MrGrau - Thanks! Bio up on first post as usual.
10th Slate 678 - MorningKadzar grunted as his pick struck rock once more. Besides him a Dwarf - a fellow follower of Master Ibruk's teachings - likewise struck the mica rock face before them. After they had dug and built a bridge across to the site of the future cathedral Ibruk retreated into meditation for several days. When he returned he carried a veritable mess of plans, there were plans for the sanctuary itself, for vaults, for the arrangement of particular rooms. Just the entrance hall itself was larger than the temple, and in front of it was included a large plaza-type area.
Kadzar thanked the Gods that the Prophet could speak to them so easily and from them draw inspiration and knowledge of what had to come next to protect them while the world above was cleansed.
He had heard that many people were eager to return to the surface, even as Master Ibruk tried to warn them that their lot was to remain in Nomekast, safe and pious while the iniquity of the world above was purged. The Dwarf next to him seemed to share his thoughts,
"Do you think they'll open up the surface fully again?" she asked. There was the merest hint of hope in her voice. Even though they were an underground race, many - if not most - Dwarves still appreciated the ability to (even if they didn't
want to) experience the fresh cool air of the surface.
"That'll be for the Gods to decide." Kadzar grunted as he struck rock again. His training with the Temple warrior-priests - Gods keep their souls safe! - had helped him to grow much stronger in the past years.
"What if they do? What if they unleash the Nothing into here again?"
"No one ever pretended we'd survive the cleansing of the world. Master Ibruk is giving us a chance, let us not disappoint both him, ourselves, and the Gods."
The Dwarf nodded, and continued hacking away at the mica.
What indeed? Kadzar wandered. What if they did fully unleash the Nothing into Nomekast? The lack of piety - and lack of respect for the Gods and Ibruk's teachings in general - he observed amongst much of Nomekast's population often irritated him. Couldn't they see that Ibruk was trying to save them? That the Gods had a plan? And that all their refusal to follow that plan would achieve would be death? He could only pray that they learn quickly, before everyone paid the price.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Derm frowned as he set quill to paper again, signing off another form (Gods did they ever end!?). This one was from Stronghammer, or rather Mayor Fireforge, requesting several militia soldiers to accompany Spartan and his miners out into the Fiery Cistern on another prospecting expedition (And what was wrong with simply just asking some soldiers to go? No need for
more useless forms that'd clutter his desk and cabinets). Several prospecting and mining trips had already been made in the past few days, finding and extracting a modest amount of cassiterite and finding a very rich vein of tetrahedrite and some galena. Even if Tarran was ostensibly militia commander, responsibility for delegating these affairs fell onto the Sheriff. Derm also suspected the Stronghammer didn't want to waste Tarran's time, preferring the swordsdwarf and weaponsmith to keep on with his work than sign meaningless forms.
"The forms must be obeyed." Derm muttered, filing the pig-tail paper away and preparing another stack of papers. The sooner he was finished the sooner he could go do something useful - or at least meaningful - like train or spend some time with Fori.
15th Slate 678 - NightIf there was one person in the fort who took work seriously, it was Bounce. The soft-spoken and quiet Bookkeeper and now also Broker was an assuming type. She wasn't loud and outspoken, she wasn't a fighter, but she
was vital to the running of the entire community. And she took this responsibility
very seriously. Which is why, when her stocks showed that they were still missing several gold, silver and platinum bars, along with several assorted gems, she threw herself into action, prowling the fort, counting, recounting, questioning (politely, of course) and tracking them down.
To all extents and purposes it seemed that Rakust Aranlikot, the necromancer who had betrayed Nomekast to the Nothing, leading a large force of them and a Forgotten Beast into the caves, had stolen them. One of the stolen silver bars had been found among her belongings, after all. But that left the question of the other bars? Why would Rakust steal all the bars, hide them, and yet keep one silver bar with her affairs where it could be found? For that matter, why would Rakust steal the bars in the first place? She had been plotting the downfall of the entire fort, it would have been easier to simply lead the Nothing to Nomekast, let them kill everyone, then take the bars in peace afterwards.
For Bounce, too many things didn't match up. And that's why she was even now as night was in full swing in the storerooms doing a count.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Konith leaned lazily on the wall, his crossbow by his side. To anyone who saw him he looked the perfect image of a bored guard taking the graveyard shift, but in truth his heart was racing. Tonight was the time Stas, Bax and Atis would arrive, ostensibly to steal several of the precious bars within.
And there was someone inside the storeroom.He bit his lip in anxiety as he saw three shapes distinguish themselves from the dark. Stas, shrouded as ever in his cloak, Bax, tall and lean, and small Atis the mute Dwarven girl. Stas nodded to him, eyes shifting left and right,
"Everything fine Konith?" he whispered.
"No." the Kobold hissed back, "The Bookkeeper - Pounce or whatever - is in there!"
Bax shifted and for a second he thought he saw the glint of a knife. Stas exhaled sharply,
"You're off the night shift tomorrow aren't you? This is the only night we can do then."
"Why didn't you warn in advance?" Bax hissed furiously. Like Stas, the Goblin's gaze kept shifting here and there, looking for anyone who might be watching.
"I didn't know she'd be here! She's counting the bars or something."
"There's nothing for it, we'll have to knock her out." Stas said.
"Are you mad?" Konith hissed, "Won't it look suspicious when somehow people sneak past me and knock her out, but leave me alone!?"
"Of course it will! That's why we'll have to knock you out too." Stas said, his voice firm.
"I didn't sign up to this!"
"Improvisation is the first thing you have to learn, Konith! What, are you going to go chicken on us now?" Bax grinned. Besides him, Atis made a chicken impression. Konith frowned,
"Fine. Just do it quickly."
He never saw which of the two hit him.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
For a few seconds Bounce could have sworn she had heard voices outside. No doubt the Guard on shift was talking to someone, or else his shift had ended and he was talking to his replacement. She picked up her fungiwood clipboard, ticking off another box as she finished counting the lead bars. Unsurprisingly they were all accounted for. So far she had found that while no bars had gone missing since those that Rakust had been accused of taking, several more gems had gone, most probably vanished between their extraction and being storage, rather than stolen from the storeroom itself. She'd have to che-
Like Konith, she didn't have much more luck in seeing who had hit her.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Stas caught Bounce as she slumped down onto the floor. He put her down carefully, the last thing they needed was undue violence. The fact that they'd had to knock out both Konith and Bounce meant the original plan had already been ruined. He would have preferred waiting for another day, but this was their best chance. Bounce was beginning to look into the stolen bars once more, Konith was not likely to get night guard duty again for at least a month and the loss of Ocade had hurt their organisation. It was lucky he had at least come prepared for such an eventuality, or rather, Bax had insisted they come prepared for such an eventuality.
He threw a pig-tail cloth bag to Bax and another to Atis.
"Platinum, gold, silver, in that order. Quick!" he whispered urgently. The two nodded, working their way through the storeroom and taking the bars they could find. In short order they found themselves at the entrance again, Stas carrying a platinum bar, two gold ones and a silver one, Bax four gold bars and two silver bars, and Atis two gold bars.
"Bax, did you leave the - ah - 'evidence'?" Stas asked. The Goblin grinned, fishing into a pocket and pulling out a small piece of jewelry. It was very clearly of Elven make. Casually, he let it fall to the floor of the storeroom.
"That should make them waste time investigating those Elves instead of us." he said. Stas nodded,
"Let's get out of here, the next shift should be here soon." And with that, the three of them lightly stepped over Konith's prone body and disappeared into the shadows with their spoils.