09-04-2015, 09:49 AM
“Forced to walk like a common peon…” Raal grumbled to himself, as he continued walking forward behind the giant. Though he was glad the giant was slow enough for his pace to match, he was far less pleased by the fact he had to walk. An undead mount might have even tipped the giant’s dim mind off to something wrong with the whole situation, and Raal certainly did not want that.
Eventually, however, the snow thinned around his skeletal feet, and Raal’s eyes saw a town in the distance. The Blizzard had let up at this point, but Raal knew that would only matter for so long… Dwarves were not known for their archery, but Raal had managed to find out in his own universe that they were the source of the humans crossbows and catapults. Either weapon could potentially fell even a giant.
Raal had a solution, however. One that’d require careful tweaking to a dedicated spell, but with Raal’s omnilium reserves, and their power to change his capabilities, it was doable…
“My lord Tawdor, might you let me sit upon your shoulders?” Raal asked with a grin.
Raal immediately took back his gratitude for Omni allowing him to smell. He’d sniffed on instinct just once since the giant had allowed him room on his shoulder, and immediately regretted it. While he’d questioned just how well this would work, even to himself at first, the giant’s long hair was as thick and reliable as rope, and he didn’t think Tawdor even noticed him grabbing them. His perch was not comfortable, but more than adequate.
Tawdor grunted, hefting the slab over his head, as he reached the palisade. Clearly, he was intending to throw it right at the dwarves camp.
“My lord.” Raal said softly into the giant’s ear. “Would it not, say, be better to wait until the dwarves are out in the open to throw it. Surely, none of them could possibly miss your magnificent presence, and I’m sure many will be out here soon.” Raal said, managing to keep his voice even despite his words.
“Ehh, yeah, that’s a good idea. I’m gunna wait for the dwarves, and then I’ll squish a bunch at once!” Tawdor said with a giggle to himself. “They’ll find out why it’s bad to throw skeletons at me!”
Raal had no more time to strategize with the lump, as Dwarves appeared on the palisade walls of the tiny encampment. “Pathetic” Raal thought to himself, looking around the small town. It couldn’t have been more than a couple hundred square meters at most, the large, oaken walls of the palisade made up of logs around ten feet high. Raal could already see dwarves walking onto the walkways above, with crossbows and what looked like tiny cannons to Raal. Perhaps these had increased their technology further. Weaklings often did to survive, after all.
near the open entrance that he and his giant ally approached, however, a group of Dwarven soldiers holding broad axes and thick mauls appeared, seeming ready to protect the entrance. Their armor was light if it existed, and Raal recognized instantly that these were far from well-trained soldiers after all. This was a militia reacting out of need.
“throw the stone at them, Tawdor.” Raal ordered, not bothering with added praise right now. Tawdor was far too distracted to notice, after all.
“Ehh, that seems good.” the giant responded, hurling the massive rock at the entrance.
The Dwarves dived as the massive slab of stone struck the entrance, the boulder catching two and crushing another’s legs. The entrance was a little too small and the giant’s throw too powerful, and the rock struck both sides of the palisade entrance, logs splintering and breaking.
Raal approved of just how well this was going. the cloud of sawdust and splinters created another few brief seconds of chaos. Still, the dwarven forces, however ill-trained, were better than Raal counted on, and a dozen still headed for the giant. What’s more, there was a firing line ready and aimed on the palisade walkways, ready to fire a torrent of projectiles into the giant’s face.
But this was why Raal was so disgustingly close to the giant in the first place, and why he now tapped into the reserves of profane power enveloping his being. At once, the wind picked up, just as the firing line let loose their barrage.
Raal thrust his right hand forward, his left still holding onto the giant’s Hair, and a gust of wind issued forth. The dwarves had thought their giant opponent an easy target, and had loosed their weaponry specifically for his head. Raal counted his luck they hadn’t aimed at him, though he supposed they could have mistaken him for an ordinary, unmoving corpse at long distance. Raal concentrated, and pulled on the underworld itself, tugging at strings of the nether and pulling them here, directing them, manifesting them.
From here, wind blew from Raal, cold and foul, and the smell of rotting corpses followed the torrent of wind that issued from him, grabbing the bolts from the air with invisible hands and slapping the ball-shaped ammunition of the miniature cannons. A small ball nicked the side of the Giant’s cheek harmlessly, but the rest of the ammunition fell beside or in front of the creature, who responded with a hearty laugh.
“I was worried, but you was right. Now they can’ hurt me.”.
Raal smiled. “yes, that’s right, my lord. Just focus on the ants beneath us, and I’ll stop the ones with arrows and bullets from hurting you.” Raal said with a grin.
The Giant followed his instruction with gusto, and a brutal blow of his hammer left only blood, bone, and matted flesh in the place of one of the dwarves buzzing Tawdor’s feet.
The next minute was tense. Raal’s focus remained mostly on keeping the ranged bullets and bolts from striking his current ally, and it required concentration. While he couldn’t completely block the attacks as they shot for less easily protected areas - Raal’s wind could only deflect a portion of the attacks shot for the giant’s chest or stomach - Tawdor hardly seemed to feel most of those barrages.
Meanwhile, the Dwarves on the ground were losing to Tawdor, and losing badly. Raal knew this would hardly be the norm in combat between true armies - Proper, armored soldiers would know how to properly form up and do the most damage to the behemoth and react accordingly - these were militia, and while Raal was quite certain they possessed the numbers to defeat a group of trolls, and would certainly have no problem overrunning Raal’s superior skill with sheer numbers if he’d came alone, but fighting a large being like Tawdor, Raal knew from his experience, was only any help at all if the numbers were coupled with coordination, and a commander. These militia had neither.
Instead, individual dwarves darted forward without cover(and were handled easily), Others tried to wait for an opportunity at the Giant, but hung too far back to capitalize on any openings… Overall, an ill-trained lot. Tawdor, despite his stupidity, seemed to be less foolish than Raal thought, actually taking care to pick off those who got too close and being just a little cautious when it came to charging into their lines. Raal might almost reverse his opinion on the simpleton’s intelligence if he hadn’t also taken the time to pick his nose mid-battle(and nearly knock Raal off his shoulders in the process).
As the last few warriors routed, Raal noticed the Archery gallery ready to fire for the eightth time. This time, many of them were aimed at him, he noted.
Fools.
A gust echoed forth from his body for the eighth time, and again, not a single projectile struck Raal. One of the group of guards shielded his face at the wind, now.
Tawdor Began to walk towards the dwarven wall with clear purpose in mind, and they readied their own weapons in response. They aimed at the face of the giant again, not knowing a better option, and wishing to show some desperate form of resistance, and Raal noticed one of them had brought out what seemed to be a miniature ballista. The giant merely laughed. “I already know you can’t hurt me with that, ‘cause I got a pet windmaker.” He guffawed.
Raal smiled, his truncheon glowing with green energy. He’d played with the wind for “His masters” sake for more than long enough.
Green energy coiled around his wand, just as the shooting gallery fired their assorted weapons.
Raal had the distinct pleasure of watching just how quickly the giant’s face changed. One minute, he was laughing, mouth open and mocking as he reached for a dwarf, the intent of eating clear on his mind.
The next, a quartet of arrows had struck his right eye, turning it blood red immediately. A crossbow bolt was distinctly stuck in Tawdors nose, and smaller holes adorned the creatures face, the most prominent being on his lower lip.
The behemoth’s cry of pain and anguish would easily have burst Raal’s eardrums had he still had them, and while they were farther away, it was clear the cry had shaken the dwarves as well, surprised but impressed. Raal allowed them the brief second of extra Morale, before the green snake of energy reached the tip of his truncheon, and he pointed at the wall section the defenders had gathered ‘round.
The yellow energy looked closer to a bolt of lightning as it issued from Raal’s truncheon, and for a brief moment the sun and the wood both seemed to glow a sickly yellow as the attack reached it’s destination. Erupting with a flash of light and the sound of arcing electricity, the Death coil hit it’s mark in the middle of the dwarves.
While no visible damage had been done, most of the dwarves dropped. Some seemed to still have enough energy to crawl, Raal able to see flashes of their hands moving behind the stakes of the palisade. Others, who were closer to the blast, merely lay where they fell. Regardless of their condition, all of them had blood coming from their mouths, and the thought made Raal grin. Raal saw some movement in the distance, but it was obviously that of a rout.
Good. That meant he was done with this farce.
“Wh-why… Didn’t you use that wind move, li’l guy? ya’ got all the dwarves, though.” The Giant said, a confused look on his face.
“I did. Don’t worry, I’m a healer, just give me a moment, and I’ll erase your pain.
“r-really?... Thanks, li’l buddy. I’m happy.” Tawdor said, before coughing blood. Raal dimly realized that some of the dwarves had gotten a second shot off at the oaf, and his face was more blood than anything by now.
Raal smiled, putting his truncheon in the creature’s earlobes. “Gee, that tickles.” The giant giggled.
“A suitably moronic epitaph for one like you.”
Raal blasted directly into the ear, aiming upward. The touch of darkness blew a good chunk in the creature’s brain, and Raal wasted no time in enhancing that with a telekinetic knock of the skull fracture he’d created.
Tawdor the self-styled blacksmith fell to his knees in pain, unable to speak.
Raal fired again, before jumping with some measure of grace to the ground, and he heard the squelching noise of brain matter leaving the skull on the other side.
Tawdor fell, unceremoniously, to the other side, the light in his eyes faded and gone, his mouth and eyes still open in shock.
“See? There. No pain.” Raal stated with a grin.
For the first time since he’d been here, Raal felt powerful. He’d forgotten, he reflected, just how important intelligence and manipulation was, becoming too powerful in the power a death knight possessed. Today, he’d reclaimed the cunning of the youthful warlock who helped decide the fate of the first war.
For the first time in a long while, he felt like Raal Deathwind.
Focusing, he outstretched his hand, and created a skeletal soldier. His horse trod back to him not soon afterwards, dutifully following his commands, as he remounted.
He waited only a few seconds before calling out for his absent guide, creating a few more skeletal warriors to guard his flanks as he entered.
“You can come out of hiding now, Zul’kis. The fighting’s over, so it’s unlikely you’ll accidentally aid me in fighting in any way.” Raal stated dryly. “And after we go through the important business of sacking the town, I’ll wrench the damn tooth from his filthy mouth himself."
Zul’kis reappeared. However, his glare, and frown, implied he was anything but happy.
“If you have anything to say to me, wait until we’ve cleared the town. Or do you want us both killed by dwarven treachery for the sake of your posturing?” Raal asked evenly, watching as Zul’kis’s breathing became even harder. Raal could visibly hear it now, the breathing issuing in angered gasps, and Zul’kis’s shoulders rose and fell rapidly.
“ Shall you force me to slay you, as well?” Raal mused to himself.
Then, a few seconds later, the troll’s breathing slowed, and his arms slacked. “Fine.” Zul’kis hissed. “But we be talkin’ after. An’ if I don’t like what you have to say I be takin’ your head back to the tents.”
Eventually, however, the snow thinned around his skeletal feet, and Raal’s eyes saw a town in the distance. The Blizzard had let up at this point, but Raal knew that would only matter for so long… Dwarves were not known for their archery, but Raal had managed to find out in his own universe that they were the source of the humans crossbows and catapults. Either weapon could potentially fell even a giant.
Raal had a solution, however. One that’d require careful tweaking to a dedicated spell, but with Raal’s omnilium reserves, and their power to change his capabilities, it was doable…
“My lord Tawdor, might you let me sit upon your shoulders?” Raal asked with a grin.
Raal immediately took back his gratitude for Omni allowing him to smell. He’d sniffed on instinct just once since the giant had allowed him room on his shoulder, and immediately regretted it. While he’d questioned just how well this would work, even to himself at first, the giant’s long hair was as thick and reliable as rope, and he didn’t think Tawdor even noticed him grabbing them. His perch was not comfortable, but more than adequate.
Tawdor grunted, hefting the slab over his head, as he reached the palisade. Clearly, he was intending to throw it right at the dwarves camp.
“My lord.” Raal said softly into the giant’s ear. “Would it not, say, be better to wait until the dwarves are out in the open to throw it. Surely, none of them could possibly miss your magnificent presence, and I’m sure many will be out here soon.” Raal said, managing to keep his voice even despite his words.
“Ehh, yeah, that’s a good idea. I’m gunna wait for the dwarves, and then I’ll squish a bunch at once!” Tawdor said with a giggle to himself. “They’ll find out why it’s bad to throw skeletons at me!”
Raal had no more time to strategize with the lump, as Dwarves appeared on the palisade walls of the tiny encampment. “Pathetic” Raal thought to himself, looking around the small town. It couldn’t have been more than a couple hundred square meters at most, the large, oaken walls of the palisade made up of logs around ten feet high. Raal could already see dwarves walking onto the walkways above, with crossbows and what looked like tiny cannons to Raal. Perhaps these had increased their technology further. Weaklings often did to survive, after all.
near the open entrance that he and his giant ally approached, however, a group of Dwarven soldiers holding broad axes and thick mauls appeared, seeming ready to protect the entrance. Their armor was light if it existed, and Raal recognized instantly that these were far from well-trained soldiers after all. This was a militia reacting out of need.
“throw the stone at them, Tawdor.” Raal ordered, not bothering with added praise right now. Tawdor was far too distracted to notice, after all.
“Ehh, that seems good.” the giant responded, hurling the massive rock at the entrance.
The Dwarves dived as the massive slab of stone struck the entrance, the boulder catching two and crushing another’s legs. The entrance was a little too small and the giant’s throw too powerful, and the rock struck both sides of the palisade entrance, logs splintering and breaking.
Raal approved of just how well this was going. the cloud of sawdust and splinters created another few brief seconds of chaos. Still, the dwarven forces, however ill-trained, were better than Raal counted on, and a dozen still headed for the giant. What’s more, there was a firing line ready and aimed on the palisade walkways, ready to fire a torrent of projectiles into the giant’s face.
But this was why Raal was so disgustingly close to the giant in the first place, and why he now tapped into the reserves of profane power enveloping his being. At once, the wind picked up, just as the firing line let loose their barrage.
Raal thrust his right hand forward, his left still holding onto the giant’s Hair, and a gust of wind issued forth. The dwarves had thought their giant opponent an easy target, and had loosed their weaponry specifically for his head. Raal counted his luck they hadn’t aimed at him, though he supposed they could have mistaken him for an ordinary, unmoving corpse at long distance. Raal concentrated, and pulled on the underworld itself, tugging at strings of the nether and pulling them here, directing them, manifesting them.
From here, wind blew from Raal, cold and foul, and the smell of rotting corpses followed the torrent of wind that issued from him, grabbing the bolts from the air with invisible hands and slapping the ball-shaped ammunition of the miniature cannons. A small ball nicked the side of the Giant’s cheek harmlessly, but the rest of the ammunition fell beside or in front of the creature, who responded with a hearty laugh.
“I was worried, but you was right. Now they can’ hurt me.”.
Raal smiled. “yes, that’s right, my lord. Just focus on the ants beneath us, and I’ll stop the ones with arrows and bullets from hurting you.” Raal said with a grin.
The Giant followed his instruction with gusto, and a brutal blow of his hammer left only blood, bone, and matted flesh in the place of one of the dwarves buzzing Tawdor’s feet.
The next minute was tense. Raal’s focus remained mostly on keeping the ranged bullets and bolts from striking his current ally, and it required concentration. While he couldn’t completely block the attacks as they shot for less easily protected areas - Raal’s wind could only deflect a portion of the attacks shot for the giant’s chest or stomach - Tawdor hardly seemed to feel most of those barrages.
Meanwhile, the Dwarves on the ground were losing to Tawdor, and losing badly. Raal knew this would hardly be the norm in combat between true armies - Proper, armored soldiers would know how to properly form up and do the most damage to the behemoth and react accordingly - these were militia, and while Raal was quite certain they possessed the numbers to defeat a group of trolls, and would certainly have no problem overrunning Raal’s superior skill with sheer numbers if he’d came alone, but fighting a large being like Tawdor, Raal knew from his experience, was only any help at all if the numbers were coupled with coordination, and a commander. These militia had neither.
Instead, individual dwarves darted forward without cover(and were handled easily), Others tried to wait for an opportunity at the Giant, but hung too far back to capitalize on any openings… Overall, an ill-trained lot. Tawdor, despite his stupidity, seemed to be less foolish than Raal thought, actually taking care to pick off those who got too close and being just a little cautious when it came to charging into their lines. Raal might almost reverse his opinion on the simpleton’s intelligence if he hadn’t also taken the time to pick his nose mid-battle(and nearly knock Raal off his shoulders in the process).
As the last few warriors routed, Raal noticed the Archery gallery ready to fire for the eightth time. This time, many of them were aimed at him, he noted.
Fools.
A gust echoed forth from his body for the eighth time, and again, not a single projectile struck Raal. One of the group of guards shielded his face at the wind, now.
Tawdor Began to walk towards the dwarven wall with clear purpose in mind, and they readied their own weapons in response. They aimed at the face of the giant again, not knowing a better option, and wishing to show some desperate form of resistance, and Raal noticed one of them had brought out what seemed to be a miniature ballista. The giant merely laughed. “I already know you can’t hurt me with that, ‘cause I got a pet windmaker.” He guffawed.
Raal smiled, his truncheon glowing with green energy. He’d played with the wind for “His masters” sake for more than long enough.
Green energy coiled around his wand, just as the shooting gallery fired their assorted weapons.
Raal had the distinct pleasure of watching just how quickly the giant’s face changed. One minute, he was laughing, mouth open and mocking as he reached for a dwarf, the intent of eating clear on his mind.
The next, a quartet of arrows had struck his right eye, turning it blood red immediately. A crossbow bolt was distinctly stuck in Tawdors nose, and smaller holes adorned the creatures face, the most prominent being on his lower lip.
The behemoth’s cry of pain and anguish would easily have burst Raal’s eardrums had he still had them, and while they were farther away, it was clear the cry had shaken the dwarves as well, surprised but impressed. Raal allowed them the brief second of extra Morale, before the green snake of energy reached the tip of his truncheon, and he pointed at the wall section the defenders had gathered ‘round.
The yellow energy looked closer to a bolt of lightning as it issued from Raal’s truncheon, and for a brief moment the sun and the wood both seemed to glow a sickly yellow as the attack reached it’s destination. Erupting with a flash of light and the sound of arcing electricity, the Death coil hit it’s mark in the middle of the dwarves.
While no visible damage had been done, most of the dwarves dropped. Some seemed to still have enough energy to crawl, Raal able to see flashes of their hands moving behind the stakes of the palisade. Others, who were closer to the blast, merely lay where they fell. Regardless of their condition, all of them had blood coming from their mouths, and the thought made Raal grin. Raal saw some movement in the distance, but it was obviously that of a rout.
Good. That meant he was done with this farce.
“Wh-why… Didn’t you use that wind move, li’l guy? ya’ got all the dwarves, though.” The Giant said, a confused look on his face.
“I did. Don’t worry, I’m a healer, just give me a moment, and I’ll erase your pain.
“r-really?... Thanks, li’l buddy. I’m happy.” Tawdor said, before coughing blood. Raal dimly realized that some of the dwarves had gotten a second shot off at the oaf, and his face was more blood than anything by now.
Raal smiled, putting his truncheon in the creature’s earlobes. “Gee, that tickles.” The giant giggled.
“A suitably moronic epitaph for one like you.”
Raal blasted directly into the ear, aiming upward. The touch of darkness blew a good chunk in the creature’s brain, and Raal wasted no time in enhancing that with a telekinetic knock of the skull fracture he’d created.
Tawdor the self-styled blacksmith fell to his knees in pain, unable to speak.
Raal fired again, before jumping with some measure of grace to the ground, and he heard the squelching noise of brain matter leaving the skull on the other side.
Tawdor fell, unceremoniously, to the other side, the light in his eyes faded and gone, his mouth and eyes still open in shock.
“See? There. No pain.” Raal stated with a grin.
For the first time since he’d been here, Raal felt powerful. He’d forgotten, he reflected, just how important intelligence and manipulation was, becoming too powerful in the power a death knight possessed. Today, he’d reclaimed the cunning of the youthful warlock who helped decide the fate of the first war.
For the first time in a long while, he felt like Raal Deathwind.
Focusing, he outstretched his hand, and created a skeletal soldier. His horse trod back to him not soon afterwards, dutifully following his commands, as he remounted.
He waited only a few seconds before calling out for his absent guide, creating a few more skeletal warriors to guard his flanks as he entered.
“You can come out of hiding now, Zul’kis. The fighting’s over, so it’s unlikely you’ll accidentally aid me in fighting in any way.” Raal stated dryly. “And after we go through the important business of sacking the town, I’ll wrench the damn tooth from his filthy mouth himself."
Zul’kis reappeared. However, his glare, and frown, implied he was anything but happy.
“If you have anything to say to me, wait until we’ve cleared the town. Or do you want us both killed by dwarven treachery for the sake of your posturing?” Raal asked evenly, watching as Zul’kis’s breathing became even harder. Raal could visibly hear it now, the breathing issuing in angered gasps, and Zul’kis’s shoulders rose and fell rapidly.
“ Shall you force me to slay you, as well?” Raal mused to himself.
Then, a few seconds later, the troll’s breathing slowed, and his arms slacked. “Fine.” Zul’kis hissed. “But we be talkin’ after. An’ if I don’t like what you have to say I be takin’ your head back to the tents.”