Admiral:
The Sculptor and the Stone Golem, by Uhr-Kulmbizharr
Once upon a time, there was a careless sculptor working on a collection of statues for a triumphal monument. He worked at high speed, just as his Sorcerer-Prophet client demanded, but unbeknownst to the sculptor, his master had cursed the stone of the statues to punish any faulty work. One day, the sculptor had finished with a statue and inspected it.
“I call it a decent piece of work for an honest craftsman,” the sculptor declared to himself.
“There are cracks and chinks. The symmetry is off, and the details are coarse. You have failed with its face and its beard is flat,” said a voice from somewhere.
“No matter, the statue is high up and won’t be seen too closely. Wait, who talked?” asked the sculptor.
“I, the statue. And I will bury you alive for the disrespect you have shown towards your own work. Towards me!” replied the stone golem, and grasped the sculptor with one giant stone fist.
“No, not me! I had poor chisels and hammers, I couldn’t do better with them,” protested the sculptor.
“Then I will bury your tools,” said the stone golem, and shoved them down the sculptor’s throat until he burst. For such is the fate of those who would dishonour their craft and be careless in their work.
- The Sculptor and the Stone Golem, by Daemonsmith Uhr-Kulmbizharr the Blind, the renowned Chaos Dwarf author of fable stories during the foundation of Zharr-Naggrund*
____________________________________________
* Bizarelly enough, this story describes an actual standard of quality control used by some members of the priesthood of Hashut. The procedure is usually to curse, or make Daemons possess, one or a few of the large number of statues ordered from sculptors. Whatever the workings of the sorceries, the statues will come alive and slay their creators should the work be unacceptable. Depending on the arcane spells involved, these stone golems may then lose their life, or return to slumber as guardians, or even be used as weapons of war by the Dawi Zharr.
