Prologue: Setup
Today was the day Macks Parker would become the DM for his friends. He wanted to add a little twist to the game, making it a western. Thanks to the new edition, e5 Digital, an online version of D&D with updated rules and new mechanics. Thanks to this, Maco can make his game similar to the wild west. He takes out his phone and texts the group that everything is set up.
He goes to the bathroom to wash up. In the mirror, he had fiery red eyes, midnight blue hair and fair skin. He wore a black hoodie over a white collarless shirt, a brown Wild West logo on it with two revolvers behind it. He wore blue sweat jeans as they were the most comfortable. He also wore white socks, very comfy. He looked like a teenager, betraying his true age.
He exits out of the bathroom and heading downstairs to the living room to set up the digital table, loading in models and texture packs. He uploads a thumb drive into the table, transferring the scripts and story. He places 5 cups of honey lemon tea on the table, himself included. He sat in his chair waiting for his homies.
The sound of a fire wooshing is heard and a young olive-skinned green-haired woman comes forth from a stream of fire that dissipates quickly, not dirtying the carpeted floor. Her yellow tired eyes scan the room before taking her seat. She wore simple robes with a single belt and hood that snuggly held her sizeable chest. She pulls back her hood to reveal her elven features. Her name was E'slana Maria, a Spanish half-Elf. She consumes her beverage and slowly wakes up.
Then the sounds of heavy footsteps coming from the kitchen as a brown-furred muscle-bound 8-packed large 12-foot Minotaur came in just wearing baggy cargo pants. His bright blue perceptive eyes show his high yet humble intelligence that is rare amongst his kind, usually preferring to spend time in the gym and boasting about their muscles. He had made a grilled cheese sandwich, placing it on a large brown tissue. His horns were filled down till they were nubs as he feared he would injure someone by accident. On his back, he had a tattoo that looked like two Dorus (Greek spear) forming a coat of arms behind a Greek helmet. His name was Ameren Arcadia, a Polish Minotaur.
Another companion arrived, this time from the basement turned arcade room. A stout six-packed redheaded green-eyed 4 ft Dwarf woman comes forth. She wore an unbuttoned army jacket over her hefty bandage wrapped chest with a French army cap on top. Her body had a few healed scars, mostly around her belly and was covered in freckles. She skipped towards her seat with a beaming smile. Her name was Francesca Elojne, she was from France.
Last was already there, he took off his invisible cloak to reveal his reptilian features. His relaxed grey eyes wander around the table, waiting for the session to start. His black scales were covered by his grey cloak and underneath he was nothing as his scales covered his private parts, acting as both pants and underwear. His tail was wagging slowly from side to side. His name is Derck Hudson, a German Kobold.
The table turns on as the living room digital windows automatically go into shade mode. The table shows a map of a continent that could only be described as huge, as in supercontinent huge. Its terrain was mixed as it had a wide mountain range from north-east to south-east, vast fertile lands in the south, a dense oak forest in the west that reach the heavens, harsh winter marches in the north and its biggest and most valuable territory, the ore-rich desert in the centre called, The Dessert Ocean. Speaking of which, there were no actual oceans, instead, there were large lakes that are connected by wide rivers, allowing any seafaring race to reach much farther.
"In 0 AR (After Refuge) a great cataclysmic event shatters the original world, Heldraya, and many races were forced to flee the realm into other parts of the universe. One such realm was Karaia. This realm started out peacefully by the races as they were still stunned by their homeworld's destruction. But over time as the pain healed, old rivalries began to fester once again. Since then they had 13 different wars, 7 civil wars and 2 major wars between the Elves and Dwarfs."
Macks sets the tone on the timeline now "The year is now 682 AR, the great empires of Kardaia are in a cold war against each other. Swallowing smaller duchies and supporting their ideologies in each kingdom, daring each other to escalate. They all wish to colonized and control The Dessert Ocean to gain its underground riches and treasures, hiring companies and mercenaries to invent ways to gain an advantage." The table then displays several races.
He continues "The Oak Forests of Great Moria is predominantly held by bitter Elves but there are small communities of Gnomes, Goblins and Fairies. The Elves used them as cheap labour for maintaining the trees by watering and pouring fertilizer for the trees, while the Elves themselves pray to the forest spirits. There are 4 types of elves, the Forest Elves, the High Elves, the Dark Elves and the Alves. You know what the first 3 are but the Alves are something I created, we will get to them later." E'slana takes interest in this, she knows that Macks was great at homebrewing.
"The Elves are still upright pricks but are less united. The Forest Elves complain about the vanity and high maintenance of the High Elves while the High Elves themselves find the Forest Elves revolting for using mud as skincare and not using cutlery to eat. They both hate Dark Elves because of prejudice. They have a trade deal between them and the humans south of the large forest and speaking of humans." Macks transition the vanilla humans.
"The southern plains, called the Grazing Fields, were inhabited by Humans, Halfling and Centaurs. The humans have formed a Kingdom that thrives from the agriculture they have. They also have the best spies from the Halflings and their Heavy Mounted Knights are supported by Centaur skirmishers. They also have a small navy thanks to being on the coast of a large lake." The table shows 3D models of a blonde human on a horse in knight armour, his face looked like someone you want to punch. "This is one of the crown princes, sons of a king who have occupations that benefit the kingdom. This here is prince Duka, a boastful general whose forces primarily is just cavalry."
The table shows the prince and his knights cutting down rebels as levy men and lowborn infantry fought against rebel militia. Anything not a knight had a high chance of dying. "The wide-open fertile plains were dotted with Halflings hill farms, farms built inside hills. They are the Kingdom's biggest export and have gained influence with any race that requires it."
Macks then switches to the north "To the north of the world is the Death Marches, a hellhole separated from the outside by deep caverns filled to the brim of spider-people. The races that roam these parts are the following: Savage Orcs, Man-eating Marsch Worms, the Undead and all manner of scum. Those who go to the marches seek two things, death or fortune." Macks's face was very dark during his narration, one that even rivals necromancers.
He then smiles, startling the group. "But not all is bad here, there are many powerful forgotten weapons that have been rumoured to be able to kill gods. Massive hordes of treasures the Orc Tribes have stored. There are valuable hunting grounds everywhere. This place may be hell but damm does it five some hefty cash." He chuckles causing the group to roll their eyes, there used to this. Though the tonal shift always caught them off-guard.
Mack uses his touchscreen to bring up the eastern mountains "Last but not least is The Dragon's spine named after its resemblance to a dragon's spine, go figure. Inside the mineral-rich mountain were Dwarfs. After a skirmish between them and some goblins which ended in a truce, they had to establish a home within one of the mountain' caves. Quickly expanding into the mountain they had found deposits of gold, iron and coal. They used the last two extensively to build as many weapons as they can as they soon discover the number of trolls and monsters that lurked in the shadows." the table displays a battle between a Troll and a Dwarf who is using a two-handed axe.
The table changes to a 3D battle between 300 Dwarfs vs 20 Trolls. It was total carnage as a Troll picked up a Dwarf, ate his head and threw him at his brothers. The Dwarfs brought out 2 ballistae and fired in a volley, taking out 3 Trolls, the one extra because he was behind one of the targets. The Dwarfs continue to push but are still dying in high numbers. Then during the battle, one aspiring Dwarf by the name of Thonus from the reserve went into the battle with an interesting weapon, a musket. Taking a good shot at one of the Trolls he had a ball of lead go through the thick skull. With the Troll going down and the cracking sound coming forth from the gun, the Trolls routed. But it had cost 200 Dwarven lives.
"Soon after production of this musket have begun, with a few changes like a rifled barrel and an iron sight. Soon after they made muzzle-loaded cannons, bayonets and arrow-proof armour. Just in time too as the first Elven-Dwarf war began, a war that started between eco-terrorists and drunk midgets. After the Dwarfs had unknowingly destroyed a sacred Elven tree via cannon practice, they were subject to raiding parties and saboteurs from the Forest Elves. This caused a Dwarf outrage and they in returned burnt many Elven trees on Karaia. The forest that surrounds the mountains were spared as the Elves that lived there would help the Dwarfs with Troll problems amongst other things." Macks continued as he takes a sip of his drink. E'slana smiles in smug satisfaction, she really hated when those 'Tree-huggers' and 'High Asses' as they have always looked down on half-elves, something that helped her make a surprising lot of Dark Elf friends even though most of them are basically extreme goths.
"The Elves thought that they could outrange the Dwarfs like back in their original realm. Instead, it was the Dwarfs that had both range and firepower when fighting the Elves. As evidence of a battle between Tolan Forest and Crevice Hill near The Dragon's Spine, where 2000 Elven Forest archers vs 800 Dwarf gunners with 36-pounder cannons at around 400 yards. The Dwarfs placed themselves on the hill while the Elves were in the treetops. The Dwarfs fired a volley of cannon fire at the trees, shattering the base and bring the trees down. The Elves fall from their heights as well as their ego." The table shows the battle in full detail with voice acting.
"Load incendiary! Burn their forest!" A Dwarf officer orders as the 36-pounders are reloaded with hot incendiary. The Dwarf gunners also began to position themselves below the cannons and aimed above the Elves to account for bullet drop. The head officer, Major Krumgrom, awaits the Elves next move.
The Elves form into rows of archers, drawing arrows and aiming where the Dwarfs are. They let loose and expected a good amount of casualties, but the Dwarfs had fewer casualties as the arrows could not pierce their armour, either breaking apart or ricocheting. The Dwarfs then opened up with a hail of lead into the dense crowd of Elven archers, killing hundreds within a volley. Smoke covers the Dwarfs as they reloaded, the smell of gunpowder slowly rising in the air. The Elves meanwhile were busy trying to regain their footing and go into melee when they saw their range weapons had no effect.
The Elves had armed themselves with spears and swords as they charge uphill, only to meet another volley of lead and cannon fire. Slowly their numbers dwindle, to a measly 500. The Dwarfs saw how few were left and began to change to melee themselves, equipping steel axes, compact yet powerful war hammers and long halberds. They charge into the disorganized Elves and cut down anything that stands.
By the end of the battle, 50 Elves were captured with the rest dead while the Dwarfs still were 800 strong.
The table shows the ending of the battle, then switches back to the interface. Everyone was in awe at how both realistic and large that battle was.
Ameren spoke up "That was, bloody." He had not seen such bloodshed since watching The Outlaw King on Netflix.
E'slana spoke as she drank her tea "I, for one, am satisfied." She remembers the time in high school where the High Elves somehow managed to pull down her pants when she was singing on stage, the worst day ever.
Francesca gave her a pat on her back, her BFF had been through a lot.
Derck shrugged and enjoyed watching the battle.
Macks nodded and continued worldbuilding "Well after this battle the Elves could not afford the deaths that future battles may cause, likewise the Dwarfs were now having trouble with more Troll problems as well as finding out about the hundreds of Orc tribes nestled deep within the mountain depths. The peace deal conference also invited the Elves who lived near the Dwarfs, they were to be expelled from their kind for not helping them. The Dwarfs, however, promised them protection for their neutrality, offering both guns and beer. The Elves were then invited to the victory feast and soon everyone involved found out how very social a drunk Elf is." Macks chuckles as the table shows a scene of Dwarfs and Elves laughing together.
"Thanks to this revelation the Dwarfs have started to call them Ale-Elves which slowly turned into Alves. Thanks to the Alves newfound love for alcohol they shaved off a few centries of their lifespan, while also gaining better social skills and a more friendly attitude. These Alves also are allowed to join in on Dwarf politics when it relates to war and trade." the table shows an Elf in a winter trenchcoat shaking hands with a Dwarf in military attire in snow that was a foot deep. Behind the two was a formation of Alves wielding new lever-action carbines and sabres. "And so began the first Mountain Union."
"Do you remember the Goblins the Dwarf had a truce with? Well during the war the Goblins were just minding their own business and dealing in cautious trade with the Dwarfs. But after a misguided Elven raiding party had attacked them and killing all their children in their bloodlust the Goblins joined the Dwarfs, who happily took them in after witnessing the brutal slaughter in horror. They also joined the union and are quite diligent workers." A Goblin woman was serving drinks to two Dwarfs.
"But that's enough about the Dwarfs, now we roll our characters!" Macks brought up everyone's character sheets. The table slanted sides had touchscreens that lit up.