13 total dead Titans or Forgotten Beasts now. Esp Anostotho, the huge scaleless worm that possessed venomous vapours led the most recent cavern incursion up the Quarry. Esp had torn its way through every door, barring the ones holding the undead out and was fast approaching the surface.
Two job cancellations were announced. One was from the first Forge Master Olin, legendary in all metalworking skills. The other was 7th Forge Master Stodir Copperguild, not even dabbling in all metalworking skills, having just recently turned 12. They were both heading off to the topmost cavern layer to continue the construction of more fortifications alone, Olin fully armoured with a crossbow at hand to ensure the safety of the expedition. Esp climbed the ramp at an alarming speed as the two Dwarves fled upwards.
Olin stood still as Stodir ran.
I was struck aghast when I saw this happen, Olin the incredibly agile could easily outrun the putrid worm. It dawned on me that Stodir however, could not.
Olin was armed, he had a chance. He wore steel mail beneath a breastplate, with greaves, high boots and gauntlets holding fast and his crossbow in hand. 19 bolts in his quiver, Esp consisted entirely of only a shell and a single long body. Olin could do this.
He took his aim, it was hard to tell what to aim for even through the cloud of poison. Not for a lack of sight - what was there to shoot? The odds were he was surely about to die. He fired a single bolt.
It embedded itself and broke on the beast's shell. Esp lurched up and struck Olin, and down Olin fell into the magma sea.
Stodir had made it out alive.
16 soldiers from the barracks stood watch while 40 more Dwarves mustered at the corridor. Every Dwarf available prepared to meet out this foe. Captain Olon Copperguild, mother of Stodir herself led the assault on Esp and crashed her battle axe with all her strength into the creature, connecting with its shell. Enraged it grabbed her in its jaws and before long she too fell into the magma sea. Captain Litast saw an opportunity; Olin's bolt and Olon's axe had created an opening in its chitinous shell, it was all he needed to strike confidently.
It ended with Vabok Dentedlashed, the husband of Olon Copperguild finishing the job by twisting his spear in Esp's gutted body. It appears everyone struck by the syndrome died in the magma.
In the depths the number of undead grow further still. A dozen undead cavern creatures roam around a towering eyeless moth and a rotting tarantula that squirms and fidgets. It is expected that they will attack soon if they defeat the pond grabbers in the water's edge.
Progress has been slow with only one major construction completed, functionally anyways.
On the bright side, the first completed harvest of the tree farm was highly profitable:
The dead eagle is just one of the remains of a small zombie spiral that was halted before it got too large, only one Dwarf sustained permanent nerve damage thankfully. Rather intriguing is that after deforesting the Quarry, the muddy floors were no longer tetrahedrite or schist, but had instead become sandy loam tiles. The combined cycle of flooding and deforesting has effectively terraformed the old mine to the point where mud isn't even necessary anymore!
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Topic: Silentthunders - We have struck spoilers (Read 24015 times)