You sip your mug, the elders in the bar grumble ominously among themselves. Your keen ears pick up bits and pieces, enough to build a grim picture.
Overland travel has stalled to a crawl. The mountain passes getting hit by an above-average number of rockslides and avalanches. While death tolls are low in the south on account of the Ungdrin being the main mode of transportation. In the north, where the great highway is only just now beginning to reach, the story is different. Travelling caravans moving as silently as possible as they make their way north. The dangerous conditions slowing, but not stopping the flood of immigrants looking to make a life for themselves. On one hand, it was foolish in the extreme and decidedly un-dwarfy to be so reckless, on the other, it was incredibly dwarf-like to push on with your decisions regardless of the facts. All in all, a neutral choice on the scale of dwarf decisions, but one that sent the Longbeards grumbling fiercely.
You are in the middle of a drink when you receive word from a Runner that a caravan has come through, its leader asking for you specifically.
Realizing it's Jorri and curious about why he'd announce his presence instead of failing to surprise you, you head on over.
What you see makes you tense up, and the cold pit in your stomach grows.
The caravan is dinged up badly, several wagons showing signs of hasty repair and dwarfs being offloaded from the back of some into stretchers and rushed off towards the Temple of Valaya. Finding some beardling apprentice you grab him by the shoulder and ask what's going on and where the caravan leader is.
He tells you there was an avalanche in the pass, blocked off the entire route until it could be cleared, and that the leader of the caravan caught in it was over there nursing a mug of ale and a broken arm before you let him run off.
When he is out of earshot you let out a sigh of relief, thankful that the kruthead is still
alive, but now angry that he made you worry about him.
Damn it all Jorri.
...
When you see Jorri his arm in a sling and a grin on his lips as he speaks to another dwarf. A young lad in robes denoting his position as a newly ordained priest of Grungni. Barely into his 80th year by your estimate, and likely asking Jorri all manner of questions regarding the state of the pass.
The Priests of Grungni served in dual roles you see, their members worked both as smiths or as miners as ways of honouring the Ancestor in question. So just as much as they led sermons and kept the temple clean, there were members going out into the field to follow his tenets. Often enough this included volunteering to be part of the crews that made sure the roads and bridges that connected the Karaks overland were well maintained as well as clearing up the rubble of landslides or doing the same type of tasks in the Ungdrin. The kings of many holds often relied on elder members of the priesthood to take up an official role in doing this. Delegating the organizing the clans who would go about the work to the priests while the royal coffers bankrolled the entire expedition.
Thankfully for both of you, Snerra is currently in the Workshop, training in engraving with her weaker hand to ensure she has no excuse when doing her job as a runesmith.
You snort in Jorri's direction, grabbing his attention.
"I know, I know, it looks bad, but didn't plan to get my arm broken I'll have you know. Just happened to be that way," he says while nodding at the other dwarf to confirm that he'd completed his testimony.
"How bad?" you reply, voice even.
"Dealt with worse," he says after sighing, "trundling along the pass with the caravan when it happened. Whole damn eastern peak started growling like a Longbeard at the sight of some Garazi mucking up a mineshaft. Lost about a third of the cargo under the snow, thankfully we just got a few broken limbs and a lot of bruising for our trouble. A good reason to stay here and see Snerra a bit longer at least eh?"
"I suppose that's
something. Come on then, you and the rest of the wounded should be in the Temple of Valaya, not out here," you say gruffly.
"Bah! I'll be fine, I'll let the more urgent cases get seen to first. In the meantime, why don't you grab a seat and tell me about how long it took you to get the Hold to agree to this
marvellous gate you have? Oh, and about your diamonds, dont worry about it. Groti and Gotrek managed to find 'em in all that mess," he says with a wry grin.
You stare at him for a good few seconds before bringing over a crate and sitting down. He passes you a mug of ale that you take and drink from deeply, the two of you simply sit, drink and watch as the more seriously injured are taken care of.
"You're writing the letter to Magna," you say eventually.
"My writing arm's broken," Jorri fires back instantly, looking straight ahead.
"No it isn't, and if it was I know you're ambidextrous you kruthead," you reply back just as quickly.
You snort when you hear him sigh in defeat.
…
The council chamber is busy when you arrive, you take your seat and apologize for your tardiness.
"Caravan was my clan's. Had to make sure my fool brother didn't get himself killed," you explain to Elder Moira.
"Bad business that, thankfully we're still under capacity even with the influx of wounded. Might need to expand the temple, hells maybe the entire hold soon at this rate. Too many idle apprentices with nothing to do but dawdle about and fiddle with their hair," she says while sipping her ale.
You nod in agreement, the facilities and districts
are growing a tad tight, only a century or two more and you'd be packed in like sardines. The discovery of your
very lucrative Wutroth forest sending yet more dwarfs northwards. This time a large majority are relatives of Clan Oakenfist, the largest of the carpenter clans in the hold as of this moment. Though you note that there is still a steady trickle of young and seasoned Master Runesmiths making up a part of the migration. Most chose to stay here, others kept going north looking to fulfill the needs only a Runesmith could meet in the smaller outlying holds.
You definitely weren't the oldest Runelord in the region, but as luck would have it, you're in charge of keeping an eye over the largest number of Runesmiths in the north by virtue of their decision to stay here. And for good reason, because King Otrek is always finding work for them to do it seems. There's been talks about expanding the siege stores even further along with the expansion of the hold itself to accommodate the growing populace. Kraka Drakk is by no means anywhere near matching the size of some of the older holds to her south, but you've grown far faster than expected.
"Well at the very least King Otrek seems to be keeping a good grasp on the situation," you say after a while.
"Aye, he is," Moira agrees, "not like someone can prepare for some fool beardling discovering two massive sources of rare material after all."
You look at her flatly.
Gormak chuffs in amusement from his reclined position.
…
Hours later when night has fallen and lessons for the day concluded, you watch silently as your apprentice worries over her father, Jorri is holding up to Snerra's assault rather well, simply smiling and telling her not to worry about something this unimportant.
"Come now Snerra, you think your da can get taken down by something like this?"
"Your arm is broken!" Snerra says, bits of gravel in her hair.
"Only in one place! Why I've broken my arm in five places before and come out fine!"
"That's not an excuse da!" she huffs, pebbles flying everywhere with the motion.
You shake your head in amusement, leaving Jorri to his fate and walking out of the room and looking at your other clansmen on your way out. You see them all in various states of healing. To the room's left, both Gotri and Gotrek are lying in a bed with a broken leg each, over in the corner you see a cousin with his neck in a brace, quietly sipping from a mug of nourishing ale handed to him by one of the apprentice priestesses.
Bad business an avalanche, you thank the Ancestors no one died at the very least.
Walking out of the temple proper you pull up your hood over your head and stalk towards the bar, weaving through the crowd of busy dwarfs, where you
know your other apprentices are currently drinking. Having figured out their rotation weeks ago, only pretending to not have noticed how they switched up the fifth day by repeating their venue.
Foolish really.
Takes a bit more effort to sneak up on them now that they think they've caught on to you though. Little do they know that you've far more tricks up your sleeve. Years of dodging the Pocket Troll Tongue sharpening your mind like a blade to a whetstone. You've learned the lesson you're teaching them right now.
Nowhere is safe.
You already got Snerra today, can't go having the other two un-gravelled now could you?
...
[There will be another vote after a plan is chosen]
…
- The discovery of Wutroth, a unique variant even, has driven more dwarfs northward and towards Kraka Drakk specifically. Pushing the growth of the hold even higher.
- King Ironarm has hit a conundrum. ???
- Jorri got his fool arm broken.
- Nowhere is safe from Pocket Gravel.
Gain:
- Invisible Diamonds
…
You have (5 - 1) = 4 actions and (2 -2) =0 apprentice actions this turn:
General:
[ ] Odd Places 2/10: Look on Master Yorri's map and try and discover one of his marked locations. The locations will certainly be odd, but whether they'll be useful will remain to be seen.
[Cost: 1 action] Roll for usefulness.
[X] Teach your apprentices.
[Cost: 1 Action] Locked in for 3 turns.
[X] Teach your apprentice.
[Cost: 2 Apprentice Actions] Locked in for 5 turns.
Requests: Denote which simple request will receive the Apprentice Action in your plan.
[ ] [Simple] Write in, Armed in Arms: You cannot give them all Gromril plate, the cost too ruinous even for a Runelord, but you can make
quite the number of Runic weapons and equipment. With the aid of a few of the older masters to keep the youngsters in line, perhaps enough for the hold in its entirety. It would be a massive undertaking. Your beard twitches fiercely, you don't know when but
something will happen before this next century is out. A lot of your work will be in actually coordinating the disparate smiths in the hold into something of a cohesive unit.
[Cost: 4 actions.] Productivity Like No Other Will proc.
- [ ] Petition the Hold: Ask King Otrek and the Elder council for aid in managing the logistics of the project and incorporate it into his larger overall armament program.
[Cost: 5 Favour with the Hold and King Otrek] Reduce total action cost by 1
[ ] [Simple] Apprentice work: your not
that young, but still young, charges are now of an age you feel it acceptable for them to do a bit of exploration. Send your apprentices out into the hold and pick up a few tasks from whoever offers it to them. Give them a bit of experience for their upcoming task as journeymen and let them build a reputation in the hold. You'll of course critique their work and use it as a learning experience as any good master ought to.
[Cost: variable apprentice actions.] Roll for usefulness. 1 Roll per apprentice action.
[ ] [Difficult] Write in, A Greater Warmachine Pt. 1: Upon gazing out over the walls and the warmachines that dot them, you have been struck by the desire for something bigger and much more deadly to be-rune. Your Hold deserves better. Go to the Engineering Guildmaster and discuss with him the possibility of a much grander warmachine for use in the defenses.
[Cost: 1 action] If a rune you want requires special ingredients that you don't have access to I will alert you.
- [ ] Choose: choose three runes you want on the weapon.
- [ ] Theme: write in a theme for the weapon. (I will roll to see if you find a new combo)
- [ ] GM: Leave it to the GM. (I will roll to see if you find a new combo)
[ ] [Difficult] A Higher Standard Pt. 1: You've gazed upon the face of the Ancestors a lot in the past few years, especially when you were making your alchemical flame spitters, and it's inspired you. A banner to rally behind, something that dwarfs will look to and fight all the harder with it at their back. A banner worthy of the hold of Kraka Drakk, to be held aloft with pride by an equally worthy standard-bearer.
[Cost: 1 action] If a rune you want requires special ingredients that you don't have access to I will alert you.
- [ ] Choose: choose three runes you want on the weapon.
- [ ] Theme: write in a theme for the weapon. (I will roll to see if you find a new combo)
- [ ] GM: Leave it to the GM. (I will roll to see if you find a new combo)
Research: Your career and your honour demand you hone your craft, and it's usually done through poking at runes and seeing what works.
[ ] Silverwood: An entire forest odd silvery Wutroth is now under your ownership. While a large profit driver as you are well aware, there's an odd feeling in your belly when you look at the stuff. Beautiful like nothing else, and stronger than regular Wutroth as well. You know a few runes that require Wutroth to make, but maybe this has something special to it as well?
[Cost: 4 actions] Student of the Odd will proc
[ ] The Greedy One's Heart: This thing has been transferred to a warded container because you don't really trust anything that came from
that thing. You're all but certain you could make a truly potent Rune of Healing or Fortitude with this thing, but perhaps there are other uses for it you could come up with that a battery of tests could reveal.
[Cost: 4 actions] Student of the Odd will proc
[ ] The Secrets of Light?: That moment with the shield and sunray, the light of your torch glinting off the crystal, both sparked something in your mind. An ember that refused to be burned out. You've done permutations to the standard Rune of Light and a few on Master Yorri's Rune of Reflection, but maybe there could be more?
[Cost: (8 -2) =6 Actions] Student of the Odd will proc
[ ] The Movement of things: The Rune of Waking or Animation as some would call it is a rare rune. How Master Yorri knows both the regular and Master Rune could be explained by either a harrowing adventure full of terror, beasties and treasure or by something as mundane as asking a friend, you could never be sure with the man. Still, this was a rune that, to your frustration, you haven't had much chance to tinker with. Maybe just a peak?
[Cost: 8 actions] Student of the Odd will proc.
[ ] The Rune Metal Pt. 3: The Gromril isn't pure, well metaphysically. You need to first devise a Rune or Runic array necessary to draw out the magical impurity from the Gromril itself before you can even
begin to tackle the actual physical makeup of such a procedure. You're lucky there's a large body of Runework dedicated to removing or stopping magic cold in its unstable tracks, otherwise this would have taken far longer. Your gut tells you nevertheless, that nothing short of a Master Rune will cut it.
[Cost: (12 -2) =10 Actions] Student of the Odd and Mind of Metal will proc.
[ ] Understand a Master Rune: The same idea as studying any rune in theory, in practice it takes a lot longer and there's often a large chance of explosions.
[Cost: 16 actions] Depending on the choice, Student of the Odd and/or Mind of Metal may proc.
Order: You can order 1 new item a turn, but can have as many orders ongoing as you want. Don't hoard mats.
[ ]Write-in:
- [ ] Kingly Authority: You may petition King Otrek to flex his political muscle to expedite the process.
[Cost: 5,10,15, Favour from King Otrek, depending on tier] -1 turn taken on order.
[ ] Kingly Authority: You may petition King Otrek to flex his political muscle to order something for your use.
[Cost: 5,10,15, Favour from King Otrek, depending on tier] +1 Order.
Remember to vote by plan. There will be a two-hour moratorium for discussion.
AN: Shorter update than usual, uh anywho there's a small little vote after a plan is decided that I'll threadmark. Anyway C&C and thanks for reading :^)
