The cats huddled inside their fortress of wooden walls. Outside, the dwarves prepared for war. One group, led by one of the most skilled crossbowmen in the armies of the Vestibule of Sensing, set up camp to the southwest. The other, led by Tulon Helmpaddled, charged directly for the west gate.
Inside, the Screampacks military lined up in anticipation. If it was outright war these bearded giants wanted, then they would get all the war they could stomach.
Tulon rounded the corner into the town, and stopped at the sight. Almost twenty feline warriors were clustered into a clump down the street, waiting. His eyes picked out the one who appeared to be their leader. This had to be him. Amalgam.
Tulon shouted out a challenge. "Hey, pussycat! Stop skulking behind the kittens and come out! This is between us, and you."
Amalgam smirked, slowly. "You expect me to believe that, dwarf scum? I know your kind better than that. You're murderers, every one. I watched your kind drowning kittens by the barrelfull, even when you knew they were no mere beasts. What do dwarves have to do with honorable combat?"
Tulon glared, a dark flush of anger. "You didn't give us a choice, did you?? We did what we had to to keep from being drowned in cats! And look what happened, even with our attempts to stop your kind. Half of Reignportal was killed! My two brothers were eaten alive!"
Amalgam yawned, feigning boredom. "Then it may have been me that chewed on their throats. What of it? You come here to mess with me, you face the fury of all of Screampacks. We cats stand together against such as you. All of you, whoever comes... we will devour you! We cannot be stopped! We will conquer!"
Tulon glowered. "It's true then. What we heard from the elves. You're trying to revive this town into its former glories." He spat. "I remember those days. I fought to end it then, and succeeded. It's only fitting that I should do so again!"
Shouting a dwarven battle cry to the heavens, he charged at the waiting cats, his squad following. The cats yowled as one and poured forwards. OddProphet hurled himself at the imposing dwarven leader - and took a maceblow that shattered his front legs. "I knew that would happen," he hissed between clenched teeth as he limped away.
100killer9 had better luck, though, cannoning into Tulon with enough force to knock the imposing dwarf to the ground. He struggled to get to his feet, but a goblin bone dart pierced his throat. Choking on his blood, he wasn't able to stop Amalgam from ripping off his breastplate and tearing his heart out.
Around this grisly scene, the sounds of mayhem erupted as the two columns collided.
Rica charged for a swordsdwarf, nimbly evading a blow - but she ended up right in the middle of three swordsdwarves. Their steel blades descended, and she fell headless.
But elsewhere, the cats were prevailing. One warrior caught a swordstroke on his back that nearly severed the spine and gashed both lungs, but the dwarves were no match for the superior speed, ferocity, and numbers of the felines, as well as the deadly darts that were raining down from the markscats. As the front of the dwarven column fell under a mass of writhing jaws, the rear began to break ranks and flee.
One sworddwarf was not fast enough, and was quickly surrounded by no less than seven cat warriors. He never had a chance.
The cats celebrated that night, after burying their honored dead (and recruiting citizens to take the place of the fallen) - but one dwarven squad remained, huddled around their campfire, planning their attack. Their plan was to let their leader pick off the cats with his crossbow, a tactic which had proven very effective for the cats.
But Amalgam wasn't planning on giving them the pleasure of dictating the terms of the encounter. Early that morning, the entire Screampacks military and a handful of citizen militia lined up just outside the dwarven camp.
In the failing light, one of the dwarves caught a flash of metal. "Look!" he murmered to the dwarf next to him. "A scout!"
Indeed, a lone cat was sauntering just outside the firelight, appearing to do her best to remain hidden. But 100killer9 was not trying to hide, of course. No, she succeeded admirably at merely looking like she wanted to avoid detection.
Half the dwarven camp rushed wholesale at the feline, expecting a quick fight or, at the least, to chase her off. "Stop! It might be a trap!" yelled their leader ineffectually.
It was too late. The dwarves had strayed into the trees, out of sight and crossbow range from the camp, when they feline army set upon the stragglers.
The cats charged at the oncoming dwarves, catching them off-guard. Half of them were unable to react before they were pulled down by the mass of cats. The others tried to put up resistance, managing to behead the citizen who had made the wondrous hatch cover and slash the lungs of one of the military recruits, but they too were pulled down.
Seeing almost half of his squad pulled down by such a trick, the dwarven leader gave the order to retreat.
And no, Haspen, you weren't too late - I put two legendary woodcutters in the militia when taking on the second squad. You're the one that survived.
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Topic: Screampacks. Dwarves repelled, once again. Only 4 cats lost! (Read 27964 times)