My god. I've been neglecting my Spearbreakers duties dreadfully. Sorry folks, here is the Epilogue.
Urist woke up, feeling as he'd been having a terrible dream. He was in the hospital of Spearbreakers. It was nearly completely empty, except for a single dwarf struggling to get out of a traction bench. The dwarf saw Urist was awake, and gestured frantically at him. "Quick, help me out before those bastards come back!"
Urist stood in a daze, and stumbled over to the dwarf. He undid the straps and helped the fellow up. "Why are you in the bench? You seem fine?"
The dwarf grimaced, "I've been in it for months, maybe even years. Everytime I leave, they track me down and put me back in it, telling me I need more time for my bones to heal. My bones are fine! They healed forever ago, I need to report for training. Why won't they just leave me alone?"
Urist tugged the other dwarf along, "Well, let's get you out of here then. We don't want you to stay stuck in there forever." They staggered out of the hospital, mutually supporting one another. They made it down the hallway and to the stairs when a doctor rounded the corner.
"Sus! What are you doing out of traction again? You know you aren't supposed to get out for another two weeks." The doctor smiled. He gently took Sus's other arm over his shoulders and turned the pair. "Urist, help me get him back to the hospital please, he's been a bit delusional lately."
Sus struggled violently, knocking the doctor back, "Get away NCommander! Just get away! I'll kill you! I'd rather die than go back in traction!"
The doctor's smile wavered, and he called out, "Orderlies! I need four orderlies please! It's Sus again."
Four dwarves came out of the room the doctor had just vacated. They eased Sus out of the confused Urist's grip, and ushered Sus back toward the hospital, as he kicked and screamed. Urist looked at the doctor, trying to understand, but he couldn't think.
The doctor smiled at Urist, and said, "So, you're finally awake huh? I imagine you'll want to go talk to Storm, the Overseer, or more likely Mr Frog. He told quite a story about you, how you single handedly stopped that maddwarf from trying to breach the Adamantine Wall. We're very appreciative, our defenses were far from ready. Try going to the Mechanic's workshops, or the dining hall. Its around fourth shift break, so Frog might be there. Storm would be in his quarters, on the living quarters level. I've got to get back to tending Sus."
Urist nodded distractedly, trying to remember the events that had lead to him stopping the maddwarf. Everything was a blur after that last morning. He found Frog in the Mechanic's workshops, overseeing a novice making a mechanism. The youngster did something, and Frog sighed, exasperated, "No, Peg Z1 goes in the Gear 6, slot 7, not on the crankshaft. If you do it like that, then the whole thing operates backwards."
Urist cleared his throat, and Frog turned, his face basically blank, except his eyes were still somewhat discolored. Frog nodded, "Hello you. I thank you for saving me from the crazed miner. He'd about choked me out when you happened on us."
Urist crinkled his brow quizzically, "I thought he... I thought he made me go down there... I was under his control..."
Frog gave him a strange look, "Excuse me? You must be suffering from the stress. I'm told being that close to the Wall can have adverse mental affects. Something to do with the horrific screaming. I happened upon the miner trying to breach the wall, and you came along just as he had about finished me. You cut his throat, saving my life, and preventing him from releasing the Underdenizens."
Urist shook his head, "I... I guess that sounds right. But... I saw my family, and... And that young guard, Sarvesh. He died when those two migrants turned to Spawn in the Research Center."
Frog sighed, "Yes, its definately stress than. Your young friend was ripped in half in front of you, and then you witnessed an attempted murder. Not to mention you had to slay a fellow dwarf in cold blood. You should talk to NCommander about that, you might need some extra-strength booze to offset the nightmares." Frog looked at the novice, "No, up one slot. Yes, there. Now open it, and reattach the bolts." He turned back to Urist, "Don't dwell on it, you'll just make the nightmares worse."
The very confused Urist nodded, trying to make sense of the senseless once again. He turned, beginning to head for the dining hall, when Frog spoke, "Oh, and Urist..."
Urist turned, a hopeful look on his face.
"You had this." Frog handed Urist a broken spearpoint casually, "I don't know what you were doing with it, but it seemed important to you. Storm is in the Dining Hall, go see him."
Urist looked at the battered and worn spearpoint blankly. He took it and secured it on his belt. Urist wandered up to the Dining Hall, and entered the cavernous, mug filled space. He sat at a table with Storm. Storm had a huge sheaf of papers and journals and maps at the table, and he was frantically jotting down notes. He glanced up at Urist, "Oh, you. I wanted to thank you for saving us. Nothing fancy, but here is a commemorative mug for you." He slid a mug across the table to Urist. It was made of pitchblende, with no real decorations on it. "Thanks. Anyway, I've better get back to the paper work, I've got to find a way to catch this Necromancer so we can destroy the zombies outside our gates."
Urist filled the mug with some beer, and chugged it. He felt the clinging cobwebs of sobriety washed away by the blissful drink. He sighed contentedly, and poured another mugful of beer. After about three more, he sat bolt upright, his properly inebriated mind now working at full capacity. Urist yanked the spearpoint off his belt, and scrutinized it closely.
On the blade was a tiny engraving in Dwarven Runic script. It was hard to make out, but Urist squinted and mouthed the words to himself quietly.
You have amused me greatly. Fight well, Spearbreaker.
Poll
55 (71.4%)
Author
Topic: [34.11] Spearbreakers - It shudders and begins to move (Read 2278193 times)