Last time, the dwarves of Archcrystal invaded Hell and survived a fierce onslaught from the demon counterattack. Now as they build their fortress of glass, something seems amiss, and they try to discover what their evil enemy has planned now…
***
It had been over a year and a half since Doren the sheriff had last laid eyes on a demon, and it had disturbed him increasingly. He didn’t like not knowing things, and he didn’t like peace through ignorance. The glass walls continued to go up.
They had to be very high to reach the semi-molten rock ceiling.
But if he was honest with himself, he would feel safer if there was something attacking them. At last, he had enough, and sent for Moldath and Iton.
Moldath and Iton were the last surviving members of the Mountainous Castles. The new Militia Commander who led them, was just 12 years old, so they were training her more than she was training them. While Moldath and Iton weren’t terribly smart, they both had an awful memory, they were incredibly lucky and seemed to elude disaster well.
Doren couldn’t quantify a talent like that, but he couldn’t ignore it either. He sent them out to have a look around Hell. Etur, the 12 year old militia commander insisted that she come along, so off they went with their tiny officer. Because they were only 8 years apart Moldath and Iton had acted like sisters to each other even though Moldath was Iton’s Great Aunt, it was fairly common place in Archcrystal, a place where everyone was related.
They moved quietly away from the Cave Dragons and moved to the south, the 12 year old Etur wide-eyed and gawking at the Eerie glowing pits of Hell. They carefully climbed the far southern ridge and when it seemed clear went down the other side. A large large glowing pit lay further south, and they stopped to look and listen. All was quiet. Moldath and Iton looked at eachother sharing their thoughts through long recognized facial expressions. They were puzzled.
They looked at Etur, her armor and helmet far too big for her small frame. Moldath smiled, but Iton frowned. “What’s wrong?” Moldath whispered.
Iton quietly pointed at Etur’s shoulder where a pile of dust was slowly starting to gather. They followed the tiny dirt waterfall upwards. Straight above was one of the other 3 adamantine spires. This one though, was hollow almost all the way to the top. Their underground vision served them well here as they could see up almost twenty stories into the shaft. There, they saw movement – a wing flutter, an eye glint. “They’re up there,” Iton whispered.
“What are they doing up there?” Moldath whispered.
“I don’t know, are they trying to dig?” replied Iton.
“Demons can’t dig, dumbass.”
“How do you know?!?”
“Because I’m older than you.”
“By only eight years!”
“And two generations, remember?”
“Yeah, well your generation’s out of touch.”
“Well, your generation’s spoiled.”
Just then a small pebble hit the stone ground, and a larger rock almost landed on Etur. They all crouched silently and looked up for danger. After a few minutes Iton said, “Let’s get out here.”
“Good idea, what do we tell Doren?”
“I don’t know, just what we saw I guess. Let him figure it out.”
So they left to tell the sheriff with the militia commander skipping behind them.
***
I’m not sure why the demons climbed the south adamantine spire, but they seem stuck up there for now. Maybe they tried to find an alternate path to the fort? I know they can sometimes sneak through into the magma sea, but they are just sitting there for now, like they are waiting to ambush me. In any case for now its causing no new demons to spawn which is just fine by me.
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Topic: Archcrystal: 500 years in a fortress [SPOILERS] Finished (Read 494561 times)