IDWTBTHQ Chapter 97 - Smoke and Stew

It was the first day of summer in the Caligare Forest.  The sun was shining brightly in the sky but despite that the air was still pleasantly cool in the shade of the trees. It was the perfect weather to relax and maybe take a nap, which was exactly what two Brettholz scouts were doing right now.

Now, to be fair, they weren't being foolish or irresponsible. It just wasn't their turn for sentry duty, as that task currently befell on a third man, who was sitting a few meters away and smoking on his pipe.

The old hunter took a big mouthful of smoke before blowing out an impressive smoke ring, watching it float in the air with great satisfaction before returning his attention to the forest below him. They were camped on the top of a lonely hill which dominated the landscape around for a few miles, a perfect lookout spot which was also rather close to Brettholz, making it relatively safe since the most dangerous creatures usually lived deeper inside the Caligare Forest. Still, this was no reason to be careless so he and the others still took their guard duty rather seriously.

Of course, this didn’t mean that they couldn’t pass the time somehow, either talking or smoking, as long as that didn’t interfere with their job.

He blew another smoke ring, sending it after the first one, and returned his gaze on the forest just in time to see a movement in the trees, about three hundred meters from the hill.

He immediately became completely alert, putting his pipe aside and turning his undivided attention in the direction where he had spotted the movement. After waiting several seconds, he saw a group of hulking figures crossing a small clearing.

They were orcs, and they were heading north towards Brettholz.

The old man cursed under his breath and went to wake up his companions. They quickly gathered their stuff and were ready to leave in less than a minute,  but they had one last task to perform before.

They poured oil and a weird pink powder on the fireplace and lit it up, causing bright crimson flames to rise from it, as well as producing a surprising amount of red smoke, which could be clearly seen even from far away.

After giving that signal they hurried away before the orcs could come to the hill to inspect the smoke. Luckily, they knew the territory like the back of their respective hands, so finding a safe escape route was not a problem.

After they got far enough to be safe, one of the hunters turned back, and saw that the smoke was still rising from the top of the hill.

What took him by surprise was that similar smoke signals were also visible both east and west, apparently rising from every single outpost of the forest.

Many kilometers north-east from that hill, the inhabitants of Stonebarrow were about to have lunch.

Klara was  preparing a vegetable stew while Felix was setting the table, when Marcus, or rather her clone, entered the kitchen and sniffed the air.

“Mmmmmh.” She asked. “What smells good?”

“It's just a stew.” Klara replied. “And... does it really smell good to you? You've never really enjoyed cooked meals before.”

“To be honest, I can only tell that it smells like food.” Marcus admitted. “But for this body, even a rotting rat would smell like food.”

“Gee, thanks Marcus.” The girl replied in a sarcastic tone. “You sure know how to give a compliment.”

“Well, you asked.” The copy drone shrugged. “If it's of any consolation though, I'm sure that if I had a human body then your stew would smell absolutely delicious.”

Klara frowned slightly. Although she thought that Marcus was just making fun of her it was hard to tell for sure while she was using her proxy body. While the Vex Queen had definitely improved at using that drone, it was still far from perfect and at times it was rather difficult to really understand it. Moreover, some subtle details, like the copy’s stillness when it wasn’t doing anything specific or its constant vacuous expression were rather unnerving reminders that it was some sort of meat puppet rather than a real person.

All of these things combined made living with the copy-Marcus a rather weird experience, but Klara still tried to put up with it, as she knew that these interactions cheered up the Vex Queen while she was busy in the Hive.

So, for the sake of having a conversation, the girl decided to take what Marcus has said as a joke and respond in kind.

“So... what are you going to eat then?” She asked with a sardonic smile. “Do you want some stew or would you prefer to get outside and search for a rotting rat?”

“The stew is fine, thank you.” Marcus replied and attempted to smile back, though the result looked more like a grimace.

Klara forced herself to chuckle, and after that the two took the food and brought it to the main hall, where Felix was waiting for them.

“Hello ladies.” The boy greeted them in a mockingly flirty tone.

“Yes.” The Marcus-drone replied. “But please, for the love of everything that is holy, do not call me lady. Especially not like that.”

“Sorry about that.” The apprentice sorcerer smirked. “I couldn't resist. Anyway, someone's got to tell Hoggs that lunch is ready. He went upstairs because he received a call on the twinstone.”

Just as he finished saying this the old man made his appearance, climbing down the stairs with an extremely sour expression on his face.

“Speaking of the devil.” Felix said. “How did the call go, mister Hoggs? Is everything alright?”

“I'm afraid not, young Felix.” The telemancer replied. “I just received dire news from Brettholz. This morning, a great number of orcs have been sighted approaching Brettholz from the south.”

A tense silence followed these words as the light mood that had reigned just a minute before disappeared. But then, the Marcus-drone made a chuckling sound.

“Well, it’s a good thing we were expecting them then.” She said, “I guess we’re off to war then. Where were these orcs sighted?”

“Everywhere in the south.” Hoggs replied.

“What do you mean?” The copy-drone asked, trying to raise an eyebrow but raising both instead.

“I mean that there have been sightings pretty much everywhere along the border of the Caligare Forest.” The telemancer explained. “All of our scouts, from Hunter's Den to Goblinia, reported small orc warbands marching north. Their collective number is still unknown, but they are estimated to be at least a few thousands, and they should reach the Brettholz territories in two or three days.”

“What?” Felix asked, a bit confused. “Why would the orcs spread their forces like that?”

“I could think of a few reasons, but I can’t tell for sure.” The old sorcerer shrugged. “Besides, I’m afraid that I’m not the most qualified person to ask this question to.  Which brings us to the orders we've been given.” He turned to the Marcus-drone. “A rendezvous of our forces has been organized in the village of Millglade. Sir Marcus, marquis Brett asks you to march your forces there immediately, leaving a garrison to defend your territory. A strategy meeting will be held there tomorrow at dawn to establish our course of action, and from what I’ve been told both the marquis and the Goblin General will be present.”

“Good.” The drone said. “You can tell the marquis that I will depart as soon as possible, and I should get to Millglade by this evening.” She paused for a moment, and then asked. “Oh, and by the way... do you think I have the time for a bath first? I'd really need one right now.”

“Well, Millglade is just half a day of walking from here, so I don't think there should be any problem.” The old man said.

“Good. Then could you heat up some water for me Felix?”

“Sure.” The young man nodded with a smile. “Actually, it's going to be a nice warm up for myself as well, before I test my powers in battle for the first... well, second time.” His smile turned rather predatory. “I can't wait to do that. I really have some pent up anger I need to vent out.”

Klara narrowed her eyes and shot the young man a worried gaze, but she said nothing.

“Good for you!” the Marcus-drone said, apparently oblivious of the girl’s displeasure. “I'm sure that we'll kick a lot of orc butts together!” He paused, and then added: “But since I'd also like to look good while doing it, I'll go grab my best clothes. I’ll meet you at the pool in a few minutes!”

And without further ado, the copy-drone went upstairs, to take the Castillar uniform which was Marcus' favourite set of clothings.

A few hundred meters from Stonebarrow, Marcus emerged from the Hive for the first time in almost three weeks. He walked cautiously, both because he wasn't used to so much light anymore and also because his legs felt kinda wobbly after what he'd gone through. Three weeks of excruciating pain and absurd physical and mental strain had taken a toll on him despite his toughness and regenerative powers.

Still, the results were more than worth it.

Four colossal creatures followed him out of the cave, crawling out with some difficulty despite the tunnel being more than three meters wide. When they stood out upright, they seemed even bigger, and each of their steps made the mold-wax covered ground shake.

The Destroyers were ready.

They most likely were the most intimidating drones that Marcus had ever created. He had used the Oxisaurus DNA as a base, but he had added all sorts of modifications to improve it, like the chitin armor of the Vex, the muscle density of a troll, the ability to spit venomous acid like a Piraca and even a fast-coagulating blood which would seal any wound and prevent blood loss. The end result was something that looked like the lovechild of Alien and Jurassic Park, four monsters which looked kinda like a four meters tall T-Rexes covered in chitin armor but much more lithe, with strong, powerful legs which granted it an impressive speed and agility for a creature of its size. They also all shared the same kind of upper arms, two scythe-like appendages similar to those of a mantis, and a long, whip-like tail covered in segmented and barbed chitin armor.

However, Marcus had gone as far as giving each of the Destroyer a customized set of secondary limbs.

The biggest one was similar to the regular Warrior drones, as it had a pair of long, clawed hands which could be used to grab the prey. Another had a second pair of mantis-like scythes, while the third one had two oversized crab-like pincers which were powerful enough to tear through almost anything. Finally, the youngest and smallest drone had something rather peculiar: a pair of long, retractable tentacles which could be stretched up to ten meters and were coated in acidic venom.

The only downside to these drones was that due to their size they needed a lot of nutrients to keep working at full regimen. In fact, Marcus had to cut the number of features he wanted to give them just in order to make them able to fight for more than five minutes before starving to death. Luckily, he had managed to metaphorically make space for the most important characteristics by simplifying their digestive system, making the drones unable to digest anything that wasn’t mold-wax. This wasn’t such a huge handicap, since that stuff was literally what most drones ate anyway and it allowed the Destroyers to fight at full throttle for hours without consuming too much energy. Still, even with this kind of optimization a lot of good abilities had to be left out simply because they weren't cost effective enough, like the Zaru regeneration for example, which would have been extremely useful but required far too much nutrients to be really feasible — though the Vex Queen wasn't overly worried about leaving out that particular ability. After all, despite the pain he had gone through to give birth to them, the Destroyers were ultimately expendable drones like all the others, so it didn't really matter if their longevity was sacrificed in order to maximize their perfomance.

All in all, Marcus was fully satisfied with the end result. He actually couldn’t think of a creature from the Caligare Forest, apart from the dragon, capable of holding their own against a Destroyer.

Because of this he felt surprisingly cheerful despite having spent the last weeks suffering horrific childbirth pains alone in a dark cave, as the thought of having created such a powerful drone somehow deeply appeased some part of his being.

“Must be one of those Vex instincts I still have to get the hang on.” He thought. “I would have found it unsettling a while ago, but now... well, I'm not exactly happy about it, but if it'll help me forget what I went through in the cave, then it's welcome.” He shuddered. “Destroyer is a good name for those critters, cause sure they destroyed my cunt.” He paused and immediately forced himself to change the subject of his thoughts. “Anyway, I can’t wait to test them in battle! That would make for an interesting experience! But first, I really have to get a bath. I feel grimy as hell.”

And he started walking towards the pool, followed by his four new bodyguards.

Behind him, countless Warrior drones started coming out of the caves, swarming the area around the Hive like a flood of chitin.

The Vex were finally going to war.