And I'm finishing the turn up now! And perhaps the end of it all...
As soon as I started playing, I hit a magma lake. Which was surprising, considering I hadn't hit the first cavern yet.
Clearing out a room above the lake, a square of Adamantine came into view.
Soon after that I noticed the Dwarves' Caravan had already set up shop in the trade depot. Immortal-D, you are forgiven for getting annoyed at my dwarf the broker. I had trouble making him trade as well.
When I did get to trade though, I got some good prices, as well as enough food and booze to hold us for a while.
Soon, it hit winter. I did my best to keep everything flowing smoothly. Although some stockpiles could still be optimized.
Yes, it really did appear my turn was uneventful, other than punching a snakeman to death.
Then a small message popped up.
So yeah, that seemed....concerning.
Especially since I didn't really have any defenses other than the bridge at the front gate, which he could easily fly over. For a moment he seemed to stand still at the edge of the map, but my hopes were dashed as he suddenly rose a few levels into the air and took off like a bullet towards the courtyard.
He landed in the far corner, inside the gate. Various animals rushed to attack.
While the animals distracted him I order for the doors to be sealed. But if he was a building destroyer with Trap_Avoid, he could easily storm the main hallway. I called up my military to stand guard just inside the fortress. They got new weapons, and a bit of armor, but I knew they weren't ready at all.
At the same time, I ordered a two-block wall built quickly behind the main entrance. If we could get it up in time, we'd be safe. Unfortunately, almost everyone was busy at the moment, and not switching their current jobs easily.
Still! There is hope yet! The stones I designated are both 4 steps away from the building site...if only I could get masons up to the front.
Meanwhile, the animals understandably were losing their battle. However, they were stalling pretty nicely.
But they were soon cut down. With his distractions out of the way, the Plague Wraith took to the air and started moving to my front entrance.
By this time my entire military is assembled and waiting. A lone, untrained mason grabs the first block for the wall. Can he do it in time?
After passing the Trade Depot, the three story tall, four-armed skeleton of decease and death landed in front of my entrance. My only hope, was that the Wraith would get distracted and go after a few of the dwarves trapped outside.
Yet.....As I unpaused the game, the the Wraith promptly disappeared from the screen.
I checked the sky.
I checked the surrounding area.
And then it hit me.
"No....," I said, "No. Really? REALLY?"
Immortal-D had planted about five or six cage traps around the courtyard in random locations. They weren't really at any chokepoints, so I disregarded them, simply making some cages to stop it from yelling at me.
But it was captured. The fortress would live another day.
How anticlimactic.
It hit the last month of the year, so I started mapping out the fortress and the progress I had made.
Top Floor: Farming, Food Processing, and Warehouse
2nd Floor down: Military Barracks, Hospital, and Office Rooms
3rd Floor Down: Bedrooms and Dining Hall
4th Floor Down: All Non-Fueled Craftdwarves Workshops, and Archeology Study
5th Floor Down: Metal and Ore Workshops
And Far, Far Down, at the Bottom of the Mineshaft: Magma Workshop Room
I spent most of the time telling them to keep digging this out despite the heat, so I only got to install a basic smelter and forge, with no stockpiles.
Now all I needed to do was wait until Spring arrived.
Wait. What?
A single platoon of white tigermen/women. Nothing too bad, but matched against my troops could go either way.
They marched towards the base, catching a few fishermen off guard.
By now I had the gate up. But I realized that there was nothing stopping them from simply climbing up on the hill around it and jump down. I set up the army in the courtyard to prepare for the defense.
They moved closer, closer, closer! And as they reached the edge I got a message I didn't expect.
I had forgotten about the Dwarven Caravan a long time ago. On the brink of battle, the Liaison saw his chance to get in a word.
When I had exited out, it seemed the moment was lost for the tigermen as well, as they just came down from the cliffs and hung around my front gate.
The Liaison gave me a sheet of what they wanted and promptly walked towards the front gate, waiting for it to be opened for him.
The tigermen chased down a couple dwarves trapped outside, killing one and getting a pickaxe to the knee for the tiger to grab the other. The group started hunting the lone miner down and...
Spring Had Arrived.
Have fun finishing up the Siege!
http://dffd.wimbli.com/file.php?id=10394