“Man… working in a coal mine sucks…”
“We know.”
“Like, we don’t get paid too much, we need to take special Traits just so the bosses don’t have to pay for lamps, and we could get crushed by falling rocks at any moment!”
“We know.”
“And we don’t even get paid that much to do anything! We may as well be zombies working the graveyard shift, you know?”
“Creators damn it, we know! Stop complaining and get back to work— we have to get three carts of coal before sunrise or we don’t get food! So shut up and keep digging!”
-Last conversation of Mining group #5
*=====*
Mori’s reveal had the desired effect. Half of the table sat in stunned silence, a quarter seemed ready to attack her at any moment, and the rest did not seem surprised. She was sure that some of them had heard rumors of a lich roaming around the Base Camp and had a hunch that the lich was her, but there was a notable exception. The rockperson, B’yldyn, did not seem surprised. In fact, it seemed almost bored with the revelation. She wondered about that, but kept her thoughts to herself.
Duke Jiklac glared at her harder, ignoring the skeletal visage she now had on display to the world, “What is your game here, lich? What is your goal?” he demanded.
Mori stopped for a moment, narrowing her eye-flames, “What do you mean by ‘game?’ I think my goal here is pretty clear, just like the rest of us.”
“Do you think I believe you, failed angel?” he demanded, “I refuse to believe you still love the Creators even after your failed ascension!” Mori gave the man an odd look, something shared by most of the others sitting at the table. The man noticed her gaze, and eyed her with a smug expression, “You thought you could go unnoticed, fallen one, didn't you? Unfortunately for you, the Pope has told of threats like you. Ancient texts say of how you are failed and fallen angels of the Creator of Death, and I will ensure that you fail in your wicked plans.”
Mori shook her head, “No, I’m just wondering what you’re going on about…”
“As am I,” a chilling voice came from the side. They all looked to see Ajex fuming at the Duke, “You dare push your false gospel unto the people!? Are you so blind as to not see the Creators’ words for what they truly are? I ought to strike you down here!” she screeched, standing quickly. Before she could pull a weapon from some hard-to-find pocket, her retinue pulled her back, furiously whispering in her ears. After a moment, she stopped struggling with them, and glared at the Duke, “Do not share your false words, blind lamb,” she said as she sat down.
The hall was silent for a few moments, tension running high, before Mori decided to break it, “Alright, so what the hell are you talking about with that thing about me being a ‘fallen angel’ or whatever? The last time I checked, I never had such high aspirations.”
The Duke was about to speak when a gravelly voice came from the side, “Do not listen to it. They are lies made by the Blue Robes to justify despising the final form of undead,” he said. She turned to see the Necromancer Supreme, Gradel, staring at her, “That is what you are, correct? You said so yourself.”
“I was not lying when I said I am a lich. But, you may want to revise your hierarchy; there is something above a lich,” she said, “It’s called an archlich and my Species referred to it as the one above lich.”
The man nodded, “That is certainly interesting. Anyway, is it true you have eleven death knights under your control?” he asked, “Actually, I can already guess you do. Now then,” he said to the rest of the room, “We have to come up with a strategy to destroy this Hive. We must decide if we are planning on destroying the Forgeheart first, or if we are aiming to destroy the Hive methodically.”
“I believe that aiming for the Forgeheart in this case is to our benefit,” Aetra stated, “A quick, decisive victory would be for the best.”
“For the best, but not exactly easy,” Dan countered, leaning on the table as if trying to be threatening, “Such an idea would require a large number of elites to infiltrate into the very core of the Hive. We do not have the elites to do such things. A total destruction operation would be much better.”
“Doubt that’ll work,” B’yldyn replied, “They’ve had time. We don’t.”
Duke Jiklac shook his head, “Be that as it may, we must be able to bring all of our forces to bear during this fight!” he shouted, “Pushing our troops through tight spaces is a disaster waiting to happen. A single defended choke point could spell the end of hundreds, if not thousands. Being out in the open gives us options.”
“Like being subjected to the full brunt of a Hive’s defenders,” Ushkia cut in harshly, “Lining our brave men and women up like we were trying to make a shield wall is just asking for a single group of Crashers to gun them all down in an instant.”
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They bickered back and forth for a while, clear factions forming. Dan, Ajex, Duke Jiklac, the Blue Robes, and a few of the larger Hunter groups wanted to assail the enemy with a frontal charge. Yutrad, Aetra, Ushkia, the Necromancers, and the smaller groups wanted to plunge deep into the Hive and eliminate the Forgeheart first. The two Affexes were more concerned about opposing the other, so their opinions amounted to little, and some others wanted to simply stay silent.
After a bit more debate, a map of Aekan was brought out and rolled across the table. The city was in a valley, surrounded on all sides by mountains and with only one real way through, which was uncreatively called the Aekan Pass. More arguments followed, but Mori saw something she doubted anyone else did, “Hey, Yutrad,” she whispered to the orc beside her, “Tell me if this sounds crazy, but do you think that the mountain range around the Hive is very defended?”
“I would guess so, but not by much. That whole thing is essentially impossible to sneak skiffs through, so there will likely be some Infiltrators, but nothing more. Why?” he asked.
Mori rubbed her chin for a long moment, ignoring the rest of them as they argued, “If you were a Hive, nestled in a valley all safe and sound with only one way through the mountains, would you build a massive wall all around you, or would you wall off the choke points? Layer them up, then have some smaller walls protecting the rest of it. Right?”
Yutrad nodded, “I understand that, Mori, but what are you getting at here?”
“They think those mountains are walls that only need a tiny fraction of the strength they sink into the Pass to garrison. So, what if we made that wall obsolete? Dig under the mountains and go for the Heart,” she grinned, “If we do that, putting on a show out in front of the Pass, we can get past the majority of their defenses and distract them long enough to keep them off kilter long enough to… well, you know,” she said, dragging a thumb across her throat in an exaggerated gesture.
Yutrad nodded, slowly at first but soon speeding up, “Yeah, that could actually work… but if we do that, we won’t be able to get any skiffs through the tunnels; the troops will be wide open to attack.”
“Well,” Mori said, gesturing to Ushkia and Aetra, “We do have some of the greatest engineers in the Vast, all gathered right here, don’t we? Why not put them to work?”
A grin emerged on Yutrad’s face, “You know what? I think that’s a good enough challenge for those guys to want to tackle. I’m in. Do you have a way to dig that’s easier than manpower, or is there something else you have planned?”
“You’ll see.” She leaned forward and waited for a lull in the debate to come. It took a few minutes, but everyone eventually silenced as they chewed on one new idea or other. She rhythmically tapped her metallic finger on the table until she had the attention of the rest of the representatives, “I have an idea,” she said to them all.
“Then tell us, failed angel,” the Duke hissed. He definitely had it out for her, she decided.
She decided to get to the point as opposed to leading them around as she did with Yutrad, “Look, our problem is that, no matter what plan we chose, we’re planning on assaulting the Pass’ defenses. No matter what we choose to do, that is the convergence point here. But, what if we were to, say, go under the Pass?”
“I can see it,” B'yldyn said, “No skiffs, though.”
Mori grinned, something that seemed to put off a few of her allies, “Well, we just need to make a big enough tunnel to fit the skiffs then. Besides, we have some of the greatest minds in the Vast here; I doubt they would turn their backs on a history-making challenge,” she said, turning to Ushkia and Aetra.
Ushkia smiled her sweet grandma smile and nodded while Aetra sighed, “I will grant that this proposed project would very easily go down in history, and that the mages and engineers of Mount Averus would be more than happy to participate, but there are also other things that must be done, like repair and production of weapons and the study of the enemy. We cannot just let them waste their time digging a hole.”
“And,” the spiteful Duke added, “It would take far too long. It would take precious resources from the front and take far too long to matter. You would waste all of our time and energy in a pointless endeavor.”
Mori stared at the man for a moment before rolling her eye-flames, “If you find the effort of your troops so valuable, I can say with confidence that I am able to dig the hole with my undead. I simply need expertise to be able to make it big enough for skiffs.”
Aetra hummed for a moment, “I see. I can understand your idea with that in mind. I accept, then. We will send some of our fortification engineers to assist in the project.”
For a moment, a low mumble ran across the room, likely leaders speaking with their adjuncts, and Mori noticed Gradel looking at her. She smiled, and she noticed him laugh a bit, “I was just wondering,” he said in a low tone, not drawing attention, “What types of undead did you make for this?”
Mori grinned, “I found a unique breed of wyrm out in the Vast, the stone eaters. With a little bit of magical ingenuity, they can now dive through the ground. I think it’s pretty good, but they are also able to excavate pretty well.”
The Necromancer Supreme hummed in understanding, going back to his business of doing nothing in particular. After a few more minutes, the mumbling died down, and everyone came to a consensus to vote on her plan. Her plan won in a landslide, only a few of the smaller players, including the Blue Robes, and Duke Jiklac.
The meeting lasted a while longer, with certain details being stamped out like who was putting what troops into what part of the plan and the like. For most of it, Mori was unable to give her input, but it was interesting to see how everything worked either way. She agreed to station herself near the planned tunnel, seeing as how undead never needed food or water and would never rot. While she would have to talk with Aetra, Ushkia, and Yutrad about their joint project, she thought it was for the best that she was away from prying eyes.
The meeting soon concluded, and the participants all left to set their affairs in order. Mori glanced towards Fara’s father once again, seeing that he stayed in the room. As Fara stood, Mori grabbed her hand and pulled her forward. The woman was about to give some comment or other, but whatever she was going to say died in her throat when she saw where they were going.
Mori smiled to the man and his companion, “It’s good to finally meet you, Mr. Notchings. My name is Mori Athanatos.”