Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Tallefred]

Atop a mountain grave and tall
Lived a dwarf above them all
Not just in height, although not small
His character held all in thrall

For when the tantrum spiral struck
The fortress that most thought was fucked
This brave dwarf would not be bucked
But completed the aqueduct

The lone survivor struggled on
After some time the food was done
The cats were slaughtered one by one
The vermin too, once they were gone

Much is made of those who fight
Who go down with a roar and bite
Mangled, they fight on despite
Defending the dark against the light

But what of those good simple folk
Who struggle daily not to choke
Beneath the great oppressive yoke
Of those who think this life's a joke?

Valor comes in many shapes
Some wear big and stupid capes
Surrounded by ladies in lace
Putting on a great brave face

While others live small simple lives
A metalsmith who made good knives
A cook who does wonders with chives
A clerk who updates the archives

These nameless heroes struggle to
Make a good life for me and you
They deserve a mention too
In the tales of derring-do

Urvad did what most could not
When all were laying down to rot
He stood up and on the spot
Finished off the daring plot

Brave Urvad, this song is of thee
So all who live will surely see
You need not a champion be
To accomplish great and mighty deeds

[Tallefred]

I was on a mountain top, with no access to any civs since I used embark anywhere. It was freezing, so although I had a brook it never defrosted. There was also no soil, and since my water was frozen I couldn't flood anything, which left me in a bit of a pickle with neither a food nor water supply.

I built an aqueduct from the pipe all the way across the map to the brook. Most of it was just a channel, but there were a few parts with constructed walls, and the last stretch was entirely constructed. I finished it right before the first caravan arrived, and I managed to buy some food just before I ran out. They had very little booze, but I bought everything they had and hoped for the best.

Then the troubles began. Because of my large amount of architectural wealth, I started getting migrant wave after migrant wave. A never ending flow of refugees flooding into my fortress which was still without a steady food supply. To make matters worse, the flow wasn't consistent, and the river kept freezing and unfreezing. After one particularly long stretch of my water supply being frozen up, I decided to widen the aqueduct. This turned out to be much harder than expected, since it was now full of magma. I managed to divert it down another channel that rejoined the original aqueduct at the end, and I set to work.

I now had no water supply at all, and my dogs were no longer able to support my exploding population. I got most of the aqueduct done before the tantrum spiral started.

Most of the dwarves were dead or insane by the time the caravan arrived. I managed to buy a barrel of rum, and was able to save 2 dwarves, one of whom promptly went insane.

That left Urvad. He was a metalsmith, but he had been on hauling duty since he had arrived. I assigned him to miner and ordered him to finish the channel.

In between tantrums and starvation, he did it. It took forever, but eventually he managed to complete the channel. Unfortunately, he then went and stepped into magma while trying to disassemble the diversion channel and my fortress crumbled to an end.

[Rolan7]

Thanks for sharing this.  You can sacrifice minions in tons of games, but Dwarf Fortress is special because of the connection you can make with your dwarves.

Wait, he died in magma?  Oh, how original.

Just kidding.  Great job guy, very touching.  Farewell Urvad.