Well, here we are at last! The seven of us have migrated here all the way from the Mountainhomes, attracted by the legendary wealth, and because, by a bizarre coincidence, we all happen to share names with dwarves from this fortress! We thought we'd come meet them in person and see what they're like.
We got a little bit lost on the way, and decided to climb a mountain to get a better view. Unfortunately, the wagon broke down right at the top. I'm not sure why we decided to drive the wagon literally all the way to the peak, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.
There, to the south, we sighted the famous Tower of Immortality! Shouts of jubilation were raised, immediately followed by shouts of terror.
What is it? Kobolds?
Sweet mother of Armok what the HFS is that, and how is it still alive‽
Run for your lives! Run! Get inside! Lock the doors!
Thankfully, we all made it inside, thanks to the hideous abomination getting distracted chasing the stray animals we had with us. When I left the Mountainhomes with twenty drakelings they thought I was mad - well, who's laughing now?
Not us, that's for sure. We now found ourselves trapped inside a thoroughly ransacked fortress guarded by some hideous bird monster. Thankfully, I only had two months left of overseership before, as per dwarven tradition, I was to hand over complete control of the fortress to some other randomly selected dwarf.
The two months went by fast. We arrived without any food or drink (it all got left with the wagon) but Faiy Eyebrow II was very resourceful and managed to get a farm running. We had to survive on nothing but plump helmets and drakeling eggs, but it all worked out fine in the end. The rest of us spent almost the entire time burying corpses and engraving slabs to the appease the dead. It was hard to memorialise dwarves I didn't know, and I had to make up some of the details, but we got through about twenty or thirty of them.
Meanwhile, that creature outside got covered in purple goo.
I didn't think it possible, but it actually looks even more hideous than before.
It very nearly wandered into some strange livid yellow cloud, but turned away at the last moment.
It settled for smearing horrid goo all over the ground outside the entrance instead.
And, before I knew it, my short time as overseer was over.
But before I go, here's a quick look around the notable parts of the fortress:
The courtyard, where the military trained. Also contains the trade depot and the base of The Tower.
The entrance hall, with a rather fetching pattern inlaid in cinnabar. The weapon rack at the top is Flame's work.
The industrial quarter, with most of the workshops and forges. Currently churning out stone slabs.
The residential quarter, with the mayor's rooms (bottom left) and the hospital and well (right). That well shaft is 63 z-levels deep!
The morgue. About two thirds of those coffins are filled, with a few dozen more off shot to the south. All the slabs on the right are for victims of Snong. Also contains levers for everything important in the fortress.
The way into PFTW from the fortress. The entrance to the surface is along the corridor to the north, and the entrances to the caverns are down the stairs.
The Corridor of Death. Now with a safety barrier.
The entrance to PFTW from the second cavern (the other two are almost identical). Also gives some idea how much crap is strewn around the caverns.
And last but not least, The Tower. The first floor is accessible only via a bridge from the centre of the courtyard.
The second floor has some nice statues.
The third floor has fortifications for crossbowdwarves to shoot out of.
The fourth floor was just to use up some of the microcline lying around.
The fifth floor has vertical bars to look out of.
At the sixth floor, the tower begins to taper inwards slightly.
I was starting to run out of ideas for interior decorating by the seventh floor.
The eighth floor has some lovely glass windows. Snow is getting in because the next floor up is unfinished.
The ninth, final, unfinished floor, made wider to accommodate some catapults.
I wonder if it will ever see completion...
~~~~
Well, that was quite the adventure! I'm eager to see if any future overseer's turns can top my record of 63 dwarves dead in one round.
The save, continuing the reclaim, can be found
here. If you want to consider the massacre and reclaim non-canon and instead continue from before Snong, the alternate save can be found
here.
Some advice for the next overseer:
- Please continue the tower! I had grand plans for the higher floors, but alas I couldn't see them through...
- The well shaft is unsafe against fliers. There's an access tunnel at z99 that needs blocking off.
- Don't let any dwarves get affected by the horrid goo if you can help it. The blindness permanently affects the quality of their work and combat ability, and they have to clean themselves all the time to wash off the pus from the blisters.
- I couldn't find any adamantine, but I didn't look very hard. Might be worth looking into.
- The morgue has all the important levers. Other levers around the fortress are redundant, but still work.
- I'm pretty sure Snong's wings being "mangled beyond recognition" means that she can't fly, so in theory you should safely be able to open up the courtyard, which has a lot of decent armour and ammunition (but not many weapons). She might still be able to climb over the wall.
- There's loads of useful items scattered around the caverns. You should be able to get in via PFTW, but beware of the wildlife, obviously.
- Senshken VI is armed and armoured. Flame II and EoyaBosan II are in a pickaxe squad, but have only copper picks and no armour.
- If you find the artifact pickaxe, please give it to EoyaBosan II to wield! I think it's somewhere in the caverns.
- I brought about 60 pieces of marble for making steel. They're all stuck right at the top of the mountain.
- I don't know what to recommend about getting the migrants inside safely, but you should probably have a plan before they arrive.
- Do not underestimate Snong.
- Good luck!
Should any migrants ever make it inside, the following, in no particular order, are waiting to be (re)dwarfed:
- Xan II
- Taupe V
- Messiah II
- The Cheesemaker IV
- Cherry Hearts III
- Maskwolf III
- Salmenk III
- Ampersand III
- Iamblichos III
- Fperson III
- Sarrak III
- Hero II
- The Hammer II
- Askarn IV
If I missed anyone, say so!