NationStates Jolt Archive

The humid clouds of vapor mixed with the black smoke that rose from the machine's twisted exhaust conduict. Boiling oil bubbled in the three large container tanks behind the hot engines, as the cannon's main mouth made a slow turn in ninety degrees.

"Fire!" Came the shout of an officer, and the cannon spat a black thick mass of burning oil towards the oncomming soldiers. Under screams of pain and agony, the dense liquid burnt through flesh and muscle, leaving bare bones and smoking carcasses where once dwarven soldiers stood.


The battle has been going for ten days already, every side fighting to the bitter end, with every dwarf, every gun and every machine attempting to cause the most damage to their opposers.


A rain of incendiary bombs fell over the oil cannon, many missing their target, but enough hitting to destroy it. Two of them fell inside one of the oil containers, inmediately exploding in a spectacular ball of orange fire, which quickly extended to the other two tanks. In a matter of seconds, the cannon became a burning mass of oil and molten iron, it's crew either in pieces around it or burning to ashes atop it.

The bronce bearded engineer lowered his telescope "We have lost yet another cannon to those blasted bombers. Vinzenthar!" He shouted.

A corpulent dwarve walked with a fast step out from one of the tents in the fort. He carried a large number of scrolls and maps on his various pockets, and a large monocle rested over his right eye.

"There you are -said the engineer, turning to the newly arrived- [i]I need your Thopter squad to take care of those bloody Hellfire Mortars" He continued, pointing at a nearby hill.

"I am afraid that will not be possible, engineer Karloff. We lost half our Thopters in the last attack run, and those left require inmediate repair before being usefull"

Karloff clenched his fist around the telescope "Blast it! We can not continue an apropiate defense with those mortars rainning bombs over us. We have only ten cannons left, and they will be wiped out soon at this rate" He turned to a nearby guard "You. Take a Steam Chair and ride to Fort Ruhr. Tell them we need inmediate aerial support, or we will loose Rumbottom Hill to the phadians. Now, go!"

The guard noded and inmediately ran to a large tent in the north side of the fort. There, five six-leged mehcanical chariots stood, connected to large steaming boilers. He jumped over one, standing into a small open space. An assistant disconneted the tubes from the boiler, and made a signal to the guard. He noded and pulled a wide lever, which was chored by a powerfull hissing of steam from the Chair's engines. The well-greased pistons above each leg began moving, and the whole mechanism turned alive. few seconds later, the Chair began it's run towards Fort Ruhr.

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"I bring urgent words from Rumbottom Hill Fort. Open the gates!" Shouted the guard, while his Steam Chair keept it's running step.
A set of words, followed by the hissing sound of steam pistons and the groan of the metalic gates, led to the slow openning of them.

Once the guard was inside, he returned the lever to it's place and the Chair went inactive. Two officers walked to meet him, one of them holding a massive hammer in one of his hands, from which blood and small pieces of bone still fell.

The officer noted the guard's eyes over the hammer "A traitor. We managed to stop him just seconds before he blew our entire boiler system. Now, what brings you here?"

The guard kneeld "Lord Thunderhammer, I bring words from Master Engineer Karloff Silverforge. He requires inmediate aerial support, as for Rumbottom Hill is soon to fall due to constant enemy attack from Hellfire Mortars, sire"

"And his Thopter Squad? Has not Rumbottom Hill been provided already with fourteen Tarspit Thopters?"

"Yes, but most of them have been lost or heavily damaged during an attack to Houndwail Pass. The phadians had an unexpected group of Harlinga baloon ships. The Thopters were lucky to get out of there"

Thunderhammer made a short pause and then noded slowly "Very well, a Groundbane bomber will be sent at once. We can not afford to loose Rumbottom Hill, not with the phadians already marching through Houndwail Pass" He gave some instructions to the officer next to him, who departed towards the aerial docks, in the eastern area of the fort-city. Thunderhammer then turned to the guard "Soldier, you shall return to Rumbottom Hill and inform the Master Engineer that his support will arrive soon. Tell them to fall back into the fort and concentrate their fire on the Pass' entrance. Once the bomber arrives, it will fall under his command. Good ridance"

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"Fall back, he says? And risk to loose all our cannons in the process? Nonsese!" Answered Karloff after hearing the guard's report.

"Perhaps he is correct, Master Engineer. If we concentrate or defences in the fort, we will be able to hold until support arrives" Came Vinzenthar's suggestion.

The Master Engineer relased an angry breath "You clearly don't understand our situation. We can' move those cannons! They are designed to be deployed quickly, but undeploying and moving them is a matter that takes several hours. Your Thopters were supposed to keep them safe in their designated locations, but you had to make that stupid attack run over the Pass"

"We had no means to know they would be hidding Harlingas in there. And you know well that Tarspitters can not sustain direct aerial combat. If those bastard...!"

Karloff interrupted him "Enough of your excusses. We lost the Thopters already, and there is no point on discussing the issue now. What we should be doing is to plan how to survive until dusk and the bomber's arrival"

A fourth dwarf came. His face and arms were dirty with dust and coal, and a pickaxe hanged from his wide belt "If you allow me to comment, Master Engineer, me and my fellow minners may have an interesting proposal for a plan"

"As you can see -began Thoradek, the chieff taskmaster of the local coal mines- the tunnel network extends below the entire Windsaw Hills area" He rose his pickaxe and pointed towards one of the main tunnels "That way, one and a half miles away, you will find the base of Hammerhead Hill, where your mortar friends are currently located"

"Exelent! -came Karloff, who, along with Vinzenthar, was being escorted by a group of twenty miners through the dusty and barely iluminated tunnels- We can plant enough explosives as to collapse the whole hill, and they will never know what hit them"

"Indeed we can. Actually, with enough explosives we could bring down the entire region" Said Thoradek, with a wide smile full of yellow teeth.

"Collapsing the region we are supposed to defend would not be our wisest move, actually" Commented Vinzenthar, with a vague tone of humor.

"Indeed. Bringing them down shall be enough" Continued Karloff "Now, Thoradek, you and your miners will instruct my zappers on the location for the explosives. The sooner this is done, the better. I will send Ardgon to assist you in any need. Hands to work, people" He finished and walked back to the mine's entrance along with Vinzenthar.

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"Blow them up!" The voice of Thoradek reberberated through the deep tunels and halls of the coal mines. A serie of shouts came from here and there, followed by the numerous clockling sounds of activators. With short cracking sounds, these ignited the fast burning wicks. Minners ran out from their posts as the lines of fire stretched towards the explosives.

The floor and roof trembled once, and dust fell from the old wooden supports. It was followed by strong windy currents, inmediately followed by a powerfull explosion. The tunnels iluminated with the fire far away below the hillside, which instantly collapsed. Thousands upon thousands of tons of rock and earth fell over the collapsed mine network.
Above, deep cracs grew like lightning bolts through the surface, bringing anything above them down into the artificial chasm. Mortars and dwarves, bombs and machines, they all fell to the ground by the sudden earthquake. One of the amunition deposist exploded, being Hellfire an extremely unestable substance, starting a chain reaction that extended all over the hillside. The ones who did not fell into the hungry floor were either carbonized by the flames or crushed beneath falling rocks and machines. The sound of explosions deep beneath the earth came as a thunder storm, echoing in the vast valley, a beacon of destruction.

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Karloff was standing over one of the guard towers, his eyes jumping from explosion to explosion. The sight was beautifull, as his enemies were killed by his strategy, and their own weapons.
He turned to his men, who were over the walls and in the ground, staring at the chotic spectacle. He raised both arms and relased a powerfull anc victorious battlecry. The men inmediately chored him, chants of success spreading as wildfire among them.

But then Karloff went silent, as the smoking figure of a Stem Chair came running down the southern hill. He quickly walked down the stairs and went to the gates, to meet the messenger.

The Steel Chair relased steam by one of it's pipes, generating a powerfull signaling sound. An urgent call.

"Open the gates, open the gates!" Ordered Karloff as he hurried his steps.

The Chair came through them and the rider came down as soon as it's went inactive. He had a terrible burn in the left side of his face, and his left hand was covered in bloddy pieces of clothe, two fingers missing.

"The bomber...we were ambushed by anti-aerials -he made a pause to draw a breath, and coughed blood- We were unable to ready our weapons...before...the attack began. We could do nothing" The rider managed to say.

"Calm down, speak slowly, you have lost much blood -Karloff answered, gazing at the blood-wet pants of the man- How far did the ambush take place?"

The man spat some blood and then lokked at the Master Engineer "Not far, few miles south of Imber Bridge. The bastards were hidding underwater..."

"Blast it! For my father's iron leg, blast it! -he looked back to the man- Tell me, are you the only survivor, or is there anyone else left?"

The wounded rider noded "Yes, there...are more. When I left they were still holding up inside the fallen ship, but I am not...sure how longer they will be able...to keep up the fight"

Karloff scratched his long beard "Then a rescue party will have to be formed..."

Vinzenthar interrupted "Master Engineer, we don't have enough men to keep the fort under vigilance, let alone to make a rescue party"

"And what? Would you rather leave those men to their own luck? Use your imagination, Vinzenthar -he gave quick gazes to the fort- Have the minners armed with arquebuses and give them whatever armor you can find. If the phadians ambushed the bomber they will surely know we are in the need for support, so they will most likely attack soon" He called one of his officers "Moradin, get me ten of your best men and a Gun Wagon. We have men to rescue"

OOC: I have two questions... First, is this RP open? And secondly, can non-Steam nations join?

*tags*

OOC: Yes, the RP is open for other nations to join. This is barely a battle in much larger war.
However, non-steamtech nations could be dangerous here, as for it could greatly unbalance the line of the story (orbital cannons would be, for example, too much for a war were most men still fight with powder weapons). Anything above XIX Sci-Fi tech would be unbalancing.
Fantasy-themed nations are welcomed as well, since the setting is Steamtech-Fantasy.

OOC: I'm gonna use either Battlemechs or Mobile Suits...

OOC: I'm gonna use either Battlemechs or Mobile Suits...OOC: I would think that would be a little advanced...

OOC: Okay... I'll just use tanks and stuff then...

"Haha, try to take that out of your skull, blasted fool!" Came Arendorf's voice, after his arquebuse sent a bullet to one of the phadian's forehead, killing him instantly.

The smell of burnt powder and coal served to hide the foul stench of burning corpses from the recent crash.
The ambush was completely unexpected, specially considering it came from below the river. Somehow, the phadians had known the bomber would go to Rumbottom Hill, as for it clearly required early preparation.
It didn't matter now. Most of the crew was either dead or gravely wounded. Those few left managed to entrench themselves into the crash site and attent the wounded with watever means at hand. Gladly enough, there was enough weaponry and amunition among the ship's cargo as to keep the phadians busy for some time. The problem was, for how long.

Arendorf kneeld to reload his weapon with powder and bullet, as well as replacing the wick. Fourteen kills in two hours. Quite a good number for a new soldier.
Three bullets rocketed above his head, impacting on the ship's broken hull. They were followed by two arquebuse blasts from Nogrim and Kristoff, who, taking advantage of the unloading of the enemy weapon managed to kill one of them with two bullet, one in the neck and another in the left eye.

"These phadians are no good for direct combat. Ambushes are the only thing that fits them. Cowards I say!" Shouted Nogrim, while picking another loaded arquebuse and shooting a second bullet.

Behind him came an officer, crawling to avoid being shoot. A metalic plate covered the left side of his skull and a leather patch was over his left eye.

"How are you doing on this side?" He asked to the three dwarves "The west side is quite hot, but we have managed to keep them far. The bastars seem to belive we have no weapons, and they keep sending Powder Runners. We blow them in sight, I tell you!" He finished, with a laugh.

Kristoff laughed as well, his voice deep as a cave and beard white as snow "The ones here don't even dare to move. We have killed almost fifty of them in the last two hours, and their aiming is worse than the sing of a Tika!"

Their talk was interrupted by a heavy explosion, comming from the other side of the ship.

Arendorf stared at the officer, confused.

"A Powder Runner! -he began saying to the young soldier, screaming among the constant noise of battle- Maniacal dwarves that tie themselves to belts of powder bombs and explode against targets. A bunch of bloody fools, if you ask me"

An explosion, followed by a scream of pain came from Nogrim, who fell over his back, relasing the arqubuse, which was smoking, completely destroyed. Nogrim had a large opening in his right shoulder, and half his face turned into a bloody mess of burnt flesh and broken bone.

"His arquebuse blew up! Get some help, now!" Ordered Kristoff to Arendorf, who inmediately crawled to the interior of the ship.

Meanwhile, Nogrim attempted to sit, but the pain was overwhelming. He tryied to speak, but blood got into his mouth, tunring words into little more than bubbling sounds.

"Don't move or talk. We will get you some help, old friend" Came Kristoff, trying to calm Nogrim down.

The officer looked at Kristoff "Can you kepe it here alone for a while? I must go and shoot a fire signal, so someone can come in our aid from Rumbottom Hill"

Kristoff noded, while trying to stop the blood from his friend with some clothing "And what about the Steel Chair you sent?"

"I don't know what happened, but he has taken too long already. Perhaps he didn't even get through the phadians. Whatever happened, we can't sit here and wait for him to return. I'll throw the beacon, and then we will plan how to bloody hell get out of here"

Meanwhile, in the Blast Towers of Cirpadia, Tarvalak's capital city...

"Reports! Where are my reports! How is the king of a nation supposed to rule it if he is not even informed of the ongoings of the war!?"
King Kampravah was clearly upset, as during the last two days he has recieved no information from one of the war fronts.

"Telegraph lines seem to be down, Great Forger" Excused one of the Royal Secretaries.

"However, they should be fixed very soon, Smith of Smiths" Came the comments of another secretary.

The King sat on his mechnochair, disgusted and annoyed by the constant excuses from his servants. If he was to control a nation, the first task he should be worried of was battle. And he has not be doing well in the late days.

"I will travel to Fort Ruhr, then" He said, in a sudden chnage of mood.

His court remained silent, everyone staring at the old and long bearded dwarven king.
The royal Chancellor, an unusually thin and gray-skinned dwarf, dared to contradict his King "My Lord, I am sorry, but your place is here, in the Blast Towers, the head of the Kingdom. Fort Rurh is on the edge of conflict"

The King's mechnochair relased steam as it turned over it's rotor "How you dare contradict me, Chancellor? I will do as I please, and I demand to be taken to Fort Rurh to directly oversee the management of the battle against the phadians. No one will say that King Kampravah the Third, Twentieth First Ruler of Tarvalak, did not take his nation to the victory it deserves!" He finshed, with his fist high in the air.

"But..." began the Chancellor, who inmediately went silent after the cold gaze of Sinrarah Firefist, King Kampravah's cousin and Tricount of Tarfield, Blackrock and Roarcliff, impaled him from behind the mechnochair.

"The King desire is to be taken to Fort Ruhr, and to Fort Ruhr he shall be taken, at once" Sinrarah answered, toneless and cold.

Kampravah smiled "I see that wisdom is in your blood as well, cousin. Now, Chancellor, bring my personal guard and ready the Skylord. We are departing towards Fort Ruhr, and the cauldron of battle, tomorrow at first hour. Now, begone"

"Loaded and ready to depart, Master Engineer" Informed Heranoth Steelbeard, one of the few chieff gunners still left on Rumbottom Hill Fort.
Behind him, a large Gun Wagon rested above six heavy iron wheels, armed to the teeths with pressure cannons and powder guns.
Around it, ten dwarves stood, dressed in blackened protective armor, their faces covered in heavy helmets provided of filter masks. The wide range of personal weapons -among which pestilence bombs, fragmentation grenades, fast-fire arquebuse and pressure hammers could be found, as well as many more- gave them a dreadfull look.

"The men you asked for are also armed and ready to go, sire" Continued Steelbeard, noting Karloff's inquisitive eyes.

"Very well -he answered- I am unsure if this will be enough, but it is all we can manage to spare" He noded at Steelbeard and turned to Vinzenthar, who was standing few feets behind him. "I will lead the rescue party towards the crash site. You will stay and organize things around while I'm gone. I am counting on you, Vinzenthar"
Said this, he walked towards the Gun Wagon. Three huge cannons grew from the sides and front, along with several lesser guns of many different tipes. He opened one of the compartiment to the left side and took out the same tipe of armor the other men were using, as well as five pressure pistols with their respective equipment. Two fast-fire arqubuses, a host of grenades and hand explosives and one particulary dangerous weapon, a Banshee Device.

After armoring up -task particularily hard, due to the huge beard that grew from his face- he gave the orders to the assistant to relace the connector tubes from the Wagon to the main boilers used to turn it up.

"If everything goes as planned, we should return before sunrise" Were his finnal words to Vinzenthar, and then he and the eleven men with him entered the Gun Wagon.
Slowly, the huge pistons behind each wheel began moving in a coordinate dance. The amount of black smoke being vomited by the exhaust tubes grew considerably, as coal was feeded to the engines of the war machine.
Few moments later, it began moving, gaining speed with each turn of the wheels. In less than five minutes, the wagon was already dissapearing behind a forested corner towards the crash site.

And high in the air, a red line of luminous smoke rose from somewhere to the south.

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The medic did what he could, but the wound was too large and the blood lost was impossible to recover.

"I am sorry" The medic said, raising his old eyes to meet Kristoff's ones. Between them, the motionless corpse of Nogrim still seemed a gory fountain of blood, covered in now useless bleeding sponges.

Kristoff noded, his face cold and serious as it could be, calm, even under the constant cacophony of the battle that held place all around them. He gave a final look at his long time friend and battle mate, and then turned to Arendorf, who stood next to him.

"Life comes and go, but honor and respect are timeless -he picked up a huge, multicannoned pressure gun and handed it over to Arendorf- I have noted you can manage yourself quite well with one of these. If you feel brave enough, you can come with me. There are some phadians I want to personaly treat with"

Arendorf stared at the huge weapon. Yes, he had trained with these Pressure Barrage guns back at Cirpadia and showed an exelent ability to handle this complex but deadly machine. His eyes moved to Nogrim's dead body and then to Kristoff's large face. He simply noded.

Kristoff smiled "Very good, I like that. You and me will take these -he pointed to a sack full of hand bombs- to the phadian hidding place. They usually carry excesive amounts of explosives and such, so we can cause a great deal of damage if we place them in the right places"

Without waiting for more words, he handed the heavy clockwork system, encased within a metalic backpack, that served as empowering mechanism for the Pressure Barrage gun, to Arendorf, and took one for himself. After connecting the several tubes to the gun from the backpack, he picked up the heavy sack of bombs, and tied it up to his shoulder.

"Blasted luck" Vinzenthar stared in both fear and suprise, standing atop the north wall. From there he could gaze at the entire alley, stretching nearly twenty miles until entering into the Houndwail Pass.

"How long will it take them to be at fire range?" Asked Vinzenthar to the man next to him, without taking his eyes from the huge rocky arc that stood as the Pass' entrance.

The man gazed through his telescope once more and looked at Vinzenthar "Two hours at most, if wind stays like this. A powerfull backcurrent would greatly slow them down, but I would not count on that"

Vinzenthar sighed, cleanings his tired eyes with his right hand "Get the anti-aerials -he began- and whatever weapon you can find. Tell the soldiers....miners -corrected himself- to ready themselved. We might have quite a fight in our hands very soon..." He finished, slowly, like if each word had been a true pain to pronounce, as his eyes fixed again over the several figures that floated calmly towards them from the Pass.

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The sound of an explosion came to Karloff's ears. Then another, and another, and many many more after that. "We are getting closer" He noted.

The dwarves sat inside the steaming wagon's cargo area, silent, checking their weapons from time to time. They had not crossed any word in the almost hour-long trip from Rumbottom Hill to the crash site.

As the wagon struggled to get's it's weight moving by the hilltop, the sound and heat of battle was near. The scent of powder, burning coal and hot vapor invaded their nostrils, just before they completely closed their full helmets over the face.

Karloff took his helmet with both hands "Be prepared, gentlemen. We are soon to begin the bloodshed...whatever side is meant to recieve it" And closed it over his head.

Beautiful thread here, Tarvalak. Alas, my tech is too different to get involved.

//Bump, or Tag, for a soon to be made reply, after quite some time, should I add//