Ha, that's awesome. Another update, courtesy of a lack of pictures, which take forever to upload. Anyway, know how I said there'd be less drama? There will be, I promise and I'm sorry for forcing you guys to endure drama instead of killy, gory action. That will be in the next update, I swear.
That Night“Kogan, what’s wrong?” asked Barbarossa, coming over to where Kogan was sitting. He was white as a ghost and shaking slightly. “Why – what the
Hell is that?”
Kogan was holding a small gem, glowing a dull red. He looked up at Barbarossa and gulped.
“Cog’s dead,” He said simply.
Barbarossa was taken aback.
“What?” he asked, shocked. “How?”
Kogan proffered the gem to Barbarossa.
“Here, see this? It glows red when the person you’re trying to contact is dead. I was tuned to Cog’s channel. He’s dead.”
“Where did you get it? And why did Cog give it to you?” asked Barbarossa, now extremely worried. Kogan’s face was pale when he responded.
“I was part of a… conspiracy, headed by the general. To remove the king.”
Barbarossa stepped backwards.
“You
what? Regicide? You bastard, how many others were there?”
“Lots,” replied Kogan. “About eighty or so percent of all the company commanders. Cog’s influence was widespread. I’m surprised he didn’t attempt to recruit you. Surely you see why he did it? The king was a fool, one who took from the normal dwarves to keep his decadent lifestyle going, even during a god’s damned war. He was incompetent. We wanted to create a nation headed by the common dwarf, where everyone could have a say without the threat of a hammering or imprisonment. Can’t you see?”
Barbarossa
did see and had felt the same way for some time but didn’t want to admit it to Kogan. He changed the subject.
“How many people have those communicators?” he asked.
“Everyone involved. Cog had a group of supporters that he met with regularly back at the mountainhomes but company commanders obviously couldn’t be there and needed to be kept informed. This was how. They were crafted with elven magic but the elf was kept in the dark.”
Barbarossa thought for a few seconds.
“Can you set it so we can hear others?” he asked.
“Yes,” said Kogan. “That’s what
really wrong.” His voice was really shaking now.
“What’s the matter?”
“Here,” said Kogan. “I’ll set it to an open frequency.”
He made a few movements over the gem and suddenly it came alive with the sounds of battle, the cries of fallen and the screams of the fighting carried out from the stone.
Barbarossa gasped.
“How many dwarves did you say had these?”
“Almost all of the company commanders,” replied Kogan. “Barbarossa… Barbarossa, we may soon be the last three companies in the military.”
“None of that, Kogan,” said Barbarossa, with false cheer. The sounds of battle continued but the screams of pain were becoming more and more evident. “Switch it to the mountainhomes. There are a lot of companies stationed there.”
Kogan complied. The gem came alive with chatter.
“By the Gods, there’s thousands!”
“On your left, on your left!”
“What the hell are those?”
BOOM“Oh Gods! Duck!”
BOOM“Look ou–”
Kogan switched it off. He looked down at his feet. Barbarossa was in shock. After the longest pause, they both looked at each other.
“We can’t tell the men,” said Barbarossa. “We just can’t.”
“What’ll we do?” asked Kogan.
“We continue. They can’t get every single dwarf in the word. If we dig in well enough, they may never find us and if we’re lucky, some refugees might turn up.”
“Why the hell are we one of the only companies that’s totally male?” asked Kogan bitterly. “Almost every other company has at least
one female.”
“Well, you never know,” replied Barbarossa, trying desperately to look on the bright side. “You know how difficult it is to tell genders apart for dwarves and we
have been resupplied a few times. Don’t worry. We’ll get through this. Oh, and don’t tell Workerdrone. Or is he in on it too?”
“No,” whispered Kogan.
“Okay. Just get some sleep, my friend. We’ll be travelling into uncharted territory tomorrow, along the coast by the looks of things. I need you well rested because tomorrow we’re travelling north.”
Barbarossa walked off and Kogan watched him go. He switched the gem back on and listened to the battles fought around the known world, hoping,
praying that the dwarves would prevail.
The voices got steadily dimmer as the night progressed and the gem owners fell. Early next morning, they stopped altogether.
Oldbeard may not be getting that shipment (He probably will)
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Topic: To venture north, into Hell: Othtar Noloc, world at war (Read 106456 times)