-"I'm not doing it."
-"But Lord..."
-"No."
-"The image you will..."
-"No."
-"Please, lord..."
-"No."
Necirrejel was difficult to shut up. However, that seemed to have done the trick. I threw a few more practice shots at the walls, which gave me an idea.
Leaving Necirrejel behind, I walked up on a spiral ladder, leading to the top of the tower. With a slight jolt of energy, I summoned up some bones here and there, a few skulls, a pelvis or two... Fun stuff.
By my command, one of the skulls rose into the air, then shot outwards, up into the air. I kept a keen eye on it, while charging up my next lightning blast. The skull was almost out of my sight when I let go of the sparkling orb, forming a bright arc between my hand and the skull in the air.
The lightning barely hit it, but I was successful anyways. Then again, that was mostly because I knew where the skull was at all times. If you're a Necromancer, you just know.
I decided for a bit of a challenge. Spotting a loose Theta hawk in the sky, I spawned another budding lightning in my hand. The hawk seemed to notice me, and, with a piercing screech, dove right towards me. Alas, the lightning was not charged yet. I hastily phased out of reality, as the Theta's metallic claws barely missed me. It made a sharp turn behind me, coming upwards for another run.
I phased back, and whipped around, ready to blast my lightning. The large bird was clearly in my mind's eye, and so was its approximate position. I scanned the sky, looking for him. There he is...
I drew my hand back in preparation for the launch. For more comfort, I put my right foot forward... which was a big mistake.
Some baffoon left a crowbar lying there, which I failed to notice earlier. As I brought my foot to its position, I tripped on the big metal rod, painfully introducing my face to the roof. Since my concentration was broken, I let go of the lightning.
What happened next was completely beyond me. At first, the lightning went forward, the same way my hand was pointing when I cast it. However, it only travelled so far before arching back to the Theta's silvery talons, electrocuting the bird. It fell lifelessly onto the ground.
A very interesting development... So, lightnings are attracted to metal, are they? How very, very intriguing..."
--- --- ---
-"I need the materials right away. Without the Dark glass cannon, I am useless. This maul is big, but its power doesn't even begin to compare with a properly-tuned black lightning weapon. Without it, I will not have much use."
Horus proceeded to the gargantuan doors blocking the entrance to the hallway. There was some sort of a disturbance behind it... A strange buildup of energy...
...and something else.
A continuous, loud whine almost overloaded his detection array. For some reason, the Kao inside began to react violently, bubbling suspiciously. Normally the liquid is honey-viscous, but now it seemed more fluid than alcohol. Something was definately there.
He had to shut down that particular sensor, for the whine was making it difficult to concentrate on other senses. Immediately afterwards, he heard more noises - a kind of a skittering, somewhere above the doors. For reasons beyond him, he was overcome by a massive surge of fear, for the first time he could remember. The glowing purple pipes stopped eminating their soft light, and the room was plunged into total darkness.
This strange sensation of fear was greatly dulling Horus' senses. He could barely feel some sort of wetness beneath his feet... The entire floor was covered with viscous lukewarm liquid of some sort, seeping through the cracks between the brick plates on the floor.
Horus seemed to be losing it. All of his senses turned a bit fuzzy, blurry... A sound barely reached his ears, a sound like air hissing... Somewhere in the distance... or was it? Perhaps it was just next to him.
Suddenly, the fear was gone, replaced with extreme tiredness. His hands weighed six times as more, his knees were urging to the ground. Somebody's messing with his machinery, has to be... just then, as if in reply, the repair devices started running around in his body. They should be still... Why...
Suddenly, an idea flashed before Horus. His night vision! He completely forgot about it. The devices warmed up, modifying the lens of his eyes to recieve the dimmest light, coming from his own glowing glyphs. In a blurr, he saw a medium-sized creature on four spider-like legs and a human torso approach him... He was too tired to think... All he needed was something cold... Why cold...?
Another idea sped through Horus' mind. For some unknown reason, he was overheating! The repair mechanisms were jamming the Kao tubes on the other side of his armour, basically cutting off his circulation. In this case, the circulation was used for heat dispersal. The spider-thing in front of him reached up to his head, and wrapped its clawed hand around it. Horus found that if he were to move a muscle, he would completely overheat. Not good.
--- --- ---
//Remember, DM, most Kandarinian soldiers are armed with spearguns. Although a melee division was also possible, in which case they are using long, thin wristblades.\\
The soldiers that were struck down were groaning in ... annoyance?
The bullets that reached them were stuck in the hard Kandarinian armour, covering most of their body. Some of the heavier projectiles knocked the warriors down, not doing much damage beyond that. A scratch here and there, nothing to be really concerned about.
As the "wounded" ones were busy pulling the pebbles out of their cuirasses, a few other rebels here and there popped out.
-"Die, occupant scum! We belong to no one!"
Their first mistake, of course, was letting the enemy know they were there. A silent click of the trigger, the whooshing noise of the miniature spear flying through the air, and the rebels fell to the ground, one after another. The particularly persistent ones ran up point blank to the Kandarin soldiers, drawing their rapiers. They didn't seem to recognize the maroon bird symbol on the warriors' chests.
-"Tell your king that your kind isn't welcome in these lands!"
That last comment really set off the bomb. The Kandarinians stopped doing whatever it was they were doing at the moment, exposed their wristblades, and began shredding the opposition to bits. It did not matter that they didn't know that Kronos wasn't a king. The fact was that they said it.
--- --- ---
The groaning zombies were biting chunks of their victims off, as Roland scanned the battlefield with a concerned look.
-"Hmm... these were some clever traps... There may be more of those, perhaps I could note them on the map as potential looting points... and why am I talking to myself?"
A zombie right next to Roland made a particularly nasty crack as it ripped open the ribcage of one of the corpses. To Roland's mild surprise, the corpse suddenly got up and smacked the zombie in the head. Looks like Kronos was quick to pick up on things...
The legion of the undeads suddenly got heftier by a good 120 troops, as the dead woke back to life. The only downside was the continuous squishy, churning sound the zombies made when they moved. Groaning was also a mild annoyance, but it was easily rid of by cutting the heads off the noticibly louder groaners. The others didn't seem to be looking forward to the experience, and walked in (relative) silence.
Just as Roland brought up Kronos' name in his head, the aforementioned's voice boomed through Roland's thoughts.
-"Roland, get your legion and begin a secondary run on Ugran. I'm getting a couple of live armies there as well, but you should be able to deal considerable damage with the horde you have already. Remember, this is Aspye-brainwashed Ugran we're talking about here. Make as much mess as your dead heart desires, just don't ruin any buildings. I seem to have struck a good deal with that count that came by earlier... Perhaps it will be wise to consider selling real estate for some pocket change."
