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[mounf]

15th Hematite, 256

A human caravan has arrived, I hope the large pile of corpses outside the entrance doesn't upset them to much.

1st Malachite

A good trade with the humans as allways, over a dozen books and many boxes of leather for a few high quality iron and steel weapons.

7th Malachite

Kosoth Vathsithstinthad is throwing a tantrum. So far he has attacked a cat, a turkey and Tekkud, an unskilled peasant. Kosoth is sent to prison for 28 days. No beating this time. Maybe Catten is mellowing a bit?

20th Galena, 256

2 of our long term visiting bards petitioned for citizenship. This is a first for us.

Kadol Circlepage - 145, dwarf, female. Legendary musician, dabbling brewer and swordsdwarf.
Didde Seapage - 85, human, male. Adept musician.

Both seem like they would do well as citizens, they are both happy and focused in their work.

OOC - following Recons suggestion and this post: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=177577.msg8216803#new, I've created a recovery squad which is currently active with no barracks assigned and added the more stressed dwarfs in the hope this will make them go satisfy some needs. I plan to vary the squad between active-no barracks, active-training in barracks and inactive in the hope it'll help de-stress them.

[mounf]

10th Limestone, 256

The Dwarf liason has arrived, I'm sure the caravan cannot be far behind him.

It's been a worryingly quiet few months. Our minors have been busy, in addtition to the trade district (only 2 levels to go!) they've taken time to work on some other important digging.

The new hospital level of the tower is ready for use. Some more furnishing is needed and the bathing area and cistern need smoothing and water adding.
Maybe some nice engravings for dwarfs to look at whilst they recover would be good for morale?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Our mausoleum is ready for customers, no more residents should get accidentally thrown into the corpse pit.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The first of our new bedrooms are completed. In time all residents will get a similar bedroom, at least 3x3, with windows looking out over caverns. These particular ones are directly over the new entrance site and overlook the trade district (which is still a vast quarry)..

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[mounf]

22nd Limestone, 256



It's in the first cavern layer, so the Punches of Craft and Machines of Crewing have been sent to deal with it

The Dwarfs advance into the cavern, drawn by the high pitched squeaks of Xosun and the roars of a blind cave troll. The sound of the troll is brutally cut off.

Rounding a corner, Lucky is the  first to see the terrible moth squirming around a pillar in front of him, it is in a wretched state, chitin broken open everywhere and leeking ichor. Still, a fine opponent for a first fight!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Lucky avoids the creatures clumsy attack and hacks at it's leg, putting another fracture in it's chitinous armour. His second blow connects cleanly and slices easily through both the chitin and flesh of a leg, removing it. Xosun staggers forward to attack again and he lands a heavy punch to it's head and is nearly crushed as it the beast collapses.

The rest of his squad arrive to find Lucky staring in surprise at the still quivering body of the dead beast.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

"How did you manage that so quick!", exclaims Kikrost, the squad leader.

"I, err, punched it in the head. It was already looking a bit shaky though."

Kickrost thumps Lucky on the back. "Still, not bad for a first fight. Why don't you give our next striking demonstration."

23rd limestone

Fath Asendur, captain of the Granite Matches names her short sword Zardudgoth - "The Outrageuos Bog." Strange are the naming conventions of our people.

26th Limestone

It looks like someone took advantage of the excitement of the forgotten beast attack to sneak into our museum and take Riddle-hooves the Ashen Suffering. On closer inspection of the museum it appears that The Hardy
Persuader is  also missing! I've ordered the doors to the museum locked for now. Unfortunately there were no witnesses to either theft. Catten has been authorized to interrogate all recent guests to see if anything turns up, but I see little hope of recovering either artifact.

28th Limestone, 256

The caravan has also vanished! I went up to the depot and the only sign of them is a pile of abandoned goods and a broken piece of wagon.

With the corpse cleanup complete there was no-one nearby who saw what happened.

We're not short of anything critical, but I'd hoped to send a good collection of copied books off to the mountain-home this year, I suppose this must wait


OOC - The forgotten beast was a little battered by it's fight with the blind cave troll but I didn't expect it to go down quite so easily. The rest of Luckys squad were only a few cells away from him, but he took it down before they could get there.

As for the caravan - I have no idea.

[recon1o6]

now that's an amazing dwarf you got for me :3 sorry for the late response, smallhands and rl been throttling me lately

perhaps that tantrumming dwarf smacked up the trade depot? that causes caravans to leave

[mounf]

OOC - It may be, though the depot is still intact. I found a large pile of goblin teeth near to the destroyed wagon, perhaps the driver or one of the animals panicked and scuttled it? The teath have been disposed of, just in case.

15th sandstone, 256

News has arrived that we are to become a Duchy! In celebration our newly raised duchess ordered 2 new thrones and a set of earrings, then immediately went back to crossbow practice.

12th Timber

Kikrost, our utterly chilled militia commander has claimed a masons workshop and is working feverishly away on ... something.

17th Timber

Another accident in the trade district worksite! I think this area must be cursed. Three of our minors were thrown off the ledge they were working on onto the cavern floor below, 2 of them fortunately are just bruised, Tulon was not so fortunate and has a badly injured wrist.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

24th Timber

Kikrost has finished his creation - Thusestrodem, "The Furious Pelts", a granite armor stand.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Fine work. This shall have pride of place in his own barracks.

1st Moonstone

Winter has arrived and so have the goblins, surprising us with a second siege.

20 trolls and 53 goblins.Perhaps we should get the new entrance hall started - clean up from this siege is likely to be messy.

As an experiment Kikrost has ordered the militia to hold position in the inner courtyard - he claims it's to find out just how effective the traps are. Personally, from his constant rather worrying smile I think he is still enjoying the feeling of bliss from creating an artifact.

Not a single invader made it to the courtyard. The siege breaks and flees after a third have died.

OOC - this is the first time I've just let the traps do the work, there are 20 traps, with 2-3 weapons per trap, all the weapons and mechanisms are exceptional or masterwork (iron). I really only expected the traps to break up the siege, not route it completely. If the next siege isn't any bigger I might send the military out to meet it outside the wall, the sieges come from a different direction than the caravans so the pile of corpses left behind shouldn't bother anyone. Another 2 years (I think) and I'll have a better way of doing siege cleanup - probably atom smashing first, followed by magma cleaning when I have time to get a pump stack/power going.

There is a little grumbling from the military. I think they were expecting more of a fight. Maybe next time.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The clean up operation has begun. It appears that having failed with simple force of arms, the goblins are now trying to defeat us by driving us insane by littering our fortress with their corpses.

[mounf]

We have another visitor in the 3rd cavern layer:


19th Obsidan

2 new petitions:

Alu Temptedrays, a human wishes to reside here to eradicate monsters. At least he's not a bard.

Obok Peltgate, a dwarfen scholar also wishes to study here - excellent!

I've accepted both. We may need to add another bedroom floor in the tavern soon.

1st Granite, 257

A sad start to the year, Medtob Dodokotin, Planter and Ast Unibald, Potash Maker both died from old age.

I've put off our new year party for a few days as I have a few preperations to make. I'd also like to see Medtob and Ast safely interred in our new mausoleum before the party.

14th Granite

The elf diplomat arrived today - no doubt to discuss our tree felling quota.

Yes, 112 trees maximum - I believe we felled 12 last year?


20th Granite

Fikod Edemrimtar, Potash Maker has been found dead from dehydration. Damn it. Another dwarf lost to Meloncholy.

21st Granite

Despite the recent deaths, the atmosphere in the tavern is cheerful as the delayed new year party gets into it's full swing.

"Fellow citizens of Rithmesir!" Urvad is standing by the tavern window, next to a lever which was installed shortly after the tavern opened.

An expectant hush falls over the assembled dwarfs, they have seen the work that has been completed in the trade district and know what the strict orders to stay out of the district mean.

"I'm sure you are all keen to see the results of many years of work on the trade district from our miners and mechanics. I'll let the results speak for themselves. Everyone make sure your drink is not resting on a solid surface! He throws the lever.

For a moment there is silence, broken only by a series of very faint cracks from the roof of the cavern far above and the sound of rushing air displaced by large falling objects.

The noise which follows is not heard so much as experienced. Those visitors who did not heed Urvads warning are drenched as the shock transmited through the rock and the tables sends their mugs (along with the visitors themselves) bouncing into the air. Everyone who can crowds around the windows to view the scene in the cavern.



There follow numerous loud crashes as boulders, thrown around by the collapse, ricochet around the cavern. After a particularly hard impact on the window next to him, Urvad turns to the Doctor (who is also the master glassmaker) next to him. "Good work on these windows by the way".

He notices several dwarfs near the door looking rather worried and gestures to them "Don't worry, I gave strict instructions to clear the work site today"

One of them winces and gestures at the front doors of the tavern "It's just I'm pretty sure Uzol walked out the door a moment ago".

They all look out at the boiling cloud of dust. "Erm, guys, I think there's blood on this window."

Uzol is indeed found outside, thankfully alive but with blood splashed all around him from terrible injuries to his legs.

"Stand back!" shouts the doctor, as she goes to her knees beside him and start examining the battered dwarf.

Uzols eyes briefly open and he stares out into the cavern. "That was... Incredible" he mutters, then passes out again.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Uzol was found in that largish patch of blood in the top left. Oops.

Urvads diary

Well I got quite an earful from the Doctor. I think her words are best summed up as "Next time, lock the damn tavern doors. YOU IDIOT!", but she used a lot more words. Very loudly. Some of which I had to look up.

Unfortunately Uzol is not the only casualty. One of our visitors, Daze Adothdamso, a visiting Axewoman, got wind of what was going on. Along with another visitor, she decided to watch from a ledge from the north
of the cavern, thinking they would be clear of whatever happened and get a great view. They were wrong, at least about the former. Her companion will be fine once he regains consciousness. Daze however, is in a very bad way.

Some of our livestock also had unfortunate encounters with rocks bouncing through there pasture. Debris was thrown further than I'd expected. A pet rabbit also wandered into the cavern, it may survive (is the spleen important?)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

In spite of the injuries, the second phase of the trade district is done! Next priority is to get the new entrance to the surface completed so we can give the goblins a proper dwarfish welcome next time they drop by. We also need to drop a soil layer to support surface plants, open the cavern roof up to the sky (then glaze it over of course) and carve and engrave the barracks and depot. Should keep us busy for the next few years.

Another scholar - Dodok Heavycobalt, has elected to join our library.

I dropped by the new hospital visiting to check on Uzol and was surprised to see Kosoth Squaretheaters (who I'd recently seen him sentenced to 57 days in prison for 5 counts of disorderly conduct) in traction with his ankle in plaster. He refused to say how it happened.

I was even more surprised when Litast, one of our elite marks-dwarfs (and fortress guards) walked past me and to beat the immobilized dwarf. I'd thought he was just sentenced to jail? Besides, beating him when
he's locked into a traction bench does seem a bit much.

OOC - I have no idea why Kosoth has a broken ankle, or why he just got beaten. I'm sure his sentence was just prison (and we have 4 cells assigned to justice and free). It appears that visitors ignore traffic designations. Useful to know that. Yes, I'm an idiot and should have locked the tavern doors!

[mounf]

23rd, Granite

Our Melee dwarfs new equipment is ready! Steel armor for everyone.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

New uniform. Everything is now masterwork quality.

The entrance is finally clean. Well, it's still splattered with blood and vomit, but at least the limbs, guts and miscellaneous goblin chunks have been removed. We really need a more efficient cleaning mechanism (or to move the mass slaughter of goblins elsewhere).

24th Granite

Kosoth died today. According to the doctor his throat was badly bruised by his beating and he was unable to breath. I'm "promoting" Litast to help train our novice marksdwarfs.

I've assigned Kol Gakizden as apprentice to the Doctor. It would ease my mind to have a second skilled medical dwarf in the fort.

27th Granite

Something nasty slithered into the top cavern today.



The drawbridge was closed as Ast chased a helmet snake around the cavern. I do not wish to expose our military to the risks of it's poison breath. Some time from our miners and mechanics will be needed to deal with this one...

Urist - our papermaker and broker, tells me he managed to get rid of most of our worn clothing to the elves for a selection of fine wood instruments. He also tells me of an instrument called an "Abime" which the elves were selling for 29040 pieces. Perhaps we should look into making some of these for trade?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

5th Slate, 257

Monom Nishonshen, ex-Marskwarf threw another tantrum and attacked Tekkud Ustuthecem, one of our haulers. It looks unlikely Tekkud will survive.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Tekkud died whilst being carried to the hospital. Most likely due to his broken spine.

This is the second death due to Monums temper, for now she is sentenced to 57 days in prison. Dwarven law still prohibits me from exiling her in spite of her murderous ways.

I'd never truly believed those old rumors from home of "troublesome" dwarfs simply disappearing from time to time. Now I wonder if there may have been some truth to them. Something must be done about Monum.

22nd Slate

Ingish Erusholtar has died. Yet another victim of melancholy.

OOC - This is turning into a bad year for deaths - mostly due to melancholy or stress related "Justice".

2nd Felsite, 257

Today Tun Truecrafted came of age. This prompted me to take a quick look at our records and realize that 4 dwarfs who came of age in the last few years have had no labor assigned to them.

Tun himself is assigned to weapon-crafting (he like battleaxes - good for him, we can always do with a few more). He and Inod Tinfate (14) have been assigned to a squad together to begin practicing with battleaxes. I'll try to remember to assign one of the experienced axe-dwarfs to give them some pointers before they injure themselves.

OOC - some fort cleanup is required. Now the cloth and leather industry are going full tilt there are a lot of worn items cluttering the fort, along with enormous amounts of loose stone. I'm hoping my automated stone sorting system (combined with an atom smasher) will eventually deal with the latter. I plan to sell the former.

We also have a lot of animals. According to the wiki they no longer reproduce via spores so it should be easy to limit future births with better pasturing and caging. In the meantime the butchers are going to be busy, Looks like the fort will be enjoying puppy and kitten roast for a while.

[mounf]

14th Hematite
 
Amala Vipamithe, an Elf Scholar is visiting. Hmm, perhaps the elves are not all illiterate savages.

5th Malachite

Another visiting dwarf scholar has petitioned for citizenship.

We picked up another 9 books from the human caravan. By my count we now have 218 books in the library.


19th Malachite



Also in the top layer. Alu, the other beast there has so far failed to fall into our trap, preferring instead to kill everything in the cavern.

Maybe the 2 beasts will eliminate each other. We really need access to the top cavern back as both fortress cisterns need refilling. Perhaps live bait would prove more interesting to the beasts than the few pieces of furniture we are currently using? We have far to many kittens and puppies in any case.

Bembul Oilbeans - our first visiting scholar, has finally petitioned to become a permanent resident. I was delighted to accept. We now have 5 scholars and one scribe in the library, plus our visitors.

20th Malachite

We are back down to a single forgotten beast in the top Cavern. Omethu fought Alu and lost.

1st Galena

The forgotten beast trap is ready. I only hope Alu likes the taste of fresh puppy.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

7th Galena

Apparently he does, however, faster lever pulling is required.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

15th Galena

OK, that beast really is fast. 2 more puppies down. We'll try a couple of Alpacas next. Maybe they'll last a bit longer. At least this is reducing the number of creatures that needed butchering.

18th Galena

4th time does it. The moment Alu is seen entering the trap, the levers are pulled and the gates slam shut behind him. The cavern is ours again!



I forgot the delay between levers being pulled and bridges activating.

[mounf]

4th Limestone

Rumrald looked to either side as Kickrost led the elite fighters out to meet the goblin siege. His hammer had tasted blood 2 battles ago, but that had been only against a dozen goblins who were already bloodied and shaken by the  entrance traps. This time they would be facing goblins, trolls and beak dogs in the open. They would also be outnumbered 6 to 1.

He could see the enemy advancing down the hill in front of him, the crossbow goblins halted and loosed their first bolts of the battle. For a moment it seemed disaster had struck as the first bolt of the battle struck Kickrost in the head, moments later another hit his thigh, but both were deflected by his steel armour. Kickrost shook his head to clear the ringing. "Charge!" he roared.

The first wave of goblins fared poorly, quickly going down to the dwarven weapon masters, however, soon the dwarfs found goblin numbers beginning to have effect. In spite of his legenday skill, Kickrost was again saved from injury by his armour.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

By now the Dwarfs had advanced into the midst of the goblin horde and nearly half of their opponents had fallen.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Rumrald ducked away from another bolt. So far he was unscathed, avoiding, blocking and parrying blows, striking back when the opportunity presented itself. He remembered the advice of the more experienced sword and spear
dwarfs and fought steadily, not wasting energy. In spite of the long fight his hammer still felt light and every blow crushed armour and broke bones.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Lucky was also heavily beset, however his skill with axe and shield are far greater than that of his opponents. No longer suffering from being in the sun, his axe tears through goblin flesh and armour with equal ease. Almost every blow  maims or kills.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Rumrold is knocked from his feet by a stunning impact from the side, hauling himself to his feet he spins to see Fath pick herself up from the ground next to him, "Sorry!" she yells, beheading a goblin bowman. Rumrold, shakes his head and swings his hammer into his next oponent.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

As Rumrolds opponent falls, his skull fractured, he looks up to find no living opponents near him, the few he can see in the distance are already running. He is startled by a roar as a single huge troll, armed with a pike and armored in
bronze and iron throws himself at a group of the tired dwarfs, obviously confident in it's armor and skill. Confidence which is clearly misplaced.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

With the troll pikeman down, the few remaining foes can be seen fleeing in the distance. The dwarves can finally take stock.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Urvads diary

I'll confess, I felt a great deal of trepidation as I watched the battle from the marksdwarfs tower. Still it is clear that our warriors skills are becoming legendary. I admitted my misgivings to Kickrost, he just chuckled.

"I knew we had the skill to do it, after this my lads really have confidence in themselves."

He glanced at the dent in his helmet where an iron crossbow bolt had glanced off, "Mind, if we'd still been using our iron armour things could have been a bit different. We'd have still won the battle though."

It's good to see the confidence of our military, only 2 dwarfs were hit, in spite of the hail of bolts and odds of 6 to 1. I'll still be more comfortable when the new entrance and trap chambers are completed. The field of dead
enemies should be far enough away from our main entrance not to bother anyone, so, no need to distress anyone with cleanup duty.

One of our swordsmasters has been given a new name by their fellows:

Urvad Oddomebal Tangathurdim Mishos - Urvad Cloisterreveared the Trampled Tower of Beaches.

He has also named his sword - Solozdebish, "The Worshipful Spasms".

Thats the first largish open battle I've had in the new version. The armored pike troll was a nasty surprise, first time I'd seen one of those. He went down pretty quickly though.

I should probably make some iron or steel shields. The wooden ones are fine for less skilled dwarfs, but a couple broke in this longer battle. Plus shield bashes with heavier shields should be more lethal.

The move to steel armour may well have saved Kickrosts life. The melee dwarfs are good but I'll be happier when the new underground entrance is complete. One or 2 of them are still suffering cave adaptation and a couple were tired after the battle. Given another 5 years or so training they should be able to do this sort of thing regularly.

I'm not sure why Rumrald is not using a masterwork hammer, we do have some.

[Salmeuk]

+1 for large piles of dead things strewn about the landscape. That's what I expect to see at any decent library

any updated screenshots of the main fortress layout?

[mounf]

I'll try to put up some images of the layout. It may be a bit delayed however as my game now consistantly crashes to desktop ~20 seconds after loading the fortress. If I can't resolve this I'll have to go back to the spring or summer autosave.

[recon1o6]

depends on what metal the masterwork hammer is and his position, if needs be assign him a specific hammer.

In terms of armour, thats a nice selection. I do know dwarves can have a breastplate and a mail shirt and a cloak. If we ever have adamantine, adamantine "soft" armour

I wonder how many authors we have in the fortress, and what books we have. Authors are rare but they make a lot

[Spriggans]

Impressive fort ! Keep it up !!

About your "too much stones on the ground, it's ugly" problem. A DF feature that's often forgotten is you can Hide items (pressing  d b h).
They disapear, but the dorfs will still use them. And it makes things pretty.
IDK if Armok Vision and other softwares still render them though

[mounf]

OOC - Fortunately the crash only happens on Linux, the windows build works fine. So on the negative side, lower frame rate, on the plus side I now have access to a working StoneSense and possibly Armak Vision.

13th Limestone

Another of our early visiting scholars, Reg Saviourchannels, has chosen to join the fort as a citizen. An experienced scholar, Stonecrafter and mechanic, he is very welcome.

The dwarven caravan has arrived. A surprisingly poor selection this year. Most worryingly, like the human caravan, only 2 boxes of leather. Is there a continent wide leather shortage?

Ineth Locunlikot, one of our woodcutters has been seen in the masons workshop. Given he has no skill as a mason this is a surprise, but the glazed look on his face is familiar.

23rd Limestone

A giant Olm attempted to get in through the tower cistern reservoir. It was spotted and Lucky was the first on the scene, it is over quickly. Lucky
crippled it and then quickly removed the head.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

We'd best clean the remains out of the reservoir before re-opening the flood gates.

Ineth has finished his work in the masons workshop and has created Gikutthum, a microcline bed. It is remarkably comfortable for a bed made of stone. More importantly, he has revealed great skill as a mason and will now be re-assigned.

26th Sandstone

Once again we are cut off from the upper caverns.



The Machines of crewing wait for the beast near the cavern entrance to the fort. The Hammer lords Zuglar Bridgempire and Rumrald PageBears and the spear masters Kadol Subtlelashed and Tekkud CrushedChannels standing calmly by the open drawbridge.

The beast flaps around the corner and immediately dives at Zuglar. He meets it's attack with a hammer to the head and lands several good blows, before switching to a less conventional tactic.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The other dwarfs charge in, but in the narrow confines of the cavern only Tekkud and Zuglar can reach the beast. Trapped between hammer and spear Oson is soon down. Finally Tekkud puts her spear through it's brain, ending the fight and the threat to the fort.

4th Timber, 257

A mercenary spear-dwarf, Dumat Soulslanced, has petitioned for work as a soldier. I was pleased to accept. Looking through our records I noticed that she is the youngest daughter of Rumrald. It appears that having wandered for a few years and picked up basic military skills, she decided to settle in Rithmesir and follow in her fathers footsteps. She is assigned to a training squad for now as her skills are still basic. Surprisingly she also claims to be competent with the lash.

With the need to train up new militia, Kickrost has re-arranged our military squads:

* 2 Elite melee squads, the Punches of Craft and the Machines of Crewing - 5 legendary melee fighters in each.
* Fortress Guard - the Heavens of Shielding (4 profesional marksdwarfs)
* Marksdwarf Squad - the Contested Slings (4 marksdwarfs)
* Axe training squad - The Mortal Tongs - One Legendary, 3 trainees.
* Spear training squad - the Bronze Beans - One Legendary, 3 trainees

OOC - Do lashes still smash through armour and skulls the way they used to?

@spriggans, thanks, I'd not noticed that feature before. I may have to start doing that. I currently have a Minecart fed atom smasher to remove some of the common stone. Even with 6 wheelbarrows feeding it it's to slow though. I may have to autodump - destroy a bunch of unimportant layer stones if the number of stones gets to high.

@recon1o6 - There are steel and silver masterwork hammers available. Any preference - I believe silver is heavier and has more chance of pulping, steel is harder and has better armour penetration.

@salmeuk - piles of dead things always do seem to happen in dwarf fortress:)

[mounf]

8th Moonstone, 257

Work on the ramp down to the new entrance to the trade district is progressing well. Only a single level to go to reach the entrance tunnels. Our miners will be glad to be done with the outside digging though, they are really not used to the sun.

Spoiler: New Entrance (click to show/hide)

Following a winding path from the entrance downwards - visitors will come to the upper entrance hall. This will in time be patrolled by our war animals, on the alert for anyone sneeking in. Extra security is provided by the marksdwarfs galleries 3 levels up. South of the Hall, in the cavern, the trade depot and barracks are taking shape.

Spoiler: Upper Hall (click to show/hide)

Directly below this upper entrance is a lower hall to welcome those who would attempt to steel our books. A single pull of a lever will divert attackers into this area to be dealt with by our traps and militia.

Spoiler: Lower Hall (click to show/hide)

On entry from the North, attackers are diverted by drawbridges through one of 3 trap halls. The west hall will conatain a dozen weapon traps, each with 2 masterwork steel weapons. The central coridoor will contain cage traps in case we ever wish to take attackers alive. The east hall has not yet been dug out, but I am considering some kind of automated recipricating steel spike trap for this.

The trap halls are not meant to ever be cleaned (or entered by fort residents) - instead, the remains will be left in place to welcome the next invaders. It seems only fair to give them fair warning of their impending fate.

Those who survive the trap hall then enter the lower hall, where our military are stationed to meet them. low walls limit line of site for invaders, whilst on the level above, safely behind fortifications, marksdwarfs have a clear view over the entire hall. A system of bridges is being installed to cleanse this entrance of dead invaders, so the military are not forced to wait for the next siege amongst the rotting corpses of the last one.

OOC - I'd planned to do a bit more today but hit "everyone in the fort randomly starts killing the nearest living thing" bug caused by a thrown mug, so back to an autosave again.