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I'm still alive

Canas said:
The fyreslayers in this particular case weren't presented as suffering from the gold-fever. The background & "justification" we get for their betrayal is as follows:
The fyreslayers have a standing contract with the city. They have been paid before, but lately it's been (somewhat) difficult to pay them as undeath forces keep attacking the caravans bringing the gold to them. Why the fyreslayers don't send an escort for their precious gold is a mystery. Anyways, point being they haven't been paid for their last fight yet, and only their last fight everything else has been paid. Also, there's the usual bickering cuz the dwarfs want more gold and the city feels like they're being ripped off.

Anyways, the dwarves have a camp just outside the city and since the incoming nighthaunt have been spotted they decided that being inside the city walls was beneficial to them as they like staying alive so they go inside. However their leader is pissy about it cuz in doing so it'l mean he'l "help" the humans despite them not having paid off their last debt yet (ignoring the fact that staying outside the walls would've meant the fyreslayers would've been slaughtered… but you know, details...)

Siege begins, bunch of fighting, fyreslayers guard a particular gate while Idoneth cover the harbor and the SCE + freeguild do the rest. Eventually a wight shows up and says something along the lines of "esteemed dwarf, how can you trust these people? They haven't even paid you for your last job. How many of your men are you letting die (in mostly self-defence, but let's ignore that…) before realising the SCE aren't to be trusted. My lord is far more trustworthy, Nagash Always pays his debts. If you move aside I'l give you this pile of ur-gold. I mean you can totally trust me.". At which point the dwarf concludes he should betray his employers cuz there's a bunch of ur-gold in front of him and that's what any loyal son of their lodge would do. Ignoring the fact that up till now they've been in a permanent war with Nagash for the past few centuries….

To make matters worse, the wight only asked him to move aside. But for some inexplicable reason the fyreslayers go the extra mile and not only attack the city's defenders but they melt the main keep's gate with their magmadroth's allowing the nighthaunt acces to the stormvault inside that contains some scary nonsense which Nagash will use to become vastly more powerfull so he can horribly murder all living things. And they know this is why Nagash is attacking the city and that they themselves do not want Nagash to have that as they are also living things and would like to remain living... (or well they don't know the exact details of what's inside the keep, but they do know that Nagash wants it for this reason)

Then the local flesh-eater court, which had sworn to protect the city in it's hour of need, arrive and slaughter all the fyreslayers (and nighthaunt) though the scary nonsense is ultimatly released at least the city survives for now.

Anyways, it doesn't seem like the dwarves were conned, or even had particularly strained relationships with their employers. They were missing only 1 payment (while having consistently recieved earlier payments) & they had retreated into the city walls to survive themselves. They were then bribed simply by showing them a big pile of ur-gold. Despite having been at war with Nagash for centuries. And they not only let the nighthaunt pass, but activly supported them in assaulting the main keep on their own accord. Also there was no doubt or hesitation whatsoever once the Wight showed the gold. The way it was presented it also didn't appear like the dwarf was a particularly greedy one or suffering from the gold fever. It was literally just a matter of the nighthaunt saying "look we'l pay you double" and all the dwarves unanimously agreed that they should start stabbing the humans now. Which makes them super untrustworthy allies & should make it impossible for them to get work as mercenaries. Not to mention it rather undercuts their whole system of grudges if they jump at the first oppertunity to betray others..

Also I got it wrong, it's the forbidden power book, not a white dwarf that the story was in.
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I think it's a case of 'a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush' here - because the Fyreslayers have been paid in Ur-gold on-time several times before, the fact that they don't get their next payment when it's due then makes them suspicious - for all they know the Freeguild and Sigmarines could have just decided to betray them and withheld all the remaining Ur-Gold for themselves or take advantage of their loyalty, rather than paying up again as agreed - as far as I can see the humans and Sigmarines made no effort to actively show the Fyreslayers that there was no Ur-Gold left in the city's vaults, so the Fyreslayers only have the word of fallible humans to go on. When the Nighthaunt then show up and offer a bigger pile of Ur-Gold right in front of them with no questions asked, the Fyreslayers then believe that it is only right to claim the larger amount right in front of them rather than risk being taken advantage of by these weakling humans for a significantly lower amount. However, it is only because the Nighthaunt came prepared with that extra big pile of Ur-Gold that prompted the Fyreslayers to change sides - they're not like Skaven who will just backstab an ally to elevate their own position or preserve their own lives, these are fragments of Grimnir, the long-lost Dwarf god of war that we're talking about here - every piece they can get releases a bit more of Grimnir's essence back into the Realms, and if they were to find them all, Grimnir would return. Sure, it's not behaviour that Fantasy Dwarfs would have approved of, but Fyreslayers aren't easily bought. Also it depends on the Lodge - some like Greyfyrd are more mercenary than others like Vostarg.
 
Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl said:
I think it's a case of 'a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush' here - because the Fyreslayers have been paid in Ur-gold on-time several times before, the fact that they don't get their next payment when it's due then makes them suspicious - for all they know the Freeguild and Sigmarines could have just decided to betray them and withheld all the remaining Ur-Gold for themselves or take advantage of their loyalty, rather than paying up again as agreed - as far as I can see the humans and Sigmarines made no effort to actively show the Fyreslayers that there was no Ur-Gold left in the city's vaults, so the Fyreslayers only have the word of fallible humans to go on. When the Nighthaunt then show up and offer a bigger pile of Ur-Gold right in front of them with no questions asked, the Fyreslayers then believe that it is only right to claim the larger amount right in front of them rather than risk being taken advantage of by these weakling humans for a significantly lower amount. However, it is only because the Nighthaunt came prepared with that extra big pile of Ur-Gold that prompted the Fyreslayers to change sides - they're not like Skaven who will just backstab an ally to elevate their own position or preserve their own lives, these are fragments of Grimnir, the long-lost Dwarf god of war that we're talking about here - every piece they can get releases a bit more of Grimnir's essence back into the Realms, and if they were to find them all, Grimnir would return. Sure, it's not behaviour that Fantasy Dwarfs would have approved of, but Fyreslayers aren't easily bought. Also it depends on the Lodge - some like Greyfyrd are more mercenary than others like Vostarg.
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although the principal idea behind it, especially taking into account their religion, is understandable there's a couple of issues here that make it very questionable especially in this particular case

  • All it took was 1 delayed payment to undo years of cooperation and trust. That's a bit extreme. It's sadly unspecified how long the delay was, but it is at least made clear that that last battle was recent. So it's not like they've been waiting for their gold for years or even months. At least give the humans time for a second caravan to actually be send…
  • The fyreslayers did nothing in response to the claims that the caravans with ur-gold were being attacked by Nagash. It might just be that there isn't enough space in the short story, but in all honesty I would've expected the caravans to be guarded by fyreslayers to begin with to stop any potential doublecrossing. And that if caravans with payment mysteriously start dissappearing they'l definitly start guarding them.
  • Being bribed by the guy who literally just attacked you, and killed your friends (not to mention countless other friends over the course of centuries) in the middle of a giant siege you're in, not because you were paid to fight but because you're caught in the crossfire and have no choice but to defend yourself, is a bit weird. You'd think all those dead fyreslayers would create a debt/grudge that first needs to be settled before you'd agree to work for them. And bear in mind, he didn't offer any ur-gold to make up for the fyreslayers that were just killed in this siege. It was purely to step out of the way.
  • Why in the world did they proceed to continue help the nighthaunt after letting them in? They didn't even ask for the fyreslayers to do that. And not only did they help the nighthaunt achieve a beachhead to enter the city, they continued to push deeper and deeper into the city until eventually reinforcements showed up and they were ultimatly crushed with the few remaining survivors taking slayer oaths in shame.
This fits far more with religious zealouts who'd do anything to restore their god than it does with mercenaries who need to Ensure they'l still have a job tomorow (and not get hung for betraying their patrons..). Noone in their right mind would hire religious zealouts as mercenaries for any important task if all that's needed to bribe em is someone showing up with a bigger pile of shiny artifacts.

I would've understood it if they'd been bribed before the siege and simply didn't participate, giving the nighthaunt free passage through their lands or possibly even joining them if the bribe was absolutly massive. But mid-battle, after suffering considerably losses, by an enemy they should hold a massive grudge towards and simply by giving them a bigger pile of ur-gold than the other guy owes them makes them completly untrustworthy as mercenaries. It's not even like the nighthaunt gave them something special. It was literally just a bigger pile. It just seems absurdly easy to buy their loyalty and equally easy to lose their trust. They're only barely more trustworthy than skaven like this as at least they'l only betray you for ur-gold unlike the skaven who'l betray you for literally anything and everything.
 
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