Picking right back up. Things are generally looking pretty good for Peakwind. We're sitting at a population of around 160 with plentiful food, drink, and nice rooms for everybody. Now if only we could get some iron and arm up the populace...
Start this session off right, with a mood!
Behold the glory of a legendary headscarf!
This guy really put a lot of work into this. So, apparently the first king of our civilization was a vampire. After seeing that little tidbit on this artifact, I do a cursory scan for vampires among Peakwind's population. Vampirism cannot be detected directly, but because they are ageless, vampires will immigrate with extreme skill levels and a LOT of former associations. Near as I can tell, we're free of bloodsuckers.
Oh wait, I was talking about iron? My hunch was extremely correct- Peakwind is indeed sitting on a motherlode of hematite ore.
"A sword for every dwarf" is a great political promise, but our metalworkers need another focus right at the moment- a gravity blender. I order two more magma forges built and a LOT of iron/copper trap weapons turned out. The drop on this blender is a little shallow for my tastes at the moment, but improving the trap will be an ongoing project.
Oho, a child has a big idea now!
Epic wooden crown to stick it to the elves, and Peakwind will have another legendary woodcrafter once this kid comes of age.
Well, it had to happen eventually. Good news is that the siege is pretty small, about two dozen crossbow troopers led by a mounted spearmaster.
And shortly after, an Ettin (two-headed giant) decides to join the fun! Which was a really bad move for the Ettin.
The giant and the gobbos start fighting. After a bit of back-and-forth, a couple goblins are dead, and the Ettin perishes after taking dozens of bolts.
The goblins get bored and leave after a couple of months, and a caravan from the Mountainhomes follows a few weeks later. We trade away some of dsockwell's masterful cooking and some otherwise-useless craft goods for a bounty of wood, food, booze, and other useful things.
Shortly thereafter, a Matlecrafter (umbrella term for Clothier and/or Leatherworker) starts to obsess over a project.
Our Mantlecrafter crafts a leather low boot fit for a dwarven rap superstar. So much bling!
The gravity blender progresses. Because I'm a
mean SoB ruthless defender of the fort, the weapon traps get progressively stronger as one advances down the spiral. At the moment, there's nothing after the spiral, but I'd be truly impressed if anything actually manages to reach the stairs in the middle there.
The history of Peakwind will be paved with artifacts, apparently. Now a Bowyer wants to try something.
Oh god, recursive weapon artifact! If an enemy gets to close to this weapon's wielder, our dwarf can just get the invader to look closely at the crossbow. The invader will be mystified by the recursive decoration long enough to let our trooper clobber him. (I may have made some of that up.)
This time, a siege won't slow us down or trap us underground.
Well, that would have sounded a lot more badass if the gravity blender were ready right when the invaders showed up. The final stretch here will take quite some time to set up- each unfinished trap is loaded with the maximum ten weapons. In this case, the weapons are master-crafted giant iron spikes. Hobbie, dekkerson, and the other Machinists work round-the-clock to set up the traps.
I created a secondary entrance to the fort between the sieges and secured the entrance with a drawbridge. Once the traps are ready, I order all civilians back inside, lock the doors and lower the bridge. The goblins, trolls, and other horrid creatures begin their march into Peakwind's halls...
And the dumb brutes get mulched, most before even reaching the blender proper. The siege turns and flees after suffering about 15% casualties, mostly trolls and all KIA with extreme prejudice. Once the last smelly goblin flees the map, I allow the Machinists to pry the bits of troll (blue blood) and goblin out of the jammed traps, and everybody else scoops up the abandoned weapons and gear. I call the blender a success!
Oh **** me. Always something. Apparently at some point, a Matlecrafter decided to try and make something, but I forgot about him and he really didn't like that. And he's going to express his disapproval via axemurder.
Who'd have thought the ****er had so much blood in him? Before finally being put down through the combined efforts of the Diggers, and a ramshackle squad of Woodcutters, Obok McAxemurder claimed 8 lives, including his own child and redsniperson. DeeJayson took a bad hit in the arm, but will keep the limb. Lorric lost a foot and permanently requires a crutch now, but is otherwise fully capable of still working. The Diggers really took it on the chin as the first responders- most of the dead were miners who tried to fight the berserker. I draft a few dwarves with fringe skills into the ranks of the Diggers to recoup our losses.
Never again. The Armed Citizen Initiative is now the top priority. With about half the fort's 184 dwarves babies or children, we need more immediate-response capability. Yes, I acknowledge that arming all adults does potentially increase the risk of contagious violence, and ups the ante even more in preventing insanity, but I think that distribution of armor and weapons will allow us better damage-control ability. Oh, and having doors on all workshops compatible with moods. D'oh.
Litany of the Fallen:
Scourgeson, slain by a goblin ambush
Polpolionson, drowned after falling through melting ice (body unrecoverable)
redsniperson, slain by a crazed fellow dwarf
Edit: added the Litany