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Bite thumb; use blood to fuel arcane activities. Repeat attempt to trap homieunculus.

Killed a dragon 10 minutes after character creation with a quest 
How do I find the actual cave entrances? It says I've found a cave entrance when I come out of travel but all I can see is a hill, no cave or anything. Sometimes has tonnes of crafts and food on it.

I just finished the second chapter in the great story of my adventurer. The first successful (ish) adventurer I have ever made. LONG story (First and second 'chapters', for want of a better word. Maybe "Acts" or "Stages"?) about what is happening, so I will spoiler it to keep this page tidy.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

He was a human male shield/armor/swordsman. Regular joe-bloggs knight in shining armor. Or at least a mail shirt, which is great.

My first few kills were easy. And then I got cocky.

You see... I wanted to up my shield skill ALOT. So I decided to steal an idea from Oblivion, and get something real weak to wail on me, while I sit down and do nothing. Great idea... except mudcrabs aren't in DF So I decided for the next best thing: I would grab the next animal I encountered, wrestle it down, break it's legs, and have it try and bite me in between passing out from pain. I had 8 points in wrestling, and I was as good a wrestler as I was a swordsman at the beginning, so I thought I would be great.

2 rounds in, and I haven't even managed to get my warthog on the ground. And then... it happens. The warthog, angry at me trying to strangle it, kicks me solidly in the back ... breaking it.

I collapse, pick up my sword, and start stabbing it, trying to get it dead before it kills me. Suddenly, it passes out in pain. Feeling victorious, I stab it one more time... and I pass out from my injuries.

When I wake up, I am slightly more injured, as the warthog had woken up, pounded on my defenseless body for a while, and passed out again. And then, for what I assume was the next hour or so, we exchanged blows, I would wake up, hit it with my sword for 2 rounds, and then pass out again.

After 3 passing outs, I noticed a new text on my status: MORTAL WOUND. I was profusely bleeding, and must have broken my shield arm. But just in time, I stab the warthog in the chest, pass out... and when I come too, the warthog is dead.

I am almost completely dead, so I fast travel, hope for the wounds to heal, and when I return: I have a cut right ear, bruised left lung and ... a broken spine. I take one step, and collapse to the floor ... never to walk again.

In desperation, I try to make it to the ocean, but I am too slow to make it there without dying of thirst (no stores to buy waterskins, and the river is salty for the last 24 hours of crawling). So I go to the nearest town, find the warlord, and ask for a quest. I have never passed a quest before, so I am shocked when he gives me a quest to kill a dragon that killed seven people... and most importantly devoured a cat (or rather, "devoured cat"). Feeling that I need to go out in a blaze of glory, I accept, and travel south to the dragon. The warlord no doubt had no intentions of seeing me again, a paraplegic swordsman out to kill a dragon...

I find the cave, and it is an awesome location. The outside plains are flatter than Texus, but the cave is situated near the top of a ~10 z-level mountain with sheer cliff faces on all sides. The mountain is around 25 wide by 25 wide by 10 tall, with a 8x8 flat summit at that top. I climb the cliff (hoping to not see the dragon and steal it's loot), but the dragon is on the top of the mountain. And then it tells me its kills. And it goes on. And on. And on. And on. And on. I don't know how many kills it got, but it was not 7. More like 30-40 >.< So I fight my dragon, crippled beyond hope, and hope that the dragon kills me quickly, faster than that warthog did...

First combat: The dragon breaths fire. Surprisingly, dragonfire is *SLOW*, and I was able to run away from it (or rather, down-hill). Hoping to flee, I scramble a little out of the cliff-face, but the dragon follows my crippled body, smiling as its lumbering mass bears down on me... it opens its mouth, lets loose flames...

And my shield blocks it. The dragon is a little surprised, and was moreso when I stabbed it through the leg, breaking a bone on the first shot! A long battle ensued, and after around 30 rounds of combat, I emerged victorious, not a scratch on me!

I don't know why... but I was invulnerable to dead-on attacks when lying prone with a shield. The only attacks that hit me (not in that combat) were flanking attacks (hits from the side / back). This meant that the dragon, in one-on-one combat, didn't stand a chance. I butchered the corpse, and headed into his cave, to get more goodies.

And then got lost. I was drowsy 4 times, which means I was under for 6 days or so. I drank Elk bird blood 6 times, and ate alligator meat 10 times. My waterskin was empty, and I was lost... until I remembered to look at my compass >.<

I found my way back ... and was ambushed by no less than 30 trogolytes. These trogs flanked me, and started bruising my arms and legs and head... I was nearly exhausted, tired, with almost no supplies, and had been looking for the exit of the mines for nearly 30 real-life minutes. I was about to give up, thinking the compass was wrong, but then I saw it...

"Splattering of Warthog blood"

On a wall, was the bloody entrails of a warthog which got into a fight with an underground critter... but I hadn't killed any warthogs near here... it must have travelled underground through the entrance. I re-doubled my efforts, and finally found the exit: A tiny 1 square ramp.

Exhausted, and now drowsy, I creeped up the ramps, up 15 z-levels of twisting corridors to the summit of the mountain. My waterskin empty, covered in muddy water and the blood of elk birds and trogs innumeral, I saw the light, and dragged my crippled body out...

Into sunlight. Into the great plains. I was on the mountain-top, surrounded by those great flat (and dry) plains. It was sunset, nearly 6 days after I had killed the dragon, and fought the hordes of deadly underground beasts... I was crippled for life, with no water, and was needing sleep... but there was only one thing on my mind...

See a certain warlord...