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As construction of the great stair nears completion, the ghostly planter strikes again. Taking control of Èrith Minedtribe of clan Gearguild, Ilral Boltedday struck down the master lasher Stukos Testorbs, the last remnant of the Lashhushed clan. Èrith, who had been recently recruited to the Silvery Princesses, had already reached legendary skill with his adamantine short sword - a skill which was put to vicious use by the angry spirit.


Also, a third type of demon has been spotted in the deeps: the Mite Brute. A great, scaly, slavery mite with thin wings of stretched skin. Truly, the underworld appears to be full of foul creatures.

That's the idea. There's actually already a route from the surface to the dome, thanks to some exploratory passages which were dug during the early years. All I have to do is go back through and clear out stuff that's made those passages impassable, and you'll be able to explore the dome as an adventurer, if you can find the way in.

A great stairwell is being constructed by the dwarves. When completed, it will stretch an unbroken 115 z-levels, from immediately below the dome to the floor of hell itself, taking up a 2x2 area on each level. This will provide the dwarves with the shortest possible route to the underworld, which will aid in the construction of the great temple.

While passing by during their varied tasks, the dwarves glance through the gaping hole into the depths. Occasionally they spot a demon traversing the endless, featureless grey landscape. These demons are apparently different than those invaders who sought to annihilate the fortress - it is suspected that the creatures of the underworld are divided into a military and domestic force, similar to the dwarves themselves. One such creature is the Topazolite Fiend. A towering quadruped composed of topazolite which squirms and fidgets. It might be admired as a creature of beauty, were it not for its inherently evil disposition.

For a day, the fortress shakes and echoes with the clash of battle below. Despite the flood of hell that pours into Weatherwires, the mighty warriors of the Diamond Cloisters hold strong, and the wave of demons eventually breaks and rolls back. The smoke and miasma fade after a few days, and the dwarves begin to go about the business of entombing the fallen, wading through the piles of ash, salt, and dismembered body parts which clog the narrow passage.

The skeletons of those who were caught behind the obsidian wall when hell was first breached are given a proper burial, and a handful of ghosts are laid to rest. Despite the hopes of any who went back into those passages to search for the dead, the body of the planter Ilral Boltedday is nowhere to be found.

Kib Waxpaddled, legendary hammerdwarf and matriarch of the now defunct Gloveowners clan (her only surviving child was slain in the battle) resumes her old position of mayor, which she held in the earliest years of the fortress. She meets with the surviving Quakedented children individually, and puts her high mastery in the skill of consolation to good use. A few months after the battle, morale springs back and there is no immediate threat of a tantrum spiral.

The Royal Fortresses and the Lone Lashes are disbanded for the time being, allowing the Quakedented and Lashhushed clan a chance to recuperate and contemplate their losses.

As her compatriots go about their duties, Melbil Cryptshaft returns to the caisson to mine out the last of the adamantine. The only other remaining legendary miners were slain in the battle, and Melbil is getting on in years - she could die of old age any season now. She migrated to the fort in 138 and was immediately put to work in the dome as a miner, quickly reaching legendary status. At some point during the years, she was bitten by a cave spider, and has suffered from dizzy spells since then. As well, she is the survivor of two separate cave-ins, and has lost use of her left leg - she has walked with a crutch for decades now. The wear of the years shows more on Melbil than other dwarves, but she is well-respected in the fortress as one of the miners who participated in the great excavation - and now, the last of all those heroes, she delves once more into the deeps to satisfy her race's unending, all-consuming greed.

DS. To make things funny, add [SPEED:1] to the dwarf raws.

Also, clowns will continue making visits because their car is still open.

At the moment, the ~30 FPS I'm enjoying is speed enough. Also, I've never experienced the multiple waves of demons that some people claim exist - though, hell does have 'wildlife,' after a manner, animalistic demons that roam in packs, which occasionally fly up through the tube.

So where does it go from here?

Queen Cog sits silently in her throne room, looking out over the tops of the guildhalls, thick with well-tended fungi and tastefully arranged statues, and contemplates the events of the centennial. Faced with a soul-crushingly slow and inevitable demise, she made the ultimate decision to cut the dwarves off from the land of the living, and thus end their collective agony. The overwhelming forces of hell, she had thought, would give them a glorious end. Indeed, many dwarves had finally found rest - but she had not, nor had her brother Asmel, although he had consistently been in the thick of the fight.

Deep in thought, her eyes involuntarily came to rest on a small, innocuous patch of bright green vegetation on the top of the nearest guildhall. Despair mixed with fury crept slowly across her face. He would not let them die. The accursed god of daylight and death had smote them down countless times, and yet the fortress' continued existence was undoubtedly his will. He would try to draw out the fortress' ultimate destruction for as long as possible, she realized - but only if they let him.

He had sent a third of the fortress to hell. Cog resolved to spit in the face of the vengeful god and send the rest of the Merchant of Echoing there too, as far from the bright, hateful surface as they could go. The pantheon they would erect there would be a testament to the strength and will of the dwarves - that, even after a century of tragedy and misfortune, their dying race could defeat the armies of hell itself and leave their footprint in the abyss forever. The construction would be the final act of the Diamond Cloisters, and would undoubtedly be bathed in the blood of Cog's subjects. She nodded to herself - a fitting end for the children of the mountain, who had overcome all challenges and created the wondrous dome of Weatherwires.

Maybe it's a sign they should try and colonize hell and join their deceased beloved there.

When the tide of battle started to turn and it became clear that the dwarves were going to pull through, I realized that this was going to have to happen. I'll leave the colonization for another fort (especially since the hell in this world is relatively thin, and I'd want an expansive abyss for megaprojects if I were to do a fort down there). It's time for the saga to draw to a close, I think.

With the remaining military in a pincer attack against the enemy, the remaining handful of demons in the corridor stood no chance whatsoever. In the final moments of battle, Commander Libash returned from her nap and casually slew five demons. Her absence is overlooked by the other dwarves who, in the heat of battle, probably did not notice her absence at all.

The defense of the fortress has been a success - for the time being. The effect of the deaths of about fifty dwarves - nearly a third of the fortress population - remains to be seen.

With a mighty blow, Asmel Deathchannels cleaves through the last of the demons who attacked through the northern passage. Leading what remains of his own squad and the hammerdwarves who fought alongside him, he charges south through the passage to lend aid to the militia commander.

Little does he know that Libash is absent from her post, and Shorast Sealmet has been slain, outnumbered by a terrifying array of demons.

In the north, the first line of defenses have been broken. The mace lord Shorast Sunstorches the Fair Spikes, captain of the Silvery Skunks, fought bravely to hold back the demons, but in the end they were too powerful. Overrunning him, a fiend of shadow the dwarves have now dubbed "Reksasinrus," Sinpoison, a towering earthworm composed of ash, leads the demons up the stairwell and into battle with the Dignified Hammers and the Royal Fortresses.

In the south, the military scrambles to defend the helpless civilians who have crowded into the hallways. Whether they are truly drawn there by their need to arrange the bodies there into the various stockpiles about the dome, or by their desire to find a glorious end to their civilizations' slow and soul-crushing failure, it is impossible to know.

While locked in combat with a pterosaur devil, Dumat the swordmaster was caught off guard by one of the ash tapirs, which crushed his skull in a surprise attack. On the other side of the breach, one of the ash tapirs punched the other swordmaster, Catten in the left hand, breaking her bones and forcing her to drop her steel shield - allowing the skinless pterosaur demon nearby to swoop in and snap her neck.

Meanwhile, the only remaining member of the Silvery Princesses, Èzum Openeddoors the Robust Stoker of Lances, is kicking ass and taking names.


And, in a truly dwarven display of hypocrisy, Libash Dippedurns left the site of battle to take a quick nap.

The battle rages, and the demons claim their first military kill. Rakust Doorpolishes, of clan Lashhushed, fought bravely, claiming a few kills before he was finally taken down. One of the mongoose-like salt ghosts caught Rakust from behind, kicking him with such strengh that the whiplash broke his spine, despite his adamantine breastplate. Helpless and paralyzed, the demons crushed his body mercilessly.

I mean in the raws. This might be whats affecting it so...

If you're referring to [BABY_CHILD_CAP], it's at 10000 for both values. Thus, my cap on babies+children is 10000, and I can't have more than 10000% of my adults in babies. It's not the issue, and besides, trying to solve the infertility bug is kind of a moot point by now.