Werebuffalo alert! A human bowman is fighting with it outside our walls. Marksdwarves, to the balconies! Pull the levers!
What do you mean, you didn't build the bridge yet?
Carp.
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The large bell in the tower was sounded twice, as was the drum underground. "WEREBEAST!" shouted the dwarf who noticed it. "WEREBUFFALO!"
"So here's the plan," Melbil said as he rushed up the stairs with his squad. "Marksdwarves, get to the walls. Shoot down the killing corridor. Melee squads to the entrance, with the humans. We want to engage this beast in melee only as a last resort." The civilians ran inside as the soldiers prepared.
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James rushed to his office. "Werebuffalo, werebuffalo..." he muttered, running his eyes along his bookshelves. "Where do I - there!" He pulled out a thick tome titled "Beasts of the World of Prophecies" and nearly ripped the pages as he looked for the werebeast section. "There! Werealpaca, werearmadillo, werebuffalo!" His face fell as soon as he saw the text:
"No Known Werebuffaloes Alive."
He looked beneath, though, and found a sketch of a werebuffalo almost identical to the one he'd seen. Violet eyes, cinnamon hair, the whole lot. Seeing the text beside it, he gasped. "But... How can she... All the way over there, centuries of hiding..." He called for the commander. "Melbil!!"
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Melbil looked down at the human bowman. He had gotten in a few good shots, but they had done almost nothing. With those bites, the best he could hope for was a quick death. Unfortunately for the dwarves, as soon as he died, the human would cease to be a distraction. Nearby, a bunny grazed.
A few seconds later, there was a soon-to-be-dead bunny and a rather distracted werebuffalo. But not for long.
"Melbil!" he heard. He ran down the stairs and down to the administration level.
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James and Melbil met. "I believe that the werebuffalo is Hehan Sedastlegu Oshokradir Olith," James stated. "It sounds preposterous, but there are no other werebeasts, save a few on secluded islands."
"But... Hehan?"
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Hehan had been a normal human girl. Born in 67, she was the eldest daughter of Dothan Agesanguish and Tar Heroicgrooved. Until one day in the early spring of 68, Resmi Hopscratch the Rag of Birds attacked her, biting her fourth toe, right foot. That alone was enough to pass on the werebuffalo curse.
Next month, while playing in the fields, she turned, yet somehow held herself from killing the townspeople in the town so close to her. This level of restraint was likely due to her being a baby werebeast, and she never showed it again.
Then she fled to the not-so-Peaceful Plains. Only two years old, she somehow devoured several townspeople and livestock.
Over the next year, she rampaged through towns, then disappeared only to come back seven years later in an elven retreat. She killed the elves, then took up residence in a nearby sewer.
Over the next 34 years, she lived in the sewers. One can only imagine the state of her mind. Fleeing from everyone she loved, killer of dozens.
But then she disappeared from the eyes of the world in 122. She was never seen again.
Until now, in Bronzeancient, over a century later and half a world away.
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"So do you have any information on her?" asked Melbil. "Nothing that would be useful," replied James. "Besides, we don't have the time to forge weapons or bolts out of whichever metals hurt her the most, even if we knew which metal it was." "But wait... Isn't their resistance to attacks unique to metal?" asked Melbil. "And don't we have sharp wooden bolts?" The two dwarves looked up at each other and smiled.
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"Close the gates!" shouted Olin. "The dwarves are all inside!" "But what about the humans?!" someone shouted. "They won't leave their goods, and they trust in their guards. Save yourselves and close the gates!" shouted another.
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"Look at it! Its spine is broken!" shouted Sigun. "Is it weak to the iron arrows the bowman carried?" "It didn't eat him, that's for sure," said Thikut, looking down. "He's mangled but still whole."
"This proves that we can hurt it!" exclaimed Melbil, looking over their shoulders. "Now get back inside, behind the soldiers!"
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"The pond!" shouted Rakust. "It's swimming inside!" The soldiers rushed to the pond, watching anxiously. They waited... Waited...
And the werebeast threw itself out of the water, roaring. Somebody screamed. And then it thrashed about, writhing, and...
"It's turned back! Thank the gods, we're saved!" said Melbil. Everyone let out their breaths. The human blubbed and sank.
"Can you let me in now?" asked a dwarf from outside. "How did you surviv-" Melbil asked. "I just arrived. Now that I see how dangerous it is here, can you please let me in?"
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So in the end, no one died but a bunny and a human bowman, and no one else was bitten. We got a metalsmith/marksdwarf in a migrant 'wave,' and trading with the humans goes on.
Wait a second... Where's that human corpse.
Uh oh...