I decided to pay closer attention to personality and traits for my latest fort and got the following:
Strongarm - hammerdwarf, militia commander, mighty
Hammerhand - hammerdwarf, loves warhammers, very strong
Horsehale - hammerdwarf, loves horses for their strength, very strong
Feverfew - chief medical officer, rarely sick, impervious to the effects of stress
Plumplove - miner, loves plump helmet men for the resemblance to food
Little-axe - woodcutter, flimsy
Wishlist - broker/manager/bookkeeper, candid and sincere in dealings with others, assertive
My embark site was almost completely flat except for two small, short hills. Lots of wood and a stream, but there was danger right from the start in the form of giant badgers =(! I immediately created my three-man hammer squad, while the rest of the dwarves began to move everything to the closest hill. The giant badgers kept running close, then running away, until a sow became enraged and charged. I activated my squad and they rushed into battle.
Horsehale was the first to engage the crazed beast, who grabbed hold of him with her massive jaws, tearing a bloody gash into his upper leg, and nearly chomping his foot off. He got in a few good hits, but he was mostly busy trying to pry her teeth off his leg. When that failed, he decided to bite her back! Hammerhand managed to get behind the beast and bash her skull in before she could kill his squadmate.
Horsehale was a bloody mess and I thought he was a goner. I didn't even have any workshops created at this point! I broke the wagon down, then quickly made a bed, thinking the whole time that he was going to die any second. I then made a 1-bed/1-bag hospital in the barely excavated cave entrance. Wishlist, the expedition leader, whisked the wounded warrior into her arms, ignored the other giant badgers milling around nearby, and got him to the infirmary. Feverfew rolled up her sleeves and got to work with just the basic supplies. I like to think that her "impervious to the effects of stress" really came through here. She nailed the diagnosis, patched him up, then sent him on his way with a crutch.
The fight banged Horsehale up pretty bad. Due to nerve damage, he could no longer walk without the aid of a crutch. I was a bit bummed that I had invested so many skill points that would now go to waste. Then I thought, this is dwarf fortress! A dwarven warrior wouldn't let something like this get him down!
Horsehale is now back in the military and sparring with his squadmates, while wielding a shield and a crutch with the same arm. And he's fallen in love with Feverfew, the medic who nursed him back to health
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