[Progression] Descent into Darkness & a Kingdom preparing for War

[Medvekoma 2073]

 

 

 

 

Guide (you are encouraged to read all of it):

Parts pertaining those who signed up for the progression.

Parts pertaining Dwarger, Mervel, Grudgebeard, Bolgnir and Grogg.

Parts pertaining Kóri, Raeghor, Rhena and Hekkaes.

Parts pertaining clan Starbreaker.

Parts pertaining clan Onyxheart.

Parts pertaining clan Stormbreaker.

 

 

The crevice that had previously unnerved the Dwedmar in Kaz’Ulrah laid blocked with rubble, a temporary measure from the Stormbreakers to prevent anything from emerging. The cave did not, however, remain in peace. The Wonk chieftess dispatched a plea to the stationed Vanguards, who in turn communicated it to the High Queen. In the end, the Lord Commander was commissioned to draft a force of Dwed and investigate the crevice.

 

Dwarger Silvervein, as ordered, assembled a hit force of seven Dwedmar and a golem, ready to remove the rubble and venture down the unexplored caves. Clearing the rubble revealed some clear clues of clawing and digging from the other side: Kóri noted that those across have made similar efforts to remove the blockage.

 

The group decided to move onward, braving the unknown. The passageway seemingly led around the Dwarven quarry behind the wizard tower. The floor was littered with rubbish that seemed to had fallen off the cave wall, some evident sign that they stoneworking from the Dwarven side may have collapsed parts of the cave across. Soon enough, however, the rubbish cleared up and a clear caveway opened up ahead leading gradually down into the darkness.

 

Bolgnir conjured a tiny magelight, whereas Raeghor kept close to Rhena as the golem’s runes lit up the cave. The Dark Dwarf’s attention did not only fixate towards the cave system, but also searched the cave walls for anything valuable down there. Patch by patch he saw ores that he couldn’t recognise on the go.

 

The cave soon forked into two directions: one descending steep into the darkness, the other a moist tunnel reaching eastwards. The Dwedmar stopped to discuss who would go where, eventually deciding by a game of golem-elger-axe and splitting into two. Dwarger, Mervel, Grudgebeard, Bolgnir and Grogg moved on in the cave, while Kóri led Raeghor, Rhena and Hekkaes down the steep tunnel.

 

 

As Dwarger led the Dwarves into the upper cave section, it became rather clear the source of whatever creatures clawed their way through the stone into the Ulrah mushroom caverns resided that way. Trash began to pile up around the sides of the cave, with bones of various animals and broken weapons accounting to a good portion of it. After a couple minutes’ walk, the Dwarves found the inhabitants: seemingly slaughtered in a cave opening, Ratiki corpses around a snuffed campfire.

 

The lot moved to search the corpses. Before anything was found, Dwarger moved his hand towards the snuffed fire pit, only to notice the logs were still warm and somewhat wet from a recent sprinkle of water. “It’s a trap!” He spoke out loud, but that same moment the corpses sprung to life and revealed the trap proper, rattling their makeshift weapons and teeth at the Dwedmar surrounded.

 

Grudgebeard immediately reached to cock his weapon, though as he pulled the trigger he had to realise the weapon’s barrel grew stale, moist and unusable, unleashing nothing more than a painful click. It was Mervel barrel-crushing into the fierce Ratiki in front of him, preventing a surprise clawing of the officer’s face. Grogg found himself lifting one of the enemies by the throat as two others swarmed to clash into his legs with crude hammers, while Bolgnir shot shards of ice to prevent the Ratiki from encircling the group.

 

Dwarger’s senses did not betray him. The dwarf’s ears perked at screeching radiating from the yet unexplored part of the cave. He called for an immediate retreat, obeyed by the Dwarves and the group moved back down the tunnel as arrows hailed at them from behind. In the end, the group managed to cut off their chasers and returned to lay camp by the junction, with only minimal injuries suffered. Dwarger and Mervel got off with mostly scratches, while Grogg’s legs suffered cracks all over them warranting a re-make. Bolgnir’s left buttock was punctured by an arrow, whereas Grudgebeard’s forearm ached broken after a tumble into the rocks during their flee.

 

 

All the while, Kóri’s group manged to descend the slope using ropes. They found themselves by a subterranean lake surrounded by glowing green mushrooms, their mycelia visible in the clear waters below. At his command, the group remained clear of the water and went around on the dry shores between the shrooms, soon stopping when Kóri raised a hand. Up in front of them was a cave bear, larger than his overground cousins and seemingly gone blind throughout the years, its fur littered with shrooms much alike the ones around the lake. The Dwedmar did not draw a single loud breath, they waited until the bear drank from the waters and departed deep into the blackness below.

 

As they waited, Hekkaes noticed a flat surface along the cave wall. He spoke quiet to his compatrios and the group moved up to where the bear was, standing in front of an abandoned and old looking stone wall. Its bricks were eloquent-carved, even after what seemed a century of abandonement the stone pieces betrayed they were cut into shape precisely, inch-by-inch.

 

Above the bricks sat an inscription on the wall, though covered by cave mould. Hekkaes did not hesitate, neither did Raeghor. Both Dwed reached to draw parchmen from their beards and inscribe what they saw in as much detail as they could, though the tablet was too damaged to be read clear.

 

Before they could finish, the group heard a grinding noise behind them, heavy steps approaching. They all turned around, weapons drawn and ready to fight, only to see Grogg the golem in the water, knee-deep and Bolgnir cradling his neck on his shoulders, half an arrow still sticking out of his behind. He notified those below of the Ratiki and called their immediate return to the surface, which the Dwed obeyed. All that remained with them is what they saw down below: the mushrooms, the bear, the lake and the tablet. And the parchments of inscription in the hands of Hekkaes and Raeghor.

 

Runes noted by Hekkaes:

 

Runes noted by Raeghor:

__________________________________________________

 

The events beneath the Mushroom forest were kept a strict secret. The Wonks were informed that the Dwarves would be taking care of the crevice, with the barricade re-established by the opening. Suppressing the news wasn’t all complicated, though. Next to the deep roads exploration, the Kingdom was preparing for war and this caused quite the stir in the Kaz’Ulran economy.

 

By a good choice of preparation, the rising war economy also saw a surprising amount of Starbreaker weapons on the market, hinting that the clan dedicated most of its resources to contribute to the war effort. Whether this was out of benevolence towards the kingdom or out of greed for the rising prices on the market is not known, but will perhaps be made known by the clan father’s public statements or stance the coming year.

 

 

While they worked, a group of Onyxheart dwarves crossed the barricade in secrecy, under High Council orders of the forgemaster. They ventured only as far as the ore veins spotted by Raeghor and chipped on all they could find to pack them in a sack and bring them back to the Irongut tower, where both the forgemaster and the high Alchemist, Dor Irongut, would have the opportunity to experiment with the ores. One group of chunks seemed to be brownish red in hue, while the other was silvery grey with a surprising heavy weight.

 

One Dwarf stood witness to the Onyxheart incursion into the caves, Kóri Stormbreaker. After the storm that was the venture down into the caves, he opted to sit down in the harbour with his fellow clansmen and play card games while drinking rum. His attention was also claimed by a Dwarven trader who tried to peddle a bottle of homebrew spiced rum on the Dwarves. When asked about its origin, he spoke muddy tales of island to the west, with sugar and cactus green on plantations. Sadly, as Kóri listened to these words he did not notice the sudden smirk on Kardakk’s face, who managed to win all of Kóri’s Vanguard wage over with a pair of aces.

 

 

 

Project Urir is a Kaz'Ulrah project of enhancing national roleplay with a set of ongoing storylines that are influenced by RP actions, while they too influence RP in return. 

A follow-up IG event will follow, which will be announced soon, related to these events. Tune in for that.

 

For intoduction to Project Urir, please click here.

For the system of progression submissions, click here.

[Man of Respect 5471]

3 minutes ago, Medvekoma said:

with sugar and cactus green on plantation

Bobby Williams packs his stuff to go smoke all the greenies and snort all the sugar

[Algoda 885]

Kóri grumbles and snorts as Kardakk toys with his hard-earned and dwindling supply of minas.

"Maybe iv yer started recruitin' some more crew yer woul'nae cheat yer friends ov their cash, eh.. I call bullshit, best out'ov five?"

But as the game continued, the words of the trader stuck in Kóri's mind. When he had finally lost most of his money on hand to the despicable Kardakk, Kóri tried to find the trader but alas could not. Eventually he'd resort to find any clue's about these mysterious islands to the west by asking around in various sailing havens across the dwarven lands, and in doing so would be gone over long periods of time.

During his travels he'd make longer and longer voyages out on the sea with his tiny sailing vessel, always going west.

[JokerLow 1317]

Hekkaes Anvilaxe stands in Kaz'Ulrah looking at Grogg "Ye nae did yer job properleh, now yer master ass es en pain" Hekkaes Anvilaxe would shake his head slowly dissapointed.

 

[BDanecker 867]

As the Onyxhearts arrived at the tower, bag of ores in tow, Dor Irongut would grin profusely, as if he were a Goldhand who had stumbled upon a gullible client. He quickly takes the bag, and passes Bolgnir, dressing his wounds, saying “Oh ye wuss, ah’ve ‘ad worse on me EYE!”

[Papa Rock 2400]

Grogg gazed over at Hekkaes "Sh...Ut..  Up..." His voice rumbled as he grips Ykk'arrs hammer tightly while keeping his free hand on Bolgnir making sure he doesn't fall off. 

[Uural 39]

After Raeghor Onyxheart received word that the minerals have been transported to Dor Irongut, he would go into his Forge to prepare it for smelting and forging. He would add water cooling system, some valves to let out steam and the pipe system that goes with it. He would begin the work to transform the Forge into a prison of sorts, to trap something or someone inside..