Bay 12 Games Forum

(Excellent work! I'll try something myself. Not that it's anything especially good, but it was a useful exercise. 260 words.)

A butterfly fluttered by me, right by my face. Yellow wings caught my eyes--a monarch. Flying south, no doubt, to find a mate.

The sinking sun was somewhat before her, and she skimmed the green grass, casting a stark shadow below her. She landed on a flower and started drinking nectar, her shadow beside and below her, for a few fleeting instants, breathless. It was like an old photograph, with the colors melding together, a moment of togetherness.

I wouldn't have looked further, but the girl I was meeting was late, just late, and I had nothing better to do. Phone was on in case she had to call and cancel again. No need to check it again. That would have been clingy, and I was trying hard not to be.

The butterfly took off, the shadow trailing behind, tethered to the ground. She flew up, a thing of glinting, golden beauty, and fluttered about a nearby pond, looking for something. The shadow seemed wanting, now, yearning. If shadows had voices, he would have called to her. Her reflection passed near him, light and dark playing over one another's surfaces--but it wasn't real, just a stupid fantasy. He was close--if he could just get a little closer, just had a chance to make things right...

What time had she said she'd be here? So she was thirty minutes late, and no call?

I looked up, and she had flown away, leaving her shadow behind, until it faded away.

Got dinner alone. Guess I saved money that way.

Yeeeeeah, metallurgy is pretty complex. Plating would cover these suggestions much more efficiently.

Quote from: SirHoneyBadger on June 11, 2009, 02:32:55 am

If you introduced the magma into a thick vein of coal, it ought to stay plenty hot for a while down there.

But then, why bother with the magma?  Why not just use the coal?

Siege tactic? Creating a break to fend off underground enemies for a while?

^^^ How big did cities usually get in Medieval times? That should be the target, I'd think.

Burrows would work. You could also treat certain rooms (like workshops!) as separate, and abstract them out when looking at the larger fortress. Not the most eloquent solution, and it'd only really be helpful in assembly-line like workshops (smelters and forges in one room, for example) or rooms with a lot of people (like barracks!). It'd also fail if everyone's outside the rooms that are being abstracted.

Granted. Your computer crashes every time you boot up DF, because it uses too much system resources.

I wish that computers make sense.

Granted. But, ironically, it's bolted down.

I wish for for the ability to unsee things, selectively.

Granted. Turns out that everyone loved you for your allergies. You spend the rest of your life alone and friendless.

I wish I had five more hours of sleep without sleeping through any major events.