The Dreamer Gate

by Malignent

Thousands of Uruk-Hai are drawn to Remnant after a ritual gone wrong, and are more than capable of bringing their own taste of war to this new world. Now the people of Remnant must deal with this new and numerous threat. As the Tournament draws near, and the actions of the Uruk Leaders grows ever bolder, can peace truly be maintained?

11. Chapter 11: The Shanties

Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of The Rings, the Middle-Earth universe, Shadow of Mordor/War or RWBY.

This work will contain moments of intense violence, dark and dirty humor, and canonical divergences.

---

The Shanties

"How about we do this again, eh girl?"

Ruby tried to move, but found her limbs failing to respond. Only her head seemed capable of shifting positions, her gaze rising from the ground to the Uruk perched atop her unconscious sister's body.

"You come find me again... and again... and again..." Bubol said cheerily as the boils covering his body grew larger with pus.

Ruby tried to form words, tried giving voice to the horrified emotions she felt as she watched the pustules begin splitting at the seams.

Yet no sound could be formed.

"This is love, sweetness." the Diseased Lunatic cooed, even as boils began sprouting up within his mouth and began distorting his words "Gis is how much shu mean to meh"

She couldn't scream as the boils spread past the Archer to her unconscious sister, who laid motionlessly as her own flesh was pulled and riddled by his sickness.

"Dat feeling inshide you, zat terror, itsh love." Bubol continued speaking as the boils ate away at her sibling's flesh before her very eyes "Maybe if she love you mo, she wouldn' have leth this happen."

Ruby jolted awake inside a train car, head almost slamming into a nearby crate as she released several deep breaths. She had been trying to get some sleep, curled up against the wall of the train they'd been taking

"Ruby?" a concerned voice preceded a worried looking Blake appearing around several more crates "You okay?"

"Yeah yeah," the younger girl said before taking another breath and giving her teammate a smile "just felt something crawling on me. No biggie, A-okay over here!"

She could tell Blake was unconvinced, but thankfully the Faunus gave a slow nod and turned away "Okay then..."

In the next car over Weiss was similarly trying to get some shut eye, having problems of a different matter compared to her red-hooded partner. Every time the heiress found a comfy position, the train car would shift ever so slightly, just enough to ruin minutes of preparation and get her rightfully agitated before trying again with similar results.

She missed her bed at Beacon, regardless of how terribly worried its particular construction made her. She wanted her cozy sleepwear and something to even simulate a pillow, at least they had those the last few times they ventured out of the kingdom. Alas, in order to make quick headway in the search for Hork's Tower, they had agreed that catching this train into Vacuo would be vital. Unfortunately due to the timing they had to quite literally drop everything and make for its station in Vale. Which meant no resupplying at Beacon, no saying goodbye to their classmates and friends, they'd pretty much ditched the Atlesian forces on their way back to the city in order to catch this train.

Oh and what a catch it was, this was a cargo train barely used to transport things of import. Un-owned by the ever expansive company she herself was in line to inherit, not even criminals like the White Fang had reason to target it.

It seemed almost too good to be true really, a mode of transportation that could turn several weeks of travel into merely a day and a half. But then they got on and realized that it was indeed too good to be true.

The thing was quite liberally stuffed head to toe with lesser imports from Vale, which apparently included plenty of dried foods, large packs of soil and even one notably well-crafted chandelier. As a Schnee, Weiss had seen better chandeliers in bathrooms; however, among the rest of the commodities it was quite literally the most eye catching thing among them. So much so that she wondered why it was being transported in this manner? Surely the risk of breaking such a thing would necessitate something with more care?

And yet even pondering the items around her failed to bring drowsiness to the grumpy young lady. This train was not built with human cargo in mind. All the cars were like this, nearly stuffed to the brim with these items. Traveling in it for the first day had been passable due to Ruby spending the entire time trying to go over how they'd find Yang.

Of course, with both Blake and Weiss combining their knowledge of the area there'd be no doubt that they'd eventually be able to figure out which ruin the Uruks had holed up in, they'd just need some leads.

But after that meeting the time for rest eventually came... only it came without the actual rest.

As Weiss considered whether or not she could ever so sneakily dump some cargo and make more room for herself, a grand distraction arrived in the form of an upset looking Blake.

"How is she?" the Heiress asked immediately

"She said she was A-Okay."

"She also said she was just going to try taking a walk to see if she'd get tired, but now here she is trying to sleep away from us for some reason." Weiss sighed before glancing down and trying to get comfy again "Usually after beating the source of your problems you start recovering. Not even seeing that cretin, Bubol, in a cage was able to do it for her."

"Weiss, I don't think Bubol's the problem-"

"I know I know, she's going stir crazy without her sister, I get it. I just figured that seeing him locked up like that would bring her some form of satisfaction... Because I sure found it quite fitting for him."

Blake rolled her eyes before climbing atop several other crates and and lying atop them before turning to stare at the ceiling of the train "I just don't like seeing her this way."

"I don't either," Weiss said as she tried her head atop one of the smaller parcels "however I've no doubt as soon as we grab Yang she'll bounce back good as new."

The Faunus glanced down at her before closing her own eyes "I just hope Yang's doing okay."

As the raven-haired girl sought sleep, a slight shake of the train car preceded another huff of agitation from her white-haired teammate.

---

Desert Tower~Ground Floor

The massive central chamber of the tower was notably more crowded today, the reason for which might have been the large Dreamer Gate opening on a nearby wall.

Many Uruks gathered and watched as out of the gate came a figure they were all wary of, Pugrish the Shaman. Following closely behind him was Ratlug the Swordsmith. Ratlug hefted the strap of a tightly wrapped up object on his shoulder as he and his boss moved towards the large circular platform in the center of the chamber.

On that platform stood Tugog the Dreamer, Skak Blood-Axe, and Ishga Blood-Storm who stood beside the platform's lever.

Behind the two Storm Captains came two oddly dressed thin Uruks wearing Storm Colors, one of which was quite thoroughly enjoying a cigarette as he and his partner wheeled a large, slightly slanted table towards the central elevator behind their Captains.

On that table was a none too happy Yang Xiao Long strapped to its surface and obviously not liking the situation she was in. After some downtime spent in her old cave with Mulgrim the Ultra Camera Master Extraordinaire, she was apparently being moved to yet another prison. Apparently Krosh and Ogthrak wouldn't be joining them this time, with Krosh apparently taking some time for himself to screw around with his other slaves and Ogthrak not even giving an excuse, so instead she had these two skinny Uruks transporting her with the Storm Ruler and the Fake Doctor.

"Dreamer..." the Grand Shaman greeted as he approached the Warchief

"Pugrish, I take it things have been swell since the Arena?"

The Storm Ruler nodded as he came to a stop and looked up at his master while Ratlug stopped beside him.

"We have the girl, is Hork awaiting our arrival?"

"Yeah, he's at the courtyard near the top." the Warchief said as he glanced past them to watch as the two thin Uruks wheeled Yang onto the platform "He's been up there ever since he discovered his semblance. He's still a bit sore about being proven wrong in front of his subordinates."

"Because of those chiefless who showed up, right?."

Dreamer gave a small chuckle at that "Those idiots, playing with fire as they did." he glanced back to the Shaman "I remember your boy Maku taking two of them. Said you needed them for somethin'. Ya still got them? I'm picturing them in funny little outfits dancing around for ya."

"They are... where I need them..." the Stormbringer breathed as he gave a slow nod.

"Yep, Ogthrak's got them working well." Ratlug interjected before glancing back to the two Uruks moving Yang "She stable?"

"Yeah yeah." the Smoker noted as he and his partner wheeled the restrained huntress to the middle of the platform.

The two oddly dressed Uruks guiding her she had recognized as two of the Uruks Ratlug had working in that workshop of his back in the caves, only it had taken her some time to notice because their new attire was almost too different from the uniform stuff they wore back during her brief visit.

Along with their blue trousers and hiking boots were what were clearly supposed to be long white hooded coats designed for winter, only the coats had most of their warming innards torn out and instead seemed despairingly thin. The Smoker, she didn't even know some of them had taken up smoking, had even ripped the long sleeves off his coat for some reason. Had they practically torn apart stolen winter clothes just because this tower was hot? Coco would cry at the sheer inconsistency!

In addition to their odd choice of clothing, the Researchers also had these hideously bulky guns hanging on their arms by shoulder straps. They looked just as odd as the apparel of their owners. The best way she could describe them was that they looked as if someone had taken a buck shotgun and melted it into a machine gun, the end result being just as strange as expected. In addition to those they also had four spears strapped to their backs too, something Yang had learned to associate with the Hunter class of Uruk Warrior, but these spears were odd. She couldn't quite put a finger on it.

The platform was excessively big, being more than big enough for several dozen Uruks or a smaller group and several pieces of cargo. As the fastest way up and down the Tower, it was mostly used by the Garrison to transfer materials for the near constant reinforcements they did. Once Yang was in the center, Dreamer nodded to Ishga, who pulled the Lever controlling the platform and causing it to begin ascending.

Well, if there was one good thing about this sudden transition, it was that this new place looked utterly epic. It was pretty massive-looking from the inside, and looked to go up for a fair bit, there was apparently more to the tower beyond this massive chamber since so many Uruks were moving about. They were carrying blades or materials or ushering chained up captives. Light poured in from above, and there were a number of torches set up on the sides of this chamber which illuminated the rest.

Once the elevator began ascending, the Dreamer was ushered to one of its edges by the Storm Captains. Ratlug began gesturing to the bundle he had while the Shaman watched "As a thanks for that wonderful machine you granted us, the Stormbringer asked I make a lil' something for ya."

"Oh really, now?"

The Swordsmith cooed as he offered it to the Dreamer "Indeed, with all the dust you got for us I guess he figured something be given in return. After seeing what some of those crystals do, I felt compelled to make this glorious item."

Yang craned her head to try and get a better view as Ratlug shifted the strap off his shoulder and moved to hold it out to the Warchief.

"Oi."

A voice from in front of her brought her attention back to one of the Dreamer's underlings, who had walked in front of her while she was distracted. She remembered him and his partner from the Arena.

"Heh, now you's a lot prettier than the last tark we had here." he said before raising his axe and asking "Ain't she?"

She could hear the other red Uruk growling "Skak, don't you dare go near another prisoner, damn it!"

"Blood-Axe says you would be a tons better lookin' without ya limbs!" Skak laughed, before shaking his head "Now ain't he just the funniest type o' bastard?"

"Wait..." Yang narrowed her eyes as she recalled more things from the Arena "You were the guys who looked after Vel, right?"

"Yeah, me and Blood-Axe had to do most of it since Ish was busy keepin' the boys in line and all."

She briefly remembered the exhausted state Velvet was in when she first saw her at the Arena, until another thought pushed itself to the forefront.

"So you're the one who gave her alcohol?"

"Damn straight I am!" Skak suddenly said with vigor as he jerked a thumb to himself "Lass was talking shrakh about our grog! What kinda drinker doesn't defend their drink when right bastards be talking down to it?"

"Skak," Ishga grumbled as he moved from into sight while pointing towards the brawnier Uruk "I swear on the Dark Lord's name if you don't shut-!"

"But I's right ain't I?!" Skak shouted before turning to the two Storm Uruks who were flanking Yang "You two, if I were to start bad-mouthing the Grog you drink, what would you do?"

The Smoker pulled his cigarette away before mumbling "I'd kill ya."

The other Researcher gave a roll of his eyes before folding his arms "I would have to say murder."

The Axe-Wielding Uruk grinned down at the Blood-Storm "See? You should actually be thankin' me for pickin' one o' the least harmful options."

"Do not encourage this behavior!" the Smaller of the two shouted towards the Researchers before glaring at Skak "Our master's mercy is the only reason you didn't get the boot for such extreme incompetence!"

Skak didn't respond at first, blinking at the smaller Uruk for a number of seconds before grinning and raising his weapon "Don't you mean... AXE-treme incompetence?"

As Ishga tried to force his rage back into words, he was momentarily distracted by snickers. His head immediately snapped to the side to find Yang trying to contain her laughter.

"Heh, see?" Skak tilted his head to the side "The Tark gets it."

Ishga pressed a hand to his head in agitation "Skak, I've worked hard to help you for many long years. Why is it you seem to actively try and make my work hard for me?"

"I don't do it on purpose, Ish! I'm just acting the way that feels right." Skak said before chuckling "Honestly, with how long we've known each other I don't see why you'd even need an AXE-planation for my actions."

Gritting his teeth, Ishga glared at the blonde captive as she released several more snickers "You!" He shouted to her "Stop laughing this instant. I don't need anything reinforcing these unprofessional mannerisms of his."

Yang cut out her laughter once she saw the sheer rage boiling behind the Uruk's gaze "Fine, okay I'll shut up... if you AXE me nicely."

She and Skak devolved into more laughter as the Blood-Storm growled "Do either of you not see what the stakes of this-"

"No no, Ish!" his bulkier cohort interrupted "I think asking nicely would be an eye-opening AXE-perience for ya!"

"What do you hope to accomplish with this nonsense?!"

"Careful there, Skak. Your pal looks like he's getting AXE-hausted from all this."

As the two continued spewing forth terrible Axe puns, the two Storm Uruks flanking Yang watched on with only passive interest.

"What exactly are we seeing here?" the Smoker asked the other Researcher, who merely shrugged at the question.

"Not sure, but I hate it with every fiber of my being."

This continued for some time until they reached the top, the elevator coming to a stop at the upper courtyard which led to the headquarters of the Garrison. Only today it was far more crowded than usual.

Lining the edges were dozens of Garrison soldiers whose eyes fell upon those on the elevator the moment they arrived.

Skak and Yang's laughter soon died under the critical gaze of so many of the Black Gate's Defenders, many of whom were very distinguishable from the average Uruk as far as Yang could tell. She'd spotted a few of the heavily armored Uruks with black striped war paint on their way up, mostly shouting at others or brandishing their weapons towards their captives. She'd seen more and more of them as they ascended, but now they were utterly surrounded by them.

Directly ahead of them on the other side of the courtyard was the Garrison Headquarters, which was grabbing onto the top of the tower like a massive tumor. As soon as the Blonde's eyes reached the top, they became curious. The top of the Garrison HQ was covered in this dark Aura, and everything this Aura touched was growing. It was odd to compare the building to a plant, but she had no other ways to describe it. Sandstone blocks and supports seemed to form slowly, the building was growing taller the more she stared at it.

The Aura causing this seemed to be trailing down along the edge of the building, down its front and along the courtyard before ending at a massive Uruk sitting down in front of it. Flanking him were two Uruks, one heavily armored like the rest of the Garrison yet much more muscular if his proportions were anything to go off. The other was severely under-armored compared to the rest, but besides that the only other identifying thing about him was the odd helmet he wore. The armored Uruk had a noticeably large sword strapped to his back while the other had what seemed to be a simple spiked club.

There were also several things flying in the sky above them, but Yang couldn't focus too much on them before Dreamer steppped forward.

"Hork! We have her."

The massive Uruk looked up at that, and she immediately realized just how much she wasn't prepared for this situation.

"Krimp?!" she said out loud before she could stop herself, the Dreamer and his underlings immediately looking to her in shock as the massive Uruk narrowed his eyes.

Even Skak immediately distanced himself from her as she began glancing towards them in confusion.

"So..." the angry Krimp look-alike spoke slowly as he arose "you know my dimwitted brother."

And yet the hole she was in just kept getting deeper.

"Oh." she began, before glancing to the Dreamer who, along with his underlings, was very pointedly backing away from her "Oh..."

She then turned her attention to Hork and sighed "Ohhhhhh..."

"If you know of him, perhaps you know of my other kin." Hork commented as his tree-like legs began drawing him closer to her "A stupid peon with a bottomless gullet that you may know as Ashgarn the All-Eater."

"If I were to say I didn't know who that was you wouldn't believe me anyway."

"And I suppose you would also know that recently, he apparently met his end." Hork stated, the heavy thumps of his feet hitting the ground below and crushing the sand making her instinctively wince.

"I mean... it was a couple weeks ago so..."

"And perhaps..." he came to a stop in front of her and gave a deep breath "You'd like to remind me who it was that took his life?"

"If it makes you feel less murderous, I'm technically not the one who killed him."

"I know... and it doesn't." Hork grumbled before stepping away and glancing towards the crowd of Garrison soldiers "Tuka!"

A tall berserker was shoved out of the crowd by several of the other Uruks, immediately scrambling to his feet and making his way over. As he drew closer, Yang began recognizing his face, despite the new black striped warpaint on it. Wasn't he-?

"I don't see why we need confirmation from a chiefless of all things." Ratlug scoffed, with Tuka's frown deepening noticeably at the slight

"I don't like him or the fact that he still breathes." Hork muttered before glaring at the fake doctor "But the Storm has proven untrustworthy in the past. If you speak truth, then there won't be reason to worry."

"I know, obviously." Ratlug said as the Berserker wandered closer and glared at Yang "Just seems pointless..."

"She's the one alright!" Tuka claimed before putting his hands on his hips and smirking "She worked with the White murderer who did him in sir, no doubt in my mind that they-"

"I get it!" Hork spat, causing the berserker to flinch back

Tuka backed away from the aggravated Warchief, bumping into something and turning only to jerk away from a curious Grand Shaman.

Under the sudden gaze of the Stormbringer, Tuka began inching away from them "Well seeing as my work is done here...I think I'mma go take my leave right about now."

As the Berserker made haste to exit the scene, Hork sighed before turning towards his Captains "Dharg! Pigug!" he shouted to the two who had flanked him previously before gesturing towards the restrained human "Take her!"

Dharg began bowing fervently in response to the demand before rushing to comply, with Pigug giving several thoughtful grunts before doing the same.

"Wait!" Yang yelled out as the two Captains grabbed either side of the board she was restrained to and began wheeling her towards the HQ "I'm sorry about your brother, really I am! But he was killing people!"

"He was an Orc." Hork scoffed "That's what we do."

Yang grumbled a bit before trying again "I know what' its like to lose someone close to you, but trust me when I say letting emotion rule you isn't-"

"He was not close to me, nor does his death rile my emotions." the Warchief stated angrily before catching himself and relaxing a bit "This is merely a formality. You and your pissant friends acted without knowing of the terror a Warchief of Sauron can bring upon you, as a loyal soldier of the Master it is customary to rectify such ignorance."

As Yang disappeared inside the large building, the Gate Defender turned on the rest of the Garrison "All of you back to work! This tower isn't going to fix itself."

At that his forces dispersed, many moving to the edges of the courtyard to leap over its edges. Hork walked over to one of such edges and watched as his forces returned to work on the plethora of catwalks that now covered the Tower.

Ever since gaining the vast assortment of metals provided by the Train, Hork had immediately set out to use that metal. His blacksmiths worked around the clock armoring and refining the weapons of his army, but never using more than needed. The true use of the Train's metals would be to replace the weaker portions of the Tower's walls and yet again reinforce others.

As such, once the weapons were mostly finished, the Garrison had busied themselves by setting out to make the Desert Tower look more like home, which meant large, intimidating, dark metal everywhere. Yes, under his watch it would soon fit right in as one of the many strongholds of the Dark Lord.

Thinking about the Dark Lord and how infuriated he must be with him for deserting his charge made Hork's frown deepen, even as he noticed Tugog and his lackeys approaching.

"I take it we'll be having us an execution soon?" The Dreamer asked with a pat of his hands

The Garrison Commander merely glared back at him before letting his gaze fall upon the Storm Captains "I suppose you two will be taking your leave then?" he asked, ignoring his old companion's question.

"What? No 'Thanks' for handin' over the girl?" Ratlug asked while folding his arms as the Stormbringer stepped forth

"No...we stay..."

"Excuse me?" Hork asked as he turned to look down at the Shaman, his confusion mirrored by Tugog.

"Ah, yes." Ratlug said as he saw the looks both of the Warchiefs now sported "I was planning on telling you both beforehand, but the Grand Shaman does enjoy his dramatic withholding."

"Explain, Swordsmith." the Black Gate Defender demanded

"Actually, I've gained the title of Sawbones recently-" he paused upon laying eyes on the agitated Gatekeeper before sighing "The Storm wishes to aid you in the reinforcement of your Tower, as a form of gratitude for givin' us the two train cars and all that dust."

"We don't need assistance from your kind." Hork grumbled

"But ya do need resources! That train ain't gonna be enough for this entire keep, and we got ourselves a very... lucrative supplier. Me and my researchers will simply take some notes on where you need 'em, have your boys fill us in on what they could use and whatnot."

The massive Uruk looked as if he wanted to argue, but Tugog just shook his head as Skak and Ishga walked over with Ratlug's Researchers following close behind "Hork, come on. They already gave me this." the Dreamer said as he gestured towards the lengthy, wrapped up object in his arms "Are you really one to turn down gifts at this point?"

"From the Storm? Definitely." Hork nodded before gazing at the wrapped object "What even is that thing?"

"They say its a weapon that channels dust, I've absolutely no idea how to work it."

"How exactly is a weapon you can't even use considered a gift?"

"I plan on learning of it through my visions." Dreamer said immediately before giving a small, self-satisfied smile "I've been learning to focus them a bit, as long as I keep the weapon in mind while resting, I'm positive I can learn more of its uses through dreams. If you think about it, your gift is far more straight-forward, isn't it?"

"Indeed," Ratlug chuckled as he slid over to his two underlings and wrapped an arm around each of them, "me and my boys'll be as quiet as can be. Ain't gotta worry none about anything!"

"Fine." Hork said with a resigned sigh before turning his gaze on the Grand Shaman "Your Uruks can stay. But YOU have no reason to be here."

"I...was robbed."

Hork blinked at the statement, and gave a small shake of his head before narrowing his eyes "Excuse me?"

"While here..." The Grand Shaman patted at his robes "someone's made off... with my journal."

"Oh no," Ratlug chimed in with an impressed whistle "that is very bad."

"You've literally been here for about ten minutes," Hork muttered "how in the world did anyone even have the time to-"

"I refuse to leave... until I locate my possession."

The Warchief growled at the Shaman as he felt an eyelid twitch with irritation "You can't just-!"

"My search begins now."

Before Hork could admonish the Storm Ruler for his actions, the robed Uruk was already walking off to look for his apparently missing journal.

The Gatekeeper restrained his grumblings of rage, fists clenched in righteous anger.

"Well... guess me and the boys'll get to work then." Ratlug chittered before leaning down to his researchers "Come on boys, we's got us some things ta do!"

As the Swordsmith lead them away, the remaining Uruks turned towards the infuriated Gatekeeper.

"Lying little bastard," Hork grumbled as he continued glaring at the back of the Shaman, then turned to look questioningly towards the others "Seriously, who even had the chance to rob him?"

.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.

Making sure not to arouse too much suspicion, Tuka slowly worked his way down the tower using the various staircases and ladders instead of the massive lift in its central chasm. Clutched in one hand was a wrapped up rectangular object, in the other was one of his axes which he twirled merrily as he drew ever closer to the store room he and his unwitting allies slept in.

The beds he and Uthug originally had in the Garrison Barracks somehow kept winding up with deadly insects crawling about in them. After the third time the Musket-wielder had to be treated for paralysis, he'd finally convinced the Berserker that a change of sleeping conditions was necessary. Oddly enough, their Slave hopped on the idea immediately as well. Something about waking up dangling over the edge of the tower catwalks for the past week or so, probably just Tark worries.

Glancing around, Tuka finally slipped into the little store room and began frantically unwrapping his prize as he let the door close behind him.

However, a bruised hand held the door open before it could close fully.

"Come on!" Uthug shouted as he hauled a limp White Fang Grunt into the store room "We're almost there, Tark!"

"So tired..." she groaned "Just let me die."

"Oh don't be a baby." Uthug bit before dumping her against a nearby stack of broken wooden furniture "Of all the things that've happened to you recently I'd think this would be the least dangerous."

She didn't respond, instead focusing on catching her breath. Uthug turned to Tuka with narrowed eyes "Oi, wonderin' where we've been?"

"I've never wondered that once in my life, no." Tuka responded as he slowly uncovered his prize

"Just sneaking barrels full of grog all over the shanties with our bare hands." Uthug commented as he raised his hands and nodded towards several of the new blisters "We had three to carry, and without you there I ended up hauling two at once."

At that the Berserker glanced back to him "Why not make the Hybrid carry the extra one?"

"Are you kiddin' me?" Uthug blinked before jerking a thumb down towards the Faunus "She's nearly dead on her feet from carrying one! She'd probably break in half if she tried hauling two, and I don't need that."

"Because we're forming some kinda weird camaraderie through mutual suffering?" the Faunus offered

"No, because if you kick it then I'll be carrying three barrels all on my own." the Warrior said back to her before jerking a thumb towards Tuka "Past experience already taught me that he's gonna leave all the sufferin' to me, so I kinda need you."

"Listen man, can you at least pretend to enjoy me in some way?" the White Fang grunt asked before sighing "You're literally the only semi-positive emotional outlet I've managed to find in this scenario."

"I want you to pause and think about how utter shrakh that implies your situation is right now." Uthug said before turning to Tuka "And you need to get us out of here before we all die."

"Are you still on about that?" Tuka called back as he stood and turned to look down at the Warrior "I had hoped you would learn something from our time spent together."

"Oh I'm learning alright." Uthug said with a grimace "I'm learning just how much unrestrained anger an Uruk's physical body can hold. You got us into this shrakh with Tarz and his smugglers, least you could do is help us!"

"I'm helping you idiots more than you know. I've already got a perfect way out of our little situation with Tarz." Tuka said as he raised a journal in one hand

"What is that thing?"

The Berserker grinned "Our new meal ticket."

"I'm just gonna remind you that the last one of those we had tried to kill all of us twice." the Faunus piped up as Uthug glared at the book.

"How exactly is a book supposed help us with Tarz?" the smaller Uruk asked

"A piece of information so tempting that Hork would overlook any and all of our previous transgressions," the Plan-Maker stated with a smug grin "rendering Tarz's threats moot."

"Oh please, what information would make someone like Hork not care that we technically murdered his brother?"

"The weakness of the Grand Shaman!" Tuka exclaimed

Uthug froze in place, eyes blinking slowly before widening in horrified realization. The White Fang grunt, on the other hand, just leaned forward a bit and asked "Who?"

"It was a matter of luck really." Tuka continued, even as the Warrior began shaking with terror "He just so happened to have dropped by-"

"Tuka..." Uthug began as his pupils shrank in disbelief "by the Dark Lord, tell me you didn't!"

"-and so I took my chance and used a bit of adept handwork-"

"No! No no! Tell me you didn't, damn you!"

"-and now we have what appears to be his journal," Tuka raised the book and grinned "who knows what kind of potentially devastating secrets the Stormbringer has written in-"

Tuka was interrupted as Uthug released a roar and lunged towards the Berserker.

"Woah, the hell did this come from?!" Tuka bit as he struggled a bit with the smaller Uruk "Get off of me!"

"You drag us to a tower full of trained killers who want our heads on spikes!" Uthug growled "Next your garbage attempt at covering your own shrakh ends up with us being indebted to a bunch of Smugglers!"

Tuka gained the upper hand and shoved the Musket-Wielder away from him, but the enraged warrior continued yelling.

"And your arse-backwards solution to the shrakh you put us through, is to flat out rob one of, if not the most deadly Uruk in existence!?"

"Well when you put it like that it almost sounds suicidal." Tuka pointed out as Uthug fell to his knees in open-mouthed disbelief and roared to the heavens.

"HOW MANY PEOPLE NEED TO WANT US DEAD BEFORE YOU REALIZE WE NEED TO LEAVE!?"

"Okay, seriously..." the Captive Faunus said as she struggled to stand "The hell is a Stormbringer?"

"Our deaths! Our tormentor!" Uthug snapped at her before glaring at Tuka "Our damned end, that's what he is if this utter arse doesn't sneak his book back to him!"

"Oh relax," the Berserker waved him off before shaking the book in his hands "as long as you two keep the Garrison and Tarz's little associates distracted, I'll have all the time I need to find the weakness that so many an Uruk have sought before."

"You've gone mad in your denial!" The Musket-Wielder accused "You've no idea there's even such a thing in there! You ask us to let the Garrison continue trying to murder us while the Smugglers have us slaving away for their profit, without knowing if Pugrish even wrote about a weakness!"

"Who the fuck is Pugrish?" the Fang Grunt interjected "I thought you guys were talking about a Storm Shaman Bringer thing?"

"Not the time, slave!"

"Oh pipe down," Tuka called back to them "both of you. Just a few days till we've got a bargaining chip good as gold. You'll see I was right all along."

As Tuka opened the book and began reading with a chuckle, Uthug and the Faunus turned towards one another.

"So, mind explaining who the hell we've pissed off this time?" the Captive asked him

"Doesn't matter." Uthug responded with a groan of defeat "Be a damned miracle if all of us survive the week."

.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.

Upstairs in the Garrison HQ, Yang glared at the stone bricks of the surrounding walls as she was dragged along on her board by the Two captains. Somehow this felt even more demeaning than getting dragged about by Krosh. She looked up at the two Uruks holding onto her restrained form.

"So... what goes on here?" she asked

The one in the odd bird creature helmet gave a brief glance back at her before a grunt from the Armored one brought his attention back ahead. Their names were Dharg and Pigug if she'd heard correctly.

"You guys get prisoners often?"

This time, Dharg looked instead to his partner for a moment.

"So what kinda cell am I getting, boys? Do I get a window? Furniture? How about it Birdman?"

"Bird?" he glared back at her

"Dharg," Pigug began "don't give her the time."

"What? It ain't a bird?" Yang asked even as Dharg grumbled at the other Captain's words and looked away

Suddenly they came to a stop, Yang craned her head to the side and caught sight of a large set of double doors. Dharg shifted a bit and soon she saw him reaching forward with what she assumed to be a key, though it looked far more like an odd knife than a key. Honestly the idea that they'd even make their keys lethal shouldn't be so surprising to her at this point. Soon the doors swung open and she was dragged inside.

The first thing she noticed about her new lodgings was that it was pretty much pitch black, the only light coming from the hall they had just left. The second thing which became quickly apparent was the loud sound of wind, accompanied by what could only be tarps being battered by said wind. It had been relatively brigfht outside when they'd brought her in, so there must be exits that they'd covered up with something, right?

They dragged her farther from the comforting light before holding her up. After hearing the unmistakable rattling of chains and feeling something being attached to the board she was strapped to, Yang felt herself being hoisted up off the ground accompanied by a soundtrack of rattling chains. Soon the chains stopped rattling, and she was left to hover off the ground while her two escorts stepped back to look up at her. Framed in the light from the door, the two gave her suspended position some consideration.

"So what?" she asked "You're just gonna leave me here?"

"Of course not," Pigug grunted "that wouldbe ridiculous."

He then nudged his bird-helmet wearing friend, who nodded before crouching down.

And then his aura began shifting.

Yang winced as Dharg gave some grunts, his aura began acting wonky in ways she didn't know it could. It began expanding from his back, forming a new shape which began wiggling to free itself from the Uruk's body. The Young Blonde could only watch in open mouthed disgust as the aura split from his body and took the form of some mini dragon flying thing that she had never seen before in her life.

Immediately Dharg righted himself as the creature flew up to Yang, who shifted away as it landed atop her suspended board and perched itself there.

"What the hell is that thing?"

"A Hell-Hawk." Dharg grunted before raising a hand and tapping a finger against his helmet "Recognize it?"

Huh, so it wasn't a bird after all.

Yang stretched to put as much distance between her and the creature as possible, no matter how minuscule that was given her condition "So you guys just grow those things out of your bodies?"

"Good lord no." Dharg shook his head before pointing at her accusingly "This is just one of the many side effects of your world's foul witchcraft. The master's orders are for us to make use of these deformities the best as we can, so we have"

"Wait... so this is a semblance?" the brawler frowned deeply in disbelief before glaring up at the creature, which glowed with an aura similar to Dharg's "How the hell is THIS a semblance?!"

"Enough." the Other Captain grumbled before turning for the door "Dharg can see you through that creature, so know that we'll have dozens of guards charging in here the second he spots misconduct."

"Why doesn't your boss just kill me now? I helped down his bro, you all have me chained up and stuff. The hell is he dragging this out for?"

"Insolent!" Dharg shouted "The Master's machinations are obviously to grand for such inferior thinking!"

"We're leaving." his partner stated before glancing up to Yang "Get comfy, feeding time ain't for another nine hours."

Yang sighed as the two left, the last thing she saw before the door closed and bathed her in darkness was the Hell Hawk craning its neck down to look at her.

---

Two Days Later...

Vacuo- Abandoned Village of Vishton

Sand shifted under the shoes of the three companions as their eyes traveled towards the center of the decrepit buildings around them. One paused near a fallen sign in front of what's now an empty Saloon, kneeling beside it before peering inside the building with a look of sadness.

Meanwhile, one of her companions took the time to shift the thin cloak she was wearing to reveal a slightly tussled head of white hair.

"Okay..." Weiss began before glancing to the third party member "so if their hunting parties passed through here then where would that place their potential routes of travel?"

Blake shifted before opening a small notepad and flipping through several passages "One leading to Valthur's Tower in the east, but that can't be the one-"

"Submerged in Quicksand during the war as part of Faunus retaliation, I know."

"Then we could try Sid Meir's keep."

"That's a fort, not a Tower. Doesn't match up with the description at all!"

Two days... they'd been searching for two days.

Their original routine was simple, immediately find a group of people and ask them about Uruks. Unfortunately the ones who did know of them had no idea where their Tower could be, as the raiding parties that did end up tearing through communities attacked from seemingly random directions and left the same way. With the way the wind constantly obscured possible tracks, it made following nearly impossible.

So instead they asked for which town was most recently hit and started their search there.

Using Blake and Weiss's combined knowledge of history they listed out an adequate number of possible places which could be housing their quarries. Despite the many keeps and forts which had rose and fallen in this land during the war, they were certain they'd find something.

But their first search was a bust, merely leading them to a toppled spire which was housing a number of Young Deathstalkers. It had taken them two whole days to get that far.

And only now were they beginning to try finding the second possible holdout.

Trekking the desert was no simple task, they had to stop and rest in a number of caves and ruined buildings to wait out a number of sandstorms and had to continuously refer to their knowledge of the constellations to guide them.

Ruby turned away from the partially buried saloon sign and turned to her teammates. They'd decided to get Weiss a cloak from a travelling merchant early on in their search, just in case they did come across the Uruks. Even covered in a layer of sand, Weiss was far too noticeable even in this environment. Though she'd complained at first, the Heiress begrudgingly accepted her new attire. Blake had also donned something of similar nature, wishing to protect as much of her body from the merciless sun.

Seeing the two of them debating so thoroughly on where their next destination should be, it honestly made the Red themed youngster feel bad. She was grateful they were helping, even more grateful that they'd gone along with her obviously flawed plan, but she just felt as if she wasn't pitching in as much as she should've. Though a prodigy in actual butt-kicking, she had required the aid of her seniors many times when it came to the mountains of paperwork offered at Beacon. Hearing them go on and on about these places she knows she should recognize only solidified the idea that she wasn't offering as much as she should've.

Sure, when they came across those Deathstalkers she'd been right in front spinning and slashing away, but after that she went right back to having them try and pinpoint possible locations. She'd wanted to help them, but their recollection of history surpassed her's by a frightening degree... and she hated it. They'd risked everything following her suicide mission after all, she didn't want to seem like dead weight.

With a sigh, the Scythe-Wielding teen entered the saloon. She knew there wouldn't be much if anything to find, she just needed some time alone. As expected, the furniture and benches were broken or toppled, a bunch of broken glass lay along the bar. A number of old looking stairs led up to the second floor, and sunlight poured in from holes in the roof. It was as quiet as could be expected, with Weiss and Blake's conversation growing distant the farther in Ruby walked.

This was one of many recent times she's had to think on her own, what with Blake and Weiss having their moments of comparing and contrasting knowledge of past events. She forbade herself from questioning whether or not it was a good idea to come looking for the Tower, for her sister. She knew from experience that she'd just talk herself back into it. No, what she considered was whether she should've told her teammates of her plans.

She had no doubt that if she'd gone on her own she'd just end up wandering Vacuo's vast deserts hoping to get lucky and run into some Uruks, but at least then it would only be her suffering. Even with their knowledge of the area, it had taken two full days for them to search just one of the many places Yang could be. She remembered what Bubol said, about how those Storm Uruks were probably going to hand her over to Hork. They had those portals, so how long could it possibly take for Hork to kill her?

She could very well be dead by now... and they'd just be walking right to the Warchiefs for nothing. And if Hork found out that Weiss was there then-

A single crunching sound from upstairs caught Ruby's attention, snapping her out of her worried thoughts. Eyes glancing to the stairs, she briefly glanced back to the door and could hear that her teammates were still deep into their hypothesizing. When she heard the sound again, Ruby swallowed her worries and raised Crescent Rose.

After ascending the stairs, the huntress in training could hear the crunches much better. It was somewhat similar to teeth chewing through something hard and solid, something she'd seen Grimm do when they were searching rubble for humans. Perhaps a young Grimm had come looking for people, not realizing that this place had been long since abandoned. The noises were coming from a room three doors down, and she began slowly approaching it. If she could only offer help through the slaying of Grimm then so be it, the others wouldn't have to worry about this one.

Pushing open the door with Scythe extended and ready, her initial charge was halted upon spotting the completely unexpected individual in the room.

He was slumped against a broken wall through which one could see outside to the rest of the town, a concerned look on his face as he brought a familiar rock hard fruit to his teeth and began biting into its stone-like surface. His eyes were closed for a moment, apparently trying to focus on the taste of the stone-like treat in his hand. But when he opened them, he immediately locked gazes with the young girl as he slowly swallowed.

"KRIMP!?" She shouted in shock as the Uruk's worry turned into fear and he immediately launched to his feet before barreling towards her "Woah, wait hold on-!"

She readied Crescent Rose to defend herself, but he shifted directions at the last minute and plowed through the wooden wall before taking off for the stairs. Not willing to let him get away, Ruby did the best to shake off her shock and go after him.

He was already halfway down the stairs when Blake and Weiss burst into the Saloon weapons-raised, having heard their Leader's shouts.

"Ruby!" Weiss began before recognizing the speeding Uruk "What in the name of-?"

"I'll be out ya hair in a jiffy!" Krimp shouted as he began taking the stairs two at a time "Don't got no need to-!"

As he ran, one of the stairs broke under his foot. Krimp immediately reached for the rail to halt his sudden fall, but his weight was too much and he ended up plummeting straight through the stairs. Soon the rest caved in on top of him.

As the dust settled, Blake and Weiss glanced to Ruby, who stood at the top of the now destroyed stairs looking equally as confused as them.

Feeling their gazes upon her, she swallowed quickly and said "I just-! He was just lying back there!"

Before she could explain further, Krimp began rising from the pile of wood while massaging his neck. He seemed to be doing it more out of nervousness rather than any actual pain, but he soon found himself at the end of the Monochrome duo's blades.

"Sorry I messed up ya place, buddies." Krimp said as he brushed some more of the wood off himself "I can try fixin' it for ya-"

"How did you know we'd be here?" Weiss demanded "Have you been following us?"

"Wha- No!" the Uruk denied before rising some more "I was having me a snack here, didn't even know ya'll were near."

As he spoke he gestured to a parcel at his side, a quick look proved that it was full of Bhura Fruit. Ruby leaped down to the ground floor before approaching "Krimp, what are you even doing out here? Weren't you back at Beacon with Ozpin?"

"I left." he replied simply

"You what?" Blake was not convinced

Krimp looked between the three girls before shrugging "I heard what was happening through the good professor's desk! I heard Gundza, he said that Weissy over here killed me youngest kin, so I left."

That made the three girls go silent for a moment, and soon Weiss felt her Teammates glancing towards her as the massive Uruk continued looking at them. So he knew... Weiss had been theorizing how exactly this would go down ever since she'd realized who exactly the supposedly friendly fellow was related to.

She'd killed his brother, she didn't exactly know how Uruks responded to things like that. They seemed to respond to everything else with aggression of some kind, and if she were in his situation and lost her sister... she'd probably do something similar.

"So..." she said slowly, pausing momentarily when Krimp looked down at her "Did you come to avenge him?"

"What? No, why would I do that?" Krimp asked giving her a confused look, surprising the girls at just how casual he said it "I left to offer me brotherly support to me big bro! But it's been so long since I last saw him... and we didn't really leave on good terms, so I was psyching myself up! Gettin' me'self all pumped up and ready to be the moral support and all!"

He continued radiating that boundless cheer, as if he wasn't speaking to his brother's killer and her accomplices. Blake cast a slightly confused look towards the heiress, while Ruby seemed stuck with a look of pure disbelief

"Krimp... I killed your brother." Weiss spoke slowly

"Yeah? And?"

"Didn't you care about him?!" Ruby demanded, breaking out of her disbelief with more anger than her teammates had anticipated

"Oh of course I did, he was me flesh and blood. When we came outta the spawn pits, the little guy was clinging ta me the entire time. Tried eating my ear off, what a little rascal he was!" Krimp laughed at the memories before turning back to the hooded girl "But he's dead now. I've gotta worry about me livin' kin."

"So just because he's dead," Blake began "you... don't care that we killed him?"

"Well I can't really be friends with the dead now can I? Once ya dead, you's gone for good unless the Dark Lord chips in to help ya back to the land o' the livin'." Krimp explained simply "We ain't got no Dark Lord here, so I can't get 'em back. I would think you girls would know about priorities and such."

The girls were all stricken silent for a moment, each of them digesting this new information in their own ways as their weapons began lowering. The Faunus eyed her teammates, as they both had siblings of their own. Weiss managed to hide her disgust fairly well, but Ruby seemed to be choking on the idea that the Friendly Uruk had spouted: The idea that one could just not care for lost family. The young reaper stared at the smiling Uruk, eyes trying desperately to find some form of insincerity in his gaze.

"Say, what were you all doin' all the way out here anyway?" Krimp asked, apparently unaware of the drastic change of atmosphere "Its pretty far out of the way, so-"

"Wait!" Ruby suddenly spoke, trying to ignore the sickening feeling the Uruk had given her as she walked up to him "You said you were trying to psych yourself up to go help your brother?"

"Yep!"

"Does that mean you know where his tower is?"

"Yepidoodles!"

"Could you take us there?"

Blake and Weiss shared a glance with each other before the heiress stepped forward "Ruby..."

But their leader ignored her and continued "Can you?"

Krimp blinked at the suggestion for a while before his shining smile returned "Ah, what an idea! Yeah." he began nodding before turning back to Weiss "I bet if you and big brother talk it out, maybe he'll forgive you for slaying our little brother! Then you guys might make great friends!"

"Yes" Weiss let out a deep breath before giving a weak smile of her own "great friends."

---

The Shanties

Uthug released a heavy breath as he finally lowered his side of the wooden plank, behind him he could hear the White Fang grunt give a squeak of effort.

"Just drop him, already." he called back to her before turning his attention ahead of him.

They'd just finished dragging a long wooden plank through the Shanties and into the double doors of a large warehouse type structure built next to the bottom of the crevice right across from the Tower. Officially, this building was used to store the large amounts of resources often mined from the crevice. The same resources which had gone into building most of the ramshackle buildings that made up the relatively large shantytown which had grown at the base of the Tower. Unofficially, however...

"Is that the one?"

On a wooden platform above, Tarz grinned down at them while several other Uruks in Aprons behind him gathered in interest as well.

This was apparently the central hub for Tarz and his gang of Smugglers, which was made up of the other more medically inclined and Grog-savvy Uruks who made the Shantytown their home. The types who couldn't live without indulging in abusing tarks and grog, who could manipulate other Uruks with their vices. Since this building was already designed for mostly storage, there was ample room to hide their ill gotten goods and distribute it to the thirsty masses.

It was also where they'd have their little parties.

Tarz and the other Smugglers loved cutting up Tarks, so as part of their agreement Uthug and the Faunus found themselves quite frequently sneaking Slaves to them. Like the unfortunate sod currently gagged and chained to the wooden plank. Of course, with only two of them one could only imagine the difficulty of actually transferring him to the Smugglers.

"Yep, can we go now?" Uthug asked

"Aw, don't want to stay and watch us carve this piece up?" the Surgeon asked with a tilt of his head as he jumped down to them and quickly pranced over to the subdued captive, who gave a muffled scream at the plump Uruk's awful appearance.

"No," the Warrior glanced back to the Faunus for a moment "I think I'm good for today."

"Hmph," Tarz was unimpressed, but folded his arms and shrugged "very well. Don't need no more things for now, so you two may go rest up till we require your services once more. I plan on taking my time with this one."

"Oh thank god." the White Fang Grunt wheezed as she bent down to massage her ankles " My legs are so sore I just-"

"Then give them to me."

One of Tarz's underlings had snuck up behind the Faunus while she was distracted, and she quickly reeled back from the short Uruk as he let his crossbow dangle to the ground. He looked her up and down before nodding "You give me your legs, I take your place and carry for you. Won't have work, nor sore legs, ever again."

"She'll pass." Uthug said as he grabbed the Slave and dragged her out through the double doors with him.

The Crossbow-Wielding Uruk glared after them for a moment until he heard Tarz call out.

"Tumhorn, come help us tie this poor bastard up somewhere!"

The Archer rolled his eyes with a distasteful click of his tongue before he went to offer aid.

"This is bullshit!" Slave shouted as she and Uthug walked through the many clusters of ramshackle buildings on their way to the Tower.

"I know." the Uruk replied as they passed a circle of gambling Uruks

"This place is a hellhole!"

"I know." he said a bit louder while ignoring a drunk Uruk passed out against a nearby wall

"We have to get out of-"

"Damn it Hybrid!" he turned on her "Can'T you say something I don't know already?"

She paused and placed her hands on her hips "Well I'm right! Why are we still here?"

"Look, if we leave and get caught leaving, the Garrison has full license to tear us apart. I need a distraction, and I'm trying to find one, but you're bitching and whining does not make it easier!"

"Fine, then what about Tuka's-?"

"Don't even bring that dim bastard up." Uthug turned away and glared up at that Tower "Ever since he got that Journal he's been obsessing over it's contents, locked away in the storeroom with the damn thing. Yet he still insists he hasn't found anything useful yet! At this point he's practically asking for the Stormbringer to stumble upon him."

"The weird robed guy I've seen wandering around, right?" She asked before resting against a nearby shack "The hell is his deal anyway?"

"His deal is that he can probably wipe us from existence with his pinky toe," Uthug groaned as he instinctively reached back and took hold of the musket strapped to his back "and with his boys looking over Hork's stuff its only a matter of time till they stumble across Tuka's shite and we all get annihilated!"

He sighed before releasing his hold on the weapon and glaring down at the ground.

The White Fang Slave waited for several seconds before asking "Hey, you okay?"

"...I'm getting a drink."

"What?" Slave was taken aback by the sudden suggestion, but Uthug just looked up with sudden determination before walking forth

"I'm pissed, so I'm getting a drink. Come on." the Uruk stated as he continued on his way.

The Faunus took a brief moment to glance around before following after him.

---

Weapon trained on the Uruk in front of her and flanked by her teammates, one would be unable to properly describe the tension Ruby felt as the trio followed their joyful guide.

Not once since following Krimp into the desert had the girls let him escape their sight. They all remembered how shockingly slippery the childish Uruk could be, and his claim to somehow have gotten away from the Headmaster did little to settle their nerves. Despite the sheer lack of hiding spots the desert offered, not one of them felt inclined to try chasing him down again.

If his joyous march was anything to go by, Krimp took no issue with their caution. Occasionally he would glance back at them with a smile, but so far remained on a steady course.

They passed several large dunes and even had a bit of wind at one point, but so far the only interesting thing that popped out to them were the few cacti and other stubborn plants that sprouted up occasionally. Slowly the monotony wore away at them, they could only keep their unfazed guide in sight for so long before the repetition would get to them. Slowly but surely, the barrels of their weapons began lowering as they made way.

If Krimp noticed, he didn't comment.

Ruby bit her lower lip, the anticipation slowly but surely rooting itself in her psyche "So Krimp..." she said suddenly before searching for a topic for several seconds "what's your brother like?"

Weiss and Blake turned to her for a moment before the Uruk spun around to face them with a grin. The trio paused as he clapped happily "Oh! My big bro's one o' the most dedicated soldiers of Sauron out there!"

Initially put off by his immediate explanation, the girls merely lowered their weapons some more as Krimp turned back and resumed his march.

"He's so very loyal he is! Works his bum off to please the Dark Lord as well as he can." Krimp explained as he resumed leading them "He built up a ton of forts and strongholds over time, made each and every one of 'em solid as a mountain for the Dark Lord's army."

"Which means it'll be even harder to infiltrate one of his keeps." Weiss said with a sigh

"Yep! He pays attention to everything from structure to materials used, area, climate and all that buildy-type stuff." Krimp sighed at what must've been happy memories "Before he became a Warchief, he only built stuff as a hobby. Now he can fortify a copper shack into a nigh impenetrable bunker if ya give him the time."

"This Tower should be much bigger than a shack." Blake said before muttering under her breath "But given how much time he's had..."

"What was he like before his promotion?" Ruby asked, having picked up on the brief mention of the Warchief's past

"Oh he was a go-getter, loved bein' in the midst of massive battles with his axes swinging through men, Elves, and Uruks too." Krimp said before pausing and sighing "He always loved hangin' out with me and Ashy, starting some ruckus and fighting any bloke who stepped to us wrong. Hork the Mangler he was called then, for good reason too. Just adored causing trouble then fighting for his life in that very same trouble..."

"How exactly does one go from a rambunctious rabble-rouser to a dedicated, hard working loyalist because of a single promotion?" Weiss asked

Krimp gave a nervous little whine before grinning again and saying "Well, its a little more complicated than that. That definitely started it, but me big bro suddenly started getting... scared."

"Scared?"

"Not of any warrior though! Once Warchief, Hork became more aware of the dangerous position he was in. Warchiefs are placed under much greater scrutiny from the Dark Lord's underlings, and he didn't feel as though he could get away with the same shtick. There were a lot of little things that kinda built up really quickly, but I guess you could say the greatest change came after he lost his best Archer Trainer."

"His Archer Trainer?" Blake asked before going silent for several seconds while she looked down, after some time she raised a curious eyebrow "You don't mean-?"

"Yep, I see you got it! He lost Bubby!"

Ruby's grip on Crescent Rose instinctively tightened as the diseased face of that title's owner clawed to the forefront of her memory "What... what happened to him?"

The Uruk sighed as he tapped two of his thick fingers together "Well, see it all starts with Bubby's former captain, Stakuga. One of his rivals had him infected by some odd disease, but Stakuga didn't want anyone to know 'bout it so he had his Healers stay quiet and whatnot to save face while they tried to cure him. But then one of his captives escapes, and the poor bloke tried pursuing them to prove that he was still as tough as nails! But... he didn't come back for weeks."

"This disease... is it the same one Bubol has?" Blake asked

"I was gettin to that part, lassie." Krimp giggled before looking up at teh sky and continuing "Now Bubby was already gettin' praise for his skills with a bow and everything, me big bro already had plans to test him for a promotion, but Bubby's a go-getter too! He saw opportunity in his captain's absence, thought that the old bird was in trouble or something. He was sure he could use whatever was holding him up to kill him and take his position, but things got a little hectic..."

Tracks lead down here boss...

Why would the Cap'n go down here? Was his slave really stupid enough to try hidin' in a ruined city's sewers?

Shh... do ya hear that?

"Bubby and some of his boys tracked old Stakuga to a city that had already been raided and all. Followed his trail down into its underground, but by the time they found the Captain his disease had grown to the point that it had affected his noggin'."

Captain? The hell is that stuff growing on him?!

I've seen this before... how'd he keep this hidden for so-GAH!

Take him down boys, don't let that stuff get in your eyes!

"I guess in the end Bubby did what he'd set out to do, they ended up killin' Stakuga... But Bubby caught his sickness in the process." Krimp shook his head before looking back at the girls "Now believe me when I say that Bubol's a tough customer, but he didn't have the raw physical power Stakuga had. With how many wounds he'd suffered killin' his old boss, and the other sicknesses he may have gotten while huntin' in such a place, that disease had him on his knees far quicker than it would've most other Uruks."

By the Dark Lord, what happened to him?!

It claws in the skin! In my skin! I feel it chew through my veins!

He just... He wanted us to help him end Stakuga, my Warchief. He wanted to prove himself!

"Unfortunately, most of me Brother's healers were aiding a massive hunting party in exterminating a large number of beasts which had settled near his keep. The only medically inclined Uruk close enough had been visiting from far away. We'd been lucky enough that the Grand Shaman and his buddy Ratlug had been accompanying their Warchief on some business."

Hork? What are you doing here? I thought we'd be meeting up in the mor- Is that Bubol?

Can it Dreamer, I'm here for him! Shaman, can you help him?

Hmph, of course you'd only demand the master's aid when put in such a critical-looking situation.

Stay out of this Ratlug!

"The Shaman." Ruby's mind flitted back to several days prior. He was the one who had nearly fed Velvet to that Grimm, the one in robes who had pinned Yang to the ground.

"Now me bro don't like the Stormbringer and 'is boys, and even back then he never trusted 'em, but the Shaman and Ratlug were the only ones with even a chance to help Bubby. He was the Greatest Archer around, and no doubt me bro would rather try anything than let that disease just kill 'em, so he turned him over to them. They took him into an adjacent room and demanded seclusion while they worked. But..."

"But what?"

Krimp paused at that before placing a finger to his lips "Oddly enough, Bubby says he gets a little fuzzy on the details when he tries recallin' what happened while they was fixing him up. But he wasn't the same afterwards, started getting cravings... and not even the regular murder type cravings. He stopped focusin' on the killin and focused more on the feelin', at least that's how I like to think of it. Anyway, his knew views didn't line up with me bro's and they kinda had a lil' fallin' out."

"Wait wait," Weiss intervened with a skeptical look "if they fixed him then why does he still look like a mutated potato threw itself down a flight of stairs?"

"Oh they didn't get rid o' the sickness," the Uruk giggled as he began trekking up a rather large sand dune "just made it so it wouldn't kill him. From the boltin' they put on him I'd say they cut out the most lethal growths and stunted it with something. Won't stop it from spreadin' give it the chance."

"But that would mean he's more of a carrier then." Blake pointed out before her eyes widened in sudden worry "Krimp... just how contagious is he?"

"Oh don't worry lassies! I've hung out with Bubby lots of times and I ain't gettin sick any time soon!" the friendly fellow giggled before hastily adding in "Just don't go beddin' him any time soon."

The girls went quiet at that, with Weiss shaking her head and sighing "Of course, of course that would be it."

"Yeah, that's actually what drove him out of me Brother's good graces, kept finding slaves all bloated and dead-like." Krimp shook his head as he neared the top of the dune "Bubby didn't even deny it when accused, he's just honest like that!"

Ruby shuddered a bit at the thought of the poor captives who had been subject to Bubol's 'cravings', but her thoughts were derailed once Blake placed a hand on her shoulder and shook her a bit "Don't worry Ruby, he's locked up."

"Yeah," Weiss followed up before raising a finger "With any luck, he and the rest of those barbarians will be stuck in the Arceus by the time we get back."

Ruby quirked her head to the side a bit in curiosity "What's th-?"

"We're almost there!"

The three looked to see Krimp at the top of the Dune pointing ahead. Stowing away her question for later, Ruby hastened to catch up with her teammates following close behind.

Once she reached the top, Ruby paused as the sight ahead off her almost took her breath away.

In the distance she could see it, rising above a massive canyon like a needle ready to sow a wound closed. The Tower, reaching high into the sky with a patchwork of what she assumed was scaffolding running along its walls. They were still too far away to make out anything else, but this looked like it... Hork's Tower.

"The Tower of Bruma the Third."

Pulled from her state of awe, Ruby glanced to the side to find her partner in a similar yet more refined state of amazement "I'd had suspicions but..."

Ruby called upon her history lessons with Professor Oobleck, Bruma the Third, Bruma the Third... she could recall hearing the name somewhere... A quick memory of Blake standing up to read a passage during Oobleck's Class worked its way to the forefront.

Also known as the Lord of Lies, Bruma built his grand tower along a canyon which was said to house a ferocious Grimm. He told the people of his keep that the beast would protect them as long as they appeased it with the unwanted. What he failed to tell them was that the beast in question had actually been slumbering for decades, and that those they tossed into the canyon to please it were often those that disagreed with Bruma's method of rule. He created a religion around this ideal of the Protector, and allowed the majority of his people to believe that the creature would bless them in battles with other Grimm or neighboring people. However, consistent failures on the battlefield eventually withered away the people's faith until they began demanding answers for the lack of response from their so-called protector.

Bruma had hoped the problem would sort itself out, but his silence only spurred the detractors on further. Questions became accusations, accusations turned to violence. As riots began in the massive keep that Bruma's people called home, the growing swell of negativity was enough to finally wake the creature from its slumber. The Grimm tore Bruma's kingdom apart, dragging much of it into the canyon it had been resting in. Once the beast's rampage was over, it left only the Lord's tower behind to weather the passage of time.

"This place shouldn't even be standing." Weiss commented as her partner tried piecing together the tale from what she knew.

"Oh, you'll just love it!" Krimp chittered before pausing to rub at the back of his head "True, I ain't been here in a while but me bro knows his stuff when it comes to fixin' places up!"

With that Krimp began descending down the other side of the dune and, after taking in the view of the restored tower, the girls followed behind him.

Not too far behind them, a nondescript little scorpion crested the dune. It centered its gaze on the group before clenching its pincers and trailing after them.

---

"Is this... a bar?"

The two story shack was a similar cobbled together amalgamation of stolen materials and sand stone like the rest of the Shantytown, in fact it only had one distinction from the other buildings: The Kegs.

An average looking Uruk with a knotty beard stood before a row of kegs at the far back, a bunch of tables had beeen set up and a number had small groups of Uruks all drinking.

"This ain't a bar, Slave." Uthug grumbled as he stopped halfway in and turned to look down at her "This is a drinkin hole."

"So... a bar? Where you go to buy drinks and chat each other up?"

The Warrior narrowed his eyes "Is that what you lesser beings do while drinking?"

"Well damn, fine. How do you drink?"

Uthug lowered his gaze and shook his head in disappointment before gesturing to the row of kegs.

As the two neared, the Uruk standing in front of the kegs folded his arms "Well if it ain't Tarz's little liquor runner, fat man working you and the Hybrid hard?"

"Give me a Keg." Uthug stated

"An entire keg?" the White Fang Grunt Exclaimed

The Keg watcher seemed humored, "Lad, if you think I'mma leave you alone with a whole-"

Uthug stepped in extremely close until the other Uruk could feel the growls emanating within the back of his throat "I've risked my skin for days makin' sure you and the rest of Tarz's bottom-feeders have all the Grog you bastards could need, right now I'd like nothing more than to enjoy some of the fruits of my own blood and sweat."

At first the Grog Watcher's smile flickered only briefly, but that changed once Uthug pressed their foreheads together and dared him with his glare to do something.

"We both know that any of Tarz's gaggle of idiots could replace you in no time, so denyin' me some sort of recompense shouldn't sound like a choice you wanna make."

With the angered warrior pressed so close to him, the Keg Watcher swallowed before giving a tentative growl of his own. However, under the un-withering glare of the Musket wielding Uruk, he relented with a groan.

Soon Uthug dragged one of the kegs to a table far in the back, with the Faunus following behind him while keeping an eye on several groups of Uruks who had taken note of his actions.

As soon as he sat down, Uthug caught sight of them as well and soon they were returning to their own activities.

"Since when did you actually start getting threatening?" the White Fang Grunt wondered allowed as she sat down across from him

"Since that bastard Tuka dragged my patience out of my body and executed it." Uthug grunted before prying the top of the Keg off and reaching for a small mug on his belt

"Well at least you're getting something positive out of this," she sighed before glancing around and leaning forward "so how are we getting out of this dive?"

"We? I've told you before that there ain't no we." the Uruk said sternly before filling his mug and taking a quick drink before pointing to her "I asked Tarz to help with ya hand that one time, that was it. You want help gettin' outta here? Do it yourself for Lord's sakes. I'm only stuck with you until I get out of this hole Tuka's dug us into.""

The Captive didn't seem pleased with that answer, but bit down on the annoyed rebuttal. Instead she watched the Uruk drink for a moment before leaning back in her chair and sighing.

"Honestly, he's gettin' worst. He didn't even wait until we screwed things up with Tarz to get us into deeper shrakh. At this rate we won't be able to go ten feet without pissing off some big name." Uthug put down his mug to clench his fists on the table "He gets to drivel on and on about how that book'll be our way out of this mess, has the time to obsess over every single page while I have to deal with the consequences of his bullshit!"

The Grunt raised her bandaged hand "Didn't you guys used to work together or something? How'd you deal with stuff then?"

Uthug paused in his seething to look at her for a moment "I didn't have to deal with his shrakh back when we served Captain Ashgarn, he was too busy trying to suck up to the fat bastard to care about regular warriors like me. Far as I know we only chatted a few times, and not a one were of the friendly sort. He was always dreamin' big, I guess. Except back then none o' his plans ever had me in them! Now I gotta deal with all of it!"

"Wait... if you two hardly talked then why is he always ragging on you for being weak and stuff?"

"He just doesn't approve of my methods!" the Uruk shouted before reaching for his mug and taking a drink.

The Deer-Faunus raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to finish his drink before asking "Methods?"

After refilling his mug, Uthug quirked an eye to her before groaning and patting himself on the chest "What am I wearing?"

This immediately brought a bitter taste to the Fang Grunt's mouth, she hadn't commented on his choice of apparel because she knew he'd had to have gotten that uniform off the body of one of her fellow freedom fighters. Over time she'd slowly thought on it less and less as their situation continued to spiral, but putting it on display immediately brought back surges of the anger it originally sparked.

So after swallowing, she met his glare point for point "That... is the symbol of Faunus freedom."

Uthug glanced down at his dirty White Fang uniform before shrugging "Didn't have to go all pretentious on me but fine." he then reached behind him for the weapon strapped to his back and drew forth the musket "Where ya think I got this?"

This gave her a little more trouble. She'd honestly thought he'd had it made for him, but as she thought about it she realized that she hasn't seen any other Uruk use a gun. There were plenty of sharp and blunt weapons, and after reaching the Tower she'd found plenty of Crossbow wielders, but Uthug was the only one using a gun.

"You stole it..." she said after some thought "You had to have stolen it."

The Uruk shrugged "Close enough, I didn't take it off the corpse but I guess you could say I got it from a dead tark."

"You what?"

"Yeah, see we was huntin' some o' your pals through a village. One of the idiots defendin' the place had this but he was shrakh at fighting and got himself killed. Captains didn't want it so they tossed it to the crowd before the Huntsmen showed up. I figured real quick that these guys'd be a handful and didn't want to end up like the rest of me crew gettin tossed this way and that, so I nicked this baby and ran."

"That's... you..."

"And for the clothes, took 'em off some hybrid me mates downed when we caught a few patrollin'."

"You're a looter." she put together "That's why Tuka thinks your a coward."

"I prefer survivor, I ain't no coward at all! I just like to think I know when not to put me life on the damn line. That so-called cowardice that Berserker Shrakh likes to spout on about often leads me to some comfortable scenarios I'll have you know. Lets me nab some good meat before the idiots I work with burn down the store it was sold from, helps me replace my weapon with better ones so I don't have to rely on cheap junk in a battle, and don't get me started on how many wounds I've been able to avoid."

"So you just sit back and profit off those who do have the will to fight?"

"Exactly! And while the rest of them feel nice and comfy rollin' the dice, I'm sitting comfortably with a silver mug of grog clenched in my grasp" he raised his mug for emphasis, and at that point the Deer-Faunus realized he actually was the only one there with a metal mug. The ones used by the other Uruks were mostly made of wood.

"You stole that too?" she exclaimed "Is there anything on you that hasn't been stolen?!"

"Looted," Uthug corrected before leaning back "And what do ya want me to do? Leave the dead with all these useful trinkets? Oh yeah, because they're gonna get so much fuckin' use out of 'em. I don't think you of all people have a right to badmouth my style of livin'."

"And what does that mean?"

"Just look at ya'self, woman! Even when Zog first showed up luggin' your arse around you was small and weak. How the hell did you stay alive during battle?"

"For your information, I was a lookout. I made use of my frame and I did it because we fought for something!"

"Well congratulations, Hybrid. You fought for something and now look at where you are now."

"You're here with me!"

"Exactly, fightin' for somethin' didn't really change your outcome from mine much now did it?"

Grimacing, the White Fang Grunt stood from her chair and growled at him "What would your younger self say if they saw how you turned out?!"

"I'll have you know that I decided how I was gonna handle battles back when I was in training. Even told my trainer, and he respected the shrakh out of it."

"No I mean when you were younger than that."

Uthug gave her a questioning look, imploring her to elaborate.

"Like... ugh, like when you were seven or eight! Would little you be proud of where you-"

"Pfft," Uthug interrupted her "I've only lived for about six years."

And with that one statement, the Faunus's entire rant was immediately overwhelmed by sudden and brutal confusion. The Uruk took another drink of Grog while waiting for her to continue, but she seemed frozen in place by the unexpected revelation. He raised an eyebrow at her once the silence began irking him.

"What... did you say?" she finally asked

"I said its been about six years since I got dragged out of me spawn pit, so I don't know what you're going on about 'little me'."

"You're only six?!"

"Only?"

"I've been getting ordered around by a six year old!?" she wailed before placing both arms on the table and dropping her head into her hands

"Ya know I'm still more than capable of snappin' ya neck with my bare hands," Uthug pointed out as he glanced down into his mug and swirled the liquor around a bit "I don't see how my age changes anything really."

"It does!" the Faunus insisted

"Heh," the Uruk grew a small grin "Just another reminder of how superior we are. We don't have to deal with the weakling stages you humans call 'youth'."

While he shook his head and laughed in a mix of pity and humor, the White Fang Grunt gritted her teeth "I wasn't weak when I was six."

"By the Dark Lord," Uthug lowered his mug a bit to give her a questioning look "are you really gonna sit there and insinuate that you as a child could somehow be compared to me?"

"My brother trained me!"

"Ugh, I actually can't wait to hear this."

"He taught me everything I know, taught me how to protect myself and survive!"

"As a tiny weakling I'd probably accidentally step on without noticing." Uthug went for another drink

"How to serve my people and help keep other Faunus out of the Sex Dungeons of Beacon!"

Uthug paused, the mug mere centimeters from his lips, before slowly turning to the Slave and asking quite simply "Excuse me?"

"The dungeons those filthy humans set up in the Combat schools where they reward their warriors with the bodies of my people!"

The Uruk blinked at her, wondering for a moment if he had heard her incorrectly, before setting his mug on the table "What?"

But she seemed rife with conviction as she balled her hands into fists "In order to make sure I'd never end up like one of them, he made sure to teach me all about how to take down those racist monsters that infest our planet!"

"Your brother taught you all this?"

"Yes! And that was only part of the knowledge he granted me!"

And just like that the mug was back in the Uruk's hand, only this time he was leaning forward with thorough interest etched into his features "Oh please, I just have to hear the rest of this, truly."

---

They were on the wrong side.

That had became more and more obvious the closer they got to the canyon separating them. After shaking off the awe of seeing such a grand structure rise high into the clouds, the three girls had immediately began conversing on just how they'd make it across the great divide between them and the Tower.

Krimp didn't even bring up the issue, continually walking until finally coming to a stop several feet from the very edge and placing his fists on his hips.

"Ah," he sighed after taking a deep breath of the air "smell that buddies? That's the smell of perseverance."

"Funny, smells more like heat and dehydration." Ruby pointed out as she shielded her eyes and walked over to the Uruk "Krimp, how exactly are we going to get to the tower from here? I don't see any bridges. And who knows how long this canyon even is?"

"Too long for us to go around it in ample time." Weiss immediately answered

But the Uruk remained sincere, only giving a slight shake of his head "There's a rope ladder along this here cliff somewhere, take us about a few minutes to find it." he said before pointing down "We'll take it down into the shanties and cross there!"

"Shanties?" Blake questioned as she and Weiss approached as well

Together, the girls followed his finger before simultaneously going wide-eyed.

The bottom of the canyon was stuffed with ramshackle shanties consisting of sandstone, woods, metals and various other bits and pieces. Even from up there they could spot numerous forms moving amongst the spaces between the structures, many of which were moving around the base of the tower the shanties seemed to spread from.

"Are all of those...?" Ruby began

"Do you even need to ask?" Weiss commented with a dejected sigh as she took in the sight of the numerous Uruks.

Ruby was still resolved to find her sister, had accepted the possibility of finding herself against a numerous opponent; But even so, the sight of the many things which still lie between her and Yang struck a chord of instinctual fear she had to fight to keep from blossoming. So she shifted her eyes from the Uruks and instead tried plotting a way through their structures which would offer the very least resistance.

As she did, she caught sight of much smaller things flying between the rooftops of the various shanties. Seemed even Vacuo's wildlife had integrated with the merciless creatures. And as she looked at the rooftops, she noticed several ramps going up and over some of the sturdier buildings.

As soon as her gaze rose to the Tower, she caught sight of one of the many catwalks that had been built up along it as Hork's underlings worked to continue improving it. She'd spotted what looked like open cave mouths at the bottom of the canyon, probably mines of sorts. She assumed that's where they kept getting the resources to fuel an operation such as this, and she didn't want to think about what they could be eating.

But as she looked upon the admittedly well done construction, she noticed more of those dark things flittering about the catwalks as well... and at this level she could see them much clearer. Those weren't any bird she'd seen before, in fact... from the way their proportions looked they didn't seem like regular birds at all. They definitely weren't Grimm either so...

"Hey Krimp," she asked "your bother have a thing for birds?"

Krimp looked down at her and followed her gaze before realizing what exactly she spoke of "Oh!" he gave a small laugh "Those are Hell-Hawks!"

Ruby blinked before looking past her towards her teammates, who still seemed preoccupied by the large numbers of quarries they'd have to get through. She "Hey guys, what are Hell-?"

"They ain't from your realm, Lassie." Krimp chuckled, before pausing and giving a thoughtful frown as he turned back to look at the dark shapes "They's from Mordor... But I don't recall any of us having those things when we came through, and definitely not enough to breed this many of 'em."

Before Ruby could ponder on this information, Weiss gave a groan and turned on the Uruk "Krimp, there's got to be some other way across. One wrong slip down there and we have an army coming at us from every side."

"Sorry Weiss me ol' chum!" Krimp shrugged, unaware of the wince of annoyance the Heiress gave at how he addressed her "This is the only way I got!"

"You've been gone for some time, right?" Blake commented "Your brother's a builder, so maybe they built something to make crossing easier while you were away."

"Possible," Krimp raised a hand to his eyes and peered along the edge of the canyon "but I don't see one."

"Better check a bit closer before committing to going down th-" Weiss paused mid sentence before glaring down at something and shaking her leg a bit.

At her sudden silence, the other three turned before looking down at a scorpion at her feet. Having fallen on its back when she'd dislodged it, the creature was now frantically trying to push itself back onto its legs.

Weiss paid it little mind, taking only a step back from it before glancing back to the others and preparing to continue.

"Aw, Weissy." Krimp said as he knelt down to the creature.

"Krimp, as one... friend to another. Could you refrain from calling me that."

Flipping the Scorpion back onto its legs, Krimp watched as it immediately continued scuttling past them "Sorry miss, its just that it seems a shame for him to get stuck like that. He followed us all the way here after all!"

"What?" Blake asked

"The bug, he's been skitterin' and skatterin' behind ya since we left that little village. I was impressed at the lil' guy's determination."

Blake's eyes immediately glued themselves to the apparently persistent Scorpion as it crawled towards the edge of the cliff. Without even hesitating, it crawled right over and fell.

"What an odd thing to notice." Weiss commented as she tightened her grasp on Myrtenaster, looking away from Krimp only when she noticed Blake walking towards the edge with worry marring her features "Blake?"

Blake didn't know why, but at that very moment she placed her finger on Gambol Shroud's trigger as she stepped closer to the edge. It was a suspicion that even she knew could be a stretch, but she took a peak over the edge anyway.

And watched as a lit fuse dissappeared into a thick object which seemed strapped to the side of the cliff.

"GET BA-!"

An explosion covered the cliff in a cloud of sand, which tumbled down towards the shanties below along with broken pieces of sandstone. Below, the many inhabitants of the Shanties looked up from their various activities and glared at the plume of sand.

But one glare came not from the shanties, or even some of the Uruks working on the Tower, it came from an Uruk who was clinging to the side of the cliff a few dozen yards away from the growing cloud of sand. His teeth were bared and fury raged in his eyes as he dangled from the side of the sandstone wall.

"I wish I could believe that killed you." Gundza muttered under his breath before releasing his grip ever so slightly and beginning his own descent, eager to catch up to them before they could manage to slip from his grasp once again.

.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.

"How do you keep letting these morons walk all over you?" Ishga seethed as he stepped from a massive set of double doors which served as the main entrance into the Tower. He immediately ran his eyes over the Uruks and Shanties scattered around the Tower's base, moving out of the way of two Garrison members as they and some slaves carried several large bundles past them inside.

Following behind with nary a trace of his partner's worry was Skak, "The boys? They've been workin' hard, me an' Blood Axe decided they deserved a good drink."

"They have posts they need to be at!" Ishga hissed "Of all the negligence you've somehow gotten away with in the past few weeks, allowing your men to go gallivanting about with grog will not be one of them."

"Negligence? I think me and Blood-Axe have done swell."

"Bah, just yesterday I found you eating our Master's meal!"

"Look," Skak walked in front of the hunter and halted him with a hand before leaning back "I took the damn food to him, but he was still sleeping, tryin' to get that weapon thing the Shaman gave 'em to work. You know how he feels about being woken up, so I figured I wouldn't bother him none. Perfectly reasonable!"

"Then why did I find you halfway done with his food?!"

Skak blinked at him slowly before smirking "I mean... he didn't say I couldn't have it."

"Unbelievable!" Ishga threw his arms to the sky before pointing to the buff Axe-Wielder "See here, we are going to-!"

A distant blast cut the Blood-Storm off mid sentence.

The Blood Duo and the many Uruks around them all turned to the large cloud of sand which trailed down the canyon wall opposite of the Tower.

"The hell?" one said

"We under attack?" another grumbled whilst unsheathing his sword

Ishga and Skak both watched the cloud grow large, then slowly begin to disperse. The Larger Uruk lifted his weapon to his ear and listened to it for a moment before glancing towards his partner "Now uh... me and Blood-Axe are pretty sure that wasn't our boys who went and did that."

Ishga gritted his teeth and drew a spear from his pack "Shut up and follow me." he ordered before taking off through the winding passageways of the Shanties. Skak gave his weapon another look before following his partner towards the commotion.

.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.

Deeper inside the jungle of structures, a group of red painted Uruks were sitting around a table in the drinking hole. Their drinking and merry-making had been interrupted by the blast, and now the group was waiting. Another Uruk with similar body marks ran into the building and immediately made for the table.

"The shrakh is goin' on out there?" one asked him

"Big ol' blast on one o' the canyon walls. Got everyone up in arms!" the runner explained before grinning and gesturing for the exit "Come on lads, if we's lucky this'll be an attack and we get to bust some heads!"

"Shouldn't we be goin' to find the Captains first?" another asked

"Knowin' them, Ish'll already have Blood-Axe on his way." one with a very pronounced scar on his chest cackled as he stood and made for the door.

As the Blood-Brothers filed out, several other groups also went to check out this new phenomena. Excluded were two in the far back who were almost unfazed by the sudden sound of a distant explosion.

"-And when a human comes of age, there guardian will kidnap a faunus to murder!" the White Fang Grunt continued on "They teach the child all about how to extend the victim's misery for as long as possible!"

Uthug finished chugging down another few gulps of grog as he leaned forward in his seat and stared the Faunus in the eyes "And not a bit o' that sounds exaggerated to you?"

"You're a monster from another world!" she exclaimed "Your concept of exaggeration could be completely different from mine!"

"And yet somehow I'm still capable of seein' the shrakh your kin seems fond of breedin'."

"Excuse me?!"

"Yeah, even I can realize what a load of shrakh all of these teaching are!" he rolled his eyes before looking into his mug again "I'm honestly impressed."

"How dare you, my brother did all of this to prepare me for when the Humans start openly using us for food again!"

"How are you not hearing the stupidity of any o' this?!"

.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.

A crowd of Uruks had already gathered near the rubble left from the blast, many of which waving particles of sand from their eyes as the cloud continued to settle. Much of it had landed not too far from the entrance to a mine, and the Uruk running it was already spewing curses as he pushed past his brothers to get an assessment of the damage.

"Great, just great..." he spat as he looked it over "Covered up several bags of minerals. Gonna have to fish them out when movin this shrakh."

He turned to the growing crowd and snarled "Who was it?! Huh? Which dead bastard went and did this!? Take us forever to clear this! Gonna have to-!"

"Look!" someone in the crowd shouted as he pointed towards the rubble.

The Mine Runner paused in his spiel to turn back to look at the rocks and sand. As the cloud continued to disperse, something became clearer. An arm... a thick Uruk arm was protruding forth from the pile.

"Some poor sod got caught in it." the mine runner said slowly before turning to the crowd and continuing "So as I was saying, WHICH DEAD BASTARD DID TH-!"

The covered arm clenched tightly, and soon a large figure burst free from the rubble.

Their eruption was so quick the the Mine Runner actually jerked forward and raised an arm as bits of rock flew past him, but the moment the aggravated worker lowered his arm... his anger was replaced with a mix of pure terror and shock.

"Hi there buddies!"

Mixed emotions spread like wildfire amongst the crowd of assembled Uruks as they stared at the creature now arising from the Rubble

"Sorry about the mess!"

Some immediately bared their teeth in anger, others inched farther and farther away from the pile, still others were caught in between those two extremes. At one point a group of red themed Uruks had arrived, but upon seeing Krimp immediately drew their weapons in preparation for some kind of altercation.

"Don't right know what happened, but Krimp ain't one to make a mess and leave!" the Jolly Uruk chuckled before growing a confused look on his face "Even... if I don't rightfully know what happened really."

There was silence for a moment... with the crowd locked on Krimp, who was trying to recall what exactly led to that explosion.

And then the Mine Runner turned tail and darted away from him as quickly as he could.

Some watched the Uruk scamper out of sight, and quickly followed his lead to put as much distance between themselves and the Warchief's Brother as possible.

One who remained shook his head in disappointment before pointing his club towards Krimp "You aren't supposed to be here, Friendly." he said "Hork don't want none of your trouble anywhere near him!"

Krimp's smile returned, only with a tinge of nervousness "I know that! Me big bro's great at giving orders!" he grew a determined look "But even so! If I ain't there for my brother during a family loss, then we ain't brothers at all!"

"Get the shrakh out of here!" another shouted

"After I talk to me bro." Krimp stated with a smile, and prepared to start walking forward when a dry voice rose

"What is this?!"

Many turned to see an agitated Ishga marching through the crowd towards Krimp, with Skak not too far behind "I come expecting a loading malfunction, an attack by Humans, Grimm or all of the above, and yet here I see you of all Uruks dragging misfortune back into our midst."

Krimp blinked and gestured towards the rubble "Ish, I don't think I did any of-"

"It doesn't matter if you did or not, I demand you leave immediately and return to your wanderings before your incessant stupidity ruins something else!"

"But I need to see-!"

"Krimp!" Ishga shouted over him "You will turn around, and climb out of this canyon immediately! Your brother is in no condition to deal with you on top of all else... leave... for him."

The massive Uruk grumbled a bit, dissatisfcation radiating off him like an odor "Well... if he's not feeling too good. I guess I'll come another time."

The Hunter groaned "No, Krimp you don't under-"

"I just wanted him to make up with me new friends."

That gave the Blood-Storm pause, and his indignation turned to riveted concern in an instant "...Friends?"

"Oh yeah, I brought some new pals of mine with me to make up with him. Kinda lost track of them in the explosion though so..."

Ishga's eyelid twitched a bit, as he slowly gestured towards the Friend-Maker and asked in no unclear manner "...Who?"

"Oh ya know, Ruby, Blake, and Weiss. They've been havin' a bad time with us lately and I thought if I could get Weiss and big bro to reconcile for the whole Ashgarn thing, then they could make up."

The Hunter felt that he already knew the answer to the next question, but even as he choked down the inferno of malice inside of him he was positive he needed to be clear on the matter "And... what exactly would they need to reconcile about Ashgarn?"

"Ya know, on the fact that she killed him."

Ishga released a roar as he slammed a balled up fist into the Friendly, but quickly turned away to the crowd and called out "Ashgarn's slayer might be runnin' freely in our home with her band of miscreants! I want alarms raised by whoever finds them first! Kegs of grog to the lads who bring em in! We won't cater to interlopers!"

Roars of agreement sprang up as many of the Uruks took off to begin searching. Groups began forming, cheers for new action were invigorating the masses of the shanties to a degree not seen since the Chiefless Exodus.

Ishga passed by Skak as the Axe-Wielding brawler called his blood-themed underlings over to begin searching as well.

Atop a building nearby, Gundza peaked from behind a partially built section of wall and ground his teeth together. He'd been prepared for the unfortunately likely scenario that the persistent little children would survive whatever attack he initially launched against them, as they'd done it several times now at an infuriating rate. But now the entire population of the Shanties were out hunting for them as well.

On one hand he'd learned by now that taking them on all by himself was guaranteed failure, so this overwhelming numbers advantage was clearly a step in the right direction. But now he had to make sure he found them first! If any of those other globs ended up catching them then they'd get all the praise he's been struggling for! Oh he could say that he was the one that got 'em stuck here in the first place, but he didn't know anybody here who would back him up in front of a Warchief.

Except Krimp maybe, but he'd already put too much stock in that creature already.

"Hey lads!" came a voice from below

Gundza looked down to see a group of Uruks forming.

"All them other blokes scouring the streets! I say we's checks in the buildings before them other globs start! Untouched trove o' hidden tarks I tell's ya!"

The Shadow gritted his teeth before turning away and running to the edge of the building. With a quick bend of the knees he leaped to the next shanty and clawed his way to the top.

Can't get lost in thought here, too much competition.

After climbing to the top, he made for the next building in a similar manner. He was unaware that a pair of eyes followed him from the lopsided window frame of a nearby building.

Tumhorn the Slaughterer was what many called him. He'd been given that title for being the unofficial bodyguard of Tarz the Surgeon, and being as capable in amputation and meat chopping as his boss. Turning around, Tumhorn leaned over the railing of a walkway. Below, on the ground floor of the warehouse he and the other Smugglers often had their fun at, Tarz was sharpening one of his many cleavers.

"Hear that, Tumhorn?" the Surgeon asked before smacking his disgusting lips together and grunting "Everyone's up and in a tizzy over these pinkskins. Maybe we's gettin' the boys together early today."

"In daylight?" the Slaughterer pondered before giving him a skeptical glance "We have schedules for a reason, sir. Operating in literal broad daylight seems risky."

"Yeah, but if these are the lassies who did in ol' Ashgarn..."

The pig faced Uruk ran his finger along the freshly sharpened blade of his weapon in anticipation "...they might have a bit more flavor to 'em than the usual."

Seconds later he threw open the large doors of the warehouse, with Tumhorn and several other Uruks in tow.

His hideous visage was stretched into an expression of glee as he gestured back towards his followers and took off.

"Warchiefs and these bootlickers of there's don't know how to handle a freshly caught tark!" he exclaimed as he ran, emboldened by the pounding footsteps of his posse behind him "We's gonna treat it nice and well for days on end we will!"

An Uruk poking around in a bundle of broken pieces of metal was momentarily distracted by the sight of the group running past, but soon grunted and returned to looking. If he were a Tark, he'd hide in a bundle just like this one, if he kept looking through them... it would only be a manner of time until he caught those delicious morsels! He was tired of eating whatever dumb shrahk bit it during Grimm Hunts, he needed softskin meat before he-

"Excuse me..." an odd voice spoke as someone poked the Uruk on the shoulder "I'm looking for something."

"We's all looking for the damn softskins!" he grumbled before brushing the hand away and turning to growl at this unneeded distraction "Why don't you go-!"

It was the Stormbringer.

"A book..." the Great Shaman continued in spite of the grunt's yell "I've misplaced my-"

With a screech of untamed horror, the Uruk threw himself back away from the Storm Ruler. His back pressed against the bundle he'd been previously searching through, but he wasted no time in scrambling up and over the obstacle and charged through the door of a nearby building which had committed the sin of being placed in a fleeing Uruk's path.

The Shaman merely blinked at the new Uruk-shaped hole in the door before sighing and scratching at his head. He'd give the poor sod the benefit of the doubt and assume he didn't know where his journal was. Placing his hands at his sides, the robed Uruk wondered where else he could look.

The Shanties were quite intrinsic, but if he took too long looking then he'd start getting on the Garrison's nerves. Well, more than he and his underlings were already. With another sigh, the Storm Leader turned and left to look elsewhere, unfettered by the many Uruks running to and fro tearing through the streets on the hunt.

They combed through as much open ground as they could, shoving past slave drivers and flipping over carts to remove as many hiding spots as possible. Several fights between the search parties broke out, but a quick shout or direction from another Orc would send them scrambling towards the next potential location of their prey in no time.

Watching the pandemonium unfold as the Uruks tore apart the land was a single blue eye peaking through a hole in the wall of a single shanty. It watched for only a moment before moving back and sliding an old filthy slab of sandstone onto the opening.

"Okay, we have about two-no, one and half minutes before they start kicking in doors." Weiss whispered before turning to her teammates and scowling "Would anyone like to tell me WHAT just happened?!"

Ruby was busy trying to draw out some form of plan on the sandy ground while Blake paced back and forth in anger, pausing at the Heiress's question "It was Gundza again, had to be. He had to have followed us."

"All the way from the Arena?" Weiss sighed "Give him points for persistence. As much as I'd wish to take the time to properly thank you for that save back there, our minute and a half is almost halfway gone, we need plans."

"Okay."

The two turned to Ruby, who swallowed before pointing to her hastily drawn images "So the shanties... they go on for a while but the distance between the Tower and the Canyon isn't a problem for us. Without the buildings we could make it in seconds if we tried."

"But we have buildings, and a Bloodthirsty Army." Blake pointed out

"R-right, I say we move from building to building towards the Tower." She finished, to the dissatisfaction of her partner.

"Ruby, they'll start checki-"

"I know!" the Silver-Eyed Huntress interrupted with a wince "We'll most likely have to book it the rest of the way, but the point is we give them as little time to converge on us as possible."

"What about when we get inside the tower?" the Heiress pressed

"I would've come up with a plan for that if the cliff hadn't exploded!"

"It'll have to do." Blake stated before taking a deep breath and walking towards the side of the building "Come on."

Ruby and Weiss looked towards each other for a moment before the Young Leader stood to follow her Faunus friend.

The Heiress merely shook her head with a scoff before standing up and going after them.

---

Inside the Tower...

"By the Dark Lord they're loud." Ratlug stated as he sat up a bit more in a chair he'd dragged to the edge of the large, gaping hole in the center of the tower which the elevator traveled through. Even from the seventh floor he could hear yells of the Shanty populace as they skittered about, hard to ignore actually.

At his side was one of his researchers, kneeling beside the large hole and using a scroll to photograph the old pulley system of chains that was used for the elevator.

"Think a slave dropped some red dust?" the Researcher asked without pausing in his photography

"What, the blast?" Ratlug glanced to the researcher before lying back down "Who knows, maybe some dumb bastard thought he'd pull one over on some other dumb bastard and it went a wee bit off the rails. Could be anything, might give the master some fun, though."

"He's in the Shanties? Why?"

"Still looking for that journal o' his."

That made the Researcher pause, and he lowered the scroll before looking at the relaxing Uruk with genuine confusion "Still? I haven't even seen the glob eat or sleep since we got here-"

"Which is normal."

"But he's still going on about some dumb bundle of papers?"

Ratlug looked up for a moment, regarding the Researcher with a look of passive questioning "You were one of the younger... I'd forgotten. You didn't see what happened to the last bloke who it happened to."

"Sir?"

Ratlug laughed before sitting up in his seat and placing his cheek in his palm, elbow resting on his knee as he faced the underling "Let's just say, Lord help whatever dumb shrahk decides to open that damned thing."

---

"What brash idiot thought he could dip into the grog during a search?! Them Blood boys are up in arms, we need all the hands we can get!"

Ruby tuned out the growls from the ground below below as she shimmied along an overhanging set of wooden planks connecting two ramshackle buildings. It was designed mainly to hold up some tarps set to shade the paths below, which were currently crawling with Uruks. She was a light girl, but one look at how the planks had been erected reaffirmed that too much of a misstep would give her away.

Once she neared the opposing building, Blake reached out of a busted window frame and helped her in. She turned to do the same for Weiss, who had followed last, but the Heiress gestured for the two of them to hurry to the other side of the room as she climbed in.

Ruby understood her desire to hurry, what should be two or three minutes seemed to stretch on and on as they worked their way closer to the tower. More Uruks scouring the streets, more of those hell hawks flittering about, and more and more chances of being discovered. Truly the fact they'd gotten this far was a miracle she silently hoped would continue.

Blake was already across the room by the time Weiss entered, pushing through a curtain. Once Ruby followed after her, she immediately caught sight of a large hole in the left side of the room which dropped down into what seemed to be a surprisingly empty courtyard in the middle of a clump of buildings. Despite the crowded paths around them, she couldn't see anyone in this courtyard for some reason.

It made her pause for a moment, taking in the sight of a large ramp built in the center of the courtyard which seemed to travel up over one of the nearby buildings.

Weiss didn't seem to share in her confusion, as the Heiress wasted no time in nudging Ruby as she passed by to follow Blake. The Faunus was crouched near a door, peaking through a small crack. As the Heiress approached, Blake immediately held up a hand to halt her.

The Schnee was prepared to ask what the hold up was when her raven-haired teammate gestured for her to check.

One look was all it took to answer any rising questions.

In the room beyond, several Uruks were climbing up through a hole in the floor, many already overturning crates and debris looking for signs of them.

"Well this is just perfect." Weiss whispered as she and Blake backed away.

"We knew it would come to this." Blake sighed before unsheathing Gambol Shroud "We need to make a break for it-"

"Wait."

The Monochrome Duo turned to Ruby, who pointed to the courtyard "Out there, the ramp leads to the catwalks. If we take it we can make it to the Tower faster."

"But if we go up there we'll be in literally everyone's line of sight." Blake pointed out

"Yeah but if they're about to find us anyway."

Before Blake could reply, a shout of anger from the next room silenced the three girls.

"Gah! Stubbed me damn toe." an Uruk growled "You two get checking that room ovah there already!"

"Courtyard it is then." Weiss stated with a sigh before following Ruby out of the hole.

As soon as Blake hit the ground behind them, the girls immediately made for the ramp. All three were on gaurd, still put off by just how desolate this one specific section of the shanties was in comparison to the others.

"I spotted some of them with Crossbows, expect to come under fire once we get up there." Blake said as they neared the ramp.

"Do you think they'd get desperate enough to tear the whole thing down just to catch us?" Weiss pondered with a frown

"No," Ruby said while scanning their surroundings "At least, I don't think they'd do it on purp-"

Ruby ground to a halt suddenly, the action causing both of her teammates to turn to her.

Feeling their questioning gazes, Ruby swallowed slowly before raising a hand and pointing.

Following her finger, the other two spotted it.

With surprising silence, a robed figure was digging through a pile of garbage. It tossed something away from it and went back to searching, but after the item clattered to the ground it paused.

A hand on her shoulder prompted Ruby to look back at Weiss "Come on, let's go already."

"Excuse me..."

It was standing now, crouching low to the ground and gesturing to the girls with a hand that was also covered by the all-encompassing robe they had. Ruby had initially frozen at the immediately noticeable apparel, but now she was certain.

"I've lost my journal... have any of you young lassies... come across it?" The Grand Shaman asked in his odd speech

The unexpected question made both Blake and Weiss grow twice as defensive as they already were, but for Ruby she only felt anger as the memory of him pinning Yang to the floor surfaced.

"Where is she?" The little Reaper asked

The Shaman blinked slowly within the confines of his hood, his bright eyes flickering for a moment.

"You took her last time, where's Yang?!"

He lowered his hand "Who cares, do you or do you not have an idea as to where my journal is?"

"Forget the Journal! Where's-?"

"Then unfortunately... you have nothing to offer me at the moment." The Stormbringer shook his head before turning and kneeling back at the trash heep "Return to your... previous engagement..."

Ruby grit her teeth together, to be dismissed so quickly. She could feel her teammates' desire to leave, knew they were just relieved that he hadn't alerted the others immediately. But to know that one of the things responsible for all this could just brush her aside... it felt painful. But it wasn't as painful as the sound which suddenly filled the air: a horn.

Suddenly the girls were looking up to a figure standing atop the building they'd recently exited.

It was the first time any of them had gotten a good look at him without an aura of black obscuring his visage, but it was definitely Gundza.

The first thing that came to mind when noting his appearance was that he was pale as sin and just as bony. With his pointed ears, black eyes, bald head, and sharp teeth, he looked far more vampiric than any other Uruk they'd seen.

But as he drew the horn from his lips, they were familiar with the glare he sent their way.

Their reunion was cut short by the sound of dozens of pounding footsteps prompting the girls into action.

Which meant immediately turning back around and booking it up the ramp as quickly as possible.

Gundza clicked his teeth together as he watched them make haste, but his gaze turned downwards to the many Uruks who sprung into the courtyard below and gave the Stormbringer a wide berth as their attention was soon drawn up the ramp. Gundza was pleased to see that they took off after the girls with little hesitation. With how much they'd been avoiding this place due solely to the Shaman's presence, the Shadow was worried that they'd freeze up when forced to get into close proximity of him. Luckily, that did not seem to be the case.

His gaze settled once more on the fleeing girls "Now then."

.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.

They were faster...

That became obvious the moment they got over the sudden symphony of roars and jeers which seemed to rise from the shanties below as their occupants gave pursuit. Taking her eyes from the raised wooden platforms in front of her, Ruby spotted a number of Crossbow Wielding Uruks climbing atop rooftops and loading arrows.

"We got Archers." Blake pointed out before ducking as an arrow whizzed just overhead.

"Normally I'd say run in a zig-zag formation," Weiss commented from beside her before twisting out of the way of another projectile "But this walkway's a bit narrow for-!"

"Not escaping me again!"

A brief glance behind them showed something shoving through the gaggle of armed warriors in pursuit. Sure enough, Gundza sprouted from between two Uruks and immediately got to the front of the pack.

Two weeks ago Ruby would've offered a witty comeback about how he wouldn't be able to catch them at this rate, but she was dead set on reaching the tower first and foremost.

A hand shot out from under the walkway and latched onto Blake's ankle, before the Faunus or her friends could recognize the threat she was dragged off the side.

It was one of the Archers, clinging to the bottom of the walkway as he dragged Blake from it. She was sent sailing from the wooden platforms as the Archer reached for the crossbow strapped to his back.

"Blake!" Ruby called out to her as she spun Crescent Rose towards those pursuing behind them and opened fire "Weiss, can you-?"

"On it." the Heiress said as she prepared a glyph.

Gundza slid to a stop, forcing those behind him to halt as well, before drawing a spear and deflecting the sniper rounds. As he did so, his other hand went to a red tube at his side.

Blake unsheathed Gambol shroud and used both it and the sheath to knock away several arrows before taking a breath and activating her semblance. Soon a clone formed under her which she used to leap back towards the walkway. She spotted the archer who had pulled her aiming his crossbow towards her, and she readied to intercept them when suddenly-

"Not again!"

A spear entered her field of vision and, just a split second before she crossed her blade and sheath to block it, she saw the red powder coating it.

The explosion shook the walkway with enough force to make all those on it immediately grab onto something for support. For many it meant either the platform itself or the one closest to them, so as not to share the same fate as the few Uruks who lost their footing and were sent sailing into the Shanties below. Surprisingly, the walkway held under the force of the explosion, those still upon it began rising while the strained wooden structure settled.

When Ruby waved some of the smoke from her eyes, she checked to see her partner still at her side, though slightly shaken. Looking down she choked back a gasp after finding that Blake fared only slightly better than the Uruks who had been dislodged.

The Faunus had been thrown against the roof of one of the sturdier buildings below, metal caving under her body. The Faunus was still moving, her aura taking the brunt of the blast, even now she was trying to rise with utmost haste. Her eyes went to her teammates on the ramp above, but soon fell to the Archer who landed atop a roof several buildings away.

As he locked eyes with her and loaded an arrow, another Uruk with what she could honestly describe as the most hideous face she'd ever seen in her face climbed atop the roof behind him.

"Good work Tumhorn!" the vile-faced cretin said with cheer "I see a promotion in your near future if we nab this slab!"

Tumhorn offered a grunt "Why couldn't I have just sighted her from afar?! Positioning myself like that was far more-"

"No questions you idiot!" Tarz stated before nodding towards her.

Tumhorn sighed before raising his crossbow and setting off for the Faunus.

"Oi globs!"

Her attention was dragged back up to Gundza, who was now alternating between pointing to her and her teammates "Which one's an easier target, eh?"

With those words the seething mob behind him paused for several seconds. Tumhorn and his larger accomplice both looked up as well, before the hideous Uruk quickly turned back and shoved the Archer forward "Don't let them get her before us!

Seeing what he was doing, Blake immediately shouted up to her teammates "Go!"

"What?!" was their immediate, simultaneous response.

The mob seemed to start spilling off the side of the walkway as those more attracted to what they saw as the more easier target quite literally took the plunge.

"They know we're here now, you need to find Yang!"

"But we can't just leave you!" Weiss shouted before stepping past Ruby and raising a glyph "Just get back up here already!"

But as Blake watched Uruks start landing on rooftops and rise to pursue, she saw that Tumhorn had heeded the garish Uruk's advice and had halved the distance between them. Locking eyes with her, he quickly fired a bolt towards her which she sidestepped, not noticing the rope attached to it until he was already yanking himself towards her. The Sharpened prong pf his crossbow planted itself at her feet, and Blake immediately took the opportunity. She ran along both the crossbow and its Wielder before making a leap, if she could just close the distance between her and the bridge then maybe-

But Tumhorn acted as soon as he realized what she was up to, swinging back with his crossbow and catching her ankle in its mechanics before yanking her back to the ground in front of him as he drew another bolt from his quiver. She rolled out of the way as he stabbed at her with it.

"J-just-!" she tried calling out before ducking under the heavy swing of his crossbow and deflecting more jabs of the bolt.

Her eyes went up to Ruby and Weiss, who were trying to hold their position on the bridge by peppering the approaching Uruks with sniper rounds and dust blasts, but Gundza had already called most of the shield bearing Uruks to the front who tanked the damage as the horde pressed on through their barrage. Even more jumped down to join the others in chasing after Blake while Tumhorn was slowing her down. She noted that the ugly one who had been shouting orders to her current quarry seemed content with taking his time crossing the rooftops, unlike his underling.

After several trades she caught Tumhorn's crossbow in-between Gambol Shroud and the cleaver-sheath that went with it. Hardening her stance, she threw the archer back, but he was quick to load the bolt before cleanly landing into a kneeling stance and firing said bolt.

She darted to the side as the bolt shattered a dirty mirror in the distance, but spotted the Archer already pulling out another as he raced towards her again. She glanced between him, the Uruks approaching them, and her teammates before deciding.

"I'll meet you in the tower, just go!" she shouted before turning and leaping into the streets below.

"Damn it, Blake!" Weiss shouted before turning to Ruby "She's trying to lead them away."

"Think we can reach her?" Ruby asked while continuing to rain down gunfire upon the approaching shields.

"Given our track-record, no." Weiss grumbled under her breath as she watched the Uruks on the rooftops below leap down to the streets in pursuit.

"Then we just need to trust her!" the Reaper said before shaking her head and finally hefting her weapon "Come on!"

Weiss nodded before turning to the approaching horde and spinning the chamber of Myrtenaster.

The lull in gunfire prompted Gundza to peak past the shield-bearers, only to find Weiss summoning a glowing red glyph upon the wooden platform before turning to follow Ruby. Recognizing what she was planning, the Shadow vaulted over the Uruk in front of him before racing towards the huntresses-in-training.

The glyph's glow died down a bit after it finished forming, but then it began twisting violently as it glowed brightly... and then it exploded.

The blast was enough to make Ruby jerk her head back to the resulting cloud. Though it withstood the spear blast from earlier, the ramp was blown apart from this one, and the Uruks upon it scooted back as many wooden planks were sent spiraling to the shanties below.

"What-?" Ruby turned to her partner.

"Just giving us a bit of a head start." the Heiress commented before nodding to the Tower which now loomed above them "Come on!"

Perhaps if the Scythe-Wielder had turned back for just a moment instead of refocusing her gaze forward, she would've caught sight of the thin arm which pulled itself up onto the ramp.

Having just cleared the glyph before it had exploded, Gundza was in the clear to continue his pursuit. He didn't even glance back to the others who would now need to use one of the other paths to the Tower, he instead sighted the Huntresses ahead and resumed his chase.

.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.

Below, a humored Uthug pushed his way out of the drinking hole as he downed some more grog. Behind him, an angered Faunus followed.

"Stop laughing!" she shouted at him "Nothing about this is funny!"

"I disagree!" Uthug gestured towards her with his mug "You try listening to some madwoman drone on and on about absurd conspiracies and not find it hilarious."

"They aren't absurd, my brother-"

"Who's probably even more delusional than you are."

"-just wanted to ready me!"

"By fillin' ya impressionable, young mind with some of the stupidest ideas I've heard since coming here. And I know stupid ideas, trust me. The fact that the shrakh your brother's taught you is far worst than Tuka's idiotic plans should say something, Tark!"

"My name is not Tark!"

"Do you hear that? That's the sound of nobody caring."

The grunt pouted at that, before planting her knuckles on her hips and standing tall "My brother told me to take pride in my family name."

"And so far his advice has just been so useful." Uthug rolled his eyes

"I'm Bebe Gent-!"

Uthug's finger slammed against her lips as the Uruk finished off his mug. Once he was done, he glared at the Deer Faunus "Don't care... Shut... Up..."

But she slapped his hand away "I will not!"

"What is with this sudden bout of confidence?! Weren't you whining about your feet hurting this morning?"

"That was before realizing that the only monster in this hellhole I have to socialize with is a looter coward-"

"Now don't you start going on about that."

"-who also happens to be a fucking six year old!"

"This six year old's about to plant his foot straight through your damn chest you brainwashed animal!"

As the Faunus and Uruk were sucked into another argument, neither of them were able to spot the figure sliding onto the street from an adjacent alleyway half a dozen yards away from them.

Blake had momentarily eluded her pursuers, and after a brief glance behind her she turned the corner only to feel her eyes grow wide at the sight before her.

Two figures in grimy White Fang uniforms arguing with each other. It was a sight so unexpected that she slowed down just enough for one of them to notice her incoming.

"-won't have to deal with your-what in the hell!?" his sentence morphed as his hand shot towards the musket on his back.

Blake slid underneath the musket as it fired before ramming her elbow into the male's head and grabbing hold of his wielding arm as he reeled. The other Fang Member seemed to be recovering from the shock of seeing her.

"What the-!?-Your-!" she stammered before apparently finding her nerve and approaching "Wait! Just let go of-!"

Whatever the Fang Grunt was trying to say was cut off as the Barrel of a musket entered Blake's vision and she realized the guy in her grasp had twisted it around while she was distracted. She yanked her head out of the way as it fired before spinning and launching him into his partner. The two collided with the wall of the building and, as they landed in a heap, Blake saw under the guy's hood and realized that he wasn't a faunus.

Her path unobstructed, Blake blinked at the odd sight of the Uruk and Deer-Faunus in Fang outfits and started to turn...

... but it was then that a vial shattered against the side of her head.

The defeated duo in front of her watched her aura flash to absorb the measly damage the broken little bottle inflicted, but it was unable to stop the content within from spraying across Blake's face as she turned and almost immediately began to sag as she raised her gun.

Uthug spotted Tumhorn just as the Archer slapped the weapon out of their attacker's hand and shoved her to the ground with his shoulder before pinning her under his crossbow while whatever he just dosed her with ran its course.

The Looter refrained from mdoing anything until the attacker stopped moving, and only then began rising off of the unfortunate Faunus he'd been thrown against.

Heavy panting preceded Tarz finally wobbling into view, the Surgeon pausing beside the still cautious Archer to catch his breath "Ya got her Tum-Tum... ya got her!"

"Yes," without taking his eyes off the unconscious girl he nodded towards Uthug and the White Fang Grunt "seems the lackeys over here had her distracted for a bit."

Uthug could only grunt in response as he glanced towards the Deer-Faunus, only to realize that she wasn't holding onto her stomach as he'd expected. When that random cur threw him, he'd slammed into the Grunt's torso. But it seems when they collided with the building that the unfortunate captive had slammed the back of her head against the wall. Right now she was rubbing at the point of impact with a dazed expression on her face, but moved to hold a finger up in a silent plea for a moment to recuperate.

"Finally pulling their weight, eh?" Tarz said as he stood a bit straighter "Just grand."

Uthug wanted to comment on how much back breaking labor he and the Hybrid had been doing, but he wasn't dense enough to think that would get him anything other than more pain.

"Now then, Tum-Tum!" Tarz said as he reached into his apron and slid out a folded up sack which he immediately tossed to Tumhorn "Let's get this tasty morsel ready for carving!"

The Slaughterer caught it, but not without a look of confusion "We aren't turning her in?"

"I told you we wasn't gonna let these fools waste fresh meat."

"And you were serious about that?!"

"Less sass, more sack! Those other globs'll be sniffing around here at any time!"

Uthug saw the Crossbow-Wielder grimace in dissatisfaction before sighing and doing as he was told. In several seconds he had unceremoniously stuffed the unconscious hybrid in the Surgeon's sack before slipping his crossbow back into its strap on his back and hefting her over his shoulder.

"Marvelous!" Tarz exclaimed before snapping his fingers and pointing to the discarded Gambol Shroud lying on the ground behind Tumhorn. As the Archer picked up the weapon, the Surgeon turned his stomach-churning grin towards Uthug and the Fang Grunt "Hope you lot are ready to clean up the mess we're about to make."

Uthug rose as he massaged the side of his head and watched the duo make off with Tarz's chuckles reverberating off the surrounding buildings. He growled to himself before turning to look down at the still dazed Faunus.

"T-that was... Adam's girl." she managed to get out in between winces and rubbed her head "Ow..."

"I saw you get slammed through a table, Hybrid." Uthug grumbled as he reached down to hoist her to her feet "I don't want to hear shrakh about you being in pain."

She merely nodded as she leaned against him for momentary support, garnering a roll of the eyes from the warrior.

Uthug didn't have the drive to scold her for the unnecessary contact, his anger directed more towards the sudden ambush they'd suffered.

"That girl..." he muttered, causing the Faunus at his side to glance up at him despite her aching head "Does anything not want us brained at this point?"

---

Yang immediately turned away from the light which poured in as the door to her prison opened. After her eyes adjusted, she finally spotted the source of the consistent worries she'd been having since they'd locked her up. With nothing to distract her since she'd been locked up, Yang had been able to catalog a number of things she absolutely despised about the damned Hell-Hawk.

It wasn't just the random times it would nip at her restrained limbs for seemingly no other reason than to annoy her. It wasn't the times when it seemed to specifically start screeching just to rudely wake her in the dead of night. It wasn't even the fact that its sole purpose seemed to be to watch her for the freaks who ran the place.

It was the fact that such an annoying creature could perch right within grabbing distance for so long and she couldn't do a damn thing about it.

So when she got another good look at the creature relaxing atop the board she was strapped to, she immediately gave it a glare. This wasn't one of her usual glares, usually she had more use of her whole body and could therefore rely on physical expression to get her murderous intent across. But while stuck to this thing, she found that her usual methods of intimidation were void.

The Hell-Hawk quirked its head under her gaze before glancing towards the door and taking flight from her to sail towards one of the two Uruks who entered.

Dharg steeled his stance before the creature impacted with his stomach and seemed to melt back into his aura. After flexing a bit he stood straight and glanced to the heavily armored Uruk at his side.

"Hey guys, must be something big happening if I get both of you showing up at once. We finally doing this execution thing or what?"

Dharg gave her an annoyed glare before biting down on his words and walking over.

And then he began speaking in a language she couldn't identify, which made Yang blink as she began lowering to the floor.

He and his partner began conversing in this language, the annunciation going over the blonde's head completely.

So they did have a language all their own... honestly she was surprised that it took this long for her to hear a lick of it. When she and her team first encountered the cretins the fact that they could initially understand them had bugged her to no end. The movies she'd watched would often skip over the very plausible idea that two vastly different species would have no way to communicate initially. And the more fantastical films would almost always have their generic Orcs speaking in some grunt-speech or something similar. Hell, this stuff she was hearing now sounded pretty damn similar to some of that very grunt-speech. Why was it that she hardly ever heard it spoken, then? These two seemed pretty damn fluent in it.

These were the thoughts that helped distract her from their very real sense of dread that grew as they moved her from her cell.

---

"-nice tender meal is being prepared as we speak, lads! I asked my boy, Tumhorn to make sure she was good and awake for when we's start the cutting."

That voice was the first thing Blake could hear when she began regaining consciousness. In front of her was a form kneeling as their hands worked away at her bindings. There was a rope wrapped around her which trailed off somewhere above. The figure's fingers dug into the bindings as they worked at what looked like smaller ropes attached to it?

Blake blinked as she tried to get a clearer picture as to what exactly was happening to her.

"-also got a hold of her weapon! Ha! Looks pretty neat, bet you boys see the irony of having her cut up with her own blade, eh?"

There was laughter which followed after that, the laughter of a small number of Uruks she realized.

Yes, she'd been distracted by those two in White Fang attire and... and the archer had gotten the drop on her.

Tumhorn was his name if she had heard correctly, he'd splashed her with something.

The Uruk gave a hum as he patted the ropes he'd been working on, tilting his head before shifting around her to work on something else.

As Blake tried clearing her vision some more, she found her curiosity peaking. It shouldn't take this long to tie someone up, from the feel of it he was already done. Why was he stalling?

"-and every last one of you gets a nice juicy piece as long as I get the head! Hybrid eyes just taste so unique, ya know?"

That must've been Tumhorn's boss speaking, the hideous Uruk who'd been following him around while he was chasing her.

"Speaking of which, you done back there, Tum-Tum?!"

Tum Tum?

Blake could feel Tumhorn's grip on the ropes tighten as he visibly ground his teeth together at the nickname.

"Almost done." he called back plainly, though from his expression Blake could easily tell he was holding back a mountain of agitations.

"Good, don't want you getting lazy on me! Ha!"

Blake gave a small wiggle in her binds to test them, and immediately noted that there were things hanging off of them. Something was attached to the ropes, she could feel and hear them clack together as she moved. Before she could glance to evaluate them, the Archer grabbed hold of her chin and looked at her for a moment.

The Uruk gave a grumble of indignation as his lips stretched into a small smile "Hope he likes you." he said before calling out "She's ready, hoist her up!"

The rope tightened even more as she was lifted from the ground, Tumhorn stood and watched her for a second before jogging off.

"Here she comes lads!" she could here the boss call out "Get ya knives ready, she's gonna be a kicker I can tell!"

The Faunus immediately began struggling again as her eyes darted around to take in the area. Though still blurry, she managed to work out that she was in some type of warehouse if the crates and barrels said anything. Apparently Tumhorn had been readying her behind a large stack of boxes while his cohorts waited. As she was raised past the boxes she immediately saw them.

Beside the stack of boxes was a catwalk, upon which stood the hideous Uruk with the plump build. In one hand he held Gambol Shroud in its sheath, in the other an empty sack with dark stains which could only imply the horrid things it had once carried.

On the other side of the catwalk a small group of Uruks on the ground floor who watched her rise before them, several feet behind them were a large set of double doors that probably led outside the building.

There were several windows high up on the warehouse walls, since her opponents were congregated near the double doors she would focus on those for potential escape. But first she needed to get out of these-

"What the shrakh?!"

Blake glanced down to the Uruks, only to find each and every one of them staring at her in... terror?

She narrowed her eyes in confusion, until she smelt it.

Smoke, the faint scent of smoke coming off her.

Blake finally looked down, only to feel a matching sense of horror settle in her stomach when she spotted the dozens of fuses and red dust vials strapped to her bindings.

"What is this, Tarz!?" one of them shouted towards the one on the catwalk, who looked utterly gobsmacked.

"I-I don't-"

"Oi boss!"

All eyes turned to one of the windows, where Tumhorn was sitting "By all means, enjoy the meal."

He then slid back out of the frame and fell out of sight.

"Tum-Tum!" Tarz shouted after him "What the blazes is this!?"

"She's gonna blow!" another shouted before wheeling back and turning for the door "Run for it!"

"What?" the foul-faced ringleader shouted "We got too much loot in here, boys! Can't let it get blasted, help me get her down!"

Several of the Uruks rushed to follow his command, while others immediately dashed towards the door. Only to find it motionless.

"What the- its stuck!?"

"Just bash it down!"

Blake had been frantically struggling with her binds, the sight of those fuses slowly burn away causing the adrenaline to pump in her veins.

One of the Uruks threw a blade which caught the side of the rope holding her up, cutting it just enough for it to snap from her weight.

Blake fell onto the stack of boxes before bouncing off towards the catwalk below. Tarz rushed over as she collided with the metal beneath her, immediately dropping gambol shroud and kneeling down at her side. He rolled her onto her back and began tearing at the confusing jumble of fuses.

Two of his subordinates came over, sweat glistening on their faces as they watched their leader work.

"Why ain't we tossin' her out of the building!?" One shouted "With all the grog we got here-"

"Quiet!" Tarz bit before resuming his work "If this thing goes off even close to this place, the Garrison or Dreamer's boys will be all over us! They'll find out about our businesses!"

"But if it goes off in here-!"

"Shut up and help me then, worm!"

As they worked to sort through the mishmash that was Tumhorn's trap, Blake turned her gaze to Gambol Shroud lying beside them.

Her hands were still bound to her side, but if she could just-

"Damn thing's rigged like a maze!" Tarz hissed before leaning back and reaching for the hilt of a small cleaver tucked in his apron.

Blake immediately launched her upper body forward and rammed her head against Tarz's pig-like nose. The Surgeon yelped before stumbling back into the arms of one of his underlings before glaring at her.

"Keep her down, we need that damn thing defused!"

Blake rolled to the side as the Underlings carefully began approaching her, grabbing Gambol Shroud as she did.

She struggled to her feet and immediately began backing up along the catwalk as the Uruks approached, clearly rethinking the idea of approaching what was basically a walking bomb.

With careful handwork, she managed to let the sheath of her weapon fall behind her before working its blade into the restraints.

She dodged back out of the way of one grabbing hand, taking careful note of her footing. If she fell or tripped...

"Out of the way you cowards!" Tarz spat as he shoved his way past them and lunged forward cleaver in hand.

Blake leaned out of the way of several swipes, trying to focus on carving through the bindings and avoiding the surgeon's blade.

"Captain," one of the Uruks shouted "the fuses!"

"They're going off anyway if we don't grab her!" Tarz countered before spreading his arms wide and throwing himself at the Faunus.

The bindings loosened just as Tarz's shadow fell upon her. Grabbing hold of the ropes, Blake reared back before launching it towards him.

Tarz acted on instinct once he saw the incoming bundle, ducking under it and looking back as it fell upon one of his Uruks.

All eyes went wide as Blake went for her sheath, Tarz immediately reached out towards his underling "Wait don't-!"

But the Uruk was too startled by having the explosives thrown at him to hear or care for his boss's words, and immediately launched the bundle of rope and explosives away from him towards-

.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.

"They're going for the girl."

Skak walked a bit faster to catch up to his fuming partner "Yeah, she's part of their team or somethin' right?" the Axe-wielder chuckled to himself "Me and Blood-Axe was wonderin' why Horkie boy ain't killed her yet."

Ishga grumbled as the two continued making their way towards the tower, having only recently heard news that their quarries had been encountered.

"How those mongrels managed to let them get into the tower, I'll never know."

"Yeah, they even had Gundza with them! I remember seein' him and Bubs in the training yard, can't imagine anything escaping him."

The mention of the Exile's name made Ishga's expression sour. Word had also spread that somehow the Shadow had appeared during the pursuit. How nobody had noticed could only be attributed to the chaos that had been unfolding ever since those girls had showed up. Everyone was being driven into a frenzy trying to catch them first to gain favor. The Slave Drivers, miners and slaughterers were abandoning posts left and right on this wild mouse hunt.

Usually the Garrison would step in to start getting these maggots organized, but Hork and his boys were oddly silent.

Ishga also knew for a fact that his own master was still busy trying to use his power to learn how best to use the Shaman's gift, the Blood-Storm had no idea if he was being woken for the situation or not.

And so, that left him and Skak to try and keep some semblance of order for this hunt. Following behind were a number of their red-themed underlings, a number having split into hunting groups to pursue the one hybrid girl who was said to have been separated from the others.

Ishga wished he could send Skak after her, but he'd need the brawler's strength in order to take down the duo once they found them. Once they were out of commsiosn, they could focus attention on the-

Several yards away from the massive doorway which led inside to the Tower's ground floor, the Hunter paused after hearing a faint explosion in the distance.

Skak and the other Blood-Themed Uruks heard it too, as well as several Uruks who had also been mkaking for the tower. Together they all turned to look back over the rooftops of the Shanties to see a large Warehouse on the other side of the chasm had caught flame.

"Wa's happenin?" one of the lesser Orcs asked "That the Beast-lass?"

"Some idiot foolin around with his blastin' powder no doubt!" Another shouted

Skak blinked before raising his weapon to his ear and listening for a second "Blood-Axe says that there place houses lots of the minerals and whatnot. Think any of that stuff we got was flammable, Ish?"

He turned around when he got no answer "Ish?"

But his partner seemed to be having another one of those infuriated fits of his, and the Brawler put a questioning finger to his own mouth as he watched Ishga put his head in his hands.

"Can't these worms go twenty seconds without blowing themselves up?" the Hunter grumbled to himself.

"Ishga?"

The Blood-Storm suddenly looked up before turning to his partner and hissing "Skak, take some of your boys and make sure that damn fire doesn't spread. I'll try and rally some globs to help me with the tarks and-"

"I dunno, ain't we got slaves for dealing with flames?"

"Yes, but we can't exactly wait for their drivers to get their heads outta their arses and do their jobs. So you and Blood-Axe do this, I'll save you a piece of the tarks when I catch 'em."

Skak grinned before leaning his axe on his shoulder "Blood-Axe usually likes 'em fresh mate, but I think we can make an exception for now." he said before chuckling and turning "Come on lads, guess we's fire tamers today!"

Ishga did not miss the groans of uninterest which came from several of Skak's followers, clearly wishing to experience combat. Despite this, they obediently followed closely behind the brawler as he sped off towards the burning building in the distance.

The Hunter sighed as he turned back to the tower. At this point he could only pray to the Dark Lord that no other globs decided to screw something up today.

---

Outside Dreamer's Quarters...

Two Shield-Bearers stood on either side of the door to the Dreamer's resting chambers, both with their shields casually placed at their feet as they stood guard. They faced forward silently, practically untouched by the hunting frenzy now engulfing the Uruks of the tower.

The hall they stood guard in had been empty since a group of slave drivers had charged past them going on about tarks getting into the Tower.

The one on the left of the door took a deep breath, "Think those globs down there gonna find 'em?"

A moment of silence as the door guard on the right gave a grunt "Who cares?"

Leftie kicked at the floor a bit "I mean, they seemed mighty enthusiastic about taking a crack at them."

"Yup."

Leftie glanced over to his guarding partner for a moment before groaning "Lord's sakes, at least try to make this less boring than it is."

"Why?"

Stepping away and turning to his partner, Leftie leaned his spear against the wall and folded his arms "Because all those lads get to run around chasing tarks while we guard the sleeping sod day in and out!"

"And?"

"It's gettin' boring! I wish we'd gotten to fight that old Blood-Storm bastard, if I knew it'd be our last chance at a fight I would've charged him before the nappin' lord himself could interrupt us."

"Small as he is," the Right door-guard muttered "he would've destroyed us."

"Getting battered by an old dog seems grand compared to this!"

"Hmph."

"Hell, maybe he woulda dragged that dimwit Blood-Axe fella into it. I hear he's freaky tough when he needs to be!"

"Hmph."

"Took down Ishga's old man in three strikes after being bloodied! Just think about what fighting that kinda lunatic would be like?!"

"Probably kill us both..."

"But it'd be a great death, you betcha!"

"Could... could you go back to being quiet?" Rightie grumbled "I like it when I don't have to hear idiots complain."

His partner turned on him "Well can you at least... try to..."

His words faded as pounding footsteps warned him of someone approaching, Leftie rushed back to his post and donned his shield and halberd as an unexpected Hunter stumbled into sight.

"Wait... ain't you-?"

"Out of my way!" Gundza the Shadow bit as he marched for the door, halted by crossed halberds.

"The Exile," Rightie grunted "heard he was hangin' around."

"I do not have time for your games, I need to see the Dreamer immediately before-"

"Wait..." Leftie grew a smirk "how badly do you want to get to the boss?"

"I need his assistance immediately!"

"Well," Leftie chuckled before hefting his shield "he don't really like getting interrupted when dreaming. You'd have to get past us to see him."

Rightie glared at his partner for a moment before sighing.

Gundza backed up as Leftie pointed the tip of his halberd towards him "Exile or not, you know who I am." he stated as he faced down the shield-bearer with disdain "What is this!?"

"Just doing our job." the Doorguard beamed as he stepped forward and glanced to his partner "Come on, now we can finally-"

The door behind the duo creaked open before Leftie could finish, the Shield-Bearer's enthusiastic expression melting as Tugog the Dreamer took several steps out of his bedchamber.

Gundza initially smiled, expression shifting only when the Warchief planted the butt of an oddly shaped staff on the floor beside him.

Staff held in one hand, Tugog stared ahead for a moment before finally glancing down at the Exile.

The Shadow waited for a moment, having expected the Dreamer to question why he now stood before him. However, the clairvoyant Uruk was oddly silent, simply standing there as his chamber guards looked on. Gundza's gaze turned to a bit of an annoyed glare, but that dissipated once he focused on the eyes within Dreamer's helm.

He could feel a sudden sense of sadness emanating off the Warchief for some reason... a shocking amount of hopelessness seemed to bleed from the Dreamer's gaze as he stared down upon the Exile.

But before Gundza could demand an explanation, the Dreamer's mouth stretched into a smile "Yes, Gundza... Hork's fallen Shadow. You've returned for his favor I suppose."

The Assassin quirked an eyebrow "My reasons mean nothing to you, Warchief. What should matter are the Tarks sneaking about your Tower trying to save their petulant pissant of a teammate. They're wily, but I know how to track and trap them better than the poor lot running amok here."

"I know."

"Which is why I beseech you for- what?" He had anticipated needing more coercion.

"Those currently searching will not find the girls on their own, at least not without your intervention." Dreamer said with a shrug before giving a sigh "I have seen a... number of things in my recent slumber."

"Then you know how quickly you should act, allow me to prove myself to my master by aiding in the capture of-"

"No need for convincing, Exile." Tugog said as he raised his other hand

Gundza glanced down and found his confusion returning as he saw the Warchief raise a large bell.

"I've seen where this path goes," Dreamer stated wistfully as he latched the bell into the odd shape atop his staff "but found no other option than to take it."

.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.

"I know she's supposed to be a big deal and all, but seriously... Belladonna?"

The White Fang Grunt growled as she and Uthug stumbled through the large hall "The Belladonnas have been a boon to our people for decades. If only they weren't so weak-willed, they could've-"

"How can you expect anything with a name like Belladonna to be anything other than weak-willed?"

To distract himself from his rage, Uthug had questioned the Slave about the girl who had attacked them as they made their way back to the Storage Room Tuka had been using. Despite having shaken off the minor injuries, they remained walking side by side. Occasionally the White Fang Grunt would rrub at her head, but otherwise seemed committed to refuting his many misgivings about the righteous movement she was a part of.

...with absolutely zero success.

"If you saw Supreme Leader Belladonna in action, you wouldn't be saying that." she stated

"If he ain't leading you no more that means he's too weak for the position, so I'm gonna say his old glory ain't gonna mean much to me." the Looter stated before raising a finger and explaining "Focusing on how grand and rewarding the old ways were makes ya too blind and daft to see how ya need's to change for the now. Know what happens to Uruks who's all wrapped up in victories past? They get themselves killed by bloody nostalgia!"

The Faunus groaned for what must've been the seventieth time before deciding that dropping the subject would be the only surefire way of saving herself from a migraine "Ugh, what are we even doing here anyway? I thought we were supposed to be looking for a way out?"

The Uruk rolled his eyes "That was before Tarks started kickin' the hive, with everyone going mad over these girls Tuka's even more likely to get found out. So I'm gonna do what I should've done the moment he nabbed that damn journal. I'm tearing it out of his grasp and chucking it out the nearest window I can find."

"And Tuka's just going to let you do that?" she asked as they came to a stop before the storeroom door.

"Oh definitely not, but as time's progressed its actually fully sunken in how much worst getting caught by the Shaman would be compared to getting beaten by that bastard."

"You know he probably wouldn't stop at just beating you... right?"

Uthug took a deep breath "There are many things worst than death, Hybrid... The Shaman knows far too many of them for my liking."

"Wait... Uthug, I don't think I can last here if you aren't here to help!"

"Oh you'd definitely be worked to death in hours." he stated without hesitation "Like, without question."

"Maybe we can get it without you throwing yourself in harm's way!"

"Slave, you know how I feel about plans." Uthug growled "And I never said dying was a certainty."

"Dude, he can teleport."

The Musket Wielder shrugged "You know... I feel as though I'm being Underesti-"

The Storeroom door was flung open and slammed into Uthug's side in the process, sending both the Warrior and his musket tumbling away in different directions.

The White Fang Grunt managed to back out of its way as Uthug tried to get his footing "Shrakh! What just-?"

At that moment a Tuka shaped figure launched out of the doorway and careened into Uthug before slamming into the adjacent wall with him.

Uthug reached for the pair of hands which were now tightly holding onto his shoulders as he glared up at the Berserker "So you heard-"

Uthug's growl died in his throat when he locked eyes with Tuka.

They seemed painfully bloodshot, with the lids stretched so wide he could swear he could see the muscles straining under his flesh. The Plan-Maker's pupils were dilated to an extreme degree, taking up much more of his eyes than they had any right to. A gurgling sound brought Uthug's gaze down to Tuka's uncharacteristically joyous smile, where he could see foam forming at the edges.

Tuka's Garrison markings were muddled and smeared in seemingly haphazard manners. Uthug could spot some Black Speech written in places but it all seemed like gibberish, random words here and there.

"What... what-"

"I'VE FIGURED IT OUT!" Tuka practically screeched down at him, sending a cascade of saliva and foam raining down upon the shorter Uruk "IT'S ALL CLEAR!"

"The Shrakh are you screamin' about!?" Uthug demanded, though his rage withered somewhat under the maddened grin Tuka gave as he pressed his spittle-smeared face against the unfortunate Warrior.

"MY PROMOTION! IT'S COMING!"

More spittle splattered upon Uthug as he struggled in the Berserker's iron grasp "Get off me, damn you!"

"PROMOTION! YOU'LL HELP!" Tuka continued screeching just as some of the excessive saliva got caught in his throat and he jerkjed his head towards the Faunus girl at their side "YoU'lL bOtH hElP"

She instinctively backed up as Tuka began violently hacking the saliva up onto the trapped Uthug-

... she bumped into something behind her.

Immediately turning around, she found herself staring into the hooded robe of the Shaman of all people.

Uthug was about to yell at her to hit Tuka over the head with something, but the Shaman's sudden appearance momentarily shocked silent. He could only watch as the unfortunate White Fang grunt got a good look under that hood for only a second.

It was a second far too long.

She immediately fell back as a scream tore out of her throat, eyes wide as she stared up at the robed Uruk in horror. Her fingers dug into the floor behind her as she frantically tried scrabbling away from him, only to freeze as the Robed Uruk's gaze turned to her. He tilted his head at her, watching as she shivered under his gaze.

The Storm Ruler gave a hum of thought as he looked from her to the Berserker pinning another Uruk down. Tuka continued babbling about promotions as Uthug found himself torn between focusing on trying to pry Tuka off of him, or keeping the Shaman in sight.

"Yes... this seems... familiar..." the Grand Shaman said before sniffing the air "Oh!"

With casual steps, he strolled to the storeroom and entered.

With him out of sight, Uthug immediately looked to the White Fang Captive "Before he finds it, get this mad bastard off of me!"

But she still seemed frozen, unable to do anything but tremble at the sight she now had seared into her vision.

"Slave!" Uthug shouted to the petrified Faunus "Damn it Hybrid! Hybrid!"

The Warrior grumbled as his eyes shot to the manic Berserker atop him, his mouth moving too fast to even properly form words anymore.

"Shrakh." he growled before turning back to the Grunt "Bebe! Bebe for god's sakes!"

Momentarily snapped out of her stupor by the frantic calling of her name, Bebe blinked. The horrifying sight momentarily forgotten, she looked back to see Uthug glaring at her "D-did you-?"

"Get him off!"

Swallowing, the Deer-Faunus finally began standing, her eyes immediately going to Uthug's dropped Musket.

But just as she began reaching for it, she saw a robed leg appear at the storeroom's door frame.

With the horrid image exploding into the forefront of her memory once again, Bebe immediately turned and dragged herself to her feet as panicked breaths forced their way out of her.

Soon Uthug could only watch as she fled down the hall, eyes twitching with unyielding rage as his one ticket to escape literally abandoned him.

"That treacherous little cu-"

Tuka cracked his skull against Uthug's before the Warrior could finish, rendering him unconscious.

The Plan-Maker's ramblings were interrupted by the random hacks he gave as he continually choked on the saliva which now dribbled from his lips.

Meanwhile, the Grand Shaman flipped through pages of his journal as he took several steps away from the storeroom, checking to see if anything was out of place.

He was momentarily distracted, and turned around to see Tuka drag the unconscious Uruk into the storeroom.

"I think... I wrote it well..." the Storm Ruler commented before turning and walking away as the door was yanked closed behind him

"I hope you... enjoyed reading it..."

---

AN: Welp, here we are on the next chapter, I actually find this one to be one of the easier to right. I suppose its because all the characters involved were in generally the same setting for the majority of it, hopefully that ease will persist in the next chapter.

As expected, I figured I'd cut the Tower chapter in half and get the first section out before finishing the second. Unlike the last chapter I'm fairly certain Tower won't be around 40K words. That should mean it'll be even easier to complete at this point, but by now you all should know how little stock I put into my predictions so let's just move on.

I recently acquired SoW, which may or may not influence certain future chapters I had planned out. Just know that I won't be running out of material any time soon. Some of that influence even worked its way into this very chapter, which is why I considered talking about two Uruks instead of one for the Author's Note.

But considering how bad of a situation one of them is in, I figured he deserved his time in the limelight.

So let's talk about Tuka.

Tuka the Plan Maker, bane to Uthug's sanity, was actually known as Tuka Black-Blade back in Shadow of Mordor where I first encountered him. He was never too big of a persona like Hork or Gundza, but I just found him intriguing enough to land him as a side Character in this story. Why? Well its because of how unbelievably persistent he was.

He didn't have Hork's leadership or Gundza's skill, but he managed to make himself stand out from the hordes of Uruks I'd slaughter . When I fought him he'd always sporadically run off then come back, many times I'd forget he'd even been a part of the battle but then he'd suddenly show up trying to take swings again. This is initially why I gave him a teleportation semblance. I'd beat him, he'd speed off then show up from an entirely different direction.

There were other key identifiers which stuck with him in the story, like his consistent failures at trying to gain the favor of his superiors, his inability to admit wrongdoing and his consistent squabbles with Uthug, who we will get to later.

Unfortunately I couldn't take him to Shadow of War as he was killed by an ally in an unfortunate event... well, unfortunate for him, I found it hilarious.

Tuka Black Blade A.K.A the Plan-Maker. A force of misfortune indeed.

Anyway, hope you enjoy, any and all criticisms positive or negative are welcomed in full so leave a review if you are so inclined to do. Like it? Hate it? Any ways you feel I could improve? Expectations for the next chapter? Follow or Favorite at your leisure and I will see you all in the next installment of The Dreamer Gate.

Next Chapter: The Tower... definitely this time.