Felsite 679The new inhabitants had been welcomed easily into the fort, Thantos had joined to help the militia, bringing his swordsmanship to aid them. Jules meanwhile had made his skills as an engraver known, and had asked to see the mayor Stronghammer to discuss it once the mayor was finished arranging the industries and his new projects. Aeras' other personality Aarde meanwhile had been happily welcomed by the dwarves as another geologist to held for future mining work. Grawp however, had received a less than ideal welcome. The reservations Brosso had had were shared by many in the fort, despite Derm asking them to at least give the gorlak a chance. In the end, the troll Thud had broken open the cage, having apparently thought that the fact that the rest of the community was taking so long to free him was due to a lost key or some other minor inconvenience. It didn't take long for Grawp to form a friendship with the troll, the two easily the more 'extreme' members of the community.
20th Felsite 679 - NoonMifava Nitharenmo found Ibruk at the temple, kneeling before the altar, Kadzar doing likewise behind him. As she pulled open the iron door the pair rose and looked to her. Ibruk was the first to react, touching his hands reverently to the floor and giving the altar a bow before he stood up to speak to her. "Ah, pilgrim Mifava, I am glad to see you here. Have you come to pray? There is a service this evening to Dustik Bulbearths if you are interested."
"Forgive me, Ibruk, but I came to speak to you, not to pray. I hope I am not interrupting?"
The prophet waved a hand dismissively. "Not at all, brother Kadzar and I were just meditating." He moved closer to her, leaning on his stick. "So, good Mifava, what can I do for you once more?"
She looked down at him, well over two heads taller than the dwarf. "I have been thinking about your words, about the Blight. You mentioned the prophecies of the 'Ocean Princess', and the 'Blind Prophet of the Broken Rock', I would be much interested to learn more, so I came to ask if you keep any copies of these texts I may be able to read."
Ibruk said nothing for several seconds, one hand stroking his long beard. "Well I am always happy to help a fellow pilgrim better understand the ways of the divines and the mission we have been entrusted with; unfortunately I fear I cannot help you for the texts of the Blind Prophet. The old clergy held a strong grip on any copies and I was not able to salvage one before our pilgrimage to Nomekast. If any copies remain they will have been lost or abandoned back in the Grizzly Vessel, far south. I do, however, have a copy of the prophecies of the blessed Ocean Princess. A modern adaptation by the scholar Thikut Toolactions some 70 years ago, the original prophecy dates from the late 2nd century, the writing was slightly archaic. Brother Kadzar, if you could be so kind." Kadzar nodded, moving back to the altar and pushing aside the cloth beneath the table, revealing several books and scrolls piled up, litanies, writings and holy books that Ibruk or others of his flock had saved and brought with them to Nomekast. The temple priest rummaged through the piled for a few seconds, pulling out a scroll that had seen better days, passing it over to Ibruk. Ibruk unrolled it, holding it at both ends in his hands. "You must understand if I insist on keeping the scroll here, not to slight your good self, but it can be so easy to misplace or lose a scroll, and for such a holy writing that would be shameful indeed. So then, pilgrim Mifava, what parts were you particularly interested in?"
"The Collapse of Hell, I believe you mentioned it as the Ocean Princess' writings?"
"Indeed," the dwarf replied, eyes scanning the page. "Ah, here, only a short part of her divine prophecies, and yet so very much the crucial part." He proffered the scroll to Mifava who took it, reading the lines he'd indicated;
The vaults were gone, hell collapsed
The dwarves had failed, their duties lapsed
The bright towns were ash, kings of steel
Had fallen to dark and lost their zeal
On floors of slade stole the tide
The powerful were smote and lost their pride
Hell collapsed, the vaults agape
Up came the hordes in one great shape
The shadows above in a wave woke
To rebirth in blood and shards of smoke
The world swept away, blazed in its sin
But remain the shards and the god withinThe elf read the line several times, committing them to memory before she handed the scroll back to Ibruk, who gave her a warm smile. "I do hope that helps," he said, delicately re-rolling the scroll up and passing it to Kadzar, who moved to return it into its place. "And please do think on that service, we are always happy to welcome another to the temple."
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AfternoonStronghammer Fireforge was sat in his office, looking down at the sheafs of paper on his desk. Across from him, Jules sat, patiently waiting for a response. The mayor took a while to examine the worn sketches, taking in their details before one hand moved to stroke his beard, nodding. "Yes, this seems excellent," he said at last, "the auditorium is currently being cleared of the mined stone at the moment, once it is done, I'd be delighted to have you work on smoothing and engraving; people need reminding of how far we've come, and their spirits lifting. Have you met our other engraver Felix? Quiet dwarf, but very much the hard worker, I'm sure he'd be glad to help you once he finishes with Brosso on the tavern...and there's that gorlak too, say's it - I mean he - is quite the engraver too, you should at least give him a chance."
The engraver nodded, a smile moving onto his features as he collected up his sketches. He was, after all, an engraver first and foremost, and so delighted to hear that he wouldn't be trapped doing menial work planting or hauling stone between the levels. "Thank you very much Mayor Fireforge, I'll be sure to get to work as soon as possible."
Stronghammer nodded, waving Jules out of his office just in time for another knock to sound and for the militia commander Tarran to step through, followed by the elf Mifava. He beckoned the pair in and they took the seats opposite, the elf still over a head taller than both Dwarves when sat down.
Stronghammer looked down at his agenda. "Now then, Tarran and Ms...Nitharenemo? I believe you wanted to talk to me about the militia?"
Tarran nodded as Mifava took out some more sheafs of paper with plans on them, placing them on Stronghammer's desk. "That's right," the militia commander said, "Mifava here approached me coupla days ago with some ideas about reforming the militia further. Thought you'd be interested to hear."
"That's right, you can see here, I've drawn up some plans for consolidating the barracks into a full military compound," the elf said, pointing to the map, "drill yard, quarters for the militia, a mess hall, hospital, bathing area, a moat,"
"The moat might not be practical here, but it's still a good idea," Tarran interjected.
Stronghammer stroked his beard thoughtfully with a hand, nodding slowly as he inspected the plans. "I see, yes. If we empty out the old area the thieves were holed up in, we can easily set it up." A small smile lit his features, "I'd be glad to put you two in charge, make it so."
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EveningBax leant back in his chair, putting his boots up onto the table. "So then, what exactly have we got planned? We've been sitting on our thumbs for months now, ain't no way to run a Thieves' Guild," the goblin asked.
Opposite him, shrouded as ever in his cloak, Stas gave a shrug, the dwarf's face impassive. "We are holding a low profile, quite essential in our line of work, I assure you."
Standing on his chair to be able to reach the same level as the others, the kobold Konith drummed his fingers on the stone table in the hide-out. "The police are too busy arresting philosophers. They're not looking for us with any real effort, Atis has told us as much." The small dwarven girl turned to look at the kobold from where she stood near Bax, not saying a word. "Complacency doesn't lead to much."
Stas gave a small sigh. "Yes, I rather suppose you are both right. Of course I anticipated as much, which is why I called you here in the first place." The dwarf moved a hand into a sleeve, plucking out a small scroll he unrolled out onto the table between them. Bax moved his feet off the table, leaning forward, while Konith held on as he pulled himself closer.
"Maps of the stores?" Bax asked, raising an eyebrow.
A smile reached Stas' face. "Of course." He leant down, picking something off the floor and dropping it onto the table with a loud sound. A pickax. "Konith, my fellow, you remember what you told me you heard at the circus this morning?"
The kobold thought for a few seconds. He'd been spending the past few weeks working to help clear Brosso's future circus, using the opportunity to keep track on the prospective politician and impresario. "The festival?"
Stas' smile grew. "That's right, a festival. Stronghammer will declare it tomorrow, but is already planning it with the other bigwigs of the fort. A grand affair no doubt, everyone will be invited!"
A toothy smile grew on Bax's face as he understood. "Everyone will be at the festival, of course."
Konith got it then too, nodding eagerly. "All too easy for some things to go missing when everyone's enjoying the shows."
"Especially," Stas said, hefting the pickax, "if we don't even take the main entrance."
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Topic: [Community] Nomekast - At War with Nothing (Read 180202 times)