Chapter 13: Chapter 12

Waking in the morning, the mood was better than yesterday night. Probably because of the excellent beer and feeling of comradery. She learned from Borrago that this was a home fort, where people lived, and so the soldiers wives had come out later to dance for them, joined by some of the drunker husbands. It had been a bright night, and truly showcased the brilliance of humanity. And to add to that, the morning showed a relief force coming through the barricade made at the gate, with men to replace that which was lost and materials to replace the gate. Beastmen could attack again, but they would face the same situation as they faced before, possible defeat even without Estaria’s intervention. it was kind of a shame to miss that, though she did like her sleep...

With high spirits and a lot of drunks, Estaria shook her head and worked out a sharing of rations so that her men could stay a day or two and recover from everything that had happened, in the company of amicable people before heading out to Drakwald. Borrago shared his recipes to ensure that the Drakwald Fort could reinforce their rations with meat that was ever present.

The big man had been industrious last night, and so there was a lot of prepared, salted meat that was shared between the fort and her column. Borrago was a true treasure for the Empire, and she didn't know what she'd do without the jolly giant by her side.

Then, kicking back for a moment, Estaria looked to the B-rank key in her hand, and thought about it. Did she want to run into a Minotaur? It was a question she pondered for a short while after returning to her tent. To allow her some moments to think, she took out the Bestigor blood and knocked it back, blanching at the taste and general act.

Blood consumed. Random Physical Stat increased

Well, yay, she guessed. Still debatable if it was worth it. Still, with that done, she brought out the B-rank, made sure there was nothing to do and that people wouldn't miss her for a few hours, and used it.

Do yo-

The flash of light took her to the dungeon, and it was not a camp, but instead a fort. Burning and broken, it had clearly just suffered from a severe Beastman attack. Opening the mini-map, she saw herself inundated with dots. Too many to fight, even for her, she’d be overwhelmed. She’d need to think tactically. There was a nice expanse outside the fort, so she wasn’t restricted to fighting in there exclusively. With a bit of thought, she gave a smile, and walked through the gate. Drawing her pistol, she shot one of the Ungors in the head, and got the attentions of everyone. All manner of Gors, a surprisingly slim amount of Ungors, and no Brays. This was a true Warherd.

Drawing the attention of everyone in earshot, she grinned and then ran away, followed by raging hordes of monster. The lack of Centigors meant that they couldn’t keep up with her, however, and so she was able to circle around and double-back into the courtyard, and then face a reduced force of those who were either too far away to start the run or didn’t want to give up their dinner.

Estaria had hoped to get some of the fat trimmed before the large party she led out came back, but Gors were stronger than Ungors. The previous ones she had faced were few in number and shocked at the Bestigor’s sudden decapitation. These beasts were more numerous and ready for a fight, so she had to work at killing them. She was fast but they were ferocious, and several attacks had to be aborted to avoid a wild swing that would not have done her any favours. She had five of them dead by the time the roar behind her signalled the return of the bulk. Not a favourable number, and Gors were cunning, a human intelligence behind that bestial savagery, so the same trick wouldn't work again.

Two pistol shots went through the eyes of the closest Gors, and then Estaria backflipped over the Ungor behind her, up the walls where she could get an advantage of height on them, and be somewhat secured. The steps up to the wall were made for human feet, not bestial hooves, and the Gors - Bovigors especially - were too large a creature to handily traverse the stone steps. Given time, they would be able to make the ascent, but Estaria had no desire to give them time. The closest Gors took fire from her pistols, their blood and entrails slicked the stone steps, making it even more of a hellish foothold.

Eventually, however, her Cool ran out, and she could no longer reload with a flourish. She would have to put her sword away to do the reload, and that was not something she wanted to do. Plus, a spear whizzed past her head and made her turn to the Gor on the ground. Furious over being unable to reach her, they had begun to throw things at her. With little choice remaining - she could not return fire on them and the creatures climbing the stairs with any degree of speed to keep them both at bay - she let out a soft sigh of resignation and leaped off the walls, into the mass of Gor.

Her blade came down and separated a Gor into two halves, before disarming another in a literal fashion. Using her shield as much as a weapon than a defensive piece of equipment, she tore her way out of the Gors that had gathered. B-rank truly was the best place to farm for loot and exp. A-rank and S-rank would be way more than she could manage right now. B-rank was enough of a challenge that she had no luck and 80% health by the time she had finished with these Gors.

Taking a moment to catch her breath and regenerate her luck, she reloaded her pistols and then realized these buggers would respawn if she didn’t kill the boss. So she moved on, into the keep. Larger, better equipped Gors stood in her path, but their numbers were less, so she could deal with them much easier. She was a duelist kind of girl, excellent against a single target, but not so great against hordes. Eventually, she got into the centre of the keep, where a giant Minotaur stood next to a smaller Bestigor.

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“How is this woman here? The Warherd sits outside” the Bestigor spoke. So, coherent. Clearly a dangerous Bestigor. Maybe even on it’s way to Beastlord.

“Killed them” Estaria replied, her voice choppy and short to hide the fact that she was still recovering from the fight outside, and not enough to have gone through the Gors outside.

“Through many Gor by yourself, and speak the Beast Tongue. A most strange thing..” The Bestigor cocked it’s head, as if studying her. But the blood-red coating on Estaria’s armour was too much for the Minotaur.

With a roar, it rushed her, wanting to get into the gore-slick fight, to crush, and kill. When one was not intimidated by the size of the thing, there was an advantage to a woman fighting a Minotaur. As it charged, she rushed in herself, before sliding along her knees slashing at it’s leg. Gods, it was like hitting a tree-trunk! She cut the thing but not deep enough to be notable. And the Minotaur saw her slide and span around, it’s crude hammer club smashing against Estaria’s shield and knocking her clean off her feet. Recovery from the blow was quick, though she stood more through her predernatural stability than any true mental stability. As such, the second charge was met probably not so intelligently. Shield up and braced, she rushed the creature at her full speed, bouncing off him but feeling something break as the force of his charge met with the force of Estaria’s own shield.

Her body was slowly, not aching so much. The pain was drifting away and getting replaced with a focused zeal, a rush of adrenaline and hyper-focused mentality in such a dangerous situation she might die - if only in a dungeon. Getting back to her feet she ran forward with a thrust of her blade, driving it two inches into his chest, which gave her an elated feeling of victory and meant she totally missed the head that smashed her clean off her feet and into the wall, some three foot above the floor. The fall from that one was not gentle. *AND* her sword was now in his chest.

But that was not the end. Instead, Estaria just grinned and had a mad plan. Drawing her pistol while the Minotaur roared from the frostbite growing out from the freezing blade, she zeroed in and pulled the trigger. The ball flew through the air, and precisely hit the handle of her sword, the force of the gunshot driving the blade deep into his chest. The Minotaur staggered towards her, but it did not get far enough before it’s internals were frozen solid, and it collapsed, not to get up.

Fuck, there really was a reason she didn’t want to fight one of them things. She was quite possibly stronger than Borrago, and still struggled to cut the dam thing. Getting up and walking over to the Minotaur, she ripped her blade out of it’s chest, and then turned to the Bestigor. Which was probably going to kill her.

“Khorne demands the best of fights. To kill you now would be a bare sliver of what I would get to face you when you were at your peak. Khorne’s eyes are upon me, and besting you shall see me gain his favour. Recover, metal woman. I shall wait” the Bestigor said. Estaria, just stared in disbelief. She...what?

“Khorne is a mad dog of a God! Why...would you?” She asked. The Bestigor bristled at her words, but retained himself.

“Khorne is many things, Metal woman. You see what is easiest to see. What makes it easiest to hate. For nobody can fight an enemy they love” he then turned his back on her, to rummage through a large pile, clearly the loot from his fight. She could just, stick a pair of bullets in his legs and the fight would be done like that. And yet, she didn’t. Something about the overwhelming confidence he had, and the faith in his God. She couldn’t help but somewhat respect the Beastman. He then pulled out an arm from the pile and started snacking on it, so she wasn’t going to be making friends, but found it hard to feel about him like she did before...Which was exactly the point. Couldn't shoot a guy in the back if you didn't hate him. And shooting people in the back was The Empire's best strategy.

So she did as he said, and recovered. Health regeneration seemed specced off Constitution, which she had a lot of. And her fatigue was dipping until it was 0. Eventually, she was as recovered as she would be, and got up, speaking to the man.

“This has been a most strange day for me, Bestigor. But I think it is one I will remember for a long time” she told him, smiling to herself. The creature drew a pair of swords longer than her own Scimitar, and battle, was joined.

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