The events of the 13th of Opal, 1068Major Merkil paced the front of the barracks, scowling at the assembled soldiers. They had all paired up again, the whole lot in their little clicks - the Swordsdwarves, the Unlucky Spearmen, the Corpses, The Dirty Half-Dozen. It made him nervous to see them like that, and though he admired the camaraderie they all displayed, he felt, deep down, that this was a hinderance. Eita, and Neo before her, had slowly begun to assimilate into Jools group, but he wasn't entirely certain that Maggarg or Wilber would come to their aide in a reasonable amount of time. Adol would, he was sure of
that, and Sparrow would too, but... too many ifs, too many personality conflicts that could lead to incidents like Neo's arm again... unwatched, the response time too long...
He stopped his pacing, his mouth pursed into a thin, grim line. Hands folded behind his back, Merkil drew himself to attention, his presence in the room quickly drawing the attentions of the soldiers. When they quieted, he spoke:
"This will be short. Time is at a premium lately and I don't want to take up much of your time. I apologize that there couldn't be a ceremony." Merkil flashed a quick look to the pair that stood beside him, their faces alight with a proud glow.
"Luke and Crispin have trained hard, and trained well. They came to us as lumps of clay... no. They came to us as blocks of stone, the image of soldiers lurking within, and it took us, the defenders and protectors of this fortress, to chisel them free from the excess. This pair, The Inky Obstacles, have shown me they are experienced enough for the title of Champion. Well met, Luke. Well met, Crispin. May you fight well, may you protect your dwarven kin, may you die with honor."
There was a smattering of applause from around the room, but Merkil frowned at the clearing of a throat.
"What was that, Maggarg?"
"Oh, I'm sorry. I said 'what bullshit' but then I coughed so that it would sound like that."
"Shut up," Adol hissed. But it was too late, Merkil was baring down on them, his eyes narrowed.
"Is there an issue? Do you have a problem with your squadmates?"
Maggarg stuck his jaw out defiantly. "I have a problem with them, what, gettin' the champion title in half a year. How long did you work at it, sir?"
"Long enough," Merkil snapped.
"You should calm down," Adol said quietly, "don't push this."
"Stuff it," Maggarg said dryly. "I'm serious, this is really chappin' my ass. They don't know shit about shit! And... they're so damn happy all the time, that's not right. Not right at all, not here, what's there to be happy about? The slop Dojango fills the mess with?"
"Perhaps you're right. After that last failed attempt at training, you've gone out of your way to ignore Luke and Crispin. I see... yes. Alright, then. You, and Adol are now apart of
their squad until the next season. You're on defense detail, your first assignment the southern gates. Perhaps you should get there now. You're all dismissed."
Adol sighed, and took a few steps forward, away from Maggargs' visible rage. He stopped before the warrior-couple, and gave an apologetic shrug. "Just bare with him. He's usually..."
"A raging ass?" Luke said.
"No, dear, a
braying ass," Crispin corrected jovially.
"Ah, much better. Yes. A braying ass!"
"No," Adol said. "more amusing. Just give him time, and let him... maybe have a few kills. That'll cheer him up."
"Right-o!" Crispin said with a smile. "Now we should really head off to our station!"
***
To change the subject...
Flak, can we get current kill sheets for the various soldiers of Migursut?
Sure, give me a day or so. I can't decide if I want to do pictures, or just type them all out... probably pictures, some of them (like Sulari and Stravitch) have twenty+ notable kills, not to mention all the camels...
I'm only going to do kills for Player Named Dwarves or Story Dwarves, so that leaves out most of Jools squad and a couple of the other randoms milling about..
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Topic: Migrursut: What Comes After The World Ends? [Epilogue] (A Community Fort) (Read 390132 times)