I swear if I didn't know better I'd think Derek was Armok himself. I really did not expect him to survive all that but he did.
By the time he noticed the net closing around him it was too late. The black armored Goblins had closed ranks, trapping the few survivors of the infantry column to be slaughtered. Derek’s evil doppleganger stood just outside the ring. “Congratulations on wasting your time with the expendable infantry. But now you really must die.” The imposter said before nodding to the Goblins.
Grinning cruel grins at each other they charged as one, screaming and raising weapons. Derek sheathed one sword and reached into one of his belt pouches to pull out a trio of round iron balls. Tossing them to one side he redrew his sword and clashed with the first swordgob as the intricate gears within the balls began turning, opening up the balls and turning the easily stored spheres into mechanical spiders that skittered into battle on Derek’s flank, climbing up Goblin legs and biting with sharp metal fangs before jumping to another target.
The poison quickly brought the bitten to their knees, killing more than half the heavily armored foes before the spiders were cut and smashed apart.
Meanwhile Derek had fought through the remainder of his doppleganger’s squad and as he wiped some blood from his face he enjoyed the expression of shock on the imposter’s face. Roaring in anger the fake Derek drew his own twin blades and charged.
The quartet of blades met in midair, crashing together again and again. The magic embedded in the doppleganger’s blades was strong and Derek found himself shoved back. The veteran Warrior’s eyes narrowed as he realized that he had at last found a foe truly worthy of him.
The fake Derek charged again and Derek met him, slapping one blade aside and rolling under the second before he cut upward, cutting scratches in the engraved armor. The designs glowed briefly before the scratches closed. Swinging his foot into Derek’s chest the imposter sent him rolling back and followed up with a sword to the Warrior’s leg, sword cutting through one of the battle scenes engraved on the armor, beheading a couple of beautifully detailed skeletons as the blade went deeper, biting into flesh.
Derek screamed and in fury sent one sword swinging into the side of his twin’s head, dazing him long enough for Derek to struggle to his feet, though it was obvious that putting too much weight on his injured leg would put him right back on the ground.
“You really think Kaloh didn’t prepare for this fight?” The imposter sneered. “Thanks to our spies we learned all we needed to know about your fighting style. This armor will heal even the worst of injuries and allow me to continue the fight. I don’t believe you can say the same and with your leg injured I think your part in this war is over.”
“True, I certainly can’t move very well now but I bet your head will still become part of my vast collection.” Derek replied, using one sword as a temporary crutch.
“Brave words from a doomed Dwarf.” The faux Derek responded. “Just for the sake of knowing, what makes you think you could possibly kill me now?”
“Not simply kill, decapitate.” Derek corrected. “And I believe I can because I do not restrict myself to simply swinging a sword, I work on my marksmanship with Argonnek on a regular basis.”
“And I’m afraid that training will do you no good without a cros…” The doppleganger’s words broke off as a length of dwarf forged steel slammed into his bare neck, cutting straight through and leaving the impostor with a shocked expression locked on his face as his swords clattered to the ground. The second sword tore through the magical armor, the engravings flaring briefly to life before fading. The impact sent the faux Derek staggering back and finally falling to the ground at which point his head rolled away and Derek’s sword fell beside it.
“I never said I learned with a crossbow.” Derek said as he staggered over to examine the results of his work. Seeing that his aim had been perfect he stooped to pick up the head and look into its shocked eyes. “Let’s see you heal that.” Derek said before falling to the ground, his weakened leg finally giving out on him.
Both sides erupted with noise as they watched the seemingly impossible decapitation of the doppleganger. Cheers rose from the walls of Flamebanner and shouted orders from Uktang’s camp ordered the siege engines to commence firing. As boulders sailed into the air a force of Kobolds mounted up and rode out, intending to collect the injured Dwarf.
Kanet saw this and knew the time had come to spring their surprise on the enemy. Turning to the courtyard he shouted to the Dwarves gathered below. “Thirrin! Go get Derek!”
With a crash of wood hitting stone the gates of Flamebanner burst open and the Warrior Thirrin rode out on her massive white tiger. Behind her rode twenty Dwarves mounted on their own tigers. Armed with spear and sword the Thunderclan cavalry were a terrifying sight.
Thundering across the grass Thirrin shouted orders and spears were lowered. The impact with the Kobold riders was brief and bloody. The brown skinned vermin were run through by spears or cut down by swinging swords. The strange beasts they rode proving no match for the powerful tigers. As the surviving and riderless beasts ran away Thirrin’s mount slid to a halt beside Derek and the Warrior slid to the ground, picking up the unconscious Dwarf and slinging him over the feline’s back. Then she turned to collect Derek’s swords as well as those of the doppleganger. Finally she grabbed the severed head that had dropped from Derek’s hand.
Mounting up she led her riders back into the safety of the fortress, where she turned Derek over to the Medicine Dwarves while the wall mounted siege equipment and Marksmen fought the Goblin crews on the ground…
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Yes, Derek did just decapitate someone with a THROWN SWORD! Seemed like something Derek would learn.
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Topic: Flamebanner: The Battle of Flamebanner! (Read 132967 times)