Another Forgotten Beast Arrives!!

Coming in from the east through the underground cavern system, a great eyeless tapir arrived. It was massive, with a knobby shell & skill which undulated. It also oozed poisonous vapors. It was known as Dunem Mobmubazsa Doto Kulur, The Mirrors of Night. It wondered around before the closed doors the dwarves had earlier erected to help block incoming monsters before casually smashing them open. The mechanics rushed to get cage traps installed but were too late & scattered before the massive (and almost cute looking) beast.

Members of The Short Sabres rushed to action. The squad that was nearly decimated by the earlier Eel knew well the terror they faced & were reluctant to go alone. But the new militia commander, Shorest knew well the error her predecessor made. Though these beasts are strong, against even poor iron & obsidian weapons they fall without much difficulty. So why flood the area with fresh dwarf bodies to die to the poison vapors when a few "volunteers" will likely do the trick.

So with that in mind, Shorest sent off The Short Sabres to face the creature.

They arrived right as a couple mechanics were fleeing in terror, having abandoned their cage traps. Minkot Niraldomas, the Militia Captain of the squad was first to land a blow, coming around a corner & supprising the creature, he avoided the poison fumes & managed to crack the outer shell & damage the lower body. Behind him were two fresh recruits who joined in, landing blows on the front legs.

The good luck ended there. The beast belched forth more poison, quickly enveloping Minkot causing the Captain to fall unconscious, with wounds to all his body. Then the beast turned to the two recruits who had both continued to damage it & it quickly struck down one of them, ripping the poor dwarf apart.

At this time the rest of the squad was arriving & the sound of battle filled the cavern.

At first it started well. The beast took many wounds. But none seemed to stop it. It's poison belched all over the squad members. There inexperience as sworddwarves did not help them. They did manage to mangle part of the beast, but in the end, they all succumbed to the beast. The last, squad leader Minkot, managing to get a deep lower body wound in, before he finally was struck down. Shorest's plan was all for not due to the inexperience of the first dwarves.

Then the beast continued on & found the mine workers who were working on some Iron veins that ran through the cavern system. The call was placed, all civilians retreat to the fortress. Shorest was still reluctent to send the full Militia down. So she called on The Gloved Chances. Hoping their performance would be better then their last failed attack on a forgotten beast.

The Gloved Chances arrived & the beast immediately closed with the lead two dwarves. They got a couple shots off before being overwhelmed by the beast's stink. However, the beast, wounded as it was continued to mill about the first two dwarves, poisoning them, but not finishing the kill. And another 3 dwarves stayed at range, firing bolt after bolt at the beast. The Mirrors of Night eventually finished of the first two dwarves & moved on to another two. But at the same time the rest of the squad arrived, firing more bolts into it continuing to rack up the injury count on the creature. Until eventually Marksdwarf Asob Solonalath got a shot through & with a great roar the beast finally fell. The sounds of battle ended and the cavern system returned to it's eerily quite self.

The death toll was great. 4 dwarves from The Short Sabres and another 3 confirmed dead from The Gloved Chances & 2 more suffering the insidious poison which would likely be a death sentence. However, compared to the earlier beast, it was much better.