"Well, if it isnt starting to look like civilized creatures lived here", thought Rith as he surveyed the results of operation 'Moving Along'. The still was, as he had expected, an almost laughable construction. Bearing a passing resemblance to an actual still was probably coincidence more than design and the pig-tail sock tied round the top of what he supposed was the pressure chamber gave the entire thing a comical air. Despite this the contraption appeared to be working and MetalMilitia was currently bent over it, trying to stem a leak with his other sock. The dwarf had promised an output by tonight and the thought of alcohol after a long season in the wastes was heaven to the parched band.
The butchers 'shop' was also complete and between Rith and Kol the rotten corpses had been stripped of bones. No new gargoyles had appeared however and the last of the plants were currently bubbling way in the still.....just a few leeches left. The food situation was not looking so great, the land held a fair amount of animal-life but the damn things were too fast for the running dwarves and Kol wasnt a good enough shot with a fireball to catch a fleeing target. Hopefully the pair of crossbows and stack of bolts that Morul was creating from gargoyle bone would ease the situation, though they still needed to score at least 1 kill to get leather for a quiver.
"Ok Knarfle, get over here", he called.
As the dwarf trotted up Rith began drawing a large rectangle in the dirt with his foot.
"Yeah Rith?"
"Shelter", said Rith. "Walls here, here, here. Make a door for here. Little ladder thing up the outside so we can get on top and roof it too, dont want gargoyles hopping into bed with me in the night."
Knarfle grinned. "Beds then?, Table, Chair?"
Rith nodded. "One bed, one table, one chair, one door, walls, roof. Manage all that?"
Knarfle surveyed the logs piled behind him.
"Yeah I think so, oughta have some eight logs spare too."
Rith nodded and gestured, and their new carpenter scurried to work.
As the day wore on the little building began to take shape as Knarfle built away, once the walls were up he began working on the furniture which Mosus heaved into position. As afternoon gave way to evening the door was emplaced and the little....hut was the only word really, was finished.
Rith ran his hand across the doorframe and nodded.
"We can sleep and eat in shifts, it'll do for now."
A sudden shout caused Rith to spin about. In the failing light he could just make out Morul and Mosus to the south, they were waving their arms trying to catch his attention it seemed. He set off into a brisk jog, arriving a few minutes later to find the two dwarves staring across the river the the east. Turning to follow their gaze Rith spotted a large herd of camels browsing happily on the far bank.
"We gotta get across there Rith", said Morul. "We picked all the plants and cut all the trees on our side, we need access to the east bank. And now theres game there too."
"A bridge?" asked Rith, "I dunno if we got enough wood left. We could get more once we're across sure enough, we just gotta hope whats left will do the job I guess".
"Gonna need to sooner or later anyway", said Morul, "From what I remember of the world map in Urvad's throne room the humans will come from there and we want their caravans too right?".
Rith nodded silently. Damn right he wanted the human caravan, elves would bring wood which was fine, but humans brought metals, weapons and armor which was better.
"I guess yer right", he said aloud, "I'll take a look tomorrow and sketch something out, Knarfle can start on it then."
"Camels will be gone by then though Rith" replied Morul.
"Look at those bastards...bet they run like the fuckin wind. Forget the camels. But yer right, the east bank will give us more wood and plants, access to the humans and if something slow turns up we'll have that too."
The three dwarves turned to head back to the camp and noticed simultaneously the pillar of smoke rising from just north of the site.
"Shit......run."
As the trio pounded their way towards the smoke Rith ran through the possibilities in his head. Smoke meant Kol of course, but this wasnt the trail left by a flying fireball....this was the cloud raised by something fully alight, and there was precious little here left to burn. Just a couple of the tough ironwood trees that Rith had never quite conquered with his shoddy axe. That left his own guys or something mean, eitherway it was serious.
As they drew level with the camp Rith gave a holler and the dwarves working there looked up intime to see him and Morul flash past. As their gazes followed the running dwarves and spotted the smoke they too dropped their tasks and began to run with Mosus lumbering through the camp moments later in their wake.
As they neared the roiling smoke Rith wondered what it might hold, something was burning in there though and he was gonna find out what. He barreled into the cloud and called out to Kol, spluttering as thick smoke crept into his lungs.
"Kol!"
A shape flitted through the twisting wreaths of smoke and the little obsidian dwarf ran smack into Rith. His beard was smouldering, as was his hair and his moustache was completely gone. More concerning however was the merry blaze that had been the obsidian dwarf's clothing. His robe was entirely ablaze and the flames were licking along his sleeve. There was no pain in Kol's eyes however. "Must be something in his heritage," thought Rith. He was about to ask what the hell was going on when he noticed a warmth in his midsection. The front of his robe was also aflame from where Kol the dwarven torch had collided with him. Swearing violently Rith began beating at the fire with his hands but only succeeded in setting light to his gloves. As the heat began to cause him pain he heard the others blundering into the smoke behind him, moments later both he and Kol were knocked flat as the rest of the band cannoned into them from behind.
By the time the dwarves had extracated themselves from the tangle of limbs there was not one of them not on fire. As Rith swore and danced and tried to remove his burning robe all at once there was movement to his right and a shape flew out of the smoke at one of the dwarves. Unable to see clearly in the rolling cloud rising from their clothing he fumbled about until his hand brushed warm fur. He latched on and found his hands around some critter's leg. With the pain from his burning attire threatening to overwhelm him he made a last ditch attempt at combat and with a mighty roar broke the furry limb between his hands. Then blackness.
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Topic: Playfuloiled - A community penal colony (Read 16039 times)