I know that the order of events is wrong, but I wanted the small surprise of Mori and her group reaching the fortress, so just know that this happens before they leave the dwarven watchtower. This one also might be shorter than normal because I don’t know if I can stretch the subject of this chapter to more than a thousand or so words-- I’m leaving this preamble part in, by the way, so I may not be right about this being shorter (I wasn’t, it’s the bottom of my range of chapter length, but not like that one half-chapter back when I promote my new series on patreon). Anyway, let’s get on with it.
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Gruff and Dunc sat in their chairs, looking up at the starry night above them, “Didn’t think I’d ever see something so amazing…” Gruff said, eyes firmly locked onto the vista above them.
“You’ve said that five times already,” Dunc replied, “But I get it… it’s amazing, alright.”
Gruff sighed, the shorter dwarf shaking his head, “Do you think that the gods’ll mind us seeing this? I mean, you know the stories and all, so I was just wondering…” Dunc turned his head to stare at his friend, “What? You’re looking at me like I’m an idiot.”
“I know you heard the Keeper,” Dunc said, “We’re not going to get smote for looking up. Alright?”
Gruff huffed, “Fine.” They fell back into silence, staring at the starlit sky, as they had done over the previous day. Their observation was disturbed, however, by a familiar shadow descending through the hole in their cavern’s ceiling. “Ah, there’s the pretty lady,” Gruff remarked.
The ‘pretty lady’ he was referring to had a name, and that name was Desire. That name was a bit on the nose for Dunc’s taste, but it got the point across. If she were just a few feet shorter and had shorter hair, she would have been the object of every dwarf’s desire. Nevertheless, he could appreciate her beauty as she landed in front of them, giving a smile, “Hey, you two. The mistress wanted to send me down here to find anyone who wants to say goodbye. We’re leaving soon, and she wanted to let you know. You’re invited to come aboard, if you want, so just tell me when I’m done doing my rounds; I’ll bring everyone over myself.”
Desire walked away without giving either of the dwarves time to reply, leaving them alone once more. There was a long silence, giving them time to stare up at the sky once again, “Are you going?” Gruff asked.
Dunc hummed in thought, leaning against the table beside him, “Maybe. You?”
“By the ancestors, no! I have a date with Kora and she’s liable to tear my legs off and bludgeon me to death with ‘em.” Gruff laughed, shaking his head, “You should, though. Sure, they basically showed up, cashed in their favor with the gods, made a hole in our ceiling, and are leaving, but at the very least, they’re funny. And the hole’s pretty nice,” he chuckled.
Dunc laughed with Gruff. He had to agree, the hole was quite nice. They simply sat there for a long while, Dunc himself using the stars to ruminate on what the odd group of surface-dwellers meant to him. In summary, not much more than an interesting story to be called a liar about. They did not change his life much, nor did they alter his perspective or anything like that. Their presence was like a soft tremble underground, one not enough to be called an earthquake. There, but not life-changing. Maybe that would change in time, when the gods themselves change something about their situation, but that was in the future, not to mention a hypothetical.
As he came to a conclusion, Kora suddenly appeared from who knew where and pulled Gruff into a crushing hug, “Here you two are! Looking at the sky again?” she asked, giggling. Dunc gave the woman a serious stare. Judging by her slightly unfocused expression, she was drunk. Extremely so, “What’re you lookin’ at?” she asked to Dunc.
He shrugged, “You’re drunk. That’s what. So… why are you drunk?”
“Wait, she’s drunk!?” Gruff shouted, his voice muffled from her crushing hug. Dunc gave a weary smile to the man. He could not exactly see her face, seeing as how she covered his entire face with her biceps, “Let go of me! I can’t breathe!”
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Kora giggled again, “Oh don’t be so worried! I can just ask the lich lady to revive you if you die! If she’s still here when I’m done with you, that is.” She smiled and pulled Gruff from his seat, pulling him into a hug as if he were a large stuffed animal, and walked towards the tower while giggling. Dunc sighed, shaking his head and smiling.
He only had to wait for a while longer before Desire, Jran, the Keeper, and Avarice-- yet another oddly on the nose name-- emerged from the tower. The Keeper had a saddened expression, while Jran seemed excited. Avarice was exactly how he always was, which was with a perpetual bored expression. “What happened to Gruff?” the Keeper asked as the small group approached. Dunc gave a wry grin, pointing to the second floor of the tower and raising his eyebrows, “Oh. Is now really the time?”
“I don’t blame them,” Desire chuckled, “Kora was very drunk. And determined, judging by the look she gave me when I suggested that she come along. I’d leave them.”
Jran shook his head with his signature grumpy look, “They’re young. They should be spending their time making themselves better at their crafts. Gruff’s got a knack for stonecraft and Kora’s got a sense for command. I can tell. Should be spending their time doing more than… that.”
Dunc blinked. He did not expect the normally ornery Jran to give praise. Granted, giving praise to someone behind their back sounded more like him, but Dunc was still surprised. He did not have time to explore that, however, as Desire clapped her hands, “Alright, here’s how this is going to go. Me and Avar are going to each pick one or two of you up, then we’re going to fly upwards. Once we have enough space, we’ll transform into dragons and fly you over to Athy. Avar, do you think you can pick these two up?” she asked, gesturing to the Keeper and Jran. The other dragon simply nodded, “Good! Now then,” she said, walking over to him, “Be sure to hold on tight.”
Dunc was not given much time to contemplate her wording, as she hefted him onto her shoulder at that moment and blasted into the air. Cutting winds whipped around him, but they continued to rise. Dunc was proud of the fact that he did not shout or cry out as he was picked up, but the same could not be said for the Keeper. Dunc could hear the old dwarf’s screams from where he was held, even over the wind.
As they reached the apex of Desire’s leap, Dunc was thrown into the air. Blinking at the sudden loss of an anchor point to steady himself, he began to panic and thrash, looking around. He felt himself begin to fall when a large, scaled hand wrapped around his body. Following the hand, he felt himself ascending higher and higher, being flipped over, and being passed to another scaly hand. “Calm down,” he heard a loud, femine voice tell him, “You’re screaming is getting annoying.”
He looked up, seeing the visage of a real, live-- or undead-- dragon staring down at him and paled. His voice cut out, bringing the fact that he had been screaming to his attention. Safely held in her claws, Dunc stared up at Desire’s dragon form, “Damn…”
“Damn indeed,” she chuckled, “Don’t get too comfy. We’re almost there.” He whipped his head around to look in front of them and, as she said, they were closing in on the large clocksteel behemoth. A large door opened as they approached, revealing a large room big enough for the dragons to land, a silent invitation Desire took immediately.
They landed quickly, with Avarice following quickly, though they avoided using the hands that held their passengers. Dunc was let down as Desire transformed into her human form while the Keeper and Jran were let down with much more care on Avarice’s part. As he stepped down, looking around, he noticed a familiar armored skeleton striding towards them. She was alone, but her armor suggested that she was happy, “Hey there! I know it’s sudden, but we’ve got to go, very soon,” she said.
“Not a problem,” the Keeper remarked, “We all have our duties and honors to abide by. If I might ask, are your companions around?”
Mori shook her head, “Sorry, but they’re tired. Fara’s been taking care of some construction all day and VII hasn’t gotten any sleep in a couple of weeks. I wanted to just say goodbyes in their place.”
The Keeper smiled, “I see. In that case, it was a wonderful honor to host you,” he said, giving his hand to shake. Mori stepped forward, past his hand, and wrapped the old dwarf into a friendly hug. The Keeper, stunned for a moment, broke from his shock and laughed, “Thank you, Madam Lich.”
Mori chuckled, shaking her head as she put the old dwarf down, “Don’t be like that. It’s a bit late for formalities,” she laughed, turning to Dunc and giving him a similar hug. Dunc returned it, finding the friendly gesture a good way of saying farewell to her. She then turned to Jran, “I know Fara would have wanted to say goodbye, so I’ll say it in her stead.”
She wrapped the old tinkerer up in a hug while said tinkerer sighed, “Thanks. She was an infuriating student to teach, but I don’t regret doing so.” Mori laughed at that, releasing the man from the hug and stepping back.
Her helmet smiled at them, “If that’s all, I hate to say it, but we have to go. It’s been wonderful learning from you guys, but we’ve got to go.” The three nodded, turning to the dragons as they returned back to their larger forms. As Dunc climbed into Desire’s hand, he smiled to himself. While hosting the strange group was not earthshaking, the time had its own effect on him. Even if that effect was limited to him knowing not to leave the tower when a manic necromancer had a near-limitless supply of bodies to experiment with.