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[Glass]

It has returned! I didn't notice it yesterday, but I'm glad it's back!

[King Zultan]

Always excited when I see this get updated.

[Murphy]

For the first time since Summer's End the climate was visibly shifting back to warmth. In the mid-year of 129, a heat wave melted the snow in the mountains, causing a mudflow and destroying the Antling trade road. Combined with the rigors of war and recent loss of many greenhouses, the Republic was left with inadequate food supplies. Rationing was instated, with hopes that next year, agriculture could be brought back.

The next year would soon become known as the Great Famine of 130. Though it was now warm enough for large-scale farming, they would still need to hold out until first harvest. To supplement the dwindling food stores, Runataran command was forced to dispatch hunting and gathering teams into the wilderness, detracting even more from strategic needs of the war and creating another vulnerability.

As for the fighting itself, those new Runataran war machines, the "tanks" (originally a code name, but the moniker stuck) certainly did outmatch the troll corps and beak dog cavalry of the Goblins. But once the initial shock had passed, some flaws in the design became apparent. If a daring combatant could get close—quite possible in dense urban surroundings—the tanks could be overrun and destroyed with incendiary weapons. Goblins, ever so adept at raiding tactics, soon began to exploit this. Azstrog even formed a special unit, the questionably-named (and destined to be infamous) Arsonist Battalion.

Less affected by the famine, Goblins soon launched a combined offensive with the Giants, and even though the ensuing battle all but leveled Central city, the hard-won territory was left to them.

After this defeat, the trickle of refugees across Runatar's eastern border became a steady flow. Some even tried to flee underground, but the Dwarven nation, in preparation for imminent Goblin aggression, sealed itself in completely. Many of those poor souls who dared the other directions either perished in the mountains or were caught by Goblin patrols and taken to Snebgo'gur as slaves. Like never before in this unpredictable war, it was now evident the invaders were here to stay.

The Antlings in eastern Runatar, also cut off from their home by the recent mudslide, have been reached by the secret Triton envoy, who promised them passage home via Yantar'Eryovl's tunnels. In exchange, they wanted in on the trade, with a route going across half-submerged paths of Subterranean Sea.

***

Meanwhile, the Dwarven nation enjoyed peace.

For better or worse, rapid technological progress alone could not realize Sodel's vision of letting the automaton army handle all menial labor. Supervision of such a grand design would require far more engineers and administrators than current society could provide. Besides, the Dwarves had rich traditions regarding physical work; it would be a major folly to force the entire population into a new mindset.

As any visionary, he hated to be held back. Still, there were promises to keep: a water purification plant was built in place of the old paper mills, even if it could not yet operate at predicted power due to lack of qualified staff. Reluctantly, he eschewed the use of automaton workers there, hiring Dwarves, Ratlings and Theliiri on condition that they would eventually attain necessary skills and be relegated to specialist roles.

(Image later. Working on the portal bits. EDIT: See below.)

[Murphy]

"Portal, portal on the wall, who's the smartest of them all?"

Sodel Endokineth grinned, looking at the result of countless trial and error. He had been experimenting in secret, not even his personal aides knowing how close he was to a breakthrough. In order to make this possible, he had to risk establishing an observation post near the surface, with line of sight to the mountain. Requiring direct line of sight to both destinations was one of the many restrictions of his current implementation of portal tech. (Another was an energy requirement comparable to a whole city district, growing exponentially with the portal's size and distance to target area. No handheld portal devices, not yet.)

And now... Displaying every hue of brilliant blue, the portal glowed against the treated metallic surface. It was barely wide enough to fit a dwarf through, much less a wagon, but it was stable. And Sodel had finally solved the problem of air pressure differential between his lab and the mountaintop—instead of a massive gust of wind only a slight breeze could be felt, and not a sound.

Until recently, portals only allowed energy transmission, but not solid matter. Even now, he would still not trust a living being to survive walking through one, but given his army relied on automatons... He motioned to the mechanical squad waiting motionlessly by. "Your time to shine, soldiers. I want the observatory secured before dawn, then we install the necessary equipment." As they entered the glowing gate one by one, Sodel was marking places on the map. The observatory would be perfect for a portal hub: out of reach, and with line of sight to all of the valley.

Those fools on the surface had been wasting the Oldlands' resources for long enough.

Spoiler: The fateful summer of 130 (click to show/hide)

[Murphy]

Traveling back was not easy, lugging all these bags of precious gold while keeping watch for another attack from the shadows. Gloomf's warriors were stoic as always, and even pessimistic Ngerxung seemed to cheer a little at the idea of going home. Stone-possessing spirits assaulted them many times as the small group backtracked their way to the upper caves, and it was mostly her powers that kept everyone safe.

Then, as they were just a dozen spans before Oldlands' lowest reaches, she suddenly broke her pace. "What is this... I..."
"What's wrong, Ngerxung?"
The Goblin narrowed her eyes, and threw her hand forth, pulling at the nearest rock, which started to shake, but remained in place.
"I can barely sense the stone now."
"Ah..." Gloomf was not surprised. "This means we're fully back in our home dimension. The spirits cannot follow us here."
"Huh? What's this got to do with my earthcraft?"
"Have you ever questioned the source of the strength that the Earth Titan bestowed upon you? Down in the Primordial Realm of Earth, it was all around you, supercharging your power. Don't tell me you hadn't noticed!"
"I have, but..."
"In fact, that's the main reason why I brought you along on our expedition! But now that we're back, your earthcraft is back to normal."
"Bloody hells, no. It was never this weak."
"Are you sure?"
The Goblin just nodded, her expression almost panicked. Ever since she learned to call upon the earth, she has come to take this power for granted.
"Concerning. But not unexpected... the primordials are losing their grasp on our world. Have been for years. Anyway, we're not yet safe. Haol and I take the front, Ryvlac and Gellis in the back. Ngerxung... you carry the loot."

***

Despite Gloomf's mental precautions, this time only Haol's keen senses warned them of incoming danger. Mindless insects do tend to blindside psychics. As the already-familiar shadow of a forgotten beast loomed ahead, a chitinous tide followed, one single mass of carapaces, claws and mandibles. Defeated before, the arthropods' mastermind sought a rematch, and this time they did not have Earthcraft on their side.

"My gold!" the Queen screamed as they were forced back step by step, leaving the heavy bags behind. She squashed yet another clawbug with a telekinetic slam. Blasted things, how dare they not have substantial minds for her to twist into submission! How does this forgotten beast control them, anyway? Pheromones? No time. Must resort to...

She paused, seeking something within. A strand of knowledge, one of the myriad forbidden incantations she had learned in the Cave of Fate, and prepared for this eventuality. Haol, Ryvlac and Gellis put themselves quickly forward, shielding her. "That's for Mesmero!" Ryvlac's axe was a blur as he hacked the nearest critter clean apart. Then, as Gloomf uttered the spell, everything went still.

The Triton queen gazed upon the scene of battle, frozen mid-action. Her chosen warriors, about to be overwhelmed. Ngerxung, batting a clawbug aside with a desperate swipe. The insubstantial shadow of the beast behind an endless swarm of chitinous bodies. She winced. In this state, there was no way for her to affect the outcome, but at least she could save what she came for.

Before the time stop wore off, Gloomf gathered up the bags of gold and made her way upstairs.

[Fluffe9911]

Dang Gloomf straight up jojoed out of there.

[Murphy]

Nish, Kib and Zolak were startled by the earth rumbling. A deafening loudspeaker voice came over the whole Central city:
"One. One. Is this thing on?"
...followed by more tremors as the echoes caused a small avalanche not far away. Minutes later, the ground shook more visibly when it gave way to a full-fledged rockslide to ravage the mountainside. Everything was momentarily drowned in dust clouds and thunderous crashing sound.

"Get up!", Kib shouted, barely able to make herself heard. "To the roof, and pray the construction holds!"
Not that she had much trust in the human builders, but what other choice did the trio have?

Finally, they climbed out onto the roof, just in time for the unknown speaker to pick up the mic again and identify himself.
"Attention, goblin invaders and citizens of Runatar! I, Sodel Endokineth, hereby declare your pointless little war over. Lay down your weapons and surrender yourselves to the automaton brigade assigned to your area."

"Oh no. That crazy psycho."

***

Dr. Endokineth continued into the microphone: "I highly recommend you comply, lest I need to demonstrate my power more than once."

He had the coordinates pre-calculated for all targets of military significance, but included one he planned to use for a demonstration: a largely devastated district of the city that nobody would miss. He was sure he had both the goblins' and humans' attention now; whatever surviving media would be falling over themselves to cover this live on the radio.

As the effect of portal transfer on living beings was still untested, Sodel had used an all-automaton detachment to capture this observatory and turn it into a fortified bunker. Sodel planned this to eventually become his most well-defended compound, moreso even than his own lab. His reasoning was simple: the weapon now stationed there gave whoever controlled it the power to destroy anything within the valley.

For the same reason, even having reopened the tunnels connecting it to the underground realm, he was reluctant to have any non-automaton personnel on-site. Only he, Sodel Endokineth, should ever be able to press the red button.

He was about to press it.

***

Several named characters are clearly about to meet their doom. The three refugees in Central city outskirts are within the area of impending dimensional blast. Down below, three Triton warriors and a powerless Goblin witch are abandoned to fight against overwhelming odds. However, you may intervene at this point, and make a choice:

• Nish survives.
• Kib survives.
• Zolak survives.
• Ngerxung survives.
• Haol survives.
• Gellis survives.
• Ryvlac survives.

(Vote is until weekend. There may be several survivors if more than one amasses sufficient votes.)

Additionally, I thought I'd do something new, so how about some Ask the cast?
Name any character in the Oldlands storyline, and ask them any question you'd like, and I'll try to cover their answer.

[Naturegirl1999]

((Oh no, I forgot the name of the scientist, I would li,e to ask them something, but I don’t remember the name))

[Murphy]

((Oh no, I forgot the name of the scientist, I would li,e to ask them something, but I don’t remember the name))

Um... Dr. Sodel Endokineth?

[RulerOfNothing]

Ngerxung survives.

[King Zultan]

Ngerxung survives.

[Glass]

Could you please include a quick summary of who each character is who’s up for survival?
Also, how many is “sufficient votes”?

[Murphy]

Could you please include a quick summary of who each character is who’s up for survival?
Also, how many is “sufficient votes”?

The one with the most votes will survive, plus for every other character I'm going to roll a six-sided die against the number of votes for them, to see if they also live.

Nish and Kib Zuntîrkulet are a married couple of Dwarven merchants, who got stuck in Central city when it suddenly came under siege. Kib is a former army quartermaster and Nish is a skilled craftsdwarf.

Zolak is a Goblin deserter, who they stumbled upon while looking for shelter. He's something of a coward, and a complete failure as a soldier. In the army he was an assistant medic, a duty considered beneath true Goblin warriors.

Ngerxung Nakobåx is a Goblin from the Age of Monsters. She was absent from Oldlands for many years and returned with new powers, becoming first an independent villain and then, after her defeat, the Tritons' agent.

The other three are elite Triton warriors that Gloomf brought along as bodyguards. Haol the Sword is the rational one, Ryvlac the Axe is angry and vengeful, and Gellis the Hammer is stoic and doesn't speak much.

[mightymushroom]

(1st choice) Nish survives
(2nd choice) Ngerxung survives

This era of progress is about ripe for the advent of a superhero(es) to match the rise of megalomaniac science. While Ngerxung's powers would make her perhaps the more classic choice, I feel that Nish has the stronger cliché path: sole survivor, drawn ever forward by the promise of revenge, nothing left to lose.

Now you Sodel will know why you fear the night dwarf.

[Glass]

First choice: Nish survives.
Second choice: Haol survives.