I'm just going to ignore what I posted above...
“Not exactly”, came a voice from the side.
The three turned, to see Adil sliding down a rope into the bedroom, out of the middle of an old, dead tree. Adil stepped away from the rope, as Tanesh began to come down the rope, bearing a massive sack. “His father is, possibly every surviving relative he has is, but not this-un.”
Ignoring Motev’s agitation, he softly kicked the limp Servu on the back of the hand. “No tattoos on the chest or hand, as you yourselves have seen,” indicating the pulled away shirt. Turen looked up at Adil. “He never finished his training.”
“Too right. He’ll have to tell you the story later”. Motev burst out with. “Why the hell are you here!?”
“Oh... didn’t I say that? I’m sure I. Oh well... There’s a huge fucking army outside.”
“There’s huge fucking spiders in here!”
Adil looked over in surprise. “And none of you are dead?”
“No, but serv-“
“I was getting to that”, Said Adil. “And Servu didn’t stop them?”
Now it was Turen’s turn to stare in surprise. “He... uh, he slowed it. But it sti-“
“Damn. A fully trained Zustash would have had it eating out of their hand upon it seeing them. Obviously he was relying too heavily on inherent power, rather than any education. What’s with his neck?”
Both Motev and Turen shouted “He got bitten!” In unison. Almost in response to the shouts, a slithering seemed to come from one of the many chutes.
Turen turned towards it, dragging an aged table to prop against the hole as Tanesh joined the group, dropping his monstrous sack. Adil walked over to it. “As I was saying, there’s an army out there. A big one. I had to ditch the caravan.” Just as Siira was about to talk, Adil turned to her and interrupted “You had too much luggage. We ditched it, except for the essentials.” “But I had a-“
Adil fixed her with a harsh stare. “All of it, except for the essentials.” Siira sat, mortified. “I’d consider it an essential.”
Spinning, Adil checked out the holes in Servu’s neck. “Hmm... He’ll survive. Hopefully he should be back up in half an hour”.
Motev turned away from the lock he was working on “Half an hour!?”
Calmly, Adil replied. “He’s got the right breeding for it. Just not the know-how”.
Adil replaced Servu’s collar, as a loud “Ka-chunk” came from where Motev was working. Motev turned, and held up the second map piece. “Can we go now?”
“No, I already said there’s an army out there.”
“And I already said that there’s giant cave spiders in here!”
Turning, Adil looked at the passageway which the table was now blocking. Swiftly, he walked to it, pulling out his pick. Levering it aside slightly with his pick, he looked down the passageway, just to see eight eyes look back at him. Shoving the table back into place, he turned, putting his back against it. Looking up, at the rope, he said “I may just have an idea”.
The commander sat, bored, as the caravan slowly eked its way up the hill. The soldiers were taking turns pushing them, to try and get a bit more speed, but after three weeks of forced marching, they were too tired to be of use. Luckily, he’d only lost two soldiers, both of who were heard complaining about the effort of the journey. They were summarily executed. One thing that the commander did not like was criticism. As the caravan reached the top of the hill, he could almost hear the entire army sigh with relief. Ignoring it for now, the commander leaned forward in his seat to see the northern temple complex to armok. The wagon topped the rise, the commander gave an involuntary shudder, and the one-third Episcopal army suddenly became half.
Ushering everyone out before him, Adil turned back to the Table. Pulling the rope – which was hanging from the ceiling – towards the table, he punched a hole through the top with his pick, and tied the rope to it, trying not to make his hands vulnerable. Then, walking underneath the limp rope, Adil pulled as hard as he could, then, hearing the crash behind him, jumped up and began climbing for all hell.
Scouts ran to the commander, war in their eyes as they reported. “Movement near the dead tree to the right. No robes, therefore enemy.” The commander calmly stared at the reporting scout. “I could have ascertained that they were enemy myself”, he remarked harshly. “You are removed from duty, permanently. I suggest you start walking to the nearest town.” The ex-scout immediately set off, wise enough to not look back. The Commander looked to the other scout. “Battle formations. You are in the front line.” The scout hurried off. The commander watched as the soldiers marshalled, and quick-marched towards the dead tree. Just as they were about to reach it, another small figure jumped out of it and ran off to the right, climbing the complex wall. The Commander watched in satisfaction as a detachment of ten dwarves split off to tail the dwarf, the rest surrounding the tree stump. Just as they were about to enter, a giant cave spider flowed out of the gap in the tree, followed by another, and another, and another, until eight were attacking the surprised army. Watching the battle unfold, the commander took out his drawing pallet, scribbling down the main features of the battle, so that he could finish it later in the privacy of his tent. Unconcerned for the men and dwarves dying, he sent his reserve squad to follow the dwarf, keeping only his honour guard with him.
Adil ran gasping through the brush, the clash of soldiers’ feet behind him. Moving around a tree, he sprinted along, anywhere, too afraid to know where his pack might be. As he ran though, a elven figure swept upside down from an overhanging tree branch, cutting the throats of the two last soldiers in line. Turen, following the soldiers, dropped the seventh without a sound. As Adil ran, he could hear another sound over the sound of boots on twigs. An ominous grating sound, which turned out to be a growl, as Perkele caught up to the last soldier in line. As the dog ravaged the rest of the soldiers, Motev stepped out in front of Adil. “The dog was... agitated when we brought Servu back injured. I think it needed that.” Adil turned, watching the devastation as a very angry dog cut through very scared soldiers. “Aye... That the bastard certainly did. C’mon, I’ve got an Idea where we can get a new wagon”. Turning, the dwarves started walking through the bush, Tanesh helping the recovering Servu walk.
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Topic: Tourniquet - Gone to the... Pub. (Read 14708 times)