((Well, it wasn't as bad as I expected. Sorry.))
Mid-Winter, 194:
Aban had retreated to her office after the meeting, and had stayed there for weeks, updating various stockpile records. Unfortunately, the new mayor knew that she was there. He’d been sending her memos. He wanted to know when the "removal" of “idols” would start, and if she could draft up and order to “scrape out” some of the “more inappropriate murals". He was so aggressively polite about it that it was infuriating.
She’d just made a rather nice, orderly pile of the memos when Karakzon walked in.
“So is this new idiot really going to go through with this? Try to stop us worshipin’ our own gods, and everything?”
Aban sighed, and put a bit of fuel into the brazier that helped light her office. “I have received orders, yes. And - ”
Karakzon slammed his pick into the ground, and shouted, “So you’re just going to do what he says? Just roll over and take it? You’ve got no damn spine, Aban. You’ve got as much backbone as one of those flying head things!”
Aban glared at him. “AND, as I was saying, I did receive the orders. But I seem to have misplaced them.” She inclined her head toward the brazier, which was burning merrily. The stack of memos was gone. “It’s a damn shame, but I guess that means that no one will get the orders to destroy the statues.”
“What? What are you goin’ on about... Oh.” He looked at the fire, and then smiled slightly. “That is a shame.” He shook his head. “Not going to solve everything though, not forever. Sooner or later he’s going to ask where all his little paper notes went.”
“Yes, I mean, I know that. And we’ll... do something about it then. But until then...”
“Yeah, sure. Good to know you’re on the right side, at least.” Karakzon shouldered his pick, and with a nod, left the room.
The right side... whatever that means, Aban thought. “And I do have backbone! It's my job on the line, after all!” Aban called out after him. “I’ve got as much spine as a giraffe, at least! Wait, that sounded odd." She looked around the corner, but Karakzon didn't seem to have noticed.
...................................................
Late Winter, 194 - Emergency in Oceanbridge Part One:
And so the winter of 194 rolled on, in a rather dull fashion. There was some idle talk about “dealing with” the mayor, but the months passed and nothing much happened. New bedrooms were dug out, (though only 15 completed and assigned), the ettin had been placed in the now finished arena (Lokum was promising a great show), and the bridge was still being built.
Winter in Oceanbridge tended to be a lot like autumn, which in turn bore a striking resemblance to summer, and so on. It might rain slightly more often, but most days passed in a haze of dreary tropical heat. The sieges and ambushes had ended, the dead mourned (usually by getting drunk and breaking something), and forgotten (usually due to the aforementioned drinking.) It was a warm and busy winter.
So, when Antymattar walked out to his favorite fishing spot, and saw frost on the sand, he knew something odd was happening. A second later, he saw what it was.
There were about fifteen of them, Antymattar realized, all staring at him. Well, staring wasn’t the right word, he thought (while thinking that it was amazing he was thinking so clearly while looking terror in the face). Huge eyeless goat men shouldn’t be able to stare, but these ones were trying.
One of them began to walk, very slowly towards him, freezing air moving ahead of it.
Since, you’re thinking so well, Anytmattar thought, why not think about running? It was a good thought, and he listened to it.
The Secret Weapon (Will Never Get Used)“You sure this is going to work, Gar?” Nerev asked, breathing heavily as he tried to keep up.
Gar was racing ahead of him, pulling levers as he went. “Positive! I’ve tested and retested this thing. Once they reach the trap line, we get the pumps going down here... “ he pointed to his schematic, “They pump water into the trap corridor. From there we’ve got the choice of either drowning the monsters right there, or pushing ‘em into the ocean, where they drown. “
They both stopped when they heard the screams coming from the surface. “Suppose...” Nerev started. “Suppose someone forgot to throw the lever for the gate on the surface, and they got in...What then?”
“Well, the traps up there should take care of most of them.”
“And if they don’t?”
“Then we run like hell. Again.”
Meanwhile, Up Above: Person had watched the bizzare goat monsters from the bridge as they’d first appeared, and watched as Antymattar ran for the safety of the fortress. He’d given the order to the rest of the workers to evacuate to the underground, and watched as they all made it to safety.
And then he watched as the gate, Oceanbridge’s primary entrance, and its first line of defense, failed to close.
He watched, and saw the creatures walk over the line of traps without triggering a single one, pausing only to mechanically butcher a woodcutter and her child.
He made it to safety himself, just barely. But he saw everything.
The Upper Fortress Falls:
Lokum gave the orders quickly, and followed the dwarfs he’d given them to in order to make sure they were carried out. The upper levels were to be sealed off. No, it didn’t matter who was up there. No, not even if it was someone they knew;
they had to consider the good of the whole fortress.
It worked, basically. For most people, that is.
Next: A few deaths never hurt anyone.
((Drama! Excitement! But only small amounts of them.))
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Topic: Oceanbridge - A Fortress Defense Community Fort: Reclaimed, Again! (And Again) (Read 182941 times)