Zephyr ordered all involved with the conquest of the dwarves to assemble in the throne room, and so they did. The chapter masters of the Spree and Golden Hills black dragons, the other two were tasked with securing trade routes between Heavens Peak and Gilded Bay. To his surprise, Zephyr only saw three succubi coming to attend the meeting.
"Where is Impella? I ordered all of you to come and help plan this invasion."
"Impella will not be joining us for the war, I'm afraid."
"And what makes her think she can sit this one out after I ordered her to come?"
"She's pregnant. It's Scorch's. When mistress Rose found out, she was forbidden from active duty. Didn't she tell you?"
"Must not have gotten around to it. Anyway, the plan will not change much from what we have previously established. The undead army lead by the succubi will take two of the dwarven cities. The now bolstered army of black dragon knights will take two. The last two will fall by my hand specifically. Any questions?" The chapter master of Spree raised his hand, and Zephyr acknowledged him.
"I had heard that the elves had requested to be involved in the taking of some dwarven territory. Is that not true?"
"They will be accompanying me on my part of the invasion, yes. As a side note, any elves found will not be harmed and given over to Evernight. Anything else?"
"What is the acceptable amount of civilian casualties?" Infernia asked, the succubi clearly just wanting to know how much they can get away with.
"The fate of the captured cities will be up to the conquerors, but if they officially surrender, you will accept it. Does anyone else have a question?" Everyone around him was silent, confirming to Zephyr that now was the time.
"You all have your targets, and you all know the drill. I get half of the loot, and you split the rest among yourselves, happy hunting." Zephyr got up from his throne and waved Gnarl over. Only when the rest of his lieutenants were out of earshot did he converse with the little bastard.
"So minions can not only fuck, have babies with other species!? What abominations should we expect to burst out of Impella's crotch?!"
"You need not worry, sire."
"That only makes me worry more, actually."
"Minion blood is more robust than even demonic power. Impella will give birth to maybe two or four red minions, perhaps a little more prone to slutty behavior, but still just reds."
"Ok, good, I was a little worried there for a moment."
...
Zephyr marched with his merry band of minions, and a company of elven rangers, down the great dwarven under-highway. Until he was stopped in his tracks by a bolt firing at him from down the way. He activated his shield spell and continued forward, soon he got close enough to see who was taking potshots at him. A series of barricades were set up, with dwarven crossbowmen hiding behind them and firing off shots whenever possible, with the usual amount of dwarven warriors and miners serving as meat shields.
"This shouldn't take too long, rangers. Begin suppressive fire on those flammable beards until we get into chopping range." The elven rangers did as they were ordered, keeping the dwarves for the most part behind their barricades. The reds did their part as well, firing not only at anything that dared to pop out from behind cover but also at the cover itself. The runts began to panic as their barricades became flame barriers, and so much easier for Zephyr to smash his way through. All six rows of barricades fell to the overlord and his happy horde, but their momentum stopped when they hit the front gate.
"Now this is an excellent gate, reinforced Arcanium, would take me years to bash through it. Rangers, use those explosive arrows I gave you to blast down the wall around the door, would you kindly." The rangers aimed and fired at the walls, blowing up the stone that the hinges were attached to, allowing the gate to fall flat on the ground. Walking into the city proper, Zephyr saw that giant mounted crossbows were pointed at him, ready to fire. He quickly cast the betrayal spell before ducking out of the line of fire, only exiting when her heard the sound of the siege weapons firing on each other.
"Ok, boys and girls, the way is clear. I officially declare open season on dwarven asses! Try to leave at least some of the little bastards alive. Dwarven slave stalk is hard to come by." The elves took the opportunity to take bloody vengeance on the dwarves of the Golden Hills. They shot down warriors, craftsmen, women, and children even. Darkness was taking root in the hearts of the elven rangers, and Zephyr had every intention to feed it. The runts that did not feel like this was a good day to die fled deeper into the city, the remaining warriors setting up line after line of defense. All of which was smashed by Zephyr and his forces, until the survivors were cornered in the clan hold. He stopped his minions or the elves from entering the keep, stepping forward to address the survivors.
"Alright, you little breaded fucks, listen up! You have officially been conquered! Surrender now, and you can live out the rest of your lives as slaves, keep resisting me, and you will be slaughtered to the last child! You have ten minutes to send someone out here to accept my terms before we bust in there and finish you off!" Zephyr then stood outside the gates of the keep for eight minutes before a dwarven woman stumbled out. She trembled before him, trying to get the words out, but they seemed to be stuck in her throat.
"I take it that you are here to tell me that your people surrender to enslavement?" On the verge of tears, the little woman nodded.
"You have been very brave to come before me like this, so you may go to the next city over and tell them that if they do not want to suffer the same fate as-Sorry what is this place called?"
"G-Gem Keep..." The poor little she-dwarf studdered before Zephyr continued.
"If they don't want to suffer the same fate as Gem Keep, then they better have a formal surrender ready and waiting when I arrive. NOW BE GONE!" The poor woman then ran for her life, crying and screaming as she did so.
"Gnarl, how soon can we have a tower gate set up in this city?"
"Should only take a few days or so, master."
"Excellent, we shale spend that time securing the region, rounding up survivors, and looting the place."
"Do enjoy yourself, master!" Zephyr then did precisely what he said he would do. Every living dwarf was rounded up and held in the clan hold. The few elven slaves that were found were freed and allowed to get revenge on their owners. By the time the minion construction crews came, everything of value was rounded up and split between Zephyr and the elves. Looting the dwarven city, he got a clear idea of why it was called Gem Keep. The town seemed to be specialized in the cutting of gems and encrusting them into things. All of the forges were specialized in making the finest jewelry. Only a bare minimum of their resources seemed to be put to anything else. For the three days that it took to get the gate working, Zephyr also took control of the surface territory. Which only consisted of three villages, two mining towns, and one farming settlement. All of whom surrendered, and so we're allowed to keep living their lives under the new power.
"Master, the gate has been finished. And it pleases me to inform you that the other two armies have had similar and even greater success than you!"
"Great news, Gnarl. Tell me about it."
"The undead horde has taken both targets, culling all life from both cities. Except for a few survivors that were allowed to escape so they could spread fear through the remaining dwarven lands! The black dragon knights have not been having as good of luck, only now just taking their first city."
"That is to be expected. Even with enchanted armor and weapons, they were still only humans. Have gates and minion garrisons in all of the taken territories. I will decide what to do with them once I have all of the dwarven lands under my heel. And have a good chunk of the undead horde help garrison the new lands, might as well put the corpses to good use."
"As you command, sire." Zephyr then returned to the dark tower for some one-on-one time with Rose, needing her help to take care of something that had been building up for three days.