First post by myself - but felt this story was worth relating.
3rd year in the history of Pulleycharm. The magma moat was just about full, drawbridge in place, things were looking quite good.
Some elves were visiting the trading depot, when a goblin ambush showed up. Naturally the drawbridge was sealed and the elves and dorfs settled together safely, if not happily together. Eventually, however, the elves wished to leave, and the green military was gathered for a disorganised defence - the ambush was small, so chances were good.
The gate was opened, and the elves flooded out with their cloth products and proceeded north. The goblins made it to the nearby open gate to face the full might of the local milita. A few moments saw the battle settled in favour of the dwarfs, with one casualty and some injuries.
This is when the second ambush took place - right on top of the wearied troops.
The goblins were once again defeated after a short battle, but the casualties were significantly higher this time. Once again the fortress was made safe.
Unfortunately, the death toll was sufficient to begin the dreaded cycle of a tantrum spiral. Several incidents of fights, insanity and berserking dwarfs took off within the next few months. Very soon the meeting hall was pronounced off-limits, to attempt to reduce the infighting. Gradually the deaths slowed down and the tantrums slowed a little, and it seemed that the spiral might take a relatively light toll upon the struggling fortress.
Summer arrived, and the human traders brought with it their usual collection of semi-useful wares. The first caravan arrived with haste far greater than anything the dwarfs had yet witnessed. Whilst the second seemed to be having trouble with their beasts of burden.
This is when the dragon Ral Zeskeshak Istrath Nulas arrived.
Immediately the order went out for all dwarves to withdraw to the safety of the fortress. As they did so, however, a goblin ambush broke cover at the drawbridge. The human traders' escort made short work of them, however.
At this point, it became clear that the tantrum spiral had claimed one very important victim - the drawbridge lever. At this point, the dwarves, knowing that their military was too weak to stand up to such a foe and - faced with no way to close the drawbridge - the order was given to seal up the main staircase where it descended at the back of the fortress courtyard.
The human escort was still in full swing after attacking the goblins, proceeding to attack some Rhesus Macaques that were making a nuisance of themselves just to the south of the fort - the direction from which the dragon was approaching.
It didn't take long before the human escort found themselves beset by the dragon - and for their limited numbers they made good account of themselves. Not that they actually broke the dragon's skin, but they endured two blasts of dragonfire before they were either a pile of bones or a running torch. For their efforts, the sum of the dragon's wounds could be counted as "Tired".
The dwarves had not yet completed the wall at the back of the courtyard, and now nothing stood between the dragon and free reign within the fortress. The dragon began its approach, wiping out small puppies with dragonfire that licked the front of the fortress wall.
Then the fire cleared, and all that remained was smoke billowing out from the front of the fort. Some intrepid dwarves took a quick look outside of the fort to see what fate awaited them.
The dragon had fallen into the magma moat.
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Topic: Pulleycharm - a tale of comedic disaster (Read 1428 times)