Ducimmonag 4 - The Second Invasion

Opal, Year 251

I have ordered the rapid production of shale blocks in the cavern layer. If we can construct some manner of defense above ground we will be able to set aside the ever-looming threat of necromantic invasion and work on the improvement of the fortress. I have begun to draw up plans for the new, far grander fortress we will construct below. If only a new wave of migrants would arrive. Perhaps the merchants scared them away with tales of the desolation following the dark zombie Semthab's rampage.

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Obsidian, Year 251

It seems there is no rest for the weary. Just as I had begun to hope that we would finally recover we are once again besieged by those unholy creations, pawns of their malevolent masters in the necromancer's tower to the north.

An immense horde of them streamed up the hill towards us. In total 52 of them had arrived to besiege us. Roughly half were simple goblin zombies, but the other half were dark zombies, with mixed origins from human to magpieman to grasshopperwoman. It only took one of those beings to decimate this forterss the last time, how will we ever repulse them?

Even worse, one of the human dark zombies appears to be an axelord, possessing legendary skill. Our soldiers could never hope to take on such a foe.

The dark zombies who seem more intelligent than their rotting goblin counterparts took up camp around the entrance to our fortress while the rest scoured the landscape slaughtering every living thing they could find. With the entrance locked and every dwarf below ground we are safe for the time being. I will have to come up with some plan to drive them away, for if we are cut off from the rest of the world by this siege we can't receive merchants or migrants and our fort will wither away. That is, if they don't find some way inside in the meantime.

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Slate, Year 252

Preparations or the coming battle are under way. I will not make the same mistakes as my ancestor and send unskilled, unsupported soldiers to their deaths. Especially not against such overwhelming numbers. Despite the enemies above us life seems to continue. A shale quern artifact was created by Zuttan. It is more elaborate than our previous artifact, a true masterpiece. It menaces with spikes of eagle leather and marble and depicts an elf being killed by a vile ogre in the White Fields 160 years ago.

Another fortuitous event has occurred, as our first child has been born in the fort.

Now the time has finally come to strike back against those foul abominations who have brought us such ruin.

Over the course of the last four months we have been toiling away at a colossal trap with which we will dispose of the invaders. The invaders will stream down the ramps at the right side through the cage traps implemented above and encounter the masses of cage traps and weapon traps armed with wooden spikes along the main hallway. At each side of the path are deep pits, and the hope is that the zombies will dodge teh weapon traps and fall to their deaths. Near the stairway at the far left the Cobalt Tribes will be stationed to deal with any stragglers who make it through.

The Cobalt Tribes now number six and are far more skilled and better equipped, armored as they are in our best copper mail.

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Felsite, Year 252

The battle began with brave Lorbam Tulunsulon taking it upon himself to mine out the ramp allowing the undead to enter the trapped hallway.

Soon the undead were streaming into the hallway, charging towards the openings from all across the surface. Their first wave entered the hallway and was captured in the cages. As zombie after zombie flooded into the hallway I realized my mistake. The cage traps were efficiently dealing with the attackers, but the spike traps were having little effect. With none of those how originally fought the zombies in the previous siege still alive, we had no one with direct experience. If we had we might have realized that the spikes were extremely ineffective, as their piercing attacks had little effect. Only crushing, bludgeoning force can slay a zombie. 

One zombie was killed by the traps, many were captured, and several fell into the pit, but still they attacked and several goblin zombies reached the Cobalt tribes. Luckily I was correct in my assumption that the regular undead would be far weaker, and they were quickly dispatched by our soldiers. At this point all the intelligent dark zombie that could fled, leaving the walking goblin corpses to meander in bewildered directionless circles.

The Cobalt Tribes quickly ran to the bottom of the pit to engage an injured fallen Dark zombie before it could recover and escape. Despite the far increased quality of our troops and the six to one odds it was a brutal melee. Finally the zombie was slain, but one dwarf was seriously injured and another stumbled only a few paces before collapsing dead. A magpieman skeleton charged in and was easily dispatched, but otherwise the remaining leaderless undead seemed content to meander about the surface. With the Cobalt Tribes injured as they are I ordered that the finishing off of the siege be postponed until replacements could be trained, and we once more sealed the fortress.

On the whole I count this as a crushing victory., as the majority of the undead force has been slain, captured, or routed. This proves that these monsters can be killed, can be beaten. Workdrilled will not be defeated.