23rd of Timber, year 229The bridge has been lowered, and our workers are allowed to go outside to gather the stuff left behind by orcs, our fallen kins and generally anything scattered around the walled pathway. The biggest concern is to get all the corpses of our kin inside, so that we can give them proper burial. We could also be able to get another dwarven caravan, though I suspect not. We will see.
1st of Granite, year 230The winter has been quite uneventful, if we don't count that the goblins have decided to invade our fortress. They came about week ago, luckily both walled areas were sealed in a way that no creature can get inside.
So, the new setup, which is not yet complete mind you, is that there are three floodgates installed at the entrance of the narrow alley leading to the bridge separating it from the front yard. These floodgates are linked to single lever, which allows us to open and close the area as we see fit. Our plans are that this way we can trap any invading force inside the narrow alley, where they are easy targets to archers. We have also planned to connect water pumps to that area so that we can drown anything trapped in there. The second part of the new setup is small bridge north side of the front yard, which is also linked to lever. This bridge will allow any traders to leave our fortress relatively safe after the invaders have been trapped inside the alley. Now, sadly this part is not yet completed, as there bridge is currently leading to nowhere, and we can not complete this project before the goblins have been driven away, as we need to have access the outside area of the front yard to do that. So, we have to figure out a way to get rid of goblins.
Most of the winter has went in hauling all the stuff scattered around our fortress. Lots of random stuff, like corpses, equipment, clothes and random junk has been found, and we haven't been able to get even nearly everything inside. There are still lots of stuff outside, but those have to wait for the time when goblins have been dealt. Our smelters have also been smelting all the metal items we have found and have no use. Mostly those items were made from copper, bronze and iron, but there were few steel and bishmunt bronze items.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The Battle of TrueworksIt was decided that it would be time to deal with the sieging goblins and not to wait them to get bored and retreat. If the dwarves wanted to have caravans during the spring it meant that the goblins must be either killed or driven away, preferably the former. So the call for battle was made.
The two squads, the militia and archers, gathered in the front yard to listen the speech of Braidlancers, the captain of guards and the leader of archers.
"I know all of you have got tired of waiting. The goblins are annoying us, thinking that they can gain the access to our fortress just by waiting. And while they do that they prevent any caravans reaching our fortress. And no caravan means the danger of running out of alcohol again. So we have decided that it's time to put an end to this and deal the goblins the best way we can: by slaughtering them! I can't promise that all of you will return from the battle uninjured, nor even alive, but I promise you this; the goblins shall pay for their insolence! They must learn that there are consequences coming due their actions. And it's our job to bring those to them! We shall prove to them that it's always a mistake to wake the wrath of dwarves! And we shall bring glory to our names, our fortress and our kingdom! Fight well, and prove your worthy! Let the goblin blood flow our entrance, let the goblins pay! Blood for the blood god!"
The soldiers cheered at his words, after which it was time to explain the battle plan, which was the responsibility of Stakeplay, the militia commander.
"To ensure the safety of our own people, and to ensure the safety of you, we have formed a tactic of how to deal this situation. The militia shall stay inside the front yard, just outside the small alley leading from the bridge connecting the two walled areas. Their task is to ensure that anything that reaches the front yard shall not get any further. The militia shall be the last line of defense in this battle. Now, the archers shall be stationed on top of the ledge, where they can shoot their bolts towards anything that crosses the first bridge, walks inside the trapped alley or even anything that gets inside the front yard. They shall stay there as long as they can, and not leave their posts for any other reasons than getting more bolts from stockades. They shall stand there until they see the first goblin archers, at then they must retreat to the lower level of the front yard, and help the militia to fend of any goblins reaching the yard. They shall stay there as long as it's seen safe to return to the upper stage, where they continue weakening the invading forces with their bolts. Now, no heroic charges, we must stay together to survive this battle. If somebody gets wounded then the closest officer must be informed so that we raise the bridge and give our civilians enough time to reactivate the traps, collect the wounded ones and rearm the cage traps before we continue. If nobody has any questions, then it's time to begin. Blood for the blood god!"
And so the bridge was lowered, allowing the trapped goblins to reach the fortress. The squads stationed to designated points and so the battle begun.
The invading goblins begun charging inside, and the archers were busy with shooting anything that moved. Not many kills were made by them, but their task was after all to weaken the enemy enough so that either the traps would deal them, or if the goblins were lucky enough to reach the front yard, to allow the militia finish them off without too much effort. The battle went well to the point when about third of the goblins were down or trapped. At that point one dwarf, Churchtouch, decided to, against the orders he was given, to charge inside the trapped alley after one goblin which tried to escape the wrath of dwarves. When he reached the alley he was met by few goblins more, and was wounded. The order of sealing the entrance was given, and the remaining dwarves dealt with the remaining goblins inside, with the help of the traps.
When the immediate threat was dealt the wounded soldier was carried in hospital. His injuries weren't serious, though the attention of doctors were required. His lower body and right leg had took some nasty wounds, which had to be healed before he was able to return to duty.
When the wounded soldier was safely inside the hospital and all the remaining soldiers had had time to drink, eat and get a bit rest it was time to return to battle. This time the archers were ordered to accompany the militia in the ground level, as there had been sights of goblin archers near the bridge.
The bridge was lowered again and the battle continued. As the archers were not able to weaken the invading goblins anymore, the front yard turned to real battlefield. Even though the traps were able to kill some of the goblins, many reached the waiting squads, though fortunately they were already weakened so much that it was often easy task to deal the killing blow before the goblin was able to counter.
The battle went well until about two third of the goblins were slain. At then few elite goblins were able to reach the fortress, causing great battle to occur inside the front yard. All the goblins were killed but two soldiers took some nasty wounds which had to be checked by doctors. So again the order was given and the bridge was raised, giving the dwarves enough time to regroup and bring all the wounded soldiers back to hospital.
Speakgalley had his right arm wounded again, though this time the healing process was much faster and he was able to return to duty before the battle continued.
Stockadestrong got his body wounded, one piercing hit even reached his liver, damaging it slightly. Again the doctors did wonderful job and he was able to return to duty, though the battle was almost finished by then.
Before the battle continued it was time to check the kill count of each soldier. It turned out that the archers had less goblins thus far. Traded post had killed three goblins, Salvesplashes one goblin and Braidlancers had killed two goblins. At the same time the Speakgalley had killed two goblins, Stockadestrong had killed two goblins and one jabberer, Crystalwinds had killed four goblins and Stakeplay had killed as many as four goblins and one giant toad. Stakeplay and Braidlancers decided to have a bet about which squad had more kills at the end of the battle, the bet being grand meal served by the looser.
So, it was time to end the battle, with so few goblins left. This time the archers positioned themselves up the ledge again, as there was only couple of goblin archers left and Braidlancers felt that his squad more than fit to deal with any of them. And so the battle begun. The last phase of the battle was the most brutal one, as most of the remaining goblins had already been injured by archers.
The battle raged on, and eventually there was only handful of goblins left, along with couple of blizzard men that had accompanied the goblins. They were not interested in invading the fortress anymore, and they were covering inside the twisting alleys leading to the bridge. And so the decision was made that the archers moved further on top of the walls, while the militia advanced towards the covering goblins. The slaughter was brutal, as the goblins and blizzard men were no threat anymore, and after few days of chasing and killing all the invaders had either been killed or trapped inside cages. The joyful cheering echoed the halls of Trueworks as the news of victory spread.
After the battle it was time to check the situation of the soldiers. Nobody had died, which itself was small surprise, though nobody said that it was bad thing. Three soldiers had been wounded during the siege, though all of them were healed by the doctors and were able to return to duty before then end of the siege.
It was also time to check the kill count of both squad. The archers had been quite busy, as Salvesplashes had killed two goblins and one giant toad, Braidlancers had killed six goblins, one toad and one jabberer, Tradedpost had killed five goblins and one toad and poor Tourtwist had managed to kill only one jabberer. The militia had also done well during the battle, with Speakgalley killing eleven goblins, Stakeplay had killed four goblins, one blizzard man and one toad, Crystalwinds had killed five goblins, Churchtorch had killed two goblins and Stockadestrons had killed two goblins, one blizzard man and one jabberer. So the militia won the bet with twenty-eight kills, while the archers had managed only eighteen kills. Both results were good, and it had to be remembered that most of the kills the militia had made was after the archers had weakened the enemies enough to allow easy slaughter.
And so, at the day 27th of Slate, after nearly two months of battle, the peace had returned to Trueworks.
Author
Topic: Reclaiming Trueworks - community fortress (Read 2941 times)