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[Aslandus]

Also, my sheep are beating each other to death for some reason.

the sheep are becoming fratricidal as they do not have sufficient pasture, and are competing for food.

In my fort it's mainly the horses that do that, but it makes no sense because there's tons of grass left in the pasture and they just seem to bunch up on the edges next to the exposed clay for some reason. I assumed the horses were just homicidal, since none of the other grazing animals seem to be causing any problems, so far a few horses have lost their hooves and gained a few scars, but no casualties yet...

[Sutremaine]

...so I just killed the elven traders but for some reason I can't claim the animals they had as my own. Any ideas?

You just need to wait a bit, until the time when the traders would have left.

[MrsStick]

Yeah, when I killed the last (caged) elf (released, then killed) they were magically *mine*. Then the game crashed an hour later and I lost it.

!!FUN!!

[klefenz]

My current mayor is ordering the construction of bolts, my last mayor ordered to make warhammers. Democracy works!

[Button]

I'm embarked on an Untamed Wilds glacier. Despite a constant yeti presence, I've actually not had any deaths yet. But it seems to be on my dwarves' minds:

Zursulmesir Aban Nitom, Chewedshower the Construct of Planets, a chestnut earring
Velshithath, Lineperishes, a rope reed fiber left mitten
Lukimaz, Insightbelts, a platinum sarcophagus
Eseshbisek Dodok Meb, Spunveil the Clasps of Inching, a donkey leather trousers
Okoshgatiz, Vigorfondled, a sphalerite coffin

Yes, so far, all of my moods have produced either clothing, or burial receptacles. And neither of my coffin-builders has a coffin preference. They just... built coffins. Wanted to be ready, I guess.

[ImagoDeo]

Carnagemines, 12 Malachite, 1064

The two migrants stood trembling in fear by the well. King Zuntir Mokezkonos was speaking to them in his sonorous voice.

"You have two options."

He paused, looking them both over from head to toe. Neither of them was worth much to the fort. Perhaps just a quick-- but no, it wasn't customary. They had to run the gauntlet first.

"You may drink from this well here..."

Both of them looked at the well. It had obviously been used for cleaning. Blood of all sorts stained the ground around it - that wasn't unusual for a dwarven well - but a strange reddish fog drifted slowly up from below. That was unusual.

"...or you may serve as a meal for us."

They looked up. The welcoming committee, all hundred and fifty dwarves in the fortress, stood around in the courtyard, smiling. Pointed teeth winked from behind braided beards and blood-red eyes were visible under every bushy set of eyebrows.

The husband clutched his wife tight and gulped. Neither of them said anything, but both of them looked fearfully from the well to the waiting vampires. They told me not to come, he thought. They told me the mountainhome was accursed and evil now. But I didn't believe it. The caravan brought so much gold...

"It is not as terrible a fate as you may believe," spoke the King. "Life unending, strength beyond your wildest dreams; a thirst that is easily slaked in our tremendous stockpiles of every kind of alcohol..."

They trembled as he continued.

"...never needing to fear the undead; breathing only in order to speak; disregarding the pitiful food mortals crave; shunning the hours of death that they call rest..."

A few of the vampires in the audience openly stared at the new couple. Most held their attention on the King.

"One drink, and you live forever." He sighed. "Drink not, and you shall be drunk."

...

That night, the meeting hall was full of hollow laughter and tight-lipped smiles as the fortress welcomed its two newest immortals.

[Lolfail0009]

Carnagemines, 12 Malachite, 1064

The two migrants stood trembling in fear by the well. King Zuntir Mokezkonos was speaking to them in his sonorous voice.

"You have two options."

He paused, looking them both over from head to toe. Neither of them was worth much to the fort. Perhaps just a quick-- but no, it wasn't customary. They had to run the gauntlet first.

"You may drink from this well here..."

Both of them looked at the well. It had obviously been used for cleaning. Blood of all sorts stained the ground around it - that wasn't unusual for a dwarven well - but a strange reddish fog drifted slowly up from below. That was unusual.

"...or you may serve as a meal for us."

They looked up. The welcoming committee, all hundred and fifty dwarves in the fortress, stood around in the courtyard, smiling. Pointed teeth winked from behind braided beards and blood-red eyes were visible under every bushy set of eyebrows.

The husband clutched his wife tight and gulped. Neither of them said anything, but both of them looked fearfully from the well to the waiting vampires. They told me not to come, he thought. They told me the mountainhome was accursed and evil now. But I didn't believe it. The caravan brought so much gold...

"It is not as terrible a fate as you may believe," spoke the King. "Life unending, strength beyond your wildest dreams; a thirst that is easily slaked in our tremendous stockpiles of every kind of alcohol..."

They trembled as he continued.

"...never needing to fear the undead; breathing only in order to speak; disregarding the pitiful food mortals crave; shunning the hours of death that they call rest..."

A few of the vampires in the audience openly stared at the new couple. Most held their attention on the King.

"One drink, and you live forever." He sighed. "Drink not, and you shall be drunk."

...

That night, the meeting hall was full of hollow laughter and tight-lipped smiles as the fortress welcomed its two newest immortals.

Damn, that was awesome writing.

[ImagoDeo]

Damn, that was awesome writing.

Thanks.

Vampire forts are fun.

[Mr Space Cat]

Good writing. I'd change "...or you may serve as a meal for us." to something more vague. Something like "...or you will share a meal with us."  or "...or you may serve a meal to us."

Both changes sound more casual and not sinister, and don't immediately reveal the plot twist that the whole fort is vampires and waiting to meet the meat. The pacing was sorta ruined by the totally blunt King saying "drink or get eaten yo."

I liked the last phrase "Drink or be drunk." At first I thought it meant "drink and be vampires, or don't drink and instead be drunk on booze." It took me a couple seconds to realize the vampire-y implications. The abovementioned phrase spoiled such a plot twist, though.

Anyway, good writeup.

[Eric Blank]

Also, my sheep are beating each other to death for some reason.

the sheep are becoming fratricidal as they do not have sufficient pasture, and are competing for food.

In my fort it's mainly the horses that do that, but it makes no sense because there's tons of grass left in the pasture and they just seem to bunch up on the edges next to the exposed clay for some reason. I assumed the horses were just homicidal, since none of the other grazing animals seem to be causing any problems, so far a few horses have lost their hooves and gained a few scars, but no casualties yet...

It seems to happen mostly after a food shortage wherein the animals want to congregate on the same few patches of available food, and then even once food becomes more plentiful each animal chooses to move to the same squares because they all follow the same instructions to choose which square to move to next. So they bunch up and then they dont want to change that behavior.

And yeah, I could probably stand to have a few less sheep.

[nomoetoe]

In my latest fort I had just dealt with a goblin ambush and had the caged survivors thrown into a pit.

They all survived and ended up being good practice for my military.

Then my metalsmith made a menacing spikes artifact that had an image of my adventurer so that was nice.

[ImagoDeo]

Good writing. I'd change "...or you may serve as a meal for us." to something more vague. Something like "...or you will share a meal with us."  or "...or you may serve a meal to us."

Both changes sound more casual and not sinister, and don't immediately reveal the plot twist that the whole fort is vampires and waiting to meet the meat. The pacing was sorta ruined by the totally blunt King saying "drink or get eaten yo."

I liked the last phrase "Drink or be drunk." At first I thought it meant "drink and be vampires, or don't drink and instead be drunk on booze." It took me a couple seconds to realize the vampire-y implications. The abovementioned phrase spoiled such a plot twist, though.

Anyway, good writeup.

Yes, now that I think about it, you're right. I just wasn't sure how else to put that particular line. I kind of wanted it to be relatively clear to the couple what they had stumbled into, but without losing any of the sinister and dark-willed intentions on the part of the king. Seems like I failed a bit.

In other news, I love it that vampires can take a silver bolt straight to the lung, get the damn thing stuck there, and walk away smiling. Ever seen sutures on a lung before? Nope, neither had this dwarf until today.

[ImagoDeo]

He named it Gleamspike.

Aw hell yeah.

[TheCoolSideofthePIllow]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Elf merchants arrived just in time to be meat shields for a vile force of darkness. My dwarves are all grandmasters and in dwarven Steel.

[Henny]

Time to get some pig tails going! I didn't bring a Clothier for nothing, after all.

*Urist McFarmer cancels job*

Maybe I should've brought along some pig tail seeds... oh well.