The writhing lump of interwoven tentacles was tied around the enormous stone block by the crowd of goat, sheep and bovine demons. Lit dimly by the green glow of the many pools of viscous fluid surrounding them, they paused to admire their makeshift rope. One of these pools was seeping the ill-coloured liquid into a shallow trench trailing the stone.
“Aaaaand…”
The group - now holding the tentacle - braced.
“Heave!”, another demon’s booming voice echoed through the cavern.
The creatures strained, bulged and roared; the trench was extended by a few inches. The block was nearing its destination, a half-finished pyramid reaching for the ceiling of a colossal underground expanse.
“This is proceeding rather well, Gor. It’d go better with wheels but none of these dwarven books really account for, well, slade in general. Fortunately, us demons can be just as efficient without.”
Lorian spoke, observing the efforts from afar. His path had already taken him around the many assault preparations taking place; each one was examined with the closest scrutiny. Behind followed a towering humanoid, covered in a dark fur - its head of a bull looked out of place, despite its thick muscles. Its footsteps thundered into the darkness, adding to the deafening cacophony of the toiling creatures. As far as Lorian could see, there were no walls in this expanse - each sound resonated off the ceiling then dissipated.
“We did miss a few blocks in our calculations but those ones over there seem to remember the ropes well enou- Thumb off the handle!”
A figure toiling at a sizeable boulder adjusted the grip on their chisel. Lorian paused, then walked to the stone. He stood straight, raised his arms to his side and circled it tightly.
“Two spans by two spans plus one height… two blocks from that rock… that’s the last one we need to break apart. Anyways as I was saying, the ropes – although not much more than that.”
“Have question,” The bullish figure looked down to Lorian, “how big slade break with small tool?”
“True, it’s big, hard and heavy – dwarves say there exists nothing denser. However, their stonecutters also make some great tools – even those you saw working earlier can work a hole or eight into a boulder. Have you ever seen those massive mushrooms growing in the acid pools? We harvest their stalk, stuff it in the crack and find someone with a stretched jaw to pour the pit acid into it. Dwarven books use water and wood but we've been making do with our materials. Think of your stomach expanding when you fill it up; those stalks do the same, only with enough force to splinter rock like this. We don’t even need to be too accurate – all we’re doing is stacking a few… hundred? to reach the place the dwarves broke open.”
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Lorian pointed and Gor saw a small beam of light shining from a crack in the ceiling of the cavern. Small, glittering particles floated down from it to the pyramid built beneath, coating it in a pale blue shimmer.
“Greedy dwarves…”
“I wouldn’t necessarily say they’re greedy, Gor. Adamantite’s great! It’s as light as it gets, it’s sharp when sharpened and it’s shiny – perfect for either a sword or an earring. Only, what awaits at the bottom is just us. Normally they can’t get through the layer of slade separating this world from theirs, but adamantite veins are remarkable! They ignore this bedrock, and end up as those pale blue spots you see far above on the ceiling. From what I saw in Nazgoth’s dump, dwarves fear for the entire world if we ever get out. Yeah, I don’t buy it too – I don’t think the world out there is small enough for some upright animals to take it over but their authors, ol’ Gottfried for example, would need a new pair of breeches at only a mention. If I quote correctly, ‘It would be unfortunate if miners dig deep into the vein of blue, for the end of the miner’s journey would then coincide with the end of the fortress’s journey.’”
“Gor want adamantite axe…”
“Axe? Ah yes, I did tell you about those. It’s a great idea, but personally I think something like a greathammer would suit you better. Like a big, meaty fist on a stick, that one – you want it to be heavy, not light. If we had some tools made out of adamantite we’d even fashion one up for you out of slade but that fortress needs a bit of invading first.”
“Tools? But slade cut here!”
“Yes, we did get some gear from the archives of ol’ Nazgoth but not everything I’d like. We’re fortunate we can make blocks at all, even. Nothing anywhere near as accurate as a complete hammerhead. When an underground city literally flattens you don’t get left with much, you see. Our terrible fortress-collapsing dwarves didn’t remember to do in the trash dump, though. Plus, you’re forgetting abou- Hey Zar, are the ‘troops’ ready? Ah, I can see you’re in the process. Tell me when everything’s done so I can give a speech to those who want one.”
The humanoid, as tall as Lorian with legs and head of a goat, nodded. He turned back, away from the motley crew of otherworldly beings.
“As I was saying, you’re forgetting about the handle. There’s nothing strong or sturdy enough down here to use with slade. Do you understand what I mean?”
Lorain looked back and saw Gor’s brow furrowed, eyes staring into the darkness beyond.
“Sorry if I overwhelm you. If I don’t unload all this on someone I go insane and that’s not a state I’d like to be in again. Please, bear with me for just this while”
“I listening.”
“You can’t believe how happy I am to hear that. Those ones over there are finishing up with the stone block, so our assault would begin shortly. You know the battle plan?”
“Gor remember. Have question. Forgot ask. Why this city not fall?”
“That’s… a great question! Because it’s the capital we’re going up against this time – the centre of the dwarven world. They’re not going to collapse it, they can’t – it’s been there for thousands of years, long before anyone even knew why they’d need this kind of last resort. It’s impossible to rig a city which in itself belongs in a museum to collapse at will without risk of it collapsing without will. Unfortunately, that naturally means they prepared for demons like us using other, more nefarious means; some of these, I imagine, were in none of the books I read. Either way, once we collected everything we could from Nazgoth, I knew we didn’t really have much of a choice. It’s between losing every second demon again in another collapse or having the chance to break free.”
Lorian stopped and looked to the distance.
“Either way, I’d greatly prefer dying at least a few heights closer to whatever awaits me above than in the literal bottom of the world.”