The Last Stand of the Elves

[Coolpat]

Ulginesh crested the hill and turned to survey his remaining elves. The endless hordes of Utgar were pressing closer with each passing hour. They would have to make their stand here. The rider that had been sent ahead to gather reinforcements from Ullar's main camp a few miles further had yet to return. Help was on the way, but they would have to hold out here... and hope it would be enough.

Emirroon climbed up onto a rocky outcropping and summoned two of his allies, Arkmer and Syvarris to begin raining elven fury upon the encroaching horde. After deftly dodging a plasma bolt, Syvarris let loose two arrows, one into each of the lead Marro's eye sockets.

Barely a smirk had crossed Syvarris' lips when an enormous bone dragon landed clumsily on the ledge in front of them. Arkmer stepped forward to shield his friend. He fired off a blast of arcane energy at the beast and then held his staff out, letting it emit a faint, blue glow. Suddenly, Arkmer disappeared as his glowing aura became a beacon of light. Emirroon had summoned more elves to their aid. The Warriors of Ashra, with weapons drawn, filled out the elven battle line.

The Marro hivelord, Su-Bak-Na let out a gutteral howl, ushering his skeletal mount forward. Claws and teeth hammered away at the shining beacon, but he stood firm as he and his friends fought bravely against the savage creature. Packs of Marrden Nagrubs began climbing the slopes, hungry for a taste of elf, but it was not to be as they were swallowed up by their dragon ally. Finally, Arkmer's light flickered out, and Su-Bak-Na's jagged warglaive struck true. His sacrifice was not in vain as the Warriors of Ashra leapt up to finish the dragon and his rider alike moments later.

Their hill was clear, and the elves thought they would have a moment to catch their breath and regroup. Suddenly, tornadic winds began to swirl about the hillside, and Emirroon was swept away. The Marrden Nagrubs had sniffed out magical relics buried in the wartorn valley. Whether these Nagrubs were smarter than initially believed or if by sheer accident, our elves had been crippled by these finds. Emirroon was now surrounded by a pack of these Nagrubs, and his leader was unable to come to his aid with his mount grounded.

Emirroon could hear a pounding around the crumbling ruins ahead of him as he swung and dodged the hungry pack. His heart sank as he saw the source. A hulking Marro was charging headlong into him. CRASH! As the Marro reached out to crush the tiny elf, another monstrous figure threw his shoulder into the Marro. Ullar's reinforcements had arrived in the form of the giant, Jotun! Syvarris took aim and began picking off the Nagrubs around Emirroon, attempting to give him a chance to escape. As the Marro hulk and Jotun wrestled one another, the Marro's rider, Tor-Kul-Na, plunged his heavy spear down into Emirroon's shoulder, pinning him to the ground where he was helplessly torn apart by the remaining Nagrubs.

With arrows piercing the last two Nagrubs, Jotun turned to the hordes of Marro jeering from the ruins. He tossed a Marro Warrior to the side and swung his mighty sword at a mass of the skeletal figures, but they were too quick. They ducked beneath the swing and began hurling plasma fire on top of insults at Jotun. Tor-Kul-Na's mount started to charge the giant again, snarling and salivating, but the rider pulled back on the reins and commanded him towards the rocky outcrop. He had other prey to hunt...

Jotun tosses another couple of Marro, plastering them to the sides of the ruins but cannot seem to make a clean sweep against the swarm. The Marro then release another of their monstrosities on Jotun, Krug the troll, wielding a nasty, blood-stained cleaver the size of a horse. Jotun sees him coming and makes one clean stab at his midsection. This only enrages the brute as he savagely cuts down the gentle giant, cutting and hacking long after the giant falls.

Tor-Kul-Na has turned his attention to the rocks and begun climbing them under a hail of arrows. He shrugs off the tiny needs and continues marching forward. The Warriors of Ashra give a final war-cry as they rush into battle, only to be trampled beneath the monster's feet. In the distance, Syvarris' keen eyes spot something coming through the treeline behind them. He can see Ullar's green dragon, Charos, trudging against the wind with his wings tucked against his sides. Syvarris has but a moment to decide, flee the charging beast and buy himself a few moments more of life or give his friends a chance to live. He takes one step back, knocks one final arrow, and aims it down at the small Marro clutching onto a glowing blue rune and holding it up in the air. His aim is true, and the Marro falls, causing the winds to suddenly cease. A moment later and all is darkness for what is left of the archer, now a smear against the rocks.

Charos unfurls his wings and takes flight, driving full speed into the enemy. Claws and tails and metal and blood flail in all directions, until finally, the Marro sinks his teeth into the dragon's neck. Charos lets out one last, mighty roar as he falls.

Tor-Kul-Na does not get to rest as he is hit with a scorching ray from the side. Jorhdawn and Ulginesh are all that remains of Ullar's army, backed into a corner and trying to scrounge up every ounce of magical energy they have remaining. The mighty Marro, beaten and bloody, both mount and rider alike, lumbers forward with a limp and one arm hanging useless by his side. He seems to be slowed by his wounds, but with their brethren fallen, the elves do not have enough magical energy left between them to pierce his defenses. One by one they fall, first Jorhdawn and then Ulginesh.

Tor-Kul-Na dismounts and walks to the edge of the outcropping. He lifts his spear high and lets out the most unholy of shrieks. His army shrieks back in kind, victory cheers, as they rumble forward. The endless hordes of Utgar march on.

(Hopefully I can figure out how to attach pictures to this later... I'm only seeing attachments for URL's, not images from my PC. Oh well. My brother is coming down for Christmas, so hopefully I'll have another one of these written up after that. Let me know what you think!)

[nyys]

Fun read, thanks for that!

I think the only way to post pics is to host them somewhere yourself or if you're a site supporter you can upload them to Scapers and pull them from there.