Chapter 56 - The Beginning of the End

Søren and Neeka slid down the side of the hill and waited next to the rough road that led towards Karlsfjord. A group of wary people, all of them appearing human, headed towards the duo. Sehro walked alongside a shockingly tall bearded man who wore a thick leather greatcoat over a form fitting hauberk of chainmail. The armor was coated liberally with the cobalt gore and viscera that often accompanies fighting Hordelings in melee. A large great axe bounced in the air behind him over one of his shoulders. The haft, thick as a small tree, was held easily in a massive gauntleted hand. Søren's attention was pulled away from the approaching group by a chat notification on the visor of his Guardian Helm.

Sehro > Søren. This is Karlsonsson Karlssonssonsson, son of Karlsson Karlssonsson, son of Karl Karlsson, son of Karl Fjordson, founder of Karlsfjord. :) :) :P :D :)

Søren > When.... where.... how did you learn what emoji are?

Sehro > Emoji?

Søren > The smiley face symbol. :) We called them emoji back where I'm from.

Sehro > Oh, I remember where I heard that word now. You didn't explain what they were before. The kids in Karlsfjord explained them to me and called them chat faces. The older kids have been using the Interface for a few weeks now and said they made up a bunch of them. Like this one 8====D. Dran said it was a smiling guy with glasses and a big, long nose.

Søren > What?! No... just ...never mind. We'll talk about this later.

Neeka settled the foot of her spear onto the packed sandy soil of the road and leaned against it, using the spear for support like an oversized walking staff an old man might not wish to be parted from.

"Jarth is almost back," she said to Søren, one eye pointed northwest and her other eye trained east towards Sehro and the townsfolk of Karlsfjord.

"I'm sure he'll be glad to be back among his kin," Søren commented. He sighed, not feeling particularly enthused about dealing with an entirely new town of people, but he needed to get to Haven and this was a step towards that goal.

"I feel some heartache, missing my family, but it is the family I remember prior to my death," Neeka said quietly. Søren reached out to Neeka and gripped her shoulder lightly. Sehro and Karlsonsson arrived moments later.

"Søren, Neeka. This is Karlsonsson," Sehro hissed out. "He is head man of the town. Like Torza, before Søren."

"Pleasure to meet you Karlsonsson," Søren said to the heavily armored headsman.

"Good to meet you as well," Karlsonsson responded. "I see that we have you and your allies to thank for helping end this attack before it could really get started." The headsman gestured towards the rubble and gore strewn landscape around them. A few Hordelings limbs still twitched, their nervous system not realizing that the limbs were no longer attached to the main body.

"We did what we could," Søren said. "As anyone that can, should. Looks like you and yours got into the thick of things as well."

"It's been a few hard weeks since the Waystone activated. We have faced numerous, smaller hordes of these creatures. This was the largest yet," Karlssonsson explained. "It felt more desperate though."

"They may have been trying to prevent me from reaching your settlement," Søren suggested. "Something about my arrival here may have stirred things up and set events into motion that have long been waiting to be done."

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"Things have been more interesting of late, for sure," Karlsonsson said. "Come. Let me show my town. We can discuss more over an ale at the longhouse."

Søren nodded and secured his [Artemis Scout Rifle (Silver I)] to his backpack before following after Karlsonsson. Neeka unstrung her bow and followed after the two. Sehro fell in next to Neeka and was tearing off the cellophane wrapper around the deck of cards he'd earned for his part in the horde event.

"What do you have there?" Neeka asked.

"The interface said it was a deck of cards, but now it has changed to [Hordeling Happy Hour (Beginner's Commander Deck)]. Odd." Sehro slipped the tip of a claw into the gap on the side of the box and wiggled the top free. He upended the box and a stack of cellophane wrapped cards fell into his claws. The topmost visible card was a vibrant riot of magenta, violet, and aubergine colors behind a corpulent Hordeling Queen surrounded by dozens of Hordelings. Across the top of the card, above the artwork, was the name, [Hordeling Queen of the Chorus (2500 TEK, 5 Corruption Tokens)].

"NO! Not doing another tutorial," Sehro hissed loudly in alarm, both of his eyes focused on the air in front of him as he waved one claw in a savage downward slash. Neeka, Søren, and Karlsonsson all stopped and stared wide eyed at Sehro.

"You ok Sehro?" Søren asked.

"Yes, just startled is all. Reading the card triggered a message in the interface asking if I wanted to begin a tutorial for Gaia's Wonderful Exciting New Trading card game." Sehro muttered something under his breath and shuddered slightly. Karlsonsson's beard flexed downward as he frowned deeply, looking at a box in his hand, similar to what Sehro had opened.

"Oh no," he gasped, his eyes going wide as he looked from the deck, to Karlsfjord in the distance, and back to the deck. "The kids are going to already be using these."

The headsman bolted towards Karlsfjord, but it was already too late. Søren caught the sound of kids laughing and cheering and some screaming as a towering junkyard mech rose up from behind the walls. He focused his identification and analysis skills on the figure briefly, [Scrapper Mega Mek (1000 TEK, 2 Rusty Cogs)]. A second figure stood up near the mech, looking much like a Hordeling Mauler, but three times as big. [Hordeling Titan (1000 TEK, 2 Corruption Tokens)].

The Scrapper Mega Mek lifted a shotgun like weapon in one hand and the weapon a massive harpoon sticking out of the barrel with a thick rope trailing down from the harpoon. In its other hand, it carried a long chainsword that growled and spun like a chainsaw. Thick plumes of smoke belched out metal sticks on the back of the mek. The harpoon blasted out with a tremendous explosion of black smoke and pierced into and through the arm the Hordeling Titan. The projectile buried its barbed hooks into the monstrosities chest. The titan roared and screeched in pain, a dozen different voices piercing the sky from as many mouths that opened up all along the ropey tendrils of the titan's body.

The Hordeling Titan tried to yank the harpoon free, but a quick yank by the Scrapper Mega Mek pulled the Titan close enough to be struck by the chainsword. The sharpened blades along the edge of the chainsword ground into the titan's flesh, spraying chitin, ichor, and gore across the center of town. The titan responding by ripping its trapped arm free, tearing through chitin and muscled, heedless of the damage it was causing to itself, and used both arms to pummel the mek's chest. Rusty plate armor and corrugated metal bent and shattered under the blow. Gears within the mek's chest squealed in protest.

The mek retaliated by driving the chainsword into the chest of the titan, deep into whatever organs kept the monstrosity alive. Something vital must have been hit, as the titan dissolved into scraps of cardboard that drifted away from the mek and then vanished into the air. A roar of excitement followed the defeat of the Hordeling Titan and the Scrapper Mega Make thrust its arms into the sky in victory.

Søren sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous."

Sehro and Neeka hissed quietly and followed Søren as he resumed his steady pace towards Karlsfjord.