Dragonglass: A Different Look at the Assault on Dragonstone (Spoilers Extended)

In order to free up the Redwyne Fleet to fight the Ironborn, Ser Loras volunteers to lead an attack on Dragonstone which Cersei giddily agrees to allow him to do.

Its reported that the Lannister/Tyrells have conquered Dragonstone, but that Ser Loras is also potentially "dying" from his wounds.

If interested: Ser Loras and Dragonstone

I would like to propose an alternate idea as to what happened during the assault:

Ser Loras' assault was basically bloodless because Stannis didn't care about Dragonstone anymore.

We are told the following about the assault (by Aurane Waters):

"I never saw a braver knight," Waters said, "but he turned what could have been a bloodless victory into a slaughter. A thousand men are dead, or near enough to make no matter. Most of them our own. And not just common men, Your Grace, but knights and young lords, the best and the bravest."

"And Ser Loras himself?"

"He will make a thousand and one. They carried him inside the castle after the battle, but his wounds are grievous. He has lost so much blood that the maesters will not even leech him." -AFFC, Cersei VIII

But also wrt to Rolland Storm aka the Bastard of Nightsong (helped save Edric w/Davos) who Stannis left to hold Dragonstone:

The pox-scarred bastard that Stannis had left to hold his castle was no callow tourney champion but a seasoned killer. -AFFC, Cersei VII

and:

Lord Waters says he ordered the assault not half a day after taking command, **after Lord Stannis's castellan refused his offer to settle the siege between them in single combat. -**AFFC, Cersei VIII

Now its very possible/even likely that Ser Rolland refused because it wouldn't have changed his situation, but there is an alternate at least somewhat plausible explanation... the force on Dragonstone didn't care about the island anymore and was instructed to mine all the obsidian they could and then abandon the island.

Stannis' Instructions

After leaving Dragonstone for the Wall, Stannis sees the power of dragonglass against the Others:

I know more than you might think, Jon Snow. I know it was you who found the dragonglass dagger that Randyll Tarly's son used to slay the Other."

"Ghost found it. The blade was wrapped in a ranger's cloak and buried beneath the Fist of the First Men. There were other blades as well . . . spearheads, arrowheads, all dragonglass." -ASOS, Jon XI

And he remembers how much of it was at his previous seat:

"On Dragonstone, where I had my seat, there is much of this obsidian to be seen in the old tunnels beneath the mountain," the king told Sam**. "Chunks of it, boulders, ledges.** The great part of it was black, as I recall, but there was some green as well, some red, even purple.

So back then in ASOS, Stannis had already sent word to Dragonstone to begin mining it (while recognizing he expects the castle to fall soon)

I have sent word to Ser Rolland my castellan to begin mining it. I will not hold Dragonstone for very much longer, I fear, but perhaps the Lord of Light shall grant us enough frozen fire to arm ourselves against these creatures, before the castle falls." -ASOS, Samwell V

The Storm

It can be extremely stormy around Dragonstone as we see while Loras is approaching:

If the gods were good, he would give Ser Loras the glorious end he seemed to want. Assuming the boy does not drown on the way. There had been another storm last night, a savage one. The rain had come down in black sheets for hours. And wouldn't that be sad? the queen mused. Drowning is ordinary. Ser Loras lusts for glory as real men lust for women, the least the gods can do is grant him a death worthy of a song. -AFFC, Cersei VII

Which is reminiscent of a previous assault on Dragonstone in which an escape was made:

She had been born on Dragonstone nine moons after their flight, while a raging summer storm threatened to rip the island fastness apart. They said that storm was terrible. The Targaryen fleet was smashed while it lay at anchor, and huge stone blocks were ripped from the parapets and sent hurtling into the wild waters of the narrow sea. Her mother had died birthing her, and for that her brother Viserys had never forgiven her.

She did not remember Dragonstone either. They had run again, just before the Usurper's brother set sail with his new-built fleet. By then only Dragonstone itself, the ancient seat of their House, had remained of the Seven Kingdoms that had once been theirs. It would not remain for long. The garrison had been prepared to sell them to the Usurper, but one night Ser Willem Darry and four loyal men had broken into the nursery and stolen them both, along with her wet nurse, and set sail under cover of darkness for the safety of the Braavosian coast. -AGOT, Daenerys I

and:

I built a fleet at Robert's command, took Dragonstone in his name. Did he take my hand and say, Well done, brother, whatever should I do without you? No, he blamed me for letting Willem Darry steal away Viserys and the babe, as if I could have stopped it. -ACOK, Prologue

If Stannis instructed the defenders of the island that all that mattered was the dragonglass and to abandon the island with as much as possible, it would make sense that: Rolland Storm would decline an offer of single combat (to help delay) and potentially sacrificed himself.

Now this post doesn't explain why the Tyrells are lying (I have reasons but not the goal of the post), but with the sketchiness around the assault and Stannis' instruction, I don't find this too far outside the realm of possibility.

TLDR: Rolland Storm sacrificed himself in order to allow Stannis' men to escape Dragonstone with as much dragonglass as possible.