The Fall Of Vukmaw

20250820

Prompt from DailyPrompt.com

As I heard the cry of the last wolf, I knew it was over. We’d lost. The Moonlight Empire had fallen, its proud history cut short by the invading Homokin forces. No longer would we rule over these-
“Think we can get up now?”
I craned my head to frown at Adoff. “They haven’t declared the battle over yet.”
“Yeah, but it is over, and more to the point it’s muddy.”
“Wooow.” I scoffed, rolling my eyes. “If your ancestors could hear you now.”
“I like to think my ancestors would be wondering why I’m lying in a muddy field when there’s cosy cabins right over there.”
“Because we’re waiting for the battle to be called! Now shush, we’re meant to be dead.”
“So I’m a zombie werewolf. Bite me.”
“Ugh.” I wished I was close enough to do, mud and all. “Why’d you even LARP if you’re not going to take it seriously??”
“Firstly, because it has the best parts of camping plus I get to howl at people and chase them around and even hit them with sticks.”
Well, yeah. That was most of the appeal for me too, honestly.
“And secondly, because people like you take it way too seriously. Someone has to remember that we’re all playing pretend in a field like a bunch of puppies who know how to make chainmail.”
Ok now see there we differed.
“We’re not ‘playing pretend’, we’re taking part in collaborative storytelling which celebrates the ancestry and cultural traditions of all participants while-”
Adoff started letting off loud, snickering snores. He wasn’t even trying to sound zombie-like. Uggggh I wished I was close enough to shove mud up his snout.
I grumbled “I’m gonna roll my next character as a battle bard specialising in history just so I get to lecture you.”
“Try it and I’ll chew up your boots.”
I only just caught myself from jumping up. “You wouldn’t dare!! You know how much work I put into-”
“Well yeah, that’s why it’s a good threat.”
I huffed through my teeth. “You are the worst. Leto should’ve picked you to be the Darkmoon Wraith.”
“Why thank you.”
“That’s not a compliment you mangy-”
Marrok's voice interrupted me. “Are you two gonna get up, or what?”
Apparently the battle had been declared over while I was squabbling with Adoff. I hauled myself up with a sheepish wince. “Whoops!! Sorry, yes, we’re here!”
Of course that set Adoff snickering again. I lobbed a soggy turf clod at him before hurrying over to the others. Despite my scolding, I was eager to get indoors in the warm; my fur was soaked right through.
Leto had taken her helmet off and was gesturing for everyone to gather around. “Great showing, everyone! That was an awesome finale! I can’t wait to see what shots Tom got. Now, once you’re cleaned up make sure you’re full human-form, ‘cause now we’re going to be Homokin forces celebrating the banquet.”
Geri cheekily called “I reckon they were being such tryhards because they didn’t want to wear wolf ears for the party!” and everyone laughed - including the humans who were close enough to hear.
“We wouldn’t mind if you hadn’t bought tacky ones!” Billi shouted back, prompting whoops from her army.
“Oi!” Leto shook her fist without bothering to hide a grin. Then she turned back to us and continued “If you’re on cooking duty head to the main cabin - once you’re clean, duh - and Ron’ll take you from there. Everyone else, let’s get everything packed up so we can go wash!”
We punched the air and howled, one last battle cry. Then we set to with a will.
“This is when I start regretting all the elaborate props.” Leto bemoaned to nobody in particular, surveying the remains of the battle with a rueful air.
“It looked great in action, though!” Tom called, jogging over with his drone tucked under one arm and his camera clutched tight. “And if you need help…?”
“No, no, we lost, so we clean up.” Leto waved to the lingering humans. “It’s fine, really.”
I called “Yeah, go grab your true reward - an actually hot shower!”
That decided them, and they waved farewell to us and dashed off after the others.
“Sooo what’s next, chief?” I asked Leto, crouching to gather up scattered throwing axes. “Or is the future yet unwritten?”
“Mostly unwritten.” Leto shrugged. “It’ll depend how many people want to jump on the next season. We’ll either do a Moonlight resurgence, figure out a reason for the remaining Moonlight forces to join with another faction, or distribute everyone as scattered werewolves in each army. Mercenaries, or something.”
“Oo, we could defect to the Crimson Reign!” I suggested eagerly. “I mean, they’d be next in the Homokin sights, right?”
Also, vampire battle magic was WAY COOL - even the harmless illusion variants.
“Could do? I don’t know what Ken’s planning. Once I have numbers I’ll hit the leader chat and see who’s got capacity.”
I turned back to collecting axes, my mind whirring with possibilities for my next character. Did I want a relation of Vukmaw, seeking to avenge my glorious death? Someone else entirely, maybe only loosely connected to the Moonlight Empire (if at all)? If we did join the Crimson Reign, my character could be one of the Waxing Wanderers! A battle bard would actually work really well for that, and I’d been looking for an excuse to try beading…
While I knew there was no point doing proper planning yet, and firmly tramped down the shopping list my mind was throwing together, there was no harm in having draft character sheets ready, right? Maybe with a bit of concept art doodled. And, I mean, if I was going to need to be able to do beading for my armour, getting a small kit to try out would be a good idea…
I hummed to myself, tail wagging. Losing wasn’t all bad; fresh slates were the most fun to colour in.

Prompt was the first sentence.