Journal of Boing Dalkamzefon
28th Felsite

The greenskins came in numbers and in force. I was not present, yet I heard the sounds of battle from the surface above. Kaboom Dragoon, who watched from the ramparts, related it to me after the fact. I trust the account as his memory is excellent.



They came under cover of stealth, and were noticed only by the time the first of their number were already on our doorstep. Apocadall sounded the alarm, and made cry for the drawbridge to be shut as the militia moved with haste for the gatehouse.



It seems they came prepared, for they contrived to ride on all manner of monstrous beasts.



Kaboom Dragoon had given them names but I could not remember when he talked about them later. While the greenskins' armour was ragged and mismatched - an unsettling patchwork of leather, iron, copper and bronze - they moved as one whole, wielding maces of dull metal with maniacal ill-intent. Their leader rode upon the largest of the beasts, her deformed and evil features hidden behind a mass of crimson hair, a powerful crossbow hefted precariously in her hands. They charged forward, to the sound of the drawbridge mechanisms rumbling and whirring beneath the earth.



But the two that were already within Gemclod's walls had sighted our warriors. These two rode on great toothed worms with thousands of legs, screaming forward once the alarm had been given. The horse at the bridge was the first to fall - chained, it had no escape, and was torn limb from limb by the worm-beasts as its riders bludgeoned it until nothing resembling a horse remained.



Sejs Cube launched a bolt toward the gruesome attackers, which went wide - clattering against the wall of the gatehouse and alerting them to the approaching militia. Turning their mounts away from the horse, the greenskins moved in, meeting Minty's charge head-on.



Minty's prowess with the axe was already legendary among the dwarves of Gemclod, but his hands were empty save for the steel shield he carried - colliding with the first of the mounted attackers, he raised it to deflect the strike of a copper mace, and swinging it round to deliver a crunching blow to the guts of the worm-beast before him. Though safe behind the shield, he could not withstand the monster's charge, and fell backward to the ground in a crash of steel and beard. The beast reared, and its rider once again struck at Minty, who had more than enough strength to glance the mace blows off his shield even while on his back.



Our hero pulled himself to his feet just in time to absorb the charge of the second invader, while Apocadall pulled around the east flank and Enzer joined him for support. Enzer leapt over Minty in a single bound, raising her own shield to deflect a mace-blow and severing her attacker's weapon arm with a single stroke of her axe. Copper clattered to the ground as goblin blood sprayed wet the rough stone floor.



As the other dwarves met the battle, the greenskins found themselves outnumbered and the melee turned to a brief clash of iron, steel, flesh and blood, before Teledahn's axe found its mark and cleaved a rider cleanly in half. Viscera spilled out and was sent arcing in all directions, even while the riderless worm-beast struggled and writhed to lash out as it was surrounded on all sides. Our warriors' defensive prowess was too great - Minty by now was back on his feet, pushing them back with his shield, while Enzer and Teledahn weaved and dodged, hacking open the monsters' bodies with dwarven steel. Nimby leapt at one of the beasts from behind, slamming it in the head with her warhammer, though the creature's skull was too thick to be put down then and there.



Cythereal forced one of the monsters to the ground and stood over it, lashing ferociously, while the others moved in for the kill.



But while Cholfo attempted to force the remaining goblin off his mount, the other worm-beast pounced and latched onto his leg from behind, tearing through his chain leggings and ripping into the bone underneath. Esme rescues him, putting his sword through the monster's skull and stilling it once and for all. Minty's dog latches on to the goblin's leg as well, but is knocked sideways by the blow of a silver morningstar, and struggles for breath just as Teledahn cleaves the goblin in half with another fell stroke.



Before the rider hits the ground, the second wave arrives - two more mounted greenskins, one sweeping in on a giant bat and another on some grotesque beaked monster whose form evidently defies explanation. The bat takes a shot to the leg from Repelex's crossbow, and takes off upwards with a screech of horrible pain, circling the ramparts and leaving the other goblin to face our warriors alone.



While the rest of the fighters attempt to finish off the worm-monster, Minty's dog charges the lone goblin invader, injured and breathless but with its tenacity intact. Cholo follows, wavering on his mangled leg but eager for more blood.



Finally, the steel bridge slams shut with terrifying force, crushing nobody but sending Minty's dog arcing through the air, over the moat and left to the outside invaders. The monster rider, now trapped within our walls, desperately raises his mace for a final charge.



He receives no aid from the bat-rider, whose mount had passed out from pain on top of the walls of the gatehouse. Kaboom Dragoon informs me that the sight of the greenskin desperately attempting to whip the bat into movement was amusing indeed. The worm-beast was still breathing but resembling almost nothing of its former self, torn as it was nearly from side to side, gouting blood from its severed tail, spraying vomit from its mangled mouth and writhing in pain as the dwarven warriors continued to hack and hammer at it with almost sadistic dutifulness.



Only Cholfo faced the lone invader. He raised his shield to block at the goblin's mace strike, but was not quick enough to defend himself as the mace swung back around and crashed into his right leg, with a sickening crack of metal on bone. Both his legs now mangled apart, Cholfo crumpled to the floor, unable to defend himself from the next strike that jammed his collarbone into the muscles of his right arm. Cholfo's cry of agonising pain was not sufficient to force the others to his aid, for they prioritised still the beating of the wriggling and bloody worm-monster. Cholfo, lying on his side feebly attempts to strike at the goblin with his shield, but leaves an opening that allows the greenskin to move around and strike him in the back, apparently severing his upper spine. The steel shield clatters uselessly to the floor as Cholfo gasps for breath.



The beaked monster latches on to Cholfo's leg, and perhaps mercifully he does not feel it tear his leg from its socket, spitting it to one side with a bloodcurdling shriek. Behind them, Cythereal silences the worm-beast once and for all with a thunderous whipcrack that pierces the monster's brain, ending its life.



Redeye Flight is the first to assist Cholfo, arriving with steel axe in hand, hacking into the goblin's lower back, but failing to do more than superficial damage through bronze armour as the invader raises his mace, screeching in its horrible tongue, continuing to beat down Cholfo even as he gurgles for mercy. The beaked monster bears down on him, but Cholfo takes the opportunity to headbutt it with one of the last remaining ounces of his strength, though it seems unfazed. Redeye Flight tears at the monster with his axe, while Esme joins him and attacks the rider, slicing off the goblin's shield arm from behind with a faultless slice of his glistening sword. Even with only one remaining arm, and quickly losing blood, the greenskin is tenacious and does not cease in pummelling Cholfo with shrieked cries of utter hatred.



Eventually, however, it is the monster that finishes Cholfo, pinning one shoulder to the floor and ripping off the rest of his body below the waist. The heroic warrior returns to the earth and feels pain no more.

Now surrounded, the goblin is pierced through from behind by Esme's sword and struggles for breath, swinging his mace in a wild panic. Apocadall follows up with a hammer-strike to its guts, sending frothy vomit spurting uncontrollably from its hideous throat and causing it almost to lose balance and fall off its monstrous mount. The beaked monster, too, begins to be torn apart by our warriors, who are relentless in their assault and ruthless in their vengeance.



It makes a desperate bid for freedom, attempting to escape further into our gatehouse and into the fortress proper - its rider able to do nothing but hold on as vomit pours from his maw onto the creature's back. But it is too slow, and forced to the ground by axe-stroke after axe-stroke, where it passes out from pain and leaves its helpless rider to fall to our blades. It is not long before both are silenced.

TO BE CONTINUED

Burgomaster wrote :-

Minty, Enzer, and Cholfo at the Fightbattle of Killing, 28th of Felsite.