I broke the siege!
Actually, I'll just post the partial log.
I look around. There’s a siege, a bunch of dwarves training, and a bunch of gold. I decide to start putting the gold to use, and claim a child named Mafol who created an alpaca bone chest called Larkchops the Last Letter. So…S? It includes basalt spikes and a golden image of the first dwarven king. While we’re at it, let’s cook some meat into nice roasts. And let’s use those three glass furnaces while we’re overhauling this place’s industry, shall we? Excellent.
In the year 128, the dwarves living in the village named Paintmuscle remembered an old saying, from the dawn of the world.
“In times of trouble, listen to the children. Their innocent wisdom can save a corrupt land from destruction.”
How applicable was that now? the adults wondered. Then Mafol the Mugmaker said, quote, “Ecu* damn it, we can’t lose anything by trying. Besides, the kid wouldn’t be doing anything anyway, am I right?” So the dwarves appointed a child who had already proven her ability to lead the fortress through its trials and tribulations. She was appointed to the position directly over Expedition Leader, the position so high that it was rarely spoken of: Overseer.
It seemed good, at first; simply adding to industry, that is always good. The child stared at the entrance, ignoring the sounds of the undead moaning outside and chatting with the captured goblin snatcher, who doubtless wanted nothing more than to wrap the overseer up in its bag and sprint away, past the corpses shambling around and past the necromancer, covered in jewelry made from cave crocodiles. Well, four pieces, but that’s some. Anyhow, the child swore at the designer of this place as best as she could, despite not knowing any real swear words, and demanded that the weapon trap be removed and a new cage trap replace it. She planned to add two cage traps, actually, and then station the entire militia in the upstairs stockpile. From there, she didn’t know what to do, except pray. “If only,” she lamented, “someone had made a corridor that could be filled with enough traps to actually deplete the enemy force and perhaps trap the necromancer herself…”
The weather cleared once we removed the weapon trap. Perhaps this was the best choice?
Early in the morning, on the 4th of Granite, the plane could begin. All three paltry cage traps were set. The squad was ordered into the stockpile. The door was unlocked. Nothing happened. The squad was ordered to move closer to the door, to lure the dead in. An axedwarf dashed out the door, and the rest were ordered to retreat back inside. A hammerdwarf joined the axedwarf outside, and they began dismantling the first enemy they saw: A goblin’s corpse, reanimated through the fell magicks of the necromancer Nish. A macedwarf, another hammerdwarf, and the militia commander also left to fight the undead and soon regretted it.
There was nothing to lose. The overseer ordered the militia, plus a band of five peasants, to kill the necromancer herself. They left, and aside from one unconscious dwarf who was brought in, with a bruised spine and many broken bones, plus an axedwarf who suffocated while being rescued, they were locked outside, along with 10 civilians (drafted into the last squad, who could use all the help they can get), including four babies, a mechanic, and the chief medical dwarf!
Then, the necromancer…disappeared. Many of her forces were destroyed, but we were still under siege. The overseer ordered the dwarves to retreat towards the door through said door. A band of five dwarves, oine carrying a baby, dashes towards a group of the last undead: Gorerisk the kobold corpse, a rotten echidna man with a smashed and broken left arm, and a dog skeleton with a broken upper spine and skull, missing a paw. The kobold corpse was swiftly dispatched, the dog lost a second paw when it came sprinting at the dwarves, and the rest of the undead were dispatched, with the only casualties being three unconscious dwarves and one tantruming, who follows orders and only tries to tantrum once, by attacking and missing a fellow swordsdwarf.
So far, only a few deaths. That’s good. Even better: The siege has broken.
*Ecu Bearddrinks the Whiskered Echo, the only god he worships.
Once I hit it in six.