The Ring of Steel

7th Corps Military Court Case #549
"Captain, if you could, please tell us again the reason your men attacked the Ring."
"Of course, sir, but would it not be better to talk to the Major General about his reasoning? I'm only a Cap-"
"We would if we could, Captain. Unfortunately, whatever the Major General's reasoning died with him inside the fortress."
"Oh. I see. Well, I can only speak a little. My orders were... sparse, to say the least."
"That is fine. Anything that might help us understand what we are looking for, just tell us how the day went for you."
"Well, on the morning of the 8th, my Brigadier roused us, saying we had to get into marching order. When we asked why, he just looked perturbed, but didn't admonish us either... It was odd, because he was usually open about that thing. Thought it was good for our moral to know there was a plan..."
"This was Brigadier General Thornburgh, yes?"
"Yes sir... Is he-?"
"Let's stay on topic, Captain."
"-er, right sir. It took us two days to march from Fort Sadler all the way out to the Ring of Steel. We could see it sitting on top of the hill like some sort of thorn crown when we made camp for the night. The next morning, we were told to form into battle lines."
"Did you know what the Ring was when you saw it."
"Not truly... I had heard a tale about it here and there, and the previous Major General in charge of the 7th had told us not to go there in no uncertain terms."
"So you had no idea what might be the objective?"
"Not the foggiest. The cannonade had been set up on an opposing hill, and so was firing over our heads pretty much the whole way up to the walls. I'm honestly still surprised that they managed to breach the walls. I thought that weird liquid metal would just swallow them up... Maybe they were enchanted? Despite our lack of knowledge, the Major General definitely seemed like he had planned everything in advance..." 
"And  the Ring didn't attempt to impede your advance?" 
"Not directly, no. It did reorient itself, moving those long spikes to try and ward us off, I suppose. Then the section of wall in front of us just... fell away. Like it just lost all cohesion and fell away. We practically had to wade through it, but it didn't adhere to us at all. Not even in the way that water soaks into boots and socks."
"So the Ring was undefended?"
"No. Not at all. Once most of the corps had made it, that wall climbed back up, like rain falling in reverse." 
"You were trapped?" 
"Then the walls came to life. Liquid metal, oozing towards us in humanoid forms that could barely hold themselves together."

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Type

Fortress