For a while the only noise heard at the start of the steps to the inner keep of Carthax was the heavy breathing of players as they slowly regained their breath and the banging on the gate as the honored legions tried to break through it so they could get at them. Eventually, seeing that his men had regained their breath and that they had bandaged their wounds as best they could, Faro decided to get his men to start moving again.
"All right, lads, your break's over! Time to start the march up the steps and into the inner keep. Can't keep them waiting up there; that would make us poor guests. Faro shouted out to his men, getting a few chuckles in return as he, along with the rest of the attack force, began their slow ascent up the steps. The steps were rather wide, allowing for eight people to walk side by side, but Faro's force of players wasn't that disciplined. So they went up the steps in an unorganized gaggle with Faro leading the way with Mark at his side.
The march up the steps was silent as the stairs went all the way around the mountain from what they had seen at the bottom, and since they had started from the base, that meant to get to where the actual keep was would be a very long march. So everyone was saving their breath, trying to conserve energy as much as possible for the long walk as they went up the steps. A few players were concerned with how the steps were opened to the outside, which was why they kept looking to the vast view from the ledge at the edge of the steps to be sure that some kind of undead flyer wasn't about to attack them as they were going up.
Luckily, no undead flyer made itself known to the attack force. So for the time being, it would seem the force would not be attacked as they made their way up. Though that was only a small mercy, as the long march up the steps itself was a threat, especially if any fell down, considering as they made it farther up, the more dead they would be if they fell back down. Though luckily before any could finally be the first to fall to their death and be the joke of the Internet as their death was shared in the world of the wonders and the mad, they saw the first entrance three-fourths of the way up the steps.
The entrance was a set of giant rock doors built into the side of the mountain. It was made of stone, not bone or flesh, showing it had been made by the Detreons back when the fort was theirs. The gate was wide open, and the path the gate guarded was pitch black. Whether this was an invitation from the commander to come up or simply that the enemy commander didn't want to move his defenders from their current position to pull the doors shut, the group wasn't sure, but either way the group had to make their way into the dark abyss that awaited them.
"Alright lads, time to go into the dark! So have your blades ready to stab anything that needs stabbing that's waiting for us in there!" Faro shouted out before he slowly marched in with his scythe at the ready. So he could bring it down on anything that tried to jump in the dark, the others following behind them, their hands turning pale from how tight they were holding their weapons as they walked down the long dark corridor.
The group was packed in as they made their way slowly down the hall, their eyes darting in every direction trying to see any threat before it attacked but not being able to. As they couldn't see in the pitch-black darkness that was the corridor, at least to their eyes. The only reason they knew they were going in the right general direction was following the person next to them. Which kept them from stumbling into the corridor wall because they were so close to each other that they could feel each other's breath as they all followed behind Faro, who was somehow going straight down the corridor despite not being able to see either. Then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, torches suddenly started lighting up the corridor, causing everyone to jump slightly in surprise.
"Well, it looks like the commander wants us to hurry along, lads. Let's not disappoint him; we wouldn't want to be late for our appointment to run him through, would we?" Faro said to the men as they shouted back a no in response. So Faro began to lead them at a double pace down the halls now that they could all see where they were going. As they made their way down the now brightly lit corridors, they could now make out more details on the walls. Old murals carved into the walls of events such as the crowning of great kings or of ceremonies showing their worship of Detrei. The history and culture of one of the fallen kingdoms was on the walls they passed.
Sadly, though, they didn't have the time to truly delve into the tales that the walls had to tell. They had to keep moving as they had no idea if or when the undead legionaries might make it through the gate they had shut behind them. Not only that, but they also had to figure that by this point the other parts of the army were back in the fight, but considering they hadn't seen them as they went up the stairs was because the rest of the army was fighting whatever reinforcements had been sent by Hargal's other forces.
As they made their way down the halls, Mark began to notice that the torches were held by skeletal hands, making him wonder how the Detreon used to see in this fort if they didn't use torches like they were now. "Hey Faro, from the looks of it, the torches are a recent addition, which means they weren't used by your guys when they owned the fort." Mark stated to Faro, who nodded affirmatively. "Alright then, how do you guys see in your own fort then if you didn't use the torches like we are now?" Mark asked curiously as he tried to figure out how the Detreon avoided stumbling around in the dark and figured asking now would help cut the tension that was hovering over the group as they made their way forward.
"We used special plants such as fungus or mushrooms that glowed in the dark. They not only light up our forts, allowing us to walk around in their glow, but they also can become rations in case of a siege as we find out during the start of the war with Hargal. Though from the looks of the corridor, all the glow plants that used to be here all died out." Faro said, answering Mark's question with a bit of pride at how his people always seem to have a plan to meet their people's needs. Mark nodded, a look of honest surprise on his face at the use of nature to solve what was usually solved by machinery in effectively all other known societies.
The players were now distracted with a philosophical question about whether plant-based or technology-based lighting was better. Now they weren't distracted enough to not be aware of their surroundings, just distracted enough to not be dreading what was waiting for them further in. Though that might have been a very bad thing as the corridor ended and they came upon a large room that met with other corridors, which looked to be where Hargal's legionaries marshaled before marching out to meet them outside earlier.
There were no legionaries waiting for them, though they would have preferred them to what was actually waiting for them. As they began to hear the clip-clop of hooves as the creatures in the room began to face them. Each of them voicing a strange mixing of neighing and growling coming from a mix of human and horse lungs. The attack force quickly got out of the hall and began spreading out on the side of the room they had come from, getting into their battle stances to face the creatures as their stats screen popped up for the players to view.
The attack force quickly scanned the stats screen as the horse lords of Hargal began to back up clearly in preparation to charge. Faro seeing that taking a full frontal charge from these horse-human abominations would devastate his remaining forces. So he decided he needed to order his men to charge and meet the abominations in the middle of the room so they wouldn't have as much momentum built up. "Alright lads, I think this time around we'll meet them instead of them meeting us. So charge the horse bastards right now!" Faro roared out as he led the charge across the room, meeting the horse lords midway across the room.
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Many of Faro's players found themselves sent flying before the horse lords were finally stopped. Though that turned out not to be that much better. As the forward attack force found itself with half their number sent flying and the other half staring down giant centaurs covered in bone armor made out of horse and human bones with a horse skull as the centerpiece of the rather disturbing armor set and a leather undershirt made out of loose human skin to top off their disturbing gear. They also had green eyes that seemed to suck the very soul out of any who dared look into them.
So suffice it to say the fight had barely begun, and they were already on the back foot and about to rout. So Faro decided he had to do something about it. "Alright lads, it's time to show these lords they're not as good as they think they are!" Faro roared out as he charged at one of the horse lords, largely ignoring the fact they had already proven they were as good as advertised by performing their opening charge. Faro closed in with one of the horse lords, who was twice and a half the size of any man, as it was trying to crush more players beneath its hooves than it wasn't trying to pierce with a lance made out of teeth and rib bone from the looks of it.
Faro came in with a strong swing of his sythe looking to take the head of the horse lord quickly only to have it blocked by the horse lord's quick use of its lance to block the incoming strike and counter trying to pierce Faro's head who only dodge by the slimest of margins. Faro brought his scythe down once again, trying to take the head of the horse lord, only to find himself blocked and countered, nearly losing his head each time. The two beings, Faro's and the horse lord, found themselves in a stalemate where each was looking for an opening that would end the duel.
As it would turn out, it would be a third party that ended it, as Mark had been sneaking up on the horse lord, letting it get too focused on Faro to notice him. So with the two razor-focused on each other, Mark struck using Fox's teeth to land a devastating blow to the horse lord's back, who turned to try and deal with both the wound and Mark only to lose his head to the moment of inattention to Faro, who had quickly used the moment to take the horse lord's head.
The other players had been keeping the horse lords pinned in, watching the duel between Faro and one of the horse lords. Too afraid to fight themselves, as the earlier devastation of their charge had left an impression of them being too powerful for them to fight but not willing to turn their backs on the horse lords, the players found themselves trying to limit their movements. Though upon seeing the decapitation of one they saw they were vulnerable to fighting multiple opponents especially as pinned as they were now.
Now knowing that weakness, the players pounced upon the horse lords, quickly overwhelming them. Using the horse lords weakness of being unable to turn easily to overwhelm them, they attacked from multiple angles, causing them to always focus in the wrong direction as they were stabbed in another. Soon enough the horse lords were all slain, but while the strategy to defeat them had been effective, the horse lords had proven themselves powerful warriors, taking a few more players with them before they finally went down.
Faro took a look at his forces as he gathered his breath, seeing that once again they had been reduced in number. If he was honest with himself, he was starting to wonder if by the end of this quest into the fort it would just be him and a pebble he picked up. "Alright, you lads can take a breather for a few minutes before we move on, except for you, Mark. I need you to check the corridor we just came through and see if any of the boys sent flying earlier are alive down there." Faro said, handing out his orders as everyone except he and Mark sat down to take a breather.
Mark gave a tired sigh but nodded to Faro before he walked down the corridor to see if anyone had survived the unexpected flight. While Faro remained standing up in the center of the room to keep watch, making sure that nothing was coming down the other corridors to attack them. Eventually Mark came back down the corridor and gave Faro a nod that he hadn't found any survivors. Faro gave a sigh and nodded for him to sit with the others to rest for the moment.
Once a few more minutes had passed and everyone was ready to continue the journey deeper into the inner keep, as far as Faro could tell, he began to give out his orders. "Alright lads, time to hop to it; we're heading up to find the boss in charge now. So no more waiting around." Faro said as he led the advance attack force through one of the corridors that was going upward, figuring that the commander of the fort would be at the top of the inner keep.
The attack force soon found the corridor they had entered ended at a staircase that went directly up. So the force went up two at a time with Faro and Mark at the lead with torches lighting the way. They group slowly made their way up the steps, weapons gripped tightly as their nerves became tense from the low visibility caused by the narrow stairs and how they couldn't hear anything but their own steps going up. Meaning they'd have no warning if they were all walking into a trap until the last of them walked into whatever was waiting for them at the end of the stairs.
Eventually, though, they all came out into another massive room, though this one had only one exit beside the steps, which was a giant set of stone doors. The attack force looked around the room, still on edge, worried that something had let them out of the stairs without trouble because it wanted to get them all at once. Faro and Mark had taken up opposing positions as the group made their way forward to be sure that both could keep the group protected from their side.
As the group reached the center of the massive room, which had giant stone paintings of past kings that seemed to almost be coming out of the walls with how lifelike they were. The group got a sudden shock when the paintings not facing them turned their heads so they could look directly at them. The players had a few moments to read the stats of the defenders of the room before they had to move or be struck down.
The petrified kings made their might known as soon enough hundreds of stone roots came bursting out of the ground trying to pierce those who had intruded upon the room. Luckily, many players were able to dodge out of the way, wary of traps and ambushes as they were. Sadly, though, not all were quick enough, and a few were pierced through, killed, and sent back to their own world.
Those still left to fight found themselves constantly moving, trying not to be pierced by the stone roots that were constantly popping out of the ground before diving back down to try and pierce them from another angle when they didn't hit. They also had to watch each other as they dodged; otherwise, they'd run into each other, which would slow them down enough for the petrified kings to capitalize and run them through.
"First it was the brave soldiers of my people, then it was our lords, now it is our kings! While this mockery ends now!" Faro roared out as he charged towards one of the petrified kings that were embedded in the walls, eating up the distance as he slashed through all the roots trying to block his path. Eventually he reached the petrified kings and let out a mighty roar as he shattered the petrified king.
The petrified king burst into shards of stone and bone. With its destruction, a fair number of the roots stopped attacking. Faro quickly started going after another king with Mark following his example. "Come on, guys, you don't want Faro to get all the glory, do you?" Mark managed to roar out as he closed the distance with Fox's teeth and strike down one of the petrified kings as well, causing another section of stone roots to stop attacking. So began a mad dash as players tried to get to the petrified kings before the petrified kings ran them through with their roots.
Eventually all the petrified kings were destroyed, but sadly with the recent deaths, it left just Faro and Mark and about ten other people to face what was on the other side of the gates. "All right, lads, we take one last break, and then we're going to face whatever is on the other side of those gates. Got it, you lucky bastards!" Faro roared out the last bit; the group gave a tired yes before falling over, making the most of their last rest.
"Well, look at that, Robert. They actually made it to the commander's door after all." Simon said, Surprise! in his usually static-filled voice. Simon hadn't expected that as their numbers had gotten so depleted with each battle, he figured the fight with the petrified kings would finally finish them.
"Yes, I do admit that surprised me too. But I suppose that is the spice of life, isn't it?" Robert asked, not entirely sure if that was a good or bad thing in this scenario, considering he was the game's creator and he should probably know how the fights panned out. Though, to be fair, he hadn't been paying his full attention to the last couple of battles, merely keeping them in the corner of his eye as he worked on the expansions, as he had just finished the land part and the characters as well. All that was left to be added was what could be taken from Allyssa to the world of wonders and the mad, which he kept checking to make sure worked right.
"Yes, it is Robert. It is not only the spice of life. It's also the spice of ratings. I'm getting reports of boosted ratings, especially from necromantic worlds." Simon said, excitement filling his voice at his show's increase in popularity. Though once again Robert found himself concerned about giving lichs and necromancers ideas. "Well, do you think the final showdown will be worth the hype? I really hope it is ruining these types of things that have been what tanks shows since time immemorial." Simon said with deep concern.
" It'll be fine, Simon. Faro has more than proven himself by this point, and the fort's commander has shown that he has a few tricks up his sleeve. The fight will be interesting; I guarantee it. You won't have to worry about that." Robert said putting Simon's concern to rest as he kept making sure the materials he was working on would work right when out of Allyssa.
"Yeah, you're right. Robert doesn't need to be worried about the fight; he just needs to make sure I get it on film. So back to the siege and the show that is reaching its climax." Simon said with excitement as his focus was felt on the TV monitors while Robert kept working on his project but kept a few monitors that were focused on the fight in the corner of vision like before as the final battle of Faro's attack force was about to begin.
