After a goblin invasion, poor Dastot Soshcog, Marksdwarf of Strapwhipped, found herself with a broken foot and a mangled hand. The latter was agonizing - she had managed to literally catch an arrow from an invader, severing her pinky - but the break was the real problem. After the battle, she lay crippled near the trade depot, awash with not only her own blood but the blood of her closest, now deceased friend, and the blood of her two wounded war dogs.
In their fevor to clean up the battlefield of debris, Dastot was overlooked for nearly half a season, left in the mud with her wounds and yowling dogs, begging passers-by for aid. At one point, she even threw a tantrum, screaming expletives at her fellow dwarves, but her wounds prevented her from taking her anguish out on her former friends. Eventually, mercifully, the remnants of the battle were cleaned away and she was finally dragged indoors to safety.
She lay in her hospital bed for over half a year, spending most of her time drowsy with pain or unconscious. In her waking moments, she would occasionally throw futile, harmless tantrums, becoming quite upset that nobody in charge would visit her so she could yell at them. On the rare occasions someone brought her food and water, they were extremely rude to her, with one fellow recruit actually irritated at having to provide her with aid!
As time passed, fewer and fewer dwarves came to visit her or bring her aid. Her doorless hospital room let her see others wander back and forth to the nearby stockpile, but they never brought her food. Eventually, she began to dehydrate and starve, descending gradually into a delirium of pain and anger and sorrow, left to wither away, alone and unwanted except by her faithful war dogs.
Finally, just before she died, she was promoted to Fortress Guard as a token gesture of appreciation for her sacrifices, but it was too little, too late. In one last howling cry of simple madness, she succumbed to her hunger and thirst, and promptly died.
* * *
Okay. First of all. Why the hell didn't any of the (many) consistent idlers come to feed and water her? She was within 26 spaces of a well, 18 of the main food stockpile, there are half a dozen buckets available, and our fortress is full to bursting with food. Why did her fellow dwarves ignore her long enough to die of starvation when she was within 15 spaces from the main thoroughfare?!
I laughed at her plight at first, especially when I read the "was irritated at having to give water" thought in one of her fellow dwarves (which had "does not like to go out of her way to help others" as a personality trait). But this is really just pathetic. Poor gal had every opportunity to survive and her fellows just ignored her.
How can I fix this in the future? Is this a known bug/issue or did something really wrong happen here?
One last humorous note: When she died, the goblin crossbow bolt finally fell out of her hand and lay forbidden on her deathbed.
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Topic: The Ignoble Death of Dastot Soshcog (Read 932 times)