Admiral:
[align=center]The Hobgoblin and the Hellsmith, by Uhr-Kulmbizharr[/align]
Once upon a time, there was an industrious Hellsmith who trekked the northern lands and traded armour and artefacts for slaves and secrets from the Fimir. One day, he and his retinue were overcome in a nightly raid by barbarian Manlings. The Hellsmith and his followers were bound, and atop a rock, the Humans began to sacrifice them with flint and bone weapons. One by one the captives were slaughtered to summon a dark demigod, until only the Hellsmith and a Hobgoblin remained.
“You will be his earthly feast. For he will come forth soon. My tribe will conclude the ritual from a safe distance and watch the divinity devour you alive,” declared the Human Sorceror.
The Manlings departed, and left the Hellsmith and the Hobgoblin amidst a field of corpses.
“Can I trust you with my life if it will save yours?” asked the Hellsmith.
“Yes, you can,” promised the Hobgoblin.
“Good. I can cut short the summoning, but for that I need my hands free. Quick! There is a hidden knife under my beard. Cut my ropes!” said the Hellsmith.
Awkwardly, the Hobgoblin reached the hidden knife and drew it. But the Hobgoblin stabbed the Hellsmith instead of freeing him.
“Why did you do that? Now we’ll both die!” gasped the dying Hellsmith.
“Because it lies in my nature to stab,” said the Hobgoblin, before they were both devoured alive by the dark demigod. For such is the fate of those who would fool themselves by trusting others, and who cannot see things for what they are.
- The Hobgoblin and the Hellsmith, by Daemonsmith Uhr-Kulmbizharr the Blind, the renowned Chaos Dwarf author of fable stories during the foundation of Zharr-Naggrund*
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* Note the wealth of ancient Fimir and the primitive ancestors of the Human Marauder tribes of the current age. Chaos Dwarf cultural memory stretches back decidedly further than that of any living Human nation. Also, note that the promotion of Hobgoblins to an elite slave caste within the Chaos Dwarf empire dates back only to the Black Orc Rebellion, many centuries after Uhr-Kulmbizharr’s time. Before that, Hobgoblins were enslaved just as any Dark Lands Greenskins were, yet their extreme treacherousness was infamous already.
