The first thing that happened after felling the beast was Estaria buying herself a barrel of water from the shop, which she then ripped open and dunked over herself. The raging torrent of water washed away most of it, but she would need a long, hot patronizing of the Dawi’s fabulous flowing baths - Runes of Heat warming water from the mountain and specially crafted channels allowing for varying degrees of water jets to wash a Dwarf clean in a fraction of the time it took to draw and take a bath - before she truly got over that monster.

“Do you want one?” she asked Traukon, who was cleaning his axe before putting it away. The axe, brought up the fact of her own weapon, or lack thereof. Lost somewhere in the slime and she was not going searching for that twenty throne blade. So she bought another one from the shop, simple but elegant. She was getting Ulric’s Fang back soon, but was still in the Underway, and needed something.

Traukon, shook his head, and then with a flick, showed her the screen his was looking at. There was two options listed here, and the names “Traukon” and “Estaria” above them, the names yet assigned.

Double Experience

Orange Equipment

Clearly, the guaranteed drop of the Field Boss wasn’t one for each of them, and the other had to take the double exp. While she liked Traukon, she wasn’t just going to give up an Orange-rank equipment for him, and so pulled out a silver piece and tossed it to him.

“Flip it. If the Emperor shows his face, I’ll get the Orange” She told him. Traukon didn’t have much of an objection as he flipped the coin, and then caught it in his hand when it finally came down to land. Estaria peered in, and saw that the city of Altdorf - where it had been minted - was shown. Having lost, Estaria blew out a breath and tapped the Double Experience, confirming it on the box and giving whatever Orange this beast would yield, to Traukon.

“Cloak Of The Underway. Ooh, like a Dwarf needs any more resilience. Like Gromril itself” Traukon’s commentary as he looked up the stats of his new item gave Estaria an idea of what it did, and she was glad for it. Having her friend die on his expeditions through the Underway was not going to help their budding friendship.

“T’as been a solid outting, Es!” Traukon’s booming voice made it clear he enjoyed the ultimate outcome. And Estaria couldn’t complain eve, as she got some welcome boxes.

You have leveled up

You have leveled up

You have leveled up

100 Dexterity: Quicksilver Viper - A man may act several seconds past this strike before realizing it has even been struck. Spend cool to launch an ultra-high speed attack that is almost impossible to evade

Three level ups, from double this creature’s value, and a trait that didn’t seem very helpful but was more for those with fast reflexes, like the Beastlord. She looked over the exp and shook her head softly.

“I should damn well think so too. Was messier than a Festag Drunkard” she muttered to herself, before nodding to Traukon. “Shall hope to never repeat killing a being in such a grotesque fashion, but yes-” Estaria flicked over to her traits and looked through them, before her eyes grew with intense glee. “-most solid…” the trait that she saw was immediately picked, and she couldn’t wait to call upon them and see what kind of glorious carnage could be wrecked by these.

Storied Brethren - Call a squad of 6 Carroburg Greatswordsmen to your side (this replaces the 4 standard Greatswordsmen)

“I got a new summon trait, so I am going to go find a small nest of buggers to try them on, then make my way topside. You heading anywhere particular?” she asked, stepping out of the gunk and getting up the slope to solid land.

“Ahh, got my daily route through the Underway to do, then to the feast hall. I shall meet you there, if you do not try to wear your skin away with the flow of water” he gave a final laugh, and then headed off ahead of Estaria to his training. Getting under the controlled waterfall until her skin slogged off was an appearing idea, but she sort of needed that skin to survive, so decided against it and just followed the minimap to where a group of Skaven were huddled, gnawing on….Skaven bones. These creatures were so depraved to be cannibalistic.

Estaria snapped her finger, and they appeared, six men in glistening Full Plate, swords twice the length and half again the girth of her own, and sturn grizzled expressions as they faced down the rats. She gave the order, and the blades butchered the rats, a single swing sufficient to cleave them in half, and the twisted weapons that the Skaven called swords would glance and reflect off the Plate that the Greatswords wore. Quickly it became apparent that the Skaven were facing what amounted to indestructible Gods, and so they scurried away, few managing to escape beyond the reach of the blades, and none beyond the reach of Estaria’s guns. These, beautiful men would be such a boon when it came to Dungeon farming. And maybe even boss battles.

A second snap of her finger dismissed them, and she got a pop-up telling her that dismissal reduced the cooldown to bring them again. That was nice to know, but there were few situations she could think of where she wouldn’t need their full help. Maybe when she was bored or testing, like now? With the one last thing to do, done, Estaria left the Underway, and found all the amenities she needed to get rid of the horrible thing she had just come across.

****

Sat back on the wagon heading towards the Gromril mine-fort, Estaria nibbled on the rations she had packed for the journey, and read the letter - of course, she had to jump through hoops to be able to read it, being illiterate and all. First it was stored in her inventory, and then she selected it in the inventory and read the discription of it's contents. Hardly worth the effort, The letter was simply a request for her to report to the Major’s office at the earliest convenience, a physical manifestation of her metaphysical quest.

With that done, Estaria leaned back and thought about the week she had just had. Not only did she get to see what few humans had seen, she had even made friends among the Dwarves and spent a week off just relaxing for the most part. With nobody to talk with and the letter read, Estaria caught a quick nap until they arrived at the Mine, which woke her and she exited, helping the man unload his materials. The Dwarves really had managed to turn this reinforced redoubt into a Shanty-Fort. Barracks, Cook-houses, makeshift Inns and Blacksmiths, and a host of residences. Everything a soldier needed. And the walls, heavy wooden walls, with watch-towers, reinforced with ditches and spikes. While it wouldn’t keep out an army, any incursion less than that would find themselves hard-pressed to make headway.

It was lovely to see progress, as well as human mingling with City-Dwarf and Karak-Dwarf, a melding pot of culture and culinary taste. Several mercenary divisions had left, and several more had arrived. She did not see the great form of Borrago, so he must have left to return to Altdorf. Which was what she was doing as soon as she found someone to go with. Superhuman maybe, but being in a group meant she didn’t have to fight off every monster, man or beast, that decided a lone woman was an easy target. Still, the bellowing of a Dwarf did attract her to the master of this fort, the man who Estaria had given the Gromril to when she completed the Defense quest.

“Hey! Nice place you got. Really good work ethic” Estaria complimented. The dwarf ceased bellowing for a moment and preened with pride.

“Gold and Grog keep the Umgi active, and Duty propells the Dawi. It’s a recipe for success here, though we need one for the Tunnels. Damned Rats are growing more numerous every day. Driven out the Greenskin tribes and are just festering. Warrens cropping up every day” obviously, he devolved to grumbling, but that grumble did give her a mind to return later if she could…

“Anyone heading to Altdorf?” she asked, and was directed to a party of Dwarves, who were planning to return to the city, gather supplies, more Dwarves from the slums, and secure some trade routes that would ease the strain of the Karaks. So she hung around till everyone had gathered their gear and spent her time buying some rations from the shop to add to the group’s supply - always have more food than needed, because chance was always good you’d need it - and then they set out. It was good luck to allow them to pass through to the lowlands of the Empire without incident beyond a few Goblins dissuaded by bullet and bolt. And once in the lowlands, the South had yet to fall under the hold of the Horde, and so it was mostly safe. Very few bandits in this time of activity, for jobs were aplenty. Fortune and Glory to be had. The second part, Glory, was what caused Estaria’s step to jitter with nervous energy as they arrived at Altdorf and she reached the Major’s office.

He looked up, nodded wordlessly, and finished the line he was writing on some parchment before getting up and gesturing Estaria to follow him. She was then lead into a far grander and more prestigious hall, and placed before none other than Kurt Helborg, The Reikmarshal himself.

“Ahh, Captain Zashira. I have heard your report, and the reports of others. Including the work in the mountains with our Dwarven allies during your leave, you have been a valorous and commendable asset to the Empire in this dark time” he paused for a second, and Estaria was a bit too starstruck to speak, so he carried on. “These deeds have not gone unseen, nor will they be unacknowledged. By the discussion of council and the review of you superiors, you are hereby transferred into the Altdorf Greatswords, and granted the rank of Sargent-Major, seconded under Major Tal. Your new equipment, shall be brought to the barracks that Major Tal shall guide you to”

The voice was stern, to the point, and official. He delivered his speech, and then got back to the discussion he was having with other generals about the Chaos Horde. Estaria, did not linger and instead followed Major Tal to the Greatswords barracks, still stunned all this was happening….