An Interview with Corporal Oakenshield - Part 1

"Hello, and welcome to this Channel Eight Special Report. I'm Juanita Lopez, reporting live from Camp Jefferson, where to day, over a hundred refugees have been granted citizenship," said Juanita, as she help her microphone and looked straight into the camera. Behind her was the assorted tents and pre-fabricated buildings that made up the bulk of Camp Jefferson.

"As we all know, the first of the refugees started to appear five years ago. Camp Jefferson was started by the State of Jefferson as a temporary settlement facility while the source of the refugees could be discovered. One of the first of it's kind, Camp Jefferson stood as a model as the true magnitude of the refugee settlement issue came to light. Although originally run by the Department of Health and Human Services, it was absorbed into the Department of Homeland Security's refugee system in 2009, which was absorbed into the UN's system just last year. While this isn't the first batch of refugees to be granted citizenship, today's ceremony at Camp Jefferson was one of many across the nation, with nearly half a million refugees becoming US citizens at the same time today."

Juanita then began to walk slowly to her left, the camera panning right to follow her, "Today, I have the opportunity to interview one of the first refugee citizens, now serving in the US Marine Corps as a Corporal." As the camera pans, a stocky man in the digital camouflage uniform of the Marines comes into frame. He stands about a foot and a half shorter than Juanita. His hair is cut in a high and tight cut standard of Marines, and he wears a long, braided goatee, though the rest of her face is clean shaven.

Juanita stops moving, smiles into the camera, then turns to walk to a seat behind her and next to the stocky Marine. As the camera zoom to get the reporter and the Marine into the shot, his nametape comes into view. It reads "OAKENSHIELD".

"Corporal Oakenshield, thank you for joining us on the program today," says Juanita, half to the Corporal, and half to the camera.

"'Tis a pleasure to be 'ere lassie," speaks the Corporal in a thick brogue. Although the reporter is sitting, her remains standing, though now there's very little difference in their comparative heights.

"Thank you Corporal. So, if you don't mind, I'd like to start off with a simple question. How long have you been, well, on Earth?"

"That's a good question lassie. Yah see, Ah was one of the original refugees, so it's been about five years since Ah arrived on your Earth from m'oan," explains Corporal Oakenshield passionately. As he speaks the braid of his goatee moves back and forth and side to side. "Ah believe it was on tha fifth of July, two thousand sevan. Mah clan and Ah appeared deep in your Rockies."

"How many of you were there?"

"Thar were aboot three hundred men, women, and children, as well aboot as twice that in livestock."

"Wow, and why, for our viewers edification, did you come?"

"That's a long story lassie," he admitted, lessening his intensity. "It's not one that easy for us dwarves to talk aboot. But," and he paused for a few seconds, "it's one that needs to be told."

"Aboot fifty years ago, when Ah was but a wee lad, a great and powerful wizard began to terrorize the lands of the 'umans."

"Wait, sorry to interrupt, but fifty years ago? You don't look that old."

"We dwarves, we don't age as fast as you 'umans do. Ah'm almost to mah sixty-fifth, birthday as you 'umans call it."

"So, what do you dwarves call it?"

"We dwarves celebrate the anniversary of when we first came into being, in our mother's womb. So, by dwarven reckoning, Ah'm almost sixty-six."

"Wow, I guess you dwarves don't have a high opinion of abortions then?"

"We do not force our beliefs on you, just as you have not forced your beliefs on us. But no, we dwarves do not, as a rule, allow abortions. But, that's not why we're 'ere. We're 'ere to talk about where Ah and m'clan came from."

"Yes, sorry, do continue."

"Well, at first, the wizard, he focused on the 'umans, didn't bother us dwarves none. But, then, as we began accepted 'uman refugees, much like you 'umans here on Earth 'ave accepted us, the wizard, 'e starts to follow the 'umans."

"Being an 'onorable people, we fought back with as much as we could, but 'e had this plague. It wiped out 'uman and dwarf alike, and turned them into monsters. So, as we did our best to keep 'im and 'is forces at bay, the best and the brightest, 'uman and dwarf alike, worked at a way yo stop him and save our peoples."

"So, is that why you came here?"

"Yes. It was a 'alf-elf that came up with the initial plan. We would send our women, children, and their protectors to another world for safety while the rest of us fought the wizard and 'is monsters. Unfortunately, 'e worked faster than we did, and it was down to just three hundred dwarves, a dozen 'umans, and our livestock. We were defeated, but we had one more weapon. Since we could not destroy 'im. we deprived him of our bodies to bolster his forces. It was not the bravest thing to do, but it was the smartest, And something that we should have done years before, when we could 'ave saved more."

"But, you might have been the first, but you weren't the last."

"No, that was the 'alf-elf's idea as well. He stayed behind, and from what Ah've been able to gather, went ahead of the wizard's army as a messenger of 'ope. He gave the secrets of our escape to whomever would take it. We could not defeat the wizard in battle, but we could starve his army of replacements."

"Wow, that's a wonderful story. I'm glad we could share it with our viewers," she then turned away from the dwarf, and looked into the camera. "We'll be back with more of Corporal Oakenshield right after these messages."

Delving 101 - Chapter 6

"Now what?" asked Jody as the pair reached the end of the entrance hall. It was a t-junction, the left path descending, and the right ascending. The torches were less prevalent here, making Zeb's sword the primary source of light, clothing the intersection and the adventurers in a flickering red light.

"Not sure," admitted Zeb as he peered down the left corridor. It descended at a low angle, going down only about a foot and a half in a fifty or so feet before it curved sharply to the left, cutting of Zeb's sight. The light of his sword barely illuminated the walls at the bend, the pale yellow flicker from further down the passage mixing with the red for an orange tint. "There is another torch down there, but I'm just not sure. Any other tidbits of delving wisdom I missed in class?"

Jody bit her lip as she looked up the right passage. It was really just a set of tight spiral stairs going up clockwise. "Nah, at least, not about this. There's always the anecdotal 'left is the path of the unwary', but I don't think it really applies." She leaned forward, resting on the stairs, and looked around the curve of the stairs. "This goes up at least another level, if not more. Being stairs, I'm guessing we're going to encounter less people this way."

"Less people is good. As much as I love combat, that's not what we're here for."

Jody turned and looked at Zeb. Her face was awash in shock and awe, "Wait, you're telling me Zachary Eric Barter, top swordsman in his class, grandson of the greatest delver the Dragonspine Mountains ever had, doesn't want to fight?"

Zeb rolled his eyes, "It's Zeb. And, well, considering it's just the two of us, I think it would be best if we didn't have to fight. Just get in, get the Scroll, and get out."

"I'm just kidding you," said Jody, lightly punching Zeb on his left arm, above the buckler. "But, you've got to be ready for a fight."

Zeb smiled.

Jody shook her head, "Men." She turned back to face the stairs, took a deep breath, then cautiously began to climb. Zeb followed a few steps behind.

They got about halfway around the stairs when Jody raised her arm, elbow bent, forearm vertical, fist clenched. Zeb immediately stopped.

"What's the…" began Zeb before Jody whipped her head around and glared at him. He smiled apologetically, then began to back down the stairs.

Once they were down the stairs, and a few feet down the corridor, Jody broke the silence, "Drums."

"You sure? I can get rather loud when I'm climbing."

"Yes, I'm sure. Too quick to be from us climbing. I'm guessing at least half a dozen drums, which means half a dozen drummers. Plus whomever is around to hear them."

"Damn. I was hoping…"

Jody rolled her eyes, "No you weren't. You've been wanting to bang some heads since Professor Torbin announced that the final was going to be an actual delve."

Zeb looked around, then let out a long breath, "Well, at least as close as they can get at the Academy."

Jody patted him on arm, "It's okay. I'm pretty sure this is it. Let's get ready."

Zeb smirked, then stepped back from Jody into the middle of the entrance hall. He tapped his sword against the center of his buckler. It quickly grew, expanded, and stretched from a small eight-inch bronze circle to a large three foot bronze circle. The center of the shield was emblazoned with the crest of the Kingdom of the Northern Dragonspine, his homeland.

As he did that, Jody kneeled down, removing a small medallion from under his armor. It was a circle about two-inches across, made of steel, with a six-pointed cross cut out of the center. "Gods of my ancestors, heed my call. Bless us this day, as we journey into battle. Bless us that we may survive. Bless our enemies too, so that they may find their just rewards. For all the kingdoms of the world are subservient to you, and we are all just servants."

She then stood, and tucked the now glowing medallion back under her armor.

"You ready?" asked Zeb as he raised his head from his chest and removed his hand from his heart.

"Yeah," replied Jody as she gestured towards the stairs, "after you."

Zeb nodded, "Let's hope it's not just the band gearing up for a concert."

"Ha, ha," said Jody sarcastically as they began, once more, to scale the stairs.

Delving 101 - Chapter 5

Zeb and Jody were fully prepared for their delve, thought each in their own way. Jody looked at Zeb, then at the door in front of them. They were in the white room, and Professor Torbin was sitting at the desk behind them. Jody uneasily shifted her weight back and forth from her left to her right foot. Zeb was calmer, but only because he was making sure all his equipment was strapped on tight.

As Zeb adjusted his buckler for the fifth time, Professor Trobin cleared his throat. Both Jody and Zeb turned their heads, to look back at him over their shoulders.

"You will be timed, and judged on your success. As you both know, the test, being your midterm, will be a live fire exercise," the dwarf explained. "Your goal is to collect the Scroll of Fire from the temple at the end of the complex."

He paused, and then the paused stretched into silence.

Jody cleared her throat. "Professor," she began, then looked at Zeb, who nodded, "We're ready."

Torbin smiled, "Good luck."

Then room plunged into darkness, the only illumination a faint glow coming from the crack under the door.

"Let's do this," Zeb said in the darkness. He then drew his sword, which was longer and broader in the blade than Rob's. As he drew it, the room lit up, his sword shining like a torch. Unlike moments before, the room did not have plain white walls and a dwarf behind a desk. Instead, it had rough hewn stone walls, and was open behind them to a forest at night. Ahead of them, instead of the ordinary doors, were a pair of ornately carved stone doors. He held the sword in one hand high above his shoulder, so as to cast the light down and out in front of them.

Jody pulled her axe from it's ring on her belt and twirled it slightly in her right hand as she advanced in front of Zeb to the door. She reached out with her left hand, which was wearing a supple leather glove with a chain mail back. She knelt down and examined the door with her left hand. Unlike it's previous appearance, it didn't have any handles.

"So," asked Zeb, walking up behind her. He kept the sword high so as to keep the light fully on the door, rather than allow shadows to obscure any potential clues. "What've we got?

"Typical vault doors. Probably six inches thick, barred, not locked," she replied. She stood, then stepped to the side. "After you."

Zeb smiled, and stepped forwards. He rested his left hand against the doors, then slowly slid his sword between thhem. He slowly and carefully lifted the sword all the way up to the frame, then brought it back down. It stopped about three feet off the ground. "This is too easy." He then changed his stance, grasped the sword with both hands, and then lifted the sword up and almost all the way out from between the doors, keeping just the tip between them. He then grunted, bent his knees, and brought the sword quickly down, grunting against as it dug into the bolt on the other side of the door. He then tested the success of his attempt by pulling up on the sword. It was much heavier than when it came down. "Ah, got it."

Jody, who was leaning against the side of the entrance with her legs crossed at the ankle and her arms across her chest, stood and tested the door as Zeb continued to lift the bolt with effort. Once he had it lifted by a foot, the doors began to swing in. Zeb stepped forwards with his sword held in both hands, his right on the grip of the hilt, his left grasping the blade at the surface of the door, following the right side door and rotating himself, and the bolt, to follow the swing.

Jody looked down the corridor as Zeb extricated his sword from the bolt. "So, you'd never know this place had already been delved three times already today."

"And it'll be delved again once we're done with it," commented Zeb as he advanced down the corridor. Every twenty feet, on alternating sides, a flickering torch was placed in a sconce. He stepped carefully, not knowing if there was a pressure switch or trip wire along the corridor.

Jody was less careful, and passed Zeb in the corridor, twirling her axe in her fingers. When Zeb scowled at her as she passed she stopped, "What?"

"Hello? Dungeon? Could be traps," he sarcastically said.

"Zeb, this is an entrance and exit corridor. It's not going to be trapped, since it would be illogical to disable every trap along the way and able it once you were past it. Once we're at the temple proper, and going into a lower traffic area, then we'll have to worry about traps."

Zeb slackened from his cautious stance, leaning his still glowing sword on his right shoulder plate, "Did Mary tell you there wasn't any traps along here?"
Jody looked horrified, and took a defiant stance, "How dare you_ We talked general strategy. And anyway, Professor de Lana

told us all about the logic of places like this. It isn't just a bunch of disparate monsters, savages, and traps. Every delve has a reason for being, whether it's and old Imperial stockpile, to a pre-fall mine, to the ruins of a city. Sure, there's going to be structural traps, and occasionally there will be traps or monsters placed as defensive measures on rarely accessed passages, but never on a main entrance."

Zeb raised his left arm up in surrender, "Whoa, whoa. Sorry. I get enough lectures in class. I don't need another one from you."

Jody glared at Zeb, then turned to look down the corridor, "Come on, we're wasting time. And anyway, we've got a temple to rob."

Zeb smiled, lifted his sword from his shoulder, and followed her down the corridor, "That's the spirit."

Delving 101 - Chapter 4

Mary, leaving her comment to Rob hanging in the air, slipped into the girl’s locker room. Once she was far enough from the entrance, and was sure that Rob was mouthing off to Zeb in the boy’s locker room next door, she began to talk to herself. “Okay, it’s not that bad. There’s still a away to recover.”

“Mary, you talking to me?” asked a voice hidden by a wall of lockers.

“No Jody, just myself,” replied Mary, as she flung herself around the corner of the locker wall. Like Zeb in the men’s locker room, Jody was sitting in the final row of the locker room. Mary caught herself before she fell, and then strode over to plop herself down next to Mary on the bench.

“So, Rob did the switch thing with the Scroll?” asked Jody as she bent over to tie the straps on her boots. They were flats, but the supple black leather extended all the way up her calf to her knee. Above that, the tight links of chain mail encased her legs until it hid under Jody’s mini-skirt.

“Yeah,” admitted Mary as she picked up Jody’s other boot, which limply sat between her own. Hers were un-dyed leather, and only came to mid-calf, allowing the this fabric of her khakis to flow up her calves, bunch loosely around her knee, and then become ever tighter as it come to her waist. She set the boot on Jody’s mailed thigh, eliciting a light tink.

“Thanks,” said Jody as she grabbed the boot and set it down next to her left foot, to which is belonged. As she tucked a stray strand of her raven hair behind her lightly pointed ear, she leaned back, resting on her right hand extended behind her. “So, what’re we going to do?”

“I’m thinking the only thing we can do,” replied Mary, swinging her pack around her right side, so as to not hit Jody, and then leaning over to look inside.

“What?” asked Jody, as she watched Mary dig in her magical pack just like her partner Rob was doing just a few meters away. Like Rob she pulled out an exact duplicate to the Scroll of Fire Rob had handed to the Professor minutes before.

“Counter-cheat,” stated Mary as she set the Scroll on the bench between them. She reached into the left hip pocket of her khakis, pulling out a tarnished pocket-watch. She popped it open and examined the time. “Okay, we’ve got fifteen minutes until you and Zeb are up.”

Jody carefully picked up the scroll, “So, are you sure you got the right one?”

Mary smiled, held out her left hand in front of her, “Definitely.” Before she finished the fourth syllable, Jody’s chain mail top, which had been sitting in a pile on the floor next to her, was now hanging limply in her out-stretched hand.

“Ah,” said Jody as she set the Scroll back down beside her. “So, now that you’re holding my top, you want to help me put it on? You know how hard the back straps are.”

“Actually,” said Mary as she stood and turned on her left heel, causing the mail the sway back and forth. “I don’t.”

Jody grimaced as she stood, her left foot still next to her left boot, causing her to drop slightly to her left as her weight shifted from her booted right to her stocking left. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever. I swear, you wizards. It’s bad enough you’ve always got you heads stuck in those books of yours, but do you have to rub the fact that you don’t have to wear armor in the faces of us lowly clerics?”

Mary chuckled as she leaned back against the lockers, “At least you don’t have to rigorously study each and every spell before you can even figure out how to cast it. It’s just a simple hour of prayer every morning, and bam, time to select from the library.”

Jody joined Mary’s chuckle as she returned to the bench and bent back over to put on her boot. “Well, at least you’re smart enough to ace all the other tests. I had to use a comp languages just to understand my algebra.”

“Jody,” chided Mary, a more serious tone in her voice. “You know you’re not supposed to use divine intervention for our classes. That’s cheating. Plus, you know you can always come to me if you have questions about the homework.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know, it’s just… Zeb’s always wanting my help in thaumaturgy, the stupid git, and then he’s off sparring with Rob until curfew instead of staying for my tutoring. It’s bad enough he expects me to put out.”

Mary nearly dropped the chain mail, “Wait, Zeb wants you to put out? So does Rob. He’s always insisting that Zeb’s getting some from you, and that if we’re going to ever be a cohesive party after we graduate he’s going to have to trust me. Like sex has anything to do with trust?”

Jody, now about halfway up her calve with her lacing looked up at Mary, “Zeb’s the same way.” She shook her head, “Boys.”

Delving 101 - Chapter 3

Mary split off from Rob about ten feet down the hall, when they had to go into their respective locker rooms. “Rob, you cut it a little close in there, you know that, right?”

Rob stopped, leaning against the frame of the locker room door. He bit his bottom lip, then sighed. “Yeah,” he admitted, “it was close. I wasn’t expecting them to follow as quick, and the corridor was a bit rougher than I would have liked. I couldn’t go as fast as I’d practiced on the track, but it’s alright. We made it, and in good time.”

Mary shook her head, then headed into the locker room, shouting to Rob over her shoulder as the door closed behind her, “Yes, but you almost didn’t. Think about it.”

Rob shouldered the door open and slipped inside, letting out a heavy sigh as soon as the door had closed. He walked slowly amongst the lockers, ending finally at the end, his mood suddenly lightening as he caught sight of someone.

“Hey Rob,” said Zeb, as he tightened the strap on his breastplate. It was just leather, like Rob’s, and like every other skirmisher in the class. It was black leather, and it’s studs were carefully painted a matte black to keep the glint off. “So, how’d you do?”

Rob sloughed off his pack and dropped down onto the bench, then drug it around in front of him. “I got it,” he said as he undid the buckles.

“It?” asked Zeb inquisitively.

“Yeah,” some Rob, as he flipped open the main pouch and reached inside. His arm went down deep as he leaned forward, deeper even then the bag appeared to hold. He then leaned back, pulling his arm, and what he had grabbed out of the bag.

“Wait? Didn’t Professor Torbin request you give that back?” asked Zeb as he looked upon the scroll case. It looked exactly like the scroll case Rob had given the Professor not five minute before.

“I gave him a fake. The farthest it gets from the original the heavier it gets. That’ll slow down the rest of the teams, allowing you and Jody to practically waltz through.”

Zeb chuckled.

Delving 101 - Chapter 2

clap, clap, clap

"Good job, Rob, Mary,” said the professor from deep in the suddenly not dark room. “Rob, the acrobatics back there, quite entertaining. And Mary, I noticed that you had your wand ready, just in case, good preparation."

"Thank you," he said, catching his breath. Rob pushed a lock of his raven hair from in front of his eyes, and strode towards the desk, shading his eyes with his left hand, the one with the scroll case.

The room was white. White floor, white walls, white ceiling, even a white desk. The only specks of color being the backside of the pair of door Mary and Rob had just came through, Mary and Rob themselves, and the short, wide, beaded man behind the desk.

Mary stepped after Rob, and put her wand back into it's holster at her hip. Unlike Rob, she didn't wear any armor, instead she wore simple khaki cargo pants, a khaki blouse, and a well worn pack, typical attire for a delving wizard. "So, how did we do?"

"Not now," said the professor, stepping from behind the desk. His attire was much like Mary's, though noticeably well worn, and missing the pack. "So, the scroll?" he asked, reaching out with a calloused hand.

Rob sheathed his sword, then placed the scroll case in the shorter man's palm. "As requested, one Scroll of Fire."

Mary pouted, but the professor interrupted before she could complain, "Look, you two were the second team through the gauntlet. There are three more teams left to go." He went over to the door, opened it and tossed the scroll case inside. "You'll get your grade, and a debrief of your performance, at the end of the class. For now, relax, and hit the showers."

The professor walked back behind the desk, and then gestured to his left. Mary and Rob both sighed, and exited the white room from the now open door, the door that wasn't there before.

“Come on,” said Rob, “if we hurry up we can catch Zeb and Jody’s run.”

Mary sighed, shook her head, and followed Rob out of the white room, and into the hall.

Delving 101 - Chapter 1

"Come on Rob! Run!"

He pumped his legs as fast as he could, flying over the roughly hewn floor of the corridor. His boots thumped hard, causing his scabbard to rattle, and his pack to jingle. He huffed as he closed the distance, the scroll case held in a death grip on his left hand, his sword in an equally white-knuckle grip with his right.

"Rob! Watch out!"

With that, Rob caught sight of the first of the arrows skittering of the right wall of the corridor, which was suddenly much narrower than he would have liked. He changed his gait, sending his right leg forward, locked tight, with his foot pointed forwards. As he did so, he let his left leg collapse under him, pointing that foot backwards, allowing his to slide onto the ground.

The metal studs on his left greave scrapped against the floor, while the carabineers, pitons, and buckles of his pack jangled. He leaned far back. His hat, if he hadn't lost it already, would have sailed off his head as it nearly hit, instead he watched as nearly two dozen arrows flew over him, into the space he formerly occupied.

"Rob!" Mary shouted, taking cover behind the heavy wooden door not twenty feet away.

He performed another acrobatic maneuver, using the last bit of his momentum to get him standing again. He lifted his right leg slightly, bent it, and slammed it into the floor, the deep treads of his boot catching tight against the floor. Simultaneously, he kicked up with his left leg and leaned forwards. He quickly brought his left leg forwards to catch his fall, and then, within two strides, was back at his full run, now just feet from the door.

He leaned left, so that he could slide past her through the open door, leading with the scroll case. She reached over and behind him as he passed, grabbed the door, then slammed it shut behind him, plunging them from the dim torch light of the corridor into sudden darkness.