More Sheep to the Slaughter?
Mandy stood admiring the row off stonefall traps in the narrow hallway leading to the lower part of the fort. “Are you sure these will work?” she asked the dwarf with the oddly forked beard standing next to her.
“Yes.” he replied in a tone that indicated a sort of resigned confidence in his trap making skills.
“You sound almost as if you have done this before.” said Mandy.
“I have, and these traps are rigged to go off for anything but a dwarf walking over them. So if you have any narcoleptic children about, keep them away from here.” he replied.
“Ah...” said Mandy, suspecting that she might have just discovered why this particular dwarf had come to wind up here. “Well good. We don't even have any kids here, though the way Art and Gear have been going at it that might change. Hopefully this will be enough to kill a few of those green buggers and convince the rest to go off somewhere else.”
Lobsterbeard nodded. “You don't need me here anymore do you?” he asked.
“No, you should probably go down below with the rest while I go and open a door to ah... invite the goblins to come in and admire our wonderful traps.” said Mandy as she carefully made her way down the trapped passage. No sooner had she reached the end and started up the stairs there when she hear someone calling out from above. She ran up the rest of the stairs and onto the surface wondering just who was stupid enough to be yelling when there was a pack of goblins about.
“Oh... joy...” she muttered to herself upon spotting a group of dwarves standing across the pond from her. She briefly considered just letting the goblins deal with them just as they had the elves but then one of the dwarves spotted her.
“Oh look! Someone saw us! Could you let us in?” shouted the dwarf.
Muttering to herself about idiots and their beards, Mandy ran over to the door. “Keep it down you imbeciles, there is a pack of goblins on the other side of the fort!” she growled as she opened the door to let them in. No sooner had the words left her mouth than the cry of goblins voices rang out as the goblins sensed the now open door. This of course resulted in a cry going up from the group of dwarves outside the fort and Mandy almost getting trampled by them in their haste to get inside.
“Go down those stairs and keep going till you go past a room open to the sky.” she shouted at the dwarves running past her.
“What about you?” asked one.
Mandy just picked up her axe. “I will be right behind you.”
“Guarding the rear in case any of those goblins catch up with us?” the dwarf asked.
“No, smacking you in the back of the head with my axe if you don't move fast enough!” snapped Mandy.
The dwarf looked at Mandy, then her axe, turned a little paler and joined the rest in running down the stairs.
Mandy lost count as they ran past her. Just how many idiots did Athel find this time? How was she supposed to deal with them all? Finally the last one was past. Just in time too from the sound of the goblins. Mandy ran after them. Those traps had better work or she was going to make sure Lobsterbeard didn't last long enough to get shot by a goblin.
The group made it down into the main part of the fort safely much to Mandy's surprise. She was sure that at least one of them was going to trip and fall face first on a trap the way they were running.
“It is good to be safe underground again.” commented one of the dwarves. “Yea I was afraid we were going to have to sleep above ground when I saw those wooden walls. Can you imagine?” “I wonder what the leader of this fort is like?” “I heard there were no nobles here.”
Mandy shook her head as the new dwarves continued to talk among themselves. Suddenly there was a loud THUD accompanied by a squeal of pain and surprise from above. “Ah, I think that was a goblin discovering one of the stone fall traps.” commented Mandy to the suddenly quiet group of dwarves.
“You didn't lock the doors behind us?” asked another dwarf looking horrified.
“No, I don't plan on having these goblins hanging about the fort all season. We set up some traps that should kill or maim enough to scare the rest off. At least I hope so.” replied Mandy.
Just then another THUD shook dust from the ceiling.
The dwarves had all gone quiet and were looking upwards. Two of them were standing next to each other clinging onto each other's beards.
“Oh great, another pair of lovebirds.” muttered Mandy to herself.
Several more THUDS shook the room followed by a long period of quiet.
“Do you think they are gone?” asked one of the dwarves breaking the silence.
“I hope so.” said Mandy. “I am going to see. You all stay right here and don't go anywhere till I get back. ”
“Who are you to order us about?” muttered one of the dwarves.
Mandy picked up her axe. “Right now, I'm the one with an axe.” she snapped.
“I'm going to complain to the leader of this fort.” spoke up another Dwarf.
“I'm also the leader.” replied Mandy with an evil grin causing the dwarf who spoke up to suddenly try and look inconspicuous. Fortunately for the dwarf Mandy was more concerned with the state of the goblins and she walked off to see what the traps had accomplished.
She cautiously crept up the stairs to where the trapped hallway was and looked down it. Several large boulders were now lying in the hallway with spatterings of blood on the walls and floor. Sticking out from under one of the boulders was a pair of green feet. No living goblins were to be seen or heard. Satisfied that the traps had done their job, Mandy turned and went to head back down to properly welcome the latest bunch Athel had sent her way.
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Topic: Apexwhips - Convicts at large (Read 23187 times)