The captain's widow was nervous. A summon by His Gaudiness could hardly be good. Not after the events of last season. Everything had been so hectic, so chaotic. They just spent the last months running around, fighting, bleeding, cleaning, and fighting some more. Too much to do and too little time to do it. Nobody had truly taken charge, or reported to the king.
And now Erib wanted that report.
Worse, he wanted her to report. Of all the soldiers, why did it have to be her? Just thinking about the recent events made her... uneasy. the banshees and the ogres and even that guy accidentally crushed by a hauler, she could bear. thinking about those... monsters... that was something else. It was hard to watch fellow soldiers put down like animals. It reminded her of her husband, of his last moments. No longer a sergeant, not even a dwarf, simply... a thing. A monstruous, monstruous thing.
''When you look at the numbers, it's not
so bad, joked Urist. With over 220 souls here, we've only just lost like ten percent. This fortress had worse...
-Well,
you tell that to the king then, Zaneg replied.
-Heh, I'll pass.''
Zaneg was no moron. If the king wanted to see her, better make sure he was in a good mood. Especially with the news he'd have to swallow. Luckily for the Captain's widow, some mason or another recently completed a marvelous phylitte throne. She couldn't remember which one, frankly. Clubbermountain had so many people at this point, and a third of them had been drafted into the army. There were enough of them living in the barracks to make up a mini-fortress of their own. Zaneg hardly left the training grounds or the armory. Her world was her fellow soldiers, her daily meals in the mess hall, her long, tiring patrols. She hardly knew anyone outside the chain of command. that mason who made the new throne, he could be one of the corpses littering the arena for all she knew.
His gaudiness was sitting in the throne room. On a different throne. Zaneg asked for her gift to be placed there; obviously no one had told her the king already had a worthy seat.
''Captain Zaneg, his voice boomed.
-Your Gaudiness! she said, bowing. I asked the masons to bring you a new chair...
-Yeah, well, it's in my bedroom or something. I put it over a floor engraving of a ''criminal masterplan'' by some Jef. It was very unpleasant to the eyes.
-I can... imagine, your Gaudiness.
-Anyway! I have heard disturbing tales about the fortress recently. Most... unpleasant tales. Pisskop assured me that his overhaul of the fortress would leave us with a functional and safe city, so I'm really, really puzzled by those rumors...''
Zaneg began to explain. Pisskop did, in fact, leave a very wonderful chain of orders and instructions. The haulers, workers and crafters have all been at work, with very few idlers, if any. truly, the place was running smoothly, save for one, tiny detail.
''Your Gaudiness, it seems the previo0us overseer built an arena to pit various captives against one another.
-Why yes I've been very eager to see it in action. Who won?
-Nobody, I'm afraid. the captives simply... teamed up and refused to fight. The ogres and goblins formed a defensive perimeter and surrounded the banshee in there, wich began to... do the banshee thing.''
Zaneg continues the tale. She explains that the ranged squads decided to use the opportunity as some sort of live training. That banshee had to be stopped, and there was a platform over the arena. The haulers were instructed to dump many unwanted items in there, but the ogre-goblin coalition scared them, and most of them simply dropped their stuff on the ground and went for a drink. That alone was bag, but the banshee began to scrrech and cripple some residents. It was going well for a time, until...
Well, until someone fell down there. The goblins picked up a ranged weapon that was clumsily dumped, and opened fire. the soldiers tried to dodge, but slipped on the pile of junk left by the terrified haulers. Marksdwarves began to plummet into the arena. Some haulers tried to help by dumping items on the goblins, only to crush a dude's head in with a block of basalt.
''Obviously, the soldiers began to mass at the gate, and we sent in the cavalry, your Gaudiness. We hum, we reacted quickly I swear.''
''But we couldn't react fast enough. The mist, it was upon us too fast. some haulers tried to reclaim the items left by the fallen, but they were turned into...
-Yes?
-Into...
things. Those unnatural mutants.''
''People panicked. a trained, well-armed mutated soldier is no joke amidst civilians, your Gaudiness. We did what we could. the soldiers, they had to contain the monsters. The civilians were so afraid, withnessing a ten foot tall baby tying to split them in half. many babies turned. too many. One of them was kicked into the colvano. It burned, and the smoke just filled the arena.
-That's... bad.
-It was a mess, sir, a very total fucking mess.''
''By Armok I can't even begin to explain... The babies creeped the hell out of some crafters and their family. People panicked. They ignored restrictions. Those monsters were in the fort, your gaudiness, so nobody cared anymore about burrows. They hum, some people ran outside.
-I take it they turned?
-Yes. Suddenly we had more mutants on our hands. I tried to show leadership. I didn't want... more people to run out. we cleared the inside, and I told everyone to gather outside at the gate. To shoot the mutants that came close, but without giving chase. To avoid the dust, really. but we had to stop those creatures from coming in, and I felt... I felt we owned it to our fellow brothers in arms to give them a swift death. Your Gaudiness.''
The king pondered for a moment. Erib was slowly processing the mess that was befalling his new seat.
''Well. I hope they died honorably.
-Sir, I wish that was the case, but the soldiers... Some of us kept our composure, but others began to snap, and fight among themselves. Others gave chase and ignored orders.
-You lost your husband to those mutants, am I correct?
-Sir, that is correct. Your Gaudiness. He was killed by the mutants. I mean... he was... one of them. And he was killed after that. Sir.''
''we were at our weakest. the soldiers were mobilised, but they were disorganised, and tantruming after witnessing poeople and babies turn into mutants. the banshees, that's what they came.
-Nasty little buggers.
-So many of them, Your Gaudiness. I was one of the few who stayed up when they scream in unison, but most of the soldiers fell down from the screeches. We fought on, but... the ogres were too strong. the unconscious dwarves were no match for us. a few attacked the lines. Others ran into the fortress unopposed. The banshees attacked relentlessly, from all sides. I the end we prevailed, but...''
''In the end, about 25 dwarves have lost their lives recently. Our soldiers are for the most part outside, lying on the ground, exposed to any future cloud. Many named dwarves died, including notables like Leelie, Lisard and Hightower. There was little we could do to save them, your Gaudiness.''
King Erib took a moment to reflect upon all he'd heard. He went around the room for a while, back and forth between the halls of the re-purposed manor. The captain's widow waited, anxious of the punishment that awaited her. Finally, his Gaudiness spoke:
''Captain Zaneg. I've decided to put you in charge of Clobbermountains.
-I'm...
what?-You heard me. You've lost your husband to the mutants. Compared to that, spawns, banshees or friends turned monsters will not be news to you. At least I know I have one toughened dwarf I can count on when the next siege happens. Plus, it's not like I have many soldiers ready to fight right now, do I?
-N...no, your Gaudiness.
-Well then, so be it. I've instructed the traders to get as much food and brewable items from the elves while they are here, in case we need to bunker up against our foes. I'll mandate a few additional maces and scepters, of the highest quality, to strenghten our armies. Apart from that, you are now in charge.
-Yes. Yes, your Gaudiness.''
The captain bowed down once more, and left the throne room. She was now overseer. If this fortress was to go down, she'd be held accountable for it. Given the current situation, the odds weren't in her favor.
Frankly, she wish she'd just been hammered for delivering the news...
* * * * * * *
I'll try to go through that again tomorrow and fix a few typos, but right now I'm tired. I wanted to write this sooner, but my schedule is a mess right now. The fortress runs smoothly, and playing through all of it won't take too long, but I don't have the time or energy to make many posts about it. Truth be told, a few unexpected things have popped out in the last few days. I'm sort of sick, and that's putting a dent in my efficiency. There's been quite a few surprise guests over the week, including my parents showing up, and my roomates throwing a party over the weekend for the mid-semester break. I like
DF as much as the next guy, but sometimes it's hard to ignore real life just to cycle through a-r-u while pasting ascii blobs into Mspaint. Sorry about the poor schedule so far, I'm usually more spot-on than that.
If you don't want to wait for spare updates, I can just upload the save and let someone continue from there, or you can revert. If you can bear with me taking the full extend of the two weeks, and possibly leak over a few days, that's cool too.
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Topic: (34.11 Succession) Clobbermountains -- The End(?) (Read 400720 times)