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« on: July 19, 2015, 03:48:22 am »
The latest news from Beautysprings is, that a month ago the Fountain of Beauty gave up its occupation of the site.
Everything was running well (including a working more than 100 levels high magma pump stack, armourer and weapon smith who produced a steady stream of master work steel items,...), when just another forgotten beast showed up. This time a giant earwig with lacy wings, which was belching and croaking, and sadly for the dwarfs, also spitting webs. As the last few forgotten beasts hadn't really been an issue, the military was sent to quickly dispose of it. Using its webs, it killed all but four soldiers. Two of the survivors were only skilled with ranged weapons.
That wouldn't have been an issue. While the dwarfs of Beautysprings earned their wealth thanks to the riches found in the caverns, they no longer were dependent on the caverns in any way, so shutting them off should have given the dwarfs enough time to rebuild their military, and also to rethink the non-military defences in the caverns. The main reason the forgotten beast had to be fought by the military was anyhow, that said non-military defences were currently under construction, not quite ready to deal with the attacker...
While the dwarfs were still cleaning up the mess left behind by the forgotten beast, something I definitely wanted them to finish, so that the new recruits could get their equipment from the stockpiles instead of the dirty caverns floor - there was a syndrome related accident with one of the fresh recruits, who decided to first take off his clothes and then went to the caverns to pick up the new equipment - a vile force of darkness arrived.
As the dwarfs of Beautysprings have the policy that noone is left behind, they waited with closing the over-ground defensive gates until the last civilian was inside. The remaining few soldiers were sent to delay the approach of the enemy. That worked, but it cost one brave legendary axeman the live, who was, instead of defending the gate, rushing outside. Before the gate finally was closed a troll had managed to enter. This monster destroyed the second gate - the one that should have blocked the fort main entry in case of a dire emergency, before it was brought down by a soldier that luckily was still on his way from the fort to the fight.
Most goblins ran away after seeing the bloodbath at the now closed gate, but a hand full of trolls and better trained goblins stayed behind. The trolls did something the dwarfs wouldn't have thought off: They used trees to climb over the two z-levels high and overhanging fortress wall. This sheds a new light on the elf's demand not to cut down trees...
The best marksman of the now three remaining soldiers got exhausted and collapsed, and the other two could sadly not prevent the trolls from killing two innocent civilians. Still, the marksman managed, with the help of some rangers that passed by to carry away the troll corpses, to kill all but five goblins from the (now) safety of the defensive wall.
Two of the goblins were standing at a place, where the drawbridge would kill them if it opened. So, the dwarfs did just that, relying on the strength of the soldiers to fight off the last three goblins.
And this is where the story ends. At least one of the remaining goblins was obviously a well trained fighter that took down the two (remember, one soldier fell asleep) remaining defenders with ease, and started murdering civilians in the dining hall. With no defences left, the dwarfs saw only one way to escape this situation. Grab what they need to survive a trip through the wilderness to the luckily not very far neighbouring city, and run for their lives...
And what do we learn from that: Most goblins are a joke, but one should always estimate how well trained a goblin fighter is, before one lowers the defences.
(I am aware that probably the civilians would have managed to kill the remaining goblins, but I wasn't motivated to deal with the dozens of casualties the goblins would have cost before miners, hunters and treecutters would have had a chance to kill them...)
Edit: I just saw in Legends mode, that Beautysprings was responsible for the death of one of the first dragons (who just caused 1, in words: one casualty). A bitter end for such a legendary settlement, to be taken over by the goblins.
