I own nothing
Chapter 7: the first taste of battle
AN: hey folk's thanks for reading. I would all your opinions on that. Any way on with the story.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Captain Ralf Weinberg of the imperial guard unit in charge of kroppleben defense
After action report of undead skirmish at kroppleben
Total estimation of enemy forces that can be accounted for: 950 undead monstrosities' in total
550 (mostly destroyed) skeletons with rusted weapons and no armor
223 (partial) human remains with iron weapons of varying quality and type along with armor
150 (mostly intact) beastmen remains of varying size carrying weapons that vary from primitive stone to imperial steel weapons
25 (larger) beastmen with far higher quality armor and weapons
2 (extremely large) beastmen with no armor but equipped with large two-handed war hammers
Imperial forces
25 guardsmen
25 spearmen
25 archers
25 great swords men
25 hand gunners
Total guardsmen available 125 men in total
Militia forces gathered in town
Approx.: 75 men with varying equipment and very few with actual armor.
First stages of the attack happened during the night and were clumsy as the undead couldn't penetrate the towns outer wall.
This later changed as the undead began scaling the the walls themselves with large siege ladders.
Attempts were made to destroy the ladders. Those attempts unfortunately failed as the undead scum latched more ladders on to the wall then we could remove and somehow opened the gate from the inside we along with the local militia were forced to retreat to the fallback position of the town markets while the civilians were moved and loaded on to the docks.
The market square was fortified into a single line to hold the undead enemy. The square gave a good defensive position for the most part
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
(jack pov)
(kroppleben markets)
"move cover the left before they get through!"
"we need more arrows!"
"sigmar save us!"
This is the scene I now find myself in. the square that once had an open-air market with stalls all around with a statue of the emperor sigmar in the middle had changed to a scene reminiscent of a bad zombie movie as the undead hit hard and fast and the main gate was opened somehow which allowed them to spread quickly and cut the city in half. I do believe the necromancer is responsible for that insanity.
Me and gorgeg are currently trying to hold the line against these undead maniacs. Problem isn't really with the huge mass of skeletons.
They go down in one or two hits. The main problem is the beastmen and the giant minotaur's that are backing them up and is using them as meat shields.
Those undead fucks are what's driving us back at this point and we can't afford to fall back anymore or we lose the city. As even now more of the intact undead crash against the makeshift fortifications that were thrown together to hold them off.
Gorgeg trying his best to halt the undead horde by either taking pot-shots or trying to cut them into.
We've already lost some of the guardsmen and militia to these freaks. Where we started out with 200 hundred we now number at 150.
What I'm doing now is more or less making Molotov's to burn the undead horde back. Also, I found out the classic zombie rules of cutting the head off work here. Why would I worry about something like that? Well magic that's why.
Side note I haven't tried my new rifle yet.
"umgi you've got those toys of yours ready yet!" shouted the dwarf as he stood off near the front line as he took pot shots with his crossbow at some of the larger and more intact undead.
"Almost give me a minute!" I shouted back as I finished the last of the Molotov's.
"we don't have a minute umgi they've almost broken though the line!" shouted the dwarf as he switched back to his two-handed axe and began to chop some of the undead that came to close to the front line.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
After action report continued
As the battle waged on more and more problems continued to happen and show themselves.
Bullets and arrows went missing. Grenades going off for no real reason and gunpowder for no real reason getting wet.
However, it was during this time two beings on our side became more pronounce and known to the men.
One was a young man wearing an armor that was like imperial plate and wearing an outfit I've never seen before.
The seconded was a dwarf ranger who was helping hold the line against the undead tide.
Many of say that they are responsible for the defeat of the necromancer in charge of the undead attack.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
(jack pov)
"here take one!" I yelled over to Gorgeg as I distributed the Molotov's out to the soldiers.
So far, the Molotov's of the successful in holding back the undead horde mainly burned most of the numbers to ash.
From this we lost track of what happens when the Minotaur's one of them is already dead that was easily taken care of during when the horde attacked the main gate it went down to the archers taking potshots its head. However, the Thing is another one is still missing and we have no idea where it is.
Problem is we must be careful of these Molotov's they may be effective in fighting the undead in the open areas that are not effective in close ranges in and now the ways were not carefully might set the city on fire.
For the most part, however the undead have lost the momentum in this fight and now we stand at a stalemate.
I was cut on my thoughts by something loud, big, and very pissed off.
Looks like we found out what happened to the other Minotaur. Most of the stock to what we're doing to look cross the square that it turned into a battlefield see the source of the noise. And there stood the monster standing easily twice maybe even three times the size of a normal man. The beast itself looked like something Frankenstein would make as it was stitched up around his chest his spine and his face. For the most part, most of the hair was gone leaving his bare flesh I could even see the bone the skull on the left side of his face. Altogether that makes a very terrifying image.
With the loss of so many undead sees the necromancer is gained more control over the remaining few.
Because right now the thing looks like it's about to charge us and I don't think a simple Molotov is going to take that thing down.
"Everybody move it's going to charge!" I yelled out shaking most of the men other stupor as they quickly began to rush and get ready for the charge of the undead Goliath.
Unfortunately, my yell went unheeded as they did not move quick enough to get out of the way the charge is many men were trampled underneath the undead Minotaur as it was used as an impromptu battering ram against the line knocking us all back.
I could feel my teeth rattle as I was thrown out of the way by the oversized monster.
While normally Minotaur's usually use their overwhelming might to overpower their foes were usually numbered in small groups. It seems whoever was in control of this beastmen was using it as a fleshy tank. Charging through and blowing away any opposition in his path a literal bull in a china shop if you will.
"Gorgeg you okay?!" I yelled over the noise in the screams of the Other Men as they tried to get the line back in order before the undead taken advantage of the hole that the undead behemoth made.
"I'm fine lad. A bit shaken up but I'm fine for the most part!" The dwarf yelled back as from what I could see the back a great distance from the front line and was on his back trying to get back up on his feet.
Minotaur had knocked me on my ass as well and was at a little bit further away from Gorgeg. When I got back up I can see the commander the Imperial forces was focusing his attention mainly on the line they tend to prevent more the undead from getting through the hole that the undead giant had made.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
(report continued)
after the undead Minotaur have charge the line and broken through I mainly focus my attention back on the line to prevent more the undead from overwhelming us.
During this we lost a few more men he says he trampled over them and injured several more.
It was at this time is the undead were already dead that didn't stop them from trying to overwhelm us.
I had sent 12 men to go help and eliminate the undead Minotaur, our they proved ineffective in handling the task. They were thrown around like rag dolls for the giant.
It's here that the reports this one included that there was a loud explosion and when I look back I saw that the Minotaur was missing its right arm and severely impaired his ability to fight but not charge.
It's are the reports from the men say that young man was able to slay the monster.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
(jack POV)
"thank God I that was way to close a call." I thought as I look at the bloody stump that was once the Minotaur's arm.
"Lad were going to have to have a long talk when this is all over." Said Gorgeg as he ran over to me. In the very same tone a pissed off parent would have with his reckless and stupid son
"well shit" I thought as I remember how the hell this happened
(just moments ago)
you see what happened was when the Minotaur had knocked me on my ass it had knocked my gun loose and sent it flying onto the ground next to where it was currently fighting off the imperial troopers who were tasked with taking it down.
As this was happening the beast had begun to swing at the men with its gigantic hammer. I'm mean seriously if I didn't know better I would say the damn thing was a misshapen meteor on a stick.
Gorgeg at the time had his own problems as he was dealing with the stragglers of the undead that had gotten through the defensive line. He had run out of arrows for his repeater and had gone on to his fall back of his two-handed axe and was chopping away at the undead all the while laughing his head off.
"c'mon you doh monsters! This Runk of a Kazak you're giving me isn't even that much of challenge!" he laughed out as he took another of the undead down leaving just a hand full of them left.
I moved to help him dispatch the last of the undead cannon fodder.
Until I was suddenly grabbed from behind and thrown into a nearby fruit stand.
The stand broke the impact and my armor prevented and real damage.
But still FUCK man that shit still hurt like a bitch.
"LAD!" I could barely hear gorgeg as my head ringed from the impact I could now see why picking a helmet design like this could be problematic in the future as the damn thing was like a fuckin bell and my head was in the middle of the damn thing.
In my pain, I looked up to see what had grabbed me and saw that it was the last minotaur. He was cut up in places and no worse for wear unfortunately. It seemed he had gotten through the imperial soldiers and had picked the nearest person for his next target.
As I tried to pull myself up, but the monster wasn't going to let that happen as it took its massive Warhammer and used the damn thing to pin me to the ground. I could see gorgeg trying to get to me but was blocked by some of the remaining undead that had gotten through the line. It was then I noticed something in the beast's right hand as he pointed it at my head
It was my rifle and it looks like he was going to pull some ironic bullshit of a weapon killing it creator.
I just closed my eyes and smiled. If I was going to die here even if it was so far from home I wouldn't give whoever's controlling this thing the benefit of seeing me plead or get angry.
I could hear gorgeg's pissed off roar in the distance as he tried to close the distance and try to save my ass.
"To be honest this isn't the worst way to go" I thought as I waited to undead monster to pull the trigger. Most of the pain from the throw had worn off now, but I still didn't have the strength to pull the oversized hammer off me.
So, I just waited and grinned as I waited for the beast to pull the trigger. It's strange it should have pulled the trigger by now. It was hesitating for some reason and I have no idea why.
My final thoughts were cut off as I heard the hammer click back. Well this is the end I suppose.
You know their right about life flashing before your eyes, but not in the way they mean. Time seemed to slow down as the trigger was pulled.
It was at this time I could hear gorgeg finally kill the last of the undead who were blocking his path as he tried to sprint over to me.
I could hear the troopers yell and scream as they pushed the last of the undead back.
I could hear the cries of the dying men as they begged for salvation.
I hear the plate of my armor creak and groan under the massive Warhammer. I heard my own heartbeat thumping faster and faster
Then I heard it the sound of the hammer hitting the pin.
"BOOOOOOOOM"
I don't know what the hell that was but I snapped my eyes open to see what the hell that explosion was.
What I saw was that the rifle I had built had exploded and sent both the minotaur and the hammer pinning me flying.
(end of flashback)
Only thing that I really wish I could see the necromancer's face after this.
Because gorgeg has a look on his face that my dad gave me when I did something really, really dumb.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
(with the necromancer)
(on one of the market roof tops)
"what the fuck!" thought the villainess as she had been controlling the last real undead minion that could have turn this battle around.
It was at first an easy task to use the minotaur to punch through the enemy line and have it attack the defenders from behind. An everything was going to plan as she used the undead goliath to break the line and rush it defenders at the back.
Of course, they sent troopers to fight back against the intruder. However, she didn't expect for the damn dwarf or the man from before. Both were becoming pains as the dwarf was killing the undead that had broken through the line before they could make a difference and the man for creating those damnable fire bombs!
It was only after she finished off the defenders that came after her last minotaur did she feel a massive pull in her mind. She began controlling and ordering the minotaur to attack the man as he began to move to assist the dwarf.
She had no control over what was happening when she ordered the minotaur to grab the man and throw him. She tried to fight the controlling force and was met with a massive wave of pain as she tried to break free.
It was at this point that the minotaur had grabbed the rifle and began to move to the man as he tried to recover from the throw trying to shakily stand.
"what's going on why can't I do anything!" she screamed aloud as tried to fight the control completely unaware that two of the skeletons she had order to fight had returned quietly.
"Dammit!" spoke joe as he looked at what was happening to their master.
"I knew it, I knew chaos was at work here, I just didn't think it would go to such an extent as possession!" said bob as he and joe look at what was happening and began to figure out a plan to free their master from who or whatever was controlling her.
"bob you're the smart one here do you have any ideas of getting her out of this?!" spoke joe as the skeleton tried to get closer to their master only to be repelled by an unseen force of energy
"One bob and you're not going to like it!" yelled bob as he helped his fellow skeleton up
"you mean that! are you insane!?" responded joe angrily as he prepared to charge into his master again
Only to be stopped by his comrade who looked at him and said, "what other choice do we have if we don't we go back into the book and may never see the sun again! its either this or oblivion!"
Joe seemed to hesitate for a second
"we have no other choice joe if we don't act now chaos will kill her after their done with that guy! We- "bob was cut off by joe who raised his hand
"Fine just do it before I regret this!" he shouted at his friend
Bob stood there for a second before nodding and he began focusing all his energy and directing it into his master reaching out with one bony hand and holding his other out to his friend.
Who promptly grabbed it with his right hand. Together the two became balls of light and then shot forth into the girl's head.
The girl herself was unaware of this until she suddenly blacked out and was pulled into her mind
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
(inside the mind of the necromancer)
Within the mind of the girl the landscape was that of a theater. A massive stage at the front with balcony's and red gothic drapery on the walls. The floor before the stage had tables and seats scattered about and was made of cheap wood. In fact, most of the theater looked as if was rundown and falling apart.
On the stage of the theater stood a large screen that showed what the girl sees. And right now, it has the minotaur place it large Warhammer onto the chest of the man. How ever there was something different here as normally there was no one here however there was a blue skinned little girl dressed as if she was Alice from Alice in wonderland. She looks very like a human if not for the blue skin and the fact she had razor sharp teeth, a pair of tiny devil horns atop her head and her eyes looked as if they belonged on a goat. She was currently holding her hands up casting a spell that appeared to be tethered in blue wisps of magic to the edges of the screen.
This was the scene that the young necromancer awoke to as she was laying on the floor and tried to sit up to see where she was, only to collapse as if there was a giant weight upon her. Only she was not alone as there were two other entity's in her mind with her. She saw these other two being come into her field of view as they rushed forward toward the little blue skinned devil girl.
One was a red knight dressed in full plate with a crusaders helm atop his head. The other was a man in deep blue robes that had a full white beard and wore a hood that obscured his face except for his that glowed white with magical power.
The two rushed forward towards the devil girl only to be repelled by a large burst of magical energy.
"ah. Ah. AH. You two shouldn't get in the way of a girl's fun you know." spoke the blue child in a very cutesy voice as she wagged her finger back and forth at the two
"you are no girl agent of chaos!" spoke the blue mage as he and his comrade got back to their feet and got ready to attack
"yeah did'ya honestly think we wouldn't notice you trying to take control of our current master!" yelled the red knight as he raised his fists
So many questions swirled through the mind of the necromancer. Who were these two? Who the fuck was the little demon brat? An where the fuck is she! She tried to speak only to find that she was unable to. She felt as if there was a gag place in here mouth and that every time she tried to speak she would only be met with silence. While this was happening the three other beings were still talking
"oh, I didn't really expect you two to find out I was in here, but it doesn't matter as soon as I'm done here it won't matter anyway." The devil child spoke in a sickly-sweet voice as she returned her attention to the man who gone still as he looked at the behemoth.
"the fuck it won't!" said the red knight as he charged at the devil only to be met with the same result.
"hmm. Strange why isn't he moving?" the demon questioned as she looked as the man on the ground
"don't fucking ignore us you bitch!" yelled the red knight as he got ready to charge again only to be stopped by the blue wizard who grabbed his arm and began whispering something into his ear.
While the two were doing this the demon had ordered the minotaur to lift the visor of the man to see if he was out cold. Only to be surprised to see him smiling like an idiot with his eyes closed.
"why is he smiling? Hmmmm. Doesn't matter even though he is a little easy on the eyes he still must die." She said as she got the minotaur to close the visor and cocked the hammer back on the gun and prepared to fire only to be interrupted by the knight again.
"hey flat chested midget!" yelled the red knight which broke the concentration of the demon as she slowly turned around with a haunting look of anger written on her face as her hair shadowed her eyes.
"what did you just call me you red boy?" she asked with a haunting voice
"you heard me you flat chested she dog!" he said before lifting both of hand and flipping the bird
"YOuR DeAD!" she screeched before she jumped off the stage and began to chase the knight who began to run away to escape his vertically impaired chaser
Where was the mage? Well he was sneaking towards the screen and was beginning to cast a spell on the screen that began to break the tethers.
The little demon was too busy chasing the knight (who was laughing his ass off to piss her off extra) to notice that the wizard was destroying her connection to the necromancer.
By the time she noticed she was currently strangling the knight homer Simpson style all the while shouting "Im still GRowINg you bAstard!"
It was then she felt the connection break with the host of the body she immediately stopped her actions and looked toward the screen horrified.
"NO. NO. NO. NO. HOW?" she screeched before spotting the wizard
"YOU!"
"what you mad?" he asked with a shit eating grin she could see
She began to tear her hair out before she leaped to the screen one last time
"doesn't matter I still win losers!" she yelled with a maniac grin and gleam as she commanded the goliath to pull the trigger.
"BOOOOOOOOOOMMMM!"
Only to have her jaw drop at the sight of the gun exploding and blasting the minotaur back and freeing the man who slowly got back up.
"WHAT. WHAT THE FUCK!" she cursed aloud it was then she felt a tug toward the screen and began to be dragged out of the mindscape.
"wait my lords give me a second chance I won't fail!" she screamed as she began to hold on to the stage for dear life as she was slowly being dragged toward the screen
"please I beg of your mercy!" she cried only to be then dragged into the screen and then disappear.
The second this happened the necromancer blacked out and was pulled out of the mindscape
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
(jack pov)
With gorgeg refocusing his attention on the undead monster that was no getting back on its feet as it appeared to begin to resume following it last command which apparently was attack anything alive.
Gorgeg began to charge at the beast at it was now far more manageable without it right arm as it now had a weak spot that was its entire right side.
With gorgeg charging the beast I began to flank it on the right as I grabbed my sword. With the undead simple attacks like slashing and bash do very little damage against something that has no real need to avoid getting hit in vital areas. The best plan for something like monsters like this are to either destroy whole body or break it in a way it can't recover from.
So as gorgeg charged the beast who now focused more on the short loud bearded creature it ignored me as I got in close, ditched my shield and jumped on the creature while aiming my blade at the shoulder joint of its only good arm left. As I put my right arm around it's neck the beast thrashed as I held on to dear life as I began to twist the blade in the joint.
"Umgi what are you doing!" gorgeg shouted as he backed off from the beast as it flailed around trying to get me off. While this was happening the last of the dead were being killed by the defensive line. Because of this more men were free to aid in destroying the minotaur.
"what in sigmar name is he doing!" yelled one of the troopers yelled as he and several others moved to assist us.
"this" I yelled as I was finally able to leverage the blade to the right angle
"Thonk"
The left arm of the beast fell limp as its arm became dislocated from its socket. It was then I could yank my blade out and then re angle it at the base of the head of the beast as it stops thrashing so much enough to allow me to re direct my blade.
With a sharp thunk my blade pierced the skull of the minotaur which caused it to stop and begin to fall flat as it loss the ability to move its body.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
(report continued)
The final minotaur dead and the rest of the undead purged from the city. Clean up and reconstruction efforts began in the morning.
The two who helped hold the line and save our men from a rear assault disappeared after the beast was slain.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
(kroppleben docks)
(sunrise)
Me and gorgeg slipped out when the fighting was about over mainly to avoid the crowd of troops and questions they would ask.
Me and gorgeg got back to our rooms and packed up our stuff and sneaked out to the docks where we were supposed to meet the ship that was going to take us to the capital.
I was sitting on a barrel while gorgeg was standing nearby at the edge of the dock looking for the ship.
"so, you see it man?" I ask him as I yawn
"Sigh, no umgi I don't see it yet." He says before he turns to me with a serious stare
Uh-oh here comes that talk I wanted to avoid
"lad it's time we talk about what happened during the fight." He says seriously
"alright what do you want to talk about?" I ask as I cross my arms
"the rifle that blew up like a keg of gunpowder!"
"ok look what did you expect to happen when you get a complete amateur to build a gun with parts and tools he doesn't know how to use properly!" I tell him
"I expect the young man to try and not use and or bring the unstable weapon to a warzone when he knows he shouldn't rely on such a thing!" he tells me and I wince at that because he's not wrong I could have brought any other ranged weapon, but I brought the one weapon I really shouldn't have.
"well ok fine your right about that I should have brought a different weapon. But I really wanted to test it in a real-life scenario." I pleaded he didn't look amused
"lad I know your young, but you need to use your head out there. One misstep, one mistake then you're dead and can't say sorry for that." He tells me in a condescending tone
I sigh and say nothing. What can I say he's right I can't afford any mistakes out there or that's it I'm dead?
He then sighs and begins talking again except this time it's with this disappointed look on his face.
"lad look I know your adjustment to this world isn't exactly easy. But look I worry about you, I've seen a lot of lads killed over the smallest things in my long life. I just don't want you to end up like them." He tells me as I look back him sheepishly I drop my arms to my lap.
"you know gorgeg you're a lot my dad back at home." I tell him and he quirks an eyebrow at that
"Oh, really Dawrumgi? In what way?" he asks me and I just look at him and say
"because you're like him when he scolds me. He told me once 'son I only tell you these things because I care about you and I don't want you to get hurt'." I tell him and he strokes he beard nodding
"he sounds like a good man." Gorgeg respond to me
"not really he just learned from a lot of mistakes he made and just doesn't want me making the same mistakes. An also dawrumgi?" I ask him with a raised brow
"humph anyway he's not wrong lad. Also, it's the new nickname for you good as you can get and sometimes unreliable fits you don't it." He says
"yeah I guess it does." I tell him as we both turn out to the landscape to go back looking for the boat.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
An/ finally over 5000 words yes!
Anyway, thanks for reading review if you got suggestions.
