Ten days ago I noticed the poor woodworkers were stuck outside all the time since their shops are still out on the grass. Sure enough, it tweaked one of their heads a bit and Degel Othsendok refused to do anything until he finished a bin that we’ll never have anything good enough to keep in. (Maybe I’ll leave those shops outside after all, eh?)
Lisigmatul Gemech Stal, Berrydance the Conflict of Busters, a Chestnut bin
This is a Chestnut bin. All craftdwarfship is of the highest quality. It is encrusted with brown zircon and decorated with Chestnut and mule leather. On the item is an image of Solon Boltedwilted the dwarf and dwarves in Chestnut. Solon Boltedwilted is surrounded by the dwarves. The artwork relates to the ascension of the dwarf Solon Boltedwilted to the leadership of The Safe Arena in 1.
Weight: 50, Value: 28800
There was a party in the new dining room to celebrate. Any excuse for a party, I guess.
Today, however, we were digging a few channels and building a few walls around the newly moved road to the trade depot when the hippies elves decided to show us how good they were with their shiny new bows. (I’ve had the second road removed and straightened up the main road a bit. Once the channels and walls are in place, it’ll be the only way in. I’ve sent notices to the trade liaisons that we now recommend an westerly approach only. Should cut down on the caravans getting jumped right outside our door.)
Where was I, oh yes, Elves with bows. No problem, though, right? I’d studied the mechanical layout. Just a few lever pulls and we’re fine. Except we weren’t.
For starters, one of the levers is outside. Even though there was a roof above it, nobody would go out to pull the lever unless I told them it was okay to go outside. But the hoople-heads who already were outside wouldn’t head indoors unless I ordered everyone indoors. Eventually I made the executive decision to leave the dwarves outside to their own resources and had the lever pulled, and we were fine. Except we weren’t.
Floodgates for a front door to the trade depot seemed an odd choice at first. But then I figured, maybe it was to stop the war dogs chained nearby from getting tossed into the air, or worse smashed to death, by the more standard drawbridge installation.
Turns out this is a great safety feature for the war dogs. Sure enough one pooch stood right in the doorway when the gate shut. Good for the dog, but bad for getting the gate shut. Once I saw one of those aforementioned hoople-heads finally heading back inside through the supposedly shut floodgate, I realized the problem. Time for plan B.
Now I’ve not been to a fortress without one or two champions, but I’ve always been impressed by the miniature army of them we’ve got here at Brightdung. Fortunately for us, they proved their worth again today.
I’d been hoping they’d cross-train a bit with crossbows, what with the two marksdwarves to show them how to do it. The marksdwarves did okay. The champions, well… they had equipped them at least. They then viciously shot a few burnt trees to really piss the elves off before charging the pointy-eared hippies, beating them upside the head with said crossbows, and then doing the same to the hippie horses they rode in on.
Not the most elegant plan, and we did lose one champion during the bloodbath, but nobody worry, the war dog is safe. I suppose one of us to every last bloody (and I do mean bloody) one of them isn’t so bad, eh?
I’ve got to look into fixing that front door or moving the dog chains back a bit or both. A few more cage traps might not be such a bad idea either.
While everybody’s running around topside, one of the carpenters wants to check the wind levels with giant wooden fan. I figure why not, since he swears we can get the wood back if it doesn’t work.
I’ll let you know how it turns out. (Pardon the pun.)
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