Baxter
Diamond Dogs
High Templar Winter Wolf
"Wars are not won by the weak-willed."
Posts: 238
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Post by Baxter on Oct 13, 2012 12:02:05 GMT -5
Baxter couldn't have prepared himself for what he saw next. It looked like the encampment was being attacked, but by what? The bodies of diamond dogs were strewn about, either brutally slashed at or with several arrows jutting out of them. Dogs were running around in a panic, either fleeing or heading towards the encampment in order to help. The wolf stared wide-eyed at the destruction that was occurring around him. What was happening?
In the distance Baxter spotted Ice Fang emerging from the library, sending the girls back inside before going off to combat whatever was attacking. Meanwhile, arrows were being flung from the nearby windmill. Baxter was in no condition to fight, but he couldn't run away. No, that wasn't an option. He had to put forth some effort towards confronting this attack.
The wolf's thoughts were interrupted by a figure breaking through a wall near him. It was wearing armor had just seen moments ago, and it's pale color and lack of features almost made it look like...
...
Baxter's stomach sunk as he began to realize what had happened. It was the chess pieces. They had done this. And he had helped them. He had done exactly what they asked. And there was no easy way of stopping it now. The magical shield guarding the chess board below prevented that. He had helped these things and now they were attacking the encampment, killing dogs left and right. Their blood was on his claws.
But he wasn't going to run. As exhausted and beaten as he was, he couldn't flee. He had to do something. Baxter looked back at the windmill where arrows continued to fly from towards the diamond dogs below. Curling his face into a snarl, the wolf went straight towards the building as quickly as his tired state would allow him.
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Post by Red Charge on Oct 13, 2012 12:06:32 GMT -5
As Baxter hurried towards the windmill, he could see the massive "pawn" throw Diamond Dogs about, while the Mage was throwing fire left and right at the Diamond Dogs approaching him. The Diamond Dog presence in Ponyville was not organized, it was just a garrison. They had not even been expecting an attack, let alone of creatures made of marble. With Ice Fang directing them, they had managed to deseat the Feral Rider, however and smash the feral to bits. Ice Fang caught sight of Baxter and called out to him. But was quickly distracted trying to fight off the rider.
From the tower he could see the Rook, using exactly the bow that he now possessed, flinging arrows back and forth. It was then that it occurred to Baxter that he had no weapons, and the place he advanced to now had no bodies either that he could claim any weapons from. He had to hope the windmill had something he could use, or else he would have to risk getting exposed and shot by the Rook.
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Baxter
Diamond Dogs
High Templar Winter Wolf
"Wars are not won by the weak-willed."
Posts: 238
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Post by Baxter on Oct 13, 2012 12:21:23 GMT -5
Baxter could only watch as the other pieces continued attacking the diamond dogs. The mage was shooting out flames while the pawn threw dogs every which way. Even with the unprepared dogs, Ice Fang looked like he was having at least some success, shattering the marble Feral Rider's feral into several pieces. Baxter watched as Ice Fang called out to him, but the other wolf was soon preoccupied dealing with the feral's owner.
In the tower Baxter could see the rook, using the exact same bow he was now holding to fire arrows down at the diamond dogs. Baxter came to a halt just before opening the doors of the windmill. He had no weapons. Just a bow with no arrows to fire. The stupid guard had taken his quiver, and there weren't any nearby bodies Baxter could procure weapons from. All he could do now was hope there was something inside the windmill. If his recent luck was of any indication, it was unlikely. The wolf entered the windmill as quietly as he could, looking for anything he could use to take out the rook.
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Post by Red Charge on Oct 13, 2012 12:27:30 GMT -5
Luckily for Baxter, there was a sickle in the windmill as well as several blunt objects. How good they'd be against a marble soldier, he could not tell. Seeing the large amount of stairs he had yet to climb to reach the archer only made him realized how exhausted he really was. What good could he possibly do against a stone statue in his state? His fur was matted, all of his body parts filled with blood, dirt and bruises, and the unbearable guilt, humiliation and fear of what might come afterwards when Ice Fang discovered he was the one responsible for the attack weighed heavily upon an already weary mind. Climbing the stairs was excruciating, but a testament to how much one could actually go. Though he had to once again resort to crawling on the final steps, he made it to the top, unnoticed by the archer. Which gave him a golden opprotunity. If he managed to run up to the archer and shove him off the windmill, it would be all that easy for him, however, in his current state, one slip could send him over the edge and plummeting to his doom, and sneaking up on a stone soldier wouldn't give him enough force to actually move him.
With only a sickle in had, he had little to go on.
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Baxter
Diamond Dogs
High Templar Winter Wolf
"Wars are not won by the weak-willed."
Posts: 238
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Post by Baxter on Oct 13, 2012 12:42:35 GMT -5
Baxter spotted a sickle within the mill, quickly it up. It wasn't much, but it was something. He then started making his way up yet another set of stairs, his exhausted state making the effort long and painful. As he ascended, he couldn't help but think of Ice Fang, or more specifically what he would think when he found out Baxter had caused this. He tried to push the thoughts out of his head, but with little success. The wolf was wracked with guilt, and he didn't even want to think about what would happen when it was time for him to face the music.
By the time he reached the top of the stairs, the wolf was crawling again, his exhaustion making him ready to collapse. The wolf stood up, looking over at the rook who continued to send arrows downwards at the dogs. A forceful push would send it over, but would likely send the spent wolf over too. And a more controlled push wouldn't be enough to move something so heavy. The only way it would work would be with a running start. The wolf looked down at the sickle in his hand, doubting how much damage it would do to a stone enemy anyways.
Baxter looked back up at the rook, who was continuing to rain arrows down on the helpless dogs. Every moment counted. There wasn't a second to deliberate. With the sickle grasped firmly in his hand, Baxter charged at the rook, running at him and slamming the enemy archer towards the edge. The wolf tried to balance himself after the initial push, but at the same time braced himself for the almost inevitable fall was sure to come.
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Post by Red Charge on Oct 13, 2012 12:50:31 GMT -5
The Archer however, heard Baxter's clumsy start and with a whirl, he avoided him. Baxter felt himself going over the edge, floating in the air for just a second before the downward momentum started, seems like it was all over for him, that is before a stony hand grabbed him and smashed him back right through the Windmill wall.
Crashing through the windmill, and back towards the stairs, Baxter was able to steady himself so that he did not roll down the stairs. But as he looked up, all he could see was a bow drawn, aiming between his eyes, and no strength left to dodge it.
And then the rook exploded.
"Not good enough for Malachite my tail!" Maxime called out from inside the library, having just flung an explosive gem across the village, to the top of the windmill, taking out the archer before it could inflict any more casualties.
Without the archer, the Diamond Dogs could finally regroup again, and in no time both the pawn and the mage were overwhelmed. The attack has been stopped. The Diamond Dog encampment was safe, at least for now.
But it was also time to face the music, or alternatively, run away from it.
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Baxter
Diamond Dogs
High Templar Winter Wolf
"Wars are not won by the weak-willed."
Posts: 238
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Post by Baxter on Oct 13, 2012 13:09:19 GMT -5
The rook had easily stepped out of the way of Baxter, allowing the wolf to step forward and over the edge. He thought for sure he was going to fall to the ground, to his death, but the stone archer quickly grabbed him and slammed him through the windmill wall. Baxter rolled on the ground, only able to stop himself just before reaching the stairs. The wolf looked up to see the rook aiming right for him and no way to dodge the arrow that was sure to do him in.
By some miracle, the rook exploded in front of him. It was Maxime, she had sent an exploding gem into the archer, destroying it and saving Baxter. The wolf let out a heavy sigh, putting his head down on the ground. Slowly he stood up and watched as the diamond dogs reorganized, easily taking out the pawn and the mage. Baxter watched solemnly as the two chess warriors crumbled below him. They were gone, but not without heavy destruction. The bodies of dead diamond dogs were everywhere he looked. All because of him.
Baxter turned away from the opening in the windmill, walking over to the top of the stairs. He didn't want to face what was down there. He almost felt fighting another set of marble figures would be a better alternative. What was he going to say? What was Ice Fang going to think? He wasn't going to run, but he almost felt like staying up here was a better option. Almost. Sooner or later, though, he was going to have to go down.
The wolf took slow steps down the stairs, as much from hesitance as exhaustion. He eventually reached the bottom, exiting the windmill and making his way towards the library. He didn't even look at the dogs. He couldn't. They'd all probably be glaring at him, making him feel his well-deserved guilt. Baxter looked slowly around for Ice Fang. That was who he wanted to talk to, alone. He knew he wasn't going to get a private audience, but Ice Fang was the individual he need to talk to right now, even if he was terrified of how his friend would react.
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Post by Red Charge on Oct 13, 2012 13:16:01 GMT -5
Ice Fang, ran over to the devastated, naked Winter Wolf as the other dogs quickly turned to their casualties. As the Windmill was a corpse free zone, no one had bothered coming over to that area yet. While everyone else was distracted, Ice Fang was able to come over to Baxter quietly, noting his situation.
"Were you... raped?" He asked incredulously, half joking and yet at the same time half not. "Where in the frozen blazes were you and what happened to you?" He asked. In the distance, a group of Diamond Dogs were pointing at Baxter, though he couldn't see the Diamond Dog he encountered earlier among them, it was obvious that they were well aware of what he found Baxter doing.
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Baxter
Diamond Dogs
High Templar Winter Wolf
"Wars are not won by the weak-willed."
Posts: 238
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Post by Baxter on Oct 13, 2012 13:35:43 GMT -5
Baxter was silent as Ice Fang ran over to him, waiting a few seconds before answering his friend. "I... I've had a long night." The archer looked over at the group of diamond dogs, gulping as he saw them point at him. Everyone was already likely suspicious of him, except Ice Fang. How was he supposed to tell the other wolf that he was the reason all this had happened?
"I uh... found something, and think it... might of..." Baxter's words trailed off, finding his voice clamping shut. All he could do was look at his friend nervously, hoping the other wolf would get the insinuation from those few words. Baxter didn't think he could flat out say that it was his stupid actions that had caused the whole attack.
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Post by Red Charge on Oct 13, 2012 13:40:20 GMT -5
"Did it do this? What was it?" Ice Fang asked, as the Diamond Dog group became larger, and angrier, "Quickly, tell me what it was. They see you with a fresh new bow and they're not going to be nice about it. I need to know what happened. Quickly." Ice Fang said, "Did you do this to get that bow? Did those stone things do this to you?"
The Diamond Dog mob began to move towards Ice Fang and Baxter, Maxime and Sammie looked at them worriedly from the window. Ice Fang was a general and had Sharp's authority, but Baxter didn't. Deserting now would cost them too much, way too much. Not to mention they'll never be able to show their faces anywhere near Diamond Dogs after this.
"You have to tell me!" Ice Fang shook his friend, "Come on!"
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Baxter
Diamond Dogs
High Templar Winter Wolf
"Wars are not won by the weak-willed."
Posts: 238
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Post by Baxter on Oct 13, 2012 13:53:25 GMT -5
Baxter's eyes widened when Ice Fang mentioned the bow. He had forgotten all about it, and what kind of image it painted of him now. The wolf looked panicked-ly at the approaching mob and then back at Ice Fang.
"I-I was walking around and there was this dog digging through the rubble in one of the houses and he found this chess piece and it... it had this energy about it and it just made me want to take it and find the others. So I took it from the dog and it kept telling me where to look for the others so I found them and I don't know why but I just felt like I had to or something because I was going to go insane if I didn't. So I found the other chess pieces and they-they took me to this shack and in the shack was a trapdoor so I went down and there was a chess board. I put the chess pieces on the board and then these chests appeared and that's where I got the bow and when I came back up..." The wolf paused to look around at the destruction. "This had happened..."
The wolf gulped again, realizing he had been babbling almost incoherently. He wasn't sure if Ice Fang would be furious with him or think he was insane. The entire story made little sense even to him. How easy was it to believe that someone would go hunting for chess pieces because a little marble pawn told him to?
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Post by Red Charge on Oct 13, 2012 13:59:13 GMT -5
"Wait, wait, wait. You found one of these guys in a pony house and it led you to the other guys? Were they hiding?" Ice Fang asked, "Why didn't they attack you?" He seemed as confused and panicked as Baxter was. "Where did they come from? What happened to your stuff? Why didn't you come tell me about it right away?" The Winter Wolf general asked as many questions as he could in rapid succession, needing to make as much sense of it as possible before the Diamond Dogs arrived.
He knew it wasn't going to end well, he could already tell. At the best case, he'd have to keep Baxter on a leash, after allowing for a public punishment. At the worse, they may actually try to lynch him. Which would mean he'd have no choice but to just desert, take him and get out of there. Which meant no more Winter's Breath for him, and likely expulsion from his pack for such a disgraceful service. Which would very well mean, that he will not have anything to go back to.
Of course, if Baxter did the crime, he should be the one paying for it. Just finding magical walking statues and doing what they told him to do was ridiculous, and not befitting of a warrior, let alone a Winter Wolf who is well aware of the trickery of magical artifacts. He'd hate to do it, but if that was the case, he might have to do the punishing himself.
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Baxter
Diamond Dogs
High Templar Winter Wolf
"Wars are not won by the weak-willed."
Posts: 238
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Post by Baxter on Oct 13, 2012 14:20:32 GMT -5
"No, no, no. They were like, little actual chess pieces this big," Baxter said, trying to indicate the size of the pieces with his claws. "Tiny things you would actually play chess with, nothing like the guys who just attacked us. A dog had found the rook while digging through a house and for some reason I felt compelled to convince him to give it to me. And then for some reason it was telling me the knight was in the library so I went there and found the knight. Then I went to the ruined militia headquarters to find the pawn, and the mage was in the town hall. They all told me the chess board was under a trapdoor in a shack on the outskirts so I went there. But this guard found me and knocked me unconscious, and when I woke up I was bruised up and in the shack and he'd taken all my stuff. But I went down the trapdoor and put the pieces on the chessboard. They started moving around on their own and these chests appeared. I got the bow from one of the chests and then the rest disappeared. I came back up and saw these big fighty things attacking the encampment. I didn't even know about them until then!" Baxter hoped Ice Fang was getting a better idea of what had happened by re-explaining what had happened more thoroughly.
"As for why I didn't tell you... I don't know. I thought you might try to take them from me or something, I was afraid everyone might try to. They had this magical energy that kept getting stronger and stronger and they kept getting heavier and heavier and... I guess they were somehow influencing what I did, okay? All I could think about when I was holding those things was finding the rest and putting them on the chess board."
"I didn't order any attacks, I didn't tell those big things what to do, I had no idea that any of this was going to happen! I didn't even know they existed before I came back up nor do I know where they came from. I think they had something to do with the chess pieces but I... I just don't know."
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Post by Red Charge on Oct 13, 2012 14:27:57 GMT -5
Ice Fang's stare turned from curiosity, to anger. Without so much as a warning, he smacked Baxter right across the face as the Diamond Dog horde approached, much to their rejoicing. "You took magical artifacts you did not know the purpose of, actively hid them from me and the others while letting them influence your mind, and you followed their instructions? What were you thinking? Are you stupid? I can't believe you Baxter!" He said, grabbing the Winter Wolf by the mouth and shoving his face to look back towards where the bodies were, "Look at them! They're dead! Did you not think for one second that you should stop, call for help, at least CONSULT with me?"
One of the Diamond Dogs in the back pointed at Baxter's sorry state and the rest laughed, how humiliating. "Look at these dogs, their friends, family members, dead because of your mistake!" Ice Fang growled, "They'll want you punished." The Diamond Dogs roared with approval, "And even though I hate to say it, you should be. I'll take that bow." He said, reaching with his hand, "And you'll spend the night in the library with me, I'll decide what your punishment is tomorrow."
The Diamond Dogs seemed very happy about that declaration. Others hatefully snickered at the humiliating position Baxter was in, probably having being told of how Baxter thought of Diamond Dogs, and finding the way he was handled in the shack more than appropriate, yet still hungry for more punishment.
"Hand me the bow Bax." Ice Fang repeated.
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Baxter
Diamond Dogs
High Templar Winter Wolf
"Wars are not won by the weak-willed."
Posts: 238
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Post by Baxter on Oct 13, 2012 14:48:26 GMT -5
Baxter looked nervously as Ice Fang's expression changed to that of anger. His face stung when the wolf smacked him across the face, but his dignity was hurt more than anything. Here was the storm. His friend had finally comprehended what Baxter had done, and Baxter was going to get the full force of it. The archer stood in silence as his friend scolded his actions, but he was unprepared for Ice Fang grabbing his snout and forcing him to look at the dead bodies. Ice Fang's words and the sight of the dead dogs only reinforced Baxter's guilt over the situation. He had no excuse, no explanation, no way to dodge the accusations. They were well deserved.
The mob of dogs laughing at him caused his temper to return for a brief moment, but Ice Fang's words quickly sent him back into a state of puniness and humiliation. He didn't hesitate for a second to hand over the bow, clearly showing his guilt and submission to Ice Fang's harsh words. By now the wolf was literally shaking with guilt. It was enough to know that he had caused all this. But having Ice Fang hate him because of it... that just made things ten times worse.
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