Yar! There be a cave crocodile corpse in the wrong end of the trap corridor! Dammit, haven’t ye lot replaced the cavern 1 door yet? Don’t ye knew there be beasties out there?
Wait, what’s it attackingdown there? There shouldn’t be any dwarves in the trap corridor... oh no.
Not me dizzy little falcons! I
liked them! Ye bastard! Ye absolute bastard! I’ll kill ye! Someone, anyone, get down there and murder that thing in the face!
Me falcons... oh me poor little falcons...
Okay, that does it. Enough be enough. I be havin’ it with these motherfukkin’ undead in these motherfuckkin’ caverns.
BOMREK! ASMOTH! GIT YER FRIENDS! YE BE GOING ON A TRIP!
Bomrek: “Waiiit... hold up, everyone. Do you hear that?”
Besmar: “I hear it. Sounds like a lot of them. It’s gonna be a heck of a fight.”
Bomrek: “...maybe not. Listen carefully. Does it sound like they’re getting closer?”
Besmar: “Why are they coming now and not before?”
Bomrek: “Dunno, but it suits me. Everyone stay back. If they’re gonna throw themselves on the traps for us, let them. There’ll be plenty to fight further out in the caverns, so there’s no point in taking risks this early in the game.”
(some time and at least a dozen zombies later)
Quasar: "What do ye lot think ye be doin’ standing around in the trap corridor?"
Bomrek: “We were just waiting for them to-"
Quasar: "Be ye dwarves or not? Get in there an’ kill those bastards, ye worthless cowards!"
Bomrek: “[sigh] Yes overseer. Let’s move out. By the books, people! At least two dwarves to every beast, keep an eye on your six, and don’t get cocky. Just because it looks harmless and funny doesn’t mean it is. Remember what happened to McKiwi!”
After clearing the local area, the crew carefully push into the caverns. It doesn’t take long before the smaller beasties give way to a bigger worry: another undead Draltha. This one is stuck up a tree, in the same place it was the last time we were down here. The branches of the tree appear to be growing through its torso, immobilising it in the air. The big corpse be moanin’ and groanin’ at the dwarves as they approach.
The original plan be to get a woodcutter in to fell the tree so they can engage it on the ground, but Bomrek notices how close the beast is to the ground. It’d be a shame to waste an opportunity to strike the beast down while it be helpless in the air. Perhaps, if he can be standin’ on someone’s shoulders...
“Nicely done, boss.”
The crew pushed deeper, revealing the terrain and zombies at the northern end of the caverns. At the northern border another monster came into sight: once a blind cave ogre, now something far worse.
Luckily, or unluckily depending on ye’re view, the beast be trapped atop a mushroom in the middle of the lake.
Amongst the land-dwelling beasts be reachers, dozens of crundles and a giant rat... dangerous beasts in their own right, perhaps not to the level of blind cave ogres or undead forgotten beasts, but terrifying in their undead state nonetheless. There be many of them, and it was only a matter of time before someone’s luck ran thin. Sure enough...
The legendary weapon lords of Murderflood closed ranks around their injured companion as the unholy horde closed in from the darkness...
After a while, the fighting all blurs together into one big melee, a tale of swords swung, heads severed and crundles crushed. Admist the fighting Atir regained consciousness, got to his feet and began the long walk to the hospital, freeing his companions to push further in.
A few soldiers actions that be worthy of noting for the record:
Ultimately, everything they could reach died. Everything that got up, died
again. Even the tree-dwelling draltha's head, which revived and tried to sneak into fortress while nobody was looking, met a comical end...
When all was said and done, when the last rotting crundle head was skewered, the second cavern system once again belonged to the dwarves of Murderflood. My dizzy falcon babies be avenged.
The remaining undead are all denizens of the underground lake, and appear content to leave us be. Or they just can't climb/swim out. Regardless, only two of them seem particularly dangerous: Gluttonfray the eyeless crocodile, and Cryptequals the blind cave ogre.
It would perhaps be advisable to tempt these two out from the lake if possible, so we can fight them on our own terms rather than waiting for them to rouse. I'll be considering it, but first things first...
Quasar: “Yar, ye there! Yes, ye, the hauly-dwarf. Tell me, ‘as anyone in this fortress made any fancy artifact doors? Ye know the sort, right?”
Sigun: “Oh, uh... yes, overseer. Two, I believe.”
Quasar: “Two artifact doors? That be excellent news! Do ye know where they’re bein’ used? I’ll bet the duchess or one of the former overseers be layin’ claim to ‘em, right?”
Sigun: “Um no, overseer. As far as I know, they’re still in the stockpiles.”
Quasar: “Still in the... well that be... stupid, but handy. Did ye’ know that artifact doors be imbued with the strength of Armok ‘imself?”
Sigun: “Uuuuhhh... no, overseer, I didn’t. Look, I really need to be... hauling... or something...”
Quasar: “Aye, not many dwarves know that, but it be true. Nay, listen up, ye’ go an’ get both those doors installed at the cavern entrances, aye?”
Sigun: “Err... okay, then, overseer. I guess I’ll do that.”
Okay, now it's time ta be doin' something about that thar forgotten beast corpse.
‘e’s too close to the entrance fer my tastes, but ‘e just sits there in the lake so we can’t just kill ‘im and be done with it. I be worried he’ll slip in and kill us all when we not be lookin’: our traps’ll keep everyone else out, but I have a sneakin' suspicious they won't be much use against ‘im.
Quasar: “Ye there, miner. Wassyername, “Goose”?”
Duck: ““Duck”, overseer.”
Quasar: “Aye, that’s what I said. I need ye to carve a tunnel in cavern 2, for totally reasonable reasons that have nothin' to do with usin' ye as bait for a hideous undead abomination. Here, take these plans.”
Duck: “Looks simple enough. Okay, I’ll take care of it.”
Quasar: “Excellent. Bomrek, I want ye lot to go down and station yourselves... actually, ye’d know better than I about tactics an' stuff, so work out where ye want ta fight a beastie an' do it, right?”
Bomrek: “Yes overseer. Squad, to me! We’re going back in!”
Duck: “AAAAARGGGHH! There’s a great big zombie cave crocodile in here! WHY DIDN’T ANYBODY TELL ME?”
Quasar: "Damn it, the beastie hasn’t moved! Ye’ scumbag of a duck, ye were supposed to lure it back to the militia! Get back in there and start lurin'!"
Duck: "What? NO!"
Quasar: "Ye'd better or I'll 'ave ye beaten fer violation of production order!"
Duck: "What does that even mean?!"
Quasar: "It means shut up an obey, that's what it means!"
Duck: "Why can't we just drop the roof on it's head?!"
Quasar: [silence]
Duck: "There's gotta be a reason we can't... I mean, you wouldn't have sent me in there if we could just
drop something on it... right?"
Quasar: [silence]
Duck: "... you fucker."
Quasar: "Okay! We be havin' a new plan!"
Time ta' die, Gluttonfray. Ye be havin' a date with destiny, an' by "destiny" I mean two tons of slate, an by "date" I mean squishing.
Budda-BOOOOOOOM!
Fare the well, noble beastie. We hardly knew ye, and now ye are a pancake.
Yar, me magnum opus be nearin’ completion. We be buildin’ the final levels of the cistern as I write this, and the magma spigot be half complete. Most of the pump stack be in place, made of magma-proof glass of course, and I’ve anchored every pump to the structure with a wooden axle so it won’t be easy to destroy.
There still be much to do. We still have have to finalise the last few levels, add the mechanical workings, and of course,
fill the cistern. It be an exciting time ta’ be a dwarf of murderflood!
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Topic: 'Murderflood: (Ardentdikes IIIv3) You, there, grab this save! (Read 228899 times)