Gogol had some reservations, but was generally quite pleased with this job. True, he was hacking his way through this damn creepy jungle and his destination was generally thought to be a death trap, but the caravan consisted of five chicks and himself! At least one of them would totally fall for his manly protector role, maybe more and then...
"Wipe that stupid grin off of your face Gogol and keep alert, this is dangerous territory," Nupto, one of the other two guards, said. It's true that he wasn't the only soldier in the party, but he was the only
dude soldier- shouldn't that count for something?
"Someone remind me again why we're braving this sinister jungle to trade with the mad dwarf who, by all accounts, killed the last group of humans who tried this?" That was Ilpi the third guard- a bit of a complainer, but a bit of a looker as well, or so Gogol thought.
"Well, we have it on good authority from the dwarven merchant guild of Liruksibrek that the Mad Dwarf is dead and a new dwarven outpost has been established- and looted whatever valuables the Mad Dwarf made or found. We're here to get that loot," said Asri, the merchant in charge of this expedition. Gogol wasn't so sure about her... She was the one responsible for choosing what goods to bring, and... Well that cow in a cage on top of the mule... Even Gogol thought that was just a terrible idea...
As the caravan approached its destination, there was no sign of life, and increasingly signs of death...
"Well, it's only natural that the dwarves would stay underground in this environment," Asri sounded like she was trying to persuade herself that her investment would still pay off. "Look, we were told about how there was an empty trap tunnel leading to a trade depot, and now there are a couple of doors there."
"So?" Gogol wasn't following.
"That means that someone's probably living in there- probably to use the Mad Dwarf's traps to keep out the beasts of the forest. We should try in there," Asri explained.
"Wait! I'll lead the way, to make sure it's safe," Gogol said in his best "suave" voice, and struck what he imagined to be a courageous pose. He was rather surprised when he opened his eyes to see that the women were already entering the cave. Well, hopefully they were some of them were impressed, he thought as he jogged along to catch up.
"Hmm... Here's the trade depot, and we're alive, but where are the dwarves?" Wondered Ilpi.
"Well, there's a passageway to the left there, Nupto go look for the dwarves and let them know we're here," said Asri.
"Why not me? I could easily accomplish such a task!" Gogol would demonstrate his courage before all this was done- it was too good a chance to pass up.
"You're barely a rookie," said Nupto as she left, "I'd be most impressed if you would just shut up and stay out of the way."
Man, there was no call for that... Gogol had only been trying to be chivalrous... Yeah, he'd been trying without success to get his courage noticed for the past week of travel, but there was no reason to get so snappy...
Just then Gogol heard Nupto gasp- she hadn't gotten far. Gogol rushed down the passage, sword in hand, hoping she was in some sort of mortal peril so he could save her... She was a bit of a bitch, but perhaps he'd impress one of his more agreeable comrades.
Well, it didn't appear to be mortal peril, but it definitely was gasp-worthy.
"Gods... that's just... no good," was all Gogol could manage to say... Before him in the corridor were somewhere around forty dwarf corpses in various states of decay... Nupto immediately turned around and pushed past Gogol. "Asri, we're leaving. There's no one to trade with here!" she called to the rest of the merchants.
"What, but we just finished unpacking..."
"We really should leave as soon as possible- They're all dead, and whatever killed them could kill us next."
"The dwarves? But the merchants said... And do you know how incredibly hard it is to get a fully grown cow in a cage on to a mule?"
Gogol heard something coming from down the hallway...
"Um, I think, perhaps we should forget about the goods and run for it..." He said, as he slowly began to take his own advice.
"Heh, the coward finally shows his true colors. The act was painfully-" Nupto's words were abruptly cut off as a wall of water rushed in from the passageway...
Gogol tried to keep swimming, but felt himself loosing energy... If only he had "gotten to know" the women better he could die without regrets... As it was, he cursed his cruel fate as he slowly lost consciousness...
---
Melbil wondered what was going on. As he was sitting by the river to get away from the miasma he heard the mad dwarf jogging to the river where she pulled a switch, and then the narrow bridge over the river retracted and he heard a rush of water... This was like when... Melbil glanced at rotting dwarf corpse.... But he hadn't heard any dwarves... The Mad Dwarf had pulled the switch again so the bridge came back, and she had gone over it a while ago... Melbil didn't really understand, he figured it was probably just some routine the Mad Dwarf had... Irrigating for shrubs perhaps? Though with Melbil's luck it was probably something much worse...
Melbil had only really calmed down after loosing it that morning by taking his mind off things working to smooth his cell, but now, the whole thing was smooth, so he didn't really know what to do... He just sat by the river with that mysterious dead dwarf giving off an awful stink, and making Melbil think to much...
All of a sudden, he heard a door opening... It was the north door, when he turned around, dreading what might be behind it this time he saw...
He was expecting the worst, and so only let out something of a whimper... He was ashamed to admit that his first thought was how a much larger human body would stink that much longer as it rotted... Though he began down a similar line of thought as he had with the dwarf... Who was this human... what was he thinking when he died...
Melbil couldn't think anymore- he'd just had too much... just... too much. He took up his chiseling rock and went over to the wall and...
---
Urist practically danced with glee. More dead humans! Ah, what could be more satisfying than killing members of that patronizing, arrogant, infuriating race? Oh, of course! To then use their stinking corpses to drive a wretched thief into a slow madness!
But that was close, Urist had only completed the modifications to her merchant killing cave yesterday, and she barely remembered in time that the human merchants came about this time last year... But it all worked out in the end! Time for some well deserved rest.
Sixteenth Night
[ April 17, 2007: Message edited by: Eiba ]
Author
Topic: One Dwarf Against the World (Read 245662 times)