Datanerith Entry 2: Alligator Attack

So remember those alligators I mentioned? One of them kept harassing my fisherdwarf, Udil. Every time he'd go to the river to fish, the alligator would chase him away. It never occurred to Udil to try and fish elsewhere - the dozen small lakes and ponds littering the area, for example - so I decided to do something about it. It's a little early for a militia, but when there's killing to be done, there's killing to be done. I decided that Endok, the expedition leader and clerk (and part-time woodcutter) would be a good first recruit. He's familiar with the ax, and right now I didn't have much other use for someone whose primary skills were record keeping, organizing, and appraising.

They went off on a merry chase. Udil running away from the alligator, and away from Endok, up and down the mountain for about fifteen minutes before Endok cornered the gator near the river. A vicious battle ensued; Endok swung his ax at the alligator, who dodged and -

Oh.

Endok died pretty much immediately. You can see the green "A" there, to the left a little - that's the alligator. The dwarf killer. I'm pretty loathe to show the battle log. Endok died so quickly I feel it's doing him a disservice by posthumously embarrassing the poor guy. But, a battle's a battle:

I guess the skills necessary to balance the books don't really translate well to combat?

I gave Udil the ax and told him to stay the hell away from the alligator, and to just take up Endok's job chopping down trees. The alligator, its bloodlust satiated, wandered off the map in like five minutes. So.... Endok died pretty much for nothing. Mental note: make my expedition leader some kind of warrior on my next embark.

Shortly after the alligator was gone, a pack of dingoes appeared across the river bank. They didn't seem capable of crossing the river, which is fortunate, because - as demonstrated with the Gator Incident - the dwarves of Datanerith can't fight worth shit.

It's also fortunate that we didn't bring any babies, aka, "dingo snacks."