[i][b][H2][color=FF370A]STENRESTER SPEAKS[/color][/H2][/b][/i] [hr] Deep in the bowels of the earth did a [url=https://youtu.be/34CZjsEI1yU?si=_G-vrq9fu6OrRQfy]Song[/url] ring, deep did the echoes of picks echo. The mines of Min Sten never rest, and hadn’t stopped its work since it first opened many decades before. For Min Sten was not some simple quarry or mine, but a place that revealed near endless bounties of earth with every swing of a tool. So on do the Dwarves work in ever expanding shafts that range miles long and deep. But, this focus is not on the entirety of the ranges claimed underneath the Mountain that holds Min Sten. Merely on its most southern tunnel. “Come on greenbeards, we got a quota to meet and things to kill!” So yells the eldest dwarf in a Party of four. One named Karl, the most prolific miner of the Sten Clans. On another expedition to show some younger Dwarves with more color then sense in their beards how to extract from the dangerous depths they delve into. What makes them so dangerous? Bugs mostly. The native Dum bugs come in many variations, all of which love to eat minerals and stone to create carapaces that need a unique trick to crack. That being hitting it. Really, really hard. At these depths the mission is more to kill a bunch of Dum Bugs and collect spoils off of their bodies than to actually mine. A perfectly violent way to retrieve the materials that the Stenester Kingdom needs to thrive. Today had been a great day for Karl and his motley crew. They woke up hungover, drank a pint, had breakfast, drank a pint, drank their daily pint followed by a pint, cleaned up with having their shower pint, then got out of bed. Pint in hand. Truly, ale and fighting would make anyone's day, but this day was especially because Karl got to hunt some particularly big and ornery bastards that started to raid the actual mines. So he got a new thing to mount in the tavern and win that contest to get a free pint. Truly, life was sweet. That is until he started hearing yelling of a particularly undwarven nature. Not that they didn't, just that they didn't have such high pitched screams of terror unless an engineer was about to bring the mountain down again. Still, just in case one of his lads got hit in the stones too hard he started rushing over till he got through a much smaller tunnel then they usually dug. Finding… “Ah bugger, what are surface Skagglos doing in me mines!” Karl gives a hefty swing, putting down a Dum Bug with a resounding Crack that alerts the group of adventurers. None of them are clearly armed for dealing with the local wildlife. “Uh,” One of the onyx skinned, and much taller and thinner beings starts. “Hi?” [hr] [Center][i]Day before Karl's Expedition [/i][/center] [hr] “So you are saying there are…underground [i]elves[/i]?” The words of High King Dawi are spat out. “Aye sir. Black as night but not black as sin. Some of ‘im even ‘ave buggos for legs.” So reports the scoutmaster Spana, stein in hand and feet popped up. The King just tosses his hands in disbelief. “Those uppity leaf loving [i]knife[/i]-” His tirade is quickly interrupted. “Diffirent elves King. Further south them soft ones from Tacenie still exist.” Spana chuckles, seeing his king slump over in a chair. “Record after record, story after story told by our forefathers one and all! How did they [b]LIVE[/b]?! These dirt ones least had the sensibility to go to ground, how did they survive up in those fragile air cities?” He sputters, hands grinding onto the table. “Hey now, I am a messenger and a scout. Not a historian. I wouldn't go within a stones throw of them anyways, they got really…slavey.” Another quaff of ale is had, followed by Dawi gulping a full cup down in one go and slamming it down. “Bah, degenerates one and all. Move on before my temper gets the better of me.” He huffs. “And what?” Spana taunts, “Gonna try and wrestle me again? What's the score, like-” He was silenced by an angry King throwing himself across the table looking to settle an old score. Or, bring it up to a tie. After a productive… break, both return to their seats. Spana takes a slow sip of his ale. “Still have two up on ya Dawi.” “Just get on with your damn report.” Another deep laughter, like boulders being juggled. “Well, Ordun is around. But it's much different from the records, as everything has been. There's some clans near them as well, so that's new.” The High Kings hums in thought. “Did the elves expand out further? Or is the western continent gone?” “I already said I am not going within a stone's throw of them Tacenie Elves. And where I do not go, neither do my scouts. I can say land exists over there, but unless you want to organize a few ships to sail round, foot will be rather dangerous. Then again,” He gives a hearty chuckle. “Maybe we should remind those knife-ears to not get so uppity, hmm?” Dawi sits in silence, gazing at the incomplete and sparsely marked map. Thoughts rumbling in his head as distant earthquakes shake foundations. “Send them an envoy.” It was Spanas turn to be silent now, if for a moment. “Diplomacy? With who?” Like the scrape of tectonic plates are the words ground out. “Those…those…[i]Dirt Elves[/i].” One would not be surprised if Spana had died on the spot, how motionless he was. “Just do it. Find some level headed stens and make sure they aren't going to gravely insult them. If they have issues you can't beat out, send them to me.” His eyes were steely, unyielding. Maybe it was that, maybe it was the shock that removed the jolly nature of the king's old friend. “Aye my lord, I will have a selection ready and prepped by nightfall.” His arm snaps to the chest in salute. Dawi stares him down, relaxing slightly when he does not flinch. “Good. Things must be done differently, done in ways my father would do and our greatest ancestors did.” He stands, fully. “You are dismissed my friend. May our forefathers watch over us.” “And may we break the ground for our descendents.” With a martial turn, Spana swiftly walks out of the hall. Leaving the High King to his thoughts. [hr] [hider=Sums] First Contact Made with Aris alk Shasot adventurers Diplomatic Party Sent to Aris alk Shasot [/hider]