Death Race

[Lilandris]

So yeah, I decided to write another story, with a little different flavor than usual, now for you newcomers that haven't read my previous stories, the songs you see in italic text are "mood setters", the name says it all. they also reflect what I have been listening to while writing and getting inspiration.

And as always: Comments and feedback is appreciated as always! Enjoy!

Death race

This is Scorpion Gulch - Steve Ouimette
(Sadly I didn't find a youtube video of this song, but if you have Spotify you can search it up)

The sands of Uldum, endless dunes, old temples, the occasional oasis, a land full of danger, and also the site of today’s main event. The sun had already heated up the sand significantly, despite the time only being 7 AM. A group of people had gathered in the north-eastern part of Uldum, namely Khartut’s Tomb, and among them were a person we know well; Lilandris.

“GOOOOOOD MORNING EVERYONE!” the sound of a amplified goblin voice over a speaker rolled through the area. The group of people that had gathered looked up at the tomb behind them, on top of it stood the goblin who had shouted into the microphone.
“You have all come here for one reason, to win a large bag of gold, and to become famous, okay that’s maybe two reasons, oh! and you may have come seeking excitement, that makes it three reasons... OKAY! There might be a lot of reasons why you are here, but that’s not the point! Today, you will all embark on a perilous journey across the sands of Uldum, in, a, DEATH RACE! That’s right, you heard me, a death race!” The goblin paused for reactions, nobody in the crowd moved as much as a muscle, they just stared up at the goblin, Lil did as the rest of the crowd, only her gut growled slightly, she was nervous.
“Well then, the race starts here, and will take you on a full circuit around Uldum, we have people watching from the air to make sure you all follow the “route”. The route goes down those stairs, past the obelisk, down to the Halls of Origination, through the river below the dam, the water is shallow but there are crockolisks there, further through the Akhenet Fields, down past Neferset, through the cradle of the ancients, then you hang northwards over the dunes and past the ruins of Orsis on the western side, over the river and the mad dash to the finish line back here.” The goblin grinned, Lil could tell from the gleam from the sun in one of his golden teeth. “Now, if you will all step over to your vehicles... And remember, everything is allowed in this race as soon as you make it past the first obelisk. There is no prize for second place!” The crowd moved to the vehicles that had been parked a few paces away from them in a single row facing south, Lil got on her chopper, it had been equipped with tires designed to make it able to move in the sand. Lil put on her racing cap and goggles.
“Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines!” A roar of engines filled the air, Lil checked all the gauges and gizmos on her chopper before cracking her knuckles and taking a look at the other contestants, A male troll, a female human, a male goblin, a male gnome, and a female orc. Vehicles ranged from hovering rockets, to trikes to a very obvious gnomish five-wheeled contraption, (the fifth wheel being a mono-wheel mounted on the back of the vehicle). Lil revved up her engine.
“On my mark, get set, GOOOOOOOOOO! yeeeeAAAAAAH!!!”

The Devil Went Down To Georgia - Steve Ouimette


All the contestants skid off and down the stairs, a rather shaky experience, Lil blessed the good suspension on her chopper over and over in her head, if it hadn’t been as good as it was the whole chopper would have shaken to bits. Everyone kept going straight ahead, dodging small rocks and other obstacles in the way, pygmies watching these strange people and their contraptions speeding past them and into the distance. When they reached more open sands towards the Halls of Origination they spread out a bit more, though the orc woman was being aggressive and kept close to the human, wanting to take her out of the race sooner rather than later in some way or another, the orc ended up with a knife in her arm as a result. She wrenched it out again and stuck it on the weapon rack on her vehicle (she was driving a goblin trike), before moving away from the human. Lil caught the interest of the troll riding on a rocket, he flashed a toothy grin at her, Lil had no intentions of ending anyone’s life today, despite what she had gotten herself into, she made a taunting gesture at the troll, grabbed a wrench from her belt, and struck the gearbox on her chopper to kick it into next gear, gaining considerably on the troll before cutting in in front of him and giving her exhaust system a good strike with the wrench, letting it spew out thick black exhaust into the troll’s face. Ultimately the troll lost sight of everything, including his own gauges and gizmos and ended up nosediving his rocket into the sand, Lil could see it all in her mirrors, she laughed as she put her focus back on the way ahead, just in time to steer clear of a broken pillar and making the turn ahead.

The race continued towards the river, the roars of engines causing birds and other animals to scatter away, the crockolisks of the river weren’t as shy though, and did not take kindly to being rudely awaken by the noise and vibrations. As the racers speeded towards the shallow river, they got ready to pull their maneuvers to clear the river, most of the racers jumped over the water and onto the small islands as best they could, Lil rode straight through the water, she knew her chopper could take it. The gnome and his five-wheeled contraption didn’t make the first jump however, due to a malfunction, and had to start fending off angry crockolisks with whatever he had at hand, Lil predicted he would be eaten alive very soon, a thought that disgusted her, but she had to keep her focus if she wanted to get out of this alive. Two down, three to go.

As they made it across the river and down past the Akhenet fields, the fighting was heating up, Lil concentrated on her driving as she was lucky enough that the others were preoccupied with each other instead. They had to make it up onto the sand again through narrow gaps in the rocks, Lil chose to put herself behind the others and give herself some more room to maneuver in between the rocks, the orc was eventually forced away by the goblin, causing her to crash into the rocks, being killed instantly by the impact.
“Stone dead!” Lil thought to herself, grinning at her own joke. Lil’s previous decision had now put her at a disadvantage though, but she reckoned she could gain on them when they got to the cradle of the ancients, seeing as there were many obstacles there. Hyenas were starting to chase the racers over the sands, one of them snapped at Lil, almost getting hold of her arm.
“That could have been fatal!” the words raced through her mind at great speed, she noticed she was cold-sweating all over now. She was going to have to pull herself together.

The cradle of the ancients was getting closer in the distance, dead palms, dead animals, bones, gorges and other dangerous things came into view as they raced across the sands, Lil was going to have to do some aggressive driving here, and she knew it. There was a small drop down into the cradle, and after they had all dropped into it they split up again as to dodge all the various objects and growths. Lil narrowed her eyes, tightened her grip on the steering and twisted the gas to get more speed. She had lost sight of the other racers, this was a place it was easy to get lost in, she checked her compass, making sure that she was still heading west through the thicket. There! she spotted the others a few paces to her left through the vegetation, she was almost neck in neck with them, there was a dune with two splitting palms on top ahead of her, she had little time to think, but she knew that she would lose them if she went around it... she was going to have to gamble! The dune was steep, but it looked like it was sloped just enough... She felt the sweat rolling down her back, making her clothes wet, she shivered. As she closed in on the dune, she mouthed a prayer, twisted the gas as far as it went, she was going to jump between the palms, she MADE IT! She landed in front of the other racers in a dry riverbed, Lil’s chopper shed some bolts and the tire on the packed side-cart fell off in the impact, she made a downwards gear shift with a firm kick to the gearbox. Sand propelled from her rear wheel, the two other remaining contestants steered clear of it though, they were almost out of the cradle now, ahead, past a few more palms was open sands again. They all gunned it.

Little did they know they were all riding towards a violent sandstorm, by the time they noticed it was too late, they were at the mercy of the land now. Lil hadn’t been in many sandstorms, she panicked, she slowed down slightly and kept an eye on her compass, making sure that she was going north towards Orsis, She could hear the other’s engines a bit through the howling winds, then the sound of an engine revving as if the tires had been lifted off the ground, Lil looked in her left mirror, she could see a shadow of a vehicle being swept up into the air by a twister, she swallowed hard. Luckily Lil and the goblin made it out of the sandstorm.

After they had made it across the sands, and after some goblin aggressiveness and a jump across the second last river they were at the last stretch before the finish line. A loud bang in the distance sounded across the flat sands, then another one, and another! Someone was taking potshots at the two racers! They looked at each other, they knew they were in trouble, the goblin speeded up, Lil twisted the gas to max again, but the goblin was still slowly getting ahead, she was getting worried, a thousand paces and a jump was all that was left of the race... Lil had to think fast, the goblin was driving a goblin trike.
“That’s it! I know goblin contraptions inside out!” Lil pulled her pistol from her belt, cocked it with her teeth and aimed at the trike, she knew if she could disconnect the rear driveshaft from the engine-connectomatron, the trike would stop dead in it’s tracks. Once again Lil turned to prayer before making the shot... “CLOIIINNNNGGG!”
“Bullseye!” Lil shouted, the trike started making a nasty rattling sound before the rear driveshaft disconnected completely and fell off, the engine-connectomatron was still attached to the engine, but it was now scooping up sand and taking it straight to the engine, and as the goblin and his vehicle dropped behind, Lil could see in her mirrors that the trike suddenly tipped forwards, catapulting the goblin off and into the burning hot sand. This was it, now she had only the jump across the river left, Lil braced herself, leaned forwards and then backwards as she kicked in the jumping mechanism taking her just across the river, and then came the finish line!

Lil skid to a full stop across the finish line.
“We have a winner!” the goblin announcer shouted into the microphone.
Lil cut the engine and almost collapsed onto her chopper, the goblin announcer rushed towards her.
“Congratulations girl! You’ve won! Money, fame, and not least an experience for the rest of your life!” The goblin had a grin from ear to ear.
“Th-thanks... phew!” Lil breathed heavily, her adrenaline was pumping and she was sweating uncontrollably.
“Would you mind bringing me the prize money? I’m exhausted!”
“Certainly!” the goblin replied and raced off towards the stash in which the money was kept. As he came back he noticed the chopper was in pretty shabby shape now. “Oh and by the way, we don’t cover any repairs or medical bills as a result from this race, oh, and you don’t know me, you don’t recognize me, you don’t nothing, got it?” Strangely, the goblin was still smiling as he said the last sentence, then he ran off to his helicopter and flew off.
Lil packed up the small stash and made a few minor repairs to her chopper, the bigger ones would have to wait till later.