I Am Gamer III

by Gabriel Rathweg

  The whole army was like an anthill that a child had kicked over. Cannon balls, musket balls, and arrows, arced out in a continuous stream. With every second more Nirumbee dropped, more humans died and were injured, even a Wendigo fell now and then.

  “Let’s go!” I called, turning and leaping off the walls and sprinting to Winston and the other mounts, along with the others in the command cadre.

  I vaulted onto Winston’s back, my sisters, Chieftess Shining Eagle, Dancing Lion, and Stone Fox right behind me, leaping on their own mounts. Although, the Chieftess had to climb up onto Fuzzy to get seated. I, along with the rest of those with me suppressed a laugh but couldn’t quite hide our smiles.

  “Do we really have time for your childishness?” She asked, finally settled on her War Bear’s back and giving us all a roll of her eyes.

  More grins and smiles broke out and then I turned Winston and galloped towards the gate, everyone else following behind. I was glad the Chieftess broke the tension, it was going to be rough out there. We galloped towards the gates and the Jicarilla Riders there opened them, and we rode through at full speed. A few of the Nirumbee had made it to the walls and the gate but not enough to impede us. We just rode them down, all the horses, Fuzzy included, seemed to stomp their feet a bit more as they crushed the Nirumbee under them, but it could just have been my imagination.

  “Fire Lances!” I shouted, following my own command and couching my weapon then activating its Flame ability.

  FIERY CAVALRY SPEAR

  WEAPON TYPE – POLEARM

  DURABILITY – 60/60

  CLASS – Unique

  UPGRADES – Burning Blade, Fire Resistance

  WEIGHT – 10lbs

  DIMENSIONS – 1” by 12” Shaft 60” by 1”

  The Fiery Cavalry Spear is infused with Fire Magic, and imbued with an internal Magical Power, this weapon has enough charge for the blade to burn for ten minutes. The ability will charge every thirty minutes unless wielder has MP. If wielder has MP the weapon will use their MP to charge for attacks. This Damage Stacks with other abilities and weapons. The design is based off of a combination of classic Roman spears and Japanese and Korean styles. The pole is able to flex and absorb impact without breaking, while the blade is based on modern designs with a tri-tip to penetrate Conquistador armor.

  Technically, they were spears, but Law said we’d have lances soon enough, so he went with that command. Personally, I didn’t care they were both long pointy things that stabbed stuff, whatever. Fire burst from our spear tips and we started our trampling burning stab attack. My fiancé laughed when I told him the name, I thought it was perfectly fine and descriptive. He called it another name, said it was from a great and powerful duck or something.

  “Initiate the Flying V!” I called, as the riders fanned out on both sides of me creating a ‘V’ shape.

  Our larger mounts ran down the smaller monsters and every time a Wendigo appeared a brace of burning spears hit it and we moved on. We skirted the edge of the army our speed keeping us from getting bogged down. Around we went as the falconets, harquebuses, and bows fired into the center of the monsters and humans. It was chaos and death. If I could feel pity for them I would have then, but I had none, I reveled in the damage we inflicted. There would be no quarter and no surrender for such as these.

  A Wendigo appeared in my path, but from my vantage point on Winston he was no hulking monster and I grinned, urging Winston even faster and towards the evil beast. It roared and swung at us with its clawed hands, but I was faster with my spear, and plunged it into its ugly face, then we were by it and on to the next monster. I laughed loudly and focused on the next vile monster in my path, this was fun!

  TRACK 16 – BACK ON THE CHAIN GANG – PRETENDERS

  I spent the entirety of the next day just making ammunition and weapons. The sounds of target practice a constant booming backdrop throughout the day and night as the warriors worked on their gunnery abilities. It wasn’t for naught though because there were now enough cannon and mortar for each wall and gate, with one hundred and fifty rounds for each cannon and fifty shaped rounds for each of the mortars. We had also created enough long rifles for every member of the tribe that was here, along with two hundred rounds of ammo per person.

  I went to bed exhausted but satisfied with the work we had done. The next morning, we switched our production to finishing the forts defenses. The fort was mostly finished, and the static defenses were pretty much complete. The walls were raised and enforced with Earth Magic, Water Magic, Fire Magic, and stone. The rivers were routed, and the moat was created, swiftly flowing around the town. All the cannon and mortars had been placed and were in position. The first level of the citadel that was eventually going to be built five levels tall, was going up in the center of the fort. The only thing left was to finish the gates for the three river fort entrances.

  The four of us worked the whole day, first crafting and then enhancing the metal for the gates. They were massive, fifteen feet wide and ten feet high each, and we’d need a pair for each river gate. With us all working together though, the work went quick and we finished all three that day and for the first time in a few days we were done before nightfall.

  Frigg had taken it upon herself and tasked some of the tribe to hunt some elk for dinner. She had decided that even with what had happened or was going to happen to Asgard, we needed to lift our spirits up and celebrate our hard work. She was currently preparing a feast and was already roasting three large elk in preparation. I didn’t argue and got onboard quick, considering it a great idea. The training was paused and the whole tribe went to cleanup before the feast. There was a positive mood going, not so much happiness, but more of satisfaction. It was as if everyone knew we were ready and were going to fuck up those monsters who were going to hurt their friends and family. I guess you could call it a grim happiness or maybe happy grimness. Yeah, the last one.

  I had been so busy and wrapped up in my own thought I hadn’t realized what was going on around me. I was sitting in the middle of a makeshift orgy. These Natives were all so damn forward. They really had no shame. The brothers, both sets, were each getting well acquainted with a couple pairs of beautiful Norse Ojibwe girls. I’ll admit it. They were damn fine looking. Curves in all the right places, large breasts, small waits, curvy hips, and thick asses. They were warrior type woman, made of warrior stock. Amazonian goddesses with minimal inhibitions. I swallowed and quickly left the bathing area before I was tempted to join the festivities.

  The thing was I didn’t blame them or even fault them. I was raised in the twenty first century and we had our own sexual do’s and don’ts, taboos and such. Moon Flower had explained it to me one night after some particular passionate love making. We were laying in our yurt post coital and she explained that after The Great Suffering sex and things had become more accepted, not that it wasn’t so strict before. The lack of people meant that the survivors had to be together to repopulate the tribes. It just so happened that making the act of sex with multiple partners an integral part of the tribal society would increase the number of children in the tribe. This led to the current lack of inhibitions they and most of the tribes currently had. Damn my moral sensibilities, no cheating was my thing. Especially, after walking in on my ex and ex best friend. Hell, they were the whole reason I was here in the first place. This all ran through my mind as I left the bathing area.

  A little while later we were all sitting in the newly created dining area in the citadel. It was large enough to fit the whole tribe and had a wooden covering and long tables for seating. The best thing to compare it to would be a covered picnic area, but Viking and Native in style. Food and mead were served, the whole tribe sans the guards and scouts that were out, were eating. Roasted elk, cooked tubers, and random vegetables filled the platters. It was quite good, and I was on my fourth helping before I felt satisfied.

  I sat back and looked around at the tribe’s folk and saw everyone had their rifles with them
. They were ready to go in case something happened, I was glad the brothers had drilled that into them. They were to think of the rifles as a blade or ax. Frigg, Cunning Wolf, and Sage were sitting around my table and had all finished eating.

  “It seems we are prepared, now all we need do is wait on Arun.” Frigg said.

  “Hopefully he was in time to help any of those who escaped.” Cunning Wolf said.

  “If anyone escaped.” Sage said, morosely.

  “Stop it you, old man, you saw the nightmare, they attacked from the inland sea not the river, we have boats and warriors, of course people escaped. He may have even made it time to help in the defense.” Frigg spat.

  We were quiet after that as we all recalled the vivid feverish dreams. I remembered the size of that army and they would need our walls and firepower to stand up to them. I just hoped that we were ready when they came. I was about to say so when I got a mental call from Freak. Him and Silent Mouse, along with his scouts were still out. I pulled up my mini map and saw he was about ten miles to the south east of us.

  I was about to send him an image about all the delicious elk when I sensed his feeling of urgency. I activated our skill bond and was able to see through his eyes. It took a moment for me to adjust, I was glad I was sitting down, it was disorienting but then my vision cleared. Spread out in the plains that Freak was looking down on was a huge number of campfires, I counted hundreds of them. The sun was just setting and by the light of the fires and Freak’s enhanced kitty vision, I could make out a surprising amount of detail.

  It looked like there were three distinct camps straddling both sides of the river. In the center I could see hundreds of Aglebemu swimming and Tie-Snakes loitering in the water and on its banks. On one side of the river were Kuku and Chenoo, interspersed with Nirumbee looking like babies compared to the giants. On the other side of the river were humans. Not normal looking humans but twisted and corrupted, like they were diseased somehow. The first thing that came to mind was Chaos Marines or the corrupted in Warcraft, crossed with the Indians from Last of the Mohicans.

  Freaks periphery blinked and with a thought I accessed the message, sweet.

  THE FALLEN TRIBES OF THE CORRUPTED PATH (LEVEL – 7)

  Before men turn into monsters, they join the Tribe of the Fallen. They come from all the tribes across the land. The commit their evil deeds and fall into depraved ways, lesions and growths begin to appear on their bodies. Their eyes glow with inner darkness that gives them ghastly appearances. Enhanced strength and magical ability are gifted from the evil deities they serve.

  I closed the window with a thought as Freak looked into the sky. I didn’t notice at first and then I heard the shrieking. By the fading light I could just make out dozens upon dozens of flying beings which looked like Harpies to me. They were half woman half feathery bird things with giant wings and clawed limbs. Their faces were amalgamations of human and some type of predatory avian. Freak’s periphery blinked and I checked the message.

  TA-TAH-KLE’-AH: THE OWL WOMEN (LEVEL – 6)

  These half owl half woman monsters live in caves by day and fly out in the night to prey on all creatures, humans and human children most of all. The owl is the symbol of death in many Native cultures and Owl Women are considered the walking, or flying, embodiment of death itself.

  I closed the window as something else caught Freak’s eye. In the center of the human camp was a large tepee like structure with the largest men I had seen outside myself and Arun. These were scarred and covered in so many lesions and tattoos I couldn’t see a patch of skin anywhere not even their faces, they also just radiated a certain power and menace. I could tell they were these guys were elite warriors, but that wasn’t the main attraction. After the harpy, I mean Owl Bitches, I figured I couldn’t be surprised, I was wrong.

  In the center of those elite evil warriors was the biggest man yet, larger than me, and oozing dark magical power. His eyes glowed a sickly but vibrant green. He wore a Kuku’s head and furry hide as a mantle over his desecrated body. Yet, he was still a massive man who rippled with muscles, almost like a bizarre Dwayne Johnson, or giant Arnold. His gaze snapped up and it was like we locked eyes, like he saw Freak from his hidden position a half mile away, and then through his eyes and into mine.

  “I’m coming shaman.” The corrupted man’s lips mouthed.

  I knew I couldn’t hear him, but it felt like I heard his words anyway. Some type of magical projection or just plain weird evil monster man shit.

  I sent Freak a get the fuck back here mental command and to bring Silent Mouse with him, then snapped back into my mind.

  “Oh fuck…” I whispered, now back in my body, blinking my eyes open and sitting up.

  “What do you mean, oh fuck?” Cunning Wolf growled.

  “Freak and Silent Mouse found something. What do you know of the Fallen Tribes?” I asked.

  The table went quiet and all gazes turned to me.

  “They are thought to be legend, the evilest of us. Cursed by the gods.” Sage said.

  “Well, an army of them and every other monster I’ve ever fought, along with some flying Owl Bitches are coming our way.” I said.

  “The Owl Women are coming? This is grave new indeed.” Frigg said, her voice turning forlorn.

  “Hold on, don’t go giving up before we’ve even started.” I said.

  “You don’t understand Law, the Fallen, the Owl Women, it is all so much.” Frigg replied.

  “They are still twelve miles out and we have this fort and these new weapons. I promise you, trust in me. These mother fuckers don’t stand a chance.” I said, iron in my voice, my confidence returning with each word I spoke.

  “I hope you are right.” She replied.

  “Don’t worry, we got this.” I said, with a grin, then called out. “Ok, everyone, listen up.”

  The rest of my elite warriors had gathered around and I explained to everyone what was going on and that another army was coming, and it was probably as bad as the first one if not worse. I then answered a bunch of questions and explained that our new weapons were going to make light work of these guys. After that, I ordered everyone to get everything they needed and get to the walls in the next hour. Billy and Patty took over then and there was much shouting and cursing.

  I returned to my lodging and retrieved my bow and arrows, then headed to the forge, where I had left my own long rifle, then headed to the wall facing the incoming enemy. Freak was giving me mental updates and after our little meeting with the enemy commander, the army had surged into motion and was heading towards Thrudheim. By his senses the army would be here in about two hours. I sent a him a be careful and to get back here, then refocused on the fort and my people.

  “Time to hurry up and wait.” I said.

  “Aye, tis the life of the soldier.” Patty replied.

  And so, we waited. We double checked and tripled checked our weapons and armor. The lines on the wall were set and rifles were loaded and ready. And then the hour and a half went by and I sensed then saw Freak and Silent Mouse coming full speed across the grassland along the riverbank.

  “Look alive!” I called out, and shouts sounded up and down the walls.

  I then focused on the two running figures and then the ones in the air behind them. In the sky were over a dozen of the Owl Women flying at my Familiar and friend. They were gaining fast. It was going to be close and I wasn’t sure if they’d make it. Right now, I was looking half a mile out and they wouldn’t be in range of our long rifles for a minute. Plus, that was extreme range and we might waste our element of surprise and maybe hit Freak or Silent Mouse, come on you two, I thought trying to will both faster.

  The MOB’s closed in on the pair until they were less than ten feet behind and above them, they’d be on them in moments. Good news was they were in range.

  “Fire at those flying hags!” I called, and I took aim at the one just beginning to dive at my best friend and pulled the trigger.

  Shots r
ang out in a ragged volley and shrieks answered. I watched disbelieving as half the number of Owl Women dropped from the sky. The other half broke off their pursuit flying back the way they’d come.

  “Well, would you look at that.” Billy said.

  TRACK 17 – DOIN’ IT RIGHT – DAFT PUNK, PANDA BEAR

  There are old legends about certain metals being the bane of certain monsters. Legends of Werewolves and silver, things like that, I don’t know if that’s true, but I know for a fact they really fucking hate bullets. We lit those sons of bitches up like it was the fourth of July. It was savagely glorious. We fired six hundred yards out with cannon and mortar as they rushed our bastion. They came from land, water, and sky.

  The monsters came first. The humans stood back as if they experienced the extreme range of our weapons and watched. That was not a great thing, but we had thousands of MOBs coming our way. So, we fired, then fired some more. We fired onto the land, into river, and in the sky with rifle, mortar, and cannon decimating bodies, clogging the waterways, and turning the land red with blood. The incoming Owl Women were riddled with bullets when they came into range, none getting close enough to be a problem. Bodies littered the earth, some just pieces torn apart by cannon or mortar fire.

  I watched as a mortar landed right in front of a Wendigo surrounded by Nirumbee, exploding and sending hundreds of projectiles flying every which way. The metal flechettes tore into and out of bodies indiscriminately, dropping dozens of the monsters and the Wendigo in bloody heaps. The massed fire continued, my bodies enhanced senses picking out detail after detail of the destruction of the monster’s army.

  Cannon balls hit the plain bouncing and tearing bodies in two, severing legs and other limbs as they skipped along. A Kuku in the lead took a round to the head and it disappeared in a cloud of blood, which sprayed from its neck a moment later like a geyser. The body fell to the dirt twitching spasmodically in its death throes crushing the little Nirumbee unfortunate enough to be underneath it as it fell.