My first DFVD embark! Seven dwarves, all female by coincidence, ventured into the most Terrifying lands and founded Conventfortress in 125. I must assume they're all nuns of Armok from that name. I embarked with an enormous supply of food and drink, 7 picks, an anvil, some plump helmet spawn, and enough oak logs to screw-pump through an aquifer. Immediately after arriving, the nuns spotted a zombie bird flying in the distance. They tunneled underground and took all their supplies with them - but not soon enough. The kestrel dive bombed at the nuns still on the surface, so I had to draft everyone into an impromptu militia, which promptly destroyed the menace with the mining picks. I then pastured the pack horses inside the tunnel, built some basic workshops, and sealed off the tunnel with a forbidden floor hatch.
The first year went well enough. Many, many more undead began to wander on the map very soon after I locked the tunnel hatch. I resolved to get myself through the aquifer, find some metal ore, train up a real military, and then have my nuns spread the word of Armok on the surface.
Then came the first complication. I had planned to butcher the horses and make bone crafts and leather of them, just in case a necromancer wandered inside. What I didn't know was that the horse parts would spontaneously reanimate in this biome. Thankfully only the horse's hair (?!) came back to life, and the nuns took it apart in one blow (and were now rather unhappy at being drafted into the military twice). I decided I didn't have time to dispose of the other horse parts as I intended, so I quickly dug out a pit, walled it off, and then tossed in the skin and bones from above. At least I got the horse meat out of it. Anyway, I didn't have any problem setting up the plump helmet farm, so food wasn't in short supply.
Next problem. I didn't have enough wood to get through the aquifer, and there were now a few giant zombie moose on the surface, along with more zombie birds (and that first kestrel). I knew I couldn't just wait them out before migrants started showing up and getting slaughtered, and I didn't have any real military or weapons. I ended up tunneling just under the surface to a corner of the map where there were no undead. I then sent the nuns up through the tunnel, forested just enough trees, and then walled off the tunnel. Then the migrants came and, by extraordinary luck, showed up right outside the new tunnel I was using. I unsealed it, let them inside, and then closed it off again.
I spent awhile getting through the aquifer (which turned out to have two levels, ugh). In the meantime, I saw a horde of 100+ zombie giant mosquitoes descend on the surface. The liason showed up a little after they left, but there were still plenty of other zombies around to tear him and his bodyguard apart. I didn't dare venture outside to save him. A slab in Conventfortress's dining room celebrates the liason's bravery (I assume the nuns knew who he was from his horrific, dying screams). Another group of migrants came and somehow evaded the zombie moose long enough to safely get inside the tunnel with the floor hatch.
Finally, I breached the aquifer and immediately found lots of chalk and copper. I'm now working my way down to the magma so I can start making some weapons and armor. I'm debating whether I should make a danger room with the remaining wood or if the nuns should train the real way.
Notably, this is the first time I've sealed myself off underground, and I've been playing since DF2010 came out. I usually build on the surface, but I didn't think that would be too smart with the rain, mists, and hordes of zombie owls. Man, there are a lot of flying zombies in this place. I still haven't seen any special rain or mist.
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Topic: What's going on in your fort? (Read 6223199 times)