The events of 28th Obsidian, 652:
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The Sun had set two hours ago; the entire expanse of land was in the middle of a cool night. The stars twinkled above, and the moon provided a beacon for Thane -- who had the duty of driver that night -- and the horses. A light breeze flowed about the land, but the only noises at the moment were the murmurs and stirrings of the dwarves within the wagon. Tired, yet restless, each one was relaxing by the glow of a the lanterns, minding his own business or chatting with another dwarf. The peacefulness was broken rather abruptly by Vladimir, whose practically non-existent sense of restraint was weakened even further by the flask of Dwarven rum he had recently consumed.
"Vut an interesting group we have, really," he began. "Ve have Vlad, ve have holy monk and varrior, ve have the veaponsmith, ve have the hunter and ve have the pioneer. Then ve have the little farm-girl; vut good group."
By this point in time, most of the caravan had simply begun to tune out Vladimir's ramblings, but Gnora found herself consistently pestered by his words. After all, she had spent most of the trip drawing crude sketches of farm-layouts, though her concentration was always broken by that odd dwarf. This time, she finally decided to speak up, albeit somewhat mildly.
"You know," she hissed, "this 'farm-girl' has a name. She would also thank you kindly if you would be quiet for more than a minute at a time!"
"Vut does it matter anyway," Vladimir retorted, "Vunce ve arrive at site, ve von't see other one much. You vill toil in the fields vith the plants, vhilst me and the vorkers get fortress moving."
"What exactly do ya' mean by 'vorkers?' Do you think that farming isn't as important as mining and wood-cuttin'?"
"Allow Vlad to repeat self. You vill vork vith the plants."
"I'll be feeding ya'll your meals! Food doesn't just come out of nowhere you know! As for you, you're not a 'vorker!' You've been rambling non-stop about your work as a mercenary; you're nothing but a hired-axe."
"You show interest, perhaps Vlad demonstrate axedwarfship at lights-out."
What followed was a long stream of incoherent insults and accusations from Gnora. Vladimir calmly retorted to each one with an off-handed remark or lewd comment, greatly worsening the situation. Try as they might, the other members of the caravan -- that is, the ones that were not watching in amusement -- couldn't manage to calm Gnora down. Noticing the conflict, Thane brought the wagon to a halt and ordered Vladimir to take his place; the mercenary smiled and happily rose to the top of the wagon and let the wagon continue on its way. Gnora, fully exhausted from the fight, fell into a tearful sleep.
Thus, the caravan continued on its way. In the morning, the dwarves would reach their destination.
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Topic: Demongate: Wrapping up the Loose Ends. (Read 697976 times)