((It's not dead. Just restin'. Less going on in this post than I intended. Ah well.))
Two Survivors ArriveIt was the largest meeting held in Oceanbridge since it had been reclaimed. As there were only fourteen dwarfs there, it wasn’t large at all. Voices echoed off the mud covered walls in the huge old dining room.
Wilberforce had called the meeting after first speaking to the new arrivals, whose names were Balnash and Remalle, at the front gates. They had arrived, filthy and exhausted, barely alive. Which was how the other migrants had arrived, and how most of the inhabitants felt. But when Balnash had informed Wilberforce that he and Remalle came from Oceanbridge, and had been there when things fell apart, he decided it was worth a meeting, at least.
“Tell all, Balnash. We are all aquiver with anticipation.”
Balash was uncomfortable, not used to so much attention. “Ain’t too much to say. Most of us who stayed sane just kept down and tried to keep livin’ when things got bad. The place was horrible, no one was in control, and you didn’t dare step up to the upper levels for fear some mason might bash in your brains. Happened to a guy right in front of me, in fact. I got to be honest, I wasn’t sure of myself at that point.”
“And well, it got to be that there were bodies lying everywhere, and no one with the will to do a damn thing anymore. Aban and Gar and the rest had just up and abandoned us. So I picked up my spear, drug this guy out of bed,” here Balnash pointed to Remalle,“ and left myself. We’ve been hidin’ out in the jungles since then, survivin’ on what we could find.” He spat. “You get damn sick of monkey after a while, let me tell you.”
Wilberforce interrupted him. “So, you tell me that my dear cousin Aban and others might still be among the living?”
Balnash shrugged. “Don’t know. And since they just left me and the others to die, I don’t much care.”
Remalle spoke for the first time after that. “I’m sorry I can’t add anything much. I was unconscious most of the time. But I think the gods might have cursed this place. The old mayor tried to ban the worship of Rakust... and after that, everything went wrong.”
“A curse?” Wilberforce looked thoughtful, then shrugged. “Curses will have to wait. For now, I’d like a tour of the old grounds, once you two fellows get your energy back. Don’t worry about drink, we’ve got plenty of the stuff to fill you with vim and perhaps even vinegar.”
“What?”
The Scout took Balnash and Remalle in hand. "Come on, I'll show ya to the booze room. We got piles of the stuff. We'll get drunk for a damn week, and then..." he smiled "Then we'll really start drinking. Welcome back."
....................................................
Several Days Later: An Excerpt from the Tour“And that exceptionally deep well just west of the burial chambers?”
“That’s the magma pump stack, I’m thinkin’, or what there was of it-“
Peregar had followed along with the tour. When he heard that, his eyes went wide. “You people built a magma pump stack? Why didn’t you mention that before! I have to see this!”
“You’ll need some pumps to pump out the water first, Peregar- Ah, never mind. Watch that man go.” Peregar had already left the room. “We won’t see him back for days. What about those pumps up above, that lead to grates?”
Balnash scratched his head. “I think that was the baths?”
“Baths! Truly a place of wonders, this!” While Balnash was trying to figure out if that was sarcasm, Wilberforce continued, “So, you say this place fell to a curse? Well, I enjoy a good thrilling story as much as anyone, but I’m not one to let a curse bother me. We stay, and we build and damned be the fellows who say no. That’s the code of the Ropenourished family.”
“Strange code.”
...........................................
The next morning Bayar was woken up by a loud scream. This kind of thing wasn’t normal (yet), so he was out of his bed and into the dining room in a matter of seconds.
What he saw left him breathless. Neo was on the floor next to a table, his back twisted into a painful looking position. He was moaning, proving that at least he was still alive.
Standing over him was an odd transparent, dwarf-like shape. It turned to face him, and Bayar saw a face distorted by hatred and malice. Then the shape dissipated, fading into the floor and the walls.
“What the hell was that?”
As he did his best to pick Neo off the floor, Bayar didn't notice a second figure drift out of the wall, and follow after him.
Dwarfs:
((You may notice some slight differences in Balnash and Remalle. No doubt the trauma they experienced was so great that in echoed backwards on their own personal timelines, changing not only personality, but age, professions and beliefs. That's my explanation, anyway.))
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Topic: Oceanbridge - A Fortress Defense Community Fort: Reclaimed, Again! (And Again) (Read 177087 times)