Well, my lord, I am sure you wish to know what happened here at Machinemartyr, and why you are standing waist deep in purple blood in the ruins of our entry hall. Let me start at the beginning, always a good place.
Machinemartyr had already repelled two Goblin Sieges, one Forest Titan, and managed to insult the elves, which is quite easy because well, the prissy jerks get mad at everything.. Because of these and numerous ambushes, we had a standing force of 30 soldiers, each armored in Steel and Iron, top to bottom, each equipped with a steel crossbow with plentiful ammunition. They trained long and hard, adept at killing with both bolt and crossbow in close quarters, and often using valuable Iron bolts which I had asked them not to do, and were quite the crack shot. When the Forest Titan Sareve Alisaoda Cana Ecu, a towering feathered earthworm, attacked, the only casualties were a wood cutter it set on fire, a mule, and a kitten before it was brought down by these soldiers without even an injury!
Then our cooks were too busy sleeping to butcher its body before it rotted, and let me tell you rotten giant feathered earthworm STINKS.
However even these soldiers were daunted when we heard a Goblin invasion force had arrived, 85 strong, 15 of whom were mighty trolls, and many of the goblins rode cave crocodiles and cave crawlers. Quickly, I first took volunteers, then drafted every able bodied Dwarf that was not a doctor, or manning the siege weaponry we had set to miss, and ordered them to grab any of the wealth of weapons and armor we had on hand. The first wave crashed upon the front gates, and was driven away quickly by our soldiers, shooting many goblins off their mounts, only to have the survivors ride behind the troll main force, who quickly tore down our front gates. Next time I'll order something more durable.
At this point our main force charged, determined to repel them, and were driven backwards quickly into the Barracks. Our second squad, instead of flanking our opponent, chose to retreat to the pantry to break out the kegs instead of drinking their waterskins of wine. Our forces, about 40 stong without the second squad, quickly turned the entry hall and the barracks into a bloodbath, goblin after goblin fell, Dwarf after Dwarf fell, but we could not stop their Trolls.
During this time our doctors ran out on the battlefield to retrieve the wounded. I observed one such doctor rushing out, grabbing a wounded dwarf, while he himself had his head split open, and only paused when another doctor grabbed him in the hallway and attempted to splint the cracked head. It looked every bit as silly on the poor dwarf as it sounds. Other soldiers showed their immense heroism by waiting for their wounds to be splint up, or sewen shut, then rushing back into battle, some with doctors chasing after them because their surgery was not yet done.
At this point all seemed lost. Our standing forces were scattered, most in emergency surgery, with Trolls and Cave Crawlers burning and destroying the Barracks and Entry Hall, when I stopped Sigun Adorul, now known as Sigun Admorul Nestethgikut Sanreb, for he had killed 3 of the trolls, and 3 of the cave crawlers, who were still pressing the attack despite their riders being killed off their backs. He had made the artifact Hatch Dimolethes Akestlaltur when he had been possessed by an unknown spirit, and was the best miner in the city. He had done much for Machinemartyr, and I asked him to do one last service. On the topmost level of the city, next to the Arborium, there are two switches. I asked him to throw these, for they would disable the pumping mechanisms that kept the waterfalls and running water of the city from flooding the city, and increasing the flow of water, to flood the city. If we were to die, we would at least preserve our history for future generations to later find.
We returned to the Barracks to throw ourselves at our enemies, Sigun limping, for he was wading into combat on crutches, telling me his last two kills were done in this fashion, when we heard a shriek. Iden Bavastdodok, one of our bravest defenders, who had fallen before the troll onslaught, his body suddenly glowed and shuddered. Then out of his body, his spirit rose out, screaming for the blood of his enemies. 6 of our soldiers remained, and we regrouped as the spirit of Iden tore Trolls and Cave Crawlers alike apart. We had never seen a ghost before, and by Armokk, I never want to see another, but this one, the spirit of Iden devestated the Troll ranks. Murdered the Cave Crawlers. Scattered the invaders. It turned the tide of battle. When our enemies were scattered, it then rose up and moved to defend our most sacred place in the city - the Booze Stockpile.
At this moment when the end was no longer quite so near, I asked one of the surviving engineers to run up and pull the levers that would flood the city - our doomesday was not today. Now we stand at 31 citizens. Our supplies guarded by the ghost of one of our own warriors, and the remaining soldiers watching for any further attacks. Our Doctors work around the clock to save the wounded survivors, and while we are a mere shadow of our former selves, we have survived. WE HAVE SURVIVED.
Also, Adil Stukoninod, commander and sole survivor of the second squad the Quiet Bridges, who's squad decided to quit the field early on for drinks, and only returned when the Barracks was flowing with blood, I'M KEEPING YOUR RIGHT LEG!
(( Interesting things of note of the Siege of Machinemartyr: That ghost is STILL hanging around the fortress. Also the invasion force brought 5 civilian Trolls with them, a Clerk, an Archetecht, a butcher, an herbalist, and a planter. I guess they thought by outnumbering my population they'd move right in. Also since the Archetecht is still running around it still counts the fortress as being in a siege.
Also the dwarf running into combat on crutches and still murdering things was badass.
))
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Topic: The Miracle of Machinemartyr (Read 594 times)