Zuntir stalked through the low scrubland, warily looking about as he searched for the dwarven outpost. He was the ranger of the caravan, and had insisted that he scout ahead, given the rumors they'd heard about the place. It was wealthy, but there had been talk of a lot of death, too. Zuntir had finally been persuaded to join the expedition once he saw a collection of iron armor that had come from the outpost. They kept the steel for themselves.
He finished hiking up to a valley between two rocky foothills, pausing to admire the mountains stretching out into the distance. As his eyes scanned the terrain, he saw an entryway carved into one of the foothills, with dozens of corpses scattered in the grass around it. Some of the corpses were little more than bones, but a few looked like recent kills. His blood thumping, he quickly looked around to make sure that he hadn't missed any enemies lurking about. He noticed a few scattered stumps, some notched armor and weapons that had been curiously left outside to the elements, but no moving life. He quickly jogged down the hill back to the caravan, his mind racing.
"Hey, Zuntir, what'd you see?" Kol the farmer asked. He was a loud, fat fellow, looking for a bit more space for his wife and child. His child Cog sat playing with their pet dog.
"I found the outpost, but I didn't see any dwarves. There were some goblin corpses laying about, some still with their armor on. What sort of fortress leaves good metal to waste outside? We should get out of here!" Zuntir started walking towards the supplies, obviously shaken.
"Wait a minute! I didn't walk all this way just to be scared away by a few dead goblins! It's drier and hotter than a demon's heart out here, I'm sure they've got better things to do inside. Eh, sorry about the language. Let's head in!" Kol looked a bit bashful under his wife's reproachful glare, but as he walked toward the outpost, everyone else started following. "Come on, Zuntir, don't get your socks in a bunch! All that time spent hunting alone has made you daft."
Zuntir felt sweat beading on his brow. Maybe Kol was right. He took a long pull of rum from his leatherskin to calm his nerves, put the now empty skin back in his backpack, then slowly followed the group as they headed towards the outpost. It didn't take long for the caravan to crest the hill, and Kol gave a little grunt. "You're right, there are a few dead goblins out here. A few of them are ripe, too! Hurry up, let's get inside, I'd love to meet the dwarves who slaughtered these buggers and shake their hand." He led the group towards the entryway, which was a rough-hewn hole not in keeping with the wealth the outpost supposedly had.
"Hello! Anybody home?" Kol called out as he stepped over a dead goblin and headed inside. His eyes adjusting to the dark, he noticed a few more dead goblins and some scattered goblin weaponry around.
"I'm telling you this is damned odd, it's not like dwarves to waste metal. This scrap should be melted down. Something's not right, we should leave!" Zuntir pleaded with the group, looking at Kol with a panicked look.
"Nonsense! They probably struck some rich ore veins and have better things to do than melt down scrap metal. You've seen their metalwork, it's some of the finest in the land!" Kol said. "Let's go find them!" Kol called out again as he walked down a ramp into a low, long room. Zuntir hung back, watching Kol lead the group on. Zuntir's stomach churned, his hands felt clammy. He quietly pulled out his trusty crossbow and loaded a bolt, then continued on behind the rest of them. He noticed the room was full of supplies, with a few irrigated farm plots in one corner. The food stockpiles were carefully arranged wooden barrels and large glass pots, some with prepared food, others full of booze. The refuse pile sat through an open doorway, filled with a vast array of bones. War elephants, minotaurs, goblins, all had fallen before the might of this fortress, and their bodies had been left to rot. But, where was this might? Zuntir wandered over to a barrel, looking for rum to refill his leatherskin. He found what he was looking for and refilled his skin, then took a quick swig. His throat burned and his eyes watered. Whoever had made the rum knew what they were doing.
Kol found a staircase off to the side of the room, heading down into the mountain. "Let's head down a ways, I bet there's a party going on!" Zuntir watched as the group walked down the staircase, then slowly followed. The stairs let out into a large room, so long that he couldn't make out the end from the staircase. He saw Kol heading towards one end, and then noticed a cluster of soldiers off to one side, sparring with each other. Relief washed over him at the familiar site. There were four of them, all wearing extremely fine steel armor. Their movements were quick and deft, as the traded blows. Swordmaster, hammer lord, spearmaster... and one other. The fourth soldier was missing her right arm, and carried only an iron shield in her left, but as she sparred with the swordmaster, she used the iron shield as a weapon, managing to turn aside blows and then bash him with the shield. The spearmaster was sparring with the hammer lord, her steel spear spinning through the air, knocking the hammer lord's hammer aside before lightly tapping the hammer lord on her helmet. Damn, she moved fast.
"Hello there! Where's the party?" Kol called out to the soldiers as he walked up. They suddenly stopped what they were doing and turned to look at the caravan as it walked across the large, empty hall. Zuntir noticed their eyes had an odd look, almost as if they were looking past the caravan. He turned to look behind him, and then looked on in puzzled confusion. It seemed to be a giant cemetery, row after row of rock coffins, hundreds of them. Most looked fairly new, and many had inscriptions, designating the dwarf who lay within. Others had no writing on them. Zuntir turned back, just in time to see the spearmaster thrust her spear straight through Kol's skull, jamming his brain out the back of his head. He dropped like a sack of plump helmets. His wife screamed, Cog started crying, and everyone started yelling and running away.
With horror, Zuntir watched as the soldiers ran towards the caravan as they scattered. The swordmaster ran towards Cog as the child backed away, his hands raised. The sword flicked out and the hand sailed off in an arc, blood spouting from the wound and splashing onto the swordmaster's armor. With a spin he brought his sword back around, neatly decapitating the child. Kol's wife took a hammer blow to the face, scattering teeth everywhere with a sickening crunch. The shield dwarf lurched around with an odd gait, cornering one of the peasants in the cemetary. She knocked the peasant to the ground with her shield, and then rained blows down on him, shattering bones. Zuntir stood, stunned, watching the carnage unfold. The hammer lord knocked another peasant to the ground, then smashed his chest in with a might blow. He stood up, and turned to look at Zuntir. Zuntir, remembering his crossbow, loosed a shot, but the hammer lord blocked it with his shield, laughing. Zuntir panicked and fled back up the staircase, his fingers fumbling with his crossbow, trying to reload.
"Shit, shit shit!" He ran past the supply stockpiles and up the ramp, listening to the clinking of the soldier's armor as he sprinted in chase. Zuntir was fast, but the soldier was faster. Zuntir made it outside, blinking in the bright sun, and started to turn south toward the trail when his shoulder exploded in pain.
"Where do you think you're going, scum?" The hammer lord taunted Zuntir as he brought his weapon around in a low arc, shattering Zuntir's lower leg. Zuntir fell over, grunting with pain. He rolled over, squinting up at the hammer lord standing silhouetted against the sun. "Why are you doing this? Don't kill me, please, let me go!" Zuntir babbled watching as the soldier shrugged, then brought his hammer down in a crushing blow. I should have had another swig of the rum, he thought as the hammer filled his sight.
Endok Okiroddom Konosgemesh Sil wiped the blood from his hammer, then grabbed one of Zuntir's legs, dragging the body back inside the fortress. He passed Sigun One-Arm as she chased down the dog with her lurching gait, the dog barking in frenzied distress. "Silence that thing, it's giving me a headache." He paused to drink some beer, feeling content with the slaughter. Endok continued dragging the body down to the cemetery, finding an empty coffin. He chucked the body into the coffin, closing it, and then set about chiseling a few words to immortalize Zuntir. "Here lies dwarf, killed by dwarf." Endok whistled as he finished the epitaph, giving a small laugh when he finished.
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Topic: Loyalty cascade (Read 1658 times)