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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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Other(post a comment with idea)

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Total Members Voted: 8

[Otto_K]

I can start it tomorrow and then you do next week if that works!

Yes that works great! Turn is yours

[Maloy]

Hey uh no one sue me over this use of dfhack, but....




Yeah I am not fooling with that lol




Just saved the fort from FPS death

A lot of huge changes made to the fort! I'm trying to get my bearings and make some plans going forward, because other than guildhalls and stuff our survival seems pretty well set up.

Someone changed the squad to using only sword and shields, was there a particular reason? I don't wanna change it back to wearing armor if there was a plan in mind

[Salmeuk]

glad to see some work done here.

thats.. a lot of fkin olms . and other creatures. . I feel like cavern invaders should be turned off unless we are directly fighting them.

Someone changed the squad to using only sword and shields, was there a particular reason? I don't wanna change it back to wearing armor if there was a plan in mind

probably me, I tend to do that with new recruits because I find that, until armor user skill is competent or better, that new recruits get destroyed if they are weighted down with said armor. so in emergency draft situations giving them shields n swords can be a better choice if you are trying to kill something vs. have as many dwarves survive as possible.

I may have left them in that state afterwards

[TheFlame52]

In really metal poor and dangerous forts, I've armed the entire population with obsidian short swords and wooden shields.

[Maloy]

I'll post an update soon, but I feel like 90% of my turn is cleaning up FPS and setting things up for everyone else lol


Which is fine, because having an FPS nightmare would just kill the fort.

Also gotta decide what to do from here? Expand to the other cavern layers? Dig for candy? Start taking dwarven settlements from the surface? A lot of options really...

[Salmeuk]

I feel like 90% of my turn is cleaning up FPS and setting things up for everyone else lol

lets just say the effort is much appreciated.

why not go for the candy and get some nice adamantine weapons into the world. or some armor pieces.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

or a wheelbarrow

[Maloy]

Save: https://dffd.bay12games.com/file.php?id=17219

Summary:
I paved over the entire surface and won back around 10 FPS some those stupid cacti

I exterminated and then atom-smashed over 600 olm men and their pets

I dug down to the magma layer and third cavern layer and built magma forges, because I didn't want the tedium of fuel sources

I didn't find Adamantine, but I did at least fully outfit our squad and have them begin training to be decent armor users.

I forgot to dwarf myself again so if you don't mind putting me on whatever murderous psychopath you can find.

I used Fastdwarf to deal with the insanity of cleaning up Olm and Cacti genocides. Should play well now, but tbh if you still have slow FPS playing this save I would not judge you for using Fastdwarf dfhack.
Oh also I used dfhack to set so only 50 olm men can invade us at a time
I probably recovered 20-25 FPS in total from when I started?

That Terrible Laughter
The last thing I remember was laughter...This fell, terrible, roaring laughter echoing all around me. I couldn't recognize the voice making this awful sound, but a few moments after first hearing it I realized it was myself who was laughing.
I didn't recall laughing, or why I was laughing, but my body very much was, and this out of body sensation continued for several minutes of uncontrolled laughter while onlookers stared at me with concern and fear.

Then, I felt the laughter myself and I no longer felt out of my self, but very much MY SELF and laughed for another couple of minutes before wiping the drool from my beard and announcing "I know what must be done!"


The first joke occurred the same day: The army of olm men, an army almost as large as our whole empire that was spread across the continent, had all died mysteriously from a plague on the other side of the cavern from us! Hilarious! I couldn't contain myself! I laughed myself silly, and while a few dwarves chuckled the rest were clearly too awed by the favor shown to us to appreciate it!

I gave my biggest warmest smile, which made O'brien squirm from the warmth it made him feel, and told everyone "Bust down the cavern wall! We're gonna smash every single body into paste!"
Everyone froze! Why would they freeze, you ask? They were simply overwhelmed by having to decide who would bear the honor of smashing all these wonderful corpses!

I nodded sagely for I knew these thoughts to be in their minds and followed the silence with "Not to worry, honorable kinsmen! We won't have to draw lots on who will be part of this momentous task, but instead every single one of us shall do this! From toddler to greybeard we shall all participate in the greatest corpse pasting in world history!"
They were stunned into silence, so afraid to break the reverential moment we were in that a few whispered to others quiet enough that I couldn't hear!

We set to work!


Sadly, some of the animals survived and began mauling revered corpse haulers and we lost a few dwarves. I had the squads dispatch them easily enough and instructed a butchers shop be built on top of the Olm man corpse pile in order to butcher the pets.
"You want us to butcher the animals that have been feeding on the Olms that all died from the plague?" Jennifer the dwarf asked
I didn't blink, and hadn't blinked at all in awhile, because I was training myself to not need to blink anymore and said as simply as I could "Yes."
Awed by my authority she said nothing else and soon we were butchering Giant Olms and Cave bears!



Oh how gorgeous!

I give it to the mayor. She has been complaining non-stop about my new edicts as overseer and this should quiet her down!
I have mandated 22 hour shifts a day and have banned blinking more than twice a minute.

Now for my next task: We begin digging down down down down dowwwwwwnnnn!

Did I ever mention that I particularly love this cavern's color palate? So soothing


But the soothing caverns aren't why I am here. I already feel quite soothed since I stopped sleeping and picked up laughing instead.

We find the great magma sea! Where the world ends and begins! Finally! Running around looking for coal was distracting everyone from the no-blinking mandate
We build the great forges and I set the labors to constant.



How neat! I wonder if that is where I shall find the singing metal?

As I recline upon my table in my room, for my chair was harboring conspiratorial thoughts against me, I was interrupted! An elven diplomat! Here?! In the depths of the caverns! Accursed creatures can't leave us alone! The diplomat brings a letter! I trust no one else to read it, but verbally summarize it to the rest "We snooty, stupid, ugly stinky elves promise peace and harmony with the dwarves if you swear to live in harmony with nature and stop hurting it. We are also not very smart!"
Otto looks dumbfounded by the elves proposal and says "Maloy, there's no elves down here and there haven't been any in the fort"
He was speaking in code of course, because the elves might be spying on us. I nodded sagely.
"We must send them a message they shall never forget. We never yield!"
Otto looked nervous, perhaps fearing that I would have us move to the surface to wage war, but my idea was far better "We will open a path to the surface and pave over every inch of soil on it!"
Silence filled the room as the crowds were awed by my divinely inspired idea "Th-the whole thing?"
I nodded sagely
another chimed "But we've been down here for years! The sun could kill us! Paving the entire surface is madness!"
I continued nodding "Yes, you see. That is why I have had you all banned from blinking! Your eye muscles have been trained to withstand it! Do not worry we will extend shifts to 23 hours a day until the project is complete!"

One of Otto's soldiers reached for his sword before a hand stopped him. Clearly the soldier feared elven infiltrators and I smiled warmly at him that he went pale "Fear not, kinsman. The elves will not be able to stop us!"


Labor started. Dwarves vomited, passed out, or even began spasming violently on the ground of the surface from the sheer exultation they felt completing this most noble of tasks.
Then a great rumbling shook our whole fort!


Thankfully, the beast was at the first cavern, which we were not on, and was going to have a wonderful tea party with the other forgotten beast.

Sadly, the tea was overheated and burned them both. Did I mention that Sasmcith is basically a muscled skeleton with its flesh burnt off? Fascinating



The tea was so hot that it actually incinerated poor Onga's tongue! That's why we dwarves drink cold alcohol!



It turns out O'brien is from the civilization we plan on conquering! Whoops! Hopefully no one has told him!

Another artifact finishes while receiving Otto's hospital report of all the injured dwarves we have



I give the mask to Otto, which doesn't stop him from chattering about injured dwarves, but at least it muffles it so I can focus on those strange shadows on the edges of my vision.

We find something funny while digging for the singing metal I keep hearing

Tobul kindly asks for permission to flee to a more tactical position. I understand his position, but I am deadly curious on whether or not the steam monster will try to enter his body through his nostrils and cause him to explode. The thought makes me laugh


Ah, it turns out all he had to do was vaguely swish his pickaxe in its direction and the steam was dissipated. Not as funny as my idea, but its fine.

Beautiful



Pictured: A wild hamster digs at pavement looking for food


They called me a madman

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

A lone camel looks desperately for grass to graze on and finds none


The surface has been cleared! We are free of those treacherous Cacti!

I watch the sunrise on a grateful fortress! And then the laughter ends and I see everything I have done. I scream.

[Salmeuk]

you are insane ahahaha you actually did it. a most horrifying flattening has occurred

That mask looks pretty good on Otto!

[Otto_K]

I can take the turn! In fact, I just did.



Image 1: Atir 'Otto_K III' Razorscars

Longnight - Interlude: The Mask

'Otto_K III' was a fierce warrior by the name of Atir Razorscars. But her intimidating name hardly told the whole story about her. She was the polar opposite of the stoic, tight-lipped Nish 'Otto_K' Kivishsazir. In fact, she had befriended basically everybody in the benighted fortress. Her sense of humor had gotten her through the darkness so far, so she felt no need to lose her calm or get angry.

In fact, sometimes she couldn't help but smile.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Image 2: Atir's friends


No. She had to keep herself together. This darkness had cost the sanity of many of the Umbrasouls. And none had suffered as much of it as Thob Diamondhour.

Atir didn't know how a person's mind could go so wrong, but that had happened to Thob, the 'Maloy III', at some point. A wildly creative, sadistically cruel perfectionist, he had had the dwarves of Longnight living in fear during the long months of his rule as Overseer. On the surface, he seemed the most sunny, optimistic dwarf, who never showed anger, and never even considered that things could end badly for anyone. But under the surface was a pit deeper and darker than Longnight itself.

It's that damn smile. Atir couldn't stand looking at it. She took the garish mask Thob had given him as a jest, and gave it a good look. She didn't care for its devilish features, but they were more kind than the face of that man. As Overseer, it was a simple matter to order Thob to wear the mask, and hide that horrible smile.

Ah. Much better.


Image 3: Thob Diamondhour, the mad

[Salmeuk]

wait, are we passing around a cursed artifact hemp mask now . . ? What a great idea. maybe when you  become overseer you must wear the mask on your dwarf. or make a new one or something

[Maloy]

wait, are we passing around a cursed artifact hemp mask now . . ? What a great idea. maybe when you  become overseer you must wear the mask on your dwarf. or make a new one or something

I love it lol

I love the psycho meme face on my dwarf too.

I think I'm gonna have to roll with my dwarf at this fort just being a psycho rather than a fell mood

[Otto_K]

Image : Sasmcith Fataldives, forgotten beast

Longnight: Day of Tusk and Horn
Summer of 179 in Romekanan

To support a digging crew on its way to the first cavern layer, the dwarves opened the door that allowed access to the first-second cavern connection tunnel. Suddenly, there was a forgotten beast in that tunnel. Sasmcith Fataldives. A croaking, fire-breathing Triceratops frog… bug creature? One of our weavers, Ushrir Ostarbomrek went missing, she had gone to the tunnel to fetch spider silk.

Atir Razorscars gathered the squad at the door from the heart of the fortress to the maintenance staircase where the beast was now lurking. The fortified door would be the perfect spot to ambush the fire-breathing creature.

Atir jumped in, the door closing behind her like an airlock. She was coughing, half blinded by smoke. Very capably she dodged every attack of the injured dinosaur, but the smoke made it impossible to land more than a handful of glancing hits on it, so she kicked and punched it to survive.

A dwarf worker hastily disassembled the doors, and at once the ceratops started spewing fireballs at everything that moves. Atir was fighting the beast in close quarters the whole time, while Ushrir Wanderwall the bookkeeper struck with her spear, and Melbil Bankcities engaged the beast with his sword as the smoke started to clear.


Image : Atir Vs Sascmith

As the smoke cleared, Atir struck with her -iron short sword-, crushing bone and tearing scales. The speardwarf’s aim was good, the spear penetrated the beast’s head and neck many times. In the end, though, the glassmaker Ineth Mirrorsubmerges barged in and killed the beast with his copper axe.

Talk about stolen glory, Atir thought. Nah, it’s nothing to be angry about. Then she fell over in agony. One of the triceratops’ fireballs had exploded a rye beer keg, and the boiling contents had been splashed all over her upper body.


The dead, paved surface was a blessing despite its horrific appearance; much like in the Forests of Burning, it’ll deprive the invaders the cover of trees. Which was good because there used to be a lush, prospering jungle of saguaro cacti, which have been cut down. We have 1300 saguaro wood logs, which is probably more wood than we’ll ever need.

The melting of iron ore is underway, and the iron excavation near surface was turned into cactiwood stockpile. A large quantity of saguaro wood furniture was issued. Clothing production was put in high gear after the mayor complained about being naked because of the general lack of clothing that had lasted for months.

Amidst the smoldering wine barrels, Atir regained consciousness, demanding to know how much time had been lost. She pushed herself up fighting the pain, and demanded that the military staff meet her in the war room. The troops needed a reminder that this is still a military outpost.



Image : The Hannibal Stratagem

She looked at the map, and a plan started to form. Instead of sending the troops further afield to wreak havoc on the Union, she saw a very different opportunity. The elves of the Moth of Enjoyment surely expect us to circumnavigate the mountains and assault them from north, the direction of Earthenjungles.

No! We’re dwarves, as they’ll soon come to bitterly realize. We’ll travel UNDER the mountains and use the caves as a shortcut to the heart of their woodland empire. The most populous and powerful elven grove, Tombsbeached.

When the dwarves finally figured out that the war elephants need to be un-pastured, the squad finally got on its way. When they got back, they told tales of brutal battle. Elephants and dwarves cutting their way through armies of hundreds and hundreds of bobcats and jaguars. They all had gained kills on the savage raid. The hero of the day was the elephant that the elves had titled the ‘Disembowelment of Infernoes’.


Image : The killer elephant. That's 11 elves

But they returned to a fortress that had been thrown into chaos. The sick ward was full of brutalized dwarves. A dwarf came running out onto the sun-scorched pavement with a look of terror in his eyes. Atir stopped him, demanding answers. “Astesh… Gidthur… letmos…” he gasped. “Somebody… stop that lunatic!”

When they entered the fortress, they found out that an organizational change had led to an outburst of police violence. A new captain of the guard had been appointed to lead the new squad, but in the absence of a working jail, he had proceeded to roam the fort, beating up everybody who had been found guilty of neglecting mayoral commissions. Which is a lot of dwarves. A new jail was quickly established to satisfy all parties.



Image : Astesh Gidthurletmos. Fear him



Thoughts:

- The big square rooms that are empty atm, are they meant for guild halls or temples or something else?

- I just realized we're approaching 30 years of this ongoing adventure, which is pretty crazy! (from year 150 to 180)

- It seems both Atir and Thob had a defining moment in year 176 when they witnessed the decaying of their dead friend. What if it was the same dwarf? What happened in 176?

[Maloy]

Two things we never ask dwarves

1. What happened to the dimple cup men?

2. What happened in year 176


Had our own dwarf version of Hannibal crossing the mountains, nice!

30 years! It'll be cool when some of our descendants finish growing up and end up becoming main characters

[Otto_K]

Image : Dwarven babies


Longnight: Massacre of Cryptrush
Winter 179 in Romekanan

The second attack on Tombsbeached saw us hold a strong tactical advantage, but somehow there was much less carnage done. The newly formed second squad, led by the guard captain Astesh, was sent to raze and pillage a settlement of our dear neighbors, the Walled… I mean, Wordy Dye.

A plan had been brewing for months among the more extreme political and military factions of the Standard of Control. This was one of the reasons Longnight was founded in the first place. A major fortress like Gateheaven was an impossible place to plot a war campaign without alerting King Crimsonreward’s court. But a remote new outpost was the perfect place to stage a surprise attack against these treacherous dwarves who turned their back on our civilization. Atir didn't consider herself some political extremist, but for various reasons she had cast her lot with the militant movement, and she would see that their plan would be brought to action.

Meanwhile, we received migrants from the older fortresses, such as Iden ‘Self-defeating’ Volalnomal, citizen of both Gateheaven and the Forest of Burning. Her husband never visited the Forest but they’re both here now, reunited, and their son as well. She’s done pretty alright, despite her pessimistic name, so I gave her unnamed family members more hopeful names.


Image : Names for her family


Several mothers gave birth to new Umbrasoul children this year, and that’s in addition to older children like ‘Self-defeating’s son. Many other residents of Gateheaven and the Forest of Burning have migrated here. ‘Sisko’ and ‘O’Brien’ had already arrived earlier, and the new migrants included ‘Arda’, ‘Danny Phantom’… and ‘Crispy’?

This wasn’t good at all. Another migrant told Atir the story of ‘Crispy’ Shovelpaints’ werehyena curse. A transformation in the full tavern where the newly arrived migrants hanged around would not be ideal. Atir decided to release him into the cavern. Trial by combat. If he survives the encounter, he’ll be a free dwarf and will just be excommunicated to an off-site outpost as soon as we get one. A shame, really. He had migrated here with a woman who he told was his wife.

Upon the full moon, ‘Crispy’ slipped out to stalk the caverns. His scent was detected by the winged slug known only as the Ungodly. On the surface, Lorbam Honorgate - a weremarmot had arrived, and traveled into the first cavern layer. It ran into a miner who ran away, constantly dodging attacks all the way down. At the end of the connecting tunnel, a speardwarf jumped out and a swift stab exploded the weremarmot’s skull. ‘AvolitionBrit’ the Enforcer wiped his spear and escorted the miner to safety.

The Ungodly had finally flown and crawled all the way to the werehyena… who transformed back to a dwarf at the most inopportune moment. It was too late to withdraw, and Moldath Shovepaints engaged the forgotten beast head-on. He had lost the sword I had tried to allocate to him, and bashed with the useless wooden shield and started biting the slug. There was no hope for him, though.


Image : Crispy Vs The Ungodly


The main squad arrived to try to avenge the death of the brave, cursed dwarf. But then one of them gave the beast a new name to memorialize the battle. “May this beast be known among dwarves as Smesputostra Sum, Lakesprayed the Ungodly”, he said.

Lakespray. What a fitting name. Atir commanded the troops to stand down and go home. The beast had been captured behind doors and walls, the cave was ours. It would remain as a guardian spirit to watch over this lake’s sprays and this whole fortress. And we can kill it later if it suits us.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Image : Smesputostra Sum, Lakesprayed the Ungodly.


Expansions into the fort were made. New noble rooms were built on the other side of the lake, and a wide walkway bridge to connect to them. An expansion to our holdings in the second cavern was done. More room for the elephants! There's one thing that's bothering me: on every raid, the slowest part is always getting the elephants off the map, because they move so slowly... Also, I nicknamed some of them NonCom for non-combatant, because their owners seem to have gone missing, just so I know they're not going on missions.

The food and drink stockpiles were greatly expanded to move the barrels off the workshops - in fact, new woodworkers were built to fix our massive bin+barrel shortage. The old mayor’s quarters were leveled to build a larger tavern. Steel production was going well, and we should get some steel weapons made, even if forgotten beasts had fallen to iron weapons before.



At the end of the year, the main squad was finally sent against the dwarves of the Wordy Dye. Astesh’s little raid hadn’t been very effective, but this time we'll go for the big prizes. Atir Razorscars led the dwarves and their war elephants to the fortress of the Wordy Dye, Cryptrush.

On their way out, the squad was ambushed in the main staircase by a massive crow with emerald-colored feathers, blocking their way up. Guthstak. It must have crawled from the caves to the surface. Obok Curlmachine carefully advanced up the steep stairs, blocking the flurry of wings and claws. Kicking its tongue (?) and stabbing its neck, she climbed closer. She casually stabbed it to pieces with her bismuth bronze spear. After that incident and waiting for the elephants to get on the move, the short trip south to Cryptrush began.

What happened next was a huge and bloody raid, where every member earned grim titles, for the slaughter of over seventy dwarves. (75 by my count, all historical figures) Atir herself was now known across the land as the Barricaded Kin of Skulls, and her elephant, which had taken multiple lives as well, was now known as Messthos Smoothgems Romek Vetek, or the Length of Targeting.

Others had been given grim titles as well, like Melbil Bankcities the Dull Slaughters. Others veered toward the esoteric, like the elephant Alåth the Crazy Magic, or Lolor the Creative Speaker of Kindling... or one of the squaddwarves, now called Solon Crystalpeats the Reputed Serpent of Masters.

Names aside, this was a big attack against the other dwarven empire, and the Umbrasouls of Longnight were now wanted dwarves: enemies of elf, human, goblin and dwarf alike.



Image : The Massacre at Cryptrush
(click for full size)


(How did the weremarmot get to the caverns, and the forgotten beast to the surface? Well, I dug a stairwell to connect the first cavern layer to the hills, for some added cavern chaos)

[Maloy]

So cool seeing such huge progress!

Now that I think about it I think all these empty rooms were built by Avolition to eventually be guild halls and such, but can be repurposed for whatever

I don't think it will take too long to conquer these dwarves! They have steel and martial trances, but they shouldn't have any legendary leaders, especially since they have been living in peace all this time unlike us