How many are left? And since Thor was not mentioned I shall assume he is somewhat okay.
There's 38 left I think, which means we lost a full 30%+ of the population. Thor is fine, he was never drafte- I mean, he never volunteered. Apart from three dorfs (Gamemaster, Grov and someone else I can't remember), the entire 16-dorf military was wiped out, so that accounts for about half the casualties. I fear Gamemaster may still die, since he's incapable of moving unless there's a Skeletal Blind Cave Ogre standing over him, and there's no hospital yet. I may repurpose one of the dormitories, especially when I start digging out the new housing.
A note to future overseers: there's still some goods lying near the dead elven merchant to the southeast of the perimeter, as well as the clothes and equipment of everyone who died topside (I claimed the stuff of all subterranean casualties). If the skwildlife buggers off, I may try getting some of it back during my tenure, otherwise you'll have to do it (perhaps). I'm pretty sure there's at least a +steel spear+ somewhere there, and random assorted miscellaneous weapons and armour. There is a trade depot topside, but you'll have to deconstruct part of the northern wall to let traders (and migrants) in. I used orthoclase to repair the wall there for easy reference, and there's fortifications in case anyone gets a marksdwarf squad up.
Also, barring any future cascade catastrophes like this one, I should be able to leave the fortress with reasonably secure outposts in the second and third cavern layer, and a decent metal production cycle, capable of at least smelting galena and probably producing small quantities of bronze. The fungus-trees in the caverns are giving me a good supply of wood, but I'll probably be using a lot of it myself making beds when the housing section opens up.
Aaaaand I forgot to upload the screenshot I took just a frame before the militia started attacking the muskskoxen. I may have lost a few good dorfs to them, but they all went down in the end - good to know for future reference. I even managed to take out 4 of the 5 skelks of the first group that attacked, although by that time I'd lost half the militia and a second group was already approaching.
One of the skelks bites Phantom in the hand and shakes it viciously, tearing it to shreds. Phantom dies like many others, getting bowled over and kicked in the head.
Sounds about right. Any chance of a reincarnation (Phantom II - any random squaddie - Resident Coward).
I'll start picking up the pieces tomorrow, and that includes trying to rebuild at least some semblance of a military. I'll redorf you and anyone on the permadorf list then.