We have our first big contract. Huntmaster Sylai himself came to draft us into his war. Hobgrots are coming to the steppes and the Gathering is near their borders. Of course, no invasion will come through these lands. The enemy also knows the terrain. They will avoid this area like the plague. They will assume Packhome will also avoid it. We can use that!
With some rerouting of the underground lava stream we can forge a temporary safe route for the ghurneth through the Great Maw’s Gathering for a surprise pincer movement against the advancing hobgrots. Silay liked the idea a bit too much, so his contract locks us into a long-standing commitment to his war effort. Not the kind of job we prefer, but we have a large debt that needs paying. When the comes, Lugwyr and our Hearthguard will guide the ghurneth though the path and join the fray. For now, it’s more building efforts for us.
Construction progressed quickly. We’ve had time to focus on it since our contracts have been mainly a few odd-jobs here and there. We now have our own roofs over our heads. Still a bunch of us keep a constant presence of passed out drunken duardins in the great hall during the nights. The last hole in the dome has been sealed and the lava flow rerouted. It all went according to plan, which leaves a weird apprehension in our minds. “Something must go wrong. Where and when?”.
Everyone now agrees that our patrons’ sculptures on the seals are imposing, but they need some golden ornaments to do them justice. That and Bronar’s idea means we need more metal. With the lava fall slowed down to a comfortable level of strength and speed, he now wants to build our master forge right in the middle of the lava lake. It will be anchored directly below the contained lava stream and funnel it inside to power itself and stay forever blazing.
We then started venturing out for minerals for mining and scrap metal for salvaging. We now have a Zharrgrim priest on doorman duty at all times, else no one comes in or out through the now functioning magma curtain over the lava river that flows out of the dome. With those ventures we discovered a few things. The path the Ghurneth used to get safely to the opened sinkhole with the realmstone reserve they gave us as payment is actually the stretch of land directly above the lava river as it flows out. Apparently, the sinkholes avoid appearing near molten hot lava. That’s why there was this one safe sinuous path above the surface that led to the beacon. Also, the hole left by the aforementioned sinkhole reaches the lava river underneath. It can be used as an entrance to the magmahold, bypassing the lava rain and sailing the underground river. On a third note, unexpectedly, we did find some metal to salvage near the beacon.
As we were out there looking for ways to gather the material left in the dust without getting ourselves eaten by the great maws, we had new visitors. The watchman’s horn sounded from the top of the beacon and a phosphorous magmapike shot pointed towards an approaching ship in the sky. Our tenderer cousins are coming. This might be a good opportunity! The Kharadron Overlords can come and go from the beacon with ease. They are also known for honoring contracts they signed. Which they usually do when there is profit to be had. This could be our solution to our logistical problems.
Barlimn and Bronar went up to the summit to receive our visitors. They did so mounted and equipped. Although these are not sturdy fyreslayers, they are duardin bearing duardin made equipment. If something goes wrong, they can’t be taken lightly. And go wrong it did…
Introductions were made. We were dealing with Okbryn Whisperport, captain of the Thindrongol. With his face covered behind a mask Barlimn had to size him on his posture, words and tone; judging to be dealing with a serious duardin. Soon after the conversation started, with their leader still aboard his ship, one of his crewmembers came close and told him he should look at something. The sailor handed the captain a spyglass and guided his eye to our warriors down below dragging scrap metal inside the hold. The sailor then fixated his gaze on our runefather while saying: “check the markings captain”.
Okbryn turned and accused us of being in possession of stolen Kharadron equipment and demanded our leader relinquished the material and explained what happened to some ship we never heard of. He did so in the same posture and tone as before (the same expression too, I imagine). The first to raise his voice was Barlimn, saying “You come to my house…”. Okbryn interrupts him by raising his hand, which triggered the ship’s main cannon to turn and face him. “Dismount your lizard or we…”. Both Barlimn and Bronar furiously yelled “What did you call Slarrack?”. A raging brightness surging in both magmadroths’ throats was a clear sign that things just went really wrong.
The ship maneuvered out of the way and into a comfortable shooting distance for them. A squad of old-timers landed cursing, yelling and hitting their shields longing for a fight. Those looked like way sterner warriors, so they caught Bronar’s eye. He commanded Wughor to charge straight at them while Slarrack and Barlimn cared only about catching the frigate.
The longbeards stood between the approaching riders and their transport. Unfazed by the incoming inferno, they merely raised their shields high enough to keep their beards from turning to ash without blocking their sights and braced for impact. They were bathed under a relentless fire stream from both magmadroths. As the blazes subsided, a whirlwind of claws and teeth started with Wughor’s arrival. They engaged Bronar while leaving the frigate to deal with Barlimn with ample space to maneuver, giving their allies the best fighting chance they could hope for.
The Thindrongol had to shoot while maneuvering out of Slarrack’s way, which made it easier for the fyreslayers to reach it without leaving behind a pool of blood. The ship was gaining altitude, but it would be too late if nothing was done. Three armored duardins jumped out of the deck and came down floating towards the runefather. They were swirling around Slarrack as he flung his claws and tail in the air trying to catch the enemy that stopped his charge.
Barlimn stood up and still, looking at the enemies’ movements. As the endrinriggers lined up and prepared their mechanical saws for an organized fly-by attack at his mount’s neck, he stomped his left foot forward stabilizing his stance for a mighty sideway swing of his Latchkey Grandaxe. He cleaved through the three of them, watched as they crashed down in the ground, then looked around to reacquire his escaped target.
A new chase under a constant barrage of shots was waiting for him, but it didn’t deter him from going after Okbryn. By the time he restarted his chase, Bronar’s magmadroth was flinging the last enemy warrior up in the sky with it’s mouth. He then joined the chase. Barlimn and Slarrack were being harshly punished by carbine and cannon fire but, between our patriarch’s Incredible resilience and Bronar channeling the warrior god’s power into him, they were still strong and able when they reached their foe.
By then, Okbryn desired to finish this rather sooner than later. Instead of keeping his distance, he steered the ship toward the charging enemy and challenged him to a decisive duel. Just as a Kharadron captain duels from inside his ship, involving everyone inside as an extension of himself; a fyreslayer droth rider duels atop his trusted mount.
It was a glorious clash of two duardin heroes. I speak for all spectators when I say we all could feel and tell those two would still write their names in history. No surprises there about Barlimn, but Okbryn showed us the grit and honor of a fyreslayer in battle. There is no greater praise one could give to a duardin whose ancestors fled the age of chaos!
Great as his courage was, it alone will only get you so far against a runefather and his “lizard”. The duel was decided when Slarrack managed to grab the Thindrongol’s prowl, pushed his head between the riggings and sunk his teeth in it’s captain’s side. Exhausted, bleeding and unable to stand without help, Okbryn finally conceded.
With the dust settled down, they were able to talk properly. Our visitors soon realized the story behind our possession of the ship parts we have no clue of the precedence was a plausible one. We gave them the marked piece they saw as a clue for their investigation. Not before securing a trade agreement that they would never have signed if they didn’t have a wrong to put right by us and hadn’t been humbled into doing so.
They left with a leftover tension between us. It makes the agreement a bit awkward, but I have a feeling that, nothing else going belligerently wrong, our continued relationship will still bring the opportunity to share some magmalt ale in a near future.
Some pointed out that Packhome might take offence at us for stablishing a trade route with a force working for the Bogswallow Marauders. Although it might be true, the contract we signed tasks us with defending their lands from the hobgrots. It says nothing about the sky…
