You're both in with Stas for the next migrant wave that survives, r3d5kull and Areku!
6th Granite 674 - Noon"No, no, no! Ye need to lower her in
slowly!" Muenster cried, interrupting Doc. Steve. Now that the gem panes had been cut out, the glassmaker - due to his experience with windows - had been put in charge of actually fitting the gem windows into what was being called the 'lighthouse'.
"Of course." the medic said sarcastically, "We need to lower it nice and slowly so that the Nothings have the time to get here." he looked out the hole that had been cut out of the mountain-face, "Oh gods, I can see them coming now."
Rion, standing behind them with his trusty axe, gave the two a short slap to the heads,
"Shut up and get it finished then! Or would you prefer we all die so you can finish your argument?"
"What if they break through it!?"
"Break through
solid gem?"
"Who knows!? They could!"
"Well," Muenster said, interrupting them, "if they manage to break through
this window I'll be surprised. And....there! Just seal the sides and we're done. There, it'll take more than Nothing to get through this. Now, Tarran's finished the iron chain, so we'll need to get the well done next."
8th Granite 674 - MorningFori was moving across the causeway into the caverns when she heard it. She had decided to go slightly further to gather plants, over to the huge lake of water that was barely five minutes from the cavern entrance. But just as she entered the large hall before the cavern she heard a scampering of feet. Elves prided themselves on good hearing - and their ears only helped that good hearing - so she knew that there was definitely something that had just scurried past her. She looked around but saw nothing, though she didn't have Dwarven sight in darkness and whatever it was could easily be hiding in the shadows. She heard the footsteps again and spun round. No one.
Then there was a giggling, like a child.
Right. Behind. Her.
She whirled round immediately and was met with a green face and a toothy grin. A gremlin!
Gremlins were mostly harmless - though mischievous - and the Elf felt her fear drain away. Then it pushed her. The small green creature charged into her, knocking her down onto the rough rock floor, and then ran off into the caverns, giggling with delight. Fori sat in the rock dust for a few seconds, then gathering her dignity, continued into the caverns to gather plants.
18th Granite 674 - Morning"I tell you, young pilgrim! It was by the gods' will only that we survived! And we must not fall back into the decadence that the Ilral Dynasty has pushed the Grizzly Vessel into over these three hundred years!"
"Decadence?
Decadence!?" Shin said incredulously. Urist Imiknorris, who was making mechanisms for traps nearby, gave a laugh,
"Oh yes, come see Nomekast and its palaces!" he declared like an advertiser.
"My dear young pilgrims. It will avail us to nothing to simply make fun of a serious situation! If we cannot prove our worth to the gods then doom will befall us!"
"Well go and talk to them then. You're a prophet aren't you?"
"I cannot demand of the gods! No. What we need is a
temple! A temple to worship the gods in!"
Shin's jaw fell straight down,
"A temple?" she asked quietly. Ibruk cocked his head,
"I'm sorry pilgrim, I didn't get that-"
"A
temple!? There are twelve of us, the world's slowly being...destroyed! by a horde of vicious monsters and we're having to work non-stop all day just to keep things going here, and you want us to go and build a
temple!? And I thought Royals could be demandingly mad!"
"It's the only-"
"You want a temple? You go make yourself a temple, on your own! We've got a tunnel to finish, weapons to make, farms to look after, booze to brew, a gremlin to watch out for, and a endless swarm of monsters to avoid!"
20th Granite 674 - Evening"There we go." Tarran said in a hushed voice, as though he were in the presence of the sacred. Slowly and carefully he grasped the red-hot iron with the tongs, and pulled it out the forge, taking his hammer. After he had finished hammering into the shape of the sword he would need to fold it several times to ensure maximum sharpness.
He had been working all day in the forges, making swords, axes and picks. And after this he would have a crossbow to make. It was tiring, and the heat made him sweat terribly, but he enjoyed it deeply and with each new weapon he made his skills and techniques were getting better. In the forge besides him, Muenster was melting down the copper weapons into bars to recycle them into spikes for some of Torvold's many traps that the engineer had devised. The digging of the tunnel in which survivors would be able to flee into to escape from the Nothing was already being started, and the most optimistic guesses were that the tunnel would be fully-functional by the beginning of Summer. The new lace agate gem window also gave them a clear view of the valley, to spot anyone or anything, and the gem panes shone in the sun, a glare that would catch any passing by, including enemies.