Part 224: Tosanu: Update 12
Rotinaj made this bizarre sleeping platform. Apparently as a tribute to a leader who died in this fort.
My plans are in ruins. My army? Destroyed by those unnatural former dwarven monsters.
Eiba has me cornered. He is watching the office all day, and has allies checking the normal note areas. I can't make a move. Spoonboy is confined to bed, his arm and leg hacked off at the hip and shoulder, but the mole beast, he still haunts my steps.
There must be something to --
The giant ice monsters have come!
I don't know whether to laugh or weep. Though I am incapable of either.
The children Miles Vortigan and Gex are outside. Miles dies quickly. Gex makes it almost to the gate when.....
Its taking hours. Its slamming him into walls, the ground, just brutally tormenting the boy.
The foul giants then turn to the still unconcious Markus-cz. It should be all over, when....
Asleep, with a broken leg, Markus enters a battle rage yet, that forces the Giants back. As much as the beard freaks irritate me, even I must stop in awe at the pure rage, the pure angry life pouring out of this young soldier.
Sadly, it is not enough, and he is struck down.
The giants now enter the new path i created. I decided that the best defense for the dwarves would be to channel any foes through the barracks of the royal guard.
Tarezax? A pity. Among the creatures that believe they own us, he may be the one i was most fond of. He attempted to show kindness, and repeatedly showed me his subserviance in feeding me in my office. Him, and the mayor, were pawns without even knowing it. My pets, as it were. Now those massive creatures have killed one. I don't know what to think now.
shadowgamer does a commendable job fighting off several, despite being horribly outnumbered. However, the tide was against him.
His end was swift. Though much fell to his hands.
NiceAaron and vikingofrock hold the second line. A pair of the beasts slip by, though, and tear apart lady Accursed, who was unconscious in the barracks. They even stop to kil the newborn SirPenguin. Anticheese, the only other non combatant there, dies quickly as well.
Rock fights on, giants and oddly small horses all around him. He is exhausted, but then gains more energy! (He went from over exerted to tired without a rest)
But now the remaining guards come to help the flagging viking and Aaron! ChanceII and GlopDemon enter fearsome rages, while Uncle Jam's arrows pepper the beasts. nippythefish and Dragon Jones mop up, and the giant monsters are beaten.
And so I end this little journal. There's nothing more to do, now. The dwarves, despite what I was assured, have survived. I need to fade into the background now, before its too late. On e of the few pet cats out there, invisible.
Eiba growled to himself. He had just watched Icedrake walk by, dazed. The woman had gone out into the ice, almost coming up against a giant straggler, and came back with a piece of clothing that he knew had belonged to Markus. She was taking her last son's shirt to his grave. "This cannot be borne."
Tosanu walks through the halls, cautiously. He was so close! His final work was finished, there was nothing more to do. But the dwarves, the dwarves would not let him be! The cat glanced up and down the intersection, seeing nothing, and continued to walk.
THere were almost no cats left in the fortress. The brave felines had first thrown themselves against the Spawn, being torn to shreds. The few who remained were killed in the Giant attack. He wasnt even sure it was the giants that had done it. He was almost alone.
Suddenly, his ears picked up a door opening behind him. He made to bolt, but a rough hand grabbed him by the scruff of his neck. Lifted off the ground, he was turned to the face of Eiba. The mole master's face was twisted with anger.
Tosanu contrived to look as innocent and brainless as possible, but Eiba only looked angrier. "Don't bother. I recognize you, cat. You're the one from the office. The only creature that was always in there. The mole, he was one of my good ones, so he had nothing to do with it. It was you. I don't know why, you foul little fuzzball, but you're behind it all."
Tosanu looked to talking. "Yesssss..." he hissed, making Eiba start, not expecting the cat to speak. "It was the adamantine. It made my head clear, it told me what to do. I was promised, the voice, it told me that if i were to weaken you, my people would be given the world. But what is it to you? You two legged beasts, you won. The fiends broke my deal, killed my army. What does it matter? There's plenty of you left to fill the void. My time is destroyed!"
Eiba growled. "You deceived good men, took control in false pretenses, weakened the fortress, and turned the cats against their masters. You fiend! You're as bad as the Detective herself!"
"So what are you going to do? I'm just a small little cat. Nothing much you can do."
"oh, you haven't been watching. Where do you think I've taken you?"
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Eiba stands at the grave. Spoonboy is with him, his good arm hanging onto the mole master in order to keep his remaining leg steady. He doesn't say anything, waiting for Eiba.
"I....I think it was my fault, kid. I was suspicious, and knew something was wrong. But I didn't take direct action. It was the moles. Losing them confused me. If I had taken direct action, hunted that beast down earlier, we could have taken the fort back quickly, and saved the situation while you were still alive. Litast save me, we didn't even move you from the entrance, because the messages said to leave you.
"Your mother, we'll all watch out for her. She's not doing well, but I think she'll survive. Say hi to the rest out there. Viking saw your last moves. He said you didn't have to even wake up to fight. You belong in that Valhalla. Its your job, now. You're the guardian of this pit. You're as strong as any of us, and we're proud to have you as the Champion Gatekeeper."
He turned, supporting Spoonboy as the two walk/hobble away. Spoonboy didn't speak for a moment, but eventually couldn't help it. "So what do you think it wanted? That cat."
"It made a giant wooden tower, wasting our resources. It wanted a scratching post, i think someone said. But more than that. He had people digging randomly, channels way up to the north on the main elevation. He was doing something up there. Maybe a message, a warning, an incantation. Some things, maybe you just have to be a cat to understand..."
edit: Here you go. http://www.megaupload.com/?d=KHRMNXF5 Before i die of exhaustion, just noting. We haven't given our fortress guard credit. Except for shadowgamer, who ran out first, none of the others suffered a SINGLE WOUND in EITHER SIEGE they participated in. Theres a reason ive changed the fort that their barracks is the main entrance now.
Burgomaster wrote :-
Syrupleaf: Histories of Vengeance and Terror, by Burgomaster the Sixth, Vol 7, pg.532
The Glassbat collection showcases many intriguing examples of ancient Dwarven art. I personally judge the most peculiar piece to be an engraved tablet excavated by Urist Pageslate.
The tablet is four feet high and made of diorite. All craftsdwarfship is of high quality. The tablet currently resides over the fireplace in the parlour Glassbat's estate. It appears to show various dwarven gods locked in combat. The Gods depicted appear to be Armok, Lumen, Imketh, Gatimborek, Shovethzuglar, and Venomgirdle.
It should be noted that the eyes of Shovethzuglar, Venomgirdle, and Gatimborek have been removed by Glassbat. The eyes are carved out of obsidian and are flecked with adamantium dust. The eyes currently reside in an iron chest in Glassbat's deepest basement. Glassbat's reason was that they "they followed him across the room".
markus_cz wrote :-
The hall of Dwarfhalla were never quiet.
They trembled with the drunken laughter, they exploded with the boasting roars, they echoed with the clatter and shrieks of battles. The only occasion when everything got silent was when the gate by the entrance opened and let in another dwarf, fleshly departed from the land of living.
It was happening again.
There was a creak of the door and in a second, everyone turned around to see who was coming.
"Hey, Leperfish. Wanna play?"