Gathering Steam

Hehrakkess waited until the tribe was gathered and outlined the new plan, omitting only his recent change of personality.

"So in closing, that is what we intend, sway the locals into joining their fates to our own with the promise of abundant water, build a city here around this massif we've mined out and ocupied, then mingle with the human herdsmen who come to join it and have all of you serve as architectural experts and civil engineers for the resulting city-state. It would be more trouble than it's worth to try to **** anyone who disagrees with the plan to help make it happen, so I give all of you three choices, and three choices only: Compliance, Liberty-slash-Exile, or ****," Hehrakkess explained.

"Before you make your decisions, let me remind you all of one last item. When you joined the adults of this tribe, either by marriage or maturity, you each swore a solemn vow to support and obey me in all things. As I have said, it's going to be too great a liability to **** compliance from any who are unwilling, but any who break their oaths now will be marked as oath breakers in my great draconic memory, and may never return..." Hehrakkess cautioned.

When all of the one-hundred-fifty-or-so adult Kobolds had made their answer Hehrakkess smiled. Of the adult tribesmen only 16 had decided to take the option of exile, and most of those were ones he had felt were troublemakers anyway. The other option he had feared some would take, **** by his own hand, had only one person decide to embrace it: a toothless old crone who many had thought wit-wandering. She was bereaved of not only her mate, but all her children, and Hehrakkess was not that surprised that she would consider what amounts to suicide preferable to the backbreaking labor that was to shortly ensue. After that matter was dealt with Hehrakkess went back to collect his new allies.

"So it worked?" Illiamdia'ae asked.

"Yes, the majority are willing to take the risk." Hehrakkess replied .

"I had better start the divination at once," Shannon said, and Hehrakkess merely nodded.

An hour of dowsing by the light of the afternoon sun followed, before the Druid was sure of her findings. "Here, start digging here." She said, pointing to an unassuming spot on the other side of the Massif from the main entrance. The foreman of the tribes miners marked out the limits of the work site with string and some sticks as Shannon indicated to him, then headed back inside to await nightfall.

Hehrakkess "Hummm..."-ed deep in his throat then turned to the ladies. "Do we have time to do aught else twards the plan today? It's not so very far after noontime as yet..." he asked.

Suggestions?