Chapter 30 Chapter 26 The Crazy Dwarf

Regis sighed heavily, and put down the parchment that the scouts had just delivered.He watched the parchment slide down the table, and finally hung on the corner of the table, precariously.That would be nice, the halfling thought.This report added to the current situation, scouts found trolls in the tunnels to the south, trailing the dwarves who were going to aid Nesmeer. The halfling instinct told himself that the fifty dwarves should be recalled. But how could he do that?There are now close to a thousand men fighting alongside Banneker on the cliff, and an even larger number of dwarves are guarding Banneker's flank and the west gate of Mithril Hall on the west side of Guardian's Canyon.

The remaining dwarves in Mithril Hall were also busy, moving through the passages, delivering supplies, treating the wounded, and replacing them when necessary.The various workshops were constantly busy, working overtime to fulfill Regis' requirements. Thinking of the blacksmiths, Regis had a sour expression on his face.For a moment he was tempted to stop Nanfreddo's mad plans and send more dwarves south. The halfling sighed again, and buried his face in his hands.Someone was knocking on the door, and he quickly raised his head to signal the knocker to come in. A dwarf entered, the bandages wrapped under his helmet and the clothes on his body indicating that he had just come down from the battle.

"The battle for the tunnel has begun," said the dwarf. "Banneker asked me to tell you." "While you came down to bandage the wound?" Regis asked. "Aha, it's just a scrape," said the dwarf. "I came down looking for something spiky for good construction." He nodded and turned to leave. "How did the battle in the tunnel go?" Regis said to himself after recovering from the dwarf's report. Things don't look good for the Warriors.Half of his helmet was covered in dried blood, and his armor was dented.The dwarf turned around.

"The tunnel was once in our hands," he said. "Do you think the enemy will give them back?" Regis, trying to control his emotions, shook his head.The dwarf nodded grimly and left. This caused Regis to sigh again, but that was after the dwarf had gone out - he didn't want to expose his weakness and disappointment to anyone.But now that he did, it was almost pushing him to the brink. The dwarves were bleeding, after all he had asked them to.The Halfling Regent could have called Banneker and his army back, the Warhammers and all the new dwarves, and sent them back inside Mithril Hall.Let the orcs do whatever they want!It seems unnecessary to let the troops stick to the outside and continue to fight. Perhaps it is the best policy to call them all back.

But if this is the case, this area will inevitably fall into the hands of orcs. The traditional status and role of Mithril Hall—as the first line of defense on the east side of the Spine of the World to protect good people from intrusion—is also It must be gone. These pressures made Regis a dilemma. "I'm not a leader," Regis said softly, "but I have to take this responsibility." The thought was fleeting.He suddenly thought of what Bruno's expression would be if he heard him say that, and couldn't help laughing. The dwarves would call him Glutton, and, of course, pat him on the back of the head hard.

"Hey, Bruno," Regis said softly, "can you wake up and see the situation?" He closed his eyes, and the image of Bruno lying on the bed with a gloomy face appeared in his mind.He went to Bruno's every day and spent the night in a chair beside the Dwarf King's bed.Drizzt was not around, and Catti-brie and Wulfgar were held back by the fighting on Banneker's side, but Regis was convinced that as long as he had a good friend by his side, Bruenor would not die. The halfling waited for that moment with half fear and half hope.He didn't understand why Bruno had survived until now, to be exact, it had been many days since the last time the priests told him that Bruno would not survive a day if they didn't take care of him.

Stubborn old dwarf, Regis thought.He got up from his chair and wanted to see his friend.Before, he always went to see him in the evening, even without dinner, but for some reason, Regis felt that he should go now.Maybe it was because I needed Bruno's company, I was Bruno's closest friend, and it was for this reason that the dwarves accepted him as the regent of the Warhammer clan. Or rather, he just wanted to sit next to Bruno and reminisce about those days with the dwarves.In those years, Bruno was a symbol, he stood still when everyone else ran away, he laughed when others trembled.

While going out, Regis thought of another thing, which washed away all the comfort in his heart: maybe it was because Bruno's soul came to his heart and gave himself such a hint? Maybe so.He suddenly realized that he felt that he had to go to Bruno, because Bruno's soul was calling him to walk the last bit of life with his friends in his dying days. "Oh, no," the halfling yelled, racing down the corridor at full speed, toward Bruenor's room. Coming to Bruenor's room early gave the halfling an unexpected sight.When he entered, he found a dwarf crouching beside the dying Bruenor Warhammer, praying softly to Moradin.

It immediately occurred to Regis that the priest was leading Bruenor to another world, and that he might have missed his friend's last words. But the halfling quickly realized that the priest, Cadio Muffinhead, was not reciting a farewell prayer, but casting a healing spell. Regis' eyes widened. Could it be that Bruno's condition has improved and he can recover with healing spells?He rushed in with this mood, Cadio was taken aback by him, but he just looked up at Regis, turned around and held his breath.Regis' hopes were completely shattered by this tense display, and another mood took its place.

"What are you doing here?" the halfling asked. "I've come to pray that Bruno can continue to live." The dwarf priest replied coldly, and Regis seemed to have heard this half-truth. "I mean, make Bruno comfortable," Cardio added. "Pray that Moradin will take him without pain." "You told me that Bruno had gone to Moradin long ago." "Ah, his soul may have gone long ago—ah, this, it must be so." Cadio said incoherently. "But we can't just sit back and watch his body continue to suffer, can we?" Regis had a hard time listening to these words.He stood beside Bruno, thinking that Bruno should have died many days ago, just days after he had ordered the priests to stop providing medical care.

"What are you trying to do, Cadio?" the halfling asked, but an intruder interrupted him. "The Regent will..." said Orator Reginclaw, who fell silent when she saw Regis standing in the room. Her eyes widened, and she backed away, grumbling. "Hey, Cadio Muffinhead," Regis added, "The Regent is here, stop now, don't save any more." He stared at Cadio fiercely while speaking, but the dwarf didn't back down, "Ah," Cadio replied, "This is not what the speaker wanted to say, you were not here just now." "You're healing him," Regis accused, glaring at him. "You guys come here every day, cast healing spells on him, keep him alive. You don't want him to die." "His body is still here, but his soul is gone," Cardio explained. "Then let him die!" Regis ordered. "No." Cadio said. "This is an insult to him!" the halfling cried. "Yes," Cardio agreed, "but Bruno still has his own responsibilities, and I see that he is still working hard to complete them. I can't just watch Bruno die." "It cannot be so," said the speaker. "But you said that he can't be saved, his soul and body have been separated, and he can't feel the power of your healing spell." The halfling argued. "You said you wanted Bruno to die peacefully, but now you want to go back on your word?" "King Bruno will not return to his ancestors until the battle is over." Cadio explained. "That's not what Bruno meant—it has nothing to do with Bruno." "It is not only for my king, but for the dwarves," added the speaker. "This is closely related to the fellow countrymen who fought outside. They fought for the name of Bruno Warhammer. You can try to tell Banneker Braunanwell that King Bruno is dead, and see how long he can last .” "It's not for Bruno," Cardio said. "This is to fight in Bruenor's name. You should understand that Mithril needs a king." Regis wanted to find out the reasons for the rebuttal.His lips quivered, but no words came out.His eyes dropped and fell on Brudo.His friend, the King of Mithril Hall, lay still, his strong arms resting limply on his once-strong chest. "No dignity..." the halfling said softly, but the voice was barely audible even to himself. Bruno's life is a kind of honor, a kind of responsibility, and even more a kind of loyalty.Loyalty to clan and friends.No matter how much pain Bruenor endured, the dwarf would be willing if his life would help his people and friends.Bruno would punch him in the face if anyone tried to stop him from fulfilling this responsibility. Regis stood there, looking at his helpless friend, with sadness in his heart.It was even more heartbreaking to think that these priests, against the wishes of Catti-brie and Wulfgar, manipulated the fate of their adoptive father. But the halfling still couldn't find a reason to refute the logic of Cadio and the speaker.He looked at the two dwarven priests, neither affirming nor denying their work.He lowered his head and walked out of the room, another heavy burden fell on his shoulders. Two heavy iron pipes were thrown to the ground, clanging, and Nanfudo held them firmly.Panting, the dwarf carried them from the smithy.He didn't even bother to rest, and immediately began to adjust the two pipes so that they could be connected together. Pike Stoneshoulders looked at them curiously, then picked up a pile of mud under his feet.The magic would soon disappear from the mud, he knew, and soon the mud would solidify.The green-bearded dwarf smeared mud on the pipe and held up one end to examine it carefully. "Hey," he said eagerly, motioning for the other dwarf to put his lips to the other end of the tube. He waved his hand to let Nanfudo come over, and the dwarf carefully took the end raised by the dwarf. Pike lowered the two pipes, and Nanfudo immediately wrapped the junction of the pipes with cloth layer by layer. Pike stretched his hand in and smeared the joint with mud, and then Nanfudo carefully put the two sections of pipe back on the ground, and at the same time pulled a bunch of small stones to pad the joint, waiting for the mud Pike smeared to fix. The mud hardened, and the pipes at both ends joined together. "Hiss hiss." Pike said, pointing at the intersection of the two pipes, pinching his nose. "Yes, it will leak." Nanfudo agreed, "It's not finished yet." He rushed out, and soon came back with a large bucket in tow, and a large brush dripping pitch in it.The dwarf bent down again and spread pitch over the joint. "No hissing," he said to Pike, wagging his fingers. "Hehehe." The green bearded dwarf agreed. Seeing that Pike was in good spirits, Nanfudo was very happy.Since he lost his arm, the dwarf has been in a passive state, even talking less than before.Nanfudo had carefully analyzed that Pike's sadness came more from the annoyance that he was useless than from the pain in his arm. Attracting the green-bearded dwarf to help him with his plan—and Pike was indeed the perfect man for the task—reignited the dwarf's energy; he sat there with a smile on his face, turning stone into mud, even " Heh-heh-heh" and more. "They're fighting up there," Nanfodo explained. "Oh oh oh," Pike replied. "The tunnel is under the giant's camp," Nanfodo explained to him, grabbing Pike's arm and pulling him toward him. "If we're lucky, the fight will be over before we go up to join them. But we can't expect our friends to hold out for long—that would leave Banneker's side starved." "Oh oh oh oh." "Only we can relieve the pressure on Banneker, Pike," Nanfred said. "It's just you and me, hurry up." He measured the length of the pipe. "Uh-ah," agreed Pike, and got to work again, gathering together a large vat of solidifying mud in front of him. Nan Fudo nodded and took a deep breath.This takes a lot of time.He thought about the progress he had made, estimated the number of dwarves at his disposal, and how many more were needed.Regis would understand, the dwarf knew, the tunnels to be cleared, the pipes to be made, all in full swing. Nanfudo even felt that this was a very fierce battle. The thought made him shudder. "Damn the archer," cried Trede McNuclis. He hid behind a rock on the side of the tunnel.The dwarves easily recaptured the open space that stretched beyond the tunnel to Guardian's Gulch, but resistance became fierce as they pushed deeper into the tunnel. Tred and Ivan Stoneshoulder, as well as Nick Willig's team, encountered fierce resistance in the narrow tunnel. Not far in front of them, the Orcs built many fortifications to stop them with bows and spears. "Togg is advancing to our left," Ivan said.He was hiding in a corner on the opposite side of the passage, calling out to Tred. "They are about to pass through our attack hall, and he needs our support!" "Ha!" cried Tred, leaping from behind the rock--and dropping down again.Three arrows shot in his direction. "You fool!" cried Ivan. "It hit me," Tred admitted, grabbing one of the arrows by the shaft. "We have to get out of here," Ivan said. Qu De raised his hand and shook his head, proving that he was fine. "We must put them back down," cried the dwarf of Fellbar Castle. "Nine Abyss Hell is here!" Ivan muttered in frustration. He took the crossbow from his shoulder strap and aimed carefully.His friend Kadli designed the straps with the help of Ivan.The two sides are fastened to the waist, and there are many small holes in it to hold small bottles, which contain a special potion that can explode when the crossbow hits the target. Ivan removed a bottle and attached it to the crossbow—another Cadley masterpiece—so that he could string the crossbow on his stomach and shoot into the tunnel. The bottle was launched by the crossbow, flew to the fortification of the orcs, hit the stone and exploded, and the explosive agent only blasted away a few pieces of stone. "We've got to tear down that wall," Ivan told Tred, "so we can drive them away." He fired another arrow into the fortification, and there was another explosion in the passage. Suddenly the tunnel trembled. "How did you do it?" Qued's eyes widened in surprise. Ivan was as surprised as he was. "Damn, how do I know," he cried.A thunderous sound began to reverberate around them.Ivan looked at his shoulder strap, and took off another ammunition, "That's it!" he cried, shaking his head, and looked in the direction of the orc. He suddenly realized that the sound was coming from behind, not in front. "I didn't do it." Ivan roared, continuing to look back. "Ah, in the hole!" cried Tred. "Get them out, get them out!" But the sound didn't come from the hole. The two dwarves and their companions quickly realized that the source of the noise was rushing from a corner behind them. "Not an explosion!" said a dwarf. "The Ripper!" cried another. "Pant?" Ivan said to Tred, and they both leaned wisely into the hiding place. His suspicions were quickly confirmed: there was a savage roar, the scrape of metal armor, and the sound of heavy boots trampling the ground.Thiberdorf Panter ran over like a whirlwind with the Rippers, and rushed far ahead of them.He held up a huge shield, and all the orc arrows landed on it, and one shot over the shield and onto Panter's shoulder, but that only made him shout louder and rush forward with more eagerness. Orc arrows and spears rained down, but the Ripper squad, whether it was courage or stupidity, did not back down.Such dense firepower is almost insurmountable for ordinary dwarves, but for the Ripper team, it only inspired their fighting spirit even more, and they didn't even seem to feel the arrows shooting at themselves. Pant slammed into the orc's fortification desperately, and the dwarves behind him also imitated his actions and slammed into the wall as hard as they could. The dwarves who arrived later even jumped up and slammed into the wall from the heads of their companions. The fortifications were immediately destroyed. Several orcs crawled out, some fiddling with bows and arrows, some raised rough spears, and some drew swords. The Rippers rushed forward in a swarm.They leap upon their foes, scraping their bodies with their sharp armor, stabbing them with their helmet horns, or beating them with spiked gauntlets. Ivan helped the staggering Qued to the collapsed fortification, and there were no living orcs inside. "If you don't deal with them quickly, you will suffer more damage," explained Thiberdorf Panter. "Be careful..." Ivan was about to say to him, but the voice of the dwarf in front sounded again, and he attacked another fortification. "Come on!" Pante yelled. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" He kicked the stone off the shield, picked it up and rushed up.The Rippers swarmed around him, running desperately forward. "I wish we hadn't rushed in before Torgue," Ivan said. Qued sniffed and shook his head, and Ivan helped him continue walking forward. Far from the battlefield, beneath the surface of Guardian's Gulch, Nanfredo, Pike, and a group of dwarves gathered together.Their faces are tightly covered to resist the attack of the pungent smell of sulfide. Pike squatted down and covered the light yellow muddy water with his hands.He was chanting mantras, waving one hand and one stumped arm over and over the stone.Beside him, a dwarf rode a long metal pipe, the bottom of which was sharpened.Pike stepped back after casting the spell, nodded, and the dwarf came straight over and inserted the metal pipe into the softened rock formation.He poked down hard, and the pipe sank deeper and deeper until it was half buried. "It's over," he said. Pike nodded and looked at Nanfudo with a smile; the latter sighed with relief.This was the trickiest step in the whole plan, the dwarf believed.With Pike's help, they had already penetrated ten feet underground, and they would reach the gas layer in five feet.This cannot be missed. When the mud solidified into stone again, the dwarf nodded to them, and two dwarves with sledgehammers came out and began to smash the top of the pipe. Nanfudo held his breath, knowing that the sparks from the impact could be catastrophic, though he never told anyone about it. He didn't breathe until a dwarf stopped and said, "Go through." The other dwarf also nodded to the dwarf, drew his knife and cut the band that tightly sealed the mouth of the tube. Almost at the same time, they ran back, covering their mouths and noses quickly, and a puff of gas came out of the tube. . With a scream, Pike rushed forward, grabbed a handful of asphalt prepared by Nanfudo and smeared it on it, then knelt down and sealed it with mud turned from many stones. "This is the craziest thing I've ever seen in my life," said one dwarf. Nanfudo snickered, he didn't quite agree with the dwarf's words.Just because of his words, the dwarf carried the pipes out of the workshop, through the tunnel, and smashed into the rock formation ten feet deep under the Canyon of the Guardians.Just because of a word, the dwarves began to erect pipes, starting from the cliff, erecting more than fifty feet to the north, and then erecting twice the distance to the east.Just because of his words, the dwarves went over the cliffs two or three hundred feet high to connect the pipes together, and Pike smeared mud to seal them. Pike fell back, and the dwarves followed, carrying vats, some filled with mud and others with bitumen.The green-bearded dwarves blocked the joints of the pipe one by one. An hour later, they had come to the surface and passed through the Guardian Canyon to the bottom of the cliff.Pike's technique became deft, especially at the corners of the pipe, and the technique of smearing mud with his elbow was extremely deft. Nanfuldo led another group of dwarves down the official road again, looking for any possible leaks and making sure that the stones supporting the pipes would not loosen.There couldn't be an oversight, the dwarf knew, especially the subterranean section. After a while the gnome returned to the place where the pipe had entered the ground, making sure that the first length of pipe was still firmly in the ground. This is just to dispel my doubts. After Panter's dramatic victory in the tunnels, the dwarves took most of the passage beneath the giant's feet for the next hour, driving the orcs to the northernmost end of the tunnel.In order to lose no more time, Togg ordered the tunnels to be sealed, and (to Panter's great regret) his engineers built a wall in front of the little tunnel where the enemy was hiding.After inspecting the passage, Togg declared victory. But the work has only just begun.The dwarves rushed to the southern end of the tunnel near the Ravine of the Guardians, slung their weapons back to their belts, and hoisted vats of sticky pitch.Torgg's team went back underground, while another part followed the rope ladder to the bottom of Guardian's Canyon.Soon, the iron barrels began to be passed among the dwarves. The full asphalt was transported, and the empty barrels were replaced and filled again. The dwarves pitched every crack they could find, and pitched all over the pipe. Using a design by Nanfreddo, other dwarves could rope themselves firmly to the cliff, spread them evenly across the face of the cliff, and drive wedges into the stone to provide support and anchor for the pipes. Togg, Ivan, and Tred—he insisted that no one bandage his wounds—began to survey the area, looking for the shortest route to the still-fighting areas to the east.Togg moved forward cautiously, hitting the stone with a small hammer from time to time, listening carefully to judge its structure.Finally he settled on a place, and Togg unhooked his pickaxe and started digging, and with the help of the other dwarves he quickly pulled out a hole leading to the east.Through there they could see the sky above the rocky cliffs. "Wide enough?" Togg asked. Ivan held up the box Nanfreddo had designed, its mirrors reflecting the sunlight. "Looks right," he replied. He moved closer, holding the box tightly.A few picks resumed digging, quickly widening the hole considerably so that the box could fit more securely inside.Then they stepped back, watching as Ivan carefully placed the box in, with the mirror facing outward, as far away from the edge as possible. "Seal this place," Togg ordered, and left with the other two leaders. "What's that crazy dwarf thinking?" asked Tred. "That can't be said yet," Togg admitted, "but Banneker told me to take back those tunnels, so here I am." "That's it," said Ivan, "that's it." "And then it's done." Qued nodded. "Ah," Ivan agreed, "the Warhammers know how to win." Togg patted his companions and turned away.The emotions in Ivan's heart were very complicated. He, Qued, and Togg were not members of the Warhammer clan, but they were entrusted with such an important task. The sound of boots stamping on the ground interrupted his thoughts and their conversation.The three dwarves turned to see Thibbledorf Panter coming from the south with his men. "It's fighting outside again," Panter said to the three of them, and then called back to his squad, "Hurry up you idiots, it's no fun any later! The Ripper team rushed forward, cheering. "It's a good thing he's on our side," said Qued, and the three dwarves laughed. The fighting continued on the eastern slopes before dawn the next day.Tred and the clerics went to support, and Togg and Ivan stood at the southernmost end of the intricate tunnel, almost at the edge of the guardian's ravine. "The blood of the dwarves has spilled over this land," Torgg said despondently. "I think the dwarf wants to drive the giants off the ridge," Ivan replied.He kicked a section of pipe beneath his feet that passed through the cliff and into the ground. "He's trying to get the stench up." Ahead of them, a group of dwarves were hard at work, gathering stones to put under the pipes, making sure that the pipes would stay in place without any pressure. "It's a nice stench," said Togg. "It can smoke giants down the mountain." "My brother said it was fine," Ivan explained. Ivan nodded to Togg as the dwarves hurried past, and they came to both sides of the pipe, beckoning the dwarves to leave.Togg and Ivan raised a long mallet and smashed it hard at the wooden wedge that had been set up.The mouth of the tunnel collapsed and the pipe was buried inside. "It's sealed," said Ivan to the dwarves. "Put on asphalt, then cover with soil, then another layer of asphalt. Never let anything leak out." The dwarves nodded and continued to work without complaint. Ivan also nodded to them, and then looked in the direction of the cliff.The dwarves hanging from it were still at work, ropes hoisting buckets full of bitumen and mud, and many metal pipes. "This crazy dwarf!" said Ivan.