The scouts:Zlanoatis, Hornkiatis and Propubatis
Propubatis was the first to notice the strange material in the mountains. It glistened brightly in the sunlight (how very bright the sun was, just like in the stories!, though Propubatis), and rippled slightly in the wind. Clearly, it was a strange new metal alloy. Hopefully it could be used for something.
The scout team walked to the edge of the material (strange that it'd stay in a clump like this, seeing as it seemed quite malleable. It should have spread across the terrain in a few thousand years, thought Propubatis) and peered into it. It reflected their images back, although the waves moving across them morphed them slightly.
Zlanoatis knelt down and dipped his finger in to the substance. The surface broke easily around his finger, sending ripples across the (what should it be called? A lake? Yeah, I think that sounds good)... lake.
"C'mon, Zlano, taste it!", said Hornkiatis. Propubatis scoffed. Those two were always daring each other into doing the dumbest things, something very unwise in a world as unhospitable as the Deeps. Yet, somehow, they'd managed to survive all those years. Some days, he still wondered how, and why.
Accepting the challenge, Zlanoatis tried to grab a piece of the substance, but it easily evaded his fingers. His frantic attempts to catch it all failed.
Propubatis knocked Zlanoatis in the head and knelt himself to the material. He cupped his hands and let the substance flow into them. He then lifted his hands, the material still in them. Then he opened his hands. The material fell out and onto the lake, instantly merging with the other substance. It was like quicksilver, only more clear.
Then Propubatis looked at his hands, and let out a yell. They had changed colour, and were now all dark and heavy. This material was clearly extremely acidic. The scout team rushed away from the lake, and held a discussion amongst themselves, going along the lines of this:
"Agh! Agh! Agh! My hands!"
"What should we do?"
"I say we bring some back to Machinatus. Maybe he can figure out something to do with it."
"Agh! My hands! My beautiful hands!"
"How should we store it? It'll melt right through anything we try to carry it in!"
"My hands... why?"
"Well, Propubatus' hands still seem about the same shape as before, so it probably won't melt through stone very fast. I say we make a large jar out of some granite or something, and put some substance in it."
"Why me, anyways? I'm not stupid or foolish like the others! Why me?"
"Shut ut, Propu. We're trying to think. Besides, it doesn't look like you're dying or anything."
Surprised by the annoyed tone of his comrades, Propubatus stopped, although he would later tell himself it was only because he wanted to.
Back at Erithnarum:
Loremaster Echinates carefully accepted the jar, and listened to the tale of the scouts. Hearing them talk about the strange substance, he felt as if something was picking at his brain, something he should remember, just out of his reach...
He opened the jar and looked in. Just as they had told, the substance was translucent and liquid, like quicksilver.
He dipped his finger in. This time, the scouts' tale did not hold true. His finger, covered in steel, did not change color as they had said. Why was that?
Echinates grabbed a piece of stone and dipped it instead. Again, no change. What was this?
Then he remembered that the scout who claimed colour change had been covered in sandstone. It took some time to find a piece, but finally he dipped the stone into the substance.
Success. The sandstone took on a much darker stone, and also became somewhat heavier. It seemed the substance was... soaking?... into the rock, causing these changes.
What to do with this, though? It was too weak to use as building material, and there was no other use for it, either.
Maybe it was tasty...?
Against all common sense, Echinates brought the jar to his mouth and drank. The substance flew easily into his system. Putting down the jar, Echinates suddenly felt dizzy. He wobbled around, shouting for help. His vision blurred...
The next morning, he woke up in the 'hospital', as they called it. It was really just a cave with an exceptionally smooth floor, where they stored the injured. As he woke, he found the face of the Pure gazing at him steadily.
"You were incapacitated for some time, Loremaster. We feared we would lose you."
Echinates rose to his elbows.
"That fear was unnecessary. I have never felt better in my life! You see, this substance... Water. It is called water. There are stories of it. I should have known."
If it were possible, Echinates could have sworn he saw Machinatus raise an eyebrow.
"Water? Tell me about this new substance, and it's effects."
"Well, you see, water makes people first feel real dizzy, and then you feel real great. I took a lot of water at one go, so I blacked out. Now, however, I feel like my mind is working better than ever before! And my body feels great, too! Damn, I feel ready for a round of arm- wrestling. Show me what you got, Pure!"
The over- excited Echinates was quickly defeated, but Machinatus felt that it was a lot more difficult than before. This water was truly wondrous.
"Damn, you won. Well, I could probably beat anybody else here."
"That is not the matter now. Tell me, why is there so much water here, yet so little below?"
"I do not know that, nor do I know many things from the Above. We'd do better asking some native creatures."
Summary:
- Discover a lake in the mountains
- Take water with them
- Return to Erithnarum
- Water is studied
The group approached the location of the creatures. Just before meeting them, Machinatus and four other hid, with one Erithrean walking to the foreign group.. Machinatus cast a spell on him, giving him the ability to speak and understand the language of the strangers.
The Erithrean eyed the group. There was a lot of creatures, the size of children, but without any covering upon them, save for a few scraps of old, dented metal covering their chests. Some were slightly larger than the others, near the height of an Erithrean. Then there was a single creature, a colossus in size, but with a dull face. Still, he seemed the leader of the group, and the Erithrean looked at him as he said:
"Greetings, foreigners. Who are you, and why are you here?"
The troll looked a little confused, and flicked his eyes between the giant golem in front of him and the Orc who was the leader of the group. Seeing this, the Erithrean turned to the Orc, who said:
"We are from Warlord Gaz, how can you speak our tounge?
"It is a gift from our god, given through his avatar. But that is not the topic today. Why are you here, why do you approach the People?"
The Orc looked taken aback.
"THE people? There will be many more creatures that we will encounter, but I doubt you're manners will let you get that far. But for why we are here...
...We are exploring"
"For whom? Tell us about your people. Also, why are you insulted that we call ourselves "The People"?"
"The 'People', it implies that you believe you are the only ones"
"In the world we come from, it is correct."
"But you are not in your world anymore. You are in the land of Orcs"
"Your land? Why is it yours?"
"The Orc's have been around for eons, At one time or another, every piece of this world has been stepped on by an Orc"
"One time or another, that 'Orc' has been moving above Erithrean land."
"Above, you say. So why would you care wether we were above you? You have all your needs met underground."
"The Deeps wither us. We thought we could survive there, but we could not. Therefore, we must move above ground."
"But surely you know that, as you lived in the deeps you have accustomed to it. Meaning that it will be difficult for you to accustom to life up here. It would be the same with us."
"Life here above ground is easy. We are quite certain we will grow accustomed quickly. Besides, we're not asking for much. Only to settle in the volcanoes of this world, and a little around them.
"But how can we trust you? every creature will eventually want more. Why should you not do the same?
"Why would we want any more?"
"More land means more space, for food, for people, for resources. These things mean power"
"We do not need much space, and we could help you in many ways."
"The only way I could see use for you is as a wall, so please prove me wrong"
"We are skilled artisans and mechanics We can build you machines of war. We have all lived our entires lives fighting. We know our way around many weapons. May I pose you a question in return?"
"You just have, but you may ask another"
"Why is it that you are so small, and without any rock covering?"
"You live under the ground with the rocks, correct? But we live above ground and a rock over would impede our movement."
"Fascinating. The beasts of the wild do not strike you down, then?"
"No, as we are the ones to strike them down"
"I see.""Tell us about this above- ground world. Our scouts have located a weird substance."
"What does this substance look like? Describe it."
"It is like quicksilver, but far lighter, and when consumed, grants the imbider great happiness, joy and speed of mind. It is also transparent, like the finest glasses."
"Ah, I know what that is. That would be water, it is important to every creature above ground to live"
"Water, you say- yes... we have tales of it, back in the old... But I digress.
We have an agreement, then? You allow us to live by the mountains, take some water for our enjoyment, and live peacefully, free from the Deeps.
We supply you with machines of war, fine crafts and mercenaries. Still, there is one question."
"Yes?"
"If you were to hire mercenaries, how are you to pay to them?
Our traditional method of payment is iron, other metals or adamantine, but I do not know if that is the custom here."
"We do use metals as payment, but as coins. Small disc shapes, that represent a paticular value, Would that be enough?"
"What metals do you use?"
"Either Gold, Silver, Iron or Copper"
"Gold is weak. Silver, too. Iron and Copper, maybe. We can accept them as forms of payment."
"Very well, I believe we have an Accord?"
"Yes. Yes we do."
Summary (tl;dr):
- Erithreans meet Orcs, nobody squishes anybody. Sorry, folks.
- A deal is made:
-- Erithreans stay to the mountains and volcanoes
-- They may gather water, 'cause water is awesome
-- In return, they will build war machines for the Orcs, create master crafts for them and may be mercenaries.
-- The mercenaries will be payed in Iron and Copper, as will the machines be payed for.
- The scouts, having found some water, go one square SE and 2 S, returning to Erithnarum
- Erithreans train their magic skills, and etc.
- Water is introduced to the Erithrean society
- A few Erithreans are trained to try and invent new stuff, and generally train in doing mechanical thingies, like ballistae.
- The orc scouts are noticed. A diplomatic team of 5 Erithreans and Machinatus is dispatched to meet with the orcs. (Need Kashyyk)
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Topic: Battle of the Gods IV (Read 70246 times)