Balor Ironhamr bit his right thumb as he held a goblet of Dwarven ad in his other hand. The past year has been a worrying one to say the least. His spies reported absolute chaos on the surface. The war between Voleria and Elysia ended in a decisive victory for the Elysians. That monster had just rolled over the Tralis army, the most powerful nation in the region. Yes a united Elysia was formidable as well but not powerful enough to take the entire nation in weeks.
Tralis’s walls were powerful and heavily enchanted. It was borderline unassailable for most humanoids. Balor knew his people certainly couldn’t take the walls. The best they could do was to surround the city and starve them out.
“My king, the delegates from Elysia have arrived.” one of his n said and Balor wearily rose to his feet,
Balor knew he was in quite the predicant, the Great Beast was the commander of a hive, a burrowing hive more specifically. There was no chance in hell his people would be able to fend off a burrowing hive. They lived underground which ans the hive could strike at any place and at any ti, that alone invalidated all of their defensive fortification. Provided the hive doesn’t just cause a massive cave in and just bury their city under a torrent of stone.
The only hope they had was that perhaps the hive couldn’t dig through the hard stone of the mountain. The city was built on a bed of hard granite for stability so perhaps that might be able to stop the hive. That however, didn’t account for the mines which were made of far softer stone and an attack from the mines would still circumvent the vast majority of their defenses.
“With any luck they won’t levy unreasonable demands against us.” Balor said as he headed out the door of the watchtower.
Balor was on the wall that faced the main entrance into Ironhamr. It was a massive twenty five ter tall wall that was covered with massive glowing runes. He looked down and saw a small delegation from the newly ford Averlonian Empire. He couldn’t see any beasts, just this ornate red and gold carriage that was accompanied by two dozen guards in red armor. Balor looked along the wall and saw the ballistas and spell cannons along the wall, he had ordered all them loaded but all pointed upwards. He didn’t trust the ELysians enough to unload his defenses but he didn’t want them to feel threatened either. When people get threatened they tend to get aggressive and Balor would rather they stay calm because honestly… he was feeling rather threatened at the mont.
“General…” Balor said and he turned to look at General Rasdruil the general tasked with guarding the wall.
“Keep an eye out but do not attack unless we are first attacked. Do not do anything preemptive even to save .” Balor said, his voice stern and stiff. General Rasdruil visibly recoiled slightly at the statent. It was certainly a strange statent for the king to basically order his own general to leave him for dead. But given the circumstances such orders were warranted. One over eager soldier was all it took for his nation to be destroyed.
Thoughts like this have weighed on Balor for months, he was not sleeping as well as before. Now when he looked in the mirror he saw black circles under his eyes. His wife often told him to rest, she must have noticed how tired he was all the ti. But he had to keep going, at least soon this problem will be put to rest one way or another.
When Balor walked past the great gate that divided Ironhamr and the interior defences he saw a table had been set up in the wide open area outside. He cast one final look at his city's stout defenses. For generations they have been maintaining and improving the defenses of their mountain ho.
“Is this… a logistics network?” Balor asked and Cecilia nodded in response.
“With Averlon at its centre…” Balor muttered as he stared at the map.
“The smaller line linking Ironhamr and Cathay is a smaller path. I want Averlon to be the centre of the empire, all goods and talent will flow through my capital. If I recall your people have great experience with regards to rail lines. You use them for your mine carts.” Cecilia said and Balor nodded.
“Yes, it was one of the few scrapes of ancient knowledge that the angels allowed us to keep. Many of our weapons of war were confiscated. We also no longer have any of the old runes of power.” Balor replied.
“Similar to us, they took Elysian magic. But regardless of the past, I want to use your people’s expertise to construct and maintain this network. Naturally the users of this network will have to pay fees. The profits from this will go to Ironhamr and it is taxable of course. The plan for this network is not only to serve resource shipnts but commuters as well.” Cecilia explained and Balor stroked his beard as he pondered her words. This was an extrely profitable venture if successful…
“In addition there is sothing else I am in need, of a vast quantity of mithril. Enchanted if possible. I am seeking to mass produce a new type of weapon.” Cecilia said as she snapped her fingers and a nearby attendant approached with a case.
The case opened revealing this strange contraption with an oddly shaped crystal at the end.
“This is a Focii Rifle, that crystal at the tip is a creation from the Great Beast’s hive. It allows for so interesting applications. If you wouldn’t mind asking, do you have any magical potential?” Cecilia asked and Balor nodded.
“In truth almost all dwarves have magical potential but it is weak. Which is why we prefer to enchant rather than cast spells. Since enchanting relies more on reagents rather than the raw power required for spells.” Balor replied and he watched in confusion as Cecilia paused for a mont. He could practically see the gears turning in her head.
“Almost all dwarves have magical potential, you say…” Cecilia muttered and Balor saw that smile again.
“Hmmm… well if you would rise I want you to try sothing.” Cecilia said. Balor wasn’t sure where this was going but he decided to humour her. Even if he did have misgivings about her logistics network proposal.
Balor listened to Cecilia’s instruction and he raised the so-called Focii Rifle and took aim. He noticed there was a sight built into the top, similar to the ones the dwarves use in their crossbows. He soon realised this was supposed to be used like a crossbow but he didn’t see any arrows or string. Then he was told to pour ether into the rifle, he did so and at first he felt the ether flow into the rifle. But then it suddenly stopped as if the rifle was full and he noticed a small rune was glowing on the side of the rifle. He took aim at this dummy that she had sohow made appear just like the map. There was even an enchanted mithril breastplate on it. Then as per instructions he pulled this trigger on the rifle.
The first thing he noticed was the kick as the stock slamd into his shoulder, then the flash of blue light. He looked at the target and saw this streak of blue fly out from the rifle and it slamd right into the dummy. To his surprise he saw a glowing hole in the breast plate. He lowered the rifle and in almost a daze he approached the breast plate. He looked closer and saw the beam and lted through the mithril. This wasn’t as powerful as a heavily enchanted crossbow bolt, a Wyvern Bolt would have blasted the dummy to pieces. But to be fair that type of ammunition had that na because it was designed to hunt wyverns.
Still it was ridiculously easy to use… it wasn’t that difficult for him to use even as a dwarf. All it needed was the initial construction and from what he could tell it wasn’t that complicated to make. Balor raised it again and fired, then he fired it again and again. By the end of his barrage the breast plate was drilled full of holes and Balor to his surprise only felt slightly fatigued. The terrifying thing about this weapon was not the destructive power, it was the ease of use…
Almost anyone could use this…
“However there is a slight heating issue. I was hoping your artificers could have a look at it.” Cecilia said and Balor ran the words through his head. All of this is a great offer but there were problems. For instance, if Empress Cecilia wanted him to arm a large number of soldiers with this weapon they simply didn’t have the capacity to extract enough mithril ore. As for the logistics network, it would be a similar story. The tunnels themselves would be impossible to dig but Balor assud the hive would help with that. The sa could be said with the extraction of ore but that was a far more delicate process so he wasn’t sure if the hive could manage it.
“If you are worried about whether you can even do it. Well you need not fear I would not request this if I didn’t think you could do it. My dear friend the Great Beast is…” Cecilia said but she paused and then Balor noticed the ground shaking beneath his feet. He looked up at the Empress and saw a fond smile had graced her lips.
Fashionably late as usual…
Reviews
All reviews (0)