playing today actually.. weekend DF is best DF
Spring of 180,
Fortress Romekanan, 'Longnight'
The elephants are plentiful.
The surface forests are long gone, covered in paved roads. Those roads are covered in dead elfs (from the last siege).
If one looks closely, they might find some green tree frogs in the thin stream that runs beneath the roads, the only remaining sign that natural forests once existed here.
The farms were moved closer to the kitchens. There was plenty of spare muddied ground in the elephant pastures.
"What do you mean, we don't have a proper dance floor?!"
Some modifications were performed to the surface bunker, and during the re-paving process some ancient pools were discovered. It was decided to form a small shrine here at the surface, such that the dwarves might gain resistance against cave adaptation during their visits.
In late Spring, 'Luthama' the serpent attacked. It was fought by the first squad and killed when a swordsdwarf clashed it through the neck.
The serpent's many pointed teeth and body were collected in the 'Trophy Room' - a strange smelling place full of preserved beast skeletons and stuffed remains.
After the new entrance was designed, the dirt was re-paved to prevent tree growth.
Enemy forces attacked in early Summer, on the 8th of Hematite. They were goblins, heavily armored, and seeking a parley..
This was denied. The goblins were unsure - should they actually attack this place, the fearsome Longnight?
The two squads moved out, taking alternate positions north and south of the goblins.
'Oasis' the bookeeper led the northern party in a charge, wielding a bismuth bronze spear. Close behind were 'Otto_III' and 'Daniel'.
'Oasis' was a masterful speardwarf and stabbed the goblin in the liver, before kicking it in the tongue and bruising the spine.
To the south, 'Jschlatt' the Captain of the Guard led the charge, attacking a speargoblin. His first strike bounced off of armor (somehow this goblin had acquired steel chain leggings), yet the blow was so powerful that the muscle was torn apart regardless.
The fighting went on for a day before the goblins were totally defeated. The southern squad of defenders, named 'Adulation of Wheels', fought bravely against foul odds, three goblins against each dwarf, yet carried the day through expert fighting skill and martial trances.
'Gimli' was injured when stabbed in the arm by a short sword, and this attack left many nerves severed.
Longnights was successfully defended.
A second attack was sent to Cryptrush, both squads sent to pillage.
It was only a few days later that the shelled, web-slinging honeyeater Amung Togalkezat, 'Stormdanger' attacked. A well-constructed staircase provided the beast access to the surface layer from the caverns, but the bird had different ideas, instead flying into the middle layers of the fortress through some dug out hematite veins.
With no military, it would be a disaster, so the dwarves quickly walled up the staircase in that portion of the mines, and it appeared that for now the bird-beast was delayed. For now it wandered the caverns.
The dwarves spent some days identifying any gaps in the walls, for this web slinging, bird-being, shell-carrying monstrosity was a terrible threat indeed.
They attempted to build a containment bunker over the northern staircase, but Amug flew quickly to the surface and interrupted the dwarves at the last moments of construction.
One dwarf was caught outside, locked out in fact.. 'Tail' died to the kicks of the great-legged honeyeater.
'Undefeated' Slingbraid, 9 years old, blocked the second door near the surface while playing make believe. No one wanted to interrupt him. His thoughts were, 'Trade is the life-blood of a thriving society.'
***
As the valiant warriors returned from their pillaging, they encountered the horrible Amug and were kicked or gored one by one…
'LordPrimordious' and then 'Gimli' fell to Amug. Then, 'Jschlatt' arrived and began the fight of his life.
Multiple cuts to the great bird's legs stunned the beast, and allowed 'Fourin' to follow up with further strikes.
Amug was finally defeated by the sword of 'Jschlatt' in mid-Summer of year 180.
A fight between forgotten beasts set the third cavern's fungus ablaze. The smoke poured under the doors and into the staircases.
'Boulder' claimed a stoneworkers shop in a strange mood in late Summer.
'Leather' was found dead from dehydration in the jail cells, apparently the water source was inactive or something..
A series of asheries, kilns, and glass workshops were constructed near the magma sea. It was here that clear glass blocks would be created for a lakeside project..
More wood was needed, surprisingly, as the previous overseers had left a gigantic pile of the stuff in the mid-fortress mines. Dwarves were sent to chop down the surplus saguaros that grew on the remaining bit of deserted land to the north of our bunker entrances.
The third cavern was absolutely full of wood yet this was guarded by Vemini the fire breathing alligator with pink scales and terrible mandibles.
'Danny Phantom' the wrestler and two visiting goblin poets were found dead in mid-Autumn after a violent brawl in the general temple to all gods.
Lakesprayed the Ungodly was moved into a gold-door sealed clear glass block display case overlooking the cavern lake grotto.
eXCEPT FOr the part where we left a small gap in the glass display and it slipped right through lol
The huge feathered slug, purple and spewing poison gas, escaped into the grotto and threatened two dwarfs: 'Dream' and 'McCoy' the manager.
Most curiously, the creature seemed not to carry any immediate threat and instead stopped itself near the temple.
The first squad arrived and quickly cut the slug to pieces, however, 'Fourin' took a full breath of that poisonous gas during the fight. Later on, they perished from affliction while training. Horrible !
more pictures soon. I will pass on the save tonight once I find time to upload it. I forgot to journal this but the pillaging went quite well with many kills and victories for all dwarfs involved. It was merely the return to Longnight itself that resulted in those regrettable deaths.