“The short, stumpy creatures are there again, did you know that?” the tiny little flaming imp said aloud.
“Yes, I saw them when they first came into our valley. I snuck over to the edge of our magma pool and watched as they dispatched a troglodyte,” the other fire imp named Fenokisak responded.
“What should we do?” an imp named Eshikelis asked.
“I will journey to the surface and kill them all. Watch me brothers as I bring the wrath of fire and brimstone upon those weak dwarves.”
Fenokisak swiftly used his agile body and magma fins to propel himself to the surface. With a great bout of fire he emerged from his domain, steaming as the cold air met his superheated skin. None of the dwarves noticed him, they were all to busy digging into the side of their precious mountain.
Stealthily, the tiny imp snuck around the side of the valley. A dwarf had come out of the hole in the mountain side and was building something next to a pile of wood. Gathering up his inner flame, Fenokisak released a steady stream of fire upon the unsuspecting dwarf.
Screaming in pain the dwarf ran away and died, but not before he also set the rest of his companions on fire. Soon, they were all dieing and Fenokisak returned to his magma pool, a king among imps.
Several Years Later…
Upon a hill overlooking a lush river valley there is a broken, beaten wagon. Surrounding the wagon are 60 dwarves in full battle array. Their armor glints and sparkles in the moonlight
"Commander I want those troglodytes dead by sunrise or I shall be extremely unpleasant. Just think, all of the profits we may lose if we are even a day behind schedule!" Mayor Astesh exclaimed to his Military Commander, Aban.
"Yes Mr. Mayor. We will retake the abandoned fortress or die trying," Aban responded.
"Good. Do it quickly."
As Lieutenant Aban walked away from the Mayor she muttered under her breath, "Horrible bastard of a dwarf. How dare he treat my dwarf's lives like they're worth nothing."
As the Lieutenant approached the makeshift soldier camp all of the dwarves snapped to attention. "I want 1st, 2nd, and 3rd squads to clear out the main mine shaft. 4th, 5th, and 6th squads will stand guard over the magma pool. We don't want any trouble from fire imps. 7th and 8th squads will stand in reserve. All squad sergeants will report any irregularities or developing situations to me or Gunnery Sergeant Udil. Okay? Lets move out."
Without regard to stealth the 1st and 2nd squad ran out from the hills surrounding the main entrance. Troglodytes caught unaware on the front line are killed almost instantly. However the other 20 Trogs are battle ready by the time the dwarves break through premier ranks. Unfortunately for the Trogs, they didn't realize that the dwarves had cunningly placed a crossbow squad right behind their force.
Axes and hammers met crude clubs and spears as the the two forces did battle. Amongst the melee the dwarves took their first casualty. A squad sergeant named Ablel was carrying a wounded comrade to safety when a Trog speared him from behind, piercing his lung. As Ablel fell to the ground, Another Trog lept upon him and beat off his arm.
Suddenly as Ablel fell to the Troglodyte onslaught strands of sticky substance flew out of the entrance of fortress. A dwarf named Kib was the first vitim of the giant monstrous spider. His comrades can do nothing as the giant cave spider scuttles out of the fortress and cleanly bites his head off. His cries of fear do nothing but worsen the dwarf's ability to fight the horde of Troglodytes.
When the dwarves were about flee the reserve troops finally arrived. Leading the charge was the Lieutenant herself. In the confusion of the following fight, and victory, against the Trogs, the giant cave spider managed to escape.
Looking around at the death surrounding her Aban almost began to weep. However, she managed to pull herself together and began searching for her second in command, Gunnery Sergeant Udil.
She found the Sergeant stacking Troglodyte corpses and pushing them into the magma pool.
"O 'ello skipper. We here have just bin' burnin' dese here corpses up."
"Sergeant we have to kill that spider."
"Hmm. Well skipper we could try one of dem frontal assaults. But I can see lots of casualties. But dats the only way I see."
Cold gripped the Lieutenant's heart. She didn't want to send her dwarves head long against a monstrosity, but dammit she had been order by the mayor to retake the fortress.
"Very well then. Notify 1st squad that they will be leading the assault."
Udil saluted and yelled, "Yes, Sir!"
An Hour Later...
"Damn it's dark in here. How are we supposed to kill the damn thing if we can't see it?" Private Mafol asked.
"Quiet in the ranks!" screeched squad sergeant Vabok.
The sound of dripping water and the feet of scurrying vermin could be heard throughout the abandoned hallways. Lieutenant Aban stood with Udil and Vabok at the front of the squad looking at a rough diagram that the mayor had grudgingly provided. 1st squad was positioned behind them, fully ready to kill a giant cave spider
Private Mafol nudged corporal Ezum and said, "While the brass are deciding where to go, I'm going to go and "investigate" those rum barrels in the last room we passed through. Want to come?"
"No way, Private. Do you know that thing is still lurking around!"
"Your loss then."
Several minutes after the private left a scream could be heard coming from the room Mafol had entered.
"Squad on me!" Aban screamed and charged into the room wielding her battle axe. A gruesome sight met the dwarves as they charged into the room. A giant, hairy bug sat feeding upon the corpse of a still twitching Private Mafol.
As soon as the squad arrived into the room the spider shot strands of web straight at the dwarves. All except sergeant Vabok managed to doge them. The spider ignored the other dwarves and immediately pounced upon Vabok taking off several limbs. Screaming a war cry, sergeant Udil tried to save the dieing dwarf but was batted asied from a stray spider limb and hit the stone wall, hard.
As soon as Vabok bled out the spider lost interest in his lifeless corpse and eviscerated a nearby trooper. Quickly, realizing that the spider could kill them all, Aban organized a shield wall and advanced upon the creature. Several more troopers fell until only Aban a 2 others were left remaining. The 2 brave dwarves distracted the spider. They through temselves upon it and began to hack at it with their weapons. After a few second the monster grabbed on of them a tore him in half, happily consuming his steaming organs.
As the monster continued to eat Aban promptly stepped up and lopped off the creatures multiple arms and legs within several seconds. Then, she managed to finally embed her axe in the creatures abdomen before finally collapsing from exhaustion
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Topic: We Came, we Saw, and we Reclaimed (Read 1232 times)