Ok, ok, normally I wouldn't bother to post, but in my current fort I really became attached to a dwarf for the first time. Sure I've had lots of great epics to bore my friends in the pub with, but never have I really had one dwarf actually earn my respect. This is the story of "Radgey Bastard" Homagedoors the Crazed Faith.
Violentmines is my .25 fortress, succeeding my .18 one. We were in year 3 and mining of the great magma hall was nearing completion. A migrant of the second wave, Ribartun was one of the militia. They had only a seasons worth of danger room training at most (around level 5-10), iron armour and an steel battleaxe and shield each. A second militia unit was armed with spears, but had received no training.
Mogozkok "The Crazed Assaults"
Despite great care being taken to minimize fortress wealth, the goblins had arrived with a siege force - at a really, really inconvenient time... Ribartun was one of three dwarves who were caught outside when the great gate was closed. Urist Hauler and Urist Woodchuck were promptly dispatched, and the main goblin force moved to occupy the ground around said gate.
Rib, on the other hand, decided not to die. Staying away from the gate, he goaded a squad of goblins into chasing him. As they converged on his position, he drew them into some sort of capoeira style, running fight. For a clean 5 minutes I watched, enthralled, as he fought and lived! Three goblins were felled before one managed to catch him in the back of his arm and followed up by cutting off his left hand. Rib bit him in the lower stomach and tore his guts out.
Clearly, Armok favoured this courageous dwarf. And so with a spartan cry which caused the missus some distress, I ordered the charge! The main gate crashed down, and my brave 19 spilled forth. Clearly, Ribartun's maniacal bloodthirst had left an impression - the entire goblin force began to flee! And here's where Rib earned not only his "Crazed Faith" title, but was fittingly dubbed "Radgey Bastard" by the goddess Mymissus.
Far from running to the hospital, Rib charged headlong into the fleeing goblins. During his lone stand, he generated 6 pages of reports. At the end of the day, he had 32 pages and 28 kills. With one hand missing. Almost all of these where done with a steel shield.
Epilogue
Single handedly killed an fb which gave him necrosis of his entire body. Despite his ability to grasp being somewhat impared and the fact that he prefers that others handle leadership roles, Radgey is now the Duke of Violentmines. He likes gold. There is none on the map. I don't care.