Finally! Though it's a bit more than I expected. 128 by my count, so far. Whitetigermen force with lots of mercs and large animals (war elephants, etc.) Hoping to pull them into the gate maze and slam the door behind them, then let them get chewed up by traps and shot up by marksdwarves and ballista. Then, and only then, with these numbers, let loose the dogs and send in the troops. Gonna be very bloody. We're outnumbered about 6 or 7 to 1 (my pop is 100, though there are another 20-30 visitors.)
I think I got everyone inside, though one silly dwarf was ignoring the alert and burrow limit and heading out to get something outside. Slammed the hatch in his face to snap him out of it. He went back inside and I opened the hatch again. Want the crowd to get at least part way in.
It has begun. A couple visitors must have gotten wind of something and tried to leave. Ran into the scouts in the upstairs. Died. Then the scouts popped into view of the marksdwarves and the bolts started flying. A couple went into the two cages. A silly jeweler who really wanted to get something outside, or in the stairwell, was almost to the outer hatch when he changed his mind. He was ignoring the burrow restriction too. An elf recruit punched him and he ran.
Small pile of dead near the entry hatch now. I count two dead (one in a cage) and three badly wounded (one of these in a cage too.) But this is just the advanced scouts. No casualties for us, visitors aside, so far.
You can see the jeweler up near the ballistas. Three crossbow dwarves are in the firing positions and a fourth is either off for ammo or about to start in whacking with his steel crossbow. Hope it's the former.
Meanwhile, upstairs in the tavern, it seems we have a fifth column of artistes. At least one of them died to the tavern brawl. So far. The tavern cat did a lot of damage to his head. As in about three pages of tearing tissue on his head. Nasty. Most of the tavern crowd fled to the west. There was one trainee in the crowd and he reamed someone good pretty fast. A human poet, I think.
I assume they went hostile because the incoming force has human, orc and elf mercs, at least. Didn't survey them all. Puts new light on taverns for me. Maybe I will keep foreign spies out in the future!
One amusing bit from the tavern brawl:
Mayor sure stuck up for her town!
Looks like things have calmed down in the tavern after that one spy was dealt with. Meanwhile, downstairs, the jeweler made it back inside while the bows shot up the last scout and ran him off. Then about ten war dogs came in and we killed or run off. The main force is trapped against the river to the northeast, with only a trickle crossing the bridge to come towards us. This is good. Making more bolts as fast as we can. I can hear war elephants stomping around above us.
Nothing has made it to the weapon traps so far. The two cage traps are kaput, both have a corpse in them. The ballistas probably won't get any shots off. I haven't really hardened a crew for them. The couple siege gunners are running in and out. Maybe if they get them loaded they can get the odd shot off later. Those should sweep the maze nicely. Should.
Heh, bad idea, human axeman. Leaving now is contraindicated, but if you insist... There are about twenty hostile just outside the stairs down. The axeman can try... Oops, they just started down the stairs.
Axeman died in the rush out of the stairs. The bolts knocked the incoming silly though. A dozen are below after dodging off the maze top. Two ballista did shoot. First shot was did not go straight down the path it targets or it would have wiped out a few. Second shot was middle ballista and nothing was in front of its perfect shot (of course!) Still nothing has reached a weapon trap. Lots more coming. They are bunching up on the stairs now. This is gonna be a terrible mess to clean up. The miasma! That's one nice thing about topside forts.
The blood is getting deep! The leaders hit the first weapon trap. It ate one, maybe two, of them. Hard to be sure with parts scattered below. About a dozen down a level but they are working back up the ramp near the hatch. The bolts are hitting harder, either due to closing range or rapidly improving skill. Just look at what those ballistas could do... if only.
First casualty coming. Idiot farmer decided he just had to clean something out there. They really ignore the burrow restriction. Annoying. He ran into the first living hostile and ran, but made the mistake of dodging and went down into a cluster below. Would take a teleport to escape alive, I think. He's already hurting. Trained up planter too.
Yep. Oh well, lots of room in the cemetery.
They do seem to be moving backwards now.
Yep, definitely slowing down.
One good thing about the Duke, besides his being a good shot and silly brave, his mandates are for broadhead bolts.
Easy to keep happy, especially while we're fighting off a major invasion. "Keep making those bolts, boyos! We're burning through them fast!"
And another wave coming. They are running into some self-inflicted biowarfare now. Miasma time. There are a bunch in that purple haze. Bolts are iron often now, those hit harder than the bone ones. Had more visitors leave. Haven't noticed them being ignored. Artists aren't so bright, I guess.
I think I will train the meleers in use of siege engines. They can man those until the hostiles hit the war dogs, if they get that far. These civilian gunners, even placed in a squad and activated, just run away.
And another cleaning casualty. Our soap-maker just had to clean the maze. I've issued a ban on all cleaning jobs until the battle is done.
Siege engines still not right. Even hardened crews won't man them. My Commandant and his partner run away too. Discipline should matter. They both have 20.
And in the middle of a war, a mood. Lovely. Should have all the materials though. Legendary bone carver. I better keep an eye on him.
About 50 casualties on the death list. They should break soon.
Yeah, moody dwarf is fine. He's constructing now.
Whoa! A ballista just fired. Didn't see who did it. No combat report shows a hit and the targets are getting thin.
Is that the fat lady I hear up in the tavern?
Something is missing from the upper left corner of that!
Yep, sound the all clear and break out the soap! You can clean again, boyos. And you have lots of it to do!
Party time! Hey, who has the soap?
Yeah, we're on lockdown while cleaning. One siege at a time.
