((Ok, this update took forever to write, for some reason. Action scenes! Are hard.))
Human Merchants Arrive In Oceanbridge“This is Oceanbridge? It’s a dump! I thought you told me these dwarfs knew how to build!”
Umro looked around. Oceanbridge wasn’t the glorious dwarf stronghold he’d been led to expect, but perhaps all of their best work was underground. They must be wealthy, at least. Oxul and Jirdo had come back with some magnificent gold crafts, and that was just the things they had shown off.
“They do. We’ll make a fortune here, and- mind your step!” One of the guards looked down, to see that she had almost stepped on a rotting goblin’s corpse.
She shuddered. “Gods, this place isn’t just a dump. It’s a boneyard.”
“Quiet now. We’re almost to the gates, see? Just watch where you walk, and try not to step in anything still... juicy.”
They were passing a long dry pond when the goblins sprung out from ambush.
One merchant died in the first seconds of the attack, a goblin spear in his heart. Umro and the others fled toward the gate, only to find their path blocked by another group of goblins.
Two more guards fell there. The survivor, (the guard who had stepped in goblin before) fought hard, but she was outnumbered and tiring fast.
As the goblins closed in, she looked to the drawn bridge leading into the fortress.
“Why don’t they come out and help?”
......................
Why Indeed?
Derm looked to Mr. Anderson, who was watching the fight from the walls. “Why aren’t we out killing?”
Mr. Anderson frowned. “The militia is in the lower levels. More of those eyes attacking. Unless you want to fight them yourself-“
“I do!”
“I suggest we wait.”
Derm shrugged. "My duty is to defend this fortress, and always will be. I don't care what happens." He walked over to the lever that controlled the gate, and pulled it. "My axe is ready for souls."
"You damned fool!"
The gate opened.
Fortunately, and to the surprise of both of them, there were still enough cage traps left, and the goblins hadn't learned a thing from their predecessors. Mr Anderson watched as the shrieking, charging goblins turned into shrieking, caged goblins.
"All right. That works."
The merchant guard (who had survived, barely) fell to the ground in exhaustion.
........................
But one of the goblins spearman had sneaked its way through the traps. It crept through the empty trade depot, and up the first set of stairs it found.
Karakzon, Orcrist and Di-2 had made it back up to the surface just in time, or so it seemed to them at first when they spotted it.
One goblin against three dwarfs? “One dead goblin!” Karakzon said.
The goblin disagreed. It met Orcrist head on, ducking under a swipe from his obsidian sword and cracking him under the chin with the butt of its spear. Orcrist went down, stunned and bruised. Di-2 fell next, her hand broken through her gauntlet.
“I’ll show you how we handle goblins!” Karakzon shouted as he bore down on the thing with a pick in hand. Later he admitted that he must have become rusty over the years; the goblin not only dodged the attack, it countered, stabbing Karakzon in the upper leg. He fell with a curse on his lips.
Ignoring the wounded defenders, the speargoblin snarled and leapt off the wall. It had spotted the stairway leading down into the fort itself.
It found a siege engineer coming up, and stabbed her through the stomach before she could scream a warning.
Ishar was in the corridor below. Caught by surprise, she still managed to break the goblin’s upper left arm with her mace before it slashed her leg open with one swift attack. She went down, her two children somewhat breaking her fall.
It stood over her, looking unsure if it would kill her or one of her children first.
That pause was what doomed it. Knocked down and out of breath he might have been, but Orcrist was still unhurt. He'd got back up as soon as he was able, ran down the stairs, jumped over the unconscious engineer, and slashed off the goblin's head as it poised to kill Ishar.
"Yes! Yes! Did you see that? Did you? I-" He stopped when he noticed that everyone around him was either unconcious or a baby. "Ok, never mind. I need some doctors here, now!"
........................
Next: Hospitals, Dwarfs, and Ghost Examined
Author
Topic: Oceanbridge - A Fortress Defense Community Fort: Reclaimed, Again! (And Again) (Read 183253 times)