Quand on laisse l'IA faire

You are Gerald, a squire living in the kingdom of Larion. You have a spear and a pack of supplies. You follow Sir Theo as he enters the forest, he turns to you and says "Gerald, do you know why we are going into the forest?"
You think for a moment, before saying "No, I do not sir."
Your mentor smiles as he leads you to your squad. You see a group of ten men, all around your age, though one or two are a few years older. They all have the standard equipment of a soldier: plate armor, sword, and spear. "This is the third squad. We are the vanguard of the Imperial army, tasked with destroying any resistance that might be in the way of annexing new lands for the Empire."
You stare at them in awe, as they stare back. One of them, a soldier called Tom, comes over to you. "God's birth, small child. What do you think of the Empire?"
You think for a moment, before replying "It would be good for the Kingdom."
Your friend raises an eyebrow, "Why?"
You think some more, "Well, things would run smoother."
"Ah, but what about you? What do you want?"
You don't know how to answer this. Do you want to be a soldier for the rest of your life? Or do you want to try something different? You can't put your finger on it, but there's something... not right. Tom seems nice, but you don't know him that well. You might be okay becoming a soldier for the rest of your life, but there's just something not right about the Empire. You go with what you know though, "I want to be a soldier."
"Alright then, follow me, I'll take you to the recruiters." With that, Tom leads you out of the camp.
As you walk through the camp, you are hit by the millions of smells, all these men emitting. However, you aren't overwhelmed by it. Instead, you notice a particular smell, the smell of woodsmoke. A fire nearby, but not too close, a grill over it to cook our basic camp meals. And... men around it. There are quite a few men, many more than your squad. As you follow the smell, you walk past several conversations that catch your attention.
"What do you mean, conscripted? He's been in the third squad for years! He's a hero!"
"I don't care what anyone says, Tom is an w...!"
"Shut up, you idiot! Conscripted? He's fifteen, next year e...!"
"QUIET! Silence in the ranks! Man, I can't believe they sent us out here without Tom, or at least with a stand in! I hope this isn't some Imperial trap!"
"... I just don't know what's going on. I mean Tom was always a little confused, but he knew his orders. Now? Who knows? They won't tell anyone anything. What are we supposed to do? Wait around in the camp until they decide to attack us?"
"That's what I'm saying! This is an outrage! I'm going to speak to Captain Pollo...! Wait, he's not here either. When is anyone going to tell us what's going on? Why is no one saying anything? What's wrong with this camp? The Kingdom should be doing something about this!"
"Yeah, well the Kingdom's been doing nothing except sending us out to wage war for them. I'm sensing we're in for a terrible time. Hopefully my family will be able to get by on their farm, they won't starve. At least the fields will always be picked."
"Yeah... I guess so. Hey, if we're going to be here for an extended period of time, maybe we could make the place our own. Get some of our people in there to set up a small hospital or something. I know the Empire doesn't care about us like they do the regular soldiers, but we can't just sit around doing nothing. At least with a hospital, we could do something to help the war effort."
"Yeah, yeah, I've thought about it. The problem is, we don't really have anyone competent to do it. Most of our people are either still healers or we have none at all. We have to remember all the gladiator schools were shut down after the Empire made their peace with Hef."
"You thinking about setting one up here?"
"Maybe, I'm looking around for people. You know of any?"
"Nope. I think most of the families that had children went to serve in the army."
You think about this for a minute, and then you remember, "There was that one girl. She was from a family that owned a tavern in the slums. I think her father didn't like the idea of his daughter going against her nature."
"What was her nature? The girl was fourteen. She would have gladly left with the rest of the gladiators at that age."
"She was a thief."
"So? tavern owners are always thieves."
"Yeah, but she was a good one. She never got caught. Her name was Lisa. Maybe... we could look some up? In the meantime, I think we should let the captain know what's been going on. Pollo could execute a few people. Some fresh blood would probably keep everyone on their toes."
"Mm. Yeah... I guess we should do that. After all, if we're going stay here and get the place set up, we better start reporting things to him. Let's go.
You walk into the captain's tent. It is a large some black fabric that makes the entire thing look like a cave. You see three men inside. The Captain is sitting in a chair reading some book. To his right is a man you assume is his second in command. This man is also reading a book. To the third's left is a rather large man who is just looking around. The second begins reading his book, and the captain seems content to just sit there so you do the same.
You wait for about five minutes before getting impatient. To your surprise, the large man stands up.
"Captain Pollo!" you say.
The captain looks up, but he doesn't look very surprised to see you. He did tell you to report though.
"Yes?" he answers.
"We've been letting your people rot out here for weeks! There have been orcs, ogres, and worse coming in. We don't have enough warriors to go around. I demand that you do something!"
"Rotten? Really? When?" he asks incredulously.
"I first reported it a month ago."
"Okay, okay, you got me there. I'll have a look at it right away." The captain stands up and heads to the tent opening.
"Hey!" you say, eagerly.
He turns around to look at you.
"Don't bother. He's useless." His second quietly says.
You are taken aback.
"Captain Pollo, I beg you to not believe all you hear. I have tried to fix this. I have even executed a few people. They are useless. I need new, young warriors. They will increase the fighting prowess of our ranks!"
"Well, your first report said there were some young children there."
"Most of them are teenagers now."
"In that case, have the lot of them transferred out here. We need more manpower on the frontlines."
The captain leaves and you slump into a nearby chair. You feel like you just got slammed with another problem. You're beginning to wonder if you even want to fix this.
Then, you notice the large man who was talking to the captain earlier. He walks up to you.
"Hey, are you the leader of the slaves?" he asks.
"I am."
"I'm Brutus. I was sort of talking with the captain before you arrived."
"Pleasure to meet you, Brutus. I am surprised that the captain let anyone out here besides the leaders. It's not very smart to keep people on the outside waiting."
"Eh, the captain's good at what he does. If you haven't noticed, I've been here a lot longer than you."
"True. So how long has it been since you had children transferred out here?"
"Two years, four months and fifteen days."
This causes him to smile a bit.
"My wife has been wanting a child for that long. Longer even."
He continues on about how his wife has been getting sicker lately due to some unknown reason. He asks if you have children and when you reply that you do not, he is somewhat sympathetic. He remarks that it must be a hard thing to lose one's child. You nod in agreement. He goes on about how his wife has seen many people die and still remain optimistic that her child will be the one to save her. He also says that she is a lot like the captain in that regard.
Time passes and you are eventually dismissed as the captain has to get back to work. Brutus wishes you a good day and states that he hopes to see you soon.
You go back to work and Brutus is right; the transfer of children goes quickly. By the end of the week, the place is full of them. The years of combat experience you've gained have finally come in handy. A lot of the orcs under your command are mostly young teenagers. The first time they were ordered into combat, they proved to be fairly effective. Your orcs have only gotten more efficient over time.
The children begin to settle in and it's quite a sight to see. The children are delighted to be so close to the great mountain and enjoy themselves. The adults are put to work on the farms and in the mines. Fifteen years pass by and your tribe becomes a very sustainable community. The captain was not a liar when he said you wanted to kill humans. You have attempted to make it so that your tribe will never be in need of money again.
What you had not accounted for was a sudden shift in the laws of probability. The Captain was not a liar when he said the humans would one day return and this day has arrived sooner than expected.
The humans you had hoped would never return are back and they're much stronger than before.
You sit on the mountain, staring into the forest. You watch an entire company of them march across the nearby hill. The numbers are correct. This company is making a full assault with the intent to break through whatever defenses your tribe has. Unfortunately, the captain is right about one thing; your defenses are the best.
The humans begin to charge down the mountain towards your position. You give the order for everyone to get into a defensive circle and wait. After a few minutes, the humans arrive.
"How should we defend against this?" one of your people asks.
"I don't know," you reply. "But I imagine we'll have to."
The humans arrive and you can see that they are different from before. Instead of the knights wearing simple armor, they now wear suits of plated armor. These suits are not only armor for the humans, but for some reason they give the humans powerful weapons. Two of the humans wield halbeards, large broadswords that can cleave a horse in half. They are followed by humans armed with muskets, a type of gun that is powerful enough to kill a grizzly bear.
You study the humans and see they are far different from the humans you remember. Most of them are very tall, almost on the same level as you, and far more muscular. Their faces have changed as well. Gone are the refined faces of the knights. In their place are Neanderthal like faces,Broad noses, and eyebrows that join above the eyes. Their teeth are larger and they boast much stronger teeth than before.
Their armor is strange as well. Instead of the clear leather of the knights, the humans now wear thick metal that is golden in color. This metal appears to almost be woven with the muscles of the human rather than being draped over them. The helmet the humans wear appears to be much stronger than before and there are strange symbols etched into the metal.
You watch as the humans raise their weapons and charge down the mountain. You give a few orders and your people prepare for defense.
The humans are quite a bit faster than your people and they easily bypass your defenses. You attempt to use your special abilities, but the humans are protected by some sort of shield. Their bone clubs and sharp objects are powerful enough to easily kill your people. You dig your claws into a human's leg as he runs past and try to tear it off, but the man only grunts and keeps running. You attempt to grab one of the muskets that the humans are carrying, but the human quickly swings it around and takes you out with a bullet to the head.
You fall to the ground with a thud. You lie there thinking about how you are going to die here when you feel a sharp pain in your shoulder and arm. You look and see that one of the humans has stabbed you with a small dagger. He lifts it up and snarls, ready to plunge it into your chest.
"Scream for the lady- lovers to hear and watch you die," a voice growls.
The man pulls out the knife and snarls at you. He begins to walk away with it in your chest, when another sharp pain hits your elbow. You look and see another human stabbing your arm. He grunts in annoyance as your claws rip through his face and chest, but he ignores the pain and continues stabbing you with his dagger.
You pull out the knife and snarl at him. This only makes him laugh and he begins walking away again. You grab another human and bite into his arm, tearing out large chunk of flesh with your teeth. He screams in pain and drops his weapon. As you look up, you see the man with the dagger in your chest slowly walking towards you. You're going to die here today, just like your brothers and sisters.
You look up at the humans snarling and howling at you and you see something you've never seen before. A few of the men and a few of the women appear to be...well, human looking. These people look just like the humans from your village...well, other than the helmets.
You howl up at the humans, wanting them to know you see them. You see one man in golden armor step forward. He raises a hand up and waves at you.
"Please, no more of your kind," he says in a thick Eastern European accent.
You howl again and manage to grab the man's hand. You bury your teeth into the man's arm. He screams and attempts to free his arm, but you have a good hold on it. His other arm goes up in the air and he begins to cast a spell.
"Let him go!" he screams. "Mikhail, kill the beast!"
You feel a sharp pain in your teeth and a burning sensation in your mouth as they begin to melt. The man continues to scream and the woman with him tries to cast a spell, but you have a better idea. You wrap your arms around the man and squeeze tightly. You're not sure what the magic is that he's casting, but you want to stop it. You want to make sure your people understand how serious this attack is.
You feel the man begin to scream in pain. He begins to cast more words and you squeeze tighter and tighter. The man continues to scream as his eyes roll in the back of his head and he loses consciousness. You release your bite and the man slumps to the ground.
The woman screams at you, casting whatever spell it was she was casting at the same time. You howl up at her, not really thinking about what you're doing. She stumbles back and nearly falls off of her horse, but hisses at you instead.
"Kill it!" she screams at Mikhail.
He snarls at her and spurs his horse forward. She screams and tries to cast another spell, but he's already on you. He hits you in the side with his sword and you fall off of your horse. He kicks at you, but you manage to roll out of the way. As you stand up, he charges into you with his sword. It goes into your side and comes out the other end.
You scream in pain and collapse on the ground. He picks up his sword and begins to approach you. The woman screams at him, furious that he'd harm you.
"Kill it! Kill it now!"
He snarls at her and runs his sword through your side. You scream in pain once again and the woman screams even louder. Mikhail pulls his sword out of your body and wipes his blade off on your fur.
He turns to face her, snarling at her with malice in his eyes. She doesn't know what to do. She knows he'll kill her if she tries to jump off of her horse, but he might still kill you. She leans over and snatches up her spear.
It's not much of a weapon, but it's better than nothing. She charges him and the two meet in the middle of the road. Meanwhile, you're still trying to recover from your injury. You manage to stand up with some effort and look on in anger as they begin to fight.
You're no warrior and you can't help them, even if you wanted to. You doubt if you could even help yourself right now. The two battle it out for a while with neither winning or losing. It would seem the woman is managing to hold her own against the human. She tosses her spear aside and draws her sword, before going for his eyes. He slips on the ground and she manages to snag the blade with her hand.
She tries to pull it away, but he snarls and bites her arm. She screams in pain and drops the sword. They continue to wrestle for a few moments before she manages to pull her hand away and back up. The man charges her with his sword, which she blocks and tackles him. The two roll on the ground, trading punches. You could help here, but you'd rather keep an eye on this monster.
They continue to roll and punch each other until the man manages to sit up. The woman goes for his eyes again, but he catches her hand and bites down on it. She screams in pain as he spits out her now useless hand. He gets back up, but the woman goes for his eyes again. She tries to stab him in them, but he catches her hand and bites down on it. He spits out bloodied fingers and she screams once more.
The two continue to battle, both covered in blood, as you try to stop yourself from being run over by the horses. Eventually, the woman manages to lop his head off with her sword. It hits the ground with a thud and his body still moving.
She slowly stands up and turns around.
"Come on, we have to go! They're coming!" she says and rides away on her horse.
You stand up, still clutching your bloody side and feel a little twinge of pain. You can't imagine how much blood you've lost, but you barely feel it now. It's more of a numb feeling that has washed over you. You slowly hobble after the woman as she rides away.
A few moments later, you can hear the roars of the approaching horde.
"We need to go," the woman says.
With her horse out of reach, you crawl after her on all fours. You follow the dirt road as it curves to the left. There's a stand of trees up here, which the woman seems to be heading towards. The sounds of the horde are getting louder and closer.
"We need to go NOW!" the woman says looking back at you. You crawl and drag yourself after her as she runs towards the trees.
You see a group of them, a large group of starving, madmen coming to finish the job for the dead their forefathers failed at.
"Hurry," the woman says as you run. She draws her knife.
You reach the trees and the woman pushes you behind a large tree. She stands in front of you with her knife.
The largest man in the group, a thing covered in decay, walks forward. It's skin pulled tight over muscles torn to shreds of decaying flesh. It growls as the woman steps forward.
"Please, please help me," she says. "They're going to kill him."
The large thing stops and looks at her. She kneels down in front of it.
"Please, I just want to live. Let me live. I won't trouble you again. Please."
The thing looks at you and its rotten mouth turns into a horrible grin. It starts to walk past her, but she touches it. It stops and looks down at her.
"I'm sorry," she says as the monster tears her apart.
You turn back to look at the large thing. It snarls and charges towards you. You cover your face and...
You wake up in bed. You're still alive and the dream is gone. It was just a dream, just like all the others.