* * * WARNING!!! This chapter is filled with violence and graphic descriptions * * *
For a solid week, Wart had watched the Drow prepare for the upcoming blood moon with fervor, occasionally being pulled from her regular chores to assist. Only a few actually took the preparation seriously despite constant warning from Zavali and her butler. She had learned his name was Ulrich.
Gossip from a few other members of Zavali's estate suggested Ulrich was some kind of relative, perhaps even a son, but it was hard to put much stock in such claims. Zavali favored hard work and loyalty above all else. If she favored Ulrich, it had little to do with potential blood ties and everything to do with his insane work ethic.
"How much you want to bet all that prep was a waste of time?" She heard one of the guards at the door she was working near grumble to his companion. She hated when people made such bets. It was like they were begging the universe to prove them wrong.
"Wouldn't let Me. Fancy-Pants Ulrich hear you talking like that," the other guard replied. "He'll have you scrubbing floors with the goblin kid."
The guards laughed about it, but Wart decided such a punishment would truly be a nightmare. She had a system for cleaning and polishing that floor to absolute perfection. To have the "help" of such a clumsy imbecile would ruin her every effort.
As the afternoon progressed into evening, Wart felt dread building within her. She had finished cleaning the floors hours ago, and could have gone to bed, but as restless as she felt she couldn't bring herself to stop. Something held her there, staring at the door as she worked. Any moment now, something would burst through that door and upturn her entire miserable life once more. At least this time she didn't want to be caught by surprise.
"You two! Wake up!" The sound of Zavali's sharp tone caused Wart to jump. She risked a glance up and was relieved to find she was safely out of her Master's cross hairs. She was getting after the guards she had heard chatting earlier. Apparently they had fallen asleep.
Zavali started riping them a new one. She even went so far as to flip one over her shoulder by his arm, then throw him to the ground. He shrieked as he hit the ground with a nasty crack.
"Do you think this is a joke?" She screeched. "This is the type of shit that will get us all killed! You useless lumps of flesh are supposed to be guarding my front door for fuck's sake!"
A frightening roar caused everyone to freeze. Wart felt her blood run cold as the primal sound resounded through the chamber. She had a nasty feeling they'd have the displeasure of meeting the creature that made noise very soon.
"Dammit," Zavali cursed. When the guards showed signs of panic, she whipped out her sword and struck them down. Wart watched blood flow across her floor with mixed emotions.
Zavali shouted for reinforcements, which came just in time to watch her dive to the side as something came flying through the entrance. Wart realized in a daze it was the mangled remains of what looked like a Drow in some sort of lab coat. It definitely wasn't one of Zavali's men.
Moments after, some kind of green monstrosity came charging through the door. Wart watched numbly as the thing swatted Zavali's elite force like flies and sent them sailing into walls and furniture. Shortly after, the green giant pulled out a strange weapon which popped loudly as some kind of bizarre projectile whizzed out of the metal cylinder faster than arrows. In moments, Zavali and her men were quite literally blown to pieces.
The red-eyed brute didn't stop there. As more like him came storming through the door, accompanied by even more strange Drow armed with weapons similar to the one the green giant held, the thing started blasting away at them too. Wart was probably stupidly lucky nothing hit her as she simply sat and stared at the chaos as it unfolded around her.
"PHOBOS!" one of the green Giants thundered as he stepped through the door. This one was at least a full head or more taller than the rest. As far as Wart could tell, he was addressing the first one who'd entered, because it swiveled to acknowledge him, tusks bared.
"FUCK OFF ARES! I'M NOT IN THE MOOD!" He shouted back.
"So you finally show your true colors, eh?" The one called Ares chuckled darkly and pulled out what vaguely resembled a small, elongated cannon. "Bring it on!"
It was a clash of Titans as the two brutes butted heads. Explosions and collisions made rubble of what once had been gorgeous pillars and the body count continued to pile up on both sides as friend and foe alike were caught in the crossfire of what seemed a pair of comrades turned enemies.
As the walls rumbled around them, it dawned on Wart that the pillars which kept getting smashed had served a larger purpose than decoration. Still, as the ceiling of the cave came down around her, Wart couldn't get herself to move. By chance, she happened to glance up and noticed a large chunk of rock falling towards her. Time seemed to slow as the hefty chunk of rock, certainly large enough to crush her like the insignificant bug she was, fell towards her. Was this it? Was she finally reaching the end of her miserable existence? She was filled with peace at the idea.
As she reached out to embrace what seemed her inevitable demise, a muscled butt only covered in a thin stretchy fabric that left absolutely nothing about the wearers anatomy to the imagination filled her view. To make matters worse, the interloper had the gall of blasting the rock that was practically destined to finally free her from her misery to pieces. Furious, she grabbed the interloper's leg, intending to get his attention and give him a good piece of her mind.
"Hey! Asshole!" she shouted as loudly as she could with her squeaky voice. If the jerk heard her, he didn't reply. Determined to make herself heard, she clung to the leg as though her life depended on it.
She shouted a few more times, but had no luck. Her saboteur was too engaged in the battle. To her immense displeasure, Wart realized that she would just have to keep clinging in hopes the asshole would survive long enough to chew him out properly. And that is exactly what she did.