This is my minecart test fort located on a volcano island cut off from every civilization except for intrepid dwarfs and their wagons. No iron outside imports, not even goblinite. The only weapons-grade materials on the area are copper and silver and a little cotton candy somewhere too deep down discovered by a brave volcano-exploring puppy "volunteer".
Year 4 I get my first uninvited guest.
A Bronze Colossus.
Military is woefully underequipped, so far it has mostly dealt with stray troglodytes from cave #1. Most of them don't even have any armor. Some don't even have weapons. They've just been doing military training to keep them out of the way. No traps on the surface either.
Goodbye military, I didn't know you well but your sacrifice will be remembered in the long tantrum/insanity spiral. They make good effort though, but only the silver hammer hammerdorfs can even make a dent.
From the other side of the map the yearly dwarf caravan arrives with its seasoned guards. There's still hope left.
The colossal rampage is only slightly slowed down by the monster's weapon of choice: a x(tusk beard cloth sock)x courtesy of randomplants. Many rookies and dogs experience flying, but most are dead before they hit the ground, or even left the ground. This is a volcano, remember. The slopes are steep.
Fast forward a few months. All my military is dead, except for one brave dwarf that trains alone in the cavern, keeping the settlement safe from the underground horrors. The caravan left when a tantruming dwarf smashed the depot and all the cheese was left to rot in the sun. Their guards remained behind, either dead on the green slopes or in case of two remaining hammerlords, locked in dance to the death with the colossus. Now just one hammerlord, fighting tirelessly for months, dodging every attack, chipping away at the monster. Two thirds of the population are dead, lost to violence or sorrow. Here a berserk farmer killed a melancholy weaver with a wool shoe. Somewhere in the stockpiles is Blightclenched the dwarf bone crown, all that remains of a dutiful citizen who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The hospital is a bloody mess with long-lasting nightmares from the moment a hammerdwarf went berserk in bed and smashed the skulls of three other patients before a dog attacked and killed him.
A minotaur showed up too and smashed a few outdoors buildings. Nobody cared. Now the trapdoors leading into the fortress underground were surrounded with cage traps, so the minotaur can now contemplate a view to the caldera as she sits in a cage. Some new migrants braved the danger and bolstered the numbers with much needed fresh dwarfpower. Most of the dead are buried now - half by sheer chance as no one told the masons to stop turning stone clutter into coffins. Axedwarf and berserk farmer and pet keet rest side by side, in peace.
Two seasons later the nameless caravan guard hammerlord and the Bronze Colossus Liwa Eneriqui Rayathicuthefi, Liwa Boltshock the Dominant Axe, are still fighting. It is a fight the colossus cannot win, with three limbs and all of its toes gone.
Soon there will be more science to be done. But before that, a legend.
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Topic: What's going on in your fort? (Read 6215458 times)