The Grey Death
Liege Axitof watched the lands ahead. The humans were gathering to try to stop the advance of the mighty legions of Ossiarch. He looked at his troops. Maybe less than half the number of the enemy… but his troops had a fire burning in their chests. Quite literally. Axitof would have chuckled… But there was no one around him to appreciate such a gesture. The guards with their faces stocked in mockery, defiance or demented grins were nothing more than extensions of his own will. There seemed to be a flicker behind their eyes, but it was just the fire of the Crematorians.
The plan was simple. Hit the enemy, drag him down. Once decimated and routed, push enough troops behind the enemy line to lay waste to their encampment. He had the confidence that this was a simple task. His 40 mortek guards were not only able to deal death to the enemy, but also soak up most of what the enemy would be able to throw at them. Two mortisians were also here to help with the survival of his army. And in case a guard would fall, he would be able to take down the enemy with him in an explosion of bone-shrapnel.
He gave the order and with a furious charge the two armies clashed. The entire enemy line was hit by his guards, while he charged in the flank of an already engaged group of pikemen. He noticed the Soulreaper also charging in a group of enemies. He was surrounded by his guards and could inflict some damage where needed, but that Soulreaper was taking too much of a risk. He cursed him, and once again wished he had full control over everyone in his army. He hated this free-will so much.
While he trampled the pikemen he noticed his troops didn’t kill as many humans as he had anticipated and the humans didn’t seem to back down. It was curious for such creatures inflicted with free will to have such courage in face of his army of terror. He heard the sounds of thunder in the clear sky and noticed the guards around the Soulreaper exploding while smoke from the pistols of some humans in the back was starting to fill the air. Curses! he needed to get there and take them out. Lost in thought he got surrounded by the pikemen and they even dared to hurt his body. Filled with rage, he cut them down to the last men.
The clash went on, more of the humans falling then of his guards. The handgunners salvo again laid waste to his troops, but this time they used this to their advantage. The guards almost embraced the Greatswordsmen trying to take down as many with them. When the arquebuses were silenced again only a lone human survivor was standing upon the ruins of what seemed a great city once. A stubby ‘man’ in heavy armor smashed into guards. He was expecting to have a greater impact but the guards walled him and eventually started to surround him. The Soulreaper's presence was not ignored as the human kept a respectable distance from his scythe. The Soulreaper was able to take a man here and there, but they didn’t feel the full power of the scythe.
The rest of the guards were mowing down the remaining humans and surrounding the dwarf lord. It was time to deal with the handgunners. But as he charged into them he was welcomed by a hail of bullets, he avoided some, his armor deflected a few, but he was hit enough times to know this body was compromised. With a final act he hoped he could take down some of the Handgunners and the three Sigmarites with crossbows. But he miscalculated the tenacity of his enemy in the face of overwhelming odds. He died later in a tremendous explosion taking a Stormcast Eternal with him.
The dwarf lord was badly hurt and the guards were pouring over him. He was deflecting blows left and right, barely having time to try to hit any of the attackers. There is no shame in his courage as when he felt he was surrounded by no less than six guards and his armor and shield was dented from all the blows he had received.
The Stormcast and Handgunners took down the last of the guards that were with the Soulreaper, just as he decided it was time to ignore this commotion and finish the mission. The Soulmason that until now was staying in the back and buffing the army, saw the approaching greatswordsmen trying to break into the Ossiarch territory. He released an arcane bolt and… missed. So he gave chase to the swordsman, eventually taking him down on the second try.
Dispatching of the dwarf lords the guards charged into the Handgunners and the two remaining Vanguard Raptors, giving the Soulreaper the chance to advance… until he was struck by lightning forked from the human wizard's hands. Badly damaged the Soulreaper stood fast. The guards made short work of the Stormcast and Handgunners. It was now only up to the human wizard to stop the badly wounded Soulreaper. She gathered her will to manipulate the winds of magic, just as the Soulreaper was trying to deny it. But something in her concentration broke and she looked helpless at the Soulreaper approaching her encampment as the wind of magic dissipated around her before she could use them.
The soulreaper's body from black turned red and was engulfed in a white light as the encampment started to burn. Defeated, the human wizard started to move away from the lost battle as the mortek guards were now ignoring her. She swears she will avenge the death of her comrades.
No comments:
Post a Comment