((Sorry for yet another delay. Had a funeral to go to, 700 miles from where I live. Busy times. But I've got this and the next several updates mostly written.))
Back in the Old Fort, Part Two:
From the Journals of Aban Brothertreaties:
The remarkable thing is that we're all still alive.
Well, no, I tell a lie. The really remarkable thing is who we found when we got back to the fortress. Though it's not as remarkable as the state that the fortress itself is in...
The trouble with seeing so many remarkable things in the course of one day is that it's easy to lose perspective.
It was basically only seconds after we all realized where we were that the goblins found us. And well, being completely exhausted, demoralized, and so on, we all got ready to die. And the goblins disappointed everyone by not killing us. Instead, the little group (there were three of them, by the way) looked us over, gave what must be the goblin equivalent of a shrug, and carried on back to the ruins of the fortress. We followed them, for lack of any other ideas.
There's no way to easily describe what we found. Remember, there had been around five armies attacking us in the end. The "elves", those giant men, the bird-men, and so on. They were all still there, lazing around on our wrecked pumps, rooting through our discarded clothing, and generally making things a mess. And I mean a real mess. I'm not sure how they managed to scatter all of the discarded armor at the very end of the bridge. That had to take real effort.
Not one of them bothered us, either. The whole impression seemed to be we weren't important any more. A few looked up as we passed, but that was about the extent of things
The fort is a flooded, muck and blood filled mess. (In short, not to different from what it looked like the last time I saw it). There are whole trees growing up through old workrooms and dining halls. And it was in one of those dining that we met Gar.
Gar, if you remember, (I sure didn't) was one of the original founders of this place. He helped build the magma pumps, the traps that almost protected us, and a whole hell of a lot else. I also think he was my husband at some point or other.
He didn't really seem all that surprised to see us either, which I have to say I found irritating. He went missing after we fled the... first? Yes, the first attempt at building the bridge, and I'd long assumed that he was dead. He's not, of course, but he didn't have much to say on the matter. The conversation was interesting though, and, you know, worth recording. Gar was sitting on one of the few marble chairs that still had all four legs, poking at some sort of stone tool. He looked up, nodded, and said:
"Oh, it's you people."
That's not the kind of thing that's easy to respond to, aside from saying something like: "Well, yes."
He then said something about it being damn time, and wasn't someone going to help him get these mechanisms working again. He also complained about the state of the pumps, calling them "nonsensical", and "the work of a madman".
I'm pretty sure he designed most of them.
Well, we're still alive, like I said. I've called for a meeting of us seven to discuss, well, what the hell we're going to do now. Whatever it is, I'm sure this fort still has plenty of horrors left to throw at us.
....................
Next: A Lot of Problems
((Dang it, i pressed enter before I finished writing. Bah.))
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Topic: Oceanbridge - A Fortress Defense Community Fort: Reclaimed, Again! (And Again) (Read 183146 times)