Knowing that he was in no position to help, Urist kept making bombs. He stared intently at the process as the dwarfs around him stood up took to the defenses. It was hard to focus over the screaming, screeching, and shouting that filled the air.
The smell of burning hair and flesh filled the air and with every breath, he took it almost kept causing him to gag. But he resisted as Unicy’s orders resounded throughout the air. He could hear her bickering with Ubel on what was the correct course of action until she had enough and order the wind mages to send blades of wind into the crowd of invaders.
After their barrage, it seemed that this caused the rats to call a retreat and the sound of dwarf victory cries filled the air. To hear the sounds joy allowed Urist to relax his weary mind. Tomorrow he would be fit to fight along the wall with his brothers and sisters.
Just the thought of being able to move without help made Urists legs itch wishing for a good walk. It wasn’t long after that Ubel and Unicy descended the wall heading towards his direction with the two bickerings.
Unicy snorted, “I don’t see the reason why we need to send the frost mage out to make sure the bodies are dead. They’re burned pretty well so it shouldn’t be an issue, instead, we should keep his powers a secret.”
Ubel rolled his eyes, “Listen here, bow girl. From what Urist told me, these rats dug their way into the walls. Who is to say the pit doesn’t have rats playing dead waiting to attack the poor sap reaching to get them out? We need an overseer to make sure things go well as we reset the pit. We can’t use Urist since he’s still recovering and Uria is the backup in case the rats decide charge once again.”
“We’ll ask the boss to see who's right.”
“Fine, I wish to see how competent the dreamer is.”
“You take that back!”
“Heh, I rather die.”
“I’m sure I can help with that. How would you like a knife in the gut or an arrow in the windpipe?”
“ENOUGH!” Tired of their bickering Urist yelled at both of them causing them to shut up.
Urist paused, waiting to get their attention, “We’ll do it like this. Unicy makes sure everyone is equipped with spears and have the healers nearby in case there is an ambush. As a last resort have the Frost mage ready to help out if things get too hairy. Now stop bickering and go carry out my orders.”
Although the two didn’t seem happy about the orders the two begrudgingly accepted and got the body removal team ready. Watching this with a smile the Alchemist Empty leaned over towards Urist as the two walked away, “Tough being the boss eh?”
Giving a sigh Urist didn’t respond, choosing to focus on carving up new bombs and ordering rubies when needed.
At the wall as Ubel predicted sleeper rats lay and waited in the pits which were killed by spears as they tried to attack the dwarfs. The dwarfs put on body retrieval only got minor wounds from the fight and were healed easily enough by the light mages.
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“See? I told you they set up an ambush.”
“Shut it glasses, we didn’t need the Frost mage like you said so you are still wrong.”
It took the dwarfs a few hours to clear the pile of corpses from the trench. When they were finished storing the usable bodies it was getting late into the day.
Although exhausted from all the exercise, the group ate happily knowing no one became heavily injured from today's fight. Urist gave a test to his legs and found he could move once again with ease so he didn’t have to rely on Fatty.
Belly rumbling, he moved over to the fire to see everyone feasting on the bodies of their enemies. Being handed a bowl Urist noticed that his people had taken it upon themselves to make bracelets and necklaces out of teeth of the rats. They had used the ruined rope from last night to tie them together.
Seeing them all showing off like barbarians he had half a mind to forbid the items being made. But seeing them all smile and gain some semblance of good morale he chose to accept it.
Ubel waited for Urist to finish a bowl of stew before getting up and walking over to Urist, “We need to talk strategy preferably as soon as possible.”
Looking at his bowl, then at the stew, Urist signed and put it in the pile that needed to be washed.
“I can always eat later. Let’s get it done now. Unicy.”
“Yes, boss?”
“Come, you are needed in this discussion as well. Let’s do it in the civilization chamber.”
Eating fast, Unicy threw her bow into the pile as well and headed with Urist and Ubel into the cave. With such an important meeting, Urist bought some wooden chairs for 15 points and a table for ten.
It wasn’t comfortable, but it was much better than sitting on the rocky floor a discussion. Taking out the basic resource map discussions began. Urist bought a feather pen and ink for a few more points and began marking the map.
“We are here currently, our wall is like this and looking at this map the bamboo spreads far down south. I don’t know how far it extends but judging by how we are always attacked by thousands of rats every day it isn’t a small amount. I assume that in three days the bamboo seeding event will end and the food supply will run out for the rats.
That means we need to hold the wall until they starve to death. With that knowledge, we must plan on what to do next. Since you called this meeting Ubel I want your thoughts first then Unicy’s then I’ll say my thoughts on the matter. Does that sound ok with you two?”
““Crystal.””
“Then let’s begin the meeting.”