Part 6. To The Slaughter
(Mt Thunderhorn, Kill Masters cave)
(Eddie's point of view)
I placed Clementine on a table as Kill Master called up a half dozen or so of his silver spiders, each one in a different size. Under his instructions the spiders re-strung Clementine in the correct gauges for each line. Then he gave Clementine back to me and I tuned the strings to the correct tightness. Man these strings are strong, stronger than regular strings and they gleamed with the same shininess as the spiders that made them moments before.
"There you go, Eddie." Kill master said. "Give' em a go."
All right… I look at a nearby outcrop and try out a shocker… The lightning strikes the outcrop searing the top of it black. Then I try a pyro chord, the fire it summoned engulfed the outcrop and partly melted it. "Hmm looks like my attacks have gotten a bit stronger." I said.
"Sure looks like it, Eddie…" Ophelia agreed. "'Though I don't recommend testing out the earthshaker… Least not here."
"Yeah, don't wanna bring down the house." I replied.
"You know when I said you can bring up your wounded here earlier…" Kill Master said. "I think I might have a better idea now that my trike's back." He looked at his trike. "I'll see you dudes in Bladehenge once I get what I have in mind done."
"Sure thing, see you in a few…" I then played the 'Summon Deuce' solo to call up the Druid Plow. We spent the rest of the day gathering up our fallen headbangers and used the Druid plow to tow the truck back to Bladehenge to get it fixed and to give our fallen headbangers a proper burial via funeral pyre.
Over the next few days as Ophelia continued to recover, I went out on a few patrols with the headbangers. Came across some winged serpent statues restrained in tight black latex and their mouths stuffed with red gag balls. A few pyro chords burned away the restraints and got rid of the balls and, now get this, allowed the statues to fully unfurl their wings. Lars told me sometime later that there's supposed to be about 120 or so of those serpent statues scattered about the Brütal Land.
Also I helped out on some ambushes taking out several Hair Metal Militia patrols. And, time to time, visited the Crushing Pit to see how things were going on our vehicle production. Jack told me that he recently got some orders from the Thunderhogs for a dozen or so trikes to be delivered up to Mt Thunderhorn.
(Bladehenge, a few days later)
Then one morning I was getting up and dressed for morning patrols when I heard this noise outside of my yurt(Well I think it's a yurt). I went outside and that's when I saw the Thunderhogs, along with Kill Master doing some pretty sick moves with his trike, which now has his healing speakers mounted on it. So that's what he had in mind… He decided to make his ride into a healing ambulance. Wow.
"Yeah, nice Thunderhog, man!" I called out to Kill Master. "You make that bad-ass heal-mobile yourself?"
Kill Master pulled up to me and chuckled. "Yeah, I figured We'd be more useful if we went to your wounded instead of the other way around. And look cool doin' it."
"Hey, you about done?" One of the thunderhogs called.
"Lemme check that out." Added another.
"Yeah, We're still waitin' on those orders we made to the Crushing Pit." Kill Master said. "Right now, mine's the only ride we got."
"Right, I'll contact Jack and see if we can speed things up a bit." I replied. I guess I should mention, We set up some shortwave radio communications between Bladehenge and the Crushing Pit. And we were getting another radio set up at Mt. Thunderhorn.
"Appreciate that, Eddie." Kill Master then peeled out, his v-8 engine roaring.
XXX
After I called up Jack and talked to him about Kill Master's order, I met up with Ophelia, who was looking out at the plains to the north. "So, uh, when are gonna tell us how you got hurt?" I asked.
"I'm not." Was her answer.
"Why?"
Ophelia looked over her shoulder. "Because then you wouldn't let me go back and finish the job."
"No, that's Lars…" I replied. "I LIKE watching you fight." And I already mentioned how good she is when we were escaping from the Coiled Remains.
Ophelia raised a single eyebrow, then turned to face me. "Alright… Meet me at the Razor Fields if you want to see some more. But, please, don't tell Lars, okay?"
"Don't worry, I won't, Ophelia…" I replied. "Hmmm I wonder if it's okay to tell the Kill Master. "I suggested, Looking over at Kill Master as he was doing a wheelie on his trike. "Something tells me I'm gonna need his new heal-mobile for whatever you have in mind…"
"The Kill Master?" Ophelia cocked her head.
"Just In case." I replied.
"Hmmmm…" Ophelia pondered, resting her chin on her knuckles. Then She looked at Kill Master, who is now doing doughnuts in front of his fellow Thunderhogs. Sure kicking up a lot of turf, that's for sure. "Yeah… That would be a good idea. I'll see you two up at the Razor Fields. I'll explain everything there." Then she headed over to the stables, saddled up and mounted her raptor elk and galloped out the north gate.
Meanwhile I talked to Kill Master about Ophelia's plans and where she was headed. "The Razor Fields huh…?" he looked back at me. "I know the place. Summon that druid plow of yours and follow me." I made my down to the north gate, summoned my car, and followed Kill Master north…
XXX
After a few minutes driving, we soon caught up with Ophelia and her steed near that big old guitar statue. An hour or so later we passed under that ancient highway and continued northwards. Before long we came to this alcove set in the cliff overlooking a large meadow. This alcove had five gorgeous looking chick statues each holding an instrument, guitars, drumsticks, microphone, the usual rock 'n' roll equipment. And the base of said statues waited several REALLY gorgeous looking chicks, some dressed in clothes similar to what Ophelia wore, others dressed a bit like your more typical slave girl you'd find in your usual sword and sorcery fantasy setting. I'm guessing they were more recent rescues carried out by Ophelia.
"Ladies." I greeted the girls as I got out of the Druid Plow and walked up to 'em.
"I'd like you to meet my Razor Girls…" Ophelia presented her group after she dis-mounted her raptor elk. "All these women have escaped from general Lionwhyte's 'Pleasure' Tower."
"With your help I suppose." I added.
"You could say that…" Ophelia replied. "I kept them a secret for their own protection, but now they want to fight. And I'm here to arm them."
Then I noticed these… What are are they…? They looked like a cross between a wild boar and a Harley Davidson. They were zooming all over the meadow.
"With… Pigcycles…? Motorhogs…?" I asked.
"Basically yeah…" Ophelia answered as we watched those things rolling about. "The carcass of a Razorfire Boar, when properly dissected, can be used to craft a powerful long range weapon."
"And their meat's really tasty once you cook it up and add on the barbecue sauce." Kill Master added.
"That too." Ophelia nodded in agreement.
"This is what almost killed you, isn't it?" I asked.
Ophelia nodded.
"Well, if you're gonna try it again, I'm gonna help." I said. "So what are we waitin' for? Let's go!" I looked at Kill Master. "This time, though, let's keep the doctor nearby. Just in case."
"That's what I'm here for." Kill Master said. "Oh Yeah, I got a neat little trick I discovered while I was testing out my speakers. Hop aboard and I'll show ya."
So I climbed aboard Kill Masters heal-mobile. So what's trick you got?" I asked.
"Well, Eddie…" Kill master handed me his bass guitar. "If you play my healing riff on this rig, you'll be able to heal anyone within earshot of you. Be careful though, you could accidentally heal up your foes as well as your friends. But if you go and play a power chord. It'll cause a shockwave that can stun everything within earshot as well."
"Sounds useful… Okay, We're gonna drive a couple of 'em over this way." I told Ophelia. "You stay still, and keep your ears covered, until it's time to attack, okay?"
"When do I get a car?" Ophelia asked. "Or a motorbike at least."
(BGM, Bomber by Girlschool)
We drove out onto the Razor Fields. After a few minutes, we came across a group of those things. Man, you have no idea how hard it was trying to drive those wheeled piggies towards Ophelia and her friends. Some of 'em raced off in every direction but the one we were tryin' to herd 'em in. And the rest tried to gore us with those steel tusks of theirs. Not to mention those little buggers were Fast 'N' Loud(yeah I know, silly pun reference to a show me and Ralph used to watch).
After what seemed like forever, me and Kill Master manged to get a decent sized razorfire boar close enough to Ophelia. I played a stun note causing the boar we were just herding to… well stall out.
"Ha! Stalled his engine!" Kill masted said. "That did it."
"Okay, Ophelia, get 'em while they re hot." I said as Ophelia rushed up and killed the stunned boar by cutting its throat open with her remaining dagger. Man that was a lotta blood.
After waiting a few minutes to make sure it was dead. We dragged the carcass up the stairs and into a well lit cave behind the statues. Then we heaved the carcass up onto what I think was a cleaning table.
"Okay, first thing we'll do is skin this guy. Next we'll hook him up on the rack over there and gut him. And finally I'll extract what I'm looking for." Ophelia said as she retrieved some butcher's aprons for herself, me, and Kill Master. After putting on the aprons, we skinned the boar. Then we hooked the carcass up onto gutting rack, cut him open and removed all the innards from the boar. We kept the liver and heart, Kill Master said they were good eatin' once you cook 'em up.
Then we place the carcass back on the table and Ophelia cut away the remaining meat and bones leaving behind what looked like a couple of long metal tubes and several other metal pieces.
"So what do those do?' I asked.
"Not much…" Ophelia answered, "Until we rip out the remaining gizzards, flush and mill out the receiver, ream and rifle out the barrels, and rig up a trigger mechanism. Carve out a stock and put it all together."
"So you're making a gun?" I said.
"A gun?" Ophelia cocked her head.
"Yeah that's what it sounded like. Lock stock and barrel." I replied. "Did you have these before?"
"Once… Back when Riggnarok led the rebellion against the demons." Ophelia answered. "He was able to read the ancient hieroglyphics left behind by the titans when they ascended to become the metal gods. It's said that they taught the razorfire to make weapon parts in their bodies to be harvested and crafted into long range weapons, or guns as you call them, when the time came. So he taught us how it craft those weapons and they were well used… Until the whole rebellion fell apart. That was decades ago."
"I see." I replied.
"It's also the same metal gods that taught the spiders to make silver guitar strings." Kill Master added.
Now that I think about it, the Guardian Of Metal mentioned something like that back when I first met him.
"Okay enough yakkin'…" Ophelia said. "Let's get busy, you two! We need a lot more… I think 11 more oughta do it."
"Right!" I replied as me and Kill Master returned to his heal-mobile.
"Hell of a bird you got there, Eddie." Kill master said as got in his seat and started up the trike.
We pretty much spent the rest of the afternoon herding those razorfire boars. Mostly just driving 'em back towards Ophelia and her razor girls, stalling 'em out so Ophelia can kill 'em, and her and the girls hauling 'em inside to clean 'em. Before long we killed and cleaned the remaining 11 or so boars she wanted.
"Alright, I think we got enough for today." Ophelia said. "Let's get the weapon parts cleaned up and ready to go back to Bladehenge so wen can finish building 'em. We got bigger pigs to slaughter."
The other razor girls cheered. "We gotta clean up a little." She added. "Meet us back in Bladehenge for a weapons demo in a few days?"
"Sure thing… I like to see what kind of guns you're planning to make." I replied As I looked up at the statues I suddenly noticed a tab slab appear between two of them. And it lit up, glowing notes and all Looks like a new solo. "Hey, Ophelia, Kill Master, looks like we have a new tab slab!" I said as I examined the glowing notes.
"Well that's weird…" Ophelia replied. "I never seen this happen before. No devil thorns growing here either."
"Looks like there's a message taped on here…" I picked up the message and read it…
… To Eddie…
… After witnessing your recent hunt, the metal gods have seen fit to bless you with a new solo. Which I sent up to you on this here tab slab…
… Call it 'The Call Of The Wild'…
...Use it to summon and command any of the fierce creatures that roam our land to help you kick ass…
...GO FUCKIN' CRAZY!…
… Guardian Of Metal…
… P.S. Drop by the Garage sometime, I got some new styles for your guitar now that it has silver spider strings. And maybe later I might have some new weapons to mount on your car…
So that explains it; old Oswald sent up a tab slab to me and now I have me a new solo that controls wild animals. Cool.
"You met the Guardian Of Metal?" Ophelia asked.
"Sure did…" I answered. "Guess Lars forgot to mention that. Anyhoo might as well call up the truck to help haul back your weapon parts." I took out my walkie talkie to call up the truck….
End part 6
Authors Notes:
I felt it was kind of weird to just have Ophelia just pull out a complete razor bow from a razorfire boar as depicted in the game. So I figured it's make a bit more sense if the weapon was grown inside the boar in a disassembled state and have to be worked on after harvesting to make a complete weapon.
Also I figured on a different way for Eddie to learn 'Call Of The Wild'.
Next chapter, Ironheade faces its first major battle at the very gates of Bladehenge when the learn that they weren't the only ones crafting vehicles and weapons.