Well, I got 'im.
I started with the saved game that was posted earlier in the thread, that was from after Siege #1 but before Siege #2. I decided I wouldn't do any significant renovations to the fortress itself, though I did change or add a number of stockpiles to make operations more efficient. Most significantly, I put a stockpile for iron armor next to the melter smelter, and some other stockpiles next to the other smelters for iron, pig iron, flux, and coke. I think this is probably the number one reason Stozu trounced the fort; although everything was in place for large-scale steel-making no significant amount of steel had actually been made yet. The entire military was dressed in leather armor, shell helms, and so forth. I kept the obsidian short swords since they're as good as steel but by the time Stozu came again I had ten complete sets of steel plate armor with steel shields.
I also began rebuilding the military quickly. Since the goal was to kill Stozu in "honorable" combat I didn't expand the number of marksdwarves beyond the existing three; I just set them training. The existing melee dwarfs were doing well leveling up as wrestlers so I left them to that, and added a couple more of the most useless dwarfs to the roster to swell the ranks of the professional military to eight on active duty. The champion, Litast Skunkcrystals, was lying in his quarters resting a persistant minor leg wound. It turned out to be persistent because he still had an iron bolt lodged in it. I marked that for dumping and after it was yanked out he healed right up.
After a while all the military were decent wrestlers so I switched them to sword practice, but only one officially became a swordsdwarf in time.
Finally, it's siege time. Stozu shows up with three squads of goblins, and I call everyone inside. I station the three marksdwarfs on the wall over the main entrance; I figure they'll be good for picking off scouts and so forth. Everyone else gets stationed inside the main entrance just beyond the dogleg to the left. That way they'll be able to engage the bowgoblins just when they come around the corner (there were only a handful of bowgoblins and they stayed at the back of the siege, so it wasn't that major a concern). I also recruited the four miners, who were all legendary. I gave them plate mail and shields but left them unarmed so they'd fight with their picks, and stationed them as a 'reserve' squad behind the main military squad. They'd rush in to assist after the fighting started, hopefully allowing the trained wrestlers to draw (and avoid) counterattacks.
Stozu and his squad ran up to the start of the long causeway to the main gate. I'd put a muskox on the rope down in the channel beside it, I believe it was mentioned that this was intended as an ambush-detector, and I think it may have confused the goblins somewhat; they just milled around in its vicinity for a long time, none of the bowgoblins coming close enough to fire on it and none of the melee goblins able to reach it. A few stragglers made a run for the gate and the marksdwarves cut them down, as expected. Then, perhaps having finished sizing up the archery defenses, Stozu decided to lead the charge. He came running up the causeway full tilt, his squad members trailing out behind him.
The marksdwarves peppered him with shots. A few light grey wounds, and one brown wound to the neck. Getting shot through the neck doesn't even slow Stozu down, of course. Then as he rounded the corner into the dogleg, he spotted the first denizen of Playpapers he can reach directly; an unnamed stray kitten playing in the refuse still piled up on the road from the last siege. Stozu charges, the kitten flees. Stozu catches up right as he rounds the second corner. Twelve military dwarves decked out in shining steel armor and obsidian swords confront him, including an elite wrestler, a champion swordsdwarf, and four legendary miners brandishing their steel picks. They glare from beneath the visors of their helms, vengeance and hatred making their features easily a match for the fearsome iron mask the goblin wore. Stozu laughed and his mighty mace swung down on his prey; the kitten was airborne! What a drive! Stozu pursued the hurtling mass of fur and blood straight into the dwarves.
They fell upon him in a colossal scrum. Someone, we'll never know who, stabbed Stozu in his right lower leg; a yellow wound. Stozu's attention is drawn from the kitten and he finally deigns to notice the dwarves around him. Another swing of the mace and Shem Imagepaints is struck down, his gleaming steel armor crumpling like tin. But Stozu's arrogance costs him. Litast, the champion swordsdwarf, uses the opening provided by Shem's sacrifice to strike again at Stozu's wounded leg. His right upper leg is laid open by the obsidian blade, running red and causing Stozu to at last gasp in pain. Stozu's counterattack nearly misses, coming down to smash Litast's foot. Litast stumbles backward, the horror of the previous siege and his long, painful recovery from the injuries he'd sustained flashing to mind. He retreated from the battle.
But the tide has turned against Stozu even without the cowardly champion to assist further. The ten remaining dwarves are still mobbing him and he's hobbled by his massive leg wound. Weakened by blood loss, he rapidly becomes tired. He can't seem to land any further blows of his own. And then, in a moment, it's over. Stozu looks down in amazement at the steel pickaxe embedded through his body.
At least my legend won't end with my last kill a kitten, the thought passes fleetingly through his fading consciousness. As he falls he pulls the pickaxe from the miner's hands. Dodok Ningducim lets it go; the trade is well worth it.
Although their legendary leader lay dead the full force of the siege was still intact. The miner reserve, inexperienced with true military tactics, began chasing the henchmen that had followed Stozu up through the gates, but the well-disciplined military dwarves called them back; they'd run this drill many times and knew that a pell-mell charge into battle would be suicide, even with the relatively small number of bowgoblins that had come this time. They were right; the miner Shorast was shot down before he could return to the safety of the keep's walls.
There were still two other goblin weaponmasters out there with squads of their own. The dwarves would wait and see what their response was. The two remaining squads merged their forces, bowgoblins finally coming to the front and killing the muskox that had so flummoxed their initial advance. They couldn't believe the panicked tales the fleeing members of Stozu's squad had shouted as they passed; Stozu
couldn't be dead. He must be inside right now, tearing through the fort's heart and throwing the dwarves into chaos. Now was the time to charge in while the defenses were in disarray. The axe lord Ago lead the second charge.
Inside, the dwarves had reformed their skirmish lines. Even Litast was back, his injured foot no match for his burning desire to make up for the shame of having fled. Only one marksdwarf was back at his post with fresh ammunition, though; inexperienced Datan. He would not be able to do much to the attackers on his own. Likewise, the ballista was impotent, all of its shots having gone so badly astray during Stozu's first charge that nobody had even noticed the attempts to fire it.
Ago charged around the corner, axe raised to smite the first thing he saw. In an instant, the dwarves swords lashed out. Ago's right arm went flying, severed at the shoulder, the axe still clutched in its hand.
Ago's second, Azstrog, watched in horror as Ago collapsed. It was simply a race between the slashing dwarves and the fountaining blood to see which claimed Ago's life first. Azstrog never discovered the winner, however; the disciplined dwarves finished him off even more quickly. Finally the master lasher Ber rounded the corner into the dogleg corridor, close behind his fellow squad leader. He was accompanied by bowgoblins, but though battle-bloodied the dwarves didn't succumb to the urge to charge; they remained at their post and stayed out of the line of fire.
Ber rounded the corner, and this time did not face the dwarven steel alone; three of his squadmates entered the fray at the same time. They were brutally cut down, giving few injuries directly, but in the chaos of battle several dwarven soldiers stepped around the corner into view of the bowgoblins; perhaps aptly, it was the other Shorast - a soldier, not a miner - who fell.
But with all three leaders dead, including the legendary Stozu, the siege was broken. The thronging army of goblins began to flee. And the dwarves of Playpapers let them go, to spread the word far and wide among the goblin nations;
this was where the mighty Stozu fell.
Heh. Story-writing's fun, I should get involved in a succession game when I come back from vacation in a week.
Anyway, the final death toll was just three dwarves; one soldier obliterated by Stozu and the two Shorasts who were shot by bowgoblins. The first Shorast was a result of my own carelessness, I neglected to set the reserve squad not to chase after foes. The second was just bad luck, though I could have perhaps stationed the military a bit farther away to draw the goblins in away from the line of fire a bit more. Also one kitten was slain, the sacrificial muskox was arrowed, and one war dog took a couple of red injuries. One of the soldiers has a grey brain injury so if I were to continue playing he'd be sent off to marksdwarf academy. Not bad overall.
Final status:
The miner Shorast died just below the bottom edge of the screen. The living goblins are in retreat.
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Topic: Legendary goblin (Read 30320 times)