Part 126: Globofglob: Update 19
Limestone, 146
Well, it's the first autumn of my glorious reign. Let's check on those nobles, shall we?
It seems out lovely Countess hasn't yet noticed that we don't have either glass or zinc in the fortress.
Her husband seems a bit more reasonable. I'll probably have the engravers get to work on their rooms.
No, bobthethurd, you are not getting that window. Stop asking. We have NO FUCKING GLASS HERE.
Silento has turned into quite the nuisance always whining about parasols and how I'm keeping him from the adamantium deposit, guilt trip after guilt trip, threat after threat. Can't even have a decent conversation with the guy. So, I'm replacing that asshole.
Congradulations, Nippythefish on your recent promotion. I'm sure you'll make a fine captain of the guard.
Anyway, the nobles seem to be rather content for now.
I've also got bobthethurd on glassmaking business. Hopefully sebzilla will work with crystal glass.
Fine, you greedy asshole. You can wait all you want for green glass, but it isn't coming.
Doesn't anyone notice the ice or the cold besides me?
Also, one of my New guard has made it to champion! She gets second pick of rooms.
Kgummy, sadly, will be unable to use his due to this wretched economy. It's a shame really. He's been so depressed since I took his idol.
Also, I'm running out of adamantine. There are only 28 boulders of it left, according to the stocks. I'm going to order my miners to dig deeper.
More adamantine. Now all that needs to be done is extract it. Maybe if I have some left over, I'll even give Queen Sankis a few statues.
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"That's enough recordkeeping for awhile. I swear, I'd off myself if I was the clerk. Stone chairs are the most fucking uncomftorble things ever devised." Globofglob said. He had hardly put away his tablet when his door slammed open.
"That's fucking valuble, watch it!"
He glared at the newcomer, Manic Mole. Globofglob noticed that he looked absolutely terrified. "Maybe I shouldn't have yelled so loud..."
"So, what is it?" He said, a little less loudly.
It was several seconds before he could make sense of what the miner was saying. Something about a mysterious pit found in the middle of the adamantine deposits? And Demons? What the fuck?
"Alert the rest of the military. I'll be down at once." Globofglob said, lifting his hammer.
Bobbin Threadbare wrote :-
Khan's intelligence proved invaluable. Apparently, Globofglob and Boborachi were seen together less and less often, and their voices were raised to stronger and stronger pitches when in each others' presence. Of course, this meant that my supposed monolithic foe was nothing of the sort; they were arguing now over the fate of the fortress. However, this raised a question of its own: with its pawns in power, surely the Presence would not encourage such division? And if that were to be the case, then which of the two was still the willing servant, and which the rebel? For this reason, I cautioned my allies to wait a while longer. If the rebel won, a result I could only just manage to hope for, then our task of ridding the fortress of its evil infestation would be rendered that much simpler.
And what of the pawns' pawns, the Guardians of the Fortress? It is a sad tale which I must now relate. For many weeks, I had approached Mr. Prime, sometimes in his room, sometimes in the halls. I tried my best to remind him of his own fears, to bring him back to the usual dwarven taciturness, but my efforts were fruitless. Nothing I said could reach beyond the Presence's abominable grip. And then, disaster! I came upon him, crumpled in the hallway in a pool of what could only be his lifeblood. A dark wound stretched through his torso, though whether caused by accident or malicious intent I could not say. Even as I stared open-mouthed at this terrible scene, his eyes, alert for perhaps the first time in years, glanced over to me. His head moved as if to speak, arm raised feebly off the ground, but he was far too weak, and not a sound escaped, his final breath unheard. I had to close his eyes.
No, I should not grieve his loss. He has finally escaped this Damned dungeon, escaped his own madness, in perhaps the only way possible.
It was then at this macabre scene that I heard a voice. "Mr. Bobbin?"
I have sometimes wondered what it would be like to live as a race which can distinguish its genders at a glance.
Turning, I saw that my new companion was the child Kgummy, who was obviously out of breath. What he was fleeing from I was soon to find out, but at that moment I found myself having to comfort a disturbed child. He, too, was a member of the Guardians, though I had never once considered him an enemy. Even beyond his preadolescent age, his presence in the Guardians seemed more an effort to keep him out of trouble than to have him aid in oppressing the populace. And even as the other Guardians became more and more distracted and driven, the boy remained much the same, alert and aware. Such is what I thought at the time, at least. Presented with a tragic view and a sympathetic ear, Kgummy related to me a strange story, and one I could hardly believe. The Weskerdwarf, a Spawn? And what Kgummy said about his father...I could hardly believe what he said. And if there was a connection with the adamantine, then the Presence could only be...but I must not say it. I could not say it then, either, though events would soon enough make the connection for me.
The child was also carrying a strange sphere covered in Parasol emblems, an item which seemed at once unnatural and familiar. I could not see it coming to good if Boborachi were allowed to retain ownership, so I convinced the boy to lend me the artifact and the last emblem, which remained unattached. I could never hope to fathom such a mysterious artifact myself, but I knew one who could. Though I did not trust him completely, his creation had proven itself to be mostly harmless, and I knew now that he was not aligned with Globofglob.
I had to take a chance with Chance.