Well, it all started long ago on my first expedition. Back then I was just a wee lass, with barely a trace of ale in my beard. We dug our way into the great ravine's walls and established a Fortress worthy of our ancestors.
You see, we began to set up a system of aqueducts and moats, both to feed the fortress with freshwater throughout the colder seasons and to protect against walking threats. We thought it would be simple. We thought it would be easy. We set up a large resevoir, dug all of the piping and trenches through the Fortress that would be necessary. It was only when we went to actually dig the connecting pipe that everything went horribly, horribly wrong. Urist McDerp dug a channel straight from one end to the other, but unwittingly dug straight through an intervening corridor.
The Fortress flooded. Panic ensued, and dwarves scrambled to save whatever could be saved, evacuate to the higher levels, and block off the precious, rare soil that our patch of land had, reserving it for farming use. The emergency blockades were a success, but our homes now lay under water. Disaster accompanied disaster, and the goblins arrived. They penned us in. We fought hard, and at the head was our Hunter and Captain of the Guard, a skilled crossbowdwarf. Although we lost many lives and our food stocks were destroyed, the Captain drove off the goblins and stood victorious amongst their bodies.
We needed food. The Captain knew there was only one thing he could do, and so he ventured into the small wood at the base of the mountain to hunt. When the grey behemoths known as elephants tumbled out of the treeline at him, and he realized his arrows were gone, he did the only thing a brave dwarf could do: drop his crossbow and charge.
When the dwarves found him, he lay bloody and crippled amongst the bodies of four elephants, all slain with his bare hands. His body and the bodies of the elephants were retrieved, but no matter how he was tended, he would not recover. A few weeks later he died. The Fort was saved from famine, but had lost a great hero in the process. We only made it a few more seasons before the fort was abandoned, but the legend of Urist McMarksdwarf lasts forever in our hearts...