Disclaimer: I don't own Overlord or Dungeons & Dragons
The Greater Apotheosis of Ainz Ooal Gown
Book : Skelkor War
Chapter 2: Friendly Scouting
Beta:
Drau stood with Taana at the entrance to one of the many canyons that split off from the main pass in which their army had set up their base camp. A short distance away stood fourteen Soul Eaters, thirteen with riders and the last waiting for Taana. This was the small scout force that the Shadar-kai was to command and was tasked with ascertaining if there was a path through the river valleys that cut through the mountains around their position which would allow them to move an army towards the coast of the Dragon Sea without having to march through Skelkor's central plain.
"Thanks Drau for trusting me with a command." Taana told her with a grin.
Drau frowned.
"Why wouldn't I. I trust you with my life."
"Yeah," The young Wizard said rubbing the back of neck nervously. "But I know my way in a fight. But commanding? It's my first time."
"That's true for every one of us." Drau told the younger woman with a light squeeze to her shoulder. "And I trust the others. So of course I trust you too."
"The others are-"
"Just as good as you are." Drau insisted. "Have faith in yourself."
Taana took in a deep breath at that.
"I will." She said after having steadied herself. "I won't fail this mission. I swear it."
"Just come back safe." Drau told her seriously. "That's all that matters."
Taana nodded and opened her arms for a hug, one that Drau returned earnestly. As they pulled apart, she offered her younger sister one last word of encouragement.
"You can do this."
"Thanks." Taana said as a nod before reluctantly turning and began walking over to her men.
Drau stood there watching as Taana mounted up and with a signal to her platoon begin to ride away with the scouts in tow. She stayed there until they entire group had disappeared from even her impressive Draconic vision before she finally turned and returned to her duties. As much as she wanted to babysit Taana through her first command, she had a war to plan for.
A couple days into their mission, Taana and her platoon of scouts had covered impressive ground. Their undead Soul Eater mounts' tirelessness and sheer speed allowing them to travel twice, perhaps thrice, as much distance as conventional horses. Not that Taana had much experience with horses but some of her men had, and she trusted their estimates.
They had yet to set out for the day and were still at their camp from the night before in one of the larger river valleys carved by the many glacier fed rivers and streams that were all over the mountains of Southern Skelkor. So far the valley had been wide enough to allow an army through like they'd hoped and if their maps were correct that would hold true all the way through till they made it out of the mountains altogether.
Maybe I should split off a portion of my men to try and scout out a route to Bellakh while the rest of us map one to Arangyn like Drau ordered? The Shadar-kai thought to herself as she looked at a smaller canyon that forked off from the one they were moving through and headed south.
She was still contemplating the merits of doing so when her communicator beeped to signal an incoming call. Pulling out the the small palm sized rectangular device from one of her pouches, she saw that it was from her adjutant who had volunteered to go scout ahead of the main force while the rest of them rested.
"Arche, what is it?" Taana asked the Momon on the other end of the visual connection created by her communicator.
"We have a problem, my Lady." The undead creature in the guise of a blue eyed blonde whose hair was cut to a length that barely reached her shoulders and a face that possessed delicate features, said. Her outfit of a loose robe with sturdy pieces of leather armor strapped atop it for some protection, was quite similar to Tanna's own. Which was fitting since they were both Wizards.
"It appears that someone is looking for us."
At this her fellow Wizard turned her communicator towards the distance. The first thing Taana noted was that it looked down into a valley meaning that Arche had climbed, or more likely levitated or flew, up the mountain side for some reason. The next thing the Shadar-kai noticed however had her sucking in a breath in shock.
"Is that an Adult Blue Dragon?" Taana asked worriedly as she looked at the unmistakable form of a huge blue scaled Dragon with a large, prominent horn protruding from its head and its large, frilled ears.
"Unfortunately," Arche told her as she turned the communicator back towards herself, a frown marring her beautiful face.
"Based on your location, can we go around it?" Taana asked. While they were sufficiently armed to take on even the formidable foe ahead of them, they were ostensibly a scout force and the Shadar-kai wished to avoid a fight if she could help it. That it being a Blue Dragon made it immune to Lightning which was her magical specialty and thus put them at a disadvantage just reinforced this line of thinking.
"Yes," Arche informed her and prompted a sigh of relief form Taana. "But I've overhead it talking to its minions. It's actively searching the valleys for signs of our army. If that's the case, I don't know if we can avoid it for long. Perhaps we should turn back?"
Taana considered the matter. On one hand, turning back would be the safe option but it would mean that they'd failed their mission. On the other, continuing would be risky but it was not like they'd been caught yet or anything. They could avoid a fight altogether if they were lucky.
And even if it comes to that… Taana glanced at the four missile launchers that were strapped to the backs of an equal number of their Soul Eaters. We have a chance. That being the case-
"We'll continue for now." Taana decided. "But we'll comms back to base camp what we've found and see what they have to say."
Arche didn't look pleased by her decision but she nodded. "As you command, my Lady. I'll be back in a couple hours."
"Stay safe." Taana told her and cut the visual link.
As she did, she toggled her communicator to its mapping function and double checking Arche's position she began plotting alterations to their path in such a way as to hopefully avoid their Draconic pursuer. Even as she did though, she couldn't stop her mind from worrying over a single thought.
I hope I made the right call.
Three days after first sighting their Draconic hunter, Arche found herself hiding atop a rocky ledge with a half dozen of her subordinates, two of which were equipped with David-class anti-monster missiles and looking down to see the Blue Dragon that had been tracking their scout force for the past few days.
"My Lady," Arche asked Lady Taana over her communicator. "Are you sure you want us to do this?"
"Relax, Arche." Lord Ainz's Chosen told her, trying to sound reassuring. "This is a good plan. Even Drau and the others back at base camp said so. Besides with the Dragon having cut off our retreat, we only have two options left. Either we keep running from it or we fight. And as the poll of the men last night said, the majority prefer to fight."
Arche frowned as she recalled the near unanimous raising of hands around last night's campfire for the option of taking the fight to the enemy. It galled her to see so many of her men were such reckless fools.
"Very well. But I would like to register my concern."
"Noted." Lady Taana said with a nod. "Have faith, Arche. We'll pull this off."
Arche replied with a nod of her own.
"Lady Arche," the nearest missile trooper, a Human, said in a whisper as he nudged her gently. "The target is in range."
Glancing at the Blue Dragon, Arche confirmed that he was correct before turning to Lady Taana's image on her communicator meaningfully.
"It's in range over on my end too." Lady Taana told her with a confident grin. "Fire on three."
Arche nodded as raised three fingers of her hand nearest to the soldiers manning the missiles to indicate a countdown, receiving acknowledging nods in return.
"Three." The Shadar-kai said and the Momon Wizard dropped the first finger.
The two soldiers adjusted their weapons, lining the missile up with the bulk of the Dragon flying through the canyon below them.
"Two." Lady Taana said and Arche dropped a finger as her troops sucked in steadying breaths.
"One. Fire!" Arche dropped the last raised finger and closed her fist,
Reacting with all the professionalism drilled into them by their time training on Felmid, the men fired.
The shots were on target and caught the Dragon seeming completely by surprise. He was thus reeling as the deadly missiles hit him dead on, ripping large chunks out of its flesh. One lucky shot had even blown off its left wing entirely and it plummeted to the ground below, crashing the throng of Human and Dragonborn slaves it had brought with it. It was however not dead.
"Reload and fire a second volley!" Lady Taana shouted over the comms. "Hurry before the Dragon recovers."
Arche's men were already hurrying to do just that but the Momon could tell they would be too late. Already she could see the Dragon casting some spell. The academic part of Arche's mind identified it as a modified version of the Call Lightning Storm spell that wrapped the conjured storm around its caster as a form of armor. Effective armor as well as bolts of electricity from the storm intercepted all of the second volley of Davids, causing them to explode prematurely. Some of their micro munitions still got through but not enough to cause any more than flesh wounds.
"Lady Taana, we need to retreat." Arche told the Bone Father's Chosen that she'd been ordered to obey. "With our Davids rendered ineffective by that armor-"
"I know." Lady Taana said urgently, as she waved urgently presumably at her half of their unit. "Get your men out of there now!"
Arche was pleasantly surprised that her commander, who'd she'd considered headstrong up till now, was so ready to listen to advice. That said, she didn't let the emotion hinder her efforts as she followed the other woman's example and signaled her men to begin a retreat.
It was this calm under fire that allowed her to throw up a Shell Barrier just in time to protect them all as the Blue Dragon breathed a burst of lightning right at their position, clearly having extrapolated it from the trajectories of the Davids.
"Hurry," she urged her men firmly despite her soft voice. "My spell wouldn't hold forever."
At that reminder, the men picked up whatever equipment they'd put down and ran as fast as they could manage while staying in a group as they made it towards their Soul Eater mounts. With their most effective weapons against the Dragon countered, their best course of action now was to flee.
"You think he'll give up anytime soon?" Lady Taana asked as they and the survivors of their unit huddled together in a cave whilst hiding under the protection of the updated Greater Unknowable spell that Lord Gauldoth had developed. All whilst they heard the sound of the wing beats of the by now healed Adult Blue Dragon that had been chasing them, as it searched the surrounding area.
"I do not think so, my Lady." Arche told her honestly. "We managed to hurt it gravely. Its pride will not allow it to stop hunting us until it has caught us. And a Dragon's pride is legendary."
Lady Taana sighed.
"This is all my fault. I shouldn't have tried that ambush. Thanks to that debacle we've lost more than half our men to that Dragon."
The failure of the ambush had been costly indeed. While they'd only lost two men in the event itself. It had spurred the Blue Dragon into a vengeful pursuit that had cost them another six men, leaving them with only four soldiers left.
"Perhaps." Arche allowed. "But it was sanctioned by high command. So it is not only you to blame."
"So it's Drau's fault too?"
Arche winced. That was not what she meant. She had no intention of blaming Lord Ainz's Chosen.
"What I meant, my Lady, is that not even high command, including my fellow Momons and the other members of the senior staff expected that outcome." Arche corrected herself.
Lady Taana muttered something unintelligible but sounded self-deprecating.
That won't do. We can't afford to have our commander questioning her very ability to lead right now.
"It wasn't all a loss, my Lady." Arche said as comfortingly as she could. "At least now we know to be wary of counters to our Davids."
"A small prize." The Lord's Chosen said in a soft, sad voice.
Arche found herself at a loss. She honestly did not know what else she could say or do that would cheer Lady Taana up.
"Don't worry about me, Arche." The other woman said, somehow guessing her thoughts. "I'll manage."
The Momon wasn't sure she believed her, but by this point what else could she do but have faith in her Lord's Chosen. Surely, the infinitely wise Lord Ainz had chosen this Shadar-kai for a reason.
"Ride faster!" Taana urged her men, as they pushed their Soul Eater mounts hard. "We're almost there!"
"Greater Disturbance!" Arche cast from the back of her own undead horse as she renewed the anti-magic enchantment on one of their two surviving soldiers.
A necessity as their relentless Draconic pursuer breathed a column of lightning directly at them. The enchantment being the only thing that kept them safe from its magical breath weapon.
The terrain sadly had no such protection and it was blasted apart, creating craters and sending debris flying everywhere. Thankfully, the phenomenal speed of the Soul Eaters meant they were easily able to outrun these dangerous clouds of debris and their agility allowed them to maneuver around any obstacles in their way.
"Wandering Stones is just ahead!" Taana shouted as she saw the group of massive stones that moved on their own accord in the dark night that signified the village protected by the spirit of the dead primordial Arambar was just ahead.
It had been Arche who suggested they flee here to escape their hunter. It was that or keep running until the rescue force could catch up to them. Drau had actually ordered them to do exactly that, telling her that she was detaching a force their way once they finished taking Daerr and Arangyn in a few days. She'd assured them that with a Gate spell the reinforcements would get there in no time. Taana and Arche had both decided not to risk waiting so long and that they would make a run for Wandering Stones instead, hoping that if nothing else Arambar would like in the past rise from the dead to destroy the Dragon that threatened his resting place.
"Greater Disturbance!" Arche cast for what must have been the hundredth time.
Even with mana potions, she's got to be running dry on magic soon. Taana reasoned. We better make it there fast!
"You worms will not escape me!" The Dragon chasing them roared. "You will pay for humiliating the mighty Algagos!"
"L-Lady Taana," Arche shouted desperately over the sounds of their mad flight. "I-I'm out of mana!"
Shit! I hate it when I'm right.
It seemed Algagos had heard Arche too because it chuckled and roared triumphantly. "Time to die, pathetic worms!"
Taana chanced a glance at it and saw the huge Dragon pull its neck back and take a deep breath as it prepared to unleash its lightning breath at them one final time.
Bone Father, I'm sorry I failed you. Taana prayed in apology to her god.
Why? You have done no such thing. The Supreme One replied to the Shadar-kai's shock.
She was so surprised by her god's reply to her prayer that it barely fazed her as one of the massive moving stones that gave Wandering Stones its name suddenly shot at Algagos like a missile and punched it right across the chin. The blow sent the lightning storm that the Blue Dragon had been building up shooting off target and into the sky instead.
This was however the least of its worries as the other moving stones in the area began gathering around the one that had punched it and were coalescing into a vaguely humanoid form that was the size of a mountain.
"Arambar!?" The Dragon shouted in alarm. "But I am not yet within the confines of your grave!"
The primordial said nothing, simply grabbed Algagos by the neck with one massive rocky arm and its thick crocodile-like tail by the other.
"Mercy!" Algagos begged, but Arambar had no sympathy for it and with one powerful tug he pulled the Adult Blue Dragon apart.
Tossing Algagos' remains away like so much trash, Arambar spoke in a voice that reminded one of what an ageless mountain would sound like if it could talk. "Even in death. Enemies of the primordials beware Arambar's wrath!"
With this bold declaration, the dead primordial's body broke apart once more into the moving stones, leaving nought but the remains of the defeated Dragon and the shocked onlookers as evidence that he had ever manifested.
The headman of Wandering Stones, known by the villagers as the Stonetalker, was a Dragonborn shaman named Olothon and he had quite happily granted Arche, Lady Taana and their two men room and board for the night. According to him, any friends of Lord Arambar were friends of the village. Arche didn't really approve of such an incautious way of doing things but in the face of the badly needed hospitality, she wasn't about to say anything.
Though the need for such was greatly reduced when a Gate portal had opened up in the middle of Wandering Stones a couple hours after they'd made it into town and disgorged the entire 6th Division and a whole battalion's worth of Sigurd anti-aircraft combat vehicles.
Olothon was notably less accepting of that, but had somewhat reluctantly welcomed the new arrivals too once they'd explained they were all servants of the same primordial as Lady Taana and Arche. He and the other villagers still watched them with some suspicion though, which was understandable considering they'd effectively brought an army into it out of nowhere. Arche was only mildly concerned with that however since maintaining friendly relations with the locals was the responsibility of the commander of the 6th Division. The long haired, green eyed Lakyus that was the Momon with that honor could handle it. She always did say she was adept at charming others did she not? Well it was finally time to put that boasting to the test.
"Lady Arche," one of her subordinate specters that Arche had summoned from Felmid with Lady Taana's approval to replace their unit of scouts said, drawing her out of her thoughts.
"Yes, what is it?" The Momon asked the translucent spirit surrounded by a perpetual cloud of green miasma and dressed in a long tattered but all concealing cloak.
"We have finished processing the corpse as you ordered."
"That's fast." Arche noted, blinking in surprise.
"Lord Ainz showed us his power." The specter said reverentially. "As we were working, we sensed his power and an instant later the carcass was fully processed. And this was lying among it all."
At this the spirit handed her a longbow made from bone with bolts of static electricity arcing up and down its body. Its limbs were made of vertebrae and its riser was made out what looked like the shrunken skull of the beast.
I think I know who this is for.
While Arche oversaw the processing of Algagos' corpse, Taana was taking a rest in Wandering Stones' tavern. She should probably have helping her adjutant or maybe the newly arrived 6th Division commander as she tried to make nice with the locals. But she was too tired from the days on the run and a little shaken by her god answering her prayers directly to get up the energy to do either. So here she was, seated in the village tavern having a drink and trying to relax.
"Lady Taana!" Arche shouted as she walked into the tavern, carrying a fancy bow awkwardly with her.
There goes my chance to relax. Taana thought with a groan.
"Over here, Arche." Taana said, raising her hand to catch the doll like beauty's attention.
It worked and the Momon came over, a happy smile on her face.
What's got her so happy all of a sudden. Wasn't she all upset over the men we lost when we first got into town?
Taana had been too of course, but after the lost of Master Falgrim she couldn't really see death as anything more than something that happened. Maybe if it was one of her family it would be different, but the death of anyone else, even her own men, just didn't seem all that noteworthy to her. So she'd shaken off the guilt easily enough. Besides her men were soldiers, they knew the risks of what they were doing.
"Lady Taana, this is for you." Arche said putting the bow down on the table directly in front of the Shadar-kai.
"Where did you get this?" Taana asked warily as she ran her hands over the exquisite weapon.
I forged it from that Dragon's bones. The unmistakable voice of Lord Ainz spoke into Taana's mind. Consider it my gift to you for all that you have done in my service.
The Shadar-kai Wizard's eyes flew open in surprise as she looked at the bow.
"What is its name, my Lady?" Arche asked suddenly as the stunned silence dragged on.
"Uh, I dunno." Tanna said as she struggled to regain her bearings. "Zing-Wing? Nah! That sounds too childish."
Arche's nod in agreement was confirmation enough that her first attempt at a name for her new bow was a bust.
"But I like the thought though, this is a bow with a zing after all." Taana noted with a chuckle while pointing to the static aura that surrounded the weapon. Mentally though she screamed at herself to stop talking. Unfortunately, she'd been drinking for some time now and there was a enough alcohol in her system to make such attempts futile.
"Maybe Zwing?" Arche suggested with a pained look. "It's an abbreviation and it's not quite so, uh, childish."
It's not actually that bad. Taana reasoned as best as she was able in her addled state. I can play any comments over the name as it being as a word or name from a exotic language or something.
"Sounds good to me." Taana said as she picked up the newly named Zwing. "Thanks Arche."
"It is my honor to be of service." The Momon said with a surprisingly elegant curtsy considering the minimalist skirt she was wearing.
"None of that," Taana said with a drunken grin as she pulled her adjutant into the seat across from her. "As thanks, let's have some drinks together!"
"Uh, Lady Taana, I still have-"
"It can wait!" Taana ordered. "Drink with me!"
The Momon actually eeped at that, something which Taana couldn't help but find adorable. She didn't say that though, instead choosing to wave over the barkeep and order drinks for both of them.
Taana would regret her decision to have drinks with an undead Momon the next day as she dealt with a nasty hangover while Arche remained fine as always. Though she would come to appreciate the way said adjutant would care for her while she languished in its throes. She would however make a mental note to never again go drinking with an undead. Ever.
Done!
So how did you guys like the chapter? My main goal with it was to give Taana some growth and to have her develop a friendship outside the party, did it come across well? Let me know in a review.
And yes, Taana and Arche are friends. I know I have a tendency to make almost every plausibly romantic couple an actual couple but I'm trying to refrain here. So while I think there is chemistry here, I'm keeping them as friends. I'll definitely play up the room for misunderstanding though so expect much teasing about their relationship in the future.
Well, that's it for me this chapter. Annyeong!
