Once upon a time, a young noble was given troops and land by his father, that he might establish his own kingdom. Shortly after establishing his main fort, his guard patrols discovered that the nearby mountains were home to a nest of Grimlok.  The young noble set out to meet with the Grimlok Queen and establish good relations.

  The Grimlok told the young noble of their plight against their enemies.  As she detailed the loss of oh so many of her children, the noble noticed that the caves seemed to have a lot of gold ore in their walls.  And so a deal was struck.  The Grimlok had no use for the gold, but the noble did.  The noble had his army, and could protect the Grimlok from their enemies in exchange for taking the 'useless' ore off the Grimlok's hands.

  And so it went for many years.  Each party was happy with their agreement.  The Grimlok dug deep within the mountains, and the noble's coffers filled with mountains of gold coins.  Indeed, the noble became so wealthy from his bargain that he began to rely on coins to solve his every problem.

  When floppies invaded the fields, he merely set a bounty on Floppy Pelts, and soon there was nary a floppy to be seen in all his lands.  When the floods threatened the villages, powerful mages were paid handsome sums to move water and earth to save them.  So it was that when a rival noble came to his borders with an army, the noble merely hired a horde of mercenaries to deal with the problem.

  But the invader was crafty.  He knew of the wealth of the land, and of the greed of mercenaries.  Offering them higher wages and a share of the vast mountains of gold, the mercernaries were soon turned to his side.  In response, the noble conscripted his populace with promises of high wages, and bought yet more mercenaries.  Battles raged on for some time, both of soldiers and of salaries.  The noble's mighty coffers began to drain quite rapidly by the high cost of war.

  So the guard was sent to the Grimlok, to order more ore from their mines.  The Grimlok agreed, and the coffers filled once more... for a time.  The invading noble was quite tenacious, and the more money that filled the coffers, the more he had to offer his troops to motivate them.  A mountain of seemingly bottomless wealth was a prize, indeed.

  The Grimlok were contacted again when the coffers dwindled, and more ore was demanded.  The Grimlok told the guard that many of their workers were falling ill from overwork, they could do no more work.  The guard brandished his sword and demanded the ore all the same, threatening to leave the Grimlok to their enemies if more ore were not produced.

  This did not go over well with the Grimlok.  Enraged Warriors, Proles, and Workers all came pouring out of their deep and fruitful mountain nest.  Driven by anger and undying love for their Queen, they were a mighty fighting force.  Both armies and all the mercenaries were no match for the vast numbers of the Grimlok Horde.

  The invading noble fled from the massacre, back to whence he came.  The once rich noble was brought before the Grimlok Queen, beaten and destitute.  His mighty kingdom lay in ruins.  The Queen looked down at him and grunted.  She told him a lesson he would not forget for all his days as he slaved away in the Grimlok caves:

 Must have rocks in head to favor rocks over friends.