*Interlude
The morning of 17th Galena was tranquil. For the first time in months the War-Forges were silent, although the furnace operators were still hard at work smelting hematite, and of course the savants tinker with a few golden trinkets. But after smelting 25 hematite, Nyala and the other Crucible operators will need 100 charcoal simply to process the next batch of coarse iron into usable bars. There are more civilians than usual out in the wooded hinterlands, gathering the wood that our arms industry urgently needs.
*At the Barracks
There is a new technology at Pulleyblowing. Quivers. The crossbowmen use them. The rangers use them. The Craterous Pillars, however, have not yet adopted this so-called "elves purse". Meph, Mokar, TheHammeredOne, and sheriff Higginbottom are traditional dwarves, and the Pillars trace their company's lineage back to when picks first struck the earth. They still only dabble in the art of throwing, and fight in the manner of hammer-praetorians of their grandbeards' era: sling a single hammerhead at range before closing to bloody and furious close quarters action. Meph has been gently encouraging his troops to take more interest in slinging the hammerhead effectively, and so this morning the Pillars have finished an effective round of practice on a Coral Snake, reverted to a wild state. Then the Great Alarm rings, and world turns upside down.
Ever since his appointment to Sheriff, Higginbottom seems to be first on the scene. Whenever the sight-hounds find a forest imp or a thief, he is there first, helping the dogs round up the target even before his comrades arrive. When the alarm rings today, Higginbottom is first to the top of the stairs again, or at least, side by side with Founder Ishar. The sight-hounds for this brief moment have the Orc Cuttas at bay, and the dogs nip and grab, waiting for their masters. But today, what the poor dogs have cornered is no forest imp. A hulking Shieldbearer orc appears and cleaves a bloody path through the checkpoint in no time.
The Shieldbearer Hammerorc bashes The Stray war Dog in the left foreleg from behind with his ({blunt steel thud}), bruising the muscle!
The Warlord Cutta stabs The Stray war Dog in the tail with his ({orcish rusty iron cutta}) and the severed part sails off in an arc!
The Shieldbearer Hammerorc charges at The Stray war Dog!
The Shieldbearer Hammerorc bashes The Stray war Dog in the head with his ({blunt steel thud}), bruising the muscle, jamming the skull through the outer brain, tearing apart the outer brain and bruising the brain!
In the battle's opening moment, Sheriff Higginbottom and Founder Ishar block the door of the fortress. An Orc Cutta and Orc Warlord approach.
For a moment the entire world consists of this pair of duels. Panopticon and Meph are only yards away but they might as well be on the other side of the sun. Ishar dispatches the cutta, as I already related. Meanwhile Higginbottom squares against the Warlord and also attacks with initiative. Not once, not twice, but 8 times does he strike. But the Warlord's guard is invincible.
The sheriff strikes at The Warlord Cutta but the shot is blocked!
The sheriff strikes at The Warlord Cutta but the shot is blocked!
The Founder slashes The Orc Cutta in the torso with the reverse edge of her iron zweihander and the severed part sails off in an arc!
The sheriff strikes at The Warlord Cutta but the shot is blocked! (x6)
Reinforcements begin to arrive on both sides. Hammerdwarf TheHammeredOne bravely charges the Warlord! At the same moment, A loyal war dog, seeing one of his masters pressed to the limit, leaps to Higginbottom's aid. The Warlord is distracted, and as you already may know, this terrible Orc ultimately chooses to attack Panopticon instead.
The Hammerdwarf <TheHammeredOne> charges at The Warlord Cutta!
The Hammerdwarf strikes at The Warlord Cutta but the shot is blocked!
The Hammerdwarf collides with The Warlord Cutta!
They tangle together and fall over!
The Stray war Dog attacks The Warlord Cutta but He rolls away!
The Stray war Dog attacks The Warlord Cutta but He jumps away!
The Warlord Cutta charges at The expedition leader <Panopticon>!
The expedition leader looks surprised by the ferocity of The Warlord Cutta's onslaught!
The two Heros, dwarf and dog alike, pay a terrible price. The dog is cut to ribbons. TheHammeredOne is wounded greviously in the hand and foot by the orcish second wave, a Berserker Cutta, and gives into pain.
The Berserker Cutta charges at The Stray war Dog!
The Berserker Cutta slashes The Stray war Dog in the upper body with her ({orcish rusty iron cutta}), tearing apart the muscle and tearing apart the right lung!
The Stray war Dog is having trouble breathing!
The Berserker Cutta slashes The Hammerdwarf <TheHammeredOne> in the right hand with her ({orcish rusty iron cutta}), tearing apart the fat!
The ({orcish rusty iron cutta}) has lodged firmly in the wound!
The Berserker Cutta twists the embedded ({orcish rusty iron cutta}) around in The Hammerdwarf's right hand!
The Berserker Cutta stabs The Hammerdwarf in the right hand with her ({orcish rusty iron cutta}), tearing apart the muscle!
Many nerves have been severed!
The ({orcish rusty iron cutta}) has lodged firmly in the wound!
The Hammerdwarf loses hold of the iron hammer sling.
The Berserker Cutta slashes The Hammerdwarf in the torso with her ({orcish rusty iron cutta}), but the attack is deflected by The Hammerdwarf's iron mail shirt!
The Berserker Cutta slashes The Hammerdwarf in the left foot with her ({orcish rusty iron cutta}) and the severed part sails off in an arc!
Higginbottom rallies in an attempt to return the favor, intercepting another Berserker Cutta hoping to finish of TheHammeredOne. Because of this action, TheHammeredOne will survive the day, albiet with these terrible amputations and wounds. But once again, the Berserker proves too fast and too brutal, and Sheriff Higginbottom falls wounded alongside his comrade.
The sheriff strikes at The Berserker Cutta but the shot is blocked!
The Berserker Cutta counterstrikes!
The Berserker Cutta stabs The sheriff in the right thigh with her ({worn bronze blade}), tearing the fat through the x(rare silk trousers)x!
A sensory nerve has been severed and a tendon has been torn!
*Battle Day Two - 18th Galena
The battle rages on. Ishar and Panopticon have fought the two great orc champions to a standstill. The Rangers Division 'The Shot Gleams' brings their firepower to bear on the brute Shieldbearer. The novices recruits' bolts are swept aside by the skilled orcs, but now that the brute has dropped his shield, skilled marksdwarf (NPC) Mothram strikes a number of bolts true. Our rocktip bolts can't pierce armor, but finally Mothram zeros in on an exposed target and shatters the monster's thigh.
The flying {rocktip rocktip bolt} strikes The Shieldbearer Hammerorc in the right buttock, bruising the muscle through the ({®large bronze ripped mail shirt¯})!
The flying {rocktip rocktip bolt} strikes The Shieldbearer Hammerorc in the groin, bruising the muscle through the ({®large bronze ripped mail shirt¯})!
The flying {rocktip rocktip bolt} strikes The Shieldbearer Hammerorc in the left thigh, shattering the bone!
The flying {rocktip rocktip bolt} strikes The Shieldbearer Hammerorc in the chest, bruising the muscle and chipping the sternum's bone through the ({®large bronze ripped mail shirt¯})!
The flying {rocktip rocktip bolt} strikes The Shieldbearer Hammerorc in the left thigh, shattering the bone!
Nyalathoteps, nominally a crossbowdwarfs Captain, came to this fight directly from her shift in the Crucible. Before that, she appeared in the Forge directly from the Hospital. She's still quite seriously hurt from last year's masonry accident -- Dr. Domas Adeg doesn't actually recall signing her release paperwork. Although the armory records indicate that she's been issued a nice cobalt crossbow, she's never bothered to pick it up. She is disorganised, but strives for excellence, and often does the first thing that comes to mind. Today, what comes to mind is: to sprint into the melee with no weapon or armor, roundhouse kick a Berserker Cutta, then pick up Higginbottom's dropped Hammersling and defend her wounded brothers-in-arms like a cornered hyena. Sadly she lacks the strength or skill to use the weapon properly; the Orc Cutta shrugs off the blows and strikes Higginbottom mortally.
The militia captain (Nyala) roundhouse kicks The Berserker Cutta in the fourth toe, left foot with her left foot, shattering the nail and bruising the fat!
The militia captain strikes at The Berserker Cutta but the shot is blocked!
The militia captain bludgeons The Berserker Cutta in the right forearm with the weight of her iron hammer sling, bruising the muscle!
The Berserker Cutta slashes The sheriff in the torso with her ({worn bronze blade}) and the severed part sails off in an arc!
`Higginbottom' Zimkeldobar, Hammerdwarf has been struck down.
Mokar is an unassuming dwarf, who is best known for his work crafting crossbows, and in the past has dabbled a bit in swordplay. Today we learn that among all his war-brothers, Mokar alone has truly embraced the discipline of the hammer-praetorians. Mokar has always been fairly agile, but today Armok inspires him to move like a blur, and the hapless Cutta is incapable of response. Fighting by his side, Captain Nyala disarms the Orc. The Orc, overwhelmed by Mokar's blows, fights desperately but is finally hammered into the moat where it passes out and drowns. After this episode, Nyala and Mokar both go on to rain dozens of bone-denting blows on the orc Shieldbearer, who somehow, still fights on.
The Swordsdwarf (Mokar) powerfully strikes The Berserker Cutta in the left hand with the massive weight of his iron hammer sling, bruising the muscle!
The Swordsdwarf bashes The Berserker Cutta in the left thigh with his iron hammer sling, fracturing the bone!
The Swordsdwarf powerfully strikes The Berserker Cutta in the left foot with the massive weight of his iron hammer sling, denting the bone!
The Swordsdwarf powerfully strikes The Berserker Cutta in the right forearm with the massive weight of his iron hammer sling, denting the bone!
The militia captain (Nyala) bashes The Berserker Cutta in the right hand with her iron hammer sling, fracturing the bone!
The Berserker Cutta loses hold of the ({orcish steel cutta}).
The Swordsdwarf bashes The Berserker Cutta in the left thigh with his iron hammer sling, fracturing the bone!
The militia captain bludgeons The Berserker Cutta in the right forearm with the weight of her iron hammer sling, bruising the muscle!
The Swordsdwarf bashes The Berserker Cutta in the right hand with his iron hammer sling, fracturing the bone!
Like Ishar, Overseer Jakmak is a proficient swordsman. Jakmak arrived to the battle on the 18th, when the melee was already engaged. He calmly approached the melee and hamstrung one of the Berserker Cuttas -- in fact, perhaps the most dangerous of the Berserkers, because this orc is clad in steel. Coolly and efficiently Jakmak traded blows with the orc, parrying each attack and responding with a devastating counter strike. In the end Jakmak disdained a finishing strike and left the Orc, disabled, to bleed out in the grass.
The Former Overseer runs through The Berserker Cutta in the left shin from behind with the tip of his *iron long sword*, tearing the muscle!
A motor nerve has been severed!
The Former Overseer counterstrikes!
The Former Overseer twists the embedded *iron long sword* around in The Berserker Cutta's left shin!
The Berserker Cutta strikes at The Former Overseer but the shot is parried!
The Former Overseer slashes The Berserker Cutta in the left forearm with the reverse edge of his *iron long sword* and the severed part sails off in an arc!
The Former Overseer stabs The Berserker Cutta in the left shin with his *iron long sword*, tearing apart the muscle!
An artery has been opened by the attack!
Captain Meph arrived alongside Jakmak, as a fresh reinforcement at this critical moment when the battle hangs in the balance. Like Jakmak, Meph squares off alone against one of the remaining Cuttas. According to luck of the draw, Meph encountered a grim, agile assassin with a bronze blade, the same Orc who slew Higginbottom. The fighters trade blows. The Orc repeatedly jumps away from each hammerstrike. Meph must absorb the blows with her shield and armor. The Orc tires of trading blows and enters a crazed state, charging at Meph again and again. On the fourth pass Meph finally absorbs a charge with her shield rather than dodging, which proves to be a fatal accident, as Meph is stunned and disarmed by the impact.
The militia captain attacks The Berserker Cutta but She jumps away!
The Berserker Cutta counterstrikes!
The Berserker Cutta misses The militia captain!
The Berserker Cutta slaps The militia captain in the right arm with the flat of her ({worn bronze blade}), but the attack is deflected by The militia captain's iron mail shirt!
The militia captain attacks The Berserker Cutta but She jumps away!
The Berserker Cutta charges at The militia captain!
The Berserker Cutta attacks The militia captain but She jumps away!
The Berserker Cutta charges at The militia captain!
The Berserker Cutta attacks The militia captain but She jumps away!
The Berserker Cutta charges at The militia captain!
The Berserker Cutta strikes at The militia captain but the shot is blocked!
The Berserker Cutta collides with The militia captain!
The militia captain is knocked over and tumbles backward!
The Berserker Cutta slashes The militia captain in the left hand with her ({worn bronze blade}) and the severed part sails off in an arc!
The Berserker Cutta stabs The militia captain in the chest with her ({worn bronze blade}), bruising the muscle and fracturing the back's bone through the iron mail shirt!
The prince, Zen Jr., is a competent speardwarf, but he recently traded in his iron spear for a strange blade looted from a thief. The metal holds an edge like steel, but is of a dark, alien alloy. Zen had seen many wonderful things as a Dwarven Prince, and the idea of a metal material new to his experience was strange and entranced him greatly. The metalsmiths claim that its name, "Meteoric Steel," comes from the fact that it comes to earth not naturally in the veins of Armok's blood, but rather fall from the sky as a burning star. Of course, Zen had no idea how actually to fight with a knife. With no other experience to draw on, he did what his 'Rogue' character would do in a game of Human Fortress: assault an enemy from the side and backstab the Orc violently. What Prince Zen hadn't learned by playing Human Fortress is that a dying orc will still happily stab you in the heart.
The Speardwarf (Zen) charges at The Berserker Cutta from the side!
The Speardwarf slashes The Berserker Cutta in the right shin from the side with the forward edge of his (large meteoric dagger) and the severed part sails off in an arc!
The Speardwarf collides with The Berserker Cutta!
The Speardwarf is knocked over and tumbles backward!
The Berserker Cutta falls over.
The Speardwarf slashes The Berserker Cutta in the left foot with the reverse edge of his (large meteoric dagger) and the severed part sails off in an arc!
The Speardwarf sitesteps and slashes The Berserker Cutta in the right forearm with the forward edge of his (large meteoric dagger) and the severed part sails off in an arc!
The Speardwarf slashes The Berserker Cutta in the left shin with the honed blade of his (large meteoric dagger) and the severed part sails off in an arc!
The Berserker Cutta stabs The Speardwarf in the chest with her ({worn bronze blade}), bruising the muscle and bruising the left breast's muscle through the +iron mail shirt+!
Saved by his mail shirt and a bit of luck, Zen breathed a (slightly painful) sigh of relief and added a new wrinkle to his "Roguelike" strategy. In the future, he would choose an enemy to backstab which was otherwise occupied by being filleted alive by Founder Ishar, and furthermore buried in a pile of furious bloodcrazed wardogs. Fortunately, just such an opportunity was presenting itself at the moment. The Orc Warlord fought to its last breath, but Ishar and Zen combined to overwhelm it entirely. Zen calls 'dibs' on credit for the kill on the Warlord, to which Ishar diplomatically agrees. Perhaps if Zen were not the crown prince the accounting would have been different.
The Founder slashes The Warlord Cutta in the right shin with the reverse edge of her iron zweihander and the severed part sails off in an arc!
The Speardwarf (Zen) runs through The Warlord Cutta in the left foot with the tip of his (large meteoric dagger), tearing apart the muscle!
An artery has been opened by the attack and a motor nerve has been severed!
The Founder whirls around with outstretched arms and slashes The Warlord Cutta in the left forearm with the long blade of her iron zweihander, tearing apart the muscle!
An artery has been opened by the attack and a sensory nerve has been severed!
The iron zweihander has lodged firmly in the wound!
The Warlord Cutta has become enraged!
The Warlord Cutta loses hold of the ({orcish rusty iron cutta}).
The Warlord Cutta strikes at The Founder but the shot is parried!
The Stray war Dog bites The Warlord Cutta in the left hand, tearing the skin!
The Stray war Dog latches on firmly!
The Warlord Cutta breaks the grip of The Stray war Dog's teeth on The Warlord Cutta's left hand.
The Speardwarf slashes The Warlord Cutta in the left thigh with the forward edge of his (large meteoric dagger), tearing apart the muscle!
Many nerves have been severed!
The Warlord Cutta strikes at The Founder but the shot is parried!
The Founder counterstrikes!
The Founder makes an undercut swing at The Warlord Cutta in the right thigh with her iron zweihander and the severed part sails off in an arc!
The Stray war Dog bites The Warlord Cutta in the lower lip, bruising the muscle through the ({®large rusty iron ripped mail shirt¯})!
The Stray war Dog latches on firmly!
The Speardwarf sidesteps and slashes The Warlord Cutta in the left forearm with the reverse edge of his (large meteoric dagger) and the severed part sails off in an arc!
Ishar and Panopticon finally combine to incapacitate the Shieldbearer, which amazingly seemed to collapse from exhaustion rather than pain. They both execute a finishing coup on the fallen beast, just to be sure.
The expedition leader makes a reverse cut and stabs The Shieldbearer Hammerorc in the left thigh with her -iron spear-, shattering the bone and shattering the left hip's bone!
A tendon has been torn!
The Founder sidesteps and slashes The Shieldbearer Hammerorc in the left foot with the reverse edge of her iron zweihander, shattering the bone!
An artery has been opened by the attack, a sensory nerve has been severed, a ligament has been torn and a tendon has been torn!
The expedition leader impales The Shieldbearer Hammerorc in the right shin with the full force of her -iron spear-, shattering the bone!
A ligament has been torn and a tendon has been torn!
The expedition leader furiously stabs The Shieldbearer Hammerorc in the right thigh with the sharp tip of her -iron spear-, fracturing the bone!
A sensory nerve has been severed and a tendon has been torn!
The Shieldbearer Hammerorc passes out from exhaustion.
The Founder sidesteps and slashes The Shieldbearer Hammerorc in the left thigh with the reverse edge of her iron zweihander, shattering the bone!
An artery has been opened by the attack, a motor nerve has been severed and a tendon has been torn!
The expedition leader makes a reverse cut and stabs The Shieldbearer Hammerorc in the right foot with her -iron spear-, shattering the bone!
An artery has been opened by the attack, a motor nerve has been severed, a ligament has been torn and a tendon has been torn!
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Topic: ☼Angelictower☼ (overseers wanted: new fort soon!) (Read 39177 times)