Fable - Ask Up is Down

[Rolegg Magmasworn]

Rolegg furrowed his brows, studying the map in his hands. A fat, sausage-like finger tapped it a few times, almost as if he were shaking a compass to make it point towards north. With pursed lips, the duergar spent an agonizing several minutes in the pitch darkness of the cave trying to make sense of the paper in his hands. It had been long since he left Dhunbor -- especially on a trip as long as this -- and he was growing frustrated with the days as they dragged on. He smacked his lips together, still tasting the roasted spider legs and stone-foam ale from earlier. The pack animals lugging most of their gear lounged in the darkness behind him, taking this moment to rest their legs on the cold, hard stone ground. Every so often, an uncertain "Hrm..." would escape Rolegg's lips. Bronni was somewhere around here, though he hadn't seen the newly-freed criminal in some time. The two oversaw a small Duergar sapper team digging a tunnel towards the massive Dwarven complex of Belgrath. With so many dwarves having left the city, and so many miles of its grand structure abandoned, it was ripe for settlement by the new Drow-Duergar underrealm alliance. They just needed to get their first, and that was proving tricky thanks to the expert map-reading skills of Rolegg Magmasworn.

"Noo... Wis it a left at th' fork, or a richt? Ah, shet. Awright, Bronni, whit kin ye mak' o' thes map?" he queried out into the darkness, hoping his comrade would be over to correct their course. They had tunneled into a set of caves during their digging, and, rather than tunnel straight all the way to Belgrath, decided that it was best to use as much of the natural cave system as possible. A single bead of sweat rolled down from Rolegg's forehead and traced down to the bridge of his nose, where it fell into the massive tangle of his beard below. He'd stripped to his waist some time ago as the digging got particularly tiresome, and he only carried his twin hand axes. The caves were still dangerous, and he'd rather have been prepared for a fight than not, though their journey had been relatively uneventful thus far. He wasn't sure how much farther they had to tunnel until they broke into Belgrath, but it couldn't have been very far.

He rotated the map a few times, trying to find his bearing. Every now and then, he'd be seen turning around in place in a full three-sixty, cross-referencing his current position with the map, confused. He was this close to figuring it out, but none of the other diggers really wanted to get up from their resting position to help out. It was up to Bronni to help point them in the right direction for the final leg of their journey.

Zharr preserve them.

Bronni Strakeln

 

[Bronni Strakeln]

Bronni sat about three feet away from Rolegg. He was resting his head against the side of the cave and sucked on some jerky with his eyes closed, satisfied that the digging team didn't make any new tunnels bigger than 5'5. Regardless of the alliance he still hated the Drow, but knowing that he couldn't take his revenge while King Hulgor was alive all he could do was make sure that the entire Drow army would have to duck while travelling through their miles of tunnels.

He was thoroughly enjoying that mental image when Rolegg interrupted him. "don't need the map anymore," the much younger dwarf replied to the drunkard and subsequently pointed at his ear and then at the tunnel wall. Clenching the jerky between his teeth, Bronni leaned on his pickaxe and got up from the stone ground. Unlike Rolegg he was actually helping with the tunnel and doing his shifts of picking away at the stone. Still dirt-poor he only wore a slightly newer tunic than he had in prison and his only weapon aside from the pickaxe was the knife attached to his belt. "Here let me hold that while ye try." he took the map from Rolegg's hands and pointed towards the wall. "We digging that way, so ye should hear the Arragoth when ye put your ear to it."

While Rolegg tried that what was mere lunacy, Bronni took a look at the map.


Rolegg Magmasworn​

 

[Rolegg Magmasworn]

Rolegg stared at Bronni in disbelief. What did he mean they don't need the map anymore? Of course they needed the map! This thing was centuries old, passed down from miner foreman to miner foreman, one-by-one as collapsing tunnels or cave spiders or feral elves took their lives. It was thoroughly stained with blood, sweat, and Zharr knows what else. Having the map gave him a sense of power and authority; of course they still needed the map! Still, he, against his better instincts, trusted Bronni for some reason or the other, and so he would entertain his suggestion. Maybe they were close enough to hear the Arragoth.

Rolegg grumbled something beneath his breath and shoved the map into Bronni's chest right as he reached for it. As he tromped towards the wall, the lounging mining crew followed him with bated breath, their eyes observing the squat form of the dwarf map-bearer in the darkness. He approached the rock wall, staring at it bemusedly. His brows furrowed and concealed a good part of his eyes as he studied the rocks, wondering which part would be best to put his ear against. After a moment of contemplation, Rolegg simply shrugged and planted his ear firmly against the rock and waited.

And waited.

...And waited.

The other miners snickered quietly among themselves, but Rolegg was damn determined to hear something. He knew they had to be close to the Arragoth; he could feel it. After a few moments of complete silence, the realization that Bronni was playing him for a fool set in. He gritted his teeth and pushed off against the wall, pointing a fat finger at the new map-bearer. "Wha th' hell dae ye think yer, playing me fur a rockit lok gowk lik' that? Ye ken damn weel we cannae hear th' arragoth thro' rock, ye dimwit!" he thundered, indignant. He reached for the map in Bronni's hand, grimacing.

"Gimme that map, ye eejit. Ye ken ye cannae read!"

Bronni Strakeln

 

[Bronni Strakeln]

The map was complicated, showing different layers of natural tunnels and descriptive runes in places Bronni didn't expect them, but even if he was smart enough to figure it out or even if he could read, all of his attention was with the other Duergar. It was hard to hold in his laughter while he motioned for the others to stay silent with stern looks, but when Rolegg finally realized he was the victim of a joke the mere look on the older dwarf's face was enough to break the act completely. "Ahahahah!" Bronni cried with laughter, renaming the drunkard "Rolegg keen-ear!" as the others in the tunneling crew lost it, too, laughing so hard they almost drowned out Rolegg's indignant thundering.

Rolegg's comment about Bronni not being able to read hurt him, though, as much as it was true, but the proud Duergar wasn't going to let it slide that easily. Pulling the map back out of reach from Rolegg, he pointed his own pickaxe at his ear; "Mebbe we dug too close to th' surface. Mebbe ye should put yer ear to the floor!" Behind him two fellow Duergar had tears from laughter as they pretended to get on all fours and put an ear to the ground.

Rolegg Magmasworn​

 

[Rolegg Magmasworn]

Rolegg Keen-ear! Rolegg Keen-ear!

The Duergar mining party joined in a chant, rechristening Rolegg for the fool that he is. The older Duergar flicked his gaze from miner to miner, frowning deeply. Besieged on all sides for having put his ear to the stone, Rolegg found that the only way out was to fight fire with fire. He turned back to Bronni and clenched his fists, raising one up as if to punch him. "Pat mah lug tae th' flair? Mibbie Ah shoods pat mah fist in yer gob! A' least 'en ye'll clam up!" This caused the other Duergar to either continue laughing, or give off a childish, "OoooOOOOOO."

Rolegg tossed his pickaxe to the side and cracked his knuckles, taking a step back. He rolled his shoulder and popped his neck from side to side, hawking a fat loogie on the floor. "Pit up yer fests, aam gornae beat th' jobby ootta yer snot-nosed coopon, ye wee rock-chewin' grub," he challenged, pointing a fat finger at the cause of all his ridicule. He couldn't just let this slide, even if they had a job to do. The damned knife-eared bastards could wait a few minutes longer; they had Dwarf business to settle here. The other Duergar cackled and began to form a little ring, cheering and jeering, trying to instigate a brawl.

Beneath his bushy beard, despite it all, Rolegg managed a grin. "'Less yoo're scared ay gettin' gubbed up fernent a' body?"

This was met with more derisive "OOOOOoOoOOooooOOOoooOoO"s.

Bronni Strakeln

 

[Bronni Strakeln]

The first "OoooOOOOOOO" marked the moment Bronni knew he had to fight Rolegg or he had to admit defeat. He wasn't going to do the latter, so just like the old drunkard he tossed his pickaxe to the side, clenched his fists and raised them...

..momentarily forgetting that by doing so, he also crumpled the map. As realization set in, Bronni's face turned red with both embarrassment or anger "Look whatcha did!" he cried and held the map upwards to distract Rolegg before suddenly swinging with his right. He missed by half a feet, striking quite the ridiculous figure. "Ye ruined the map!"

The little ring of Duergar diggers around the pair laughed and ridiculed Bronni's attempt to his the old drunkard. No one seemed to realize that the little kerfuffle might've ruined the map, or, like Bronni, didn't really care. There were things more important than helping the Drow, such as striking off grudges from your personal book of grudges. Bronni can't read or write, but he can remember grudges and Rolegg saying that he can't read certainly is one!​

Rolegg Magmasworn