Excerpts from the journal of Lotu Sizzlediron, expedition leader.2 Limestone 75The Unending Kea Panic of 75 has taught me one thing. We need walls, or we'll be spending all our time chasing animals. Looking around, I realized that Imic had been rather efficient at chopping wood, and we have plenty of the stuff. Personally, I would rather it be stone, but we need to keep that for aquifer-breaching purposes. The wood will do for now.
While I was out walking the perimeter, planting stakes avery few
bots to mark where the walls should go, I startled yet another kobold straight into one of the muskoxen.
The Great Kobold Chase ensued, as the militia interrupted their training to run the oversize vermin off.
Those things always seem to work in groups.
Once Imic, Mooney and Lokum were satisfied that the would-be thieves were well on the run, they returned to their makeshift training area.
12 Limestone 75
We have spotted the caravan in the distance. Finally! We will be able to send messages home, and learn the latest news. I look forward to seeing new faces for the next few days.
But, looking over our supplies, I realize we have very little to trade.
Damn those keas.
Imic also came to me, displaying his leather leggings, which are now looking very worn. He wants a new pair and, barring that, some leather to make new ones. I told him to take the worn ones to the depot, as the traders might take them, and I'll do my best to get him some new ones too.
I have started a list of things we need:
1) One complete set of armor for Lokum.
2) A replacement set of leggings for Imic.
3) A quiver for Mooney (somehow the mountainhome neglected to pack one for him).
4) Metal to make an axe for Lokum.
5) Extra metal for various projects.
Dr. Urist just popped her head in. She wants
6) Paper.
I'm sure more will be added as the others realize things they
must have.
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13 Limestone 75
"Ah,
there you are!"
Lotu turned around and beheld
"Oh, hullo. Whom do I have the pleasure...?" His voice trailed off expectantly.
Lotu felt his stomach drop. This was their contact with Whippedesteem.
Well, maybe he's a reasonable sort of fellow?"Would you like a drink?" He gestured toward the nearby barrel of rice beer.
"That would be wonderful. I'm paaarched!"
Once both dwarves had a cup of beer, Lotu led Logem over to the dining area.
Logem proceeded to relate the latest news.
"Wait wait wait. Wait."
Lotu grabbed his map and spread it on the table, pulling out his pen at the same time. "Could you please repeat that?"
Once Lotu had jotted down his notes, Logem continued. "Let's discuss what you need, and what Swordgangs requires."
"Swordgangs? No, we're supposed to be supplying Whippedesteem!"
Lotu was astonished to learn that King Dodok had confused his outposts.
Isn't a King supposed to, you know, know where everything is?He updated the maps.
To the south of the mountain range The Walls of Stilling:
To the north of the mountain range The Walls of Stilling:
"There are fifty dwarves in Swordgangs, all dependent on you to meet their needs. King Dodok is confident that you will be up to the task."
Wonderful. And there are twelve eleven of us, without counting the child."Now what do you need?"
As Lotu started to go down the list, Logem suddenly held up a finger.
"Oh, I almost forgot. King Dodok instructed me to inform you that, due to the vast and dangerous distance between Finderboards and the Mountainhomes, he strongly encourages you to produce everything yourselves. To that end, he has decreed that you cannot keep more than 25,000 coin-equivalents in imported material in stock."
"And...if we do?"
"One of my duties will be to examine your settlement from top to bottom, and report any infringement."
In an apparent
non-sequitor, he asked, "Do you remember Urist Addlepated?"
Lotu nodded slowly. He hadn't known the dwarf personally, but he knew
of him.
"Do you know why he suffered that particular fate?"
Lotu shook his head, reluctantly.
I'm not going to like this."King Dodok wanted a spear made of sand pear wood, and Urist brought him one made of pear wood."
I knew I wasn't going to like this.Logem continued, "I'm sure you can imagine what his reaction would be if an entire settlement disobeyed his orders."
"Point made. If you'll excuse me, I need to double-check something before we nail down the details."
Lotu got out of there as fast as was polite.
Double-check something, right. More like gather everyone together and figure out a plan. What does King Dodok have against us, anyway? Screwing with us like this? Does he want us to fail?
No.
Not on my watch. Not to my friends. No way. No frigging hell. We. Will. NOT. Fail!_____________________________________________________________________________________
OOC: For the outpost name (Whippedesteem->Swordgangs), I read my notes wrong and just realized it. I also thought the maps might be useful, so I'll be posting an updated one each time the liaison comes. It's interesting to note that on the north region map, only the two marked sites belong to our civ. The others belong to "The Fleshy Silver" who are currently duking it out with elves. Note on the south region map, Singedclasped and Theaterknowledge have white symbols because both of those sites share an embark region tile with an abandoned outpost. The actual mountainhomes are very much lived-in (according to legends and the exported text files).
Also, in case it hasn't been made clear, the rules of this fort (so far) are as follows:
1) Export everything in the export agreement with the dwarven caravan each year. (The first caravan is a "pass" since we don't have an export agreement yet.)
2) Use it or lose it. Everything we import must either be used in some way (so it isn't included in the import figure of the 'z' screen, and we will only decorate things we produce, so that exploit won't be used), or traded on to one of the caravans.
3) The punishment for breaking #2 has not yet been set (I have several ideas), but I'm open to suggestions (which is why the reference in-character is cryptic).
Poll
