As Dorf runs in, Groog decides to try to make Dorf happy. Dorf kept wanting Groog to say things about Dorf's best friend, or whoever he was, so Groog tries.
"GROOORRRGRUUMMMMM!!!" he yells as he bolts forward and cleaves straight through the blob of flesh with his curved blade.
___________
"Ionsaigh!" Dahlia commands as she rounds the corner into the room, pointing at the creature Vallan is fighting. Snow responds, barreling into the room and tearing the thing apart.
Hoots hustles in with gun in hand...but seeing only two foes and no clear shot at either of them he holds his fire, looking for anything else suspicious to emerge.
As the two boils get struck, each pop with the force and cover Groog, Vallan and Snow with their acidic innards.
A quick search of the room after the creatures are dead, however, prove to be futile as nothing of interest can be found. While the group searches, Bonnie channels positive energy twice, healing everyone who got burnt by the acid.
With the last of the level cleared, the group decides to take one last look at the elevator. Although Hoots, with the assistance of Groog, is able to peek through the holes in the ceiling, he finds nothing but a dark, thirty-foot shaft that ends with another door; Instead of trying to break through the ceiling and climb it, he and Vallan look over the elevator and realize that they might just be able to repair the damaged, sparking coupling. With Groog’s help (again), they manage to recover the coupling, although the orc gets electric burns by doing so, and his hair stands up on end.
Now all they have to do is bring the coupling to Khonnir’s Foundry, hammer it back into shape, then bring it back and attach it in order to fix the elevator. On their way out, the group decides to hit up the cavern they missed back in the desert-cavern to see if theres anything of interest there.
As the group heads out though, they find a stranger waiting for them in the ‘lobby’ of the level; Most of the group doesn’t recognize this man, but Bonnie quickly pipes up and recognizes him as the travelling tech-merchant, Sanvil Trett.
”Well well well! There you all are! I had been looking for you. I don’t believe most of us have met.. which is such a shame, as I’m sure we could have had a mutually beneficial relationship together. Alas, I suppose it wasn’t to be.”
Vallan steps forward, ”Who are ye?!” he demands in his usual angry demeanor.
”Perhaps you’d know, dwarf, if you just came to me instead of Khonnir.. my name is Sanvil Trett. You might have heard of me as the travelling merchant with a specialization in technology. I had heard of your exploits of course, but to my dismay, the heroes did not come to me with their finds! So.. I decided to come to YOU and follow you into the structure.”
Groog begins to walk towards the man, arms out for a hug. ”Me Groog!”
Vallan, meanwhile, replies back to the man. ”Alright, Trett. I am Vallan Ironson. What dae ye want with the Hellions?” He follows Groog, tugging at his belt. ”Wait a wee bit for hugs, laddie”
Groog stops short and looks back at Lady, saying ”Huh? Talky man friend?”
Hoots chimes in, ”Say more then, Sanvil. What’re you looking for?”
Sanvil chuckles, ”Well, you know, with all of this amazing technology you’ve happened upon.. well.. lets just say I can’t let YOU have all of the glory, now can I? No, that won’t do it all. Sadly, it appears that our local heroes will end up suffering.. a fatal accident.. much like the others before them. And then poor Sanvil will be all alone with all of this technology.. not that he’d mind much.”
With that, he draws his sword and prepares to charge.
Hoots, having anticipated trouble, is first to react, followed closely by Dahlia. Hoots attempts to pop off a round with his pistol but ends up misfiring the round, wasting his opportunity; Dahlia, meanwhile, sends off a jolt of electricity at Sanvil, giving him a minor shock. Snow, following her master’s orders, attacks Sanvil as well, but misses.
”You make friends angry, Groog angry. Groog smash! GROOGRUUUUMMMMM!!!” Groog says as he charges the man, but misses with his falchion.
”I will make him an avatar yet,”, Vallan thinks as he too charges with Groog. Unlike his orcish ally, the dwarf strikes Sanvil with his greatsword, cutting a gash in the man’s armor.
Sanv
With the last of the level cleared, the group decides to take one last look at the elevator. Although Hoots, with the assistance of Groog, is able to peek through the holes in the ceiling, he finds nothing but a dark, thirty-foot shaft that ends with another door; Instead of trying to break through the ceiling and climb it, he and Vallan look over the elevator and realize that they might just be able to repair the damaged, sparking coupling. With Groog’s help (again), they manage to recover the coupling, although the orc gets electric burns by doing so, and his hair stands up on end.
Now all they have to do is bring the coupling to Khonnir’s Foundry, hammer it back into shape, then bring it back and attach it in order to fix the elevator. On their way out, the group decides to hit up the cavern they missed back in the desert-cavern to see if theres anything of interest there.
As the group heads out though, they find a stranger waiting for them in the ‘lobby’ of the level; Most of the group doesn’t recognize this man, but Bonnie quickly pipes up and recognizes him as the travelling tech-merchant, Sanvil Trett.
”Well well well! There you all are! I had been looking for you. I don’t believe most of us have met.. which is such a shame, as I’m sure we could have had a mutually beneficial relationship together. Alas, I suppose it wasn’t to be.”
Vallan steps forward, ”Who are ye?!” he demands in his usual angry demeanor.
”Perhaps you’d know, dwarf, if you just came to me instead of Khonnir.. my name is Sanvil Trett. You might have heard of me as the travelling merchant with a specialization in technology. I had heard of your exploits of course, but to my dismay, the heroes did not come to me with their finds! So.. I decided to come to YOU and follow you into the structure.”
Groog begins to walk towards the man, arms out for a hug. ”Me Groog!”
Vallan, meanwhile, replies back to the man. ”Alright, Trett. I am Vallan Ironson. What dae ye want with the Hellions?” He follows Groog, tugging at his belt. ”Wait a wee bit for hugs, laddie”
Groog stops short and looks back at Lady, saying ”Huh? Talky man friend?”
Hoots chimes in, ”Say more then, Sanvil. What’re you looking for?”
Sanvil chuckles, ”Well, you know, with all of this amazing technology you’ve happened upon.. well.. lets just say I can’t let YOU have all of the glory, now can I? No, that won’t do it all. Sadly, it appears that our local heroes will end up suffering.. a fatal accident.. much like the others before them. And then poor Sanvil will be all alone with all of this technology.. not that he’d mind much.”
With that, he draws his sword and prepares to charge.
Hoots, having anticipated trouble, is first to react, followed closely by Dahlia. Hoots attempts to pop off a round with his pistol but ends up misfiring the round, wasting his opportunity; Dahlia, meanwhile, sends off a jolt of electricity at Sanvil, giving him a minor shock. Snow, following her master’s orders, attacks Sanvil as well, but misses.
”You make friends angry, Groog angry. Groog smash! GROOGRUUUUMMMMM!!!” Groog says as he charges the man, but misses with his falchion.
”I will make him an avatar yet,”, Vallan thinks as he too charges with Groog. Unlike his orcish ally, the dwarf strikes Sanvil with his greatsword, cutting a gash in the man’s armor.
Sanvil charges his sword with energy and slashes at groog, missing; he then steps away and, with a flourish, summons a series of false images around him.
”He’s cast Mirror Image,” Dahlia exclaims, ”Only one is the real one!”
Wilhem barely realizes combat has started due to his poor vision and shuffles behind the group, ready to heal Groog when he catches up.
The fight continues for less than a minute as the group push Sanvil to a corner and, before he can flee, knock him unconscious without much hassle. However, just, before Vallan goes to tie him up at Dahlia’s request, Groog brings his blade down and slices Sanvil’s head off in a rage of fury.
”Gorrum kinnae tolerate a coward,” Vallan says. Tucking his thumbs behind his belt, Vallan assumes a relaxed position as Groog begins to calm down.
The group quickly salvage the corpse, finding a veritable hoard of treasure and begin their treck out of the dungeon, first taking a quick stop to examine the cavern they missed.
<< | | | >>
For some reason, Groog takes the lead in examining the cavern; They find nothing of note until they come across a curious coral formation. Groog, in his obliviousness, steps right into the Ghellarn’s trap and gets entangled in the ooze.
Then, in angry rage, Groog pushes forward, still entangled, and smashes through the Ghellarn’s shell, exposing it. Meanwhile, Dehlia throws a bolt of electrical energy at the Ghellarn, zapping it.
____________________________________________________
Vallan rushes towards the Ghelarn, and swings his wavy blade at its exposed squishiness. He calls on the power of Gorum as he does so, coating himself in a gory shell of power. His sword slices deeply into the beast.
Hoots steps forward and takes a moment to aim between his friends into the chaos of melee, sending a slug from his pepperbox into the thing's flesh.
Snow continues to try to savage the beast, but only connects with a single claw. For her part, Dahlia tries to shock the beast with a small bolt of lightning, but misses, fearing to hit her allies in the melee.
For some reason, Groog takes the lead in examining the cavern; They find nothing of note until they come across a curious coral formation. Groog, in his obliviousness, steps right into the Ghellarn’s trap and gets entangled in the ooze.
Then, in angry rage, Groog pushes forward, still entangled, and smashes through the Ghellarn’s shell, exposing it. Meanwhile, Dehlia throws a bolt of electrical energy at the Ghellarn, zapping it.
Vallan rushes towards the Ghelarn, and swings his wavy blade at its exposed squishiness. He calls on the power of Gorum as he does so, coating himself in a gory shell of power. His sword slices deeply into the beast.
Hoots steps forward and takes a moment to aim between his friends into the chaos of melee, sending a slug from his pepperbox into the thing's flesh.
Snow continues to try to savage the beast, but only connects with a single claw. For her part, Dahlia tries to shock the beast with a small bolt of lightning, but misses, fearing to hit her allies in the melee.
In pain but unable to flee or hide, the beast swings two of its tentacles at the group; one aims at Snow, while the other goes for Vallan, but both fail to harm their targets.
<< | | | >>
_______________________________________________
Vallan sinks up to his needs in the sand, as unseen tentacles draw him in. "Bloody shite with chunks o' corn! Get your f~+#ing perveted grabbers off me!" he shouts, trying to hit the Ghelarn again with his greatsword but failing spectacularly. Ooh, so cold and slimy. Get it off! Get it off! Get it off! Get it off!
Hoots turns the barrel on his pepperbox and fires off another shot, but can't manage a clear one with everyone in the way and his bullet barely grazes the beast before embedding itself in the cavern wall.
"Dagnabbit! Yuh reckon you could get get any more in the way? How's good ol' Straight Shootin' Hoots Magaw supposed to get a clear bead on this thing?"
_______________
Vallan sinks up to his needs in the sand, as unseen tentacles draw him in. "Bloody s~$&e with chunks o' corn! Get your f%%%ing perveted grabbers off me!" he shouts, trying to hit the Ghelarn again with his greatsword but failing spectacularly. Ooh, so cold and slimy. Get it off! Get it off! Get it off! Get it off!
Hoots turns the barrel on his pepperbox and fires off another shot, but can't manage a clear one with everyone in the way and his bullet barely grazes the beast before embedding itself in the cavern wall.
"Dagnabbit! Yuh reckon you could get get any more in the way? How's good ol' Straight Shootin' Hoots Magaw supposed to get a clear bead on this thing?"
Groog, meanwhile, roars in anger - and at the tentacles invading his privacy from below - and smashes the creature’s soft, tender, and juicy body with his falchion, finishing it.
________________________________________________
"Me spell's still goin. I'll continue on!" Vallan says, wasting no time. He rushes further into the cave to see what's around the corner.
Hoots hustles along behind a bit behind Vallan, pepperbox in hand.
Although the group hurries along and looks for anything else to kill, they find that the creature they had already killed was the lone occupant of the caverns. Beyond that, they find nothing but bones, bits and pieces of useless and worthless jewelry and dirt; although, Vallan digging around in the bones finds an odd necklace made out of amber-encrusted insects of no known variety of insect. He checks it for magic and it proves to be magical indeed; however, Dahlia fails to identify it.
With that,the group heads back to Torch to examine their loot, recuperate after a hard day’s adventuring, and repair the elevator coupling.
When the group makes their way to the surface once again, Groog emerges from the pool of water looking more akin to a pack mule than an orc. He is hauling everything they group has found to this point, with a big goofy smile on his face as he does so. The heads of the alien, vegepygmy, and Sanvil continuously slap against each other as well as against Groog's chest as he walks, causing many onlookers to either recoil in disgust, or step closer for a look at the strange things.
Vallan makes a beeline for the Foundry. "Need a drink," he says by way of explanation to the others. As he clomps his way towards the pub, he sees a hideous little goblin sitting on a barrel outside. He stares at her suspiciously. Aint that the wee gobbin lass what works for Khonnir? Heard she's a real cunt..
The goblin stands up on the barrel and stares back, frowning. She adjusts her nappy, dirty wig with one hand, pointing at Vallan with the other. "Oi, shortshanks!" she calls at him. "You're wiv the group delving the caves, right?
Vallan crosses his arms over his chest and shuffles a little closer. "Aye, what's it to ye?"
"Shortshanks and friends let Mr. Khonnir get all f&*@ed up. He's retarded now. Thisstle thinks you must be retarded to have let that happen." The goblin flips nimbly off the barrel, and rushes forward towards Vallan in blur on all fours like a small monkey. She skids to a halt in front of him, and rises to her full height (barely reaching his chest) and with her lower lip and jaw jutting forward says, "IS shortshanks retarded?"
"Call me shortshanks again...." Vallan says, flipping up his visor to glare at the goblin. "Khonnir was all fecked afore we even arived, lass. Naught to do fer it, ye ken?" The dwarf makes to walk around the blueish goblin. "Get out o me way, I got drinkin' tae do."
"NO!" Thisstle shouts, leaping up six feet into the air and coming crashing down on top of Vallan's helm, grabbing onto the antlers as handholds. "Shortshanks should go back to caves, find way to fix Khonnir. Thisstle insist she come too! Thisstle is Foundry's bouncer, and she say no retarded, short-shanked beard muchers allowed to drink until Khonnir better!"
Vallan whirls about in a circle, hands pinwheeling around his head as he tries to grab ahold of Thisstle. "Gerrofmeh, ye bloody wee devil!" The goblin is too fast by half for Vallan, and he can't grab her as she hops back and forth from one antler to the other, tilting him this way and that with her weight. "No way in all the hells that I'm adventurin' with no bleedin' gobbo cunt!"
"Ooooh, shortshanks think he is big man. Can call little women nasty names. SHORTSHANKS IS CUNT!" Thisstle says, reaching down to yank on Vallan's beard, and tearing a bloody tuft free by the roots.
"Thas it! Khonnir's lass or not, ye dinnae touch a dwarf's beard!" Vallan roars. He flings his head forward so fast that he nearly gets whiplash, and sends the helmet flying from his head with Thisstle still gripping it. The goblin releases the antlers midflight, and dives into a graceful roll, coming up on her feet as the helmet tumbles away. She growls and turns towards the dwarf. Vallan draws his sap and says, "By Gorum's bloody b%@#&#!s, WILL YE FIGHT!?"
"RRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhh!" is Thisstle's wordless reply as she rushes towards the warpriest.
Vallan steps towards her and swings his sap at the little goblin.
He smacks her on the shoulder with the weighted leather, making a meaty thunk and causing her to shriek in pain. Thisstle leaps at the dwarf, trying to grab him by the beard again.
She gets a firm hold and flips around to straddle his shoulders like a child riding its father, both of her little blue fists full of dirty blonde beard, which she is yanking as hard as she can.
Vallan curses in dwarven and tries to shake the little goblin off.
He flings her into the dirt, with a triumphant grin. But the tenacious little brawler won't be stopped so easily. She leaps right back at him, screeching like an angry spider monkey.
She grips him around the neck with her legs, and slams her ugly mug into his several times. Vallan's nose shatters and begins to spurt blood down into his beard. Growling he tries to fling the goblin off his head again.
However, this time the reeling dwarf is unable to extract the screeching blue devil from his facial region. She continues to slam her scarred, wrinkled forehead into his face, laughing wickedly as she shoves him over into the dirt.
Thisstle pins the dwarf, placing him face down on the ground, and grabs another double fistfull of dirty blonde hair. This time on the back of Vallan's head. She slams his face into the dirt over and over mockingly saying, "Will ye fight?"
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARrgh!" Vallan roars through his busted face, the pain starting to catch up to him. He tries to fling Thisstle off his back.
The dwarf is successful in extricating himself from Thisstle's pin. But that doesn't stop her from rolling to her feet and leaping right back on him. "You can't escape Thisstle, shortshanks!" she cries as she lands on his shoulders.
She quickly grips the dwarf's neck with her feet, and brings her elbow down on the top of his skull with a resounding crack. Vallan's eyes flutter and roll up in his head, before he collapses on the ground unconscious. Thisstle then mounts him, drops her trousers and pisses all over his back. "Hmmpf!" she says when finished, wiggling her bum to make sure every drop falls onto the unfortunate priest. Some of the townsfolk gathered to watch the fight cover their mouths with expressions of disgust or horror on their faces. Thisstle stares at them hard and says, "What? You b@~%+es next?" flexing her little arms. The townsfolk flee immediately, none daring to say anything to her.
____________________________________________
Pin, damage
Having stopped to help Groog when one of the orc's 'trophies' rolled under a cabbage cart, the rest of the Hellions approach the Foundry almost a minute behind Vallan.
As they get nearer and hear more of the dwarf's hollering, Hoots notices with a grin that he seems to be rolling around in the ground with a female. "Looks like our friend may've gotten lucky, eh?" He winks at Groog. Then, getting a bit closer, "Wow, I'd heard that Dwarfs like it rough but this is fascinating."
When they finally get within 30 yards it occurs to Hoots that this might not be a dwarven mating ritual. He suddenly breaks into a run, drawing his pepperbox as he does so. He stops 20' back and shouts, Or unless this is how dwarves and goblins mate, in which case Ah'm sorry to have bothered you."
Thisstle looks at Hoots curiously, tilting her head back and forth like a bird. She breaks into a face splitting grin which reveals her multitude of pointy, yellowed teeth. "Me Thisstle! Who you?" she says. "Cool gun!" she adds as an afterthought.
"Thisstle! What the bleeding hell are you f#!~ing doing!?!" Dahlia shouts at the annoyingly rude creature.
"That dwarf call me nasty names! He won't help Khonnir, just wants to get drunk. Then he started a fight with me. Him is fault!" she replies. ""I only want to join group, and he said no! So I knock him out." She thumps herself on the chest a couple times. "Thisstle is better warrior than retarded dwarf. She is new Hellion!"
Groog did not know who "Lucky" was, or why Dorf would want to get them. But Groog hoped Dorf was happy that he had.
As everybody started yelling, Groog got confused. Him thought this was good times. Groog did not know now. Groog drops his bags as the others continue forward, and breaks into a run towards the two diminutive warriors.
He tries to snatch up Thisstle in his hands, but the little goblin nimbly evades his clutches. He immediately gets his big, silly grin and says, "Groog get Lucky too!"
__________
Thisstle jumps up onto Groog's shoulders. "Hey there big boy. Who are you?" she asks, perched on his massive back. "You look strong."
Groog continues giggling like a child as Thisstle hops about and on top of his back. He finally manages to get a hold of her though, and holds her out at arms length between his hands.
He looks back to the others and calls out loudly, "Groog get Lucky!"
He holds the goblin over Vallan's body and says, "Look Dorfy! Groog get Lucky too!"
When Vallan doesn't respond, he gets a confused look on his face, and nudges him with his foot. "Dorfy?"
__________
"Groog, Vallan's taking a nap," Dahlia lies. She then turns to Thisstle and says, "Why in the world should we let you join us?"
Thisstle holds out her fingers, counting on them. "Thissle know tech. Thisstle is badass. Thisstle is sneaky...vvvveeeeerry tricksy," she continues, ignoring Groog for the moment. "Thisstle is better than stupid, mean dwarf."
As Hoots stands there with his gun aimed at the goblin, he gets more and more confused by the moment. Dahlia knows her?-- And the goblin claims Vallan started the brawl? (Well that at least makes some sense)-- And she wants to JOIN THE HELLIONS?!?!?
"Dahlia, you know her?!? Who the f&^$ is this?" Slowly he lowers his gun.
"And where did Bonnie wander off to?" Bending down to the bloodied and piss-soaked dwarf, he turns his beak away from the smell as he checks for vitals. "Ah guess he's OK, just...napping as Dahlia said."
"Alright, Thisstle. Ah'm Straight Shootin' Hoots Magaw. That's Groog who's cradling you in his loving arms, and it seems you know Dahlia here. You want to join my Hellions, Ah reckon you've got some serious explaining to do!"
"What you want to know?" Thisstle asks, craning her head towards the bird. What an ugly feathered freak. I bet he has a cloaca. Disgusting. She wriggles free of Groog's grasp and hops over to Hoots. "Ask, ask, ask!"
"Well...Ah reckon you've proved you're tough because you just knocked out Vallan. Sneaky could be useful." Hoots admits, lifting his broad leather hat to scratch his head.
"Why're you just looking to help out now though? If you're so concerned about Baine, why didn't you go with an earlier crew? And why should we trust you?"
Turning to Dahlia, he adds, "What can you tell us about this Thisstle?"
"Thisstle was gone on trip! Came back and Khonnir's brain all mushy, and the town's flame is out. Torch is Thisstle's home, she need to help. She insist!" Thisstle says. "If you don't believe Thisstle, go ask Khonnir. Thisstle already work for him for long time."
"This little creature is rude, disgusting, and annoying. It is, however, good enough at what it does." Dahlia says, though you can see it almost visibly pains her to compliment the little beast. "Imagine the most annoying younger sibling you could possibly imagine and make it a little bit worse. That's Thisstle." She sticks her tongue out at the goblin and makes a rude gesture. The action seems as though it's done almost by rote, an oft repeated ritual.
Thisstle waves her little ass at Dahlia. "Ooh yeah, Dahlly baby, give it to Thisstle," she moans. Then does a standing backflip into a handstand and sticks her tongue out at Dahlia, as her wig plops into the dirt of the street. Now bald she is even more hideous than with the bit of golden shag that passes for her hair. She squeaks and quickly gathers up the wig, replacing it on her scalp. "Dahlia just jealous that Thisstle know more about tech than her and stupid dwarf put together."
Hoots looks at Thisstle, at Dahlia, at Vallan, and back at Thisstle. He shakes his head and sighs with resignation.
"Well, Ah reckon we're gonna need all the help we can get down there. Since you're asking, Ah suppose you can be an official provisional member of the Hellions. Welcome aboard."
Pointing to the broken elevator control that Groog is still carrying, Hoots says, "You say you're good with tech? You reckon you could fix this?"
"You can bodge some garbage together, I'll admit, but every time you've even looked at a bomb funny it's exploded, and all your looks are funny," Dahlia says. "On top of that, the closest you've ever gotten to picking a lock was chewing through the panel and nearly electrocuting yourself to death."
"This not tech, this just metal. Take to blacksmith, silly bird!" Thisstle suggests.