The Rabble Siege of Winter 1056

Alegate faces a different kind of invader.

In the winter of 253, The Roc attacked a dark pit along the Gory Handle River. The Roc killed every goblin in the pit. The terrible story of what the Roc did to the goblin Drabdemon before it killed her is legendary. When The Roc ran out of people to kill, it destroyed the homes they had built.

This pit — Mirrorcurses — was left an open grave for eight centuries.

In 1050, a band of 47 malcontents from Quickghouls set out to reclaim Mirrorcurses. They spent the next six years living a rugged frontier life, rebuilding in the muck at the bend in the Gory Handle.

During that time, they watched armies from larger settlements march north to sack the dwarven lands. Each army was seen passing south a few months later, a battered remnant of what it once was.

The 47 frontier-goblins of Mirrorcurses knew they were more rugged than the city-folk. Enough armor had been pulled from the muck to outfit three of them. Seven of the goblins had crossbows for hunting.

The goblins of Mirrorcurses hatched a plan. All 47 of them would go north. They would take their equipment and frontier-bred toughness. They would trade their wretched pit for a fine dwarf fortress, filled with gold and jewels.

When the band of 47 goblins arrived from the southwest, Alegate’s archers crowded into the barbican tower. Alegate’s rangers were called from their regular work, and took positions in the south tower. The gates and hatches were sealed. A crew was sent to the barbican catapult.

A winter attack on Alegate was a rare thing, but the military was ready. All the defenders, even the archers and rangers, wore complete suits of armor. Most of this armor was fine dwarven steel. Some of the armor pieces were yellow bronze or gray iron, but all of it was sturdy.

Over this armor they wore long cloaks of leather. Many had been made from the hide of the giant bat, or a forgotten beast, or some other monster from the deep.

The enemy force that came from the forest was a rabble. Three of them were armored; one axegoblin and two hammergoblins. Seven had crossbows. The rest looked like common folk. But they were all rushing the gate, and clearly were not friendly.

This is what we know about Maligntwinkle, one of the crossbowgoblins of Mirrorcurses. His many murders of fellow citizens have earned him the title “Present Fist of Thinning”.

Once the mob of invaders were in the cleared area around the moat, Alegate’s projectiles were launched. A sparkling quartzite boulder arced through the air. The enemies were too scattered, though, and it fell with a harmless thud.

Alegate’s bolts, however, took a heavy toll. Many lightly armored invaders were pierced.

One group of invaders split off from the rest, and circled west to a place near the wall where the moat was still very narrow. The defending archers could not shoot at that spot.

One of the goblins, a barkeep named Inchdoomed, leapt across the narrow gap, thinking to climb the barbican wall. She lost her grip and slipped into the lava with a splash. New grass had grown through the ashes of the spring conflagration. A new brushfire began.

Alegate archers continue to send bolts through blood-reddened shooting slits while smoke rises from a new grass fire.

The frontier-goblins began to flee from the bolts, the flying quartzite, and the spreading fire.

The retreat. Many were wounded by bolts, and reduced to crawling (brown squares.) Some were queasy from wounds (green x.)

The grass fire spreads.

A group of survivors climb the west ridge to escape the fire. This group included all three armored goblins (two hammergoblins in purple and the axegoblin in blue.) Armor really pays off against crossbows. Also with this group are a few crossbowgoblins (green.)

Forty three goblins survived the trip back to Mirrorcurses. The barkeep had burned. Three had bled out from bolt wounds: blacksmith Dungeonlung, farmer Troublemonster, and stoneworker Stoneclenched.