16th Felsite 208
The battle goes well. First, Second and Third squads are performing admirably.
Splint's angry voice startles me out of my reverie.
"Reudh, you foolish dolt, why on Everoc would you send THREE squads to deal with a piddling goblin siege!?" he shouts.
"I thought Fischer might need backup..."
I quail under his veritable verbal barrage.
"Do you think that Fischer would need backup? The only time I'd send the others is against the Spawn, and then only if things look grim. Fischer could probably end that siege ALONE."
I found my voice long enough to mount a defense.
"Splint, all due respect, but I am the overseer now, not you, and I make the decisions."
Splint turned puce, and just about bristled with anger. Quick as a flash, he struck me across the face with his gauntleted hand. It felt like a hammer blow, nothing like the caress of Rose.
"If you knew what it was like to lose someone, you'd think about your decisions more..." he said in a silkily smooth voice. He seemed to be just barely containing his anger; but by the way he was flexing his hand he seemed to be regretting striking me.
"You lost someone? I... I never knew." This was news to me.
Splint sighed, and all the anger seemed to flow right out of him.
"Back when we first settled Spearbreakers, I fell in love with a girl named Stova. She was my reason for living."
I simply nodded, and motioned for him to continue. My face was still stinging.
"Reudh, do you know what the scariest thing about the Spawn is? Their bite will transform you into one of them. We're not certain, but there are theories that the turned dwarf's mind is still in there somewhere, watching in horror as what was once their body destroys all they knew and loved."
He paused a moment before continuing.
"Even now, there are still two Spawn in the fort."
I finally put two and two together. Oh... gods...
"Ashsaber and Softa, two well loved dwarves of Spearbreakers, were bitten by the Spawn. Bleeding and bruised, they voluntarily entered the holding cells. We heard the screams as they turned, and even now to walk near the holding cells you can hear the howls and growls of those once-were-dwarves.
"Stova, my beloved, and one of Fischer's few true friends, was bitten. She turned, and we were all forced to kill her. It very nearly broke me."
Splint looked far from angry now, just sad and dejected. I felt an outpouring of empathy for poor Splint, he who had lost everything.
I tried to imagine what it would be like to live in a world without Rose, and my throat choked up and tears threatened to overwhelm.
"Reudh, I chose you as the overseer to come after me, because I thought you had promise. Please don't let us down in future."
He let a shadow of a smile creep across his face.
"Oh, and... Reudh? Try and ease up on the creepy adoration. Rose won't respond well to it."
A horn sounded again. Different from the one when the goblins attacked.
Over the horn, I hear a stentorian voice. "The dead walk, hide while you still can!"
Splint frowned.
"Perhaps you were right to leave the three squads out. I may have judged you early."
Approximately forty undead, mainly goblins but a few human corpses surrounded Spearbreakers on all sides. I called everyone inside, and moved the squads closer to the entrance bridge, so not a one would become overwhelmed with bloodlust and get themselves seperated.
((Apologies, I didn't manage to get an image of the fights or announcement, but the gist was as follows.))
The goblins who hadn't yet made it to the fort were surrounded and pulled down; despite their fighting hard they fell quickly. Awl killed their general, a Barbarian. Fischer pulled down a good twenty corpses. The goblins managed to fell two before dying.
All in all, while some of the army became seperated as I feared, they held their own. Draignean got a few kills, as did poor crippled Gemblade. Fischer ran so fast into a zombie that she bounced right off it, but hopped up and promptly sent its limbs flying off metres away.
The goblins had been completely ruined by the zombies, so I recalled the squads back in. Skitara and Gemblade stayed out, cleaning up. Fischer and Draignean left to get provisions, then joined the melee again. A few dwarves began grumbling about having to fight in dirty clothing, or some such foolishness. They can wait.
((I can't upload the image at the moment, night time internet is very slow...))
But life goes on at Spearbreakers. Splint smiled, then left. Fischer came to my room, covered in gore. She said nothing, but I felt that she approved of my decision. She left then too.
Well... that was a dodged bolt, most definitely.
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Topic: [34.11] Spearbreakers - It shudders and begins to move (Read 2274279 times)