Let's Play Dwarf Fortress - Skeletal WHAT?!

[Gregness]

Happy birthday wigmund!

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"Overseer! Overseer, They're here!"

Bleary-eyed, I rolled over in my bed to face the messenger. Sadly, I'd almost gotten used to these asscrack of dawn intrusions.

"Wha-? More migrants?"

"No, it's the goblins! Initial reports show one group west-southwest of the main gates:




Another south-southwest of the gates:




And the final group directly to the south:"





I sat up in bed, silently cursing the universe that seemed to conspire to drop crisis after crisis in my lap at the worst times. I was almost sober for Armok's sake! Luckily, I'd had the foresight to ask around discreetly about some of the prior sieges a few weeks back and learned that these little brutes didn't respect the power of precision engineering.

"Order Hawk's squad into the archery tower and put Loyal on the near side of the Great Bridge. Have Bob's squad flank him on either side as backup if he needs it. Let the little bastards have a field day running through the traps at the enterence if they want, but we haven't finished clearing the debris and corpses from the last bunch that wanted to try that so they may just turn back. Either way, we're not losing anyone to these simpletons!"

"And you, Overseer?"

"I am going to get a drink. Actually, make that two. Yeah, this is a two beer problem."



No sooner did I hit the pantry then another messenger ran panting into view

"We ordered all civilians inside as you ordered. It actually turned out to be much simpler than it would otherwise be since most of us are creeped out by that pit that claimed Thadius. We do have a small problem though: apparantly one of the off duty wrestlers was giving his livestock a walk when the goblins appeared almost on top of him."





"Bah, nothing to be done about it. We'll be sure to give him a proper burial after we've broken the siege."

"That's the thing... When word came in about it one of the wrestlers, Sibrek, grabbed a sword after muttering something about needing to 'grab a few things' and took off at a sprint. She's heading right for them!"

I finished my second drink, grabbed a third and ran to the observation tower. What I saw next, I can't even attribute to being too sober.



As Sibrek rushed to her fallen companion's side, she came face to face with the horde which struck him down. She paused momentarily. Tears of grief subtly gave way to tears of rage and she charged.



The goblins sneered with a sadistic glee as their newest victim committed to her suicide run. She slammed headlong into the thick of them, and the goblins piled on, laughing maniacally. I lost sight of Sibrek amidst the roiling goblin bodies. The whole thing reminded me of the pictures of combat in the stories written for children where a chaotic melee is reduced to a dust cloud to save the little ones' innocence a few more precious years. I might have laughed if I weren't watching one of my own being butchered. The melee twisted and writhed for a few tense moments, when suddenly an arm flew through the air, still leaking blood. Next, a leg, another arm, and... an arm?

With a scream of primal fury, Sibrek threw the goblins off her. She was covered in blood; none of it her own.



As if newly awakened, the goblins looked around in shock. Two of their number lay dead at Sibrek's feet, two more unconscious and bleeding near fatal wounds, one flying towards the nearby hill, driven by a titanic blow from Sibrek, and Sibrek herself with murder in her eyes.

They broke.



Sibrek had no thought of mercy.

She caught up with one goblin who barely had time to turn around before she was upon him. She saw the next was in full flight and closed the gap with superdwarven speed. Her first shot was probably a mortal wound:



But she didn't stop at one shot.


As the rest of the goblins ran to the hills, Sibrek took a breath and slowly staggered back to the fort. Not from any injury; she was untouched. She was simply exhausted.