Dormitory, School of the Reik, same time
Parts of the Humbold University had been restructured as the "School of the Reik" to educate the upcoming movers and shakers from the Empire and other allies as well as helping those Germans who wanted to work with and in the Empire.
With its long tradition of working with different cultures the Humbold University was well suited for that, but the students from so different cultures needed a different handling than the German students. Also as funding from the Empire as well as from the German government was needed it made sense to create a separate institution.
Sending students from the Empire into the Berlin property market to rent something for themselves was unrealistic, so a series of old "Plattenbauten", the pre-fabricated concrete apartment blocks left by the defunct GDR, were bought and now rented to the Students at low cost.
Ermine of Wolfenfels was at first unsure about this. She wanted to go abroad and learn-but this was the first time she was on her own so much and away from her home.
Berlin was a totally strange, fascinating, terrifying, thrilling and overcrowded place that she was quite happy to retreat to her apartment to rest from that. A city that never seemed to sleep, a city where you could see nearly no stars, a city full of wonders and occasional horrors. And it was the first time in her life that nobody was around-she could do what she wanted. It had taken her two weeks before she dared to go from her bathroom to her bedroom naked-nobody could see her. No servant, no guard no nothing-it was marvelous-and frightening. By the way "showers"-what a word, what a concept-she could be under them for hours. She wanted one for the castle for sure.
Also, while the absence of servants meant that she would have to do chores that she never had to worry about in her ancestral home German houses contained many marvels that made life so much easier. A fridge, an electric oven, hot water and a water toilet-it was incredible. Actually there was a group of older German students who had taken the newcomers from the Empire under their wings and who showed them the use of all these gadgets. Some of them were quite strange themselves and had really stupid ideas but they were a help. On the other hand she had her own native guide-when he was around.
Currently she was not using the shower, but it was running while she was snuggling in bed and thinking how much her world had changed. These thoughts ended when the shower was turned off and after a few more moments the door of the bedroom opened and Nathan Alpers came in. He obviously wanted to go under the bed cover quickly-and as obviously he was admiring the sight before him, so he hesitated.
"Come in Nathan, I am getting cold and you are too far away, we don`t want that, won`t we?"
"Certainly not."
It was quite a while later that the two lovers were in a mood for talking again. "I do not remember that you did so much "jogging" when you were still in our Barony Nathan, anything up?"
"Ah, a dream of mine"
"A dream you can share."
"Only in parts love. I have heard that there will be a competition for a post I crave in a few weeks and I want to be in best shape then."
"Oh, are they offering you an armed plane this time?"
"Actually no. In a few weeks they will look for candidates who want to become astronauts"
"Uh, what do astronauts do?"
"They fly to the stars"
Valley of Bones, Naggaroth, next morning
Areta was taking her breakfast when the news hit the Auxilia`s camp-Bloodstones 23rd Watch Regiment was coming and it wanted blood-specifically her blood. She went from tired from injury and two nights with less-than advisable sleep to incredulity and fury within seconds.
She was out of her tent and went to the camps gate, but not before taking her rifle with her. She still would not get this-both sides had handled their doings discretely-what kind of idiot would make this so much bigger than it had to be. As bad as what had been done to her was and as rough a vengeance she had wrought-if any incident like this would rise to the level concerning whole regiments no Druchii army could exist. There were no written rules about such things, but there was an understanding to what level one could escalate such conflicts.
Bloodstones regiment was ignoring this understanding, for whatever reason.
When she arrived at the gate she saw a huge mob outside of the Gate and one of Lokhir`s companions screaming at the warrant who was manning the Gate post.
"We want that bitch-we want her now. Give us Areta or we will level your puny compound and make you all sorry and not just her."
"I told you before-have your commander contact Wolfgang Böhler, they can then decide. Do not attempt to enter the camp, you will be met by force."
"You will not get away with this. You cannot take one of ours like a common slave and think we will take it lying down. Not from your kind."
"Areta did nothing you assholes did not do to her and worse. What are you bitching about arsehole-cannot take what you dish out?" Breda`s voice was nothing if not loud and straightforward.
"From mercenary-supporting scum we will take no shit at all. And you will get it too bitch, you will sing differently when we are done with you."
Maybe Breda wanted to answer, but the angry growl from the Auxilia`s side was far too loud to allow it to go through the din. Areta had faced the opposition till now so the loudness of this sound surprised her. A quick look to the left and right showed her that the Auxilia was here-completely. There might be some Druchii on some post, but the overwhelming bulk of that Auxilia was there and stood with her. She did not know how to take it, but it was an empowerment she had never felt before-and a terrible responsibility as well. The merciless drill of the Germans had made the Auxilia form ranks without anybody ordering them to do so and it was quite obvious to anybody watching that the bayonet-equipped lines would have a huge advantage if push came to shove.
The 23rd Watch was already pulling back a little when there was a booming voice "What the fuck is going on here"
The Germans had arrived and all bets were off now. The Germans were known to live by the rules and it was totally possible that they would surrender Areta and her squad for their stunt last night. Wolfgang Böhler had brought out a heavy weapons squad and Bob Swaggart, their drill sergeant. The huge, muscular human was carrying a machine gun like Areta carried her rifle.
The Germans took position at the side of their Auxilia. No weapons were pointed directly at the 23rd, but it was very clear that they could enfilade them if they so choose. Even more threatening was that the machine gun emplacements on both sides of the gates charged their weapons when runners reached them.
To cap it off ammo runners went behind the Auxilia`s lines and distributed a handful of rounds to each rifleelf. Areta was good enough to be able to load her rifle without ever looking at it. The rounds were a huge boost in two ways-now the Auxilia was really dangerous-and it could not be more clear on who`s side the Germans were. She was close enough to the Gate to hear the ensuing confrontation.
By now Silvar Bloodstone had reached the front of his Elves as well. As long as it was advantageous he had chosen not to take note, but now there was the danger of losing his command.
"Wolfgang Böhler, you are protecting a wrench who has done my men harm. Do not stand in my way when I seek justice."
"Our concepts of justice are probably a little bit different. So just suppose I do not move? Then what?"
"You do not know what you are doing mercenary-you will be brought before Lord Silverhawk and.."
"Stand down, all of you." The squabbling leaders had been too much into their dispute and had not realized that Lord Silverhawk and his entourage had arrived. "So Bloodstone, what would I do if Herr Böhler would be brought before me."
"Highness, this mercenary is shielding a group of perverts who have tortured some of my warriors. They have drugged them as they were unable to best them in combat."
"So, Wolfgang Böhler, what do you have to say?"
"They tortured and raped a squad leader of mine. When I protested I was told by Lord Bloodstone that my Druchii were not strong and careful enough and deserved such for their weakness. He also hinted that it was my influence that weakened my Axulilia to such a sorry state. I can only say if this is so then his warriors seem to be too weak and not careful enough to allow such revenge and just have to take it."
There was an angry murmur running through the ranks of the 23rd Watch regiment and some laughter from the Auxilia. Areta was oblivious to both-her commander had been aware of what had happened and had already tried to do something about it? She had been sure that her shame had been known to her squad only. She was not sure if this was a good thing or not. By now Lord Silverhawk raised his voice again.
"So it comes down to a question of your two units and their individual members capabilities it seems. Well, we just had a competition between your units-that seems settled. I suggest we clear this up in a duel between the involved-that should settle this nicely. Silver Bloodstone, is this acceptable to you?"
"My Lord you cannot allow this rabble the honor of a duel."
"The list of true elves who can tell me what I can do and not do is a short one Bloodstone, and you are not on it. And if I remember correctly this "rabble" beat your warriors in the competition. So either your unit can be beaten by "rabble" or you allow the duel. Which is it?"
"My Lord, forgive me if I misspoke. Yet, these wrenches have hurt my men so that they cannot take part in a duel for a week at least."
"That will not do, by that time we will be marching, and then we need to be an army and not a "rabble" of units who want to kill each other. So, the solution is easy-each unit will send a champion to fight for its side, which will solve the dispute. Herr Böhler, is that acceptable to you and which Champion do you name?"
"This is acceptable for me and I will be the Champion for my Auxilia then." Now the murmur went through both groups-this had not been foreseen.
"Interesting choice but highly acceptable. Silver Bloodcrest, will you afford your regiment similar honor?"
"I, I..yes, I will Mylord."
"Well that is settled then and there is no time like the present. Make a Circle of equals and we will do this here and now."
Areta was frozen in shock-it had already been overwhelming when the Auxilia did not just ejected her to avoid the confrontation, but that her commanding officer-and not even a true Elf would fight for her was simply unthinkable.
She could only watch as a circle of roughly 10 meters diameters was made and both combatants were led into it. She was nearly too far away to hear, but with a little lip-reading she could make out the conversation between the Army Commander and the sniper.
"I am a somewhat new to this dueling business my Lord-what rules do I have to follow?"
"Two go in-one goes out. Who needs more rules than that?"
"Thought so my Lord"
Silver Bloodstone was a Dread Lord of the dark Elves and looked the part. In all he gave the slender menace of a rapier, with a artisan armor of great reknown and a sword that showed the finest workmanship and hinted at the workings of magic. He was the picture of a great warrior.
On the other side was an older human the wrong side of 50 of sinewy strength who wore no armor but for a cloth-covered vest. His clothing was clean, functional, baggy and had no particular style. He seemed unarmed save for a pistol he wore of his hip. Areta did not have any experience with pistols as the Germans thought them underpowered for military service. Yet her experience and training for the pistols used in the old world told her they were next to useless against armor of this quality. After having seen German weapons at work she suspected that they would be more powerful-but would it be enough?
The sniper had the pistol in hand already and when Silverhawk gave the "Fight" command she heard 4 shots within the time needed for two heartbeats. Nobody needed to check for the results of the fight as 3 shots had penetrated the torso armor while the 4th had taken removed the Druchii`s helmet-together with most of the head.
Standing over the corpse with a smoking gun in hand Wolfgang said something that Areta could hardly hear. "You made my day, punk". She had no idea what that meant-a spell to keep Bloodstones soul from seeking revenge perhaps?
"I think that settles it nicely. Herr Böhler, do you accept this outcome?"
"Yes Highness."
Wolfgang Böhler made it back to his tent, eventually. His feet never touched the ground during this time as a mass of Dark Elves carried him despite all protests.
It was quite a while later that he summoned Areta to his tent.
"Areta, you have kept information from me, information that had a bearing to the safety of this unit."
"Yes Sir. I did not think that.."
"Yes, that is what you did-you did not think. Given what you have been through I am going to let that slide-once. But never, ever do that again."
"Sir, yes Sir. Sir, am I allowed to speak."
"Yes, you are."
"Sir, no commander I know would support troops in this way-not one. Any other commander would have ejected me from the troops as being useless-or find another use for me. You are different-none of us suspected that."
"Squad Leader Areta-this is fucked up."
"Sir, this is Naggaroth. But Sir-I owe you my life. Whatever you ask and I can give is yours."
"Thank you. Just get better and think differently next time, ok"
"Yes, Sir, we will all do that."
Elsewhere in Naggaroth, same time
Urglies Jeres was looking at the heap of golden coins in front of him. He still had to fathom it and how it came about. Some time ago he had supplied some money, slaves and materials to the Germans, whom in turn had given him "shares" and had used the materials to build a nail factory. He expected to be paid a "dividend" based on the profits but instead another Lord who had realized the opportunity too late had paid him easily 50% more than his original investment-and paid in cash.
Now he had heard that this Breitkopf guy wanted to build another factory, this time for something they called sewing machines. And another one for improved plows-and an expansion to their stove factory. But he lacked resources. So was this the time to make another profit? The problem was that Breitkopf needed more than Jeres could give-maybe he could raise some money from other Lords and get a commission? Or introduce them to this "share" thing as well?
Tunnels below Altdorf, 4 days later
Joakim Vos was chewing on some super-hard cracker which had come with his last EPA (German MRE) while he looked at the Laptop his Chief Nerd used to display the catch of the various drones that were distributed through the Skaven underground warren. Just that by now it was more accurate to speak of a bleeding city-while the underground facility might be much smaller than the unsuspecting town above it was much more densely packed and populated.
He had watched large rooms where Stormrats practiced with wicked looking weapons, had seen Skaven technicians work on machines powered by glowing warpstone. Others were tending to a mixture of animals and monstrosities that should belong to a Hieronymus Bosch painting and no same reality.
Currently he watched a great lot of them scrapping something from a cave filled with great racks of something.
"What are these guys doing there?"
"Harvesting the shit eating fungus" Thorgrim Steinier was emerging as full of lore on the Skaven, as befitting a member of a species that tried to occupy the same ecological niche.
"The Skaven shit a lot-that has to go somewhere. At the same time they need something to eat, but normal plants won`t grow below with no light. Fungi do and the rats have several fungi who grow like crazy on their shit-supposedly tastes like it too. And do not get me started on the beer they brew from these mushrooms-probably tastes like undiluted slurry and gives you hallucinations to boot. And what they do not eat or drink themselves they feed to their slaves or some animals they slaughter."
"Ah, that clears that up."
One of the next pictures showed a room full of humans in a wretched state-they were obviously malnourished and many seemed sick. What they did not have were any chains and there did not seem to be a well-closed door to their room.
"Ah-that. The damn rats perform operations on any human or dawi they capture-go in through their eyes and cut connections in the brain or put some warpstone in there. They are no longer who they were before, they might as well be undead."
"How nice."
It was about that time that Jens Neugebauer started a long string of quiet swearing.
"What`s up Jens?"
"I am losing my second relay in the pump room-probably all that warpstone. If that one goes I lose control of most drones-that would be bad."
"Scheiße-so we need to replace it?"
"Yes, and soon"
Another tunnel, close to Joakim, same time
Tork Spittelube looked at the offending ventilation grille. The overseer of the workshop was right, there was something that restricted the airflow into his cavern. The air currents were diffuse and to the wrong places and the sounds were off. Such things were serious in a busy workshop.
"Stupid helpers, remove grating, quick, quick." He watched while his helpers turned badly rusted screw heads and then removed the heavy grating which was accompanied by dissonant squealing and the dropping of lots of rust.
"Look inside lazy helpers, now now."
One of his helpers went on the shoulders of the other to look inside the ventilation duct, being very careful about it. His head came out much faster than it went in "Big Spider Boss, big big"
"Then kill it stupid helper."
The helper punched at something unseen with his dagger until he was satisfied and then pulled something out of the duct which indeed looked like a very big arachnid-but there seemed to be some resistance to the removal and a long string seemed attached to the spider`s torsoremarkably it did not seem to have much "give" in it as a spidersilk string would have. When the helper tugged more strongly finally something gave and he dropped from the shoulders of his colleague in misery. When he dropped he threw the spider away, dropping it at Tork`s feet. He was about to kick it at the heap of his helpers or worse when he saw the rip in the fine fur that covered the spider-and the metal parts underneath.
He was lifted to the ventilation grille by no less than 3 clanrats where we saw the strange string going into the darkness of the ventilation duct-towards the pump room if he was not mistaken. Whatever was connected to this string was not Skaven-and therefore needed to die.
Pump Room under Altdorf, a little later
"Asking me a 10th time will not make it faster boss, but handling me that box with precision screwdrivers will accelerate things" Jens Neugebauer was standing tiptoe on a pump housing and had his upper body inside a ventilation duct, trying to splice a new relay box to replace the one who`s electronics had succumbed to the amounts of warpstone all around it. Joakim Vos did try to hurry him as his team now was exposed to this radiation too. Even the Skaven came to this room only when necessary and the Landwehr Sergeant could only hope that the wards and charms they had received offered sufficient protection.
"Here you have, but hurry up."
"Yes, yes"
"Yes yes means kiss my ass."
"Yes"
Before more smart remarks could be exchanged the second dawi of the team who was manning the endoscope called out." We get visitors folks-and they are loaded for bear."
"Everybody out, we pull back to the rally point."
"Just one minute Boss."
"Forget it Jens, we need to go….oh shit."
The Chief Nerd had pulled on his tool box and when that suddenly released had promptly lost his balance. Soot and oil made his footing on the machine questionable and so he dropped to the ground in a tangle of limbs and equipment. He was out cold when Joakim reached him and bled from several lacerations but was still breathing.
"Shit. Gottfried, Dieter-you carry him out. Rest of us-cover them and…"
The Sergeant was rudely interrupted by the double portal that exploded inwards despite the wedges that the Cave Raiders had put under it. The source of the explosion was the definition of brute force-two Rat Ogers were trying to squeeze through a door that was made to let outsize machinery through. Screaming something which would have been a squeal if it were not so loud and deep they were driven forwards by the whips of their packmasters. Between their legs scores of Clanrats tried to push forward. The assault seemed to be a landslide of ugly black and brown fur, teeth, claws and eyes full of madness.
It was met by a fusillade of assault rifle fire. Joakim found that his new rifle lived up to the promises made by the manufacturer. The 7 mm bullets were ripping through the Packmasters and the other Rats with ease and dropped the ugly Ratmen quickly. The Shotguns preferred by the Dawi boomed in the enclosed space and their munitions savaged the Skaven even worse but fired more slowly. Joakim had his rifle on single fire and pulled the trigger whenever the red dot of his reflex visor settled on something with grey fur.
The cave was filled with strobing lighting from the muzzle flashes, the reports of the shots fired and the insane screaming of the Skaven. A quick look over his shoulder told the Sergeant that the casualty was nearly out of the pump room and into the connecting tunnel to the next cave.
"Drop back, drop back by numbers" brought the 5 team members back from one cover to the next. The Cave raider changed magazines while moving to the new firing post and kept up a fire that blocked the Skaven advance. The first Rat Oger had received a 3-round burst from Voss to its ugly head where the small brain must have been in the way of a lucky fragment. The second one had found itself without any packmasters which increased its confusion and anger to the point where it attacked everybody and anything.
Joakim and Torgrim where the last cave raiders in the pump room and sprinted for the exit. Joakim made a clear exit, only to see a greenish lighting pierce the calf of the Dwarf who promptly dropped. Swearing "Alles pet here" he went back and triggered the grenade launcher under his rifle. The explosion tore even more Skaven apart and gave him room to pull the dwarf being him who was swearing at least as loudly as him. As he had to put his rifle into the sling he would have been unable to fire at any attacker but the Dwarf sighted his shotgun though his feet while he was towed over the rough surface.
Luckily for them nobody seemed to follow them and the sounds from the pump room indicated that the Rat Oger was really digging into the other Skaven. Reaching the Ventilator room they were received by the rest of their team who helped carrying the dwarf into the tunnel to the surface.
Joakim saw green fog emerging from some ventilator shafts with dismay as this made him retreat farther and faster than he liked. Going up the shaft leading to the warehouse they passed a place where something had been put into the walls and ceiling of the tunnel and connected by wires. The cave raiders went up the tunnel past it while Joakim stopped when they were 100 meters. Making sure that his men were past he slid the cover of a switch. Shouting a warning was second nature, so pushing the button was accompanied by "fire in the hole" and immediately followed by 4 humungous explosions which nearly toppled the soldier.
Torgrim Storkorm had rigged up the explosives for sealing the tunnel. Still used to the black powder common to the Dawi and being an adherent to the "p for plenty" formula he had overdosed the modern explosives considerably and had packed several kilogram of C4 into each of the holes he had dug into the tunnels walls.
The explosion had left two bands of dust hanging in the tunnel-one each from floor and ceiling and the ringing ears of the Cave Raiders kept them from hearing the cracking and grumbling. The shock waves from the explosion had cracked an age-old rock that was a part of the bottom of the Reik.
The immense pressure suddenly rested on a lot of loam and a great heap of pebbles that had been solid just seconds before. With a roar a column of water exploded into the tunnel, making the soldiers flee upwards above the waterline.
Behind them the waters of the Reik were finding a way into the empty space below that had been kept from them for a long time. The locks and watertight doors the Skaven had erected for this case were the place of a battle between a half-dead Rat Ogre and other Skavens, so in the short time they would have had to react nothing got done.
South of the Ironfrost Glacier, next day
Nature abhors a vacuum – and so does Chaos. The Chaos realm were always filled with Chaos bands ranging from small tribes of scavengers to mighty armed hordes that were able to tear down most Old World realms without breaking much of a sweat.
Most of the time they were going about the Desert in something like Brown`s molecular movement, bouncing of terrain features and each other in random ways.
During the last years the collisions between Chaos armies had become less. At first there had been the campaigns of Archaron who had killed those unwilling or unable to follow him into his Crusade-then the unified horde had left the wastes never to return.
The remaining hordes were given more territory to work with-but less combat which most of them craved so much either for its own sake or for the spoils to be gained. Some hordes that would never have come close to the borders of the Chaos Waste now did so-and some leaders who would never have risen to prominence now saw a path for themselves.
Dechella the Outcast was looking at such a warband. Countless chariots drove hither and fro. Cavalry was ranging over the field in meandering paths, all the while barely avoiding the blocks of infantry that marched in review. Everybody avoided the masses of Chaos Spawns that were barely held in control by their minders. No matter whether Chariot-borne, astride a horse or marching the members of the army were clad in fine armor, elegant clothing and supple leathers. Light applications of rouge hid whatever skin defects were considered unacceptable and all movements were graceful. It was obvious that Slaanesh was gracing this army with his attention. All of this was displayed against the background of a burning Druchii watch tower that send a column of sooty black smoke into a sky of uncaring blue clarity.
"Well done my Children, well done, you have please me mightily." Raising her 6 arms towards the marred sky she issued a warcry heard by an army fired up with victory-and the hope of more glorious battles to come. Battles that would suit their brand of mobile warfare and elegant maneuvering more than the drudge work of a siege.
"Onwards my Children, onwards to Glory and Victory, onwards to rape and plunder."
Cave below Altdorf, same time
"Bring more earth, bring more stones lazy vermin, quick, quick." Under the warlocks supervision an unending mass of Skaven of all stripes erected two thin walls of sand-filled sacks and filled the gap between them with earth as fast as they could shovel it. They hardly needed the urging of the warlock as the rising water level provided its own drive to finish in time.
Filith Deepdigger still tried to make them work harder. This cavern was already deeply inside the Skavens warren and losing it would mean flooding in many other compartments that would be really painful to do without.
Some of the Skaven that had climbed on top of the wall to complete the outer layer were even walled in the frantic haste to seal in time. The water seeping through the bottom of the cofferdam was easily swallowed by the drainage troughs that crisscrossed the cavern like all others-for the moment..
If it was Filith`s urgings or the blessings of the Horned Rat or the threat that was felt by all-they finished in time and the cofferdam blocked the cavern from the flood.
Putting his paw on the dam he could feel the mounting pressure as the water rose on the other side. Each cubic meter of water weighted one ton-and the ceiling of the cavern beyond the cofferdam was many meters high, not to mention the fact that the Reik again was many meters above them-and it pushed.
All Skaven that had remained in that room waited with baited breath if the wall would hold and if the seepage which now also came from the top of the dam would be too much. But they had built well and Filith had planned the wall thick and curved enough to withstand the pressure. When seconds passed without disaster and added up towards minutes the mood in the chamber rose.
The Warlock technician took his hands away from the dam "This dam withstands the waters-we are saved" was greeted by a cacophony of happy squeals-that was nearly immediately followed by on ominous rumbling sound from the other side of the dam. The panic killed quite some Skaven-the Flood did not. No water breached the cofferdam.
Later, deeper in the Caverns
Filith Deepdigger could not see the Skaven that he was talking with. He was kneeling on the floor with his head deeply between his forearms. "Lords, I have built the dam where I was told to do so-the plans for this case are ancient and explicit. How could I know that the floor under the secondary cave was too thin and I…"
"Silence you miserable bungler-it was your job to know such things."
"But I …."
"I said silence. Guards, bring this miserable piece of excrement to Clan Moulder, they may have interest in him."
None of the warren`s council were listening to the pitiful screams of the Warlock when he was pulled out of the council`s room.
Thirquit, who`s white fur indicated his position as the Grey seer representing the Council of 13 was the first to raise his voice.
"This is most unfortunate, most unfortunate. When this idiot allowed the lower levels of the river district to flood nearly 8/10th of our fungus farms went under, as well as most slave kennels and the breeding pens. Without them we so not have provisions past the next two weeks or so, and even if we could drain the farms right now they would take months to bring any suitable harvest. Do we know who is responsible for this atrocity?"
"Not directly your highness, but there is an indication. The Engineer who sounded the alarm gave the runner who informed us this."
The Clan leader who answered to Thirquit presented a box to the Grey Seer.
The box seemed to contain an especially big, black furred spider-looking at first like nothing more than a tasty snack. Until the Council saw the metal skeleton, the green boards with the many small baubles and strange runes, the colorful strange strings and small motors. There was only one faction on this world which build such things.
"The Germanssss" came from several snouts as one.
"Shortly after this arrived together with the report that Spitellube would take his retinue and look into this matter, there are reports of very rapid shooting, a huge explosion-and then the flooding. As the Gates in the Pump Rooms were never engaged we have to assume the Germans killed the crew who had pump room duty and damaged the sluice gates."
"This is sacrilege-an affront against the laws-the Horned Rat will curse them.." Many voices were competing against each other in their effort to convey their horror and dismay.
The Skaven society was extremely competitive at every level-any Skaven had to defend its position, no matter how wretched at any times against all comers, and the same went for the Clans. Still, they lived in a fragile environment-ventilation, drainage and waste removal were not provided by benign nature, but by carefully maintained systems.
No Skaven, no matter how enraged or endangered would ever contemplate destroying these systems or killing those charged with their maintenance and the tasks tied to these communal works were carefully divided between the Clans so none could gain supremacy by this path.
If this were not so, so Skaven underground city could exist for any length of time as flooding and lack of ventilation were an ever present danger to deep shafts and caverns without never ending vigilance and work. The Pillar of Commandments that was given by the Horned Rat itself resting in Skavenblight had many conditional rules and other which left a lot of wiggle room. The rules about the inviolability of the infrastructure were as ironclad as anything the Skaven knew. Violating these rules caused such punishments that even the Skaven shivered when just thinking about these things. Any offender, no matter if Skaven or not had to be punished.
Thirquits shrill voice rose above the din "Silence brethren. These are grave news and they must be brought before the council of 13 without delay. We will use the underground ways to get the news to Skavenbight."
"That is a trip of many weeks and there will be few stations to replenish provisions-whom can we bring with us?"
"Take a retinue of 20 each by Clan-more will eat too much and will endanger the delivery of the message."
"And the rest"
"And the rest will be told it is the glorious day when we go and conquer the surface of course."
