Part VII:The Wall
Litast and Cerol were in their parents bedroom. The young ones were by themselves, as per usual when Zuglar and Såkzul were at work, doing their own child things.
Litast was leaning against a cabinet, simulating the emen -- a huge stationary instrument with eighty-three bells, usually made out of bone -- while Cerol was listening to his younger brother's musicianship. The three year old Litast was improving. It sounded quite a bit like the emen, or, at least it sounded like what Cerol
imagined the emen to sound: he had actually never heard the real instrument being played.
A platter of perch dumplings made into a mixture of spelt and dwarven wheat dough was on the floor -- one of Edu's masterful cookings. Seems like father had left his food uneaten again and soon it would spoil.
The kids didn't pay attention to it, though. They were busy pretending to be bards. One day, soon, they might actually get to see some real minstrels! There had been talk about opening Waterlures for visitors in the next year!
But that was still very far off in the distant future for such young capybaras.
It was a rainy, cold evening in late autumn when it happened.
Odda and Kudpa were working on the southern wall, which was coming up rather quickly. Ready to finish her work and head off to pray to the Turquoise, Odda turned to look southwest when she heard the rustling of grass. She didn't see clearly what was making the sound, but it was big. And moving fast.
A set of chartreuse eyes glowed ominously in the dark as the horror charged towards the leopard gecko woman and capybara woman.
'Avo' and Cañar along with three of the monks were just up the slope.
They too heard the noise, and Vabôk, the dwarf leader of the monks, saw the source in the dark: a large abomination with close-set jagged scales, its reptile tail lashing back and forth as it rushed in slavering. It looked like a mockery of a gecko that was twisted into humanoid form.
The Night was here and the citizens of Waterlures were about to learn why they should fear it!
“Everyone! Run into your homes! Bar the doors! Hide in the attic! NOW!”, Vabôk began shouting orders as Cañar and 'Avo' unslinged their warhammers they always had strapped to their bodies.
They rushed down the slope, ready to confront the beast without any hesitation or thought for their own safety.
But Messthos favored them this time.
Sidestepping the gecko's lunge, 'Avo' managed to strike the werebeast in the leg with a mighty crack, causing it to fall over. It lashed and flailed at Cañar from the ground, but the elephant man hammerer easily avoided the blows, bashing the gecko many a time with his trusty hammer.
'Avo' kicked the weregecko in the head as it still struggled to get up, its body beginning to turn to pulp with all the sickening hammering.
It screamed. It yelled. It was feeling desperate.
“There is no hope!”, could be heard escaping the werebeasts mouth.
But it soon fell silent and still when Cañar gored it in the head with his menacing tusk, grabbed the creature and ripped it in half, innards and blood splashing onto the muddy grass.
The cursed beast was dead.
It didn't even make its way to the palisade before being put down. The Fenced Princes were truly heroes that day.
Ravens soaring over Waterlures was a common sight during the winter, their cawing echoing across the lake.
It was already Opal and winter was soon halfway through. The capybaras hadn't yet stopped work on the southern portion of the palisade: they were still harrowed by the beast that had come two months prior. They had been very lucky that 'Avo', Cañar and others skilled in combat were so close-by. Had they not been -- well, things might have gone quite differently and not in a good way.
But now it was time to call it for the year. The winter was getting harsher and the cold bit through the many layers of clothes and fur, the tips of paws getting numb despite the sheep wool mittens.
Unib Hammerwhipped, one of the monks (and a dwarf), was storing butchery products in the stores, thinking of how trade is important and necessary for a society to thrive and function. At that moment he felt an odd tinkling sensation -- the early sign of a fey mood.
He headed off to the crafting area, laid claim to a workshop all the while muttering, “I must have bones... I must have rock blocks...”
Several days later Unib offered his masterpiece to the Amazing Bath-Swine: 'Coiledgrasps the Scarce Modesty', a door made out of giant kea bones. It was encircled with bands of oval cut quartzite cabochons and carved into the bones was an image of 'Brimrabbit the Fin of Mouths', a lay pewter goblet.
Despite its material, the door was sturdy and nigh unbreakable -- it was as if some fey magic had been weaved into it.
No traditional winter festivities were arranged this year. But the capybaras still had their time off. Some of them headed to the Fruit of Letters, possibly because they were so used to spending their winter there.
Tekkud was in the corner simulating the percussive rhythm of the ngustut, imitating the mid-low pitch with his voice. The monks and Ïteb the gorlak were listening to the music, pleasantly surprised how well Tekkud managed to sound like the drum -- some were even lightly tapping their feet on the wooden floor.
Others had decided to head to the library, reading all manner of books in the studies of the House of Knowledge. Titles included such books as 'The Moon's Path in Practice', 'Discovering the Mountain Halls', 'To Anatomies and Glory!' and the classic 'Rainfall and Rivers Within Reason' authored by Tosid Tickrazor.
The children did as they pleased -- like they are wont to do -- playing in the dormitory or in their own rooms.
Some, like Zuglar the manager, decided to continue work, whether it was going through the stockpiles or harvesting plump helmets.
And so another year came to pass in Waterlures.
The capybaras had survived their first trial in the form of a werebeast, but the world of Minbazkar was a dangerous place: there was surely more wickedness ready to come and shatter the peace of the village.
However, with the arrival of spring, no wickedness came. Unless if you are a dwarf, and see elven merchants as such. But the capybaras were not dwarves, and they were eager to do trade with the forest-dwellers.
Maybe they brought more exotic animals from the warm north?
From the Journal of 'Baroness' Kasat Waxedtiles2nd of Slate, 355
“If you have a task, do it properly.It's been a busy year or so in Waterlures. We have been hard at work erecting a wall to shelter us and keep the horrors from the Night at bay. Vabôk's and the other monks' insight has proven invaluable to us: they laid plans with Kumil and Datan where to build to offer the best of protection.
Work is far from complete, but the southern portion is rising quickly. The estimates for completion run from a year to a couple, though, even in its current state, the wall offers some protection. That was witnessed when the beast came. Oh, I dare not imagine what would have happened had we not begun the work on the defenses, and that Cañar and 'Avo' happened to be among the first to spot the horridly twisted reptile!
We have a conciderable amount of surplus food. I hope the humans will arrive this year once again -- I'm a bit concerned why they didn't come last year. They will certainly be more than glad to get their hands on the fish from the lake and the meat from our livestock, like usual. But even if they do not come, the caravan from the Mountainhomes will surely arrive with raw materials I ordered from them.
This will be an exciting year for Waterlures, I believe. For you see, our ever-growing hamlet can be now concidered a village and the coming of spring 355 meant that it is now thirty years since we founded this place. Thirty years! Can you imagine it? Despite some early tragedies and the most recent threats, life has been blissful here. Our greatest concerns have been us not becoming any younger or no children being born, but that too has changed. There are now eighteen little ones (there would be twenty, had not Likot and Logem grown up)! Eighteen!I thank you, Ôsed, for your guidance and blessing. May you watch ever over us and our offspring.”
=====
Gods, the beginning was a bit intense.
I almost panicked when the werebeast arrived: it was very near the capies who were building the wall and I was certain they won't get to safety in time with all the logs they were hauling.
I got
again lucky as the three nearest citizens were competent militia members. And weregeckos are not as tough as some other types. I'm not a military oriented player, so I'm still a bit baffled that after all these years I haven't had much trouble with werecritters -- a few close-calls and that's it. Sort of would be
fun !!FUN!! to get to experience the full might of were infections... But, yeah, happy that it didn't happen this time.
Anyway, I guess starting to build the wall saved the community (though, ironically it was the monks/help that brought our population over the 50 threshold). I've got it now quite well planned, but it'll take several years and tons of logs to complete.
If we run again out of wood, I'll spawn more logs with DFHack. Don't want to go through the adventurer hassle and the nearby forests are loaded with wood. So, it makes sense like Salmeuk said that they just head there to chop trees. (I'll probably put a limit on how much I can spawn in a certain period, though.)
Also, should I open the place to visitors? At this point it'd be more than reasonable that Waterlures has caught the attention of all manner of
thieving miscreants travelers with good intentions.
edit. Almost forgot, I'm probably making a couple more of vanilla DF plants millable to dye (which are used in dyeing IRL). I'm always a bit disappointed that there's only four different dyes in the game, and I forgot to add my own dye plants & reactions (unfortunately can't add them without a new world).
Author
Topic: Waterlures - A Capybara Man Fortress & Adventure [DF 0.47.05] (Read 107094 times)