Going to have to do 520 in two parts. This is an eventful year! Also I spent the first half under siege by 100 goblins which seems to have made my FPS suffer a little bit. Unfortunately I may or may not get much time to play tomorrow, don't know for sure.Year 520 - SpringIt has been several months since my last entry and it's dawning on me that we can't continue with business as usual any more. True, business as usual is going fine right at this very moment - the goblin siege is helpless against us, binning of finished goods is still proceeding at a breakneck pace, and the bank of magma smelters I ordered constructed are burning three shifts a day smelting the ore that was left littering the halls. But that goblin siege isn't going anywhere this time and more migrants and trade caravans are no doubt on their way. It's time to get a little more proactive.
Perhaps also came a sign from Armok. Logem Rodimrovod developed the aspect of one fey the other day, and after claiming a bowyer's workshop that I didn't even know we had proceeded to turn out our third artifact crossbow - this one in the medium of black-cap wood.
We still dare not wear armor, the mere act of changing into it is more dangerous than any attack it may deflect. And so I have ordered a set of bronze crossbows to be forged and designated a squad of dwarves to wield them. I have told them on no uncertain terms that they are not to change any other part of their uniforms; just pick up a crossbow, a quiver and some bolts, and get to training. I appointed Stukos as captain of the guard and assigned him to wield his own artifact crossbow.
Battlefailed appears to have been left with no identifiable barracks or archery ranges to reclaim. I have decided to repurpose the ruins of FAILCANNON. The "sprinkler head" looks like it could actually serve as a decent station for a squad of crossbowdwarves to rain bolts down on invaders, and the "barrel" of the structure will make a fine pair of archery ranges to keep the squad nearby while training.
I will no doubt be called a philistine for desecrating the purpose of this noble construction, but frankly, I think it will kill far more goblins this way. Not to mention that the pump stacks and power systems would need a complete rebuild to use it for its original purpose. Perhaps someday.
No sooner had I set up a schedule for our military then I received reports of yet another new Forgotten Beast arriving in the deepest depths. Perhaps Armok wanted to test our new military, but if so I figured Armok would be disappointed this time. "It has blood, yes? It breathes?" I asked the messenger. He nodded and I nodded back; no need to lock the hatch in that case, or disturb the military. I made my way down to Lower Battlefailed to watch this new creature die.
It was a great three-eyed bat named Lased, with a broad horn and short golden hair. Exactly as expected, it flew toward the staircase of death... "Oh, Armok." In a flash I realized my hubris. Battlefailed meant death for any living thing that set foot within it, but this creature was
not setting foot as it came. "Lock the hatch! Lock the hatch!" I hollered as I ran the rest of the way to the mineshaft boneyards where I had ordered the hatch installed. The hatch was there alright, resting open on the stairwell, but it appeared to have never actually been mounted in its frame. Pinned next to it was a small piece of parchment with the words "To do - Melbil". It had clearly been pinned there a long time ago, probably right after I'd given the construction order.
"To arms! Kill it! Kill it! Kill it!" I admit to no small amount of panic at this point. Everything had been going so well. Was this how it was going to end? Surely, though, a squad of crossbowdwarves would be able to hold off this one beast - they just had to get one bolt into one of its wings, make it falter and touch the ground, and everything would be fine. The staircase was long. They just had to get here in time.
The bat's shriek echoed as it came barrelling up it toward me. Where was the guard? Ah! A marksdwarf came running around the corner, dodging the fleeing civilians crammed in the narrow corridor. "Olin! Good man! Quick, put a couple of bolts in that... uh... where's your crossbow?"
"Haven't had time to pick it up yet sir," Olin Dorentost panted. "Or bolts. But look, I've got a quiver! And a backpack with two square meals, and a full waterskin, if you need me to go on a lengthy patrol. I'm prepared."
"... good. Chap with the wings, there. Go get him." I had passed beyond panic into an interesting sort of dream state. Surely this couldn't all be my fault, could it? What had I done wrong? All of my orders had been perfectly clear and reasonable.
To her credit Olin didn't hesitate. She ran down the stairs to meet the monster, which had paused to demolish the old half-completed pump stack that had been built along part of the staircase for some now-forgotten purpose, and lunged to the attack. It was incredible! Olin was completely unarmed and unarmored, but she flung herself on the beast and began pummelling it with her fists. The creature was so taken aback that it didn't even try to counterstrike.
Was Olin really going to pull this off?
Oh.
As Lased tossed the battered body of brave Olin down one of the ruined pump stack's open shafts my brief moment of hope fell with her. I began pondering what other last-second defenses I could order constructed. But it was probably too late. If Lased made it up to the boneyards, past that useless half-constructed hatch, there were many directions he could go from there - they couldn't all be sealed, not in the brief seconds we had left. My hundred dwarves were going to die. Perhaps I could find a place to hole up with a few survivors, to start over yet again and reclaim Battlefailed a second time... but would it not be more humane to let it end for good?
Then a miracle happened. Just as Armok tests us, so to he inspires us.
Olin had only fallen one floor, coming to rest on a ledge immediately below. Ignoring her grievous injuries she crawled back up the filthy staircase beside her, adding to the thick layer of toxic grime that already clung to her worn clothing. Lased was clearly as shocked as I was and the creature hesitated long enough for her to scream out one word before she struck again: "Blood!"
Lased tasted Battlefield's blood.
Needless to say, I called for every medic in the fort to halt all other activities and take Olin to the hospital. Chief medical dwarf Zaneg personally came down to recover her. Sadly it looks like from the state of Olin's foot she'll not be walking again any time soon, so I later had to replace her in her squad with a new recruit. Other marksdwarves arrived and set about beating ineffectually on Lased's immobile body with their crossbows - did
nobody have bolts yet? - and eventually it succumbed, but let it be known that the kill rightly belongs to Olin.
Once the immediate aftermath was being dealt with I went back to my office and sat down heavily at my desk. The close call had shaken me. I thought I had prepared for this eventuality... "Melbil." I methodically rifled through my records. "Melbil Lumashasan - construct stone hatch cover." I raised my voice. "Bring him!" One of the newly-minted guardsmen, Kib Uzoldakost, headed out and in short order the craftsdwarf was standing before my desk. "Why did you not complete this work order?" I asked.
"Uh..." The dwarf thought back. "Ah yeah. There was a stack of elk bones in the way."
"Well, yes, the hatch was in the boneyards. I specifically remember de-designating the staircase as part of the boneyards when I ordered the hatch built. Why didn't you move the bones out of the way?"
Melbil shook his head. "That wasn't my job. I figured I'd be told to try mounting the hatch again once it was done."
"Ah, I see. Thank you." Melbil walked out of the office and I turned to the guard who had brought him. "We all do our jobs here, right?"
The guard gave me a grave nod of acknowledgement and followed Melbil out the door.
A second goblin siege force showed up a few days later, reinforcing the existing goblin army still present (100 goblins total, plus two dozen trolls), but my confidence had cautiously returned. Their numbers didn't matter; none of them could get through Battlefailed's walls unless we
allowed them through. My dwarves were safe from that threat at least.
What?? I immediately rush to the scene of the report - Kivish's own bedroom. How could any enemy have managed to get in here? Where were they? Kogsak stood alertly in the room next to Kivish's bed, where his corpse lay, wielding a blood-soaked crossbow. I blinked in shock, even more stunned as I realized what had really happened. Kogsak didn't seem at all deranged or angry. "Why?"
"Doin' my job, sir,"
"Please elaborate."
"Oh. Well, you remember how Mayor Fikod put in an order for native silver items?"
I wracked my brains. "That was years ago. It was a foolish request, we barely had food to go around at the time."
"Yeah, well, Kivish here was supposed to do it anyway, and he didn't. So the mayor sentanced him to a couple months in the clink. But we didn't have none, and so I figured why not just rough 'im up a bit instead? It's all over and done with then."
I looked again at Kivish's corpse. Kogsak had smashed the dwarf's skull, completely shattered it, and I was pretty sure I could see brain matter leaking from the wound. I guess it was apt that I'd ordered the cages replaced with coffins in Battlefailed's old prison, Kivish was going to the same place now either way. "I'd better order up some chains," I sighed and walked out. I couldn't exactly complain considering the example I'd set with Melbil.
Year 520 - SummerThe summer progressed fairly normally after that. I considered trying to lure the goblins in closer to the fort so that my marksdwarves could get a little target practice in on live targets, but one thing worries me - out among the goblins is a single solitary one who carries a bow. An extremely high-quality bow, in fact. Her description matches that of a legendary elite bowgoblin named Em Uspungamxu, and I'm betting she's a good enough shot that she'd be able to get some arrows through our fortifications if it came to a sniping match. I don't want to lose any more dwarves right now. So, I've ordered the construction of another contingency; a number of ballistae. Their field of fire should cover the region that she's currently in, and their fortifications will have drawbridges built behind them to allow them to be sealed off and maintained safely if the goblins get closer. We have enough ballista parts already in stock from old Battlefailed, but we have no ammo so it'll take a little while to get this set up. Good to be prepared though.
I also had several more cleaning troughs installed, including one in front of a small disused room that appears to be completely uncontaminated. This will be the "breeding chambers", should I manage to acquire a breeding pair of any sort of animal. Once the cleaning trough was installed I had several ropes put in (making sure that they got dragged through the cleaning trough on the way in, just in case they were themselves contaminated). I believe that we may actually be making progress; only a couple of dwarves were involved with installing the ropes but afterward the trough's water was still completely clean. A trough I had installed in the entryway to the apartment complex is likewise at least partially clean, despite a large number of dwarves travelling through it.
I have discovered that we actually have a caged male warthog and a caged male donkey in inventory, apparently recovered from one of the destroyed caravans during our recent foray out of the fort before this siege began. I've ordered the warthog roped up to test the safety of the breeding area. It seems to actually be surviving!
I've also installed a cleaning trough in a small detour of the main stairway going through the boneyard. It's high enough up that any creature that gets there is probably not vulnerable to the stairway's poison anyway (or if it is it's a flyer like the Lased and will need to be tackled by a toxic dwarf - a tactic I've decided to call "trolling").
As the summer came to a close, a happy event occurred! Heroic Olin, who I had expected would remain bedridden for life and accomplish no more great feats, got a fey glint in her eye and struggled out of the hospital to claim a clothier's shop. I half expected her to somehow manage to make a crossbow out of cloth, but instead she made a silk shirt of the highest quality.
This was balanced by a sad event. The dwarven baby, Rovod Raberkeskel, grew large enough that her mother Meng put him down. I immediately designated a safe zone encompassing Rovod and Meng's rooms, the dining hall, and a food stockpile and associated kitchens. Close examination shows no signs of contamination here. Meng was reassigned to cooking and brewing duties in the hopes that Rovod would not stray far from her mother. If only there were some way I could have the child chained up next to the warthog! But no, a child does as it pleases.
Rovod walked on her own from 14th Galena until her death on 17th Galena when she bled out. I have been unable to locate the source of the contaminant that killed her. I do think the situation is improving, though - the cleaning troughs are blue most of the time now, not sickly gray. Here's hoping the next one lasts longer.
Then a happy event occurred! The hundred goblins camped outside gave up on their siege and departed. The ballistae will be ready for next time, at least. I heard reports of items being stolen shortly after the siege left, so I ordered the main gate opened. Sure enough, kobold corpses began appearing in the gatehouse.
Then a gigantic one-eyed wasp named Idgag emerged on the first cavern level. It located a way into the spiral ramp that had been overlooked until now, a small underwater opening that had been used as a source of water to fill a large cubical reservoir. Fortunately Idgag merely sat in this opening and waited, allowing us time to wall it off. I do not pretend to understand the minds of these creatures.
And that was Summer.
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Topic: Reclaiming Battlefailed (Read 97333 times)