>>11190352So he finally gets back to the King's mission and links up with Warwick, right before the latter's foray into a land once ruled by a mighty kingdom some thousand years past, all traces of which long lost. All traces but one, that is: a single stone bridge over what was once a lively stream, presently dried up and overgrown.
Warwick had the sense to inquire of the local peasantry as to the potential dangers in the region; he confided in me later the absurdity of a bridge in the middle of nowhere made him suspect some foul treachery. And how right he was! Despite carefully instructing his men to advance to either side of the ancient stone construct and leave it well enough alone, Dirk took no such care and his vanguard marched directly across.
Before one had the time to exclaim "It's a trap!" a horde of figures arose from the grounds all about and set upon the hapless troops already across the span. Silent soldiers of marble and metal, hacking and stabbing like enormous clockwork toys, those poor bastards never stood a chance...
Fortunately for the rest, Warwick was quick to seize control of the situation, having observed that the statues only engaged those who had crossed the bridge itself, ignoring his own troops who had avoided it. Once the last of Dirk's doomed force fell to their blades the marble monstrosities sank back into the earth without trace, leaving only their very real victims for burial and a much-chastened Dirk most effusive with his apologies towards Sir Carl.
