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[Glacies]

This is nice.

Very nice.

I mean, very, very, very nice.
Liked the goblins bit.

[Anu Necunoscut]

Early Autumn: 10th Limestone, 1057.

(enter speargoblin captain ZOLAK; lasher sergeants SNODUB, ZAM and BER; LASHERS [marching])

SNODUB (chanting):  Hai, hai!

LASHERS (chanting):            Now speed the Demon's whelking horns!
  To mangle those of slattern shebeards born!

ZAM (chanting):  Hai, hai!

LASHERS (chanting):         Now beat black wings that hide the sun!
  Make winds to spur us 'til the battle's done!

BER (chanting):  Hai, hai!

LASHERS (chanting):         As Demon's tail shall swing the lash!
  Stripe dwarves to ribbons!  Burn the fort to ash!
   
ZOLAK:  Sarekeshtan!  My fangs and claws for thee!
  No stopping, lads, for boarish ruts in gore.
  The caverns, gates and walls are first to break.
  A rubbled ruin we shall make this place,
  Proud Datan's hated trunk my spear shall tear.
  Upon the tower's spikes obsidian
  Their whiskered heads shall gaze a sightless stare.
                                               (brandishes spear)

(LASHERS cheer)

[Anu Necunoscut]

This is nice.

Very nice.

I mean, very, very, very nice.
Liked the goblins bit.

Many thanks!  The words come easiest when some real action happens.  I'm going through the battles in single steps so as not to miss anything, since I don't want to plot anything out but rather ground it in events that actually happen in-game.  Which is easy enough--it's amazing how much drama Toady's combat mechanics can generate.  Might be tough to dramatize soldiers running off en masse for a swig of booze, but we'll see. :-P

[Oneir]

Great. Thanks a lot. Now I'm going to catch myself talking in half in prose all day thanks to you.
In all truth, it's great to read. It's sort of interesting how you can get a definite story out of something, even when you quite literally have no sure way of knowing how it will turn out.

[Heavy Flak]

I have to throw my hat in with the rest, this is a fantastic idea and very well done.  I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of the marching goblins.

[Anu Necunoscut]

Early Autumn: 11th Limestone, 1057.

(enter mayor DATAN, woodworker LORBAM and mason GODEN; siege operator LIKOT [preparing to fire]; war dog DAXONAXSTUT, "Ownlances" [caged])

LIKOT [in catapult]:  Zas praise these broad and wooden sinews, aye!
  I pity he whose swordtip ends his reach,
  These leagues of open plains I'll add to mine.
  Why snarl and curse at foes so close?  They'll hear!
  My insults sweetly sound in safety's walls.
  As soon as noise of goblin strikes my ear
  I'll exit, swift and free of battle's palls.

LORBAM:  Be this the flower of our fortressed might?
  Methinks a dabbling clothier made his heart.

GODEN:  Intelligence is given out, Datan:
  Full fifteen lashers and their captain come.

LORBAM:  Datan the general?  Forgive my laugh,
  but here's a sight I never thought to see.

DATAN:  I'd sooner wear a tax collector's cloak,
  Yet troubled times do force this duty on.

GODEN:  They're welcome here.  I hunger for this clash.

DATAN:  No rushing out of gate this time.  Stand fast!
  No friends or elves run loose beyond the walls.

LIKOT:  Datan, milady mayor!

LORBAM:                       Mouse makes squeak.

DATAN:  Speak you.

LIKOT:              When shall we close the mighty bridge?
  When shall we wall us in and wait them out?

GODEN:  We shan't.

DATAN:              Most true--no pack of weaklings, we.
  Aye, we could starve or bore our foes away
  But ne'er again should I be called a dwarf.
  The barkers and the shriekers must to heel
  Beneath a sharpened pick or well-swung axe.
  Dull learners they may be, but that shall teach.

LIKOT:  Oh dear.  I'd best prepare my exit now.

LORBAM:  Stand, lest we make your leaving permanent.
  Siege operators!  Such a skittish breed.

(DOXONAXSTUT growls)

LORBAM:  This dog's all in a froth.

GODEN:                              'Tis Asteth's pet.
  As speech he lacks, he should be loosed to war.
  In blood and bone he'll find some eloquence.

DATAN:  Where be our soldiers clapped in iron's proof?

LORBAM:  They're at the armory to seek new arms.
  As wrestlers they've been trained, and so bear none.

DATAN:  That's most ill news.  Be they so green and raw?

GODEN:  'Tis said: "The grappler's art best strengthens will,
  Yet sword of shining steel best sees it done."
  These shamblers stalk too openly, too close.
  Sarekeshtan stands better guarded now
  Than when they last blasphemed and galled her grounds.
  Let axe and miner's pick make lashers crawl!
  Let vengeance, death and hellfire take them all!

[Anu Necunoscut]

Eary Autumn: 13th Limestone, 1057.

(enter speargoblin captain ZOLAK; lasher sergeants SNODUB, ZAM and BER;  grunts NAKO and AZSTROG; other LASHERS [marching])

ZAM:  The brushbeards hide to play with catapults.
  On, on!  Of fear feel none for pebbled rains!

(several stones hurtle past)

BER:  My blinded grandsire throws with keener eye.

ZOLAK:  The gate is open wide.  Zam, Snodub!

ZAM and SNODUB:                                        Sir!

ZOLAK:  You're for the van.  Spy out all traps.  Now Ber!
  Mind you our lads, and stand no fleeing off.
  Ask not, nor tell.  Thy lash is tongue enough.

(a LASHER is caught in a cage trap)

LASHER (trapped):  O help!  To me, my kin!  I am unhurt!

BER:  Keep steady march.  Ignore the bumbler's cries.

(a bolt strikes ZOLAK)

ZOLAK:  A trifling scratch, this is.

ZAM:                                        Yet sir, you bleed.

ZOLAK (gasping):  So shall you all, rank filth!  Make haste!  Lock shields!

(lashers NAKO and AZSTROG straggle to the rear)

NAKO:  We're for the boneyard, chum.  'Tis folly, this.

AZSTROG:  Be silent, lest the sergeants hear your bleats.

NAKO:  By this my snout, I'll flee as quick as thought
  Once Zolak's flame burns out to pooling wax.
  Of brave ambushers none returned from here.
  What pits, what chains, what tortures lie within?
  I'll keep head hid, and back to tower go.

AZSTROG:  Marksgoblins, sorely needed, seem most scarce.
  One slew their strongest miner, as is told.

NAKO:  What shall be told of us when none return?
  What lies shall drape this waste and butchery?
  What slick and shiny propagandal cloak?

BER:  March on, you two, the battle's nearly won.

NAKO: Aye sir!
         (Aside)  Say rather massacre's begun.

[Lord Nightmare]

I love the fact that "a vile force of darkness has arrived" is in proper meter

LN

[bigmcstrongmuscle]

BIG: My circumstance, Anu, I foully curse:
Too long delayed, ere first I read thy verse!

Seriously, this is amazing.

[Anu Necunoscut]

Early Autumn: 13th Limestone, 1057.

(enter marksdwarves SAKZUL and IMUSH; wrestler OLIN [shooting])

OLIN:  My reputation, rank and name--all lost!
  Asteth's brave charge left sole survivor cursed!
  The clasps of battles fled leave lasting scars.
  Stark madness took my limbs from me that day,
  In cowardice my running feet were shod.
  May these sharp bolts return me to esteem!
  Once quiver's spent, as hammer bow shall strike,
  To crush all squat and apish skulls to meal!

SAKZUL:  Fair shot, Olin!

IMUSH:                     Their captain's breast is pierced!

OLIN:  The op'ning verse and chapter of my tale
   Is writ.  Now gods! Reclaim this wretched dwarf!

[Anu Necunoscut]

Early Autumn: 13th Limestone, 1057.

(enter mayor DATAN, mason GODEN, woodworker LORBAM, wrestler MENG, other WRESTLERS; lasher sergeants SNODUB and ZAM; lashers ARSTRUK and AZSTROG)

GODEN:  The goblin vanguard nears the reach of arms.
  Forth friends!  To war, unarmored though we be,
  Lest wrestlers scarcely trained first greet the clash.

LORBAM:  Aye.  Datan, call a formal challenge out.

DATAN (shouting):  Wherefore this warlike march upon our gates?
  Set forth thy purpose, ere thy throats are cut!

ZAM:  We come with claws and lash, to drink thy blood.

SNODUB:  Accounting must be made for murdered kin,
  Thy disembodied heads shall pay the fee.

LORBAM:  That's answer.

GODEN:                   Forth one axe!  Two thirsty picks!

(DATAN, LORBAM and GODEN charge, followed by WRESTLERS)

DATAN:  First come, first struck, first killed this clod shall be.
                                  (mangles ARSTRUK's leg)

(ARSTRUK falls, bleeding)

GODEN:  Thy crude insignia hath marked thee, ape.
  High-titled flesh ought brave war's fortunes first.
                                  (mangles SNODUB's arm)
  Ha!  Badge of rank ne'er slowed nor turned a stroke.

SNODUB (bleeding):  Rot thou, swill-strainer!  Numbers win in war.

GODEN:  Down, fool!  Let valor flout arithmetic!
                                  (pierces SNODUB's brain)             

SNODUB (falling):  O fight, you curs!  Zolak, why keep you back?

(cage springs open; enter war dog DOXONAXSTUT, other dogs)

MENG:  Ungainly feels this sword in grappler's hands,
  Some practice I shall take.  To work, bright blade!
                                  (cuts out ZAM's throat)

(ZAM gurgles something, lashes MENG's head)

AZSTROG (fleeing):  Nako, my friend!  Too true you spoke!  All's lost!
  My comrades' shelter shall arrive too late.

(DOXONAXSTUT mauls SNODUB, ripping off his leg)

LORBAM:  Mark that, the dog's incensed!  Give him a path!

(DOXONAXSTUT strikes down ARSTRUK)

LORBAM:  What bark doth gird you, shrieker, be it strong?
                                   (chases AZSTROG)

AZSTROG:  Help ho!  O help!

(LORBAM strikes down AZSTROG)

LORBAM:                      Like saplings green thy flesh doth split.

(enter speargoblin captain ZOLAK, lasher sergeant BER, and LASHERS)

SNODUB (on ground):  Hai captain!  Crush them all!  Rash tooth!  Scratch claw!

ZOLAK:  My hurt is staunched.  It leaks out life no more.
  Now Ber!  Now lads!  Contest and win the field!

(SNODUB vomits)

[Specialist290]

Eagerly awaiting the conclusion of the fight. You've got us on the edge of our seats.

...Well, I'm on the edge of mine, anyway. Keep up the good work!

[Anu Necunoscut]

Early Autumn: 13th Limestone, 1057.

(enter mayor DATAN; mason GODEN; woodworker LORBAM; wrestlers LOGEM and MENG; other WRESTLERS; speargoblin captain ZOLAK; lasher sergeants SNODUB, ZAM and BER; lasher NAKO; other LASHERS)

DATAN:  Close up, my beauties!  Here's the larger stench!

GODEN:  Dost paint my bridge with retch and vomit, ape?
  Thy blood's of better color.  Let it flow!
                                   (strikes down SNODUB)

ZOLAK:  Zolak is come.  Who dares to face my spear?

LOGEM:  I dare.
                                   (steps forward)

ZOLAK:           Thy courage tastes of rashness, slave.
                                   (stabs LOGEM in the head)

LOGEM:  My skull is rent.  I'm pierced unto the brains.
                                   (stumbles backwards)

ZOLAK:  Who comes?  Who next?  I'll win this bridge alone.
  For stinging bolts I have no care.  Let fly!
  For wrestler's locks and holds too strong am I.
  This shield hath shattered swords and notched the axe.
  No mind, no arm, no will can match Zolak's.
 
DATAN:  Leave off.  Thy boastful oaths are not believed.
  No quick death, yours, but wounds most surgical.
  I'll bathe thee in precisely authored pain,
  Yet spare thy sense.  So watch, with bloodied eyes,
  As down in ruins falls thy enterprise!

(they fight; ZOLAK falls back, wounded in the lungs)

LORBAM:  On, Datan!

GODEN:                This brave day is ours to win.
                                   (strikes down ZAM)

ZOLAK (winded):  Forth, filth!  I must to rear, plan strategy!

BER:  On, on!  Form up!  We'll charge to break their lines!

(LASHERS charge; LORBAM strikes down BER; DATAN enters martial trance and kills two LASHERS)

DATAN:  Now you, Zolak.

ZOLAK:                    You there!  Seal up the breach!

NAKO:  Not I, Captain.  Methinks you've lost this throw.
                                   (flees)

ZOLAK:  O coward!  Most abominable wretch!

DATAN:  Didst hear my words to you?  Here's firmer proof:
                                   (pierces ZOLAK's lower spine)
        Now sit you.  Watch, 'til all life's sands run out.

(ZOLAK collapses, bleeding)

MENG:  My walled-in wits are lashed; blood rushes down.
  Now victory near-won shall strengthen will.
  Though dim seem sounds and sights to me, I'll kill.
                                   (kills LASHER)

GODEN:  Be this rough creature's corpse the last?

LORBAM:                                                  Nay, look.
  One flies away, with crawl and creep, unhurt.

(exit NAKO, struck by bolt)

LORBAM:  It seems report is changeable.

DATAN:                                           Leave him.
  Let teaching bolt o'erwrite his martial slate
  With bloody scrawl of fresh disaster's rout!
  His masters shall from that learn lessons best.

ZOLAK:  Though rage burns hot, these limbs lie senseless!  Limp!
  The cable's cut that passes mind's commands.
  As carrion lie Zolak's lads.  O dwarves!
  May demons gouge and pluck thy jellied orbs!
 
(ZOLAK bleeds to death)

[Anu Necunoscut]

Early Autumn: 14th Limestone, 1057.

(enter lasher NAKO [fleeing])

NAKO:  I've 'scaped the fatal end, yet bear a hurt.
  No, not the wound of Zolak's curses, mine;
  A fool's dull breath wafts mute in thinking ears.
  A coward?  I?  Say rather cunning, shrewd.
  The path that's blazed by hubris none should take,
  And clever souls ought walk ways opposite.
  Abominable wretch?  I'm none, Zolak.
  This bolt removed shall turn to fly again!
  Marksgoblin trade I'll learn and quit the lash.
  Our bows' bright hails shall drown their palaced swords.

(exit NAKO)

[Anu Necunoscut]

Great. Thanks a lot. Now I'm going to catch myself talking in half in prose all day thanks to you.
In all truth, it's great to read. It's sort of interesting how you can get a definite story out of something, even when you quite literally have no sure way of knowing how it will turn out.

I'm glad people are enjoying it--thanks to everyone for commenting, it means a lot.  And what you say is very true!  It's fun to try and anticipate or foreshadow events, to stop things from feeling too random.  Case in point, a bit of speculation in the last scene has paid off--just one month later, a marksgoblin named Nako has arrived, as part of a three-squad siege:



This fresh invasion might actually maim or kill the fort, since now I've committed to keeping the drawbridge open at all times, and the invaders number about half my population.  That's all to the good, since the idea was for the game mechanics to plot the story as much as possible, and abstaining from save-scumming and/or modding keeps me interested.  I surely didn't expect rapid-fire sieges!  Oh well.  Death and destruction are always more fun than total security!