Draco-Ballista Crew
"String is back!" The winch man yelled. Two soldiers heaved the harpoon bolt onto the slide. Metal clanged against metal.
As soon as he heard it, Vespasian began swiveling the ballista to follow the struggling dragon. The mechanism was wider than his arms stretched. He struggled to move it fast enough. Finally, when he had the beast in its sights, he reported, "Got him, Sir."
"Fire." His dean commanded. Vespasian pulled the trigger and the whole machine lurched. Metal springs screamed as the tension that had held them released. Flying true, the harpoon hit the side of the dragon. One of the huge scales split. As the dragon bled from its new wound, the white silk rope turned red. The slack was quickly winched in by the cart behind them. Vespasian prayed to the gods that they could bring the beast down. Only on the ground did they have a chance of defeating such monsters.
Draco-ballista were the weapon that leveled the playing field between dragons and people during St. Tedelis's crusade. In order to fight a dragon, it was necessary to bring it to the ground. Magic users could down them, but they were a very limited resource. So this machine fired a javelin attached to a light, strong rope. Then a winch staked to the ground pulled the dragon down. As constantly changing conditions required mobility, these machines were placed on carts.
Composition
Manpower
Each draco-ballista crew consisted of 30 soldiers. While the entire ballista could be fired and winched down with twelve skilled people, extra man power for handling the rope, running bolts between the two carts, protecting the crew as they fired, and replacing fallen comrades made up the number. The ideal was for all personnel on a crew to be able to fill any position. With the high casualty rate, this was not always possible. Soldiers started training in the least skilled positions and then moved on to learn more complex tasks.
Equipment
The draco-ballista consisted of two parts. First, there was the ballista itself. This cart-mounted device hurled a steel harpoon at the dragon. It could fire the metal bolt with enough energy to fracture dragon scales. In addition to the cart's mobility, the mount allowed the ballista to swivel up to 270 degrees horizontally and 45 degrees vertically. This permitted it to follow the dragon's erratic flight
The second cart was the winch. Depending on the size of the dragon, the creature could lift one or more carts, mules and all. To prevent this, the cart was equipped with a screw auger at either end. They anchored the cart, so the dragon couldn't simply fly off dragging it. Additionally, the winch cart contained the dragon harpoons and rope.
Vehicles
The draco-ballista was pulled by a team of mules that was perhaps better trained than the men. While they have a reputation for being ill-tempered, mules are in fact more responsive to human commands than horses. Their sure-footed natures are also a plus on uneven ground. Finally, it was found that mules were easier to condition against fleeing dragons than the more skittish horses.
Early in St. Tedelis's Crusade, the mules were given barding. The metal did protect them from dragon minion attacks. However for reasons not fully understood, orcs and goblins rarely attacked animals. Most damage to the mules came from dragon fire which the barding only made worse. By the third year of the war, it was repurposed.
Tactics
For most battles, ten or more draco-ballista were camoflagued in a great circle waiting for the dragon to fly over. The first shot was fired from cover. If it failed to hit, the dean decided to either reposition the carts or stay.
To move, the winch unscrewed. At the same time, they hauled in the harpoon, inspected it, and decided whether to reuse it. Meanwhile, the ballista cart moved to its new position. Once there and the bow string was pulled back, the ballista team called for a harpoon. The winch team drilled into the earth when in place. Simaltanously, the next volley fired.
The men not directly involved in running the ballista did various things as mentioned above. They often fought the dragon's minions. While rarely attacking the mules, even orcs went after the draco-ballista and its operators.
Finally, when the harpoon caught the dragon, the entire crew defended the winch and line. These soldiers had often seen what horrors a wounded dragon inflicted on the civilian populace. So they did whatever they needed to bring the dragon to the ground and keep it there.
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