Tunnel Rat

"Straighten up you lot! The captain's coming down to lead us and I expect you to all show some respect and act like soldiers." Corporal Eugene Shadowforge, newly promoted corporal of the 1st Shadowforge Rangers was trying to get his troops to stand in straight lines for the captain to review. They were being...difficult. Not normal 'miner' difficult, or 'dwarf' difficult. They had entered into a zone of surliness where the sarcasm flowed freely and they only cooperated when tapping a keg. Which they had just done again.

Part of the problem may have been with the impending doom of the Stone Lurker invasion, but most of it was that they just didn't like their new corporal.

"Shut the hell up, Shifty. He ain't here. And if he ain't here, you’re just a clan-less thief, and not in charge of us." The other miners made sounds of agreement and went back to sharpening their picks, sipping beer, and discussing the latest trends in beards. Normally cutting any part of a beard was seen as something you just didn't do. But some of the younger dwarves had taken to such sacrilege as trimming sideburns and shaving their heads before they were decently bald. It was a bad trend that would lead to the end of dwarven society, or so the older dwarves said.

"He'll be here! He had important clan business to finish before heading down here!"

Shifty had no clue what that might be and was quite ready to get the hell out of this place. The whole 'Lead the unit and regain their respect' was Burnock's idea. As usual, this worked out better for Burnock than it did for Shifty. The until was a loose collection of members of the extended Shadowforge Clan along with miners who worked for the clan, and anyone who liked free beer on Thursday nights. It wasn't a military organization by any means, no matter what the hell Burnock thought. Sure, they could march around, wear the clan colors, and cheer for him when he made speeches. But no one had ever said they had to form up for a real battle.

Burnock knew that, so like he usually did, he tossed Shifty a few coins and a shitty job. They weren't soldiers and he wasn't a corporal. There was no way people were going to forget that he'd been caught thieving. The only member of the clan that still talked politely to him was Burnock, and for good reason. Shifty had been working directly for Burnock the night he got caught. Stealing some ingots and coins had been a little extra bit of thieving on the side. What his cousin had wanted was information on recently filed mining claims by other members of the clan. So when he was caught, he owned up to the theft of valuables but kept silent about his real mission. It would have torn the clan asunder. To repay his silence, Burnock made sure Shifty had some coins in his pocket, and something to do now and then to earn more. Which, come to think of it, had led him into more trouble.

He'd always been restless and bored. That had led him to make more bad decisions. Many of those bad decisions had been suggested by Burnock. It didn't seem quite fair, him at the bottom and clanless, while his cousin was high in the clan structure moving higher. He shrugged. Life sucked and then they told you to go be a corporal.

Some of the miners turned at the sound of people moving down the long stairway from the guild hall. First came several miners and warriors, all from Clan Shadowforge, and all carrying large boxes. Next came a scribe, and then a dwarf in a set of fancy armor, enameled in the colors of the clan.

The armor had been on display for hundreds of years in the clan halls. Burnock had secretly been having work done to have it fitted to him, and the chipped enamel repaired. He'd planned to wear it when his father finally stepped down and he could assume official leadership of the clan. If the old bastard had had any decency, that would have happened by now.

The armor would still get used. If you had to go fight some huge monstrosity, doing it in a set of enchanted Dark Steel plate armor was a lot better than just a pick and a miner's helmet. Who knows? Maybe they could even win! Visions of a mighty battle filled his head, and he saw himself striking the final blow and gaining the lion's share of the loot. That was how this should turn out.

Corporal Shifty saluted. "Captain Burnock, the troops are ready to move out, sir." As if to dispute that claim, several of the dwarves drank deeply and burped.

"Not just yet they aren't. Don't let it be said that the newly reformed Shadowforge Rangers went into battle without the clan's support. Everyone, get over here and grab a new pick. If we live you can keep them. If not, well, hopefully, there's someone around to bury them with us."

Burnock had spent every copper he could lay his hands on buying up the hardened Dark Iron gears and Dark Steel cables that the suspicious human, Milo, had been bringing in. But none of the clan smiths gained any clues about the lost hardening process from examining and working with the metal, which had been a disappointment. The metal didn’t just sit in storage though. When the Stone Lurkers had started crawling out of the tunnels in larger and larger numbers, he'd had every scrap of metal reforged into pick heads.

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There were murmurs from the miners as they picked up the new weapons. A few tested them out on rocky out-croppings or walls, astonished at how easily the new picks cut into the stone. Several whistled as they realized the metal they were made of and the value of the items they were being given. Many gave nods of respect to Burnock. All of them stood a bit straighter. A few even said a few words to their new corporal in apology.

Burnock and the other members of his clan also took up new weapons. The warriors sported Dark Steel shields and had a couple of extras they gave to the older miners. And there were scattered bits of armor, both old and new, to be passed out. An hour after he had arrived, Burnock looked at the unit of fifty miners. They actually looked like a group of warriors. Now they just had to prove that to the lurkers.

Burnock stood on a low rock and waited for everyone to have a chance to get one of the new weapons. It also gave time for everyone to get a good look at his armor. Dwarven society put great value in well-made armor and finely forged weapons. They were a sign of wealth and power. Most of the human and halfling miners had the same attitude.

At a signal from Shifty, the clan warriors beat their shields slowly to gain everyone's attention. Burnock waited until the right moment and started his speech. "You all know me; I grew up in these mines. And maybe I haven't been around much lately as my father had me take on more and more clan business. But I'm here now, and I brought friends to fight with you, and weapons to help you deal with these monsters. It's going to be a rough fight and I know that some of us won't make it back. But by our ancestors, we'll send ten times as many of the beasties to their rocky graves!"

Rather than a rousing cheer, there was only mild applause and a few shouts. Most of the crowd was turned around and looking at something, and the sound of voices many voices could be heard, as a large group of miners appeared out of the darkness.

"As I was saying, some of us might not make it back. But I want you all to remember the time..."

In the front of a small crowd was a human, flanked by two dwarves. The dwarves stood out because they were wearing ancient armor not seen in generations outside of a few pictures and schematics. The human was notable because some of them had fought with him against Stone Lurkers before.

One of the miners yelled. "Hey, is that Milo? Damn, we might have a chance."

Burnock raised his voice. "Remember the time that you followed Clan Shadowforge into battle..."

Most of the crowd was moving towards Milo and the two mysterious dwarves.

A younger dwarf ran up to Burnock. "Captain Burnock sir, I found the group with Darnfeld Stone Forger. They killed a bunch of them, sir! Dozens from what they are saying. They cleared out all the Lurkers roaming that section. And they have Engineers with them! Real Deep Rock Engineers! I watched them kill a couple of the lurkers, they hit so hard that the lurkers just shattered, like hitting sandstone. They’re going to deal with the Brood mother."

A cheer went up from anyone in earshot at the young dwarf's words. The youth’s excitement swayed any of the miners still clustered around Burnock, who started to jog over to get a look at the Engineers. Hell, even Shifty was over there, gawking at them.

Burnock tried to keep a smile on his face. "You don't say? So, Miner Milo mysteriously disappears and shows back up with some supposed legends? How convenient."

Immune to sarcasm as only some youths can be, the beardling nodded enthusiastically. "Just in the nick of time sir, like all the legends say Engineers will do. Oh, and it's not 'Miner Milo' anymore. It's 'Senior Engineer Milo', he has a Dark Steel Spanner on his belt! With Gold Trim!"

At the mention of Senior Engineer Milo’s name, the young dwarf suddenly remembered another part of his mission. "Oh, shoot...sorry sir, got to run uptop really quick."

Burnock grabbed him by the arm. "Hold up. Why are you going uptop?"

The youth puffed out his chest with pride. "Senior Engineer Milo has a mission for me, sir. I need to go get some cheese for him. He's hungry after killing all those Lurkers! " And with that, the young dwarf was off and running up the stairs.

Burnock looked to where the crowd was gathering around Milo, Throttlecog, and Two-Screws. Proof that crowds were fickle. One minute they loved you, and the next they were cheering for some damned upstart and a couple of greybeards in fancy armor. He wandered over to greet the newcomers and see what he could salvage out of the situation.

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