Flame Shadow Steam - Beets The Beetle - 31/05/22
Jun 4, 2022 17:10:27 GMT
stephena and Andy D like this
Post by Beets The Beetle (Feenix) on Jun 4, 2022 17:10:27 GMT
Twice I went down to that Yanki dragon, twice I was forced to return to the nightmare of that day…
The screams, the fire, the constant mind numbing droning in the air, like the rumblin’ growls of some otherworldly beasts...
Jenna had made it clear that she would make those Githyanki pay. Pay for the threat they were puttin’on the Dawnlands. Pay for what they had done to Coll.
So when I heard she was pulling together a strike force to put some hurt to those yanki’buggers, you better buggin’ believe I flew my hardest back to Fort Ettin to be one of the first to sign up.
---
Jenna looked tired, and when I say tired, I mean Aurelia’tired, where only a good strong cup of tea and a delicious baked good can stir her from her work-duty stupor-which luckily Lolli’s dear granny Booysha provided in the form of a hefty wedge of carrot cake.
Jenna’s plan-or what we could gather through the cake chewing-was simple. Smash, grab, run…Or was it..Grab then smash..then run?…Or maybe smash and grab at the same time while running..Except I don’t run..so maybe-Argh-my buggin’head! Point is-She was gonna teleport us into Gathenthor-the Yanki’s now claimed evil sky fortress- and told us to break stuff, including a few Yanki noses if we came across any-Sounded good to me!
I’ll admit I was a bit worried though, as I properly took in our party as Jenna filled the new comers in on a little recent history of the Yanki’s activities so far. Leading the charge we had Amble, who I’d previously joined up with on my first visit with up to the flying city in the sky and knew we could depend on-I mean he skydived off the city at the last flittin’ second to give us chance to escape. Next we had Nessa, a studious but capable lookin lady! Then as I said we have the all provider of cake and all things knitted, Granny Booysha and…Lolli?!-Wait! I mean a puddle of magical potion goop is one thing, but this was a fortress of dragons were we travelling to! Big! Fire Breathing! And very likely to eat sweet, adorable, sugar coated, haregon-witch, dragons!-Bug was I worrying about the wrong person.
---
With our ‘plan’ set, Jenna warped us all to the city and the first thing we had to do was muffle Lolli’s excited squees of being so high up-yep it was very buggin’ cool, but I think she started to realise the danger we were in when a big one of those big scaly lizards hurtled right above us just as we managed to dive into some cover. We all agreed it was gonna have to be a stealth mission, or at least till we blew something up.
---
So..we found a fire breathing skeleton man hiding out in a ruined house. Gramps had always warned me that smoking was a terrible habit and to never even try it…Shame this guy hadn’t gotten the same warning.
He was literally nothing but bones..and some musty old robes..in a wheel chair...He did have a creepy fiery green glow where his eyes should’ve been which flickered each time he spoke-buuut I’m sure it was sure it was nothing to worry about!
He introduced himself as Commawraith Merroska, a humble ‘litch'-soul of an undead warlock according to the others-who had lived here in the city in its heyday and wasn’t much of a fan of his new yanki neighbours, given how he’d nearly barbecued Nessa and had requested many a rude word said about their scale backsides to prove our non-allegiance. He said if we wanted to put the hurt to the Yanki’s he would give us some ‘serious’ fire power, all we had to do was help him retrieve is spellbook from an old book shop, how hard to could that be?
---
I can’t believe how buggin’ badly that plan had gone and yet had still worked…The Yanki had seemed convinced enough by my guard disguise, and even seemed to be enjoying my interpretation of that halfling ‘mime’ act when Amble had said to play mute. It’d all gone wrong when the others started hurling magics at him instead of just giving him a good whack to the head-resulting in, I’ll admit, a pretty fun sword fight. But then he then got lit up like a beacon by a fire ball from one of the crew which-like a moth to a flame, resulted in hurtling down from the sky, to land right in in buggin’front of me…a big…red…dragon.
The power behind each of the dragon’s blows was immense, it took me right back to that night in the village. The crushing chomps of those enormous mandibles on my limbs as I tried to grab hold of’em., the slamming impact of those horns, knocking the wind right outta me. But I wasn’t the warrior back then I am now, I’m no longer the outcast village girl hoping for something more in her life-I’m Beets the Beetle! So I gave that dragon back flittin’two fold and more what it gave it me. Maybe, just maybe, there was a chance I could beat it…and then Lolli stepped out into the street to cast a spell..and our world became a fire ball.
---
That droning filled my head again, deep, overwhelming, instinctive. My vision glazed over, flickering-wild. As I watch the scorched form of my friend Lolli staggering up from the cobblestone street, her beautiful candy coloured dress a smouldering mess of tatters and ashes, big patches of her soft violet fur burnt down to angry red welts, tears of pain forming with her gasps and winces.
I buggin lost it-I bit the dragon.
——————
A splintering snap, like the breaking of a tree branch in a storm, except followed by the sharp taste of blood and the shards of severed beetle mandible filled my mouth. It had got me in its grasp, was about to crush all the wind out of my neck, so I did the only thing I could think of, and bit down. The beetle gave out a screech of pain as one of main defences was broken, and was followed swiftly with a fierce whack straight between the eyes, causing the helm part of it’s exoskeleton to split.
---
Biting didn’t work on the dragon. As my black formed mandibles locked around it’s hind leg, it was like trying to crush part of the earth itself. I then felt rather than saw the intense heat of it’s gaze flick black at me as it resisted golden bolts of light struck down upon it by Nessa. “What’s this? You think you can eat me do you?” It said in a rich guttural growl. “Oh no not so little one, it is very much going to be, the other way around.” It kicked its leg back, sending me skimming across on the cobble,s like a stone skimmed across the surface of a lake before sliding to a stop beside the burnt figure if Lolli.
“Lolli…” I said, trying to pull myself to my feet, “You’ve gotta get outta here, before it comes for us again you’ve gotta-Mggh!-“The rest of my speech was cut as she stuffed the lip of a vial into my mouth, the contents gurgling down my throat, burning at first before turning to a warm glow in my chest, like sliding down into a hot bath. “J-just incase…” she managed to wince, her mouth twitching in a small soft smile before she then took a breath and then vanished in a blur of fur.
Then the dragon came.
Before I had chance to even move it was on me, pinning me to the ground with one of it’s huge claws- like a cat pinning a mouse-before raking the other across my chest, causing fissures of pain to erupt as my blood splattered across the stones of the street, thick and golden and glistening, before my vision went black.
---
I had never seen so much blood..and none of it same colour as my own. My hands were covered with it, more splattered up my tunic and over my legs like I was wearing an outfit of shimmering melted gold. What amount of coin would an outfit like that cost I wonder now? Back then, I didn’t even know what a coin was! Had only heard tell of countless piles of pirate and dragon treasure hordes plundered and greedily from folk far more mightier and far from out little woodland home from Gramps’ stories.
I’d give all the coin in the world to be back listening to those tales now.
---
I’m back. The pain in my chest is easing to an almost manageable agony than the white hot pain that cause me to pass out, the ever serene face of Booysha above me, the dwindling glow of spell from her open paw. I see flashes of the battle around me as I try to lift myself up. Nessa flying above in her angelic form casting blasts of light, the cries of Amble and Lolli and…The skeleton guy’s evil laugh?…But suddenly Booysa is knocked back by a flash of red, and I’m staring into deep fiery eyes of the dragon, it’s enormous jaws widening as it comes down to engulf me.
I think back to all those times I’ve boasted about wanting to fight a dragon. How buggin’ awesome it would be to take on one alone face to face…
…I never knew I would be so scared…
---
I’m screaming…With fear? With Rage? I don’t know, but I don’t stop, my cries echoing the drone of the beetles as I charge through the swarm, the beetle mandible in my hand slashing biting, slicing through beetle after beetle as I blindly hurtle my way through the village, making my way towards the mayor’s house, towards Papa. I find him, pinned down against the wall of the house by a beam and fallen rafters, his face bloodied and battered, teeth set, hand extended outwards open as if pleading with the huge deep black beetle that advances on him, it's pronged horn lowered. I scream at it, so wild and desperate that I scare myself. It turns, it’s flickering wings bringing that deep dominating drone…I hear Papa’s voice, a wincing “Beets…” before the beetle charges-and I wake up again.
---
Nessa killed the dragon. She apparently blasted it with her own jet of flame and managed to take it down…Thank bug someone did.
I don’t remember much about the rest of the day. The rush back to the portal was a blur.
Blasts of fire from the squad as they set buildings and fortifications alight, more evil skeletal laughter and cries thanks from our skeletal friend before he disappeared off into the streets. Amble’s gasping message to Jenna as we approached the hidden teleportation gem. The flash of light. Jenna’s excited and relieved face. The taste of blood and vomit in my mouth. The cool stones of the teleportation circle against my singed cheek. The soft swaddle of the tabard that carried me back to my room and laid me on my bed…
Throughout it all though was the droning in my head…That kept in time...With the beating of my heart.
The screams, the fire, the constant mind numbing droning in the air, like the rumblin’ growls of some otherworldly beasts...
Jenna had made it clear that she would make those Githyanki pay. Pay for the threat they were puttin’on the Dawnlands. Pay for what they had done to Coll.
So when I heard she was pulling together a strike force to put some hurt to those yanki’buggers, you better buggin’ believe I flew my hardest back to Fort Ettin to be one of the first to sign up.
---
Jenna looked tired, and when I say tired, I mean Aurelia’tired, where only a good strong cup of tea and a delicious baked good can stir her from her work-duty stupor-which luckily Lolli’s dear granny Booysha provided in the form of a hefty wedge of carrot cake.
Jenna’s plan-or what we could gather through the cake chewing-was simple. Smash, grab, run…Or was it..Grab then smash..then run?…Or maybe smash and grab at the same time while running..Except I don’t run..so maybe-Argh-my buggin’head! Point is-She was gonna teleport us into Gathenthor-the Yanki’s now claimed evil sky fortress- and told us to break stuff, including a few Yanki noses if we came across any-Sounded good to me!
I’ll admit I was a bit worried though, as I properly took in our party as Jenna filled the new comers in on a little recent history of the Yanki’s activities so far. Leading the charge we had Amble, who I’d previously joined up with on my first visit with up to the flying city in the sky and knew we could depend on-I mean he skydived off the city at the last flittin’ second to give us chance to escape. Next we had Nessa, a studious but capable lookin lady! Then as I said we have the all provider of cake and all things knitted, Granny Booysha and…Lolli?!-Wait! I mean a puddle of magical potion goop is one thing, but this was a fortress of dragons were we travelling to! Big! Fire Breathing! And very likely to eat sweet, adorable, sugar coated, haregon-witch, dragons!-Bug was I worrying about the wrong person.
---
With our ‘plan’ set, Jenna warped us all to the city and the first thing we had to do was muffle Lolli’s excited squees of being so high up-yep it was very buggin’ cool, but I think she started to realise the danger we were in when a big one of those big scaly lizards hurtled right above us just as we managed to dive into some cover. We all agreed it was gonna have to be a stealth mission, or at least till we blew something up.
---
So..we found a fire breathing skeleton man hiding out in a ruined house. Gramps had always warned me that smoking was a terrible habit and to never even try it…Shame this guy hadn’t gotten the same warning.
He was literally nothing but bones..and some musty old robes..in a wheel chair...He did have a creepy fiery green glow where his eyes should’ve been which flickered each time he spoke-buuut I’m sure it was sure it was nothing to worry about!
He introduced himself as Commawraith Merroska, a humble ‘litch'-soul of an undead warlock according to the others-who had lived here in the city in its heyday and wasn’t much of a fan of his new yanki neighbours, given how he’d nearly barbecued Nessa and had requested many a rude word said about their scale backsides to prove our non-allegiance. He said if we wanted to put the hurt to the Yanki’s he would give us some ‘serious’ fire power, all we had to do was help him retrieve is spellbook from an old book shop, how hard to could that be?
---
I can’t believe how buggin’ badly that plan had gone and yet had still worked…The Yanki had seemed convinced enough by my guard disguise, and even seemed to be enjoying my interpretation of that halfling ‘mime’ act when Amble had said to play mute. It’d all gone wrong when the others started hurling magics at him instead of just giving him a good whack to the head-resulting in, I’ll admit, a pretty fun sword fight. But then he then got lit up like a beacon by a fire ball from one of the crew which-like a moth to a flame, resulted in hurtling down from the sky, to land right in in buggin’front of me…a big…red…dragon.
The power behind each of the dragon’s blows was immense, it took me right back to that night in the village. The crushing chomps of those enormous mandibles on my limbs as I tried to grab hold of’em., the slamming impact of those horns, knocking the wind right outta me. But I wasn’t the warrior back then I am now, I’m no longer the outcast village girl hoping for something more in her life-I’m Beets the Beetle! So I gave that dragon back flittin’two fold and more what it gave it me. Maybe, just maybe, there was a chance I could beat it…and then Lolli stepped out into the street to cast a spell..and our world became a fire ball.
---
That droning filled my head again, deep, overwhelming, instinctive. My vision glazed over, flickering-wild. As I watch the scorched form of my friend Lolli staggering up from the cobblestone street, her beautiful candy coloured dress a smouldering mess of tatters and ashes, big patches of her soft violet fur burnt down to angry red welts, tears of pain forming with her gasps and winces.
I buggin lost it-I bit the dragon.
——————
A splintering snap, like the breaking of a tree branch in a storm, except followed by the sharp taste of blood and the shards of severed beetle mandible filled my mouth. It had got me in its grasp, was about to crush all the wind out of my neck, so I did the only thing I could think of, and bit down. The beetle gave out a screech of pain as one of main defences was broken, and was followed swiftly with a fierce whack straight between the eyes, causing the helm part of it’s exoskeleton to split.
---
Biting didn’t work on the dragon. As my black formed mandibles locked around it’s hind leg, it was like trying to crush part of the earth itself. I then felt rather than saw the intense heat of it’s gaze flick black at me as it resisted golden bolts of light struck down upon it by Nessa. “What’s this? You think you can eat me do you?” It said in a rich guttural growl. “Oh no not so little one, it is very much going to be, the other way around.” It kicked its leg back, sending me skimming across on the cobble,s like a stone skimmed across the surface of a lake before sliding to a stop beside the burnt figure if Lolli.
“Lolli…” I said, trying to pull myself to my feet, “You’ve gotta get outta here, before it comes for us again you’ve gotta-Mggh!-“The rest of my speech was cut as she stuffed the lip of a vial into my mouth, the contents gurgling down my throat, burning at first before turning to a warm glow in my chest, like sliding down into a hot bath. “J-just incase…” she managed to wince, her mouth twitching in a small soft smile before she then took a breath and then vanished in a blur of fur.
Then the dragon came.
Before I had chance to even move it was on me, pinning me to the ground with one of it’s huge claws- like a cat pinning a mouse-before raking the other across my chest, causing fissures of pain to erupt as my blood splattered across the stones of the street, thick and golden and glistening, before my vision went black.
---
I had never seen so much blood..and none of it same colour as my own. My hands were covered with it, more splattered up my tunic and over my legs like I was wearing an outfit of shimmering melted gold. What amount of coin would an outfit like that cost I wonder now? Back then, I didn’t even know what a coin was! Had only heard tell of countless piles of pirate and dragon treasure hordes plundered and greedily from folk far more mightier and far from out little woodland home from Gramps’ stories.
I’d give all the coin in the world to be back listening to those tales now.
---
I’m back. The pain in my chest is easing to an almost manageable agony than the white hot pain that cause me to pass out, the ever serene face of Booysha above me, the dwindling glow of spell from her open paw. I see flashes of the battle around me as I try to lift myself up. Nessa flying above in her angelic form casting blasts of light, the cries of Amble and Lolli and…The skeleton guy’s evil laugh?…But suddenly Booysa is knocked back by a flash of red, and I’m staring into deep fiery eyes of the dragon, it’s enormous jaws widening as it comes down to engulf me.
I think back to all those times I’ve boasted about wanting to fight a dragon. How buggin’ awesome it would be to take on one alone face to face…
…I never knew I would be so scared…
---
I’m screaming…With fear? With Rage? I don’t know, but I don’t stop, my cries echoing the drone of the beetles as I charge through the swarm, the beetle mandible in my hand slashing biting, slicing through beetle after beetle as I blindly hurtle my way through the village, making my way towards the mayor’s house, towards Papa. I find him, pinned down against the wall of the house by a beam and fallen rafters, his face bloodied and battered, teeth set, hand extended outwards open as if pleading with the huge deep black beetle that advances on him, it's pronged horn lowered. I scream at it, so wild and desperate that I scare myself. It turns, it’s flickering wings bringing that deep dominating drone…I hear Papa’s voice, a wincing “Beets…” before the beetle charges-and I wake up again.
---
Nessa killed the dragon. She apparently blasted it with her own jet of flame and managed to take it down…Thank bug someone did.
I don’t remember much about the rest of the day. The rush back to the portal was a blur.
Blasts of fire from the squad as they set buildings and fortifications alight, more evil skeletal laughter and cries thanks from our skeletal friend before he disappeared off into the streets. Amble’s gasping message to Jenna as we approached the hidden teleportation gem. The flash of light. Jenna’s excited and relieved face. The taste of blood and vomit in my mouth. The cool stones of the teleportation circle against my singed cheek. The soft swaddle of the tabard that carried me back to my room and laid me on my bed…
Throughout it all though was the droning in my head…That kept in time...With the beating of my heart.