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[HMetal2001]

Digging by the slate corridor and directly above it.

Yes, I intend to train the tongs to shoot Zom.

[Fleeting Frames]

Hope they don't jump Tongs wear only leather and bone armor, and blunt damage is generally not much good against large beasts like FBs.

[HMetal2001]

Journal of HMetal Silverystopped, Overseer
6 Granite

"No, mayor. I do apologize for this but I DON'T CARE ABOUT THIS DAMNED PARCHMENT!"



I don't draw very good, but the least I could do is to describe it. Fleeting Frames might be very bookish, but she's also a competent leader, and I'm grateful that she's my advisor. But she was insistent that I read this scroll. Since it's a "behind the scenes" book of a book, I wasn't interested.

Anyway, on to business. I just got off of meditating on metals! And I'm really losing my mind. So I have to at least write it down. I really am considering using adamantine for bolt manufacturing. Regarding copper,

Copper versus gemstone....I think copper wins slightly. Though I don't really trust marksdwarves against things that aren't fleshy, can't give in to pain or explode (i.e. coral, steam, flame, etc. fragile FB), but I'm generally distrustful, pessimistic of danger and greatly surprised when ex. a hauler beats a Jabberer unconscious with her bare hands. This is in large part why I made buildingdestroyer traps, even if steel and adamantine-clad dwarves should be able to handle most threats easily.

So that's that then. Waddabout adamantine, Frames?

Also many of the Tongs are having difficulty in getting their equipment. Frames?

I had yet another dream. But it's veeeeeery different. You see, I was in a long racing tournament of some kind. It was in Phantom class. Descension. Yes, it was the Descent tournament. The longest of them all. All the circuits from Alpha, Beta, and even Gamma were present. It was the 9th race out of 12 in Chengou Project. I was in a Qirex. Goteki and I were tied to the gold medal at 48 points. This was the one I had to win. And I did! In fact, Tigron was the 2nd! Goteki took the gold at the end though. Puma shot me with a plasma at Vineta K, and I got eliminated after I was hit by rockets fire. At least I won most of the other races with a first place finish. Got me enough points for a silver medal.


OOC: If you couldn't guess which game it was, it was Wipeout Pure.

[Fleeting Frames]

- Actually, I just like books and libraries Though hardly the most knoowledgeable about them, not many stories written in my forts. Tried to mess with lime a bit, but ultimately lot of micro for single parchment sheet when caravan brings 'em by the truckload.

Not really worth the effort on strict gameplay basis, tbh -  taverns are better for citizenships, other ways better for wealth generation and you need very little to satisfy needs for bit less distraction while opening to visitors allows book thieves in. (I think a citizen-only zone with 1 book on ground could be enough, even?)

- Adamantine would be sharper than gemstone for sure, but since both it and steel have greater sharpness than gemstone it's not like there's a real difference between the two here (well, beyond how much there's one or the other. Though normally, you'd prefer steel for bolts due them converting to blunt damage if not slicing through).

But really, the bigger takeaway from that is that I'm pessimistic about dwarves and things going wrong in general and marksdwarves in particular. Heck, I've read of armored dwarf slicing off their own leg in practice drill, with a wooden training axe, and the number of times I've heard "I sent my military against something that couldn't possibly hurt them and they dodged into a pool and drowned" is in double digits. Etc.

Heck, during my turn, I had two dwarves get injured putting a single piece of leather into a stockpile with 1 job :v

Of course, I don't think there's any dwarves in fortress that are irreplacable, so it's more something to shake your head at.

- If Tongs are spamming equipment mismatch, it is because of bolt production outputting higher quality bolts than what they have {I set workflow to keep 10 squad-unclaimed stacks of bolts in stocks (so, total of 1100 for fortress iirc, if it was 600 for squad?) [note if you didn't get workflow message(s), it is disabled by default and didn't get detected by dfhack I guess - which means it doesn't turn off repeat jobs] }.

Though, if you doubt, v-i check their inventories (last one being most likely to have unsuitable equips). Nobody should be claiming any of their equipment on account of them being highest-ranked squad in fortress, but doesn't hurt.

[HMetal2001]

I changed the leather armor template. What now?

[Fleeting Frames]

Absolutely nothing happens, unless and untl you tell somebody to actually wear it :v

[HMetal2001]

Journal of HMetal Silverystopped, Overseer
16 Granite, 503



_{What the blazes} is this?

Spoiler: Stockpile Room (click to show/hide)

Also, the stockpile room has been dug out. Just waiting for the rocks to be dumped. And someone dropped their bone armor here? What on Thurkodor is going on here? this is weeeeeeeiiiiiiird

19 Granite, 503


Ooh, visitors? At least Risen could help in beating Zom. Speaking of Zom,

Still there? Also,

Spoiler: Zom (click to show/hide)

Okay then. Huh. Frozen what? Tears? It should clearly let it gooooooooooooooooooooooo! (OOC: I'm not sorry) So, it's content on staying in that damned spore tree, but it's still a threat. If it changes its mind, then we are all going to be in a world of shit. Most of us are fine, but Rovod says, "We ARE in a world of shit. We already have an antenna-antlered deer coming our way if we're not carful enough!"

Fleeting Frames steps in and says, "Not to mention that armored dwarves can get their legs chopped off with wooden training axes, and two dwarves got injured putting a single piece of leather into a stockpile here. HERE! If something like this happens here, we have no hope of surviving." Rovod then quietly, under her breath, tells me as Frames was walking to her room, "Sir, I work everyday to make a better life for both myself and Blah. We both love each other dearly. We both want to live happy and peaceful lives here in Deathgame."

I then tell her, "Don't tell anyone, Commander, please. I've been having those nightmares again." She asks "What nightmares?" I then said, "The same one that woke me up on the 15th of Granite 3 years ago. And similar ones during meditation." She then had this incredulous look on her face. "What's going on with you? You had that one when we founded this place? The reason why my first memory of being here was you screeching awake from the bunk? And you're having them again?"

"Sadly, yes. We need to defend ourselves here. We have settled here because no ambush, kidnapping, or siege can get here. But the giant beetle screeching 'Ritheesahh' was enough to make my skin crawl in the night. They were very, VERY vivid nightmares. All of you, died. All of you. And I was responsible. I saw through the beast's eyes. Some punched it and fractured it. But to no avail." I sobbed, and then burst into tears. "IT WAS MY FAULT! IT WAS MY FAULT IT WAS MY FAULT THAT ALL OF YOU DIED THERE! ALL OF THE FRIENDS I EVER KNEW! You, Blah, Erush, Cerol, Tun, Urist, Nish, Fath. Even the babies weren't spared from the webs. The BABIES! AND IT WAS MY JOB TO TAKE CARE OF YOU ALL! TO CATER TO YOUR EVERY NEED, TO CHEER YOU UP ON A BAD DAY, TO EVEN GIVE ADVICE ON YOUR MARRIAGE! Did I mention that you and Blah were married then? Oh the two of you were so adorable. In fact, I was the one who pronounced you husband and wife then. My heart sank when you died, and when Blah died soon after. Erush, a dwarf who hacked a cyclops to death with a pick, lay dead right in front of me! Poor little Cerol. He never got to grow up. A visiting marksdwarf shot like a master, much like yourself, landing hits on the damned thing. We all died, and we had no chance. I was so incompetent, that our squad wasn't strong enough to kill it. That's why I let Blahsadfeguie take command, and Sanctume later, and then Frames. Oh Lim, forgive me!"

Rovod's eyes welled up, and she pulled me out of my guilt, and said "This is the chance to make things right. Use it well." "We have one more month for training your squad, and mine will be ready.", I told her. She then gave me the warmest hug I could ever feel whilst wearing steel armor. And then Blah startled us both from behind.

"You're gonna do alright, HMetal. You're a great warrior. You killed a minotaur single-handedly for Datan's sake. How are we going to deal with a beast like none other? Fate will tell us. Rovod, I'm proud of you. You became the militia commander in this fortress. I love you." Then the three of us locked in a heartfelt embrace.

20 Granite, 503


So close, no matter how far. Couldn't be much more from the heart. Forever trusting who we are. And nothing else matters.

Nothing else, because black bronze crowns can't kill beasts.

[Fleeting Frames]

1. It's surprise's access. Like I mentioned in next overseer advice, well-planned it can lead to unquestionable glory, and incompetently handled to ruin.

2. If someone dumped their masterwork bone armor there, it might be that they have military uniform/woodcutting/mining conflict. None of them should have it, buuuut since that's a copper crossbow, it was one of the Tongs, so you only have to check rnd(10) dwarves till you find the one who is out of armor.

But why is the stockpile room ...oh right, you wanted another archery range there.

3. Mm. Astronomy ⁕Shine bright, shine bright, you useless but pretty light.

4. Frozen? Hm, sounds very safe, if you ignore being CAVED. (Note - just read a gemclod update yesterday where a tapeworm with deadly dust splattered 3 adamantine-clad legendary dwarves in seconds. )

5. As a side note, you probably noticed from my updates and unit list, but I'm not one for taking over dwarves Nonetheless, to take advice IC, I guess this is necessary.

And oh yeah Blah being married XD

6. Well, I suppose the training might be useful for marksdwarves, since I think some of them hardly visited a range - though if Zum can't reach them, hardly an issue.

And I suppose Lightning Picks could use some shield user training, getting at least 6 in it would be needed to block dragonfire (though you may only notice dragon by finding dragon cage).

7. You could probably kill Zum with but one black bronze crown thrown at sufficient velocity from a minecart

But not really the time. If left alone, Zum may kill everything in that cavern.

[HMetal2001]

Journal of HMetal Silverystopped
15 Slate, 503

The archery range is complete! Rovod should be happy. The targets have been made, and everyone can bring their equipment with the squad equipment as well.

Spoiler: Archery Range (click to show/hide)

The hole in there was dug out because smoky quartzes.

Migrants just arrived. 14 of them.  They are:

Welcome to Deathgame! Hope you like the antenna-antlered deer down in a spore tree in the caverns!

Stinthad Sarambrim, a miner, has been struck by a fey mood. He's claimed the adamantine mason workshop. He wants rock and cut gems. I really don't know what to do now. He didn't come over to the archery range for the loose slate and microcline. But that may be since I ordered the haulers to dump them (once the targets were made, of course). I also had some smoky quartz mined out. That isn't helping anything.

16 Slate, 503
Stinthad Lolokthum has been elected mayor. (OOC: Frames, you were dwarfed into Sword Litast) So Frames, now you're my permanent advisor. Cool, isn't it? Mech Morul has been practicing. Commander Rovod apparently takes a day to find her equipment.

Spoiler: I found something (click to show/hide)

So I was looking over some reports, and this comes up first! Poor plump helmet man; she died a gruesome death. The least we could do is to kill Zom. And it wasn't covered in its tears. Those were its extracts? All-powerful dandruff is going to kill us all!

20 Slate, 503



Yay! More Tongs are practicing! Too bad we only have one more month. 13th of Felsite, and we're dead. All dead. So I have these engravers smoothing out the place so that they can engrave pictures of Syrupbreaches. It was the only fortress of The Royal Wires, another Dwarven civilization. Had several beast attacks. Destroyed by a forgotten beast. Sounds similar?

[Fleeting Frames]

Quartz...Mm. Barely better than surrounding rock, sadly, though there's something to be said for pages and pages of decorations.

One of the fun things you can only really do with utilities: use vein/cluster mining or reveal to plan an important location around gemstone walls to be smoothed.

Almost entirely pointless, though - adamantine has greater value and gold is plentiful and almost always has greater value.

Still, one of the lone exception is it being the only way to get engraved magneta walls - such as the engraved tanzanite cluster in the organics complex next to the still.

Though that was pure luck of orchard placement+further planning.


I'll be surprised if more than one of those migrants' names get mentioned more than once.


...Adamantine mason workshop? Um.

I take it you didn't use the mooding complex :<

You can still add her to the mood burrow, unforbid cut native gold and raw adamantine, and add her claimed workshop to the burrow temporarily. After she begins construction, could make sure to remove the workshop and her  from the burrow.


Please, no direct dwarfing :<

First, like I said, I explicitly and purposely didn't dwarf myself for I'm not fond of the practice of overwriting whatever a dwarf cared about with my own thoughts - animals, buildings, relics are more reasonable due not having visible thoughts of their own. Feels like undermining their agency, and some succession forts even play on this with regular dwarfs being afraid of the current and former overseers taking over their bodies.

Though this value conflicts with my uncaringness of migrants....So maybe if it benefits for the story, though I'd prefer to be one of the others above - maybe a whispering amulet, even? Not sure what fits, but I did have part of the story narrated by the master of mayor 'Hammer Stinthad' from another settlement, iirc.

But second, and more importantly, Litast Razorfondled is actually an important person - dabbling metalcrafter for mood crowns, woodshooter under Blahsadfeguie, temporary broker for professional social skills, temporary mayor for Stinthad's childcare rest time, the one I picked to be humble mandateless baron...She's the one that let Rovod up and down about the poison bolts.

Out of the 12 links for my year, Sword Litast appears in 6 of them, making her rather notable character compared to those 37 faceless almost-nobodies in addition to perhaps, at most, 3 somebodies that migrated in during my turn. It's might be odd in the future to not have her present.


I recently watched a rose gold humanoid with deadly dust kill things in the caverns (everything died without even scratching it).

To my surprise, I saw that the deadly dust didn't spread underwater, only staying on it's spot!

13th of Felsite, you charge? What's the battle site you planned?

Wondering how you're planning to minimize Zon's natural weapons



Heh, didn't use engraving details myself - planned to make the tavern have images of dwarves, tables and chairs and such, but in the end feared crashes in details menu more.

But yeah, only fortress that falls to forgotten beast is incredibly common, to the point of happening like third of the time in pocket worlds with 5 civs - give dwaves hillocks or give them death.

Oddly, second one fares better.

[HMetal2001]

When I played Deathgame in the nightmare timeline, the vomit beetle struck at 13 Felsite.

[Fleeting Frames]

Well, Zon's inorganic, so syndromes won't poison it. If vomit beetle shows up, I think it will get kicked to death like a plump helmet man, unless it has webs maybe.

[HMetal2001]

It DOES have webs. Oh my, if vomit beetle shows up and fights Zom in my turn, I WILL put out the combat log in a txt file.

[Fleeting Frames]

You might want to expand cavern visibility with smoothing fortifications into walls, then.

From a safety perspective, it'd be sensible, though longer, to dig in from outside such as any deadly beasts would have to pass by the golden defence and entrance maze before reaching fortress....Hm, an idea:

Sanctume's positioning of marksdwarf archery range was at least partly based on the idea of them shooting at any approachers and keas in the sky.

If you just add a hatched underground path to the fortress from new archery range and turn the depot-path walls into fortifications, they could still fulfil it - though I'm unsure they'd notice enemies behind them.

[HMetal2001]

Journal of HMetal Silverystopped, Overseer of Deathgame
21 Slate, 503

The fey miner, Stinthad Sarąmbim has taken:


I've a feeling that this will be worth a lot, no matter how useless.

Also, our Baroness has started to call herself Litast again. Wonder where Fleeting Frames came from?

Truth be told, I was approached by this spirit calling itself "Fleeting Frames". This spirit had the voice of a noble, yet it was very down-to-earth. And wise. VERY wise spirit. In fact, it needed something to contain it. So, the idea of engraving the pictures of Syrupbreaches was to house the spirit. Every time I walk past the engravings, it catches me in a flash. It (or he, I should say) then reads what's on my mind and gives me advice and wisdom. I hated it at first, but got used to it. By the way, it told me to have my squad train for shield using. Good idea! And I should probably stop detailing this wall.

Spoiler: Why Am I Detailing A Wall? (click to show/hide)

23 Slate, 503
A tiercel peregrine has just reverted to its wild state. So I've ordered the Tongs to engage the bird.

24 Slate, 503
Now that our animal trainer has somehow figured out how to train peregrine falcons, I've ordered the Tongs to disengage.

25 Slate, 503

Spoiler: Stinthad's Artifact (click to show/hide)

Okay. What?

And it has pictures of a duel between a human and a roc? At least it has images of gems in raw adamantine.

"My Lady!", I shout.

"Yes, Captain. What is it?", responds our Baroness.

"I have to show you something." "Well, what is it?" "The fey miner has something to show you."

Stinthad happily comes out from the masonry workshop. He then presents it to us.

Spoiler: Artifact Description (click to show/hide)

"So, my Lady, what do you think?", Stinthad calmly asks her. "It certainly is beautiful. The images are well drawn, and it's adamantine we're talking about here! You, Stinthad, are now removed from the Moods burrow, and will have an engraving in your honor." Edem, Stinthad's wife, and Kea Iton, one of our Tongs marksdwarves, and Stinthad's daughter, come rushing to him. "Father, I'm so proud of you! I know it is a coffin, but it looks soo good! So beautiful!" bursts Iton. "My dear, you lovely, tough son of an amazing mother-in-law, you've done brilliantly.", Edem told him, with pride that only a wife could have for her husband. The Commander, Rovod, walked in and said, "For a coffin, it looks beautiful. Stinthad, congratulations! Iton, be proud of your father. Be proud to be dwarves. I know I am."

The Baroness and I exclaimed in unison, "Hey, that was my line!" Edem and Iton embraced their husband and father, respectively, and walked to their quarters with their arms wrapped around each other.

A little later, Urist L, our bookkeeper and Onciblu, our broker, joined in. "This could be worth a lot", said Urist. Onciblu added, "How much?" "We can't have a bronze colossus attack us now!", I added.

Spoiler: Price of Artifact (click to show/hide)

"One and a half MILLION dorfbucks?!?!" we shouted out loud. We as in myself, Litast, Rovod and Onciblu. "Yes. It's made of 3 raw adamantine ores, 1 set of raw adamantine blocks, and raw adamantine gems. In addition, the image of the slain human adds to the quality. Not to mention the sheer brilliant detail of all the images. Thus, I conclude that it is worth ☼ 1.5 million.", Urist said with a rather analytical tone.

The Baroness kept her word, and ordered me to commision an engraving. This is what it is:

Spoiler: Stinthad's Engraving (click to show/hide)

And it has been commisioned. So after that, Litast (now she insists that I call her by her name, because, apparently, she has got to know me better, and thinks of me as a friend.) now asks, "Whose coffin will it be? The image of the human slain by a roc should mean that it should belong to a soldier."

"I don't want to die!" Rovod and I exclaimed. "But if we have to, we'll be ready.", Rovod assures the Baroness. Seeing my glare, she runs off to target practice. And I go to dig out the new barracks for the Lightning Picks. After sleep, of course.

26 Slate, 503

Spoiler: Engraving Complete (click to show/hide)

And it's done.