Bloodspatters finally got retired. It was hard getting dug in to the Terrifying reanimating biome with the constant undead kangaroos, ostriches and horned owls wandering through the fields of wormy tendrils, but doable. Since there was an aquifer in this biome, I settled on an existing lair and walled the poor giantess into her living room - she finally met her end to an undead elk bird in the second year. The one brief incursion from the Tower down the road ended ignominiously, with three zombies and a necromancer in cages which proved to be less than lavaproof. Same for the goblin fort, where the two kidnappers who managed to make it through the wildlife ran into the training military just inside the door and forgot they were standing on cage traps. Ta for the bag and the knife... now it's off the lava chute with you, lad.
So what happened? The fort was up to about 70 residents, despite the constant slaughter. I had gotten probably ~70% of the scattered items and bodies from the failed attempts to get the fort up and running gathered up and sorted. A giant migrant wave arrived, probably 30 dwarves... at the same time as a wave of undead ostriches... and a werebear... and a stibnite web-spitting thrush FB. The militia killed the bear, but not before he had bitten a few of the new dwarves. The ostriches killed a few, and stressed the rest. Then the corpses started getting back up again. Right about the time I got the last corpse-bit queued to go and meet Armok in the dump shaft, a murderous ghost showed up in the dining hall and the two haulers transformed in the middle of the dining hall as well.
Sighing, I retired it. I knew that no matter how much !!FUN!! could come later, it wasn't going to top that.