The events of 18th of Obsidian, Year 52Phenix, chief architect, mason, and mechanic of Brightwater, was enjoying the chance to exercise some fine, hands-on craftsdwarfship. Ordering the trainee masons to build the curtain wall had gone well enough, and she had seen the job done well before Cilob's deadline, but such bulk masonry just wasn't as satisfying. Installing this last mechanism in the central gate would be the final piece needed to seal the fortress's defenses. It was also by far preferable to sitting through another one of Cilob's speeches.
The last finely stone-carved fit into place perfectly. Phenix gingerly removed the wooden blocks holding the counterweights in place. The granite bridge remained in place, smooth with the roadway surface, but ready to rise and block the entrance at a moment's notice.
Of course, there was still quite a bit more work to be done. The archery towers that would flank the entrance were little more than outlines in the dirt. The watchbox over the entrance path had its grates and gem windows, but still needed doors and dogs installed. Only two of the cage traps Phenix had insisted on installing were in place.
As she turned to walk away, there was a snap and a harsh, guttural yell from outside the wall. A mason atop the wall dropped his load of granite stones and ran down the stairs. "Goblins! Goblins at the traps!"
"Close the gate! Pull the lever!"
Alath Athellogem, sheriff of Brightwater, hero of the war of 39, had her priorities. She had been ordered to the surface to provide security while Phenix finished up the work on the main gate. She had gathered her equipment, rousted the other two marksdwarves in her squad, and was headed in the direction of the ramp to the surface. But first, she wanted to check on her daughter. Geb had been acting strangely recently.
The workshop cubicles off the main corridor didn't have doors. Inside, Geb was sitting at her craftsdwarf's workshop, staring in amazement and curiosity at the weapon on the table in front of her. Alath stopped at the entrance, and rapped politely on the bauxite wall to get her attention.
Geb looked up. "Mom? I think I made this for you."
"You think? You don't know?"
"I didn't see, I don't remember. But the voice said you would need it."
With that, she handed over a very impressive crossbow.
It was a remarkable piece of work. The frame was carved from the strong yet lightweight bones of giant sparrows. The grip was cat leather, detailed with decorative strands of pigtail thread. It had a finely woven pigtail fiber drawstring, and spessartine overlay. Alath ran her hand along it. She touched a strange catch on the side, and with a click, several small lenses carved from the smoky quartz variant known as morion folded out from the top of the weapon on intricate bone arms.
"What are these? Oh, I see. You look through them when shooting. Very clever. See, it says here, "The Distant Creature". They're for shooting things far away."
Alath patted her daughter on the head. "I'll be honored to carry this into battle, Geb. Your father would be proud."
At that moment, a yell came from outside. "Goblins! Goblins at the gate!"
The raid had started off badly for the goblins. Elite child rescue agents sent previously had reported a vulnerable settlement, with workshops exposed on the surface and an unguarded main entrance. Those agents had also reported a few dwarves armed with steel hammers, which had prevented them from rescuing any children. A military team had been ordered in to deal with the resistance.
What they found was not what the advance squads had reported. A wavy yet solid wall, stretching an impressive distance along the shoreline, blocked access to the reported settlement location. Maintaining stealth, the goblins made their way along the wall, towards the roadway that seemed to be the only entrance. Then one of them made the mistake of poking at some dwarf-work machinery hidden in the brush, and was immediately caught in a cage. A dwarf on the wall yelled and ran, raising a commotion inside.
With stealth lost, the five remaining goblins charged towards the exposed entrance. Three dogs on chains just inside would pose little danger to them. They nearly made it. Moments before the leader would have passed through the entrance, a section of the roadway rose smoothly to block their path.
The goblins screamed and clawed at the raised bridge, trying to force it open, but Phenix's masonry was more than sufficient to keep them out. As they did, two more of them were caught in hidden cage traps concealed in the roadway.
Inside the walls, the panic had subsided as Phenix's gate rose flawlessly and sealed the entrance. Alath and her two squadmates met her near the entrance.
"Worked exactly as intended, I don't know why anyone was alarmed. There's not a creature in the world that can break down that gate. But the workers are refusing to finish the towers with the goblins out there, and there is a lot of work yet to be done outside. We can't get back to work till you get rid of them."
Alath nodded. "Are the firing positions on top of the walls completed?"
"No, but if you're careful, you should be able to climb the scaffolding and shoot from there."
The three soldiers scrambled up the stairs onto the walls around the guard box. Below them, three goblins glared upwards.
"Not all that distant of a creature, but close range should work too." Alath smiled and fired.
Showing remarkable target discipline, the two other marksdwarves followed Alath's lead and concentrated fire on the same target. The first goblin fell rapidly, pierced by a dozen bone bolts. The other two, realizing that the raid was a complete loss, turned and ran. Alath switched targets to one of them. The fleeing goblin managed to block four bolts, before taking a bolt to the head and slumping to the ground.
Amazingly, despite having an arrow embedded in its skull, the goblin was still alive. It dragged itself painfully across the ground, leaving a trail of blood. The other fleeing goblin didn't even look back as it ran off the end of the roadway and vanished into the trees.
Inside the gate, the fortress's other soldiers - a collection of hammerdwarves and swordsdwarves in uneven armor - had finally gathered. At the militia commander's signal, the lever controlling the front gate was pulled again. Phenix's finely crafted drawbridge slid back down into the roadway, revealing the one miserable goblin remaining.
A single trainee swordsdwarf finished it off, severing its head with a single blow.
Phenix looked out at the mess - goblin blood and guts, and paving stones marred by bolt impacts.
No respect for fine craftsdwarfship. It'll take weeks to get this cleaned up and back up schedule.
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Topic: Brightwater: Community fortress of science, oceans, and animal taming (Read 154772 times)