The profiles of Fre and Illiterate
27th Moonstone"Pete! Pete where are you?"
Rikkir's voice echoed through the catacombs beneath the village, only the echos of her voice responding as the whispered through the empty sarcophagi and opened doors. As she walked from room to room, the memories of those lost came to her. The death of Sarek, the stoic axedwarf. Slain ignominiously without ever revealing his family and friends. The snatching of her eldest son Solon, a child who had shown so much potential lost to the cookpots of the goblins. The sharply felt pain of the recent loss of little Lokum, who's voice will never again grace the streets of her birthplace.
As she passed through the last portal, to the resting place of Frea, Rikkir paused, regarding the big man who had introduced himself nearly fourteen years before with a single curt phrase. The well-worn axe that had hardly left his side in all of that time lain gently across the golden tomb that held his wife, and her close friend and rival. No tears stained his hardened face as he stood there, either unaware or unconcerned that he was being watched as he stared at the inscription on the golden headstone.
The Absolute Angel of Armor
Leader of The Last FortressFrea Libashrur
1060 - 1064
b.1031
d. 1064
May Ziril the spark of heating,
long fuel your oven's fire
for all of your afterlife.
Rikkir paused for a moment, slowly approaching the woodcutter and laying a gentle hand on his shoulder. Her voice tender, "Pete, it wasn't your fault. None of us could have seen it happening."
The older dwarf looked down at the small leader, her thick and honest frame bringing a smile to his face despite the grief that was openly visible upon it. "How is Abod?"
"Unchanged. But we think we have an answer"
"Oh?" The woodcutter's voice was slightly harsh as his eyebrows raised in surprise, "Well?"
"Mulch and Echo did a little digging into Frea's belongings. Did you know that she had a huge collection of books and tomes saved from before we came here? And we think we found the answer."
Pete's expression didn't change at the mention of rifling through his wife's things, so Rikkir moved on quickly. "The books tell of several expeditions to chasms, to get silk and the like from the resident cave spiders. Remember, that's what we thought was the answer at first."
"We spent hours looking around the chasm Rikkir, we didn't find anything." The woodcutter said curtly, pulling open his pouch and rifling through the plant threads that were stored there. He knew more than anyone that there was no silk in the chasms, because he was still the weaver for the group after all of those years.
"Exactly, remember how curious Frea was about that back when we first discovered it? Well, I was looking through the book and I think I found the answer. I think we have a giant cave spider in the chasm."
For the first time since he had started speaking to Rikkir Pete's composure shifted, a shiver running up his entire body as he remembered some of the stories he had heard about them. "Rikkir, if your right..."
"Yeah, I know, they're dangerous... but Ithe facts add up Pete."
"Clear eyes, if that's the case then none of us are going. Haven't you heard the stories? They can rip a dwarf in two in the blink of an eyes, and a single bite from them is enough to paralyze you for life. They can shoot webs that can snare a full-grown dragon in seconds... and no dwarf ever sees them until it is too late. Are you trying to get us all killed?" The woodcutter crossed his arms, shaking his head, "No way, I can't let you get yourself killed like that. I don't care if your our leader."
"I'm not asking permission Pete." The shorter woman replied with her eyes narrowed, "Abod will die if we don't find it. You've been with Frea for over a decade, more than long enough to have read enough of the histories to know it's true. The insanity will spread and grow until it consumes her completely unless we find the items she needs. Besides, I'm pretty sure I know where it is."
"Oh?"
"The spider needs a safe place to rest between hunts. In that place there wouldn't be any chasm animals. No corpses, no bones, just nothing until we try and search it. There is such a place in the chasm, I've seen it, and I'm sure that if we know where it is we can catch it and use it."
The woodcutter's eyes went wide as Rikkir talked, his composure breaking down and his face turning a livid red that hadn't graced it in years. "Are you MAD? Those things are monsters! Just open up that hole and it'll come out and rip us all to shreads, cage or no cage! I've said it before and I'll say it again, you might be my friend. But you have no common sense Clear-Eyes. What if it webs you before you can run away? What if it breaks the cage? What if you fall into it's lair and get eaten! No way! I won't let you go. I'll lock you in the prison if you try."
"Mulch and Ukat would break me out, and even Echo has agreed already. You might veto just me, but not the three of us Pete." Rikkir replied, thrusting her chin out defiantly. "This is happening weather you want it to or not."
Pete looked down at her face, his anger diffusing as quickly as it had built. It was quickly replaced by the cold wariness that he had assumed ever since Frea's death. A distant disconcern about everything living, even his own children, that had hardly made spending time with him bearable. "Then why tell me. Go do it, get yourselves killed. Mulch can join me then at the table."
"Mulch is coming with me." Rikkir said softly, her eyes cast towards the floor as she realized what her words had done to the defeated man, "I'm asking you because... well... I want you to come with me too. There are a lot of monsters down there in the chasm, not just the spider. We may need to fight them. And if I'm right, then any mistakes mean that my children would be orphans. I need you Pete, your caution and muscle. You're not doing us any good moping here anyway. Abod is our friend, and was Frea's friend too. Would you dishonor her name by letting her die?
Silence reigned in the tomb, the gold in the doors and on the Sarcophagus glimmering faintly with a light reflected from the door outside. The crecent moon above the burial reciprocal catching the light in a faint twinkle. Above the shouts of the children and the calls of Mulch and Echo for everyone to come to dinner rang softly against the smooth stone. Finally Pete shook his head and looked up, regarding the woman who he had spent so many of his years working and in contention with. "If I was twenty years younger, and fifty times less ornery, I'd ask you to marry me Rikkir. Mulch doesn't know what a bargain he got with you. I will start getting suited up after dinner."
27th Moonstone - Rikkir's LogIn order to reach the region where we believe the great spider lives, I need to dig past a tunnel that is inhabited by Troglydytes. Together Pete and I engaged in a firce battle with the monsters. I felled one, and Pete seemed to become superdwarven, doding every blow that was sent at him and retaliating by taking the lives of the remaining five. It seemed that the spirit of Ziril was guiding his actions, leading him the clear victor in our contest.
3nd Opal - Rikkir's LogTime is passing so quickly, now that we have a deadline. Abod's madness grows worse every day. We need that silk, we need it badly. We have located the spider and have begun operations to lure it to use it's deadly webs, and then to trap it. Unfortunately, the spider is of the hunting variety, meaning it only uses it's webs when attacking a creature. To get it to use it's deadly weapons, we will need live bait. I've decided to sacrifice a male cougar we received with the elven caravan.
My only hope is that we are not too late.
15th Opal - Rikkir's LogThe spider, which we have named Evalaco, is finally captured.
Pete is rushing down there now to collect some of the precious webs. My only hope is that he is not too late in weaving them.
19th Opal - Rikkir's LogAbod has finished her work. A silver weapon rack of unparalleled quality. Encrusted with Prase, lined with dog bone, and encircled with bands of silver.
I have asked her to allow me to place it on the second floor of the temple in homage to the legends of a love affair between Sarvesh and Likot. While reluctant, she permitted me to place it there on the promise that it be used as more than a simple decoration.