Bad luck, cave ins and bears: Part 1

So first real post and first real story about one of my current addictions, Dorf Fort (Dwarf Fortress for those not in the know). This is a story about how a 1x1 cave in can cripple a fortress.

Summer 1054, 2 years after striking earth and the fortress The Anger of Angry is chugging along just fine with a population of 27. My leader and his fellow legendary miner college are working far in the basement of my fort preparing what is going to be a giant dining hall to keep my Dorfs happy. There they are happily digging away through the tough stone many levels down whilst their young apprentice is up on the surface cutting a sky light for my farms so they can expand upon the crops the produce.

Unbeknownst to the 2 experienced miners their apprentice 7 levels above them has made a fatal flaw, in his inexperience he’s channelled in the wrong order leaving a 1x1 square of earth precariously attached. Unwittingly he continues on with the task and causes a cave in, the whole fort rumbles for a second as earth crashes down into the farming level. Morok, the apprentice, arises from the dust remarkably unharmed and surveys the damage. The cave in has caused part of the farming level floor to collapse so he rushes down stairs to see what else has happened. The hole continues down through the trade level, the storage level, the craft level, the mineral level, the housing level.

However when Morok reaches the housing level he hears a commotion. His cave in caught a poor hauler who was in the temporary dining room and crushed his legs and the table he was dining at. It also crushed the hauler’s pet dog, distraught at his injuries and the loss of his pet the hauler slowly bleeds out in a nearby bed room which was converted into a hospital.

With a guilty heart Morok seeks to finder his masters and explain what has happened only to find that they already know of the cave in. Morok picks up the crushed helms of Tun and Celen and stoically places them in the armour stockpiles before placing their corpses in the graveyard.

With the leadership dead the fort falls into disarray, the remaining 24 dwarves neglect to check on the stock levels of even the most basic things and when the dawrven caravan arrives in autumn their ruthless traders take advantage of the new inexperienced broker and demand much for even a simple barrel of ale.

The Winter looks grim, the dwarves of The Anger of Angry stoically and foolishly surge on without appointing any new leadership.

To be continued