Tinthundered: Part IV

With the dwarves drowning in masterpiece alcohol and prepared meals, and first line defenses set up (read: lots of cage traps) I think it’s time to move forward with the main plan. Exploratory mining revealed the first layer of underground caverns.

Not pictured: The moss and fungi that will now be appearing all over my agriculture wing.

The main plan requires that I have the caverns pretty well explored and mapped out so I don’t cut through them and invite baddies to fuck all my shit up.

One way of exploring is sending an animal down there and have him wander around aimlessly, updating the map for you without risking any dwarves. I designate a small channeled breach in the roof of the cavern with an underground lake far below. Then all you have to do is grab the nearest puppy and drop him down the hole. Water will break his fall, right?

Turns out when you break a hole in the roof, the rock that USED to be the roof is now sitting directly below the breach as a pile of broken rocks. I also learned that this lake is in fact somewhat shallow and there isn’t enough water between the surface and the rocks to make much of a difference.

tl;dr: the puppy had a rough landing.

The poor thing wasn’t fortunate enough to not be killed instantly by the impact, but slowly floated to a nearby shore where it suffocated, presumably on it’s own blood and vomit. The last puppy thoughts going through its little puppy mind were probably questioning why the kind bearded fellows whom he’s known from birth decided to pull him from his warm bed and cast him down a hole into a dark unforgiving hell filled with monsters and pointy rocks. The one who threw him down the hole likely did not give the slightest second thought to the fate of the dog and instead went to sample the booze stockpile. This lonely creature died painfully a mile underground in a damp darkness face first in moss and fungus.

In related news, enough of the cavern was explored to plan my tunnel without breaching it. Mission accomplished.