We managed to come to the aid of the Hellguard before Fashuk could kill any of them. The beast seemed wreathed in some strange mist while we fought, and we initially feared side effects, but most of those exposed don't seem to be showing any side effects other than some fever and dizziness. None of the squad seem eager to waste time in hospital, so we have resumed training.
-Lor.
"The miners tell us that there's no more flux stone that we can use," Fractal said when Thane put the report down. Thane frowned.
"Have you considered asking them to dig more out?"
"We were going to, but Brenzen says this is meant to be a military fort, and if there are too many tunnels underneath it, our security will be threatened," the strange dwarf shrugged.
"We've breached three levels of underground cave systems. I doubt that mining some stone will give our enemies that much more in the way of tactical advantages," Thane told him. "Organise the miners to get some work done. They've been too uppity since Helgard gave them a guild."
Fractal nodded and left. An elf edged his way in before the door could close.
"Greetings, dwarf. My name is Yarare Mafibaci. Though our time together will be short, I am sure we can accomplish much," he said, smirking at his own wit.
"How interesting," Thane replied. "See, I was planning on locking your merchants outside the fortress, allowing the invading goblin army to murder you all, and then looting your corpses once we'd dealt with the greenskins."
"You wouldn't dare!" Yarare growled.
"Of course not," she grinned. "It's not as though any of your traders ever died on their way here before, right?"
The elf glowered at her for a moment, then muttered, "What are your terms?"
"You will not mention trees or preserving the precious lives thereof to any dwarf you meet. You will accept what deals we feel are reasonable, and you will not slip a splinter into the trade goods afterwards and then pitch a fit about it. You will be gone by summer," the weaponsmith smiled. The elf glowered at her for another moment, then nodded angrily.
"Good," Thane said. "Now, if you'll excuse me, we have a war to fight."
*
His name was Zom Songuzong. He had always been the fastest in his squad, but it was only now occurring to him that it might not always be a good thing to be first in line. As he had rushed towards the elves, the ground had risen from the earth beneath him, tossing him on top of the walls around the fortress. His head was ringing, and his right arm had gone numb after he landed on it. Zom looked up at the sound of a growl. A small dog was in front of him, hackles raised, teeth bared. Zom chuckled, picking up his axe in his left hand.
"C'mere, puppy," he snarled. "I'll show you what we use dogs for where I'm from."
The dog just kept snarling as he walked towards it. Zom raised the axe, then fell howling as another set of teeth closed around his ankle. The growling dog gave what he imagined could be translated as a laugh, then Zom vanished into the claws and fangs of the pack.
*
"Essentially, we're going to let them die on our traps. We don't have to manpower to be guaranteed success if we meet them in the field," Thane said.
"I have a better idea," Thanatos shouted, drawing his sword. "It's called Murder Them All!" He ran out of the barracks, charging at an injured axe-goblin.
"So, anyway," Thane said. "We're just going to let the goblins die on our traps."
"But you can't just let him die!" one of the swordsdwarves complained.
"Why not?" she yelped. "You saw him! He's an idiot! It's natural selection!"
The swordsdwarves didn't seem satisfied with her reasoning. Thane growled, drew Ob Kat and grudgingly led the troops into battle. She could just make out Tarmid directing vollies of bolts behind the fortifications. A group of goblins were howling on the ground beneath the walls, either arrow fodder or actually stupid enough to charge a group of archers on foot. To the north, Thanatos was fighting a group of trolls, slashing at their feet from the ground. Every time he stood up, one of them charged at him, and he was forced down again. She doubted he would last much longer, though doubtless his squad would save him before that happened. Thane sighed.
The injured goblins were attempting to join with a squad of sword wielders approaching from the west. Thane led her hammer squad against them while Tarmid's crossbows forced the goblin reinforcements back. It felt more like butchery than battle, right up until Lor opened her mouth to shout in victory and spouted a fountain of pus instead. Thane caught her as he collapsed.
"What happened to you?" she screamed above the din of battle. Lor coughed, grimacing.
"I guess the beast had more tricks than fevers," he said weakly. "At least I can die in battle," he grunted, struggling to his feet.
"Go back! Cornelius will find a cure for you!" Thane shouted.
"How? By cutting my lungs out? I hear you need those to breathe," Lor grinned. It wasn't pretty. "We'll save Thanatos, you and Brenzen hold the west side from attack."
Twenty militia dwarves lined up beside Thane. Behind them, civilians dashed out in search of loot. Thane saw Gnora only briefly. She heard herself screaming at them to get back inside the walls, then Gnora jerked as an arrow hit her in the side of the head. She crumpled to the ground like an old doll. (I seem to have forgotten to use the burrows to keep dwarves from getting themselves killed for a pair of socks. I didn't even unforbid the goblin gear, so I don't know what they were retrieving)
"They have archers as well!" some idiot was shouting. The rest became a blur. Her hammer rose and fell, rose and fell. She could hear herself laughing, but she wasn't sure who was more frightened by it. Bones were crunching, the grass was red. She saw an archer pulling his last arrow from his quiver, desperately trying to aim at her in spite of his shaking hands. Ob Kat hit him in the elbow, jamming it backwards. The arrow lodged itself in his foot, but he didn't seem to notice. Her hammer whirled around again, shattering his skull. Thane looked for another goblin to kill. She was disappointed where she realised there weren't any.
Thanatos survived.
Final tally:
Dead goblins: Many.
Dead dwarves: Also many. Damn burrows.
Dead important dwarves: Gnora, FallenAngel2.
Walking dead: Most of the axe squad, some of the Hellguard.
Final notes: Pretty much everything that went wrong did. A kobold corpse lodged the barracks door open, so Thanatos saw a goblin and though he had a great idea. Some zombies from the dark fortress tried to invade while the battle was going on, but the traps mostly took care of them, which was lucky since none of the militia felt like leaving the battle. On the bright side, there weren't any goblins locked in with the elves, so I think they...
Dead Elves: Many.
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Topic: Demongate: Wrapping up the Loose Ends. (Read 697355 times)