The following is an excerpt from Ziril Kuletatol's unpublished novel, Fortune's FollyIt seems an odd place to start a fortress, halfway across the world from the mountain home and in the shadow of a mountain range known as the Point of Bandits; but what few of the immigrants realized is that the founding seven, that is to say, myself, Black-hat, Derm, Montresour, Fita, Kadzar, and Urist, were not, in fact, sent on any mission. I'm not sure how that rumor started or why it persists, but it is blatantly untrue that the General, the Queen, the Diplomat, the Dungeon Master, a blind beggar, or anyone else of even the slightest stature gave us a mission.
We were exiled to this far corner of the earth for...
The following are excerpts from the memory of Ziril Kuletatol's, Spring 1500."-Husband? Aren't you already married?" "If all goes according to plan, not for long!" "You expect a simple laborer to find a consort for the leader of our nation?" If only I had my pick with me, I would have ended the conversation and her life as soon as she'd gotten close enough to make this ridiculous demand. "Well, not you, specifically, obviously. I just thought you might be the perfect dwarf to dig into a dangerous mountainside and eke out a fortress. It's your job to make it attractive enough to attract the sort of man I want." Someone crazy enough to leave the safety of a well established fort for one in the middle of dangerous territory? "Oh, and you mustn't tell anyone, or the project will be entirely ruined. You understand, of course? Splendid!"
"-Demons? You expect a simple miner to fight demons?" The general laughed. "Not right away, of course. I imagine that you'll have your hands full keeping your fort alive. Still, to make sure you aren't completely defenseless, I'll be sending some soldiers in with the civilian migrants" "Couldn't you just send the army?" "Don't be ridiculous. You know how often we're attacked by that eyeless antelope! Besides, the Queen would never approve. Listen, you must never speak of this to anyone, do you understand?" "Yes, sir!"
"-Genocide? You expect me to kill the entire elven race?" The diplomat nodded. "Those b------ds have been ripping us off for far too long! But you can't have the battlefield here, civilians might get caught up in it. First, you must lull them into a false sense of security..."
"-Menagerie?" The dungeon master only nodded. And then he ran down the hall, making swoosh noises as he went.
"I'm just as broke as you are! I'm just not... Y'know, blind. Tell you what, I've got this thing I gotta go do, but I'll send you some trinkets or something."
The seven of us were sitting together in the Queen's dining hall, conspiring. Our last plan to assassinate the Queen had failed miserably, resulting only in increased security and the unnerving "chat" we'd had on Tuesday. The Masons, Montresor and Kadzar, were discussing a way to drop a bridge on her. The terrifying two, "The Butcher" Black-Hat and Derm the Soulchopper advocated the straightforward approach. Just to charge through the guards. The Inventor sat with Fita, drawing diagrams.
And then I told them everything that had been said to me over the past week.
"-And now you know what we need to do. But we need a cover story to get out there..." Derm stood up, axe in hand, and said "Don't worry Ziril, I got this."
The following is an excerpt from Ziril Kuletatol's unpublished novel, Fortune's Folly... and thus we were sent to Losisrakust, "FaintTombs"
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Topic: Losisrakust; FaintTombs (Community Fort, now a Barony!) (Read 7161 times)