Oh snap. Ooooh snap.
This fortress was
flourishing. 125+ citizens, a squad of ten Axe Lords, a self-sustaining industry... And candy.
Let's talk about candy. I had just discovered the magma sea, and was ready to mine it, when a dwarf entered a strange mood.
"Bones, cloth, rough gems, cut gems and bars of metal!", he demanded. And those I provided. However, due to a bug, and I'm sure it's a bug since I did all that was in my power, he didn't want to grab the cut gems and cloth. And so time passed, and I eventually forgot about him, reassured that my Axe Lords would know what to do when the time came.
I couldn't be more wrong. He went berserk, and the
first thing he did was destroy one door. And not a mere door, mind you, but the door that separated the stairwell from the water source which, you guess it, was directly connected to a river. Due to a human error, I had placed the floodgate just before the well's reservoir, and didn't even think about the flimsy wooden separée that separated my fort from a catastrophic demise.
![](http://i.imgur.com/INzsXgs.png)
My military squad is set to train near the third layer of caverns, to prevent any curious wildlife from accessing the main stairwell.
Said stairwell is now filled with 7/7 water, blocking my legendary Axedwarves inside. Luckily they have rations in their backpacks, but even those are starting to run short. But I've got to look at thing
positively: now half of my fort feels relieved! That's a burden off my shoulders.
![](http://i.imgur.com/i7ySUJP.png)
So what am I to do? The water is spilling in the cavern layer, and the uppermost layer of my fort looks safe for now. In the worst case scenario, I can floor the main stairwell and forget about it, while preparing a rescue mission for my precious militia. But this wouldn't stop the water from filling the caverns, and I'm not too happy about that.
Thus, before admitting defeat, I am trying one last thing: digging a tile-wide staircase from the surface to the magma sea, and redirecting the water pipe into it. If things go well, I might be able to drain the stairwell and build a wall where the original door stood. I don't know the effects of spilling a river into the abyss below, but it sounds !FUN! and doable. I'll keep you updated.
EDIT: I did it!
![](http://i.imgur.com/xoUnGxY.png)
But I am also an idiot. I'll blame the fact that I've been playing DF all night, so I'm tired. Here's the thing: instead of channeling the water pipe, to drain the water away from it,
I CHANNELED THE RIVER AGAIN! Luckily this reduced the water pressure by just the required amount for my dwarves to complete the bridge. Whew! In the meanwhile I have also sent a rescue team for my militia.
So now I have a river that's about to flood the magma sea. This is going to be fun.
EDIT2: Oh. The game is smarter than me. One single obsidian wall was formed, and that's it. Oh well, at least I didn't lose the fortress!