"You have been struck down." - Dwarf Fortress Adventure stories

[mostly_harmless]

Picking this up again.

My party of 5 is back in Empirestrings (the capital) and headed straight for the keep, kind of sightseeing.
In the main hall I can still see the vampire corpse, Athis the famous hammerwoman (she was a key factor in bringing down the vampire with the first Harmless) and the holy ship!

You can see my companions filing through the door, while I start conversations with the people here.
I am still not sure what the holy ship is:

Clearly some religious leader.
Anyway, Athis has the most hilarious story to tell:

Giant Hamsters! Really?! *snigger*

Well clearly Empirestrings needs a proper hero. So lets see what bothers the locals the most:


So the goblin overlord it is. Catacombs are right this way down here, you say?

Let's go!

[mostly_harmless]

After entering the catacombs and running up and down lots of stairs and through lots of rooms, I come across a couple of old goblin skeletons. So I am definitely on the right track it seems.

Lots of rooms and corners later, I end suddenly up next to a goblin swordsman with a copper sword and iron shield! (Well, I was getting sloppy again and hit the move keys to quickly.)
Unfortunately I cannot see my companions. They must be right behind me, but it is very dark in here.

Let's fight then!

Urgh, both of my hands hold a weapon, which seems counterproductive for wrestling. We exchange some hectic blows. I lose hold of my spear and are seriously wounded. Seeing another goblin swordsman round the corner, I back off.


Nedun my companion swordswoman has arrived and storms towards the goblins!
Fleeing from my goblin pursuer, I watch in awe has Nedun charges at goblin swordsman No.II.
I back out of the room, hoping that my dwarves are just behind the door ...
... but nobody is in the adjacent room. But "my" goblin has given up the chase, so I carefully go back into the initial room again, only to see how Nedun tackles "my" goblin to the ground. No idea whether the other goblin is still alive.
I try to get into the fight again awkwardly fumbling with my dagger, before putting it away and trying to choke the goblin.


Then my dwarves arrive and we finally take that goblin down.
But not before it manages to bite me!



I am in some pain, but we slowly cross to the other side of the room.
And right there is the second goblin dead on the ground! Not bad, Nedun, not bad!

mh

[mostly_harmless]

Advancing more carefully now, we see yet more goblin skeletons and some scattered equipment.
I grab a couple of knives.
Entering the room above us, I spot the remains of a human! Good clothing, decent set of armor, nice sword with one kill assigned to it. Some coins. Even rations, but I am not going to taste old mule meat. And there are vampire teeth in the fellows backpack. Interesting.

While we go through the dead guy's stuff we see an incredibly muscular goblin wielding a spear on the other side of the long room, which my dwarven lasher rushes straight away.

My dwarf next (W) of the goblin at the lower part of the room. I am next to the dead human (red background).

mh

[mostly_harmless]

Both the lasher dwarf Ramstom and Nedun go in and take some heavy damage.
In fact the goblin fights extremely well, and basically takes out both Ramstom and Nedun, both of them trying to crawl back now.
I hit with my second throwing knife and Kad the axedwarf tips the balance towards us. Our archer also hits home once and I go in for the killing strike.

Nice team effort all around.
But, this was not the overlord yet and I am quite wounded, while two of my companions are heavily injured as well.

To add to the bloody atmosphere, we discovered one more human corpse, female. (Uce, Harmless' companion)

Making sure the room is empty of goblins, I decide to eat and drink and sleep a bit.

mh

[mostly_harmless]

Waking up, I glimpse the shape of an incredible muscular goblin looming over me!
Surely this must be a dream as I can see the mutilated dead counterpart of this goblin lying rotting on the ground a couple of meters away from me. I drowsily get to my feet and call out to my companions. Nobody answers!
Surely this must be a nightmare then, we all rested here and tended to our wounds.
But the ringing of my own scream in my ears tells me this is real!!!
What follows is an ordeal of myself trying to crawl to safety (Where!) while two goblins hack and stab away at me:

And thus goes Harmless M. "Coalflights", the wrestler.

{I really don#t know what happened. That goblin spearman attacking me was the exact copy of the one we just killed before the rest. Name, equipment, appearance. Either a bug or I have not explored the whole vampire, necromancer aspects of the game yet. Very sad, as I felt "Coalflights" was on a good way."}

Well, this killing of our young men clearly calls for a proper hero next!

mh

[Kylearan]

Ouch! Hopefully it's not a bug, as that would be frustrating. Maybe one of your next characters can go there again and have a look...

[mostly_harmless]

I checked the "legends" after the game and there are now two entries of the same goblin. One deceased and one alive. So it looks like a bug.

Anyway, we can put this death to post traumatic stress or something.
I think the lesson learnt here, is that catacombs with goblins in it are not a safe place to sleep.

Any suggestions on how to continue are welcome.
I am thinking Demigod (easiest start), to finally clean up that catacomb. Ideally with a lot of followers.

mh

[Brackard]

So, after watching a few attempts here, I'm curious as to whether it's actually possible at any point to get to 'heroic' status and actually make your way through the world cleansing it of evil?

Do you end up getting magical equipment that makes short work of these lower types, etc, etc.? Or do the mechanics here ensure that all heroes that walk the world end up living large and dying young?

[mostly_harmless]

:D
I have just started with a demigod character, which basically gives you more points in skills and attributes to start with.

I think magic is on the developer's list but not implemented yet. You have to rely on well crafted weapons and armor of suitable material.

Also, there is always some randomness involved. Your over-hero might die from an infected smashed open toe.

mh

[mostly_harmless]

So a proper hero this time.
Harmless "Hugssoapy" of Lessonmoment.

Lots of improved skills and attributes.
Proper shield and sword as well.
And we start in the western region of the kingdom.

Got me a quest and a companions! The two dwarves I picked up in the hamlet of Splashedcouple.


And off we are hunting down that bandit Xem Relievedcovered.