Losses among the mercenaries are in line with the rest of the expedition. A little higher, but that's understandable, given that they've been seeing close-quarters fighting and they aren't knights or Dwarfs.
So in a future that never was apparently Belagar managed to hold the citadel with 500 dwarfs. He has a lot more than 500 dwarfs now. I am pretty sure if we can take the citadel we can hold it.
It's the best fortification in the 8 Peaks. If we can hold something else, we can hold the Citadel. Holding it means that we need fewer defenders on what we've taken so far; they'll only need to guard against the underway, not anything above ground.
In canon the dwarves managed to hold it with only 500, we have much more than 500
Belegar held it with 500 Dawi when he was surrounded, albeit with sporadic bursts of reinforcements. Here, one flank of the Citadel is secure, and we have far more Dwarfs on hand.
Of course he is killing innocent people. Mathilde killed innocent people when she ordered the army to continue fighting at the castle. This is war people will die. And if the people at the very front of the battle lines are people Codrin feels should die, well, someone has to be at the front.
That seems like the sort of questions the Grey College would like to encourage and not answer.
I expect a campaign to clear out either the Caldera or Karagril to start up once the Throng of Karak Azul arrives. Sadly not Kvinn-Wyr, as Azul likes more traditional weapons over troll-roasting flamethrowers.
The Citadel goes a very long way I think. Between Citadel, Lhune, Nar and the Gates we have an area sufficient secured to have surface agriculture in, reducing dependency on overextended supply trains, and stable supplies of reinforcements.
It might be simpler to just use favor to hire a dwarven chronicler to translate for us. They can probably also point out stuff the dwarves wouldn't want getting out.
It is sad though that the greenskins have basically devastated the environment of the area. The new grass will go a long way but I expect it will take a long time for any food stocks to be grown.
I really liked the use of archaic english in Codrin's personal narration and Karak Umgi is just inspired. Really, combined with mage shenanigans, the human side of thr expedition is just meme-tastic for the dwarfs.
Actually, Kragg just put molten lava over much of it. If its close enough to real lava, then its:
[Heavy Breathing]
