and gem reactions for weapons.

Halzkaraptor is cool, I should add them to Primal sometime.

So, uh, I haven't been working on the modpack at all, and by at all I mean AT ALL. Sure, the Animal Diversification Project is going to be in the modpack, and thanks to my work on that I learned how to fix some stuff that keeps showing up in the errorlog, but nothing directly related to the next story fort has been done.

No, I haven't abandoned the project; in fact, I've been thinking hard about it - entities, creatures, characters, story... let's start with...

ENTITIES:

'Good and "good-ish factions are going to remain the same. The "bad' faction deserves a minor tweak, namely removal of goblins. Hito are just humans of a different culture; orcs are barbaric in the others' eyes, but it's just the way they live; deep drows are evil because they stick to ancient traditions. Goblins are evil by nature, they revel in the suffering of others, and backstab their allies whenever they feel safe to do so. No reasonable civilization should be allying itself with goblins, that's why I'm moving them to the '"ugly" faction to replace dark stranglers.

About dark stranglers, I just don't agree with the direction Fortress Defense II took at a certain point. Creatures made to be a wake-up call for the player to start assembling real militia? Yeah, let's give them metal skin and master level dodging.

What about the vacant space in the "bad" faction? I considered the tigermen from Culture Shock, since I was the one who suggested them in the first place. Then I realized there are so many creatures, and the only civs that get to use exotic animals are wood elves and high elves.
I don't want a fifth human civ, but it's got to be something human-like, not too alien. Menehune from Asin's Wee Folk mod were considered, but I really can't imagine jolly hawaiian dwarves allying themselves with orcs.
I can try to make some sort of plant people - ivy for hair, large flower on top of their heads, bleeding sap, probably several castes. I'll have to do quite a bit of learning, but I think I can do that.

Deep ones... I was never really satisfied with how I handled them. They will be replaced with T'lethians, a completely new creature with five castes:
-Aquatoid - fast and agile, but small and weak. They will have weak, mind-affecting "molecular control" interactions of some sort.
-Aquatoid commander - same as aquatoid, but the "molecular control" will have stronger effect and higher chance to work.
-Gillman - scaly human-sized creature, no gimmicks.
-Lobsterman - hulking brute with giant pincers and metal-grade carapace.
-Tasoth - large creature with natural skills. They don't feel pain, don't breath and don't eat or sleep, have no bones, and the only "organs" in its body are two ceramic cells acting as brains, and an aqua-plastics power unit that probably also should function as a brain. Since they would be really squishy that way, their scales should be iron-hard.

CREATURES:

I've come up with some creatures while not working:
-Yatagacho - three-legged goose, Hito poultry
-Pig tail carrier (not final name) - a giant insect infected with fibrous parasitic fungus. Drows shear that fungus off for yarn.

I'm also dead set on giving hito a catgirl/catboy caste. Cat ears, tail, claws, great at climbing, more cat-like personality.

CHARACTERS:

High elves. Initially I wanted to do a highlander hideout, but I've changed my mind and went for long-ears again. I've already decided what the founders will be:

-The Metamagician - alchemist/teacher/manager/record keeper
-The Magician's Assistant - alchemist/teacher/grower/animal trainer
-The Collector - appraiser/gem cutter/gem setter
-The Cook - cook/butcher
-The Adventurer - spearman/liar
-The Coal Miner - miner/furnace operator
-The Stray - climber/biter

Yeah, I know some of these make little sense, but story is more important.

TO DO:

I have a lot of things to do before I can do even the very first test run:
~~-To make Direforged metal enchanting work, I need to give proper reaction classes to every gem~~ DONE
-Shisa creature will use smite evil from Forgotten Realms Direforged, which works on creatures with [CREATURE_CLASS:EVIL] I'll have to find all evil creatures and tag them accordingly. Same for good creatures.
-More gem/glass/metalwood/luminous reactions. Hito have a lot of stuff, especially since I dug out that old tengu fortress mod.
~~-I had already made the scorrow curse, but the scorrow creature doesn't exist yet. Gotta take care of that.~~ DONE
-Make remaining pets, plantfolk, and T'lethians
-Work on ADP until I'm stisfied
-Bug fixing all around. Now that I know my way around raws, I can fix those pesky missing horn materials.

During a recent world-gen, I noticed one Drow founder had a preference for Unknown seeds, so I have been slowly filtering my way through the plant raws, trying to locate which plant needs to have its seeds defined. Might help if I knew what I was looking for, but, while in hospital, I got nothing better to do.

sorry that i vanished for over a year. I am a lil sad that Lunardog never got his cat but also happy that they never died in some horrible way :D

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Dwarf Fortress => DF Community Games & Stories => Topic started by: SQman on May 06, 2018, 06:11:48 am