I was going to leave this to a cliff hanger but I decided WD would freak out. Also, sorry if I missed you in the fight scene (Labs, I left you out because you said you wanted to leave. Are you still sure about this?)
The bolt-hole“Most warholds have these,” said Bjorn conversationally as they climbed out of the bolt hole into the woods. “But most warlords, like David, prefer to stand and – Oh Gods.”
They were two hundred feet from the opposing force.
“
run!” roared Bjorn. They ran into the wood. A squad separated from the main force and chased after them. After a short while, Workerdrone stopped.
“We can run, or we can
FINISH THESE FOOLS!” he roared and turned, axes in hand. The entire party stopped dead.
“Run, you big oaf!” shouted Kogan but Barbarossa placed a hand on his shoulder.
“Let’s just follow along. I think he’s right.”
Behind them, Bromrek crashed out of the woods.
“Where were you?” asked Barbarossa.
“Some – uh, somewhere. Places. Stuff,” he panted. Barbarossa shrugged.
“Okay lads, break away!”
‘Break away’ was an old dwarfish military tactic. It revolved around breaking up and hacking your opponent to shreds from an unexpected angle. The only thing worse than fighting a large group of dwarves was fighting one dwarf who just fell out of a tree into your face, axe first.
The dwarves positioned themselves, with Bjorn and Walter hiding as best they could. A small group of fifteen or so humans rushed through the trees. The first blow came from Bromrek, who danced out with impossible quickness and buried his axe into the chest of a straggler.
The group froze. The dwarves unfroze first.
Workerdrone roared brutally, releasing his pent up frustration on the man in front of him and reducing him to ribbons in a heartbeat.
Kogan hacked about himself, cleaving the two men in front of him in twain.
Vilien swore so loudly and so vulgarly that the his opposition stumbled backwards and was decapitated by the blow he could not prevent.
Tamunshin and Humaan were back to back. Humaan was getting good at ending up near Tamunshin in combat. They both eviscerated their foes and Tamunshin paused momentarily before moving on.
Ryan, Forrest and Barbarossa both fired into their respective quarries before moving in to bludgeon the rest into submission.
Kain was laying about himself, crushing the opposition.
How much more fun would it be if I could just blow these fools up?, he thought. He shrugged, and crushed the mans skull with a single blow.
Quote was as competent as he always was. The man sliced, he parried. The man thrust and he dodged and counter-thrust, skewering him.
Raptor was once again demonstrating that being a medic wasn’t just about healing. With surgical precision, he slashed out his opponents jugular.
Limul Thak slashed his opponents head off in a blaze of gold and silver. He was getting, instead of more excited, more precise.
Walter never had time to use his gauntlet, unfortunately, and settled for cleaving the other humans apart with his enormous sword, whilst behind him, Bjorn skewered an opponent with a rapier. The battle was over almost before it had begun.
Oldbeard spun round the corner and fired off a bolt, deciding it safer than shooting off fiery hot metal in a forest. He missed and a bolt whizzed past his head. He looked out at the human. They both dropped their crossbows. The human took out a wickedly curved sword and grinned. Oldbeard grinned, then took out his pistol-bow and shot the man, point blank. The man was very surprised for about three seconds before becoming extremely dead. The force of the shot shattered the bow.
Damn! The pistol-bow was a recent invention of his, something he’d been tinkering on recently. He only had one more and obviously hadn’t figured out the velocity ratio yet. He turned around. Straight into an enemy blade. He gasped and slid backwards off the sword. He heard, faintly, a roar and Workerdrone appeared over him, slicing the human’s arms off. He looked down at Oldbeard, before suddenly tumbling over him, landing sprawled on the snow. He had a bolt sticking out of his back. Oldbeard closed his eyes.
Workerdrone looked at the suddenly warm, snowy ground. This wasn’t the end, was it? There was so much to do, so many people to meet, and subsequently kill. And her… The world went dark.
UnknownWorkerdrone pushed himself up. He was naked, lying on what looked like snow, except it was warm. He looked up. Before him stood the largest tavern he had ever seen, a tavern so large it warped and distorted the landscape around it. Behind the tavern was a solid wall of what looked like rock, but seemed warped somehow. In front of the tavern stood a woman, dressed in fur and leather. In front of her stood Oldbeard, slightly disorientated. He jumped up and walked up to him and was pleasantly surprised to find he was still holding his axes, and Oldbeard was still wielding his crossbow.
“Alright then, what the hell is going on?” he demanded to the women.
“You have fallen bravely, in combat, Olon,” said one of the women. “This is Valhalla. Home of the brave. Please, enter! And you, good sir Oldbeard. It is a surprise to see you here at last!”
“Wait,” said Workerdrone. “We’re dead?”
“Yes,” said the Woman.
“Both of us?” said Oldbeard.
“Yes,” said the woman.
“Both unable to help our friends, never to see them again, until they die?” asked Workerdrone.
“Well, yes,” said the woman. “You’re dead, you see.”
Workerdrone and Oldbeard both looked at each other and spoke in unison.
“Fuck
that”
“What?” asked the woman, confused, but Workerdrone was already striding away, towards the rock wall. He stood in front of it for a few seconds, then roared and cleaved into it with his axes. They bit deeply into the rock, which groaned in a strange, low sound and cracked open. Workerdrone strode through.
“No, wait, you can’t!” called the woman. “We have it all here for you, the drinking, the fighting, the –” but Workerdrone was already gone. The crack closed behind him. The woman glared at Oldbeard.
“Don’t you
dare” she said.
“Young people just don’t have enough respect,” said Oldbeard, who turned and fired his hotshot into the wall of the cliff. It explode open and he strode through as well. The woman just stared at the cliff.
"Assholes!” she yelled, and turned around and walked back.
The forest“I can’t believe they’re dead,” said Barbarossa, head in hands.
“Aye, it’s tragic alright,” said Kogan. He clapped his hands together. “Right! Lets bury the stupid bastard and move on!”
He stopped. Workerdrone had gripped his leg.
“What did you call me?” he asked.
It figures that it would take Workerdrone dying for me to introduce 'fuck' into the story. It'll still be used pretty sparingly though. It's fun to censor through violence. Just ask China OHSNAP
Poll
Author
Topic: To venture north, into Hell: Othtar Noloc, world at war (Read 106641 times)