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[Time Blossom]

Another bone artifact? And the chief engineer having a son? With all the talk of building supports, I think the spirit of Oceanbridge is trying to tell us something. 

[peregarrett]

Not so sadistic, but still valuable idea - set tombs inside supports.

[UltraValican]

May I be dorfed
Name: Gary Featherlog
Job: Trapper/Animal Trainer
Gender:(Male Preferably)
Custom Profesion Name: Beast Master
Bio: Came to the fort to gather and breed valuble beasts for fun, profit, and BLOOD!

[varnish]

((I had a post written up, and then the power went down, taking the internet with it. That post was good, but this is the one you get. It's been that kind of day.))

Late Spring 193:

Stukos Metalnature had just turned one year old, and was happily toddling around Oceanbridge.  He was enjoying the newfound freedom that being allowed to walk anywhere without the slightest bit of supervision brought him. He’d had great fun poking the caged elephants with a stick, had pushed bags of sand and glass blocks down the pit, and now was wandering around near the pumps.



He was surprised when the gremlin jumped out of one of the old channels and attacked him. The gremlin was even more surprised when Stukos bit his nose off.
The gremlin learned a very valuable lesson about dwarf children that day. Or he would have, had he not been hunted down by the militia, who tracked him down by following the trail of blood.


.............................................................


From the Journals of Abanbrothertreaties - Late Summer 193

Elves came today, and that's not all. I'm writing this up in a rush, just on the off chance that I'm not alive tomorrow. That's the way things are looking. Two things that I'm sure of: Derm and his militia are getting ready to fight. An animal trainer I never met managed to train an elephant for war.



How? Did he whisper elephant secrets to it? Did he bribe it with... tasty grasses, or bananas? No idea. And we're all going to die. And that's three things.

It's not the elves that are the problem, really. It's this:



Derm says he's been training for this. I hope for all of our sakes that he's right.

[Dermonster]

TO WAR! MY LOYAL ELEPHANT WARPET SHALL BE AT MY SIDE!

[varnish]

The First Siege of Oceanbridge (is very short)

Derm surveyed the field. In the distance, but closing in fast, he could see the enemy. He wasn’t sure kind of enemy they were, or what he should call them, but he as damn sure they were enemies. “Four armed, three eyed nightmare beasts” seemed like as good a name as any. One of the things, possibly the leader, was riding an alligator, hopping and hooting on the creature’s back. It was an odd sight.



He turned back to his men, who had assembled on the field outside the fortress.



 Clearing his throat, he began. “Well boys, I’m not one for speeches...”

One of the macedwarfs raised her hand. “Uh, sir, I think they're getting kind of close…”

Derm turned. They were. “And that’s why. Charge!!”



The beasts were fast, but, and this was key, Derm realized, completely unarmored. Three of them fell almost immediately to well aimed crossbow bolts. Derm then joined the fray, ducking under one beast’s arm, and turning to hack off the arm of another.

The beasts were also incredibly stupid. Five of them broke off from the main group to chase a goose, capering and hooting madly. The goose, sadly, fell to the beasts, but its sacrifice was not in vain. Heavy Weapons Guy and Cilob were there to make sure of that.



"This is almost too easy!" Derm shouted. Then the alligator bit him in the foot, breaking one of his toes. Fortunately, the macedwarf who'd spoken before was able to step in and crush the monster's skull before it bit off anything vital.

The battle was over in less than two hours. The last of the strange creatures fled over the hills, into the palm jungles, hooting incomprehensibly.



Derm and his men began the triumphant march back to Oceanbridge, though Derm had to limp most of the way there.

[Karakzon]

nice. stranglers are the best to train millatery on, ive seen recruits kill them in hand to hand weaponless before.
took a damn wile though.

any other injuries?

[varnish]

Only one, also a broken toe, oddly enough.

The story for this thing is going to take a new direction soon, due to something I just found out. Nothing crazy, just something that might make it more interesting for me to write. In the meantime, there's green glass pumps that need building.

[varnish]

((but until then, there is this))

From "The Histories of Oceanbridge"

The Warriors of Oceanbridge returned in triumph, with many trophies such as hands and the teeth of their vile foe. Also a left ear.

Aban Brothertreaties, fairly decent leader, declared a feast to honor Derm, Chopper of Souls, Axe Champion, and the many brave shield-dwarfs who injured themselves gravely in the toe or other parts.

And at the Great Feast they dined on elk bird, and plump helmet stew, and sloths, and roast suckling dog, and crisp elephant ears, and sea birds of every size, and fat soup, and small rocks, and grouse tongues, and drank fine ales and meads and sea water that the historian mistook for beer. And they felt secure in their homes, though none sought to ask from whence this new enemy had come nor why, save the historian, who was not listened too as he was retching sea water.

In the days to follow, an herbalist’s eyes were seen to fill with a fiery light, and he made his way to a workshop, and there after many days, produced a rack for armor crafted from the bones of suckling dogs. And few saw the omen that it represented.


 
In mid-spring there was a great death of crows.

...............................................................

A month after the feast there was heard by the Legendary Miner Nix a tremendous noise from the depths, likened to that of a great bird. And the historian told the others that he had told them so, and was told to shut his damn mouth for his troubles. But soon the bellowing came to be heard as a name. And the name they heard was Ostrug.

[peregarrett]

Just capture it in a box with bait animal and raising bridge. We can think of using it later.

[Masked_Hunter1825]

SO MUCH BLOOD!

[peregarrett]

Yes, blood.
If we make it bleed at "hostile gates" - that can add some points to our defenses.

Derm - DON'T TOUCH IT! WE NEED IT ALIVE! for a while...

[varnish]

The Attack of Ostrug:

“So what are we doing here, Gar? Building a bridge?”

“We’re setting up a trap, Nerev. Going to draw in that Ostrug thing, whatever the hell it is, and trap it in a pit, neat and simple. Now hand me that gear, will you? This should just take a-“

He was interrupted by the sound of screams. “It’s coming! It’s coming up the stairs! Run for your… ohshit ohshit!”. The next sound they heard was an awful, rending, meaty noise, then a long scream, followed by silence.



Nerev looked over at Gar. He looked worried, which made Nerev even more frightened. “I thought you said there was only one entrance to the caverns! This entrance! There’s only one entrance, right, Gar?”

“Clearly there's another! Now, I’d suggest you start running, unless you feel like fighting that thing yourself!”

They ran.

......................................................

By the time Aban heard about Ostrug’s attack (from Nerev and Gar, both of whom were fortunately still alive), it had already reached the quarry levels. She ordered the complete evacuation of the fortress to the outside, and then ordered Cilob and Heavy Weapons Guy, and the rest of the crossbow dwarfs down into the depths. Then she waited. There wasn’t much else she could do.

......................................................

“It’s eerie down here, you know?”

“Because there’s nobody else here, in a place that’s normally humming with activity? Filled with busy people moving to and fro, and so on?”

“I was thinking because there’s a monster down here who wants to kill us all, but yeah, your thing too.”

“Would you two quiet down!” Cilob hissed. "I'd like to approach this damn thing without it hearing us!"

It turned out that Ostrug had never left the quarry. The six dwarfs turned a corner to find it perched atop the body of a furnace worker none of them recognized, happily pulling off strings of the man’s skin in its odd, flat mouth.



Heavy Weapons Guy wasted no time, bellowing something incomprehensible, he fired from his hip, and missed the monster entirely. Unfazed, he charged straight forward, wielding his crossbow like a club. Cilob swore and followed him, firing as she went. Ostrug, looking angry about its disturbed feast, reared up and swatted the two of them aside with its ragged scarlet wings. Guy tried to roll as he landed, but came down heavily on his leg. With it broken, or worse, he could only look up as Ostrug towered over him.

And it might have ended very badly had Cog not fired a steel bolt directly into Ostrug’s throat. It bled out almost immediately, the blood hissing as it splashed on the basalt floor. The stream of blood, and the collapsing body missed Guy, something he would forever be thankful for. Less than five minutes after they had confronted it, Ostrog was dead.



((Well, that was a case of everything possible going wrong. I could have sworn that I blocked off every possible entrance. Clearly I missed one. Er... just how deadly is "deadly blood, I wonder?))

[peregarrett]

Er... just how deadly is "deadly blood, I wonder?

Better not to investigate it by random dwarves. For !!SCIENCE!! - we can surround blood spatters with  walls and drop there prisoners, to investigate. Take cautions so masons won't step there while constructing walls - with suspended walls designed at every tile where they should not step.

Or pave it with floor tiles, that will destroy spatters.

Or just set there restricted traffic area and wait for idlers to clean it.

[Person]

Building a paved road ( b > o ) can let your dorfs get rid of the blood from several tiles away. Still, try the science first. The syndrome could be anything from mild irritation to full body and organ necrosis.