Part 1 – Scorched Earth
I've always wanted to know what a modern world full of fantasy creatures would look like in today's world. This is my version:
Fire, the discovery of which spawned the beginning of all creation.
Most people say that mankind's greatest invention was the wheel and the alphabet, others say it was the battering ram and gunpowder.
Gunpowder spawned single-shot weapons, then multi-shot guns, then revolvers, then magazine-fed weapons.
Eventually, the face of the world changed: empires rose and fell, new countries were formed, and others were destroyed. Cities were demolished and rebuilt. Races gained power and lost power. Eventually a centralized government on the North American Continent was formed: the United American Confederacy.
The United American Confederacy is a united country that controls most of the North American Continent, save for the Canadian Union, and the Caribbean. It is inhabited by every species across the Earth: humans, elves, etc. inhabit the urban cities and towns. The dwarves, gnomes, and Goliaths share the mountains. While species like the Dragonborn inhabit the plains, following the call of nature like the Native Americans of centuries gone by.
The South American continent is primarily inhabited by Tabaxi and Yuan-ti who watch over the lungs of the world, and the cities and towns of the various countries of South America.
Europe is governed by the Council of European Royals: a collection of one member from every last royal lineage that has ruled the countries of Europe since the middle ages.
Russia is run by an all-powerful Council that holds a very tight grip on all Russian lands, afraid that once they let it go, it'll be gone forever.
China is run by a council of a united conglomeration of species, with humans being at the top of the council, while others are considered to be members of the conglomeration, but being as humans make up a little over 50% of the conglomeration, the other species' voices are often muffled.
Even with unity among the species of the world, prejudice is still rampant among the countries of the world.
The armies of the world still hold true to many of their beliefs of keeping many races separate as it might be a threat to discipline and military cohesion. Thing is, that's what they said when it came to humans, people of African descent and people of Caucasian descent working together. The military wasn't designed to be an instrument of social change. The military might oppose it at first, but the unit will get over it. Beat that shit with a stick.
More of that later, right now, what do you say we get to the action?
The mountains of Southern Afghanistan, filled mostly with Lizardfolk and Kobolds who have taken on either a yellowish-brown color or a yellowish-orange color. Most of them were peaceful, but some of them were concealing AK-type weapons underneath their cloaks as they were sympathetic to the insurgents.
The insurgents stationed there had very little to say about the fact that some of them had to wear Oakley goggles or shemaghs when sandstorms hit.
Of course, the insurgent fighters that were currently patrolling the mountain above the opium field had adapted, having used glasses they stole from local stores and wrapped them in leather.
The AKs they were carrying were all left-over weapons from the Afghan-Soviet war left there by human and elvish C.I.A. operatives.
They had patrolled the area for several months and knew the area like the back of their hands.
"You think they'd use some of the money they make off this opium to give us some decent goggles," the one on the right asked.
"You'd think that," the one on the left said, "But they'd probably squander it, or give it to the higher-ups."
The third one said nothing as he reached up to wipe the dust off his goggles which looked very similar to swimming goggles.
They had adapted to the mountains well, only using what they had to make sure they were always prepared, repairing their weapons with their knives or with rocks they flattened with other rocks.
It was then that they saw something very distinctive through the sand whipping in front of them: a large, lumbering figure sitting on a rock, sharpening a very large blade.
As they approached they noticed the outline of the figure's ears well: an elf. The uniform he was wearing was unknown to them: it was black, save for the navy vest, and the navy shemagh. The knife was a well-known design: it was a steel kukri that had a leather-wrapped handle.
One of the fighters quietly snuck up to him, and put the barrel of the AK to the back of the elf's head, "Who are you," he asked over the whipping wind of the sandstorm, "What are you doing here?"
"Doing my job," the elf said as he continued sharpening his blade, "Same as you."
"You're an American aren't you," the fighter asked as he pushed harder against the elf's skull.
"Maybe I am," the elf said, "Maybe I'm not."
"Hey," the fighter called, "What do you think we should do," there was no answer, "Jamil? Ahmed?"
The man turned around to see two people standing behind his comrades: on the right, a large individual was standing behind Jamil, removing the blade of either a Ka-Bar or an M9 bayonet from the side of his neck.
The individual standing behind Ahmed was about 5'7 and removed a seax from his chest.
The fighter raised his rifle, only to have his right arm severed by a large tomahawk.
As he screamed and dropped to one knee, he looked up to see someone that was at least six-foot-six standing over him holding a tomahawk that would have been used like a war-ax to a human.
Before he could continue screaming, the giant raised the ax and embedded the head halfway inside the man's skull before removing it.
"You couldn't just cut his head off," the elf asked as the storm started clearing.
"He was going for his gun," the giant said.
"Stow it Galahad," the individual with the large knife said before turning to the half-elf, "Percival," he then pointed at the larger man, "Gawain, hide the bodies," he then turned back at the elf, "Galahad, you're with me."
"Got that, Lancelot," Percival said.
Lancelot and Galahad jogged away from the ambush point to an observation point above their target: an opium farm operated by a wanted member of the insurgency. Many of the men who were fighting for him were either being paid in either opium or money from opium farming.
"Merlin, repot," Lancelot said as he pressed two fingers to his throat-mic.
"The storm's moving off," Merlin, the team's intelligence officer said as he was safely back in Kandahar airfield, "Recon's coming on station now," Lancelot and Galahad looked up to see an Aarakocra circling overhead.
"How's it looking up there, Kay," Lancelot asked.
"Looks very cold," Kay said, "You try being up here, and we'll see how you like it!"
"Hey, easy there Big Bird," Galahad said, "We're here to do a job, not to cause any tension."
"Alright, alright," Gold said, "I'll get back to you in a minute."
"Be careful," Lancelot said as Percival and Gawain joined them.
"The bodies are well-hidden," Gawain said as he dropped a large duffle bag on the ground next to them, "Wish we could bring our own weapons."
"Command wants plausible deniability on this one," Lancelot said as he reached into the bag, and pulled out a suppressed AK-74 with an old Soviet NSPU night-vision scope.
Percival reached into the bag to pull out a PSL sniper rifle, and after inserting a fresh magazine, there was a great whoosh as the Aarakocra landed right behind them.
"Good to see you," Lancelot said.
"Likewise," Kay said as he knelt down next to the team.
"What've we got," Lancelot asked.
Kay pointed off toward the fields, "I spotted seven tangos patrolling the poppy fields," he said, "They primarily have old AKs, but I did spot one of them with a pump-action," he then pointed at the compound, "There's an old DSHK on the back of a pickup facing the fields."
"What about the compound itself," Galahad asked.
"There are three guards outside the main building," Kay said, "There's a secondary building beyond that, and I counted two guards outside there, so that's probably the main barracks. Plus there is one in the middle of the courtyard."
"Anyone else," Gawain asked.
"Nope," Kay said, "None that I could see."
"Ok then," Lancelot said as he pointed to Gawain, "Gawain, we're gonna head down, and take care of the fields. If you can get the ones in the field, I can take care of the DSHK, and provide support," he then looked at Galahad and Percival, "Galahad, Percival, you two are on overwatch. If we're compromised, I want you two to provide support."
"You know we will," Galahad said as he reached into the bag, and pulled out an MM-1 multi-shot grenade-launcher.
Gawain pulled out the weapon he was given for this mission: a suppressed Kalashnikov PKM.
Lancelot then turned back to Kay, "Kay, you have the most important part of this assignment, when we clear those fields, you know what to do," he said.
"You got it," Kay said as he held out his hand, "Let's do it quietly."
The team put their hands into the center, "Knights on three," Lancelot said, "One, two, three…"
All five of them quietly exclaimed, "Knights!"
Navigating their way around the guards is certainly not the easiest way to maintain stealth, but it is the best way: better to take the tried and true method than the risky, possibly loud method.
As Lancelot continued toward the DSHK gunner, Gawain continued toward the poppy fields.
Gawain managed to get into cover behind the poppies, and looked up to peek at the DSHK gunner who was smoking.
As the DSHK gunner was having his smoke, he heard sand rustling and turned around to see nothing behind him.
He then felt something land in the back of the truck his DSHK was mounted to, but before he could turn around, someone grabbed him from behind, covered his mouth, and embedded a large blade into his chest.
Lancelot held the man's face tight before he eventually went limp, and allowed Lancelot to gently lay him across the back of the truck, and put his smoke out on the side rim.
Lancelot balanced his rifle on the back of the pickup to see Gawain kneeling down behind a load of poppies.
Lancelot gave Gawain a small salute, and he began his assault.
The first guard patrolling the fields didn't hear a thing before a very large figure slashed him across the back of the neck with a large tomahawk.
Moving onto the second, he was done in a matter of seconds, the third had somehow managed to splatter blood across a small line of poppies as did the fourth.
Gawain didn't have time to move as he saw the fifth was turning around, so he quickly swung around his PKM, and opened fire, striking the fifth across the chest.
The sixth felt the blood splatter on him, and turned around, only for Gawain to nail him in the chest as well.
The seventh would have gotten a shot off if Lancelot hadn't gotten him first: one controlled burst through the side of the chest.
The eighth turned around, only to have a single shot from Percival's PSL open a flesh-tunnel through the side of his skull.
"Nice shot," Lancelot said, "The fields are cleared. Kay, pave the road."
Kay picked up two gasoline canisters and took off over the fields.
Being as he was coming in from a high altitude, and pulling sharply upwards over the fields, Kay didn't have to flap his wings and simply glided over the fields, pouring petroleum over the fields.
Kay made three passes over the fields with the first can before dropping it into Gawain's waiting arms.
He then landed back on the mountain and unscrewed the cap on the second before taking off.
Three more passes over the far side of the fields were enough for Kay to signal Lancelot and Gawain that it was time.
Gawain pulled out the delayed-incendiary device that Galahad made, and set it against the petroleum before lighting it.
"Merlin, we're moving," Lancelot said.
"Roger that," Merlin said as he turned around to advise the General in the T.O.C., "Sir, the team is leaving the area."
"Have they lit the fields," the General asked.
"UAV's coming online now," another one of the soldiers said, "If they have, we should see a nice, beautiful fire."
As Lancelot and Gawain were running away from the area, the incendiary device that Galahad had made caused a small explosion that looked like a child setting off a firecracker.
By the time the guards saw the light from the fire and went to investigate. By the time they had alerted the compound that there was a fire, Lancelot and Gawain had returned to the mountain.
"Lancelot, we see the fire," Merlin said, "I'm surprised they didn't notice it earlier."
"They're idiots, Merlin," Lancelot said as he signaled the team to leave, "Be advised, we are exfiltrating the area."
"Roger that," Merlin said, "See you back at base."
The exfiltration area was about six klicks away from the compound, but Kay wasn't with them: being an Aarakocra he chose to simply fly back to base by himself.
Lancelot, Percival, Galahad, and Gawain had set up a defensive position around their extraction chopper's LZ.
As they were waiting around, however, they were soon meet with a barrage of gunfire, and saw several insurgents, probably from the compound running toward them.
"CONTACT," Lancelot yelled, "Weapons free!"
The team turned toward the hostiles and opened fire: Lancelot's AK managing to down about three hostiles before having to reload.
The next few hostiles were brought down by Gawain's PKM as he laid down a constant barrage of fire to make sure the hostiles were suppressed.
The biggest advantage they had, however, was Galahad because of the grenade launcher.
Sending off multiple grenades toward the hostile was certainly one of the biggest advantages he had as the grenades he was using were HE (High-Explosive) rounds.
Percival was at a huge disadvantage as his rifle was pretty much useless when someone is shooting back at you. Percival was restricted to using the Makarov pistol he was issued for the mission.
The scope on Lancelot's AK was a huge advantage to him as it was a very dark night, but the muzzle-flash from the hostile's AKs was a very good indicator of where they were.
Not that they needed it for long because as they were defending the LZ, the CH-46 Chinook came in for a landing, the door-gunner on the side of the chopper letting off a steady barrage of .50 caliber bullets toward the hostiles who had no choice but to run.
As the team ran onto the Chinook, Lancelot looked out the back as the hostiles turned around to see them leaving their rifle range.
As he closed the back gate, he walked back to his men and sat down next to Percival.
"We've had worse," Percival said.
"We've had better," Lancelot said as he lifted his leg, and opened the flap that ran down the back of his leg, freeing his tail, "Right now, I could use a tall drink."
"You and me both, brother," Percival said as he held out his fist to Lancelot.
Lancelot bumped the top, and bottom of Percival's fist then grabbed his hand.
How's that one…