As it's nigh release time around these parts I've been delving deep into the stone again with fervor. My time in The Cyclopean Realm has accrued a fair share of bizarre bug-related antics, unexplored features or a fun combination of the two, but one particular event has been puzzling me for a few weeks.
In the spring of 280 some people fell into a hole. Quite a large number of people, in fact: 536 by my count. They're a rather diverse group of humans, elves, dwarves and even a pair of dingo people. The text in legends reads "... fell into a deep chasm in the Jungle of Bells." Well, I guess that can happen to anyone. My interest was really aroused when I noticed that, of the two dozen or so individuals I checked out, most of them appear to have been dead for a decade prior to their plunge dying in various elf raids or of old age in my retired fort Playgem. And what a coincidence, I started an adventurer in Playgem during the spring of 280.
The site history of Playgem itself shows nothing regarding the plunge in question. The only recorded events are the usual lengthy list of visitors and the reports of a particularly vicious horse that killed over sixty people in late spring. Damned equines... But the reference to people falling in a hole shows only in the regional history. Each individual's last action prior to the chasm bit shows them dying in Playgem, however. I don't DFhack so I have to assume that's where the plunge occurred.
My question really concerns the 'fell into a deep chasm' bit though . Does anyone know what that means? My experience with legends mode is limited, but I don't recall seeing that phrase before. The hypothesis (free of any actual evidence) I've conjured is that it is related to the tavern of Playgem. When the RNG gave my new tavern the name of 'The Feral Date', it seemed that I had to do something to add some significance to that title so I dug a 10+ Z level hole in the middle connecting it to the caverns. I assume that it considered the building part of said caverns, and, following some things I don't understand, when my adventurer was created at the site they "tumbled" into the hole.