Winter of 259 brings a bitter cold wind to our great home.
Another siege!
The Empress orders the bridges raised to prevent an all out slaughter. Two dwarves were not going to be enough anymore! Raising the bridges trapped Moose outside, but this was a sacrifice that had to be taken to prevent the western gate from being overrun.
Moose ran in terror, tripping over some uneven ground and falling through a crevice. She noticed a door to her right, covered in dirt and brush and looking as if it had not been opened in many decades. She heaved it open and leapt inside the strange cavern, locking it behind her. She knew not where she was, but she was safe. Here she could wait out the siege...unless she died of thirst, of course...
(The cavern was carved by Eribite pagans as a refuge long ago. They did not complete the farms and booze stockpiles in time, and never made it to safety. Such is the richness of Blockedlance's history!)
As Moose hid in the long forgotten secret nook, the Empress tried to organize a defense. She decided she would funnel all of the goblins to the eastern gate, where cage traps and a narrow corridor would hopefully give her two legendary warriors the advantage they needed to win. The two champions assured the Empress of their strength.
Jazz boasted of his artifact buckler and its many spikes...
MadMonkey24 boasted of his artifact iron short sword with it's demon engraving, bringing it the power and blessings of Armok...
The Empress did indeed admire their masterwork equipment, and was awed by their warrior spirit. But two dwarves would just not be enough. As she thought about it she realized that there were soon going to be enough faithful worshipers of Armok to run the fortress themselves. The pagans were no longer needed. Urist immediately ordered the drafting of all pagans that were not Stonecutters. She formed two squads of peasants and armed them with crossbows, the only weapon these unskilled fighters could score a kill with.
Urist even drafted Asmel Zulbandak (Khamero's mom). Ha!
With the preparations complete, Urist ordered the new marksdwarves to the barracks rooftop firing platform. The bridge was lowered and the goblins were let through...