Chapter 4.40 L is the forty-first chapter of Volume 4 and the thirteenth chapter of Book 6.
tl;dr[]
Yellow Splatters meets Purple Smile, wastes food in the inn and makes Twin Stripes an Aberration.
Synopsis[]
A group of new Antinium soldiers and workers struggle against monsters from the dunegon in the four tunnel entrances connecting the Hive. As they get pushed back and are killed the collective sound of clicking is heard and then the battle turns as the Painted Antinium led by Pawn arrive looking like heroes to the other Antinium. Yellow Splatters, a [Sergeant], leads the Painted Antinium to reclaim the tunnel. After the battle Belgrade and Anand are discussing over a map of the tunnels to coordinate the defenses and Yellow Splatters sees Anand's more mobile strategies as superior to Belgrade's static defenses - which is when he wonders why Belgrade took the lead in coordinating the earlier battle rather than the higher level Anand.
Anand confirms that holding the entrances to each of the four tunnels would be more costly than pulling back to the intersection to create a kill zone and Yellow Splatters thinks that Belgrade is being foolish for having them continue to hold the entrances. Pawn leaves twenty Painted Antinium with Belgrade before the company returns to the barracks. As they travel Yellow Splatters thinks about how he disagrees with Belgrade's blatant waste of lives and sometimes disagreeing with Pawn who does not understand battle.
The barracks has changed, with a wall with the markings of all the fallen painted soldiers and books that Pawn brought that have yet to be read by anyone. Yellow Splatters feels that the books are pointless apart from creating Individuals and their time would be better spent training to prevent more casualties. Twin Stripes approaches Yellow Splatters for a spar and they go at it until Twin Stripes is exhausted. Pawn approaches Yellow Splatters after the training and tells him that he shouldn't endanger himself like he did during the battle and that he should have some rest and assigns him to the surface patrol to meet the Soldier in charge that Pawn wants to make the next [Sergeant] - Purple Smile.
As Purple Smile leads them out Yellow Splatters immediately dislikes him and also feels hurt watching the other Soldiers stare in wonder at all the mundane things like the sky or the grass. They arrive at the inn and then the Antinium have a standoff with the Redfang Hobs before Erin manages to stop both sides from fighting. Erin makes food for all the soldiers but Yellow Splatters sees how meaningless the food is when there were soldiers dying in the fighting below at that very instant. Yellow Splatters throws his food on the ground and then the other soldiers except for Puprle Smile all stop eating and folllow him when he leaves. Yellow Splatters goes back to spar with Twin Stripes.
Later Pawn rebukes Yellow Splatters for ending the patrol and wasting the food but Yellow Splatters ignores him and continues to training with Twin Stripes. Pawn points out that Twin Stripes is exhausted and orders Yellow Splatters to stop. The Antinium in the room stop, but Yellow Splatters goes back to the training and they then follow his lead over Pawn's and also begin to train.
Drassi and Lyonette are wondering what to do with all the wasted food when Headscratcher comes over and points out that they would want the food. Drassi is still scared of the Goblins and doesn't stop talking to Lyonette about it when Numbtongue walks over and slowly explains that the Goblins don't speak because they don't need to and that they listen a lot. Mrsha comes down the stairs, still afraid of the Goblins when Erin is finished baking all her bread. Erin offers more hospitality to the Goblins before they finish their food and return to the basement. As Drassi cleans up the dishes Erin confesses to Lyonette that she's struggling to get the Goblins to understand her or she them and she's worried that they'll leave before she can. Erin reassures her and Lyonette realises that she doesn't need to worry about Erin, just everyone else.
Yellow Splatters takes a rotation to defend the tunnel entrances and takes his squad including Twin Stripes. They survive the shift and then Yellow Splatters decides to keep training. Yellow Splatters sees the tired Twin Stripes and moves to spar, but Twin Stripes begins to make a sound and becomes an Aberration. Twin Stripes is subdued but Yellow Splatters doesn't understand why that had happened.
Mrsha is still awake in her room, thinking about living in the same building as the monsters that killed her tribe. She spends the night hating the Goblins.
Characters[]
- 4 Newly Born Soldiers (First Appearance)
- Broken Arm Soldier
- Colored Antinium
- Yellow Splatters
- Star on Forehead
- Rainbow Droplets
- White Wings
- Black Paint Question Mark, in a White Circle (Deceased)
- Twin Stripes (First Appearance) (Aberration)
- Purple Smile (First Appearance)
- Pawn
- Belgrade
- Anand
- Erin Solstice
- Headscratcher
- Badarrow
- Numbtongue
- Shorthilt
- Rabbiteater
- Lyonette du Marquin
- Drassi
- Mrsha
- Klbkch (Cameo Appearance)
Locations[]
Creatures Introduced[]
- Large Maggots
- Face-Eater Moths
- Giant Centipedes
Creatures[]
- Enchanted Armor Golems
- Face-Eater Moth
- Shield Spiders