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Either a flask or a waterskin, yeah. It's impossible to tell which, at this point - his body and all of his gear are gone forever.

In the mid-summer of 229, a little over three years after the centennial, the dwarves elect a new dwarf to the position of mayor; Cog Archwayward, daughter of the old duke Kogsak Murdershot, and since the death of Domas Tickcities, queen of Weatherwires. Of late, the queen has been training with the Silvery Princesses, and her skill in swordfighting is quickly nearing legendary status.

Later that summer, as the medical staff of the fortress was preoccupied with cleaning and dressing the wounds of the various other dwarves who had not crawled from the infirmary to craft an artifact, Libash Dippedurns the Ageless Deep of Rhymes, last of the original squad of knife-fighters and wrestlers, led by Vabôk Earthenfins the Tight Mechanisms of Whirling, succumbed to the wounds inflicted upon her by the vomit demons.

There are 81 dwarves left in Weatherwires - construction of the temple continues.

This is madness! Toss that nether-cap armor stand into "The Room". Light it up too.

Nether-cap items are apparently completely magma-proof.

Within a day of the previous attack, two wraiths of snow struck from the west. The enormous, snowy humanoids rushed towards the curtain wall, and the military, always ready, prepared for the attack. While they were preoccupied, one of the wraiths moved around the base of the stairwell, killing a passing merchant who was participating in the construction of the temple. The two demons were quickly overcome, however - but it seems that when one threat is neutralized in hell, another appears to replace it.

For no sooner than the wraiths been destroyed, five of their snowy kin appeared from the north. The fiends took flight, shrieking out of a purple vortex towards the line of dwarves hauling the body and equipment of Kol Claspedrelief back to the fortress. The military, fresh from one battle, moves across the barren landscape to eagerly join another. The civilians scatter, and four of the demons choose the closer targets presented by the fortress' warriors, and are quickly slain. One ranges far, however, and kills two dwarves before it can be caught and destroyed.

With the military away, chasing after the wraith of snow, the forces of hell sense a weakness. A mite brute strikes from the west, and manages another kill before it can be neutralized.

When the adamantine spire was breached, the demonic army struck in force, but it was turned away like a copper arrow striking a steel shield. Now, perhaps, they have found the weakness of the dwarves, and strike blow upon blow, content to win the battle against the dwarves through attrition.

As the dwarves retreat to the relative safety of the curtain wall, the prince surveys the landscape. The plain, greyish landscape is littered with various pieces of equipment, and the maimed and severed body parts of those dwarves who dropped them in an attempt to escape their final fate. Commander Libash and a handful of military dwarves are in traction in the dome far above, and the steel foundations of the temple, rising amidst a swirling haze of purple light to the south-east, remain woefully unfinished. Perhaps it will always remain so - a final testament to the will of the dwarves, that after a hundred years of grinding fate, it was only the forces of hell, in the underworld itself, that could bring that proud race to its knees. If the temple was never completed, it would serve as a reminder to whatever damned adventurer who found his way this deep into the earth - this was what killed the dwarves, so begone, lest ye suffer the same fate.

I was struck with food poisoning last night, so you can imagine my utmost disgust and horror when I boot up DF and four of these things attack:


Apparently the previous onslaught was found wanting, and the overlords of hell ordered in what might pass as siege engines amongst the fiends - the bloated, undulating vomit of a thousand demons, given sentience and malevolent will by whatever evil force was contained in the underworld.

The green monsters struck quickly, and militia commander Libash Dippedurns and a mace lord by the name of Rovod Craftlabor the Sour Tusk (wielding Entrancegriffons the steel mace) sprung to the defense. Although the demon's fragile bodies offered no resistance, every time the warrior's landed a strong blow, the thin, vile film which held together the monsters would release a spray of demon bile which knocked the dwarves off their feet, sometimes high above the slade floor, only to come back down with a crunch.


Ironically, it is the monster's strength which proves to be their undoing. As the rest of the military rushes in to aid in the defense, Commander Libash strikes a long slice into one of the fiends with the Blockaded Pungency, the artifact adamantine spear once wielded by Vabôk Earthenfins, and the jet of loathsome spew hurled the four demons into the air. The creatures fell back to the surface with a splat, leaving pools of steaming vomit on the black slade. One of the beasts heaves forward, still not quite dead - or whatever passes as death for a blob of vomit.

The creature struck swiftly, crushing the curse-breaker Zasit Portalwines, first child of the Quakedented clan, between itself and the slade floor. 21 years have passed since Zasit was born, and since then no other clans have formed. In all, 20 children were born into the clan, although now only 9 remain, and with their patriarch slain, that number will only grow smaller.

The last green monster collapses to the ground in a burst of its own vomit, and ceases to undulate.

I am so effing glad I posted earlier in this thread. It reminded me to check up on this thread, and goddamn did it deliver.

You're phenomenal at storytelling, DS.

Hey, thanks.

I kinda wish there was a way to stop playing the fortress(without abandoning), and use it as the mountainhome for a new fort. However that doesn't seem to fit in with the theme and flow of the story so far. Either way, I quite enjoyed reading things so far.

Well, I will of course post the save once the fortress is finished for good, which will allow anyone to do a reclaim, or explore the fort in adventure mode.

I should point out (but I'll put it in spoilers in case you don't want it to be spoiled - you'll almost certainly have more fun if you try it your way):

There have been so many demon colonizations on the thread, it's actually becoming as common as various megaprojects. 

People have been defeating the HFS since shortly after it was introduced. I think that the fact that overcoming what is supposed to be the ultimate threat in the game is a sign that the upcoming update will be much-needed.

The curtain wall is completed, and as the scaffolding is being torn down, an armor stand is placed next to the base of the stairwell and each of the four remaining squads ordered to train in hell.

...not a moment too soon, as a barrage of seven demons assaults the fortress.


In the battle, the scions of the Vesselplayed and Thunderbridge clans are wounded - though, luckily, a few broken bones are the only wounds suffered. Kol Claspedrelief, the youngest dwarf and the only survivor of clan Languagemetal makes his first two demonic kills - a pair of mite brutes.

Now, the last construction - the final effort of Weatherwires.

The region of the underworld that lies underneath Weatherwires has been explored, but a suitable site for the temple remains to be selected. The location of the structure will of course depend on its nature - size, complexity, use, etc. - which also remains to be determined.

After a desperate battle with an Antelope Fiend, captain Èzum and his squadmates discovered that the demons are generally too large for any single warrior to defeat. Instead, a lone warrior would simply be batted around by the fiend, until one wrong step sent the dwarf tumbling into one of the mysterious glowing pits which marred the underworld's otherwise featureless surface. Though Èzum's squad suffered no casualties, the captain was forced nearly to the edge of one of these pits, and so further precautions are being made. A steel curtain wall, surrounding the base of the stairwell, will ensure that any squad who guards the entrance to the fortress will have a small area, protected against those howling, swirling vortices of light, where they will need not fear an accidental plunge deeper into the abyss. Once this curtain wall is finished, a small barracks, complete with a supply of food and drink, will be erected so that the militia can train and eat, even while stationed in the deepest of deeps.