Egh, writing is tough. Hopefully this is good. And with that, I hand over control to Talvi! (Finally, sorry about the delays, Talvieno. You know the reason.
Entry Six
Try as I might to convince Tedaz and Strohe from their sleep in the upmarket tavern beds, they don't want to hop up. Hangover, they say. Lurit's up and ready, in the backyard of the tavern, resplendent in his full armor and whip. He's talking to the tavern proprietor's wife, I think. She giggles at everything he says.
Blimey, that old grey lasher has a way with women. That's for sure. He whispers in her ear. She looks outraged, then slaps him hard, leaving a puce hand mark on his cheek. I burst out laughing.
"You pervert!" and she storms off.
Lurit looks so stunned, I can barely move between paroxysms of laughter and coughing.
"What on earth did you say to her, you lecherous lasher!?" I ask him.
Lurit regains his composure, grins at me and stands back up. "See this whip? Well, I said 'Come up to my room and I can show you MY whip.' Brilliant, or at least I thought it was. You saw the slap, you saw my response."
"Lurit... Amazing. I could never pluck up that kind of courage. I'm a fair fighter, but talking to women just gets me down."
Lurit cocked his head to the side. "Have you had women in your life before, Reudh?"
Oh dear. He knows of my quest to find Vanya, the Righteous Quest For Love and Flowers, but I haven't told him about the other part.
"Ggh. Lurit, when I was overseer of Spearbreakers I was severely drugged up by some additives that had been snuck into my alcohol by someone. I still don't know who, but it made me hallucinate and paranoid. I developed a frankly quite creepy adulation for a fiery tempered and fiery haired dwarf called Rose. I became more and more crazy while on this drugged ration, eventually culminating in me assaulting Rose and our Baron Splint. It took both of them to take me down, while I raved all the while about how they were plotting against me and how I was going to become a 'sexy spawn' and rend them both in half with my sexy claws. Splint never let me forget that. After the drugged rations were removed, I spiralled into a deep depression. A miner called Rochia went fey and kissed me, and I fell in love with her. Once her fey mood wore off, she treated me like every else did, that is; like the creepy bastard I was."
Lurit nodded. I didn't know whether Tedaz or Strohe had gotten up; but frankly I'd rather not tell them this story. Something about Lurit seemed inherently trustworthy.
"I was sunk in such a deep depression that I considered handing the reign over, but Splint and Rose snapped me out of it. Shortly before my tenure as overseer ended, after the terrible losses we took against the spawn (We lost eleven, including my dear friend Jack Magnus), some humans who called themselves 'mercenaries' attacked. A beautiful, willowy woman called Vanya, which is strange. Her parents must've been progressive, because she had an elvish name. Anyway, on my way to raise the alarm, she stopped me, asked me a question, then when I answered, she seemed to stall for a second, then said 'thankyou' and swiftly pecked me on the cheek. It was like the touch of an angel. I knew then and there I had to court her. And when she disappeared, I had to look for her. Hence, why I'm here."
Lurit guffawed. "You poor bastard! We should get you a whore!"
I went pale. I didn't want some poor woman slave to be my first. I'd rather it be true and righteous. "N-n-no thanks, Lurit. Thanks."
"Your loss, matey! The working women of Sewaturet are the finest in the land."
"I really don't want to, Lurid--- Lurit."
He hopped up, stretched a little bit, and smiled that infectious grin again. "Well, we'd best find your pretty dwelf Vanya! I'll go wake up Strohe and Tedaz, and we'll set off."
I cooled my heels (steaming, they were) while Lurit roused the two others from their hangover induced sleep.
We set off from the tavern in search of the exit from Sewaturet. The only one we could use apparently, was the southwest exit with our friend the guard again.
"Leavin' Sewaturet already, mateys? 'S a shame, you din't get ta see the best of our town." And with that he waved us through.
There's not much to say about what followed. Lurit and I marched eagerly, while Strohe kept pace with his odd little jog, and Tedaz trailing behind, still largely hungover.
A few days later, after heading southwest, the whole time due southwest, we spotted something on the horizon. Red glops from the sky, covering everything. It was the huge blood plains, east of Spearbreakers. I should've known, I was practically heading back.
We turned to change direction, to head away from the horizon we saw, away from what would inevitably lead back to Spearbreakers.
But then...
Oh horror of horrors.
Two huge, angry, well muscled spawn stood behind us. They must've been stalking us for the last few kilometres.
"Guys.... draw your weapons... turn around slowly, and don't panic. There are two spawn behind us."
Lurit readied his whip. I drew my bismuth bronze pike, from Spearbreakers' armory. Strohe pulled his wickedly sharp knife out of its scabbard, and Tedaz his steel longsword. Too long for me to use without two hands, but the tall human easily wielded it around like it was a willow rod.
"Wait for them to advance. Their hearts are their weak points," I told them.
Lurit spoke tersely. "The only thing that can kill them is blood loss or the heart I think. Pin it down, Reudh, and I'll deal with it. This whip should be able to disable its eyes, but I have a mean kick. Strohe, Tedaz, you take the other one."
The spawn in the lead screamed an absolutely bloodcurdling cry. The humans were taller than the Spawn, but they did not underestimate it.
"SCCKKKKEEEEEECCCKKKKK" it screamed. Bounding forward, on four legs, it kicked up masses of dirt clods as it thundered towards us. The other advanced, much slower.
"Pity I didn't bring a crossbow," Tedaz frowned.
It felt like an eternity before it got to us.
It barrelled hard into Lurit, with a whoof the old lasher was sent flying. He skidded on his arm for a while, before rolling backwards in a somersault back to his feet. I charged toward the spawn bearing down on him, stabbing it in the head with my pike. The pike slashed its right eye, and it roared and swiped at me. The terrible claw narrowly missed me; with a sound like 'WHIIFF', a screaming quick sound, it cut the air in front of me.
Lurit twirled his whip, then hit the Spawn with it, lightly damaging its maw and knocking a single tooth free. I slashed with the pike, cutting into the chest quite deeply. The pike was yanked out of my grasp, and the Spawn growled and pulled the pike out, then flung it twenty metres away.
Lurit didn't seem to be pleased. His teeth were bared in a rictus of fury, his eyes wide, his eyebrows furrowed and his face puce.
"YOU UNHOLY DEVIL'S SPAWN. I OUGHT TO RUIN YOUR MOUTH FOR YOU." He whipped in a blistering rage, hitting each teeth squarely on, knocking them either into the maw or some distance away. The Spawn had about forty of its fifty teeth left after Lurit finished. He wasn't even tired. His face was still bright red in colour. I see why dwarves respect humans. In a battle they look like they're possessed. We dwarves remain stern, but the humans appear to turn into avenging deities when they're truly pressed.
Over from us, Tedaz and Strohe were having less trouble.
Strohe danced around the spawn, evading every strike it threw at him. Then he jumped forwards in a twisting / lunging movement - stabbing en fleche, scoring the Spawn with two dainty strikes. Both strikes hit the spawn's arm, cutting to the bone, and severing a neat piece of flesh off. Tedaz took the opportunity to change his grip and slice overhead with the longsword in two hands, taking the other arm clean off.
Strohe barely dodged the now enraged spawn's next swipe, then fell on his back. It crept up on him, lunged with its maw, straight for his leg, but it stopped dead.
Tedaz had impaled it through its heart, from behind. The Spawn halted, clasped its chest, then fell forward. Its maw rippled, then closed shut for the final time.
Their spawn finished, they then turned their attention to the one Lurit and I were struggling with.
The Spawn had grasped Lurit by the throat and was gradually strangling the life out of him. In between gasps for breath, Lurit's face went even redder, and he spat clean in its warped face.
"Y-you... may... have... killed... my... wife... and... kids... but... you... won't... get... me!"
I was flailing away at the spawn, battering it with the haft, slicing it with the blade, but nothing seemed to work. I couldn't get at its heart, Lurit was in front.
Seeing Lurit in trouble, Tedaz and Strohe rushed over. Tedaz took out one arm, severing it cleanly with a heavy swipe. Strohe stabbed the Spawn's leg, which dropped it to its knees.
Lurit swung back and forth, gaining inertia, before he used his momentum to do a mighty kick forward. He had just enough momentum to plunge his foot into the maw of the beast, hitting its fragile obsidian heart and killing it. It dropped him, and as it fell, its maw closed on his ankle, severing the bone clean off. Lurit screamed. I had a heart rending thought; what if Lurit turned? Then I banished it. Fischer had told me before I left that only dwarves were affected by the Spawn's bite.
Still, it was a grievous injury. The leg was fine, but terminated abruptly just above the half of the flimsy human malleolus. Lurit's face had lost its 'avenging angel' look, and now was grey with pain.
The bite was a nasty one, it had sheared the ankle off not cleanly. Lumps of meat and half of his malleolus was still there, but the tendons hung loose. Blood ran freely, a healthy red colour, better that than the gloopy red/brown of the rain in the distance.
I opened my pack hurriedly. I had some basic medical supplies in there; a folding featherwood crutch, some rope reed dressing, some catgut stitches and of course a plump helmet analgesic tablet devised by our local chemist, Mr Frog.
Tedaz and Strohe sat down near Lurit with a look of concern on their face.
"Is he alright, Lord?" the small farmer asked. His eyes were fearful.
"He'll be fine," I said. I wasn't sure I could stop the bleeding. I took the dressing, mopped up most of the blood and cleaned the muck off the wound.
"Tedaz. Take the purple tablet. Crush it up. Put it in about quarter of a mug of beer from my bag. Water it down. Feed Lurit it slowly when you've crushed it all," I said in a pained voice.
"REUDH. You're-- you're a good man. Thankyou for helping me," Lurit said in between groans and spasms.
Strohe sat next to Lurit's head and began dabbing at his forehead with a cloth, wet with some water from his canteen. I finished cleaning the area, as Tedaz finished mixing the beer, water and pain tablet. He held it to Lurit, who drank it slowly.
"Drink it all down, there's a good fellow."
When Lurit had finished the mug, I waited five minutes, then handed Strohe a strap of thick bound leather. "Put this in his mouth and make sure he grips it tightly." Strohe took the leather, Lurit opened his mouth and bit down on the leather strap.
"Mggmff, mffg." He struggled with the leather bit.
"Pardon?"
"T'sts like acorns."
Strohe wrapped his arms around Lurit's jaws to hold them shut, while Tedaz sat on his chest, pinning his arms.
I prepared the needle, poured some alcohol on it to kill the germs (hopefully), threaded the catgut and began to sew the blood vessels shut. Lurit's eyes widened, he bucked and screamed through the bit, while Strohe held him tightly and Tedaz trying to 'stay aboard', as it were. The odd little farmer leant in close and began singing a strange lullaby.
I finished sewing the blood vessels, then applied dressing to the leg. I used everything I had, evidently not enough.
The worst of it over, we then made camp. I heated my pike in the fire, while Strohe and Tedaz sat near to Lurit, making sure he was alright. Lurit seemed fine, albeit a bit feverish. He knew I was going to cauterise the wound.
I prepared the pike, taking the flat of its blade and getting ready to touch it to Lurit's stump.
Lurit eyed the pike, then fainted.
That's good. He hopefully won't feel the pain.
Strohe and Tedaz pinned him again while I touched the pike gingerly at first, then for greater periods of time. The flesh sizzled and crackled as the heated pike cauterised the wound; burning it shut as it were. Lurit, still mercifully unconscious, didn't feel it.
I kept the pike touched to the wound, until I probed the area and found it mostly cauterised. I heated the pike again briefly, then touched the wound again. Lurit began to stir, then awoke with a huge scream. "ARRGGHHHHHH!" he cried. Tears formed in his eyes, and I heard cracking sounds as he bit into the bit.
My job nearly done, I looked at the area, flushed it with water, then carried Lurit to the tent. I was going to stay with him.
We slept, though Lurit not so easily. I woke many times in the night to hear him scream from the pain then pass out again.
By the time the sun rose... He wasn't looking well. Grey pallor and ragged breathing. I hope I didn't stuff it up.
Strohe came into my tent shouting. "There's some people, and some THINGS on the horizon! Look!"
I peered, and with my good vision I could just make out two humanoid beings accompanying a large group of.... giant praying mantids. I was loathe to approach... but Lurit may depend on it.
I can't figure out what to do... Armok, help me?
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Topic: [34.11] Spearbreakers - It shudders and begins to move (Read 2277872 times)