The Blight Strikes

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Grom had heard the forces of the blight were on the move. He grabbed his gear and looked at his wife.

“Go to the caves and don’t come out till someone from the clans come for you. You will be safe there we know the underground better than anyone.”

“Come back to us Grom. Don’t be foolish on the battlefield.”

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Grom headed to the command tent. He saw Darth and the other units of his squad waiting. He motioned for Darth to join him and they entered the tent.

Zintar, Malric, and Alric stood in the middle looking over the map of the area. Malric spoke first.

“This is the Burning Lands. The Blight thinks they can overcome us. They don’t know that Alric and his men have joined us. So let them come we are ready. They will burn or drown and Death is here for them.”

Grom and Darth listened to the plan again. They would push past the front lines with the help of Serpentine Soldiers and Skeletal Warriors. Sea Genie and Vampires would support the push from above. Once they pushed past that group would fall back and they would begin hunting the Summoners and healers of the Blight.

A Flame Imp rushed into the tent. He spoke to Malric and he went to the other leaders. After a few minutes, Malric started to talk again.

“The blight troops are in the open now. They have a new troop we have not seen before. They are giant. Reports say they are bigger than the Lords of Darkness. This doesn’t change our plans for now. But watch the skies for flares.”

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Grom went and spoke to his squad. All of them knew the plan and were ready. As all the troops moved towards the battlefield that they blight had chosen Grom looked back at the caves. I will see them again, he thought. Darth tapped him on the shoulder and they headed off.

Grom was amazed at the beast that marched towards them. They were very big. The also had no idea what magic protection they had. He knew a recon wave would attack them soon. To see what units could damage them. That unit would die for sure but they won’t hesitate today. This is our home. The Fire Clan will fight until there is no one left to fight if we have to.

Darth points out an area without any of the giants. It looked like the best place for their mission to attack. Grom agreed so they got ready to go. They would strike when the first recons hit the giants. They would hope most of the units would be protecting the new units and not notice them.

Grom could see the Flame Imps and Imp Bow Men following behind charging Spineback Wolves. His unit started to move and he caught the first of them engaging the giants. Magic bounced away and the wolves seemed to do no harm. But the arrows did seem to pierce the flesh. It was the last thing he saw before the units protecting his group hit the enemy line.

The Serpentine Soldiers are really amazing fighters. If not for the magic they would be unstoppable. The Skeletal Warriors also held their own. The magic fire of the Genies and the Arrows from the Vampires punched a hole faster than expected. Grom and his group were through their lines. The hunt was on.
Grom looked over his group of Fire Beetles, Twister Jesters, Pirate Captains, Skeleton Assassins, Elven Cutthroats, and his Kobold Miners. He broke them into two even groups. He let Darth lead one and he took the other. Grom found his first targets soon. A few guards stood near what looked like three Summoners sitting on the ground. His group attacked quickly before the guards could react they had fallen. But the Summoners never moved.

Grom walked up to them and raised one of their hoods. The man’s eyes were pitch black. He looked to be very old. All of them looked the same and all of them were dead. Grom found one more group like this before he knew something was wrong. He looked out at the battlefield and saw his army getting pushed back. All of the giant beasts still stood. It made sense a lot of the secret firepower used magic. He could see the Elemental Phoenix destroying the smaller troops but not able to attack the giant at all. Grom had to do something new so he sent the sign for Darth to meet up with his group.

Darth stood above three dead Summoners. This isn’t right. They gave their lives. Three of them to summon those giants. His group was wasted. There were no support classes for them to hunt. He saw the flare from Grom group and headed quickly to the meeting point. He was sure Grom knew it too. They had to attack the giants from behind.

“Darth new plan. We have a lot of ranged attacks in our group. We have to target the giant that is closest to us. We will protect the ranged units will they hit them with everything we got.”

“Grom have the dip their arrows in our poison. If it works we can end that thing even if it kills us.”

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Grom agreed. They just took a few minutes before charging back into the battle. As they came upon the first one Grom was in shock. So many bodies of people laid around smashed. Could they stop these beasts? No, he had to stop them.

The first volley stuck the beast and it didn’t seem to notice. But when the second one hit Darth dashed up close and stuck at the beast. His blade didn’t do much but he returned with a smile.

“The Poison is working. It might take a while but this beast will die. We have spread the word they need to try and slow it down while we hit the rest.”

Grom signaled for a messenger. He got the message sent to the command tent and they moved to the next giant that stood. Again the arrows rained into the beast and then Grom saw it. The first one they had struck had stopped moving. The bowmen that still lived kept hitting it with arrows and it fell over crushing a few homes that surrounded the main buildings. It was working. Grom heard a screech from the creatures of the blight. Then he saw a lot of monsters of the blight turned and looked at his group. They all charged at once.

Malric had got the news that the poison of the death clan was working. He got the message to Zintar who was summoning all the Large demons he could. When he got the news he started laughing.

“Well this should be easier’ said Zintar as he raised his staff into the air. Giant Spiders started to rain from the skies. Zintar fell to a knee but still, he summoned. The spiders overran many of the giants. As the fell many were crushed but fall they did.”

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Grom and his group had been falling back but many of them had fallen to the rush of the troops. He had seen the spiders appear and the giants fall. He knew his side had a chance now. He had given them that if nothing else.

Darth could see the battle was starting to turn. He was glad that his clan was able to help repay the debt they owed to the fire clan. A lot of their city was destroyed but the people would live to fight again. Even if this was the end for him it was a good end. Yet he did still want to repay one more person. Grom had reminded him of the life he had before. He thought Grom would make a great skeleton assassin. But he didn’t want to see that happen today.

Grom was tried and the monsters of the blight just kept coming. They had killed more than he could count but the mass of them between him and his home was just too big. He saw Darth slay a beast and step back behind a few of the Jesters. His hands started to glow. Grom had seen hands glow like that before. How was he summoning?

The bodies of the fallen started to come back to life. They grabbed the monsters of the blight holding them down. Grom watched r as Phantoms and Spectors appeared all around him. And felt magic healing come over him from Black Pegasus that stood ready to be ridden.

“Go Grom back to your caves and take enough to make sure you can kill anything there. I will handle this.”

“Who are you Darth?”

“My real name is Jarlax my friend. Now Go”

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Grom didn’t wait any longer. He charged off on the Pegasus with the other Kobold miners that still lived. He had to make sure the caves had not been breached. They killed a lot of blight as they pushed through the town. Grom knew that was a bad sign they had gotten this far. As they reached the caves he saw the last of their guards dead on the floor. Grom lead his men into the caves.

They knew these caves better than any monster could. He also knew where his people would go. He lead his men quickly through the caves. He could hear a battle as he got closer he could smell the monsters of the blight. His men worked fast when the meet the first of the enemy in the caves. Grom was proud of his men. They fought with a perfection he had never seen before. The monster feel before them and he reached the front of the fight. He saw a sight that filled him with pride.

His wife stood shoulder to shoulder with the other women of their people. Weapons in hand with a fire in their eyes that let him know they would have been fine. Not even the blight could scare a Kobold in the mines.

Grom lead his people out of the caves and back into the town. He could see that the Flag of the Burning Lands still flew above the town. Even if there wasn’t much of the town left. The blight had destroyed a lot. Yet he could still see a few phoenix in the air. His people had survived. He worried they would have to fight again soon but at least today they stood tall.

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Love the way you told this story :)

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Thanks for reading it. Glad you enjoyed it.

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Nice Splinterlands story post! I will be giving this a SM upvote!!

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Thank you again I hope you are enjoying these. I am going to continue this story to some kind of end as others also seem to like it.

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