Overlord: Darker Legends.
Chapter 15: Widget's Stronghold.
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The Overlord returned triumphantly to his castle. He had raided and devastated the Forest Fortress, murdered Erasmus, framed the dwarves for it, and now the elves were ready to go to war with them.
"Quick! Do we still have enough time to hit the dwarves at Widget's place?"
"Yes. The dwarves have already sent messengers, but they were intercepted, and we're ready to intercept any more they might send. You should still have more than enough time to catch your breath, make the needed preparations, and still make it there before they find out. Just don't dilly dally for too long, okay?"
The Overlord breathed a sigh of relief. The fortress took much longer than he originally hoped, but thanks to his men's aid, things were still on schedule.
If everything went well, then this could be the last major battle for quite a while. And that meant it should be a tough one. He'd need to get ready. His armour and weapons were already maxed out, and his minions' levels were already maxed out. The only thing left to upgrade was the final Minion Relics. 250 minions were needed to max out each of them, but he had plenty. Soon it was done, and his horde size increased all the way to 50. It was practically a small army. Next they had to disguise themselves as elves.
They quickly hit a snag. Putting the elf envoy outfits on and arming themselves with elven swords & spears was easy, but there was no way those minions were gonna pass as elves. They were too short and too ugly. Not to mention too stupid and too wild. They'd never be able to pass as elves.
"This could be a problem."
"Hang on Lord. We saw this coming and got ready for it," said Rollick as he walked in, followed by Leia and Luna.
They set down a box full of masks and wigs. The masks were designed to look like elf faces, and the wigs looked like elf hair. Putting those on got them a lot closer to looking like elves.
"Not bad, but they're still too short, and they look weird. Once glance at them and they'll start asking questions, and they'll want them to answer."
"That was the best we could do on such short notice."
"Well, we'll have to think of something quick. It's almost sunset and we have to get this done fast."
"Wait. It's almost sunset? That means those dwarves are all chugging down beers right now. If we time it right, we'll arrive when they're too drunk to realize something's off."
"Seriously?"
"That means you're already ready to go!"
"Yes. But before I take my leave, I believe I've already uncovered enough of their plans for Aragon to work with. Make a copy of it all and send it to the king there."
"At once my Lord."
They wasted no time getting on it. They had actually seen this coming and had gotten started on making copies of those plans as soon as Valgaav found them. Now they just had to finish up. And as they worked on that, the Overlord had a drink and rested up enough to continue.
"Alright. Now I'd best get going. Time is not on my side."
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The Overlord teleported to as close as he could get to Widget's base. As hoped, when they arrived the dwarves standing guard were already drunk off their asses.
"Hic. Who is you lot?" the drunken dwarf slurred out.
"Elf envoys. Here on business."
"Dat so? Hic. Elves cum visiting us lowly dwarves, eh? Open da door!"
The door opened and the Overlord was able to enter.
"Good thing they're all drunk, huh? This should be a cakewalk."
"Not really. They might be dumb as stumps while drunk, but that beer has the same effect on dwarves as it has on minions. The only real difference is that the dwarves won't piss it out in two seconds flat, so they can actually take advantage of it. They're going to be several times harder to fight."
Everyone paused to take that in.
"Are you seriously telling us that you invaded at the worst possible time?"
"It's the only time this plan could possibly work as intended. Don't worry too much. By this point we're strong enough to steamroll them regardless."
"Well, good luck. Sounds like you're gonna need it."
"Sounds more like you're the ones who are gonna get steamrolled. There's an army of dwarves in there, every last one of them is ten times tougher than before, and they were already tough enough to begin with!"
"Yes. This victory will indeed be one for the record books."
The inside of Widget's base was spacious, well made, and clean. The first room was decorated with suits of armour, and the hallway was carved to be lined with paintings, most of which were of a large symbol that looked like a demonic skull in chains. The minions began trashing the place as they made their way into it.
After a few turns they reached a large room. A conjunction room, with several paths to take, all of which were blocked by electric fences. And with archers surrounding the room from elevated positions, it was clear that this was designed to be a killing field for intruders.
But given that one of the fences had broken down and hadn't been repaired, it was less of a killing field, and more of a simple, straightforward path. And because the drunk dwarves were still fooled into thinking they were elves, they were able to proceed without incident.
Too bad that didn't last long.
After the first corner they ran into some dwarves that were close enough to realize that those weren't elves. (Or maybe they just decided to attack regardless.) A fight broke out instantly.
"Cumon yuz greek dumps."
The minions were fully upgraded and had them heavily outnumbered, but the dwarves were so charged up with beer that each one was almost as strong as a small army. The dwarves plowed through their foes like bowling pins, and were stopped by the Overlord. His mighty poleaxe clashed against dwarven steel. Both sides pressed their attacks, and the Overlord's sturdier footing proved to be the deciding factor. The dwarves were knocked off their feet, and the minions swarmed them and cut them to pieces.
It wasn't a tough fight, but they were just getting started.
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They soon found a suspicious looking door. The Overlord smashed his way in, and discovered it was just a closet, but one that held gold and loot. But there wasn't nearly enough gold for it to be one of Widget's vaults, or anything like that.
"This must be some dwarf's personal stash."
"Indeed sire. There must be a bunch of those in the area. Looting them all should help enrage the dwarves."
They looted it and continued onward.
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The hallway split into two paths. At the end of one, there was a large room loaded with machinery. And in there were dwarves that were designing and building those combat machines. No wait, at the moment they were just pretending to work while getting drunk off their asses. Lucky for the Overlord, it didn't look like the machines were ready for combat. He charged in.
The dwarves were caught by surprise as the disguised minions rushed in to strike them down. Three dwarves fell before the rest could react. They grabbed their axes and fought back, a few went for their crossbows. Even with all their upgrades, it only took a couple axe strikes to fell a minion, and a single bolt fired from a crossbow was enough to obliterate up to three minions. And yet they needed to really wail on the dwarves to kill them.
"Ill crush yuz!"
"My fanny's tougher den you lots!"
"Drink ta my debts."
Drunken gibberish.
The dwarves proved that with quality weapons and armour, as well as a few beers, they could be even more dangerous than the monsters he'd fought. Which begged the question: Why were they wearing them? They were deep in their base, weren't expecting any attacks, and were supposed to be working. Having a side weapon on hand was one thing, but having battlefield weapons and wearing their armour was weird. The Overlord might've worn his all the time, but he was the exception to the rule. He liked the feel of it, he was in the middle of a war, he was a prime target, and it wasn't like all his forces wore their armour all the time. It had to be the blasted video game logic.
Anyway, they struck the dwarves down, slaughtered them, and stained the floor with their blood. Once that was done they proceeded to destroy the machines and burn their designs. While ripping apart one of the machines in there, they managed to uncover a health upgrade. With a little luck, the sight of really short elves carrying it off wouldn't raise any eyebrows. Or maybe they'd just go unseen. Rather than take the chance, he had them drop it and return to him before they reached the conjunction room.
The room also had a couple of those closets, which they promptly looted. They then tried breaking the giant gears & stuff, but that was to little avail. Even throttling a minion didn't work. So they just dumped the tools and stuff in there to jam it up before continuing on their way.
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The other hallway was mostly empty, save for a few closets, some decorative stuff, and a few scattered dwarves. All of which were quickly destroyed.
The room at the end held three mine entrances, some dwarves, a few closets, a ramp that descended down, and at the bottom was a fiery floor and a machine that looked to be the source of the electricity. Taking that thing out had to disable the fences.
They attacked the nearest dwarf, who managed to yell "Dee elves are attackin'!" before he was killed. The next thing they knew, a bomb was thrown down at them. They tried getting out of the way before it blew, but a bunch of minions died as they failed to escape the blast.
BOOM!
Looking up, the Overlord spotted two dwarves on a ledge that he failed to spot when he first came into the room. One had bombs, the other held a crossbow. Said crossbow was aimed right at the Overlord's head, and it hit its mark. His helmet deflected the bolt, but it still hit hard. But the Overlord was undeterred. He sent his minions to clear the room as he prepared to attack the two up high.
They were up out of reach of everything but his spells. He could've tried using his lightning again, but he knew these guys were tough, so he instead he decided to try the Transmogrify spell. The spells hit, and they were both turned into sheep. The sheep then fell off the ledge and hit the floor face-first, breaking their necks and killing them instantly.
He then turned his attention back to the ones on the ground. The room was starting to fill up with drunken dwarf warriors. He needed to act fast and take them out. They were too strong to risk their numbers increasing. So he rushed over to collapse the mine entrances. But he was met with resistance as one blocked his path and attacked him. And this one was a ferocious fighter. He was practically in a blood rage and had the Overlord on the defensive. The Overlord deflected one strike with enough force to throw him slightly off balance, then tried to counterattack with an overhead strike that would've cleaved his skull in two, but he managed to block it. But without missing a beat, the Overlord delivered a mighty kick to the jaw, knocking him down and stunning him. The Overlord then finished up with a thrust into the dwarf's skull.
During that fight, more dwarves came, and their numbers had increased. But the Overlord now had time to sweep his minions in and cast a couple spells, which turned the tides of battle. As soon as he had an opening, he swept a few minions to the mine entrances, and one by one they tore them down.
All the dwarves in that room were soon slain, but the Overlord wasn't done in there yet. He made his way down to the fiery floor and crossed over part of it to reach the electrical machine, and then proceeded to smash it into scrap metal. As he smashed its case and ripped out its inner workings, something inside caught his eye. He tore the machine wide open to get a better look.
"Is that a spell stone?"
"What?"
"Are you serious?"
The Overlord had his Reds pick it up and carry it out. And he had the rest raid the closets before following them.
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On the way back out, they picked up the health upgrade and carried it and the spell stone back to the Waypoint Gate. They managed to get them past the dwarves without raising an alarm. His Health upgrade came first, and given how tough these drunken dwarves were, he was gonna need it.
"Ooo, the Thunderstorm Spell. This spell lets you summon a giant storm, with torrential rain, hurricane winds, and lightning coming down everywhere. With it you can devastate entire armies," said Gnarl.
Sounded impressive, but as the Overlord imagined what it would be like, he quickly noticed a glaring flaw.
"Wouldn't I get caught in that storm too if I used it?"
"Yes you would. I wouldn't recommend using it without a sturdy shelter nearby. Also it's not the most precise spell, so it's best to only use it against large numbers of foes."
"So it's perfect for when the castle's under attack, but almost completely detrimental anywhere else."
"That is correct, Sire."
"You already got a whole arsenal of direct combat spells anyway. By this point I'd say you're a lot better off with the storm," said Rollick.
"I guess you're right there."
The Overlord then replenished his horde and pressed onward.
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With the electric fences down, the Overlord had a few paths to choose from, and no idea where they led. He didn't pause to figure it out and instead just picked one and went down it.
The path he chose had a bunch of dwarves scattered throughout it, but one by one he struck them all down.
At the end of the path, there was a doorway that revealed a huge underground area. In it were huts, buildings, outdoor bars, and plenty of dwarves all over. But only a few of those dwarves were geared up for combat. Most were women, some were men that were unarmed, unarmoured, and too drunk to stand, and there were a couple children in there as well.
"This is a dwarf village, sire. These ones aren't warriors, they're just commoners. Too weak to pose any threat to you."
"Sounds like the perfect place to raid," said the Overlord. "Make room in the dungeon."
A Waypoint Gate emerged near him, and his forces descended on the unsuspecting village. They struck down every man in their path, and the whole place erupted into a panic. The warriors and drunken men tried stepping up to stop them, but were all cut down almost instantly. The women saw that and realized they had no way to win, and fighting back would only get them killed. Instead they chose to flee.
There were only two ways out of the village. One was through the attackers, the other was through a door on the other end of the village, which led to were their best warriors trained, and could easily prove to be their salvation. But that door was locked at the moment, and it would take too long to open it. So the only thing they could do was scream, run into their homes, and lock their doors.
Once the open area was cleared of enemies, they began looting it. There were kegs of beer and a few well carved dragon statues, and it didn't take long to get them to the waypoint gate.
Up next were the houses. The Overlord was able to just walk up to each of them, smash the door in, and send his minions in. They ransacked the place, killed the men inside, stole everything of value, and captured the women. And some of the minions would tear the dwarf girls' clothes off, just for the fun of it. One minion actually carried a nude dwarf girl out in the 69 position. She was upside down, and was being forced to suck his dick while his tongue explored her vagina, all the way back to the waypoint gate. (At which point he discovered the meaning of blue balls.)
About a quarter of the way through the houses, a dwarf in a robot came out to defend his home and everyone in it. The machine had tank treads, a bulldozer's scoop in front, a huge mallet for one arm, and a drill for the other. Not bad, but it was up against an army of minions that could outflank it with ease.
"C'mon ya little bastards! Time to die!"
They evaded its charge, circled around, and hammered away on it. It couldn't hold out long them, and soon showed signs of exploding. The Overlord called back his minions before it blew.
Then it was back to raiding the village. The Overlord didn't miss a single house, didn't spare a single girl, and didn't miss a single coin. About halfway through, another dwarf in a machine came out. This one was surrounded by long spinning blades capable of mowing down even heavily armoured foes like grass, and the driver was protected by an armoured dome. He charged at the invading 'elves', confident that he could slaughter most of them in a single pass, and they could do nothing to him.
"I'll turn yas ta mincemeat!"
Then the blade hit a rock and stopped so sharply that the machinery broke and caught on fire. The dwarf inside cried out as he was burned alive, trapped in his own mechanical weapon.
"Well, that wasn't so hard."
"Did he just win by doing nothing?"
"That was pathetic."
The Overlord paused as he realized that didn't come through the helmet, turned, and saw a dwarf girl who had nearly slipped by them using the distraction caused by the machine. She froze up as she realized she had given herself away.
"Uh, it's that thing over there, right?"
Two minions picked her up and carried her off.
"I would've walked, ya know!" she called out as she was carried off.
About 3 quarters of the way through the village, a last machine appeared. It was over twice as long as the rest, was heavily armoured, had long spikes, a dome to protect the driver, and was armed with a giant sword, halberd, spinning blades on the back, and a flamethrower.
"I'll send ya ta hell!"
It advanced towards them, and when the driver thought he was in range, he unleashed its flamethrower. But as it turned out, the range on that flamethrower was barely even five feet. It wasn't even close to the minions. The driver noticed this and tried to rectify it by moving closer, but he was too slow. They were able to easily avoid it until its fuel ran out, less than a minute later.
"Dammit all!"
The driver then slammed his head down in frustration. He had worked tirelessly for years to create that weapon. He firmly believed it was going to make him a legend. But instead, it was useless. Throwing a torch would've been more effective. But he couldn't just give up. He switched to his other weapons and went on the attack.
"C'mon ya wee blighters! Have some axe!"
The Overlord made sure his minions kept their distance from its weapons, and tried to disarm it whenever they had an opening. At one point the giant halberd was about to strike the Overlord, but he stepped in closer to avoid the blade and block it. Then he pit his strength against the machine, and managed to bend back the joint that held the halberd. The dwarf then pulled it back for another strike. But instead he did a wild swing with his sword. Then he stopped.
A second later, the Overlord realized what happened. With the joint holding halberd bent back, it went back further than expected, and it ended up piercing through the protective dome and killing the driver. That last swing was pure reflex.
The Overlord then raided the rest of the houses, and then did a quick second sweep in case he missed anyone who was hiding. And as luck would have it, he did find two more girls that were hiding. He decided to turn them both into witnesses against the elves. A bit of Dark Manipulation, and they were happy to comply.
And with that, he was finished raiding the village, his dungeon was so crammed full of female prisoners that some had to be chained up outside the cells, and he was ready to continue.
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The next path took him down a hallway, and then up a long flight of stairs. The room they emerged in was fit for royalty. It was lavishly decorated with fancy curtains, rugs, paintings, gold statues, candle holders, and furniture.
"You must be the Overlord, Valgaav Gromgard, and his minion forces."
A girl stepped into view. She looked to be a beautiful human girl in her teens, was small and skinny, and looked a lot like Asia from High School DXD, but with light brown hair, and clear confidence. She wore a long black gown, a tiara, plenty of jewellery, and held a staff with a large orb on it.
"I am the dwarf princess, Esmeralda. And these, are my minions."
She raised her hand and a small army of those crazy green creatures rushed to her side.
"You can command those things like I command the minions."
"What? That's impossible! Even the Black Barron couldn't command them," said Gnarl.
"I call them gremlins. They're actually a lot smarter than they act. Smarter than your minions will ever be. In fact, they're smart enough to come up with all those wondrous machines you've seen on your way here. Magnificent, aren't they?"
"Most impressive. But I am a little confused. How can you be the dwarf princess when you're not a dwarf?"
She became infuriated.
"I'm half dwarf, you JEEEEERK!"
Clearly this wasn't the first time someone had said that, and it really starting to get to her. She then went on the attack. She sent her gremlins in to attack, and then launched fireballs at him from her staff. He countered by placing his minions on a guard marker, then using the shield spell.
Valgaav's clash against her was like fighting another Overlord. Her magic included fireballs, a flamethrower, hurricane winds, a shield, and a powerful boost to her gremlins. She was also able to keep some of the gremlins on guard markers and direct the others to attack. But despite that, Valgaav clearly had the edge in raw power. He was much bigger and stronger than she was, his spells were more powerful, and his minions easily outdid her gremlins in all aspects. They were stronger, tougher, deadlier, better armed, and were much better fighters.
Esmeralda soon realized that she was getting completely crushed, so she called in other gremlins. These ones were riding strange machines. After a second he noticed that they were like the 'contraption of doom' that Jinx used to attack the castle. Only much smaller, had a spike sticking out in front, and instead of pumpkins, they were loaded with an assortment of mostly random junk, including rocks, jars, pots, chunks of wood, cans of pointy stuff, and more rocks.
The Overlord smiled. These things looked like they'd be fun to fight and smash up.
...
Or he could just let the Reds set those well oiled machines ablaze before they even got near him.
The gremlins cried out as they were burned alive. And the Overlord let out a grunt in disappointment.
The dwarf princess turned and ran to another room. The Overlord followed her and was ambushed as he walked in. Gremlins dropped from above and attacked from the sides, all trying to stab through the narrow gaps in his armour. As he fought and shook them off, more of those machines came in to attack him. He used the gremlins on him to block their projectile attacks, then turned and charged into one, crushing a couple gremlins against it as he knocked it over.
Now free of them, the Overlord used his halberd to strike down the next machine and called his minions over. They slaughtered the gremlins, and soon the path was clear.
With her forces crushed, an unstoppable force standing before her, no way to escape, and her life hanging in the balance, the dwarf princess, decided to strip naked. She dropped her staff, and made her gown fall to the floor, revealing her slender naked form, with smooth skin, small but perky breasts, and hairless vagina. Then she stepped out of her gown, deliberately raising her leg as much as possible to spread her noticeably moist vagina for him. And she did so without losing her look of confidence.
"I surrender," she said with a smile. "The gold storage is in that vault. I'll tell you the combination after you take me prisoner."
As the minions carried her off, she said "It's 3-1-4-6!"
What she said proved true. They got the vault open, and inside was several giant bags of gold. He had the minions carry them off, and then they looted the rest of the place before heading back.
To the Overlord's surprise, not only was there a gremlin hive in there, but there was also a lot of stuff that once belonged to the Black Baron. And stuff that related to the Black Baron. Even things that hadn't been around for over twenty years. Then he found stuff relating to himself. The Overlord didn't know who Princess Esmeralda really was, but he knew he'd have to keep an eye on her.
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The girls back at the castle prepared to intercept the latest prisoner as she came through. They weren't surprised to see that she was naked, but they were a little thrown off by her calm confidence.
"Are you girls sex slaves of the Overlord?" she asked.
"Yes we are. We're also in charge of securing the prisoners."
"Can you tell me about him?"
They pulled a sword out on her.
"Who are you, and what are you up to?"
She smiled.
"I am Esmeralda, the princess of the dwarves. I'm also a lifelong fan of the Black Baron. Seeing as this Overlord Valgaav has become his successor, both truly and spiritually, I want to know everything about him. And honestly, if it was possible, I would've joined him at the start. So tell me: Is he good in bed?"
"He already has a giant harem, and he can outfuck all of us in one go. The gods can't compete with his dick."
Esmeralda became giddy.
"In that case, just chain me to his bed!"
"Wait, that fight you just had with him. You were just testing him out, weren't you?"
"Yes. I wanted to make sure his might was real. He did not disappoint."
"Alright, let's just tie her up and get her to the harem."
"Why the harem?"
"It's not like there's room for her in the dungeon at this point."
"The whole castle's getting overcrowded at this point."
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The next path the Overlord went down led to the warriors' barracks. The whole place was lively, and there was an army of drunken dwarf warriors. More than enough to curb stop his forces.
"Don't try fighting these guys, master. They'll have your minions roasting on a spit in moments."
"Agreed. It'll be best if I just seal this path off so they can't interfere."
"Good thinking lord. But to do that you'll to turn a wheel on their side of the door, before turning the one on your side. And then you'll have to active the lock before they start opening it again. So you'll have to be sneaky about it."
The Overlord had his stealthy Greens go in to handle it. They remained invisible until they were right at the wheel, and nobody noticed them turning it. Once they were about three quarters of the way done, he had other minions get to work on the other wheel.
"Hey! HEY! Elves are closin da doors!"
The second the Greens were done, he called them back. The dwarves didn't have enough time to properly act, but a couple were fast enough to get through the doors before they closed. And they were killed for it. Then the Overlord activated the locks, which brought down giant latches and secured the doors.
"Mission accomplished. By the time they get through there, we'll be long gone."
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Meanwhile in Aragon...
"Your majesty! I bring an urgent message from the Overlord."
"Perfect. Bring it here," said King Jonathan Armon the 4th. "Let's see... Wait, these must be the enemy's battle plans. The Overlord must've uncovered them. General! These are for you. Now you know exactly what to expect."
The general read through them.
"Wait, there's several plans of attack here. The Overlord must have grabbed all the plans they came up with, but there's no indication as to which one they settled on."
"Well, I suggest you figure it out quick. There'll be no excuses for failure."
"Of course. I'll figure it out."
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A short while later, the general was in the war room with his men. All the plans were spread out, and they were discussing which ones were the most likely. They examined each one closely, worked out any and all serious potential flaws, and eliminated one after another. Before long they narrowed it down to several standard but effective battlefield strategies, and a few that really stood out.
One plan was to devastate Greenvale, wipe out most of the locals, and rig the town and castle with explosive traps, and add in poisons, diseases, and whatever else they can get a hold of. Then they would launch a series of hit & run raids on the towns and villages in Aragon, and frame Greenvale for their actions. Aragon would be driven to war, and their main forces would invade and occupy Meadowsweet and Castle Gromgard, only to get blown up and poisoned. The weakened survivors would then be hunted down, and then the allied forces would lay siege to Aragon using their flesh golems, trained warriors, weapons of war, and plant monsters. With their main forces already drastically reduced, Aragon Kingdom wouldn't stand a chance.
The problem with that one, is that with Overlord Valgaav now in charge, Greenvale was stronger than ever, and conquering it would no longer be a small feat. That one had to be an older plan, made before the Overlord took over.
The second plan was for bands of elves, dwarves and monsters to launch raids on villages and towns near the edge of Aragon borders, forcing their military to go there and take action. While the bulk of the Aragon forces were away, the main allied forces would lay siege to the capital. Aragon's army would then rush over, and be completely worn out upon arrival. Then the secondary forces would come in, surround them, and slaughter them with ease.
Another plan was to take over their largest gold mine using a small force, dig in, and secretly bring in reinforcements. Aragon's army would then rush over, and be caught off guard by a force much stronger than expected. Once the army was weakened the main allied forces would attack the capital while it was undefended.
Their enemies must've chosen one of the latter two. After thinking about it, they concluded that the raids on villages was the more likely scenario.
"This is gong to be tough. Those allied bands aren't going to let up on the civilians until the main army comes, and their main forces aren't going to make their move until they have their opening. We can't sacrifice that many civilian lives, but if we don't, we'll get wiped out."
"I think we can work around that. Wesley, did you figure out who the local rebels are?"
"I have several suspected groups and locations that are by all means worth fully investigating. A couple already look promising. The problem is, if they really do have a monster army hidden away, then we'll need our own army to back up the investigation. Anything short of that will just be suicidal. And if we get the wrong place, they could use that as the distraction instead of the raids."
"Shit."
"Wait, can't we just send in some spies to handle the investigations quietly?"
"We don't have any. The king hates spies and assassins more than anything, and he doesn't allow them anywhere in Aragon."
"You're right. This is going to be tough."
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The Overlord went down the next path, and soon found a hidden door that was left open. He decided to see where it went.
He was expecting the path to lead to another room full of loot, but it actually led to something even better. A clear strategical advantage. He came out high up, in a place that offered him a clear view of what was coming next. Before him was an arena where the dwarves trained for combat, tested weapons, and put on shows.
"I bet if you had continued without taking that secret path, you would've been surrounded and attacked from all sides."
"True. But now I can traverse the place quietly, and destroy everything here that they can use against me. And they won't know until it's too late."
There were mine entrances on the top row, and in the corridor behind the stands. He smashed them all without anyone noticing.
While in the corridor, he stopped when he spotted a group of dwarves wandering around.
"Hold on Master. If they see you, they'll alert the others, and you'll be overrun."
This was a bit of a conundrum. If they saw him or the minions, they'd alert the others. If the minions attacked, they'd alert the others. And if he tried to leave this spot and move on, they'd have a bunch of mine entrances to use against him. It was possible to have the minions sneak around, just out of sight of the dwarves, smash one of the mine entrances, hide before they were spotted, and slowly repeat the process until they were all destroyed. But such a tactic would require nearly flawless timing, high levels of coordination, a good deal of patience, and it could turn bad in an instant.
On the other hand...
"Oy! Dere's gonna be a drinkin' contest in dee arena in a minute," said the Overlord, while trying to sound as much like a dwarf as possible.
Most of the dwarves took off running.
"Free ta enter, prize money if ya win!"
The remaining dwarves took off as well.
"There's no way it's that easy," one of the girls said in sheer disbelief.
The Overlord was then able to go around, smashing all the mine entrances unopposed. Then he traversed the area unopposed. He did encounter a few more groups of dwarves, but telling them the same lie was enough to send them running to the arena. And as more and more dwarves showed up there expecting a drinking contest, it actually erased any doubts that were forming. One of them even said he recently overheard Widget talk about holding more drinking contests to improve morale. Clearly one was indeed about to be held there, they just had to wait a moment for the beer to arrive.
The Overlord quickly traversed the area, destroying security measures, weapons, mine entrances, and the gates that led in and out of the arena. Soon they were trapped in there with him. And the power boosts they got from being drunk was now wearing off.
It was time to make his entrance and slaughter those idiot dwarves.
.
There was only one way in or out of the arena still in tact. The one the Overlord was going to use. And as luck would have it, they had it set up to make grand entrances, so he may as well make use of that.
Overlord Valgaav sent a few minions in to play the musical instruments and activate a light to herald his arrival. Despite how they acted, they proved to be shockingly capable with them, and they produced a musical score that suited him quite well. (Although somehow their motions didn't match the music they produced.) Then he stepped out with the light at his back, making it hard to see more than just his silhouette, and cast his Chain Lightning spell, which swiftly arced from one point to another, creating a magnificent display that could make WWE jealous. And then he walked down the ramp with his minions following behind him.
The dwarves were awestruck, and everybody watching from the castle commented that they wished they could've seen it from the other side.
"Uh, are you 'ere fur da drinkin' contest?" asked the first dwarf who snapped out of it.
"I'll drink the tears of your ghosts after I've killed you."
"Well shit," he said, realizing they were under attack.
The dwarves raised their weapons and prepared for battle. All except the one coward in the back, who decided to check if anyone was looking, before tiptoeing away and trying to escape unnoticed.
The Overlord sent the minions charging in to attack. They hit the dwarves like a wave, knocking over the ones in front, and they wasted no time trying to kill them. But the other dwarves tried to counter by circling around to attack them from the sides.
"What's with ya wretched elves?!"
"Wait, dese ain't elves!"
"Dey's wearin' masks!"
The Overlord's cover may have been blow with this lot, but as long as none of them made it out alive, it wouldn't matter.
As the dwarves and minions fought, the Overlord singled one out and attacked with his polaxe. He knocked his axe out of the way and hammered away at him, breaking bones, leaving huge gashes and spraying blood. Once he was down it was on to the next. Limbs were severed, heads were split, blood was spayed, and dwarves were struck by lightning and turned into sheep.
Their efforts to outflank the minions proved fruitless. It wasn't a bad idea, and some of the minions were struck down in the fight, but their numbers and the Overlord's rampage proved too much for them, and the Blues resurrected their fallen brothers before it was too late. Once it was done he'd claimed a perfect victory with no losses and minimal injuries.
The girls watching from the castle were so impressed by that display that they wanted to rush down there to get on his dick.
The one remaining dwarf was still struggling to escape through the sealed exit when the Overlord came up behind him. He instinctively noticed the danger right behind him and nervously turned around. His blood went cold at the sight of certain death in the form of an unknown army of goblin-like creatures disguised as elves and a monster of a man in horrifying armour.
"Uh, I give up? Hu-ugh!"
He dropped dead as he was skewered by spears.
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The arena turned out to have a stash of prizes for winning competitors. They had a hard time breaking in to get to it, but they succeeded and made off with another pile of loot.
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Then it was onward and downward to the next area. They broke through the sealed exit that the cowardly dwarf was trying to escape through, and then it was down a flight of stairs to the next area.
The room they entered had a blood pit and a mana pit, and a Waypoint gate appeared as they entered. And it was right next to a much larger room with huge moving gears and other machinery. And in there was the dwarf leader Widget, and Lady Gerda.
"And look my love. I have finally completed my ultimate mechanical masterpiece. Just a few tests and it'll be ready for battle."
"That's wonderful Widget. Look, it seems like there's something going on. I'm gonna go check it out, then I'll be back. You can give me a full demonstration later."
"Of course."
Gerda left and Widget got into a 25 foot tall machine that was clearly a weapon of war and started it up. It was a huge steampunk mech, that stood on two legs with bird-like feet, had giant engines with exhaust pipes on its back, a cage-like cockpit for the pilot, and was armed with a giant electrified drill on its left arm, a giant crab-like claw with a flamethrower & a large barrel full of fuel on its right arm, and it was surrounded by electrical energy. And with Widget in there, his giant beard made it look like the machine had a long moustache.
As the Overlord got ready for his next battle, Widget tested out his mech. It was clearly powerful, and much faster than it looked, but its weapons were imprecise and it had trouble stopping & turning.
"Gah! This thing still needs tweaking," said Widget. Then he turned as he noticed the Overlord entering the room. "But it's more than enough to wipe out a bunch of wretches trying to sneak in here and mess with my nubblies!"
The Overlord didn't know what this machine could really do, so he decided to test it with a few probing attacks while keeping his distance. He cast a few spells, none of which affected it, and sent in a couple minions who were electrocuted and instantly killed when they attacked it.
"Sire, you might want to get out of there. At least until you've figured out a way to fight that thing."
"I've already figured it out. The energy surrounding it can absorb lightning to make it stronger, electrifies anyone who attacks it directly, weakens fire, and makes it immune to spells. But defensively that's all its got."
"That's literally your entire arsenal!"
"Send me a ballista."
They all paused for an instant to take in his sheer brilliance.
"We're on it master."
"Wait, we actually don't have one prepped, so it might take a couple minutes."
"Until then I'll be smashing up that pile of junk."
"Wait, what?"
"Are you insane?"
"If I wasn't this would probably never work," the Overlord said as he charged in.
Only the Reds would have any effect on the mech, so that's what he brought, along with a few Blues to revive them. But the strategy he'd come up with relied far more on the machinery in the room.
Widget walked right up and used his flamethrower, easily engulfing most of the minions in its flames. But seeing as they were Reds, the fire did nothing to them. And they retaliated with a massive barrage of fireballs.
"Insolent curs! It'll take more than that to- Ah! My beard! I'll kill ya for that!"
He then charged wildly. This was what the Overlord was hoping for. He fled to near a large machine and ducked out of the way as Widget attacked with his drill. The Overlord successfully avoided it, and Widget's drill instead struck the machine and sunk deep into it. The machine then exploded, knocking Widget back and taking out a chunk of his health bar.
The infuriated Widget then plunged his drill into the ground, creating cracks over the area they were standing on. The Overlord realized something was about to happen, so he got out of there while commanding his minions to do the same.
The ground erupted. The Overlord and the minions who hadn't escaped were sent flying. The Overlord took some damage, but got back up afterwards, but the minions were sent much further and died on the landings. He'd have to react quicker next time.
The destroyed ground was too difficult for the Overlord and minions to use in battle, so their battleground effectively got smaller for him. Widget however, had no trouble stomping around in there, so he now had a safe zone.
"Ya just got lucky! It won't happen again!" yelled Widget.
Widget went after them again. This time he relied on the drill, and the minions relied on keeping well out of his reach. The Overlord had them run away while throwing fireballs. Unfortunately Widget's machine was too fast to keep getting hits on, so they had to focus more on running away, but gradually they got enough hits in to chip down his health bar, which caused him to go into a rage and charge at the Overlord again.
This time the Overlord positioned himself in front of a bunch of moving chains. Widget stopped before hitting the chains and attacked with his giant claw. The Overlord narrowly evaded the attack, and the claw got tangled up in the chains. One quick tub was enough to break the chains and pull it free. But that also caused a giant gear to come crashing down on the machine, taking out another chunk of his health bar.
"AAAH! Where'd that come from?"
"Good question. Did you know that would fall on him lord?"
"Honestly no. I thought he'd just get tangled up and get stuck. And the same goes for that machine that just blew up."
The Overlord got outta there as Widget plunged the drill into the ground. They narrowly escaped the blast in time. But now the battleground was roughly half as big as it started, with only a narrow path down the middle dividing Widget's safe zones. And they'd be sitting ducks if they tried to use it.
With the battlefield shrunk down, the Overlord and minions had less room to avoid Widget's machine, making it harder to avoid it, and the effects of that were becoming apparent. Widget now had an easier time catching up to them and killing the minions. The claw was able to grab a couple at a time and cut them in half, the drill was able to turn any it hit into bloodstains, its flamethrower roasted all the Blues, its feet crushed them like rats under boulders, and the Overlord took several hits that caused him some hefty damage, but they fought on.
When Widget finally charged again, he hit the brakes before hitting the machine behind the Overlord, then turned to pursue him. It didn't work. Widget crashed claw-first into the machine, causing it to blow up.
"AAAAHH! Stop when I tell you to stop you stupid machine!"
They ran to get clear as Widget plunged his drill into the ground. Suddenly their battlefield was down to one quarter of its former size, plus a narrow crisscrossed path in the middle. And that path was shorter than the drill, so if they tried using it, Widget could wipe them out in a single pass, by running by while dragging the drill.
And now that they had almost nowhere to escape to, Widget was able to slaughter them. The minions began dying in droves. Thinking fast, the Overlord began throttling them at Widget's machine. Each one exploded in Widget's face, and soon he'd had all he could stand. But rather than a charge he ran in at a slightly slower pace, swinging wildly. The Overlord was unable to get out of the way and took a heavy hit from the drill. But he still managed to make it work, as the drill got caught in the chains.
"Not this time," said Widget. Then he moved to the side to avoid any damaging repercussions before trying to get free. And was then hit by a falling gear.
"AAH! How'd that happen?!"
(When he turned on the drill to break free, it pulled the chains and gear towards him.)
Widget's machine was seriously messed up, but somehow still functioning. He plunged the drill into the ground again, destroying the last of it, except for the narrow paths. And there was no more machinery to use against him.
"Time to withdraw."
"You won escape me!" yelled Widget, as he got in front of him.
"AH! My eyes!"
A busted piece of the machine sprayed oil into Widget's face, driving him to run wild while attacking blindly. Normally this would be advantageous for the Overlord, but the lack of room to move made it far more dangerous.
"Master! The ballista is ready! Return to the Waypoint Gate and we'll send it through."
He was already on his way.
The Overlord managed to escape the rampaging machine, and made it to where the ballista was waiting. But he was hurt, his armour was mangled, and his minion horde had few remaining. So he sent the last few into the blood pit to heal himself, then he replenished his horde and had them bring forth the ballsta.
As they got the ballista into position, Widget managed to get the oil out of his eyes, and was now looking for them.
"Where are you hiding? You didn't run away, did ya?"
The Overlord targeted the engines and fuel tanks on its back. Not easy with a moving target and a weapon that was hard to aim, but he was confident he could do it. He let loose the huge bolt, it flew, and it hit its mark.
But it seemed one shot wasn't enough. So they reloaded and prepared to fire again. After a couple near misses and hitting the wrong parts, he managed to get in three direct hits, causing it to break down and collapse.
"He's down! Time to finish him, Master!"
The Overlord just walked over. Then he fired his lightning spell, which ignited the oil and blew up the machine. The Overlord then turned and walked away in victory.
"I'm not done yet!"
The Overlord turned to see Widget emerge from the flaming wreckage with a second full health bar. He was wearing armour of legendary quality, brandished a broadsword that was enchanted to cleave through even steel, held a bottle of booze to power himself up, had a bottle with a dwarven concoction made to be used in a spell that inflicts paralysis or sleep on foes, and was sporting barely a fraction of his beard.
"Let's settle this man to man!"
A one-on-one fight behind him and the Overlord could potentially go either way, and make for a grand final showdown.
But Valgaav wasn't a noble hero, nor a fool. He was an evil overlord who won any means necessary. So he just sent in his entire minion horde to get him all at once, while also hitting him with the Life Drain spell. Within moments he was down, and the Overlord was moving in for the killing blow.
"You won't... get away with this... Valgaav."
"I already have."
The Overlord then chopped his head off.
.
With victory in hand, they scattered elf body parts and broken elf weapons around, before making their escape via the Waypoint Gate. Then Gerda showed up with a few dwarves.
"Widget! Did you really have to trash this place just to test that stupid thing out?!" yelled Gerda. "Wait. What the hell happened here?"
They rushed over to the burning wreckage and Widget's corpse.
"Widget! Oh my Widget! What have they done to you?"
Then she screamed with tears in her eyes.
"I just found this," a dwarf said while holding up half an elf head.
"They're behind this? That stupid fucking scheming streak of dog vomit! Well, if Grenville and his elf fags want a war with us, then we'll give him one!"
.
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AN: That took a lot longer than I'd hoped. I hit serious writer's block and other problems working on this one, but now there's only 1 chapter left.