You walk out of the workshop, whistling a jaunty tune, the quiet steps of your apprentices behind you.
Today is a good day.
The news of your hold's new source of Pure Gromril spreads through the north like a raging wildfire, orders and dwarfs flocking to get at this most precious resource.
The news also brings a trickle of enterprising young Runesmiths, eager for the chance to work the wonder metal. Your workshop has to host many of them who come to offer respect as they move in.
"Hurry up now beardlings!" You shout to the two dwarfs behind you, voice not at all belaying the joy you feel.
Couldn't do anything more than grudging almost disappointment and that was only when they blew past your expectations of their work. Which, for most apprentices never happened, but your beardlings were a cut above the rest. Thanks in no small part to your superlative efforts as a teacher.
"Yes Master!" Both Fjolla and Dolgi say beneath the ninety kilos of metal they were carrying while wearing the same movement-reducing padded leather suit.
Why only half a century ago they were struggling with a tenth of that weight, now here they were handling a good 140 kilos total with as much grace as you could expect from an apprentice.
Grungni you were such a good teacher.
…
"Ah! Rhunrikki, good morning to you," an elderly Longbeard from Clan Grimseal greets you as he turns from his work on the wall to wave at you.
"Any news?" you shout back at him, your voice carrying clearly despite the good twenty meters of height between you.
"Rumour has it Lord Grimnir got it into the heads of our kin down south to put some defences down in the Ungdrin," he continues conversationally before turning to his apprentice, "
Yarri! WHAT WAS THAT LAD, ARE YOU CHISELLING A LATRINE OR THE WALL THAT'LL DEFEND YOUR PEOPLE?! THINK YOU CAN SLACK OFF JUST BECAUSE I'M TALKING TO THE RUNELORD? DAMN NEAR A CENTURY, OLD CAN'T EVEN DO THIS RIGHT? Not much else to speak of really Rhunrikki," he finishes.
Ah. You heard about that. It was said that not three years ago that a great Elder Magma Wyrm, no relation to the one Jorri spoke about, had broken into the Ungdrin Ankor. Sadly for the Wyrm in question, it broke into the Underway in the same spot Grimnir was leading his throng down south from a hard season of campaigning.
The Ancestor, grumpy and tired, grew so wroth that he punched the beast with his fist; crumpling bone and scale in a shower of blood with a single strike. Following up by beheading the beast then kicking the corpse into the magma below.
When he reached Karaz A Karak his bellowing grumbling was enough to shake the hold itself, so mighty was his tirade that many a dwarf hold has begun to set up defensive works in the Ungdrin, out of respect and a bit of fear at what Grimnir may grumble if he sees shoddy work.
Made a good lick of sense to you, nowhere outside the holds was safe, even the Ungdrin. Complacency was what got you killed out here.
Grimnir followed up his tirade with something of even greater value, sitting down at the barracks he taught many of Karaz A Karak's warriors the further insight into the art of defending from below, the tactics of tunnel fighting and using the cramped terrain to their advantage. His valued teachings may have been in the form of a truly gruelling monologue about their inadequacy but it was a gift from the Ancestor nonetheless. So it was that many dwarfs have taken his teachings to heart and spread it far and wide.
You nod back at him, "Thank you anyway! And before I forget, let the Thane know I have a letter for him from Stokki Shale-eyes, Thane of Clan Hrokrisson down south!"
A knowing glint enters the Longbeard's eyes as he glances at your now pale apprentice.
"Oh? Is it about
that now? A bit early don't you think?" he says seriously, acting as well as any Skald.
"Old enough he reckons," you reply, eyes glinting in amusement from where your apprentices can't see.
"I'll be sure to let him know Elder, now if you'll excuse me I have an apprentice whose neck I have to wring for
STILL COCKING UP HIS CHISELWORK. DAMN IT YARRI!" the elder says, storming off towards his charge.
You cackle internally at Fjolla muttering in the background, Dolgi trying to calm her down.
While you certainly didn't
lie about there being a letter, as lying was something no dwarf in their right mind would commit. You did
omit the fact that the letter was about clan Grimseal hewing out the main hall for younger, entrepreneurial, members of Fjolla's clan who were moving up here in a few years' time.
And if a beardling got it into their heads that it was about something as silly as a
betrothal well, not on your head now was it?
Not even a century old and she thought it was all about her, really the arrogance of youth.
Bah, you suppose you'll tell her when you enter the hold proper, couldn't do to have her work suffer for the sake of a little laugh.
Maybe talk with a Longbeard there and be a bit more specific? You'll figure it out. In the meantime, you think you see the father of that girl Dolgi's sweet on in the distance, his daughter trailing behind him.
While you show no outward sign of anything amiss you are chortling mightily in your mind.
Another great thing apprentices were good for, the foolishness of young romance was always a source of good entertainment for their Elders.
…
The mood is tense in the council room, you finally arrive to see Brokk True-eyes accompanied by several of his rangers, among the usual group of grumbling elders.
"Rhunrikki," Elder Brokk says, nodding at you with a frown on his face, "the beardlings found something of note, seemed right to let you know considering what it may be. Beardlings!"
Two dwarfs come forward, one carrying a black pelt and the other a familiar horned skull.
They carefully lay out both pieces for the assembled elders to glare at.
"No faffing about Brokk, where'd your lot find this?" Master Gormak snarls out, hefting his axe.
"Since the battle at the Dragon's Maw, the surrounding wilderness has been cleared of most things that can threaten any dwarfs, it only takes a few of us to keep it that way too. So I sent the beardlings out to scout out the terrain further afield, help out the rangers of the other holds that sort of thing. South and east mostly but I had a few boys helping the rangers near that fresh settlement to the west. Long story short, while we've cleared out our immediate area, there's a bunch of monster attacks coming in from the north near the sea of Ice. And sightings of odd black trolls leading groups of their ilk to assault dwarf caravans. Thought it was beardlings spinning wool til a group came back with half their number wounded carting a pile of troll pelts,
that included."
You barely pay the tale attention, just enough to memorize it really, instead walking over and lifting the skull to get a better look.
Couldn't even die properly now, could it?
"The bloody thing
Bred?" Gormak snarls.
"Maybe, maybe not. These things have been popping up for some reason, but they're assaulting dwarf caravans and oddly enough leaving most of the food to their hordes. These things are
stealing goods that no normal troll cares about. Armour, gold, weapons, most anything as well as food and stuffing them in a sack then hiding them in their hovels. We returned the goods this one had stolen as best as we could, didn't leave many dwarfs to claim them I'm afraid. I've already sent runners to the rest of the holds, tactics for dealing with them and the like. Thought to see if the Rhunrikki may have known something he could share,"
You hum, still glaring at the smaller, but familiarly shaped skull.
"Any sightings in the area?" Moira asks.
"No. Like I said, battle depopulated the area of trolls, and they depopulated most of the other dangerous things to feed themselves. Have a group of beardlings keeping it that way too. But the other settlements and holds aren't as lucky," Brokk says grimly.
You sigh through your teeth before speaking up.
"Damn thing was transforming to the end, even when it was turning into a bloated mess of untamed magic and flesh. My gut tells me I was a hair's breadth away from facing an actual daemon before it botched it up at the last second. Maybe I was wrong, maybe I wasn't, and maybe I was neither. Beardling, when you hacked this beastie up, what was the blood like?"
"Blood felt cool, like holding ice, oddest thing considering it was alive a few seconds earlier," the elder of the two rangers who brought the pelt comments.
"Bah," you say, putting down the skull before turning to Brokk, "Elder, I humbly ask that you inform as many rangers and holds as possible this kind of troll may be resistant to the usual method of cauterization. If these things are aping their progenitor they may have a higher resistance or outright immunity to flames, maybe some minor magic, as well as a higher propensity for extra limbs. I can't be exact given the limited number of samples, but if these things are even a smidge as strong as the one I killed…"
"I'll let the beardlings know to spread your information and to bring back as many bodies as they can," he says, nodding fiercely.
"Goes without saying, but since these creatures can potentially use magic I'd like for your charges to be more careful than they usually are, don't want an influx of injured without good reason, and even when there is a good reason I'm not too pleased regardless" Elder Moira says, looking down at the pelt in mild distaste.
"Aye, I'll tell em to keep wary until we have a good idea about how they operate, things that can cast spells are always a gamble." the Elder Ranger nods in agreement.
"Bah," you mutter quietly.
The assembled elders all grunt and nod in agreement.
Damn trolls.
…
The rest of the meeting is nothing of note, and you leave the oppressive atmosphere and enter a far happier hold.
Walking through the main hold you see beardlings at play and dwarfs working hard, a quiet air of joyous contentment that permeates everywhere.
They aren't aware yet, better for your elderly and cynical bones to bear the horrible truth than risk breaking these beardlings before they're ready.
They'll learn eventually, but not a second too early if you can help it.
And today had been a nice one too.
…
- Due to an RER crit, Grimnir has pushed the art of tunnel fighting and underground defence forward centuries ahead of its time. The sight of such shoddy(by his standards) defences in the Ungdrin and the assault of the Elder Magma Wyrm finally pushing him over the edge. Damn beardlings can't even get
this right?!
- Monster attacks coming from the north, and the sight of a new breed of troll that bears a striking resemblance to
The Greedy One. No name for this new breed so far, but the Dwarfs of Kraka Drakk send aid in the form of rangers and knowledge to the other fledgling holds of the far north.
...
You have (5 - 1) = 4 actions and 1 apprentice action this turn:
General:
[ ] Odd Places 1/10: 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 7 turns.
Requests: Denote which simple request will receive the Apprentice Action in your plan.
[ ] [Simple] Runic Warmachines: The Engineer's guild has come to you with a request to improve the hold's war machines with the power of Runes. Their losses at the Battle at the Dragon's Maw is a stinging blow that shames them. Not that any dwarf blames the engineers or claims they didn't do their part, not much can be done when a bunch of daemons spawn on top of your position and destroy your artillery after all, but the event has lit a fire under their collective arses. The previous decade was spent cranking out bolt and grudge throwers by the dozen and what better way to make even deadlier machines than with runes? Well it's sound logic, runes always make things better.
[Cost: 2 actions] Productivity Like No Other will proc.
[ ] [Simple] Defence. In. Depth Pt1: It has finally
begun, a concession for getting you involved in this whole business with choosing the hold's new Royal Clan, the hold will implement a strategy of Defence. In. Depth. When planning its
permanent defences. With that in mind, such a wonderful piece of work will require a suitably magnificent Runes. While someone could never truly have
enough defences, building what would eventually be a good seven layers of overlapping kill zones, guard towers and artillery is as good a start as any!
[Cost: (2-1) =1 actions] Productivity Like No Other Will proc.
[ ] [Difficult] Trollslayer Pt. 1: Thane Ironarm has come to you with a simple request. An axe worthy of commemorating the momentous victory at the Dragon's Maw. He trusts you to make an axe worthy of the prospective title
Trollslayer, and is willing to wait for the product for however long it takes. After all, how can he not have faith in you after everything that's happened? First, you have to figure out what runes you want on this damn thing.
[Cost: 1 actions] If a rune you want requires special ingredients that you don't have access to I will alert you. If I am given the choice you won't have to worry about that. Good rule of thumb on if it will likely need ingredients is if it's a Master Rune or it's a rune you've developed and know it will need ingredients you don't have.
- [ ] 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.
[ ] 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. 2: You've found a connection between Runes and Gromril, but it feels like just the beginning of something greater. You've found that in a moment of clarity, that Pure Gromril is especially important for the Master Rune of Gromril because of that inherent purity. With a recent look at actual Pure Gromril, you can say for certain there's more to it than simple physical purity.
[Cost: (6-4) =2 Actions] Student of the Odd 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 may proc.
Order: As well as the normal system, I'm willing to experiment with this. You can order 1 Rune's worth of an item a turn, but can have as many orders going as you want. I'll ask you only to order if you think you'll use that material for a Rune in the future and not horde a bunch of materials.
[X] Magma Dragon's Blood
[(2-1) =1 Turn]
[ ]Write-in:
Remember to vote by plan. There will be a two-hour moratorium for discussion.
AN: If the RER keeps pushing Grimnir Memes I wont complain. C&C always, and thank you for reading :^)
