“We have been travelling for days now. Can’t we stop? The goblins will still be looting the fortress instead of following a handful of dwarves.”
The good doctor was always apt to make a complaint, most likely due to the fact that the most physically-demanding activity was holding a knife and cutting on the wounded.
“Pipe down, Doc. You may have heard only stories of goblins and their slimy green-skinned folk. But they are not just old wives tales to scare children. They are true; Those monsters enjoy nothing more than torturing and bleeding a dwarf slowly, then making babbles out of the bones for cheap laughs and bragging rights. We here of the core know this first hand. I’ve seen several a brave recruit be savaged by those bastards, and came upon families that had the misfortune to be found by ambushers. Aye, they are a sick breed, a blight on this world.”
At this the corporal spat to further show his distaste for the green-skins.
“Never underestimate the thirst for blood that those bastards have.”
With those final words of the corporal, the doc looked down at his feet and trudged on with the rest of us. That will probably earn us a few more hours of respite from the doc’s discomfort.
After the sun began to set I signalled for the troop to stop, if seven and a few dogs can count as a troop. Everyone was used to making a small travel camp save for the doc, of course, as he fumbled with his gear. Looking about I can see the sadness on my soldiers’ faces. Being an only child with no family of my own and my parents dying when I was just a baby, I cannot imagine the losses they suffered.
They lost lovers, children, friends, aunts, uncles, parents, and grandparents. All I remember was General Nil, the old grizzled bear of a dwarf that raised me like his own, looking me in the eyes and saying, “Son, there comes a time where fighting is just not enough, and retreat becomes an option. And you know I’m a strong believer the retreating is for the green-skins. But it seems they may have very well got us this time, I need you and the Corporal to take a few men and Doctor Kilrud out as far as you can. Why the doc? We both know not to ask questions, son, Now go! I and the 9th legion will take as many of these green bastards to Hell with us as we can.”
Those were the only words he spoke to me that day, hell, in months. But that scarred face and eyes gave away warmth and pride, yet sadness, too, when he gave me my final orders.
“Sir, uh.. I.. We have a problem.”
Turning around to the lieutenant holding a scribe board, nervousness was plain on his face.
“What is it, Lieutenant?”
He merely handed me the board. Taking it, I was worried about what was written on it as well, as I was illiterate. The lieutenant had written down a list of supplies as well as sketched drawings of each item; he’d also included a tally chart for the count, and many of the counts were dangerously low. If we went on like this, we’d starve in less than three days.
Dropping the board so it hung by my hip, I turned to my weary travel group. “Alright, listen up everyone. We’ve travelled nearly as far as we can on the little food that we started with. And there is no doubt that the green-skins will soon be hot on our trails. When they started, we don’t know. Could have been right after we left, or it could be a week from now. Either way they are coming for us, and our supplies are low. We can’t go on much longer, or we will just walk ourselves to death. I am for dying on my feet, but not from starvation, thirst, or exhaustion. I want to die weapon-in-hand, doing the thing I love most. Killing green-skins.”
A few smiles managed to creep onto some of the group’s faces, the rest too tired or depressed to manage a reply other than listen.
“Now since the case is walk and die, or root and gather what supplies we can from the area and fight, I choose fight! Who is with me!” This rallied some ‘Hoorahs!’ and in one case ‘Aw, yeah!’ Even the ones too tired managed to show a war face.
“Sir, where should we set up base?”
Giving some more thought into our goal, I surveyed the area some more. We managed to wander into a swamp; not the best of places. Seeing it would be difficult to dig into the embracing earth, I turned, sighing, and pointed to the best location.
“Over there seems better than nothing. Let the axe squad know they’ll be cutting timber. I want some walls up while we figure out how deep we can dig. Tell them that this place shall be called Willedabyss.”
With a salute, the soldier ran off to the rest to spread the word. Here is where we begin our life in Willedabyss, Udngalak.
Overseer list:
Green = finished
Orange = in progress?
Yellow = in progress
Red = skipped
Purple = notified
1.
The Master2.
danmanthedog3.
Deus Asmoth4.
CaptainMcClellan5.
wasara6. Hugo_The_Dwarf
To be Dorfed:
Deus Asmoth - Book keeper named Asmoth
CaptainMcClellan - Male jeweler or craftsdwarf. Preferably jeweler. Named Ringo.
jrrocks05 - male doctor named Apollo. wears all dark clothing including lab coat and hood. wants to learn how to use an crossbow.
wasara - Any adult, name him wasara
