6th Moonstone, 10The lookouts spied the trolls; they were still lurking. I ordered the gate opened to try and lure them in and a quite a few goblins and trolls came running. There are still 3 squads of goblins unaccounted for. It should be noted that the first thing the goblins did once they got close was to take the murder hole area. Those green goblins are crossbowgobs so that pretty much means there is no way I'm opening the gate now.
You can also see the new alternate gate on the bottom right of this screen shot, there is a microcline stone block bridge there with a couple of weapon traps and some cage traps.
20th Moonstone, 10The goblins left the murder hole area.
23rd Moonstone, 10Yagor had an idea.. a very clever one at that. "Let the goblins in a few at a time and we will cut them down like plump helmet spawn." And so we arranged a bit of a gate dance letting a few of the siegers in at a time. Some were caught by the rows of cage traps and others made it past the traps and into the arms of the waiting militia.
In one of these gate dances Thikut Rultis, captain of The Secretive Quakes, charged through, blocking a dozen bolts and dodging out of the way of a scourge only to fall off the bridge. Luckily he landed only one left down and was merely stunned. We couldn't close the gates and abandon him, especially once other soldiers ran off to aid him. Udib got there and started hacking away with his steel battle axe..
Kogask Regmerseth ran out and was smashed in the foot through his iron boot! The goblin hammer lord Bax Snodubstospdab roared and next smashed Kogask in the right elbow. Just then one of the archers provided support and landed a bolt in the goblin hammer lord's right leg, chipping bone and causing extreme pain. Lord Bax backed off leaving a couple of crossbow gobs to be hacked apart by Udib and Kadol.
Udib continued to lay waste to the crossbowmen with his axe.
It turns out some body parts can't be hacked off without it being immediately fatal.
Udib and Kadol scored a kill each.
The archer Zasit Desorkol shot a prone speargob right in the heart, impressive. And then Kadol stole the kill by smashing another skull.
Meanwhile, Thikut the captain, sporting his panda leather cloak (remember, we use every part of the panda) made his way around the trench and up the stairs to end up in the middle of the crossbow gobs. Hopefully this will end well for him. Xuspgas Amxungasuk, a goblin lasher got to Thikut before he could start in on the crossbowgobs. It got in the first three blows but they were blocked or entirely missed the captain.
A couple of other soldiers made their way into the general melee at this point, axes flew and one soldier latched on with a bite, right through the toad leather trousers of a goblin. I'm not sure what he was going for there and I'm not going to ask him. This is an example of the goblins as they are systematically dismembered by the axedwarves.
Thikut was beset by many goblins. He fought valiantly but fell off a cliff again this time all the way down to the pit of doom.
Drak got into the action stabbing a goblin right in the head while cinematically falling down the pit of doom. If only we had flat ground the soldiers would be killing the goblins with no losses. Stakud Rakustzulban was the next to dodge into the pit of doom.
Drak hit the ground with a dull thud. He might actually recover. Thikut has an upper spine injury and will likely not recover.
At this point several groups of goblins appeared to be running for it, but there were still goblins two and there deep on each square of the L shaped bridge. Some of those squares had dwarves in them too. It was a bloody mess.
Kadol Gimgoden took a swan dive off the bridge next and died on impact.
Amazingly a goblin actually landed a blow on one of our soldiers. Up till now their primary strategy has been to watch us dodge off the bridge. Tosid one of the more junior soldiers took an ugly hit from behind in the liver. And then Kol took a dive. Udib found himself sharing a square with two lashers and Asno the troll.
A minute later Tosid, Udib and Zasit the archer who had gotten too close, were holding the last square of the bridge against 10 attackers!
The yellow X marks the spot.
At this point no more defenders were diving off the bridge so that was good, but we were backed up into our halls by the press of the enemies. The marksdwarves downed a troll by shooting it in the legs. Then the dread Goblin Pikemaster Ngokang Utesrugo waded into the fight and started wreaking havoc. Tosid continued fighting despite the fact that his guts were hanging out. He was remarkably effective for someone with such serious injuries and he slew Asno the troll.
Perhaps desiring to find the salt god in the afterlife, Udib next flew off the bridge losing hold of his steel battle axe and bronze shield in the process and injuring his spine, head, both arms and one leg. The troll weaponsmith Smunstu, seeing easy prey, made his way down into the pit of doom and started smashing stunned dwarves as they fell. He started in on the no longer stunned Drak, former overseer, grabbing him by the second finger on his left hand.
Tekkud ended the troll Ngerxung life by bashing in his brain, managing to lodge the silver warhammer in the head of his downed foe. Torn brain = dead troll.
At this point the lower half of the bridge was almost entirely clear of goblins, they were trying to press in past the brave dwarven defenders. A couple trolls made it onto the outer bridge, but the defenders were not dismayed yet.
Meanwhile down in the pit of doom, remember how that troll was ravaging stunned dwarves as they fell... drak got his..
but wait... he wasn't done for yet...
Repeatedly his helmet saved him from the ravening troll.
The pikemaster was a real problem. He needed to be dealt with. Next to the pit of doom he was the second most dangerous foe. A bolt plinked him in the left arm, but it was only a flesh wound. Yet it seemed to be enough to chase him away. Of course it may have also been the ghastly number of goblins getting chopped up by the soldiers.
Drak's wrist was broken the the grappling troll as Udib impotently tried to push the troll off of him. Udib had also lost his weapon in the fall. If he had grabbed the axe troll parts would have gone flying then and there. The troll joint locked Drak's right upper leg and bent the dwarf in a direction his body was never meant to go, shattering the right hip bone. His efforts were met with a sickening crunch. Udib continued to flail at the troll and punched at the troll's throat again to little or no effect.
Yagor made it into the fight at this point and put her spear through a troll's head for starters. Upon seeing the terror that was Yagor enraged the battle turned into a rout. The remaining goblins, including the barely scratched pikemaster retreated. Down in the pit of doom Udib and Drak were still weaponlessly grappling with the troll which mostly involved trying to stay conscious and grope him to death as he systematically broke every bone in their bodies. Once Drak rolled away and passed out the troll had begun doling his bone cracking ministrations to Udib.
Thikut Rubalatis, hammerdwarf drown in his own blood right there on the battle field.
Meanwhile in the sculpture garden...
why not, it's not like dwarves are dying to goblins and trolls out here, right?
The bridge won back the archers proceeded to pincushion Smunstu and as if acknowledging that Drak was safe Udib picked that moment to suffocate to death. Rovod charged down into the pit of doom and put his iron short sword through the trolls head ending Smunstu Fellturmoils the troll for good. Rovod accounted herself admirably for a new recruit. She had four kills including two trolls. She also has four children and a Useless husband. I'm happy for her family that she survived. She deserves a tomb and to retire from the military
(suggestion for future overseer).
1st OpalCleanup has commenced including the burial of our fallen. Three of the Geared domination died as did one of the archers from The Bronze Thorns. The brave captain of the shock troops, The Secretive Quakes was also lain to rest. Several more will likely be bedridden as such a new training squad has been created, the Earthen Baldness. Right now four are in the hospital, Drak, Tosid, Tekkud, and Kol. Drak slew two goblins in the great siege of 10, and is in surprisingly good shape considering that he fell 5 stories into the pit of doom and then had his hip, wrist, and a finger broken by a troll. Kol had one goblin kill and took a couple of hits from the pikemaster in his left upper arm and shoulder.
6th OpalTekkud is already back up and running around with sutures, a dressing and a splint on his arm. I am pleasantly surprised at the amazing job the doctors did. In fact all of the injured made a full recovery, except for laggard who has been in traction for more than a year.
Operation cleanup was successful, a bit more could be done, but most of the trash from the front of the gates has been cleared away. All that troll/goblin cloth will make the elves happy. The caravan from the mountain home never came this year, probably because we were under siege.
15th ObsidianThis bed is quite valuable and a tribute of a sort to Doctor C. Man. It is also a proof that anything can be made valuable if you embed enough gems in it. There are 10 different gems on this bed: tiger iron, black pyrope, schorl, pyrite, moonstone, turquoise, indigo tourmaline, morion, clear tourmaline, and milk opal. The last thing on it is an image of diamonds done in milk opal... maybe the jewel crafter is pissed that he has no diamonds.
A few final projects have been finished up. Every dwarf, male, female, and child has a room now. There are even some extra rooms here and there and specifically half a dozen in the upper left hand side of the great tenements. A Zoo, Jail, and a second training area for the military have been added. We have ~units of fuel from wood/coke and a ton of gold and silver bars, but could use more iron, copper, steel and such to make trap parts. There is stuff to melt down as well.
Whoever takes over should have plenty to work with. I'd suggest possibly adding some dwarves to the military to fill in gaps in the squads and doing something with the entry way. The murder holes above the cage trap'd one lane bridge need to be accessible from inside the fort when the gates are closed I think. I had walled off the area between the trading depot and the finished good stockpile right next to it during the big fight, just to reduce the risk of anyone running into the melee from that direction. I might move the trading depot further in and instead use that entry as part of the defenses.
One last note, there is a copper cage in the main entry hall with the squads of dwarves training there is a dwarf in there who collapsed on a cage trap and was never freed.. free him and remove the cage if you want.
1st Granite, 11Good luck to the next overseer.
I left a few notes around to label stuff including all (I think) of the bridge gates.
edit: grammar and a few story story points updated.