Hey hey!
Welcome back to the gates of Enverdolmal!
I hope you all have been doing just as always.
I have been finding myself drifting towards working on these "Part 1.5." chapters more and more as of late, and I don't know why honestly lol.
It's not that I don't care for them. or don't want to write or work on them, and it's not as if I don't want to move the storyline forward for you all either.
I don't really know what it is in full, but I think it has something to do with the fact that I am sure that I have a few more characters to introduce still lol and it is eating at me.
I think I have a weird sort of roadmap in my head that has been forming, and the sudden designation of "Part 1.5" in place of "Part 1." just feels strange to me. Like the story arc "Part 1." isn't complete so it isn't fair to move up. Does that make sense? lol.
I will let you all get to what you came here for, enough of my babbling!
OH!
We just hit 14.7K English Views and 6.7K Spanish Views.
How fackin cool is that!?
I know I'm thinking about this too much, but it's really doing something to me lbvs.
I won't take you any longer, I know you've come for the story and not for my chatter ha
See you here again shortly.
Enjoy.
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Roary knelt at the edge of the forest edge.
His breathing calm. His mind and body at the ready.
He had definitely heard the challenge that had been issued by the Boer Goat known as Great Horn, no more than a half hours time ago.
He had had a pretty good idea of where he was going up till that point, but the goats calling had made narrowing down the last couple of miles that much easier.
He had followed the voice, winding through the trees as he drew closer to where he had figured it had come from.
His guess and his hearing had both been spot on.
The expanse of land between the forest edge and the rocky foot of the mountain was trampled flat for at least fifty yards in any direction.
There was no grass, no shrubbery.
Before him, a great and looming mountain.
Upon it, an insufferably irritable beast with a poor disposition for nearly any other living thing.
The stalwart Dwarf had heard it call out to him loud and clear.
He would accept that call, that challenge...
He would see to its removal.
It would be no small task, but one that needed to be done before he could claim the mountain for himself and his clan.
The massive goat was fast asleep once again atop the bluff that was its favorite sleeping place, its bronzed horns rocking slightly with each great and drawn breath. It's huge bulk moving in tandem. It was a fair bit more... muscular than Roary had imagined it would be.
"Mayhap it has been working out and eating healthy for the past five years..."
He thought to himself with a roll of his deep, green eyes.
It was far more likely that the thing had bested its fair share of encroachers and would-be ousters since the last time that it had been observed some five years ago.
"Well I guess it be me turn!"
He said to himself.
"And I ain't one for being turned away!"
A thought came to the forefront of his mind. He was still quite poorly armed for such an encounter as he was... But he hadn't planned on facing the beast of an animal with just his throwing axe.
Scanning the immediate area, Roary's eyes fell upon a fine Oak stump jutting from the moss-covered ground before him. He approached the stump and ran the palm of his hand over its chipped and notched surface.
The axe patterns matched his clan's chop style... one of his Dwarfs must have laid this tree low those short five years ago.
His eyes darkened just a bit...
His hands balled into tight and angry fist.
Memories of the past stories told flooded his mind.
Images of his fallen kin summoned tears to the corners of his eyes.
The damned goat.
The damned Troll.
He hadn't forgotten the Toll.
The loss of his kin was partially the monster's fault as well.
It was the Forest Troll that had done the actual killing, but it was Great Horn who had purposefully driven the wary Dwarfs off and into the creature's territory.
He would have to find the thing and lay it low just as he would do the goat.
A life for a life.
The Troll wasn't worth its own weight in anything, let alone the effort to kill it.
But for his kin? It would be done.
The horns of this "Great Horn" would adorn the archway over the entrance hall to his, nay, his people's new home.
Three Dwarfs lost was Three too many...
He would avenge them or die in the attempt.
His boys may have been routed by the goat in their ill-fated venture into these parts, but Roary had the strength of arm and the might of mind to do what his hardy expedition Dwarfs could not.
He took a step back and walked around the base of the stump, examining it as he went. His eyes fell upon a large and thick root that rose in part above the surface of the forest floor.
"That'll do."
He said as he stooped to get a good and firm grip on it, brushing aside some of the dirt that held it firmly in place.
"That'll do just fine."
As his hands tightened around the entangled root, he set his feet and slowly began to pull at it while simultaneously chanting one of his favorite and most potent Druidic spells. As the natural Aether from the Earth beneath him began to flow up his arms and swell within his muscled chest, Roary let it take over his core and mingle with his own considerable internal Aether pool.
The hardened and packed soil around the base of the stump seemed to liquify, glowing with a faint green energy as it loosened its grip on the great hunk of decaying tree.
With each passing second more and more beads of sweat gathered atop Roary's shaved prominent brow. It had been a bit of time since the "rough and tumble" sort of Dwarf had used his Aether in such a serious and focused way. He was still a Dwarf after all, and Aether didn't tend to attract to thick Dwarven blood as easily as it did with many of the other species of Humanoids.
But the Humans of Kopstad had taught him long and well.
Roary and his kin had always had the utmost respect for nature and every living thing that it produced. It seemed as if his Forest Dwarves were among the few species of Humanoids who so dearly cherished the natural balance of the world. They seemed also to be one of even fewer who were ever inspired to protect said balance.
Druidcraft was a gift from the very Gods of the forest.
Gifted only to those who would vow to protect any and all who would seek shelter beneath its expansive and ever-growing branches.
A gift that required a substantial and equivalent exchange.
An exchange that Roary was currently enacting.
Nearly five minutes had passed, and the mighty Oak stump was very nearly free of its deep-rooted hole.
The Druidic magics that Roary had summoned forth had slowly seeped into the flesh of the dead and decaying wood of the stump, giving it a new life and purpose.
The vine-like root that he had been pulling at slipped free of the earth and as it did, it solidified into a sturdy and strong handle.
The determined Dwarfs work was far from done.
The Druidic magic pulsed softly from within the handle, demanding more of his Aether.
His physical strength.
His very life force.
His faith.
Power for power.
Of this, Roary had plenty.
A single Rune flared to life on the back of each of his Mighty hands, and he flexed the muscles in his back, giving one last good tug.
The old roots relented with a bit of magical assistance, and the enchanted maul was wrenched free of its earthly cradle.
Turning it over slowly in his hands to inspect it, Roary could only beam a large a toothy grin.
It was his finest piece yet!
The weapon was far from elegant, and further still from eye-pleasing. Yet even in its simplicity, its physical and magical might could not be denied.
The maul was just under a yard from the top of its head to the base of its handle, and unnaturally balanced.
The aforementioned head was light yet sturdy, just as the oak from which it was born.
The Aether that flowed threw it now had neutralized and even undone the rot and infestation that had plagued its former state.
One end of the head was nearly flat save for the chips and indents made by the Dwarven axes that had felled the tree.
The other was covered in wickedly sharp protruding rootlets, several of which were as long and thick around as Roary's forearm.
The maul was as perfect as it could have possibly been.
As perfect as Roary could have hoped given its hurried creation.
He gave it a test swing, and was left every bit as confident as he should be. The mighty weapon seemed like little more than an extension of his arm. He would see it put to good use that day.
Of vines, he fastened a holster-like sling, and over his right shoulder, the great maul lay.
He took a few moments to rest and drank deeply from his water skin and flask consecutively.
The deep Druidic magic had taxed him a bit more than he had imagined it would.
He grimaced to himself as he realized then that he had also been hiking for nearly five days straight since he had departed from the last checkpoint and his last pair of kin of the ten that had accompanied him from Kopstad.
His eyes grew heavy and he knew then that he would have to rest. He would have to let himself rest.
It was needed.
He would need as much of his Aether and energy as possible for the battle that was to come.
Fastening a quick lean-to at the base of a nearby tree, Roary sat his pack against the base and flapped down, very nearly unconscious on impact with the moss-covered ground.
Sleep took him.
He let it, for the next time that he woke could very well be his last.
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I hope that this entry was good to your eyeballs!
I know it is a bit of a slow burner, but it'll be worth the story pacing lol I promise!
Chip has quite the pair of boots to fill yeah?
And we have yet to even get to the juicy parts!
Take care of yourselves folks. The world can be a cold and cruel place, and I hope that those cold and cruel parts have missed the lot of you by a long shot.
I am still working on my YouTube page for One Last Knight, so keep an eye out!
If you would like a head start on the action, you can head on over to the page now and subscribe early!
The stories will be posted soon enough, I just got my recording equipment in so I will be setting up and starting to record just as soon as I get the required software all figured out!
I love you all, and I all forever grateful to each and every one of you who have stuck it out with me thus far on this wild and riveting series of adventures. I am just as grateful for all of you newcomers as well, and I hope you all stick around till the very end!
ALSO I haven't forgotten about the World Map!
I am still working on it and sorting out the placements of dorpies and cities and the likes lol It is quite the process. I love that process though! World building is really amazing and it takes me further away from this real world and so much deeper into Enverdolmal. That immersion is what I want for you all.
One step at a time!
I will see you all back here soon enough, we have a long way to go on this journey of ours, and I am beyond pleased to have you all here to take this journey with me.
Until next we gather, here at the gates to Enverdolmal:
Stay safe.
Stay healthy.
Stay vigilant.
Safe travels.
-Redd.