"Tell us, Khonnir Baine, are your friends still down there?"
"They were...I think the robots killed them..." Khonnir said.
"What can you tell me of them? Perhaps we will find something of them for your remembrance."
"Are... are we headed back down there?" Spidre asked curiously. "Khonnir is back, and barely survived. Shouldn't that whole place be sealed and forgotten? That's surely where the robots are coming from!" She balled her fists in obvious outrage at the metal monsters and their escape into the natural world. The sight was a little funny given the circumstances, but she was nothing if not serious.
"They stole my clan. That demands either their return, or the blood of the metal men," Chotka replied solemnly.
"What can you tell me of them? Perhaps we will find something of them for your remembrance."
"They were...just men... Strong men... Fi- Fou-...three of them. Dorn always had that axe...frightful thing. Matteo always loved his knives. Carried more steel on him than Gorum... Varic had a metal arm... I don't think there'd be anything left."
Chotka translated the man's tale,
Groomahk laughs and pounds his chest. veS ra'wI'! nuvpu' SuvwI' moj jagh 'Iw HIq!
war leader! the warriors of our people shall be drink the blood of their enemies!
"We have also another obligation from the Blackhands." Rikal holds up his hand showing the bone ring the shaman had given them. "We will have to go back in. We should focus on exterminating the metal men in the process."
Spidre approaches and examines Rikal's ring, noting the others bearing similar ornaments. She looks at it very curiously with a slight expression of wonder evident in her eyes. "Oh, what is it? And what's a Black Hand?"
"It is a ring made from the thigh bone of a bull moose. It is the symbol given to us by the Blackhands, a wise shaman who tasked us with finding out what happened to the fire that burns the earth, and to find Khonnir Bhaine. If you will be joining us, we must resupply. We shall go to the Dwarven councilman who has told us of a reward for retrieving Khonnir. Though we typically do not use the coinage of the city, in this case, we shall use it to resupply."
"It is a ring made from the thigh bone of a bull moose. It is the symbol given to us by the Blackhands, a wise shaman who tasked us with finding out what happened to the fire that burns the earth, and to find Khonnir Bhaine. If you will be joining us, we must resupply. We shall go to the Dwarven councilman who has told us of a reward for retrieving Khonnir. Though we typically do not use the coinage of the city, in this case, we shall use it to resupply."
Dolga is overjoyed to hear Khonnir has been restored and happily gives over the scroll and the promised gold, all of it with gear-tooth milled edges and stamped with Numeria's Silver Mount.
"Yes, we intend to return to the land of metal, and find the metal man that has quenched the fire of the hill. And then kill him."
At the mention of supplies, Chotka grunted, "Does anyone know what the things we found are? Useless junk, or strange magics?"
Karek brings out all the stuff we found and shows it to Val (If she's not still hugging her pop?)
Groomahk watches with mild interest as Karek brings out the spoils from their battles beneath the hill. He pounds his chest and snarls as the others examine the pieces.
nuq ghojwI'pu'lI' maH nuH baS-ghot? ghob groomahk je nuvpu' nuH!
He finishes with another pound to his chest as he shakes his massive axe.
What do we care for the weapons of the metal-men? Groomahk will fight with the weapons of his people!
Karek brings out all the stuff we found and shows it to Val (If she's not still hugging her pop?)
Spidre looks a bit surprised, and perhaps a little offended. "Well of course I'm coming! If there's robots to kill, I'm just the girl for the job!" she declares, standing up proudly. As a halfling, she still only comes up to everyone else's belt, but she clearly means to be taken just as seriously.
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"Well little one, do you know what these things are?"
Karek brings out all the stuff we found and shows it to Val (If she's not still hugging her pop?)
Groomahk returns to the group with an even larger axe and a massive longbow strapped to his body. The cured hide of some great beast covers his shoulders, forearms, and loins; and he proudly wears the the knife-claws of the robots as piercings. Otherwise, he little has changed about him.
Khonnir is happy to honor his daughter's promise and let the Sworn Band continue in lodging in the Foundry. While they go about selling their wares to Sanvil and purchasing other oddments, he retires there with Val. In the morning, she comes out to see the Sworn Band off while her father remains abed, still recovering.
Spidre finds herself party to some kind of barbarian tribe, a small war band driven by whatever sacred oaths and primitive moral imperatives compel such individuals to step beyond their homelands and into such a technology-ridden society. She wasn't sure what it was about them, or how they came to cross paths exactly, but they seemed to be committed to something important--something that could help the people here. And that was something she wanted to be a part of.
She wakes up early the next morning, eager to set out and discover more strange things that the metal caves hold, as well as what fate may have in store for her and the unusual band of angry fellows.
The Sworn Band reassemble and swim through the cold, poisoned waters beneath Black Hill. They emerge in the caves without incident.
The liquid ice makes quick work of the mold, which shrivels and dies in great sheets. Soon enough the cave's normal temperature returns and the corpse, that of a human man, is safe enough to approach.
Karek approaches the corpse cautiously.
Examining the body carefully, as he knew those killed by the horrible fungi and molds often carried more in them.
Rikal studies the man from a distance, trying to see if he recognizes him at all.
Chotka accompanied Karek to inspect the body. "Do you think he's one of Baine's companions?"
Karek confirmed that all the fungus had gone.
Despite his best efforts, Rikaal couldn't recognize the body. It was that of a human man, who looked to have been slight in life. He wore leathers that the fungus infiltrated and reduced to uselessness, except for a sash that held a dozen daggers. Each was in its own sheath.
12 daggers
The sash is an Ever-Ready Bandoleer. It can hold up to 12 daggers or other similarly-shaped items. The wearer can draw these daggers by a swift action, teleporting one into each empty hand. The blades of daggers drawn this way glow brightly, shedding light equivalent to torches for 10 rounds thereafter.
The Ever-Ready Bandoleer occupies the chest slot.
Groomahk spent the night in revelry, performing many feats of strength and feasting with the warriors of the city dwellers. When the Burning Angel returned to taint the sky with her early waters, the mighty warrior pulls himself from the pile of furs and company he took last night and stomps back to his war-chief and the battle Blackeyes promised!
At the sight of the corpse, Groomahk snorts. maqDar Doqqu' 'ej wov-DIr! chaH puj je je' toy'wI''a'! he gestures further into the cavern with his massive axe. veS ra'wI'! groomahk baS ghung may'! he snarls and bares his tusks as a show of strength and silent challenge.
pathetic pink-skins! They are too weak to feed to slaves!
War leader! Groomahk's metal is hungry for battle!
Spidre stays politely silent while she follows the others through the caves. They take a path she hadn't yet been on, and find some kind of dangerous fungus that the bottle man kills with ice. And then a corpse. She examines it, noting the knives. "Could this be Bhaine's companion?" she suggests to the most reasonable looking fellow, Rikal. "We was said to carry lots of knives, right?"
Karek shrugs, taking the Bandoleer and slinging the corpse over his shoulder.
"Let the townfolk worry over who it is?" He grumbles, making a quick trip back to return the body to the Temple for identification and disposal.
Karek shrugs, taking the Bandoleer and slinging the corpse over his shoulder.
"Let the townfolk worry over who it is?" He grumbles, making a quick trip back to return the body to the Temple for identification and disposal.
Karek goes back and returns the body without incident.
Rikal shakes his head to Chotka's query. "I cannot say. Karek is correct, though, we should leave it to the townspeople to identify him and notify his next of kin. We have others to find."
"Fair. Let's return to our search," Chotka responded, delving deeper into the earth.
Groomahk hefts his axe with a snarl and follows his war-chief to more battle!
Karek rejoined the sworn band and they pressed on through the caves, into the great cave with the false sky above, and finally came to the blue and white cave they had last seen.
Rikal moved towards a set of double doors in front of them, then stopped when he noticed a small door off to the side. Intrigued, he wandered over to it and motioned the sworn band into position, in case some metal man leaped through when he opened the door.
Spidre climbed up the platform, some kind of desk or table perhaps, and crouched with her bow, an arrow ready and aimed whatever may lie beyond the door.
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Karek moves to support Rikal when the door is opened.
Rikal moved towards a set of double doors in front of them, then stopped when he noticed a small door off to the side. Intrigued, he wandered over to it and motioned the sworn band into position, in case some metal man leaped through when he opened the door.
Rikal found a small chamber holding several metal boxes stood on their small ends. The looked to mostly contain broken metal and other debris, including a pool of that strange multicolored liquid. He found a few things of metal that might be of worth to the trader and a closed bin he could not open.
1 flashlight
3 batteries
26 silverdisks
5 vials Numerian fluid
Contents of the bin are unknown, but it is small enough to carry around.
Groomahk snarls and stalks over to the opening to keep watch on the entry way
"There appear to be some items the trader in town would take, as well as more of the strange Numerian liquids. We can take them with us."
Chotka snarled in disgust. "I want nothing more to do with that foul stuff. It granted me no strength nor insight to our enemies, and felt worse than the morning after a successful raid."
"What stuff? What is that?" Spidre asks curiously, craning to see what Rikal has discovered. "Wait. You didn't... drink it, did you?"
"Perhaps those in the town can make us of it. We will see if it has any value."
Looking at the handling, Rikal says, "They have consumed some of the fluids we found in this place. I have not, as my tribe has a ritual that must be passed involving drinking a similar fluid."