The child’s belly cramped with hunger. Again and again he moved toward the stockpile. Again and again he reached the first of the rock pots and spotted a hideous creature just down the hall, huge, insect-like, waiting for prey. And he panicked and ran back into the dark, empty quarry, to crouch against a rough rock wall. Safe. Still hungry. He grew weaker every time, and the air was getting harder to breathe; something was on fire. He tried not to think about what might be burning.
How many times had he crept toward the food and run away in fear? Five times? Ten? More? How many more times could he--
A tiny, pitiful squeal. Little hooves clicked against the rock floor. The noise grew louder, and the boy realized it was coming nearer. He forced himself to stand, but it was too late. A great mass swooped down, crushing the piglet with a wet noise. Then it noticed the boy.
Even if he had not been starving, exhausted, grieving, he could never have run fast enough to escape.
... So that’s the kind of thing that happens when you decide to dig too deep to see how your dwarfs will manage. Especially if you don’t prepare any fancy traps. So ends Lanceknights.
Anyway, Fedaxes, the new fortress I started in the same world, is doing well. Many trees have indeed been fed to its hungry axes, and it has become the Mountainhome. (The queen likes swords and wine. All is good.) The aquifer turned out to be a single layer, so that was less of a learning experience than I expected. I’ve been using melee fighters for cleanup only and relying on marksdwarfs instead; so far they’ve shot down a flying webbing titan (which gave us some nice clothing), and they’re getting better at taking down goblins and their buddies. And the humans are starting to siege us (maybe they’re mad at our civilization for what we did at Lanceknights?).
Edit to add: ViolentBeetle, did you set a civilian alert and then forget to end it when the siege ended? Normally I make a giant alert burrow containing the entire inside of the fort so that work doesn't get interrupted when invaders show up. Or did you lock all the doors between the civilians and the work areas?