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Fat and Useless posted:Huh I lived, go go dwarven medicine! Well, that or water necromancy. You're not a water necromancer, are you? 
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Jan 19, 2014 03:03
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Angela Christine posted:Where da horsies at? The Bronzestabbed update bought you a 24-hour reprieve. Enjoy it while it lasts.
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Jan 19, 2014 06:23
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Angela Christine posted:Where da horsies at? Alternate answer: Bad Munki is... A bad ponyseer.
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Jan 19, 2014 07:06
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Bad Munki posted:The Bronzestabbed update bought you a 24-hour reprieve. Enjoy it while it lasts.
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Jan 20, 2014 10:32
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So I return to this thread after a long uhh.. vacation to find that I was killed mercilessly and unjustly. Typical.
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Jan 20, 2014 11:24
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Pickled Tink posted:Where is our horse update Bad Munki? It has been over 24 hours. While we wait for the horse update while we are waiting for the Dwarf Fortress update, anybody care for a quick game of Gravity Badgers?
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Jan 20, 2014 19:42
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Barf me? Garf me? Horf, dwarf... gorf? Gorf me. Gravity Badger me
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Jan 20, 2014 19:46
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Pickled Tink posted:Where is our horse update Bad Munki? It has been over 24 hours. You need to start sending him games that are worse than the one he's LPing. Which probably means you're going to need to become an elaborate serial killer IRL.
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Jan 20, 2014 19:48
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I don't think you all realize how hard it is to write a story based on this game that is less boring than the game itself. I mean, literally the first thing I did was attempt to do a mission and so my horse left and there's a timer and who knows when the gently caress it'll be back. 
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Jan 20, 2014 19:51
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Bad Munki posted:I mean, literally the first thing I did was attempt to do a mission and so my horse left and there's a timer and who knows when the gently caress it'll be back. This is hilarious.
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Jan 20, 2014 19:53
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Bad Munki posted:I don't think you all realize how hard it is to write a story based on this game that is less boring than the game itself. I mean, literally the first thing I did was attempt to do a mission and so my horse left and there's a timer and who knows when the gently caress it'll be back. So, let me get this straight. You sent the horse on a mission, it has disappeared, the timer is negative, and you got a text saying "Spermy Smurf, Sparkling Horse, has not been seen for over a week?" ... HORSE FORTRESS!
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Jan 20, 2014 21:16
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 25th Sandstone, 251 I have remained focused on the current project to the exclusion of all other matters. Those siege engines we can build from existing parts are constructed rapidly. Immediately below, a tunnel is finished and I ordered a stair and doors. It is an experiment I do not know will work but perhaps will allow the miner who must go outside some amount of safety from Lackloss. If the idea fails at least Lackloss will not get in.   A dwarf informed of a new rumbling in the caverns.  28th Sandstone The queen reinstates the prohibition on sale of ballista arrows which is unnecessary as always.  The lower span of the stair is in.  1st Timber The hole above the stair is open, and I've ordered the stair completed. 2nd Timber Pickled Tink, the ghostly child former overseer, manifested in the new gallery to give me a report.  “Wili saw a Forgotten Beast” he said, his face somehow even paler than normal.  “What? How's that, child?” I asked because I was distracted with the digs. “She interrupted her work order with a report that she saw a Forgotten Beast. And I don't know where it is but I think there's a hole, Leperfish. I went and looked although I was scared.” Pickled Tink was always concerned with holes between our living and mining spaces and the caverns, wherein galavant at least a half-dozen Forgotten Beasts. Therefore I was inclined to be distracted by his report. We took to the stairs. Far down in the magmaworks there begins a wide stair at the north end of the fortress.  We climbed upward, through the stockpiles,   The lower hospital,  Old mineworks,  To a junction and side shaft. “Here is where Wili was when she canceled her order” reported Pickled Tink.  We crossed the digs and climbed more.       Seven levels up, another small chamber opened, but there was nothing there to see.  On the next level, the ghost briefly left me to push through the rough stone wall before returning. “There's caverns out there” he said, gesturing. “Not far, a few yards of stone.”  We climbed.    Four more levels up, we came to the extensive malachite digs. Here still sit many boulders of that mineral that I was so pleased to discover, so many years ago.  We heard the soft voices of two dwarves to the south; masons, no doubt, selecting boulders to carve into blocks under my orders.  Still we ascended.     Five or six more levels up, I heard the faint sound of rushing water through the stone.  “Nearly there” said Tink. A few more steps and we came to a door. I pushed through it, and we walked to the end of a hall where two doors were placed among constructed walls.  “FORBIDDEN” was scratched into their surfaces, and the door's lock was firmly closed. Yet, to the right, just below the edge of the stone floor, the cold water of the cavern lapped and gurgled, and I could see out into the cavern itself. “Anything could just climb in” he said, his voice echoing faintly like a stone flute among the eerie pillars of the cavern. “Anything that could swim to the surface,” I said, and he nodded. “A Forgotten Beast might swim” he said. On the floor above, we found another door, leading to complex machinery and a series of waterwheels. Pickled Tink led me along a narrow open walkway to a small downward stair, which I took.  There I found myself facing another door, this one also not locked, and in any case the frigid cavern waters lapped to the side, through a narrow gap: the wall was not closed here. “Another way in” said Pickled Tink unnecessarily.  This was Neddy Seagoon's strange waterpump experiment. Somehow water pumped above and then allowed to run back down turned wheels which generated more power than was put in... a phrase leapt to my mind, then, one once used long ago by another Overseer once. “Water necromancy.” “We'll wall it all off” I said. “And if anyone else sees a Forgotten Beast, or anything else, let me know right away.”   Tink did not wait to accompany me back up the stairs but rather flew directly up through the ceiling and was gone. I slowly made my way back to the inhabited parts of the fortress, my legs weary from the stairs, my ears picking out every little noise to wonder if a huge slavering beast of nightmare might await beyond the next turn. 3rd Timber Forer, a mason, canceled his job to store an item in a barrel due to being possessed. It is a disturbing mood.  4th Timber Lookouts informed Lackloss chasing an imprudent owl.    It fluttered away as he approached.   He stands there now doing nothing. An owl has spoiled my plan. The gallery of ballista will still serve as good defense but I can scarcely hope that the zombie will obediently return to stand in front of them. Perhaps the miner will be safer now anyway. I ordered the first wall breached and channeled. Vetinari100 accepted the job.  Below it will open into the new tunnel.  6th Timber Forer claimed a mason's workshop near the hospital in the low retreat.  7th Timber It worked! A miner cut the earth through without leaving behind a way in. Immediately I order further mines laid out to complete the ballista gallery.  The ballista ammunition depot is beginning to fill, from ballista arrows brought up from the workshops where they are made. 10th Timber I am cautiously expanding the single-purpose stockpiles. Siege ammunition will be stored only near the siege engines. I created a new stockpile for unused cabinets.  Everyone is too busy hauling to do the mining I have called for.  I also must consider the matter of the human merchants: soon they will begin to despair of ever being allowed to leave. Humans are known to have delicate, fragile sensibilities. 11th Timber They will have to wait. Goblins have come, in force and without subterfuge. Woe betide Bronzestabbed, we are besieged one more!  GOBLIN FORCES 38 goblins in four squads: 10 goblin pikemen, led by the Goblin Spearmaster Bax Doomnightmares 8 goblin hammermen, led by the goblin macelord Utes Dungeonblushed 8 goblin bowmen, led by the goblin elite crossbowman Atu Doommaggots 8 goblin crossbowmen, led by the goblin swordmaster Stosbub Cursematches There are also three dingoes, but I think they are only running away from the goblins.  
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Jan 21, 2014 08:12
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Oh. I kind of feel sorry for the goblins with Lackloss out there.
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Jan 21, 2014 08:25
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Especially with Lackloss between them and the front gate 
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Jan 21, 2014 08:30
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This new defensive Murk Zombie perimeter might turn out to be for the best. I wonder if you could chain up a bunch of prisoners outside, wait for them to get murked, and then have yourself a fence of undead monstrosities.
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Jan 21, 2014 08:37
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And thus Lackloss invented the game of golf. 
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Jan 21, 2014 08:39
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How well set up is the new Ballista battery for dealing with a Goblin Incursion?
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Jan 21, 2014 08:58
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It'd potentially be great, but I have to remove the dirt that is in between the fortifications and the outside world. I was wringing my hands trying to figure out how to do it without exposing a dwarf to Lackloss... I had that figured out, but then the miners all hosed off or something and no digging happened for a week in-game. Basically I figured out that you can order a dwarf to "channel" a solid block of dirt on their own level, and if there's open space on the level below, they'll dig out the block on their own level AND the floor all in one task. That's critical because it means if you do things in the right order, there's never a moment when the space is open but the floor (or a ramp below it) is still intact for an enemy to path across. Now, it's a moot point. The goblins have archers, so anyone sent up front to dig that out is going to be exposed to enemy fire. The good news is, nobody is stuck outside except Lackloss. The bad news is, I have to force myself not to document every tick of every fight or we'll still be doing this LP when Toady finishes Dwarf Fortress and retires. It's hard because that's how I watch the fights, and I always want to write down and screencap each detail just in case something really badass and cool happens. Obviously though I just cannot document the deaths (we hope) of 38 goblins that way. Also I think the human merchants might go insane soon. I'm not sure how long I can keep them locked up once they want to leave, but it's not forever.
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Jan 21, 2014 18:25
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This is win-win for me. Either Lackloss slaughters the goblins, or they cripple him with arrows, reinforcing my pro-bolt stance.
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Jan 21, 2014 18:37
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Leperflesh posted:Also I think the human merchants might go insane soon. I'm not sure how long I can keep them locked up once they want to leave, but it's not forever. Luckily the Typhus Memorial Depot can contain them with ease and allow for their rapid extermination via the Genin Memorial Murderholes hewn through the rock above.
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Jan 21, 2014 18:41
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That is true, but murdering the human merchants is out of character for Leperfish. So I'm not sure how he's going to react to that, if it happens.
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Jan 21, 2014 18:50
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Leperflesh posted:That is true, but murdering the human merchants is out of character for Leperfish. So I'm not sure how he's going to react to that, if it happens. Wring your hands about the decision, do it 'for the fortress', then name something after them with the Merchant-Name Memorial Object scheme. Its what I always did. Worked well. Especially for child murder. LeJackal fucked around with this message at 20:29 on Jan 21, 2014 |
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Jan 21, 2014 20:26
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You think you're hot poo poo because some dwarf memorialized you in an artifact? That merchant swordsman menaced with spikes of wood before he was even dead!
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Jan 21, 2014 20:28
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11th Timber, 251 We must immediately see to our defense. The goblins cannot get inside but they have archers so civilians must clear the courtyard and open areas of the walls. I have reinstated the burrow and updated the maps to include the new diggings. I have not yet activated the militia. I want to see what the goblins will do and more I want to see what the Fiendish Murk Zombe Lackloss will do to the goblins.  12th Timber A few more goblins have come into view: the northernmost squadron of pikemen now numbers 16, there are 12 hammermen, 14 archers, and still 12 crossbowmen led by a swordmaster.   Alerted by their echoing howls we saw there are also ogres. At least four.  Another squad of goblins is spotted to the southeast! These are armed with spears, and led by Stozu Forktorment. We can see ten of them as yet.  That is 64 goblins and four ogres. I do not think Lackloss however deadly can overwhelm them all. Later today we recounted and there are eight ogres, six female and two male.  No. Ten ogres.  Still 16 pikes, now 13 hammers, 16 archers, 13 crossbows and the sword, and in the far corner, 13 spears. That is 72 goblins and 10 ogres.  13th Timber The sight today from the battlements sent my blood cold. Within yards of where Schir's corpse still lays mouldering in the grass a murk rose boiling from the ground. What mayhem could result if the goblins were taken by it I cannot know.  Yet if only a few were taken I think they would fall upon one another? It is known a fiendish murk zombie hates all things that live, even the foul goblinkind. They are mostly still safely distant from it. The ogres were closest; the eight females leading while the two males lingered stupidly behind. Perhaps among ogres an ogress is bolder.   Of the goblins only the crossbows advanced, the others milling about and yammering to one another in their senseless tongue. They ignored the dingoes and the dingoes ignored them.  In late evening the murk never large was seen to vanish in wisps into nothing without any thing we could see being consumed. That is likely for the best even if no goblin or ogre was slain because a murk zombie ogre must be worse than just an ogre.  At twilight the pikes advanced alongside the goblins with crossbows, both squads making northeast towards the slope. And towards Lackloss.  The hammers trailed behind and the bowmen have not deigned to advance, nor the separate spears. Of which we now count 16!  I numbered the enemy again: GOBLIN FORCES 80 goblins and 18 ogres in six squads: 18 ogres including 15 ogressses and 3 males, to the northwest 15 goblin spearmen, led by the goblin spearmaster Stozu Forktorment 15 goblin pikemen, led by the Goblin Spearmaster Bax Doomnightmares 15 goblin hammermen, led by the goblin macelord Utes Dungeonblushed 15 goblin bowmen, led by the goblin elite crossbowman Atu Doommaggots 15 goblin crossbowmen, led by the goblin swordmaster Stosbub Cursematches   14th Timber Lackloss moved with the horrible grace and speed of his lifeless kind, sword and shield ready. He had seen them, or smelled them, or whatever way that a zombie of the murk knows the direction of a living thing.  The goblins had seen a dwarf and rushed forward, the pikes stringing out among the trees, the spearmaster at the head.    Remarkably, Lackloss's first strike was blocked, although he crashed bodily into the spermaster and bowled her over. She and another pikegoblin struck back but the fiendish murk zombie was too quick. Leaping to her feet, the nimble speramaster tackled Lackloss to the ground.  He rolled away and for a moment all who watched stood stunned as a goblin's copper pike scored the first wound!  Yet though his right hand was torn Lackloss paid no heed. He continued warring with the spearmaster, blocking from the ground and rolling away from her strikes while paying no heed to the growing numbers of pikes arriving at the fray.  Finally the zombie regained his feet. The goblins began to surround him, but he jumped away from the thrusts from their long unwieldy weapons easily. Having been driven back from the vicinity of the spearmaster, Lackloss reoriented, and hurled himself at the nearest opponent, bashing it with his pommel and shoving the goblin to the ground.   Lackloss drew first blood from the goblins by stabbing the downed one in the foot. By now his tactic is familiar even to a dwarf as myself who knows little of hit locations and the practice of battle; to disable with strikes to the feet and then disarm with strikes to the weapon or shield arm or both.   Yet he was now thoroughly surrounded. Several struck almost together and one hooked his right foot with his blade from behind.  They expected such a wound to cripple their foe but Lackloss responded by stabbing the already injured one again, this time breaking the bone it its leg. He parried and dodged four more shots in quick succession, the goblins shrieking and barking in alarm and frustration. Lackloss's good copper greaves deflected a blow to the leg with a clang, and then the spearmaster, having circled around, drove her spearpoint into the zombie's neck!  This did not dissuade him from yanking his sword free just before another goblin charged him, rebounding and flying backward to the dirt.  He used the opportunity to roll towards his victim and stabbed the goblin in the liver with his adamantine blade, eliciting a horrendous scream.   The spearmaster tried again, her silver spear crunching into the dwarf's calf, but Lackloss paid no heed; in fact he used that same leg to stomp his opponent's foot into mulch. Bax Doomnightmares responded with a charge, leading with the spearpoint; she found his right arm, but Lackloss stood firm and the goblin rebounded back from the collision, off balance.  Regaining her feet, she stabbed Lackloss again in the hand, tearing muscle but drawing no blood. His lifeless grip remained as firm as ever. It is not muscle that a zombie uses to move and fight but rather fiendish power of murk and death. His shield deflected both of her next stabs, while other goblins less capable of war continued to fail at even superficially harming him.  Bax tried another charge, and the two twisted and grappled as they fell once again to the dirt. The goblin Lackloss had wounded fell limp from pain, its fragile constitution giving way to wounds a sturdy dwarf shrugs away.   note: in this image, Lackloss is sharing a space with the spearmaster He rolled away from Bax to seek his prey, the broken bone in his leg grinding as he came back to his feet. Suddenly a bolt clanged off of his shield! The goblin crossbowmen had come into range and sighted their target. Another bolt thudded into the ground at his feet as Lackloss dodged the attack of a pike at his rear, and then jumped away from the Doomnightmares' silver spearpoint.   They had driven him away from the unconscious goblin and finally succeeded at drawing his attention to a new target. Lackloss wasted no time, hacking off the left hand of a pikeman with one swift stroke just before leaping back from Bax's pressed attack.    The goblins gabbered and mobbed forward. Lackloss charged suddenly, his glazed eyes never betraying intent, and a surprised pikeman received a punch to his left thigh so mighty that his femur snapped like a twig, the zombie dwarf bearing his foe down to the dirt in silent fury.  Finally the goblin Bax Doomnightmares aimed a blow that changed the course of battle. Her bright silver spear licked forward too fast for the eye to follow, but all could see Lackloss's right hand fly away, his fabled blue sword dropping to the dirt.  A fiendish murk zombie dwarf armed with only a shield is still a fearsome foe, but without his blade in hand, Lackloss Dreamsrocks the Equal Riddle the Fiendish Murk Zombie cannot possibly trouble an invasion of 80 well-armed goblins greatly. Although their battle continued, the goblin squad of pikemen (joined at that moment by the goblin swordmaster Stosbub Cursematches from the crossbow squad) sensed that victory was now near at hand. From the sounds of their cries, fear and uncertainty turned to the glee those creatures invariably take in the harrying torture and slaughter of an unarmed foe.  ADDENDUM:  I dutifully record the dwarf Salmonfists is old enough to walk on his own. It is a detail not to be overlooked while distracted by battle spectacles outside our walls.
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Jan 24, 2014 08:00
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Can't wait to see how badly this can possibly go down hill, I thought our murk guard dog would give more of a fight.
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Jan 24, 2014 13:21
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Fat and Useless posted:Can't wait to see how badly this can possibly go down hill, I thought our murk guard dog would give more of a fight. I am really shocked too. I thought Lackloss would have taken out a dozen at least. Is our military really just not very skilled? Or are the only troops that respond to your orders to attack other MurkDwarfs the raw recruits?
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Jan 24, 2014 14:23
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Spermy Smurf posted:I am really shocked too. I thought Lackloss would have taken out a dozen at least. I think it's more a case of sheer numbers and perhaps the weapons involved. Even a fast, strong, agile creature that's surrounded by enemies is bound to take more hits than it can inflict, whereas dwarves tend to trail into the fight singly and be hopelessly overmatched. If the enemies are wielding pikes rather than ammoless crossbows, bare fists and shields, the odds are further stacked.
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Jan 24, 2014 14:43
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Yeah I think Lackloss could have chewed through quite a few goblins, but a swordmaster and a spearmster are a different story, and he was getting distracted by chaff goblins instead of them. That said: yes, our raw recruits are pretty lovely, and they're especially bad if they have to fight on their own, without full armor. Mind you Lackloss isn't dead yet. Well, completely dead. But without his sword he's just way, way less dangerous.
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Jan 24, 2014 19:06
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Is the goblin swordsmaster going to grab the sword? I dont know how goblins loot.
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Jan 24, 2014 22:07
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Spermy Smurf posted:Is the goblin swordsmaster going to grab the sword? I dont know how goblins loot. They don't. Hopefully a kobold will pick it up.
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Jan 24, 2014 23:46
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Without goblins the ideal solution would have been send our marksmen to the walls and, even if piercing damage can't kill him, they could sever enough bodyparts (as evidenced during my turn with the Bad Kestrel) to render him far less dangerous- for example, make him drop the sword.
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Jan 25, 2014 02:37
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Sky Shadowing posted:Without goblins the ideal solution would have been send our marksmen to the walls and, even if piercing damage can't kill him, they could sever enough bodyparts (as evidenced during my turn with the Bad Kestrel) to render him far less dangerous- for example, make him drop the sword. well, that problem at least is solved now. Release the militia! i really iwsh hte militia was better at equipping gear. I'm sure I had some trouble with them myself. Should probably just have left them on train or patrol for 11 of the 12 months and nuts to the whiners.
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Jan 25, 2014 08:34
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TildeATH posted:They don't. Hopefully a kobold will pick it up. I hope not. We lost enough adamantine goods during Bad Munki and Internet Kraken's period of fortress sabotage.
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Jan 25, 2014 17:06
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This is great. I have a feeling that, sword or not, Lackloss is still going to be a major pain in the rear end for these goblins.
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Jan 25, 2014 20:04
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I finally caught up after losing track of this thread some many months ago, and I'm pleasantly surprised to catch up right at this climatic battle before this fortress's sunset. I'd just like to say good job to all the overseers as the quality of Bronzestabbed has been through the roof. Sorry my dwarf hasn't been more helpful, but I think I'm still a useless kid. Also, perhaps this advice is too little, too late, but whenever I have dwarfs disobey barrows/military directives/whatever, I make them civilians and remove all(especially hauling) but one job from their duties and then use a workshop I have reserved for no-one but specified dwarfs to queue up some high-priority twiddly-winks deep in the safety of the fortress. Still not 100% effective, but I find it better than just forbidding everything I find on the surface. Also looking forward to the LP of The Bad Secret of the Magic Munki Horse.
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Jan 27, 2014 07:50
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15th Timber, 251 Accounting for losses we have 39 marksdwarves in the militia. I determined to station as many as possible along the fortifications, where they can hopefully shoot goblins without suffering greatly from return fire.  Miners have begun to undertake the digs beneath the new ballista gallery.  The goblins mobbed Lackloss, stabbing at him and showering him with bolts, most of which missed or were blocked. Without a sword the zombie seemed for a few moments uninterested in attack, but the pale corpse was ever-nimble to dodge many bolts at once.     The most wounded goblin regained consciousness, while members of the crossbow squad joined the pikegoblins in a milling swarm.   Finally after dodging or blocking another half dozen bolts, Lackloss darted forward leading with his shield to bash at the nearest pikeman; the goblin was sent sprawling but uninjured.   Yet Lackloss followed up with a punch from his shield hand, a wicked strike that crushed the goblin's chest! Instantly he dodged backward from another goblin's swing, and I had some hope then that our fallen comrade might still exact a price from the invaders before they overwhelmed him.   It is a concern though that goblin bolts were clattering across the courtyard. The battlements are level with the shoulder of the hill which means dwarves posted there have little cover. Consequently I ordered the squads only to the lower gallery. Their field of fire from there will be poor but until the walls are built higher there is no other option.   The goblin with the crushed chest expired as Lackloss continued to exhibit an incredible capacity to avoid incoming fire, blocking or dodging a dozen bolts in the blink of an eye. He made a quick strike at a lavendar-haired pikeman which was parried but the counterstrike missed wide as he ducked and moved again.     The spearmaster got in a strike, but her spearpoint only clattered off Lackloss' copper greaves. As Lackloss dodged another bolt, though, a pike got through, breaking his left wrist. Yet a broken wrist did not loosen his grip on his shield at all, for a murk zombie feels no pain.  Lackloss blocked more bolts, and then while the pikeman yanked his pike free, the zombie dwarf shattered a pikeman's hand with a swift punch. The cost was a bolt to the kidney, and then the spearmaster driving her weapon into his foot.  The instant the spear was yanked free, though, he bolted forward, bashing a goblin backwards with his shield. Another goblin hooked his right foot with a sweeping chop that broke bones, and Lackloss again went down, rolling away from one attack after another.   Several crossbow-weilding goblins were now among the pikemen, shooting from minimum distance, yet so fast were Lackloss's indwarfan reflexes that he blocked or dodged or rolled away from them. His scrambling about on the ground soon took him a pace or two away from the bulk of the goblins, allowing the spearmaster and swordmaster to regain their feet. They surged forward as a mass, and he rolled and scrambled among them, their shouts and pushing and clumsy stabs at the ground availing them nothing more than an occasional clang against his bright shield.     Finally, the spearmaster attempted a new tactic. She drove the heavy metal-shod haft of her spear down at Lackloss's briefly-exposed face, and was rewarded with the 'pop' of a cracking skull. Spinning the spear around, she followed up with another stab to his left arm, breaking the bone in an attempt to pry loose the shield.    It didn't work. His brain is no longer of much importance to Lackloss, nor is he especially inconvenienced by broken limbs. Almost casually, he rolled to avoid a copper bolt, before lifting his shield to deflect four iron bolts that followed. He had not been slowed at all. She tried again, slicing in to his shield arm, but he merely turned and caught a pike thrust with it before dodging aside again as she yanked her weapon free.   He was being mobbed, though. While blocking another bolt a pikeman got him in the left thigh, although the greaves still provided good protection. He blocked another bolt while the spearmaster pierced his right foot, and a pike clanged on his greaves again to harmonize with the silver bolt clanging off his shield. Another bolt thudded into the battered disc of metal, and finally the spearmaster had her opening. Her bright spearpoint darted beneath the edge of the shield and when she pulled it back, Lackloss's remaining hand flopped along behind, the shield falling loose.  I could not help but groan although I have seen Lackloss slay good Bronzestabbed citizens. Entirely disarmed and without even fists to punch with I could not imagine the zombie will cause further great trouble to our besiegers. His best use now would be to absorb the volleys of crossbow-fire while our own forces take up positions, distracting the foe and depleting their supply of ammunition. But lackloss still had surprises in store. He lurched up from the dirt and wrapped his handless arm around a pikeman's leg with terrible strength, refusing to let go while another pikeman stabbed his foot, the spearmaster struck at his throat, and a bolt plunked into his right leg. The spearmaster stabbed his left foot again, and a well-aimed bolt sprouted from the center of his blood-spattered forehead.  A goblin shouted in fear as he continued to thrash about, and almost simultaneously five goblins drove home with pikes and a kick. He was shot again in the leg, and then lackloss punched with his severed wrist... much less effectively than before.   Nearly thirty goblins had clustered together within a handful of yards of Lackloss's thrashing form, though. His body was ruined, scarcely any part of him not broken or sliced or crushed or punctured with goblin bolts.  The leader of the goblin hammerers joined the fray, her iron flail deflected by those sturdy greaves. More blows followed, and Lackloss's head was further ruined by another pike to the brain.  In all this time he still had not released his vise grip on the goblin pikeman. That creature whimpered pathetically while all about him weapons rose and fell.  “Dwarfses dieses! Dwarfses dieses!” their chant rose, for I think a goblin or two may have spotted those of us watching and surmised we might be impressed by the quality of their murder. I saw the butt of the spearmaster's spear knock teeth from Lackloss's ruined head. There were too many of them now fighting in a mob for me to see exactly what happened, save that goblins armed with hammers and mauls joined in.     Finally I saw the goblin he had grappled roll free of the scrum, smeared with gore and frightened, his right leg and hip and hand all broken badly.   His comrades scarcely noticed, their mauls and bolts and spears tearing Lackloss' unbleeding, thrashing body to ribbons. I caught a glimpse of what remained of his head and wished I had not.  Horribly, he was still fighting. He shoved ineffectually at a goblin with his pulped arm.    It was too much. I turned away. Other dwarves with stronger stomachs will bring me news of that battle henceforth: I must see to the duty of defense of Bronzestabbed.
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Jan 27, 2014 08:58
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Someone who can draw could make glorious art of that ending. An entire update of some three dozen goblins trying to kill a murk zombie is also art and Ugath have mercy if that army decides to roll around in the murk fields.
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Jan 27, 2014 10:16
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Don't you murk-zombies ever die?!
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Jan 27, 2014 10:44
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I believe they're only vulnerable to decapitation. Even magma doesn't work. Clearly I was wrong about the bolts.
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Jan 27, 2014 15:43
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Decapitation, or complete severing of the upper spine. It seems like Lackloss's armor is protecting him a little from both things. One concern is that he's effectively training up the goblins. Does anyone know if the game allows invaders to level up their combat skills?
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Jan 27, 2014 16:50
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