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Dark Rune Chronicles: Rise of the Gnomes
028 - The Battle of Crystal chamber.

028 - The Battle of Crystal chamber.

As Snorri rounded the bend in the tunnel he hoped would lead him to some way of sparking the colony’s vast network of power conduits and cables back into life, he saw a light flickering towards him from the distance. As he got closer and the flickering light grew bigger, Snorri was able to make out shapes in the light that was beaming through a large stone archway. Snorri could make out the vague shapes of at least a dozen goblin warriors in what, according to the map he had memorised earlier, was one of the largest chambers within the mountain itself. Snorri brought his blade up in a defensive spinning guard in front of him as he stepped into the light, breaking a steady jog. The goblins close to the archway began shouting as the gnome charged from the darkness of the tunnel. “HERE ITS COMES BOYS!” an excited goblin voice shouted. A booming chorus of goblin warcries rang out in response.

Snorri sent his sword wailing forward, launching it from his momentum-building defensive spin into a devastatingly brutal ranged throw, aimed at one of the goblins in the closest ranks without armoured legs. With a brutal snapping sound, the sword broke clean, threw the goblin's leg, and plunged into the left foot of the goblin who had been standing behind him. Both screamed as Snorri pulled his chained sword back through the air towards him. The mass of heavily armoured goblins charged towards the archway that Snorri stood within. As the goblins closed in on him, the gnome launched himself into the air. flailing his head around wild, trying to take in the number of goblins in the huge chamber as well as their relative position to him before he smashed down onto one of the charging goblins, catching the creature with a brutal strike, leaving its head a mangled mess of goblins and helmets.

There were too many goblins to count. Snorri dove away from the goblin with his crushed head, attempting to fall back to the archway he had occupied in the moments before, but the ranks of goblins had already managed to swing behind him, cutting off his retreat. He had to think quickly as the heavily armoured goblin horde closed the circle around him. Snorri pulled his sword away from the cuff that attached it to his wrist, allowing it to drop to the floor. He grasped the weapon chain tightly in both hands. The sword swung from his grip on around two feet of the seemingly unbreakable chain. As Snorri went back to spin, the chain was pulled tight with the centrifugal force of his spin. The sword let out a mean-sounding wale. The goblins began to close the circle in on Snorri more. Raising their long polearm-like axes, wary of the defsively spinning sword.

Snorri let out a roar of gnomish fury. As he came to the end of his final spin, he set the chain free from his grip. The chain snapped to full tension, and the sword's final orbit extended by double the previous spin's distance around the furious gnome. The goblins instinctively raised the polarmas to blacken the helmeted heads. But as the goblins went high, a defensive guard, Snorri, struck low. Arracop’s blade slashed into the circle of goblin warriors unarmored legs. The front rank let out a chorus of screams as their heavily armoured torsos were separated from their still-standing legs. “Sheilds! Sheilds! Shields!” Snorri was vaguely aware of a goblin shouting from somewhere behind the ranks of warriors. A new criclular rank of goblins formed around Snorri.

The gnome spans quickly on the spot. The sword was grasped in a tight defensive grip. He counted more than a dozen shields, quickly closing the circle around him. “Spears, spears, spears,” he heard an authoritative goblish voice shout from beyond the shield wall. Several of the soldiers around him parted ways, but the unseen commander's orders had given Anorri enough time to prepare. He blurred fourth as a flurry of parries sent each of the spears crashing away and into either the shield bearers in the front rank or the illuminated chamber floor. He sprang upward into the air, throwing the weight of the sword forward and clashing the weapon chain, allowing the blade to pull him into the air and allowing him a brief glimpse of the chamber once again.

Stolen story; please report.

Snorri managed to get a look at the goblin, who apparently had been screaming orders to the rest of the unit. The creature was a smallish, lightly armoured goblin who waived some metallic crossbow-like weapons in the air. He was vaguely aware of the creature narrowing its eyes as it tracked his path through the air. Snorri landed feet first into a shield-bearing, heavily helmeted face with a dull crucifying sound. The creature collapsed beneath his feet, leaving a heavy dent in his helmet. The goblins let out roars of defiance and confusion as Snorri broke through the circular shield wall. Before they had time to react, Snorri had already sliced a trio of goblins legs from their torsos. Two goblin spears and a heavy goblin great shield clattered to the group, and a group of great axe-wielding goblins who had been holding back towards the unit leader charged the furious gnome in a screaming horde.

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Arrablac, the ventor, let out a frustrated sigh. As he watched the goblin warrior's, he had spent months slaving away in the forge to build armour for battle against the mountain demon. His warriors had not been hired for their skill or strength. In fact, he had hired each of them personally for their size. His logic had been that if he found the smallest of the goblins, it would be less metal for him to have to forge. He let out a snarl as he brought his metallic crossbow weapon up to his shoulder. The battle had gone on for long enough. As he activated his strange weapon, he grinned an evil goblin smile. He watched his goblin warriors valiant but futile battle against the demon unfold.Laughing, he squeezed the trigger.

Bright green lightning crackled fourth from the point between the weapon's three long prongs. ripping through the chamber's air and striking the closest of Arrablac's goblin warriors in the square in the back on his heavy metal chest plate. The goblin let out a shriek of agony, muffled by both its gritted teeth and heavy helmet. The green lighting leapt from the screaming goblin, spreading to the next three closest to the now-screaming goblin. and they both froze in agony. Arrablac, the ventor, let out a loud cackle of victory as his warriors screamed. The lighting quickly reached where the front rank was fighting fiercely. as the smell of cooking Goblin flesh filled his nostrils and the death screams of his own men rang out around him. Arrablac watched as the small demon I screamed in pain. Light roars from the armour of the goblin warriors around it, both the fallen and the oon-to-be fallen.

Unfortunately for Arblac, the last scream to cease in the chamber was the demon itself. He chuckled darkly. Upon hearing the creature screaming, Arrablac eased his grip on his weapon's primary trigger. as the eyes began to blink closed. and its weapon rolled from its hand. The goblin Ventor pulled hard on his prototype weapon's secondary trigger. The three metallic prongs sprang from the weapon. Each dragging a corner of a next made of sharp goblish wires. The force of the net threw the creature into the chamber's stone wall. the prongs piercing deep into the chamber's stone walls. Arrablac the Ventor blinked at the demon. He really was the smartest goblin in the army.