It was my second fortress, and was thriving for its first time. The bedrooms had been set, and I just needed to find a fuel source for my smelter. I made a staircase down and created more storage space, hopefully finding coal in the process.
Unfortunately, on the level in which the storage was to be built, I hit a cave. My miner, Tovul Bekaralath, went back up to the bedrooms for a drink- thank the DF gods- and so the mechanic, Goden Sazirmigrur, decided to check out the cavernous area. Immediately, he saw something pounce and started up the stairs. He did manage to reach the bedrooms, but the thing grabbed his left foot and tore it off. Goden fell onto the ground. The thing then grabbed his top half and ripped it clean off. Tovul was horrified. He had known Goden since 1, which was five years ago. The poor miner was without weapons unlike Goden and older, but braver- and with revenge on his mind. He grabbed his copper pickaxe and took the cave crocodile by surprise.
It was one sided- for the most part. Tovul ripped away the croc's arteries, stabbed him through the head multiple times. The crocodile vomited, but as a last resort, it took a huge claw at Tovul's stomach, ripping it half open. Tovul pulled out his copper pick from the head and stabbed it once more into the mouth, killing the Assultdrills, the cave crocodile, instantly.
Tovul was wounded heavily, bleeding out of his stomach. The mutilated body of Goden lay on the stairs. Then, Tovul yells out for the healer and planter, Inod Kacothfikod. His ears perked up and the dwarf stormed down the bloodied stairs. He rushed both of them into Tovul's bedroom and locks the door.
Tovul was healed after a while, but had to stay in bed.
Immediately after Tovul was given his crutch, the fortress was overrun.
There were hundreds of monsters in the cave. Inod, along with one other, perished. The remaining 3 who could stand formed a small militia called the Copper Earths. Imush Umamlimul, the Mason who was a good friend of Tobul, lead the group. They delved into the cave seeking further revenge. Ber Onulmozib, who was previously a milker, dived in and became a Wrestler. She managed to do heavy damage to the monsters inside, enduring heavy pain. She perished later. Mestthos Nilesuzol, a recruit, also died afterwards.
Imush left the hunt, his left hand broken. He tried to seal off the cave, but not quickly enough. All the monsters inside flooded out, passing the bedrooms without attacking Tobul. Imush ran outside and hid in a corner of the embark.
A few days passed. Most of the monsters had gone back into their cave and hidden somewhere, but some of the Troglodyte did stay out, prowling. 2 migrants arrived, who tried to fight them- but were slaughtered. Tobul recovered and went back into the cave, but quickly saw the bodies and realized the intense danger of it besides the crocodiles. He sealed the cave off successfully with a door and went back to the surface. He dug an emergency room in case it was overrun. Imush and Tobul, the last two dwarves alive, met up. After about a day of hiding on the surface from the lone Troglodyte, migrants arrived. After the death of their bone carver, the lone cook, Edzul Amemastesh, killed the Troglodyte.
The 3 survivors band together for a while. The cook goes to the cave to inspect, while Imush and Tobul get some water and set up a meeting.
Edzul finds a giant, rampaging toad along with tons of other beasts. He runs up the staircase, locking the door behind him- but to no avail. The gigantic toad breaks through the brittle wood and charges up the stairs.
Meanwhile, the two have a meeting on what their next action should be. They decide on making coffins for the dead ones to prevent haunting and further miasma. They hear the cry of Edzul being bashed to death.
Edzul runs to the emergency room, dazed. He is too far away, and won't make it in time, but manages out "Seal off t-" before being slammed against the stone and left bleeding heavily.
Imush and Tobul are in the room. They need to seal off the door, but they had stored the pickaxe in the bedrooms, where there were tons of monsters. No... The only stone was quite far away, and there wasn't a good chance of survival if one were to try and retrieve a boulder.
Tobul walked, with his crutch and missing foot, out of the room. Imush insisted that they could survive with the open hole, but the groups of monsters would find them quickly. He walked quickly, attracting the attention of a few groups. With one arm, he grabbed a light mica boulder and trudged back to the base. He kicked away the creatures around him and finally was in reach of the room. He dropped the boulder. But Imush needed time to build the wall, or they would both perish. Tobul went over to the toad that was rapidly approaching. He stabbed it in the stomach with his crutch, and managed to distract it for long enough that Imush could make a fortified wall. The toad slams Tobul one last time into the wall.
Tobul, the good-hearted Miner of Endurance, bleeds to death.
After about a month of Imush eating and drinking the supplies stored, merchants arrived, along with a few migrants. A merchant and gemcutter perish, but finally the monsters are killed by the dwarven merchants. They seal off the fortress and put a sign up, warning any passer-bys to not open it. They wander for a bit and find Imush's emergency hole.
Imush Umamlimul was seventy eight when the expedition ended. He survived the deadly cave and abandoned the entire area with the caravan. He wrote down the entire story on a few slabs of mica that the merchants salvaged when they broke into his room. Imush died one year later at the age of seventy nine, passing on the slabs to his two children, who passed it on to their children. It was retold through dwarven ages, and although it was somewhat insignifigant and Tobul only saved one person, it really shows what real dwarven courage took.
[Note that near the end, some of it was hyperbole, and the last paragraph was completely bogus. (apart from Imush's age) All of the characters were real, all the monsters were real, the fortress was real.]
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Topic: The Pickaxe of Revenge (Full) (Read 840 times)