Now, Threnosh World
The viral round splashed against golden skin. It did nothing. The liquid left a wet streak as it ran down Zalthyss’ chest.
Inorganic skin.
Caretaker created an information notice in their power armor’s memory with a thought. Even though they were about to be terminated this information was too important to lose. They disseminated the information through the wireless network a split-second later.
Zalthyss' smile was too wide. Its mouth opened much wider than its underlying physical structure suggested was possible.
Caretaker sorely missed their predictive algorithm. They had no idea what the optimum course of action was.
Zalthyss dived straight at Caretaker.
The Threnosh slashed their sword straight down along their centerline as they stepped back.
Zalthyss stopped in a split-second in direct violation of the law of inertia.
To Caretaker’s surprise the outworld invader stopped just within the arc of the sword point. It felt like striking a metal pillar. There was no give in Zalthyss skin.
Caretaker’s sword arm vibrated.
A thin, vertical line ran down Zalthyss’ chest. Ten centimeters of bright light leaked out until it slowly sealed shut.
Caretaker pulled their sword arm back for another strike.
Before they knew what was happening, they felt their inner cavity drop as the inertial dampeners in their power armor whined with effort.
Zalthyss had grabbed Caretaker’s sword arm and zoomed up into the sky.
Nearly two hundred meters according to the display in Caretaker’s faceplate.
Too fast. The Threnosh hadn’t noticed.
The armor plates over Caretaker’s arm crumpled as Zalthyss grip tightened.
Caretaker lashed out with their free hand. The exoskeleton-enhanced punch was strong enough to dent thick steel plates.
Zalthyss took it in the throat without reaction.
It opened its hand and gave Caretaker over to gravity’s grip.
The fall from that height was within survival parameters. There would be injuries, but not death.
A proximity alert.
Something struck Caretaker’s back. The object expanded into a large blue ball. It absorbed the impact.
Blueballs rushed over and sprayed a liquid from their finger. The ball sizzled and dissolved, freeing Caretaker.
“I ordered a retreat,” Caretaker said.
“Yes,” Blueballs said. “I do not know why I disobeyed.” Their eyes blinked rapidly behind their clear faceplate.
Zalthyss hovered down toward the two Threnosh, upright, as if it was standing on flat ground.
Blueballs shot dozens of small blue balls from their gauntlets.
Zalthyss opened its impossible wide mouth.
The Threnosh winced as their auditory systems fed a mixture of static and a high-pitched screech into their ear holes.
The blue balls disintegrated mid-flight.
“Sonic attack, overwhelming auditory defensive systems.” Caretaker recorded and uploaded another important discovery.
Zalthyss continued to hover closer.
Another metal arrow screamed across the sky.
This time Zalthyss blurred out of the way.
The arrow exploded in the distance and gave the night a burning star for a few moments.
“I have one arrow left. All of my other ranged weaponry are out of ammunition,” Primal said into the comms. “Will close to melee after my next shot.”
“Belay that,” Caretaker said. “Retreat immediately.”
There was a pause.
“I am unable to hear Caretaker’s words. I suspect that the outworld invader’s sonic attack has damaged my auditory systems,” Primal said.
Caretaker didn’t have time to respond.
Zalthyss blurred down toward their position.
Caretaker pushed Blueballs to one side, while they dived to the other. They looked up to see Zalthyss climbing up out of the hole it had created in the metallic street surface.
Zalthyss locked eyes with Caretaker before deliberately turning to Blueballs.
Blueballs turned to run.
Zalthyss floated centimeters off the ground before giving chase. They moved faster than the Threnosh could run, but slow enough as if they wanted to give the Threnosh the idea that escape was possible.
Blueballs didn’t look back, so they didn’t see Zalthyss close and reach out with a clawed hand.
So close.
Zalthyss swiped at the back of Blueballs’ neck, only to miss.
Caretaker had watched helplessly as a yellow-colored blur flashed over Blueballs, in front of Zalthyss.
Whoosh glided across the ground with jet bursts from their power armor.
“Stop struggling,” Whoosh said into the comms. “It is difficult enough to maintain speed and balance with you in my arms without your flailing.”
Blueballs instantly went still.
Once again, Zalthyss gave chase. Fast enough to eventually catch up, but slow enough that their prey knew exactly what was happening.
“I cannot escape the outworld invader. Not even in a straight line at my fastest,” Whoosh said.
“Follow this route,” Volkharion said into the comms.
A course through the cragant base camp and around the hierophant’s structure appeared in Whoosh’s faceplate.
They followed it exactly.
All the while Zalthyss was on their trail, flying closer with every second.
Whoosh moved erratically. Partially due to Blueballs’ added weight and partially in an attempt to keep out of Zalthyss’ clutches. They rounded the structure’s northwest corner with Zalthyss only centimeters away.
Silent metal gleamed from above as Silver Wolf bore down on Zalthyss’ back. They were in their monstrous bipedal form. They hit Zalthyss hard and drove them into the ground.
Whoosh took the opportunity and zipped away from the cragant base camp with Blueballs in their arms. They had done their part. Unlike Primal they had no issues running away. After all, it was what they did better than anyone else.
Silver Wolf tore at Zalthyss’ wings with their claws. The golden metal was thin and shredded easily. Bright light emanated from the rents, but just as quickly extinguished as the rents closed almost as fast as Silver Wolf tore them.
Zalthyss spun around and backhanded Silver Wolf.
The Threnosh caught the blow in their muzzle. Sharp teeth as large as daggers barely penetrated the golden surface of Zalthyss’ arm.
Silver Wolf spat Zalthyss away and recoiled in what appeared to be pain. The tips of their teeth had partially melted.
Zalthyss blurred forward low to the ground.
Silver Wolf swiped at the outworld invader, but was too slow.
Zalthyss’ palm struck them in the center of their torso and sent them tumbling many meters away.
Sparks followed Silver Wolf’s armored form as they skipped like a stone across the metallic ground.
Silver Wolf rolled to a stop and sprang right back to their feet.
Zalthyss hovered slightly off the ground fifty meters away. Their hands and arms down at their side, open palms up.
The static in Caretaker’s auditory system grew stronger.
Silver Wolf charged forward in the peculiar loping gate of their bipedal form. They covered the distance in seconds. They sprang forward the last ten meters, their massive, clawed hands aimed to eviscerate the much smaller Zalthyss.
Caretaker tried to shout a warning into the comms. Whether the interference drowned it out or Silver Wolf ignored it, they would never know.
Zalthyss batted the descending arm as if they were waving away a bothersome insect. They took their other hand and almost lazily thrust it forward. Into the center of Silver Wolf’s torso.
The Threnosh didn’t make a sound as their nearly three meter tall form crouched in front of Zalthyss for a moment before toppling to the ground with a crash.
Just as with Malendrax, Caretaker watched Silver Wolf’s vital signs cease.
Zalthyss raised its hand toward Caretaker. The arm was covered past the elbow with an unmistakable pale, pinkish sheen.
Hooves thundered across the ground.
Resplendent Zabriium charged.
Zalthyss didn’t move.
Caretaker got the impression that the golden figure was curious.
Resplendent Zabriium struck Zalthyss with their poleaxe. The blow sent the outworld invader flipping head over heels into the air. It flew back several dozen meters before righting itself. Despite Zalthyss’ strength advantage they were grossly outmassed by Resplendent Zabriium. It hadn’t thought or desired to brace itself against the blow.
Regardless, Zalthyss was unharmed. It zoomed after Resplendent Zabriium, who galloped away.
They crossed near a three-level structure.
As soon as Zalthyss moved past the building projectile fire stitched across its body.
Tynk continued to fire their recoilless rifle as they flew out the open window and went straight up into the open sky.
The Threnosh was nowhere near as fast as Zalthyss.
Golden skin flashed as Zalthyss abandoned its pursuit of Resplendent Zabriium. It flapped its wings once and shot up in an angle toward Tynk.
Tynk had less than a second and Zalthyss was almost on them. They killed their anti-gravity generators at the last second and dropped like a rock.
Zalthyss went past them, managing to slash through one of Tynk’s gossamer-thin wings.
The outworld invader furled their wings out wide to bring themselves to a stop. They hovered in mid-air for a moment.
That was all Primal needed. Their last arrow struck Zalthyss straight in the chest. This one didn’t have an explosive head. It carried the outworld invader thousands of meters into the sky.
Tynk engage anti-gravity at the last moment. They hit the ground with a painful thud rather than a fatal splat. A sidewalk panel near them opened up to reveal the underground passage ways. They quickly scrambled into it. Fear lent figurative wings to their feet as they ran away.
“Resplendent Zabriium and Tynk are retreating as ordered,” Volkharion said into the comms. “Primal still refuses. Caretaker, I suggest you retreat through the way you entered the enemy base.”
Caretaker looked toward the torn street several hundred meters away. It seemed so far. They took a step in that direction when their predictive algorithm finally came back to life. An incoming projectile alert. The algorithm guided their sword arm as they spun and cut right through something spinning fast and hard. Two cylindrical halves fell away on either side and clanged as they hit the street.
Primal’s arrow, Caretaker realized.
“Retreat will not be possible,” Caretaker spoke into the comms. Saying it lent clarity to their thoughts. The end was near. All their effort, successes and failures of the last several years led to this moment. Perhaps Primal was right. Why run away when it was clear that wasn’t possible. “Volkharion, I order you to retreat. Carry the message to the senior commander. Only a prime can fight this enemy.”
“Acknowledged. However… we have one more stratagem.”
Caretaker was about to ask what Volkharion meant when Zalthyss suddenly appeared in front of them.
They slashed their sword out, but Zalthyss struck them in the chest first.
Damage alerts flashed across Caretaker’s vision and told them what they already knew by the pain. Serious damage had been done to both their power armor and their biological body. It didn’t matter that Caretaker’s defect was a more robust physical structure. According to Honor, Caretaker was closer to the human norm when compared to the standard Threnosh.
Ironically, Caretaker hit the ground close to the rents in the ground where they had entered the cragant base camp. They struggled to stand while pulling off their ruined chest plate.
They had just tossed it to the ground when Zalthyss appeared in front of them.
A message flashed in Caretaker’s faceplate.
“You are not using your full power, why?” Caretaker said. They needed to get Zalthyss closer to the ground and get them to stop moving for just a few seconds.
Zalthyss cocked their head to one side, but kept advancing.
Caretaker retreated as close to the open rents in the street as they could without falling in. They retreated to their left as Zalthyss mirrored them.
“I have viewed your battle with Honor many times,” Caretaker decided to try another attack, “I judge your capability to be lesser than Honor or the primes. The analysis is beyond challenge.”
A frown marred Zalthyss’ perfectly symmetrical features. They drifted down just centimeters off the ground.
“Honor ran from me. One of your primes shot at me from a great distance without announcing itself. I fought another prime in the heart of a volcano. In its own element, yet it resorted to burying me to escape with its life.”
“We have hurt you this night,” Caretaker pointed their sword at Zalthyss’ heart. “You may heal, but we have succeeded in marking you.”
Zalthyss stopped and laughed. The sound sent static crashing into Caretaker’s auditory system.
The Threnosh winced.
“Foolish gray one. My very song causes you such pain. Your machine shell does not protect you.”
Zalthyss didn’t notice a pair of hands phase up out of the ground to leave behind a small device behind its feet.
Several seconds passed then a voice spoke into Caretaker’s ear holes. “I am clear, you may detonate.”
Actryarius had laid the last explosive at Zalthyss’ feet.
Caretaker connected to it with a thought. They triggered it a split-second later.
The thunderous explosion sent Zalthyss flying toward Caretaker.
The Threnosh stabbed their sword up. The sharpness of the blade combined with the force of the explosion sent it into Zalthyss’ chest almost all the way to the hilt.
Zalthyss slammed into Caretaker and knocked them to the ground. The outworld invader tumbled further away, while Caretaker lay flat on their back. The pain had spiked for a moment, but was now growing dull.
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This was bad. It meant that the attached medical unit had automatically released anti-pain chemicals into their body. Caretaker had resisted it at first because of how the chemicals dulled thought and interfered with brain signals transmitted through their nerve system.
If the medical unit deemed it necessary, then their injuries had gone from serious to critical. They were several steps closer to being combat ineffective.
“You use tricks as Honor did,” Zalthyss said.
The outworld invader appeared no more injured from the explosion than before, aside from the blade in its chest. Although that didn’t appear to bother it at all.
Right before Caretaker’s eyes the hilt and handle fell away to reveal a bright wound that sealed up. The Threnosh was surprised to feel a pang of pain that wasn’t connected to their injuries at the sight of their long-time weapon’s destruction.
“Volkharion. It is time for you to retreat. It was an effective attempt—”
“That was not the plan. Not entirely,” Volkharion said into the comms.
Thudding steps echoed across the space.
“This, however, was not in the plan at all.”
“Wha—” Caretaker managed to get out.
Several tons of metal trampled Zalthyss into the ground.
Primal stomped down on the downed outworld invader. Their massive power armor’s foot was almost as wide around as Zalthyss was tall.
Perhaps the explosion had affected Zalthyss more than it had initially appeared for the outworld invader had been caught off guard by Primal’s charge.
Unfortunately, it didn’t last.
Zalthyss caught a stomp with both hands and pushed up.
Primal stumbled back and Zalthyss zipped in and sliced away at Primal’s legs.
The tiniest Threnosh in the largest power armor grabbed at Zalthyss and again defied expectations. They caught the outworld invader in their massive metal hand.
Only Zalthyss’ head and lower legs were visible.
The artificial tendons and muscles strained with audible effort. Metal and composites squealed as Primal sought to turn Zalthyss into pulp.
The outworld invader proved tougher and stronger.
It exploded out of Primal’s grip.
Enormous finger burst apart.
Caretaker covered their face as jagged bits bounced off their armor.
Primal didn’t stop. They only knew one way. To attack.
They raked the whirring teeth in their left arm against Zalthyss. Sparks flew, but the golden skin proved stronger yet again. The metal teeth chipped and smoke started to billow out of the arm.
Primal changed tactics. They pulled their left fist back and punched Zalthyss away.
Caretaker realized that Primal must’ve expended their ammunition during the battle with the cragants. Their teammate was foolish for jumping into battle when they weren’t at their optimum level.
Zalthyss flapped their wings to stay just out of Primal’s reach.
The Threnosh thrust their ruined right fist out toward the outworld invader. A nozzle deployed out of the underside. A spark of fire ignited right before a stream of liquid flame emerged to cover Zalthyss.
The outworld invader bared its teeth in a too-wide mouth.
Caretaker recognized the smile.
The stream of flame sputtered out in less than two seconds. Primal was truly out of ammunition for their weaponry.
Zalthyss hovered in the air. Flames drenched its body. It was like a second sun, scorching everyone beneath its gaze.
It opened its mouth toward Primal.
“Primal, retr—”
Caretaker’s warning was too late. Painful static filled their auditory system once again.
The air distorted around Primal’s massive form.
Caretaker could do nothing as Primal’s surface armor began to break and melt. They had seconds before Zalthyss’ sonic attack reached inside to Primal’s biological body.
“Thi… …l b… ou… …ast at…pt. Wh… …jud…tor att… …u mus… …reat. Yo… … no… …ve ti… to … Pri… fro… …ir tru…kin. … …t l…ve th…” Volkharion’s voice partially broke through the static.
A metallic tendril pierced up through the street and wrapped around Zalthyss’ legs. It ceased its sonic attack on Primal and tried to fly higher. The tendril was stretched taut, but held.
A second tendril emerged to wrap around Zalthyss’ head.
Two was too much for the outworld invader.
The tendrils retracted back through the street and slammed Zalthyss down.
A loud clang sounded out.
The metallic street was torn open from below as Adjudicator burst from the tunnel beneath.
The Threnosh coiled more of their tendrils around Zalthyss and engaged the energy drain function.
Zalthyss thrashed.
One tendril completely covered Zalthyss’ head. It clawed and pulled at the coils. Scoring deep cuts, which repaired themselves almost immediately after.
Caretaker winced at the painful static in their ear holes. They cycled their through their helmet’s visual modes until they could see the energy drain from Zalthyss to Adjudicator.
The numbers didn’t make sense.
Caretaker tapped into Adjudicator’s energy readings. They were already near capacity.
“Vent energy,” Caretaker said into the comms.
“Acknowledged.”
Several panels all over Adjudicator’s power armor opened. The air around the vents distorted from the tremendous amount of heat released.
Adjudicator’s readings were still problematic. The energy gain merely slowed.
Caretaker cycled through their options. They were out of effective weapons to use on Zalthyss.
“Risk overload if I continue draining energy from the invader,” Adjudicator said. “Trueskin will soon be at full capacity. I will be stronger than I have ever been before. Self-repair capability at maximum.” They looked directly at Caretaker. “Retreat. I will eliminate the enemy.”
“I am beginning to be annoyed by everyone telling me to retreat,” Caretaker said.
“It is the logical decision,” Volkharion said into the comms. “You’re combat effectiveness has been severely degraded by the damage you have sustained.”
“I lead. I cannot leave while my team yet fights.”
“Ceasing energy drain,” Adjudicator announced flatly, “commencing close combat.”
Zalthyss ceased thrashing the moment the drain stopped.
Adjudicator pulled the outworld invader toward them. They loosened the coils with their right hand tendril to give them enough slack to land a mighty punch in Zalthyss’ stomach.
A loud clang echoed out across the silent sky.
Zalthyss went flying away, but Adjudicator pulled it back again to land another punch.
The third was different.
Zalthyss lashed out with one of its golden wings.
It struck Adjudicator across the side of their helmet.
Damage alerts blinked in Adjudicator’s faceplate. They stumbled to one side.
Adjudicator had a moment of concern. It was a glancing blow yet it had landed heavily. They were unused to being moved by physical strikes. Their power armor was heavy and well-armored, almost bulky. They were an immovable juggernaut, especially when they had taken life energy from their opponents.
Adjudicator recovered just as Zalthyss’ wings lashed out again. This time both struck. One went high. The other swept low at the Threnosh’s legs.
Adjudicator toppled to the ground like a millennia-old tree.
The momentary distraction allowed Zalthyss to dig its claws into the street.
Adjudicator rose to one knee and pulled. They found Zalthyss was still stronger despite having had a large amount of life energy stolen. The Threnosh amended the thought. They had taken enough energy to fill their stores, yet for all they knew it was only a fraction of what the outworld invader contained.
The tendrils strained between the large and imposing Adjudicator and the slight, fragile-looking Zalthyss.
Adjudicator found themselves slowly slipping on the metallic street surface. The harder they pulled the more they moved toward Zalthyss, whose one handed grip on the street proved immovable.
Adjudicator abruptly changed tactics. They stopped pulling and released their right hand tendril from around Zalthyss’ lower half.
The sudden slack pitched Zalthyss off-balance.
Adjudicator whipped their left hand tendril up.
Zalthyss was braced against a horizontal force, not a vertical one. Its fingers slipped right out of the street.
Adjudicator retracted their right tendril into the housing that ran below their gauntlet and all the way up their arm and into the large rectangular bulge on their back. They felt the self-repair functions get to work on the damage sustained by their entire tendril system from the tremendous forces that had been inflicted on it. The energy flowed from their stores.
Adjudicator whipped Zalthyss around by its head. Most any other humanoid creature’s neck would’ve been broken by the forces subjected on it.
The outworld invader merely attempted to slash at the tendril.
Adjudicator felt every slice. More energy was expended to repair them. They slammed Zalthyss down into the street. Then did it again and again, until there was small crater.
Caretaker saw that Adjudicator held the advantage, though slight. Theoretically, their teammate could’ve have kept this up indefinitely. Drain energy to repair self. Repeat until Zalthyss was out. Nothing had infinite life energy. Or did it?
The question was rendered moot with shocking quickness.
Zalthyss slashed out with both hands while in the middle of an upswing. This time it didn’t give Adjudicator’s self-repair capability the opportunity. It sliced the tendril apart in a blink.
Caretaker heard Adjudicator’s pained hiss over the team channel. The tendril was practically an extension of their own body when they were inside their power armor.
Zalthyss ripped the remaining coils from around their head and opened their mouth.
The sonic attack ripped through the air and engulfed Adjudicator.
The Threnosh instinctively covered their head with their left arm.
Thick armor plate melted like sludge under the sustained attack. Adjudicator’s self-repair ability was pushed to its limit, but even it couldn’t keep up with the damage. Critical failure alerts filled the Threnosh’s faceplate.
They had to get Zalthyss to shut its mouth, if only for a moment to buy time.
Adjudicator shot their right-hand tendril out and around the sonic attack’s field.
Zalthyss caught the tendril. The pointed tip was centimeters from the outworld invader’s face.
Adjudicator had their moment.
They triggered the energy drain. Only the barest contact with any part of the tendril was required.
Zalthyss face twisted into an angry snarl. They tried, but they couldn’t release the tendril. Their grip was locked against their will.
Life energy flowed from golden figure, who seemed to dim, if only slightly, into the armored juggernaut.
Adjudicator’s power armor repaired itself with impossible quickness, reverting much of the damage that the sonic attack had wrought.
Zalthyss flew up higher with a flap of its wings.
Adjudicator managed to resist for only moment before they were off the ground. They retracted their tendril to pull themselves up to Zalthyss, but not fast enough.
Zalthyss spun them around in circles until Adjudicator was on the same horizontal plane as the outworld invader. It still wasn’t able to release its grip on the tendril, so it slashed out with its free hand.
Unmoored, Adjudicator went flying off into the distance.
Caretaker tracked their teammate’s trajectory. They were going to crash into the forest several kilometers to the north of the city.
“A worthy prey. I will give that one more time to gain strength,” Zalthyss drifted down to hover several meters in front of Caretaker. “I have claimed two.”
Caretaker’s eyes darted to Silver Wolf, unmistakably dead. Then to Primal’s ruined power armor. Their vitals were weak, but they yet lived.
“My hierophant claimed one.”
Caretaker looked toward the ruined structure where Malendrax lay.
“I will claim you and the one watching from nearby.”
“Retreat, I will try to give you the opportunity,” Volkharion’s voice came in on the comms.
“You will not escape.”
Volkharion’s drones attacked.
A gremlin drone emerged from the jagged rent in the street and lunged at Zalthyss with metal teeth and claws.
Zalthyss tore it in two.
Two canine drones rushed in with their projectile-weapon heads firing.
Zalthyss opened its mouth and shattered them into pieces.
A feline drone had taken the opportunity to latch onto Zalthyss back. The drone’s buzzsaw-like head dug into the back of the outworld invader’s head, but only managed to generate sparks.
Zalthyss plucked the drone from its back and crushed it.
Aerial attack drones swooped down firing, but Zalthyss knocked them out of the sky with a powerful flap of its wings.
“Enough, Volkharion,” Caretaker said. “You must retreat. I will hold it off for as long as I can.” They knew what the drones truly meant to their teammate. Each one destroyed was a part of Volkharion lost forever.
Silence on the team channel.
“Negative. Projections indicate that I will not be capable of escape. Moving closer to engage.”
“You are not worthy.” Zalthyss stepped closer. “Not like the others.”
The outworld invader raised a clawed hand.
Caretaker readied themselves. To do what? They had no idea.
And they would never know.
A rust-red mist suddenly drifted across the ground.
Zalthyss stopped and frowned.
The mist wound its way around Zalthyss’ legs and up its body like a serpent.
It seemed to thicken while it expanded up to Zalthyss’ head.
The mist coalesced in an instant to reveal Shira.
The Threnosh black-colored power armor was now streaked with rust-red lines, like cracks on the surface.
Shira had their legs wrapped around Zalthyss’ waist. They stabbed one clawed hand into Zalthyss’ chest.
The outworld invader’s metallic skin provided no resistance.
Shira’s monstrous face mask grimaced as Zalthyss’ inner energies ate away at their fingers.
They locked red eyes with Caretaker. “Retreat,” Shira hissed.
Shira roughly pulled Zalthyss’ head to one side. They opened their face mask’s tooth-filled mouth wide and bit down on the exposed neck.
A bright flash of searing light knocked Caretaker back down through the tear in the ground into the tunnel below.
Caretaker wouldn’t see what happened next. Too much accumulated damage had finally overwhelmed their power armor systems and their body within. It shut down completely to preserve their life. They were rendered comatose at the last.
----------------------------------------
“Silas will try to open the door,” Eron said.
“Why?” Cal shook his head.
“Cause Silas is an elf and he needs a proper weapon instead of a hammer.”
“Wait. I thought you had a sword,” Remy said. He picked up the partially painted plastic miniature.
“That’s just the sculpt.” Eron plucked the miniature from Remy’s fingers and put it back on the board. He pointed to the weapon card on his plastic dashboard. “What I have is the lame starter hammer.”
“Which is the only starter weapon that lets you open doors,” Remy nodded. “I remember.”
“Yeah, somebody,” Eron side-eyed Cal, “thought that Ostokar had to have a bow.”
“What, he’s an elf too.”
“Who is a necromancer.”
Cal studied the fully painted miniature. It had pale, grayish skin and flecks of blood. He squinted at the bone dagger in the figure’s hand and floating chains with hands attached to their ends. The heads on the miniature’s belt clinched the image.
Eron’s paint job was pretty good. Not like Cal’s usual poorly done and eternally incomplete efforts.
“Fair point, but we can equip them however we want.”
“How is that character a necromancer? I thought we were fighting necromancers and zombies,” Remy said.
Eron sighed. “Maybe he’s one of the good ones. Doesn’t matter.”
“Hold on, I thought when you break doors down more zombies spawn inside the building,” Remy said.
“So?” Eron sighed again.
“We’ve still got zombies coming down the street.”
“Look, we have to search anyway since we’ll need to find the dragon bile and a torch,” Eron said. “So, I’m going to roll.”
The two D6’s came up snake eyes.
“Damn it,” Eron said flatly.
Too low to top the 4 of the hammer’s weapon score.
“My turn?”
Remy moved his two characters to engage the zombie walkers getting too close. His rolls were better. The killed, re-killed zombies equaled more experience points.
“Dude, don’t get into the yellow before the rest of us are close,” Cal said.
“Yeah, we definitely need to find some better gear first,” Eron said.
“Got it.”
Remy handed the die over to Cal.
Cal considered his options.
First he had Ostokar move one space into a T-intersection to take some shots at the zombies in their spawn zone. Two shots, only one hit.
Eron grumbled something about Sila’s bonuses.
“Hewelin is going to live up to his name.” Cal moved the miniature into combat with a zombie. Though the sculpt had the character wielding two swords, Cal hadn’t been able to upgrade from the starter shortsword. “And hew this zombie to pieces.”
The die failed him. Two misses.
Eron groaned. “We’re dead.”
“What? Why? We just barely started,” Remy scratched his head.
The turns went on. Eron managed to save Hewelin from a wound by having Azure sweep in and separate the zombie’s head from its neck. Figuratively, of course.
Silas opened the door and the work of clearing the inside of the building from zombies proceeded a pace.
They re-killed more zombies and found new gear for their characters. Eventually they all got enough experience points to get their characters into the yellow threat level. Unlocking new character abilities was offset by increasing the danger of the zombie spawns.
Eron pressed the importance of getting dragon bile and a torch before the abomination spawned.
They had just found the former when disaster struck their party.
Cal flipped the zombie spawn card over.
“Shit!”
“Dude, language,” Remy pointed at his two young daughters watching something on the TV in the living room.
“Sorry, man.”
“Abomination,” Eron sighed. It looked like he was resigned to their fate. “Next spawn zone.”
Cal flipped the card.
“Shit! Double spawn.”
“What’s that mean?” Remy frowned at Cal.
“Nothing right now.”
Cal flipped two cards for the last spawn zone on the board. “All walkers activate.”
“That’s not too bad,” Eron studied the bored. The zombie miniatures had gotten out of control.
“Abomination,” Cal threw the last card down on the table.
“Wait? I thought there’s only one?”
“Didn’t you read the rulebook?” Eron raised a brow at Remy.
“Dude, I had like ten minutes.”
“Well, since I only brought one abomination mini then the abomination gets an activation—”
“Which means it moves one space,” Remy finished. “See, I read the rulebook.”
“Figure you engineers shouldn’t have problems understanding instructions,” Eron muttered.
Cal moved the abomination one zone close to both of his miniatures. Perhaps it had been a mistake to keep them close to each other.
“Hey, so can Brother Tucker shove the abomination?” Remy picked up one of his characters.
“Yeah,” Eron brightened, “yeah! I totally forgot.”
Remy studied the miniature. “This game is supposed to be medieval fantasy, right?”
“Uh huh,” Cal nodded distractedly. He was trying to figure out how to save his characters. He didn’t want to sacrifice one to save the other, but that was looking likely.
“Then why does he have a chainsword? That seems more sci-fi to me,” Remy said.
Cal blinked.
The medieval monk miniature was indeed wielding what looked like a chainsword from an entirely different intellectual property.
“What the fu—”