We met again, in the midst of chaos and ... chaos.
(
Sometimes, I am wondering whether it is the rest of Balseraphs nation that had gone mad, or it is me who had gone mad, by continuously despising my fellow countrymen. And Our Lord. Especially him.)
Well then, nothing has changed much, except that Perpentach has turned more aggressive day by day. The military success on eradicating a goblin fort did not help. Inspired by the victory, Perpentach insisted that every cities in Balseraphs should produce military units. Madness! While this has not damaged our economy (
thank Overlords!), this has delayed several projects of mine. My disgruntled allies and.. ah... investors, were keeping low profile because they were afraid that too much noises will attract Perpentach to their sons, and maybe themselves. None of us were eager to take part on his military scheme.
(
Not to mention that Perpentach's definition on military units is more like a clown to other nation's. He even appointed a puppeteer as his right-hand man! It is truly miracles that our military force managed to eradicate that goblin fort. I am sure that it was pure luck. There was no way that Balseraphs' military units capable enough to drive goblins out from their fortress. What, were they knocking goblins here and there using wooden puppets!?)
Ahem. Back to present situation.
After much manoeuvres, I managed to secure several build orders for my project. With Perpentach's military mood, I have to make some concessions. So be it. I directed our sages to study about military matters. For a warmongering king, Perpentach surely forget how to defend his cities. At present, we have only a few warriors and a hunter in city garrisons! Outrageous! Fortunately the Elohim were not a traitorous bunch. If they were, ahem, more like us, Jubilee would be ruins in several turn-years. No sane Balseraphs would let weak neighbor like ourselves to exist.
My choice of research was able to keep Perpentach happy. While he tried to learn shooting (
with slaves as targets, what a wasteful notion!), I stopped the training of military units and put forth a more civilian build order.
We need a third (and maybe fourth) city. So we need some settlers. Then, sensing the unhappiness among Jubilee's citizens, I ordered the construction of Grand Menagerie. That would keep them happy for another decade or two!
Mighty Overlords blessing on us! (
specifically, on me!) An adventurer was attracted to the news that we are building the Grand Menagerie. He was offering his service, for free! I must be a madman if I turned this down. So, I conscripted Nosamonce, and trained him as a Hunter.*
Perpentach was delighted with my decision. He ordered Nosamonce to play with some skeletons, in a barrow south of Jubilee. During the tug-of-war, the skeletons were destroyed (
second rate magic, I'd say!) and Nosamonce found a Ring of Valor. In a surprising act of generosity, Perpentach gifted the Ring to Nosamonce.
While Perpentach was busy arranging more deathly game for Nosamonce, the settlement preparation was completed. I ordered the settlers to go south, and create our third city in between several hills. We will gain access to silvers, rice, fish and pigs in this area.**
After our sages have finally managed to master the knowledge of Archery (
it took them many turn-years to finish playing with their wooden bows! What a bunch of old men!) I ordered them to start a research about the ether. That way, we would be able to take an advantage over the big crystal near Coombe View. Maybe we can chip it off and sell it to the Elohim.
During my busy day preparing the settlement of Hexam, our third city, Perpentach issued another military expedition. This time, he targeted an Orc Fort, between our territory and the Elohim's. He ordered the blasted puppeteer Loki to lead his expedition. Imagine my surprised when I found out that Loki did thwacking the goblins using his puppets! What an insane style of fighting! Overlords know whether he did the same trick to the Orcs or not. But I heard that the military expedition were successful. They even managed to find a Ring of Protection in the ruins.
After his bloodthirsty has sated, Perpentach turned more thoughtful. He suddenly joined the Elder Council (
much to their dismay) and started to read many books on philosophical issues. While this is a great news for me, I curse the Overlords for inspiring this radical change on Perpentach
now. At present, we need his aggressive and bloodthirsty attitude, because our hunters spot an Elohim settler escorted by several archers, ready to build their city in our northern territory.
(
But on the other hand, I suspect that Perpentach was changing his attitude deliberately! He might have known about the Elohim's advances, and being philosophical is nothing more than another of his insane game!)
And yes, my worst fear is manifested. The blasted Elohim was founding their city right at the spot I designed for our fifth city! Blasted Ethne! Blasted monks and devouts and pilgrims! If only I can lay my hands on their skins, I will make them a nice suit from their own skins!
I think the Elohim want a war, and a war is what they will get!***
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* I think this is a bug. The adventurer should spawn after we finished the Grand Menagerie, not when we put it to the building queue. But, lets use whatever tools in hand
** I was planning to build the third city near the cows, north of Coombe View, but notice the sweet spot in the south and prioritize the southern spot. We could build the fourth city at north of Coombe View, and the fifth should be right where the Elohim city is (west of the horses).
*** I sent Loki to disrupt the Elohim city but no revolt occured. The city was built with 3 culture, Loki reduced to 1, but since Ethne is Creative, on the next turn the city have 3 culture again. I think it is the time for WAR!
**** Oh yeah, we popped Copper in the mine just north of Silver mine in Coombe View. I also upgraded all warriors garrisoned in Jubilee to archers.