Probably definitely 22nd Malachite, 210, Mid-Summer
by Asob Momuzzokun
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"In the name of Nikot! Let me vanquish the foul demons below!"
"NO!"
It was fruitless. 'The Overlord' was upset to hear he missed his chance to kill some goblins alongside Archibold. So, he wanted me to crack the chambers so he could fight the evils within
by himself."The great and mighty Archibold Bridgebolt the Equivalent Ram of Artifacts may have 70 goblin kills to his name--"
"
Her name."
"...What? All the tales refer to Archibold as a male."
"I know, we keep getting it confused. Happens all the time."
"...Whatever. But can she claim to have killed a demon? No! One kill would surely put me on even caliber with Archibold!"
"You have no idea how many of those things are in there! And Quietust has been doing that goofy human number thing... 'math' I think she calls it? Anyway, she thinks these things are 2500 Urists hot. Hotter than the surface of the big, glowing ball of nausea! You'd burn to ash before getting anywhere near one!"
"...Soo... killing one will put me
above Archibold's caliber!"
"Nobody's fighting them! Everybody's work has slowed to a crawl since the discovery of these chambers, so we're dealing with them in the fastest way possible. Zon and I have already discussed a plan."
"Gather everybody in the dragon's den and wait for somebody to open it? I'll rally the troops."
"No, I already tried that-- I mean, I have a pretty good idea how that'll turn out! Now, go train in the barracks, work your way up to a champion or something. Trust me, you'll be called when you're needed."
In truth, Zon did have a plan. I was right about those odd tunnels she had planned but never started. Before we knew what was in there, she'd wanted to obsidian cast the inner chambers completely. Once we'd had a glimpse, we figured it might not be possible - whatever is in there is hot enough to boil water from several Urists away, and we kind of need water for an obsidian cast!
That plan hasn't changed, but rather evolved - now she wants to trigger a cave in while simultaneously pumping water and magma inside. So, we've given orders to carve some chambers in the two levels above to the exact dimensions of the top level of the chamber.
Hm, speaking of that top level... There's something really peculiar about its shape...
& I had to draw a picture of the demons in my dream next to our diagram of the top floor of the chamber. They look awfully similar!
This plan prompted the argument between Zon and King Minkot that I had mentioned. Minkot claimed the plan was undwarfy, since it was a non-confrontational method of dealing with the denizens of the deep. He commanded the same thing that Overlord suggested - a full frontal assault.
And... that was when Zon lost it, backed the king into a corner, and it all came out. I wasn't there for the initial argument, but Zon came to me practically in tears afterward. She finally told me about previous experience with a pit like this. Hers wasn't generating tons of heat and causing spontaneous fires within, though. She said they had been frog demons, and she claimed they had been sent from below to avenge her for using live frogs as bait when fishing. One almost killed her, but she grabbed an axe from a fallen soldier nearby and decapitated it with a lucky swing. That explains why she's taken up tree cutting...
After that, she gave up competing altogether - she continued fishing, but she switched to worms. Good thing there isn't a type of demon that looks like a mass of wriggling worms! That would be downright terrible if Zon ever saw one.