4th Felsite 265"Right! Tear it down!" the overseer cried as the moat separating Tulon's quarters from the rest of the fortress was finally filled in. At first, their efforts had been in vain when the Guards posted over the site left to get a drink, and came back to find that stones had been somehow removed. After constant and carefully scrutiny by most of the Noble Guard, the channel had finally been filled, and the miners were now crossing it to tear the bridge down.
The sight that greeted the workers as they breached the drawbridge wall was a strange one. Tulon, her beard and hair haggard, her eyes wide with a strange mixture of anger and boredom, stood with a her ever-faithful hammer in one hand and a brass idol of a sailfin molly she had demanded in another hand. At seeing the miners, she shouted with joy and looked at the idol,
"Look Sedil! The Dwarves have come to free Tulon and you!" she turned to the Dwarves, looked like she was about to say something, then powered past them, knocking them to the floor in her hurry to pass. They found her some time later in the drink stockpile, emptying an entire keg of ale.
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"Well my respected fellow members. This particular crisis has been averted with no harm." Ilral declared to the assembled Ossek.
"Apart from the fact that the Hammerer now believes her little statuette to be alive?" Sava asked incredulously. Ilral shrugged.
"If it makes her happy to talk with it, then why discourage it?" she looked round one at the time at each of the nobles, "But an important lesson has been taught here. We cannot let our guard down, now when Goblins await a moment of weakness to siege us, not when peasant wait to clamour for falsehoods, not when the Enemy still lies, cornered in its wall but still strong."
There was a chorus of 'hear hear' before Ilral pursued,
"Adil, have you made any progress with the rebel captive?"
"Yes! That scum, that cowardly cad!" Count Urdim agreed. Dungeon Master Adil shook her head,
"Unfortunately not. I had to let him go. It seems he honestly knows nothing about the resistance. However, I have posted a Guard on him to keep an eye on him for a few months."
"Damn, so we're back to square one."
Mistem stood up at this point,
"What about Hetros?" she asked. Urdim gave a chuckle,
"He's as loyal as you get." he insisted.
"There's that, and - the mechanisms used in the bridge's construction were badly made, as though some simply dabbler had made them. Hetros prides himself on the quality of his mechanisms. They're not his work." Adil agreed.
"Shouldn't we keep a Guard on him anyway?" Mistem persisted. Ilral frowned at this,
"Look, we can't keep a Guard on
everyone we suspect or Niltosed will be defenceless!" she interjected. "For now, we'll have to make do with what we've got, keep an eye out and a sword drawn."
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13th Felsite 265It was Fortis who suggested it. He announced it during the resistance's latest meeting. They had yet to come up with another practical plan they could execute, especially with heightened patrols.
"The Count's demanded a new set of quarters for him and his consort," he declared to the assembled rebels, "Apparently the ones he has now are 'inadequate', so he wants new ones made. A perfect chance to strike, install some trap or something."
Lawec gave a slow nod at this,
"Yes, but how and what?" he wondered.
"I can volunteer for mining, say I want to get out of farming for a month or so, before summer arrives. You can do the same." Fortis persisted.
"It might work." Lawec agreed, a smile growing on his face.
"It's perfect!" Tlo volunteered at this point, "We can set up some nice and fatal trap for the fat Count and then kill 'im with the flick of a switch!"
Lawec's smile grew more troubled at this point, killing fellow Dwarves was far different to killing some Goblins who wanted to pillage your home, and he would never be comfortable with it. But Tlo's suggestion drew some support from other members and Fortis' plan was all but accepted by now.
"What if we just lock him in?" the ex-mayor suggested. Tlo rolled his eyes,
"Cause that worked real good with the Hammerer, didn't it?" he said sarcastically, "No, what we want is spike traps, lotsa of them hidden around so we can lock 'im in and activate them."
"That sounds horrible."
"It does sound very sadistic." Fortis agreed,scratching his nose. Tlo rolled his eyes again.
They debated over exactly what to trap the Count's quarters with for a long time before they could compromise on anything. The Count would be locked in his quarters, but if the Guards and nobles were to free him, then they would activate the spear traps.
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10th Hematite 265"Humans!" came the call as the yearly trade caravan from the Defended Confederations painstakingly rolled down the mountain to enter at the depot. At their head stood Ulde Osmanjirdo, the chosen diplomat from the Human nation.
While the bins of pig-tail cloth the Dwarven weavers had made were hauled to the depot, Osmanjirdo went down the now-familiar passages to greet the Count and deliver her message. The Count was in his office, happily asleep at his desk as the Human entered. After a shock awakening, Urdim now waited unhappily awake, waiting for whatever news had been deemed so important as to interrupt his nap.
"Now, as you no doubt know, most noble Dwarf, the vicious Goblins of The Common Fly and their allies The Feral Wickedness have waged war upon the Defended Confederations for many years, and have undertaken unprovoked hostilities against your most glorious fortress and its father-nation-"
"Yes, yes, yes! But what do you want, my dear Oglogiblo?" Urdim asked impatiently. Ulde didn't bother to correct him,
"Well, most powerful Count, we of the Defended Confederations have pushed these Goblins back somewhat, destroyed any army they send against us, as have your merciless armies. And yet, they never seem to run out of soldiers to throw at us."
"Don't be ridiculous, Goblins breed like flies. Where there's two, they'll be hundreds in a year."
"But that is the problem, milord Count. Goblins don't breed quickly, at least, not quick enough to field the large armies they send year-in, year-out at our frontier-towns and at your own grand Niltosed."
"Well what am I suppose to do? Ask them to stop it?"
"You have a Dwarf of great knowledge in your employ, no? A certain Koglan?"
"Kogan? The Philosopher? What about him? Will he tell the Goblins to stop?"
"We are gathering at our capital the greatest minds of the land to discover a plan to finally defeat the greenskins. Your Philospher would be a most welcome addition to this gathering."
Urdim nodded happily,
"Sign him up, Ms. Oshnunjirdo! I'm sure he'd be delighted! It'll keep him our from under our feet and help give those gobbos a bloody nose!"
The Human beamed widely,
"I knew we could count on your honesty, your kindness, your generosity, your-"
"Alright, alright. Now get out and let me sleep."
Just a head up, this'll be the last entry until after the New Year's. So a merry Christmas to you all.
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Topic: [Community] Niltosed - La Belle Époque (Read 19697 times)