"Make haste," ordered Ungnari as she briskly marched. "Your presence is required at the war tower immediately."
Stormbeard yawned and decided to slow his pace instead. That'll teach her. The dwarf didn't like to be ordered around especially by one so boring and bland as his current liaison. Now Tlazoz, he might have made an exception for him. That boy was so blindly eager and delightfully stupid, plus his head was exceptionally balanced as well. He could spend hours bouncing that lad's skull around.
Stormbeard considered simply just turning around and head back to his lab, but a part of him did want to go to the war tower. If he was summoned then that meant those Thyatians and those Northerners were beginning their assault, though he wasn't sure why Zazoz would have need of him. The guy could read minds for Moradin's sake, that's like playing Grommish chess where your opponent knows your next three moves.
The dwarf knew that the attackers had no chance to succeed, but he would have like to watch the slaughter anyways. It would certainly be worth the giggles. Sure they had their archmages and their knights, and though the Githyanki thought little of their primer counterparts, Stormbeard knew that those that can walk the planes were as skilled as any astral mage or warrior. Stormbeard himself was from the prime worlds, and he took great pride in his power. Still, regardless of their power, what chance did any mortal army have against not one but five Astral fortresses.
Just as Stormbeard quickened his pace to eagerly bear witness to the carnage, he paused as he heard a familiar voice. No, that wasn't quite right. He had no clue who was shouting, but the nature of the shout, aye, that resounded in him.
Before he fell from grace so to speak, betrayed his lord, murdered his people, started wars, and all that other nonsense that the supposed 'good folk' cried over, Stormbeard was a warrior, a Hearthguard. One of those sucker dwarves that gave their life to one of the seven mountain kings or whomever was the head honcho at the time. It was a good gig, but Stormbeard quickly grew bored of it and began to explore avenues of 'entertainment'. Even though a Hearthguard was probably the last thing he would describe himself as, the warcries of the dwarves stirred something deep within him.
"Hey Ugly, err I mean Ungnari," said Stormbeard as he turned towards the now audible sounds of battle. "I think there's a skirmish down here. Hmm, I think its originating from one of the supply rooms or something."
Ungnari shook her head. "That is not our concern, there are sufficient guards to handle such incursions. Lord Kazoz requires your counsel immediately."
Stormbeard paused. "Eh, you mean Captain Zazoz right? Kazoz is that idiot lonewolf cousin of his isn't it?"
Ungnari sighed and nodded. "Aye, Kazoz is more suited as a warrior or as an independent operative. He is ill suited for command, but ….."
Stormbeard interrupted her as he broke into a mad smile. " Whoa, whoa, whoa. You mean Kazoz is actually the head honcho now? That's utterly stupid, but I do admit I am intrigued. What's Zazzy up to that he would leave that halfwit in charge?"
Ungnari shook her head. "Lord Kazoz will explain when we reach the war tower. He is already expecting …"
"Nu uh. I ain't budging till I get some gossip outta you girl," said the dwarf as he shook his head. "Now look, I'll admit Zazoz is a bit scary, given how he's protected from my words, he has that head lopping chopper of his, and more importantly he's craftier than a Halfling at an all you can eat buffet, but Kazoz is a different kettle of fish. His magic is passable, I think he throws lightning or some other trick like that, and uhh I think his sword makes you sick? What type of sad ass power is that? "
"His blade bleeds the soul, only the greatest healers can cure its wounds," defended Ungnari.
Stormbeard rolled his eyes as he opened his mouth widely to the rough. "See that? That's me yawning. Boring. Anyways, I aint budging till you tell me what's happened to Zazoz."
The two stood there in silence save the distant sounds of battle in the supply room, until finally Ungnari lowered her head and conceded. " Captain Zazoz has been acting erratically lately, and by that I mean more erratically than his norm. Instead of commanding the battle, he has locked himself in the main navigation room. For what purpose I do not know, but I heard something about making modifications to Kxinag. "
Stormbeard considered her words and then grinned. He knew when Zazoz attempted to read his thoughts recently and the telepath suffered some sort of feedback as a result. At best he hoped that the uppity Zazoz would suffered a headache, but it seemed that reading his crazy brain had scarred the Githyanki more seriously than that. Stare into the abyss and the abyss stares back or some other catchy nonsense. Given the fact that Zazoz put that dunce Kazoz in charge was proof enough of that.
"Lead the way my dear," exclaimed Stormbeard as he blocked out the sounds of battle nearby. "Things have just gotten a wee bit more interesting. "
Stormbeard ascended the tower once again. Though the dwarf was physically fit, the length of the climb bored him. "They should make moving stairs or something, mebbe a lift?" he complained to Ungnari.
The Githyanki maiden ignored him as she escorted him to the top room, and left when Kazoz waved her off.
While Stormbeard considered most Githyanki to look similar or even the same in many cases, Kazoz was unique in that he had a big jutting chin and a stiff expression on his face like he was perpetually constipated. While most would see a cold calculating killer, Stormbeard thought it was probably because he was in a constant state of confusion.
Despite his low regard for the man, Stormbeard took a deep breath and gave his most pleasant greeting. "Hey Kazzy, whatsupppp?" he said while holding his fist up.
Kazoz ignored the dwarf and pointed to one of the tower's viewing windows. Stormbeard wasn't sure, but he suspected it was magically enhanced to make things further appear closer. "The Lord Captain is….preoccupied at the moment and has placed me in charge of our defences."
"Well congratulations! You make a better lord Captain in my opinion than your dopey cousin ever would, and if you ever consider making this a permanent promotion feel free to count on my support, "joked the dwarf as he watched Kazoz's blank face for any sign of taking his 'bait'.
Kazoz shrugged at the comment and continued. The Githyanki pointed to what appeared to be a mix up swarm of floating siege equipment, infantry and upside down horsemen. It was ridiculous, and looked like some angry giant had tossed an army into some giant vat of jello and they were suspended in incongruous positions. "The Tytinians are beginning their initial assault. I wish for your counsel since you've battle them before. "
"First off, they are called Thyatians," corrected Stormbeard. "While they aren't famed for their victories in the astral plane, I suspect that they absorbed a few cast off archmages from Alphatia before that decadent nation sank. Despite their apparent disorganization they are known as skilled fighters."
"I see, " said Kazoz. "If a few archamges is all they can muster, then we can easily crush their forces. I'll send fortress Hunapt to intercept them. "
With that, either telepathically or magically, the will of Kazoz was made clear. One of the Astral fortresses along the perimeter broke off from its defensive position and advanced to intercept the haphazard horde. The adjacent fortresses quickly maneuvered to fill in the void to re-establish the defensive fence.
Stormbeard shrugged. Tactics wasn't really his thing, but he can see the value of sending a scouting force first. He had hoped for a slaughter but this was a bit too methodical for his liking. He liked his battles messy and bloody, not cold and efficient.
"Err , do you want me to use the words on those guys? I'm pretty sure they aint warded and it would save you all a whack of trouble," offered Stormbeard hoping to spice up the battle with his own personal touch.
"No, " stated Kazoz. "The lord Captain wants to keep your power hidden from his foes and allies alike. On our raids it is fine, since we can assure there are no witnesses, but there are too many eyes to blind here. It is too chaotic."
Stormbeard frowned, the more chaotic the better was his thoughts on the matter. The dwarf gave up on that train of thought and resumed watching the battle instead. Though this would most likely end up as a slaughter, the dwarf hoped to catch at least a few decapitations or perhaps some immolations or two.
As Stormbeard and Kazoz watched the battle began to play out as expected. Stormbeard understood the territorial, honor thing with these Githyanki but still didn't understand why the other fortresses didn't help each other. He knew Zazoz had a strong enough force of will or what passed as charisma to at least motivate a united defense but Kazoz looked happy to 'delegate' those duties to Captain whoseit that commanded fortress Howsit. Where as Zazoz would at least send a detachment of dragonriders from each fortress or some such thing , Kazoz allowed the 'scout' fortress to engage the charging primer horde with its impregnable walls and war engines.
Fire, lightning as well rocks and bolts rained from the fortress' walls and crushed swaths of the disorganized Thyatians but that didn't seem to slow their advance as they narrowed the distance between to the walls.
"Eh, why aren't you sallying forth their soldiers. They can easily overwhelm them. Why are they letting them get close and draggin this out?" asked Stormbeard as the battle raged before him.
Kazoz stifled a bit of laughter, much to the dwarf's annoyance. "There is no need to risk our troops. The enemy might look impressive to the likes of you, but they are nothing to a veteran Githyanki soldier like myself. They are a mere astral wave, about to crash into the rocks of Githyanki power. "
Stormbeard's eyes narrowed at Kazoz. No one talks smack to a dwarf like that. When Zazoz said condescending shit to him it was okay, but that was because he could back it up with sword or spell, but Kazoz was a different matter. Stormbeard wanted nothing more than to smash the grin off his face, and let him taste his dorf boots. He thought better of it for a second, but the rage that consumed him so many times got the better of him.
"Fuck it, I need some violence," he whispered as he took a step back and maneuvered himself behind Kazoz. The Githyanki lord was powerful, but he wasn't Zazoz tough. It would make for a good fight.
"What was that?" asked the Githyanki lord as he concentrated on the battle.
"Oh, nothing. Just changing my angle for a better view," said Stormbeard as he lined himself up to get a cheap shot at Kazoz's back with his hefty warhammer.
Just as Stormbeard wound up for a double axehandle blow to Kazoz's spine, the Githyanki lord straightened up. "No," he gasped.
With his curiosity piqued, Stormbeard abandoned his sneak attack plans and scrambled back to the gazing window. While fortress Hunapt's wards had triggered, and great walls of fire sprang forth against the horde, the Thyatian wizards seemed to have pierced that magic and already great gaps in the magical defense appeared as the Primer soldiers poured through it. What was more interesting was that phantom battering rams and what appeared to be giants appeared and they started to tear down Hunapt's walls. Stormbeard guessed they were adamant tipped rams or at least ensorcelled with runes as he watched them methodically chip away at the dark iron walls, even as the Githyanki defenders rained arrow and spell down on them.
"Go team, errr I mean those primers are a lot more resourceful than it appears," blurted out Stormbeard as he watched the smugness drain from Kazoz's face. "Err, aren't you gonna send out reinforcements now? Your boys had their chance but they failed. Looks like its time for them to swallow their pride and you to send your dragon riders or Gish out."
Kazoz remained motionless as he ignored the dwarf's advice and watched the battle unfold. The Thyatians seemed stymied at the wall as their forces appeared to spread out to test Hunapt's defenses, attacking a far tower. Stormbeard saw through their ruse and knew it was just a trick to draw off attackers while the main force picked a point to concentrate on. Given that attackers rarely attack an astral fortress, except of course that horde of snake guys earlier, he doubt that the Githyanki knew what was happening.
"That's a trick you know. You should send out your forces before this gets out of hand, "pointed out the dwarf once again.
Kazoz said nothing at first but finally shook his head. "No, Captain Iloyant would never forgive me if I did that. It would show that I do not trust his judgement. Hunapt will stand on its own till he calls for help. Besides, the battle is at its zenith, the Thyatians are about to break. See how they throw away their forces so carelessly? "
"Wait, what did you just say? I thought I was the crazy one here. Don't you know a feint when you see one. If Illy keeps going the way he's going, we're gonna have a full blown assault on our hands. Now, not that I really care what happens to those losers over there, but we are on a strict time line you know, if Hunapt falls, that makes a serious dent into the last few years of perpetrations we've made. So get off your skinny ass and do something about it before crap really starts to rain," demanded Stormbeard.
Kazoz remained silent, and the dwarf wondered if the Githyanki didn't care for his advice or was just stupid and processing his words at the moment. Before he could receive an answer, a great flare occurred at the far tower where Stormbeard guessed that the feint was occurring. The tower shook a few times before a section of the wall broke off and drifted away, leaving a sliver of the fortress' armor bare to all. A mighty cheer occurred from the attackers, as legions of Thyatians began to appear out of nowhere and exploit this new weakness.
Kazoz's normally stupid look took on a pall of fear as he contemplated what was happening. Stormbeard was also in shock but then grinned in appreciation. "Impressive. Those Thyatians are trickier than I thought. That wasn't a feint but their main attack it seems. I bet that disorganized front we saw at first was also a diversion to throw us off guard. Like that's some high level magical shit right there. I doubt it was an illusion, or a portal. I'm assuming it's a demi plane or something. At best I can make a small room if I tried, but they have some bloke that can hide an army it seems. Let us lower our vigilance and allow them to be butchered by your defenses as they surged forward, all the while so they can get in close and give us a full blown alpha strike. Looks like we have to step in afterall. "
"I…I….," stuttered Kazoz before pausing and take a deep breath. "Yes, I mean no. We will wait for Iloyant's signal before making a move."
Stormbeard gave Kazoz a disgusted look. "Look you dumb ass. Do you know what's happening here? If Zazoz was here, he would have saw through the attacker's plan with his telepathy or some shit like that and stopped it before it got started. But he isn't here, and you look like an idiot right now as you watch slack jawed as one of your so called impregnable astral forts is getting its ass handed to him. Now, speaking as a veteran of many sieges, the battle isn't won or lost yet, and you can still stomp the living shit out of those Thyatians back to their primer plane, only if you signal the rest of the fortresses to attack now. Swallow that damn pride of yours and do what's right, before I go get Zazoz myself."
"No, you musn't disturb the lord Captain," said Kazoz as he rubbed his neck. "He gave strict orders not to be disturbed."
Stormbeard couldn't believe what he just heard, He was all for chaos and mindless violence, but not when it got in the way of his plans. He looked at disgust at Kazoz, as the Githyanki seemed more concerned with literally his own neck, than the fate of fortress Hunapt. Stormbeard sighed and reached for his Warhammer, it looked like he would have to take things into his own hands until Zazoz returned.
Just as the dwarf maneuvered himself once again for a sneak attack, the dwarf paused as the fortress nearest to the fight began moving towards the battle. While Kazoz hesitated, it appeared that one of the other captains saw it Stormbeard's way and was about to lend a hand whether Captain Illy liked it or not.
"Looks like not everyone around here is an idiot," said the dwarf. He half expected Kazoz to rage or send orders for the intercepting fort to return to its position, but the Githyanki seemed content to simply stare and watch the events unfold.
Stormbeard was about to throw another quip at the overwhelmed Kazoz, but instead watched the battle as the two fortresses was about to catch the Thyatians between hammer and anvil.
Suddenly the second fort stopped its rapid advance as several explosions ripped through its walls.
"What…what's happening? " gasped Kazoz as his magical window turned its attention on the other fort. A host of knights mounted on all sorts of war beasts, backed by what appeared to be giant boats in the shape of sea creatures swarmed out of a fold in space. It took a second for Stormbeard to realize that they were spell jammers of some sort, and then he knew who this new army was. The Grommers and the Knights of the North. These new attackers took advantage of the confusion and began to overwhelm the other forts walls from multiple positions.
Stormbeard blinked in shock, no magic could have gotten through its wards so easily. He himself tried and failed…..unless…. yes. Nothing could penetrate those wards so easily, unless the wards pushed through them instead. It was clever, no brilliant really. Whomever was coordinating this attack counted on one of the other fortresses to support Hunapt, and they fell into the trap perfectly. They would have never penetrated the fortress' wards so easily, but letting the Githyanki come to them and then attacking caught everyone off guard. As well as the cunning plan, Stormbeard grudgingly gave respect to the power needed to carve a demiplane to house such a large host of attackers. That was something only the old masters could do, and that meant this so called disorganized force was a greater threat than anticipated.
"Okay, fun time is over," said Stormbeard. "This is getting wayyyyy out of hand, and you need to stop this now. Send the dragons, send in the Gish, send everyone. We still have them outnumbered and out classed. "
"No," said Kazoz. "Captain Oxylio should have waited like I wanted. He would have never sprung the trap if he had."
Stormbeard considered his words, and realized that idiot Kazoz was right. Captain Oxoxoxo should have stayed put and let things played out, and they wouldn't be in this mess right now. He couldn't believe it but it appeared that dolt Kazoz was right all along.
*Whack*
Kazoz crumpled to the ground, as Stormbeard smacked him from behind with his Warhammer. The Githyanki groaned from the ground as the dwarf considered his options.
"Okay, one of those attackers I heard earlier did this. I saw them, they jumped through the window. I'll just throw a rock through it to cover my story. No wait, the glass would go outside not inside if they jumped through the window. The attackers must have fought their way up here, but then that means I have to take out the guard. I can take out Ungnari no problem, but I think there was four more, not sure if I can get all of them before I raise the alarm, and even if I could Zazoz could read my mind or their minds. Hmm, I could use the insanity defense. After all I am insane, but Zazoz would probably see through that as well," muttered Stormbeard as his mind began to wander into tangents.
"Wait, I could just undo Kazoz with my words. Yeah that's the ticket, that'll work. Zazoz might be protected, but I bet this fool ain't. Oh wait, if I did that would Zazoz still know? I think he would, I'm not sure actually," wondered Stormbeard. "Hah, I don't even know how my own words work. Now ain't that a kicker."
After a while Stormbeard shrugged. He'll just hope he's still more valuable than Kazoz after all he's the only one that can use the words. If he can't use the words on Kazoz he could use it on the Grommers and Thyatians. Screw all the subterfuge and skulking around, it was time to show the world his power.
"Ungnari! Ungnari! " shouted the dwarf as he set his course into action.
"Yes," said Ungnari as she marched into the war tower. "W..what happened to Lord Kazoz?"
"Nevermind him," shrugged Stormbeard as he pointed to the battle raging ahead. "Fort loser and fort other loser are in trouble and we need to help. We need to dispatch dragons right away to help them. Signal the other forts to do the same, let's stop this immediately. They already …umm send a psychic bolt or some shit like that and knocked out Kazzy, I'm taking command till Zazzy returns."
Ungnari looked at Kazoz and hesitated but bowed to the dwarf before he planted his Warhammer on her ugly face as well. "Yes sir. I shall do so right away. "
"Also tell the engine room or whatever it is that drives this thing to get a move on, bring us close so I can obliterate these attackers with my words," commanded the dwarf. "It's about time we show them true power."
Ungnari slowly backed away and nodded again. "Yes…yes sir."
"Hmm, you're not buying this are you," sighed Stormbeard. He weaved a simple spell and the Githyanki maiden was held in place.
"You weren't my favorite liaison but you served competently enough. Sorry about this, " he said as he walked towards her with hammer in hand.
Before he could land a blow however, the entire fortress shuddered and shook violently.
"What now! " shouted the dwarf as he turned to the window once again. Instead of watching the battle from the astral, he was greeted by the odd sensation of blue skies and white clouds.
Confused, Stormbeard ran to the window and saw that Kxinag and another fortress had been apparently pulled out of the silver sea and was now back floating idyllically on some Primer plane.
"Hey, I recognize this place. This is the Western Freeholds," said the dwarf fondly, recalling the armpit of civilization he fled to after he was expelled from the Dwarven kingdoms.
His nostalgia quickly vanished however, when he saw that the ground was blanketed by an angry horde of what appeared to be demons. Everything from monstrous balor to lowly dretches covered the land, even as the winged varieties began launching themselves in flight.
The dwarf blinked in disbelief. What was happening? Did he overdose on lotus again and this was all a hallucination?
Before he could answer, a great booming voice sounded that brought him to his knees.
"TREMBLE BEFORE ME MORTALS. I AM ORCUS AND I COME FOR MY WORDS!" said a terrible voice that caused his nose and eyes to bleed.
Stormbeard considered himself a brave dwarf, partially due to his insanity but more because of his own personal power. Despite this he felt true terror at the voice and knew a reckoning would come soon. He invoked a minor heal to stop the bleeding before he quickly released Ungnari from his hold spell and ran to her side.
"Umm sorry about that. Umm, I'm gonna run to my lab now. And I err…I really need you to get Zazoz at this moment," he said before fleeing down the stairs.
