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Chapter 39 - Warhammer

In light of the time since their last meal, and how troublesome the banquet became for everyone, especially Ember, and the amount of work he and Hess had to put into preparing all that food, Hess decides they should have a small feast of their own. He picks up a small rectangular device from his model painting desk and Ember shuffles himself closer to figure out what it is.

“Woah, is that …?”

“What, a smartphone?”

“Yeah! I needed a contact number for work so I had to get a phone, but I could only afford a little flip one. They look so fancy with the big screen.”

“Well, maybe he master will let you have one, once you pass your test.”

“Dunno why I’d need it, you guys are always nearby.”

“We could take you back to the cabin to pick your old one up. Then you can just keep it for emergencies, ” Hess reasons.

“Yeah … I’ll think about it.”

Ember stares at the clever device, admiring all the smooth animations as Hess gestures against the glass, causing applications to open and minimise like on a computer.

“Anyway, I’m thinking takeout ‘cause I can’t be arsed tonight, y’no?” Hess whines, already checking menus. “You like Chinese?”

“I’m with you there. Yeah I love it.”

“You want anythin’ special? Otherwise I’ll just get like selections of stuff,” he asks holding the phone in front of the other wolf.

“No no, I’m pretty easy. Long as there’s chicken.” Ember says, politely refusing the device, concerned he would break it if he did something wrong or accidentally dropped it.

“Alright.” Hess adds a bunch of stuff into the cart on the website. “Sorted.”

“Don’t you need to call them?”

“No they had an online form, so I just put it all on there.”

“Oh cool, so … what do we do until it shows up?” Ember asks, expecting a lewd reply.

“You could cum in my sheath while we make out,” Hess replies, leaning back on his desk and looking down at his sheath; its opening still gaping a little from the recent filling.

“Tsk, you really are terrible.”

“Hey, I haven’t cum since yesterday night and I’ve been teased so much today; and I really really miss the chair.” The brown wolf pines pitifully.

“You’ll be back on it again tomorrow. I’m still nervous about it myself.” Ember turns to pace a few steps before turning back. “Well, it’s more the injection I guess, but the sucky part too.”

“Ah you’ll be fine. It’s great fun.”

“Yeah I guess so.” A silence fills the room as they both think of something to do that isn’t sex. “Do you wanna tell me more about D&D or anything else you like?”

“I could do, but I think it would be a good idea for you to watch our next game before I get too invested in teaching you, in case you don’t like it.”

“That makes sense.”

“But I could show you some Warhammer stuff,” Hess says excitedly and turns around to his hobby desk, sitting down and turning on the lamp. “So I play as Chaos Space Marines, they’re a lot of fun and it means I get to be more creative with my models.” He picks up one of the figurines and hands it over.

Ember takes it carefully and looks at the intricate detail that’s been put into the painting. There are patches of pink in various shades over black, with strange iconography and touches of silver and gold for the metals and insignia. All over it are intentional wear marks, scuffs, dirt and stains of rust and blood. The design itself is that of a robotised human with bulky plate armour and heavy weaponry. He hands it back and looks at a couple of the others, all with a similar colour palette, but some with skull motifs, some with a bright crest on their helmet, some with corruptions of the body making them horribly disfigured.

“These are incredible,” he admires, “I can’t believe you do all this by hand.”

“Heh, thanks. I’ve still got a bunch of them to paint, but I have enough done to play with. … Oh!” Hess jumps as he remembers something and hops up to one of his shelves where he pulls off a much larger model and presents it. “This is one of my favourites; he’s a former Chaos Space Marine -” he points to the soldiers on the desk, “- turned to a Daemon Prince by the god of lust and excess … Slaanesh.” The wolf glimmers with joy as he explains and hands over the model so his friend can take it for inspection.

Ember looks at the creature standing so menacingly on the little podium it’s glued to, again admiring the keen brushwork on all the grooves of metal and bone, wrinkles of flesh, and the chain-link skirt. All the patterns and emblems are beautifully accentuated with gold against the black armour and deep red complexion. He notices very little battle damage on this creature save for a few nicks and scratches on the exposed bone and horns.

“Really cool. He’s not seen much action I guess.” He smiles, passing the figure back.

“Actually, I only add battle damage when they die. If one of ‘em get killed in-game I put a little mark on the base to remind me to add the damage later.”

“Oh, that’s really neat. So … this guy’s not been taken down yet?”

“Not yet.” Hess smiles, looking at the grimacing visage of the hulking crimson demon. “Though, I’ve only used him once. There’s a new Codex for Dark Eldar coming out this year, I hope.The magazine I subscribe to have talked about it, but there’s no official release yet; it’s only been nearly two years since 5e came out for space marines.” He rolls his eyes incredulously. “I’ve not tried them, and I don’t want to get into an old Codex right before a new one’s supposed to come out so I figured I’d just wait. The models are great though, with some really cool designs; I want to get some to add to my collection. Of course, if you’re just collecting, it doesn’t really matter which Codex you choose, unless there is a model in the new one that you want. I mean, I would like to play them at some point, but I’d rather …” He stops when he realises the other wolf’s eyes glazing over and clears his throat awkwardly. “Heh, sorry.”

“Don’t be, it’s kinda cute hearing you get so passionate over it. I’ve just no idea what you’re talking about,” the black wolf says, smiling. “So … what do you do with them?” He asks, feeling like he’s just been shown a car without knowing how to drive.

“Oh … heh, yeah I should explain that bit.” Hess giggles and puts the figurine back down on the shelf. “You have this map, right? All your models are put on it like a playing field; along with terrain. Now, imagine the models have a specific weight. Depending on the point score of the game you decide to play, you have a maximum weight that you can put on the field. So if you’ve got a high point score, you can have lots of little models or a few big ones.”

“Ok, with you so far. What’s the aim?”

“Whatever the players decide really. King of the hill; most kills in a time limit; I also have a home brew capture the flag, etc. It’s all about how you wanna play. When it’s your turn, you can move any or all of your models, using a ruler to measure distance so the units stay together and if they get in range to attack, you can engage.”

“A ruler?” The black wolf raises an eyebrow curiously.

“Yeah, groups of models have to be near to each other to still be considered ‘coherent’” Hess air-quotes.

“I can see why the others call you a nerd now.” Ember titters and gently punches Hess’s arm when he pulls a frown. “Why don’t you show me? Do we have time?”

“Uh …” Hess looks at the clock showing 6:30 and winces, “Nnnnoooo” he drawls. He spend a moment to think and goes back to his shelves to pull out a rolled up mat. “Not a full game anyway, but I did mention there’s a timed one. We could have a quick battle until the doorbell goes.”

“Alright, you’re on.”

“Sweet, ok, help me carry some stuff downstairs, we’ll need a big table,” the chubby wolf says gleefully.

He starts pulling out boxes from the shelves and hands over one box and the map to be transported downstairs. He takes the rest and a heavy book and follows on behind. Ember has a sudden pang of fear as he enters the dining room, momentarily expecting it to be full of people. He looks over at the window overlooking the garden as a flash of the disturbing memory comes back to haunt him. He’s nudged from the rear, breaking him from the daydream.

“Y’alright, cock?” Hess asks.

“Oh … yeah, yeah I’m good.” He shakes his head and walks in. “Was worried for a moment the staff were still gonna be here.”

“Ah no, they’ve all cleared off by now. Jack had to grab some stuff from the utility room before he left and sent me a text that he was the only one there.”

“That’s good, I really didn’t enjoy wearing clothes over fur.” Ember puffs, carefully dropping the box on the table.

“Sucks dunnit?” Hess laughs, putting his stuff down and handing the book to the other wolf as he starts to unpack stuff.

“Quite a tome.” The black wolf flicks through the pages, impressed by all the artwork inside.

“Yeah, doubt I’ll need it, but it’s always good to have the rule book handy. Let me just go put some plates in the warmer.”

On his return, Hess starts putting bits of broken wall foundation on the map along with fake dirt piles and other rubble, all statically formed in plastic and foam and wood and just as intricately painted as the models. The mat is similar to that of a large mouse mat in texture, but shows a detailed grassy plain with crushed flowers, exposed rock, small craters and further evidence of previous battles. Ten Marines are pulled out of a box and each set up behind one of the modelled debris to serve as cover. He pulls out a strangely angled plastic triangle to set the distance between all of the troops.

“Alright, crash course.” Hess says, putting the lids back on the boxes and moving them out of the way. “This is your unit, and this is mine; it’s just gonna be all infantry, I don’t wanna confuse you with beasts and vehicles and stuff. All you’ve gotta do is kill my guys before I kill yours. You can use this to measure your movement, but the troops have to all stay within two inches of each other.“

“Alright.” Ember sits down at his side and fiddles with one of his guys.

“So, Warhammer is a rabbit hole of rules, but this is your first game and I don’t wanna overwhelm you. There’s all these characteristics that models can have, like how alert they are which allows them to attack first in close-quarters, and even morale. If enough troops die in battle, all the others in that unit could get too scared and flee.”

“Wow.”

“Literally scratching the surface.” Hess laughs. “You’ve no idea. But yeah, I’m not gonna do any of that, all we care about are three things. The first is how hard they can hit. I’ve only chosen models with melee weapons, so we don’t care about ballistic proficiency, only how good they are with swords, or in his case -” he points “- a chain-sword”.

“Ha ha, that’s silly.” Ember picks it up to look at it and puts it back down, using the little triangle to measure two inches or less.

“This characteristic is the weapon skill and it’s what determines whether you make the hit or not. Remember it’s all about dice rolls in the end.” Hess pulls out a D6 for them to use and puts it on the table.

“Ok, so first roll determines if you hit the guy, then does that’s guy just die or will I need to do it again?” Ember guesses, remembering video games that used health bars.

“In this game, there’s not really any health. Unfortunately, all of our troops only take one point of damage each, so as soon as they’re hit, they’re dead. They’re just squishy humans after all.” The brown wolf chuckles, feeling very superior as a werewolf, knowing he would at least take two to kill. “Anyway, the second thing is the strength of the attacker and the toughness of the victim. These are used to calculate what dice roll you need to get to land the hit and deal damage. Again, we’re using the same pieces so it’s just a four or above, and that will inflict one ‘wound’ which is just one point of damage.”

“Got it.” Ember puzzles for a moment, “So is the game just all just dice rolls?”

“The game is mostly about the strategy, we don’t have time for a full game because they can take hours. But it’s all about how you move and position your units and finding the best path to strike. Not this, I hate this; but it shows you what it’s like if nothing else.”

“Heh, yeah, I guess so. Plus, if I like it, we can always play again with more time. Could even try tonight if I’m not too late back after the hunt.”

“That would be fun.” Hess beams and carries on with his explanation. “The last thing you need to know are the turn phases. On each player turn, you get to do three things, move, shoot and assault. None of us have guns so we’ll ignore phase two.”

“So I could attack you before you’ve moved?” Ember asks curiously.

“Yes, but our units are quite far apart, so it will take both of us a turn to move close enough to fight. Remember this is a silly version of the game, it’s a lot more strategic than this.”

“Yeah I understand. Maybe they were all friends beforehand but had an argument.” The black wolf muses, looking at the infantrymen.

“They are very chaotic, you never know. Thankfully we don’t resolve arguments like this.” The chubby wolf giggles and leans on the table with his elbow so he can rest his chin on the palm.

“No, we find much more creative ways, don’t we?” Ember asks rhetorically.

Hess wiggles his eyebrows and stands back up straight. “Anyway, highest roll goes first, let’s get started.” He nods to the die.

Ember picks it up and drops it on the table. “Heh, two. Not a great start.”

“Well, you never know … or not, sorry Ember, my turn first.” Hess says with joyful mockery.

The game progresses as expected from here, the two opposing units come into contact with each other and are forced to engage in melee combat, forfeiting any further movement and ballistic phases. The dice rolls continue to be unfavourable to Ember, but this only urges him on and makes the pleasure of felling one of his enemies that much more enjoyable when it happens. With two marines remaining and three in the opposing unit, the wolf once again takes the offensive and manages to defeat one of them, levelling the score to 3:3 at the end of turn 2.

“So how did you get into all this stuff?” Ember asks, watching Hess take control of the die again.

“Oh I was hugely into this stuff in school. I had friends I played with who’d come to my house because it had the most room and my parents could afford the model sets.” He rolls, landing a hit.

“Did the kids not know you were a werewolf?”

“Not at first. The teachers did, but weren’t allowed to show bias or anything. This was an expensive school after all, so if the parents took their kid away, the school lost money.”

“Ah, yeah.” Ember nods, “so they found out eventually?”

“Yeah news got out, as news does.” He rolls again, successfully landing a wound and killing one of Ember’s remaining men. “I became quite unpopular as you can imagine, but thankfully I’d gained friends before that happened who continued to support me and come over to play. They knew they weren’t in danger.”

“Bet their parents weren’t best pleased though.” Ember says, leaning on the table, noticing his inevitable defeat.

“Some weren’t yeah, and fought to get me removed. Not that they could do anything though, both my parents had their civil werewolf licences, and I was still a child so I had a provisional. But because I was educated by the time I turned 16, I got a full licence right away.”

“I’ll admit, I didn’t even know there were licences.” Ember mutters quietly, watching as his last remaining soldier loses the attack. One more successful roll and the battle is over. “I just kept it hidden.”

“Ah, yeah that’s illegal, ha ha,” Hess says, rolling a six and taking great pleasure in knocking the last of his enemies over. “Sorry about that.” He holds out his hand in peaceful gesture. Ember takes it and instantly brightens back up after the loss.

“So, you ready to get stuck balls-deep in lore?”

“Ha ha how bad could it be?” He chuckles, estimating that a game that’s been around for decades with a fan base as large as it is, must have a lot of depth. They separate their hands just as Cal walks in carrying a laundry basket.

“Shouldn’t you two be cooking?” He asks, strolling by and plonking the basket down on the table. “You better not have left any scratches on my table.”

“No mom, we were careful,” Hess sneers. “I ordered Chinese food, I couldn’t be arsed cooking.”

“I suppose I don’t blame you; nor Ember,” he turns to face the black wolf. “You doing ok, love? You disappeared for a bit after I last saw you. I assume you were with this li’l perv.”

“Eh?! Why you callin’ me that?” Hess starts, bolting up off the chair.

“I saw Jack.” He grins, happy in knowing that will have won him the battle.

“Oh,” Hess blushes and shrugs a little. “I take what I can get.”

“You sure do.” Cal chuckles and looks over at the map, seeing all of Ember’s pieces on their backs. “Aw, did he beat you, dear?”

“Yeah.” The black wolf nods. “It’s ok though, I’ll get him next time.”

“Next time huh? Caught the bug have you?” Cal picks up his laundry.

“Dunno if I’d go that far. I just want a proper game.” Ember rights all his soldiers and knocks down the two remaining enemies. “A rematch.”

“Alright sweetie.” Cal kisses the top of the wolf’s head as he passes by. “I’ll go grab Voigt and bring him down when I’m done with this,” he adds and wanders off towards the utility room.

As the wolves are setting out more troops for a longer game, Hess’s phone rings for the driver to be let in through the gate. He jumps up, scrambles to the door and shoves on a pair of those stretchy shorts. He presses a buzzer by the door to unlock the gate and calls down the phone for them to drive in. Ember puts some shorts on too, just in case.

“Have they delivered here before?” He asks the shorter wolf, who shows a face of concern and immediately pulls his hand away from the door handle.

“Uh hey, could you please just leave the food on the path and I’ll come down and get it.” He says to the guy on the phone. “Uh … the gate locks itself when it shuts so I have to hold the buzzer down … yeah I know, we’re getting it looked at … thanks,” he hangs up and holds the buzzer to keep the gate open and upload the lie.

Ember peers through the glass by the door and sees the driver get out and dump the bags of food on the floor. He gets back into his car and drives away.

“Don’t we have to pay?” Ember asks opening the door.

“No, I paid online.”

“Oh, neat. Another thing I didn’t know you could do.” The black wolf laughs beside the other as they go to retrieve the bags.

“You poor thing, you really were sheltered huh?” Hess asks picking one up and waiting for the other to follow him back up the path.

“Yeah, I don’t even have a bank account. All my money is probably still in a box under my bed.” He stops walking and laughs to himself. “I should really go and get that, there were a couple hundred quid in there at least. I completely forgot.”

“Ha ha, let the master know. He’ll let you go with Cal to get it.” Hess shuts the door behind them and leads the other wolf into the kitchen so they can start unpacking the food and getting it on platters and dishes like a buffet.

“So how do you even get one of those licences?” Ember asks, tipping out two bags of battered chicken into a large bowl.

“You have to be proven to an official that you are ‘civil’.” Hess air-quotes “It’s all bullshit really, the master should really be able to do it. I think you saw guy today actually, Walter?”

“Ah yeah, he mentioned it to me.”

“Yeah. When the master thinks you’re ready, he will ask Walter to grant your licence. We’ve all got ours o’course.”

“So, what about when I went with Cal into town? Is that allowed?” Ember asks, getting confused.

“No no, you’ll already have been given a provisional when you joined which allows you into human spaces. You just aren’t allowed to get a job. Or study for that matter, unless you’re underage.” Hess tries to explain. “I’m really not the best person to ask,” he laughs awkwardly and finishes up serving so he can throw away the bags.

“So does that mean I don’t officially work here yet?” Ember says, helping the wolf carry plates of food through to the dining table.

“Hm,” Hess hums in thought. “I think the master is classed as like a licensed handler or something. I don’t really know. Maybe not and he just puts the money aside for you until you get your licence.” He shrugs and puts the last of the plates down. “I already had one so I was paid right away.”

Cal and Voigt show up in the dining room, walking in together and taking their positions.

“Little early isn’t it?” Voigt asks, checking his watch.

“I can’t control when they deliver the food. Be glad it isn’t late,” Hess huffs.

“I suppose you’re right. Thank you for this.” The older wolf grabs his collar and tugs him closer so he can steal a kiss, making Hess moan and fidget. “You’re a good boy. Hey, what are you doing still wearing this collar?”

“Um …” The chubby wolf gulps and looks over at Ember. “My owner said I wasn’t allowed to.”

“Owner?” Voigt grins widely and follows his gaze. “Seems like you’re fitting in very nicely.”

Ember blushes and giggles nervously. “Y-yes sir.”

“Go call the master down, would you? This food is tempting me something rotten,” the older wolf says.

Ember ducks into the kitchen to hold the buzzer down for a few seconds and hurries back to the table. Voigt has started gnawing on Hess’s neck and grabbing all the fat he can get his claws into.

“You’re having quite an effect on us all, dear,” Cal says and leans closer. “Come see me later, I have an idea for you”

“Oh … alright,” Ember smiles continuing to watch his pet get molested.

Eventually they break apart and retake up their positions. Hess grumbles because he can’t get hard and Voigt grumbles because he has and can’t cum yet. They all stand in silence, sniffing and drooling at the smell all that food without being able to eat any of it, waiting for their master to arrive and release them from the agony.