Three Months Ago

Ethan sat at the head of the table. His bandaged hands rested on the table with closed fists. Bandages wrapped around his hands and fingers. Despite the current frail-looking nature of his hands, he held deep anger in the expression of his eyes and mouth. Papers were scattered on the table. To his left sat two elves and to his right sat a gnome and a dwarf.

“The human kingdom has fallen. MY kingdom. The capital has fallen, and the surrounding cities are on their way. People are fleeing on ships while they can while the rest are trying their luck in the forests against beasts instead of dying to the undead. The only people left are migrants or people who were lucky enough to be out of the city and then strong enough to flee to safety. It is will soon be easier to count those who are alive than those who are now dead.” Ethan paused for a moment before adopting a more somber tone. “You must help me. I must save those who are left. I have brought the knowledge I could from the cities during and after their fall. They are of little use to my people now. I offer them to you and all that I have.”

“Losing the three human cities was a great blow to the world with the loss of people and access to resources that the necromancers now have. While I am glad I have access to this information now, I wish it could’ve been shared under better circumstances,” said the first elf.

“But I could’ve saved many of them if I had more time. They launched their attack right when I had left the city and I could do nothing but watch the city be broken down and raised back up in the name of the undead.”

“It is not all of your fault.” said the gnome. “You should count yourself lucky to be alive. If you had been caught in the ritual then you would not be with us and instead, be a powerful tool for our enemies.”

“Speaking of tools. This suggestion of yours is unfeasible at best or impossible at worst,” said the second elf leader. “The costs alone you suggest would set our people back a decade. I would much rather spend those resources on many people, not just one.”

“That especially includes me,” said the dwarf leader. “I see no reason to gift you the metals needed for this project when my people are across the sea. I should’ve been calling all of the dwarves back to our homeland right now instead of listening to this crap. Now out of respect for your power and leadership within the humans, we have come to meet you here, but I can’t burn money and destroy resources like this.”

“While I won’t disagree with you on that point. I think this deal can offer your people much more than a few years of constant metal digging. What if I told you that in a few years once the undead are dealt with that the dwarves' production would’ve quadrupled and the amount of metal gifted to this project would centuple in your safes?”

“I would say your full of shit, but you seem to have a plan so spit it out.”

“When testing this golem, we will need something sufficient enough for it to face that we can be certain it will not fail against the forces of the undead. I would propose to you that the test be against the dragon of the dwarven people. This would provide your people with a great boon and open up more land for your people to expand properly into the open air. How does that sound?”

“I suppose that sounds reasonable, but we still need to look over these design ideas and verify your theoretical claims on its abilities.”

“Of course. You can take these papers back with you and discuss with your academics,” said Ethan as he passed the design documents to the others in the meeting.

“I also agree with him on this point,” said the first elf. “I will need to have my rune enchanters verify that the runes should work and that they won’t waste their time making a non-functioning product.”

“Ignoring the fact that you know of one of the secret artifacts in our treasury,” I am surprised by your novel idea to use it as the power generator, source, and command center all at once while using runes to control it. I would be happy to test the memory and suggestion runes on some summons once the others agree to proceed with this project. I am eager to see how this will work when implemented. I’m sure I could make use of these on other projects. To think you have been modifying beast slave runes to fit the golems is amazing. Though I will need to request that the golem be brought to our forest outposts at the very least. I can’t have such a valuable item leave our territory.”

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“That is reasonable and I’m sure it can be arranged,” said Ethan.

“I would also like to have the golem hunt for a new dungeon core for us in the forest eventually, but that should not be required until the undead are defeated. We would be happy to collect it at a later date as long as the delay is deemed reasonable by me.”

“That does bring up another question,” said the second elf leader. “Who should own it and house the golem once this is over. Certainly, you can’t be considering claiming it after having us pay for the construction even if we do get a little bit in return?” He said turning to Ethan.

“This is where I worry that not everyone will be on the same page. I would indeed like to use the golem after this conflict is resolved, but I do not have the resources necessary to upkeep it. Most of my time would be needed paying to rebuild and so it would be in better hands with one of you while my focus is elsewhere. As for who should take care of the golem? That is up to you.”

The dwarf leader scoffed “This matter of who will take hold of the golem will take much longer than just this meeting. We are just counting our chickens before they hatch. I don’t want to own a golem that works about as good as a servant with ten times the operating cost. I also hope that this project can be a success, but if it fails then it will likely fail spectacularly. It would also be a great failure and disgrace if we let even the broken pieces of golem technology be swept up by the necromancers. I digress… I would like to motion to postpone this part of the discussion until the golem is activated and has shown potential.”

“I will second the motion,” said the gnome leader.

“All in favor,” said Ethan. They all raised their hands together. “Then we will discuss this at a later date. Then I would like to propose a vote to begin this project.”

“I would like to first ask what you will be doing for this project,” interrupted the dwarf leader. “during its completion and its testing. You are a decent dark magic user, but the golem won’t have a strong affinity for either. If we can help you in any way I would like to. The knowledge you are giving us will be of great help to the innovation and progress of our projects. Just adapting the wheel and gear mechanisms you had been using for agriculture will be of great use to our factories and could increase production by several points.”

“The human race are experts in darkness and light magic. Even though it has caused our current predicament. I hope to find some hidden experts that I know weren’t in the cities during their fall. If they are out there I must find them so that they can help fight with the golem together against the undead and help build other weapons to face the undead. The forests to the north of the human cities were its protective barrier against possible invasion. Now that it will become a barrier to protect us and stall the undead, hopefully until their full forces reach us.

“As for the power of the golem. I do not have the knowledge or time to implement those affinities into it and it will have to be added later if I can find the right people for it. As for the things you could do outside of the stated goals listed here it would be.

“One: Send word and look for practitioners of light and dark magic. They are exceptionally rare outside of the human kingdom, but if they exist then their help will be needed. The second thing I need is the assistance of formation and large-scale defense experts to begin preparing for the undead march into the gnome forests. They will be heading into hostile territory, and it is where we can make up the most ground. ”

“I will help where I can and will inform you of all of their movements. My scouts know the forests well and can also set traps to stall them if need be,” said the gnome leader.

“Thank you for that.”

“Let’s get this topic over with then and take the vote,” said the first elf leader. “Are there any other last-minute objections?” He paused for a moment before continuing. “Do you agree to support this project with the resources outlined in these initial blueprints assuming the exact amount of material will only vary by one percent from the stated goal?”

“I will second the motion to vote,” said the second elf leader.

“All in favor?”

A chorus of I’s was spoken aloud. The gnome leader grumbled a bit mumbling about national security and the dwarf grumbled about the overtime needed, but the support was gathered, and the war golem would be built. Ethan sat back in his chair, relaxed, and smiled while the five of them passed around binding contracts to be signed.

Many more people would need to sign a similar contract for this project and dedicate much more time. Soon the wheels of production would begin, and resources would flow. ‘I can only hope that this will be enough and that the ancient wizards of light will come to our aid. They likely have not spoken with another for years. I will make sure that further catastrophe is averted. I must.’