ToTW 129- Victory!- Voting stage

[Dark Storm]

Victory!

3 votes per person!

Submission 1

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The Smile of Victory

The Smile of Victory There was no spot of land that he could see that was not currently covered by his comrades or his enemies. *Why should he? *He was located somewhere in the middle of the army, an army that combined with the enemy army would equal somewhere over a million men. *All he could see were his comrades and flames on the horizon, flames that marked areas where enemies were burning alive. *He had heard rumors that oil was poured into the ground in many areas of the battlefield, so that the next day fire arrows would be shot into those areas. *He knew that the ground was frozen; there was even frost on the ground, these facts did not prepare him for the moment he saw the horizon light up. *True, he could not see the fires from where he was standing, but he did hear plenty of fearful shouts amongst where he thought the enemy line was, and there were enough shouts to convince him that it worked. It was only a matter of time until he was at the front of the line. *He knew he would most likely meet his death here on this battlefield, but it would not help to think about his imminent fate. *To linger on the subject could very well break his own morale. *His being here was not because of some duty to an emperor that lived far away nor was he here to gain glory or honor. *He was here to fight an enemy whose existence threatened the lives of his family, an enemy that had massacred their way across the continent. *Victory here would turn the tide of the enemy horde. * The sounds of battle were getting closer to him; physically he was ready, mentally was another story. *He had his sword drawn and shield strapped to his left arm, but his thoughts were not entirely focused on the battle. *Instead he was thinking about earlier that morning, wishing that he could have had sausage for his breakfast, it would have been nice for a last meal it didn’t matter if it wasn’t Turonian sausage, and he just wanted to have sausage as a last meal. His wishful thinking was broken when he realized it was his turn to fight. *He brought his shield up to block an enemy chop directed at his head, with the shield he pushed the enemy’s sword arm wide creating an opening in the enemy’s defense and stabbed the man in the throat. *Before he could pull the sword out, another enemy had gotten close enough with a dagger and stabbed him in the gut. *He fell to the ground dying. *Minutes passed before he saw a sight that had made him smile, victory. *The enemy horde was fleeing. *He had done his duty to his family, his family was safe, as these thoughts faded, so too did his life, but that smile did not fade. **

Submission 2

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The snow was falling down from the skies as Brutus watched his soldiers take position at the frontline further down the hill. He knew that he was responsible for all of these souls and they looked to him for support and morale, he was in their eyes a father. They had been chased by a Germanic tribe for several days and were forced to flee when they discovered the Germanic tribe outnumbered them five to one. Some of the soldiers had frost injuries and they had to be taken care of while their brothers in arms fought without them. Brutus was observing the battlefield and the enemy troops on the other side of the valley. It was frightening, but he could not show any fear to his men. He threw a sausage to one of his dogs and stood up. One of his captains came up to him and he was given permission to speak; “The men have taken the positions and are waiting for you.”*

Brutus equipped his armor and gladius and mounted his horse. As he was walking down the hill people were shouting his name, cheering. He greeted them and smiled, but deep inside he was filled with anger and fear. He knew that if he lost this battle it would turn the tide of war. When he walked ahead of the frontline he could see the soldiers were frightened, cold and their morale had been broken. The soldiers were completely silent and they all stared at Brutus, waiting for him to speak. “Today we face an enemy of Rome. We came to this land with the intention to make this people civilized, but now we are being chased. Their people have been fighting for their entire life and this is the only thing they know. They have no fear of us and will fight to death if necessary. If we fall this day our homes will be raided, our families enslaved and killed and the civilization will fall with us. This day we do not fight for Rome, we fight for us, for our families, homes and the entire civilized world. Do not fight as soldiers of Rome, fight as brothers in arms. Glory awaits us, may it be in this life or the afterlife. “ The soldiers were shouting and cheering. The flame in their heart had been lit. They were ready to fight. Thousands of soldiers were shouting his name “Brutus! Brutus! Brutus!” The Germanic army was closing in on them and as they got closer they shouted louder and louder, instilling fear into the enemy hearts. The battle for civilization has begun.

Submission 3

My tale

Just another day The smell was unbearable. The stench, he couldn’t stand it. It was too powerful. It was enticing. It made his mouth water. He couldn’t control himself. He couldn’t bear it. It reminded him of home, of the small insula where he lived as a child. Memories of his mother in the kitchen, making the most unimaginable kind of food, food not even the Emperor’s chefs could boast of. He remembered the juiciness of the cucumbers and onions, the tenderness of the lucanica, the pork sausages, whenever they could afford it, the sweetness of the honey spread copiously over his bread. He remembered the taste of hazelnuts and almonds, and his satisfaction after a good meal of stuffed duck, seared over low flame for hours, and complete with chick peas and lettuce.* Oh, that smell. What was that in the distance? It looked like a buffet table. In the middle of nowhere? Still, it looked enticing. It had everything he could dream of: pigs’ ears, mackerel, dormice, and oh, a smouldering boulder just flew from nowhere and landed on the table, how nice. Wait, what?* Julius snapped out of his daydream as the frost set in. All around him, thousands of Romans struggled against the tide of Gothic cavalry, threatening to break the lines. His friend Claudius ran past him. “Hey Julius, what are you doing?” he called. “Enough of your dreaming! We have a battle to win!” Julius sighed, and lifted his shield. It was just another day at work.

Submission 4

Mercenary

Mercenary Duck, launch, slip. Duck, launch, slip. And again and again. We are losing this. We need to break them. To turn the tide. One man to the right, then one to the left. They all fell for my flaming advance. Must . . . must go on. The battle can be won, it can still be won. The morning frost was just about to go away, yet I had fought on for several hours. With nothing but a sausage in my belly, I battled the hordes. From dusk to dawn, a constant fight, to live on in a harsh world. To gain what was needed in the struggle to keep in with the others. To have what was needed, and some more, whenever it was needed. The need to keep up with the other competition, to deliver what the others could, for less. Too little, at least in my mind. Slide past, and defeat in the next day. Ally with someone you have to lure and kick into failure the next day. Come home, to a home you never see, because you always are away, doing other stuff. Economics are hard, and the Wall Street was long and crowded. Economics. Stocks. Tired.

Submission 5

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Of Sausges an other things...

I looked out of my window to see the thin layer of frost covering the ground; it had been a cold night. Looking back across my room I saw that the last flame was dying out in what had been my proud fire.* I guess it was time to take a break; I had been trying to win this one battle all night but it seemed that the AI was insistent on making my army rout just after the Romans charge. I paused the screen, seeing the oncoming tide of Roman soldiers sweep through my line for the millionth time. I needed something to take my mind of the ordeal, but what? I thought, and thought; still the screen was paused on that moment, the moment that would have me going bald before the day was out. ‘Darn mod’! I cursed up to the heavens. They said it would have the easiest AI ever seen, easy than Vanilla. Hmph, that was a big porker. Then it struck me, what I needed, to take my mind off everything was just simply a 100% British Pork sausage, and so I *strolled down the stairs, happy that I was going to get my sausage, and then, then the unthinkable happened, I opened my fridge and to my utter anger... There weren’t any sausages! What a disaster!

Submission 6

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Victory! - Sausages and Beans

Men of Rome, listen to me! I, Julius Augustus Antonius am a man of a famous Patrician family with a long* history of great victories and triumphs, but all that is for nought as today we* fight to take from the Parthians these desert sands and the trade routes that cross them and they have not heard of my family and their fame and they* think you are just a ragtag tail I drag behind me. You see them spread out before us, their spear men, archers and cavalry with Cataphract's and Elephants poised to trample us into these sands turning* them red, screaming in their mongrel tongue, looking to kill us and rend us* apart but that is not going to happen. We are the Macedonica! We are ever loyal, ever faithful, we have fought* through the frosts of Germania, we have trudged through ice and* snow, battled flame and fire in siege after siege, countless tribes and* savages have tried to break us, but we are the cliffs of Sicily to the* tides of the sea, they can crash onto us but they will never beat us.* So let them come with their elephants and we'll stab their eyes out, let them* charge us with their cavalry and well stab their hearts out, let them send* their infantry to us and we'll cut their limbs off! We are the Macedonica. Forward men of the Legion, on to Elysium and glory!!* As the Legion started forward, through the sand dunes came the Parthians* secret weapon, the mighty T-Rex and Stegosaurus companies. Could the men of Rome fight this new terror too! "Timmy", his mum called from the kitchen door, "come on sweetie, you can* play with your soldiers tomorrow, it's teatime now, wash the sand off, it's* your favourite, sausages and beans!"

Submission 7

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God or human?

What would a Breton do in Whiterun? Much people asked me this, I always replied with the same somewhat simple answer: ‘’The Imperial flame rages through my heart’’ I was stationed here in Whiterun when the threat of the Stormcloaks rose, before Whiterun I was stationed in Leyawiin under General Flavonius, one of the best generals in the Empire, but luck wasn’t probably with me, I got the orders to move with a few other soldier up north to the Falkreath Imperial Camp, an easy journey because of the good roads in Cyrodiil. * But now look at this Nord sausage, you can’t even eat it, it’s hard and rough, blegh, just as tough as an Stormcloak rebel and why I am telling you this? Because Frand got send to the Stormcloak camp outside Whiterun! We ambushed them at midnight, my sword swung a few times in a neck of a Stormcloak, but the frost on my sword didn’t really help me, he wasn’t as sharp as it normally is. The fight continued and continued, maces destroyed fine iron armour, axes made heads roll and swords well, I told you about it.. The tide was on our side on the beginnings of the battle, but the Stormcloaks were far more skilled and some of our soldiers lacked bravery and routed, but the final decision of the battle was just when the commander of the Stormcloak troops - *Fraki Hagraven-killer – got hit by an arrow, where I don’t know, probably somewhere down his legs as he couldn’t walk anymore. The tide was broken by something else, a dark winged beast who fled from the mountains shades onto the forests of Skyrim, the Nords called it a dragon and suddenly began to fight with even more courage! And of course we all fled, we all ran towards Whiterun towards for our own safety, , I took a small break near a little farm, I sneaked into the farm, I needed some food, maybe sausage? I don’t know. At that moment you can hear everything, but I heard a soft Nord girl voice singing, I slowly sneaked into the main hall of the great farm, when I saw an altar to Talos, an altar of Talos so close to the city of Whiterun, I couldn’t be true! I need to do something, I need to! The doors swung open from the other side, *two in blood clenched soldiers entered the main hall, one of those soldiers was badly injured and the other one? He stood there and said; ‘’Victory, *for Talos!’’ Suddenly, the whole room jumped up and shouted; ‘’FOR TALOS, FOR THE FIRST DRAGONBORN.’’ Was Talos a dragonborn? It kept me busy when I left the farm again, no, the Empire is wrong, Talos is a god. That’s the reason, I’m leaving for the Stormcloaks, say I’m back to the High Rock.. *for Talos!

[The Norseman]

Reading the stories now! Good luck everyone!

[Boustrophedon]

Voted

[Ybbon]

X marks the spot

[Darkan]

Starting to read about sausages...and victories.

[LegolasGreenleaf]

Voted. Good luck all!

[Heiro de Bodemloze]

Voted! Good Luck everyone

[Shankbot de Bodemloze]

Voted! Good Luck everyone, again some great entries