I'd like to introduce you all to Reg Zegmeng. She was a clothier, drafted into my fledgling dwarven military upon arriving at the fortress (honestly, mainly so that my pre-existing swordsdwarf would have some unimportant training fodder).
After a little bit of training, these are Reg's stats:
And Reg's equipment:
Oh, and did I mention? Reg had an infant shortly after arriving, which she carries around everywhere.
Reg, then, would appear to be just a slightly below average military dwarf- with average skills, only leather armor, and an infant on her arm, Reg is really intended to play only a supporting role. But there's apparently more to Reg than meets the eye... she's also incredibly stupid, and very stubborn. I haven't kept a lot of booze on hand: I know, in theory, how to ensure that I always have barrels available for brewing, but I simply haven't bothered to ensure a steady supply. I built a nice indoor pond, with a well, for drinking and fishing- and I really do mean it's fairly nice. It's surrounded by smooth floors, and placed at the center of a workshop area, so my busy dwarves never have to go far for a drink. But Reg ignores its presence altogether, and continues to go to the distant brook (on nearly the opposite side of my map) to fill her waterskin.
Now, let me begin to tell another story: the story of Abli Firegolds, the Gem of Fortunes. Dragon. Abli Firegolds is the first semimegabeast (that is what dragons are, right?) that I've ever encountered in DF mode, mostly because I tend to keep populations low (both because I don't like peasants, and because I get endless pleasure from creating neat dwarf killing mechanisms- or, often, goblin killing mechanisms which I simply can't resist testing out on a peasant or two). I was thrilled when I saw him, because my first line of defense is a maze filled with cage traps (and switches which raise iron bars, so that a large group following the same path will be redirected by suddenly raised bars to a new path, and therefore fresh cage traps), and I though that I was about to snare a dragon for my arena (I like to watch tame animals and goblins go toe-to-toe. Sometimes I let a goblin escape, if he manages to kill a lot of my animals)- a goal second only to snagging a giant cave spider (I have so longed for that!). When I saw Abli unleash his first breath attack on a wandering herbalist... I was giddy with excitement. A huge swath of burned ground! The herbalist escaped, which was somewhat disappointing, but Abli continued his slow march towards my cage traps. When suddenly...
Reg had been filling her waterskin at the brook again, and had set back towards the fortress. Her path intersected with the pat of Abli. Why a new dwarven mother, carrying her infant on her arm, would charge a dragon-
alone- I may never understand. But that's just what Reg did. And to my astonishment, Reg, the slightly below average swordsdwarf, who had never killed anything, singlehandedly, without injury, and without ever putting down her baby, slew Abli Firegolds, the Gem of Fortunes. She slew him dead.
I can't decide whether to execute her for killing my prospective pet, or build a massive monument in her honor.