Eternal
The fact remains; the full capabilities of New Dessle are still unknown and taking this mountain city would be extremely costly for the Empire, so you’re not going to dismiss Klemto’s stipulations yet, but you are going to come back with one of your own.
“Very well, your terms are somewhat reasonable though we’re still going to have to hammer out some details, however I do want one thing from you right now.” You say.
“Oh? What’s that?”
“You will assist in attacking the Confederacy of the Free Cities.”
“...so you would call on our service already eh? Fine. We will assist, just let us know what exactly you want from us.”
“Nothing elaborate, I just want another army south of the cities in case some of the svelk try to escape that way. I don’t want a single one of them to get away. They’re a threat to the Empire and their constant manipulations need to cease being a thorn in my side. Too long they’ve gone unpunished for their treachery. Maybe I won’t be getting all of them on the world. But rest assured I WILL be getting ALL of them in this area.”
“I see. While you may not have any hatred for my race, you obviously do for the dark elves. It would seem the more things change, the more they stay same…(Sigh) Well better the svelk than us I suppose.” Klemto says.
“Glad you see the pragmatic side of this.”
“Oh I suspect I’ll be seeing the pragmatic side a lot in the future. Not how I wanted to spend the remainder of my years, but then this is really the only way. I’ve long since learned that opposing the Empire is futile. While it may eventually fall to internal or external forces, it probably isn’t going to be in my lifetime and I’m going to do everything within that time to make sure the gnomes stay out of harm’s way. If that means swallowing what little pride we might have left and willingly becoming the subjects of a nation that once enslaved us and then tried to systematically exterminate us, then that is what we will do.”
Klemto finishes his little speech with another puff of his pipe. He looks defeated even though he’s come out fairly okay on this deal. Well at least you think so, obviously he feels differently.
“You’ll be remembered as a savior to your people Klemto.” You say before you leave.
“I’ll probably be remembered as a collaborator, but I’m fine with it as long as they live to keep telling the tale of Klemto the traitor long after I’m dead.”
At this point you and Warrick take your leave, the next time you look back, Klemto is gone and the mountain “windows” have all closed up as if everything was normal again.
“You really think you can trust the gnomes?” Warrick asks.
“I trust them more now that we have a way in. I want as many Eyes as you can spare in that mountain. Perhaps over time we can pull some out if the gnomes do prove to be loyal and don’t complain too much, but we definitely want to at least gather every single bit of information we can on that place just in case the gnomes DO try to betray us in the future.”
“I’ll get on that, as soon as we return to the Empire. I shouldn’t have had the doubt, but I really thought this plan was going to go bad.”
“Don’t worry, I had the same feeling, but sometimes you just have to throw caution to the wind and attempt new strategies.”
“Well maybe I didn’t see any battle, but I was still glad to get out behind that desk. I thank you for that.” Warrick says.
“If you’d like we could always go try to take out one of the city states by ourselves. Has to be easier than an entire mountain.”
You and Warrick laugh at this idea and head back to the Empire.
A month passes and the war against the Confederacy of Free Cities is well underway. The odds are severely in your favor especially with the help of the gnomes who show up and you get a small indication of what exactly they have been working on.
Some sort of powerful battle machine they call automatons. The best way to describe them is they’re golems except work under the power of steam, gears and technology rather than magic. A single automaton is an incredibly destructive force blowing holes in walls with their mounted cannons or just smashing them down with a hammer fist.
The gnomes also bring out their lightning cannons that you remember during the Felkan War. It was a relatively new invention towards the end of that conflict, but it looks like the gnomes have perfected it their power. Your own inventors never could figure out how to create them though. (Even Elam was at a loss on how they did it without the use of magic)
You’re sort of surprised they never created their own airships, but apparently they were in the process of doing so. In any case, whatever they’ve created and will create are yours to use now.
The Confederacy of Free Cities doesn’t stand a chance and half of them are in ruins after it’s all said and done. That wasn’t the original intent, but at this point you’re not really concerned with conquering a few measly cities. You can always have new ones built now that you own the territory. What matters more is the eradication of the svelk menace.
“We got her Emperor!” a soldier says running up to you in the middle of the burning ruins of Ryglik.
“Are you sure its her?” you ask
“Yes, Emperor. It’s Domina Eldolith. She was captured by the kobolds attempting to escape through a system of tunnels, she killed quite a few of them, but the little scalies managed to subdue her. She’s been yelling about being the grand domina of the free cities and a bunch of other stuff. Mostly demanding to be treated with the respect that a captured enemy of her stature deserves.”
“Unbelievable. Defiant and arrogant to the end. Wouldn’t be the svelk way otherwise. Well take me to her.” You say.
You are lead to the former city hall and down into the basement where several kobolds are proding a bound Eldolith with sharp objects and laughing while she swears and curses at them. They see you and bow in reverence while excitedly looking for approval of their deed.
“Capturr blak elf! For Emp! For Emp!” one of them says.
“Yes, and I will make sure you are awarded appropriately for your deeds. All of you, now leave I want to speak with this one alone. And do not interrupt me, no matter what you may hear. I will leave here when I’m ready.”
The kobolds leave via the trapdoor in the floor, your human soldiers nearby head back upstairs. Eldolith looks at you as you approach her. It’s been a while since you’ve seen her, but she’s not looking her best right now. Her clothes are torn and wet, she’s covered in dirt and grime. She smells like she’s been running through a sewer. Superficial wounds are on her face and body. Her eyes are burning through you with an absolute hatred.
And you love every moment of it.
“If you think I’m going to beg for my life you’re sadly mistaken. I will NEVER give you that satisfaction. I am a svelk! My people…”
You backhand Eldolith shutting her up.
“Are dead. And if they aren’t, the ones we captured soon will be. You can stop playing the arrogant svelk Eldy. You’re scared of what is going to happen next. And you should be, because I’m going to revisit some old techniques your mother showed me once.”
At this point Eldolith’s eyes widen and she tries to edge away when your hands start to touch her body. Suddenly you grip her throat.
“Don’t move away from me bitch.” You say and look into her eyes. Gone is the hatred. Now you see the fear.
“Now then, if you’re concerned that I meant a physical violation, I hate the break your dreams, but that won’t be happening. For one thing, your current stench is enough to give an orc pause. However after I’m done today, you will be wishing that I was displaying such a kindness to you. Begging. In fact I believe your earlier boast about not begging for your life was correct. You won’t be. You’ll be begging for your death. Now let us begin…”
You pull out a small set of tools you brought for this occasion. To be honest you weren’t sure if you’d be lucky enough to capture Eldolith alive, but fortune smiled on you this day.
You begin a brutal session of torture on Eldolith. You occasionally ask her for more information on where other svelk may be, but these are met with pathetic moans of denial of knowledge.
“I DON’T KNOW ANYTHING!” Eldolith screams as another finger is cut off.
“At this point I actually believe you, but I don’t really care because this is amusing to me. Torturing a svelk. Not just any svelk though. One that tried to have me fucking assassinated on several occasions. Come on Eldy, you really can’t be surprised by my actions here. You svelk pride yourself on showing no mercy and revel in cruelty, I’d think you’d understand all this.”
“Who told you this? My mother?! And you believed her? What makes you think she wasn’t responsible and just put the blame on me?!”
“Well for one thing, your mother is a lot smarter than you and if she was planning to have me killed, I have to admit, she might’ve been successful. Fortunately that crazy bitch is obsessed with me, for some unknown reason…”
At this point Eldolith starts coughing up blood while trying to laugh.
“Something amusing? Have you finally gone mad from the pain?” you ask.
“Ha ha, (cough) you wish I was her right now. (cough) You’ll never get that satisfaction, she’s played you like a cheap lute since you’ve been born Eternal. Even now you’re doing her bidding. She just…”
At this point Eldolith vomits a mixture of blood and bile on the floor. Some of it getting on your boots.
“You were saying?” you ask, but Eldolith just breathes heavily not answering.
“Well, you don’t really need this eye to tell me the rest of your thoughts.” You say and approach her again with a knife…
By the time dawn comes, Eldolith is barely alive. She’s blind, missing an entire hand, her skin partially flayed, missing most of her teeth, she’s a bloody mess and her face doesn’t even resemble that of a svelk anymore. She’s long since proven your prediction correct and begged for death, which you’ve denied her. But even you have to move on some time.
“I have to admit Eldy, I thought you would’ve been long dead by now. For someone begging for death, your body’s will to survive is strong. The funny thing is, I could easily heal most of you up and do this all over again, but honestly I think I’ve made my point. Besides I’d hate to shorten my own lifespan just for a little bit of amusement, which is getting boring now. Any last words?”
Eldolith makes no sound, just shallow breathing.
“Right then.” You say and put your mithral dagger to her throat.
“You brought this on yourself.” You whisper in Eldolith’s hacked off ear and slash her throat at last putting her out of her living hell.
When you exit the building, several officers say they’ve been wanting to speak with you about important matters of the aftermath of the war and similar matters concerning the newly acquired cities. Also the gnomes are wondering what your next orders are now since the enemy has been thoroughly eliminated.
While you certainly feel good about your victory and your recent indulgence, you can’t help but wonder now if Eldolith was just a convenient scapegoat. Eldolith and her sect of svelk obviously still had to die and you’re more than certain that she was involved in trying to have you killed, but who is to say that it wasn’t Semra pulling the strings all along?
In any event, looks like playtime is over. Back to business as usual.
“Very well, your terms are somewhat reasonable though we’re still going to have to hammer out some details, however I do want one thing from you right now.” You say.
“Oh? What’s that?”
“You will assist in attacking the Confederacy of the Free Cities.”
“...so you would call on our service already eh? Fine. We will assist, just let us know what exactly you want from us.”
“Nothing elaborate, I just want another army south of the cities in case some of the svelk try to escape that way. I don’t want a single one of them to get away. They’re a threat to the Empire and their constant manipulations need to cease being a thorn in my side. Too long they’ve gone unpunished for their treachery. Maybe I won’t be getting all of them on the world. But rest assured I WILL be getting ALL of them in this area.”
“I see. While you may not have any hatred for my race, you obviously do for the dark elves. It would seem the more things change, the more they stay same…(Sigh) Well better the svelk than us I suppose.” Klemto says.
“Glad you see the pragmatic side of this.”
“Oh I suspect I’ll be seeing the pragmatic side a lot in the future. Not how I wanted to spend the remainder of my years, but then this is really the only way. I’ve long since learned that opposing the Empire is futile. While it may eventually fall to internal or external forces, it probably isn’t going to be in my lifetime and I’m going to do everything within that time to make sure the gnomes stay out of harm’s way. If that means swallowing what little pride we might have left and willingly becoming the subjects of a nation that once enslaved us and then tried to systematically exterminate us, then that is what we will do.”
Klemto finishes his little speech with another puff of his pipe. He looks defeated even though he’s come out fairly okay on this deal. Well at least you think so, obviously he feels differently.
“You’ll be remembered as a savior to your people Klemto.” You say before you leave.
“I’ll probably be remembered as a collaborator, but I’m fine with it as long as they live to keep telling the tale of Klemto the traitor long after I’m dead.”
At this point you and Warrick take your leave, the next time you look back, Klemto is gone and the mountain “windows” have all closed up as if everything was normal again.
“You really think you can trust the gnomes?” Warrick asks.
“I trust them more now that we have a way in. I want as many Eyes as you can spare in that mountain. Perhaps over time we can pull some out if the gnomes do prove to be loyal and don’t complain too much, but we definitely want to at least gather every single bit of information we can on that place just in case the gnomes DO try to betray us in the future.”
“I’ll get on that, as soon as we return to the Empire. I shouldn’t have had the doubt, but I really thought this plan was going to go bad.”
“Don’t worry, I had the same feeling, but sometimes you just have to throw caution to the wind and attempt new strategies.”
“Well maybe I didn’t see any battle, but I was still glad to get out behind that desk. I thank you for that.” Warrick says.
“If you’d like we could always go try to take out one of the city states by ourselves. Has to be easier than an entire mountain.”
You and Warrick laugh at this idea and head back to the Empire.
A month passes and the war against the Confederacy of Free Cities is well underway. The odds are severely in your favor especially with the help of the gnomes who show up and you get a small indication of what exactly they have been working on.
Some sort of powerful battle machine they call automatons. The best way to describe them is they’re golems except work under the power of steam, gears and technology rather than magic. A single automaton is an incredibly destructive force blowing holes in walls with their mounted cannons or just smashing them down with a hammer fist.
The gnomes also bring out their lightning cannons that you remember during the Felkan War. It was a relatively new invention towards the end of that conflict, but it looks like the gnomes have perfected it their power. Your own inventors never could figure out how to create them though. (Even Elam was at a loss on how they did it without the use of magic)
You’re sort of surprised they never created their own airships, but apparently they were in the process of doing so. In any case, whatever they’ve created and will create are yours to use now.
The Confederacy of Free Cities doesn’t stand a chance and half of them are in ruins after it’s all said and done. That wasn’t the original intent, but at this point you’re not really concerned with conquering a few measly cities. You can always have new ones built now that you own the territory. What matters more is the eradication of the svelk menace.
“We got her Emperor!” a soldier says running up to you in the middle of the burning ruins of Ryglik.
“Are you sure its her?” you ask
“Yes, Emperor. It’s Domina Eldolith. She was captured by the kobolds attempting to escape through a system of tunnels, she killed quite a few of them, but the little scalies managed to subdue her. She’s been yelling about being the grand domina of the free cities and a bunch of other stuff. Mostly demanding to be treated with the respect that a captured enemy of her stature deserves.”
“Unbelievable. Defiant and arrogant to the end. Wouldn’t be the svelk way otherwise. Well take me to her.” You say.
You are lead to the former city hall and down into the basement where several kobolds are proding a bound Eldolith with sharp objects and laughing while she swears and curses at them. They see you and bow in reverence while excitedly looking for approval of their deed.
“Capturr blak elf! For Emp! For Emp!” one of them says.
“Yes, and I will make sure you are awarded appropriately for your deeds. All of you, now leave I want to speak with this one alone. And do not interrupt me, no matter what you may hear. I will leave here when I’m ready.”
The kobolds leave via the trapdoor in the floor, your human soldiers nearby head back upstairs. Eldolith looks at you as you approach her. It’s been a while since you’ve seen her, but she’s not looking her best right now. Her clothes are torn and wet, she’s covered in dirt and grime. She smells like she’s been running through a sewer. Superficial wounds are on her face and body. Her eyes are burning through you with an absolute hatred.
And you love every moment of it.
“If you think I’m going to beg for my life you’re sadly mistaken. I will NEVER give you that satisfaction. I am a svelk! My people…”
You backhand Eldolith shutting her up.
“Are dead. And if they aren’t, the ones we captured soon will be. You can stop playing the arrogant svelk Eldy. You’re scared of what is going to happen next. And you should be, because I’m going to revisit some old techniques your mother showed me once.”
At this point Eldolith’s eyes widen and she tries to edge away when your hands start to touch her body. Suddenly you grip her throat.
“Don’t move away from me bitch.” You say and look into her eyes. Gone is the hatred. Now you see the fear.
“Now then, if you’re concerned that I meant a physical violation, I hate the break your dreams, but that won’t be happening. For one thing, your current stench is enough to give an orc pause. However after I’m done today, you will be wishing that I was displaying such a kindness to you. Begging. In fact I believe your earlier boast about not begging for your life was correct. You won’t be. You’ll be begging for your death. Now let us begin…”
You pull out a small set of tools you brought for this occasion. To be honest you weren’t sure if you’d be lucky enough to capture Eldolith alive, but fortune smiled on you this day.
You begin a brutal session of torture on Eldolith. You occasionally ask her for more information on where other svelk may be, but these are met with pathetic moans of denial of knowledge.
“I DON’T KNOW ANYTHING!” Eldolith screams as another finger is cut off.
“At this point I actually believe you, but I don’t really care because this is amusing to me. Torturing a svelk. Not just any svelk though. One that tried to have me fucking assassinated on several occasions. Come on Eldy, you really can’t be surprised by my actions here. You svelk pride yourself on showing no mercy and revel in cruelty, I’d think you’d understand all this.”
“Who told you this? My mother?! And you believed her? What makes you think she wasn’t responsible and just put the blame on me?!”
“Well for one thing, your mother is a lot smarter than you and if she was planning to have me killed, I have to admit, she might’ve been successful. Fortunately that crazy bitch is obsessed with me, for some unknown reason…”
At this point Eldolith starts coughing up blood while trying to laugh.
“Something amusing? Have you finally gone mad from the pain?” you ask.
“Ha ha, (cough) you wish I was her right now. (cough) You’ll never get that satisfaction, she’s played you like a cheap lute since you’ve been born Eternal. Even now you’re doing her bidding. She just…”
At this point Eldolith vomits a mixture of blood and bile on the floor. Some of it getting on your boots.
“You were saying?” you ask, but Eldolith just breathes heavily not answering.
“Well, you don’t really need this eye to tell me the rest of your thoughts.” You say and approach her again with a knife…
By the time dawn comes, Eldolith is barely alive. She’s blind, missing an entire hand, her skin partially flayed, missing most of her teeth, she’s a bloody mess and her face doesn’t even resemble that of a svelk anymore. She’s long since proven your prediction correct and begged for death, which you’ve denied her. But even you have to move on some time.
“I have to admit Eldy, I thought you would’ve been long dead by now. For someone begging for death, your body’s will to survive is strong. The funny thing is, I could easily heal most of you up and do this all over again, but honestly I think I’ve made my point. Besides I’d hate to shorten my own lifespan just for a little bit of amusement, which is getting boring now. Any last words?”
Eldolith makes no sound, just shallow breathing.
“Right then.” You say and put your mithral dagger to her throat.
“You brought this on yourself.” You whisper in Eldolith’s hacked off ear and slash her throat at last putting her out of her living hell.
When you exit the building, several officers say they’ve been wanting to speak with you about important matters of the aftermath of the war and similar matters concerning the newly acquired cities. Also the gnomes are wondering what your next orders are now since the enemy has been thoroughly eliminated.
While you certainly feel good about your victory and your recent indulgence, you can’t help but wonder now if Eldolith was just a convenient scapegoat. Eldolith and her sect of svelk obviously still had to die and you’re more than certain that she was involved in trying to have you killed, but who is to say that it wasn’t Semra pulling the strings all along?
In any event, looks like playtime is over. Back to business as usual.