NationStates Jolt Archive


Its our damned rock! (semi-open)

Raykag Fang
02-09-2005, 03:11
“Bloody rock” sighed Geldresh into his beard. His companion scratched his bearded face and asked, “what’re ye mumbling ‘bout?” “I said ‘tis a damned ugly rock they be making us stare at all day.” Seldren, opening his eyes looked at the wall on the other side of the hall. “Bah! ‘Tis not so bad. At least they aren’t making us mine in the lower levels. That do be a dangerous job.”

Geldresh sighed. The young dwarf longed for the adventure that had been promised to him when he had joined the army, not the countless hours of boredom guarding the main entrance to the citadel. Seldren glanced at the tall stone wall on the other side of the hallway, then shifted his gaze to the massive iron bound door on his left. Standing, Seldren stretched and looked down the hall to his right. The hall, as usual, was empty.

The Entrance Hall stretched as far as the eye could see into the dark depths of Fang Mountain. It led from the Main Gate into the Uppercity. Then, spiraling downwards, the hall made its way deep into the core of the mountain. Finally, it ended in the Undercity and the great mine complex.
That was where Geldresh wished he was. The mines of the Deepstone Clan stretch deep into the ground and are rich with minerals. Gold and silver are plentiful and there is enough mithril to fill the storerooms of Deepstone citadel many times over. The dwarves would be rich beyond their wildest dreams (and the dreams of dwarves are wild indeed!) if the dragons did not inhabit the lower tunnels of the mines.

These dragons are deadly beasts that will not for a second hesitate to kill a Dwarven miner if he comes too close. Thankfully, the creatures that inhabit the mines are not the giant winged, fire breathing beasts that legends speak of. The dragons that plague the Dwarves are beasts that, when standing on four legs, can look a dwarf in the eye. The dragons have short, powerful legs and move only slightly faster than a running dwarf, but speed is not what makes them deadly. Dragons usually live in pairs and work together to trap dwarves in tunnels. Once trapped, the Dwarven miners have a life expectancy that can be measured in seconds. Conventional Dwarven weapons, such as axes and hammers, have little effect on a dragon’s thick scales, and larger weapons are too cumbersome to drag into the tunnels. Fortunately, there are few dragons left, and those who survive are content to stay in the lowest levels of the great mines.

Geldresh watched Seldren walk out of the partially open door and into the sunlight outside. Geldresh, thinking that sleep was probably more exciting than relieving himself on the side of a tree, closed his eyes and rested his head against the wall behind him.

“Geldresh! Drag yer lazy carcass out here! Hurry!” Geldresh opened his eyes and, thinking a bear had wandered out of the forest and was heading towards the open doors of the citadel, grabbed the two axes that were lying on the ground and ran outside.

Running up to stand beside the awestruck Seldren, Geldresh asked what was going on.

“There.” was the only answer Geldresh needed. Moving through the forest road was…something.

“What is it?” The thing coming up the road was large. It was the size of a dragon but most definitely not a dragon. It was fairly square, and made of some sort of metal that had black and various shades of dark green splotches. It rode on four black wheels and made a constant, dull roaring noise. And it was moving fast. “What is it?” Geldresh repeated.

Seldren shook his head slowly “I ne’er seen anything like it.” Shaking his head in disbelief, Seldren considered running to ring the bell inside the door, announcing the need for reinforcements but immediately dismissed the idea; he wanted to find out what this was. “It has runes written on the front of it,” said Geldresh. “Can ye read them?” Squinting his hairy brow against the sun, Seldren said, “I think it says ‘Raykag Armed Forces’ whatever that means.”


OOC: Ok so I had this idea a while ago about making an RP where there is an invasion of a Dwarven citadel by modern humans. The humans want to mine Fang Mountain but don’t realize there are already Dwarven mines in there. The dictator of Raykag doesn’t care about the dwarves and when he finds out about them he orders his army to remove the dwarves but under no circumstances destroy the mines (so no huge explosives). Anyway, TG me with a character idea.