Chapter 33: Council
"Stop in your tracks or we will fire!" a second shout was heard after Akabaru ignored the first one, not wanting to shout his answers to a unidentified dwarf.. but he decided to halt his approach, as he didn't want to turn business opportunity into a fight..
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"State your business and affiliation!" The person shouting repeated as Akabaru had found his approximate location.
"We are Adventurers from The Kingdom, and we have come to find the dwarfs and their mastery of the forge!" Akabaru waited for a responds but nothing seemed to happened until gears started to move and the gate opened.
Out of the gate a group of warriors marched towards the two intruders bringing them into the fort while making sure nothing else entered.
Akabaru just walked along as Shalltear didn't seem to appreciate the way they were handled.
The dwarven warriors seemed to be the typical short and stubby kind, all being around 130 centimetres. They all had large beards that extend all the way down to their stomach. All wearing armour that was made of mostly plate with minimal leather.
Being inside of the fort Akabaru and Shalltear were ushered into a room, that looked to be used for interrogations or just questioning as the only thing inside was a table with some chairs.
Akabaru sat down on one of the chairs while Shalltear just stood beside him, waiting for the leader to arrive. The warrior troop had mostly left only leaving two to guard the room.
After a while of waiting the supposed leader arrived wearing a better looking armour than his normal warrior equivalent. The leader had red hair and his beard was tied together as to not hinder him during battle.
"The two of you are from the kingdom?" His voice sounded rough but he was clear in his speech.
Akabaru looked down at the commander, because even after sitting down he was still taler than the dwarf.
"Yes.. we came here to find the dwarfs."
"Why?" the Commander of the fort found the two arrivals suspicious, as there weren't any visitors from either the kingdom ore the empire in some time.
"The tails of runesmiths enticed me to come."
"Than you will be disappointed, almost no one practises the craft of rune smithing and it is just easier to magically enchant a item if that is what you want." The Commander sighed after explaining the state of their almost forgotten skill.
"But there are runesmiths who still know the craft?" Hearing that runesmiths were out of fashion made Akabaru shocked, something that he had read from the books, and was actually interested in was simply almost gone.
"Yes, but they don't practise it anymore.. now before you ask another question I got one of my own.." Akabaru nodded allowing the Commander to ask. "You claim to be from the kingdom and yet you come from the north.. How did you pass the three trails and more importantly how did you survive the capital?"
"Ohh that.. well we entered from the south and found some mole people, we captured one and forced it to guide us to the capital of the dwarven kingdom. Once we arrived there we found the capital in ruins, with a flame demon having taken up the palace." Akabaru pushed everything to Demiurge as to explain how the dragons were gone and how there was now only one threat remaining.
"A Demon?!" The commander looked shocked as he further questioned. "No dragons were there.. what about the Gragoa do they still remain?"
"Well yes the demon looked to have come from the palace itself, we tried to look inside but couldn't as we were spotted and chased.. luckily we managed to escape, as we weren't prepared to fight a mighty demon.. right Sss..Sasha?" Akabaru looked at Shalltear hoping that she would understand it as referring to her.
After a dragged out silence where both Akabaru and the commander looked at Shalltear she finally spoke.
"Yes.. we weren't prepared?" The commander looked unconvinced but seeing the possible threat that the demon would pose he quickly acted.
"I need to get the council involved.. pleas follow the guards.. I will head out first.." the commander left to the council as he left the two other in the room confused as to where to go, but the warriors that were guarding the door acted quickly guiding them to the counsel.
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Akabaru walked along the road leading to the council while looking around the dwarven city and seeing its citizens, most looked on curiously at the newly arrived pair of adventurers that were being escorted to the council.
Observing the citizens, they looked to wear some leather clothing that had been dirtied with what seemed to be dirt and beer.. all the men had beards while the woman and children just had long side burns.
The cavern that they were was almost of the same size as the capital but it seemed as though the design of the place was optimised to allow human travel as most buildings were bigger than in the other cities, which would not be needed for the dwarven population. Akabaru still had problems because even by human standards he was pretty tall.
Shalltear didn't have any discomfort as she travelled along with Akabaru as she was just a bit bigger than the dwarven population, being only 4'7, in comparison to the dwarven average of 4'3. (~140 - ~130 cm)
As they moved through the market, Akabaru observed the food situation, it could be described as poor as there was no real diversity or quality to speak off. The food situation could be contributed to the difficulty of farming inside of a mountain.
Reaching the Council hall they were told to wait before they could enter the room, as some of the members hadn't arrived yet and they would need time to begin.
As Akabaru waited he ironed out the plan that was forming in his mind.
'The adventurers excuse isn't the best as Shalltear doesn't have a plate.. but we could claim she lost it in battle…' Akabaru sighed while still keeping things open..
'How would we get the runesmiths to work for us.. Maybe make a outpost or let them stay here for a while.. I could get more doppelgangers to control the top but because it is a council it could get tricky..'
"Sasha." Shalltear perked up hearing the name that Akabaru had used before.
"Yes.. My.." Akabaru interrupts her as the guards were in earshot distance.
"Where would the best place be to build an outpost on these mountains?"
"While I do not know much about the mountains wherein we reside at the moment the best would be the top of the mountain would it not?"
Akabaru nodded along with Shalltears suggestion seeing the merit in the place but also seeing the cons.
"It is viable Sasha, but would it not be better to have it halfway up the mountain, getting the benefits of being high up but not the cons of having less oxygen.."
"Of course Faer-sama, it is just as you say."
Akabaru looked with discontent at Shalltear who had agreed to his proposition immediately, without thinking about the details..
Just as the silence permeated the room, the warrior guarding the entrance came in and informed them that they could enter.
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In the conference room eight people sat discussing about the former capital..
"A Demon!" "No frost dragons?"
"What about the gragoa?"
Questions flew at the commander and chief of the dwarfs, who had just informed the council of the demon that appeared in their former capital.
"Two adventurers who claim to be from the kingdom arrived from the west over the Great rift, seeking runesmiths.. after questioning they confessed that a demon had taken up residence in the Palace, likely having killed the frost dragons who where there.."
"How powerful must such a demon be." The priest of the earth who was a viable aged old man, possessing white robes and white hair muttered.
"It will be likely evenly or more powerful than the frost dragons, as it was described as a flame demon.. meaning that it had a likely advantage against the frost dragons." The commander explained.
"This doesn't change the situation now does it… we are still unable to mine there as now there will be a demon on the loos." a short grey beard dwarf wearing a grey shirt with suspenders and a doughboy helmet let his frustration out on the table.
"But it does.. The adventurers who came here.. they seem powerful and even claimed that they could beat the demon if they were prepared, but in exchange they want the runesmiths.."
"The runesmiths? As slaves or do they wish a weapon enhanced with runes? In both cases I will not allow it!" A black-bearded aggressive looking dwarf exclaimed. He was the foragemaster and as his title proclaimed he was a master at the forge, he took pride in the heritage of the runesmiths and the dwarven race.
"I don't know his intentions.. the possibility of the demon following them to this city exist so I decided to get the council together first."
"We will find his intentions out when he enters the room, If he just wants the weapons with runes than I am sure that we can come to an arraignment ?" a bald dwarf with a black beard with streaks of white. He was the merchant guild master proclaimed as if already seeing the profit rolling back in with the recapture of the old capital in exchange of some worthless craft.
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Cocytus was preparing for the fight against the lizardmen, the last time he had only watched as his troops were killed, but that fight did show him the warriors spirit that they possessed.
He tried bringing the idea of recruiting the lizardmen to his master but lately he had been busy with his expiration, he was helped by his newly introduced creation, pandora's actor who could mimic the supreme overlord, but even if his master wasn't outside of the tomb once he was inside he would be busy with reports from the guardians.. Cocytus had reported that he thought the lizardmen were suitable to be concurred instead of whipped out but hadn't had any responds, leading him to belief that his master wanted him to make the discission on his own as to what to do..
In the end he really wasn't sure, but he did talk to Demiurge as he had come onto his floor to bring some frost dragons, saying that they would stay there for a while until they had proper facilities to house them outside of the tomb..
With the arrival of the dragons Cocytus was interested to see how strong they were. His creator sometimes talked about how powerful dragons could become as his swords couldn't pierce the skin of the first one he encountered, but after meeting these dragons Cocytus was somewhat disappointed.
The new world seemed to be weak in comparison to the original, as the dragons even had less fighting will than some of the lizardmen he had seen.
After a while Demiurge arrived again this time with a smaller group of frost dragons, but before he could leave Cocytus asked about his doubts.
"Demiurge, why has lord Akabaru ordered you to collect these dragons, do they serve a porpoise?" Demiurge halted his step and closed the portal that lead back to the mountain range where he came from.
"Oh Cocytus. It is simple even if they are weak in comparison to us they can be useful in so many ways.. just the intimidation of one could get people to bow.. you see this new world sees dragons as mighty beings, and if we show them that we rule even over them.. than what can they do but to bow down and beg." Demiurge was all smiles as he explained how dragons could be useful, apparently being so happy that he helped Cocytus with his other doubts without rushing for time.
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