Lazy Saturnday

So yeah, 2 Forgotten Beasts slain. If we can get through this tantrum spiral and make the dwarves happy again it might actually be salvageable. Work is progressing well on our Waterworks project. A well. Aha! Do you see what I did there? Anyways, 3 lever operated floodgates so as not to flood too much. Tulon has withdrawn from society and claimed a craftdwarfs workshop. I kind of hope he makes us some nice furniture or something with which we can spruce up the place. Nope. A Crundle Bone Mask. I’m sure it menaces with spikes and stuff.

Another wave of migrants has arrived, putting us back to 78 dwarves. And somehow one of my dwarves has fallen down the well and drowned. It doesn’t matter, a small goblin ambush of only a couple dozen gobbos has slaughtered my militia and is now running rampant through my fortress. They’ve easily killed as many dwarves as the first forgotton beast did. With my dwarves already less than happy, probably a vampire lurking somewhere in my fort, and things only likely to get worse, it’s probably time to call this fort a failure and try again.

Since this is the end, here are some highlights of the fort! Our trade depot, and the lightly trapped main entrance, as well as the caravan entrance.

Here’s the hall of the dead. All but 4 of these coffins are full. And those 4 only because I just built them. Maybe I’ll run the game long enough to bury all of the dead.

Here you can see a portion of the fine housing. Discounting Noble housing on the end, this could once fully functional support 102 dwarves. I’d been planning on duplicating it a layer down, but now there’s no real need.

Thus ends the tale of BalancedCudgel.

Addendum! So I decided to finish up the graves, and 22 more dwarves arrived just as I finished setting out the third column of coffins (which are basically filling up with dead as fast as I can get them crafted and then placed. It almost tempts me to continue with this fort. I mean, what’s the worst that could happen at this point?

So of the 68 surviving dwarves, 17 are unhappy. Or worse. Several have gone insane, and a few have died of self inflicted starvation/dehydration. We nearly have enough Coffins to house the remains of all the dwarves that have fallen due to the Forgotten Beast and it’s aftermath. Soon, maybe the fort can get back to normal. Or as normal as can be expected. We’ve nearly finished the great wall. The 2nd cavern is safely walled off.

A modest wave of 8 stout migrants have arrived. Apparently even the tales of sadness and woe can’t keep the good dwarves away from our magnificent fort. A human caravan has arrived, and on its heels comes Gethust the Forgotten Beast. I seriously doubt my fort can survive another dozen or more deaths, I already have regular tantrums, things being destroyed and infighting. How did Gethrust get through my defenses you may ask, well, in my flu-addled state, I forgot that hornets can traditionally fly. And this one is no exception. Then again maybe not. There were only 2 fatalities before my militia put it down! We’ve traded for much of what the humans have to offer.

The wildlife preservere is now complete. Next big project will be to finish walling off the caverns for safety.

Smunxaz Ezuspzestto Spongku Spab is DEAD! A new migration wave arrived in the middle of the battle, and our bookkeeper was one of the many killed. The exact death toll may never be known, but at least 20 brave dwarves died on the 4th of Slate, 1053. A quick census suggest 76 survivors and little damage to be repaired.

New administrators have been appointed, the hospital should be complete soon. Plans for a cemetery and memorial garden are in the works, once we can get some coffins made. We may also need to make some memorial slabs, in case all of the corpses of our fallen brethren can not be located. Even with all of the deaths, there we only a couple of injuries, so hopefully we can get things running again soon.

Assuming the dwarves stop throwing tantrums.  3 Dwarves are freaking out all at the same time! Now they’ve  calmed down and another dwarf is throwing a tantrum. Several tantrums later, and Reg Kogannoram our our Wax Worker has gone mad. More tantrums, more insane or berserk dwarves, fighting deep beneath the mountains. I suspect this will not end well.

A farmer has gone beserk, seriously injured another dwarf, and trapped a half a dozen more in a dead end. However he’s too injured to move. I’ve sent what remains of the militia to kill him as there seems to be no alternative. The elves have taken this opportune moment to show up and ask if we want to trade.

If things weren’t crazy enough, Bomrek Muthkatbim, our Siege Engineer has been possessed! Apparently I spoke too soon. The Forgotten Beast Gethust has come! A huge three-eyed hornet. It has two long, straight horns and it squirms and fidgets. Its clear exoskeleton is warty. Beware its poisonous sting! It looks like it is on the upper cavern, which we did successfully wall off, so we may be safe for the moment. We traded for literally everything the elves had, and gave them a bunch of crapft.

So Bomrek doesn’t quite have the materials he needs. If it was just one more thing I’d be a little more circumspect about waiting to wall him off. However I have made a terrible, terrible mistake.  See the little gear in the lower left? That’s our garbage dump. And it’s got hundreds or thousands of stones. So the question is, can our mason move all of the stones off of the dump, to the new one to south before Bomrek goes insane? And the answer is no. So for future reference, make sure not to put your garbage dump within 2 squares of anything. At least Bomrek only went melancholy mad.

So I’ve started a massive amount of exploratory digging. Drafted more miners (and I think I’m going to pull in a few more). I was really hoping we’d hit something in one of the Gabbro layers, but I fear I may have to dig deeper to find any metal ore besides Sphalerite. I’m so annoyed by how useless Zinc is.

Zefon Edemneth our Blacksmith has been taken by a fey mood. I expect we’ll have an awesome Zinc artifact, seeing as he’s claimed the Magma Forge. He grabbed a ton of stuff and began a mysterious construction just before Spring of the third year.  And I’ve decided to dig deeper in search of useful ore. We didn’t have to dig far to find another cavern, and somehow during the digging part of the cavern collapsed, knocking Erush and Lolor unconscious. I suppose it’s time to set up a hospital.

As if we don’t have trouble enough, The Forgotten Beast Smunxaz Esuspzestto has come! A huge one-eyed serpent. It has four long straight horns and it appears to be emaciated. Its ochre scales are large and set far apart. Beware it’s noxious secretions!

On the bright side, Zefon has made a pretty fantastic door. We’ve set it in the entrance to our living quarters level!

Did I mention that Smunxaz has come? Alath Ngotunurist, Engraver is the first to die, in the first cavern, far far underground as is fit. The miners have been instructed to seal off the shaft, possibly leaving a couple of other dwarves to a similar fate, but otherwise the whole fortress will likely fall. Mebzuth Erithstagshil, our Metalcrafter will be missed. Led Ablelsod, a Mason also has been killed.

Woe betide us, a new wave of migrants has arrived, as the slaughter and desperate walling off of the caverns proceeds to worsen. The beast has found its way up the main shaft, and is running rampant throughout the fort. Nomal Matrovod has been found dead. Apparently we also have a Vampire. I suppose that doesn’t matter now.

An emergency Militia has been drafted, the 10 most able bodied dwarves. They rush to fight the beast shortly after it kills a baby. Kol and Mafol die almost instantly. Iton dies moments later. Asmel is interrupted trying to find a hammer when he’s attacked by a Great Horned Owl Woman. Will our trials never cease? It is apparently too much for Doren Loloror, our Brewer, for he has gone stark raving mad!

The casualties are too numerous to mention now, but Bembul Paddlebolt, our weaver has picked up a crossbow, and takes two shots at the beast. The first misses, but the second one strikes it in the head, tearing muscle and chipping the upper spine’s bone and bruising the nervous tissue! This slows it down enough for Bembul to put a few more bolts into it! The beast is defeated!

It’s the summer of the second year, and more dwarves have arrived, bringing our fort to nearly 60 hearty folk. If it wasn’t for Dwarf Therapist there’s no way I could manage so many dwarves, as it is, I still end up finding busy-work for many of them. Once the massive stone dumping project is done, I think it’ll be time to set up a militia. Something I’m rarely good at. Sadly I haven’t found much in the way of metal ores on this embark, so it looks like

everyone is going to be wearing zinc armor, except of course, that’s not an option.

A caravan has arrived, maybe we can trade for some metal… of course there’s a bit of problem, we raised the bridge just a smidge too soon, and one of the caravans is trapped half on. I have a feeling we’ll experience some FUN when we lower it. … and yeah, it destroyed the caravan. Maybe the humans won’t come back next year? Oh well, I guess we get all of their stuff for free!

More migrants have arrived. A fine meeting hall has been designed, marred only slightly by the lack of chairs, at least we have an artifact table to look at. Soon chairs will be created and it will be much more awesome a place. Maybe some statues?

DEVELOPMENT! The Forgotten Beast Kul has come! A huge humanoid composed of ice. It has three broad horns and it undulates rhythmically. Beware it’s webs! … Well then, good thing we walled off the deeps. Maybe we can pour magma on it at some point?

Another caravan has arrived, perhaps this time I can avoid screwing it up. I’ve certainly got enough trade goods at this point that I should be able to trade for everything they have and more. Meanwhile my metalcrafter has been taken by a fey mood. Mayhaps he’ll make me a Zinc Anvil or some such nonsense! And our metalsmith has made an amazing Zinc ring. I guess I’ll put him to work making Zinc Trinkets. Zinkets? Maybe we can sell them to traders, there’s certainly enough sphalerite around I should be able to smelt Zinc forever.

We left off Mid-Winter, and what better way to start than with a possession. Fikod Cattenngotol, our Bone Carver has become possessed! He’s created a fantastic Toy Boat. We have solved the mystery of the starving animals though! Turns out Pastures can be set to Active or Inactive. The latter is not useful. Also Caravans won’t drive over traps. We’ve knocked down some of the northern wall, and put in a drawbridge that can be raised and lowered for Trade Caravans and will block  that entrance the rest of the time. The other drawbridge is heavily trapped, just the way we like it.

Now that we have an Anvil plans have been laid for a grand Magma Workshop. Soon all of our wood can be turned to charcoal and ash for making steel and glazing pots! Making bins and beds! And migrants have arrived, literally doubling our number! They must have heard tell of our fabulous workshop! He you can see magma pouring into the area we’ve channeled out to power everything!

Soon, all kinds of dwarfiness can begin! Once magma levels get high enough we can begin installing all for Magma workshops and then it’s just a matter of finding some iron rich ore.

What is spring without a mysterious construction? Domas Lularrimtar our Jeweler has been struck by a few mood. Hopefully he’ll come up with something cooler than a toy boat or millstone. And in fact, he’s created Ulolmed, a perfect amethyst! Surely we can build a gold table to encrust that on or something.

We dug deep in the hopes of finding some sand to create a glass industry to no avail. And then we got so busy blocking off the entrances to the cavern that we totally missed trading with the elfs. They’re stinky anyways.

So I’ve kind of let this blog slide into oblivion… I’ve been way too busy lately, and I’ve been cherishing what little spare time I’ve had. I’m still pretty busy, so I doubt I’m going to keep up with the blog much, however I have started a succession game of Dwarf Fortress, and I realized how much I missed playing the game, so now that my turn is over, I’m starting a game for myself. I’m going to keep a bit of a log of the game here, for my own amusement, and so I can keep track of where I am. As usual chances are life will get busy and I’ll have to leave the game hanging at times for long enough to forget what I’m doing.

Anyway, here’s a snapshot of the embark site. I’ve got a river, and a volcano (there’s magma there, it’s just 3-4 levels down. There are 3 spires of this mountain  which will end up either hollowed out or totally leveled. We couldn’t find an Iron anvil, and couldn’t afford a steel one, so this is going to be a fairly exciting embark. I’ll have to entreat every caravan to bring all of the anvils possible.

Spring

We’ve set up temporary camp in the little defilade created by the bulk of the volcano and the 3 spires. This should be fairly easy to make defensible once we’ve got things going. The inside of the northern spire will be our initial fort, and we’ve got that cleared out, and a few farm plots set up as well as a dozen haphazardly placed workshops. Food storage is inside now, and we’ll get shortly get a level JUST for storage. A trade depot is deployed, wood has been chopped and turned into beds, bins, barrels, wheelbarrows and such. We’ve got some nice stocks of booze and food.

Summer

Nine migrants have arrived. The fort continues to expand, a grand housing scheme is being developed. The first floor of the northern spire is half dug out as well. Many of our goods have been moved inside, and an eye has been turned towards fortifications. Mostly summer was a breeze.

Fall

Autumn is here, and with it comes another seven dwarves. Craft production can start in earnest, we need to be prepared to buy the first Anvil that comes along, little else matters. The rumblings of the volcano warm the thoughts of all of us at night. Led Ablelsod  has withdrawn from society to work on some mysterious construction. She won’t tell us what it is, but refuses to let anyone into the Mason’s workshop she’s taken over.

Winter

The first caravan has arrived, and while they bring many wonderful and useful things, they have brought the one thing we need above all else, an anvil. Now here’s some excitement, a kobold thief has fallen into the pit our drawbridge rests over, and he can’t get out. Unfortunately, he can still scare the dwarves trying to cross over, causing job cancellations. I guess I need a militia, even if it’s just one dwarf with a crossbow. On second thought, that’ll take to long. Instead we raised the drawbridge long enough for it to scramble out, and then dropped it again, and the caravan filled the kobold full of bolts. And on that note I’ll leave you with this wonderful picture of a sexy dwarf lady. Enjoy!