... "Maybe the book is broken?"
... "Are you sure this thing knows what it's doing?"
... "Ach, all I've been doing is digging in strange circles"
Having abdicated even the pretense of thinking for themselves, the dwarves of Exhultationhexxed found themselves following a very tedious and repetitive, yet exactingly careful and precise set of instructions. Head miner Zacen didn't seem to mind being the focus of every plan, though.
Following some very strange directions, Spish had spent the morning with his head pressed to the ground, imagining building roads. Some mysterious sense told him where the rock felt more solid, and so that was where the stairs began.
For everyone else, most of the work consisted of moving rocks a very short distance, because apparently it was critically important for the rocks to be slightly out of the way of ... something. They weren't actually being moved anywhere useful, just usually placed on the stairs in neat piles.
Drinks, Breaks, and "Noble" activities were quite popular, but work proceeded!
What is WITH all the damn warpstone, anyway? Digging rapidly turned into a high-stakes game of dodging around the potentially lethal explosive rock.
Quite quickly, though, on 25 Granite, 264:
Magma, and lots of it! For some reason, dwarves can either see through magma or innately sense things below its surface, because they immediately became aware of far more.
FIVE veins of seductive blue metal were spotted immediately. "This place may be cursed, but I'll be getting an axe the King'll be jealous of," was The Master's first thought.
That wasn't all, though:
"What in Armok's left nut is that?" CogDis asked.
"Ah, it's just some thing. Probably doesn't matter," Spish replied. And the matter was closed. It's probably no big deal.
(editor's note: I thought I'd be later in the turn order and was hoping it was someone else to dig deep.)
The plans changed abruptly when the magma sea revealed another strange mineral.
Magical, infinite water was apparently available right by the magma sea! Digging expanded to include a channel from the Tear cluster. (Editor's note: This was another "what the heck is that?" moment. Warm Tears of Armok don't work to produce water, apparently. In frustration, I cheated and used another one that was very close by, because the coincidental find was too good to not use.)
So, magma had been located, but it was deep, deep underground, far from anywhere the dwarves were living and working. If they were to make use of it, some method of raising it had to be found.
For once, the three ring binder provided a simple, clear and easy answer!
"What's that say?" said Spish. "I just finished forging some iron minecarts. No idea why, seems like a waste of good metal."
Again following precise, tedious instructions that used very small words, the dwarves set up a pump and a few other small works, some of which seemed pointless.
An iron minecart, submerged briefly in magma, would fill up with liquid stone. It was quickly placed inside another iron minecart, which was just cool enough to handle, and haul to the surface. In this way magma was poured into a small pit, bringing a magma glass furnace into full operation. Of course, no one knew how to use it. Moldath Lurkeskal, the bookkeeper, was voted most useless by general acclamation and put to work turning sand into various useful devices and surprisingly worthless trade goods.
(Editor note: ARGH! Masterwork really reduces trade values for some things. Maybe it's back to silly roast trading.)
15 Felsite, 264: Well, crap!
The elves brought some interesting-looking creatures, though! Dragon Raptors and Magma Hounds. All the new wealth of the fortress was hauled to the depot and Urvad Mulashgusil, the Broker was sent to see if she could negotiate a trade.
Wait, a merchant just turned down a 50%, 1000 profit? Oh, Urvad has absolutely no skill in Negotiation. None.
Chaosgear was promptly appointed as new Broker, ordered to re-try the trade, and promptly decided to go get a drink.
The dwarves are impoverished, have abandoned most useful activity in favor of digging a complicated and possibly useless series of spiraling ramps deep into the earth, and can't buy themselves a pet dog because they're so socially inept that they're incapable of even getting themselves ripped off.
At least
someone seems to be enjoying the situation, though.
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Topic: ☼Masterwork Succession Fortress: Exultationhexxed - Who needs migrants!☼ (Read 65989 times)