Flight Of Icarus Pt. 1

Inspired by the song Flight of Icarus by Iron Maiden

They first inspected the guidance rails for strength, after grinding the surface rust from them. He may have been young when he made the structure, but it was clear Grimpaw knew his metals even then. Given the ok, the rails and most of the rail support already made were stacked separately on the prep deck. With Grimpaw in charge and Poppler assisting, the Grimcrotch Warband was about to take the charr to new heights. Literally.

Centurion Grimcrotch liked to fish on his off time. He didn’t like poles, he just waded out to waist deep water and stood patiently, for hours if that’s what it took, for his prey/dinner to innocently swim by and be scooped up. On several of his trips to fish at Blackblade Lake, he noticed the slowly rusting rocket vehicle launch ramp Grimpaw had made as a young charr. The more he saw the ramp, the more ideas began swirling around in his head.

A few days ago Grimcrotch had come back from another fishing trip at the lake, gathered his warband together, and told them of his idea, then asked the asura Poppler how much he knew about rocketry. ‘I can make anything you want concerning a rocket, Centurion. Turn Grimpaw and myself loose on this project, and I can guarantee you a working one. How it’s used, however, is a different story.’

The centurion laid out his plans to the chief engineer Grimpaw and his assistant Poppler, he wanted a controllable rocket vehicle. The two engineers looked at each other at this proposal, then Grimpaw turned to Grimcrotch, ‘Yes sir, we can do it. As long as there is no hurried timeline, since this has never been done before.’ The centurion agreed, and the two engineers left to begin their project.

Grimpaw Grindgear looking out over the Blackblade Lake launch area

First thing Grimpaw decided was the way he went about doing it as a young charr was all wrong, and Poppler agreed. They drew up plans for an extended launch ramp, to be used by a wheeled cart holding the vehicle. Poppler worked on the propulsion system while Grimpaw sketched out an approximation of the vehicle size to accomodate the engine.

Grim handed Poppler the first sketch, that had a giant charr head on the front. Poppler sighed and shook his head; the charr shrugged and said, ‘What? I like it.’ The asura then went on to explain why it wouldn’t go over well doing a nosedive.

When the vehicle design was agreed on, they both worked on downsizing the engine to fit. Legionnaire Dinky was assigned the wing design, and after several failed attempts came up with one satisfactory to the engineers that could be smoothed out and worked with, having little drag. Grimpaw then set out to stamp and cut the outer shell while Poppler created the drivetrain. Things were coming along nicely within a few months.

For the launch ramp, the rest of the warband went to the lake and did some landscaping, then assembled the nearly 100ft. iron structure in a few days, the end stopping just a few feet short of dropping straight down into the waters of Blackblade.

——

When it was done and nearly assembled, Poppler disappeared to his college and returned a few days later with a pair of communication radios that would fit on his and Grimpaw’s ears during the flight. They both thought it was best if the test pilot Grim could describe the flight and what, if anything, went wrong.

‘Thanks, buddy,’ Grimpaw said. ‘We are meeting with the centurion later tonight to discuss the details with him. Since you created the power plant you’re going to have to break it down for him; he’s not technical, but he will understand the intricacies, just don’t go too deep. He’s a warrior, not an engineer.’ Poppler set the earpieces on the worktable. ‘You got it, Grim.’

This was the most ambitious project he had created yet, the little asura wanted to make sure the charr knew what to expect. He had a feeling they didn’t.

The Slingshot

For a very long time Grimpaw would sit in his shack on the warwagon prep deck, carving the intricate design into the entire outer shell of the hand cannon, as he and Poppler called it, usually after he dropped working on his pre-C.A.T. suit armor out of frustration. Only problem was, he wasn’t happy with the typical choices of firepower he had, so it was basically a rifle shell becoming art.

It was a very rare piece of metal and he wanted to do it right.

He and Poppler had discussed what the charr wanted to do with it about the same time as they were working on the C.A.T. suit. Grimpaw told him that unlike the armor, this rifle steel had a .086% impurity that actually made it stronger, and that he had to hand stamp all of the parts but the barrel himself.

Poppler took a sample of it to be analyzed back at his college, and when he returned brought the materials needed to begin work on what he considered a particle beam/rifle hybrid.

Charr were known across Tyria for creating some of the most precise and detailed mechanical devices ever; that crafting paired with asura technology is a very powerful thing, as acknowledged by the Snaff prize committee. But now instead of a first of co-creating armor, the two were going a step further with what they had dubbed the particle beam hand cannon.

‘The particle beam itself is not the ammunition, Grimpaw, so it won’t be firing a beam out at your target. Though I can come up with something like that for you if you wish.’ Poppler walked over to the table where the pre-project rifle lay near Grimpaw and picked it up, popping it open toward the charr. ‘There will be no explosion that fires your bullet, but there will be an explosion as the gas traces leave the barrel and run smack into the soundwave crack.’

‘And you won’t need bullets, only the gas.’

Grimpaw Grindgear testing the particle beam hand cannon

‘Unless you want to keep your artwork, I will have to cut the barrel of your rifle into the pieces I need. If you give me permission, I’ll get started on this right away.’

Grimpaw looked down at the asura in condescension, ‘Poppler, I don’t recall agreeing to you doing any of this without me involved from start to finish. This has been and always will be my project, just like this armor I’m wearing (the C.A.T. suit). You wouldn’t have that prize if you didn’t have my armor to put it in.’

‘Don’t know about the prize, but yes eventually I would have done that on another set, Grimpaw. As I told you, I was already working on being able to do that when we met. And I’m not trying to take anything from you, Grim. I know what this means to you, I’m just trying to help.’ The asura set the rifle back on the table.

The charr engineer stood looking at the floor, thinking w/ crossed arms. Looking up at the asura, ‘No, you won’t be cutting my rifle. If anyone does it will be me.’ He turned to his precious and sighed touching it, shaking his head. ‘The way this has to be done, a normal firing chamber and barrel simply won’t work Grim, there isn’t enough room. I wouldn’t suggest doing that otherwise.’

Poppler explained to him that inside the finished barrel itself would be a mostly harmless version of eight particle beams in a rifled cylinder shape that were kept reflecting, constantly moving from chamber to exit inside the barrel, that was where the extra size came in. In the chamber, instead of bullets, would be a pressurized container with a tweaked lead based gas.

When pulling on the trigger a small bit of the gas would be injected into the particle beam barrel; as the lead gas hit the beam tube moving toward the exit, it would begin to solidify and spin fast in the rifled beams, getting red hot and spinning the tip into a rifle point (that’s where the extra strength in the metal mattered) before barrel exit through a small coolant bubble.

From pull of trigger to firing was about the same speed as normal gunpowder, but this weapon would create and fire the ammo in the same time. There was no gunpowder explosion when fired, but the sonic crack when the bullet left the barrel was louder than normal gun fire.

Grimpaw being typical charr, wouldn’t have it any other way.

Grimpaw inspecting the hand cannon during tests

Weeks later, when they tested the finished hand cannon for the last time, and the sun had set hours before, Grimpaw was making final adjustments to the rifle when a quick knock and the door opened….

‘Saw you out on Ashford Plain shooting a pretty big lit up slingshot earlier, soldier, what was it?’ Dinky asked as he closed the shack door. Grimpaw described the hand cannon and told him of the results. Incredible as they were it was hard to not take a charr engineer, who literally grew up exploding things, seriously. ‘What’s his deal?’ Dinky asked, sitting on a stool and flipping a pointed thumb in the sleeping asura direction behind him.

‘We finished testing it tonight, sir. Except for cutting it up I did most of my work on it a long time ago, he finished it with the particle beams and lead gas. Now he’s just a tired little creature, hehe…’ The legionnaire laughed. ‘So, when do we get to begin production of these guns, are you about done yet?’ He rubbed his paws together greedily, always ready for a hot new weapon.

‘Sorry to disappoint you, sir, but this gun here will always be a one of a kind. The steel has an impurity that makes it stronger than our normal die, and we don’t have any of it left. This gun would explode on me if it didn’t have that. I was lucky to discover it pouring for tank parts one day long ago. And I can’t recommend you using anything else.’ Dinky sighed, ‘Alright. Mind if I test it?’ Grimpaw stood, took the rifle and waved him toward the door.

‘Wow Grimpaw, that’s not only a helluva kick but a helluva crack, that sound, haha!’ He handed the rifle back to Grimpaw out on Ashford Plain. ‘Here’s one of things we added to it, sir. See that moa right there?’ Dinky nodded looking at the bird. ‘Overcharged Shot…’ Grimpaw took a few steps toward the friendly bird and pulled the trigger- the engineer was thrown backward ten feet, but the moa was launched thirty feet away, nearly dead and naked.

He put a misery bullet in the bird, then turned to walk back into Black Citadel with his legionnaire, continuing to discuss the gun such as the sync with his turrets. The legionnaire smiled, ‘Haha! Unbelieveable, and hilarious! Great job you two. Make sure you get that to the centurion to see, so he knows what it is that’s sounding like a cannon firing right next to him in the field. Now go get some sleep, looks like you could use it.’

They stopped from walking back in to the Citadel across from the war wagons. Grimpaw saluted, ‘Will do, sir. Goodnight.’ Walking into the shack Grim glanced over at Poppler sleeping on his cot as he swung the door closed, then stumbled into his own bed, curling up around his precious. Poppler could be heard sitting up, ‘Seems to work great, Grimpaw. Do you like it?’

‘I love it little buddy, thank you.’ Grim replied. ‘You’re welcome my friend. We make a good team,’ Poppler said, laying back down. ‘That we do, Pop. That we do…..’ the charr half mumbled, sliding off to La-La Land.

Brotherhood

The day after Grim locked up Kailani the Foolhardy in the cage at Fangfury Watch for sneaking out of Black Citadel and going to her flying machine against orders, he went back at daybreak to let her out as promised. And he took a beating from her, as he knew he would. But as long as Grim and tribune Brimstone had known her as a friend, taking a physical beating from her was preferable to beating themselves up inside had they not taken her back to the Citadel at the beginning of hostilities, with the possibility that she could have been hurt or killed.

It was the first time anyone had ever seen a male charr simply stand in one place and get pounded on by a female, and not do anything. At all. The soldiers cringed and laughed; the centurion’s nose began to bleed in the middle of the tussle at some point as he stood and looked at Kailani while she yelled and hit, and he accepted what was coming. For his friend. She finally got tired, then sat on a rock looking up at Grim. ‘Why didn’t you fight back?’ she asked, catching her breath.

He sat down next to her and explained why he did what he did, and that it was simply for her own good, not meant to be vindictive or out of anger. He then stood and told her he had to go back to the Citadel, and she took hold of his shoulder, ‘Thank you, centurion. Without charr like you to beat on once in a while, I wouldn’t be able to return to my flying machine, or might not even have one. Thank the tribune for me as well.’ She leaned in and touched her nose to his cheek along with a half hug.

When he trotted into the city by Hero’s Canton heading toward the Citadel itself, he noticed a few charr here and there turned and saluted more than usual. Hmm. Entering by the front desks, those who saw him immediately snapped a salute where they stood. Bewildered, he saw Dinky by the stairs.’Where have you been?’ his legionnaire asked, ‘The imperator and Brimstone have been waiting!’ Grim stopped, completely baffled, ‘Why?’

‘You mean you don’t know? Wow, this will be priceless, haha! Let’s get to chief’s office.’ Dinky chuckled turning to trot upstairs with his boss.

When they entered Brimstone’s office, Imperator Ruinbringer turned to see the centurion and his legionnaire snap a salute, he and the tribune returned them. ‘We’ve been expecting you, centurion. I’m proud to finally meet this Blood Legion warrior I keep hearing of. At ease, both of you.’ Grim relaxed, ‘I’m honored to meet you sir. Sorry I wasn’t here sooner, but I have no idea what is going on and didn’t know you needed me.’

‘Really?’ The imperator chuckled, ‘Even better. Because I have some news for you, centurion. Or should I say Primus Centurion.’ Dinky already knew it was coming, it was all he could do to hold back laughing, not hiding it very well behind a huge grin. The tribune was grinning as well, and snapped another salute. Grimcrotch stood with jaw dropped slightly, eyes wide as if in a daze, silent. The imperator said wonderingly, ‘Well, what do you think soldier?’

Grim looked down at the tribune’s desk for a moment, then out the window to the Bane below, soldiers walking by or standing around talking and joking. He gazed out toward the devourer spawning grounds, the trees and hills below in the distance. ‘I’m sorry sir, but unless this is an order that I take this promotion, I’d rather not have it.’

Dinky’s grin dropped to a frown, wondering how anyone, especially his friend who deserved it, could turn down something like that. Next stop after that rank was tribune! How could he do that?! ‘Don’t think I’ve ever been turned down giving a well deserved promotion, centurion. You want to tell me why, soldier?’ The imperator raised an eyebrow toward Grim.

‘I appreciate the consideration, sir, as well as whatever input the tribune here had in making it so. I’ve never considered promotions when I do things, it’s simply what needs to be done. I don’t know anything about sitting behind a desk; I did a few times out in the field and hated it, chopped it up into firewood. All I have ever known are my soldiers, and the few belongings that I have in a box in the (Hero’s) Canton. I even sleep out in Ashford Plain, don’t think I’ve ever slept in the same spot twice.’

——

‘I’m a soldier, sir. My home is with my charr in the field, and this cub,’ Grim swung his right arm back to deliberately thump Dinky in the chest, half grinning at him in a glance backward, ‘not stuck hanging around the Citadel doing paperwork.’ Grim drew a deep breath and clasped paws behind his back.

Brimstone and Ruinbringer looked at each other, then turned back toward the centurion. ‘Alright, centurion, if that is what you wish. I must say I’m still dumbstruck as to how someone could turn down an offer like that. However, I do have some things for you that I refuse to take no for an answer on.’ He reached over to what looked like a couple of very nice weapon cases sitting on the floor behind the tribune’s desk.

Standing in front of Grim he opened the long thin box toward the centurion, revealing the most beautiful longbow he had ever seen. Grim’s eyes grew wide and he stumbled out an ‘Oh my…’, reaching up to slowly run his claws along what looked like three perfectly mirror-polished blades that spanned the entire front of the bow, and the intricate pattern around the handle. ‘What are you waiting for, soldier, take it! It’s not gonna bite haha!’

The centurion took the box and started to remove the bow when the Imperator said ‘Ah, hold it, don’t take the bow out yet. That thing is awfully sharp, this office is small, and having this other one out at the same time could get rather dicey.’ He turned from picking up the other weapon box, set it on the tribune’s desk, and opened it toward Grim, revealing a greatsword matching the same mirror polished blade and intricate design of the longbow.

‘Rytlock informed me you’re well trained in most weapons, but prefer your longbow and greatsword. The least I can do is make sure the charr, who turned down a promotion, is well equipped to keep doing what he does best in the field. Congratulations soldier, you have earned them.’ The imperator and tribune saluted the centurion, he saluted back. ‘Thank you sirs, I don’t know what to say, other than I’m honored.’

Brimstone spoke up, ‘I’m having a secure room made as we speak, where you keep your things. It should be done shortly. Weapons like those need to be kept out of sight and out of reach. And you’re very respected around here, centurion. It’s time you took the reigns of this beast you’ve created in the Bloody Twelfth, by becoming the blade of my Sohothin.’

It sunk in what the tribune was telling him, he was to be Brimstone’s right paw charr reporting to him only, while they shook paws all around. Grim and Dinky took the cases and carried them out of the tribune’s office, both quiet; Dinky wondering and let down, the centurion incredulous.

Later in the evening, as Grim, Dinky, Elexus, Fyon, Wrathclaw and others were enjoying their cups in the Hero’s Canton, celebrating the centurion’s non-promotion, imperator Ruinbringer strolled in for a drink and joined them. The night wore on and he began to get tipsy headed but moved as if he drank no alcohol. A seasoned drinker. ‘……so whe…when did Ash and Iron finally drag themselves up to Monger’s Sink from cry…crying, centurion. BAHAHAHA!’ Bangar slapped Grim on the shoulder.

‘About when we were wrapping up the fight, sir. They were left the crumbs to the north as ordered. Then we sent them to the humans to replace our warhounds and to apologize for Blood’s trashing their city as we went through, heh.’ The imperator laughed, ‘It’s bee…been so long since I’ve been in a good fight, I’m itching to go. I….nice bow…’, then nodded his head forward and began snoring.

Grim snapped out of nearly dozing off himself to look around. His legionnaires were passed out on the table, except for Dinky, he was sitting up asleep under a table near a pole a few feet away. ‘Dinky…,’ he said, slowly standing. ‘DINKY GET UP.’ He stepped over and pushed the legionnaire’s leg with his foot. His second opened his eyes and tried to look around in a fog. ‘We have to get the imperator to my new room in bed, get up and help me,’ Grim said.

‘Why’d you do it, Grim?’ he mumbled, slowly getting up from the floor. ‘Do what?’ The centurion said, watching him. ‘Turn down the promotion, are you stupid? You would be one step away from being Brimstone’s equal!’ From Dinky’s look he was angry. ‘I was happy for you and turned things completely around! What the hell, Grim!?’

‘I told you, I would hate being stuck in the Citadel every day, only occasionally getting out into a good fight or two. It would drive me crazy. And you guys are the only ones I really like in this whole city. I can’t make an office for all of you, so I’ll keep my office out here using rocks for seats and desks, under the trees with birds crapping on me while getting shot at, swords being thrown at me, thiefs stabbing me, fireballs lobbed at me, hammers pounding me, flamethrowers torching me, minions slinging magic at me, pets trying to bite my kneecaps….you get the idea.’

Dinky stood there and grinned, ‘Ya, things wouldn’t be the same killing all these flame legion out here without you as their target being blown up, shot at and whatnot, heh. They hate you, you know.’

The two best friends put arms around their shoulders, and helped each other walk out stumbling into chairs and tables. ‘I feel like a steak, how about you?’ Grim asked Dinky. As they walked out the front door of the canteen the sun was poking above the horizon. ‘Sounds great buddy,’ he replied slapping Grim on the back, both forgetting about the imperator passed out in the canteen.

The Fire & The Fury: Aftermath

The Steeleye Span fight was the nail in the coffin of the latest flame legion offensive. After Brimstone secured Steeleye, patched up his soldiers and buried the dead, the 9th battalion joined him bringing his total charrpower to 1,020. On the cliff above the Span, they broke for a few hours and had a bite before the final push to drive the flame legion out completely.

To the north Grimcrotch had a few more things to do. With word of Brimstone nearly breaking the flame legion completely at Steeleye, he decided against going to Kailani’s flying machine with the engineers since they could all go there soon enough. But he had heard, by way of the courier, of her sneaking out of the Citadel and going there herself. He sent word to Fangfury Watch that she was to be arrested and held.

Flame legion being holed up in Shattered Palisade became obvious when Terra was found nearly empty. Grim ordered the war wagons and tanks to keep pounding the buildings until told to stop. Over the next ninety minutes the structures were all but razed to the ground; while the mechanized units blasted away, many of the enemy could be seen trickling out south toward Brimstone and Pockmark Roughs.

The centurion sent word to Rytlock he was beginning his entrance to Heretic Plain, as the tribune had begun unloading everything he had in a massive northward sweeping line from Soot Road to Griffonclaw Peak. Ogre camps were flattened by the eight war wagons and ten tanks with him; hidden pockets of flame legion were dropped in seconds from the overkill, the bodies left where they fell and driven over.

Brimstone and his wagons turned the ogre fort in Gastor Gullet into a black crater to its northern entrance and halted there in the east, while the rest of his western force captured and held their territory to the south Crater Rim road, blocking every southern exit leaving Pockmark Roughs.

Mid-Blazeridge Steppes, Pockmark Roughs and surrounding area

To the north, Grimcrotch had several Iron and Ash legion warbands join him from Iron Marches as he passed through Shattered Palisades to Heretic Plains down to Unbroken Expanse, ticked off that they weren’t invited to the party and starting fights with his soldiers while forcing the flame legion back. They sealed off the northern exits leaving Pockmark Roughs from Deserter Flats east, then moved war wagons onto the roads and cliffs, same as Brimstone to the south.

Except for the occasional potshot from the 382 enemy surrounded in the middle of Pockmark Roughs, looking around wondering why the inevitable wasn’t happening, the soldiers of Grimcrotch and Brimstone, along with 13 war wagons and 17 tanks, sat not firing a shot, engines running. Smoke rolled high from the engines being revved, filling the sky with the blackness of what was about to happen.

Brimstone gave a shout; 1,477 charr with heavy armor opened fire in a frightening, earthquake generating barrage of solid lead, charrzookas, mortar, tank and war wagon shells. The air in the crater of the Roughs completely filled with black and grey smoke, dirt so thick you could walk on, bodies and parts disintegrated…for a full minute. The center of Pockmark Roughs was made another 10ft. deep. Then the tribune had his men stop firing, along with Grim’s, the vehicle power plants making the only sounds.

Smoke continued to roll in the crater, dirt and body part juice slowly stopped raining down, no shots or voices could be heard. ‘BAHAHAHAHA!!! FOR BLOOD LEGION!!’ Brimstone roared, raising his legendary greatsword above his head, the entire Blazeridge Steppes filled with the roar of the charr armies gathered around the burial plot of the flame legion offensive.

The centurion walked over to his tribune through the revelry, getting a shoulder slap as he walked up. ‘Damn fine job, soldier, damn fine. Any better and I might think you’re gunning for my job, haha!’ Grim shook his head, ‘No thanks. I’d rather camp out here with the flame legion than have your job. Uh, no offense, sir.’ Brimstone nodded, ‘So would I. But then I might miss out on all the fun like this, heh. Come on, let’s get a drink.’

Tribune Rytlock Brimstone concept art

The tribune told the soldiers to sweep and clear the area, then get camps set up for the night. He had the quartermaster break out cases of sour mash, while others didn’t have to search long for deer or other animal corpses to clean and cook up. With the exception of those on guard duty, it was a well deserved break after a long hard fight.

The next day Grim and his battalion headed south to Fields of Ruin. Trotting past Fangfury Watch he told them to go ahead, he had something to take care of. When he got near Kailani’s flying machine, he saw her walk around the corner of it, wiping her greasy paws with a rag as she looked up and saw him, her eyes grew big and he grew angry. She turned back to her machine as he walked up; a heated discussion began to grow louder, being heard but not understood from the post.

Suddenly hollaring could be heard, ‘AAAAAAHH!! PUT ME DOWN BY LIGHT!!’ Grim came walking around the corner and down the hill with Kailani the Foolhardy over his shoulder, the cat beating on his back and trying to grab his tail he kept swishing back and forth, smacking her on one side of her face then the other with it, laughing as he fought her wiggling and beating. The soldiers stared open mouthed, not believing Grim was doing what he was.

——

‘OPEN THAT CAGE!’ he yelled to them; one of them snapped out of it and ran to the lock and opened the door. He bent down and forced her back into the cage then slammed the door before she could stand. ‘Now, I told you to stay at the Citadel and you didn’t listen, this is what you get. Be glad you’re not dead.’ He turned to the soldiers, ‘She stays in there until tomorrow. If I find out you let her out before sunrise I will hang you by your round and fuzzies, am I understood?’

The Fangfury Watch guards stammered out ‘Yes sir!’ and managed passable salutes. ‘I ordered her arrested, why wasn’t this done?’ he asked, paws on hips. One soldier nervously replied, ‘Sir, you saw how she acted with you. We were just, uh….’ ‘Afraid? Grim answered for him, ‘You were afraid of her?’ The soldier mumbled a quiet ‘Y..Yessir.’ Grim looked away and shook his head, ‘Alright, I’ll let it go this time. Don’t blame you, she almost whipped me and I have weapons.’

Grimcrotch began to laugh, the other soldiers looked at each other then began laughing with him, the nervousness disappearing. The centurion looked back over at Kailani, her hollaring this whole time about wanting out. ‘Keep her in there, I’m not kidding, I’ll come let her out tomorrow. All you have to do is give her food or something to drink if she wants it, be nice, it’s only a few hours anyway. Good luck.’ The soldiers saluted, he returned it then trotted away toward Ebonwatch Hold and his battalion, knowing he was going to get beat up tomorrow.

The Fire & The Fury Pt. 5

Grimcrotch and his Whispers crept into Blazeridge Steppes from Hellion Forest with the engineers Grimpaw Grindgear and his asura friend Poppler Swizzlestix in silence. The scouts near the forest entrance hadn’t reported any movement into their area from Blazeridge, seemed strange. But then the tribune was giving the flame legion a heavy pounding after his entrance there to the south, so they were probably busy.

When the 9th Battalion entered the Steppes from Ashford Plains, the war wagons immediately started firing at the flame legion that surrounded Steeleye Span, the tanks sped off to the right and riddled them with a hail of lead and flamethrowers. The last of the Blood Legion soldiers in the fort, about a warband, were in bad shape and desperate. Any ammo left after the rationing a few days before had to be found scattered around the floor inside, so they were in a near constant hand-to-hand battle.

More flame legion began falling back to Steeleye, retreating from Brimstone’s forces, so they had to speed it up; the tanks took out many of them as they reached the fort so their numbers didn’t increase significantly, giving the tanks freedom to run south along the east cliff wall of Blightwater Basin while the 9th continued the fight there. The flame legion wanted nothing to do with the brand, so other than their soldiers around the fort they wouldn’t be doing much in the basin, making a quick run for the vehicles and three warbands to Tumok’s Last Stand.

S. Blazeridge Steppes, Brimstone theater

Upon Brimstone’s Blazeridge entrance, the flame legion razed Foewatch Encampment and apparently thought cutting the bridge across the canyon would help, when there was access to a road level causeway across the creek below from both sides. A few blasts from war wagons cleared the boulders blocking the way. When they made it across, his forces split, half going Ferrusatos Village the other half Splintercrest Fort.

After reaching Tumok’s, the 9th tank and warband group that broke from the main force could hear the big guns of the tribune’s wagons so they continued on to Ferrusatos, helping to completely surround the village. Not one flame legion made it out alive. Brimstone’s forces surrounded Splintercrest Fort and sent several warbands with the 9th’s tank and warbands group to Soot Road, killing the retreating legion.

A final push by the 9th on the enemy surrounding Steeleye, with the few from Brimstone on the east road, brought on a deathly silence with a tin-sounding echo inside the steel building, resting in the middle of a strangely absent brand in their own territory. A tough fight in the cliffs surrounding Pockmark Roughs to the north was coming up next.

When word of the centurion’s rout of the flame legion around Monger’s Sink got to Brimstone, he made sure to secure each village and fort, then moved on to the Span to inform the soldiers. A cheer of sorts went up, but there were a lot of dead and wounded in Steeleye, they were busy patching and burying.

——

Grimcrotch motioned for his Whispers to spread out around the front of Skara Braevus, keeping watch on the flame legion guards roaming inside the structure. Grimpaw and Poppler quietly slipped up to the huge door and placed a small barrel of the Dinky formula (named after the legionnaire who came up with it) tied and hanging on each of the lower hinges, connected detonation wires, then quietly jogged back behind a rock.

The centurion motioned for his unseen mercenaries to move back, and told a soldier to inform those waiting on the Hellion Forest side of the road. In the distance they could hear the war wagons get fired up and begin moving their way. Grim motioned for the engineers to make it so.

Just as the barrels filled with gunpowder and explosive gel detonated, blowing the doors off their lower hinges, the first wagon gun sighted the doors as it rolled up and unloaded an explosive shell, blowing them the rest of the way off their restraints.

The first war wagon moved to the side and lost sight of the heavy artillery inside the fort, but as the second rolled around the corner it had the gun dead in its sights and fired twice, the first denting its shell then, as the gun rotated around to attempt firing, the second wagon shot hit the base of the gun barrel, blowing it off to the side, useless.

During the explosions what was left of the flame legion inside the fort who hadn’t gone south to reinforce the fight there, came running into the doorway further into the fort before looking, only to get picked off, the rest were overwhelmed. Grim’s soldiers cheered as they rushed forward to secure the nearly empty fort

The centurion gathered his legionnaires. ‘We’re going right across brand territory to Brokentooth Maw. Stay tight, we aren’t here for them we’re just passing through. The 5th Battalion is coming north from the Ashford Plain exit of Dragonwatch road and will secure this entire side of the basin at the passes. Iron and Ash are mopping up in Iron Marches.’

Most of the brand had disappeared; from the looks of it between the flame legion and the blood legion, they didn’t have a chance. They may be branded but they weren’t stupid, and had left while they could, so the crossing of the basin in brand territory was uneventful. When Grim and his soldiers arrived at Brokentooth Maw fort, they were greeted by silence.

——

Before the push south from Brokentooth Maw, Grimcrotch and his soldiers were taking a break, getting the regular cook of that fort back to work. Hearing of the centurion and his men going to retake Monger’s Sink then his home fort, he joined the forces in Ashford Plains as they rolled through.

He may have ‘bitten off more than he could chew’, as it were; when they took back the fort, he got so many deer and wild animal corpses tossed in a pile to be cleaned and cooked that no one would ever be fed that day. So Grim ordered the entire 12th Battalion to help him. As it turned out, he had so many people getting in his way, the centurion told him to sit back and watch as his men cleaned and cooked all that meat for him.

‘Damn near a hundred charr in the 12th, SOMEBODY in there’s gotta cook a decent meat, even on accident.’ he said grinning, leaning back in his chair with the centurion.

‘We are clearing out Terra here to the east,’ he told his legionnaires later, pointing on the map. ‘Expect heavy resistance down here in Shattered Palisades. So many nooks and crannies for them to hide in we may have to go in and root them out.’

‘Depending on the resistance, we should be linking up with Brimstone just south of there, and maybe we can be mopping up this mess soon. In the meantime, make sure everyone has their gear in working order and a full belly. We could have a long fight ahead of us there if we have to go in and find them. Dismissed.’ The legionnaires saluted smartly and sauntered off to relay the info to their soldiers.

N. Blazeridge Steppes, Grimcrotch theater

‘Wrathclaw…,’ he called to his legionnaire as the commander pulled back the tent flap to leave, and motioned for him to come back inside. They spoke for a moment, then the legionnaire saluted and left as Grim began putting on his Whispers gear. He wanted to see what shape Kailani’s flying machine was in, and was taking Grimpaw and Poppler for repairs straight through flame legion held territory.

Wrathclaw sent a few charr to Black Citadel in two tanks the long way around to pick up repair parts, using the supply trailer to haul the flying machine back to the city if necessary. If they knew what was good for them, they wouln’t have told her so.

When Kailani first got wind of the area around her flying machine in Fields of Ruin being cleared of flame legion, she sneaked away from the city and went back. When the repair supplies arrived before Grim and the engineers, they told her of the plan and mentioned using the trailer on the return trip if needed. Soldiers patrolling around Fangfury watch told it like this; ‘We saw the tanks pull up and waved, not thinking much of it.’

‘A few minutes later, out of nowhere a lioness roaring “You aren’t doing anything of the sort, by light! I don’t care if they melted it down, you aren’t taking my machine anywhere! Now get away from it before I slash your throats myself!!” I turned to my buddy and we gave each other a wondering look, but you couldn’t pay me enough to go over and see what the tussle was, that’s one mean cat.’

The Fire & The Fury Pt. 4

The centurion sent a report to tribune Brimstone informing him of the recapture of most of the southern Iron Marches, and that from what he had learned from his recon with the Whispers his three battalions were about equal to the flame legion that were attacking Monger’s Sink. Scattered Iron and Ash units had begun to arrive; Grim sent them to round up more hunting hounds from the humans, and to do the apologizing for his Blood Legion units trashing their capital. Heh.

The tribune acknowledged and replied that the centurions units were effective and flame legion had sent reinforcements up his way, opening the door for Rytlock’s southern assault. So in order to take some pressure off the centurion, Brimstone ordered the 9th battalion defending the north road entrance from Iron Marches to Ashford Plain, to reinforce Steeleye Span in Blazeridge Steppes through the Dragonwatch road, west of the fort.

Grimcrotch also sent the three war wagons and three of the six tanks Ruinbringer had ordered him to have, with the 9th going to Steeleye. He already had three war wagons, and much of the area left here wasn’t suited for that number. The driver of the banged up wagon, ‘Lefty’ Ironpaw, insisted he stay with the centurion because, he said ‘…this is where I was sent. And if I let you idiots fight for the centurion alone you’ll get him killed. So stay out of my way and learn, cubs.’

Centurion Grimcrotch in his Whispers gear

As Grimcrotch returned from his recon with the Whispers, he heard Lefty giving a quick tutorial to the other wagon drivers, telling them how to patch up sliced cables and other useful tidbits by simply jumping out of the vehicle and unloading their Charrzooka on the enemy. Charr logic.

And the gem, ‘Cut up their corpses, tie body parts to the front of the wagon and smear the blood on it. When they see a blood soaked war wagon they piss themselves, HAHAHA!’ he said, his flat-faced grin squeezing the life out of a still burning cigar stub. Grim quietly chuckled as he walked off to change gear.

The plan was to use the abduction and killing of the flame legion Harvester’s Glade defense to lure some of them away from the fort, drawing them into the rocky cliffs to be taken out. When that was done and Harvester’s Glade secure, the war wagons with the 2nd were to pound a way through to the fort front door so they could receive supplies and reinforcement, while the 12th and two tanks went clockwise with them, and the 4th with four tanks went counter.

The soldiers left in the fort had taken their toll on the enemy. From an earlier high estimate of four hundred flame legion, the now seventy four Blood Legion had taken out about one hundred enemy, and were still at it, but ammo had been rationed long ago so every shot had to count. After a week of hammering, Monger’s Sink Blood Legion defense had only lost six soldiers, two dead four wounded.

——

The Shredskin warband roamed between Hellion Forest and Lamprey Grottoes, after the Harvester’s Glade flame legion defense was taken out and dealt with as they were. Those dogs were soldiers, Grim thought. Once again flame legion has been found torturing our soldiers. ‘They got what was coming,’ he mumbled to himself as he looked on at the barbaric scene before him. Flame legion corpses slid down onto speared branches, many heads exploded, some still twitching.

Having not heard from their forward party at Harvester’s Glade in a while, a flame legion warband went to the village to check things out and saw the blood trail going off into the hills, then ran back to the main force at Monger’s Sink. Minutes later nearly one hundred flame legion broke away from attacking the fort and headed toward the village. Shredskin’s warband returned to inform the centurion.

Grim had the 4th Battalion position at the northern tip of Bloodfin Lake staying out of sight, while his 12th stayed in the tricky cliffs to be the bait and draw them out into the open. He had the war wagons of the 2nd Battalion across Ironhead Lake aim near the dog cages. Things had to move quickly, the flame legion had taken notice and were slowly dribbling toward the 2nd. As flame legion passed the dog cages and the bulk of them were in the target area…

Standing on the highest cliff of the Ironhead Lake side, the centurion silently raised his longbow above his head; a second later there was a shout at the war wagons, and all three unloaded a devastating combination of grapeshot and explosive ball, then 4th Battalion flanked their left while the Bloody Twelfth headed straight into them with a hail of lead and swords. An entire flame legion battalion wasted in minutes. Grim smiled to himself.

——

‘ON TO MONGER’S SINK, BLOOD LEGION!!’ the centurion roared. A cheer went up all across Iron Marches. Nothing to hide now, the wagons turned and unloaded directly on the flame legion attacking the fort. The 2nd Battalion held the enemy off the war wagons long enough for the 12th to arrive, then they both pushed forward to get entangled in a huge bloody mass in front of the fort bridge, after the flame legion troops refused to give ground.

The 4th Battalion’s four tanks targeted several dug-in embankments, blasting the dirt walls clear so the inhabitants could be picked off. They cleared around the fort, then joined in the melee at the front of the bridge as it wound down, just as several Iron and Ash legion warbands arrived. ‘You’re late, no cookies for you.’ Dinky said to them with a smirk, wiping his blade on a corpse.

The centurion, breathing heavily and covered in blood, reached down to pull his second axe out of a flame legion head and paused, looking around in awe at the fields of death he left behind. This can be addicting, he thought. ‘Alright, listen up! Get our charr and corpses together, figure out which is which, patch up the ones that are breathing. Reinforce the fort with soldiers and supplies, then head to Hellion Forest to set up camp for the night. Tomorrow we hit Blazeridge Steppes.’ Another cheer from the victors carried across the map.

Monger’s Sink, after being cleared of the flame legion threat

Grim holstered his axes then strode to a small creek, bent down and began splashing his head and body along with many other soldiers doing the same. Between several soldier legs three small cubs carrying flowers ran up to him. A female spoke up, ‘These are for you, sir. You help us so much in Stonesheath but we don’t have anything we can give you, only these nice flowers.’ She smiled while handing him her flowers along with the other two cubs.

‘No need, cubs, but thank you,’ he said, patting her on the head. ‘Just remember when this happened and what the flame legion did here when you are grown. And make sure they are repaid in spades.’ The centurion wiped his face with a cloth, took the flowers, then saluted the cubs, and all three cubs saluted him smartly in return, then ran off back toward the village.

Grim walked over by Dinky, Shredskin, Fyon, and Wrathclaw discussing his new warband member Lefty Ironpaw, backhanded Dinky in the chest with his flowers hand and said, ‘Put these in some water somewhere.’ Dinky looked down at them, then back up at Grimcrotch with a ‘You’re joking, right’ look. Grim tapped him a couple more times with his backhand, indicating he was serious. ‘Alright, alright, I’m going…..’ he mumbled, walking toward some supplies for anything resembling a vase. My best friend is a softy, I can’t believe it, he thought.

‘….he kept pissing off all my gunners calling them cubs, saying they couldn’t hit a target if someone else did it for them. Kept driving me crazy saying he had to fight for the Centurion ‘cuz everyone was green,’ Wrathclaw said. ‘So I did two things to make everyone happy; I took him in my warband to shut him the hell up, on the condition to the soldiers they don’t fight him ’til this mess is over, hehe.’ The little flat-faced wagon driver stood back and did the charr threat, then popped in and stoked on his never-ending cigar stub and crossed his arms with a grin, while Grim and the legionnaires laughed.

The Fire & The Fury Pt. 3

‘TREBUCHET!!’ Shredskin hollared, running back to alert the three battalions as they entered the narrow pass from Ashford Plains to Iron Marches. They dove for cover; one second later a boulder sounding like a shell from a Fort Trinity cannon slammed into the left front of a war wagon, bending it down into the track and busting the large rock into mortar shell and shrapnel sized stones thunking into the ground all around them, wounding dozens. The wounded war wagon screeched to a halt.

‘GET THOSE DAMN TREBS!!’ Grimcrotch roared. ‘ON IT, SIR!’ the driver yelled. The engines of two war wagons fired up as they adjusted the tracks to aim at the trebs; Wrathclaw yelled something to the centurion, Grim turned to the 2nd Battalion commander, waved and pointed him to Stonesheath direction. He acknowledged and ran off with his men and four smaller tanks in tow.

Two more boulders came screaming in, one from the Stonesheath village and another from across Bloodfin Lake, the one from the west slamming into the ground somehow finding a soft spot to bury itself, the other bouncing off the ground then slamming into the mouth of the wounded war wagon.

The driver pounded his fist into the drive panel, then hopped out as two more wagons began firing on the trebs across the lake, the soundwaves rolling over the army of charr. On the ground, the driver looked up then pointed at his wagon’s mouth and turned to the trebs that hit his baby. ‘OH LOOK, NOW YOU’VE PISSED HIM OFF, HE IS SNARLING!’ Another boulder came hurtling in making an awful screech before rifling into the side of the hill below them.

The driver jumped back into his wagon and re-aligned the sight. He yelled ‘EAT IT, YOU….’ and let fly, the shell hammering the airwaves with a frightening sound as it descended and punched into the ground, digging a ten foot crater next to the others that missed, disintegrating the treb and launching what was left of the flame legion yards away, ‘…BASTARRRRDS!!’, shaking his fist in the air and firing again.

——

With most of the trebs cleared from the point, Grim told the 4th Battalion to head east and take the Bloodfin Lake bridge while Dinky set up mortars and started hammering the point , along with the war wagons, while the 2nd Battalion pounded the trebs at the village then moved in on foot. The Whispers he sent swimming under Ironhead Lake to the back side of the point, to move in on queue.

At Monger’s Sink, in between their mortar and rifle fire they could hear the war wagon booms in the distance, and the entire fort gave a rousing cheer after wondering how long they could actually hold out. The fort commander yelled, ‘Reinforcements are on the way, you sons of ogres! Put your backs into it before I give you all a kick in the tail!’ A chorus of ‘BLOOD LEGION ‘OORAH!’ went up, then the artillery and small arms fire nearly doubled in intensity.

4th Battalion signaled they were ready to cross the bridge, but it looked like it had to be now or never, more flame legion were moving up on the point. ‘Alright Warband, let’s go for a swim!’ The only time you see a charr want to dive into water, is when there is something to kill on the other side, he thought. Our species was too easy sometimes, heh.

S. Iron Marches, w/ lone holdout Monger’s Sink north

As they moved along under water, the small arms fire began to get thicker; Poppler, Grimpaw and several other engineers moved quickly below and in front of the lead, getting as close as they could then heaving turret packs onto the shore. Their flame and gun turrets broke up the group of flame legion gathering on the shore, then several rangers with Grimcrotch fired their barrage shots from just under the surface moving them back even more.

The 12th Battalion morphed out of the water firing a wall of Charrzooka, rifle & pistol shots, arrows, elementals lobbing balls of flame and walls of fire with their minions pushing them back…. suddenly moving up between and in front of them was the Wraith and Wrathclaw warbands from under water with their heavy armor, swords and hammers to clear a path, leaping into crowds of flame legion with their backs to the cliff, the only way out was death.

‘QUIT FIRING YOU IDIOTS!’ someone yelled to the mortars on the other bank, still firing in backup with shots landing nearly on top of them. The charr at the mortars stopped, then began laughing and pointing at them. A legionnaire turned and shaded his eyes to see who it was, but they quickly turned away to not get caught.

——

Meanwhile the 4th Battalion had cleared the Bloodfin Lake bridge and started moving toward the centurion and his men on the bank, three tanks rumbling up behind them to defend their rear, unloading murderous rifle and flame thrower fire. At the same time the Whispers had moved in behind the legion in complete surprise, quietly cutting their throats and snapping necks. Dinky grinned seeing the quiet ruthlessness while he blocked an axe with his shield then jammed his sword into another flame legion stomach with a twist.

After Stonesheath village was recaptured and left with defense, Grim sent word to the 2nd Battalion to head toward Champion’s Shield and check for any pockets of the legion, but to go no further north than Ironhead Lake bridge. They all needed to be together when they went for Monger’s Sink. The centurion had 4th Battalion clear the rest of the point, then told Shredskin, Dinky and the others to check for dead and get the wounded to the village to be patched up.

The war wagons and the four tanks were posted directly across from the furthest west spot of Ironhead Lake point with the 2nd, just north of Stonesheath village on the road. The rest of the tanks were positioned in the cliffs just short of Warhound Village in Harvester’s Glade with the 12th and the 4th, where the flame legion had scouts and a small defensive contingent in the area, the rest of them on offense against Monger’s Sink.

Grim had sent the Whispers forward to scout around up that way and to report. When they returned, he learned that the trained hounds were fried to death in their cages; when the two battalions learned of this, a wave of rage rolled over them. ‘Patience, there’s nothing we can do right now,’ he told Dinky, Shredskin and Fyon. ‘We have to lick our wounds. When we get our wounded sorted out, I want everyone taking a break. The Whispers will be helping us square this situation away, before we hit the fort.’

The centurion organizing war wagons for the final assault on flame legion, near Monger’s Sink

He ordered them to sneak into Warhound Village and capture the small flame legion defensive squad, and bring them back to the camp, leaving a blood trail. While they were doing that, Grimcrotch had the soldiers cut and bury tree branches, sticking straight up to neck height then cutting the tips into points, under trees. While they buried the branches, many of the soldiers were heard cracking jokes and laughing, speculating on what the centurion had in mind.

When they returned with twelve flame legion (one dead to leave the blood trail), their arms already secured behind them by the Whispers, Grim gave them to the soldiers on the condition they weren’t killed. The remaining legion were beaten nearly to death, but they stopped short as agreed. He then told them to drop each of them onto a speared branch through their crotch and upper body, hence below the trees.

As the flame legion were lifted up into the trees, those that were still aware screamed and feebly fought back against the inevitable. After many of the deeds the bodies slid down, shoving the spear through their skull, exploding the head and showering the soldiers with blood and brain matter, bringing on bloodthirsty laughter. The trap was set; now they pulled back behind the cliff rocks and waited…..

The Fire & The Fury Pt. 2

‘What mischief are you into again, Rytlock?’ the voice said behind the tribune. Recognition clicked with him right away, and he quickly turned around. ‘Imperator Ruinbringer! Good to see you again, sir. We have been busy with the flame legion, as usual.’ He motioned to a chair but Bangar waved it off, then pulled out his maps of the contested areas in Ascalon, and proceeded to update the Blood Legion High Commander on events.

‘We have sent several battalions through the Divinity’s Reach Asura Gate to Ebonhawke to reinforce centurion Grimcrotch. If this is to continue to be a Blood Legion-only operation we will have to send the rest north.’ The tribune walked to his small bar and poured two sour mash, handing one to the Imperator. Ruinbringer took a sip. ‘That is good whiskey, Brimstone.’ Rytlock nodded, ‘Grimcrotch and his legionnaire Dinky made it, sir. It is good, I agree.’

‘Yet another reason for you to save his tail. Good move threatening the human queen for Gate access, what was the reaction?’ The tribune chuckled a bit, ‘She never said a word to us. But the first pawful of warbands we sent through had a welcoming party. As they started walking into the city some children began screaming, adults ran to get weapons and started taking potshots at them. The first six warbands destroyed a trail of buildings from the entrance to the Gate. By the time their soldiers organized we were through to Ebonhawke.’

‘BAHAHAHAHA! That is too funny, tribune! Hahahaha!’ The Imperator slapped his knee and shook his head as he laughed, Brimstone joining in as they took a drink together. ‘Oh, to be a grunt again, what a time that would be, having free reign in the human city.’ Ruinbringer was lost in thought for a moment, then snapped back. ‘Alright, back to the matter at paw. You said they have at least 1200 soldiers between north Fields of Ruin and Blazeridge Steppes.’

——

‘Yes, sir. From here to here in Fields,’ he pointed at the map from Tenaebron Lake to Tanglerot Hills, ‘pushing south. They don’t go near the Brand, so Bento Canyon and Ebonhawke have had the easier end of it. The rest of the number north into southern Blazeridge Steppes was our best estimate from Grimcrotch bringing in the Whisper organization, but that’s just down here.’

‘We haven’t gotten them further north yet so we don’t know what’s up toward Iron Marches, but Monger’s Sink has sent back word occasionally; last contact said our eighty soldiers were holding off approximately 350-400 flame legion. I’ll be heading to Warrior’s Crown to lead the southern assault.’

The Imperator’s eyes lit up as he looked at the tribune, ‘To hell with the other legions, eighty Blood Legion soldiers holding off five times their number, what a fight! Now, get the centurion out of there where he can be more effective and send him up north to command. Have his battalion, the 2nd and the 4th, take three war wagons and six tanks and bail out Monger’s Sink then start pushing east to Blazeridge. We can let Iron & Ash mop up north Iron Marches, let them fight over the crumbs.’

The centurion inspecting his battalion tanks

‘When they get hit hard enough flame legion will send some soldiers north to reinforce, that’s when you and your commanders at the Crown push north and break up their party. They’ve out-stayed their welcome, it’s time to clean house.’

The Imperator looked at the map with his paws on hips and nodded. ‘Good work, Brimstone. If you need anything you know the drill….’ The tribune looked up and smiled, ‘Take care of it my damn self, you got it, sir. Have a good trip back.’ Rytlock saluted, Bangar returned it casually, finished his drink then headed toward Hero’s Canton for a few more.

——

‘Change of plans,’ Grim told Shredskin, Dinky, Fyon and Wrathclaw at Warrior’s Crown. His replacements and reinforcements had arrived through the Asura Gate at Ebonhawke, so it was time for them to move on. ‘We are meeting up with the 2nd and 4th battalions in Ashford Plains at the Iron Marches road, moving as fast as possible to take command at Monger’s Sink, then pushing east and south. Iron and Ash legions will mop up north of there.’

Dinky laughed, ‘Iron will be ticked off, boss. This is going to be fun.’ The centurion grinned. ‘Wrathclaw, we will have a few extra wagons and tanks, that’s your department. Add them to what you have, when this mess is over I’ll see that you get to keep them.’ Wrathclaw’s jaw dropped, ‘You got it, thank you sir!’ Grimcrotch nodded.

‘Shredskin, I want you with the Whispers on point leading the way, watch for and clear mines so Wrathclaw doesn’t lose his vehicles. Take a couple of engineers with you for the mines. Grimpaw Grindgear and…’ he looked around and saw a knee-high shoulder pauldron behind Grimpaw. ‘Asura, step forward. Who are you and why are you here?’ Grimpaw spoke up ‘Ah, sir, he works with me. He’s an engineer and helped me design this armor, he is very tough and knowledgeable.’

Grimcrotch placed paws on hips and stared daggers at the little asura while speaking to the charr engineer, ‘I’ll deal with you later, Grindgear. You got a name, Asura?’ He nervously stuttered, ‘I..uh…Poppler Swizzlestix, centurion,’ then fumbled a bad version of a charr salute.

‘He’s alright, Grim,’ Dinky said. ‘Been working with Grimpaw on a lot of stuff like my …er, our..barrel bomb we used on the flame legion and ogres. Grindgear’s armor is entered for a Snaff Prize in…’ The centurion held up his paw, ‘Enough, Dinky, he can stay.’ He turned to Poppler, ‘Go with your pal Grimpaw; pull twice your weight or I’ll kick you back to your Rathole Sun or whatever you call the nest where you creatures spawn.’ Poppler nodded, ‘Got it, centurion.’

‘Anyway Shredskin, as I was saying, take note of what you find out there, and kill what you can without adding yourselves to that list.’ Elexus stepped forward, ‘Understood, sir.’ She pulled her daggers and spun them in both palms, then dropped them into their sheaths at the same time. The centurion reached out and gave her a friendly slap on the bicep.

He then turned back to his soldiers and spoke up, ‘The rest of you look alive and watch our backs after we leave Ashford. These guys have been pulling some things they don’t normally do, expect anything. Get your gear in order we move out in 20 minutes.’ Grimcrotch saluted then raised his longbow and shouted, ‘TWELFTH BATTALION!’ The entire battalion saluted and roared back in unison, ‘BLOODY TWELFTH ‘OORAH!!’

The Fire & The Fury Pt. 1

Inspired by the song The Fire & The Fury by Firewind

The human delegate stepped over to the glass wall in Rytlock Brimstone’s office, looking out over the Bane. ‘Absolutely not. There is no possible way we can grant this request without following the proper channels. Do you realize what the people of Divinity’s Reach would do if they saw fully armed charr military squads roaming their city?’ The human turned as he said it, watching the tribune’s face morph into an angry beast.

‘This is not a request human, you have two choices.’ Brimstone said, sitting on his desk. ‘You can either tell your queen to grant us the right to use the Ebonhawke Asura gate now voluntarily, or we can invade Divinity’s Reach itself, finishing off you pathetic people as we should, and take the Gate, and Ebonhawke, by force.’ He stood and walked to the human, leaning in toward the man’s face, and said in a threatening voice, ‘So tell me no again human, I look forward to it.’ He emphasized the last ‘t’ while baring his fangs.

The man leaned back, eyes wide and nervously sweating. ‘I…I’ll inform the queen of your plans, tribune. I’m sure we can come to an understanding.’ Brimstone turned back toward his desk while the human walked to the front of it. ‘As long as she understands we will be using her precious Gate whether she likes it or not, there will be no problem. We are done here.’ The tribune said dismissively, then pointed toward the door.

From what Rytlock understood of the flame legion forces rolling through Iron Marches, only Monger’s Sink was still in Blood Legion control and they couldn’t hold out long without reinforcements. Blazeridge Steppes had Steeleye Span holding out with a very capable legionnaire but had flame legion blocking the supply road from the west and they, too, needed backup. Splintercrest Fort down the road was holding at the moment, but they had FL climbing over the walls and getting picked off, it was only a matter of time for them as well.

——

Fields of Ruin had the legion pouring into it from Blazeridge. They clearly had planned this invasion well in advance, as all of the separatist humans and rebel charr were coordinating with them on the map, attacking several charr fortified positions at the same time.

And if Brimstone hadn’t sent centurion Grimcrotch out to force Kailani the Foolhardy back to the Black Citadel itself, she and her flying contraption would both be lost. As it was all the flame legion had to get from her machine was scrap metal, so they left it alone. Another machine could be made, or that one saved, another Kailani couldn’t.

He had told Fangfury Watch to fall back to Warrior’s Crown and support the war wagons. What was left of the human delegation there that hadn’t run back to Ebonhawke were dug in next to them along with the charr, who weren’t about to give up even one of their machines, let alone the six that were at the summit. Two broken down war wagons were left up north before the legionnaires pulled back from Harvester’s Glade, but they were resourceful enough to remove the engines and guns from them, basically rendering them useless.

Brimstone had ordered Grimcrotch to hold the front line there at the Crown as long as he could, but it didn’t matter how good a commander on the field was, no one could hold out against superior numbers like that for long.

S. Blazeridge Steppes w/ Steeleye Span, and Splintercrest Fort just north of Splinter Hills

Even Ashford Plains had buttoned down; movement was restricted to essential supply and military for the time being after small pockets of separatists were scouted attempting to sabotage fort guns and sniping. They didn’t get through to Ascalon City ruins from Stonesheath Overlook in Iron Marches, however, they were already near Irondock Shipyard in the Loreclaw Expanse.

Two war wagons, three small tanks, countless mortar and the 9th Battalion made sure nothing alive would get through that road. The Duskrend Overlook entrance to Ashford Plains from Blazeridge Steppes was just as fortified as the other, only with the 5th Battalion.

That’s why he said what he did to the human diplomat, Brimstone wasn’t about to lose his right paw charr because of a human bureaucracy. He would go to the human city and take their queen’s head himself if he had to make the access to their Asura Gate happen. He considered actually doing that for a moment, then the hard reality of a wider war sank in, so he shook his head and forgot about it. For now.

——

Centurion Grimcrotch had sent several Whisper agents out into the field to scout and generally make mischief for the invaders. Being one of them had its advantages, he thought. But something concerning had been discovered while they were out. In the past the only time flame legion had broken up Black Citadel forts out in the field was when they held them for a long time or the forts were constantly contested; now the floor grates in them were being ripped up and placed as heavy defensive walls out in the field soon after being taken.

Apparently nearly 1200 flame legion planned to be around for a while.

Axedrag Cut, Warrior’s Crown, and Ebonhawke/Bento Canyon, the Fields of Ruin front line

Grim had set up an impenetrable wall of the six war wagons and several hundred soldiers from the north cliffs at Warrior’s Crown southwest to Bento Canyon. They held Skoll’s Bivouac for a time, but the attacks got so heavy and frequent that he ordered them to fall back. At the narrow pass of Axedrag Cut no life was to be found; the moment any flame legion were brave enough to attempt passage, over fifty mortars and the 6th Battalion were were there to greet them.

But the flame legion were slowly chipping away at them, trying to wear them down before they could be reinforced. It was the heaviest attack attempted in years; things were going well for them so far, but they also knew of the commander of the 12th Battalion who was running the show there, they had to hit hard and fast everywhere before he could be effective anywhere. Once that centurion was given an opening he went for the kill.

And that’s just what he was doing; he couldn’t find an opening, so he was planning to make one with his legionnaires Dinky, Shredskin, Fyon the Wraith, Wrathclaw, and his unseen friends in the Whispers.

The Battle of the Black Citadel

Grim dozed on a rock outside of the Black Citadel, his pet Death running around chasing after rabbits and moas. Just playing; the carrion devourer had learned long ago that when they were around the Citadel, it wasn’t fight time, it was break time. A messenger walked up near the centurion and said ‘Uh, sir, tribune Brimstone would like to see you.’ He continued lying down but opened his eyes. ‘Alright. Thank you.’ The messenger saluted, then turned and ran off back toward the city.

When he arrived near the doorway of the Citadel itself, about 30 cubs were running around and talking loudly right inside the entrance. One of them ran up to him, tugging on his armor and asked ‘What is happening to Rafka? You’re her friend, please find out for us!’ Bewildered, Grim answered ‘I don’t know what is going on, cub. I am here to see tribune Brimstone.’ He strode up the long walkway to Brimstone’s office.

Brimstone’s assistant could be heard speaking as he walked up to the open door and knocked, poking his head in. ‘Sir, you sent for me?’ Grim looked over at Rafka and the assistant, the cubs eyes wide in wonder, and silent. The tribune stood up, ‘Yes centurion, come in. A few days ago at the Bane when you fought Rageclaw, your little cub friend here felt the need to, well, hit me between the legs, in order to get my attention. Since it was concerning you, I thought you might like to know.’

Grim’s eyes grew big, and he turned to look at Rafka standing there with a nervous look. ‘Yes, thank you sir. Did you do this, Rafka?’ he asked. It seemed as if, when he spoke to her, he filled her with the strength to face whatever came at her with defiance. ‘The tribune wouldn’t tell me why you were fighting in the Bane. And you didn’t tell me you were doing that either.’ She crossed her arms and looked away angrily.

——

‘You can’t just go around doing that when people don’t do what you want, Rafka. If you do those things when you are grown, it can quickly lead to a fight to the death. And in this case, you did that to the tribune here. You do not do that to the tribune. Any tribune. Ever.’ Grim turned to Brimstone, ‘I’m sorry sir, I wasn’t aware she did this.’

Rytlock looked at the cub thoughtfully for several moments. ‘Alright. I am going to sentence Rafka here for assaulting me. This is what happens when you are a soldier and you disrespect an officer, cub. There are two drainage ditches behind the Citadel, near the devourer spawning grounds. The openings to those ditches have iron grates covering them, and rocks stacked in front of those grates. You will go to those drainage ditches and transfer the rocks at both of them from one to the other. It won’t be easy, but punishment isn’t meant to be easy.’

She turned to him with a defiant look, ‘I’m not a soldier yet, you can’t make me do anything.’ Brimstone looked stunned. Grimcrotch spoke up, ‘I will make you do this, Rafka. I will go there and watch every move you make until the punishment the tribune gave you is complete.’ The cub turned and ran out of the office, bumping face first into Rathgaar Firemane right outside the doorway and falling back on her tuckus. ‘What’s going on, sir?’ he asked looking down with a grin, as Grim exited the office.

The centurion explained the story, then took him to the side for a quiet discussion as the cub stood silent in the hall. He told the elemental about him being Rafka’s sire, and said he thought it would be a good idea to start spending time with her, this being a perfect excuse. ‘Rafka, Rathgaar here will be your supervisor making sure you finish your punishment, I have other matters to tend to.’ Grim and Rathgaar saluted each other and the centurion walked off.

Rathgaar Firemane, sire to Rafka Firemane, in the Eternal Battleground

When Rafka and Rathgaar walked out of the Citadel, the pride of cubs Grim had run into on the way in followed them around the building to the fields behind, under protest from the elemental. ‘Hey you cubs, get out of here Rafka is being punished, this is not fun and games!’ They all laughed, booed and hissed at him. He thought he heard an ‘…old smelly charr…’ in there somewhere. Damn cubs.

At the drainage ditches they all attacked the rocks and began moving them back and forth. Rathgaar got angry, ‘Hey, I told you cubs this is not fun and games, this is Rafka’s punishment. Stop doing that!’ Out of the noisy confusion a mudball came flying up at Rathgaar, splatting on his chest. ‘Oh, so you wanna fight eh? I’ll give you a fight you little…..’ He reached down into some mud and smeared it into the faces of a pair of cubs.

They looked at him in surprise, then reached down and grabbed pawsful of mud and began throwing it at him. It then turned into a free-for-all, the rocks forgotten and the mudslinging commenced. Word quickly spread of the epic mudfight growing behind the Black Citadel, soon nearly every charr cub was there diving into the melee.

Most older charr simply watched and laughed, many joined in. Even when tribune Brimstone got wind of it he went to watch, shaking his head with a grin at the huge crowd of dirt-covered charr big and small, slipping and falling all over each other, great blobs of mud flying through the air everywhere.

And Grim’s ‘other matters’? The time of day was perfect for the rock he was dozing on earlier to be sun-baked and warm; he stretched out on it and went back to sleep, his carrion devourer chasing around rabbits and moas again.