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[Ghills]

Yes! Ardentdikes lives!  And you've even started some kind  of plot going too.

[Wastedlabor]

Dorfing requests?

[Wastedlabor]

I dug up one pending request.

Here's RabidAnubis Bellmortals the Miner, slayer of Dethe Beachpebbles the Minion of Soil:



8th Timber, 1077, Late Autumn

The Armorer Lielac has been unchained. She's gobbling barrels of booze now. Where are our helmets? By the way, anyone else smells roasted elk? It must be my imagination.



Deler Shotcombat went for a walk through Dariush's Crusher. To my horror, I watched her cut corners below the moving bridges. I hurried to have some words with Dariush about those traffic orders before Deler came back. We managed to agree on new ones ―then she came back... and proceeded to zig-zag out of the safe path every dozen urists. Orders were enforced as much as we could. For her unintended contribution to the safety of the fort, Deler was granted an honorary title:



Our manager Melkorp was allowed to take a temporary role as mayor, in order to receive the dwarven diplomat. Autumn is almost over, they should arrive anytime.

17th Timber, 1077, Late Autumn

Behold, the dwarven climate control:



Urist Tomesglad's war eagle is finally trained. During the ceremony, she said something about preferring rose gold demons. Why is everybody named Urist so scary?

I asked her what would happen if, now that she has fought the most horrible beasts, we released Urist McDuck to send him to prison. She turned pale and answered that, with all due respect, she would just run away.

18th Timber, 1077, Late Autumn

There is our caravan!



I asked our broker Lorbam Twistedglazes what we had for trade. But, wait, what is this?



It seems we have a dozen bags encrusted in jewels. We better place these at the still unoccupied royal chambers, before these idiots wear them out hauling sand.

Peeking over Lorbam's shoulder, I saw a long list of adamantine strands still waiting to be woven into wafers. I'm starting to entertain the idea of sending our metalsmiths to feed the magma crabs.

While the merchants approached the fortress, I ordered an underground garbage dump full of contaminated skeletons to be washed and removed. It has been spreading miasma.

20th Timber, 1077, Late Autumn

Curse them!



The caravan guards and our soldiers made the ambushers run away, but not before they took a pot shot on an unfortunate merchant. The other merchants decided to leave. There goes our chance to send gifts to the mountainhomes. Luckily for us, the dead merchant was the one carrying the metal bars, lye and gypsum plaster.

I saw the war eagle flying to join the skirmish. I followed her direction until I spotted a glitter of adamantine, far in the horizon.



It turns out Urist Tomesglad, wearing the recently salvaged armor, managed to overtake the caravan guards, reach the border ahead of them, and decapitate a goblin in one blow before he could escape to safety.

Pray Armok she never goes berserk on us.

[Wastedlabor]

22th Timber, 1077, Late Autumn

The liaison escaped unscathed. We were interrupted while I was ordering some blind cave bear leather:



"A squad of lashers! In our caverns! Dariush!"

"Yes?"

"Why are there goblin lashers in our fortress?"

"Because they got in?"

"I can see that! Why did they get in?"

"Well... there's a ramp to a little mound near the volcano, which leads to the bridge that gives access to the tower of dumping, which is connected to Maquox's lava mausoleum, from the roof of which the new three urists bridge connects to the former magma pump stack, built on top of an access corridor which goes down deep into the fortress."

"Argh! Send the military! Save the poor bastard that stumbled into them!"

"Err... about that..."

"Yes?"



"Wh... why are our caverns connected to the tower of dumping!? How did nobody warn of Imiru's the gigantic salt humanoid roaming freely below us? And why is Iminu wounded already!?"



"O... kay. Whatever. Send the military!"

It only took one spear stab for the human captain to kill poor limping Iminu. We had to count on our own forces to repel the ambushers. I asked for a visual description of the human, Utes Limbmenaces. Did Iminu wound him?



"Wait. Are we... being attacked by a pimp human leading a squad of whip wielding goblins? What is wrong with this place!?"

Urist Tomesglad was darting again to encounter the enemies. Urist, that's not a regular human, that's a Pimp Human! I stopped her and ordered everybody to camp the corridor between the cemetery and Urist McDuck's prison. It seems the old demon will have his desires fullfilled sooner than expected!



Doren Geargrips, Astesh Craftedfeet and a migrant recruit joined Urist to meet the enemies. The poor redshirt recruit Sodel fell in the first moments. A goblin tied his whip around Astesh's left hand, but Doren and Urist quickly turned the lashers into minced meat. Utes the Pimp Human scrambled up the stairs trying to escape, but then...:



The incoming recruits stood in awe, as Urist Tomesglad's companion, Kubuk Sackwatch the war Giant Eagle, dove on the enemy leader and ripped off his head.

Are you satisfied, Urist McDuck?

[Eldes]

This is awesome! Just to test, I downloaded one of the latest saves, and I get what might be a playable FPS, so I think I'll try a turn on this. I tried Deathgate, but clowns are frigging hardcore.

[Babylon]

heh,  the bronze colossus cage is there to kill the lady that whines about not finding her pet.  One of the levers is linked to it, the other does nothing,  I believe there is also a lever at the base of the tower to lock the door.

I wonder what happened to my feet?  I guess I forgot to put on socks.  Most likely I'll be joining my wife and daughters soon.

[Wastedlabor]

I wonder what happened to my feet?  I guess I forgot to put on socks.  Most likely I'll be joining my wife and daughters soon.

I think you'll be ok. There's lots of dwarves walking with muscle wounds in their feet, after the doctoids removed the rotten tissue. They don't seem to get infected.

[Wastedlabor]

A Winter of Haunting Horrors

17th Moonstone, 1077, Early Winter

This is it. Our manager and our chief medic have been burrowed in their workplaces. I don't want to hear again they are too busy working on a fish pond.

Dethe the flame blob has dried one of the cave ponds and is now scaring the masons that are busy flooring an open space over it.



Stibmer the eyeles tarantula is not immune to the deadly cavern goo. Its feet are rotting and it is spreading huge clouds of miasma wherever it creeps to.



Now that the river is frozen, we'll attempt to plug some of the holes that flooded a few rooms.  While Katana's squad guarded a digging spot outside under the snow, I found our miners cooking in the kitchens. I handed some extra picks and kicked them out. We still haven't started Armok's temple!

28th Moonstone, 1077, Early Winter

The masons working in the mausoleum told us they heard horrid sounds coming from the poisonous lakes in the upper caverns. Vucar Pusspittles has arrived!



This time the fortress is safe, I think.

8th Opal, 1077, Mid-Witner

Fikod Splatteredseal shot down a giant eagle, Megaman ran to it and mashed it awkwardly for hours with an iron crossbow. That can't be good for Megaman's karma.

A different kind of disease threatens the fort:



Yet another horror decided to haunt us. Mebzuth Wavelies:



Only a few walls were left to seal the mausoleum towers. The cruel Mebzuth seemed uninterested at first, fooling the masons that tried to finish them. Then, 'Loser' Orbburials the Blacksmith was struck down!



Mebzuth darted up the stairs, chasing Endok Shootbelted the Animal Trainer, who was followed by a war giant leopard and a war giant jaguar he had been training. While he escaped, the giant felines attacked the beast!



Although they barely opposed resistance to Mebzuth, they earned a valuable time for the military to rush down the shaft. Urist Tomesglad went ahead, followed by Lielac and a bunch of recruits. Urist slaughtered Mebzuth, although Zefon Earthtribes, wielding a steel battle axe, took credit for the kill.

17th Opal, 1077, Mid-Witner

The Winter of Horrors delivers another surprise:



We had to rush to build more walls in the cavern flooding magma mechanism to keep it outside.

3rd Obsidian, 1077, Late Winter

Astesh Stoppedwhip, captain of the Fortresses of Gravel, has grown attached to his steel axe Typhoonphrases. It seems to have a long history in Ardentdikes:



12rd Obsidian, 1077, Late Winter

We are haunted now by a ghostly potter, and a nurse.



Nobody seems to remember Frosty, so we start looking for her corpse. During the search, we notice another haunting horror: Nish Degelvod's skeleton, buried under the courtyard's mud, burning eternally.



Shlodofopligis's skeletal remains are also burning in the dikes. I don't think I want to know why.

Frosty's corpse is trapped in ice in the water pump stack. Dariush gets the task of digging it out.

20th Obsidian, 1077, Late Winter

The warmer season started before we could plug the hole in the water pump stack. The ditch draining into the brook should be enough to contain it, but I ordered to install a barrier anyway.



Silly Monom was flushed by the falling water into the brook. She managed to swim to the other side and get out. Then she fell again.

And again.

Finally, she crossed safely. We'll pretend that didn't happen, Monom.

Somewhere deep in the fortress, Rigoth Gostmistem, who nobody really cared about, went mad because he couldn't find some kind of thread. And so, Ardentdikes' Winter of Haunting Horrors came to an end.

[Di]

I wonder if this world will run out of FB's one day.
It's really a pity that so less computers can handle a fort this epic, I was getting 20's at a time my turn should had happened and I'm afraid I'd get a single digit now if I tried this.

[Wastedlabor]

I have a i5 2500K, it's fairly fast on it. If only I could keep myself from stopping it all the time to check what's going on.

[Wastedlabor]

A Conflict of Power

1st Granite, 1078, Early Spring

Spring arrived. A jaguar and a vulture died of old age. The leaking pump stack was fenced to prevent drownings.

19th Granite, 1078, Early Spring

Since the blood sacrifice, Urist McDuck has gone silent and has refused to take back the overseer position. I'm afraid I may have broken an ancient seal.

I talked with Melkorp, our manager, about the noble positions in our fortress. Melkorp suggested to send the gifts next Autumn and defer the decision to the mountainhomes. They may be planning to give McDuck the duchy of Ardentdikes. Otherwise, we'll need to find a way to make him serve his 826 days of sentence.

Melkorp directed my attention to a more immediate issue: Ardentdikes' guard equips adamantine, and is led by the demon-like Urist Tomesglad and her war Giant Eagle familiar. Were we to fill the other nine vacant positions in order to submit Urist McDuck, we may end with a curse ten times worse.

Is Urist Tomesglad trying to make merits for the crown of Ardentdikes? Should we accept her as seer, to escape her as hammerer?

Amidst these tortured thoughts, I'm informed the masons cut off the mausoleum from the rest of the fortress. We can hear poor Megaman Hamecrowns' cries through the walls. Pukako Twiststeel the Exiled Arsonist child came to the rescue and made room to install descending stairs.

10th Slate, 1078, Mid-Spring

Half a dozen migrants have arrived, despite the danger. We are 109 now. 108. A mad dwarf just died of thirst.

I'm trying to ignore the power issue. Melkorp has my support to end the season as mayor, and then let the next overseers negotiate with the diplomats and with Urist Tomesglad. Once my term is finished, I will retire to the temple, where I'll be glad not to deal with these problems again.  I feel great changes may be looming in the horizon that could bring even more chaos to Ardentdikes.

Nightmare Bros the arsenal dwarf informs us we barely have any quivers, backpacks and waterskins for our military. The leatherworkers will have to work hard this season.

We found soap! The blocks had been used to make a road in front of the courtyard's siege machine.



Our soap workshops are cursed. We haven't been able to produce a single bar yet. I hope our soapmakers can reverse engineer it.

We added a well to the hospital. The bucket brigade filled a small reservoir under it, enough for the chief medic and her patients.

Rumbles of broken rocks have been resounding many levels under the royal chambers. A constant river of dwarves hauling goblin cap logs and basalt stones come and go from the entrails of the earth. Quiet acolytes wielding metal whips meet in secret. We are making progress...

24th Slate, 1078, Mid-Spring

I can hear Urist McDuck trying to feed somebody. But, who? He's alone in his prison, isn't he?



Armok's Acolytes have been hard at work, trying to release the secrets of the Ancient Cat Soap. They tell us its art had been forbidden to our civilization, and replaced instead with a heathen, newer method that didn't work in our cursed workshops. They will sacrifice a leopard to obtain fresh tallow and continue their research. Also, they mumbled something about spilled reagents on magic stacks of rhesus macaque meat, but I'm not sure I understood what they meant.

16th Felsite, 1078, Late Spring

The elves arrived. They never bring good news!



The elves didn't have a chance. A squad of trolls was captured in the cage traps spiral. The city's bell rang and everybody ran inside.



"Melkorp? Why is Tobul Confusetin the Lady of The Chambers running towards the enemy?"

"I'm afraid the city's bell alert included the cage traps spiral, and some land beyond. The citizens ran to reset the traps without noticing one troll remained free."

"Can we save her?"

Urist Tomesglad, who was removing Kubuk's leather cap in the courtyard, shook her head sternly.

"Too late. She'll have to escape the troll and reach the microcline bridge entrance before the goblin elite bowmen have her in range."

Tobul decided it was a better idea to run in the opposite direction. I'll spare the details.



The invaders that headed for the microcline bridge were stopped by the lava trap; the rest tried to overhelm the cage trap defenses.

Meanwhile, the Armok's Acolytes had greater priorities than war.



A few goblins reached the inner bridges of the fortress. Being such a dangerous place to dodge attacks, the recruits from the Fortresses of Gravel were sent ahead to clear them. The weak but agile Lokum Mentours distinguished himself leading the counterattack and scoring two kills.



We need to have a talk with our doctoids. Lokum and several other dwarves are walking around with adamantine stitches.

23th Felsite, 1078, Late Spring

Spring cleaning is underway. One good thing about elves is they tend to donate nice chausses for our soldiers.

Human tastes are a bit questionable, though:

[Wastedlabor]

In 1078, Ongong settled in Ardentdikes

1st Hematite, 1078, Early Summer

"Udib..."

"Yes, master McDuck?"

"Udib, have you been doubting my power? Are you planning to serve another Urist?"

"Lord McDuck, I don't... I wasn't..."

"That farce of a mayor, Melkorp... he has had enough fun already. I'm taking back what is mine."

"Of course, my master."



I'm convinced Urist McDuck's dark mind is controlling Dariush's Crusher. As a lesson about what could happen to the rest of us, he has reduced our cat population to zero. Four migrants arrived, despite the danger, and Dariush's Crusher killed Lor Runbooks' puppy even before entering the walls, giving him instantaneus unhappy thoughts.

I pity the next overseer, if they plan to elect another mayor to meet with the diplomat.

3rd Malachite, 1078, Mid-Summer

Garetho the Twilight of Subtleties has arrived.



There's also a giant lobster in the lower caverns I didn't notice before. Half the fortress stinks now of rotting lobster feet.

 19rd Malachite, 1078, Mid-Summer

A feeding chamber has been built over Urist McDuck's prison. Although he still has food and drinks for many years, we can drop offerings and sacrifices through it.



In so far, it has been an unconfortablely peaceful summer.

19rd Malachite, 1078, Mid-Summer

The vultures chained on top of the towers started to shriek. There was a flurry of dwarves running around, grabbing armor and weapons. I had spent most of the summer working in the underground temple, so I was oblivious to what was happening above. I had to grab a passing recruit by the shoulder to ask him what was all the panic about.

"Dragon! Dragon! A dragon has arrived!"

"What? Where?"

"She appeared flying over the mountain that rises South of Ardentdikes!"



The acolytes checked the ancient tomes. They identified her as Ongong Diamondgold the Silvery Flames. A gigantic beast, with green scales and black eyes. Her legends went back to the beginning of time.

Ongong was associated with wealth and fire. In 1, Ongong settled in The Long Pits. Meng Quakeshield was her first dwarven victim, a young farmer girl that worshipped the dragon Zangu Flamegilds the Luxury of Taxing. She was burnt to death in the year 44. Meng's valor was enough to drive her away for a century. Elves, humans, kobolds, goblins and trolls weren't so fortunate, as they were slaughtered year after year.

Ongong received the worship of many humans, including the famed Citu Houndrubbed the Assaults of Clobbering and Luc Bowtall the Notched White Mechanism. In gratitude, she burned many of them.

Dwarves started to worship her in the year 543, after her attack to The Dipped Cloister in Controlledlens. In gratitude, she burned many dwarves too. The only dwarf that faced her and escaped alive during Ardentdikes' era is Zasit Wippedboulder, the current diplomat of The Whirling Girders, worshipper of dragons, colossus and hydras.

To this date, Ongong's kill count is one hundred seventy nine. About three times Urist Tomesglad's kill count.

The military started to assemble in the courtyard and the marksdwarves were sent to the top of the fortress. But then, we noticed Ongong wasn't flying straight towards us.

"Where is she going?"



"Urist!", yelled an acolyte. "Urist McDuck! She's flying towards the entrance of the volcano that leads to Urist McDuck's prison!"

That old demon! Did he bring the dragon?

The dwarves started to yell again.

"We lost her! Where is she?"

"She plunged in the volcano!"



Now what, Urist McDuck!?

2nd Galena, 1078, Late Summer

Ongong is chilling in the volcano, releasing steam and... doing nothing. The volcano has been bubbling and waving since the fortress was cleansed. Maybe the curse is holding her there, unable to swim towards the magma channels. I asked the acolytes if dragons were magma proof, but they couldn't give me an answer.

I had to send the military back to work. I don't know what to do now. This may be a signal the time to hand the fortress to another overseer is nearing.

18th Galena, 1078, Late Summer

I never thought I would have to say that, with a legendary dragon swimming in our volcano, our greatest concern would be kobold thieves. The acolytes were tasked with chasing them away, as the military was busy meeting the human caravan...

...and then:





The ambushers were hunting Ongong! Have goblins heard of McDuck, and sent champions to stop Ongong from releasing him? Were humans aware of her arrival, and is that why they sent their guards at the same time? Whatever the reason, Ongong's reign of terror came to an end, as goblins hacked her near the edge of the volcano. She must have become old and weak after more than a thousand years roaming the world.



Finished their work, the goblin squad committed suicide under Dariush's Crusher. They probably weren't expected to come back.

***

Autumn has come. It's time to wrap things up and hand the fortress to the next overseer.

The flooring of Armok's Temple isn't complete, but it has been fully designated:



Humans are waiting to trade. The water pump stack is still leaking, but it will freeze soon. Soap making is tasked, although nobody has worked on it yet due to lack of fresh tallow. Half the prisoners are still waiting to be stripped and punished. Booze stockpiles are dry. Burial receptacles need to be moved to the great mausoleum. Urist Tomesglad is the only dwarf with a full admantine set, and so the candy corps squad remains vacant.

For my part, I'm retiring to the Temple. Urist McDuck's command was satisfied, and I hope he forgets about me from now on.

Savefile: http://dffd.wimbli.com/file.php?id=5475

[Wastedlabor]

A few post mortem notes.

* Stibmer the tarantula has been in the fortress for +14 years. So had the salt humanoid, until the human captain killed him.

* Megaman's stomach has been in a state of advanced rot for +11 years.

* Alchemy was succesfully performed on the rhesus macaque meat.

* There's a water cascade and a magma cascade. If you are going to take a bath, choose wisely.

[Di]

Awesome turn it is!
As for McDuck, he's not only sentenced to imprisonment SethGreyd said he'd become an enemy of the state so if he is promoted to the nobility he'll run around killing people anyway.
Peeking in the save, as I said, single digit it is. Seems that this have some modded reaction as I can't update graphics so trees were trees and stone was stone.
Also, why is magma being poured to cavern at z-118?
409 dwarves died in this place.

[Wastedlabor]

Yeah, there's a modded soap reaction called make_soap, besides make_soap_from_tallow and make_soap_from_oil. I loaded an alternate copy of the save to try it with vanilla raws, but it would complain about a missing reaction or show wrong tiles.

I found make_soap reaction wasn't allowed to dwarves, so I added it.

About McDuck, I tried releasing him in an alternate reality. Urist the Palace Guard tries to jail him, but then both run away scared of each other.

I don't know about the story of the magma cascade in the third level of caverns. I opened it to keep flyers away, then left it open to see how much it could flood.