Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1998 11:08:24 -0600 Subject: [ffml] [MW] The End of the beginning... From: His Dark Lordship It was strange. The Watchman at the keep hadn't seen a rat all day. Normally, they were all over the mess tent, but today, none. He spotted someone nearing the gates. "Halt! Who goes there?" he shouted. "That is not of your concern," replied the Watcher. "Tell Bacca that he has exactly two minutes to surrender." The watchman chuckled. A few archers had come by this time. He instructed one to watch the metallic figure as he went and told Bacca. Bacca returned, and frowned. "Surrender is not an option. We will fight to the death, if need be," he said. The Watcher sighed. "Would THIS change your mind?" The Watcher jerked back, and looked like he had gone into convulsions. A misty black fumed from his jaws, and then, in a precise moment, he exploded, sending metal debris everywhere. The mist seemed to flow in a similar shape that the watcher was, and then took solid form. Green scales formed a snout, where the blood red eyes would have been there were now golden eyes, golden like a cat's. It was the Dark Lord. Breechcloth donned his loins, and chainmail covered his torso. A pitch black breastplate covered his would-be heart. On one hand stood the terrible Gauntlet of Slaying, the other revealed his sharp hand claws, though uncomparable to the sickle-like claws that sprouted from his fur boots. Bacca's eyes widened. "TRAITOR!" he yelled. "I am fighting for the planet, and you're unfortunately going against it," replied the Dark Lord coldly. "That's bullshit. I'll cleave your head off, heartless bastard." "You'll have your chance." With that, the Dark Lord disappeared in a black wisp. * * * * * * * * * * Kait and Schala could only see each other. All else was black. "Where.. are we?" asked Schala. "You are here," said a voice radiating from the shadows. The Dark Lord strolled out. "You!" said Kaitlin. "We've heard of your-" The Dark Lord lowered his head for a second. "Why have you brought us here?" asked Schala. "To beg.. to beg you to flee the fortress," replied the Dark Lord. "I could not bear to see you taken by Mog's forces." Kaitlin frowned. "That's the chance we'll have to take. I cannot leave now, in the army's most dire need." Schala nodded. The Dark Lord closed his eyes and turned away. "Then I suggest you find some chastity belts, and may the Valkyries ride with you, for I shall not." Kaitlin and Schala disappeared. The Dark Lord walked back into the Shadows... * * * * * * * * * * The Dark Lord threw another dart at the wall. He hit the board dead on. The second missed completely and put a hole in the tent. He turned to the jug of mead beside him, swallowed it all down, then turned to the tap and refilled it. "I didn't think they allowed people in here after hours." said Azala, apparently walking in unnoticed. "Especially after the bartender left." The Dark Lord closed his eyes. A tear streamed down the side of his face. He threw another dart at the board, and went right through it. "I take it they didn't concede to your hopes?" asked Azala. "Nay, they chose to stay and die," sighed the Dark Lord. "I cannot blame them, but..." Another tear streamed down his face. He emptied the jug and turned to refill it. Azala put his hand on his shoulder. "You've been drinking all night. Come on, we have a war to wage." he said. "We'll keep Mog's troops away from them. Alright?" The Dark Lord sighed. "Thanks.. Azala." * * * * * * * * * The six gigantic armies stood in their respective spots. Their leaders came to address them. Drugga came out to his orks. He smiled. "Weez got a yoonit uv gunnz over dare." He pointed to the group of 20 orks armed with what looked like Uzis. "And owr trollz." He pointed to a group of seven huge creatures, with big noses and huge floppy ears. Few wore more than a loincloth. They all carried some sort of two handed weapon. Mostly oak trees, but the odd one had an axe. "And Squiggiez!" He pointed to the 8000 strong group of red balls with gigantic jaws being maintained by a few Goblins. "Now Boyz," Drugga continued. "Deez peepolz won't stup at nuthin. Dey will take yer land, yer food and yer frendz. But, remember, deez peepolz can swing swordz and do weird battol formationz, but THEY SUCK!!!" The entire ork army cheered. The Gun mob fired about 20 rounds into the air. Huge nails soared high, then came down and struck some poor guy in the head. Ozzie stood before his mystic troops. He spoke to them telepathically, then eventually they all cheered. The Liche came out in front of his undead troops of Zombies, Skeletons and Mummies. Several weird apparitions joined the force and the dead rattled in fury. Azala came out in front of his troops. "Let's get this over with so we can go AGAINST Mog." They Reptite army cheered. The Dark Lord came out in front of his Lizars. "Klet tut, n'th da drua niklet, nogh ma fier!" The Lizars roared. Mog stood before the Moogles. "Kupo, kuppopo. Ku Ku, kuppoppopo!" he said. "And remember.. take no prisoners! Death by.." The Moogles cheered. The Armies marched through the forest. The Rangers managed to pick off a few in the throng but at this point it didn't care. The Dark Lord created a huge mist for effect. He then conjured something else. "What's this?" asked Azala. "Old English technique," said the Dark Lord. * * * * * * * The watchman had been anticipating an attack all morning. There had been a massive mist since the early night. Bacca was infuriated, and heavy watch was made against the walls. He heard something. He listened closely.. "A pipeband!?!" he thought. "But how?" The pipes grew closer and closer. At last, he could make them out. They were orks, surprisingly. He couldn't tell how many, but there were enough. They marched to the moat and then just stood there, playing. He signaled to Bacca. Bacca had seen this sorta thing before. He motioned for the Ballistas to come out. They had everything prepared. Archers were ready, Ballistas were set, the drawbridge reinforced. Nothing could take the fortress. But no one yet attacked. Bacca sighed. And then... 2000 voices in unison. "WAAAAAAAAGH!!!!" The mist cleared, revealing a gigantic army, 2000000 strong. Bacca had barely 90000 troops, but had the defensive advantage. The dugouts they made in the land caused much of it to collapse as the allied army charged across them. It seemed to make no difference to them. "FIRE!" Bacca yelled. The Ballistas discharged and were quickly reloaded. A rain of arrows fell on the opposing force. Many Moogles died in their tracks, but the army kept on going. They reached the moat and quickly surrounded the fortress on its three sides. Bacca saw Lizars preparing their massive bows. One of their arrows, about two feet long, impaled the watchman that stood at his side. The Orks had their machines set up. Spear chukkaz shot spears over the walls. The Catapults proved more effective in this strategy, however. Huge rocks, cows and piles of turds were flinged over the wall. Archers knocked back the moogles who flung grappling hooks onto the sides. Azala telekenetically moved a steel walkway over the moat. Two trolls with gigantic axes began hacking at it. Four more grabbed a large tree and used it as a battering ram. The Dark Lord stood at the front. He decided to show off his powers. He levitated up into the air. He stood as high as the massive tower in the centre of the fortress. People looked up at the ominous figure. Lightning bolts struck from the clouds above, causing him to jerk back and go stiff. The bolts rebounded, their strength amplified by the dark lord's energy. They struck against the walls of the fortress, causing stones to fly off. They struck the tower, and it could but wobble. An Archer aimed an arrow at him, but he suddenly burst into flames. He fell into the moat screaming, yet even down there he burned away. Drugga, several large orks, Nizbel and a few of Azala's best men were loaded into the catapults. They landed inside the fortress, their fall broken by the many white mages running about. They began to make their way to the gate. Soldiers went to meet them, but the Catapults had been turned back, and more troops were flung in. Even larger thunderbolts struck the castle walls, eating away at them. Even with the troops getting inside the castle, Bacca's army still had the more felonies committed. The Ballistas were blowing troops away left and right, but the army had been inflared with a berserker rage that wouldn't go out. The catapults snapped again and more troops flew into the castle. This time, Lizars were sent in, and their Radgsr and foot claws began to tear people apart. Those with body armour managed to cut down a few but the Lizars eventually started biting through their helmets. The undead were supplying an endless supply of manpower, being unable to tire. They were setting up war machines, terrorizing the humans, and such. The Liche was trying to revive the fallen but the berserker rage instilled in the army seemed to block it out. More thunderbolts struck the citadel, even larger than before. The Trolls, now covered in arrows but still going, had hacked the drawbridge to pieces and were now bashing at the huge gate. The Catapults snapped and more warriors were sent in. Lorinan's Greek Fire did damage to the war machines but had finally been exhausted, and the undead were catching fire. But water from the moat was transferred my many of them and the fires were eventually put out. Barricades were being made of the dead bodies for the alliance's archers to shoot from. Bacca still had made the larger death toll. Soldiers were pulled from various normal posts to deal with the inside enemies. Kaitlin impaled a reptite with her DCOAS. Soldiers abandoned the jail to help the battle. The Trolls were hammering at the mythril gates. One of them had bled to death from the arrows. The moat was now no more, a huge bridge of dead bodies had scourged it from bottom to top. The Lizarian's main force came in now. Huge, bellowing roars were heard and about seven 42ft tyrannosaurs charged across the prairies, a howda on either side of them filled with Lizars, armed with Bows and Javelins. The incredible war beasts charged across the moat, getting ankle-deep in water as the bodies were pushed down. Their tough skin prevented the arrows from being much use as the tyrannosaurs picked them off the battlements, though the ballistas seemed to have better effect. One of the tyrannosaur's legs was blown right off. It managed to shift itself off the moat with its other leg. The undead began hacking up trees to make a replacement. The other rexes bought a clue from this and avoided the holes in the walls. The mystics had, during all this time, been healing those warriors who could be healed. Others had been blasting away at the walls with fireballs. Manticores, Imps, drakes, minotaurs and the like provided excellent walls for the healing groups. Slash had been catapulted into the citadel and was slicing people as we spoke. Other Lizarian war beasts were led out. A triceratops, with the way cleared of trolls (two more had been felled by arrow fire) charged across the walkway, which was reinforced by the other trolls. It smashed head first into the mythril gates, denting them considerably. The Orks with Gunz were firing at the archers untouched by the tyrannosaurs. Huge steel bolts blasted through the archers' light armour. The squigs had been catapulted into the castle and were eating everything in sight. Bacca organized a 20-man troop and led them in a turtle formation into the troops, cutting many of the alliance forces down. This worked perfectly, except that a few of the latest catapulted warriors landed on their formation, knocking troops down and giving some of the other troops a decent opportunity. The moogles were working with their grappling hooks, while most of the moogleboars were now in the castle. The Magitek Dreadnoughts fired magical missiles at the castle walls. Cheese and Rubber weapon had both scaled the wall and were covered in soldiers, trying desperately to slay them. Most of them got thrown into walls. More thunderbolts struck the fortifications of the fortress. The Dark Lord was now jerking around like an epileptic. The reptites were mostly within the fortress. Their technicians were mainly keeping track of the war machines. A war tower was being brought over to the castle side. A ballista shot made it crumble and they began working on another one. Yet, during all this, the many normally guarded spots were unwatched. OOC: Alright folks. You should know the plan. Shadow. :D