And we're off! I was going to wait for a last person, but I don't want to leave things hanging too long, so the expedition will be starting one dwarf down. Fitting for theme of more difficulty, I feel. Everyone who's asked for a character (nice to see some familiar faces too!), your profiles are in the second post if you want them (though mostly the profiles are for my own remembering who is who and plays who and is what race). I tried to fit the right personalities, but don't take too much stock in them, it's impossible to be perfect.
There shall come a time when mortality itself shall be at risk, and nothing will remain but for those Godsaved hidden by the stoked fragments of the fire of life.
The Lays of the Ocean Princess, Book of the Traveller, XII.6
15th Granite, 210 - Late MorningThe creak of the wagon and their own boots on the grass was all they could hear. It seemed as though even the birds had fled the area. That was no good sign. Ibruk rested a moment on his staff, face turned in a frown that only slightly lightened when he turned to the other six pilgrims that had come with him.
In the end, for all his warnings and sermons, few from the Floor of Scraping had heeded his call. Elagn, a mechanic, a scientist. Perhaps not the most charismatic of dwarves, but he had had a reputation in the mountainhomes for innovation and a passion for research.
Yet all the knowledge he needs is in the Lays, Ibruk pondered, then shrugged. Eventually all learned the power of the sacred. With Elagn had come Imic Greymane, a human, a noble, stubborn but loyal to his people. Only two from the Floor of Scraping, yet they had met more pilgrims on the long route to the east. First Webb Silkyhands, a brown recluse spider-man whose home had apparently been destroyed in a storm, and who sought refuge. The animal people were hardly well-loved by either dwarf or human, but Ibruk had managed to convince his two fellow pilgrims to allow Webb to accompany them. The Nothing were spreading from the north, and soon would infest this region, there was no time to waste.
Next they had met Nullius, a Shaper, and one to whom the gods too had given a vision of the endtimes, and of the saving of the righteous. Such a meeting could only have been of the divine. Finally they had met Frederick Hallhorn, a warrior and heir to a destroyed kingdom.
And the most dwarven man I do believe I have ever met. He had made it clear his eventual goal was to reclaim his lost homeland and birthright, but until then, he was a welcome addition to their pilgrimage.
And now here we are.Ahead of them the Mire of Dimpling spread. Steep hills surrounded them to the east and south, while the Stoked Fragment meandered along its south-to-north course. Ibruk paused here, sweeping an arm across the swamp that lay before them.
"Here, my fellow pilgrims, we have arrived-"
"A swamp. You intend us to live in a
swamp?" Imic Greymane's voice cut through the air, flat and unimpressed.
"It is not the land that is of import-"
"Aye, a swamp, a forest, a desert, a glacier. What's on the surface matters none. What matters is down here." Nullius gave a tap to the ground with the butt of his pick to emphasise his words. "We won't be living on the surface like your folk."
Frederick Hallhorn spoke now, one hand on the pommel of his sheathed sword, another shielding his eyes from the sun as he looked across the mire. "We should get to work, not argue. I can't see any of those monsters, but they won't be far behind."
This was met with agreement from all, and they got to work. Nullius and Elagn took the lead in beginning to excavate into the cliff-side. Ibruk began to empty the wagon and move the meager belongings they had managed to bring with them close to where the others were mining, while Webb, using all six of his hands, began to dismantle the wagon - they had no use for it but the planks could still be useful. Imic and Frederick took lookout, their swords ready to deal with anything that might come.
The work was hard going, first a tunnel, then opening into a chamber, the usual simple start to a fortress. While Elagn and Nullius mined, Webb had finished dismantling the wagon, and began to cut down one of the many macadamia wood trees that littered the mire while Ibruk continued to move items into the slowly-excavating chamber.
The grunts and sounds of work were only interrupted after a few hours as the afternoon passed and Frederick's voice rose up loud in warning. "They're coming! Get moving, everything inside! Now!"
At the crest of the cliff, a black swarm moved over it, spilling across almost like some slow wave. The Nothing had arrived.
Work doubled. Frederick and Imic held their weapons and shields at the ready, stood by the entrance watching the Nothing intently, keeping guard for when they would arrive. Elagn and Nullius to excavate, with the former soon stopping to help Ibruk and Webb shift their supplies into the chamber as fast as they could. Soon Nullius too stopped, and began to haul the rest in with the others. It didn't take long for the first Nothing, spread out across the landscape, to reach them, Imic charging forward with a battlecry, sword pointed before him.
More and more were arriving, first alone, then in pairs, then more as the full brunt of the horde began to descend the steep slopes, down into the mire where the group was. Each one was dispatched swiftly by the pair of swordsmen, though they were beginning to tire, and there was no way they could deal with the full swarm that was making its way right towards them.
"Get moving faster! We won't survive all of them!" Imic's voice cut through the air, coupled with an agreeing grunt from Frederick as his sword plunged through another Nothing, the wispy body of the beast dissipating into soft tendrils that wafted away like smoke. The Nothing were beginning to get too close though, and the pair were forced to begin to follow them up the slopes to cut them off before they could surround the others. This was perhaps rash of their part, as they were split apart, and soon Frederick found himself surrounded by a small swarm of the beasts, their tendrils all lashing at him.
Imic charged over to help the moment he realised, and the pair tore through the rest, staring up at the slopes to see the rest of the horder descending down on them.
"Get in! Imic, Frederick, get in!" Webb's voice rose up behind them, the arachnid-humanoid waving four hands at them while two pointed to the entrance to the newly-excavated chamber. The two swordsmen and nobles made their way down, almost tripping in their haste as they pilled into the cold darkness of the tunnel. Nullius, Elagn, and Ibruk were already piling stones dug out from the excavation in the entrace, beginning to block it off with a makeshift wall.
"Don't stand there, help!" Elagn grunted, piling a large boulder of claystone up.
With all six of them, the task was soon done. the way blocked by two walls of stone, sealing the Nothing out, and them in.
They slumped down, only hearing the noise of their own panting and of the shuffling and soft grunts of the two water buffalo they had ushered in.
"What a way to start a home," Webb murmured, sighing slightly, arms all askew out.
"We would not have been allowed to fail. The gods did not lead us here to die before our time," Ibruk's voice resonated in the stone chamber, the only one who was not slumped over, catching his breath. The dwarven priest was leaning on his staff, one hand pressed to the far wall of the chamber as though trying to comfort the rough schist wall. "We will have to open the wall soon. Prepare a true entrance. The Nothing will not always be there. Others are coming, the righteous will gather here, but also those looking to spread iniquity, sin, and mischief. We must be vigilant. But for now, we have only one choice, my friends, my fellow pilgrims. Now, we must pray, and strike the earth."
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Topic: [Community] Nomekast - Nothing Remains (Read 9617 times)