taovkool
Forever Gone
- Location
- The Library, Department of General Works
The second.
I think the first part was sort of a given. All self inserts are, by the norm of the place they inserted themselves into, absolutely bloody weird.
The Real Adventures of Norgrim Grimsson, Exasperated Recluse (Warhammer Fantasy SI)
- Thread starter soulcake
- Start date
- Fantasy
I think the first part was sort of a given. All self inserts are, by the norm of the place they inserted themselves into, absolutely bloody weird.
Alectai
Speaks Words of Wisdom... On occasion
There's massive brute strength involved--enough to use a Dwarf as a ragdoll apparently, says Vampire to me.
Evillevi
A Pikachu for everything - Shadow Pikachu,2015
Basically Dawi have a big problem in Self Control especially when something close to them is involved.
That Norgrim is kinda able to tamp it down and function logically for his age speaks a lot to how much better he is at self control.
TimEd
Meteor maker
where
then
They are being hunted en mass
- Location
- Omniverse #1345
Yeah, not much else it could be that wouldn't have left obvious signs of what it was present here. It would be instantly obvious if it was a dragon, etc just from the damage to the surroundings. To kill so cleanly with apparently little evidence of what did it? Skaven or Vampire; skaven by cleaning up after the fact. But skaven I'd have expected to also remove the dwarf bodies if they were trying to be subtle, so this speaks to something that doesn't actually care if it gets noticed after the fact.
- Location
- Wall Gazing
I'd add she may have been expecting him to cash in the debt she said she owed him for assistance in getting his vengeance, a perfectly reasonable Dawi thing to do. I think she was expecting him to ask what sort of assistance she could provide for either the expedition to recover the bodies and search the avalanche site or for the vengeance itself. Note how he explicitly says he'd be petitioning his Clan's Elder Council for funds, and that he doesn't expet to get a whole lot. Not getting money from the King or the Karak, just his Clan.
I agree, my first thought was a troll or similar but there would have been tracks and honestly both trolls and skaven wouldnt leave the bodies alone. So yeah probably a vampire or a pack of vargheist maybe?
- Location
- New Zealand
I'm agreeing with the vampire theories. The brute strength to throw dwarves hard enough to kill them without leaving any traces, plus flying mounts to get up to cause the avalanche and escape afterwards.
It might even be, if we are exceptionally unlucky, Mannfred von Carstein. We know that in canon he did attack dwarfish forces protecting a princess, though the methods and motive were different.
It might even be, if we are exceptionally unlucky, Mannfred von Carstein. We know that in canon he did attack dwarfish forces protecting a princess, though the methods and motive were different.
Dawi are... emotional. incredibly emotional, to the point of instability from a human perspective.
all the rigidness of dawi society, all the formality, the defined hierarchy, and the adherence to tradition are all ways to limit these intense emotions, direct them towards a proper path.
Norgrim just felt his emotions, was consumed by his grief for a moment, and then just put it away. for later. Dawi can't do that. they can't shove an emotion down and deny it purchase for a more opportune moment. their very psychology forces them to obsess over the pain and emotions constantly at all times.
that he can, even for a moment, put it aside is a human trait he kept from his past life.
Humans are weak, flighty, quick to change, difficult to work around, flimsy, shoddy, poor crafters, terrible workers, greedy, and untrustworthy in many ways.
but compared to a dwarf, they are natural paragons of self control.
because what is considered basic things for a human, like waiting until a better moment to get revenge, or putting aside your own pain for the greater good or you own gain, or even stepping back from a conflict to cool off, is completely Alien to innate dwarfen psychology.
and it is very worrying in a dwarf. because when a dwarf does it ( or more accurately, somethign that looks like it to a human), its because they're preparing themselves for the solemnity required for proper shaving their head, and swearing the oath.
as far as the princess is likely concerned, he just said "I am going to get things in order with my clan, get the dead back, and then go die in battle nameless and clanless to pay for my shame" with (what sems to be) the same emotion you'd talk about changing a favoured pair of gloves because of wear.
with the added effect of him not mentioning her debt in the procedings, implying that he isn't going to call it in at all.
which, aside from the fact it is weird, it is also incredibly bad for her. because a debt you can't pay is just as bad for a dwarfs psyche as a grudge gone un-avenged.
so that conversation likely also reframed his denying of the debt for her. because if he's planning to go out and die without ever claiming the debt, him trying to deny it starts to look like what she did by not accepting his out actually got in the way of his plans.
whihc adds the awkward thought for her, that if he doesn't become a slayer, it would be because she by forcing him to accept her debt, has obligated him to not do it for a time to spare her a debt she can't repay. which just isn't done.
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I'm not sure that this part is true? Most of the time they can, it's what Grudges are for. The assurance that things will be made right in the future lets them function in the present. Slayers are what happen when this system isn't enough, but it usually is.
grudges let them know that the wrong will be avenged, no matter what. and so they treat the thing as settled. when it goes in the book, it is almost the same as if they had gotten their revenge already. and so as the wrong has been righted, obsessing over righting it stops.
because it effectively has been righted. in the same way that a slayer is dead the moment they take the oath, the world just hasn't realised it yet.
but the pain never goes away. dwarf memories are almost perfect, every bit of trauma, every moment of suffering a wrong, is as fresh as if it happened a yesterday. and notably, if ti ain't in the book, it ain't treated as settled. and until it is in the book, or they personally settle it, a dwarf will not stop thinking about righting the wrong.
it's one of the more consistent thing abotu dwarfs that make them singularly inhuman.
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Evillevi
A Pikachu for everything - Shadow Pikachu,2015
While I agree with the first half, from me ... Hmm
@soulcake
I'm not a native English speaker so apologies, but does this sentence mean that his plan is sequential (Investigate > prepare > depart for revenge) or is the sentence implying a goal + the steps to accomplish it (Investigate by saying goodbye+ prep+leaving)
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- Location
- Edmonton
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Its implying the former. He's saying that once he finds the culprit responsible for the avalanche he will finish up his business then go seek vengeance.
It is a bit funny, in a dark way, that him deciding to get this job done first, get his affairs in order, and then go solo-hunting for vengeance against a foe that wiped out nearly an entire clan is considered bizarrely practical and pragmatic.
It's... appropriate for the culture, but still striking.
It's... appropriate for the culture, but still striking.
it's a very fun aspect of dwarfs.
dwarfs are as varied in temperment, inclination, and opinion as any human polity. but they never feel like just another human polity. there are things, lots of things, that are distinctly alien and wrong about them. these superficially look human in a lot of ways, but once you look closer at any one part of them, they get pretty uncanny.
myriad problems games workshop may have, but making their races feel like they arn't just humans of a different culture with funny proportions is not one of them.
Or plain old Chaos, maybe some trolls, could be be the beastman but since the bodies are here and not eaten I don't think so.
Additionaly if it was the Vamps I think there would be some undead.
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Evillevi
A Pikachu for everything - Shadow Pikachu,2015
Thanks Soulcake.
With that clarification, I think the princess is marveling at the most self controlled Dawi she'll ever meet.
Young , but in the face of having most of his clan destroyed in one of hte most personal way possible he delayed his grudgening to get the job done. And even after that he'll delay acting on teh grudge until he has a valid target.
With that clarification, I think the princess is marveling at the most self controlled Dawi she'll ever meet.
Young , but in the face of having most of his clan destroyed in one of hte most personal way possible he delayed his grudgening to get the job done. And even after that he'll delay acting on teh grudge until he has a valid target.
Night_stalker
Slava Ukraini!
- Pronouns
- He/Him
It's something strong and clever enough to track Rangers and smash them into something hard.
Vampire is my cash.
As royalty, I imagine one of the things that might get covered in her training is the whole, "Dealing with subordinates who seem on the verge of making the Slayer Oath when you'd really rather they not."
(Not trying to emotionally manipulate them or whatever, just recognizing the signs, maybe trying to point them in a useful direction and see if the Grudge can't be settled with less permanent means (or rather, less permanent for the dwarves in question), possibly even explaining her talking to Norgrim as a way to distract him because dwarves can very easily instantly flash back to the exact emotions they felt at the moment of trauma. Though, distracting people by letting them talk of unrelated things is pretty common stress management.)
(Not trying to emotionally manipulate them or whatever, just recognizing the signs, maybe trying to point them in a useful direction and see if the Grudge can't be settled with less permanent means (or rather, less permanent for the dwarves in question), possibly even explaining her talking to Norgrim as a way to distract him because dwarves can very easily instantly flash back to the exact emotions they felt at the moment of trauma. Though, distracting people by letting them talk of unrelated things is pretty common stress management.)
Talking about dwarfs, would he receive a ''title'' for him, like for me and what i understand is that they always put a title in a dward, like ''Snorri the Weird'', or any exemples from the quest that soulcake created, and well those titles are sometimes revered for their glory of completing X task, and well our MC is odd and well what would the tradicional dwarf title his achievement here ?
Because against all odds he is completing the Oath, with the addendum that he is basically just out of being a adolescent in dwarf society, to be this seen kinda a big deal because very few could have the willpower and the sheer control to not be in despair or grief because of this situation, even lower as very young dwarf.
Anyway i'm super curious to see the reactions of the elder and others dwarfs on his survival and the promise that he will go and find the people or group that did it.
Because against all odds he is completing the Oath, with the addendum that he is basically just out of being a adolescent in dwarf society, to be this seen kinda a big deal because very few could have the willpower and the sheer control to not be in despair or grief because of this situation, even lower as very young dwarf.
Anyway i'm super curious to see the reactions of the elder and others dwarfs on his survival and the promise that he will go and find the people or group that did it.
- Location
- Chicago
- Pronouns
- She/They
It's telekinesis on the table for that? Because yeah, vampire, but the other options that have flying mounts, like sneaky plots, and can toss dwarves around like ragdolls would seem to be tzeetchian.
The Ranger and the Mountain Princess Ch. 5:
- Location
- Edmonton
- Pronouns
- He/Him
━<><><>< 2204 I.C. ><><><>━
You know a part of me is thankful that I was already kneeling when I piece together that this was Uncle Malakai.
The rest of me is wondering why there was suddenly this low, droning keening and where it was coming from.
I don't want to tell you how long it took for me to realize that it was me.
I'm not sure how long I knelt there, just staring at my uncle's corpse, but I don't think it mattered.
He was dead.
Some dark part of me wished he had died in the avalanche, asleep and unaware instead of-of this.
"Ranger," a voice from behind me says, "Did you know this Elder personally?"
"He-he-I," I stutter dumbly, my mouth unable to form the words.
I try and force myself to speak, to move, to do anything but kneel there like a moron.
But I can't.
I can only think of my uncle, the man who took me under his wing and taught me everything I knew, and how he was dead right in front of me. He hadn't been in camp when the avalanche struck I knew that, one of the older Rangers out there you see, but his patrol had him on the slope between the camp and the avalanche. If the avalanche had carried him closer to the cache than it had Alrika and I, especially if he ran for the woods instead of back to camp like I had then that might be how he got here earlier. Rangers could cover a lot of ground when they travelled light too, you hear plenty of stories around the campfire of Dwarfs running multiple marathons worth of distance with minimal rest and food through grit and stubbornness alone. By some miracle my uncle had survived the avalanche, found twelve other survivors, and gotten them here to the cache an entire day and change before me.
"Ranger."
Only to die, slammed against a tree so hard that his entire fucking chest became concave.
What was going through his head? He must've thought we were dead, did he try looking for others before the blizzard that followed forced him to seek shelter? Did he feel guilt about not looking longer? Shame? Worry? Was he thinking about what to tell my ma? I don't know.
I'll never know.
"Ranger!"
All I know is that my uncle was alive, that if I was better, faster, I could've seen him again, and now he was dead. Dead. Dead. Dead.dead.deaddeaddead-
I felt a pair of hands grab me by my shoulders and roughly turn me away from uncle Malakai. I'm about to push them off and away but a blurry pair of steel grey eyes stop me.
"Norgrim." The person—Alrika —insisted, staring at me with open concern, "Pull yourself back. Please. I won't ask you to forget, or to move past what happened here, but I need you to pull yourself back. Can you do that for me Norgrim?"
I-
-I bury the grief down, down until I can remember where I am and what I'm meant to be doing, and let out a shuddering sigh.
"Norgrim?" she asks again, quieter.
"A moment your highness," I whisper hoarsely, hating the sound of my own voice. "J-just a moment."
"Of course Norgrim."
I blink away the tears, ignore the princess's earlier words and finish the job of shoving the memory of my uncle down into the darkest depths of my mind. I'd be perfectly fine with just kneeling there, breathing, crying, grieving, but time isn't on my side.
"O-okay. Okay I'm o-I...I pulled myself back," I promise, correcting myself at the end.
Alrika is still staring at me, eyes searching for some deception on my part no doubt, but eventually she nods before our stare-off gets too awkward.
"Alright. I believe you." she says, finally removing her hands from my shoulders and moving away to let me stand up.
Neither of us say anything as I get up and wipe the dirt off my pants, but I feel her watching me the entire time. It makes me want to curl up and die from embarrassment, and a part of me wants to tell her to stop, but the rest reminds me that she has every right to worry that her only guide can't keep himself together long enough to get her home.
"R-right. Come on, we should check on the cache. See if anything's salvageable." I mutter, forcing my voice to sound casual as I turn around and head towards an edge of the clearing.
I reach the spot where the cache's entrance is hidden, between two trees at the clearing's edge, and move kneel down while grabbing my shovel from my pack. I reach blindly for a few seconds, and when I finally touch the handle it takes me longer than usual to get a good grip as I force my fingers to move properly. Every second I spend fumbling while the princess is watching like a hot knife of shame in my back.
Shock sucks.
When I finally grab the damn thing and yank it out I immediately begin carving a square about the size of a Dwarf's torso into the gound, and when I'm done I pull the chunk of sod up by one of the edges and lay it down off to the side to reveal a patch of what looks like normal looking earth. Taking a moment to find the right position, I then dig my fingers into two spots in the ground, wiggling them around until I find the handles. I hear Alrika move closer and notice her shadow loom over my kneeling form but I pay it no further mind, busy digging around for my prize. I spend a good ten seconds looking like an idiot with his fingers buried up to the knuckle in the cold, hard dirt before I feel the tell-tale texture of cloth pass over one of my finger tips.
"There," I grunt out, moving my fingers until I get the handles in my grip. "Step back Your Highness."
I see her shadow move back, and with a grunt of effort I pull the cords out of the earth, then after a few more tugs, the trap door it's connected to swings upward with the sound of tearing to reveal a ladder that led to the cache proper.
Turning around, I see the princess staring at the torn paper around the edge curiously.
"Security seal." I explain, "We reapply fresh strips on both sides of the door every time we finish using a cache. So we know if someone's tampered with it."
Its a pain in the arse to do, but seeing those freshly torn edges made me feel a wave of relief and grief. The former because I could be reasonably sure that no one's touched the cache and messed with the supplies, and the latter because...
...because it meant my family never got to open it before whatever got to them first.
Nope. Bury that thought Norgrim I think to myself, trying to put on an air of calm.
I look at the Princess and gesture for her to head down.
━<><><><==><><><>━
There isn't enough room for two people to comfortably stand between the ladder and the door to the cache, so I hang from the rungs and wait for the sound of the door and the glow of the lanterns just beyond it before grabbing one the dangling handles and flipping the trap door shut before I descend myself. I turn away from the ladder and see Alrika standing just past the doorway, her head swiveling around as she takes in the sights.
"Food's in the far left corner and weapons are to the right." I say, continuing to watch the princess for a moment longer before shaking my head.
We didn't have time for a tour.
"This is a smaller cache?" she mutters. "I confess I expected something more utilitarian."
"We're still Dawi, odd as we may be." I shrug, walking past her to reach the lantern hanging from the ceiling. "This one doesn't have any permanent beds, but it does have a few cots for the wounded and the like. The medical supplies will be useful at least."
Grabbing the chain, I yank down and let out a breath as the lantern turns on, bathing more of the room in a nice warm glow then turn back to Alrika.
"We probably have to re-evaluate the original plan." I say frankly, grabbing her attention with my tone.
"You don't think it's safe to stay here, do you?" she asks, putting two and two together fairly quickly.
"No. The bodies above us is all the proof I need to believe something's chasing down the survivors from the avalanche." I mutter, "If we had been here earlier we'd be just like un—"
I swallow and shake my head when I hear the hitch in my voice.
"—just like everyone else up there. We shouldn't stay here longer than we need to."
"I agree on that part at least. What do you suggest then?" the Princess asks, now looking at me expectantly.
As if I'm an expert at anything beyond leaving family members to die.
Unproductive thoughts me, save them for later.
"We might as well make for Karaz-a-Karak," I conclude, "The journey'll be more dangerous than we expected but it's better to be in friendlier lands than under the shadow of Karak Brynduraz," just barely remembering not to call it Gunbad.
The princess doesn't say anything for a moment, but to my dismay she eventually shakes her head.
"Or, we find the Frostbeards just as you suggested, but more proactively." Alrika begins, "It's as you said. There's a strong chance that the journey to Karaz-a-Karak will be more fraught than usual. There's safety in numbers."
"There's something to be said for the speed of a smaller group though, and the longer we stay out the more we risk running into something less friendly than the Frostbeards," I counter.
"I won't, in good conscience, leave my fellow Dawi to head into actively hostile territory blind. They need to know, they need to be prepared." Alrika insists.
Are you kidding me?
I think of the oath of my Clan, of the fate they will suffer if something happens to the Princess. I try and I try to remind myself as a way to close off my emotions and not let the small surge of annoyance surface.
Then I remember my uncle's face, staring blankly up at the sky. How my how my mother is a widow, how my elders have lost their children and grand children.
How so many of my nieces and nephews are orphans.
"They know what they're risking. We're Rangers, and you're the daughter of the High King. I swore to return you alive." I force out.
My Clan need me, the ones that are left anyway, to not end up outcasts.
"They are my people as well Ranger. I have a responsibility to them as well." she says, staring resolutely at me.
My eye twitches.
"You can't fulfill that responsibility if you're dead," I counter, grimly realizing that the lid on my feelings is slowly coming undone.
"You think I'm incapable?" she questions, her brows furrowing in anger now as well.
"I think you're the daughter of the High King, and a great but young diplomat who's been kept out of battle for most of her life. I think I'm a Ranger who's barely finished the basics of his training and can no more guarantee your safety than he can his own. And I know that whoever could be chasing us was clever enough to knock out a Clan of Dawi and send an avalanche down atop their heads, and is skilled, and/or powerful enough to go around wiping out the survivors. One of whom, might I add, was a Longbeard who'd lived over two centuries despite spending most of those years out in the wilderness!" I finish the rant in a heated hiss.
If anything that incensed the Princess further.
"So? You tell me we are outmatched by this foe in number and in skill, but that doesn't mean I can shirk my duties and responsibilities. Our people march out of our Holds to face enemies they know outnumber them, they go and fight foes even our venerable Elders may and have failed against too."
I force myself not to step back as she walks up to me, not to blink first as I stare back at the increasingly impassioned gaze boring holes into me.
"And I tell you that despite all that our people still stand, still fight, because what other alternative is there? None, at least none we can stomach. No second path we can take, no other group we can hope will distract them while we flee like cowards into the night because all we have is each other." She almost shouts back at me, before her tone shifts away from the building passion to a more resolute timber.
"We have to fight the enemy at our door, we have to work together to survive, we have to do more than run and hide if ever we are to overcome them. I will not return to Karaz-a-Karak, to my father, to my people, without warning the Frostbeards. You can come with me or watch me die in the attempt, but you. Cannot. Stop. Me." she finishes having walked close enough to start poking me in the chest with her finger with each word.
━<><><><==><><><>━
As a general rule Rangers caches have a few spare changes of clothes alongside enough fabric to do any necessary field repairs. Those spares aren't custom fit, but they're well made and designed to fit most body types with only a little bit of modification. Given the plan the Princess and I agreed to, despite my very strong reservations to the contrary, would need us taking paths purpose made so that only a properly equipped Ranger could realistically travel them, she had to get changed. Thankfully Alrika wasn't too bothered by that, though it meant I had to leave the cache and stand in the middle of my kinsmen's corpses for the sake of propriety.
Funny that isn't it. It's more acceptable to stand in a field of dead Dwarfs than just turn around when someone's getting changed. Maybe it says something about how used to death we are as a culture.
Or how beaten down we've become.
Much as I wanted to move them into more respectful positions, I kept them where they were. It was a small likelihood, but on the off chance their killer returned to this place, I wanted to hide the fact that there were other survivors for as long as possible.
So that meant that the bodies couldn't be moved, that they had to stay there in the positions they had died in.
It meant leaving my uncle where he was, meant having to carefully navigate around his fucking corpse to remove any trace of my existence. All the while telling myself that they would understand my choice to leave them for the buzzards and carrion because the alternative was something I knew wasn't a good idea to process right now.
Thankfully the sound of the hatch opening stops me from thinking about it further, and I all-too-happily jog away from the bodies to offer Alrika a hand up as she climbs out of the cache.
There must have been more spare equipment down there than I thought, because I would have had trouble recognizing Alrika in her hand-me-downs. Then again Ranger equipment wasn't gendered, and I could count the number of female Rangers I knew on one hand with fingers to spare, but that wasn't the point. Alrika had replaced her casual, but admittedly well-made boots for a pair of steel-capped, fur lined climbers, and her dress for a pair of solid pants and a long padded gambeson underneath a maille shirt and leather armour. She also now wore a traditional Dwarf nasal helm, though she'd kept the iconic Ranger hood lowered, with her braid draped over her left shoulder. If it wasn't for the way she held herself, I wouldn't have batted an eye seeing her next to me if we were out on a random patrol.
"How's everything fitting your Highness?" I ask.
"There's a pinch here or there, but it's nothing I can't handle," she answers easily.
I frown.
"If there's any time to complain it would be now your Highness. Even a small bit of chaffing can end up rubbing away half the skin around your heel and calf if you hike for long enough." I caution, looking at her seriously.
The two of us stare at each other for a few seconds before the Princess thankfully heeds my words..
"Give me a moment then," she mutters, moving her hands and fidgeting with several pieces of her gear.
I watch her quietly, ready to move in and help if needed but not intervening any more than necessary. I'd told her how it should feel and how to adjust things, but getting it right was largely up to the person wearing the gear.
Roughing it out in the Worlds Edge is already tough enough, playing the stoic and risking serious injury because you didn't want to be seen as soft was something that was beaten out of us early on. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the first six months of my training were mostly spent learning how to put on my clothes and store my gear quickly and efficiently spiced up by a few camping trips and light sparring.
It was like my uncle said.
The Dwarf that can stand the longest is the one who's leaning on the tree.
I push the grief down.
"Right," Alrika says, looking away from her gear and back at me expectantly, "I'm ready."
I give her a final once over and nod, but pause halfway through.
"Just a moment," I mutter, turning around to quickly walk over to where uncle Malakai was.
Ignoring the glassy eyed stares of the dead and the cautious look of the living, I look around the nearby bushes for two items in particular. I hadn't seen either near him, which meant that it had probably been separated from him when he-
-it doesn't matter I think to myself, redoubling my effort.
"What are you looking for Ranger?" Alrika calls, confused.
"My uncle's axe and crossbow." I call back from the bushes.
Hearing my reply, Alrika moves over to help and the two of us spend the next five minutes looking through the bushes for my uncle's last few personal effects.
We find them eventually.
I can't pay you any respects uncle, I think sadly as I pick up and holster his weapons, but I can make sure your tools aren't wasted.
"Right then," I say, a second axe and crossbow hanging from my pack. "Let's get a move on."
The more distance we put between us and this place the better.
━<><><><==><><><>━
AN: This is late, but we're gonna start seeing bigger changes from the other chapters from this point now. If you read the original snippet thread, I basically rewrote Norgrim's breakdown from the ground up, and edited a few details for Malakai to make more sense contextually I had another scene added but it was too big so that's probably going to be part of the revised chapter 6 unless I become unhappy with it. Anyhoo, happy late 4th of July and don't forget to C&C. :^)
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