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^^ Index
Events on the 16th of Moonstone.
"Goblins?!" shouted Ironblood, standing high atop the Hammer Tower and gazing beyond the walls.
"All I see are small fry! Back when I was younger we had real goblins! There sure are a lot of them, though."
"Yes sir." replied Scorpios.
"Get my axe, lad." demanded Ironblood, pointing at the soldier with his axe.
"Er... you're holding it, sir!"
"Just testing!" stated Ironblood.
He wandered down to the coutyard, and shouted "To arms, lads, to arms! We may have some trouble with the bowmen to the southeast. Wear your best armor!"
Id's group of mercenaries were the first to engage the enemy. Two squads of goblins, one of bowmen, the other of hammergoblins.
Arrows rained upon the champions as they rushed towards the greenskinned menace, clattering harmlessly off their armor when it even hit.
The Colonel was the first to be struck in a chink in his armor. The arrow buried itself deep in his lower abdomen, and tore at his insides as he ran.
"ARGH!" he screamed, "I won't let that stop me!"
He tore the arrow out with his free hand as he ran, tossing it to the side as he ran to drive his spear straight through the nearest goblin bowman.
He ran past Ex-Mane, screaming "FOR NIST AKATH!" as Ex-Mane took an arrow to the chest.
"Ex-Mane!" he screamed, running to the fallen dwarf's side.
"Colonel..." wheezed Ex-Mane, bubbling up blood. It was clearly bad.
"We'll get you the best care!" said the Colonel.
There was no response from Ex-Mane, however.
"EX-MANE... EX-MANE!" screamed the Colonel. Enraged he turned to the goblins battling his comrades.
"FOR EX-MANE!" he screamed, lunging into battle once more.
Bean was battling furiously. He had slain numerous goblins already, and has not fallen to the arrows yet. The Colonel seemed a little the worse for wear, fighting imaginary goblins around Ex-Mane's corpse.
A moments distraction is all it takes however, and Bean paid the price. An arrow struck him through the throat, tearing apart his jugular.
He stumbled to the ground, his vision dark, feeling the life slowly bleed from his body as the others crushed the goblin threat in his vicinity.
Finally, all the goblins were dead, and the Colonel was staggering back to the barracks. Id looked about the carnage, and spotted her two soldiers, dead on the field.
"Damn." she said simply, feeling the tears running down her cheeks. "And the job's not done yet."
Across the other side of the fortress, Viktoria, Darktongue and Kast were engaging two goblin pikeman squads by themselves.
Darktongue utterly destroyed the first one who got too near.
"Careful, pikes have reach." said Viktoria, moving to his side.
A stray bolt struck Darktongue in the hand, ruining it for holding his weapon.
"GODS!" he shouted.
"Get back, then. We can't use a wounded dwarf!" ordered Viktoria.
"Hell on that!" said Darktongue, "I'm going to stuff this arrow up his nethers!"
And so he did. They waded deep into goblin bodies, turning them from living to dead, with such ease that the goblins broke and ran.
The three soldiers stood victorious, watching them run away as they put down the goblins still breathing.
"Now... where's my mace in all this..." pondered Darktongue.
At the same time, Id's squad was finishing off the last of the goblins.
"Well, at least this squad was easier. Why are these goblins doing this? They make no headway... it makes no sense. All I have are questions, and no answers."
Captain Ironblood was waiting for their return. "You lost a couple I can see..." he said.
"You weren't out there, sir?" asked Id.
"No, my armor was conveniently misplaced. I've only found half of it... all over the bloody place. No idea how that happened." grumbled Ironblood.
"I take it that my men will get a proper burial?" asked Id.
"Of course, Commander Bloodfrenzies. We would have it no other way."
"Good. Thank you sir."
Ironblood watched her leave, and was left to ponder the misplacing of his armor once more. Convenient timing, he thought. He needed some leads on who this traitor was. He couldn't keep building a wall forever...