3rd Moonstone, 1051Denise woke in a cold sweat. Her thoughts raced. Sakzul dead. No, she wanted to be called Lilly now. Lilly dead, a bloody stain in the grass. Ramcolukes stomped to death underground. And her arms, she was missing her arms. Oh. There they are. Breath. Its just a dream. She reached for the pick. The precious pick.
She froze. This was how her dream had started. She had grabbed the pick and gone to work underground, carving out a basic living quarters in the soil. And then death. So much death.
Shaking, she stepped forward. There was no choice. They could not survive on Arni's fishing alone. At the very least, a farming area needed to be set up underground.
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Inside the walls, Ingiz rose. Not from restless sleep, but from his night long vigil. Deon was right. If the migrants reached stone, there would be no way to keep them out. Not bluffing, not specially reenforcing walls, not anything. And with migrants would come the religious authorities. Death in a quest for freedom would be better than death in their hands. Almost anything would. But there was nothing they could do to prevent this.
Each of the dwarves within the walls had agreed. They needed to prove to the gods that their cause was worthy. Only the gods could make it so the migrants picks could not chip stone.
Ingiz's own path was clear. Magma. Armok's blood. Armok, the father of all gods was worshipped by all dwarves. No matter what other dieties they followed. He would seek out magma in the depths, working night and day until he found it.
The others? Who knows what their paths held.
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Worthy quest. Hazey Jane didn't think it meant what Deon said it meant. How would counting every item in the area be a quest to prove your devotion to the gods? Or maybe she was just irritated that he had chosen a quest for her.
'You need to sort out a number of deep emotional issues.' he had said. 'Pretending to be a man, an attraction to an authority figure. It points to unresolved issues with your father. Likely of a sexual nature.'
'Thats disgusting! And I'm not attracted to an authority figure. I'm attracted to you. And even if I have issues, shouldn't I talk to someone else who is impartial, not you?' she replied.
But he had insisted. Even threw a bit of a fit where he ran to his office to grab a mug with the words 'Expedition's Greatest Psychiatrist' engraved on the side.
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Therlith Thimshur thought this was a bunch of nonsense. The migrants would do as they would. And maybe if enough dwarves showed up, it would become safe enough for him to head back to civilization.
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Argonnek was on break. He had nothing to prove to the gods. He had already done that. Instead he was working on some revolutionary new poetic battle yells. No more would soldiers just yell For Armok!, Damn Elves!, or Dirty Hippies!. No. These would be works of art.
But there was one dwarf who might need help. Doompotato was still pretty shaken over The revelation of Hazey Jane and Deon's relationship. For months now, he had been wasting away, and was no longer his chubby, little self. "Bah. Romance. He just needs to get his mind off of these things and learn how to be a finely tuned killing machine." Argonnek thought to himself.
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'I'll finish the base of the tower.' Grue McGee had said. And they believed him. But that wan't his only plan. Not by far.
Ingiz's Journal: 13th Moonstone, 1051Such wonders. Such wild wonders. The underground cavern at the mountainhome had beed tamed hundreds of years ago. Smoothed, engraved, they were magnificent. But these had their own beauty. A wild, dangerous beauty.
Troglodytes and Giant cave spider silk
Too much danger. Seen and unseen. For now they would stay sealed. No distractions on the quest for magma.
10th Opal, 1051"Finally done with hauling." Argonnek thought to himself. "Its time to start Doompotato on his training regiment." He grabbed the training axe he had carved.
"You! Yes, you! Come here." He pointed at Deon. "I've got something for you."
Doompotato followed meekly behind. They went down the stairs and into the lever room.
"Well, what do you think?" Argonnek asked.
"What is it?"
"It is a training dummy." Argonnek stated. This is where you will begin your quest to become a legendary warrior." He handed Doompotato the training axe. "I carved this for you."
Doompotato let the axe drop to the floor. "I don't deserve to be a great warrior." He said, his eyes downcast. "I need to get back to work hauling stone for the tower."
Argonnek punched him in the face. "A hauler. Is that all you want to be in life? A frelling hauler? Grue can haul his own stone." He handed him the training axe again. "You can clean fish and use this training dummy. You don't want me to catch you doing anything else. Do you?"
Doompotato muttered something unpleasant about elves and parentage under his breath.
Argonnek smacked him again. "I said, 'Do you?'. Well?"
Doompotato looked up. "No." Anger flashed across his eyes, then they went dull again.
"I'll be checking up on you." Argonnek turned and left.
19th Opal, 1051Grue McGee ran up the stairs. He had just patched the hole leading into the underground cavern. There were undead below too.
Skeletal Giant Toad
5th Obsidian, 1051Argonnek came into the lever room. Doompotato was there, mechanically hacking at the training dummy with the axe.
"No! No! You are doing it all wrong." Argonnek ran toward him. "Its not a tree! Its an elf!" He added more quietly, "Or whatever enemy you have in mind. You need to show passion. How will you ever frighten the enemy if you don't have passion."
Doompotato stopped. Turned. Sweat dripping into his dull eyes.
"Think of something you love. What are you thinking of?"
"Dwarven potato vodka." Doompotato said flatly.
Well there is only one barrel left, and thats no training dummy. That's a mountain gnome who looks awfully thirsty. He's looking at your vodka. What are you going to do about it?"
"Uhh. Hit him with the axe?"
Argonnek grabbed Doompotato by the shirt and pushed him towards the dummy. "Show me! Don't tell me! Look, he's not just looking, he's drinking your vodka. Show me!!!"
Doompotato went wild. Wood chips clouded the air. A few minutes later he slumped to the floor exhausted. He looked up, "What happened?"
Argonnek pulled him back to his feet. "Your first battle trance. How do you feel?"
"So tired."
"You'll do better next time. For now keep practicing."
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Ingiz was making progress. The second cavern had been breached. Another treasure trove.
8th Obsidian, 1051Doompotato was eating in the dining room. He was happy. This was a legendary dining room indeed.
Argonnek approached. "I need to talk to you. Your training is going well, but it may not be fast enough. Ingiz is trying to reach magma, breaching caverns along the way. There are only seven of us. Only three who might be considered militia dwarves. If he breaches a cavern and something enters the fort, you might need to be ready to kill. You might have the basic skills, but you are lacking something important. 'Oh gods, where is my axe?' is not a good battle cry. You need to start thinking about something to yell as you charge into battle."
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So. What would be a good battle yell for Doompotato?
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Topic: Incestpassions(Comm/Genesis 1.74) Fear the mango wood training axe! (Read 8484 times)