Next scene: (The Fall of the Giant / La chute du geant) https://www.renderosity.com/gallery/items/3105995/the-fall-of-the-giant-la-chute-du-geant Precedent scene: Deadly Steel / Acier Mortel (https://www.renderosity.com/gallery/items/3102056/deadly-steel-acier-mortel) First scene of the story-arc: Chaos and Death (https://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/chaos-and-death/2889324/?p&ca) Texte en français ci-dessous ____________________________________________ Ermkarn had reached Sigrid who laid unconscious on the ground and he was ready to give the final blow, when his sharp instinct made him turn and block the attack aimed at him. " You !?" said he with surprise, when he saw who had attacked him. It was Kahiri. Blue blood was dripping from the falchion she was holding with two hands, indicating that it had served to kill at least one of his orcs. Seeing this, the orkresh said, full of hate: " When I will have finished with you, Monstrosity, you will beg me to kill you." The whole body of Kahiri was trembling and everything in her was telling her to fly. Ermkarn was probably the biggest and the most powerful orc you could encounter. But even if she knew she stood no chance against him in a face to face combat, her hatred for him made her stand her ground. Ermkarn's sword, which she knew was magic, was also a source of great concern. She knew that even the smallest scratch would never heal and that even if she survived miraculously to this fight, she would die drained of her blood or from an infection. Her small stature and her agility were the only thing that prevented her to be killed instantly when the chief of the orcs began to attack. She jumped left and right, avoiding the assault of the orc. But the attacks of Ermkarn were delivered with more and more precision and she understood rapidly that it would not take long before a mortal blow hit her. Fortunately, the short amount of time that Kahiri had unintentionally gained, gave to Marina enough time to get rid of the last orc against whom she fought. She was now running towards them. Marina had unsheathed her sword. Her enemy had grabbed her axe when he died, preventing her to take it back. Marina attacked Ermkarn as soon as she came close to him. They exchanged few blows, which allowed them to test each others. It became quickly clear for the Hvittlander warriorress that this giant would not be as easy to vanquish than her precedent adversaries. Romatzo, who had himself finished to kill his two last enemies arrived close to them at the end of the exchange. Seeing this new opponent coming to him, Ermkarn grimaced. A grimace who shown anger, but also a sort of excitement for the fight that was going to happen. Face to face, the time stood still for a moment for the four combatants. " His sword. It is magical. In absolutely no way you want be touched by it, or your wounds will never heal." warned Kahiri to her companions, whose names she did not even know. Marina made the link with the wounds that her father had received during the orcs attack on her village. The only way he managed to survive for several months after that, was due to the cares that Seidr and Leava, the Shaman and her apprentice, had gave him. " Understood ! said Marina. Be careful, Romatzo. she added. As well as his sword, this orc is not ordinary. - I can see it." he responded, while looking up and down the mountain that was in front of him. None of them had stopped looking at Ermkarn during the short conversation. Time stood still for few more seconds, then Romatzo was the first to launch the assault. Ermkarn was the last orc standing, but even being attacked by Romatzo, Marina and Kahiri, he resisted. Not only he resisted, but he was giving them a lot of troubles. They were three against one, but being in numerical superiority was not necessarily synonymous with advantage. Like his adversaries did before him, Ermkarn used the tents for his advantage to not be surrounded and to hinder their movements. In this fight, Kahiri was without a doubt the weakest of his enemies and he decided to focus his attacks on her, while focusing his defence on the dwarf and the human. Quickly, he managed to break, by his constant attacks, the guard of the half-orc. But not in position to directly attack her again with his sword, he gave her instead a heavy kick in the chest. A loud cracking noise was heard when he hit her and Kahiri went rolling several meters away, pushing a long and painful moan. Despite his threats of tortures, Ermkarn would have loved to end her, but the redhead and the dwarf were already on him. With one less adversary to handle, Ermkarn became more offensive. The axe of Romatzo, like the sword of Ermkarn, was made of a magical alloy and it could block without a risk the blade of the orc. But the weapon and the metal circling Marina's shield were made of ordinary steel. It took only few blocks of her shield and parries of her sword for Ermkarn’s weapon to greatly damaging them. The orc's shield itself suffered from its encounter with Romatzo's axe and when it became more of a burden than anything else, he threw it off away and took his weapon with both hands. The Mountain Dwarf strength and the resistance of Romatzo allowed him to withstand the attacks of the gigantic orc without too much troubles. But for Marina, who was human, each sword thrust she blocked felt like the blow from a mace and she exhausted quickly. Her shield, finally broken, she decided in last resort to try to deviate the weapon of the orc. But instead of sliding on her blade, the sword of Ermkarn, broke it. Caught off guard, she could not react on time to avoid the punch he threw on her face. The hit knocked her to the ground. Instantly, she felt a great pain and a stream of blood squirted from her nostrils. Despite her nasal protection made of metal, the blow had broke her nose. She tried to stand up, but her body refused to obey. Mist filled her eyes as she felt she fainted. Romatzo was a complicated adversary to fight for Ermkarn, because the dwarf was almost one meter shorter than him. If Romatzo entered his guard, he knew that would be over for him. So, he took advantage of his much higher reach to keep the dwarf at distance. He hit Romatzo blows after blows to keep him on the defensive, hoping he would end up to make a mistake. Which happened eventually. In the intensity of the battle, Romatzo did not pay attention to the corpse that was behind him and tripped on the cadaver of an orc. He did not fall, but the moment of inattention that it provoked was taken by Ermkarn who struck his sword with all his strength on Romatzo's skull. But contrary to what should have happened and to the great surprise of Ermkarn, the blade did not went through the dwarf, nor even through his helm, but slid on this last one. Even if he did not end up with the skull split from top to bottom, the violence of the hit given by the orc of almost 440 pounds of muscles, stunned Romatzo, who collapsed on his knees. The solidity of Romatzo's helmet puzzled Ermkarn, but he wasted no time pondering the why and how. If striking the head was not working, he would strike to the heart. But a scream stopped his movement. " Romatzo !!!" he heard in his back. Really, he told to himself, he was always forbidden to kill. He turned rapidly to where the scream came. He saw the dark elf who had massacred his orc with her, taking an arrow from her quiver. Behind her, his field of view perceived the prisoners who were escaping. It took only few seconds to Minalva, who had taken the time to pick up some arrows on corpses of orcs before to go free the prisoners, to place the fletching on the bowstring, to draw the bow and to shoot. But the orkresh was exalted by the fight and all his senses were heightened to the extreme and these few seconds were enough for him to get ready. With a swift gesture he cut the arrow in mid-air before it could hit him, much to Minalva's dismay. Without waiting for her to take another arrow, he rushed towards her. At the sight of this huge mass charging towards them, Minalva yelled to the prisoners to fly as fast as they could and she got ready to face this frightening enemy. She would have had the time to shot another arrow, but if her foe intercepted it once again, he would be on her before she could react. She threw away her bow and took her dagger. Dagger that felt very useless at this instant. She made a short prayer to Yamina and hoped that her agility would allow her to survive long enough for one of her friends to come support her. She did not have to wait for long, as even before Ermkarn reached Minalva, a fire ball came from his right and stopped him in his course. Having narrowly avoided the flames, Ermkarn turned to the direction from where they came from and saw a young blond woman holding a sword in her left hand and a staff from which the magical gem was still glowing from the attack she had cast in her right hand. While he never had seen one, Ermkarn recognised right away in Delphine a Magician and, as incredible as it was for him, he made the link between her and the storm which had decimated his orcs. Understanding that, he changed his target and ran towards Delphine. This Magician was the most dangerous foe and he had to get rid of her the most quickly. Delphine shivered seeing the gigantic orc rushing on her. Her right arm still extended, she cast a salvo of fire balls. The huge orc avoided the first ones and, at the great surprise of the Magician, cut through the last one with his sword. Despite his size, the orc was very fast and he was already on her, striking. With a movement that came more from her survival instinct than from a premeditated action, she managed to deflect the sword of Ermkarn, using her sword and staff. But even if the parry succeeded, the power of the attack ripped the sword of her hand. Ermkarn did not let the action of this little Magician impress him and instantly he outstretched his left arm towards her. His massive hand grabbed her by the throat and lifted her like if she weighted nothing. The shock of this enormous hand squeezing her throat tensed her hands, which made her dropped her staff. The powerful hand tightened on Delphine's throat like a vise and was about to break her neck. ____________________________________________ Ermkarn avait rejoint Sigrid qui gisait inconsciente au sol et s'apprêtait à lui porter le coup de grâce, quand son instinct affûté le fit se retourner et bloquer le coup qui lui était porté. " Toi ?!" dit-il avec surprise, quand il vit qui l'avait attaqué. C'était Kahiri. Du sang bleu gouttait du fauchon qu'elle tenait à deux mains, indiquant qu'il avait servi à tuer au moins un de ses orcs. Voyant cela, l'orkresh lui dit, plein de haine: " Quand j'en aurai fini avec toi, "Monstruosité", tu me supplieras de t'achever." Tout le corps de Kahiri tremblait et tout en elle lui disait de fuir. Ermkarn était probablement l'orc le plus grand et le plus puissant que vous pouviez rencontrer. Mais bien qu'elle sache qu'elle n'avait aucune chance contre lui dans un combat en face à face, la haine qu'elle lui portait lui fit tenir sa position. L'épée d'Ermkarn, qu'elle savait magique, était aussi une grande source d'inquiétude. Elle savait que la moindre égratignure ne guérirait jamais et que même si elle survivait par miracle au combat, elle mourrait vidée de son sang ou d'une infection. Son petit gabarit et son agilité furent les seules choses qui l'empêchèrent d'être tuée instantanément lorsque le chef des orcs passa à l'attaque. Elle sauta de gauche et de droite, évitant les assauts de l'orc. Mais les coups d'Ermkarn étaient portés avec de plus en plus de précision et elle comprit vite qu'il ne faudrait pas longtemps avant qu'un coup mortel ne lui soit porté. Heureusement, le peu de temps que Kahiri avait involontairement gagné, donna à Marina le temps de se débarrasser du dernier orc contre lequel elle se battait. Elle accourait maintenant vers eux. Marina avait dégainée son épée. Son ennemi avait agrippé sa hache au moment de mourir, l'empêchant de la récupérer. Marina attaqua Ermkarn dès qu'elle fut près de lui. Ils échangèrent quelques passes, ce que leur permis de se tester l'un l'autre. Il devint très vite clair pour la guerrière hvittlandaise, que ce géant ne serait pas aussi facile à vaincre que ses précédents adversaires. Romatzo, qui avait lui-même fini par tuer ses deux derniers ennemis arriva auprès d'eux à la fin de l'échange. Voyant ce nouvel opposant se présenter à lui, Ermkarn grimaça. Une grimace qui trahissait de la colère, mais aussi une sorte d'excitation pour le combat qui allait suivre. Face à face, le temps se figea un instant pour les quatre combattants. " Son épée. Elle est magique. Ne vous faite absolument pas toucher par elle ou vos blessures ne guériront jamais." prévint Kahiri à ses compagnons dont elle ignorait jusqu'au noms. Marina fit le lien avec les blessures qu'avait reçues son père durant l'attaque des orcs sur son village. Il n'avait pu survivre plusieurs mois, après ça, que grâce aux soins que Seidr et Laeva, la chamane et son apprentie, lui avait apportés. " Compris ! dit Marina. Fait attention, Romatzo. ajouta-t-elle. Tout comme son épée, cette orc n'est pas ordinaire. - Je peux le voir." dit-il en toisant de bas en haut la montagne qui se trouvait devant lui. Aucun d'entre eux n'avaient quitté Ermkarn des yeux durant la courte conversation. Le temps resta suspendu pendant encore quelques secondes, puis Romatzo fut le premier à lancer l'assaut. Ermkarn était le dernier orc debout, mais bien qu'il fut assaillit par Romatzo, Marina et Kahiri, il résistait. Non seulement il résistait, mais il leur donnait même beaucoup de fil à retordre. Ils étaient trois contre un, mais être en supériorité numérique n'était pas forcément synonyme d'avantage. Comme ses adversaires l'avaient fait avant lui, Ermkarn utilisa les tentes à son avantage pour ne pas être encercler et pour gêner leurs mouvements. Dans ce combat, Kahiri était sans nul doute la plus faible de ses ennemis et il décida de concentrer ses attaques sur elle, tout en focalisant sa défense contre le nain et l'humaine. Très vite, il parvint à briser la garde de la demi-orque par ses attaques incessantes, mais mal placé pour attaquer de nouveau directement de son épée, il se contenta de lui envoyer un lourd coup de pied dans le torse. Un bruit fort de craquement se fit entendre lors du choc et Kahiri alla rouler plusieurs mètres plus loin en poussant un long gémissement de douleur. Malgré ses menaces de tortures, Ermkarn aurait adoré pouvoir l'achever, mais la rousse et le nain étaient déjà sur lui. Avec un adversaire en moins à gérer, Ermkarn devint plus offensif. La hache de Romatzo, tout comme l'épée d'Ermkarn, était faite d'un alliage magique et elle pouvait bloquer sans risque la lame de l'orc. Mais l'arme et le métal cerclant le bouclier de Marina étaient fait d'acier ordinaire. Il suffit de quelques blocages de son bouclier et parades de son épée pour que l'arme d'Ermkarn les endommages grandement. Le bouclier de l'orcs fit lui-même les frais de la hache de Romatzo et quand il devint plus une gêne qu'autre chose, il le jeta de côté et pris son arme à deux mains. La force et la résistance de Nain des montagnes de Romatzo firent qu'il pouvait encaisser sans trop de peines les attaques de l'orc gigantesque, mais pour Marina qui était humaine, chaque coups d'épée qu'elle bloquait lui faisait l'effet d'un coup de maillet et elle s'épuisa vite. Son bouclier finalement brisé, elle choisit en dernier recours d'essayer de dévier l'arme de l'orc. Mais au lieu de glisser sur sa lame, l'épée d'Ermkarn la brisa net. Prise au dépourvue, elle ne pu réagir à temps pour éviter le coup de poing qu'il lui lança dans le visage. Le coup la projeta au sol. Instantanément elle sentit une douleur vive et un flot de sang lui gicla des narines. Malgré sa protection nasale en métal, le coup de poing lui avait brisé le nez. Elle essaya de se relever, mais son corps refusa d'obéir. De la brume envahit ses yeux et elle se sentit prête à s'évanouir. Romatzo était un adversaire compliqué à combattre pour Ermkarn, car le nain faisait presque un mètre de moins que lui. Si Romatzo entrait dans sa garde, il savait que ça en serait fini pour lui. Il profita donc de son allonge bien supérieure pour tenir le nain à distance. Il asséna Romatzo de coups pour l'obliger à rester sur la défensive, en espérant qu'il finisse par commettre une erreur. Ce qui se produisit éventuellement. Dans l'intensité du combat, Romatzo ne fit pas attention au corps qui se trouvait derrière lui et butta sur le cadavre d'un orc. Il ne tomba pas, mais le moment d'inattention que cela provoqua fut saisi par Ermkarn qui frappa de toute ses forces sur le crâne de Romatzo avec son épée. Mais, contrairement à ce qui aurait dû arriver et à la grande surprise d'Ermkarn, la lame ne trancha ni au travers du nain, ni même au travers de son heaume, mais glissa sur ce dernier. Bien qu'il ne se trouva pas avec la tête fendue de haut en bas, la violence du coup portée par l'orc de près deux cents kilos de muscles, étourdit Romatzo qui s'effondra à genoux. La solidité du casque de Romatzo rendit Ermkarn perplexe, mais il ne perdit pas de temps à réfléchir sur le pourquoi du comment. Si frapper à la tête ne marchait pas, il frapperait au cœur. Mais un cri l'arrêta dans son mouvement. " Romatzo !!!" il entendit derrière lui. Décidément, se dit-il, il était toujours empêché de tuer. Il se retourna rapidement vers la source du cri. Il vit l’elfe noire, qui avait massacrait ses orcs avec son arc, en train de sortir une flèche de son carquois. Derrière elle, son champs de vision perçu les prisonniers qui étaient en train de fuir. Il ne fallut que quelques seconde à Minalva, qui avait pris le temps de récupérer quelques une de ses flèches sur des cadavres d'orcs avant d'aller libérer les prisonniers, pour placer l'empenne sur la corde, tendre l'arc et tirer. Mais l'orkresh était exalté par le combat et tous ses sens étaient exacerbés à l'extrême et ces quelques secondes furent suffisantes pour qu'il se tint prêt. D'un geste vif il trancha la flèche en plein vol avant qu'elle ne l'atteigne, au grand effroi de Minalva. Sans attendre qu'elle prenne une nouvelle flèche, il se rua vers elle. A la vision de cette masse énorme chargeant vers eux, Minalva hurla aux prisonniers de fuir aussi vite que possible et elle s'apprêta à combattre cette effrayant ennemi. Elle aurait eu le temps de tirer une nouvelle flèche, mais si son ennemi l'interceptait de nouveau, il serait sur elle avant qu'elle n'est le temps de pouvoir réagir. Elle rejeta son arc et pris sa dague. Dague qui lui sembla bien inutile en cette instant. Elle fit une courte prière à Yamina et espéra que son agilité lui permettrait de survivre assez longtemps pour qu'un de ses amis vienne l'épauler. Elle n'eut pas à attendre longtemps, car avant même qu'Ermkarn n'atteigne Minalva, une boule de feu vint de la droite de l'orc et le coupa dans son élan. Ayant évité les flammes de justesse, Ermkarn se tourna dans la direction d'où elles étaient venues et vit une jeune femme blonde tenant dans sa main gauche une épée et dans sa main droite un bâton dont la gemme magique luisait encore de l'attaque qu'elle venait de lancer. Bien qu'il n'en ait jamais vu, Ermkarn reconnut tout de suite en Delphine une Magicienne et aussi incroyable que cela lui paraissait, il fit le lien entre elle et l'orage qui avait décimé ses orcs. Comprenant cela, il changea de cible et fonça sur Delphine. Cette Magicienne était la plus dangereuse des assaillants et il devait se débarrasser d'elle au plus vite. Delphine frissonna en voyant cette orc gigantesque lui foncer dessus. Son bras droit toujours tendu, elle lança une salve de boules de feu. L'énorme orc évita les premières et, à la grande surprise de la Magicienne, trancha la dernière de son épée. Malgré sa masse, l'orc était très rapide et il était déjà sur elle, portant une attaque. D'un geste qui résulta plus de l'instinct de survie que de l'action préméditée, Delphine réussi à dévier l'épée d'Ermkarn en utilisant sa propre lame et son bâton. Mais bien que la parade réussit, la puissance de l'attaque lui arracha l'épée de la main. Ermkarn, ne se laissa pas impressionner par l'action de cette petite magicienne et instantanément lança son bras gauche vers elle. Sa main massive l'attrapa à la gorge et il la souleva comme si elle ne pesait rien. Le choc de cette main énorme lui enserrant la gorge crispa ses mains et elle lâcha cette fois son bâton. La main puissante se resserrait sur la gorge de Delphine comme un étau et s'apprêter à lui briser la nuque. ____________________________________________ New storyline scene ! The text is pretty long once again, but this is the end battle, so it needs to be dense and epic. So I hope you won't mind. ;) The text ends where the precedent scene should have ended actually. I think I did well to divide it into two parts or not only it would have been way too long, but it would have taken me an eternity to finish to write it. The picture is a little different than what the text says. It's because the text took a different road than what I first had in mind. But the picture still relevant for what happens in the text, I think. Adding the prisoners in the background was a last minute idea and I wasn't sure it would work, because it would put the count of characters in the scene at 27. But by optimising it well, it worked without any a problem. ^^ Posing them has been pretty easy too, surprisingly. By the way, these are the prisoners seen in a precedent picture, but this is not all the prisoners, they should be twice that number. But I think this time my pc would have exploded if I had tried to put them all here. If the stars were added in post, Mina (the moon, not the character) and the clouds are 3d models that were present in the scene. Mina is emitting light, but it is a "Point Light" placed above who is really giving the global lighting. If you are wondering, yes, it is possible IRL to cut an arrow flying toward you. But not everybody can do it. ;) Anyway, I'll see you next time for the conclusion of the battle ! (normally the text should be shorter) If you are wondering what kind of weapon is a "falchion", click on the link bellow: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falchion Si vous voulez savoir ce qu'est un "fauchon", cliquez sur le lien dessous. ;) https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fauchon_(arme)