Part 244: Pozzo: Update 10

UPDATE 10: THE ONSLAUGHT OF WRATH

It was the Spawn again. A force of similar size, 48 spawn in 3 groups.



They enter our borders at the east, northeast, & northwest.



Two of the groups are lead by howling, snorting guards named Ozud and Quothest. The third group, to the east is lead by a spawn named Menacedcrafts.
Menacedcrafts is the spawn leading the attack.
Menacedcrafts is already covered in vomit and blood and gore, crusted on all about his person.
Menacedcrafts wears a dwarf bone bracelet.

Menacedcrafts has been at Syrupleaf before.



Menacedcraft is going down.

All work orders are cancelled and the fort is ordered on to ballista duty only.



Bobbzo conducts another meeting on his own, and JosephWongKS decides now he should go shopping, but all other dwarves race out to man the ballistae.

The caravan from Inod Lir rides in to the Bonehoard towards the trade depot, blissfully unaware.



Immediately on arrival, all three groups of spawn sprint off towards the fort. The change of pace from our last attackers is much appreciated.

Dwarves start sprinting into the battery. Cannonfodder and rabbitmonger get there first, followed by Pozzo, Fable, and Kilohurtz. MysticalHaberdasher mans the lever room.



Two ballistae are still waiting for operators, Bobzzo concludes his meeting and runs to man one of them. Rotinaj has decided to go shopping as well.

The Spawn continue to rush towards our doors. Ozud and Quothests groups are running directly to the bonehoard, but Menacedcrafts is taking her squad south for some reason.



Eventually they too turn and charge towards the battery, and it looks as though alll three groups will arrive at the roughly the same time.

4 breakaways from Ozuds group arrive first, half a minute ahead of Quothtest and his group. They line up with kilohurtz's ballista, and so she lets fly.



Her arrow veers right, smashing into the wall next to the fortifications, destroyed.
"Ha ha...woops." She says, as Bobzzo runs panting into the battery to head for his ballista, locking the doors behind him. Pozzo is the next closest to line up with them and so he lets fly.



His arrow flies out to the left, missing all 4 spawn as rabbitmonger and cannonfodder decide they don't like being so close to the action and run away. Meanwhile Bobzzo has taken up position at the ballista next to kilohurtz's that lines up with them perfectly. He cries "EAT THIS YOU BLOODY GAPE-FACES!" and hits his bow release.



His arrow flies forth elegantly ploughing in to the right shoulder of one of the Spawn, decapitating and dismembering it. The three remaining spawn run forward into the bone hoard, passing through   MACHINE X . "Let the buggers through, we'll save it for the main group!" cries Bobzzo to MysticalHaberdasher. The three spawn pass through unharmed. In the meantime, Quothest and his group are nearly at the ballista rise, with most of the operators still wandering around flustered by the first set of spawn.



Menacedcrafts and his group are only about 100 metres behind them, and the rest of Ozuds group is just rounding the magma cap and chasm about 100 metres behind them.

Inside the three Spawn who made it past the ballista are just about to pass by the FebrezeNinja Memorial  MOLENAROK  Cage.



The Pressure-activated Molenarok cage.

Which does not fire because Spawn are miraculously weightless. Fuck.

_{ooc: Yeah forgot about that damn [TRAPAVOID]. Fuck. I was all because no else had thought of this and now I remember why. CURSE YOU VOX NIHILI YOU SCHEMING RASCAL}

They run over the plate, bypass the Caravan, still unloading at our trade depot, and head for the barracks, where Pimpmust and Chance II are sparring. The Caravan guards come charging out to help not realising the unnecessariness of their actions, as Pimpmust charges the three spawn.



Outside, the main body of Quothests group are mounting the rise, and the operators are finally heading back to the ballistae. But will they get back to the engines to fire before they get spooked again?

YES! Kilohurtz runs forward and hits the release on the 3rd ballista. The steel tipped arrow flies forth. IT misfires heavily to the right but this could work in her favour as most of the spawn are to the right of her ballista. Cannonfodder runs forward to ballista #4 and fires its larch arrow forward at the approaching spawn, the arrow flying forth perfectly straight.



Kilohurtzs arrow manages to find the only gap in the large group of spawn and fly through it. Cannonfodder however...



Well that brilliant arrow ploughs right into a row of 5 spawn and passes through 4 of them before disintegrating. The first spawn is flung into the air, the second is hit right in the chest maw and dies instantly, a third is hit mid leap and loses both his legs and the fourth gets hit with the disintegrated arrow splinters and explodes into little Spawn pieces. "Ah hah ha! That's the spirit my boy! Bloody good show! Have a field promotion! You're Hero of the Battery!" cries Bobzzo triumphantly, coming back from holding another meeting.

Meanwhile, inside, two of the spawn are ripping apart a defenceless puppy while the third runs at Pimpmust.



But Pimpmust just bats that spawn aside into the approaching caravan guards and goes to save the puppy.

The guards then split into two groups, one with pimpmust and one after the other Spawn, and the spawn are taken apart at the cost of a few serious injuries.

Meanwhile, the ballista arrow has confused the Spawn sufficiently that they are just standing out on the range not knowing what to do next. This helpfully give ours operators time to reload the ballistae with our last few arrows. Menacedcraft and his group are coming up fast though and about to join their comrades out on the ballista run. Cannonfodder is frantically reloading his ballista at the front of the battery.



Kilohurtz is doing the same slightly behind him.
Cannonfodder loads his ballista and fires immediately. He is not so lucky this time and his arrow flies out wide to the north. Kilohurtz keeps struggling to launch as Rabbitmonger gets spooked from Ballista #1 and runs to the back of the battery. Fable fires his arrow from ballista #2 before he too gets too spooked as well, and his arrow speeds forth knocking a Spawn from the rise. Kilohurtz finally gets her arrow loaded and fires...



The arrow flies straight, slicing clean through Cannonfodders shoulder and severing his arm, and sending him spinning up in the air and off across the room where he lands hard on Fables ballista, falling immediately unconscious.

The arrow itself at least flies right into the stomach of another spawn, killing it instantly.
"Litast" whispers Bobzzo, but then he suddenly realises how close the large group of Spawn are getting. "PRIME THE DONKAPULT, LAD!!! BEFORE ITS TOO LATE!" he roars at MysticalHaberdasher. Mystical does as he is told and pulls the lever to release the cage in   MACHINE Y .



35 Massive war donkeys spew forth from the tiny cage, spilling out on to the DONKAPULT, as the spawn round the corner. "FIRE!" roars Bobzzo.



The donkeys don't give a shit about what Bobzzo thinks though, and the whole herd of them gallop off the bridge towards the Spawn before the catapult mechanism even releases.

A heated battled ensues, misshapen dwarf against misshapen donkey.



Spawn and Donkey fight for their lives, and few keep them. The sounds of ripping flesh and frantic Hee-hawing echo through the halls. Somewhere in there, the Donkeys claim the life of Quothest, the leader. The battle rages intensely but briefly, and in the end the spawn break through, pouring through   MACHINE X  towards the  MOLENAROK  cage. "PULL THE BLOODY MOLE LEVER!" cries Bobzzo.

The spawn engage with some more stray war donkeys around the  MOLENAROK  cage and plate, as the caravan guards run forth to join the fray. StrangeMatter runs to activate   MOLENAROK.  .



All four of our champions are in the barracks but the sounds of battle coming from 20 metres away does little to dissuade them from sparring.

The final group of spawn are about to mount the rise, and the ballista operators aren't going to do shit about it because there is a wounded spawn sitting right up by the fortifications bleeding out and worrying them all.



Meanwhile the Caravan guards are doing a good job of beating the shit out of the spawn, which is different.



They are holding their own, and accompanied by the wounding the first wave of donkeys gave the spawn, and the second weave of donkeys heehawing around them and biting the spawn left and right, they are managing to keep the Spawn at bay!



But quite sinister is this Caravan Maceman who is running amok in our halls.
What the hell is this maceman doing by Siroccos lever of mystery, killing our moles?



But the heated battle takes precedence and the guard will have to wait.
The guards have finally caved under the pressure of the spawn and were slaughtered, and with the fall of the last of the donkeys, the spawn start running, limping, crawling and dragging themselves after the fleeing merchants.

But several thing happen at once, which mean the merchants might yet live.



First, Strange Matter is almost at the  MOLENAROK  lever, about to release an explosion of war dogs, moles, cats and one mammoth right into the middle of the group of Spawn.

Second, Chance II has finally got aggravated enough about the noise and is coming out to box their ears.

But things go immediately awry. StrangeMatter gets within one step of the lever and then decides...



Bedtime.

_{OOC: I'm not kidding either. Literally a step. That bastard. Somebody's got a date with the chasm.}