I was looking through the forums today and found 'Dig Dwarfier', the graphics version of 'Dig Deeper', the mod for 40d. I thought it would be fun to try out a 40d fort, for old times sake. So I downloaded it and decided to start at least one fortress, just to remember what 40d was like. After what just happened I don't think I'm going to be going back to the new version for a while.
I embarked with my seven brave dwarves on a red sand desert with a magma pipe and a terrifying ocean right next to it, hoping for some 'Fun'. I knew that the magma pipe was located toward the western end of my embark site, so I dug down and, lo and behold, there it was. I started to dig out my fort on the z-level above - unfortunately, the magma pipe was on this z-level too, right where my bedrooms were going to go - no big deal, right? Wrong. The second my miner opened up the top of the magma pipe several skeletal/zombie fire imps attacked, throwing fireballs everywhere, burning my three miners and my axeman to a crisp. Although I managed to take down four, two remained - an injured zombie imp and 'Braidedlord', the skeletal imp killer of my team of miners.
I had three dwarves left. I could have abandoned. I could have started again in a more friendly environment. I could have been an elf. Instead, I decided to press on, sure that I would be sieged this summer, sure that the only axe was at the bottom of the magma pipe and sure that there was an aquifer below my feet. Luckily, I was, in fact, wrong about two of those things. Instead of water below my dwarves feet I found rock and lots of it. Instead of a siege this year, I was, in fact, visited by the dwarven caravan and liaison in the autumn. My remaining three dwarves had dug out a nice temporary shelter far, far away from Braidedlord and his magma pipe. Hoping to grab an axe off the traders I let them and the liaison in and immediately destroyed the depot as the liaison talked with my expedition leader (possibly inquiring about the whereabouts of the other four dwarves). Asking for trouble (and a little Fun) I sealed the traders in to watch them go berserk for some entertainment. It was then that I had an ingenious idea - Braidedlord.
The plan was simple - dig a tunnel from the depot out past the magma pipe - as the caravan was leaving, they would kill Braidedlord and it's companion, or die trying. Either way, it was win-win for me. Unfortunately, I had forgotten about one little thing - or rather, one large thing - one large thing that would pave the way for, quite possibly, one of the worst downfalls of any of my forts. The diplomat. Whilst the tunnels were being dug he had cracked and started assaulting the puppies and piglets that roamed my fort. Outraged, I immediately stopped work on the tunnel and sent my three dwarves to kill this bastard before he did too much harm. My dwarves arrived to see the liaison ripping the legs off of a piglet and kicking a puppy in the stomach, quite the grisly scene. They immediately pounced onto the liaison - but, to my horror - were instantly killed, and before I could even react, my fort had perished.
That was the end of Tomefaints. What once could've been the dwarven capital of the entire world is now a pit of insanity and despair, silent bar the incessant babbling of a murderous liaison. Goodbye Tomefaints, we hardly knew ye - and Braidedlord? I salute you.