#15: An embarassment of riches

“Ok, change of pace. This time, dwarves, I want you to tell me what you want. You seem a little unmotivated, and there’s still so much work to do. How can I help you help me?”

The dwarves all give me a blank stare.

“I know you’re all afraid I’ll react negatively, or give you a stupid nickname, but I’m serious. I want to hear from you what we could do better.”

One of the little girls (I can’t keep them straight), speaks up.

“I’m tired of sleeping in the same room as everyone else!”

Ah, a valid complaint.

“Everyone’s all sweaty and stinky, cuz you work ‘em so hard!”

True, true. I’m proud of that stink. It means I’m doing my job. Measure me in units of dwarf-stank generated.

“And you don’t want to know the nasty things I’ve seen in there! Some dwarves need their own rooms!”

All the dwarves are nodding their heads vigorously at this point.

“Ok, fine, I’ll plan out some rooms for you all. But it’s up to you guys to motivate the miners to actually dig there and not the other 10 dig jobs I’ve designated.”

More nodding, and they get back to work.

Six floors beneath the main floor, I plan out some dwarvey housing for our dwarves and some bigger rooms for any future fancy dwarves.

I smartly un-designate access to the outer path and the bigger rooms, leaving them for future digging. The accesssible designated 46 rooms should last us a while.

I notice our plant levels are very high and our drink levels are dipping just a bit, so I re-authorize some brewing (just a limited amount!) for the first time since the Great Brewtastrophe.

Immediately, Sparky’s on it with his pet bull Rovod, and Steenky’s there watching. God, these dwarves and their booze will be the end of me.

A kobold appears at the entrance. Rovod the bull is there. The kobold just retreats once spotted. Snipey’s right up on the hill, though, so bone bolts made from mountain goat bones zing across the the landscape. The first shot that hits mangles its lung and its winded and leaving a streak of blood as it runs.

Snipey then gets hungry and calls off the hunt. I assume the kobold learns it lesson, though. It runs off the far right of the region and disappears from view.

Dwarves love mushrooms!

Look at all those Plump Helmet mushrooms that got planted and are starting to get harvested. The bottom plot is the Quarry Bushes.  Of course, the dwarves didn’t get any of the berries above ground planted.  But Plump Helmets are food and can also be brewed, so let the dwarves choose for themselves, I suppose.

Three of them!

That makes six dogs.  Now I’m afraid of a population explosion.  I put one of them in the fancy cage I traded from the elves.

Did I say population explosion?

Migrants arrive!

• Thob, the Fisher Worker
• Sodel, the Peasant
• Fath, the Fish Dissector
• Iteb, the Herbalist
• Bembul, the Bowyer
• Sakzul, the Weaver
• Stakud, the Peasant
• Ilral, the Animal Trainer
• Aban, the Peasant
• Urvad, the Jeweler
• Unib, the Peasant
• Urist, the Miller, and his pet cow calf
• Vabok, the Peasant, and his pet horse foal
• Ingish, the Cook
• Mistem, the Butcher
• Alath, the Potash Maker
• Vabok, the Bone Carver
• Asmel, the Fish Cleaner, and his pet puppy
• Urist, the Planter
• Thob, the Jeweler

Yes, you’re as overwhelmed as I am.  I had 17 dwarves, and 20 migrants just arrived.  So far, every wave has been 3 dwarves more than my total population.  If 40 dwarves show up in half a year, I will go crazy!

I address them en masse.

“Alright, all you newbies, gather round. “

They’re all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

“First off, I’m the only one you should you ever listen to here.  My word is law.  My whims are your toil.”

Some of their enthusiasm wanes.

“Second, most of you come with worthless skills.  Why did you think I needed a Fish Worker, a Fish Dissector, and a Fish Cleaner.  Really?  In your whole life, the only job you ever had was dissecting fish?”

The dwarves who smell of fish look at their toes.

“Potash Maker?  Animal Trainer?  Bowyer? Bone Carver?  Yeah, you’re all going to learn a lot more skills than that.”

“Finally, and I know this because I’ve watched two expeditions of dwarves before you.  You’re all going to fall asleep at the same time.  And I do not have 20 beds for you.”

“Now get out of my face and make yourselves useful.”

• Four of the peasants become haulers.
• The 3 fishmongers become masons/stonecrafters, to work Craftsdwarf Workshops and Masonry Workshops on the storage level to clear out all that stone.  Three full-time dwarves should make a dent in it.
• The Potash Maker becomes a full-time military marksdwarf, Unib the peasant becomes an axedwarf, and Mistem the butcher also becomes an axedwarf.
• Everyone else kind of falls into their related jobs, as the leaders like Santa and Steenky show them the ropes.

So here’s the totals:

• 7 haulers
• 5 “hard” crafters (metal, bone, stone, gems)
• 4 “soft” crafters (leather, plants, etc.) (note Santa gets counted twice, above and here)
• 4 farmers
• 4 food workers (brewers, cooks, butchers, tanning) (note Steenky gets counted twice, above and here)
• 3 full-time stone user-upper
• 3 military
• 3 miners
• 2 wood cutters
• 2 children
• 1 hunter
• 1 animal trainer

Or, pictorally.

It’s… confusing.  I’m certainly earning my non-existent salary.

I also get this message.

Well, I got dwarves misbehavin’, but I don’t think I need a sheriff yet.  But I’ve noticed young Logem has become a dabbling Liar (the only dwarf who’s told a lie so far), so I’ll keep an eye out for criminals.

Workshops on the storage level get designated, beds get assigned to the communal bedroom (for now), and here’s the military dwarves sparring in the makeshift barracks until the new one up top gets dug out.

But what’s this… Ast Rovodvumom has been possessed!

Sadly, I have not yet been able to craft a proton pack!

Ast is a little talked about food worker.  She came with the second wave of dwarves.  She’s a 2nd rank butcher, and a dabbling brewer and tanner, amongst other things.

Let’s see where this goes.  She’s currently in the brewery.

Okay…  I had queued up some leather armor for my new military dwarves.

Ast grabs a mountain goat leather from a nearby bin.  Then a turquoise.

And here’s what gets made.

A sandal.  A fucking sandal.  Get back to work you stupid dwarf!  Don’t bother me with this nonsense.

Only when possessed could you make menacing spikes out of leather.  The artifact sandals have a value of 5,800, and are just stuffed in a bin for now.  I really have no idea how to tell a dwarf to change his shoes, and if it would have any effect to have such valuable sandals on.

Everyone gets back to work…

Feb, the Legendary +2 Miner, while digging out the lowest level exploratory stairs strikes gold!  Gold, Santa, Gold!

Now which workshop makes grills?

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