Things are grim.
As you can see, many men and women have failed to defeat the newt. There are more corpses than you can see on the screen. It's the webbing it shoots; it freezes its foes in place, allowing for a quick, horrifyingly bloody kill.
Migrur Mishosrulush Guthstakaztong Ovus. You can see in the picture above how there are fortifications built into one of the rooms. That's where we found him hiding when we arrived. Specifically, a woodworker found him, about two seasons in. His screams alerted the 14 or so dwarves still scavenging the reclaim fortress for goodies. Every single room was filled with entire wardrobes of clothing. There were no corpses or anything to show a struggle, just the leftover wares of a dwarven fortress. There are entire chambers filled with armor, weapons, clothing, all the necessities. When they found out about the beast, ten of the 14 armed themselves with the best gear they could find and charged up the stairs, facing the beast head on. They never touched it.
It's been a few years since then. Mercenaries arrive and offer their services to kill the beast, and every year we send them in our best equipment to fight it. None return. We developed a crossbow squad and carved fortifications into its lair, and fired 10-20 bolts into its body. It writhed and screamed on the ground, but as we shot it, I had a strange feeling, as if I was wearing flowers in my hair and jacking off to bird songs, and called off the archers. We would kill this thing like Dwarves or not at all. We dug a new breach into the residential hall and sent our best in to finish the beast off. It slaughtered them all with it's usual swiftness, and then charged down the new tunnel and murdered the archer squad. It won't leave the area thankfully, even if we unseal him. He likes his little corner.
So back to the secondary problem. Every migrant wave, we receive 20-30 fucking children as though we're running an elementary school. Apparently, "despite the danger" as they say, people feel just fine sending their second borns off to my goddamn fortress. Well, in that case, I decided I would smash the fuckers because no one wanted them in the first place. But after this enlightening thread, I think I'll use them to their full capabilities. I will throw them at Ovus.
Let's talk design. If you'll notice, Ovus is the red monster sitting in the hallway. What I'm thinking is digging into the rock wall to the north of him. One layer up, a chamber with a retracting bridge to burrow the kids on. The layer Ovus is on, a bridge that raises downwards, propelling the loaded ammo in that direction. I'm raising my population cap from 120 to 200 in the hopes of acquiring lots of ammunition. Thoughts?
I've also been thinking. While I enjoy the idea of children being used as ammo and am committed to this idea, I was thinking about what I was going to do when this doesn't work. I was thinking of building a completely isolated stairwell all the way to hell and having them destroy the beast, and then I can seal them all in this little side chamber. Because fuck you Ovus.