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[Doughnut189]

So in one of my old fortresses that I had (well not that old, current version), many mysterious deaths occurred around and about the fortress, but I never found out what caused the deaths. I kept a log, but forgot about it, and just remembered it again.

I am hoping that one of you might be able to figure out what caused my dwarves to ded

MYSTERIOUS DEATH LOG:

...after the second mysterious death, I have decided to keep a log to better understand the cause(s) of these grim happenings.

26th Granite, 271-
Brueck Weltseite, Fisherdwarf has bled to death.
DETAILS: Much like last time, he was found in a large pool of his own blood, having bled to death with a trail of his own blood leading towards nowhere in particular and then stopping. There are no clues as to who or what killed him.
NOTES: Somewhat far from the fortress, in an area he had no need to be in.

21st Hematite, 271-
Procellana Ventussono, an Elven Merchant was found dead near the trade post.  The elves had recently packed up and left to go trade elsewhere, but, oddly, one Elven corpse remains.  I cannot see what killed it, or why the other merchants did not help. It simply lies in a small pool of blood near the trade post. There are no hints as to what may have done it.
NOTES: Give the Elves a good deal next season, as to deter hostilities.

8th Galena, 272-
Mekhokh Meskherhesfer, Mechanic has bled to death.
DETAILS: Same as the rest. Found having bled to death at the end of a trail of his own blood about 10 squares long.
NOTES: I was really hoping whatever was doing this had gone away. It's been over a year since the last incident. The corpse had a water covering on it, yet was not near water. No blood trail, or blood in/leading to any water source.

6th Galena, 272-
A pool of blood belonging to a dwarf of an unfamiliar name (probably a trader) with a bloody battle axe lying in it has been discovered. Given the fact that the pool contains a battle axe, and the fact that no dwarves in the fortress have it, this reinforces my opinion that it was a trader. What is worrysome, however, is that NO corpse is present, or nearby. There is only ONE puddle of blood, with an axe lying in it. The axe further worries me, because it gives me the idea that the trader was a warrior, guarding the caravan. I shudder to think what could kill a warrior, dispose of it's corpse, and do all of this without bloodying more than one tile.
NOTES: All of the deaths of this sort have been concentrated near the enterance to the fortress.

10th Felsite, 274-
DETAILS: Today major strides were made in finding a culprit.  Two dwarves were killed within close proximity to one another, but another one was still living and could be examined before their death from blood loss. The dwarf was bleeding all over, as expected, but, interestingly enough, most, if not all of the bleeding body parts were melted as well. Considering the nature of the incidents, could a dragon be responsible?
NOTES: Build more sarcophagi

11th Felsite, 274-
Large number of dwarves injured in aformentioned attack. Many dead. Will see how things continue. X8X X9X X10X 11 dead from single, quite short attack, and counting.
NOTES: Syndrome?

-Due to the nature of the incidents, this log will now keep track of all important events in the fortress, to better understand the incidents.

17th Felsite, 274-
Fortress on verge of tantrum spiral due to previous slaughter. Elven caravan just arrived. Will buy best booze.
...
Siege shortly after arrival of elven caravan. Will do best to hold off- provided no dwarves tantrum the defense system should deal with them.
...
Elven merchants slaughtered by the same thing causing the other deaths. Killed right in front of my eyes and I could not see what did it. Killed one water buffalo and two elves. Hope elves do not declare war.

18th Felsite, 274-
Sudden troll rampage unrelated to siege. Large group running directly towards fortress.

28th Felsite, 274-
Siege defeated, but at a price. 16 dead, and minor tantrum spiral occuring.

1st Hemetite, 274-
Trolls somehow escaped trap system after being underwater for several days. Broke down door. Rampaging in fortress. Tantrum spiral. All miserable. Sealing myself off in archives.

[Necro910]

Probably a Forgotten Beast Syndrome or some such. Dwarves can track it around and then spread it.

Necrosis is Fun

[Doughnut189]

If it was it would have to be pretty severe. The dwarves showed no symptoms then suddenly blood poured from their body and they died.

Also NO incidents like the ones mentioned happened inside the fortress.

[Diamond]

Sounds quite mysterious. May be syndrome. May be newly appointed sheriff/captain of the guard. Latter won't explain dead elves though. Check the combat logs just to be sure.

[Doughnut189]

DORFIT

I'd forgotten about combat logs and have since abandoned the fortress. poo.

[MonkeyHead]

Would bet my beard on a blood borne syndrome.

[gomwon]

Are there any ghosts around?

[Nil Eyeglazed]

If it was it would have to be pretty severe. The dwarves showed no symptoms then suddenly blood poured from their body and they died.

That's exactly how generalized bleeding syndromes work.  Everything starts bleeding, and a few steps later they're dead.  (All FB syndromes have fixed severity.)  Doubt that the axe/pool of blood is related, though-- probably a caravan guard that lost his hand (maybe stuck in a tree someplace).  Unless you've got a refuse stockpile/unclaimed coffins around, which would explain the lack of a corpse.

Probably the dwarves are either going outside to clean after getting contaminated (too late suckas!) or they're getting rained on outside, which carries the contaminant onto the ground and gives them a water covering.  Or they're going to the river to clean off smears of Atu Nightmarecurled's goblin blood, and some dwarf left contaminant there sometime in the past.  If you've got a river outside, check its shore-- cleaning dwarves tend to leave contaminants on the square from which they clean themselves.

[Xen0n]

In my first fort, I have dwarves still periodically coming down with a syndrome a dozen years after the Forgotten Beast has been killed.  It's very possible that there is a pool of extract or blood somewhere that occasionally dwarves walk through, then begin bleeding / melting.  Other possibilities include a weapon or piece of clothing that has the extract/blood on it infecting whoever claims it, or a barrel or chair or some item in a stockpile has a coating of blood/extract etc.  Syndromes are the bane of my existence. 

[Doughnut189]

If it was it would have to be pretty severe. The dwarves showed no symptoms then suddenly blood poured from their body and they died.

That's exactly how generalized bleeding syndromes work.  Everything starts bleeding, and a few steps later they're dead.  (All FB syndromes have fixed severity.)  Doubt that the axe/pool of blood is related, though-- probably a caravan guard that lost his hand (maybe stuck in a tree someplace).  Unless you've got a refuse stockpile/unclaimed coffins around, which would explain the lack of a corpse.

Probably the dwarves are either going outside to clean after getting contaminated (too late suckas!) or they're getting rained on outside, which carries the contaminant onto the ground and gives them a water covering.  Or they're going to the river to clean off smears of Atu Nightmarecurled's goblin blood, and some dwarf left contaminant there sometime in the past.  If you've got a river outside, check its shore-- cleaning dwarves tend to leave contaminants on the square from which they clean themselves.

I think there was a dead FB lying around the fortress. Hum.

Well now I know.

[Raging Mouse]

There is another possibility, depending on the age and version of your fortress. Was this fortress perhaps made in the version with buggy heat calculation, causing dwarves to melt in the rain?

You said you had forgotten beasts. That version was before forgotten beasts. I should have thought about it some more.

[Varnifane]

Can't you do a stock check for goo/ichor and then zoom to it?

[Doughnut189]

There is another possibility, depending on the age and version of your fortress. Was this fortress perhaps made in the version with buggy heat calculation, causing dwarves to melt in the rain?

You said you had forgotten beasts. That version was before forgotten beasts. I should have thought about it some more.

Also the first line of the first post mentioned that I was using the current version

Can't you do a stock check for goo/ichor and then zoom to it?

Sadly this happened a while ago, and the fortress is long since abandoned. Does blood/ichor stay on reclaim?

[Urist Da Vinci]

Sounds to me like the dfhack "erase magma" bug. Have you been creating/destroying magma with dfliquids?

The bug is that you shouldn't use dfhack to erase magma, since it may leave invisible hot spots behind. The magma has to naturally spread out and disappear on its own.

[Boost One]

DORFIT

I'd forgotten about combat logs and have since abandoned the fortress. poo.

Uhm, although it looks like this was caused by a syndrome, have you cleared the gamelog.txt? The combat logs and all stay in there even when you start a new world. Use CTRL+F if you can remember a dwarf's name or something. Only do it if you really want to know, though.