DF2014 Talk:Tower (necromancy)

Undead appearing in cleared towers

After clearing out a tower, and leaving and coming back(even if it's traveling a single tile) the tower is filled with undead again. This has been an issue I can remember going back many versions. Do towers just draw from a pool of undead globally on the map until there are none left? Is this a feature or a bug? Struck Down (talk) 18:17, 3 December 2017 (UTC)

Some quick research on the tracker only turned up something marginally related, but I can't imagine this behaviour is by design. Might be worth it to send in a bug report with all the info you can gather!

(The tangentially related bug is here [1]) CalmBit (talk) 18:31, 3 December 2017 (UTC)

Zombies can build up towers

What actually means: "Zombies can build up towers a bit to increase a site zombie cap"? Are the zombies creating new structures in the tower area? --GeloMor (talk) 13:22, 27 February 2021 (UTC)

Forcing Biome Change by Destroying Necromancer Tower - The Tale of Adil Boltmatched

The tale of Adil Boltmatched:

We, The Elder Keys, intentionally built a fortress 2 tiles from a tower in an evil biome (less than 1 day's travel). We christened our new home "Angervault, the Bane of Conquerors". Things were as one might expect, night creatures/failed experiments came to visit nearly every season and we gave the order to lock down. In the intervening time, we trained up a squad of axe lords. In between monster sieges one year, we sent the axe lords out to destroy the tower. They killed around 400 enemies total, but 8/10 of the dwarves were captured and the destruction of the tower failed. The remaining two axe lords, Likot "Calmwheeled" Betankol and Adil "Boltmatched" Alathdalzat, attempted to rescue their comrades, but Likot, the less agile of the two, was also captured after each killed another 100 enemies.

The last free axe lord, Adil "Boltmatched" Alathdalzat, attempted to rescue his captured comrades alone twice, each time killing over 100 enemies himself and returning to the fortress empty-handed. That was when the other sieges began. Apparently the tower necromancer, wary of his dwindling supply of undead servants, sent out a call to the nearby human, dwarf, goblin, and elven civilizations, as each besieged the fortress within a season of each other. Adil, now captain of the guard, knew we were outmatched and called for the fortress to be sealed. As we waited out the siege, Adil began the arduous task of training a new squad of axedwarves. As the only veteran of the tower raids, he knew well that only the strongest, most agile dwarves would be able to make it back.

His new squad was newly equipped and training well underway. Adil thought he might soon be able to mount a successful rescue mission of his captured comrades, but as the months ticked by, his dreams were filled with gruesome imaginings of the necromancer lord of the tower, known only to us as "Inkbodice", twisting Adil's old friends into horrible new abominations.

That was when he came. Anu Stosbubngostong Ado Ummu, "Anu Hatewebbed the Owl of Guises" the forgotten beast. A giant pink marmot with exterior ribs that spewed horrible webs. We were aware of Anu for some time before he struck, and when he finally did Adil and his new squad leapt into action. As the Owl of Guises devoured an unfortunate farmer that strayed into the caverns, Adil lead his team into the fray, and then charged the beast himself. The Owl of Guises didn't waste even a second, and immediately bit Adil on the head, latching onto the axe lord and thrashing him furiously around. Adil Boltmatched never stopped swinging his axe, despite his head being in the jaws of the the great marmot. Mortally wounded, Adil inflicted several devastating blows on the Owl of Guises with his adamantine battle axe. As his life force ebbed away, Adil saw his youngest recruit, Melbil "Notchedfenced" Lisatustuth, finish off the forgotten beast with a blow of her bronze battle axe.

Knowing he had saved the fortress, but failed his old friends, Adil Boltmatched died of his wounds before he could be helped. His last words to Melbil Notchedfenced were "remember our captives".

The Destruction of Inkbodice's Tower

Upon the death of the grizzled Boltmatched, his protégé, the brave Melbil Notchfenced, was promoted to Adil's old station of Captain of the Guard. As she lifted what once was Adil's adamantine battle axe, the symbol of the office, Melbil knew she couldn't let her old mentor down. Melbil and her squadmates had by now been trained by Adil for years, and their recent experience in the caverns, despite the loss of their leader, provided them with further combat experience. Notchedfenced knew that when the sieges lifted, she would finish what her mentor had started.

Then, finally, the opportunity came. A human siege arrived, and began slaughtering the elf army that had patiently besieged the fortress for over a year. The humans took few casualties, but the elves were killed to the last hippie. Humans, with their comparatively short lifespans, are not as patient as elves or dwarves. They called an end to the siege less than a year after it began, retreating to their towns to reunite with their families.

Melbil's chance had come. When the siege had lifted, Melbil led her squad out the main gate, through the heaps of elf corpses and discarded wooden armaments. Their mission was different this time, where Adil had only hoped to release his captive comrades in arms, Melbil knew that the necromancer's tower would have to be destroyed for the safety of the fortress, and indeed the entire realm. Notchfenced hoped to be able to rescue any of the captives that were still alive, but as it had now been nearly 10 years since their initial capture, Melbil knew in her heart that the necromancer had likely already had his way with them. After all, fresh slaves were needed given the losses Boltmatched and his comrades had inflicted on the tower.

Notchedfenced knew that her mission was dangerous. After all, Boltmatched's squad had been better trained, nearly all were axe lords, and their equipment was all of legendary adamantine. Melbil's squad was less experienced, with no axe lords, and their equipment, while good quality steel, was not the stuff of legends. However, the work of her old mentor hadn't been for nothing, Adil Boltmatched's attempts to rescue his comrades, while unsuccessful, had seriously degraded the forces of the tower. Their numbers had dwindled from over 400 defenders to under 200.

Melbil ordered her squad to raze the tower to the ground, with the additional instruction to free any captives they might come across. Arriving at the fortress, the axe dwarves were immediately set upon by nightmare creatures of every description. Every dwarf in the squad personally killed more than 10 enemies, but the 4 greenest recruits were themselves struck down in the melee. Even still, the day was ours. Inkbodice himself fled the tower as the tide of battle turned against him, and after the last of his gruesome experiments was struck down, Notchedfenced and her squad rampaged throughout the tower, looting what they could and searching for the captives. However, they found nothing but echoes in the now empty halls.

Satisfied that she had done all she could to fulfill her mentor's dying wish, Melbil returned to the fortress with her surviving squadmates and what loot they could carry. The tower had been destroyed, and now all that was left of it was an empty ruin strewn with bones.

The next season, the dwarves noticed something had changed. The environment our government had picked for the fortress was initially quite hostile, indeed, many said it was evil. But after the necromancer's tower was destroyed, the blood rain stopped. Normal plants began to grow. The ground turned from the brown-red color of coagulated blood to a pleasant spring green. The trees retained their ashy color, but many began to produce fruit where they hadn't before. The regular sieges of undead and nightmare experiments stopped altogether, though the elves and humans repeated their abortive attempts.

Notchedfenced is now in her 112th year, and while the rest of the fortress has settled into a normal routine, she, her veteran comrades, and their new squadmates remain vigilant, ready to strike out again, should they be needed.

---

The final destruction of the Necromancer tower caused the biome to change from evil to normal. As this was a completely unexpected turn of events, I assumed others might want to hear the tale.

- Urist Sisyphus, Chronicler of Angervault