Dread Fort Perilous - Legion X "Infortunatus"

Chapter Four: Doom Approaches

Hidden within the darkness before dawn, on one of the armed and armoured sides of Fort Perilous, Loran accompanies the Sergeant in the steel-walled control room outside a blaster megaturret as they attempt to wreak havoc on the rebel fortress.

Loran had never seen such a terrible weapon.

The tower of canons rotated - clank, clank - locked onto the target - click - and then there was only blue lightening and

- fsshoom-BOOM!

The walls of the Old City still stood.

It was like trying to kick a door down by throwing handfuls of sand at it.

They could see the blaster megaturret from the window of their control room, how daunting it looked with all those rows of long metal blasters and polished steel, how eagerly the sorcery swirled away within it ready to answer their commands, how utterly useless it all was. The rebels were probably still sleeping - not even a single pea's worth of dirt had been harmed.

'Minion,' said the Sergeant. Her voice was too calm, and that's how Loran knew she wasn't. 'Be a dear and rewire an extra channel of sorcery to our megaturret, would you? There should be a control box on the outside of our control room.'

'Ash, megaturrets aren't supposed to have that much sorcery in them, we were told in the briefing. We are already pushing the limit -'

The Sergeant's hand clenched. 'You will do as I say.'

Loran gave a compliant nod and left the room as fast as she could without looking like she was running away. Better that she didn't end up like the stress-relief assistant.

It was dark outside, and the swirling mists of the Gloom seemed even more opaque now that Fort Perilous had risen silently into the sky. Wisps of smoke covered the rune-carved pipes of sorcery that led from the control box, and Loran had to feel around with her hands to unlock the steel case which covered the rows of mechanical switches that controlled the sorcerous currents.

Their blaster megaturret glinted dimly in the light of the half-moon, its shape echoed by the silhouettes of more in the distance.

This is a bad idea, Loran knew. If a megaturret was overcharged, there was a high chance that it would explode. And of course, the costs of the damaged equipment would be taken from all of Viper Company's salaries. Loran really did not want to deal with angry orcs complaining about pay cuts, even with the Sergeant around to placate them. On second thought, the Sergeant would probably encourage their foul tempers just for giggles. Yes, it was a stupid idea, and far too risky for her liking. But what choice did she have? She flicked a switch, and redirected the power.

A low hum chimed through the fog like the heavy bell of a cathedral, and the runes etched into the pipes leading to their megaturret shone like torches with barely restrained sorcerous power.

Loran ran back into the control room to avoid the shockwaves from the blast that the Sergeant had already started preparing, and sealed the door shut behind her. Getting caught out there while the megaturret was being powered up was a recipe for unspoken horrors, with all that wild sorcery in the air. Sorcery was not like magic - it wasn't controlled by a sentient mind. It was siphoned from power-filled crystals called catalysts, churned around by unholy machinery. A machine was just a machine - it had no mind, it didn't care what happened to anyone exposed to too much sorcery. She had heard about the results. Rumours about what had happened to the Empress when she was still human. How it had changed her.

Loran came to sit by the Sergeant's side in a padded rotating seat, and helped her by pulling the levers to move the heavy weapon into position. The Sergeant flicked a final set of switches.