The fall season came with its share of problems. Some trees in the area were so cursed, that they managed to bring any progress in the fortress to an halt. Several dwarves gathered and tried to solve the issue. In the end, it was Dark Two, Klan-master, who recognized the origin of the curse, and then proposed a way to avoid it. Progress resumed in Doomforests, slowly as it was.
''I'm beggining to see why your kind despises nature so much, the Prime Minister said.
-Yes, now I can resume my brewing operations. Sadly... it seems that many of my associates were victims of Masli's rampage a few weeks ago. Alas, their booze-soaked clothes made them easy prey to the beast's fire attacks.
-A tragedy, truly. We'll need to replace them. I'll send word to the surrounding settlements, inviting brewers of all nations to visit us and join Doomforests's ranks.
-Thank you, sir. But one last thing! The charcoal and ash operations are taking their toll on our log supply. We are out of barrels, and PsychoAngel is using the carpenter workshops to produce bucket to hold lye.
-Hum, that's nothing we can't solve. Longshank is a skilled mason, and we won't be resuming work on our construction projects until the miners have dug a trench around the farming operation. In the meantime, I'll have him produce some rock pots.''
Shortly after, ten new dwarves moved to Doomforests, most of them skilled in brewing. Dark Two took them to the brewing area, and began explaining things about ''optimised stills'' and ''modified recipees''. Al of these things the goblin cared little about. Dark Two was meeting his quotas and that's all that mattered.
Dwarfpower was still stretched, as the migrants merely replaced those poor souls who burned in the dinning hall incident. Still, some people began gossiping about a strange fellow, who wandered the halls screaming about a special projects. The man was apparently a bowyer, and needed a workshop done. Once such a thing was built, he began screaming about gems, gems of all kind, and browsed the stockpiles for days, tossing around every uncut gem he found. Clearly, the guy needed refined materials.
''Maybe I can help, Prime Minister? My name is CallistaII, after a departed old friend. I'm a gem cutter by trade, but Longshank has been using me for block hauling in the last season. I could probably help create those cut gems, if you would allow it!
-Why not. Take four kinds of gems we have too much of, and start cutting them on repeat.''* * * * * * * * * *
While the dwarves were struggling with industry, various forces conspired to destroy them. forgotten beasts crept in the depths, and a new minotaur approached the fortress from the south. The mighty cow-man (is that racist?) quickly noticed the open tunnel leading inside through the mysterious turbine hall, and entered Doomforests near the kennels. He stopped, and began trashing some axles and tubes. The military moved in and dealt with the problem swiftly, without any injury on their part. The Prime Minister smiled; now they had a reason to close this tunnel with walls, without spending time on dismantling the useless tubes, or explaining the situation with the engineers. Doomforests now had one less backdoor...
But backdoors, it did have plenty. In a strange twist of irony, it was Flame the quartermaster, responsible for the holes that allowed Masli inside the fort, who fell victim to this new intrusion.
A giant cave spider crept around the caverns, and started climbing the magma pipe's walls, eventually landing inside the suspended statue garden. Flame was there, and was soon found dead.
Surprisingly, there was no need to call for the military. Flame's apprentice, a furnace operator lady, let out a deafening battlecry and charged the spider. dodging claw, teeth and slashes, the wannabe hero eventually landed a punch so strong it exploded the beast's cephalothorax, sending the giant cave spider plummeting into the magma below. No traces of foe remained. The avenging furnace operator was swiftly promoted to replace flame, and changed her name to FlameII. What secrets of the forge her predecessor discovered, she carried with her to the grave, which would soon lead to more trouble...
* * * * * * * * * *
Winter was coming to a close. Smunstu's initial, imcomplete term was almost over. As per the rules of the fortress, he could apply for a second, complete new year, but that would require a lot of connections and goodwill from the fortress' residents. A few months earlier, people seemed genuinely happy about his leadership, but things had changed. The farms he promised were nowhere near operational. Worse, the tree issue had delayed the project so much that they were not even ready to complete the first layer of the wallsm spending time hauling and placing copper floor tiles around the area. The cave adaptation was so bad that the goblin had to stop and remind himself that copper's natural color was not bright green. His fiercest supporter was Dark Two, but the brewer had been slowed by a lack of barrels, and some of his apprentices had died. The fall of their quartermaster was not entirely her fault (in fact some called it karma), but it made things more complicated. Flame was very close to uncovering where all their iron bars were going to. With the brewers too dead to dig out hematite ores, the steel production was going nowhere. Dark Two's cooperation was closely tied to the promise of establishing the Order of the Ale. No steel, no brewer's guild support. This was not entirely unsalvageable, however.
''The situation troubles me, Klan-Master. I have no words for what's going on. I tried my best, but events conspire against us to prevent progress in this cursed place. With flame's untimely death, the disapearing iron mystery remains, and her subordinate miners are unruly. It would not do for a goblin to back on his word. for three generations, my ancestors have declared sieges and promised offerings of terror, and they
always delivered. I am now dedicating all my efforts toward solving this mystery, and giving you the steel equipment i promised. Our current booze stockpiles rest at 2400, which is still an accomplishment. However, time is drawing to a close. Granite will be upon us soon, and the rutile hat's future is uncertain. No successor has been declared or voted yet. The next overseer could be anyone.
-I know what you are hinting at, Minister. We have no way of knowing who the next leader will be, and it is fair to assume that he probably won't care about our current projects. Find iron, and have the forges under control by the end of the year, and I'll make sure that the elections go your way. Brewers wield considerable power among a fortress, after all.''
And so the quest to understand what the fuck was going on down in the new fortress began.
Now, those stocks had to make sense. Why on earth were dwarves noting the total number of bars held and in use, but not how many of each kind were currently used on construction?
''Blah blah another minotaur blah blah head chopped'' went the voice of the general in the background.
''Good'' replied the goblin, going back to his books. Flame mentioned on many occasions that they had begun hematite smelting, but then announced that they were still short on iron bars, either to make pig iron or steel alloys. The problem thus was not how the iron was coming into their possession, it was where it was going... someone was stealing it and building things with valuable fortress resources. Acquiring more hematite now would not do.
Instead, the Prime Minister relocated the miners to the area near the temple, where marble could be found. This must have been the central area where flame initally got her flux stone supply, so the miners were familiar with the place. work went smoothly. The workers currently building floor tiles outside were moved to stone hauling; now was not the time to deal with the farms. While supervising the marble extraction (and keeping an eye on suspicious activities), he noticed Mate the Inquisitor coming out of the temple to Armok. His Heirless holiness seemed rather pleased with himself, having finally completed the smoothing of his life's work. The dwarf was a noble warrior, a fearsome hammerer, and he had many supporters amidst the fortress. Smunstu approached him.
''That's... truly a great building there. My office pales in comparison. Say, you wouldn't know how to engrave things as well, your holiness?
-Hum, why yes, I am in fact a legendary engraver and stone retailer.
-Well, I know you must be a very busy dwarf. So I hesitate to ask. I've recently ordered some metal decorations for my office, and they are still unfinished. I think engravings would be a better option.
-Not finished? After several months? I could administer a good beating for mandate not met, if...''
''Well, with Flame dead, TechnoXanII's our best metalworker. I'm sure he'll be done with them soon...
-That crundle-kissing maggot? Nah, metalcrafting is not the greatest art. Engraving is where it is at! I'll do this for you, Prime Minister, just to show everyone how the inquisition's noble art is superior to any golden furniture made by the Mechatechno sect.''
(Screenshot of various engravings missing)
And thus, Mate888th got to work, quickly turning the barren office into a work of art, helped by his apprentice Bembul. Most of the office is dedicated to an epic fight between a fabled night troll and a clan of dwarves, 700 years ago. victorious goblins are also engraved on the central pillars, and the back walls and floor depict various political events in the history of Doomforests, from rising millitary leaders, elected mayors, or the founding of the fortress by the Hall of Mortality. Truly, and admirable piece of art.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
It was now a mere week before the new year. Time was of the essence. Smunstu was not a firm believer in Christmas miracles, but he quickly changed his mind when a young recruit approached him. He carried with him a small sketch. All details of the sketch were of the highest quality. The sketch depicts the engineer Gwolfsky laboring. Gwolfsky is smiling. The sketch relates to the construction on repeat of iron arrow heads by the dwarf Gwolsfky in Doomforests, in the fall of 1066.
''You asked us a while back to keep an eye on any alchemy-related event, but we found nothing about that specifically. I went a step further and started spying on people who were using iron. I found Gwolsfky the Mechdorf, and followed him. He's been secretly snatching all the iron bars, and turns them into iron arrow heads. Then he smashes the ballista arrows against a wall at point blank to increase his siege operator skills. He's been doing this on repeat for the whole year.''And thus, the culprit was found. Gwolfsky not only built a strange power facility far away from the fortress, but had apparently hijacked the iron supplies to become a master ballista operator. Technoxan was quickly put on the case.
''All I wanted was to build a small fortress surrounded by lava and have it equipped with ballista towers!'', the mechdorf admitted when confronted with evidences of his actions. While he was banned from continuing any of his activities, thanks to the
''No New fortress Act of 1063'', no beating was administered. Mate888th announced that while Gwolfsky's project was a drain on resources and dwarfpower, they were judged
too dwarven to bear any further punishment.
It was time to tie all loose ends. election day was around the corner. With the iron drain patched, it was time to get new hematite. Smunstu had located a vein that would double as a way to regain the brewers's favor, and to some extend the goodwill of many other dwarves. New rooms were to be dug to exploit that vein, as well as serve an actual purpose. The Prime Minister decided that this would make for a good public announcement.
''As you all know, our brewers have recently been dreaming of creating a knightly order. This order will be called the Order of the Ale. Our favorite booze-makers, led by Klan-Master Dark Two, will keep our barrels of beer filled during crunch-time, and patrol the fortress when our alcohol stockpiles are secured. Hopefully, their devotion to the well-being of this fortress will help prevent disasters, such as the deaths of beloved dwarves Flame and Callista. To provide for this new order, I've designated new stockpiles near the dinning hall, where a vein of hematite. This will be a very symbolic project, as the digging will provide ores to outfit our brewers for combat, and the space left by the mining project will act as a booze stockpile that's right next to your meeting area! Oh, and of course the bottom room will be used as a lye storing area, which should hopefully speed up the adjacent soap-making facilities. That means maximum cleanliness for everyone, and minimum walking for our haulers.''Pencil_Art was next to speak, playing her part marvelously with one of her well-written speeches. At the end of the evening, the gathered dwarves were chanting about booze and
soap,. The Prime Minister smiled, as he travelled to his office with his secretary.
The rutile hat was lodged securely on his head, and would remain there for the next twelve months.
''Excelent speech, sir.
-Thank you, miss TaupeIII. We now have a full year ahead of us.
-Indeed. I have gathered data about your newest construction projects. Barfing and tree-chopping are slow, and hauling blocks and bars outside is sub-optimal. Even once the building is finished, we'll need to divert dwarves from other sectors to make them farmers. This replacement project is flawed, and I think it is time we move back to our main idea.
-We lack the main element.
-For now. but there will be more migrant waves. We can optimize our migrant input by... freeing some room in the fortress. The deconstruction of the turbine hall will not meet any objection --It is incomplete and trashed, and people miss the pretty mist generator -- and we can blame any unfortunate accident on a convicted dwarf's shoddy designs. His iron thievery, and the creation of a backdoor that let a minotaur inside our very halls, will make him the perfect scapegoat. What's beautiful is that the dwarves who are most likely to jump on those tasks are those unskilled idlers and kids we have no real use for. they will not be missed.
-interesting. If this works, we can get the kind of migrant we're truly looking for. If this fails, then... I'm sure I can just secure the trust of the dwarves, take a backseat for a few years, and
reclaim the rutile hat once the time is right...''
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Topic: The Hastening of Doomforests (Read 430855 times)