WARNING: Lot's of text beyond the spoiler, read if you are prepared...
"Damnit Eril!" yelled Nil, "I told you not to lose my hammer!"
"Sorry Nil, it was in my house... I don't know what happened to it..."
Nil sighed and stepped out of Eril's home. Eril, you see, was Nil's best friend since she was brought here. Nil has never seen another dwarf in her life, having been raised by pigmen. Apparently, she was found on Eril's families doorstep, a few days after Eril was born. They where practically sisters. Nil began to search through the fields, looking for the bronze hammer she had bought a few years ago on a visit to the capital, Combatmeshes. This hammer was very special to nil, as it was the one she used to kill a kobold thief that tried to break into ERil's home a few years ago. Nil and Eril where both now about 20. Nil was finally ready to start adventuring in full. She was headed to a nearby cave, home of Lastret Watchblaze, a spouse of a vile ogre. Nil knew that many had tried to best this beast before, but she was very talented with her hammer, having practiced long and hard since she was 12. "Hey, Nil, I found it!" said Eril as she stepped out of the house. "Funny, it was at the bottom of the stuff in my chest..." Nil hurried over and took the hammer, inspecting it for any damages while saying "You need to clear that chest out, I mean really, WHEN are you going to need any of that stuff!"
"It's just in case..." replied Eril, "anyway, I still don't think you should do this... it's at least two days travel to the cave, and you know what happens to people who travel alone at night..."
"Then come with me," said Nil, smiling.
"You know I can't do that, I've got to take care of mother..."
"Then I guess I'll have to travel alone," said nil, preparing her gear.
"You could ask one of the soldiers at the fort.."
"Fine," Nil said, turning to the fort and looking, estimating the time it would take. I'll make it by dusk if I leave at noon... plenty of time... Nil headed back inside, saying her goodbyes to Eril and her mother. After a few hours Nil grabbed her gear and headed out to the fort.
Within a few hours she arrived at the fort, it was very large and made of rock salt. Nil headed inside, to find it was fairly empty. Probably someone in the keep...She headed to the keep to find it containing two pigmen and a sow. The sow seemed a tad tipsy, both of the pigmen seemed of high stature, and Nil could tell one was a lord Damned lords... raising taxes every day... Nil decided the drunk sow was her best bet, you see it didn't matter the state of the group, as long as there are two people or more the boogeymen would stay away. Nil asked the drunk if she would join her, "Uhh... Sounds like fun!" replied the drunk. Nil then headed into one of the towers to get some rest before tommorow. As she came in she noticed a swordsboar, it was simply standing near the door and asked Nil what she wanted. Maybe I can get him to join me... "Would you like to come with me to fight a creature of the night near here?
"Excitement! Adventure! Let us be off!" replied the swordsboar. Nil, the drunk, and swordsboar went to sleep till mornings first light.
In the morning Nil woke first, but the others where just waking as well. Nil then realized she had not asked her new companions their names, and quickly did so. The drunk was named Thabi Spelldrink, and the swordsboar Githu Fold-die. After some preparing ,and the drunk once more taking a drink, they set off. The first day of travel was uneventful, but around noon of the second day a voice shouted out "You will remember the Ones of Permanency when we're finished with you!" Nil quickly drew her hammer, and the drunk and soldier drew their own weapons as a group of humans came from the nearby hills and began to attack. Using her usual tactic Nil ran to the nearest archer and pummeled his legs, both of them broke easily, and the bowman fell to the floor, it was then a simple matter of beating the man into submision. After about 10 swings at the head his skull caved into his brain, at that moment Nil heard a noise from behind and rolled out of the way. She turned to find a woman with a whip, she then yelled "I am Gencesh Helpfield! Slayer of Mothi Obindush, whom I buried under a mountain of hate!" Nil instantly knew this was a dwarven name, meaning Lie Silverslug, Lie, strange name for a dwarf... She then raised her hammer quickly, and brought swung it at the womans foot, which was a very easy strike due to her boasting pose. There where a few cracks as the chieftess fell to her knees, bringing her whip up to strike at Nil, who deftly dodged out the way.
Nil then took a quick look around herself, seeing her companions fighting bravely, along with one of the bandits attacking.. a horse? She then noticed her immediate surroundings, she could see bandits closing in on every side, blades glinting in the sun. A sudden energy overtook Nil, and an anger burned inside of her. She would kill every one of these people. No one kills a dwarf and gets away with it! She then let out a primal scream as she charged the chieftess, who had a scared look on her face as Nil bashed her whip arm, smashing the bone to pieces. The other bandits continued to approach, and as one took a swing at her with a sword she turned, ducking under the swing and biting the mans head. She then shook her head back and forth, standing on her tiptoes to reach, and ripping bits of skin from the mans face. The bandit fell to the ground, screaming in agony and bleeding heavily from his wound as Nil brought down her hammer onto his skull, ending his life in an instant. The other bandits paused a moment, then charged at Nil, who swung her hammer left and right, punching, kicking, and biting her attackers. She was about to be overwhelmed as a sword tore through the back of one of the bandits, and then proceeded to the one standing by him. "Need a hand!?" yelled Githu, blocking strikes with his shield left and right.
"Thanks!" said Nil, running to the chieftess, her sudden burst of energy expired. As she reached the chieftess she swung for the chest, but the woman dodged and placed a kick at Nil's knee. The woman then proceeded to scratch at Nils face, cutting it open. Nil was not phased, and took a narrow opportunity to strike the chieftess in the head with the pommel of her hammer, smashing the skull into her brain and ending her. Nil then turned to see the swordsman fighting off three bandits, two bowmen and a macewoman. In the distance she could see the drunk, lying in a pool of blood and surrounded by bodies, along with the horse still fighting the one of the bandits.
Nil rushed to her companions aid, hoping to end the fight in time to perhaps save the drunk. She swung the hammer at one of the bowman's leg and was rewarded with a sickening crunch as the bowman fell on his face. At that moment Nil heard another crunch, and turned to find it's source was the macewoman breaking Githu's shield arm, but Githu remained his grip on the shield, yelling in pain. Nil jumped at the bandit, bringing the mace upon the bandits stomach as Githu brought his sword also through the area, rending straight through the stomach. The macewoman fell to vomited as she fell to the ground, unconscious. Githu then took his sword to the bowman with the shattered leg as Nil charged the other bandit, bringing her hammer up and striking him in the chest. Nil heard a sickening crunch as the rib snapped, bending into the bandits heart and piercing it like a water balloon. The bandit fell to the ground in agony, unable to move. She turned to see Githu drawing his sword from the last bandits head, and they both hurried over to Thabi to see his condition. Amazingly, the drunk was alive despite his grevious wounds. His chest was cut open, along with his stomach, and it was plain that one of his lungs had been damaged, due to his ragged and irregular breathing. The bleeding had stopped and the drunk was simply laying unconscious in the grass, just then rain began to fall.
"I suppose we should rest here till she wakes?" asked Githu. Nil only nodded, dragging Thabbi under a tree.
"You take a rest for a few hours," said Githu, "I'll wake you when she comes to."
"Alright," replied Nil, eager to get some rest.
A few hours later, Nil awoke, Githu was shaking her. "Hey, she's awake but it's almost night... Wanna stop for the night, or keep going to the cave?"
Hmm... it's only a few miles... "I think we can make it" said Nil, standing and looking toward Thabbi, who was standing with large scars over his chest and stomach, along with several smaller scars across his arms, but smiling happily and drinking more all the same. The trio then set off to the cave, they reached it right about dusk, and entered the small hatch on the ground with caution. Immediately the stench of death was present, and there where organs laying all over the room. Nil then noticed something curled in the corner, it was a dwarf, dead and ripped apart, it's clothes scattered near it. It's... a fucking monster... She then turned to her companions, "Alright, are you ready?" They both nodded.
The trio headed deeper into the cave, Nil shamelessly taking the iron cap of the dead dwarf, along with a nice sheep wool shirt. No shame in borrowing a brothers axe... As she looked up she saw the beast, it was enourmous. It had four curving horns and was bloated. The beast was unarmed, so it should be an easy kill. "Time to DIE beast!" Nil yelled as she charged it with her hammer, smashing it's legs to bring it down to her level. It took about three blows to finally snap the beasts bones, but when it fell, it fell hard. The beast fell flat on it's face as Thabbi stabbed it in the eye, rendering it blind on that side. Guthi then brought down his sword on the beasts right arm, severing it clean off. Nil then took advantage of it's stunned position, and brought her foot straight down on the beasts skull, collapsing it into the brain. "Well... that was easy..." said Nil, "We better stay here for the night" she continued. "I'll clean up." she said, motioning to the organs spread about the cave. Nil then took the bits and pieces of the dwarf and tossed them by a tree, along with the rest of it's mutilated corpse. She then lit a fire next to the tree and watched the corpse burn. "Armok see to it your soul reaches His kingdom..." she muttered as she stepped back into the cave, laying down to sleep.
In the morning Nil awoke early, so she could get out of the damned dress and put this new shirt on. After washing the blood out of the shirt she slipped it on, along with a robe she had found deeper in the cave. There, I can just toss off the robe if I get into a fight... much more convenient than the dress. When the others woke, the trio headed back to the town to spread the news. As Nil approached her home Eril came from her house, "Did you kill it?" she asked.
"Of course," replied Nil, "Along with some woman called Gencesh Helpfield..."
"Amazing! Not only Lastret Watchblazes, but Gencesh Helpfield as well!" said Eril, smiling greatly.
"Anyway... I'm gonna see if this means anyone else wants to join me at the fort..." said Nil, heading out to the fort.
By dawn they arrived at the fort, and heading to the nearest tower, Nil asked some of the men to join her, all in all she managed to fetch Arid Trussedriegns, Hammerboar, Thrun Throwgrizzles, Boar Lasher, and Onbir Bearsplashed, Spearsow. In the morning they would continue their adventures.
For those wondering, I used Boar as male pigmen and Sow for female pigmen.