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[Artzbacher]

I have just embarked on a wonderful site. Spring, wilderness, first season. Upon checking my unit list, I noticed a deceased "Monster of snow":

"A huge snail composed of snow. It has wings and it appears to be emaciated.

Her body is gone."

I googled "dwarf fortress" "monster of snow" but had zero matches. So basically what I have here is a monster that actually melts and dies in late spring? That's pretty humorous. Does anyone have any experience with these snow-snails? Should I lock up the fortress every winter?

[Ieb]

Sounds like a HFS creature somehow met a horrible fate.
Which is odd considering how those things are supposed to be magma-proof no matter what. Bug perhaps? This thing going on that single tile with someone else who was too hot for it to handle?

We may never know.

[Musashi]

I have just embarked on a wonderful site. Spring, wilderness, first season. Upon checking my unit list, I noticed a deceased "Monster of snow":

"A huge snail composed of snow. It has wings and it appears to be emaciated.

Her body is gone."

I googled "dwarf fortress" "monster of snow" but had zero matches. So basically what I have here is a monster that actually melts and dies in late spring? That's pretty humorous. Does anyone have any experience with these snow-snails? Should I lock up the fortress every winter?

Huh... good question. Had a Forgotten Beast made of snow, it fought as any other before my warriors managed to break the tissue.
What's likely is that your snow monster was killed by something of little importance (like a kitten or a dog, as opposed to a dwarf), seeing how such monsters are quite fragile and can usually be killed very quickly, even by civilians who are inexperienced and just throw random punches. Now, could it melt because of the season? No idea. All I know is that I also had a scorpion (with mandibles and a poisonous stinger... isn't that completely redundant?) made of salt, and it wandered in the water just fine.

[Aspgren]

press 'r' and search for combat reports

[Nirreln]

I've got ten dwarf bucks on it melting and dying that way.

[Rexfelum]

Some easy answers:

So basically what I have here is a monster that actually melts and dies in late spring?

The materials that make up monsters don't follow all the same rules as the regular ones elsewhere in your game.  For example, if you find the corpse, you may encounter some "water" on the ground.  This "water" is monster debris, and will not flow like real water.  I think that the melting option is impossible.

All I know is that I also had a scorpion (with mandibles and a poisonous stinger... isn't that completely redundant?) made of salt, and it wandered in the water just fine.

Mandibles are mouthparts.

Now, some puzzle-solving:

I googled "dwarf fortress" "monster of snow" but had zero matches.

Alright, then we know it's a randomly-generated monster instead of a normal named one you can find on the wiki.

Sounds like a HFS creature somehow met a horrible fate.

Had a Forgotten Beast made of snow, it fought as any other before my warriors managed to break the tissue.

The one remaining randomly-named option is night creature.  However, "night creature" is out since the description would include the word "night."  Also, Forgotten Beast is out, because it doesn't tell you to "Beware its something-or-other!"  (There is always one such line, right?)  Thus, HFS monster.

When you zoom to the location of the corpse, is the thing deep underground?  Also, as mentioned, are there combat reports?

--Rexfelum

[Musashi]

All I know is that I also had a scorpion (with mandibles and a poisonous stinger... isn't that completely redundant?) made of salt, and it wandered in the water just fine.

Mandibles are mouthparts.

Psssht... I know what mandibles are. I was referring to the fact scorpions are supposed to have a poisonous stinger and mandibles (they do, right?) and that it's a bit silly the randomized description chose to warn me about these body parts. Much like a bird that is described as being winged, or a earthworm as being eyeless. 

[darkrider2]

I AM HAFIOUS, MONSTER OF SNOW
I SHALL DESTROY YOUR PUNY EXISTENCE AND FEED UPON YOUR ENTRAILS
OH SHIT THE SUN! I SHALL DEFEAT YOU NEXT WINTER

[Qwernt]

Uh, and her name was Frosty???

Frosty the Snow Clown,
Was a huge, emaciated snail
She was made of snow
And no dwarfs know
how she left from life one day.

[Ubiq]

Does anyone have any experience with these snow-snails? Should I lock up the fortress every winter?

It's just a fluke would be my guess.

If you want to know exactly what it is, then you can check without too much work. Go into your stockpile and select 'c' for custom stockpile and then 't' to change custom settings. Enable food as a setting and go to the meat category. Scroll down until you see Monster of Snow and see what the creatures around it are. If they're Fiends, Brutes, and the like, then it's a Demon. If it's a Night Crone or Hag or something along those lines, then it's a Night Creature. It's almost certainly a Demon, but you never know.

Where does the corpse show up at in the Stocks screen? If it's underground, then check to see if you have a Masterwork Adamantine Weapon lying around somewhere. If you do, the poor fool spawned inside of a curious underground structure and was killed by its inhabitants thanks to the fact that it's the Dwarf Fortress equivalent of a china doll.

If it's on the surface, it was either a glitch or you were playing in adventure mode before and the world in question has a cave with a direct tunnel to Hell in it.

[Artzbacher]

Thank's for the answers!

Ha ha ha, oh wow, I'm getting a laugh from the stockpile > food > meat categories. What exactly is a TAPIR FIEND? Just a generally unpleasant, sickly tapir? Anyway, the list was full of both night creatures and demons, but I couldn't find the monster of snow.

I can't zoom to the location of the corpse, and there's no combat log. It does not show in my stocks screen. I never play adventure mode due to the lag, so it can't be related.

There's this really cool masterwork adamantine scimitar way down below. So yeah, poor girl probably spawned in a bad place. Getting that scimitar later should prove fun.

Since I only noticed the corpse in late spring, when all the snow had melted, I jumped to the conclusion that she must have melted somehow, being exposed to the warmth. I've never heard of that happening and I guess that wasn't the case. A shame.

[Keldane]

Also, Forgotten Beast is out, because it doesn't tell you to "Beware its something-or-other!"  (There is always one such line, right?)

Not necessarily. I had a humanoid salt-being Forgotten Beast assault my fortress, and it had no 'beware' entry in its description. Maybe it's just rare that they don't have a special natural weapon?

[DuckBoy2]

Clowns can't melt, but there are creatures that can melt, freeze and hilariously enough, evaporate.  A man made of blood chased my dwarves to the surface on a frozen glacier, then his head froze and fell off. 

Link to spoiler heavy thread with further info (that I wrote before)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=57523.msg1259938#msg1259938

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