Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[StubbornAlcoholic]

So my latest embark has taken me to a savage Desert biome completely devoid of trees and apparently water too. It's adjacent to Goblins and a friendly neighbourhood Necromancer tower.

I'm hoping the change in environment (and prevalence of the infamous Giant Desert Scorpions) will add up to lots of fun which I can document here whenever I get a free moment for those who may find it interesting

So far the random name generator has already knocked up two treats: firstly "Smokehalls", the name of the fort, which I think has an interesting air of mystery to it. I then checked the name of my settlers and they are officially known as "The Violent Axe", a branch of "The Oily Furnaces". Love it ^^

Anyway, yes, stay tuned for stories of likely failed crop harvests, bed shortages and fatal Scorpion stingings!

[CognitiveDissonance]

PTW! If you do dwarfings, I'd like a mason of some sort.

[mastahcheese]

PTW

[StubbornAlcoholic]

PTW! If you do dwarfings, I'd like a mason of some sort.

I certainly do Dwarfings! You are now "Cogdiss" Berdanilral, one of the original 7...and Mason of the group

Early digging has commenced, and conveniently the cliff face appears to be made of limonite, implying that despite the horrendous lack of wood the more desirable iron may indeed be in plentiful supply in the near future!

[anthony62490]

If you have a spare Jeweler, I'd like a dorf.
I DO love desert biomes. I modded my copy to include roving flocks of desert penguins.

[StubbornAlcoholic]

If you have a spare Jeweler, I'd like a dorf.
I DO love desert biomes. I modded my copy to include roving flocks of desert penguins.

"Anthony" Sanrebcatten, Gem Setter, just arrived at the fort in the first migrant wave. He's also serving as the fortress jeweller due to an appalling lack of labourers!

The fort's looking pretty basic. I'll put up some screenies soon. So far we have a barebones storage area, some rubbish halls of residence (with only 7 beds to 12 Dwarves, the lack of trees is quite a kick in the netherregions!) and a retracting drawbridge built by Cogdiss to keep out anything horrendously vicious if the need arises. Later I'm planning to fill the small pit underneath it with retracting spikes, but that is a pipe dream at present

So far though, animal-wise we're just getting Wolverines (which have tried to take a chunk out of Anthony already).

I'm thinking the natural abundance of sand will be good for glass traps, though at the same time I want traps to mostly be of the bludgeoning variety to cripple the undead hordes that will no doubt turn up rather than scatter murderous limbs all over the place.

As always, particularly fiendish ideas for defence, offence and building projects are always welcome, I'll be taking on board any tips or advice you guys may offer

[StubbornAlcoholic]

16th Timber, 220, Late Autumn.

The miners have been instructed to dig deep new tunnels under the foundations of the fortress, and have swiftly discovered a vast cavern network. This is excellent news! The spores liberated may well provide a much-needed source of wood for the fortress...and also a much-unneeded source of ravenous mutants, hence I'm planning to keep the caves sealed for a few more months at least.

The Elves have arrived to trade for the first time. Much as I dislike their hypocrisy, it seems trade with the devious bastards is of utmost importance at present. Cogdiss, as Mason-and-all-around-rock-crafting-Dwarf has been instructed to knock out some poor quality rock crafts to trade for their wooden wares.

Since I like to get a metal industry up and running quickly, I'm already instructing the miners to carefully probe the area around the caves for magma sources as I build the rudimentary quarters above. The sooner I can make sharp pointy bits of metal (or at the very least some nifty armour!) the better. Smokehalls has a metalsmith and weaponsmith now, and I feel they're wasted tending to the booze fields (literally and metaphorically).

A basic series of trenches have been channelled out outside the entrance to the fortress, sort of like a dry moat. This perhaps paves the way for a secondary drawbridge and some kind of devastating defence mechanism (I'm thinking of making this second bridge fling potential intruders towards the trenches, with the smaller retracting drawbridge acting as a last resort sealed entrance).

[StubbornAlcoholic]

27th Hematite, 221, Early Summer

Dwarf grumpiness is at an all time high. This is echoed in the artwork adorning the dining room, the title of which implies the Dwarves doubt my skill as Overseer...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The lack of beds became such a pressing issue that breaching the caverns was the only way to stand any chance of getting the vital wood the fortress needs. This leg to a prolonged attack from a squad of armed Olm Men (and Olm Women, showing that the murderous beasts at least believe in gender equality). Then a Giant Olm showed up. I'm sort of wondering if Olms and the variants thereof are going to be to this fort what the legendary Elephants were to Boatmurdered

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

They managed to badly maim a woodcutter before I sent in the unarmed Militia Captain, Monom Stinthadthikuk, as a last resort.

In a surprising display of courage and efficiency, she was able to force an Olm Woman armed with a wooden spear down a long hallway to a pit that was being dug to establish a well for the fortress. Whether the Olm beast fell down into the opening in the floor during the fight or was forcibly thrown is hard to determine, but it no longer troubles the respectable citizens of Smokehalls nonetheless

Monom Stinthadthikuk (or "Maniac Monom" as the two new recruits now call her) then proceeded to take on the other 5 armed Olm Women and strangled them to death in a disturbing spectacle that reminded me a little too much of the monstrous melee struggle in Saving Private Ryan

In one particularly dramatic moment, she grabbed one by the throat, lifted it clean off the floor, and then fatally punched it in the head.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Stone traps have been installed at the cavern entrance as a precautionary measure, and training has begun with recruits for the purpose of establishing a robust military. It should be noted that with a total lack of armour and weapons that "flimsy" is a more adequate descriptor at present.

Screenies of the fort so far:

Entrance:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Caverns:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Storage and first dining area:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[mastahcheese]

That's one impressive militia captain.

[anthony62490]

Maniac Monom is becoming quite the beast. Get this woman some proper arms. She must be honed and perfected.

[StubbornAlcoholic]

5th Hematite, 222.

By Armok, the end times may well have come!

Things were going well. The bed shortage was alleviated, all hostile Olm-based lifeforms were either dead or "relocated" to the well a few levels below the fort. We had our first death, an unfortunate Clothier drafted into Mining. He managed to find the magma sea, but he found it in a little closer proximity than first thought. Oops.

Still, all was well aside from that. A population of 55, ample food and booze, and now the much-needed logs too. Great!

Then I noticed with steadily increasing horror that the entrance hall was spontaneously being redecorated with Dwarf blood.

The source of this mysterious blood-'splosion appeared to be the Butcher's Shop. It was only when I had an extra close squint at the blur of terrified figures moving in and out of the area that I realised the Butcher was in the process of being violently murdered by Olm Woman skeletons and somehow a Troll skeleton (the first Troll I've actually seen this embark, goodness knows how it died) was wreaking absolute havoc in the brewing area in the level above.

It was then that I took a quick look at the Creatures screen and noticed some 60 or so undead creatures, including practically every beast I'd butchered, every animal that had inexplicably died outside of the fort and a zombified diplomatic team made up of Goblins, Dwarves and Humans all united in their brain-eating harmony.

Oh crap.

With the primary drawbridge already overrun, my hopes of a glamourous zombie-annihilating flinging trap seemed suddenly hopelessly quaint. Somehow a brave soul managed to reach the secondary drawbridge lever (despite the rampaging undead Troll) and cut off the death-swarm before they could get inside.

With Dwarves frantically fighting off hair thread, bits of skin and more bloody Olm Man skeletons (seriously, those things are a menace even in death!), I sent my military to take on the Undead Troll. The fort turned out it's first Iron products recently, with the new-found cave wood for fuel...2 axes and a sword. Unfortunately despite these armaments it proceeded to kill 2 recruits and half of the brewers.

Just as I was starting to panic, however, I found the evil creature dead in mysterious circumstances after it descended a level into the storage quarters. With no combat log on the demise, my sole unofficial theory is that it somehow fell down the stairs o_0

Just prior to this, the Expedition Leader turned up and decided he'd take the beast on in a boxing match. This lead to him getting his back teeth knocked out and his left arm ripped off. Incredibly, he survived, and after having very brief surgery (followed by an epic tantrum) he promptly went off to "Conduct a Meeting"! What a badass. I'm currently trying to think up a nickname that adequately conveys his awesomeness.

A tantrum spiral was narrowly averted by building a fancy burial hall:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Casualties:

Sadly, "Anthony" was one of the very first Dwarves to fall in the corpse invasion, which claimed the lives of 8 Dwarves and necessitated the building of the Catacombs level. He was acting as Fortress broker as well as Jeweller, and while doing his rounds became the first one to bump into the enraged Troll corpse. He may well have been the one to save the whole Fortress by retracting the inner bridge, but I'm not sure. What I am sure of is that he took a big, bony fist right through the skull...RIP

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Cogdiss primarily churned out coffins en masse. I think he threw a few punches against the dead Olm bastards, but fortunately he had the common sense to make an early retreat and suffered no damage.

"Maniac" Monom was perhaps the most tragic and pointless victim of the raid. She was resting in the newly-built Hospital with a mere broken hand (from the original Olm battle), and the chaos meant she wasn't brought a drink. She sat there stubbornly and died of dehydration, much to my disappointment!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Goblins turned up in a bunch of ambushes after the drawbridges were retracted. I'm now amusing myself by watching them get torn apart by the ravenous undead, they are hopelessly outnumbered!

The fort is currently trying to keep food and booze stocks going, get the injured healed up and get the metal industry going full swing so I can crush these rotting scumbags. The entrance remains sealed, and new magma forges and smelters have been established to this end. Also, I discovered a "Mysterious Structure", first I've ever had. It's safe to say I'm giving that a wide berth until I've got some semblance of sanity restored to the fort

It turns out the original Zomb attack was a "mere" ambush by a few Necromancers (who I never actually saw). I've now got a hardcore undead siege going on too.

There's shiny Adamantine about, but it's currently not in any location I can dig to, so it'll be the rather less decadent Iron for the time being.

Pics:

"The Oh S***! Moment(s)":

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Goblin on Goblin brutality, a pleasure to observe. BRAAAAAINS:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[anthony62490]

Well. That was certainly exciting. It happens to all of us at least once.
And the moral of this story?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Always keep the bodies underground!
Always! Make a big refuse pile where they can't find it.

Too bad about Maniac. She probably would have taken them all down using only a small fruit knife.

[StubbornAlcoholic]

I'm going to fill out a more substantial update soon, but right now I'll just quickly describe a few key events:

1 - "Cogdiss" the Mason is proving to be a survivor even in the most improbable situations.

2 - The skilled military inhabitants of the fort have all been wiped out around 3 times now.

3 - The fort got almost completely overrun with Goblins after an inebriated Miner dug a diagonal gap through the outer wall and let them all in. They were only narrowly defeated by throwing unarmed, unskilled Dwarves in the room en masse and locking the door until the screaming stopped.

4 - Another Necromancer turned up and raised all of the Goblin corpses before I could move them into the underground refuse area. The end result is that the new iron hammer traps outside the fort have been smashing zombie bones over and over for about 6 months straight now. But the Necromancer keeps raising them up. So I'm being attacked by mutilated Goblin corpses (and severed body parts) which have practically all of their bones broken.

5 - A gigantic, fire-breathing eyeless frog emerged from the depths. My soldiers killed it. It's brown, waxy flesh has fed the fortress for around a year.

6 - My Rangers have been engaging the zombie scum across the retracted pit. I ran out of ammunition, so I am now firing bone bolts made of zombies at the remaining zombies... 

7 - That f***ing Troll corpse came back again. For the third separate time. It killed 3 more Dwarves and only stopped when the militia captain hacked it's feet off. It's now finally been dumped underground, feet and all.

8- The burial hall is almost out of room for coffins.

[Orange Wizard]

This fort has gone through more FUN in one page than most forts go through in fifty.

Also, PTW, and would like a dorfing.

[StubbornAlcoholic]

This fort has gone through more FUN in one page than most forts go through in fifty.

Also, PTW, and would like a dorfing.

It's certainly been the most fun I've had in a long time
I've dorfed you as the fort's primary Engineer, who is skilled in everything in the skill set but Siege Operating. As one of the only competent Dwarves in the fortress, he will soon have a large role to play in repelling the zombie threat

Cogdiss' stone working skills will also be very handy.

--

Drenched in shadow, a secret new meeting room has been dug beneath the catacombs. Atir Darudkarol, Mayor, sits patiently at the table in his finest robe. To his left the Diplomatic Liaison of the The Oily Furnaces fidgets nervously. On the right sits a mysterious Human figure who regards the proceedings with an air of mild amusement.

As the door opens, Kubuk "Insanity Incarnate" Lorbamidek and "Cogdiss" Berdanilral enter the room. Cogdiss looks slightly confused. Kubuk is grinning to himself.

The Mayor speaks, his voice booming across the chambers.

"Hello, compatriots. In light of the recent Necromancer incursion, this Council of Dwarven Outposts has convened to approve the activation of the EX-COMB Project."

The Mayor gestures at a crudely bound handbook on the table. The front cover states: EX-COMB: EXtreme-Combative Obliteration of Monstrous Beings.

"You have been chosen to lead this initiative. To oversee our first...and last...lines of defence. Your efforts will have considerable influence on the sanity of this fort's citizens. We urge you to keep that in mind as you proceed."

Cogdiss appears to hesitantly consider raising a question to the chamber, but thinks better of it. Instead, he begins studying the manual on the table more closely. Kuduk peers over his shoulder, and his grin broadens further still. Eventually, the two silently turn and leave the chambers.

After some time, the Mayor coughs, his voice returning to a less authoritarian volume.

"Do you...do you think I overdid it a bit? Overseer?"

The Human at the table smiles. "No, that was very good. Very good indeed."