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Tormoth the Destroyer, Warlord of the Bloody Peak tribe, stood on his huge,
portable dais in front of his great army, forged from battling the forces of
Av-Hanna and Aysen. Anaba mercenaries, Goblin slaves, and the hardy Orc
Warriors of his tribe waited for the clarion call before they descended on
the valley of Azak-Kaghk-K'korr, home to an old Dwarven Citadel, now a great
monastery and shrine of Serra Paladins.
The valley was deep in the Mountains of Shiraz, once range of on old Dwarf
Empire and then Shiraz the Great, an ancient ancestor of Tormoth. Legends
told of how this valley was the last place Shiraz the Great attacked, and he
had been slain thanks to the combined effort of thousands of Aysen troops,
Dwarven soldiers, Anaba clan-armies and Priests of Serra.
But Tormoth was planning to finally take the fortress, since it was the one
place the Bloody Peak tribe had never been able to destroy, much to their
shame. However, this time, Tormoth promised himself, things would be
different. Tormoth had studied the works of brilliant human and elven
tacticians, and had formulated a plan so detailed after studying the terrain
so carefully, that it seemed, to the regimental commanders, that every
second of their attack was carefully planned out and they were nearly able
to name every blade of grass by some number code or other.
And with this so-called 'indestructible' citadel out of the way, Tormoth
could plan his next triumph: the fall of Northkeep, the massive fortress
complex that guarded the Border Lands from tribes like his.
It was time. Tormoth took one look at the citadel, then waved the massive
flag of the Warlord of the Bloody Peak tribe, and soon the great horde was
advancing, quite rapidly, towards the keep. Then they all stopped. Suddenly,
huge, hulking stone humanoid-like shapes rose from the mountain ground and
waited in front of the army. Tormoth cackled with glee. His shamans had just
summoned Earth Elementals, except for Gnorrbb, the Grand Shaman Lord of the
army. Gnorrbb stood right by Tormoth, and was accompanied at all times by
his familiar, a wicked-looking Nettling Imp. Gnorrbb had mastered both the
arts of Red and Black magic, making him a feared magician among the tribes.
His job would be to combat the best of the defending magicians.
The Elementals, recovered from their summoning sickness, began their march,
and the living troops set a pace behind them, while crossbowmen and bowmen
armed their weapons, ready to fire indiscriminately over the edge.
Tormoth chuckled, malice dripping in his voice. Within the hour, the
fortress would be his new base of operations, and the pitiful humans in it
would all be dead...
The inner courtyard of the citadel was as busy as it gets, except for a
small mock duel in progress. A Paladin-in-training, Talen, was trying his
utmost to best one of the full Paladins, a well-known hero among the
Paladins who was named Ihsan. The two grunted as they furiously tried to get
a blow through to the other's armored head. Watching the duel was another
Paladin-in-training, Gerrold, and his tutor, Leillana, the only female
paladin in the realm, and a White magician, just graduated from the Wizard's
College, named Turth.
Talen dodged a quick feint from Ihsan, but saw the next swing coming and
counter-feinted. Ihsan swung to block the blow, but realized his mistake...
...and fell with a surprised yelp as the wooden sword of Talen hit him
square on the front rim of his bassinet. The group that was watching
applauded, earning a few curious glances from other passerby.
"Very, very good," an aged voice suddenly said. It was the master wizard of
the Keep, Fabzin the Magnificent, a master of the arts of Blue and White
magic. Talen looked up at him, his face drenched in sweat after he removed
the helmet.
Then the alarm bell sounded, and arrows flew over the battlements, striking
the stone ground, the stone roofs of the houses, and even a few people, who
fell over, clutching the black feathered missiles. The group looked at the
rain of death in shock, for it couldn't reach them. Ihsan examined one of
the arrows.
"They're Orcish," he stated, a tone of disgust an repulsion in his voice.
Then the rain of arrows stopped and a rain of fire began. Red spells of all
sorts descended into the outer courtyard, and the flashes and booms of
explosions rocked the inner courtyard.
"Serra protect us," Leillana gasped.
"Quick, come with me!" Fabzin yelled at the group.
"But shouldn't we help defend the walls?" Gerrold asked. Turth voiced his
agreement.
"No, no, no!" the old magician said, shaking his head as he began to run
for the donjon. "Squires should stay out of the fighting, and we need to
protect a sensitive area!"
The two magicians, the two squires, and the two Paladins began sprinting
for the keep. They arrived as many others were rushing to the second gates.
Soon the sounds of battle were everywhere and magic of all types, except
black, flashed across the fallen outer wall.
"It's Tormoth the Destroyer!" Ihsan shouted over the din. Then suddenly
dark waves of evil energy swept out from a central figure of the Warlord's
horde. The waves struck several Paladins and they were thrown back and
killed instantly. "And a Black wizard!"
"Come on," Fabzin shouted, and he led the five others into the corridors of
the keep. The sounds of good men being slaughtered receded as they traveled
up and back into the heart of the shrine. Soon they arrived near the back of
the keep.
"You three," the old wizard said, pointing to the Squires and Turth, "go in
there." He opened a secret door which led to a small hidden room. "No, don't
ask how I know, just go!" he told Talen, who was about to say something. The
three confused apprentices did as they were told, and the wizard shut the
secret door.
He turned to Ihsan and Leillana. "You two go down that passage," he said,
pointing down a small side corridor farther down the darkened shrine. "I'll
stay here and guard the Disk."
"The what?" Ihsan had time to ask before Fabzin pushed them towards the
small passage. They reluctantly began marching to it and then were engulfed
into the murky blackness of the corridor.
Fabzin turned and prepared himself for a great magical duel...
Tormoth looked around the inner wall with glee. The outer wall had fallen
in twenty minutes, thanks to the magic and the Elementals, as well as a few
shots with catapults. But it could be rebuilt. And so could the inner wall,
which had been taken and reduced to rubble nearly twenty minutes later. The
Warlord gloated as a few hundred Paladins withdrew to the castle, pursued by
his horde. Tormoth himself went to the side of the building, near his own
tribe, but he didn't know why. Then he saw the tell-tale chip in the wall: a
secret door!
The Warlord leered with pleasure and yanked the door open. "Follow!" he
bellowed to his elite troops, and nearly fifty Orc warriors poured into the
small hallway the door opened into. The others simply began to try to scale
the walls and capture the castle.
Gnorrbb rematerialized in the dark shrine in the back of the citadel, just
as where he had wanted to be. The Disk was his for the taking, and he would
become the power behind Tormoth's rule. The Disk had once belonged to
Shiraz, but Gnorrbb knew more about its powers than the legendary Warlord.
Wait! Gnorrbb looked around, peering into the shadows. He was not alone...
"I've been waiting for this for a long time, Gnorrbb," the voice boomed
through the room. It was Fabzin.
"So, the wretch dares to interfere with my plans again, eh," the Orc said.
His eyes flashed with hatred, and suddenly a network of scar tissue could be
seen across his body. "I've been waiting too, for my vengeance. And, today,
it will come." The Shaman relaxed his body and sent his spirit out to gather
the mana he would need for his magic, drawing mystical energies from the
swamps and the mountains to slay his opponent.
Fabzin's brow furrowed in concentration as he began to draw energy from
plains and islands to cast his spells. He was the first to act, conjuring
two artifacts to aid him with his magic, but they were destroyed by Shatter
spells launched by the shaman. Fabzin didn't want to waste his counterspells
on the simple shattering spells...it would be a waste of time.
He instead summoned two powerful beings. Serra Angels, Guardians of Justice
and Good. But the Shaman was prepared. Two bolts of Banishing evil lashed
out from his hands and struck the Angels. Fabzin answered with a
Counterspell to prevent one from hitting home, but his spell was destroyed
in mid-air by a pure blast of Earth and Fire, the Elements of Red. This
shaman had great resources. Indeed, it had been quite some time since Fabzin
had first defeated the shaman, leaving him with the desire to learn the
Black arts and not just the fiery Red magic of the Orcs. The Angels were
gone. It would be a tough fight...
Talen stood by the door, hearing the booms as powerful magicks passed
between the wizards. He heard bolts of lightning energy strike out, only to
be fizzled. Finally, there was a sudden shriek, and a huge BOOM!
Then silence.
Then the sound of an Orc laughing wickedly. Talen's heart sunk in despair.
The Orc shaman had won. He heard something remotely like, "The Disk is
mine!" and he stood away from the secret door, his heart heavy.
Ihsan and Leillana ran down the steep corridor, but a flickering torch
stopped them. The two drew their swords, only to see Tormoth come running
around the corner. He stopped, backpedaling furiously, and bared his teeth
at the two Paladins.
"Care to fight, you puny creatures?" he grunted. Leillana stepped forward,
her shining blade in hand, a look of anger on her firm but beautiful
features as she said, "Prepare to die, you evil monstrous barbarian!"
With a laugh, the Warlord swung his mighty axe and sent the sword
skittering away on the ground, while Leillana sunk to her knees, gasping and
holding her hand. With a backhand swing of his left arm, Tormoth slammed the
Paladin into a wall, where she slumped and lay still.
Ihsan charged. The mighty Orc whipped around to try and stop him, but he
swung his sword in an upward arc and cleft open the Warlord's eye socket.
Tormoth roared in pain and swung his axe, catching Ihsan on the side of the
head with the flat of the blade. Ihsan collapsed, and the last thing he felt
before unconsciousness claimed him was that of grubby hands moving to tie
him up...
An hour after the battle had ended, the entire force of Paladins, priests
and magicians had been slaughtered, except for the two he had met in the
hall. They were his first prisoners. Tormoth held a cold cloth bag to his
face where the Paladin's sword had connected. Shortly after the encounter,
Gnorrbb had healed the wound up with a little White magic he had found in
the quarters of the wizard he had slain in the shrine. Even that holy art
could be perverted to serve the forces of evil.
"Now, we must hold a Convocation of the Tribes where I can gain mastery
over all the Orcs and Goblins in the mountains," Tormoth said,
matter-of-factly. "The whole attack on the fortress took an hour and a half.
It was perfect! Losses were much less than what I expected, and in a month,
once all the Tribes have gathered at the Valley of Meeting, I can convince
them all to join and we will rebuild this place to suit our own needs."
"Of course, Lord Tormoth," Gnorrbb said, in a supporting tone. Gnorrbb had
apparently found a few choice magical goodies as well as spellbooks. He had
a few new wands, a couple of Mana Batteries, and a small disk clasped to his
belt. "You will rule over all the Tribes, and soon all of Ulgrotha will bow
to your name!"
Tormoth started to howl with evil laughter, as befitting the greatest
Warlord of all time.
Gerrold, Talen and Turth emerged from the secret chamber to find the
smoldering corpse of Fabzin in the darkened shrine. Burnt stone was
everywhere, and the small glass box on top of the shrine's altar was broken.
There was no sign of anything anywhere. The three wandered down the side
passage, eventually coming to a point where an eyeball and two Paladin's
swords lay on the ground.
Gerrold picked up the swords and sheathed one. Talen sheathed the other.
There was no speaking. They knew whose weapons those swords had once been.
The trio wandered through the ruins and were sickened and horrified at the
carnage found everywhere. Corpses of Paladins and bestial foes were
everywhere, and many walls had crumbled. But no sign of Ihsan or Leillana.
"They must have been captured by the Orcs," Turth said sullenly.
"Let's get out of here," Talen said. "We might be the only people who know
about this. We have to get to Northkeep before it's too late."
"But in this terrain, and with that army? How?" Gerrold asked.
"We can't just sit here and do nothing! Talen shouted. "We have to go south
and warn the Aysen before that monster and his horde slaughter all the
innocent people there!" His voice had a hardening in it that wasn't there
before, and Turth and Gerrold recognized his burning desire for revenge.
The wind picked up, and howled around them. They started shivering and went
into the warm halls of the castle. They entered the chambers of the
Paladins, and Turth clambered onto a bed.
"First," he said, "let's get some sleep."
Halfway across the continent, though he could have been halfway across the
world for all the three boys cared, a shadowy figure watched them get into
bunks and begin to fitfully snooze, trying to rest before their long trek.
"It starts," Baron Sengir said, gloomily picturing the war and devastation
to come. "The Disk of Dread has been possessed by the Dark One, and only
time will tell. I'll be bereft of victims to prey upon, no more humans with
their passionate emotions, so much capable of more than the baseness of the
Orcs."
"My Lord," Veldrane announced as he entered, "I've completed my task.
Anything else?"
"No, not yet," the Baron said calmly, facing out over the Barony and the
surrounding territories from his balcony in the highest tower of Castle
Sengir, the pinnacle of despair and dark passions beyond those of any
mortal. "You may leave. I must try to think out how to turn this...this
situation into some sort of benefit," he said, disgust in his inflection.
"Yes, my Lord," the Baron's faithful scout and servant left the room. Baron
Sengir stood at his balcony for a long time, and brooded...
End of Chapter One
Don't miss the next exciting chapter of Enlightenment!
Chapter Two - The Odyssey