If left to our own devices, we would grind the shit out of this spell design project. Alas, the rest of the world had other plans.
The dwarves were about to attack. The Blackbrews pressed for a military response because of the humiliation Malgrit suffered at Torgo's hands but Patriarch Axejaw, my biological grandfather, wanted to negotiate. It was obvious that armed conflict with Windemere would be catastrophic for the dwarves. With the Lamia knights, the Academy, and the [Assassins] under Kazuyran's command, the best they could bargain for was a Pyrrhic victory.
Unless Windemere's forces were busy defending against an invasion from say, Sadian, the insurgent petulant dwarves would be bonked in the head and sent to timeout on the corner of the room. It was a matter of a month or two before the invaders from Sadian knocked on our gates. That was Axejaw's reason for delaying and preparing.
I was in Vugh Tarim's smithing district helping Helger when I sensed it. {Detect Royalty} consistently gave two signals, one for each of the Axejaws. Well, one of these signals suddenly disappeared. I reached out with {Soul Shepherd} and {Detect Spirit} and found one stray dwarven soul still bound to his body. With that information, it was easy to deduce what happened. I rushed to interrupt Helger.
"Father! Father!" He stopped hammering immediately.
"Trouble?" He asked curtly.
I nodded, "We have one less Royal under the mountain. I'm going to check."
"Go. I'll cover for ya."
I ran out of the alcove we used and made a show of appearing like someone that needed desperately to visit the outhouse. Dwarven sanitation was shaft-based. We had garderobes in strategic places, with well-oiled water-repellent shafts that took the offal into main shafts that descended deeper into the Dungeons below. The sewage was then eaten by whatever denizens lived there, mostly slimes, molds, or other scavengers.
Outside of anyone's view, I stealthed dashed through the stone toward the recently deceased body.
----------------------------------------
In the late dwarven King's lavish office, I found a dead dwarf and three scumbags.
"Congratulations, Your Majesty," Elder Blackbrew said. The old traitor had an ear-to-ear grin but his eyes were narrow and wicked.
Dorgareg Axejaw, my last biological relative… my bad. [King] Dorgareg Axejaw, my patricidal blood relative, was exulting.
"Now nothing is stopping us from attacking Windemere!" He declared.
On the floor, the Patriarch's blood was still wet and warm. Cause of death, poisoned dagger. Typical.
"I'll fuck those traitorous snakes," Malgrit clamped his fist and grit his teeth, seething hatred.
"Order all dwarves to gather in the great hall! Today, we march on Windemere!" Dorgareg proclaimed.
Blackbrew was smiling behind the foolish [King]. The reason was obvious.
The first guest at Windemere's battlefield would get nailed on the head hard. Then the others would fight an emaciated nation. Unless Windemere had some hidden trump. In any case, I suspected it was all a plot by the dragons to root me out and force me to do their bidding. Killing me was as useless as ever and I doubted they could trap my soul as Bundeus threatened now. Unless they had some dragon [Saint] with cheat-like powers, then all bets were off.
Maltrig reached for the reinforced door but it didn't open. With a Force barrier blocking the top, it wouldn't unless he could break my spell. Good luck with that.
"This damn door is jammed!" He cursed.
I bound Axejaw's soul to a cloth doll and stored his body while the trio of traitors was trying to tread outside the threshold.
"Let me try!" Dorgareg pushed the younger dwarf to the side and tugged the door. There was a small gap but it wouldn't move more than that. He slammed on the door, calling the guards.
Isolating the sound near the desk, I had [Thane] Alfondric Ashshield take the King's seat. Then I revealed the blue and pink tails along with my ears and sat on the corner of the desk. Upon second thought, I set my title to [God-Slayer Hero Princess] and donned the Tabard. I gave Alfondric a subordinate one which he gladly put on.
Dorgareg drew a battle ax from his storage ring and started to smash the reinforced door. I extended the Force barrier to cover the whole portal. The weapon bounced harmlessly on the spell.
"What the hell?" The [King] said.
"What the hell, indeed," I commented. "What do we have here, Alfondric?"
"Three regicide fools and traitors, that's what we have, my old friend," the cloth golem answered.
I crafted Alfondric's golem body to resemble the [Thane] in his prime. Unless one examined him closely, they wouldn't even know he was made of cloth. All of the golems' voices were exactly as their inhabitants remembered.
Elder Blackbrew shivered as he recognized the [Thane]'s voice. The other two just turned around to see who intruded in their moment of glory.
"I am forced to agree with you, old friend. We have three traitors. Windemere has no need of such fools."
"A-Alfondric?" Blackbrew gasped.
"Hey, don't forget me," I waved. "Hello, uncle. Be glad you won't be the short-reigning [King] I've ever met!" The honor belonged to Rhenius' third brother. He was King for two seconds if I recall correctly.
If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
"Who are you?" Dorgareg asked.
"I'm your sister Nozmizla's daughter. How rude of you not remembering me, uncle! And yes, I survived that chasm."
"What do you want?" To his credit, the idiot didn't attack right away.
With a candid smile, I answered, "I want a strong and unified Windemere. Can't you see my choice of overgarments?"
"Impossible, Torgo--"
"Torgo is a fool," I cut Blackbrew's denial of reality. "Alfondric, how do you judge these three?"
"Guilty as fuck," The [Thane] grumbled. "How would you sentence them, true sovereign of Windemere?"
"Death."
Some might say they deserved to suffer, but this [Princess] didn't believe in torture or playing with my prey. A quick, swift, clean death was what The Master instilled in me.
> CONGRATULATIONS! Per the Dynasty rules of your Realm, you are the next in line for the throne! You are now the [Queen] of Vugh Tarim!
>
> You gained the title [Queen].
>
> Your Species received an upgrade. You gained a +1 bonus to All Attributes for each Rank.
>
> Your Class received an upgrade. You gained a +1 bonus to All Attributes for each Rank.
Damn, it was good to be the [Queen]. Eight points in all Attributes in one single go. My first act as [Queen] was to summon the souls of the four traitors. I questioned them about Torgo, their plans, what information they had. Compared to the information I had from Raleigh, Fat Felix, and Kazuyran, I reached two main conclusions.
One, these foolish dwarves were played for fools. They were spoon-fed well-tailored sweet lies, had their vanity and greed cultivated to the point of becoming blind.
Two, Torgo's plans were decades in the making. If someone told me he and his scaled sponsors were plotting the fall of Windemere well before Kel'Caldor had a tantrum and killed [King] Eric III, I would believe them.
Three, McCalister's grandson was in the scheme and bit the dust by a mishap. They gave Alfondric to the soul mage so they could extract whatever the [Thane] knew about Windemere's secrets. Not much. That's because we hadn't many secrets, to begin with. The best they got was that Lakerta was one of "Locksley's incarnations'. A big deal, it was not.
I cleaned the office and left Alfondric to sort and read the documents. Basically, the [Thane] was set to do his old job. The door opened.
"Your Majesty!" Four armored dwarven [Royal Guards] stormed into the room.
"Yes, what is the matter?" I replied.
"Who are you, girl? Where is [King] Dorgareg?" The guards shouted threateningly.
Damn, Axejaw's body hadn't even cooled down the guys already knew Dorgareg was the King? I was sure they didn't get a notification informing them of a change in ruler, otherwise, they'd received another for me. That meant they were co-conspirators.
"{Kneel and remain silent}, you fools," I pressed them straight with a {Royal Geas}, skipping the harmless {Royal Order}. I turned to talk to the dwarven golem. "Alfondric, what happened to us dwarves to breed this many fools?"
The [Thane] lowered his head. "I'm terribly sorry, Your Majesty."
"Now I have to root out all the traitors. Let's start with these two. {Champion's Challenge}."
Using {Death Contract} would signal all the {Assassins} in the range that something was going on. And I could use the Exp, however small of an award it was compared to what I needed to break through the last leg before the last Rank Up.
Before leaving the room, Alfondric and I removed the Tabard. It was not yet time to let it out in the sun.
With the traitors' souls guiding me, I went around Vugh Tarim, executing all of the conspirators. Unfortunately, it was almost all the Royal Guard and a lot of other dwarves. The ones that stumbled upon me purging my hold were {Royal Ordered} into gathering the other dwarves in the great hall. After I was done with them, I sent a {Messenger Bird} to Nenandil and Kazuyran so they could prepare the next step in my plan.
After finishing my gruesome Royal duties, I went to explain myself to the dwarves. Standing on the dais where Patriarch Axejaw declared Vugh Tarim's independence, I addressed my people. I had Baritono, Helger, and Alfondric with me, along with the few uncorrupted [Royal Guards].
"Greetings, you bunch of drunkards. I'm Haru Stouthammer, daughter of Nozmizla Axejaw. I won't mention my title right now as any dwarf with a functioning eye can see it. My grandfather was murdered by my uncle Dorgareg and I executed him for treason and regicide. His co-conspirators Blackbrew father and son along with the corrupted Royal Guards were all purged as well. Some of you met me in the corridors."
They started to talk among themselves. I pressed down with my {Diva Presence} and a mass {Royal Order}.
"I demand silence. I'll show you enough evidence to convince even the most cantankerous among you, grumbling dwarves. I summon [Thane] Alfondric Ashshield."
The leader of the dwarven refugees I once welcomed into Windemere stood by my side. "Dwarves of Vugh Tarim! I'm Alfondric Ashshield! Blackbrew betrayed my trust and had me murdered to fuel his ambitions. Fortunately, I was rescued by [Queen] Stouthammer!" He knelt before me. "My liege. I pledge my loyalty to you and Windemere once again."
"I accept your oath, [Thane]," I replied. "All species will always be welcome in Windemere if they wish to live our way but we dwarves are one of the core species of our strong and proud nation."
I could see the confusion in the dwarves' faces when I spoke as the ruler of Windemere.
"I'm humbled and honored by your trust, Your Majesty. I'll forever stand by your side," the golem proclaimed. He stood and stood behind and to my left.
"Now, my people, I'll summon the dead traitors to give their testimony."
I interrogated the materialized specters of the traitors, then resurrected them only to execute them again before the assembled dwarves. No reason not to farm some Exp while doing my duties. I found out I was tired and distressed despite having killed thousands of people before. Somehow, this was different. After a brief amount of soul-searching, I found my answer. Traitors or not, I was killing Windemere citizens. That set my mood for the rest of my speech.
"Apparently, some idiot up there decided I should be [Queen] and that is why I took over Vugh Tarim, my people. I promise you. Vugh Tarim and Windemere will mend the rift between ourselves and we will prosper despite the machinations of our enemies. I am deeply saddened by the fact I'd stained my hands in dwarven blood today. Know that each death was necessary, and the first ones I killed were my own flesh and blood. Remember my words and my promises. The next few days may look tumultuous but they are merely a strong storm bashing away at the face of the mountain. Endure it, and in enduring, we'll grow stronger."
I laced my speech with my [Leadership] and [Diplomat] abilities. It was necessary to avoid further bloodshed. With that done, I released my hold on them and let the dwarves cheer. Being a demagogue with the System's help was too damn easy.
One of the outer gate guards came running along the upper walkway. "Your Majesty! Your Majesty! Windemere's lamia [Knights] are at the gates!"
I smiled. "I called them here. Make way for your [Queen]! I shall greet them."
I walked with my trio of confidants and the [Royal Guard] behind me. At the main gates of Vugh Tarim, I found Nenandil on Phyllis's shoulder along with a full battalion of Lamias in plate armor arrayed to greet me. The fairy waved and I returned a wink. Behind me, dwarves piled up to watch history unfold. Purposely poorly hidden behind a rock formation, a dark elf grinned at me.
The lead lamia, an older woman level 156, slithered forward. "[Queen] Haru Stouthammer of Vugh Tarim!" She shouted according to the script. "We are here to retake Vugh Tarim for Windemere. This stupid insurrection is over. What do you say?"
I extended my hand. "Vugh Tarim will surrender and return to Windemere if only you grant every dwarf in this hold amnesty for whatever perceived crimes they might be accused of during the period of secession."
She shook it. "We accept your terms. What do you say?"
"Vugh Tarim surrenders to Windemere. We are all brothers and sisters once again!" I shouted.
Sighs of relief and cheers erupted on both sides. The stupid insurrection was over.
> WARNING. You have surrendered to an invading force. Your Kingdom and Dynasty will be dissolved.
>
> --> Fuck yes. End this shit!
And that's the story of how I was a dwarven [Queen] for a day.