Alright, after blood and sweat, here we are again for the second quarter of that story that definitely takes too much time, but which is also allowing me to improve and explore the universe on a more grounded level than just legend diving, brace.
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Despite the skirmish against Xupgasbodod gang and similar low scale conflicts, the central settlements are relatively isolated from the tumult that strikes both sides of the kingdom. While seemingly caught between a rock and a hard place, between the elven kingdom of Pilalene fighting against the fort of Tetzobsha and the empire of Osme invading the whole eastern region and only suffering defeat by the hands of the knights of Thomocemir, the farmlands to the west of the interior sea were left totally untouched by the war.
Life went on as usual and should a man walk in the streets of Lemhuhqihu in this fall of year 142, he would never have guessed that the kingdom of Kima was fighting, in this very moment, the worst wars of its history.
Altho for Islas, that confrontation with the goblins of Xupgasbodod was a kind of a revelation. Until now, he was quite content with looting the camps that were abandonned as a result of the massive repression from Tetzobsha, which happened in year 130. But as the goods of those camps started to run dry, and now conscient of his personal skills, the man decided to follow a lead and move on more dangerous target.
In year 141, during the expansion of the Osme Empire, the dwarven city of Vucartogum - of the dwarven kingdom of Kodsakzul, an ally of Mong Kima- was lay down in ruins. Dwarves were already renowed for their craftmanship and more importantly, for their iron whose price per pound was higher than gold. With dwarven artefacts in hand, Islas would never have to worry about poverty anymore in the village of Lemhuhqihu.
September 13 of year 143, he left Lemhuhqihu once again to start his journey alongside the shores of the interior sea.
As we saw earlier while following Luki, as she was travelling along the same path, there are no human town on the hilly landscapes of the northern shore, as the territory is occupied by the -somewhat- peaceful dwarves of Dezor Uzol, colloquially nicknamed "sky dwarves" for their blue clothes and their flag representing two clouds.
Relationship between the kingdom of Kima and the kingdom of Dezor Uzol had always been tense, especially since the marshall Tis (Ino has mercy on his soul) declared that the sky dwarves would have to pay tribute in metal, and send armed perceptors to collect it, often resulting in violent fights, and sometimes in all out battles. Since the old marshall died, the situation seems to stabilize, but animosity remains between the two kingdoms.
Luckily, drunken dwarves do not have long term memory.
"Luckily" is of course a figure of speech.
Erith was a kind of a dwarf that would litterally never stop talking. Even tho he spent the best part of his 66 years drinking in the mound, and could sum up his whole life in about two sentences, he never seemed to come short of stories to tell, of values to argue about or anecdotes to complain about.
Islas was, at this point, not used to talk a lot. He tried to act dismissively, and Erith would not be deterred. One conversation was not even closed that he would initiate another one, and the looter was trapped between a feeling of surprize and extreme irritation.
However, as he saw the value of a companion, more against the darkness lurking at night than for the conversation, he decided to go with it for the time being. They walked together a couple of days, and soon arrived to Asuciro castle, property of Lady Dilol and temporary home of the royal court.
The girl with the red hairs, unbeknown to him and with absolutely no distinctive marks of her function, was actually the new general of the kingdom since Tis' death - Ener, Zothoabo's sister.
Uquur in the other hand, was a celebrity in the kingdom. Trained by Commander Stipoth of Tetzobsha, and went on to form, under the leadership of Pathril Omaaloc, the knights of Thomocemir, she was now at the head of the guild of traders of the nation of pearl.
Under the rule of Queen Uzu, the two women were at the center of the military and economic power of the country.
(Franckly I don't know why this happened, but it happened... Uquur didn't killed either Erith nor Islas. Erith and the dog just...went at each other)
After....that happened, the rag tag team of two continued its journey toward the underground city of Vucartogum. Osme was known to destroy everything in its path like a band of hungry locusts, so it stood to reason the conquered dwarven city would be nothing more, two years after its conquest, than a pile of abandonned ruins.
The opposite was true. Vucartogum was extremely lively, its market full and it's aboveground tavern occupied...and apparently, it's militia even had time to reconstitute itself into a sizeable force.
Islas was prepared for the worse, and the worse pretty much happened.
A couple bodies hit the floor. Luckily for the two travellers, the militia was not manned by real soldiers and they managed to escape alive. Vucartogum would not be looted today, and its riches will remain in the hands of the Osme Empire.
But more importantly, they had a sight into a fortress controlled by the empire, and what they discovered was very far from what they were expecting. They imagined dead bodies and a desolated city, and it turned out that under Osme rule, business went as usual for its population.
Empty handed, they would have to report and assess their next move. Erith arm was the most urgent priority ; and thanks Ino, the nearest pearlite city was actually famed, among other things, for its hospital.
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And that is it for now. We're halway through my hiatus, I have some two three events I want to cover still. We're hitting watershield again next update and I want a "slice of life" segment, so if any of the previously dorfed people wants to cameo or do some small action, suggestions are open.
And when the story finally ends (in spring 143), we'll start a new fort and resume the usual activity
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Topic: Mong Kima - The Nation of Pearls (DF 0.47.05) (Read 254448 times)