I was attempting to build a magma industry over a 15-something-z deep magma pool via Walls and Floors. I managed to get the smelter and forge placed, but had not full constructed the walls around them. Being a noob, I had not mastered the technique of building walls (corners were left incomplete), so I had to deconstruct many walls, build floors, build the walls next to them, deconstruct the floors, and finally complete the wall. Somewhere in this process I had forgot that "walls don't have wings" and that unsupported they will adhere to gravity's demands. Suddenly I get the warning, "A section of the cavern has collapsed".
I looked around while paused and didn't notice anything amiss; however, when I unpaused it, a
HUGE explosion of magma steam and molten sand/silt rocked my magma building. I pressed
z to see if I had lost anyone, and sure enough, I was down two dorfs (13 out of 15). I checked the reports:
Plight of the Herbalist:
The Herbalist's lower body takes the full force of the impact, bruising the muscle and bruising the spleen through the (cave spider silk cloak)!
The Herbalist's head takes the full force of the impact, bruising the muscle, jamming the skull through the brain and tearing apart the brain!
The Herbalist has been knocked unconscious!
Unib Sosadkeskal, Herbalist has died after colliding with an obstacle.
I could NOT find this dorf's body, despite using the report to zoom on him. I then assumed that he had been incinerated, along with a cat that had been in the area. The cat's report said:
The Stray Cat is caught in a pool of magma!
The Stray Cat is caught in a pool of magma!
The Stray Cat is caught in a pool of magma!...
and on about 50+ times.
The Plight of the Fish Cleaner:
The Fish Cleaner's right lower arm takes the full force of the impact, jamming the bone through the right elbow's muscle and shattering the right elbow's bone!
The Fish Cleaner's fourth toe, left foot takes the full force of the impact, tearing apart the skin and bruising the fat through the (llama wool shoe)!
The Fish Cleaner's lower body takes the full force of the impact, bruising the muscle and bruising the guts through the (llama wool cloak)!
The Fish Cleaner looks sick!
The Fish Cleaner's right hand takes the full force of the impact, shattering the bone through the (pig tail fiber right mitten)!
The Fish Cleaner's head takes the full force of the impact, bruising the muscle and tearing apart the upper spine's nervous tissue through the (pig tail fiber hood)!
Rith Oltaralis, Fish Cleaner cancels Remove Construction: Too injured.
The Fish Cleaner is caught in a burst of silty clay!
The Fish Cleaner is no longer stunned.
Rith Oltaralis, Fish Cleaner has suffocated.
Rith had been rocketed from the site of the explosion to a place about ~20 spaces away, where he smashed into a staircase and splattered his blood up to 3 spaces away all around.
Rith the Fish Cleaner's body remained there, as I had not dealt with death before, and promptly rotted and suffocated another dwarf. Before any more carnage could ensue, I relinquished my fort to my first Fun.
For my next fort I embarked in the same 2 biomes. I was building my fort, tunneling deep, when I come across another magma pool. I was going to repeat my attempt to build a magma industry in a safer setting, but then noticed a enormous water-filled cavern directly above the pool. !!SCIENCE!! could not be resisted, so I drained the water into the magma pool, resulting in the creation of a:
!!POKÉBALL!! Somewhat ironic that my first Fun should be the caused by an explosion on the 4th of July...
How is it that the Fish Cleaner's toe took the full force of the impact at the same time has his head, arm, lower body and variety of other appendages?
Anyways, yesterday I learned that !!SCIENCE!! can lead to both [epic] destruction/Fun and [epic] rewards.