You assume everyone isn't going to die anyway
I saw her. White hands against my brown ones. Jewels, precious as mountains, glittering around her throat. I saw her, and my face felt heavy. Awkwardness, the bane of any courtier. I’d never felt it before.
***
They come in a steady stream. Young, old. Even a single child. I shift my pick on my shoulder.
Same fate for us all, I think. The mines or the carpentry workshops, making the things which cause a fortress like this to tick. They call their names as they enter.
Lord_lemonpie Squaresword, a skinny Forumite with quick-looking fingers. He calls his name and walks past. I take note. He has a militaristic swagger. “The legendary musician,” I hear someone whisper. I snort. He’s obviously a mason.
Nord Craftshines, a well-groomed Forumite with sharp eyes, follows him. There is stone dust under his fingernails. A fellow miner? No. He carries a chisel. A stonecrafter. Perhaps of shrines, given his name.
Next in line is Glass Galleyash, a well-muscled individual. He carries a pickaxe over his shoulder. I nod as he passes. Help in chiselling out the endless halls. Tall, for a Forumite, and confident.
Apiks Holyrough passes, his bright emerald eyes glimmering. When he gives his name, the voice is scratchy. He pushes a cart in front of him. I hear buzzing and step back. “Bees,” he says to the clerk, smiling. No one says anything. He rolls his eyes. “They make mead.” There is a low murmur of voices.
Nav Bladehames. She enters the fortress with a bouncing step. She laughed when Apiks gave the purpose of his bees, her emerald eyes flashing. “Mead,” she said, licking her lips. “I like that.”
Broad, but with no fat, pikachu17 Yawningwhipped comes next. He looks like a one-and-a-halfer, the term given to those who reach a century and a half. With a start, I realise I recognise him. His eyes are sharp with intellect. An unrivalled scholar. The king’s geographer. He had chosen this location.
What is he doing here? Passing, he nods my way. I frown but nod back.
Ubbul and Kikrost, the stonecrafter and carpenter, are chatting beside me. They became very close on the journey here. “Well, that is good. Help for everyone,” Kikrost says.
“I’ll have to make more beds,” the gruff Ubbul replies.
***
Nord stands beside the workshop. It is dark, below the ground. Very different from the Mountain Homes with their many jewels and torches. But so long as he has room to work, the Forumite does not mind.
He places down a lump of quarried stone. He knows its flaws, sees its potential. The Mountain Homes may be beautiful, but only because it holds many skilled workers of stone. Now Necrothreat, the Dead Halls, has one of its own.
He begins chiselling, using all the tools in his work shop. Time passes, blurring around him. They bring him food, and Nord smiles. Already they are used to his peculiarities. There is no life but the chisel and the stone. He had not even paused to wash the dust from his clothes.
He finishes, giving a sigh of happiness. It is a craft of great beauty and craftsforumiteship. One of his best, in fact. He sets it to the side and wipes his hand across his brow. He does not know where the inspiration for his work comes from, but the muses are always kind.
Nord reclines in his seat. Yes, he could get used to this place. Perhaps even make it beautiful. And if, for some reason, it is threatened… he feels an itch, like he is being watched, and laughs.
“Made it at last, my pet?” he says, standing and stretching. He hadn’t wanted it to scare everyone by entering from the front. But no doubt rumour of it had spread. Erin Quill’s greatest invention, an unequalled ally. There is a burst of flame and the sound of a chainsaw revving. Nord smiles.
***
Dwarfy the First feels the season slip away like unanswered questions. The barren lands remain empty except for robotic lazorsharks and wild policecars. There is no sign of Shosa’s beasts. The tower of the Dead Halls, of Necrothreat, only has one level. It is fragile as an egg shell.
And stories of darker things, of lands which make dead things walk without the hand of a Necrothreader… seem to be unfounded. Or at least not present in this land. A donkey died, eating the dry undergrowth which coats the land, black and lifeless. And it stayed dead.
He digs, and he builds, and he rubs shoulders with the peasants. They think he is one of them, for the most part. He finds that harder to believe. He goes to the tower often, depositing rough-hewn rock from the hillside which was levelled to give it room.
He stands there now, looking around. It was begun in an island of green, a nugget of pure earth which pikachu had guessed existed so long ago. Light to challenge the darkness. He sighs. There has been talk, recently, among the new arrivals. They claim there is need for strong leadership.
Dwarfy is a noble, but he has made no noise to support his claim. Some other will have to do it. The season’s chill is in his bones, and it feels like the coming of death. He turns to go, then stops. There. On the horizon. A dark smudge, a moving mass, a…
Dwarfy gasps. “The undead!” he shouts as he runs below ground.
“Batten the hatches! The undead are here! Seal the door!”
We are not ready, we are not ready, it’s too soon…. I bump into someone. Lord_lemonpie. A fellow noble, perhaps? I shake my head. "The dead... are here..." I gasp, grabbing his robes.
Will add save when it's finished uploading. I have burrowed everyone, and set a door to be built at the entrance, extending the burrow so this is possible. You may wish to edit the burrow. I don't know if it will be built in time. Failing that, the stairs down have hatches. I suggest locking them. We have no military to speak of, and no iron that I have seen, though mining hasn't been extensive.
Also, our only anvil is made of lego and is therefore unusable, as a legendary armoursmith found when he had a mood. He went berserk and is locked in his room. Forgot to add that to the write up
Also also, most Forumite migrants tend to be older and have good military skills. Many have goblin kills. I sense some interesting history.
Edit:
http://dffd.bay12games.com/file.php?id=15052
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Topic: Necrothreat V: The Dead Halls (Read 26456 times)