Blowbridges The Impregnable

Early in its life, Blowbridges was the target of goblin raiders. They attacked in large numbers and in waves, so to make sure my dwarves would get to see another winter, I had to build with defense in mind.

Part 1: Bridges And Towers

My base idea for defensive design involves simply building a moat with a rising bridge. It's an effective way to keep the attackers out, if you manage to raise the bridge in time, but it does have a few drawbacks. Namely, while your attackers are stuck outside, you're stuck inside. What's worse, any dwarves that didn't hear the alarm in time and got stuck on the wrong side are likely to get hunted down and killed.

Still, as an early defense system, you could do worse.

For Blowbridges, I decided to expand on the idea: I built a tower that had two moat-level bridges on either side of it, and then another tower across from it with a bridge that connected the two at the very top level. That way, when goblins attacked, I would sound the alarm and then all the dwarves would come running through the moat-level bridge. When the goblins got too close, I would raise them, forcing everyone that didn't make it to detour back to the second tower.

For the late dwarves, this was a life-saver. It allowed them a second chance to survive, and the detour the goblins had to take would allow me to get my military in place. When the goblins came climbing up the tower, at the top they would find my soldiers waiting for them, and in the cramped space would almost always be defeated. If things looked too grim, I could always retract the bridge on which they fought, ensuring that no one got through. I might lose a few dwarves in the process, but that's hardly a new problem.

This strategy led to the fewest losses I've ever had from goblin ambushes.

Part 2: The Great Wall Of Blowbridges

As great as it was to have a good defense plan to fall back on, the ambushes were still a problem as they grew in frequency and violence. Dwarves working on faraway projects might get cut-off when the alarm was sounded, or others might get interrupted by wandering Cyclops and other beasts. It was clear a solution was needed.

Thus began the construction of the Great Wall of Blowbridges. The land surrounding the two towers and the masoleum was slowly surrounded by a two-level tall wall of chalk and granite, taking up all my spare stone, forcing me to start strip-mining to get enough resources. It was massively long, and in many places the goblins were able to climb through where the land hadn't been properly flattened.

Despite a couple of ambushes, I was able to get it completed in time. A moat was dug, a bridge built, and two guard towers with barracks erected. Horses were placed at the entrance to ensure no creature could sneak past without alerting everyone.

It was about this time I discovered the strangest thing:

A bloody cape.

The bloodiest cape. Was this a rag that was used for cleaning? Or maybe it was an omen of things to come?

Part 3: A Sword In Between

With the wall erected, the dwarves couldn't really expand outwards anymore. The hunters still journeyed forth, but we no longer suffered from surprise attacks. The goblin invasions were done.

So they dug down.

The deep caverns contained many strange and wonderful beasts, some less friendly than others, but nothing was as strange as the mysterious temple we discovered.

Naturally, I sent the military in before the civilians. It turned out to be full of zombies! Zombie Snailmen, zombie Tigermen, but nothing my military couldn't handle. In fact, some of my military even developed fighting tactics based on how the zombies fought!

Eventually, reaching the bottom floor, we found the strangest thing: an adamantium shortsword sticking out of the ground beside a blowing portion of the floor.

Naturally, we pulled it out.

And that was Blowbridges.

The glowing spot on the floor stopped glowing immediately and a portal opened up. Demons poured forth by the hundreds. The Mayor was the first to go as he was the one to pull the sword, and the rest of my military fell inside that dread temple, fighting off the unending hordes.

There were several contingency plans in place to prevent the demons from reaching the main fortress, but all of them were in vain. Doors were smashed, open spaces were flown over, traps were ignored... the demons hunted down the dwarves down to the last.

And so sits the Blowbridges, a massive, nigh-impregnable fortress, destroyed from within, home now only to ghosts and something far more sinister...