Foreman ‘Strong’ Junnrik stepped out into the night, surveying the streets. It is a peaceful night in Eklysium, and not a soul could be seen, witnesses, bystanders or otherwise. Leaning down and ducking back into the warehouse with his mighty frame, the gargant looked over his entourage. Mismatched figures of various races in similar baggy clothes. ‘Uniforms’ they said in jest, but disguises in truth.
“ Streets are clear. The Ore-bita Boyz brought their minin’ tools, yeah ?” Junnrik said to the larger and more excited of the bunch.
“Y-ya Boss! We’ze gonna krak ‘em up wif da bits we smuggled out!”
“ Ah, careful there Burguk, it’s not ‘ smugglin’ , it's simply a ‘misunderstandin’ on where to store workplace tools’. Got that? I ain’t having anyone here complicit in anything untoward. ”
The gargant reached into his large pocket and grabbed a flat wooden box.
“ And I ain’t your boss, Foreman’ll do. ”
“Ah, Foreman. How ye know that they’ll be fine? I can patch, but I don’t do bits and pieces, makes me too ‘ungry.” The largest figure said, patting his gut.
“ They’re smart enough, and they know not to stand by the draft. ”
“What’re they even in there for? Duardin and greenskins, strange bedfellows.”
“ Protestin’, they wanted less gruelin’ hours and more support. Hard to get a job done when your tools keep splinterin’ in a single mighty swing. Somethin’ they can all understand. On the papers, though? Disturbin’ the peace.”
Junnrik and his crew watched out from behind the warehouse window as a small figure shifted through the alleyways towards a large stone keep. The Foreman’s thick fingers slid the box open to reveal a row of sizable Sweet Wilheim Cigars, pinching one out and closing the box.
“ Did I ever tell you boys about that buildin’ over there?” The figures lean in close and watched the structure. Flags bearing the crossed swords of the Valeguard billowed gently on the breeze, contrasting with the gray stone of the prison.
“ My family was the one who built it many, many years ago. Back when things were different. When we weren’t as choked and spat upon. Where we weren’t shoved into the rough jobs and treated like dirt, overworked and underpaid. Yeah… my family built that building over there. ”
Junnrik took the cigar towards his mouth as he pinched a torch from the wall.
“ ...Only one thing left to say, I guess. ” He brings the torch close to the end of the cigar, lighting it as he took a puff.
“ Sorry, gramps. ”
** KAKKRRRRRRRSCH!**
The wall of the building erupted in a fiery explosion, chiseled stone shooting like grapeshot out of an Ironweld cannon. Alarm bells began to ring out, but before the dust could even settle, a horde of greenskin workers ran out from the remains of the wall. Clambering over rubble and ruin, the orruks ran through the labyrinthine streets, led by a nimble grot in baggy clothes. As guards showed up to corral the prisoners, ogor and duardin engineers watched from balconies above, ‘accidentally’ dropping an open toolbox onto the prison guards. A cascade of rusted wrenches, broken hammers and a pile of gears so fused from rust it could only have been described as a ‘clump’ all crashed down. Shields raised high, the metal mess battered them down, their shields shattering amid the sound of splintering wood.
More guards were on their way; the sound of plate armor clinked through the streets as they chased after anyone they could find, escapee or otherwise. Junnrik looked towards the others, a gallon-sized grin on his face. “Just wait a moment, eh?” The Valeguard continued through the street, past a butcher shop with jeering occupants. The guards paid it little mind and spat at the windows. Further up the street, a roughshod stallion pulled a carriage as a squabble of grots clambered about the sides. With a gleeful laugh and a glint of small hatchets, they hacked into the ropes affixed to the steed and scattered like ants when the carriage disconnected. Down and down the cobblestone streets it rolled, the cargo a miserable pile of defective material and tools all serving to increase the payload.
Before the Valeguard men could realize, the wooden behemoth crashed into them, scattering soldiers and breaking bone as it raced with unparalleled momentum. Junnric watched with a furrowed brow as the carriage remained unharmed, still bounding through more and more guards, with nothing slowing its speed. An unstoppable object had no equal, and as the path began to curve, the carriage defied the cobblestone track and followed the road less traveled… and it made all the difference to the supportive beams of an Inn. With a violent snap of timber and crack of breaking stone, Junnric looked out in horror.
“Gods below…”
“Ahah, y’see boss, we’ze reinforced it! Ain’t nothin’ stoppin’ it… ‘cept dat inn though.” One of the more hunched figures had proudly exclaimed. “Shame though, I ah… guess dat’s the price for fightin’, collat’ral and all that.”
“ You… damned fools! Do you have any idea what that cost us !”
Junnric turned his gaze towards the worker, his eyes ablaze in rage as he lifted the worker, an orruk, up with his arms.
“ Everythin’ we hurt by our fight that ain't the enemy is a spear in our gut! A hammer to the knee !”
“Y-yes bo-foreman!”
“ Anythin’ we do against the people- -even if it’s a little accident- is more weapons for the Valeguard to use against us. We are here because the people and for the people. We kept the explosion secured to the prison… but this aint Union material.”
“W-we’ze sorry, I-”
“Get you and your boys who made this sorry mess up and over there to assess any damages. Gods forbid any civilian was hurt...”
Letting the orruk drop down, Junnric turned his attention to the chaos downwind. No screaming of pain from anyone who wasn’t in Valeguard colors. “ Wish it weren’t so…” Expressing empathy for those wounded, the foreman turned his attention to the free workers, fleeing into the night back to their friends and family.
“ We’ll fix this up. Make it right. These folk won’t have to yell till their throats bleed to have their voices heard… and they’ll all go home to the folk that love ‘em…”
“They won’t be abandoned.”