Head To The Gnoll Foothills

The next morning, you step out to find your men all standing in formation, ready to head out. Again, you can't help but marvel at the difference matching armor has made. Leia gaining 'Tactics I' during her last level-up has no doubt helped as well.

You climb onto your wagon and take a seat between Abby and Leia. Villagers have begun to line the road to see you off. All it took was capturing a few heroes and publicly executing them to to win the whole town over. You wonder if it'll always be that easy.

As you and your troops begin to head out, you notice a commotion to your right and turn to see. Out of the crowd bursts a brunette carrying two overfilled suitcases and shouldering an equally overfilled pack. Around her neck, tightly buckled, is a crimson red collar. It's Gabrielle.

"Pet," you say as she runs up to your wagon.

"Sorry Master. I didn't want to leave any of my tools behind," she says, breathless.

"What happened to her accent?" Abby mutters under her breath.

As a character who's little more than your own tools, you nod your understanding to the blacksmith. Then you motion for her to join you on the wagon. With surprisingly little effort, she hefts her suitcases onboard and then climbs in.

"Your newest conquest, Master?" Leia asks.

"Don't worry. No one could ever replace you," you say, running the back of your hand across her cheek.

"And me, Master?" Abby asks.

You chuckle, "You either, my dear slut."

She quivers at the mention of that last word. Obviously a night's sleep has done nothing to alleviate her raging libido. You grin and lay a hand on her thigh.

Soon the village disappears into the distance. As the next couple days pass, mountains gradually flatten out into rocky, windswept foothills. Here and there, you see the occasional wind gnarled tree, but mostly it's just open space and rocks.

In time, the sound of a distant battle reaches your ears.

"Do you hear that?" Leia asks.

"Yes, I do," you reply, rising to your feet atop the wagon to get a better look.

Soon you spot your two mounted cavalry scouts, riding back in.

"What in the nine hells is going on up there?" Leia demands of them the second they're within earshot.

"There's a battle up ahead, ma'am. Atop a hill, straight ahead, an entire tribe of gnoll warriors are being held off by a single level twenty knight. If we veer north we should be able to miss-," he reports until you interrupt him.

"Miss an opportunity to destroy another hero and gain an ally!" you say, clasping your fist in the air.

"Master, are you crazy? That's a level twenty hero!" Leia stammers.

All around you, brigands mumble their agreement with her assessment. This cannot stand. Hearing such dissension makes your blood boil with rage!

"You doubt my power?" you say, staring angrily into Leia's eyes.

They go wide and she clenches her teeth as if ready to fight.

"N- no, Master. I-," she stutters.

"Bones," you cast and at each of the four corners of the wagon a skeletal warrior climbs up out of the earth.

The men all step back, some dropping their weapons. It was your skeletons after all who beat them into submission once before. But that's not enough. Leia and the brigands must have every shred of doubt cleansed from their minds.

"Skeleton King!" you scream, raising your hands high into the air for effect.

The ground immediately begins to rumble violently. Men fall over and a scout's horse spooks, throwing him to the ground. Suddenly something comes plummeting down out of the sky. It crashes to the earth, sending up an enormous dust cloud. When it clears, your men stare up in horror at the grinning skull face of the giant Skeleton King.

"Oh, hey SK! I was wondering where you'd gotten off to," Abby happily chirps.

"Master, I admit that I doubted you. But no more," Leia says, staring in awe of the monstrously tall creature looking down on her.

"Good! **** to all who oppose me!" you yell.

"But we must be careful, Master. I recommend approaching slowly and then circling around to whatever side the hero is on. If we have to go through many of the gnolls to get to him, then they'll just attack us, too," Leia says, quickly coming back to her senses.

"Agreed. I leave command of the brigands to you, Leia. I'll concentrate on raising my minions and casting spells. Abby, you concentrate on healing," you order.

"What about me, Master?" Gabriel asks, hefting her blacksmith's hammer.

"Pet, your skills don't lend themselves to battle. You'll remain with the wagons. When this is all over, your skills will be in great demand," you say, running your hand down the length of her hair as if petting a dog.

"What if someone comes while you're gone, Master?" she asks.

"Easy. You're an NPC blacksmith. Just pretend you're here as part of a new update and offer to repair their armor," you say.

And with that, you and your troops quickly move out. When the outskirts of the battle became visible in the distance, your scouts report back and you begin flanking around to the south. Then the battle shifts and you're **** to flank back. Finally you give the order to charge.

A few gnolls are still in the way, but your undead minions sweep them away with ease. As you close in, you see that it really is just one hero. He stands amid a pile of dead gnolls, wielding a battle axe bigger than any man should be able to heft. Effortlessly he swings it, decapitating one gnoll and then tearing the guts out of another. And his HP is still nearly full!

"Dominate!" you cast.

As if struck by an intense headache, he stumbles and nearly drops his weapon. Immediately, the Bones' lay into him with their weapons. Every hit is a critical!

...And yet, his HP only drops by a tiny margin. His AC (armor class) is so high that barely any damage actually gets through! He soon recovers, retrieves his axe, and swings. With one mighty cleave he destroys all of them.

More gnolls rush in, only to suffer a similar fate. You hurriedly cast Bones again and hit him with another Dominate. He shrugs off both and begins charging your men. A volley of arrows peppers his armor to no effect. So you summon and hurl a Dark Orb. It hits him in the chest, knocking him back. Then the Skeleton King steps in and swings his great sword. The hero blocks it but is pushed back a little further, giving you time to cast Dominate again. And again, it's useless. He swings back, knocking SK's HP down by a frightening margin.

...Maybe this wasn't such a great idea. You were sure that numbers would prevail over level, but you had no idea how powerful he'd be!

"Master, this is hopeless! We must retreat!" Leia screams.

"No! Hold the line! Do everything you can to slow him down," you order, summoning another Dark Orb.

Running now would cost you the respect of your men. They'd probably turn on you and you'd have to kill them all!

This time you let the orb grow a little larger. You take a step forward and throw it. It strikes him in his head, knocking the sloped black helm off and causing him to fall backwards. Finally, his HP drops into the yellow.

"Stop doing that!" he yells back and chugs a health potion.

Gods damn it!

The hero charges forward, knocking SK out of the way and barreling through half a dozen brigands. He's coming for you!

"Entanglement!" you hurriedly cast.

Thorny vines spring up and grapple everyone's feet, slowing the battle to a literal stand-still. Ranged units continue to fire, but to little effect.

"You asshole! You think this'll stop me?" the hero screams and begins chopping at the vines.

"Dominate!" you cast.

"Asshole, I'm more than ten levels above you! Do you know how high my resistance is against you?" he screams.

"SK, raise every single body here as a skeleton," you command.

The Skeleton King's left leg is shattered, but he nods his understanding.

"Darkest Veil," you cast.

Instantly, the sun seems to blink out of existence.

"What the- What's going on?" shouts a brigand.

But of course, you can see. And so can the Bones. And so can the hundred reanimated gnoll skeletons that SK just raised. And they all descend on the hero, who now suffers major penalties from the impenetrable darkness.

"Dominate!" you cast again and again as he wittles away at your ****.

Then the Entanglement wears off and he begins blindly charging toward you.

"Dark Orb!" you cry, summoning a basketball sized sphere.

You sidestep and slam it into his chest. He heaves backwards as the onyx lightening wracks his body. But it's only just put him back down into the yellow.

"Dominate, you worthless hero!" you cast and crack him in the head with your scepter for good measure.

A minute later the veil disappears and light floods the landscape once more. Brigands and gnolls alike shield their eyes from its intensity.

"I swear to god! You have got to be kidding me, bruh," the hero says.

Leia and Abby both spring forward, weapons at the ready. But there's no need. The fight is over.

"It seems that my Dark Orb also lowers resistances," you comment to yourself. "Now kneel, cretin!"

"Hey, fuck you- Wait! What the fuck!" he stammers, unable to resist your will.

"Master, I-," Leia begins but you cut her off.

"Had no faith in your Master!" you say.

She lowers her head in shame.

"If I, Lord Vader, say it is so, than it WILL be so!" you bellow.

"Vader! Vader! Vader!" one of your men begins to chant. Soon another and then another join in until the whole battlefield is chanting your praise.

"Master, I accept whatever punishment you see fit," Leia says.

You snatch her up in your arms and pull her tightly to your body. Then you forcefully press your lips to hers, spread apart in surprise, and invade her mouth with your tongue.

"Your punishment will come tonight in my tent," you then whisper into her ear.

"Hey, man. When you gonna let me go?" the hero asks.

"Silence, cretin. I shall kill you at my leisure," you order and his mouth clamps shut.

He claws at it with his hands but is unable to make so much as a peep through his tightly pressed lips.

Then you step away and turn to the gathered gnolls. Many look confused and most hold their weapons at the ready. They outnumber your **** by at least four to one, but seem to be in no hurry to make a move.

Eventually, one steps forward. The creature walks with the aid of a long staff with a human skull atop it and for good measure also wears a human skull atop its own head. Patches of its fur have turned grey, giving you the impression that it's an elderly gnoll.

"Who are you? What you want?" it asks in a harsh, feral voice.

"Isn't killing heroes its own reward?" you ask.

The gnoll grins the kind of grin that only a feral animal can and laughs. It's a high pitched 'yih-yih-yih' sound which many of the other gnolls echo. You wait for it all to calm down before speaking again.

"That aside, I am looking for allies. One day I will rule this world and those who help me conquer it will know great favor," you say.

"Gnolls are free. We wander these foothills, follow no banner but ours," the old gnoll says.

"And what could I offer you to follow my banner instead?" you ask.

"Offer nothing. Gnolls take what they want!" it replies and laughs again.

And again, the rest laugh along with it. Just listening to them has you wanting to reconsider recruiting such loathsome creatures in favor of harvesting their damned XP! But they are strong warriors; certainly more fierce than your brigands. You need them.

"For how long have these 'heroes' been traipsing through your land, killing you, and taking your loot? Do you even remember a time when they didn't? When I conquer this world, heroes will be your servants, to be used, abused, and thrown away at your whim," you say.

As you speak, you can sense the gnoll's resolve wavering.

"You speak well, saying things we want to hear. But-," the old gnoll says.

The second you hear that word 'but', you know it's over. His mind is made up.

"Dominate," you whisper under your breath.

With the next breath you prepare to cast Entanglement and then summon Bones.