Red Hammer was angry.
That morning, she'd awoken alone. She sat up. Her head pounded with the beginnings of a migraine. Already in a bad mood, she went to the drink stockpile for a drink. She opened the door to see a forumite draining the last drop from a pot. The last pot. He apologized and pushed past her. Red Hammer gritted her teeth and stalked in the direction of the other drink stockpile.
As she approached, she could hear Vabok's ghost screaming through the door. The sound sent a jolt of pain through her head. She decided sobriety was preferable to the pain. Fuming, she started toward the barracks. Forumites pressed themselves against the walls of the narrow staircase to avoid her.
Red Hammer stomped down the entrance hall, stepped over a dog corpse, and pushed open the door of the prisoner stockpile. The politicians' curses stoked her rage hotter. A glare sent the politicians stumbling back from their cage bars, faces full of fear. Then she tripped on a cat. The politicians laughed. Red Hammer walked through the other door.
Finally in the barracks, Red Hammer chose Zaneg as a sparring partner. During the fight, she barely restrained herself from turning him into a pile of bloody scrap metal. Thoroughly defeated, Zaneg called a time out. He stepped back and took a swig from his flask. Red Hammer did the same, but realized her flask was empty. She left to refill it. Through the door, past the politicians again, and down the hallway. Then she tripped on the dog corpse.
Sprawled on the floor, Red Hammer's vision turned red. She stood up. She turned around. She looked at the dog corpse. Suddenly, that dog corpse, which had lain there for ages, represented everything wrong with the fortress. The magic. The gods' meddling. But most importantly, the mess. Not a single overseer had made any attempt to clean up the fortress since she was overseer, twelve years ago! The hammer rose. The hammer fell. The dog's skull became dust in the air.
Flask forgotten, Red Hammer walked back through the prisoner stockpile. Without looking or breaking stride, her hammer splattered a Rick Santorum's head against the walls of his cage. The rest shrank back.
Dripping with blood and brains, Red Hammer burst through the barracks door. "TH4DWARFY1" she roared, "FACE ME!"
Th4DwArfY1 turned, simultaneously blocking a blow from his partner. Everything stopped.
"FACE ME!" she shouted again. The two fighters stepped into the center of the barracks.
Th4DwArfY1 was unsure what had come over his comrade. He began with a cut to the side, chainsaw off. Red Hammer blocked it and responded with a hammer blow that would have crushed his head if it had connected. She was serious. He revved his chainsaw. His next cut went for her hammer arm. Descending chainsaw met ascending hammer. Steel met bronze. Th4DwArfY1 looked in horror as his chainsaw blade bent, chain flying wild. Red Hammer's next blow was blocked by the chainsaw's hilt. Delicate mechanisms scattered across the floor as the casing was turned into scrap.
Another blow hit him in the chest, sending him sprawling. He lost his hold on his weapon. He reached for the scepter at his waist, held it out to block the next blow.
The hammer rose. The hammer fell. Time seemed to slow down. The goblins on the hilt screamed. The scepter shattered into a hundred flaming splinters.
Red Hammer looked down at Th4DwArfY1. Her rage was gone, leaving nothing. She tossed her hammer aside. "I am overseer now," she said, turning. She pushed open the door of the barracks.
An orange spark flickered on the head of her ruined hammer.