Stronghammer - Thanks and sure thing! You're lucky, migrants have just arrived!
Bio up on the first post.
1st Slate 677Under Reg and Steve's insistence a room had been carved out to isolate Volrath in. If something had infected Volrath, it would be sure that it wouldn't be able to escape if the great lead door that led into the room was locked.
2nd Slate 677 - MorningFor days now the group of refugees had been trekking across the vast expanse of what had once been the mighty Empire of the Humble Nations, but had since disintegrated into fighting warlords since the Nothing had attacked. They had passed through mountains, forests, deserts, plains, gaining people from other refugee groups, losing people to attacks by either desperate bandits or by the Nothing. Now a ragtag group of mostly Humans escaping the Humble Nations, with several Dwarves, they had waded through the Swamps of Tunnelling, led by a Dwarven industrialist named Stronghammer Fireforge. They had heard from some caravans of a haven for refugees by the name of Nomekast in these areas, and so had made their way here.
They had camped for the night on top of a valley, sleeping arranged in a defensive circle, with the pack animals at the sides and three sentries.
The sentries had fallen asleep.
As the first rays of light rose in the east of the valley, one sentry got a rude awakening when a lizard scurried across his face, the Human gave a yelp and shot up, this roused Stronghammer who pulled himself up and ran a hand through his beard, yawning, squinting to try and see where the sentry was, unable to see as the Human was sat in the same direction the sun was, blinding the Dwarf if he looked.
"By the hammers of the mines, what is it boy?" he whispered, trying not to wake the others. The sentry shrugged a nothing, then turned round, only to be beset by a horde of red eyes and black bodied detaching themselves in the light. Instinct caused him to scream and he jumped up. In seconds the camp was aroar with noise.
Chaos reigned as everyone ran their own way, desperate to escape the horde that had somehow managed to move right next to them. Some ran up the valley, many however, saw the lighthouse of Nomekast like a beacon of hope, and ran towards it, hoping to find safety.
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The refugee group had been spotted when Loral had gone up to the lighthouse for some fresh morning air before the rigours of the day began. Like a demon he made his way down the ramps into the caverns and warned the militia. Tarran looked pointedly at Derm,
"Welp, sheriff, there's apparently an entire horde up there. I think today-" he began.
"Is a good day as any to make out attack on the surface." Derm finish, grimacing.
"We'll need to hurry," Rovod said, shouldering a quiverfull of bolts, "those poor people aren't going to survive if we don't help."
"We put the plan in action." Derm nodded, "Fori, Torvold, are the defences ready?"
"As good as they'll be." Fori said.
"They best we have, lad." Torvold agreed.
"Right, anyone who can wield a weapon get up to the trap-tunnel, Bayar and Urist will man the ballistas, get Reg on standby; Steve, you're on medic duty, any wounded go down straight away to Reg. Meinhard and his Jagers will draw the refugees in, and draw the Nothing in after them, after which we let the traps and ballistas do their work, and the militia will then go out and mop up the rest."
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The sentry who had given the alarm didn't last long, being almost immediately mauled by several Nothing and torn to shreds. Screams filled the air as everyone scattered. Stronghammer remained calm, scanning the horizon. His eye fell straight onto the lighthouse; that had to be the tower of Nomekast he had been told about. He tried to rally the rest of the refugees and tell them to make for it and his efforts were rewarded when some of the more level-headed of the group heard him and began spreading the word; make for the tower across the narrow stone bridge that spanned the stream Squeezemunch.
That was when he saw them, three figures emerging from the ground. Two were unmistakenly Dwarves, one seemed to be a Human, but very much taller and broader than most, and was that blue skin? The three were waving their spears and arms, beckoning the refugees towards them. They had to be from Nomekast, he had heard from one group of traders that the community had two entrances: a drawbridge in the valley-side and a hole in the ground.
"Over there!" Stronghammer called, trying to draw people to the soldiers from Nomekast, "get to them!"
It took some more shouting, but soon the refugees were making their way to Meinhard and his Jagers,
"Hokay, get in dere! Quick!" the mutated Human called, to the point of pushing people down into the tunnel. Eventually all the refugees - the surviving ones - had made their way in, six Humans and three Dwarves. Meinhard herded the last in, then he and his Jagers, faced the Nothing, who were making their way down the valley,
"Hy think dey iz comink to see us, let's go." he said, and he and his proteges moved down into the tunnel, moving across the drawbridges and past the ballistas manned by Urist and Bayar.
"Right! Get ready to fire!" Tarran called, unsheathing his sword. First they would slaughter the Nothing who came down, then they would move onto the offensive outside.
"Ready?" Urist Imiknorris asked the Kobold feet away from him, hefting the ballista so it faced down the corridor.
"I ready. Kobolds face worse before." the rodent-creature told him, also aiming his ballista.
Soon the Nothing began moving into the tunnel, a slow but steady stream of them. This was how to attacked, human wave tactics, or rather; Nothing wave tactics, it didn't matter how many you killed, more would arrive.
"The traps should get them, no?" Ocade asked, the semi-darkness making it harder for his sharp Elven eyes to see to the end of the corridor.
"Oh yes." Rar assured him, cracking a smile as he saw and heard the rocks falling down onto the Nothing.
"Heh, I'm willing to bet my beard Brosso will want those Nothing for his circus." Melagius muttered.
"Get ready to fire!" Tarran called to Urist and Bayar. The two nodded, hands twitching on the lever of the ballistas.
"Wait until Nothing close." Bayar muttered, sending a prayer to the Ascended Ones as a small film of sweat broke out across his forehead, nervousness creeping in.
"Get ready..." Urist murmured, "and...fire!"
The first few salvoes proved to be a massacre, especially with the stone and weapon traps that crushed, sliced, and diced the invaders.
"No more ballista bolts!" Urist called up to the assembled militia.
"OK! We'll move in now, and mop up what's left!" Tarran called. The militia prepared their weapons, and ventured out through the bloody killing field that was the tunnel, killing the few Nothing left alive in it.
Outside there was still at least three dozen Nothing left. However they were arranged in a long column stretching from the abandoned refugee camp to the tunnel, a slow stream leading to attack Nomekast. This made it a simple business for the militia to simply attack the head of the column and push forward, slaughtering the monsters.
However, the moment they reached the top of the valley it was a different story altogether.
"Oh gods, get ready!" Derm warned, preparing his sword.
"This is gonna be a battle to remember." Muenster said, hefting his mace.
"Do the best you can, and kill every last one of them!" Rashem declared, waving his hammer and charging, his beard up and his Dwarven fighting instincts taking over. With a cry the assembled militia and weaponusers charged into the horde.
The battle was intense. Dwarf, Human, Elf, Kobold and Goblin fought with their best. Ocade distinguished himself with his vicious, almost psychopathic, strikes, often carving a Nothing up and leaving it maimed in pain for another to finish. Hammer of the Gods wielded her hammer with such zealotry that it actually managed to smash a Nothing's tentacle off at one point, all while she called praises to the gods. Fori was a whirl of sword-strikes, using her Elven knowledge of biology to strike the creatures' weak points. Tarran and Derm together smashed into horde like a hot knife through butter, their sword and axe making short work of the creatures. Loral, like Fori, was a whirl of sword-strokes, though he was noticeably more than willing to make the Nothing suffer before ending it. Rar, Steve and Rovod rained death from afar with their crossbows, piercing the Nothing with so many arrows that on some of the creatures it seemed there was more bolts than Nothing in their body. Gutusp wielded her sword with viciousness, slamming it through Nothing flesh with strong strokes. Sandra, on her part, took no chances, and struck while keeping herself safe. Muenster and his mace seemed to be like one of the heroes of ancient tales, taking Nothing down like they were flies. Xenos and his spear proved their worth, the Kobold's short height making it pretty easy to strike up into a Nothing's face with his spear; while Meinhard speared Nothing like whales with a harpoon. Melagius meanwhile, proved that he was the Dwarf that had killed two forgotten beasts, slicing through Nothing like they were made of paper.
Eventually the beasts all lay slain, their bodies dissipating into the black wispy substance they were made off, but leaving the place stained with their blood.
The militia quickly took stock of the situation; Melagius was wounded with a broken arm, Ocade had received a broken hand as had Sandra, Gutusp had several nasty cuts to the torso, one of Meinhard's Jagers was crippled with a broken leg, Xenos had several cuts, as did Muenster, and Hammer that seemed quite deep and would no doubt need looking at by Reg.
Importantly though; no one had died.
And now the outside was clear - for a while at least - so that the community could prepare to expand on the surface.
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Topic: [Community] Nomekast - At War with Nothing (Read 180280 times)