Lore Scroll: The First Specialization

The cold air came like an arrow shot to the chest. The soldiers didn't expect it, just like they didn't expect the first ambush. The unit knew the Savage Lands was ruthless and unforgiving, they also didn't know that it had a cold, cruel sense of humor.

The sun had started its rapid descent below the trees, and the warmth of the jungle escaped with it while the humidity, danger, and fear remained. With a groan, one of the soldiers, his damaged chest plate hanging loosely, supported his arm as he lumbered painfully over to his commanding officer. The man, laying on a make-shift cot, was breathing heavily, but his eyes were wild.

"Commander," the standing soldier started, but the wild man grabbed his arm and interrupted him.

"John, you've got to get the men out of here," the commander stammered. John winced as the commander grabbed his injured arm. He had seen men return like this from the Savage Lands before with wild death in their eyes and rambling of creatures capable of incredible destruction. John had his own encounter with the ones some called Brutes; large, green-skinned, and red-eyed. The barbaric horrors were capable of absorbing tremendous damage before being taken down, as if the arrows actually fueled the anger instead of extinguishing their life.

"Commander, we've fortified this position and asked for reinforcements, which should be arriving within the hour. We have a medical escort ready to take you and a few others away." The Commander tried to laugh, but it came out as a cough with more blood than John thought was possible with a cough.

"The whole bloody unit won't be able to stand against...that thing." As if to emphasize the last word, drums began to sound. But unlike before, the drums weren't far away, to intimidate enemies before a large ground assault. John had heard those drums, their faint patterns signaling attack patterns of troop positions. These drums were frantic, thunderous, and close.

John barely had a moment to raise his sword and the alarm when the brutes burst through the brush. Belying their size, the large warriors moved with incredible agility, swinging their weapons wildly against any target that moved. John dove sideways as his whole body screamed in pain, narrowly dodging a large club. He pushed his sword hard to the right and up, straining against the rampaging warrior. The brute's other arm came up and landed against his helmet, sending John flying. The world blackened for a moment as he landed hard against a fallen trunk.

All around John, the cacophony of battle raged with an intensity that shook the very ground beneath his feet. The air was thick with the acrid smell of smoke and the metallic tang of blood. He could hear the frantic yelling of soldiers, their voices rising above the din, punctuated by the piercing screams of the wounded and dying. The clash of steel against steel reverberated in his ears, a relentless symphony of violence that left him disoriented and terrified.

As he struggled to maintain his footing amid the turmoil he felt as if he were being lifted off the ground. His heart raced, and a flicker of hope ignited within him, a desperate wish for rescue from the bloody violence unfolding before him. But as he turned to face his supposed savior, he sank into a pit of despair and terror.

Before him loomed the largest brute he had ever seen, a monstrous figure that seemed to eclipse the last bits of the sun. The brute was a deadly combination of muscle and fury, its eyes glinting with a predatory hunger that sent a chill down John’s spine. The roar that erupted from the creature’s throat was not merely a sound; it was a primal force that reverberated through his bones, paralyzing him with fear and stripping away any remnants of courage he had clung to.

The last, horrific thing John saw before the world descended into darkness was his own arm, torn from his body with brutal ease discarded by the large brute as if it were nothing more than a broken toy. The pain was immediate and blinding. As consciousness slipped away, John was left with the chilling realization that all he had heard about these brutal warriors was true.