Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="talien" data-source="post: 4805161" data-attributes="member: 3285">Drakmar: Part 2 – ShantanksAfter six hours, a tcho-tcho made a noise and pointed into the sky.  Sebastian squinted.  “What is that?”It looked like a bird flying towards them, growing bigger and bigger. It flew off to their right and as it came abreast its form could be properly made out.  It looked like something from legend: massive, its huge wings beat slowly.  It had a mammal’s heavy head, which it turned on a long neck to regard them as it flew by.“That’s no byakhee,” said Vlad.“That was a shantak, actually,” explained Livius.  “As Hastur awakens, Kadath thaws and the beasts of old stir from their hibernation.”The tcho-tchos pressed on.  They seemed tireless, but their companions were not.  “We must rest,” said Livius.  Even his boundless enthusiasm had limits.  He leaned over, put both hands on his knees.  “Just for a moment.”The tcho-tchos conferred and then left them alone. “So I guess you’re not superhuman, huh?” Kham was exhausted, be he refused to show it in front of Livius.Livius smirked.  “I am as human as you are, Kham.  And, I imagine, I’ve murdered far less in the name of my god.”Kham was about to reply when a tcho-tcho called out a warning. From out of nowhere, a shantak decapitated a tcho-tcho with its maw. The tcho-tcho priests screamed orders, creating a protective circle around them.  There was not one but two shantaks, lazily circling overhead, looking for a weakness in their defenses.  Sebastian turned to face Livius.  “You really think you’re blameless?  Perhaps I should list the friends who are dead because of the cult you created!” He stalked forward, eyes brimming with rage. “It’s because of YOU that Holden Ash’ur and Calactyte died defending Semar from an attack of Ssethregoran cultists.  It’s because of YOU that Nauris Dril was blown to bits by those same cultists.  It’s because of YOU that Kham’s father, Corinalous, was murdered by Michael Coombs’ blast powder bomb! It’s because of YOU that we had to kill Ilmarė Galen’s sister Anulee!”The tcho-tchos turned to separate the two, but a dive by the shantak distracted them, tossing warriors high into the air in a spray of blood.Livius put up his hands, tears in his eyes.  “I never meant for them to be harmed.  Those who follow Hastur sometimes lose their way, like any religion. I am sorry for their loss.  You have to believe that.”Sebastian wasn’t finished.  “You started a plague that still ravages Onara to this day.  You started a war that may end in the destruction of everything and everyone we hold dear.  You’re sorry?”  He lifted one hand.  A sphere of white light appeared in it.  “I’m sorry too.”“No,” began Livius, “wait—““Frigus sphaera!”Sebastian slapped the freezing orb into Livius face.  The tcho-tchos spun to watch the grisly conflict.  Livius’ expression was literally frozen, his entire head an ice sculpture of his features. Then Livius’ head exploded into bloody chunks of ice.  His headless body slumped to the ground.Kham pulled out two pistols.  “That’s our cue.” He fired and two tcho-tchos died.Beldin and Vlad needed no further encouragement.  Wielding weapons both hands, they whirled, felling two tcho-tchos at the same time.  The other warriors struggled to rally, but the diving shantaks had them on the defensive.“This ends now,” said Sebastian.  He flapped up into the air and pointed at a cluster of tcho-tchos.  “Incendiares globus!”The ensuing explosion ripped the remaining tcho-tchos apart.  The shantaks, sated and fearful of the flames, veered off.Nothing but smoking bodies lay strewn around them.“Now what?” said Kham. “Now,” Sebastian’s demeanor was rigid, cold.  He pointed at the one star that shone brightest on the horizon. “We follow Aldebaran.”</blockquote>

Verification