My (soon to be) baron. She was a migrant. A thresher no less, a thoroughly useless dwarf by all accounts. She was put to work hauling, as befit my young fort, with her part of the very first migrant wave! But alas, as luck would have it, the felled trees are far, and the wildness is vast. She wasn't able to see the Giant Badger come at her. It was a valiant struggle, with much running and screaming and flailing of limbs, until the limbs stopped flailing, and started falling, and the left foot and right hand were lost to the sharp and strong teeth of the beasts. That was until another migrant wandered by, and scared the beast, and after some days bleeding in the sand, she said carried to the rudimentary hospital zone. There were no supplies, the cloth and thread had already been used on previous injuries and all that could be done was a simple water cleaning and fresh food brought to her bed.
Against all odds of blood loss, infection, mood drop, and the glaring threat of badger death and hospital starvation, after some weeks she rolled off her bed, dragging herself along by one hand. At first I looked at her and said "that's ambush bait" until I started to notice her... keeping safe. She would haul logs, but only the closest ones, and mostly occupied herself carrying furniture from workshop to stockpile, chair draped over her back like a trolley as she clawed herself around the fort by her one good hand.
So I made her my mechanic, and put a stone stockpile next to the mechanic's workshop, and she sat in the dark hours of the night, tinkering and toying as best she could, perfecting her skill as she produced Armok's Blessed Gears. Others were assigned to instal them, with her staying inside while the more agile grunt workers would run out to hook up a trap or an axle. Over time though, she found her own use, resetting cage traps and cleaning out weapon traps while the healthier lot went about carrying one sock at a time back into the fort. Slowly, silently, methodically, she built and maintained the devices that have killed countless giant badgers, and fended off sieges from a half dozen enemy cultures.
She became my first mayor, and she will rightfully take the role of Duchess, where she will oversee the construction of the Tower Maximus, execution spire plus combat colosseum. She silently and slowly carries out her plans, and things get done in their own time, even as the more able-bodied run around wasting time, she performed her perfect duties.
There was also the tale about how one of my starting seven in another fort claimed a single berry to eat, and this berry was stolen by a badger, which he proceeded to chase down, kill, and wear.
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Topic: Accursed badgers (Read 2339 times)