Rebuilding Science in a Magic World

For a full day, we prepared for the arrival of an army.  Goblins were told to be ready at a moments notice to flee to the pavilion basement.  There, if either Zeb or I survive, we can at least attempt an escape into the sewers if the worst comes to be.  The other escape tunnel, while long, hasn't breached the surface for escape yet, and trying to run over a hundred goblins down that tunnel might not work well.

All the gates are barricaded and reinforced, and plenty of ammo has been lined up for the siege engines.  I've instructed goblins on how to operate them when the time comes, so hopefully we won't have any mishaps.  For good measure, food was moved to be stored underground, and extra water was collected in buckets and kept with the food.  The real concern, though, is magical attacks from the enemy.  I have no idea what to expect.  If they have anything very long range, that could be a problem.

It didn't take long for the army to reach our village.  On the dawn of the day after Shasta set out, the army exited the forest a little over a hundred feet from our walls.  It was comprised entirely of dwarves, which makes sense considering the eagles seem to be most important to them.  I didn't, however, spot Shasta, Katarko, or Ambella.

The dwarves seem to have done some scouting in the night, and picked the area they thought would be the easiest to assault the village from.  In the uphill direction of the village is both our water source, and has the closest tree line to the city wall.

Initially, a group of about fifty stormed towards the wall.  We fired ballistae on the group, killing a few as they approached.  The trebuchet launched a boulder at the dwarves further back, but they easily sidestepped the high arcing rock.  Once the dwarves got to the wall, I wasn't sure what I should expect, as goblins tossed spears down at the well armored dwarves.  Soon though, I found out what they were attempting.  A few dwarves put their hands to the wall, and sections started to form into balls and roll out from the wall itself.

They were attempting to dismantle the wall!  Unacceptable!  I built that wall with a lot of effort!  I shouted to Zeb to start stone shaping the wall from the inside to repair it while we attempted to stop them.  A second round of ballistae took out a few of the dwarves from the back of the group, but aiming directly down the wall wasn't planned, so the dwarves attempting to dismantle the wall directly were safe from that.

Well, it was time for plan B.  Two of us could dismantle the wall.  I cleared the goblins from on top of the wall section, and stone shaped a large chunk from atop the wall to collapse forward onto the dwarves.  About half of the group casting the magic on the wall were unable to escape the large falling chunk, and were killed.  The others who were casting magic retreated while the remaining group of dwarves attempted to scale the damaged wall section.

Stone is my specialty, and I'd like to think it's mine more than the dwarves.  As the wall was slowly being repaired by Zeb, a few dwarves began climbing up, only to be impaled through their helmets by my earth spikes.  A second group also attempted to climb before the wall was too repaired, only to meet the same fate.  After the second group was halted, a third round of the ballistae fired off, killing a few more of the dwarves in the group, and they began their retreat into the tree line.  Lucky for me, because those three actions used most of my mana.

As they retreated, I also ran back to the bathhouse to charge my mana.  By the time I had recharged, the stream had run dry.  I figured that might happen.  It seems they have decided to halt our water for the time being.  The wall, while not fully repaired, was at least functionally reinforced for now.  Zeb traded spaces with me, as he returned to charge his mana.

After a short time, two groups of around 100 began moving on the wall, and a group of fifty began moving towards the gate on this side.  The gate was honestly the most reinforced section of the whole wall at this point, so the group of fifty was given the least concern.  However, knowing how much damage these mages could potentially do, I decided to use one of our five magic steam cannon shots.  The ballistae focused on the group moving to one side, while I focused on the group moving towards the already damaged section.  The regular steam cannon had been lit, and was building pressure, but it wouldn't be ready for a little while yet.

I gave a loud shout, indicating I was going to fire, then dumped my mana into the chamber.  For the upteenth time now, my hearing went out, but I'm at least no longer disoriented by the blast.  With my mana gone, there wasn't time for me to go observe what had happened, I had to rush to the bathhouse again.

Zeb was about half-way charged when I entered.  It was honestly quite the odd experience lowering myself into a bath while a huge battle going on outside.  Before long though, I could tell something must have happened, because my hearing started to return, and it was clear that something beyond the steam cannon had happened.  Zeb was the first to leave the bath, and I felt myself growing anxious hearing the sounds of battle while waiting for my mana to recharge.

When I finally was full on mana and exited the bath, I saw that the wall had been breached by the group of 100 that I hadn't fired the cannon at.  Surrounding the breach there were goblins and dwarves fighting, some by mundane means, and some with magic.  The hole itself wasn't actually that large, so only a few dwarves could get in at a time, but nevertheless there were many dead individuals from both sides on this side of the wall.

Not wanting to let things get further out of hand, I rushed back up to the steam cannon, and readied a new magic shot to fire through the gap in the wall at the dwarves that were attempting to breach.  This time, instead of returning to charge my mana, I started aiming the non-magical steam cannon as well.  Once the first steam cloud had cleared, and I could see the carnage left by the first shot, I noted a marked decrease in enthusiasm from the dwarves trying to push through the hole.

I didn't want to risk them pushing further, or rallying, so I fired again into the invading group.  This time, it drove the dwarves to retreat.  When I looked over the damage from that skirmish, I saw that the wall had been breached on this side, and the gate had been broken.  However, the stone behind the gate was left alone.  From short discussions with goblins, the first army that got hit with the steam cannon moved over and joined the dwarves attempting to break the door, then both of those groups joined the third group when they breached the wall.

We lost about fifteen goblins in that fight, and Zeb was minorly injured while attempting to repair the wall.  In a few short hours, this is where everything is at.  A damaged wall, fifteen dead goblins, and around fifty dead dwarves.  Among those dead on our side, it seems that the dwarves have some nasty close range magic attacks of their own.  A few of the goblins were seemingly pancaked between two plates of stone that rose from the ground.

While the siege on this side was happening, a small defensive position has been built along the tree line by the dwarves.  Their wall is also made of stone, which is probably to protect them from any of the cannon shots or other siege engine attacks.  As their army regrouped, our side began hasty repairs of the walls again.  Given the loss rate up until that point, there was a chance we could at least repel them enough that siege would be impossible.  However, as time dragged on, it became apparent that their initial attacks were simply probing our defenses.

After an hour or so, their army began forming up again, this time in full force.  There would be no recovery if this army breaches the walls.  As I watched the army form up into regiments, a final spark of inspiration struck me.  I dashed out towards the civilian houses, giving them the warning to take shelter in the pavilion basement, and opened the path to the sewers.  If things go south, at least they can hopefully flee.  As they each left their own basements, I collected a little of what I needed from each house.