Kangutso and Cyclone
FlashbackWithin the dwarven mining colony
Mar looked at the new arrival, most definitely not a dwarf, more of a human. Yes, it was a human, a seemingly powerful one at that. His eyes narrowed, or at least the eyes of his host did, at the stranger, sensing the power he gave off. They stayed like that for a couple moments, the sounds of battle and something colossal outside the building. Soon a scream of something monstrous outside resounded through the city as it died, and the new arrival opened a portal that summoned a great many imps into the world. As Mar opened his host's mouth to speak, the person turned and warped away in a sudden burst of flames, leaving no trace save for the red tide of imps that were pouring out of the portal he'd conjured.
Slowly and warily watching the little creature move about the room and grab everything, Mar was surprised when a vial of liquid was smashed against his host's shoulder, splattering the liquid inside over his host's face and upper chest. It only took a moment before the liquid was proven to be acidic, burning the skin and turning it red as other chemicals inside of it worked into the body's system. It was the old alchemist's last mistake, as Mar used his claws to tear and rip out his throat in rage, leaving the dwarf to drown in his own blood as it pooled around his body. Finally, his oily form absorbed itself mostly back into his host's body, immediately begining work to repair and cure it from the inside out. The host's body falling to the floor, onto an unfortunate imp, with a black, oily substance covering the areas affected by the acid.
The other imps glanced over with curiosity and a few of them let out short cackles. They didn't know what was better: the alchemist's grisly fate, or what had happened to the poor imp that stood too close to Mar. Not paying much mind to Mar as they routinely encountered all manner of horrors in their particular line of work, they set about business. For a good twenty seconds they scurried like little ants, rapidly plundering everything in sight and systematically ransacking the building in search of the explosives that they came for. But the instant that they sensed their Master was preoccupied 9the warlock outside speaking with his champions and silently wondering where his demon had gone off to), in unison they all stopped working. The lazy runts slouched down and a few began preparing to take naps.
Then a short time later, without warning flames flashed through the air and the Master reappeared. Befor he could so much as blink, much less take in the scene, the imps had snapped back to attention and pretended to be hard at work.
"Get a move on!" he yelled upon noticing that they had yet to find the explosives. Then he suddenly noticed the corpse of the alchemist, the thing mutilated to the point that it looked like some sort of beast had savaged it. His gaze shifted back to the feral elven lady, the one that he had thought was in his Horde. Now noticing the strange black oil that caked her upper body, his curiosity was piqued. This wasn't one of his minions; he would remember one like this!
Sensing that the elven lady was half dead, a mere shell being inhabited by some other strange being, the Master warily raised his staff.
"What have we here?" he mused aloud. A moment passed before a response came, "A wounded being, controlled by me." It sounded as though the figure had yet to fully learn control of the mouth.
The keeper scoffed. He had already observed as much.
"But what are you, and what are you doing in this wretched hole in the ground? I hope that you didn't come for the explosives; I'll be taking all of those!"A triumphant cry came out from one of the imps, who had discovered a hidden room that contained their prize. The workers began to haphazardly toss the vials of the strange alchemical explosives into crates and then carry them back through the portal from which they had arrived. It was a wonder that they managed to not blow up the entire building.
"I do not care for the explosives, right now my primary concern is my host. I have no memory before many weeks ago, the earliest one being my taking of this body and the killing of her comrades..." A pause as Mar sorted through the host's memories, "I receded after, into a trance while she passed out. It would seem she has been a slave for some time now..."
Some sort of parasitic beast that lost his memory and inhabited the body of an elven slave? This day had been off to a rocky start, but it was getting better by the minute!
"Indeed. Well, turn your gaze through this door," the Master said, flinging open the heavy door with an effortless blast of telekinetic magic. The streets outside were had pools of blood, the corpses were strewn everywhere, and a few members of the Horde still rampaged through the streets looking for any survivors. Others were already moving to dispose of the fallen and go through with the plan to cover up the attack.
"Have your pick of bodies, if that scrawny little elf's frame is proving defective! My army cleaned up this little colony well," he snickered.
"Might you be interested in joining my Horde? Clearly you are a capable killer, and I could use your skillset.""On the contrary," Mar responded to the Master's former offer, "This elven body is still stronger than any in this situation, likely due to her once being a warrior. And it is not that simple, unless she were to actually die I can not leave this unless temporarily until I have more... of myself." Silence for a few moments once more, "I wonder if I was more than a killer before..." While the host did not move, the Master would feel him look to him, "I will join your... Horde. It is more likely that I will get stronger then, rather then being on my own."
The sappy talk about his forgotten past irritated the nefarious Overlord, but of course the promise to join the Horde alleviated that.
"Very well, then. I am Master of this Horde, and I have more than just these wretches in my service," the Master said as he kicked one of the imps.
"Come; I shall show you to our center of operations. Perhaps you will want to become acquainted with the others..."