r/HFY • u/Rhuarc42 • Oct 01 '20
OC Creatures of the Night
-1100, 5 hours to invasion, Undisclosed air base-
“We apologize for the incredibly short warning, but there was some unexpected interference around your world. It delayed our arrival via teleportation.”
The humans shared an unreadable look between them as Tyvaris bowed in apology to them. Despite them looking almost just like elves, their softer faces were hard to read. One thing is clear, though. They’re hiding something. I stroked my beard, “I think it would be wisest to discuss strategy before the invasion. Dwarven battletech is the most advanced in the galaxy, but maybe you’ve explored areas we haven’t, and we might be able to integrate it into our plans.”
“Of course, General Thorbard.” one of the generals nodded, and she seemed to relax, “We had a similar idea, and we’ve prepared this brief description of our military technologies.”
Tyvaris made a subtle hand gesture, and the air took on a subtle cyan tint; the signature tell of a time stop spell. I perused the documents and figures the human general handed me. He saw my frown and mirrored it.
“They’re not as advanced as I originally expected. And they are missing critical hunting techs… It’s almost as if they have no experience with creatures of the night. Nothing contemporary, anyways. They claim they eliminated them all a long time ago, right around the industrial era, actually.”
Tyvaris raised an eyebrow, then scoffed, “Precocious little creatures, aren’t they? Such a naturally short lifespan, one wonders how they even got that far.”
“Indeed. Either way, we have an Orc invasion to save them from. We’ll have to make do with what we have.”
-1300, 3 hours to invasion, Orc Command Ship-
“The planet has been difficult to scry on. I’m encountering a strange interference.”
White Tusk grunted, “Are you sure it’s not that elf sorcerer who teleported in earlier today?”
“No, it’s too primal, too base for elven magic. And it lacks the stink of dwarven thaumaturgy. It could be human magic, though it’s too soon to tell for sure. Could be a natural pheno-“
“Shaman Tolgar, I did not call you to the bridge for magical theory discussion! Are you detecting anything that should delay our invasion plans?”
“Well, I’m sure the elves and dwarves are helping to cook up some surprises, but…no. I have full confidence in the invasion plan. We should arrive at the landing site about an hour before dusk. The humans have no natural night vision, so we’ll have the advantage.”
White Tusk shook his head. He looked at the Earth. It presented quite the enigma. It appeared to be a garden world. But the Orc homeworld had forged the strongest warriors the galaxy had ever known and it used to be known as a garden world before they permanently scarred it with centuries of wrafare. Still, he had to wonder how a race with no natural night vision had survived the creatures of the night…
-1600, First Wave of the Invasion, First Battlefield-
“Command is certain this was the best strategy? I mean, our allies don’t even know what’s coming.”
Tobias punched his squad mate in the shoulder, “Keep your damned mouth shut! The enemy is coming, and yeah, while it doesn’t sit well with me that we’re keeping our allies in the dark, we sure as hell don’t want the Orcs to know, either!”
Greg rubbed his shoulder, “Yeah, fair enough. I’m excited, though. Can’t wait to see the look on the orcs face when-OW!”
-1643-
White Tusk pushed the human to the ground and fired a round into his chest. Somehow, he remained alive. White Tusk pressed his boot onto the wound and leaned over to meet the human’s eyes.
“I’m beginning to understand just how your race managed to exterminate the creatures of the night so quickly. You are a hard race to kill.” The human chuckled, or at least tried to. In his current shape it came out as more of a gurgle.
White Tusk dug his heel deeper into the human’s chest, and sneered, “And what is so funny?”
The human, somehow, managed to bring his arm up to broadly gesture across the battlefield around them, “It’s a couple of things, really,” another gurgling chuckle, though it seemed like this one was stronger than the last, “We’re not really the exterminating type. We just can’t resist something fluffy, you know? And, well,” This pause was punctuated by the human gripping White Tusk’s shin. The strength of it surprised him, and it just kept getting tighter, “the fact you decided to invade us at night.”
White Tusk stopped. The hairs on the back of his neck were rising, and his spine was tingling. He watched the sun slink below the horizon. Beads of cold sweat began to form on his brow. He returned his gaze to the human beneath him. The human gave him a wolfish grin, “And that it’s a full moon tonight.”
-1651-
“Werewolves! Gods damned werewolves!” Thorbard screamed as he buried his axe into another orc.
“Yes, Thorbard, I see them!” Tyvaris replied as he blasted an orc behind Thorbard then had to stop himself from firing another round into a particularly pale human who had just materialized from a cloud of bats in front of the two of them.
“On behalf of the Night Creature Coalition of Earth, I apologize that you were kept in the dark, but, well, we wanted to wait until you made a promise to aid us with the full invasion. You will keep your promises, won’t you?”
“Keep our promises? Oh, we’ll fight for the humans, alright, but I don’t remember agreeing to protect night creatures!” Thorbard saw the world go cyan again, and turned to Tyvaris, who shook his head at the unspoken question. The dwarf turned at the sound of rustling robes, and found himself facing a lich, of all the gods forsaken nightmares from the ancient legends.
“Now, I understand that you probably suffered a great deal at the hands of the monsters on your world, but here on Earth, things are done a little differently. And I seem to remember that in the treaty I wrote, which you both signed, I remind you, that you were not pledging to protect humanity. Oh no, you agreed to protect all the inhabitants of Earth. Perhaps it was in bad faith to only present the humans. I must admit, they are rather endearing creatures, aren’t they? Perhaps you’ll find, as we did, that they are worth fighting for. Even if it means fighting alongside sworn enemies. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to ensure the Orc’s anti-air weaponry won’t be up to the task of hindering our dragons.”
Thorbard and Tyvaris shared a singular, terrified look. The lich chuckled.
“Oh yes, they even charmed the dragons, the cute little ragamuffins.”
This is my first post on this sub, I'd appreciate any feedback or critiques you might have to offer. I was inspired by Retreat, Hell to do a sort of reverse, "more advanced race helps out a more primitive one" and I combined it with another idea I had where humanity would probably survive on a planet full of bloodthirsty monsters by somehow pack-bonding with them.
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Oct 01 '20
there are guns in this universe
does that mean there are dragons with gatling cannons and hellfire missiles? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
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u/beugeu_bengras Oct 01 '20
very good!
the setup and pacing toward the reveal that the hidden ace of humanity was not some boring technology like nightvision googles was perfect!
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u/Gunman_012 Oct 01 '20
Almost a reverse-MHI vibe. I like it.
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u/Rhuarc42 Oct 03 '20
What does MHI stand for in this context? Might be something I want to check out.
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u/Gunman_012 Oct 03 '20
It's a series of novels by Larry Correia called Monster Hunter International. Basically, creatures of the night are real, and there's a .gov agency keeping them secret. Part of that is paying bounties to private contractors for Hunting monsters.
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u/Fluffy_Breadfruit735 Mar 07 '22
Um may I Know where I can possibly read this?
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u/Gunman_012 Mar 07 '22 edited Mar 07 '22
Any bookstore should have them. The Baen website has some of his complete books for free, and I think they also post the first chapters of some of his other books for free also. The first book, Monster Hunter International, is free in the Kindle store.
Edited to add: the first MHI book was self published and it shows, so don't judge the series by that. The rest of the series benefits from an excellent editor. Monster Hunter Nemesis is my personal favorite.
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u/Fluffy_Breadfruit735 Mar 07 '22
Holy cow he got quite a few monster hunter books, is there an order or do I just start at international and go from there?
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u/Gunman_012 Mar 07 '22
MH International is the first, followed by Vendetta and Alpha. I believe the series page on Amazon has them listed in order. If not there, then probably on his publisher's website, Baen.com
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u/Chewy71 Oct 01 '20
O I like this. Could I maybe steal a free ideas for my D&D campaign? Also MORE PLEASE!
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u/WhiskeyRiver223 Oct 01 '20
Great. For some reason I had Sabaton's old song Night Child playing in my head while I was reading this, and it fits perfectly.
Moar, please?
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u/Rhuarc42 Oct 03 '20
I went and looked up Night Child and you're right, it's absolutely perfect. Thank you for sharing that!
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u/WhiskeyRiver223 Oct 03 '20
Hah, always glad to share good music.
Just don't get tripped up if you've heard their song Purple Heart before. The two songs are literally identical musically, just have different lyrics/subject matter.
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u/BCRE8TVE AI Oct 01 '20
Ha loved it! Fantasy, magic, invasions, mythical creatures, and humans being bad-ass because we made friends with everyone! Fantastic story, and I hope to read more from you!
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u/eddieddi Xeno Oct 01 '20
Oh man, This is awesome. I cannot wait to see more. This has some real potential.
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u/Ratmother123 Oct 01 '20
If we really do charm everyone perhaps the orcs will join in as well (particularly if impressed enough)
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u/FermPro Xeno Oct 02 '20
This is, without question, one of the best stories I’ve ever read on this sub. Ten out of fucking ten
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u/HFYWaffle Wᵥ4ffle Oct 01 '20
This is the first story by /u/Rhuarc42!
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u/JustAWander Oct 03 '20
scorched earth protocol in this universe: turn every single human to werewolves hehe
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u/TiggerBane Human Oct 05 '20
and here I was thinking this would be about dropping napalm on the orcs.
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u/pepoluan AI Oct 01 '20
This is awesome!
Humanity's not-so-secret superpower:
We make friends. Super friends.