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Author Topic: The Siege of Gorerape(Pt. 2 posted)  (Read 11878 times)

King DZA

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The Siege of Gorerape(Pt. 2 posted)
« on: November 05, 2011, 03:16:22 am »

So, Gorerape was successfully defended from a decent sized siege not too long ago, not that this was the first good sized siege I've ever faced(though it was the first I've survived), or that it was the single greatest battle in history, but I thought it was a very interesting battle overall, and seeing how you all like a good battle story(well, I like them, so I'm assuming that you all do as well), I figured it was worth sharing.

I was considering putting this in the Stories and Community Games section, but I've noticed that it seems to be more for novel type stories, or DF inspired ones, whereas this is just a little reminiscence over a battle in Dwarf Mode, so it seemed a little more fitting here. Anyway:

Spoiler: A glimpse at Gorerape (click to show/hide)

Gorerape as a whole is still very much incomplete. I've been working on constructing the walls of the DeathMaze, and planned to start adding the more complex traps and dangers to it later. Because of this, the only trap defenses I had at the time were some scattered cage traps between the first(innermost) and second wall. Since the DeathMaze is still in its early stages, the militia has been the primary defense of the fort.
The dwarven caravan had just arrived, which was carrying many important items I requested, all was going well before the vile force of darkness appeared. From the southwest corner, upon on the plateau, with a squad of bowgoblins behind her, stood Nguslu Smoxspuatu(Secretflies), goblin general. She was accompanied by another squad of bowgoblins coming from the west not too far from her. They were lead by elite crossbowgoblin Atu Xamaozud(Chillruthless).

I had all the three of my three soldier marksdwarf squads stationed at the edges of the hill that the center keep is being built on, I then prepared to go into lockdown. Unfortunately the merchants had not yet made it into the walls of the DeathMaze, so I couldn't yet do that. There are two entryways through the outermost wall of the DeathMaze(west and east), the merchants had almost all made their way through the east entrance. Even more unfortunately, approaching them from the east was yet another bowgoblin squad, these led by Osta Smunstungon(Liegrowth), goblin macelord.

With Nguslu, Atu, and their squads getting closer, I closed the western entryway, and turned my attention back toward the merchants. Most of them made it in, with only three of their guards lagging behind. As much as I wanted to keep the entryway open for just a little longer, Osta and his squad were quickly catching up. The floodgate dropped down, leaving macedwarf Urdim Sengkel(Ringmetals), macedwarf Asmel Mebzuthasiz(Oarflash), and speardwarf Ushrir Rakustmafol(Tombchambers) alone and outnumbered. Seconds later, Osta and his squad engaged them. A wave of goblin arrows showered over the trio, most of them breaking upon impact with the maze wall, the few that hit were deflected as three charged forth.

Dodging and blocking arrows, Asmel and Ushrir jabbed and bashed their way through the bowgoblins, While Urdim locked into combat with Osta while taking on a few bowgoblins herself. Before long the squad was shattered, Osta and most of his soldiers lay dead on the grass, while the few remaining scattered and ran off the map, the three guards stood victorious and without any serious injury, but that small victory was not the end of the siege. To my dismay, I saw a horde of trolls coming from the north(hadn't noticed them on the map before this point), making their way toward the western entrance, nearly two dozen of them. And following slowly behind was a squad of swordsgoblins, lead by a goblin spearmaster(name unknown).
A few of Nguslu and Atu's squad members had used a ramp to climb atop the southern part of the outermost maze wall, and engaged in ranged combat with a marksdwarf squad, the markdwarves held their position and got in a few good shots. If the goblins hadn't been busy aiming for cavy boars and my war giraffe(still alive, by the way), the marksdwarves would have no doubt taken much more damage, thankfully all three survived. The trolls gathered and busted down the western floodgate. Nguslu, Atu, and most of their squad members rush in with the troll horde, while the spearmaster and his(or her) squad of swordgoblins set their sights on the trio of guards.

Nguslu and her small army of rangers and trolls marched toward the northern part of the second maze wall, where a ramp would give them access the the top of the wall. Seeing the oncoming Swordsgoblin squad, Urdim, Ushrir, and Asmel took the offensive and charged straight at them, the two forces collided near the northeast corner of the DeathMaze. They fought well, the swordsgoblins began to fall, sadly, while Ushrir and Asmel were distracted, the spearmaster snuck up on them, and killed them both. Urdim, now severely overwhelmed and outnumbered began to flee, the spearmaster and his(or her) squad pursued.
The trolls made it up the ramp first, and headed along the wall as marksdwarves opened fire(one got a headshot), eventually stopping on the eastern section. Bowgoblins were now lining much of the northern section of the second wall, and began to fire upon the two marksdwarf squads, who return the favor, projectiles fly everywhere. I ordered the other marksdwarf squad to join their brethren, as two marksdwarves had already fallen unconscious due to their wounds.

I turned my attention back to Urdim, most of her body was now in the red, yet she continued to run. Eventually, the spearmaster caught up with her as well, and ended her life just like he(or she) ended her kin's. The spearmaster and his(or her) squad now slowly walked toward the western entryway to join the fight.
Most of the merchants had made it safely into the center of the DeathMaze, but one of their other guards, swordsdwarf Bim Limarducim(translation unknown), fell behind. He walked through the corridor between the innermost and the second wall, right under the exchange of bolts and arrows that was still going on, immediately attracting the attention of the bowgoblins above, They filled him with a plethora of arrows, and he died in moments. On the bright side, it gave the marksdwarves a minute or two of relief.

With bowgoblins controlling the northern section of the wall, trolls controlling the east, the spearmaster and his(or her) squad creeping ever closer(they were really taking their time), and my marksdwarves starting to run out of ammo, I had to make a choice. I could either call the marksdwarves back(abandoning the unconscious ones), and lockdown the remaining parts of the DeathMaze, in the hopes that I could hold them back with the melee dwarves when they made their way to the center, or I could send the melee dwarves out into the open, through the corridor of death that Bim was struck down in and toward a ramp to the far eastern part of the second wall, where they would have to fight through a wall of trolls, avoid the onslaught of arrows that would be directed at them, and combat the goblins and their leaders face to face.
So I mobilized two of my six melee squads...

Eh, that's enough for now. Not much point in writing down the whole thing if people don't want to see it. If you like it and want to hear the rest, let me know and I'll finish it up later. If not, then...I won't I guess.

« Last Edit: November 08, 2011, 05:36:24 am by King DZA »
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Quantumtroll

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Re: The Siege of Gorerape
« Reply #1 on: November 05, 2011, 06:47:50 am »

Detailed expositions of battles work better with visual aids ;)  But props for writing well!
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Catastrophic lolcats

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Re: The Siege of Gorerape
« Reply #2 on: November 05, 2011, 07:12:12 am »

Is that ... ASCII!?! Welcome back old friend! I thought you left these forums forever.

Anyway thats a wonderful little story and I much enjoyed reading it. Please do make a page in the Community Story forums if you plan to write more!
INB4: useless crieds of the MAGMA meme.
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Loud Whispers

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Re: The Siege of Gorerape
« Reply #3 on: November 05, 2011, 08:36:55 am »

That was most splendid!

evillevi

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Re: The Siege of Gorerape
« Reply #4 on: November 05, 2011, 09:47:02 am »

I need more. This reminds me of boat murder for some weird reason
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Oaktree

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Re: The Siege of Gorerape
« Reply #5 on: November 05, 2011, 11:16:47 am »

By all means continue.  I was writing up battles and fort developments for a friend who doesn't play DF.
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Lord Dullard

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Re: The Siege of Gorerape
« Reply #6 on: November 05, 2011, 11:28:26 am »

Good story, and I would love to hear the rest! Quick note of constructive criticism, though (which applies only to the writing, not to the story itself, which is very absorbing and interestingly recorded so far) -- you switched tenses from past to present about halfway through. That's REALLY jarring to a reader. But by all means, please continue. It's very good in spite of that.
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King DZA

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Re: The Siege of Gorerape
« Reply #7 on: November 05, 2011, 12:52:38 pm »

Detailed expositions of battles work better with visual aids ;)  But props for writing well!
I would have posted other screenshots of the map during the battles, or at least combat reports, but unfortunately I didn't think to take any during the actual siege, So I figure a screenshot of my basic for fort layout will have to suffice.

Is that ... ASCII!?! Welcome back old friend! I thought you left these forums forever.

Anyway thats a wonderful little story and I much enjoyed reading it. Please do make a page in the Community Story forums if you plan to write more!
INB4: useless crieds of the MAGMA meme.
Oh yeah, hopefully that won't be a problem. I've never used a graphics pack, so sometimes I forget that not everyone sees the game in ASCII.
I suppose I could post the story in it's entirety in Games and Community Stories  board, once I get the second part of it written.

Good story, and I would love to hear the rest! Quick note of constructive criticism, though (which applies only to the writing, not to the story itself, which is very absorbing and interestingly recorded so far) -- you switched tenses from past to present about halfway through. That's REALLY jarring to a reader. But by all means, please continue. It's very good in spite of that.
No worries, I noticed that too. I'll probably go over it in a while and fix that up a bit.

Anyway, seeing as people are actually interested, I'll write the rest once I get the time. Shouldn't be too long.

EDIT: There we go, cleaned up the text a bit. Hopefully it should flow a little better now.
« Last Edit: November 05, 2011, 02:27:34 pm by King DZA »
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Eric Blank

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Re: The Siege of Gorerape
« Reply #8 on: November 05, 2011, 02:09:26 pm »

I would love to hear the rest!
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TDSS02

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Re: The Siege of Gorerape
« Reply #9 on: November 05, 2011, 02:32:57 pm »

Very nice, love a good story.  :)
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Kofthefens

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Re: The Siege of Gorerape
« Reply #10 on: November 05, 2011, 03:54:55 pm »

Is that ... ASCII!?!

Mostly just posting to follow the story, but I am proud that I understand both ASCII and Graphics packs
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Loud Whispers

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Re: The Siege of Gorerape
« Reply #11 on: November 05, 2011, 04:39:25 pm »

If you can't understand ASCII... Get out.... Just get out >:£

King DZA

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Re: The Siege of Gorerape
« Reply #12 on: November 08, 2011, 04:12:04 am »

As promised, the conclusion to the story of Gorerape's encounter with its largest threat to date:

I knew that if this was going to work, I would need the best that Gorerape could offer. For the mission, I chose The Hames of Craft, a squad containing macedwarf and militia commander 'Akil' Akrulducim(Tinworked) the Armored Homage of Fortunes, and swordsdwarf Ezum Dolilmorul(Lockpaged) the Autumnal Bane of Smiths, two of the greatest warriors the fortress has ever seen. Along with The West Galleys, a slightly less amazing squad containing a crippled macedwarf who lost his ability to stand, a total of six dwarves were sent out into the chaos with one goal: Get to the bowgoblins before the markdwarves were forced to give up their position.
The reason I didn't send more was because, in the back of my mind, I knew that this was very likely going to be a suicide mission for all involved, and I didn't want to be left nigh defenseless if the plan failed. Sending out Akil and Ezum on this quest was hard enough, and I didn't want to risk any more lives than was absolutely necessary.
 
The six brave souls charged out of the keep and into the halls of the DeathMaze in what may very well have been the single worst possible way of doing so. What I had hoped for was six brothers(and sisters) in arms, running heroically toward their enemies, covering eachothers backs and leaving no dwarf behind. What occurred was the faster dwarves running out ahead, several tiles apart, while the previously off duty soldiers rushed to get to the surface, and Kel Roldethadil(Anguishwall) the cripple struggled to make it through the first door.
Thankfully, their amazingly crafted iron(and possibly a little bit of imported steel) armor did them well. Many of them made their way through the Bowgoblin guarded corridor, blocking and avoiding the arrows from above with brilliant grace as the marksdwarves used their last remaining bolts to provide minor covering fire. Except for Kel, who had yet to crawl through the innermost wall's entryway.

Upon reaching the eastern section, a couple dwarves made the mistake of going up another nearby ramp, that instead gave access to the first wall, rather than the second, thinning their numbers even more. At this point, the marksdwarves had mostly stopped firing due to lack of ammunition, and one of them, Zulban Melbilbasen(Tomessprayed), who had been taking most of the damage for his comrades, had lost his life as a result of a copper arrow to the throat. About three dwarves had made it onto the proper wall to combat the trolls, and Kel was slowly but surely making progress to join them. Despite their lack of bolts, I kept the marksdwarves stationed to distract most of the goblins fire. Their endurance was waning, but I knew they just needed to stay strong for a little longer.
The few dwarves now standing on top of the second wall spotted their enemy, and charged fearlessly into the cluster of trolls. The beginning of the battle was not promising. Although their courage was immense, the trolls were large and numerous. The dwarves punched and slashed only to be knocked back again and again. And as their allies were being thrown off the wall, or grappled into submission, Something was awakened within a select few of them, and they entered a martial trance.
All of a sudden I began seeing little cyan colored ²'s littering the floor below. To my surprise, I realized that they were not a mass of oddly colored vermin remains, but bits of troll.

The axedwarf Solon Gusilarzes(Copperknighted) had apparently grown tired of the trolls blocking his path, and with his masterwork iron battle axe, began to quite literally tear them out of his way. With the also martially tranced wrestler Asob Stakudtishis(Machinespirals) by his side, dismembered troll corpses began to clutter the wall tops. With a total of nine troll kills between the duo, Solon gained the title "the Heroic Dead", and Asob gained a fractured left upper leg.
Inspired by such prowess, and seeing that this mission now actually had a chance at succeeding, I immediately ordered the remaining melee squads to assist their kin. I wasn't prepared to let such valiant dwarves die alone, it was all or nothing now.

I watched Akil take down a few trolls as the reinforcements bravely ran to their aid, passing Kel, who had somehow snuck past the bowgoblins without injury, and was now only several tiles away from the ramp. Several of the reinforcements made the same mistake of choosing the wrong ramp, and while most of them eventually corrected their mistake and turned back, having to deal only with the pain of embarrassment, one unfortunate militia captain by the name of Sibrek Rungakalath(Skunkbolted) made the fatal decision of going all the way northward, to the point that he stood directly across from the legion of bowgoblins.
Quickly realizing the problems with his decision, he began to turn back, but it was too late. The Bowgoblins unleashed their fury upon Sibrek, shooting him into unconsciousness. Once he was down, the bowgoblins would not relent. Unlike Bim, whose death was similar to that of a quick shooting range execution, Sibrek withstood far more arrows before finally succumbing to his final defeat.

The dwarves that had managed to locate the correct ramp continued mopping up the last of the trolls(a swordsdwarf earning herself a title in the process), it was at this moment that I noticed something that instantly made my newfound confidence and pride revert back to worry and dread. During the initial battle with the trolls, it seemed that Ezum was one of the dwarves that had been knocked off of the wall. The problem was, unlike the rest of her comrades, she had fallen onto the wrong side.
The entryway through the second wall had been shut once the merchants had made it through, forbidding Ezum from climbing back up the eastern ramp to reach the trolls, and while I would not have hesitated to open it for a moment so that she could get through, by the time I noticed she had been separated from her squad, she had already made her way to the only other route back up onto the wall, the northern ramp.

I stared in horror as I saw one of my most prized dwarves standing alone, in the center of the goblin infested northern section, literally right between Nguslu Smoxspuatu and Atu Xamaozud. During most of the siege, Nguslu had been relaxing beside the northern ramp(yet never going up herself), while Atu had only went up every once in a while to fire off a few bolts before descending again. Both of them were accompanied by a few bowgoblins who had chose to hang around with their leaders instead of joining the others on the wall.
I noticed Ezum right before she actually had a chance to make it onto the the wall, but it was too late for her to fall back now. Upon checking the combat reports, I was amazed to see that she had blocked nearly every single arrow that the surrounding bowgoblins had fired at her, the only arrows that she did not block were the two or three that she dodged.

It was then that I was struck with an idea, if Ezum could manage to slay Nguslu the ill armored goblin general, it might prove demoralizing enough to cause the rest of the siege to flee. Ezum had certainly proved herself during past ambushes and sieges, but she was still only one dwarf, and the incredibly slow swordgoblin squad had just began to make it through the DeathMaze's western entryway, and were now heading northward as well. With a heavy heart, I ordered The Hames of Craft to attack Nguslu Smoxspuatu and Atu Xamaozud, Ezum was both close and fast enough that she could make it to either one of them before they had a chance to run, but I felt certain that she would not survive much longer after that.

I was Immediately filled with a sense of despair as I watched Ezum go after the bowgoblins guarding Nguslu, who had started firing at her, despite the fact that she was ordered to kill only Nguslu and Atu. With her Superior quality steel shortsword gripped tightly, she charged at the bowgoblins, cutting them down with impressive ease. Only after she had slayed all of the her guards did she turn toward Nguslu herself, and with the talent of a battle hardened warrior, she killed Nguslu before she could even consider retreating. Not yet satisfied with her rampage, she rushed toward Atu, who had started to run the instant Ezum began to dash toward him, he didn't get far before being forced into combat with Ezum. The elite goblin crossbowman fired two or three copper bolts at point blank range before Ezum ended his life as well, his guards met the same fate shortly afterward.

The dwarves on the wall had finished off the last of the trolls and were now on their way to combat the rest of the bowgoblins, Ezum was fighting off a few more bowgoblins on the ground level, along with a couple swordsgoblins that had finally decided to show up to the fight. Another dwarf, axedwarf Sarvesh Kilrudurrith(Bronzescarred), must have been knocked onto the wrong side of the wall like Ezum while the last of the trolls were being cleaned up, and had started assisting her by attacking the Bowgoblins that were coming down from the wall to fire at her, racking up four kills for himself.

The siege had been broken, and many of the fleeing bowgoblins were killed by the other dwarves before they even had a chance to get off of the wall. Ezum quickly dealt with any that ran past her, And then proceeded to chase after the fleeing swordsgoblins. The spearmaster who had ended the life of Urdim, Asmel, and Ushrir turned back almost as soon as he(or she) entered the DeathMaze. Ezum chased them almost to the edge of the map, taking down a couple more goblins, but eventually failing to catch up to the mysterious spearmaster.
As she made her way back to the fortress, covered in the blood of nearly a dozen enemies, I checked her condition to see how severe her injuries were, she saved Gorerape and its inhabitants from a gruesome defeat, taking more arrows and sword slashes than all of the other melee squads combined, I had no idea what to expect. I pressed the 'w' key, and prepared for the worst...

She was thirsty.


Hope you enjoyed. Like I said, it's not the most amazing battle ever, but it was still very interesting overall.

Stay tuned for bonus info that I'll get around to posting sometime later.
« Last Edit: November 08, 2011, 09:56:09 pm by King DZA »
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Loud Whispers

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Re: The Siege of Gorerape(Pt. 2 posted)
« Reply #13 on: November 08, 2011, 03:07:52 pm »

Quote from: King DZA
She was thirsty

R.I.P



Also, you sir, have just won some internets! Top fort DZA!
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« Last Edit: June 17, 2013, 02:11:52 am by Loud Whispers »
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khearn

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Re: The Siege of Gorerape(Pt. 2 posted)
« Reply #14 on: November 08, 2011, 05:14:57 pm »

Nice story. The screenshot and your descriptions were enough that I could follow the action in my mind. Well done.
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