@s_a_n_t_b's comment on 'Mostibkun, "Orangecat"- an rdrama succession fort: Chapter 4 "The Cudgel of Cats Strike Back!"'

Thank you @A for the pin!

With the persistence of undead sieges leaving the fortress cut off, one cowardly dwarf dares to challenge them with tactics and ingenuity.

Let us begin Year 253 of Mostibkun, "Orangecat": Chapter 4 "The Cudgel of Cats Strike back!"

SPRING

My name is Sazir, "Spysix" Townbrews, carpenter. My predecessor is the woodcutter, I am the shaper of the wood.

Apparently I'm not very good at it.

(He's literally me)

Yet I am of good focus and iron will. With great musical tastes. I am not the most confident in my own abilities and I am very unforgiving of myself, and in general. If slighted I feel I must seek retribution. Yet any resistance and I am likely to give up.

Thankfully I am usually calm and not the type to think of others or what others think of me.

Despite my liking for brawls and being a very competent fighter. I am a kitty .... cat.

Perhaps I can focus on the issue of the undead, will their defeat, and cure myself of this problem.

My wife is @IslamWasRightAboutWomen

Together we have five children that we don't share... previous marriages I guess?

Either way, we share a bond of focusing on our duties and brawling. She has been training on how to dodge in our last sparring session. But lately she has been feeling dejected from being unable to make merry and acquire "things." Typical dwfoid.

Soon we will have reasons, real reasons for merry.

We have too many animals roaming the halls. The only secure pasture we have is at our front door and its awfully crowded. Perhaps there is securable land above us for the horses, the legion of ducklings and so on. The problem is, we're still under siege. 21 Undead and 4 Dark Hunters, they are the undead that still have their mental faculties, very deadly. Rumored to be able to slay ten dwarves alone! So we have that to contend with with our 28 dwarves and legion of dogs and cats....

So far, as we have in the last few years, we have very little options when we're under siege. Perhaps we're better off digging down. Surely what is below couldn't be any worse than four dark hunters and their minions prowling around our brook?

Look at those rotten bastards.

We really need to do something about these guys. If they have such power to slaughter dwarven armies then it will be up to use to devise an equally devastation solution to the problem.

Oh, and we have a dead llama near the infirmary... why? Our refuse and corpse disposal is outside but that's something we can't do right now.

Oh, what the fook

Some deader is hanging off our wall and trying to take pot shots at our chickens!

Called on the Cudgel of Cats to mobilize and deal with the menace, the zombie drops down in the middle of all the animals in a panick to run into the fortress. There was some trampling, and fighting and stabbing from our spear dwarves. the zombie was killed and the body mangled. He/they ain't gettin up again!

Dead, b-word. Getting teabagged by a duck as well.

Well, one down. 20 more to go. While we're relatively safe (for now) We continue to train well into Mid-Spring

Perhaps being cooped up in this fortress for nearly years at a time gives us a certain cabin fever that is only pushed back by training? Adequate motivation I think.

While we train up, what stray cats that exited the gate I quickly lowered and raised to dispatch that undead crossbowdwarf are being hunted for sport by the undead. You are now my nemesis, Iden Lavathfath!

(Yes, that is cat teeth.....)

What cruel puppets to hunt down a kitty??? Poor scared creature running after with it's mom only to be lost and be struck with a bismuth mace??! Very upsetting. So upsetting I must devise something to overcome the terrible power of the dark hunters, we can't face it head on! I can't face it head on. Such terrible power must be met with ingenious dwarven solutions.

Overseeing construction of what will be the killing floor against the undead. They dare shoot us from the penned pasture? We will shoot them!

Meanwhile more undead somehow are getting past the pen, its time to close the front door for good (until they leave anyway)

This dwarf decided to bring her daughter to the fight. Mom of the year right here. Another zombie dead. This is getting out of hand. How is our pit coming along?

Well, a little after a week, I had a better idea. See, we're having issues with miasma of due to animals dying of starvation within the fort when we're holed up. Leaving them out in the air is not an option. What we can do is create a refuse compactor of sorts to reduce corpses to dust. I think this can apply to the undead as well....

Mhm, yes, there we go, with addition to the compactor it's giving me... ideas. Just need to bring the bait, I mean, Our finest war dogs. Very fine canines. The best, I'm told.

( Pupper Pulverizer pasture)

While that was being sorted, Tobul Tolunasob had a strange mood moment and created a... tetrahedrite gong.

This is a tetrahedrite ekzong. All craftsdwarfship is of the highest quality. It is encrusted with round tetrahedrite cabochons. On the item is an image of Urnbores the tetrahedrite ekzong in tetrahedrite. The ekzong is a large stationary percussion instrument. It consists of a wooden bell. The musician strikes the bell with bone mallets. The instrument has a single middle pitch. The instrument has a resonant timbre.

Ok whatever, it has a value of roughly three thousand, we'll save it for the merchants.

Now back to our project we just need to dig up to the surface and hopefully we can bait, I mean, have our dogs deal with the undead on our terms! Here we have @MatsurisAhoge standing by to observe, we'll have the others armed and rush in should there be a uhm... crisis...

Okay, we're sort of getting somewhere with this.. I pulled back Matsur and got cages to the side of our hall here to keep the undead irresistibly coming this way.

Pull the lever Krunk!

Okay, that sort of worked, we got I think four undead with it, but none of the hunters, and so far they're not interested in the dogs in cages. Blast, I'd make a chain pole but I can't under the bridge. The cages are not working as I had hoped. I just opened the front and thus cant bring in more dogs without risking dwarves until the undead either leave or all die.

Wait!

Ok, they just killed the one war dog that ran out... Four dark hunters are creeping towards the mouth of doom... by Armok, do it!

Blast, they're scouring over the hills, probing for more weaknesses in our perimeter as usual. Perhaps if we unlock our doors a moment...

Yes.... Drat, the dwarves took too long. He ran in, killed a few cats trying to sneak outside and left when the gate was down... Now he climbs the rampart I have made for our milita to "observe"

@I_am_living_in_your_walls is has been slain by the dark hunter but the dark hunter is seriously injured!

And on the 19th of Slate, the dwarves claim a dark hunter kill in hand to hand combat, the death blow delivered by @s_a_n_t_b I was able to get a few stabs in but Santb is braver than I despite also an avoider of fights.

Now we reset the trap and await for another dark hunter meanwhile we lost count of our Diagnostician. Great, idiot probably slipped out when we had the doors unlocked briefly. I know some of the dwarves are stir crazy but surely not so crazy as to risk running into dark hunters, which are now distracted by few of the cats that bolted out as well.

Maybe this bait will work?

We will wait, meanwhile we have entombed @I_am_living_in_your_walls in a silver sarcophagus. Dying in the fight against the dark hunter that lead to its demise is a noble death, and thus deserves a noble burial.

Meanwhile we're crossing well into the Summer with none of the undead bothering to come closer and hunting for either a random cat or forest creatures. Which gave me the next (brilliant) idea. We release more cats and we get the Cudgel of Cats to commit hit and run tactics.

Cats out of the bag, we manage to rush three and kill three with quick jabs of our spears, they're not getting back up.

I, @s_a_n_t_b and @CustodialCrusade have ran out and began dispatching the undead. @Cream_a_da_crop down back at the pit couldn't handle the smell of rotting dog and fainted... great.

Thankfully the dark hunters are distracted by our cats. Go Cats!

I can't seem to make up my mind if I am terrified or not

Until the "It's over" voice within me was drowned out by the "Frick it, we kill!" within me!

Stab left, stab right! Frick!

I bleed and I think we lost some teef but I still stand... Finally @CustodialCrusade gathered his wits and joined me along with @s_a_n_t_b. We fight the undead and...

The world is black around me. Have I fallen?

SUMMER

I woke in our hospital, Santb and I have been recovering from our wounds. Santb and CustodialCrusade has hunted down the other undead and the distracted dark hunters either decided to withdraw from their numbers being devastated or were tired of loitering here. I am unsure but I like to think after killing one of their own and their minions this was a victory against the siege. And now that they're gone we can properly set up the trap again and perhaps focus our efforts in tending to our wounds and burying our dead. Also to grab some loot from our kills. There were some steel armor pieces, steel crossbow and a silver hammer.

We found our diagnostician and gave them a resting place as well, just not as fancy.

On 18th of Malachite, a new dwarf is born! We defeat the avatards of death and we bring life!

And ten days later, migrants arrive. We started this year at 28, down to 26, and now back up to 35! None of them stand out so far really other than two of them are competent fighters and not much else. Of course its raining as they arrive so they come to us with a foul mood. Well. Lets hope our dining hall impresses them, we have work to do! Half the year is gone, lets hope we can get enough cat merchandise out and make some coin.

Meanwhile our team is back to sparring together. Once we deal with the next threat, we can face it all together. Who knows, perhaps we won't need the KOMPRESSOR to kill them?

I really have been recovering for most of the summer that to me I hardly experienced it as the cold winds of fall grace us once again.

AUTUMN

One of our new arrivals, actually my uncle, was taken by a fey mood

Which he then uses to make a.. toy boat. Great. Thanks uncle.

Worth two thousand, that should fetch a nice price with the merchants. Which, speak of the gods, here they come! They bring a goblin diplomat who was willing to share some gossip with us.

There wasn't much to share really, leaders die or abdicat and are replaced by an appropriate next in line. I was hardly listening, I was still recovering from my almost-death experience.

We bought bags of seeds, lots of bags, a few boxes of leathers, bear meat. lobsters, couldn't go wrong with extra plump helmets figured it wouldn't hurt to be really stocked up on food if there is another siege featuring a larger horde of undead now that the necromancers knows we're not push overs.

17th of Sandstone, more migrants have arrived, just a couple, some are long distant family members, so we're up to... wow 43 dwarves in the hold. Both are expert boyars and competant wielder of bows. If only the undead were vulnerable to bolts though. We need more hammardwarves than anything else. I now have to see about making another set of bedrooms below of about like... 23.

Wait a second, one of the dwarves is... a necromancer!

Former Baroness of the gildmoths no less! Her Niece is here as well and works as a Fisherdwarf. The Necromancer also decided to be one as well. Just don't resurrect any fishies.

Oh, and I got divorced while I was in a near bloodless coma. I think my exwife was not too pleased she was left behind while the rest of my squad were bashing undead skulls in. Oh and since we're divorced I learned we're actually cousins, maybe that's why, whoops.

For the remainder of the Autumn we've been busy as I oversaw the construction of additional residential ward two level-

Oh you have got ta be fookin kiddin meh! Looks like the dark rangers, 3 out of the four, are back for some action. Well, seal up the doors, bring the dogs to the trap. Actually, no, scratch that, metalsmiths! Priority order on some cages!

Oh, nevermind, they retreated again. puzzies.

WINTER

Time flies faster now without the threat of undead. It is as if we're all taken in a whirlwind of jobs and responsibilities. Trying to get as much done with lessen anxiety of enemies at our door. I've set to get those new rooms built, along with extending our first floor hall to a winding large stair way to the top of the hill. I won't be able to complete it in time, but I think it will be a good plan to expand our pastures on the hill above us, our entrance is getting a little crowded. Walled in of course. I've commissioned stone blocks to be made in preparation of building an expanded perimeter.

The alternative would be to dig and find a cavern that could provide fungal pastures for the animals to graze. I will leave that up to the one that will come after me.

In Mid-Winter, Thob was possessed to make something.

Dwarf bone? Where did he get those??? Perhaps bones of one of the undead left out in the fields? Either way. First we discover a necromancer among us and now a bone cage. Creepy. You know what? I think I'll use it... on the necromancer. Until we can figure out what to properly do with them. We're in mid-winter and we're only half way done with all our current projects. The only good thing is everyone's mood has shifted for the better. We're making lavish meals with what we bought after selling cat figurines and that stupid gong and we have more drinks at our disposal. This might not have been accomplished if that siege still persisted in our lands. Overall we're doing great. I needed to make sure we have a Sheriff so I appointed @CustodialCrusade for the job, just in case mischief were to occure in the fortress. We're almost at 50 dwarves and that would mean we can soon have a mayor and a captain of the guard. I also appointed @santb as the hammerer. That way if that necromancer we have is up to no good I know in great confidence he will dispatch them swiftly in dwarven justice fashion.

We're in our final month of winter, I am trying to make the new wing of residentials be completed before the spring so the leader after me would not have to deal with it. Instead perhaps they can focus on moving our pasture above us on the green hill? I had an idea of a burrow like highway that can then wall off the green on top of the hill. There is more room and we don't have to worry about bridges with animals in the way nor have to worry about undead climbing corners trying to take pot shots at chickens and dogs.

On the 18th of Obsidian @WillowWalker gave birth to a baby boy, or you know, until the chief medical dr decides the gender. It's 253 after all.

We're full to the brim with food this winter, buying all that extra seeds, meat and such I think will pay off. The food won't rot as long as they're binned and barreled. Only thing we lack is fish and plant.

Oh and we have another baby on the 21st from Kivish THerlethathel. Bringing our fortress up to 45. Once again, another declaration of life conquering death in proliferation! Our cat population has been bursting as well despite the few that were run down by the undead. I am unsure of our war dog population, it is now heavily skewed female vs gelded males since most of them, erm, died in service of the kompressor.

As we hurry to finish rooms, Spring has sprung!

SPRING

State of the fort:

As you can see, we have a happier population now thanks to food surpluses, freedom, and nice rooms.

The Fort itself with two new branching off hallways, one leading downward to a outer hall around the killing floor for our "backdoor." The other leads up to the hill, still enclosed, so no worries of anyone trying to enter from above, yet.

I fixed the one gap in the wall but now a stairway is stuck in the middle of it despite making a 1 2 3 4 priority set on stairs being removed. Dwarves. Can't count on them to count.

Here is the final layout of the compressor trap. You can see there is a main hall and a separate hall in case fighting would have been dragged out into the hallways and perhaps we could have some shooter dwarves take free shots at them. With that bridge there its difficult to install traps, so I just have the one tether with a dog to bait undead next time.

There are two switches, one for the bridge outside and one for the compressor itself. I thought it would make sense if a dwarf is quick enough that when undead are lured by the signs of life of dogs we can close the gate behind them and then smash them. I only killed I think 5 undead with it and 9 dogs so far. lol

And here is our newest additions in the tomb. That's a very nice silver coffin for @I_am_living_in_your_walls. with engraved dwarves, hopefully telling the tale of his fight and demise.

New Dorm wing, I just didn't want to have the current ones we have be so stretched out it becomes a longer travel time for the dwarves. Plus would need it anyway from our pop explosion.

Made this to plan on isolating the necromancer, didn't have time though.

Overall, despite starting the year with a siege that resulted in two deaths. I think we did very well this year. I think from spring through summer it took me about a week between work and kiddos considering I had to heavily micro manage the dwarves while trying to get them in advantageous positions to getting easy kills against the undead. Dark hunters are apparently no jokes as @s_a_n_t_b pointed out and four of them are very deadly. I was very happy we got one of them killed by just one fight without using the compressor. I was hoping to get the others but they seemed more interested in hunting down cats. Since they were preoccupied I figured I'd take the milita to run around and kill the remaining shamblers a la Shaun of the Dead style. One of the fights got deadly and almost died but bringing the rest of the militia got us quickly the situation under control, once the remaining undead were killed the dark hunters retreated to the edge of the map and the siege was over.

I did have to save scum a little bit while making that squish pit since I was a bit rusty with digging with slopes and it was just annoying.

Summer was all about recovery, cleaning up, and sealing up the back way proper. Thankfully we had migrants and merchants come that allowed us to get really stocked up on food since if we needed anything crafted we can just make it.

We got shrooms for days, food for days, drinks for days thanks to those artifacts and cat figurines I traded. Def worth it. Making lavish meals really started shifting everyones moods for the greener.

So this next spring should be more peaceful with plenty of options to either go down to the cavern or fortify our hill, or whatever. I'll be pming @searcher with the file later after this post.