How Arn got his Bug

[Arnhammer]

((A story on how Arn got his loveable silithid colossus killing machine that tears orcs limb from limb))

"Alright Troll I need you to go down to the Gaping Chasm straight south of here, the silithid population down there has been harassing the local trade routes, you need to thin em out!"

"Ya realize goblin dat it be a damn hive dere aint much I can do."

"Pleeeeeeeease look at that blade and bow you know what you're doing, you thin out the silithids some, bring back....I don't know a leg or something from each kill, I will give you two gold and if you bring me back 12 legs I will give you some mediocre piece of armor."

"Oh wat a deal!" Arn rolls his eyes and looks at the goblin with contempt.

"Ok Troll you drive a hard bargain,i have some cookies I bought from a famous chef called Cookie I will give you some." The goblin clasps his hands and looks intently at Arn.

"I be hearin tales o her cookin prowess, deal"

"The chasm is due south of here, just head out the gate and keep going straight you will hit their hive eventually!"

Arn and the prospective goblin shake hands and the troll heads out into the streets of Gadgetzan. A small sandstorm was blowing through the region much to Arn's annoyance.

"Dis place sucks, to hot, sand goes in all sorts o places an' most o de locals wanna kill ya. Pirates, ravenous bugs, wat be next a giant world shatterin dragon."

Arn walks through the dusty streets and nears the southern edge of the city when a loud goblin merchant catches Arn's attention.

"Hey troll! Looks like you're headin off into the desert, you're gonna need supplies and a kodo! But you don't need all that gold in your pouch."

"Is dat all ya tink about, I be sure I can find enough out dere ta live on."

"Are you daft? Its a desert, there is nothing out there, the oasis are usually controlled by bandits or worse. You can give them money to drink and hope they don't slit your throat or pay me for water instead!"

"Damn goblins an' dere money, I guess I be takin a kodo loaded up wit supplies. How about dat one tird one on de right?"

"Lumpy and the supplies will cost you 100 gold."

"Da hell Goblin dis be price gouging but....I don't wanna die."

"Oh yeah troll you wont want to wander in the desert with that heavy armor on, you will melt out there!'

"Bah, alright i be sure ya got robes n maybe one o those fancy hats ta sell right?"

"Of course but for you a valued customer only 5 gold. A red robe and matching turban it even has a fancy feather on the front of it, want shoes too?"

"Trolls don't be needin shoes! Take de damn gold."

With a resigned sigh, Arn hands the goblin the gold and takes his purchases out into the streets with him.
Arn turned down an alley and tore his armor off. As he started changing a high pitch feminine laugh echoed through the alley.

"Wat de hell!?!"

Laughing, the small goblin threw a stick of unlit dynamite at the near naked Arn and sped off.

Grumbling under his breath Arn slides the robes over his head, puts the turban on and heads back out into the streets.

Gadgetzan is a town of many vices. Peddlers,mercenaries and many other shady characters filled its avenues with small children running underfoot looking to pillage the un-aware. Arn elbowing his way through the crowd feels a pair of hands grabbing his pouch of gold around his waist..

"Get ya grubby paws off of my coin purse stupid gnome" Arn swats the gnome away but before he can chase down the rogue the gnome disappears into the crowd . "Dis place be a cesspit."

A few minutes later Arn reaches the south entrance of the town and he stares off into the endless desert.."Jus like dat it ends an' de wastes begin. Once ya go trough dis Gate it all be endin. dis all be madness. So...much o nothing. Oh well time ta get goin, de damn hive be a good walk."

Arn loads up the massive kodo and hops on its back. "Uh.....go.....Lumpy." With a loud grunt the Kodo begins the dreary trip to the Gaping Chasm.

"How da hell all dis sand get here anyways, dis whole part o de continent be a desert, heck why anyone wanna live 'ere,stupid sand people."

Hours go on uneventfully as the sandstorm abates and the harsh sun beats down on the desert scorching everything, however this calm wasn't bound to last. Ontop of a nearby rock outcropping a pair of Wastewander Bandits are tracking the wayward troll.

"Hah see that troll there with all those supplies, I bet he will be an easy target"

"You sure Tahir."

"Don't be a coward Arslan, there is two of us and only one of him. Easy pickins, I bet that fancy troll armor im seeing in the bag on the back of the kodo will sell for a lot"

"Why don't we get the rest of our clan"

"We will wait till he goes to sleep, sneak into his camp, slit his throat and take his stuff. Easy. We wont need all of us for one troll"

"Whatever you say Tahir."

Laughing evilly the pair of bandits sneak back off into the sands....

[Arnhammer]

A few hours later, Arn stumbled across some shelter in a small outcropping to set up camp in. The camp itself is in a small depression ontop of the outcropping providing some shelter from the biting winds. Arn rummages through the bags on the back of the kodo, pulls out some dried jerky and takes a vase full of water with him. He ties up the kodo to a nearby rock and contently feasts.

"You see Arslan, the troll is completely oblivious to us, he will sleep soon."

"Yeah yeah Tahir."

Arn glanced up at the rocks sheltering his camp. "I tink I be hearin sometin, I did see some tracks earlier, I wonderin"

"He just looked up at us! He knows!"

"Calm down Arslan!"

" Our cover is blown!"

"Da hell, are those rocks talkin...... probably bandits" Arn chuckled and looked up at the rocks. " Alright who be up dere ya constant talkin gave ya away. I be havin good hearin."

The two swarthy bandits hopped down and brandished their scimitars. Arslan the taller of two addressed Arn.

"Alright troll give us your valuables and you might live."

"I tink not."

The two bandits stalked in a circle around Arn who unsheathed his Warblade. Tahir jumped at Arn swinging his scimitar at Arn who raised his blade to parry the strike. Arn countered and kicked Tahir's legs out from under him then spun towards Arslan.

"Oh....no...." Arslan backed away from Arn. "Ha ya dead" Roaring Arn leapt at Arslan and launched a flurry of blows at Arslan who was struggling to match his strikes. "Arslan im coming!" Tahir stood up and charged at Arn who side stepped causing Tahir to spear Arslan to the ground.

Tahir rolled off of Arslan and was greeted by the edge of Arn's Warblade. "I tink ya head be missin" Arn laughed and decapitated the hapless bandit.

"Tahir NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Arslan stood up enraged and launched himself at Arn who easily parried each blow waiting for the bandit to tire. Arslan's his strikes came in slower and slower as fatigue caught up to him. "Time to die troll!" Arslan stood back and leaped at Arn one last time. Arn bent his knees and dropped to the ground angling his blade in the air towards Arslan who impaled himself. " I tink not"

"Stupid bandits maybe now I can get some sleep." Arn cleaned his sword, threw the two corpses out of his camp and passed into a deep sleep.

The next morning Arn continued his trek and spied the Gaping Chasm ahead of him, its silithid spires towering into the sky. "Well I be guessing dis be da place. Dis hive aint to big for a....a hive. I can probably attack one o de outa spires o sometin. Damn goblins. Maybe dere is anotha band o people out 'ere dat wanna work on dis spire"

"Well troll you're right!"

"Da hell..." Arn turning around stunned as a band of 20 to 30 mercenaries of various racies appeared from the dunes around him. "How ya....wat? Ya jus appeared!"

"We're good at being sneaky there Troll, name is Grizzlespark but you can just call me Spark. Im in charge of a band of mercenaries hired by Gadgetzan. They didn't mention hiring a troll however."

"Dey didn't mention you eitha,well I be guessin we have de same goal. Time ta do some cleanup I be tinkin. Oh ya I be Arn!"

"Lord knows I can use the gold from this mission Arn! We will attack the nearest spire. We have some explosives we can use on the bugs. Try to get a leg from each kill you get. Need to thin em out so they'll stop harassing the traders."

Arn and his newfound companions close the distance to the chasm and stand ontop of a cliff overlooking the swarming Hive. "Ya see that spire is pretty far from the rest of them and isn't crawling with to many of the bugs, should be easy pickins"

"I hope so goblin."

[Arnhammer]

"Alpha Team secure the ridge Murdoch that's you, Bravo and Charlie Team head into the Spire, Delta Team stay back as a reserve."

"This is Murdoch, we copy we have the ridge occupied so we can hold off any reinforcements to the spire."

"Spark, Bravo Team is running into lots of bugs but they aren't coordinated easy pickings, we're piling up legs here."

Arn followed Bravo Team into the depth of the Silithid spire, silithids were swarming about but they were mostly unorganized providing the Team with easy kills.

"Sir I think there is a feeding chamber below us, I saw some workers bringing food that way. Could be a queen!" Krogash, the leader of Bravo Team nodded at the gnome then noticed the floor under the gnome collapsing.

"Good idea Wilfre- LOOK OUT!" With a cry Wilfred the Gnome fell down and disappeared from sight, his cries growing more and more distant as he fell down the hole.

"Great, Arn take point everyone fall in behind him remember collect the legs, we shouldn't need to many more and we can head out."

Meanwhile on the Ridge

"Murdoch we can't hold much longer they just keep coming!"

"Calm down John, hold the line, keep shooting WATCH OUT BEHIND YOU!" A massive claw cleaved John in half scattering his bodyparts across the ridge. "Focus fire bring down that colossus!" A series of explosions and fireballs engulfed the Colossus causing it bellow in pain. As the Colossus's body crashed to the ground another wave of silithid reavers charged the ridgeline.

"Murdoch, this is Spark, come in what is going on out there."

"Spark, we cant hold much longer send Delta to back us up! *bzzzzzzzzzzzt*"

Back in the spire

"Arn what do you see?"

"Krogash de swarms thinned out dis jus be a giant Chamber aint nothing in here but random corpses."

"Alright Arn get outa there!" Suddenly a tremor shook the chamber and caused the tunnel between Bravo Team and Arn to collapse.

"I be fine get de heck outa here, I will find a way!"

"Goodluck Arn" Krogash turned his team around and headed back to the surface.

Elsewhere in the Spire

"Spark this is Charlie Team the Earthquake got us trapped in this odd egg chamber.....Wait...they're hatching......they're coming out of the walls ho-*bzzzzzzzzt*

"THIS IS SPARK DAMNIT COME IN ALFRED COME IN, DAMNIT" Spark shook his transmitter futilely and sighed.

Back in the giant chamber

"Dis be a feedin chamber I tink, dere has ta be anotha way outa here.....dis chamba smell horrible." Arn crept through the chamber but as he went deeper into the chamber he noted an odd scent and what sounded like feeding. Arn turned the corner and was stunned by what he saw. A small blue silithid colossus feasting on a dead Basilisk. The Silithid's Carapace was think covered in spikes, its claws razor sharp, its face covered in dried blood.

"Nice Buggy.....no need ta walk towards me...like...ya doin now........." The Silithid stalked towards Arn with a hungry gleam in her eyes. Arn looked around slowly backepdalling until he nearly tripped over a corpse which happened to be Wilfred. "I cant believe I gotta be doin dis" Arn picked up the mangled corpse and threw it towards the Silithid who started devouring the corpse. Arn crept past the feasting Silithid and spied a small side tunnel leading out of the room. "Maybe dis be a way ou, de heck is poking me in de leg"

Arn turned around slowly to see the blue silithid looking at him with that hungry gleam in her eyes. Arn slowly moved his hand to his backpack and handed the bug a piece of jerky. She impaled the jerky with her claw and swiftly devoured down the food. "Good buggy....now im going to leave." Arn sped off while the Silithid feasted, the tunnel wasn't very tall but it was wide enough giving Arn plenty of space to move. After a while Arn eventually reached the surface outside of the Hive,peering around he spied the mercenary encampment. He slowly crept down the camp and noticed it was deserted with a few sets of recent tracks heading north.

"I be guessin dat a few survived, I be guessin maybe 10, a pity. Oh crap I HAVE NO BUG LEGS, I aint gonna get nothing now, wait....da heck." Turning around Arn saw a very familiar blue silithid standing behind him. "Why da heck ya here." The silithid looked up at Arn and sat down beside him. "i don't much feel like fightin a ravenous killin machine an' I be guessin so long as I be havin food ya aint gonna kill me, whatevah works for me, oddly enough dey left de kodo tied up, if my armor aint dere....."

A few days later

"No legs no gold troll sorry bud that was the deal, what was left of Captain Grizzlesparks expedition turned in plenty of legs maybe he will give you some".

"Damn goblins an' dere money, atleast dey didn't swipe my armor" Arn grumbled and stepped out into the streets of Gadgetzan. "Now ta get dat cookie.....from Cookie."

[Sponsored content]