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Embark upon the cavern layer! Survive the depths!

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Reclaim our destroyed capital after filling it with divine weapons and armor! March with the fury of heaven!

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Total Members Voted: 8

[Salmeuk]

it is quite tedious at ~20 fps. that much I admit. But I approve of Kesperan's turn, if only because they were unafraid and directly confronted the sieges - braver than I!

Scores of puppies from the last human invasion have grown to become dogs, as they swim in the river at the edge of the map.

yeah when that one siege started reproducing I was like, huh. I guess all those dogs are now just part of the river? lol

My only suggestion is, perhaps.. we make multiple fortresses to avoid the tedium of a long-running murderbox? like, once we hit this level of chaos we retire and thus grow our empire.

regardless, I'm watching the thread and might take another turn should it fall to me. The dwarf bank idea is a really good one I might try to make this uh 'utopian cloister' within my current fort

[Otto_K]

I know you said one-week turns, but I played for one year.
If you would prefer, you can ignore my timeline and Otto can start from Sal's last turn. I am not sure the fort is salvageable at this point.

Noted! I'll read your report and then i'll take my pick of the two saves. I'll edit this message until i have something big to report

I should have plenty time to play during the 1 week time (starting now?), even though i'll be pretty busy until weekend

Edit: Okay, so everybody's mad, lots of dead dwarves, and my dwarf went missing? Sorry but I think i'll take your offer and play Salmeuk's save instead



Image 1: That's me

I see horrible visions of strange armies rampaging through the mesa, dwarves dying in scores to infection and savage brawls, as depression and madness spreads unmitigated through Gateheaven. I see myself vanishing from the pages of history, even my body disappearing never to be found.

I, Nish OttoK Lancerbridged, wake up in the hospital. I decide that this was just a bad dream. I've dreamt one of the countless potential futures. Father, the sleeper has awakened! LONG LIVE THE FIGHT-- Where was I? My neck hurts, my already scarred limbs have been banged up even more... But I feel more clear, I have new ideas about this fort's future...

A dwarf with a mournful look comes to me. "Salmeuk the Overseer is dead! You are called upon to take the lead", he tells me. Overseer, huh? I thought my days of leadership were done when I retired from the position of expedition leader. But, duty must be honored...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Image 2: City of the dead

I walk the halls like I'm seeing them for the first time. On impulse, I walk downstairs and follow the corridor. I'm shocked to find myself in a long hallway littered with countless coffins, maybe half of them full. I stagger back in shock, passing through a door. Turning around, I see a sea of bones and body parts. Trogdolyte corpses, elves, all rotting as one, covering the large room's entire floor.

In a moment of disorientation, a thought comes to me. Am I in hell?

• from the diary of Nish OttoK Lancerbridged

Okay, let's get to it then. Where should I begin? Farms are inaccessible so I make a shortcut from the tunnel at the back of the hospital. We have alarmingly little livestock, mainly geese. All eggs are now banned from cooking and stockpiles, to get more birds on our plates instead. I like waterworks so let's see if I can divert some water from the river into some internal misty waterfalls. Ah, to feel some mist on your face...

The Metalsmith Guild requests a guildhall. And Furrnox Sprayedmanor has... WHAT?? You're laying claim to monarchy? Now? On my turn? Nar the Bloated save me... Well, just try to survive for a while without lavish quarters, okay. This is a great moment for the Standard of Control, of course. In the 9th of Malachite, Midsummer, we have become the seat of monarchy of this dying empire. A new dawn dor dwarfkind and all that... Yes, yes, write it all down. Now back to work!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Image 3, 4: Hail the queen!

[Otto_K]

"ScaryWizard" Nokorfikod gives birth to a baby boy, "Kesperan" Emeraldstaff, the reincarnation of the poor soul who crushed himself with a boulder last year. His father is "Mangointango" Beriseth, the militia captain. I see great things in his future.

Image 1: The baby

Kesperan the baby lives, as was foretold, if only with a different name. Great amounts of water now fall through the fortress, creating mists, hopefully lifting the moods over time. I realized I should lock the nest room door and sure enough, the birds are now nursing many eggs. I'm producing this and that, and letting the dwarves do their things. For now, I don't need anything from the outside world. Deep Gateheaven and a district of new guildhalls is being carved into stone.


Image 2: Artificial waterfall barracks


Image 3: Pools of blood

The whole military was issued to take a break, but now they're back at training, and they have all been assigned into a newly carved barracks where they will be endlessly splashed by the waterfall falling through the carved stairwells. I noticed that there's huge, elaborate pools of blood everywhere, likely because the dwarves get themselves washed clean of old blood and dirt by the waterfall's mist and splashes. No, hold on. There's so much blood, so I look closer. I'm starting to wonder if it's from the river. Pools of dwarf, elf, jaguar and elephant blood surround the waterfalls.

[kesperan]

Otto, I think you’ve done the right thing and ignored my cursed timeline.

I did two things wrong which really messed up the population - over-estimating the effectiveness of the military and then harrowing the dwarves by cleaning up all the corpses.

I was in the process of building a new bridge to secure the farms at the entrance when the latest siege erupted.

Glad to see that Kesperan lives on!

[Salmeuk]

auspicious beginnings, what with the queen and all that. hopefully you can turn the overall unhappy mood around

I see horrible visions of strange armies rampaging through the mesa, dwarves dying in scores to infection and savage brawls, as depression and madness spreads unmitigated through Gateheaven. I see myself vanishing from the pages of history, even my body disappearing never to be found.

I, Nish OttoK Lancerbridged, wake up in the hospital. I decide that this was just a bad dream.

love this setup.

[neblime]

Hell yeah we have a queen now! Her reign will be bloody and vengeful.  I cant imagine what mind of "polite conversation" is used to sieze the throne. Our fort will be the seat of her power!
Kesperan i think the dwarves must be hardened by trauma at some point though, so we're merely delaiyng the inevitable by not going with that.

[Maloy]

We must christen her reign with the countless bodies of our enemies!


Our last king was hiding out in a near-abandoned hillocks with 4 other dwarves. I think this means they were probably all killed while we've been here.

[TheFlame52]

The trick is to harden the dwarves with trauma without driving them insane.

[Otto_K]

The trick is to harden the dwarves with trauma without driving them insane.

Yea, that's about it. It's important to get enough good thoughts that balance out the bad thoughts, so dwarves recover and don't spiral


Uh oh, there's a problem. THE HORSE has come.

Okay, we're in luck: the invading goblin force decided to take on the beast. It was quite a battle but they killed it. A web-spinner loose on the surface would've been a serious problem to reckon with...


Image 1: The horse

I've reorganized some of the stockpiles and set up new ones, and I added checks on EVERY work order so there's not so many cancellations all the time, and I also changed some of them to be global work-orders (vs single workshop).

Iden the 'Self-defeating' has created 'The Undignified Tours', a llama wool face veil; I gave the artefact to our monarch, and I think it looks pretty cool. The bird eggs finally started hatching. Just in time, too, since there was another strange mood: Avuz 'MaybelleV0' Armorwars, the new broker. With the goose bloodline secured, I opened the nest room and butchered a couple of the geese, which satiated the dwarf's need for bones.


Image 2: 'The Undignified Tours', a llama wool face veil

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Image 3. Very nice! 'MaybelleV0' created the 'Amber Song', a bauxite wind instrument.


In other news, sorry but I save-scummed a bit to test out the pillar chamber. It went pretty bad, so I reloaded to a previous save. If the dwarves fight at the chamber, some of them will dodge into the air and fall to the bottom, which will serve to separate the dwarves from each other and create confusion. Also our ballista operators aren't very good so sometimes shots seem to go wide. I installed some weapon traps on the bridge to hopefully get more enemies to fall down

[TheFlame52]

Have ballistas ever been good? They're more expensive and less effective than just regular crossbows.

[Salmeuk]

some of them will dodge into the air and fall to the bottom,

designed by yours truly! haha

my plan was mostly to pepper them with the ballista, then throw down the bridges and fight at the eastern edge of the room. . .OSHA had no say in the blueprinting process

[Otto_K]

Image 1: Thevalo Yellbristle, bronze colossus.

In midwinter, the bronze colossus came. Thevalo Yellbristle the Banner of Lashes.

Realizing that this was a threat too grievous to ignore, I decided to try hitting two birds with the same stone – or stuffing two dangerous foes into a shared death maze together. I opened the pillar room’s entrance.

First, a large group of visiting bards rushed inside, many looking tattered or naked after enduring the harsh, violent surface of Gateheaven. While our trapped visitors finally saw their chance to leave via the same tunnel. The colossus was still duking it out with some bards, poets and dogs. As is common with these beings, it wielded a turkey leather glove as a weapon, slowing it down. The war dogs, Kost, Lalgi, Xetan, Tin, Sattha and Gib found a leaving human bard and killed him. Some other bards seemingly dodged into a weapon trap...


Image 2: The lucky ballista shot

A portion of the goblin force split off and attacked the colossus, while the rest headed for the entrance. The spiked copper ball traps started shredding goblins and tossing them into the abyss. Two ballistas were fired at the bridge: both went a bit wide, but thankfully one of the arrows was “off” in the right direction and flew the length of the bridge, cutting down everybody on that side.

Roughly half of the 130 invaders were killed, some by the traps, some by the ballista arrow, many by the colossus: and the siege was broken and they ran away.

There’s a different problem: the fortress is totally running out of food, and drinks and seeds as well. If it had taken any longer to clear that siege, there would have been big trouble. I slaughtered every adult goose to get us through the worst of it, and then I ordered the dwarves to harvest EVERYTHING on the surface. No time to be picky, just need to find anything edible.

The bronze colossus was victorious but its whole body is broken, and it can’t stand. I was hoping it would become a stationary scary totem for us, but alas, the colossus is slowly crawling towards the fort…

Edits:

Have ballistas ever been good? They're more expensive and less effective than just regular crossbows.

A crossbowdwarf squad with a firing platform would be amazing for the maze, for sure

BTW: If you're curious about the fort's moods, see the top of the images. Waterfalls are crazy efficient

[Maloy]

Otto bringing us back from the brink! Great work! Get those shrubs from the surface!

If we wanna keep it as a pet or attraction we can catch it in a cage trap! At the very least I don't want one of those filthy goblins getting credit for killing it in legends! Our fort our kill! Or our trophy if we catch it lol

[Otto_K]

Image 1: Dwarves vs Colossus


Image 2: Gross biscuits

The squads engaged the wounded colossus right in front of the main fortress entrance, and it soon succumbed to the extensive damage it had already suffered. A sworddwarf cut the construct in half and it turned into a statue.

In the kitchens, the results of our surface foraging emerged. Tasty? No. Necessary? Unfortunately.

At the very start of year 156, the humans of the ‘Union of Frenzy’ came to parlay. A human civilization from the coastal plains, but they've mingled too much with the goblins, and there's even goblins in this invasion force. Foul creatures, I think, little more than goblins in human skin.

I decided to fight right away to stay on top of the schedule. Ballistas were useless this time. Urdim ‘Micromanager’ rushed in alone, due to my bad squad stationing, and he was overwhelmed by the enemy. RIP.


Image 3: Union of Frenzy wishes to parley...


Image 4: They came from... behind!

Next, three more dwarves rushed into the pillar room. Nish ‘OttoK’ and another (I forgot who) mowed down enemy after enemy, fighting through the bridge. Kib ‘Scaredy Scorpion’ fell off, and engaged the entire tail end of the enemy force by himself.

Eventually all three fell down to the bottom floor, and headed for the stairway. The way I had set up the stairs, the three maniac dwarves had now cut off the remaining living invaders in the room. Must have been absolutely terrifying to realize that your only escape is blocked by three frenzied dwarves.

I don’t understand how but they killed everybody in the room, resulting in total breakdown of the 160-entity siege. ‘Micromanager’, ‘Scaredy Scorpion’ and ‘OttoK’ all popped a martial trance, that surely made an impact.

Many of the siegers were war dogs. And here, an opportunity arises. What, you thought when I said not to be picky, I just meant funny veggies? We’re eating dog now, dwarves. Some dog, at least. I managed to build more butchershops and put the tasks on priority, but the time window quickly closed and most of the dog corpses rotted away. Still, the dog meat we got will be useful.


Image 5: Bon appetit...

We have soap now! Some goose soap was made, and some dog soap. I added an atom smasher to the corpse storage halls and started clearing out the human waste of our many past sieges. Fort’s happiness improvement has exceeded my expectations even with the added carnage. Many dwarves are still very much stressed out, though.

[Otto_K]

Image 1: Elf siege

At summer, the elves laid siege to the fortress. Three dwarves were sadly lost. First, ‘Greedy (for a dwarf)’ was jumped by the elves outside. Then, the battle began in the pillar room, and ‘Bruenor’ fell to the bottom and was overwhelmed by elves and animals there. Lastly, ‘Goodman74’, a newly recruited fighter, was killed.

Ballistas landed some decent hits on the front of the elven troops. But elven armies don’t retreat easily! Is that a thing with elves? Brutal battle. But it wasn’t without its spoils. We harvested 400 points of meat from jaguars, horses and an elephant. In celebration, I ordered lavish meals to be cooked. This stuff isn’t going into meat biscuits!


No.

NO NO NO…

The specter of darkness has cast its shadow on us. Maybe it had intended to stay hidden, but the goblin invaders thought otherwise, foolishly attacking the warrior of death. With a whisper, a gesture, he raised an army for himself from the discarded corpse piles. Now goblin shall fight rotten undead elf…


Image 2: The walking dead