Stosbûb Azstrogogusp Busmas, "Stosbûb Devilportents the Natural Mystery"
Nish Endokdetes was the first to see it. As she led the wardog into the midst of the pack, she heard the first
bark. Her screams alerted Asmel Keskalkilrud, "Asmel Shootbronze", Captain of The Bronze Tangles. Asmel
and his squad burst from the stone barracks, expecting another yeti. What greeted them was a beast of
nightmare.
Stosbûb charged the dogs first, shredding through the mass of panicked canines. Like a wagon wheel through
a puddle the dogs were splashed aside. Then, Olon was there.
Weilding her copper sword, Olon stuck thrice in quick succession. A few light cuts began to weep red, but
Stosbûb remained unfazed. Faster than any creature as large as that has a right to move, Stosbûb stomped down
on Olon's foot, flattening bone and muscle alike. In a fluid motion, Olon was lifted, disarmed, and
decapitated.
Asmel and Mebzuth were murdered in similar fashions, and Stosbûb focused it's attention on Nish and her
child, Unib.
Nish almost made it across, but then it was right behind her. Stosbûb grabbed Unib right from her mother's
arms, and then Unib was gone. Crushed. Eaten. Nish witnessed it all - staring into the dripping maw of
Stosbûb, unable to comprehend.
Overtaken by fury, Nish scrambled over the ice and struck Stosbûb in the foot. Perhaps surprised at the audacity, Stosbûb casually flung Nish off the bridge and moved on to other prey. Stunned by the fall, Nish lay in the pit next to the rotting corpses of beast and vermin. Nothing meant anything anymore, not without Unib, and when Stosbûb himself crashed to the floor of the pit she failed to react.
You see, after Nish was flung away, Stosbûb focused his attention on the nearest creature: an already-
crippled puppy attempting to crawl away. Perhaps blinded by his thirst, the weremammoth stumbled over the mangled corpse of a wardog and fell.
Hard. The puppy remained in his grip, and was killed as soon as Stosbûb came to his
senses. Nish was next, run up against the ice and eaten alive. There was no hope here, not anymore.
The dwarves inside knew something was wrong when Nish never came back from the surface (she had just
come from a party, you see, and everyone wanted to see more of the cute, little Unib), and one of the
masons ventured above. Greeted by the sight of Unib's corpse strewn across the portal, he shouted for help.
The Bolts of Flying responded, a mixed-arms military squad and the oldest soldiers at the fort. Domas led the
charge with his silver mace, vaulting over the edge of the pit and onto the pile of corpses below. He landed
poorly, along with the rest of his squad, and were stunned for the start of the fight.
Wait, you ask who was fighting if everyone in The Bolts of Flying was incapacitated? Well, duh,
the rest of
the fort. That mason had gone and told everyone at the party about Unib, which had about the same
effect as a bomb. Dwarves of all professions rushed to the surface, lunging off the bridge and into the moat.
Stosbûb dealt with the first few accordingly, maiming and killing all. Mistem, who despite all his mad
intentions had taken a liking to Unib, takes a massive hit and his hand is crushed. One of our swordsdwarfs,
the only remaining member of The Bronze Tangles, is instantly killed when Stosbûb turns around and
punches her head clean off.
Then, the tide turns. Stosbûb slows, and punches start to land. He isn't hurt by them, however - his thick
hide-covered muscle deflects everything. That is, until Amost Nomalziril shoots him in the stomach!
No one had ever told Amost to carry a crossbow, or allowed him to access the ammunition. Apparently he
thought himself above those rules and thank Armok he did. A second bolt buries itself into Stosbûb's right
leg. At this point The Bolts of Flying have unburied themselves from the rotting corpses and entered the
fight. As they engage the beast, it's form starts to shrivel and collapse upon itself, and soon a small goblin is
standing before them. It doesn't take long for Domas to land the final blow: a strike to the neck that severs
the spine.
Only dwarves and dogs remain. Many are bleeding, crying, screaming, or some combination of the three.
Engok, the still-breathing gem setter, has no right leg and his head sits at a strange, inhuman angle. The few
who avoided injury are breathing heavily, exhausted after rushing to the fight. That's when they hear the
slam of the ice bridge, shutting them out amongst the dead.
They shout and scream to open the gate in case there's another mammoth, but no one responds. They then realize they
are the dead.
Werecurses transmit through wounds inflicted by those accursed. This means that, out of the 16 dwarves
now locked outside, 11 might be cursed. Those safe inside face a difficult question: how do we
deal with eleven potential Stosbûb's?
Those were some amazing combat logs, holy hell. Also, I really have no clue why he had that crossbow, or why half the adults decided to charge out of the base and mob Stosbub. Life goes on, I suppose.
Author
Topic: Ice Station WereZebra (Read 57230 times)