"So, that was it then." Puffed Momuz Furnacewalk as the dwarven mercenary wiped the blood from her axe. She and the others of her band had been sent by the mountain homes to follow up on a pair of vanished expeditions to this canyon not far to the north of several rather wealthy human cities. The nobles back at home had feared that the goblins has set up a choke point somewhere along the way, or perhaps the humans had decided to break their alliance to throw in with the greenskins. "Send a messenger raven back and inform them of this development Minkot. Our employers will want to hear of this." "This" was a cyclops that had made it's home in the canyon. After the first two expeditions had vanished in the canyon, the nobility had feared the worst. As it turned out, the worst had come to pass. "Complete loss ma'am," said Minkot after sending away the raven with a lengthy report. "Dogs, livestock, all dead. The carts are none the worse for wear, and the contents are still in tact. The barrels anyway." The cyclops had drunk it's fill of the fine dwarven brew it had found in the carts, and what was left of the previous expeditions rations lay rotting in the sun all over the canyon along with many articles of clothing. Momuz shook her head as the mess. "Take up a pick if you can find one lads, we'll wait here for word to come back from the mountain homes of what to do next."
Yeah, so I started a game and was wiped out on my first embark when my expidition DEHYDRATED to death trying to pummel an unconscious cyclops to death. I sent a second expedition along with a few competent fighters and more supplies to try and dislodge the cyclops, only to find that it was ready for me this time. Instead of allowing the dwarves to work up a good thirst punching it in the head, it instead decided to rip them apart right away. Third times the charm, I didn't want to just leave the location be, it's one of the richest spots on the map. I sent an expedition of 7 well trained and equipped axe dwarves to clean house, and so they did. I sent them along with armor, weapons, 15 plump helmet seeds, 40 units of booze, 2 dogs, and little else. No, I didn't send them with food. just booze and weapons. Skills? None except those needed to fight. Starting seven are fighters, plain and simple. Gonna make for a slow start I guess. On the plus side, I've got plenty of clothing and empty barrels. Also 14 corpses that need to be buried.