The Siege of Bhonlodar

## The Siege of Bhonlodar (Dwarvish – The Slaughter of the Last Hold)

In Summer of the Year 0, Highborn Elf forces under High
Prince Haspar “The Wild One” conquered the last surviving Dwarven Hold in the
World’s Edge Mountains. King Erizoc Silveraxe fell in single combat against
Haspar before the gates of the city.

"In the opening weeks of Summer, rangers returned from the
north with reports that the army of infamous Cave Goblin Craggdar were on the
move and headed toward Bhonlodar. King Erizoc Silveraxe, the last remaining
heir to the Holds of the World’s Edge Mountains, decided to gather his royal
guard and death-seekers, and strike out toward the Greenskin threat. In his
stead he left his most trusted advisers; three Master Engineers who he believed
could hold the city-fortress against any diversionary goblin attack. After a
week of hard marching, Silveraxe set up camp overlooking the mountain valley
where Craggdar’s forces had paused.

In Bhonlodar, the Engineers were struggling to keep order.
Decades of constant war with the greenskins had worn away at the minds of the
Dwarves, and without their King to keep them in line, they broke into the
brewhouses. It was during this drunken mayhem that rangers from the jungles to
the east arrived with warnings of an Elven attack. The drunken Dwarves laughed
the warnings off as paranoia; the Elves of Tor Alindril had always been friends
of Bhonlodar. The Engineers, however, listened, but could not organise the
drunken rabble. They therefore commanded the rangers to hasten north to the
camp of King Silveraxe to inform him of the Elven threat.

King Silveraxe received the calls to aid only hours before a
planned attack on Craggdar’s army. He immediately ordered his troops to march
back to Bhonlodar.

Back in Bhonlodar, the garrison were quickly sobering up –
the banners of Tor Alindril were clearly visible on the horizon. The
steam-copters and bomber-blimps were fuelled, and the Hold Guardians awakened.
Every able bodied soldier took their place on the walls. King Silveraxe was at
least a day’s march north, and the Elves would be upon the defences within an
hour!"

A deathly silence fell over the no-man’s land between the
Elves and the walls. This silence was broken by a thunderous burst from the
Dwarven artillery. The Elven bolt-throwers positioned behind the blocks of
infantry were blown to pieces in an instant by the insane accuracy of the
Dwarven cannons.

In reply, the Archmage Firion unfurled an arcane scroll.
Three white-hot bolts shot from the scroll, burrowed through the ground and collapsed
a section of Dwarf-made wall.

Next, a barrage of bullets flew from the walls toward the
Sea Guard anchoring the Elven centre. Once the smoke cleared, nearly half the
regiment had been cut down."

### The Assault

"Haspar bellowed the command, and the entire Elven army
surged towards the walls. Many fell to the fire of the defenders, but not
enough to break their resolve. On their right flank, the Knights of Ryma made
short work of the Dwarves who had survived Firion’s arcane destruction, while a
Great Eagle fell upon the cannon crew in the tower nearby.

On their left flank, the White Lions set ladders against the
walls, and once atop the walls massacred the defenders. This caused panic in
the Master Engineer manning the Gatehouse, who fled, and was joined by his Hold
Guardian bodyguards. The White Lions then fought their way into the second
tower, slaughtering the occupants.

On the right hand side of the fortress, hidden archers pin-cushioned
a unit of Handgunners before being shot to pieces and routed by a Grudge
Buster.

The siege tower manned by a large unit of Swordmasters
lurched forward and crashed into the same tower which the Great Eagle had been harassing,
and seized it for themselves.

Meanwhile, the crew of the Organ Gun on the gatehouse were
finished off by the Sea Guard, who seized it shortly after.

In the central courtyard, the Hold Guardians and Master
Engineer were cut down by the Knights of Ryma. Not a single Dwarf was left
breathing within the walls of Bhonlodar."

### The Arrival of King Silveraxe

"King Silveraxe arrived to this terrible sight. Shouting a
curse upon all Elves, he threw himself forward into the fray, knowing that the
only hope for his beloved city lay in him reaching and claiming the gates.

High Prince Haspar saw this, and spurred his Lion-Chariot
forward into Silveraxe’s retinue. The two traded vicious blows for what seemed
like hours, before Silveraxe was finally decapitated by Haspar’s mighty axe.

With Silveraxe’s death, his retinue buckled, and were cut
down by Haspar and a unit of Silver Helms.

Bhonlodar was lost."