Just recently, My fortress was tripple-ambushed by goblins. Not too horrifying, it's definitely a worry but nothing that hasn't happened to it before. In fact, previous ambushes had gone far worse than this one, in terms of number of casualties. But in quality... this one has hit the fortress the hardest.
But first, some backstory. I'm running a low-population fortress right now, and currently it's home to a nice and comfy population of 58 dwarfs, 5 of which are children. Things have been going well; everyone has their own room, the dining area is phenomenal, our selection of artifacts have been quite useful, including three pieces of armor and a weapon. Our military is a stout 20 dwarves because we're at war with both goblins and elves, and the fort's had quite a few ambushes so far. Two rising stars in the military began to make themselves known;
Melbil Dimpleanvils, who was given the title "The Leopard of Alliances" and Nil Craftyawning, who was called "The Fuchsia Ruin of Gloves". The former was a swordsdwarf, and a damn good one at that. She was awarded a ☼Iron Shortsword☼ for use in future slaying of goblin menaces, along with two pieces of artifact armor.
Nil Craftyawning, however, was a hammerdwarf, one of the best I could have asked for. She was lucky enough to recieve our first artifact weapon, as well as artifact greaves from the former slayings of the fort.
Together, they slew goblins and other invaders left and right, leading their squad to great victories with few deaths. But, one summer day, those fateful ambushes came. A pack of mace-goblins and crossbow-goblins popped out of nowhere. I order the civilians to remain in the fort and checked up on my military. But there was someone missing.
It was Cerol, who had been one of the original 7 dwarfs; the expedition leader, in fact. She's been one of my military dwarves for some time now, especially since the fortress has a mayor to handle official capacities and several dwarves who shared in her natural skills. She was outside, pinned down by crossbow-goblins and unable to get to safety.
It was a breech in my planned fort security, but I couldn't leave her out there to get shot to pieces by the goblins, even though she had been avoiding their shots for the time being. I sent out the military dwarfs to go help her and handle the situation, instead of the normal procedure of letting them wander into our traps and firing on them from fortifications before sending in the melee squad to mop them up. It was dangerous, and I knew that. But I had faith in my dwarfs might versus these invaders.
It worked surprisingly well. Cerol got back in easily, and the two squads began to thrash the invaders soundly.
But then I saw the combat logs. I don't know how, but Nil got separated from the other dwarfs. The crossbow-goblins found her, and unfortunately, our fortress is on a mountainside. It did not work in her favor.
It was brutal. But it was also effective. The distraction worked, and had gotten Cerol back into the fort successfully. But, all the same, I was sad; the fortress had lost one of its heroes, even if it was for a just and heroic cause.
Melbil did not share in my sadness. She shed no tears, but instead clenched her fist around her sword. She was furious. And the might of her fury descended upon the invaders.
The combat is done, for now. Nil was the only casualty on our side, but it was a great one. Melbil continues to fight, and goes stronger with each combat. Nil will be remembered in the stone of the fortress from now until the day it falls.
Thanks for reading!
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Topic: Dwarven Rage: The Tale of Nil and Melbil (Read 602 times)