The Khamerites baked and withered under the hot noon sun. Blockedlance never did get too cold in winter. They cursed their luck for being exiled, and some even cursed their father for getting them into this mess. They then began cursing each other, and throwing tantrums. Fist fights erupted. It was then that Airag stepped up to the leadership role of his family. It had been his destiny to lead, whether from a gold throne or a courtyard prison.
"My people! Calm yourselves!" he shouted as he dove into the hysterical mass of dwarves. He pushed the combatants apart and tried to appeal to their reason. "Look....we could fight each other to death if we want-"
"YEAH!!!!!" shouted Tallpanzer as he began to take another swing at his brethren. Airag grabbed his arms and held him back.
"NO!!! I said...we
COULD fight each other....but we would be destroying our chance at a better life!"
"A better life?! Look where we are!" shouted Tallpanzer.
"I know it will be tough, but we can do it! We're dwarves! Let us build shelter from the sun!"
"Look Airag, I know you're trying to help and all...but we're doomed. The sooner you see that, the sooner you can get over it. Do you see any stockpiles of stone out here? Those marksdwarves on the walls will surely shoot us if we try to dig below ground," said Tallpanzer as he pointed to the massive walls around the courtyard, where their own grandmother patrolled and kept watch with her scornful eyes. "And I doubt either they or the goblins and elves besieging the fortress would let us get very far out of the gate. We have nothing to build with!"
Fool! Look around you!" Airag pointed to the trees in the southeast courtyard. "We have more wood than we could ever use! And I have my axe and wood cutting skills!"
"Wood? You want us to build with wood?" asked Tallpanzer incredulous.
"Oh my Gods....we'll die like elves!" cried one of the younger brats.
"Wood is for beds, Airag," shouted another.
"My kinsmen...I share your hatred for soft splintery wood. And aye, there would be nothing better than to sleep with a mile of hard stone between me and the sun and the stars. Why....I get dizzy every time I look up into that endless blue emptiness. I feel the fear that you do....that one day I might lose hold of the Earth, and fall upwards into the sky." Many of the dwarves shuffled about uncomfortably as they heard these words. They bowed their heads and dared not look up, for the sky stirred primal fears in a dwarf. They looked about for any shrub or branch to cling to, just in case gravity failed to protect them from the sky sucking them into it. "And that is why we must build ourselves shelter....no matter what it must be made of! How could one fall asleep with the sky right there....right above them....with no solid ceiling to catch them in case they fall up?"
"Stop talking about it!" shouted a dwarf as he closed his eyes and clung to a boulder.
"My brethren....I am a skilled wood cutter, I will clear cut this entire courtyard. You two peasants....Ill teach you some basic carpentry. We shall build wooden caves to sleep in," ordered Airag.
"Wooden caves....you mean like human houses?"
"NO! They will be wooden caves!" he shouted forcefully. "Now lets get to work."
"Well what about food and water?" asked Derek, the Khamerite Cook.
"Well, we have some murky pools to drink out of, and if you have no job to do, then gather plants. We can build everything in wooden caves. We'll build a wooden cave kitchen, and a wooden cave inn, and a wooden cave carpentry shop. Come on! It will be like in the history books....like back in pioneer days when their wagons would break down in the middle of nowhere, and they had forgotten to bring a pick. It will be an adventure!"
Airag was quite persuasive. The grumpy dwarves set aside their anger and misery and decided to build some 'wooden caves' to at least get the sun off their minds.
And so it was that the first surface settlement began....
...and the dwarves began living in wood.
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Topic: Blockedlance - No More Stops Until Ragnarok! (Read 432462 times)