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[Glacies]

Yup, awesome. So, uh, what mods are you using?

[Mephansteras]

Just my own. I did try out a few mods when I first decided to stray from Vanilla DF, like the plants mod and the mineral mod. But I decided after a bit to just focus on my own, so eventually I just used them for examples of how to do stuff.

I'm glad everyone is enjoying the story! I played a bit last night so I've got some more material to put in.

[Mephansteras]

Summer passes quietly. Lazyhammer and a few of the other squads are told to stand down and rest since Diamondguard wants everyone fresh for when the dwarven caravan arrives. Lord Crescent had ordered some platinum, and was very keen on ensuring it's safe arrival.

In the down time, Blueforge, one of the fort's armorers, came by the barracks.

"Hey, Lazyhammer! Let me take a look at your armor for a minute." The bulky smith motioned from the doorway.

Shrugging, Crowdedirons walked over to the smith and held up his arms so his armor could be inspected.

"Yeah, that's what I thought. Chaos dwarf work, eh? Shoddy, very shoddy. The steel is good enough, but look at these holes. And, here, raise your arm." he pushed the soldier's arm up, as if to start a swing. "See the gap here, between the hauburk and leggings. Nothing but your shirt to defend you. Why it's a wonder you haven't been gutted yet!"

"Oh! Uh, well, this is kind of all we had back when I started, you know." Lazyhammer wasn't sure if he should feel abashed, or indignant, or...well, what.

"Huh. Well, not your fault I suppose. The steelworks hadn't gotten into full swing back then. Come on, let's go see if we can't get you something a bit more useful!" Turning, the bald, dark bearded smith headed off towards the forges.

"Uh...sure?" Lazyhammer followed after, a bit dazed. It wasn't a long walk, since the forges and the barracks were on the same level of the fortress.

The forges were hot, and loud. The hiss of steaming water, the acrid fumes from the magma, the clanging of the smith's hammers. It hardly seemed like part of the fortress at all. Lazyhammer stood for a bit, trying to comprehend everything going on around him.

"COME OVER HERE" Shouted Blueforge over the din. He'd walked past several of the forges, gathering up pieces of armor and even a hammer from the piles of finished work waiting to be properly stored away. He now stood near a doorway at one end of the cavern.

Lazyhammer walked over to him, giving the magma filled channels as much space as he could. He marveled at how the smelter operators leaped over the hot pits without even seeming to notice what they were doing.

Bluehammer closed the door behind them. They were in a smaller room, with another door leading off to their left. "This is Nightforge's private office." explained the smith. "But he's recovering from the beating the guards gave him after the last missed mandate for platinum crafts. It's rough, you know. Haven't had platinum in a few years, what with the sieges driving off half the caravans."

"Uh...yeah. I bet." stammered Crowdedirons, still a bit confused.

"Anyway, he won't mind us using the space. And it's a sight quieter in here! Now, take a look at what I found for you." He held up some finely worked bismuth bronze mail. "This stuff...now, this has some craftmanship to it. Of course, bronze isn't quite as good as steel. But it's better then iron for armor, harder you know, and quality makes up for a lot. See, no holes here. This has a nice tight weave to it! And it's got better cover too, so you won't be risking so much of yourself in combat."

Lazyhammer ran his hands over the armor. "This...this is magnificent looking! Why, it shines almost like gold!"

"Indeed it does! You'll make a fine sight out there in this, that I can promise you! Now, for the best part." He lifted up a dark crystal shield with a matching hammer. The crystal was dark as night, but Crowdedirons could see faint hints of purple deep within the crystal as the facets caught the torchlight.

"Void Crystal! And the workmanship...this is amazing! I'm...I'm to wield these?" He couldn't believe it. Void crystal was stronger then steel, and much more valuable. It was also much rarer, requiring a very time consuming process to make and steps that only the smiths properly understood.

"Haha! Yes. And why not? We have everything we need here to outfit this entire fortress in void crystal! That's why our dark kin want this place so much, you know. Magma, iron, flux, crystal. This fortress is much more than a simple outpost. It's going to become the greatest seat of dwarven power in the world. Mark my words on that."

"Well, thank you! Thank you very much! I'm going to go try these out right now." With the smith's help Lazyhammer discarded his old, bloodstained, and somewhat crude steel chain mail for the glimmering bronze armor. His simple shield, dented and scratched, was cast carelessly to the floor as he reverently strapped the dark crystal one to his arm. And his filthy steel hammer was simply dropped, the new one grasped firmly in his fist. It felt heavy, heavier than the old one. Heavy with the power he needed to truly become a warrior.

The foes of the Icy Fire-Sword had much to fear, now. Much to fear indeed.

[Mephansteras]

Later that day, as he was showing off his new gear to a few of the other soldiers, the conversation turned to the low quality of gear provided to most of the enemies who'd shown up at their gates.

"So you see," explained Fireblade, " the servants of Chaos just can't trust each other enough to rely on armor made by another dwarf. Or, at least your average soldier can't. Too much chance that the smith'll decide to sabotage the armor for kicks. So they all have to make their own. That makes for pretty lousy armor for most of them, but I guess that's better then the alternative. The leaders don't have to worry about that sort of thing, of course, so they get the nice stuff. It's all about how has the power in that culture. Which is why you see a few of them come out here with nothing but the cloths on their backs. They haven't got the money to buy the metal for their own armor yet, so they're hoping to steal something off the dead. Which dead, they don't care too much."

"Huh. Guess that makes sense." replied CrowdedIrons, looking down at his shiny new gauntlets. "Glad we're smarter then that!"

"Ok. But what about the bugbears?" Asked Wasp, who'd traded in his crossbow for a copper hammer to learn some melee techniques. "They're more of a warrior society, right? You'd think they'd care more then to send unarmed pups into battle."

"That's just it." Responded Frostblade, with a nod to Fireblade. "You see, in their culture you have to have survived a battle to prove that you're a warrior. And you can't hold a weapon or shield without being a warrior. So these hopefuls tag along with proper warbands, hoping to get a chance to prove themselves. They usually try to grab you and hold you long enough for one of the real warriors to get in a killing shot. Once they've done that, they'll have proved that they have the courage, Satadïrün in bugbear, to be a warrior."

"Wait, how do you two know all that?" Asked Wasp, a skeptical look on his face.

"Ha! Well, now, my Uncle was a guardsman back in the Mountainhalls." Replied Fireblade. "They have quite a few prisoners there. When we were boys we'd hang out with him, listening to his tales. I gather the Dungeon Master there had a keen interest in the cultures of our enemies, and spent long hours questioning them. He always said that it was our wisdom and ability to work together that kept us from falling to our enemies. And knowing your enemy can help you outsmart him, since you'll know what he'll do."

"Doesn't work too well with the Xelics, though" interjected Frostblade. "Seems their minds just work to differently from ours. Can't make out why they do what they do. At least the Silver ones are nice. A little too much like those wood elves for my tastes, but they seem to have a live and let live outlook on life and don't make no trouble. So I can't say too much bad about them, now can I? The purple ones, well, they seem to get some enjoyment out of killing stuff. Or maybe hurting stuff. We're not sure which. Either way, most of their armor is built in. They do carry shields and weapons, though. Tough foes, from what I've heard. I'm just glad we haven't seen any of them yet."

"Ugg." Shivered Runeblade. "Even the nice ones creep me out. Giant walking, talking bugs."

"Eh. Bugs are no big deal." said Lazyhammer, shrugging. "They crack nicely."

From there the conversation moved on to the merits of each soldier's chosen weapon, quickly leading to a series of demonstrations to try to prove why the sword, or axe, or hammer, was the best and most dwarvenly weapon.

[sonerohi]

cough axe and hammer cough

[Mephansteras]

Autumn had come again, bringing shortened days and even colder temperatures. Crowdedirons sat with Shimmerblade and Diamondblade in the dining hall, nursing some hot mulled wine. Shimmerblade bounced a tiny baby girl on her lap, feeding the child tiny sips of wine from her own goblet.

"I thought your daughter was older then that?" remarked Lazyhammer.

"Oh, this one's new!" beamed the young widow. "A final gift from my husband. I found out a few weeks after he died." She smiled down at the child. "She means everything to me. Everything."

"Congratulations!" Diamondblade smiled at her squadmate. "How wonderful, you have two children now!"

"Indeed! A toast to the new child!" Lazyhammer raised his goblet up to the others. "May she live a long, prosperous life!"

They cheered and drank, chatting about the child's future and her mother's hopes for her.

After a few minutes they quieted down as DiamondGuard rapped her morningstar on the wall to get their attention. "Sorry to ruin the fun, but we've gotten word that the caravan from the Mountainhomes has been spotted out past the snow dunes. Lord Crescent wants everyone topside and ready in case of an attack."

"Yes ma'am!" came the ragged reply, followed shortly by the scraping of chairs across the smooth stone floor.

Not long afterwards all four melee squads of the fortress were assembled by the front gate, with Greyaxe handing out assignments.
"Runeblade, you and your group are to patrol the southern edge of our region. Voidspike, you take your squad to the west. Moonsteel, your group will take the eastern edge where the caravan is coming in. I'll take my squad and Lazyhammer up to the north."

"Greyaxe! Greyaxe!" Shouted Goldbolt from the tower. "We've got bugbears incoming, from the south and east! Looks like Owlsong is in trouble!"

"Damn. All right, new orders! Voidspike, Runeblade, intercept the group coming in from the south! Moonsteel, Lazyhammer, we're taking the group to the east! MOVE!"

The squads hurried out, worried for the lightly guarded caravan, as well as the ranger who had been hunting wind drifters out amongst the snowdrifts.

Lazyhammer followed Greyaxe and his group up towards the point where the wagons were cresting the snow dunes. As he raced in, he could see that the bugbears had reached the caravan before them, and the guards were faring poorly. Merchants pulling pack animals fled in all directions as copper arrows fell like rain around them. The wild howling of the bugbears rang out over the ice, a sound even more chilling then the icy wind that carried it.

As Runeblade swung her group out in a direct line towards a group of bugbears attacking some of the guards, Greyaxe's led his squad and the trailing Lazyhammer up the side of the snowdrifts and into a large force of bugbears armed with spears and pikes. The bodies of horses, merchants, and guards littered the snow. With the clash of dwarven axe and mace upon copper mail the bugbear's howls turned from bloodlust to rage. Copper spearpoints flashed in the fading light, glancing off of the dwarves shields and finely crafted armor. Dwarven steel and crystal, however, bit deep. In just moments the veteran soldiers had cut down half of the bugbear force, and rest whimpered in fear and fled back to the east. Lazyhammer, slower than the others, reached the top of the dune just as the enemy broke and ran. He gave chase, following a bugbear who had thrown down his spear in his haste to escape. But his short legs were to slow to catch the longer-limbed bugbear, and he lost it to the dunes beyond.

"Lazyhammer!" Called Greyaxe. "Come with me. I saw some movement off in the forest, and I want to see if there could be some survivors up there."

---

After the last few siegers were killed or driven off, the soldiers reconverged at the center of the battlefield. Greyaxe stood atop a small outcropping of ice, and looked around at the carnage.

"All right, this ended up being a disaster. We've got half a dozen dead merchants, at least that many guards, plus Dawnhammer and Owlsong of our own. In addition, Moonsteel's injuries are too great for her to stay out here. Diamondblade, you're in charge of that squad now. We're going to need patrols guarding the haulers cleaning up this mess. I also want patrols around the main fortress to make sure we don't get surprised like this again."

He started pointing at squads with his blood splattered axe. "Lazyhammer, you and my squad will stay up here to guard this area. Runeblade, you and your squad will patrol the route leading to here from the fortress. Voidspike, I want you and your group to patrol the areas we found the scattered merchants slain. Diamondblade, you're to take your group and patrol around the fortress walls."

-----

Lord Crescent trudged through the snow towards the spot where Greyaxe looked over the haulers gathering up bodies for burial. Lazyhammer stood nearby, prodding the bodies of fallen bugbears looking for survivors.

"Well, this is a certainly a disaster, isn't it commander?" he remarked as he stepped over the shattered wheel of a wagon. "Did any of the merchants survive?"

"We think one or two wagons got away, but it's hard to say. It was a slaughter, no question about that." Greyaxe picked up a discarded boot and looked it over. "We may want to consider building some watchtowers out here. Our soldiers can't move fast enough to stop disasters like this from happening. Not until we get a better idea of when and where the wagons will show up."

"I know, but I'm hoping that when the roads get finished that things will improve." Lord Crescent stroked his beard for a while. "I'll have Stonesong draw up some plans for watchtowers, but I'm not sure how long it'll be fore we can start working on them. There is a lot of work to get done to finish the plans we already have."

"Well, for now we'll step up patrols a bit before the caravans usually show up. It may not help as much as watchtowers, but it may save lives."

"All right, well, carry on then." The administrator looked through the wagon for a while before emerging with some platinum bars. "Might as well help out while I'm here, huh?" He chuckled a bit and hefted the bars onto his shoulder.

"Heh. Take care on the walk back, my Lord. I wouldn't want any thieves to try and get those from you. Lazyhammer, escort the broker back to the fortress"

"Yes, sir!"

-----

While Lord Crescent spoke with Greyaxe, Shimmerblade patrolled around the northern walls of the fortress. Spotting a Suncatcher, a small floating bubble of glittering jelly and gasses, she pointed it out to her child. "Look dear, a Suncatcher, it's it beautiful!" The baby gurgled and held out it's hands to it. "Oh, you want it. Ok! Let's go catch it!" With that, she broke into a run.

It wafted north for a bit before being blown back west. Shimmerblade dashed about after it, occasionally leaping up and trying to grab it with her hand. All the while he young child bubbled with laughter, occaionally uttering 'Sun'ca!'

Unseen behind a snow drift, a squad of bugbear snipers lay watching the dwarven Champion and her child. Behind them, trying hard not to make a noise, was a trio of young warriors hoping to be given the honor of a place in the warband. As Shimmerblade passed by, he made a small motion with his hand and the archers leaped up from the snow, bows drawn. Copper arrows glinted red in the light of the setting sun, whistling with menace as they fell around the lone dwarf and her child.

"Oh, bugbears! Don't worry dear, they're not dangerous. That's what mommy has a shield for!" She shifted her shield up to block the arrows and looked about for the Suncatcher. "Oh, there it is! Let's go get it!" She hurried off after the glimmering floater again, absently blocking the few arrows that came closer to her.

As the bugbears leader growled at his squad to shoot the dishonorable dwarf that was fleeing from them, one of the tower guards shouted down to the soldiers stationed at the gate that Shimmerblade was under attack. Stonebolt and Voidheart rushed out to her defense.

Stonebolt stopped as soon as he was in range, firing off bolt after bolt into the archers. Voidheart raised his mace and shouted a battlecry as he charged into the unarmed bugbears before him. The grappled with him for a while, trying to pull him around where the archers could fire at him unimpeded. Struggling with them, he gave a mighty shout and threw them back. His mace plowed into them, sending one after another spinning broken into the snow. As the last of them fell, Stonebolt gave a cry and fell to the ground, a long arrow pierced through his leg. Voidheart growled and charged the two remaining archers, crushing their skulls as they tried to flee from him.

Shimmerblade, meanwhile, had chased the Suncatcher off to the south. Her baby cried softly as the beautiful creature was lofted high out of sight by the cold winds. "Oh, don't cry dear. We'll find you another. In fact, I think they have some down near the kitchens. Want to go look? Of course you do!"

Humming softly to herself she bundled her child up against the cold wind, and headed towards the kitchens to find the cages of suncatchers she'd heard about.

[Strife26]

cough axe and hammer cough

Sword.
Loving the story.

[OneMoreNameless]

cough axe and hammer cough

Sword.

Pick axe, and naked. Duh.

[sonerohi]

I love the story mostest!! And the most dwarven way to kill someone is bleed on them. Especially if you have a certain metal element in your bloodstream. That's why dwarves are always bleeding profusely, they're getting ready to fight!

[Mephansteras]

Autumn faded to winter, and the dwarves still searching the battle site for usable items had to carry lights with them, as there were only a few short hours of daylight available.

Lazyhammer stood watch over a pair of laborers who sifted through the snow looking for armor or weapons to take back to the fortress.  High above them the sky was ablaze with the polar lights, a brilliant shifting curtain of green light.

"It's amazing, isn't it." He remarked. "We never had anything like these back home. Kind of makes living out here in the ice worthwhile, don't you think?"

"Ah, the lights are stunning." breathed Applewood, straightening up from the snow with a steel boot in her hands. "I could stand out here for hours looking at them, if it wasn't so cold, anyway."

Darkstone just grunted. "Too cold for my tastes. And pretty lights in the sky are nothing compared to a nice mug of ale by a warm fire in my book" he said after a moment. Eventually he gave another grunt and pulled a sword up from the ground. "Ah, finally found something. Come on, Applewood. Let's get back underground. Not safe out here."

"Wait!" Lazyhammer stopped them with one arm as he looked back towards the fortress. "I see some sort of commotion. You'd better wait here until it's safe."

"No way!" growled Darkstone "If there's trouble we've got to get underground now! Enemies there could mean enemies out here too, and I don't fancy becoming a pincushion like these merchants did!" He brushed past Crowdedirons and hurried back towards the fortress. After a worried look back and forth, Applewood followed.

"Aw, fissures." gumbled Crowdedirons. "Can't let them run into that alone!" He jogged off towards the fortress.

By the time they got there, he saw Voidspike's squad prodding at a few prone forms on the ground.

"What happened?" Asked Lazyhammer, peering at one of the heavily bundled corpses.

"Eh, some more Sand Raiders." shrugged NewMoon, wiping off her blade. "You kill a few and they run. Pretty boring, really."

"Oh. Well...uh...guess I'll get back out to my post. Just, uh, wanted to make sure these haulers got back safely." He looked around wistfully, as if searching for some more enemies to fight.

"We appreciate your escorting them here" said Voidspike. "But we can handle anything else that shows up. Head on back." he pointed his spear lazily off to the east, back towards the dunes.

"Right. Uh, take care." Lazyhammer turned and trudged back towards his post, his eyes gazing upwards at the magnificent light show that still danced above them.

---------

The months crawled by. Eventually Lord Crescent decided that enough had been salvaged from the doomed caravan, and the squads were reassigned to their normal routines. Lazyhammer, Voidspike's squad, and Runeblade's squad all stood down and spent their days sparring, drinking, and generally enjoying life.


With spring came longer days. Still more night then naught, but for those that had to venture out of the warm rock of the fortress, it was a heartening sight.

More troubling was the news that Violet Xelics were marching on the fortress.

Greyaxe called the soldiers to muster at the front gate. "Listen up! We got word from some Frost Giant merchants over the winter that our presence here as attracted the interest of a Violet Xelic stronghold to the north, and our scouts have reported that a small force of them is marching here. Probably just a test of our mettle. I say we show them just how hard dwarven mettle can be!"

The soldiers cheered, clanging weapons against shield or armor. "Good! Now, they'll be here soon enough. We've ordered all civilians inside. The plan is the wait here for the bugs. The marksdwarves on the ramparts will soften them up a bit, and then we'll charge in and crack some carapace!"

More cheers, which he silenced with a wave of his axe. "Crushing weapons work best against them, so I want all Axe, Mace, and Hammerdwarves up front. You'll lead the charge. The rest of you will follow up and circle around to cut off any escape. Understood?"

"Yes, commander!"

"Good! Now, they don't wear armor. But they've got four arms and they use them all. Expect to see quite a few of them with multiple shields. That makes them a lot harder to get past them most other enemies. So focus on whatever openings you can find. For those of you with shields, make use of them. A good shield bash can knock them off balance enough to give you an opening. If you can't find an opening yourself, see if you can make one for a squadmate. We're going to have to work together to get through this without heavy losses on our side. And don't underestimate any unarmed ones you see, their claws and bite are weapons enough. The Xelics are a lot tougher then bugbears!"

The minutes crawled by the soldiers waiting anxiously for the siegers to come into range. Lazyhammer found himself standing behind Bloodforce and Redshield. He was nervous, but excited. This time, this time he'd be one of the first in. This time he'd show everyone that he was a true dwarven warrior. These things were bugs. He'd killed bugs before. Not bugs wielding swords and holding shields, but the principle had to be the same. He could kill bugs. The mantra repeated itself over and over his mind. They're just bugs. You can kill bugs.

The marksdwarves called out distances as the invaders drew closer to the walls.

"Three hundred feet!"

"Two hundred feet!"

"One hundred feet! FIRE!" Bolts whistled through the air, clattering against the stones of the road and clanging off the shields of the xelics in front. They marched in a loose formation, sword wielders in front, each with two or three shields apiece. Some using giant two-handed swords held in their upper arms while the lower ones held oblong shields to protect more of the body. Behind them came unarmed xelics, claws outspread and mandibles open in anticipation of slaughter.

"Fifty feet!" Shouted Greyaxe. "Wait for my signal..."

They closed to forty feet, the alien-looking invaders moving faster and faster. "CHARGE!"

Bloodforce was first out of the gates, his heavy steel mace crashing into the lead xelic and throwing it across the road into the snowy banks alongside.

Lazyhammer charged in after. His new crystalline hammer seemed to almost hum in his hand. He brought it down at the end of his charge, the hammer crashing past the upraised shield of his enemy to shatter the arms beneath. He bashed the injured insectoid aside with his shield, parrying a heavy blow with the backswing of the hammer. This is what it feels like to be warrior! he thought.

Diamondblade stepped in beside him, twisting her blade around the quillions of the xelics heavy sword and binding it. "Now!" she screamed, as the xelic tried in vain to pull it's sword away. Lazyhammer whipped his hammer up, skipping off the top of a shield, and embedded the head of the hammer deep into the creatures body. White ichor poured from the ragged opening and the creature collapsed to the ground. He stepped over it, shield raised high, and heard the raking of claws skip off the dark surface of the shield. He shoved forward, pushing his opponent off balance, and sent his hammer slamming into it's shin. The leg buckled, and as the creature fell to the ground he brought the hammer up again. A swift strike later, and the creatures head exploded into small, purple chunks across the pavement. Looking around for more foes, he saw Voidspike struggling with one of the wrestlers. It had three arms grasping his spear and the fourth raking against his armor. Crowdedirons bellowed a war cry and rushed over, hammer swinging in a wide arc. The dark crystal, now streaked with white ichor, hummed in his hand before blasting into the xelics back. Chunks of shimmering violet carapace exploded as it's midsection was destroyed by the blow. A backswing ripped the creatures right arms off, sending Voidspike staggering back as his spear was abruptly release.

He turned, looking for more enemies, but the battle was over. The xelics, unprepared for the ferocity of the battle-hardened dwarves, were annihilated.

"Did you see that?!" crowed Lazyhammer "Wooo! This hammer...it's amazing. Those bugs just didn't have a chance! Crash, boom, bug guts everywhere! I've never felt so alive!"

Voidspike clapped him on the back. "Good job, Lazyhammer. Good job. You may not have made up for One-eye yet, but it's a good start. A very good start."

"Yeah!" He looked around. "Hey, want to go grab an ale?"

[Strife26]

Lazyhammer. Smash.

[Axe27]

Man, it would be a real bitch if a stray arrow got him in the throat, or pierced his heart.

[Mephansteras]

Just so everyone knows, it might be a few days before I can update the story again. I've got a lot going on until next week, and I don't know that I'll get a chance to sit and write much. Plus, the next update is pretty important (though not story-ending) and I want to do it justice.

[Jamini]

I'm finding this quite entertaining.
 
Keep it up.

[Mephansteras]

Patrols were doubled after the assault by the Xelics. One group often meant another would attack soon.

However, it was not bloodthirsty invaders who showed up one windy afternoon, but a group of very well dressed dwarves. As Runeblade and her squad escorted them in, Lazyhammer and the other soldiers tried to figure out who they were.

“Nobility, I’m sure of it.” Remarked Voidheart, grabbing his mustache to keep it from whipping about in the wind. “See how they’re dressed? That’s fine material they’ve got on!”

“Yeah, but we’ve seen just as nice on the merchants that come in from the Mountain homes.” Said Lazyhammer. “What makes you think these are nobility?”

“Oh, use your eyes!” snapped the marksdwarf by the gate. “That one’s got a rather impressive ceremonial hammer over his shoulder. That’s no guard, that’s a Hammerer! Obviously we’ve grown important enough for an official Lawkeeper to be assigned.”

“Huh. So he does! Well, trust the eyes of archer they say!” laughed Voidheart. “Not that much’ll change for us. We’ll see be stomping out here in the snow and fighting off uglies!”

“Yeah.” Lazyhammer looked wistfully inside the gate. “I wonder when they’ll let us go off shift to get some nice mulled wine?”

“Hey, if you’re lucky they’ll declare a celebration!” laughed Silverbolt, with a rather mischievous smile on her face. “And if you’re unlucky, they’ll have you on guard while it’s going on!


A little later, one of the guardsman came out side. “I have important news!” he cried, cupping his hands to try and shout over the wind. “As of this day, we are all in the service of the new Countess of Omerzoden, the Lady Ironeyes! With her comes her consort, Silverfrost, the honorable Hammerer, Lord Nihilus, the Royal Tax collector, Lady Goldenhair, and their retinue. If any of you wish to be transferred to the personal guard of our aristocracy, please speak with the Captain.”

There was a cheer from the soldiers. While none of them would change the glory of the military for following around nobles all day, this was still an important moment. It meant that their home had earned it’s place within the kingdom at last, and that the hard work of those who founded it was being recognized.

“In honor of this day,” continued the guard, “a great celebration will be held in the dining hall. For those of you who remain on duty, hot food and drinks will be brought out.”

“Three cheers for the new Countess!” shouted Greyaxe.

“Huzza! Huzza! Huzza!” came the roar from the soldiers.

Well, at least I get wine either way, thought Lazyhammer to himself.