Chapter One: A Humble StartThe tree fell with remarkably little noise, coming to rest atop a thick blanket of leaves that came up to the thick leather greaves of the lumberjack. She scurried to the top of fallen trunk, reaching out and grasping each branch in turn to pull herself higher and, again using her axe, began to hew at some of the thicker branches that sprouted periodically from its length.
It was slow, hard work, but ‘Rictus’ was used to it, and before long she had amassed a considerable pile of worked logs. These she tossed to the leafy ground and put into a hammock for hauling back to the fortress. The forest itself was serene, despite the death of an ancient and large tree, with birds chattering and a soft but warming sunlight streamed in through the new hole in the canopy. The spring air was crisp and clear, and filtering through the thick foliage came the sound of a river winding its lazy course. As she tore and cut at fresh branches she remarked to herself how much it had changed over as little as two years. Back then doing a job like this alone would have been unthinkable. In those days loggers had moved in packs three or four strong, and usually with two or more heavily armed guarddwarves, and even then it was not unknown for people to go missing or to find a bloody corpse gored or beaten or half eaten. These days Rictus could quite happily spend two or three days at a time outside of the fortress, venture quite far into the woods and work independently. Admittedly people still did go missing, especially those who went very deep, but that was a risk you understood and took.
Now those creatures and societies who had preyed on the dwarves found themselves hunted down, their meat carved, their skin tanned and their bones fashioned into bolts for crossbows. It was a glorious process.
And yet nature had not learned, or rather, been tamed. Ogres, harpies, warthogs, lions and tigers had prowled these lands for hundreds of years, so it would take more a few score months to beat them, but they rarely attacked in droves anymore, choosing instead to pick their targets. This was why when the peaceful air of the forest was disturbed, Rictus hefted her axe and fingered a handful of sharpened stones in her pocket that she would use to blind or drive off any opportunistic attacker. Her tone was more of resigned wary than fear; as a lumberjack you quickly learned to stay calm and keep a watch for yourself, as well as develop a knack for close combat: her axe had felled more harpies than trees.
When the disturbance turned out to be another dwarf picking his way through the undergrowth, Rictus grunted and returned to her work. The dwarf entered the new clearing and slide down a muddy bank to approach her.
“Greetings Athelrazot” he said, waving as he neared. Rictus ignored him. Up the bank, a thickset guard armed with a crossbow and a bad attitude scanned the treeline.
Only Dear Leader travelled with guards any more.
This must be important.
“You must love the spring,” he continued. Rictus looked at him and was not surprised to find it was Dear Leader, Aargh, as he was affectionately known. “Especially after the winter we have had.”
“It wasn’t that bad.” Rictus said, slicing a branch off pointedly
“Spring must make up for it,” he carried on “sometimes think I understand what the elves are taking about on days like this. It’s…glorious.”
Rictus pulled the last of the spindly twigs of the branch and tossed it down onto the pile. “When its not raining it is fine.”
“Ha!” Aargh, pulled on his beard: a sure sign that he wanted to say something. “You’re quite a hard worker aren’t you? That’s probably why you were chosen.” He added, almost to himself. It was so quiet Rictus wondered whether she heard him correctly, but she choose to ignore it and instead hopped off the fallen tree and began tying up the hammock. “You’re in charge now. There is to be a catch-up meeting in my office at some point, when you get back. Good luck.” Aargh scrambled up the bank, and with his guard left just as quickly as they had arrived, leaving Rictus to her thoughts as she ducked under the hammock straps and began to bodily drag the haul back home.
To Axefather.
Chapter 2: Bureaucracy
Rictus idly wound her beard through her fingers as she made her way to Aargh’s office for the catch-up briefing. She made her way slowly, and took the long route through the stockpile and workshops. Those who hailed and congratulated her were acknowledged with a nod or a smile, but she did not stop to talk. It rather seemed that they all knew long before she did about her appointment, and she had no desire to hear verbose but well meaning ‘advice’ just yet.
She lingered on the bridge for some time and watched life in the fortress go by. She liked (but would not admit) the contrast between the bright and airy outside, where danger could come from any direction and the elements relentlessly pounded, to the warmer and more welcoming darkness of the mountain, where everything was enclosed and you knew the predictable rhythms of life. Both were nice, but too much of either made her stomach churn frankly.
Two dwarves carrying a massive slab of rhyolite nodded to her as they passed, she raised a hand to them, but didn’t go to help. Instead, she thought what she would do with her tenure in charge.
“Bridges” she said aloud, spotting another dwarf on the far side waiting for the haulers to pass.
Evidently her thought processes were more transparent than she knew, as one of the haulers smiled at her. “Bridges can wait. Sort out the food first” he said.
She turned and headed on.
Aargh’s office was a plain affair, though it was grand in its size, if not decoration. An empty weapon rack stood against one wall, an armour stand with some dusty leather armour stood against another. In the middle of the room a single chair was tucked into an impressive looking table that was covered in bits of paper and an inkwell that had typical dwarven decorations on. Rictus made a mental note to have a closer look and find out where he got that from.
Aargh and Nekose, another former Dear Leader were already present when she finally arrived, and the conversation they had been having stopped so abruptly Rictus guessed they had been talking about her.
“Good morning, sirs” she said, they nodded in reply.
“Koji is on his way” Aargh said, sipping from his omnipresent stein
“Koji is always late,” Nekose said, with a hint of resignation in his gravely voice, “so we’ll get started.”
“Right. These…” Aargh pushed across a slip of paper with bullet-points towards Rictus, who picked it up “…are our overall goals and necessary actions this year.”
“Who came up with these?”
“Mostly Koji, though we have both added to them over time. I’m sure you’ll add some too.”
“I see. And all these must be completed?”
“Well…no. Most of them have to be continually done – such as that one about the harvest – to ensure Axefather just gets by, the others are optional in the sense that our situation will not get worse if they do not get done. Have a read, tell us what you think.”
Rictus looked at the spidery handwriting. It was written in Arch-Dwarfic, a style favoured by artisans, academics and people with too much time on their hands.
Complete the road
Continue iron exploratory tunnels
Expand the Habitat
Raise food stocks
Complete the Unfinished Business
Ensure Outside is safe
Build tree farm
Increase nobility housing
Continue training and provision of soldiers
Meet human representatives
“Interesting list” Rictus said eventually. “Meet humans?”
“Well, that might not happen this year. Or even next year, but they will come eventually. Those smelly gits are insidious. They turn up everywhere. Excuse me, need another drink.” Aargh let himself out, passing Koji on the way in.
“Congratulations Riccie” the artist said, “do us proud”
“I’ll try…So, this looks like my orders are decided. And what role will you three play?”
“We will give you advice, and help out, particularly at first. We shall be a parliament, if you like.” Nekose said
“A council” agreed Koji. Rictus was inwardly worried, a council of ex-leaders sounded like a recipe for having her hands tied. “Oh, and I have already ordered your bedroom and office constructed. The miners should arrive soon.”
“Thanks” she replied tonelessly. “So what is the rest of our situation?”
“Glad you asked. Axefather; population eighty. We have a standing force of fifteen soldiers whose main task is to keep the nascent road clear. Our nine farmers keep us well feed, and our workshops, located here, here and here…” he jabbed three points on a handily colour-coded map, “produce plenty of stock. The sheriff dispenses justice-”
“When he isn’t busy doing bugger all” Koji added bitterly
“-from here” another jab, “which also comprises the rest of the housing for the nobility. You know about the Habitat and the Catacombs, but both will need expanding at some point. That’s your job.”
“I see.” Rictus said, looking down at the map, suddenly feeling very lost. “What do you suggest?” she said eventually.
The councillors looked at each other, until eventually Nekose spoke up. “For now? Nothing. Get the farm up and running, otherwise do not make any massive changes.”
“People resent change” Koji nodded, sagely.
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EDIT: Hmmm...that text looks a lot blockier on the forum. I'll try and make the next installments more reader friendly, and I forgot fonts don't copy over either, which means the list in the second chapter loses some effect. Oh well. Hope you enjoy it!
[ October 21, 2007: Message edited by: Rictus ]
[ October 21, 2007: Message edited by: Rictus ]
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Topic: /V/ Succession Game! (Read 18051 times)