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[DS]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The merchant who was tasked with making a statue of Ral Coppercanyon produced over 60 silver statues, none of which were of her only worshiped deity, and about a third of which were of oysters. It turns out that the merchant absolutely hates oysters, so I suppose that's the reason why, but now I've got about 20 silver statues of oysters. I had the remaining statues melted back down into silver, with the idea that I might have an 'oyster room' at some point.

Now the merchant is furious, and throwing tantrums. In the pic above, the merchant was wailing on Ineth Lensbeaks, matriarch of the Thunderbridge clan. She once had seven children, and has been the mayor of the fortress for much of its history, as she is now. The merchant currently has been having the 'Attend Meeting' job, but then throws a tantrum and beats the mayor. Now they are in the hospital, and it is only a matter of time before she flies of the handle again.

[DS]

Sorry about the lack of updates (for anyone who checks this thread regularly, which I doubt). My piano professor, who was on sabbatical this semester, dropped back in for a surprise lesson and I had to scramble to get a piece ready to present. Occasionally school just takes up all my time, so I have to drop DF for a while. Though, the fact that you can drop it entirely and pick it up again weeks later without any losses in game is one of the reasons I prefer it to all other games (coughcoughWoWcough).

Anyways, I've installed a series of one-tile drains, sealed with nether-cap floor hatches, which connect the magma tube with the second cavern layer, which I might as well start calling the sewer of Weatherwires. All drains lead to the second cavern layer, both water and magma, so the entire cavern is littered with obsidian walls. The bottom z-level of the cavern is a layer of obsidian, which is under a layer of water, which is under a layer of obsidian, which is (currently) under a lake of magma about five or six z-levels deep, and quickly filling as the drains do their work. Near where the water lake was drained from the dome, the walls are encrusted with blocks of obsidian which formed during the second filling, when magma and water flowed through that drain simultaneously. The entire area is just a disaster zone, really.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

This is the obsidian that formed below the drain. After it solidified, more water fell on top of it, forming mud, which in turn allowed fungus to grow upon it. Completely unintentional, and kind of interesting looking.

Now that the top of the caldera is drained, I can fix the entry-way so that it works properly. Also, adding more one-tile drains will make the draining process quite quick indeed.

As well, I have been adding many ropes and chains around the fortress in preparation of the appointment of a dwarf to the captian of the guard. The recent beating of Ineth Lensbeaks was more serious than I though, as Ineth was also the manager of the fort. Production ground to a halt before I could figure out what was going on (she's been the manager for many decades now). Justice must be served (the merchant deserves a solid beating), but about half of the fort is guilty of some crime or another that has gone unpunished since the last time I had a captain of the guard, when this happened:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

So, I plan to lock down the entire fort so I have as many idlers as possible. Once dwarves begin to be chained up, I need to have as many others as possible able to provide food and water to those imprisoned. It will be a dark and dangerous time for Weatherwires, when a reckoning-long awaited finally arrives.

[DS]

It's mid-winter in the year 200, and as the second century draws to a close, the dwarves of Weatherwires might be reflecting upon what has been accomplished in the past seven and a half decades. An excavation project unlike any other has been successfully planned and executed, amidst tragic and terrible setbacks. Nearly every threat that happens upon the fortress is destroyed, including two titans, a hydra, a dragon, a minotaur, and countless forgotten beasts.

Work will continue through the turn of the year - too much still has to be done for any celebration to be allowed just yet. When, in 226, the fort reaches its hundredth year, there will be plenty of time to party.

[DS]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Avuz Siguneral, Woodcrafter has died of old age.

Avuz Tourvessels was born in 50. In the midsummer of 133, seven years after the fort was founded, she settled in Weatherwires.

In the midsummer of 136, in the midst of the Great Tantrum Spiral, the mayor, Rigoth Hazecraft, went berserk with rage. Avuz slew her with only her fists.

In 146, Avuz created The Fair Dagger, a spore tree cup. Thereafter, she produced countless masterwork wooden bolts for the marksdwarves' practice.

Now, she has died, at the age of 150. She may have been the oldest of her kind, born scant decades after the crushing defeats at Whiskergloves. Her death marks the beginning of the end for the dwarves of the Merchant of Echoing.

[DS]

As the caldera finally reaches the highest levels, I am preparing to export a series of local images to post on the DFMA, which will show the fort in various stages of magma-submersion. So far, I'm planning on dividing the fort into upper and lower parts (as I have done before), instead of having many full maps. This is what I have in mind:

1. Upper Fortress, passage to Dome sealed.
2. Upper Fortress, passage to Dome revealed.
3. Dome, magma level: full.
4. Dome, magma level: mesa.
5. Dome, magma level: standard.
6. Dome, magma level: lake.
7. Dome, magma level: n/a (with water lake reinstated).
8. Lower Caverns, empty.
9. Lower Caverns, mid-deluge.

These nine maps will have points of interest interconnected with hyperlinks, ideally in such a way that they form a comprehensive, but easily navigated view of the fortress. When followed in order (not absolutely necessary, but recommended), these PoI will form a guided tour of the entire fort, through its various stages of magma-filling.

As well, I will work in, at particular points, various bits of lore and history of Weatherwires, including anecdotes concerning important fort events, or descriptions of statues, engravings, or particularly important dwarves.

[Protactinium]

Avuz Siguneral, Woodcrafter has died of old age.

Her death marks the beginning of the end for the dwarves of the Merchant of Echoing.

That sentence gives me shivers, man. I love tragedies.

[Relapse]

Wow this is an excellent read. Just went through the whole 11 pages, with my game paused in the background playing the music. Keep it up, 'twas inspiring.

[DS]

Thanks for the encouragement and appreciation, guys.

does it have a lava spewing phallus, though?

Not explicitly, hah. There is plenty of lava spewing going on everywhere else, though...

The traps on the surface have been deconstructed, and their components transferred into the stockpiles beneath the dome. A few of the green glass axe blades had dozens of kills, with one getting nearly one hundred. The dwarves have retreated through the sealed passage, their paths covered by the rising tides of magma that flood what is now the only way in and out of the dome. The dwarves of Weatherwires, are now alone in their plight, sealed off from the world outside, forever.

The dome was meant to be a utopia - a spectacular city of hewn stone amidst an ocean of magma, where dwarves would not fear for death by goblins, or titans, or nameless evils beneath the earth. Now their utopia has become their grave, the final resting place of an entire civilization. From this point forth, if any visitors should happen upon Weatherwires, all they will find is an abandoned fortress built into the caldera of a volcano, littered with priceless gems and finished goods that were left behind by a race that disappeared overnight.

Now, the final stage of the fort can occur: the draining. The first point of drainage is the hole atop the central mesa. When drained to that level, the tops of all the buildings will become accessible. Since they have been previously flooded with water, they were muddied, and grew swaths of fungus. As discovered earlier in the thread, when magma is applied to muddied stone that has been allowed to grow fungus (not constructions, as I have discovered), it burns away the fungus and leaves behind a tile of soil - in my case, either silt or red sand. Thus, the tops of these buildings, once the magma recedes below them, will first be covered with a layer of ash, which will deteriorate into sand or silt, and then begin to grow fresh fungus. This is extremely desirable from my point of view, as aesthetics are an important part of this fortress, and muddied tiles are perpetually brown - not the teal or yellow of cavern fungi.

Here are a few pics of the draining:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Pre-drainage:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Draining!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Stonesense cross-section of the drainage vortex:

[DS]

A goblin siege arrived. They stormed the bridge, expecting the same row of traps... only to find an empty swath of obsidian blocks, stained with the blood of the countless sieges before them. Now, the foul invaders stalk the corridors of the fortress they were never able to breach, their enslaved trolls idly smashing in doors as they walk by.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Meanwhile, deep beneath the surface, the magma continues to drain.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

As the molten rock recedes, the top of the Gearguild and Gloveowners guildhall reveals itself, its top a plain of scorched ashes, silt, and sand.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[xar23]

Amazing fortress, thanks for sharing.

[DS]

So, the trolls are wreaking havoc as they run rampant through the upper fortress. They've already destroyed the entrance to the sealed passage in their rage, and now they're smashing all the coffins, strewing about the corpses of hundreds of dwarves. It's only a matter of time before they make their way to the windmill farm atop the mountain... with that destroyed, there will be no way to power the magma pumps, if I should want to fill the dome at any point in the future.

[Wannazzaki]

And so DF strikes back against the megaprojects with something many would consider insignificant. You could Runesmith them away?

[Protactinium]

No, the tale should unfold organically. Tragedy is tragedy, decline is decline. If you brace yourself for a known end and then suddenly get killed prematurely, that's fate robbing you of your honorable last stance.

[DS]

I've already used Runesmith, but that was to both counteract a bug, and it can be justified in the context of the storyline. Using it to negate a legitimate and unanticipated threat would dilute everything the dwarves had worked on to this point.

It is impossible to foresee exactly what will cause the dwarves' final downfall, but it would be poetic irony if their abandonment of the surface for the safety of the dome was the very thing that eventually led to their demise.

[DS]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Asob Medtobedtûl, Ghostly Miner has risen and is haunting the fortress!

And the Trolls have, so far, only crushed approximately one eighth of the coffins. This may become an issue - certain ghosts have not been showing up in the memorial engraving menu. Meanwhile, draining continues...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)