(Rating: Violence mainly... 17+)

Also 50 official chapters! Whoooooop!

Day 65

(Ape 23rd Spear Phalanx Leader)

The orders arrived by messenger. We were to mobilize.

As usual, no one was entirely thrilled about the orders. Escaped slaves? Why should we care? They're just fleeing.

Sigh.

Our company was to report to that old war-hound Kentar. At least the commander is good. I swear, the next time I have some jumped up patrician's kid trying to flex his lacking experience as my 'commander' I'll cut the bastard down in the middle of a skirmish. How many of my men have been thrown to the tunnels because of these stupid little pricks abusing their daddy's influence?

Last time was the indeed the very last I'll allow.

Day 66

I'm surprised the old bastard remembers my face. I've only been attached to his command twice.

He actually clapped my shoulder and welcomed me aboard, personally. Me, a mere lieutenant.

As we are consolidating our forces he even calls us all together and there I get to see the extent of our forces.

The Brute is the first I meet, that scar covered muscle-head pushing me out of the way as he entered the command tent. Still just an impatient meat head. Well I suppose every army needs some like them, if only to soak up the majority of the damage from attackers. Can't say I'll care if he dies. I don't even care to remember his name. Something like a growl, no doubt.

What scares me is that I didn't notice the tall man behind me. He's probably our scout leader. His skills are frightening. He doesn't smile or even offer a greeting, just cold silence. I know him from somewhere... oh yes. The Ghost of Obelin. He's pretty famous.

I'm merely the commander of a spear infantry unit, but both of these men are major officers.

Inside the tent I see the old man, with his strategist. The Old War-hound still looks hungry for the battle. The strategist on the other hand, is a pudgy little man who looks hungry for a roast dinlen with extra gravy. Having already experienced his strategies I can say that at least he isn't a complete fool, but from the look of him he'd die if he ever had to fight. His only decent attack strategy would be to crush his enemies with his belly and use his blubber as a shield. Nothing smaller than a short-sword is going to pierce anywhere vital below the neck.

The briefing is quite pointed and while casually explained the problem is far larger than expected. Hundreds of slaves broke out of the city by force, with stolen loot. More than fifty died in the escape, half of those the guard squad at the gate. I sincerely hope the first to die was that incompetent squad leader. What a failure, letting rabble like that through by force of numbers. If he'd had the bolts locked down immediately then the slaves would have been pinned against the door by militia forces and trapped in the city.

Would have saved us a few weeks we'll never get back, that would be of better use elsewhere.

Day 67- 68

We are marching toward Bastion City gate. From there we will follow the scouts as they seek out the path of travel in advance of our main forces.

There is a tremendous noise.

It sounds jerky and strange.

(Choo choo... )

It stops and then starts again.

Then the explosions begin.

When they end there is silence of a kind I've never heard. As if the monsters that lurk in the tunnels have all been awed. Normally their noises fill the tunnels, now there is nothing but my own heart beat and the panting of my men.

After the silent pause we double-time our march to the city, since that seems the direction of the unknown disaster.

Day 69

This is truly remarkable; some fool actually broke in through the city gate and crippled a full combat group of guards. Then just strolled in.

Damn.

So many dislocated arms.

The infamous weapon sage rat. With a squad of those metal creatures at his beck and call.

Side-tracked, our original mission is replaced with a new mission.

Until further notice we are set as guards at the gate. In addition we have to repair the gate.

Ugh... boredom.

Day 72

Finally finished!

We are on the march again.

Our new mission: hunt down the rat and bring it back alive.

Day 73

Stumbled across the remains of a great metal beast and many smaller things, like it's young.

Blood dried inside the guts of the monster is all the proof we need something has hunted down the beast and slain it.

In one tunnel a strange smell comes. One of unknown origin.

Day 74

Our scouts return from the strange smell's direction.

They are weak and ill. They can't hold down food or water.

I think it is the smell, the passage or the room.

We hesitate to enter in force. From what the scouts report, there is no point in traversing via that path.

Not only is it a barren, burning wasteland: in the center of the room is a huge gap, cutting a hole into the pits below and into the sky above. It must be the place the calamity occurred. Truly monsters of the highest order fought there.

Day 75

The scout legion has found an alternate path that seems to be the direction taken by the metal men; their footsteps leave scratches on the bare stone.

The two ill scouts are suffering in a terrible manner; they are feverish and weak. Disturbingly their hair is falling out in handfuls. I'm starting to suspect the smell was a lethal poison.

Day 77

Close.

Our scouts report signs of regular activity in these tunnels, someone is harvesting food and water.

Also our path seems to have stumbled upon evidence old enough to suggest the escaped slaves are nearby. I would never have suspected the rat and the slaves were connected; his appearance at the city was far too fast if this is his domain.

Also our ill scouts have died early in the morning, wasted away and lethargic. What kind of terrible poison could destroy a healthy man like that?

Day 78

Found it.

We see several slaves in the tunnels. They immediately bolt.

I order a volley of arrows to make them flee to their den.

Five of them drop under the arrow shower. Three dead before they touched the floor.

I see one male cat trying to drag his pierced left leg to shelter.

I let my spear taste blood.

Behind him the second is huddled on the ground. A tiny cat, with an unusually long tail. She has an arrow in her shoulder.

I consider leaving her to the men, but she's a bit young for that. Better to kill her.

I raise the spear and stab down.

It pierces flesh with a satisfying response.

Only it isn't what I intended.

I find the man I just killed is impaled on my spear again.

Before I can question this I see the girl vanish like a ghost.

A chill runs up my spine as I hear words, cold and threatening in a dialect I'm not familiar with.

Something is here.

I back away, trusting my brothers in arms. Something is in the tunnel's darkness.

“Didn't understand?” [Niala] “I'll say it again. Even if you run, I will find you and take my time in tearing you apart for this. You are walking meat waiting to be cut open.”

Crashing thuds echo in the tunnels.

One of the metal monsters!

It rounds the bend, with a body and face different from any I've heard of.

The tubes at the front, what is their purpose? Blow-darts?

I get a good view as the Brute commander charges. His men fall around him as he runs. Some scream about burning, others drop dead.

Such efficient killing... this metal thing is horror of the highest order. It cuts down the Brute's best men, veterans of campaigns I only know by name. The Brute himself was separated from the rabble. He was not shot like the others.

He winced as his feet were burnt by this magic weapon.

The metal monster caught his arms in claws that seemed quite fragile. It pulled him up, arms out wide. For a moment I though it would tear him to pieces with those thin metal arms.

Instead blinding light in crackling arcs leaps out and the Brute howls and quivers in agony.

The Brute is dropped, falling face down and silent.

The metal thing raises as arm, pointing at me.

[Golem]

The monster then trudges away, as we mere mortals watch stunned. It chewed a heavy infantry squad to pieces in moments. Seventy corpses, the entire front line. The monster even finished off the injured.

I come to the Brute and roll his body over... to see scorched skin and smell burnt meat. Ughhh...

His empty eye-sockets stare at me accusingly.

I stroke my lucky spear-tip as I try to think rationally. The smooth, impossibly sharp wood calming me.

The giant metal thing is retreating.

Something is wrong... did it run out of ammunition?

If we follow now we can catch them to deal a heavy blow before they scatter.

We reach a tunnel that leads toward open gates.

The fifty men at my back hesitate.

“Charge!” I cry, urging them into the assault.

What we learned:

He tried to kill kitten... oh boy is this ape in trouble.

Antimatter explosions are nuclear blasts, including heavy radiation and causing fallout.

The maze saw the first recorded instance of radiation poisoning (the two scouts).

The golem used up too much of it's 'battery' under Niala's orders. Too bad for the apes, it comes with an adapter and cable...

The apes are seriously underestimating the enemy.

Next week:

Knock Knock...

Sorry about the delay.

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