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Excerpts from the journal of Lotu Sizzlediron, expedition leader.

3 Limestone 79

Summer was very quiet.  No kobolds, no keas, nothing to interrupt the flow of work.  But today…



“Protect the quota” would be more accurate.



Can kobolds swim?  Well, she ran away, so that's something to find out later.

10 Limestone 79

Another litter of puppies have matured.  Erib slaughtered half of them, while NCommander trained the third.  Those two seem to have finally arrived at an uneasy truce.  Or maybe they’ve simply agreed to some sort of competition.  I don’t care to know the details, as long as they don’t bother anyone else.

16 Limestone 79



And they’re back, to pillage our year’s work.  I’ve ordered the official quota moved.  But some things, the best quality in every case, will be kept back, for our own use and enjoyment.

At least, during the last half-month, we were able to spend more time focusing on the aquifer.  Only three bots of walls left, and then I can resume digging and channeling.
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20 Limestone 79



“Greetings, Logem Echoworked.”  Lotu responded.



So Bomrek’s still in control.  Lovely.

“And this year’s requests will be based on 48 dwarves, as Swordgangs has welcomed a new baby.”

Lotu nodded.  Better and better.

“But let us begin with your needs.”

Lotu pulled out the list.  “We need weapons-grade metal, leather, cloth and thread, and turkeys.”

Echoworked looked taken aback.  “You ordered turkeys last year.”

“Can’t have too many turkeys.  We want more.”  We need more, even if we only use them for ourselves.  We have to be independent.

Echoworked hesitated, but with a shrug, made a note of the request.  “And here is Bomrek’s list.”



Lotu barely bit back a cry of dismay.  Anvils?!?  And metal bars!  The guy clearly has it in for us!

Before he could marshal his wits enough to say anything, however, Echoworked handed over another piece of parchment.  “A letter from the King.”

His stomach tying itself into knots, Lotu took it with a shaking hand.

With a commiserating nod, Echoworked took his leave.  Lotu automatically raised a hand in farewell, his attention focused on the letter in his hand.

This is an exceptionally-crafted sheet of horse parchment.  It is decorated with spikes of fungiwood and pig tail cloth.  It is embossed with a masterfully-crafted image of a dwarf and dwarves in wax.  The dwarves are raising the dwarf.  The image relates to the ascension of Dodok Charmedmirrors to the position of King of the Figure of Diving in the year 1.  This image is the personal seal of the king.

Lotu broke the seal and unfolded the single sheet.

Attention: Lotu Sizzlediron

I am pleased with Finderboards’s success in completing the shipment to Swordgangs in 78, especially given your previous failures.  Make sure that this success continues.

Signed: His Majesty by the Grace of Armok, King Dodok Charmedmirrors, Cheesemaker

“I would love to make sure that it does, but someone needs to convince Bomrek to be reasonable.”  Lotu muttered at the letter.  Anvils?  Dream on.
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Excerpt from the journal of Lotu Sizzlediron, expedition leader.

15 Sandstone 79

In exchange for Bomrek’s goods, and keeping in mind his ridiculous requests, I’ve bought all thirty-one of the metal bars the caravan brought, and all seven anvils.  I’m going to need to get creative for the rest.

I also bought all 8 turkeys, and promptly ordered two of the gobblers slaughtered.  Full speed ahead on leather production!

I managed to get all of the thread and yarn, and about 500 pieces of leather, before the import restriction started to bite.  Anvils are expensive, and so is the steel that we now won’t get to use.  Imic is not going to be happy.

Before trading:                                                  After trading:

   
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17 Sandstone 79

The dwarves gathered in the common room for the Quota Meeting.  Once everyone had assembled, Lotu passed out the job lists he and Lorbam had compiled.



“Alright, most of this is going to be easy, we’ve figured out how to get them done.  The two trouble spots are anvils and metal bars.  Our metal hoard comprises 31 bars, and I bought another 31 from the traders, but that leaves 34.”

“We can’t send away our metal!  We need good armor!”  Imic burst out.  “I say we ignore that part.  We’ve done it before!”

Sodel argued back.  “We can’t ignore it if we have a hope of filling it!  King Dodok’s happy with us now, let’s keep it that way!”

Other voices rose, some supporting Imic, some supporting Sodel.  As the argument grew more heated, NCommander let loose with a piercing whistle.

“Dwarves!  The solution is simple.  Buy as much metal stuff from the humans as we can, and I’ll melt it down into bars.  We keep our steel, and Bomrek gets low-grade stuff.  Win-win.”

“Will three months give you enough time, though?”

NCommander shrugged.  “It’s worth a try, and won’t preclude Imic’s or Sodel’s solutions if we need them.”

“OK.  What about anvils?”

NCommander had a solution to that too.  “Mini-forges.”

Registering the puzzlement on several faces, she elaborated.  “Mini-forges are toy anvils.  We make those, we fill both the anvil requirement and part of the toy requirement.  Bomrek didn’t specify that he wanted useable anvils, after all.”

No one dissented, so Lotu quickly reassigned a few jobs.  “Mestthos, you’re back to papermaking.  Mebzuth can handle the elvish trade goods on his own.  And Mebzuth, once you’ve done that, you can help with the crafts and toys.  Now, tools.  I think it would be best if Lyra & Uvash make bookcases.  That’ll be one less burden on the crafters.  Though we do need a handful of nest boxes, but we can knock those out of the way pretty quickly.  As for Cooking…”

Edzul broke in.  “I’ll take that.  Spriggans can handle making charcoal for one glassworks, and there doesn’t seem to be much call for potash this next year.”

“All right.  Anything else…?  Then meeting adjourned.”
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Excerpt from the journal of Lotu Sizzlediron, expedition leader.

19 Sandstone 79



I watched until the last pack animal was out of sight.  All those months of hard work, gone.  And Bomrek is certainly not the type to appreciate it.



Dr. Urist also sent along a letter addressed to the Swordgangs scholar, to explain the glass goblets.  I can only hope that scholar can persuade Bomrek.  Well, what’s done is done.  And it isn’t as if we had any hope of making anything out of rock.

21 Sandstone 79

Edzul built the kitchen.



He seems to be happy about doing something new.  I’m pretty sure I heard him whistling as he walked past a few minutes ago.

He’s certainly taking his new job seriously.



We won’t need the prepared meals for a while, so I’m going to tell him to focus on rendering fat first.  The tallow will come in handy later.

01 Timber 79

The keas have returned.  I’m starting to think that the appearance of a kobold at the beginning of the season is an indication of what will come later.  Or I may just be superstitious.



In any case, I ordered the Pillars of Ink to stop training and chase the evil birds away.

9 Timber 79

The nest boxes are complete and have been built.  One of the turkeys, the duck and the giant sparrow have each claimed one and have laid eggs.  Those eggs will be useful when Edzul starts making meals.  I've ordered a cage built to house the poults once they hatch.

28 Timber 79

With the archers above, and the axedwarves chopping down more trees outside, the rest of us passed a fairly quiet month.

I look forward to the day when I no longer have to keep track of this.

---

If you have a moment, could you give us a history lesson via Legends Viewer?

I've uploaded the seasonal save I used for the fall legends check here: Atolasob Fall 79.

Current character list:

Excerpts from the journal of Lotu Sizzlediron, expedition leader.

2 Granite 79

With the spring, come the kobolds.  Nothing to worry about, though.  They never come very close.

15 Granite 79



Looking through our supplies, I’ve ordered all of our tattered silk clothes moved to the depot, in addition to the extra green glass corkscrews and a spare glass pipe that was lying in the stockpile. 

20 Granite 79

The elves brought more useless junk, but I bought all of their brewable fruit, at it makes some fairly decent drinks.  The elves did bring a selection of animals, so we now are the proud owners of: a giant porcupine, a black bear, a sloth, a gray langur, and a giant coati.  I’ve also acquired a giant dingo and a tiger to be war-trained, assuming NCommander can manage it, and a giant sparrow for the eggs. I’ll once more be able to enjoy my poached egg in the morning, at least occasionally.  Ravens are supposedly intelligent, according to the ancient legends, so we now have one of those roaming the place, and I absolutely refused the kea.

But that does beg an important consideration.  Are the elves in league with the keas?  They always have at least one in their shipments.

We’ll have to keep a close eye on them.

Before trading:                                                 After trading:

   

On the plus side, as we replace our clothes and use up supplies, we’re able to import more and more, despite the king’s import restriction.
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22 Granite 79

Lotu stopped by the glassworks on his way back to the crafters’ workshops.  “Mebzuth?”  He glanced around the seemingly-empty building.  “You here?”

Mebzuth stepped around the chimney, hanging the poker on its dedicated hook.  “Yeah?”

“Don’t worry about making anything other than the windows and goblets for the rest of spring and summer.  I got everything potentially useful that the elves brought, so we can make do with the wooden stuff for the humans.”

“Hmpph.”  Mebzuth snorted, but nodded.  Maybe now I’ll actually be able to finish that quota.  With Mestthos’s help.  “ ‘N Mestthos?”

“She’s not in her glassworks, so I’m going to try to track her down.  If you see her first, though, can you pass on the message?”

Mebzuth grunted, already starting to process the bag of sand that was sitting next to the work-bench.

Taking that as a yes, Lotu headed for the common area, hoping to find Mestthos enjoying a break.
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Excerpts from the journal of Lotu Sizzlediron, expedition leader.

 27 Granite 79

NCommander has managed to train the tiger, so we now have a war tiger roaming around.  Unfortunately, she claims that dingoes can’t be trained, even though they look like dogs.  Something to do with them being marsupials, is her best guess.  Pity.

28 Slate 79

A single kea made its way almost all the way to the depot.



I knew pasturing the extra war animals there would be worth the constant aggravation of them trying to follow NCommander every time they saw her.  The other dwarves have certainly stopped complaining about the extra work.

The body was too mangled to use for anything, so the pieces have been dumped, out of the way.  At least, the bits the animals didn’t eat.

Of course, now there’s blood everywhere.



For once, I welcome the rain that started up again a little while ago.  It will wash that gore away without our having to lift a finger.

02 Felsite 79

That first kea was clearly just an advance scout.  The entire flock is back, terrorizing honest, hard-working dwarves who never did them a single disservice.

Well, we’re prepared to deal with them now.



Our archers are starting to have very good aim.
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17 Felsite 79

Lotu opened his eyes, feeling at peace after praying to the Book of Insight.  As he made to leave the temple area, he glance over to the library.

Huh, that’s odd.  I don’t think I’ve seen Dr. Urist scribbling quite that ferociously before.  Has she found a solution to the Bomrek problem?



19 Felsite 79

Dr. Urist came charging out of the library waving a quire.  A quire covered in scribbles, Imic noted.

“I’ve done it!”  Pride emanated almost tangibly from her body.

“Let’s see it.”  Airith held her hand out.

Dr. Urist passed it over.



That’s it?  Imic thought.  Nothin’ remotely useful. 

Disgusted, he hefted his axe and headed out to cut some more trees, while keeping an eye on the environs for anything out of place.
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Excerpt from the journal of Lotu Sizzlediron, expedition leader.

28 Felsite 79

Production continues apace, but only if I keep up with the wood-working.



There is hope.

---

OOC: Sorry about the posting delays.  Work, a wedding gift, and some medical stuff got in the way this week.

Current character list:

Given the existence of papermaking labour and sheets being qualitiless, I wouldn't be surprised if they did use skill for output. (Then again, might be just speed, like with tanning.)

Actually, plant-based paper does have quality levels:  
I don't make parchment (leather is generally more useful elsewhere), but that may also.  Great, something else to add to my testing list. 

-Dame de la Licorne

Early Winter 78, Theaterknowledge

The cloaked and hooded figure entered the little-used room in which Dastot waited.

“And?”

“Finderboards met the entire quota this fall.”

The newcomer hissed.  “What?”

Dastot shrugged.  There really was nothing else to say.

The other paced back and forth several times, before turning back to Dastot with a swirl of the cape around the feet.

“This next quota, is it possible?”

Dastot slowly shook his head, a smug little smirk playing around his lips.  “Bomrek’s asked for rock mugs.”

The other made an impatient gesture.  “Any settlement of seven can make rock mugs!”

Dastot kept shaking his head.  “Finderboards has an aquifer.  A deep one, apparently, from the geology.  They haven’t even finished getting through the soil layer.  They won’t be able to get enough rock before we return in the fall.  This quota will once again be incomplete.”

“Indeed.”  Satisfaction oozed from the word.  “Very well.  Dismisssed.”

Dastot lost no time checking that the corridor was empty, before slipping away, relieved.  That one…gives me the creepiest feeling.
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1 Moonstone 78
 
“Mebzuth!”  Dr. Urist entered the glassworks.

“One moment.”  Mebzuth spoke absently, focused on the glass he was carefully melting.  Several minutes later, he finally removed the sheet of glass and slid it into the nearby tub of water to cool.

Only then did he glance up to register Dr. Urist’s impatient shifting from foot to foot.  “What?”

“I’ve found a solution to the rock mug problem.  But, before I tell Lotu, I wanted to make sure you could make 141 glass goblets, in addition to the 188 windows.”

“Glass goblets?  For rock?”

“Yes!  Obsidian is rock, right?  Well, it’s also a kind of glass!  So, if obsidian is actually glass, then glass is a kind of rock.  See?”

“Seems to me you’re reaching,”

“Maybe, but it’s closer to rock than wood.  Can you manage?”

Mebzuth looked around thoughtfully.  He had already completed nineteen windows, and some corkscrews to trade with the elves.

Let’s see.  One bag of sand per window, that’s 169 jobs.  I can probably make three goblets per sand bag, that’s another…forty-seven jobs.  So a total of 216 jobs.  I have six months, so I need to do thirty-six jobs a month.  And I still need to make those corkscrews Lotu wants on hand to trade to the elves.

“It’ll be tight.”  He said.  “I can do it, if I get an extra pair of hands and other people to collect the sand.  And Spriggans will probably need an assistant for the charcoal.”

Dr. Urist nodded.  “All right.  That’s what I’ll tell him.”
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Excerpts from the journal of Lotu Sizzlediron, expedition leader.

2 Moonstone 78

It wouldn’t be a new season without another kobold showing up.  They never get close, so we’ve learned to ignore them.



I’ve asked Airith to build an extra glassworks and another wood furnace, in accordance with Dr. Urist’s suggestion.  If we really can make enough glass, then that’s one less woodcrafter that we need, and I can turn my attention to other priorities.

Now to figure out who to juggle once Airith has finished those buildings.
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5 Moonstone 78

“Ah, Lotu.”

Lotu was surprised to see the liaison still around, and said as much.

“Oh, I wanted to spend some quality time with my grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  At any rate, I was packing up to head back to Theaterknowledge, and realized I never gave you this.”  Echoworked held out a letter, sealed with the royal insignia.

Uh-oh.

Automatically wishing Echoworked a good journey, Lotu headed for the pumps on the sublevel.  He needed privacy to deal with what he was sure was bad news.

Sliding his thumbnail beneath the wax, he opened the letter.

Attention: Lotu Sizzlediron

It has come to my attention that Finderboards has failed in its duty to fill a second supply shipment.  Not only that, but over 40% of the required goods were lacking. This caused a severe loss of focus and distraction which resulted in the production of substandard spears.  Should this happen again, I will have no option but to replace you as the expedition leader of Finderboards in favor of a more capable administrator.  You have been warned.

Signed: His Majesty by the Grace of Armok, King Dodok Charmedmirror, Cheesemaker

Lotu leaned his head back against the sand wall.  At least this year’s quota was complete.
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Excerpts from the journal of Lotu Sizzlediron, expedition leader.

17 Moonstone 78

The second wood furnace is finished, and Edzul has been reassigned from the fields to charcoal duty, under Spriggans’s supervision.  Mebzuth will soon have more charcoal than he can use.

26 Moonstone 78

The second glassworks is done.



Since everyone already has a job, I’ve ordered that it only be used to collect sand.  Hopefully that will free up enough time for Mebzuth to complete the goblets and windows.

Thank goodness Sodel is making more bags than we can use, though our cloth reserves are dropping.  At least the paper production seems to be working well.
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20 Opal 78

Lorbam and Lotu sat in Lorbam’s office, going over Finderboards’ monthly status.

“One last thing.”  Lorbam said, checking his list.  “We have all the paper we need to fulfill quota.”

“Already?”  Lotu was amazed, having expected the paper to take longer.

“Hmm-mmm.”

“That means Zutthan and Mestthos can be assigned to other things!”  Like glassmaking!

Checking that they had finished discussing all the items on Lorbam’s list, Lotu headed off to inform them of their new assignments.

27 Opal 78

“I’m outta’ sand!”  Mebzuth called down to Lotu’s current digging spot.

“What?”  Lotu pulled himself up to sit on the top of the ramp.  “There’s sand all around, how can you be out?”  As he spoke he waved at the yellow sand surrounding them.

“No bags t’collect it.”

“I thought Sodel had made plenty.”

“He’s been makin’ clothes, not bags.  And nice ‘uns, too.”  Sodel fingered the sleeve of his new dress, which Lotu had to admit was very well-made, indeed.

With a sigh, he got to his feet and headed off to deal with the latest crisis.

Arriving at the clothiers’, he found Sodel putting the finishing touches on a pair of mittens.  “What’s up with the bag situation?”

“No cloth.  All of the plant fiber is going to paper-making, and several others were complaining about wearing tattered rags that barely even fit the description of ‘clothing’.  I decided to do something about it, and used up all of the traded cloth.”

Lotu took a deep breath, and let it out slowly through his nose.  “And you couldn’t tell Zutthan that you needed him to make some thread?”

“You put him on glassmaking duty and forbade him from threshing.”  Sodel pointed out acidly.

“Fine.  He’ll go back to the farmer’s workshop.  Just make more bags.”

Lotu walked out, oblivious to the glare Sodel shot at his back.
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Excerpts from the journal of Lotu Sizzlediron, expedition leader.

12 Obsidian 78

Glassmaking continues, more slowly than I’d like, since Mestthos and Mebzuth have to keep interrupting their work to wait for others to collect more sand.  As a result, I’ve ordered a third glassworks built.  Mestthos and Mebzuth will each have their own, and the third will be used exclusively for sand collection.

18 Obsidian 78

The final walls for the aquifer attack are in place. 



All that remains is to remove the wall into the pumping tower, so the water has someplace to go.  Once that’s done, I’ll get some volunteers to man the extra pump while I dig out enough of the deepest soil level to actually work from when tackling the stone aquifer.

Progress may be slow, but it is happening.  And it’s happening without anyone beyond these walls being aware.

28 Obsidian 78

Winter is at its end, and we are doing well.



I’ve ordered Mebzuth to stop making any glass items other than those required for the quota, as we have enough corkscrews and used silk clothing to trade for anything we want from the elves. 

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Current character list:

That is odd.  It certainly hasn't been my experience, and sounds like a bug.  What version did this happen in?

-Dame de la Licorne

OOC:  17x17 will be the size after everything is finished and looks nice.  The working shaft to get down is rather smaller than that.

-Dame de la Licorne

could you make clay mugs?

Already looked at that.  If it's possible, I don't see how to do it, all I see is "make clay crafts", which AFAIK don't make goblets/mugs.  The green glass...hadn't thought of that justification.

-Dame de la Licorne