Workerdrone stood on the bridge to Lanternwebs, his breath clouding the cold winter air in front of him. Once more, the forces of evil had attempted to breach Lanternwebs, and once more they had been soundly defeated. This time, though, was special to him. Here, he had not been assigned to the rear lines, cutting off orcs fleeing from the polished blades of the champions. Here, he had served on the front lines, his sword biting green flesh and his shield deflecting black iron. Here, he had lead three dwarves to victory against six, and had lead them well enough that none of the enemy had escaped. Here, he had proven that The Tooninator's confidence in him was not misplaced.
He thought back to the previous month, when The Tooninator had ordered him to take two of the new recruits, Wizardmon and Ashtesh, to fend off a few skeletal mountain goats that had wandered too close to the fortress entrance. Although the enemy had not been difficult or dangerous to defeat, The Tooninator had awarded him the rank of Champion and granted him command of his own squad, the Blockaded Subtleties, as recognition. He had watched over the two recruits, guiding their development in the art of the sword, for almost a month now. Shaping them, as a metalsmith shapes glowing steel, into dwarves worthy to carry the title "Soldier of Lanternwebs".
Today had been their first test. Today, six goblins had snuck to the very gates of Lanternwebs, intent on slaughter and destruction. Today, The Tooninator had ordered the Blockaded Subtleties to drive their foes out, as their first test in combat. And today, not a single goblin had escaped death at their hands. Today had been an auspicious first combat indeed.
Workerdrone turned to look back, watching Wizardmon and Astesh arguing good-naturedly about their kills. Astesh had slain four, her sword slashing in broad arcs as she charged the center of the goblin formation ahead of the squad, her bravery an example to all.
Wizardmon had slain one, but he was claiming that it should be worth more because of the distance that it flew, his sword severing both of the goblin's legs before his shield had sent its limp body arcing across the courtyard to land outside the walls.
Now, Astesh was swinging playfully at Wizardmon, the slashes easily blocked by Wizardmon's shield as the two laughed together and dwarves began hauling the corpses away to the refuse pile. Workerdrone looked forward to the day when the corpses would be orcs, rather than goblins, and the battle against eighty, rather than six. No doubt, he thought as he smiled to himself, that after such a battle Wizardmon and Astesh would still be laughing and joking in the aftermath, would still be competing in the thick of battle to slay the most foes, would still be fighting side by side even as the enemy broke and fled before their swords. They would make fine soldiers, and he was honored to be their commander.
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Rysith cancels Update Lanternwebs: Internet Lost or Destroyed (The Internet was down all weekend. It was bad.)
Grath: There are plenty of military dwarves. I got you a mildly psychotic axedwarf, but I could change that if you'd like me to.
The temple is definitely a possibility. I haven't been paying much attention to the gods, but I might make a temple complex of some sort.
Also, I like the title Grand Army. I'll have to have īton declare that as its name.
Unfortunately, the ambush means that we don't get a siege this winter. More time to work on the megaprojects!
Eagle: I've already got the double-helix stairway, so a quadruple helix glass tower wouldn't be that hard for me to build. I'm not sure where I'd put it or how I'd work it into the story, though.
Workerdrone: The plans do involve webs, fire, gold, and steel, though it's going to be much more than just a magma maze.
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Topic: Lanternwebs (The End!) (Read 80546 times)