RendarRar - Sure thing, any particular personality for Rar?
Also, everyone who was waiting to be dwarfed/humaned/elfed/kobolded has been added!
The profiles are up on the first post, as ever.
1st Granite 675 - DawnFori had worked tirelessly over the past two months, stopping only to drink, sleep and eat. At times she was quite lucid, able to mumble a few words, but mostly whatever had possessed her was in full control, refusing to allow the Elf to talk to the Dwarves or do anything but work. It had hoarded magnetite, iron, shale, cobaltite and giant bat bone, and begun work at the stroke of Ongas' death, continuing over the rest of Opal, and then through Obsidian. Apparently the possessor was a perfectionist, as many times it had destroyed its work, shouting that it had been ruined by some tiny imperfection. Finally as the sun began to rise into the valley of the Swamps of Tunneling on the 1st of Granite, 675, it left Fori's body, and she was finally back in full control.
At once much of the fort came to see, both to check up on her (Reg had grudgingly accepted to do a check-up, and had spent most of it loudly proclaiming about how as far as he was concerned, she should have been thrown out the moment the possessor had appeared), and also to see what she had created.
Once the preliminary examination, and praising of the craftelfship had been done, the crowd turned to Ibruk, knowing that the prophet would, as ever he did, declare this a sign from the gods, despite it being a clear possession, not some god-struck inspiration. True to the expectations on him, Ibruk did just that,
"This is a sign from the gods!" he begun, prompting a combined groan from Reg and Rion, Ibruk plowed on nonetheless, "This grate, Etostastel, 'The Contained Ally', is a clear sign that the gods wish us to seek more allies to defend us against the demons who lurk the great caves of the world."
"It was a possession..." Urist began, Ibruk stopped him,
"One sent by the gods. Who else but the gods could send a spirit to help us?"
As the crowd argued between Ibruk's supporters and his opponents, one of Kadzar's priests came in, moving over to the zealot. The priest leant into Kadzar's ear, whispering something. Kadzar's eyes went wide and he uttered a silent prayer to the gods. Then he raised his hands, calling for silence. After a while, he got it, and he turned to Ibruk,
"Master Ibruk...it-it is like you prophesied, more pilgrims have come!"
- - - - - - - - - - - -
They made a rag-tag group, eighteen refugees from varying places. Fifteen Dwarves, an Elf, a Human, and what was apparently a Human, but had a blueish-green skin, and sharp teeth and nails. Of the Dwarves, one had been found wandering the wilds, his eyes ripped out, he had later elucidated that he himself had plucked them out. All of them had lost their homes to the Nothing, and slowly their group had grown as more refugees were met on the trail. The ongoing civil war in the huge Empire of the Humble Nations had also caused the surroundings lands to become more lawless than ever, and the Imperial patrols that had once kept the roads safe were now all gone, called to war, and that meant that if there were no Nothing roaming them, then there were bandits. After crossing miles of open land, the group finally found themselves standing above the valley of the Swamps of Tunnelling. Arsethotheles, the mad philosopher they had found, had indicated this as the location of a hidden Dwarven outpost, that accepted non-Dwarves as well as Dwarves.
"Iz dat it? All hy zee iz a shmall wall and a tower." Meinhard asked, shielding his eyes from the glare of the sun as he scanned the valley.
"I didn't lie! Arsethotheles only lies when he wants to AND I DIDN'T WANT TO!" the philospher cried indignantly.
"There's probably more under the hill?" Sandra ventured.
"We won't know until we go." Loral the Elf nodded.
"Then for Armok's sake let's go!" Rar cried, bringing a nod from Helf. The six of them were stood apart from the rest of the group. They had pretty much been adopted as the unofficial leaders of the refugees, even though one of them was an Elf, two were Humans (and one freakishly mutated at that) and another was a mad Dwarf who had ripped out his own eyes, indeed, if it wasn't for Helf and Rar, then the refugees might not have accepted them as the leaders.
"Yeah, if dat's it, den let's go." Meinhard agreed, motioning to the rest of the group to get ready to move. There was little ground they needed to move over, but there were several Nothings milling around on the other side of the valley, and the moment the refugees moved, there was no doubt the tentacled beasts would move in after them.
"Hey, there, that's the hole the traders must've mentioned." Helf said, pointing out the entrance to the trapped tunnel into Nomekast.
"We need to get there before the Nothings move in." Sandra said. The group nodded, moving off to tell the rest of the refugees that their troubles were soon over.
The refugees were soon ready, and threaded down the valley, keeping an eye on the Nothing on the other side of Squeezemunch. The Nothing didn't move for a long while, then suddenly swarmed down the valley sides towards the group.
"Move faster!" Rar cried, pushing several Dwarves onwards down into the entrance to Nomekast. Once inside the cool dark, they saw that the residents of the fortress must have seen them coming, for the drawbridge was down, and a group of armed and armoured Dwarves stood at the other side,
"Get in! Quick!" one yelled.
Soon sixteen of the various races had made it in, but a couple had been left behind, as Nothings came to attack the two. The husband, grim determination on his face, pushed his wife off into the tunnel, and then drawing up his fists, charged like a true Dwarf into battle, using hand and foot to fight the beasts off and let his love survive. His wife could only watch from the bridge as he was torn to pieces and the beasts turn their attention to the tunnel, and then the drawbridge rose and clunked to a stop, sealing them out and the refugees in. The wife drew a large, raking sob, tears flooding down her face. Her arms fell uselessly to her sides, and she collapsed crying on the floor.
"Oh gods, what is that? Another Elf? And two Humans? Reg is gonna have a fit." one of the soldiers remarked.
Before anyone else could say a word, a small Dwarven girl came running up to the armoured Dwarves, whispering something to them. Their leader nodded,
"Right, all of you move off, someone'll take you down to the meeting hall where you can rest, we need to open the drawbridge again. Unless of course you wanna stay here and see what happens." he said, matter-of-factly. The sheer idea of the drawbridge being re-opened was enough to send them on their way down the corridor and into the fortress proper, leaving the militia Dwarves behind.
"What is it? What have we got?" Melagius asked Rion, preparing his sword.
"Three more. One with red hair, with a child coming in from the south, and what seems to be another child coming in from the other side." the axedwarf replied.
"Ikeng's bosom...some poor orphan on their own?" Rovod grimaced, invoking the Dwarven goddess of family, "I dread ta think of what they must've endured."
The drawbridge slammed down with a cacophony of grinding gears, letting light shine in once more. The Dwarves moved out this time, moving into the open air for the first time since the rebuilding of the lighthouse. They had little time to breathe in the fresh air however, immediately being forced to fight off the Nothing there were already there. It was easily done, there were not many, only about half a dozen, no match for the Dwarves' weapons. Once the beasts were dead, they looked for the refugees, true to Atis' message, there was a stout Dwarven woman with fiery red hair moving in from one side, with a child trailing in her wake, while a small figure was scurrying in from the other side.
"Esm romnu! Esm romnu!" the woman screeched at the Dwarves, moving past them into the passage without so much as a second glance.
"Hey wait-" Tarran said, stopping the child from following her. He took a look at the young boy, noting the ears, "This is an Elf kid!" the Elf looked fearfully up at the bearded Dwarf, and then pulled himself free, scurrying after the red-haired woman.
The last refugee had arrived now, the small child that had come in from the other side. The militia beckoned him towards them, retreating into the tunnel. Once they were all safely inside, the great stone bridge was raised, sealing them all safely away.
"Phew..." Rovod breathed, mumbling a quick prayer to the gods in thanks. There was a sudden sharp intake of breathe from besides him. Johann had moved to help what they had all believed was a small child, only to see yellow eyes and brown skin,
"This isn't a kid!" he gasped, "It's a Kobold!"
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Topic: [Community] Nomekast - At War with Nothing (Read 180208 times)