I was setting up the first military squads in the fortress of Ironhours, two 5 man macedwarf squads to serve as bodyguards to the Overseer/High Priest and his wife, the Mayor/Manager. So I got them all set up with mail shirts, round shields and maces and set them to sparring. For the first month, I had all of them training at once so that they would all grab their equipment right away. So far this is fairly standard stuff, but I wanted to do a little bit of RPing for this fort, so I arrayed the Royal Guard on either side of the speaker's podium, and set the Overseer to hold a speech with the whole fortress present to listen. Every man, woman and child in the fortress filed into the huge hall, listening with rapt attention to the Overseer's speech on the increasingly tragic tale of Dumplin. All was going well.
Then, it happened.
Standing on the far right of the Royal Guard's formation was Itur Ananosed, a former fish farmer and proud father of two sons, one of whom was in the other Royal Guard squad. I had taken a particular liking to him because of how quickly he learned the use of his mace and shield. He was a friendly dwarf, but was naturally shy. He never did have more than a few close friends, but he was hardworking and honest.
*Igbit Onulgasol, Royal Guard, has been struck down!*
The room exploded in panic, with the civilians running for the exits, the Overseer running into his palace, and the entire top right corner of the room covered in blood.
*Ingtak Sanrebducim, Fishery Worker, has been struck down!*
*Degel Rozsednekut, Bone Doctor, has been struck down!*
*Shedim Nabethked, Fishery Worker, has been struck down!*
*Urir Dostustnakas, Oven Operator, has been struck down!*
I paused in a hurry, and found that Itur had transformed into a "bloodbeast," torn poor Igbit limb from limb, and started biting and slashing his way through the panicking crowd of civilians. It wasn't long before the eight remaining Royal Guard surrounded their former comrade and started bludgeoning him to death. They broke almost every bone in his body, and nearly beat him to a pulp, but still the monster didn't die, and still it managed to slash and claw at them, but they were protected by their =steel mail shirts=. I just watched in horror for a moment, then I finally figured out what had to be done.
I found the Overseer, who was stuck in a loop of fleeing into his private statue garden, coming out, seeing the bloodbeast, and running back in again. He wasn't able to carry out my plan. So I found another dwarf with the skill I needed, Kol Kodkib. A recent migrant beast dissector who had some small skill with a sword. Being careful not to expose him to the beast too soon, I made him his own one man squad and had him pick up just one item, an iron short sword left by some goblins killed by weapon traps on the surface. Without stopping once, he walked to the dump where the sword was being stored, formerly awaiting melting, picked it up, and made his way to the Great Hall. By the time he arrived, the Royal Guard were nearly exhausted from trying to finish off Itur, and were getting weaker and slower. Kol ran across the room, and in two quick strokes Itur Ananosed was put to rest, and Kil Kodkib entered into a new career as Fortress Hammerer.
I canŽt believe this happened to you, you forgot get your Armok ward than protect you from those possessions, pick some from trading or pick some from your church using a Orichalcum bar. A put one in critical spots, like, near to your trade depot, one in your Meeting area. Probably your need one next to your Butchery-refuse stockpile, or next to your bone stockpile, and one next to your military zone. (Any of those can be corrupted, diseased or possesed by hidden threads from outsiders, invaders or monsters or even the savagery can be infected by nasty stuff. So, ward yourself!
