[IC] The Horde of Evil - Tresspassing through treacherous tribes' territory! (RP closed)

[BBeast]

Torrens had been joined in the charge by hexblade Octavius and he could feel the powerful concussive blasts of the illithid echoing throughout the cave. Torrens reinserted himself into the fray where the Xallihion had just cleared a path with a tentacle of force. Looking over to Octavius, Torrens saw that the human was already wounded, so he decided to ease the opposition against him. Covering his back with a two-meter long cone of fire projected from his left hand, Torrens stretched forwards his right arm with his hand as if it were a gun. From his right hand Torrens fired several consecutive fire bolts at the dwarves near Octavius, slaying them with skill and precision.

Torrens was about to shoot again when a pike slashed down onto his arm and caused the fire bolt to strike the ground uselessly. "Oi!" Torrens growled, and brought his other hand around to plant a fire bolt through the offending dwarf's skull. However, his attack had been anticipated, and the dwarf blocked with his shield. Before Torrens could get another attack through, he was struck from behind by another dwarf. He spun around and threw a small fireball, but that too was blocked. Yet again, another dwarf which he could not see swung a pike down onto his head, buffeting Torrens. He was surrounded by dwarves who were taking turns to stab him in the back and hiding behind shields.

"Think you're clever, eh?" Torrens snapped. He then stamped on the ground, and in a flash a meter-tall ring of fire had manifested around Torrens, right under the feet of the dwarves surrounding him. The blazing fire lasted only a second, but that was long enough to ignite the clothing and flesh of his assailants. "Bam! Wall of fire! Weren't expecting that, were you?" Torrens then stretched out his arms and inhaled, and the flames eating the dwarves intensified through the spectrum from red through yellow and finally into blinding white, all in the course of two seconds. Air rushed through the caves to feed the flames which, in turn, fed Torrens. However, a second more and the flames were suddenly snuffed out, leaving behind shriveled, charred corpses draped in molten metal. Torrens' face flickered for a moment in dissatisfaction that he couldn't have burned the bodies completely, but he realised that this was a consequence of working in the limited oxygen environment of a cave. Besides, he had recovered more energy than the energy lost by the blows he had received.

Standing proud and looking to the rest of the dwarves, Torrens thumped his chest and bellowed, "Who else wants a piece of me?"

Torrens' spectacular pyrotechnic display from before, while invigorating for himself and terrifying to everyone else, would have also come with the unintended consequence of raising local carbon dioxide concentrations to hazardous levels. While it should diffuse soon enough, it might cause some air-breathers to feel a bit light-headed.

[Lugubrious]

From the untroubled air, Clotho observed the entire battlefield. Judging by the profuse incendiaries spouting in bursts from the entrances to the outpost underground, Torrens was doing his job well, and after the inner defenses had been burned to a crisp the subterranean divisions would be able to proceed with their attack. In only a few moments, the Swarm Queen imagined, there would form the pincer-attack to crush the dwarven outpost from inside and outside simultaneously. Focusing now on the battle, she spotted a group of Antlions carving away at a section of wall below. Unfortunately for them, the dwarves stood rigid in defense of their bastion, and took advantage of everything at hand to rain agony on the living siege engines that assaulted them. Torches, braziers, fireplace embers, forge coals, and more all pelted the Antlions like hail, burning through their armor one chunk at a time. Before Clotho's eyes, one Antlion fell, its head affixed by an expertly-thrown lance. With a snarl Clotho descended, striking as a thunderbolt out of the blue, and dealt a kick powerful enough to snap the thrower's neck. On the way out, the Swarm Queen darted past a pair of dwarves carrying a huge urn of flaming embers, and cut into the back of one's knee. A cry heralded the downfall of the urn, spilling its contests out onto the walltop and lighting up wooden fortifications. On cue, part of the wall collapsed, and after the Antlion broke triumphantly through a crew of Myrmidons followed suit, fanning out into a shield formation.

Back in the sky now, Clotho could frankly concede that the dwarves were good. They knew their architecture, their warfare, and their technologies so thoroughly that any other army on the planet would have found a very tough time, if not undignified defeat, in an attack on this outpost. Clotho merely boasted the fortune of having a fighting force like no other on the planet. Beneath her, the event she'd bet on was coming to pass; from the sides and beneath the Horde attacked, leaving the dwarves with only the defenses of their buildings to serve them. Never one to bask in the thought of victory before it was assured, however, Clotho dove down from her vantage point to join in the struggle. A barricade set up by dwarves, fashioned of carts, barrels, and crates and fortified by flamethrowers and pikemen, had stalled her bugs' advance down a main street. Knowing that extended involvement would risk direct aggression and counterattack, Clotho engaged the obstacle by zooming low to the ground, in front of the barricade, and coming up from beneath to throw the flamethrowers out of position. While the weapons were disabled and the dwarves were distracted, the Myrmidons pressed the advantage and overwhelmed the barricade with a few casualties. Unfortunately, Clotho hadn't taken into account a third party, and from seemingly nowhere suffered a crossbow bolt in the small of her back from a hidden assailant. ”Agh! Ah, ah, ow!” Suddenly every beat of her wings was agony, and Clotho was forced to land on top of a building. Any dwarf worth his salt would be inbound to her location, hoping to finish off what was obviously a high-value target. Clotho needed help.

[KabenSaal]

Emily had finished strengthening the walls, and began to channel her Storm Magic, still riding off the power of the last song. The ground had been made in such a way that when the explosion went off, it would shift so as to shield the Horde - except Torrens, who would probably think the explosion was a spicy curry - from the damage. However, while she was working, a wind suddenly whipping up inside the tunnels, her mind was not so quite.
'Ohh, hello cutie. Wanna come over and we can make dual-blood babies?' The Kitsune asked, stunning the rest of them, except Emily who was too caught up in the spell to listen to her mind.
'You can't just invite people here, it's not your body!' the Overseer exclaimed, shaking his head.
'I wouldn't mind having a bit' one of the minor fire spirits put in, followed by the thought of him getting his head caved in by the Overseer.
'BURN!!!!' Came the second, less sane fire spirit, panting with anger. 'FIRE! SMOKE! DEATH!"

[Dark Cloud]

Balothiss also decided to follow the Masters orders and decided to assist Clotho who he had no idea was and sort of just assumed was another whelp who had joined the cause.

Balothiss was following along with Torrens horde and slowly made his way to the front to get a decent look at the battle field and unsheathed his sword Reaver preparing himself to assist Clotho, throughout the time he had been eyeing the others who had also came to assist Clotho.

Reaver hummed intelligently to his suprise, Balothiss was taken aback and he smiled to himself and scratched his face with a large hand as he wondered what else Reaver could do.

Distracted by his observations he heard the screaming of a mad man it sounded as though he wanted to dystroy everything with fire and wreak havoc to all which made Balothiss smile because he loved fire and he looked down at his hands which were gifted with conducting his fantastic magic that he was born with.

Yet he could do much more than throw petty fire balls and detect magic if he wanted to he just wanted to make his commrades think he was nothing more than a fire throwing half-giant.

He would do much more in due time he was just waiting for the right moment to unlock his full potential it all had to do with timing and luck.

[Eviledd1984]

Their was a moment of silence outside of the battlefield a small figure watching the battle form afar,"A gorgeous day for a battle" He spoke to himself smelling the air filling his nose with the scent of blood and fire.The small figure too another breath of the air before rushing towards the battlefield while riding his steed,His steed being a large wolf like creature covered in armor to protect it form swords and any other weapon.

His wolf had a sword attached to his back that can be unseethed by jumping into the air and the wolf carrying it in it's mouth swinging it form side to side,It was good for taking out large enemies and he could use his steed in this situation.The figure now coming closer towards the castle walls jumping over the crumbling wall beside the entrance and towards the door to the Dwarfven home,Once he got down the long stairs made his way towards the battle.

The two now in the battlefield mowing down the Dwarfs with the small figure getting off his wolf while the wolf was fighting with his own sword mowing them down.

[Cyclone]

While the tumult above grew increasingly bloody and chaotic with the charge of Torrens and Octavius and the arrival of Clotho's antlions and myrmidons, the Master had remained in the lower tunnels continuing to struggle using his magic to counter the dwarven geomancers cowering somewhere in a ritual chamber. Powerful a warlock as he was, he was only just able to hold them at bay by an inch and stymie their efforts to bring a hundred tons of rock down upon the heads of their attackers. This mental battle manifested itself as tendrils of magic extended everywhere through the very earth itself, porbing and manipulating it while tangling and fighting with one another.

Of course, that was only until Emily got herself involved in the tangle by seizing control of the earth from right below both sides. What followed was bewilderment and confusion as both the Keeper and the dwarves tried to determine if this was friend or foe. While the Master wasn't sure exactly who was responsible, he fortunately made the correct assumption that this was the work of one of his allies. He seized the brief window of opportunity that was afforded when the geomancers panicked and dropped their defenses. Tracing their magic back to their physical location, he used his own unholy powers to grasp at their souls from afar and rip with all his might. The dwarves' tenuous hold over the earth instantly vanished, leaving the Master with a strong suspicion that he had rendered those spellcasters either dead or as mindless husks. Still, he wasn't take any risks. Seeing as he already had penetrated the earth with his magic, he collapsed the entire ritual chamber that the geologists had been working within.

Hearing the satisfying rumble of the collapse along with the sounds of battle echoing through the tunnels to the dwarven city above, the somewhat fatigued Keeper managed to teleport into the dwarven hall. The outpost was built into a large and airy natural cavern, a little village of of homes and workshops beneath a sky of pure rock. Atop the roofs of one of these subterranean abodes there was a flash of fire that heralded the Master's arrival.

Torrens especially, but also Octavius and the others had succeeded in routing the first ranks of dwarven spearmen. While more moves forward to fill in the gap and a platoon or two of axe throwers moved in behind the rear spearwalls, the Master lazily conjured a few massive fireballs and hurled them into the dense formations. That would hopefully open up some holes and create an opening for the Horde to exploit. Between gigantic fireballs, he also attempted to smite down the cowardly soldiers that were fleeing. Thinner lances of pure flame shot out to snipe individual stragglers, with the Master intentionally shooting one or two towards Torrens in a rare act of kindness.

While he would have been content to utterly break the mass of dwarves holding back the Horde coming up the staircase from below, the Master simultaneously noticed many things: first and foremost, Clotho had managed to injure herself badly. Secondly, there was some sort of...creature with a sword, riding a wolf and hacking down dwarves. It seemed to be on his side so the Master did not try to kill it, but he taken aback. Thirdly, a steady stream of the weak, young, and old were running through the dark cavern towards a few select passages that most likely were secret escape routes to the surface or places to hide or make a last stand. Either case was bad; those dwarves would need to be stopped.

And then of course, there was still the manner of finding the stash alchemical explosives that they had come to steal in the first place. Feeling far too overwhelmed to handle all of these things at once, the Master could only hope that his followers would prove themselves more competent here and now than they had during Athinar's attack on that last village...

[KabenSaal]

Emily controlled the unatural, underground wind, and it picked up the explosive barrels, before dumping them at strategic points in the Dwarven resistance. She was going to make some specific shots towards them, but the Master flung some huge fireballs, which hit the barrels and caused the explosions to go off prematurely. The Earth still rose to defend The Horde, and the walls still did little more than drop some dust from the impact, so there was no problem, but Master Kill-stealed. Emily had a small little vent in the back of it, so the spare fireball and smoke could rush down the tunnel and possibly hit any second line of defense, but most of the dwarves would be vaporized by their own hand, and Emily thought that Torrens would be super-charged by the firy blast.

Still, the idea in itself had worked, and she was still in control of the cavern walls, just needing to exert her infulence over more of them, and possibly swamp important parts of the cavern with lava by melting the walls. Still, she was then aware of the noise in her head, but missed the inital question.
'So, head people. What's going on?' she asked.
'Ohh, some cute guy is here' Kitsune replied, which led Emily to become immidiately exapserated.
'It's telepathic, you don't know if he is cute!'

[BBeast]

Torrens was having a ball, burning through the dwarves who could do little to stop him. He gratefully absorbed the blasts of fire which the Master had sent his way. All was well, until suddenly the explosives where picked up by a great gale, scattered throughout the dwarven lines, and detonated by a stray fireball. The intense concussive blast threw him backwards, although rather than fly into the rest of the Horde he found he was stopped by a wall of solid stone which hadn't been there before. The impact, which would have smeared any creature of flesh across the wall, forcibly extracted many megajoules of thermal energy from Torrens.

When the smoke cleared, Torrens could see that the explosion had slain all the dwarves, many of them reduced to chunks of flesh scattered across the cave. Surprisingly, the stones walls were not even scratched by the explosion, and walls had risen in place to separate the rest of the Horde from the explosion, which seemed to suggest to him that this had been an intentional act of magic to kill the dwarves.

Although whichever bastard had done it didn't bother to think that he might have needed protection too.

Regardless, Torrens needed to focus on the present. The way to the dwarven settlement was clear, and Torrens needed to find something to burn. There would surely be a few forges in the settlement. Not waiting for the rest of the Horde to emerge from behind their wall, Torrens headed off at a jog into the settlement.

[Lugubrious]

As luck would have it, the bolt lay in precisely the worst spot it could have been. Not only did it highly de-incentivize flight by way of impressive pain, but it also eluded Clotho's best attempts to reach behind her and pull it out. Even when she did lay fingers on it, the positioning did not allow her enough strength to wrench the offending projectile free. Gritting her teeth against the pain, Clotho turned to face the trapdoor through which an increasingly loud noise promised to pour forth vengeful dwarves. No help had arrived, and the swarm queen expected none would be coming. How typical of an evil horde. I'll have to repay the favor some time. She limped over to the trapdoor, knowing that while such an act was unnecessary, it made her feel better. A shrill call resounded from the stridulatory organ in her neck, summoning some of her insect allies to her aide. Unfortunately, it appeared as if they would arrive, judging by the shouts and clangs immediately below, too late.

Clotho stepped back from the trapdoor, not trusting the dwarves to be stupid enough to stick their heads out one-by-one and be skewered. A moment later she watched in muted satisfaction as the trapdoor exploded, blown apart into splinters by a fired projectile from below, and immediately after the first dwarf, boosted up by his friends, popped through. Again Clotho decided to take the cautious route by instantly dodging to the side, but the dwarf, seeing no other enemies at the moment, took his time to aim at her. A steel ball burst from the metal device in his hands and smashed into Clotho's chest, crushing her newly-regrown armor and driving the wind from her lungs. These things, she thought as she gasped for breath, are too clever by half. When she looked again, two more dwarves had joined the first one, protecting him from the front and either side with hammers as he reloaded his blunderbuss. Thinking quickly, she darted forward, moving straight from doubled-over to lunging, and vaulted over the gunner's head. In midair, she twisted herself despite the pain and extended her stinger to nick the gunner's neck. While only one venom flowed through her systems at the moment, its paralytic properties ensured that the dwarf could not shoot her down as she sprinted for the edge of the building, leaped off, and was grabbed by a perfectly-timed Lambent that responded to her call. The oversized firefly made a speedy escape, and in no time was circling with its queen near the cavern roof once more.

Putting aside the agony still pulsing from the small of her back, Clotho took stock of the situation. The dwarves were putting up a stout and noble resistance, but Clotho's horde, guided by her commanding intelligence, was making steady progress. Though outgunned by the dwarves on multiple fronts, her bugs carried the advantage of adaptability; a single unit of Myrmidons could rush single-file through narrow alleys, form a shield wall to advance down a main street, or clamber over some of the more clustered buildings to appear where the dwarves wanted them least, and always were the dwarves harried by Lambent acid bombers from above. After making a few localized calls to specific groups, Clotho directed her carrier to zoom toward the nearest storehouse and set her down. Alone and unbothered for now, Clotho made a discreet entry into the building, intent on finding alchemy but prepared for combat with rapier at the ready.

[BBeast]

As Torrens entered the settlement, he found that a squadron of dwarves was coming to intercept him, probably initially intended as reinforcements for the dwarves which had just been blown up. This contingent was made up of a few pikemen, as well as several axe-throwers. If Torrens had been at full strength, such a fight would have been trivial. However, with his presently limited amount of energy, he needed to carefully ration the amount of fire he used until he could find some source of heat.

To start, Torrens pointed his fingers at the dwarves and fired a couple of bolts of fire at them. The first one, with the advantage of surprise, landed its mark and felled a pikeman. The second was blocked by a shield, and Torrens did not waste his time trying to get any more bolts past their shields. Then Torrens charged forwards at a full sprint, strafing aside as dwarves threw axes at him and managing to avoid getting hit by too many. When the gap between him and the dwarves was just a few meters Torrens lashed his hands forwards and cast out a fireball- not a very hot one, but one which would erupt into a large and disruptive plume of flame. With the dwarves distracted momentarily by the searing heat and the bright light, Torrens was easily able to slip past the spears pointing at him and push into the ranks of dwarves. As he entered, he clambered over the stocky figures, grabbing at their faces whenever he was capable or otherwise forcing his way past on threat of third degree burns.

In just a couple of seconds of confused panic amongst the dwarves, Torrens had made it to the other side. Torrens cleared the group by a few paces, turned and taunted "Bye". Then Torrens turned and ran, easily outpacing the dwarves.

As he continued, he found that Clotho's insect swarms had already cleared many of the streets. Those streets which remained held by the dwarves, however, were held tightly. One such barricade that caught his attention, however, was one which was using coals from nearby forges to rain down onto the bugs below. At the street level, the barricade was held by pikemen and dwarves with warhammers and battleaxes for whenever the Myrmidons pushed through the first line of pikemen. In the windows of the buildings adjacent to the barricade were dwarves with crossbows, raining bolts of steel upon the Myrmidons below. And on top, along with the urns of embers, were more crossbowmen and also a few dwarves with blunderbusses, which were keeping the flying Lambent at bay.

Torrens wanted to get to those top floors. However, to get there, he would need to somehow gain access to the buildings, and there were no doors or ground-level windows on this side of the blockade, or else it would have been overrun already. The walls were made of stone, so he had no power to barge through them, and it appeared that any attempts by Antlions to get to the walls had been hindered by the rain of embers from above. And Torrens didn't have the power to spare to simply charge through the blockade. However, after a few moments of consideration, he did notice that one window of a building he wanted to get to was within leaping distance of the roof of another building which wasn't under dwarven control. A couple of dwarves guarded it from the inside, but that should hardly be a problem.

Torrens entered the adjacent building and climbed to the rooftop. As he emerged, he was noticed by the crossbowman in the window he wanted to get to, and was struck squarely in the shoulder by a crossbow bolt. A small jet of flame erupted as a result, although it barely staggered the fire demon. Swiftly, Torrens retaliated with two bolts of fire, dispatching both the crossbowman and the pikeman guarding that window, then he ran forwards and took a running jump towards that window. A dwarf with a blunderbuss on the roof noticed him and took a shot, but that shot flew wide and landed behind Torrens. Torrens landed half way in the window, grabbing onto the windowsill with both arms. As he pulled himself over, he was almost knocked out of the building by a solid blow by a dwarven warhammer to the face, leaving Torrens dangling out of the window and somewhat peeved. Before the dwarf could follow up the attack Torrens hurled himself up so that his head was above the windowsill and breathed out a cone of fire which engulfed the dwarf, immolating him. Given a few seconds of respite, Torrens was able to climb fully through the window and enter the building.

Inside, he was faced with more dwarven warriors who were intent on stopping him. However, Torrens didn't have to get through all of them, only enough to get him to the staircase. Charging forwards, Torrens cleared his path with a tactical fireball, scattering the two dwarves who were in his direct path, then dashed through the opening and up the stairs. On that rooftop, many of the crossbowmen and blunderbuss dwarves on the roof turned in surprise at the intruder, but before they could turn their weapons and open fire Torrens had already made it to the nearest large urn of hot embers and jumped inside, scattering some of the embers onto the surrounding rooftop.

This urn was deep enough to hold Torrens up to his waist, so his torso stood out above the hot coals. However, less than a moment after he had entered, the embers flared from a dull red to searing white and hot flames erupted from the urn as Torrens supercharged the combustion of those coals to feed himself. Most of the dwarves were forced to shield their eyes, although a few fired at Torrens any way in a futile attempt to do some damage. About 5 seconds later most of the coals had been reduced to a billowing cloud of searing ashes and the urn which Torrens was standing in now glowed cherry red.

Grinning and glowing with power, Torrens leaned forwards, tipped the urn over and stepped out as it fell. As the dwarves raised their weapons to shoot, Torrens made one simple quip. "I win." Then, with outstretched arms and a surge of power, he filled the rooftop with a conflagration which ignited every dwarf caught in it. Laughing, Torrens feasted on the flames of a couple of the burning dwarves before jumping down into the barricade below to join the fight.

[Eviledd1984]

@BBeast D'Artagnan mowed his way though the dwarves that were of course in his way,The small rabbit helping his steed or rather his wolf pet.The two were making good process helping the group killing the dwarfs underground.His wolf was in the crowd closes to the group to become back up for the group,Meanwhile D'Artagnan was in one of the watch tower killing off the soldiers inside and the archers that were firing at the group at at his pet.

D'Artgnan was climbing up the stairs of the tower one by one he conquering the tower form the bottom to the top,The small bunny much to the confusion of the Dwarfs were seeing this cute looking rabbit brandishing a sword murdering their kin one after another.D'Artgnan after what seemed like a hour and a half D'Artgnan had killed most of the dwarfs inside of the tower and given the group a bit of breather room to battle below.His wolf was getting closer to the group the large black wolf flinging his sword back and forth chopping the attacking dwaves in half with each swing of his sword.

D'Artgnan came out of the tower running down the stairs of the tower to rejoin the group killing the dwarfs that were in his way.He finally made his way out of the tower his body racing pasted the small figures slashing them while he was on the move towards the group.

[Kangutso]

"Sir, those monsters are pushing further and further into the city, it won't take them long to get here."

"It will still take them time, use it to gather my things, make sure to-" An elderly dwarf's sentence was cut off by a scream, which was followed by a dwarf being help down a stairway, a crossbow where his collarbone was, "He was hit by a stray bolt, he'll live, but-" He was interrupted the the elderly one, "If they're firing into the city, then there are monsters that have slipped past the barricades," he muttered a short string of curses, "Secure my alchemy notes, every one of them, then destroy and burn everything else.. We're heading to one of the escape tunnels with the others."

"Even the... experiments?" The alchemist looked at him, and gave a short, curt nod. The dwarf guard gathered a couple others and set about killing what was in the cages in the next room.

An elven woman, with the appearance of having once been a proud warrior, was huddled in the corner of one cage wearing nothing but loose, tattered, and torn rags, a unfocused and blank look in her eyes. She didn't even look when some dwarves entered the room and started systematically killing the other cages animals and sentient beings. The leader of the group made his way to her cage, looked at her for but a moment, then opened the cage to more easily drive his blade into her. As soon as it broke into her skin and went about an inch in, the pain and her short scream woke him up, the blade stuck and black fluid sprouted from around the blade and before the dwarf could register what happened a black tendril shot through his throat and stuck out of the base of his skull, he was dead before he hit the ground.

Black, monster-like hands and claws formed around her hands, the feet following suit as her face was covered by a solid mask. The blade was pulled out and tossed aside, the noise drawing the attention of the other two dwarves, who immediately noticed the dead body and decided to rush what had killed him. One got there first, tripped over a limb in his rush, and had his throat ripped out as he fell, left to die slowly. The other was smarter, and had just reached the doorway and started to yell something when Mar came upon him. The life was ended quickly with a claw to the base of the skull. All that was left was two more guards, who appeared to be mercenary brigands hired for this shady work, one of which was injured from a bolt, and an old alchemist. "G-get it, kill it!" The healthy dwarf charged, and once he was nearly upon Mar just stopped, his arms falling limp to his sides before his body fell. A tendril slowly receding back into the elf's body.

Needless to say, the wounded dwarf didn't take much and the alchemist was half-dead in Mar's hand when the doors could be heard opening. Whoever was coming in would hear the old dwarven alchemist begging for his life and trying to make deals, making repeating mentions of his research and the secured escape tunnels out of the city. The only reason he was still alive was because Mar was debating whether to take him as a temporary host while his current one recovered. No, it was too late for that, and he raised a hand to end the man's life.

[Dark Cloud]

Balothiss marched along with his shoulders back and his posture straight like a old oak battered by wind but unmoving and unflinching from minor blows and strikes.

He swung his mighty sword Reaver and was suprised when when he struck a sheild that it cut through it and utterly dystroyed it allowing him to kill much faster.

This of all things brought a smile to his face that lifted his spirits and carried him farther into battle away from the ranks of Torrens minions and into the fray of battle, with much savage delight Balothiss swung his weapon here and there killing a dwarven warrior and maiming another.

His very soul felt as though it had ignited as he usually ignited the flame that he flung from his very hand and it filled him with courage and bravery beyond anyones comprehension.

His sword killed many who stepped in his way and so did the flames that he threw he waded through fallen enemies and a few comrades although nothing more than a whelp they were.

He was minorly wounded yet he ignored the blood seeping from his shoulder from a cut that he had taken from an axe that he had evaded yet that had caught him unaware.

He just laughed filled with energy and excitement and continued his onslaught, into the fray of battle he did not notice his other companions yet he knew of their existence but he was too focused on battle than petty social issues if they needed him they would call him over or the Master would summon him.

[BBeast]

The scent of burning flesh and an acrid smoke hung over the streets where Torrens battled, remorselessly immolating the dwarves who manned the barricades. Charred skeletons and ashes where all that Torrens left in his wake as he tore through the dwarven blockades, restoring any lost strength from the flames which burned his foes. With the dwarves' formation falling apart, the rest of the city would be much more penetrable to the rest of the Horde's forces.

As Torrens approached another barricaded street, he gleefully hurled fireballs at the lines of soldiers and in through the windows where dwarves were shooting down at him. However, he stopped when he noticed that something, or someone, was killing dwarves at the back of the group. As the flanked pikemen turned to face this new threat Torrens took the opportunity to shoot them in the backs with fire bolts. Assaulted from both sides by competent fighters, the dwarves were swiftly slain, and emerging from the press of stocky dwarven bodies was- a rabbit?

Torrens had to stare for a second before he could believe his eyes. Yes, the mysterious fighter was a rabbit. An anthropomorphic rabbit with a blood-soaked sword, but still a rabbit. Torrens bent down so he could get closer and said to the rabbitfolk swordsman, "You're even shorter than the dwarves. Are you new or have you just been hiding behind other people all this time?"

[Eviledd1984]

@BBeast D'Artagnan was slashing down the incoming dwarves that was in his way form speaking to male figure speaking to him,"Neigh i have just arrived this foul place to help you lot with this battle...bloody buggers seemed to be trouble... The small rabbit like figure now cutting down the dwarfs coming towards him making his way towards the group.

The small rabbit now finally making his way towards the group his wolf companion coming towards them to help support his master in the fight,The small rabbit like figure now decapitating the few dwaven warriors that were attacking them being a little peeved by being called short but he was use to that.Most of the tall folk would use such terms to describe him and something that made him more angry then being called short was being called cute.

"Come on you bastards is that all you've got" He said with a thick accent (Scottish) killing a few of the dwarves seeing their numbers becoming fewer and fewer but of course it would take sometime to kill all of them.

[BBeast]

Torrens shrugged and followed the rabbit as he cut through the dwarves. The numbers of dwarves did indeed appear to be thinning, although the tactical withdrawal of the dwarves into more fortifiable locations would be just as big a factor as the dwarven soldiers which were being slain. Now that D'Artagnan was out from behind dwarven lines, he would find that there were almost no dwarves in his way. The dwarves were fighting for defense, not offense. They had little reason to overstep their blockades, as doing so would only weaken their lines.

On this side of the battlefront, the lines were being pressed by Clotho's insect army. D'Artagnan would be weaving around the legs of the ant-like Myrmidon foot-soldiers, navigating around the large bodies of the besieging Antlions and seeing the sleek forms of the Lambent flying high in the lofty cavern. As for the other members of the Horde, they seemed to be rather sparse. Torrens had glimpsed Balothiss charging the dwarven lines with a fury befitting a giant, and he had also spotted Clotho flying to some deeper part of the city, although he hadn't seen any other members of the Horde. Either they were fighting elsewhere and he had missed them, or they were still standing around in that cave like cowards. He remembered seeing Twitch down in the lower mines with some vats of something nasty-looking, so Torrens wondered when, if ever, those chemicals would be used on the outpost.

Torrens followed D'Artagnan's wolf-back search for more dwarves to kill. He considered it ironic that a rabbit would be riding a wolf, an animal which would probably be more content to eat the rabbit, although this wolf definitely seemed more intelligent than just any old animal. As they rounded a corner, they were met by billowing fire. When the fire stopped a dwarven flamethrower, flanked by two pikemen, could be seen standing their ground at the far end of the alleyway. To enter the alleyway would mean going face to face with a long, wide jet of burning oil from the flamethrower.

"Did you want me to take this one, or shall I watch you become roast rabbit?" Torrens asked.

[Eviledd1984]

@BBeast D'Artagnan not saying a word to Torrens rushing at the dwarfs manning the flamethrower,He jumped from wall to wall using his speed and jump height to try to avoid the flames.The small rabbit keeping his momentum pulling out something form his belt,It was smoke bombs that would make for good cover for himself.

Throwing the smoke bombs onto the ground hopefully giving him cover form the flames,The rabbit was going to make his move getting closer and close to the station since the area was so small combine with the smoke they would not be able to see much.D'Artganan made his move getting close enough to the dwarfs trying to stab one of them in the throat while making a quick motion to decapitate another.

[Lugubrious]

With every thought in a varying shades of panic and aggression, the dwarves of this ill-fated outpost had sensibly chosen to leave behind their civilian buildings and focus all their attention and might on their noble but futile defense. This, Clotho thought, must have been the reason why she encountered nobody in the storehouse, even as she discovered objects of immense worth inside. A central partition, floor to ceiling, divided the storehouse into two halves: a granary and an apothecary. After determining with her acute senses there to be no enemy in proximity, Cloth sidled into the former section, reached down, and reached into a barrel. Its squishy contents were tightly-packed, unmolested by air, and with plentiful salt for preservation. She plucked a slab of pork and took a dainty bite, pleasing her with both the cultured taste and the significance of the act as one of domination. Outside the battle raged still, and yet already the Swarm Queen sampled the spoils of war.

She replaced the barrel's lid, checking its security, before strolling over to the other side. Organized, well-labeled jars, urns, bottles, and vials lay quietly in separate cabinets, while the walls' remainder was lined with a great variety of ingredients and papers with procedures. Clotho's eyes glittered; this was the jackpot she sought. While she could appreciate the art of combat as much as some of her allies, it did not constitute an ultimate pleasure for Clotho. For her, it was to possess, power and things alike. She craved the sophistication and position such things would bring her, those things that symbolized her own skill and ability. The Swarm Queen whistled loudly, and in a span of moments the floor ruptured to reveal an Antlion, though at a glance this particular specimen could be seen as much more than its brethren. Its mottled carapace sported deep red stripes, the hallmark of Clotho's Honor Guard, chosen not just for their strength in battle but their ability to heed Clotho's commands. Working quickly, she gathered up as many manuscripts, bottles, and ingredients as she could carry, bundled them together, and gave them to the Antlion to take away. Ignoring the continued fight, even to the point of fiery explosions licking at the storehouse's door, Clotho acquired and made ready for transport everything of value to her, for she despised waste.

Once all was prepared for the Antlions to remove, Clotho made her exit from the building. She beheld a dwarven city sans its defenders, the doomed warriors driven back into a few surviving bastions. The forces of the Master had done their work, slaying to their insipid hearts' desires. Just like them to not see the bigger picture. One grimace later at the residual pain in her wings, Clotho began to walk toward the nearest concentration of the Horde, her rapier out and ready for action should the need arise.

[BBeast]

Torrens watched as the rabbit jumped up the walls and used, ironically, height to his advantage, traversing the alleyway above the reach of the flamethrower, covering his final approach with smoke bombs and then swiftly dispatching the dwarves. Torrens had already started walking up the alleyway even before the flamethrower had stopped, and as the smoke cleared Torrens gave a curt applause. "Bravo. Well done indeed. The Master will likely be pleased to have a fighter of your skill on our side. I'm Torrens, by the way."

As Torrens emerged, he noticed a contingent of dwarf soldiers heading their way, obviously coming to try and cover the breach in their defenses. Torrens glanced down at the flamethrower strapped to the now-dead dwarf and had an idea. "Stand clear. I've got this one."

The flamethrower had a metal tank of oil worn on the back of the dwarf, with a pump which could feed the oil through a pipe and out the end of the flamethrower, where it would be ignited by a small pilot light. This tank was Torrens' point of focus. As quickly as he could Torrens removed the flamethrower from the corpse. Finding it rather heavy and unwieldy to lift too high off the ground, Torrens lay it on the ground. He rolled it so it was pointing at the incoming dwarves, unscrewed the cap on the top which was used for refilling the tank, then shoved his incandescent fist into the tank full of oil.

Instantly the oil which came near his hand vaporised, and any oil or oil vapours in contact with the air immediately combusted, raised well above its flash point. This expanding fireball had nowhere to go but out through the single opening, so a roaring jet of flame erupted at Torrens. As a consequence of simple physics, the tank of burning oil shot out in the opposite direction, straight at the dwarves like a rocket. Unlike a rocket, however, the flamethrower was completely unaerodynamic and unbalanced, so instead of gracefully flying into them it instead tumbled and span, throwing burning oil across the street and over the dwarves.

Torrens laughed at the success of his cunning and the damage it had wrought. Torrens hurried into the crowd and inhaled deeply, causing the flames burning the dwarves and from what remained of the oil to flare into unnatural intensity as Torrens fed off their heat. As he feasted, however, the survivors- those lucky enough to avoid catching on fire or those who had splintered off from the group before Torrens entered- made their escape around a corner and deeper into the outpost. Torrens didn't care about their escape, though. They could be dealt with later, or by someone else.

[Cyclone]

Noticing that no other had taken it upon himself to find and secure the very explosives that the Horde had come to this rathole to acquire, the Master decided that he would do it himself. Walking at a casual pace through the streets, no decimated remnant of a defense was left to challenge him. The dwarves were all either fleeing or dead at this point. As he rounded a corner, the warlock's gaze found itself looking down a dark tunnel in the side of the cavern wall, with perhaps a dozen ragged soldiers fleeing towards its safety. He knew not whether they intended to hide and wait out the attack, find a more defensible point, or escape through some secret passage; but that was irrelevant. They would die anyways.

Out of curiosity, he reached out with his mind, probing to see what was down the tunnel. The warlock could sense elaborate stone sarcophagi and an air of death. It was a tomb. How convenient. "Your pitiful Afterlife ends now," the Master muttered to the dead before raising his staff. A sepulchral wind suddenly and violently blasted out of the tomb, knocking down even the stocky and surefooted dwarven soldiers that had been moving to enter. A caucophony of wailing souls followed, the spectral dwarves carried along by the unholy wind. The souls of those dead interred in the tombs as well as a fair few of the slain dwarves that littered the streets were drawn together into one singularity of pure darkness, and then the void began to grow. The distant sound of thunderous footsteps echoed from within the dark portal, and then suddenly a demon of huge proportion stepped out.

With a triumphant roar, the demon bellowed, "FREEDOM!" Unfortunately, that freedom was short lived for the demon. In the next instant, the Keeper forced his way into the demon's mind and began to grasp at it, binding it to his will. The giant demon howled and convulsed wildly as it tried to fight back, but in a few seconds it was over. By its Master's telepathic command, the demon stooped down and raked his great claws across the dwarves that scurried at his feet. Those that weren't torn to pieces attempted to impale it upon their spears. Vile blood poured out of the wounds that they inflicted, but it was to no avail. Seemingly just enraged, the demon opened its mouth and a cloud of smoldering ash billowed out to engulf the dwarves.

Driven onwards, the demon moved towards one of the other tunnels to intercept more of the fleeing dwarves. Not even bothering to take the streets, the gargantuan demon crashed through every building in its way and left a trail of utter destruction. On its way, it indiscriminately butchered several of the friendly antlions and myrmidons, cackling the whole time. Unfortunately, the Master had already gone off, and hardly even noticed as his tenuous grasp over the demon began to slip away...In his characteristic shortsightedness, it was only a few minutes until the dreaded thing finally managed to break free, alarmingly close to the street with Torrens and D'Artagne. The thing, like many demons, reveled in destruction and violence just for the sake of it, and on top of that it now had a desire to obtain vengeance upon the trifling ones that had so foolishly tried to enslave it. Naturally, the demon moved to attack the Horde.

~==--==--==~

While the tumult outside had just gotten far more interesting, the Master had finally made his way to what a sign revealed to be the alchemy shop. Throwing the door open, he found half the people inside already dead, the one surviving alchemist being gripped by...something. Admittedly the Master did not recognize Mars, but then again some of his more boring minions were easy to forget. Coming to the conclusion that this was just another member of the Horde that he had forgotten about, the Master addressed Mar, "Well, be done with that fool and help me find the explosives. They must be kept somewhere around here, and the Horde will not leave empty-handed!"