Wil's eyes light up at the dagger's cries for attention. "This place has known Truth! Delivered by frightened denizens, no less. But I don't think these things speak Truth else we would not be coming to blows so readily."
Excitedly, the eccentric human hustles down the corridor and passes Vallan and Groog. He assists in searching for the stealthy knife-afficionado. He attempts to climb the ledge, but only succeeds in scratching futilely at the stone and earth.
"Raaaarrgghh!" Vallan roars, chasing after the elusive woman. "Quit chuckin' yer damned knives, woman!" He enters the tunnel after the woman, only to find a dizzying intersection. Son of a....I'll wait 'ere for her to show her face again.
Groog emerges from his latest victim, the hut, and charges off with Dorf, assuming he is after another one of the grey skinned things. At the end of the tunnel he stops and looks around frantically.
Hoots -- annoyed that their assailant is hiding so effectively -- walks along the ledge to the next opening. He looks around him in all directions, ready to shoot the first foe he sees.
Wil's eyes light up at the dagger's cries for attention. "This place has known Truth! Delivered by frightened denizens, no less. But I don't think these things speak Truth else we would not be coming to blows so readily."
Excitedly, the eccentric human hustles down the corridor and passes Vallan and Groog. He assists in searching for the stealthy knife-afficionado. He attempts to climb the ledge, but only succeeds in scratching futilely at the stone and earth.
Dahlia brings Snow down to where the first dagger landed. She points at it to Snow. ”Track! Lets see if we can’t track this sucker, eh?”
Hoots, standing up on the ledge, spots the grey, mostly-naked woman quickly climbing up the cliff to his north-west and approach him. As quick as he is, he attempts to take a shot at her, but his gun misfires. She closes the distance and knifes him with her dagger.
<< | | | >>
______________________________________________
In a whirr of motion, the knife-woman appears, his gun blows up in his hand, and she stabs him.
Feeling even woosier than before, he calls out,
Groog hears Hoots' cry for help, and gets a frantic look in his eye. He chases off around the corner and nearly leaps up the cliff face, and sees the woman pull a Stabby out of his buddy.
"You gonna die. You gonna die so bad!" he growls at her, his face contorting with rage.
__________
Vallan whirls, tearing back down the corridor and scrambles up the cliff. Scratches futilely at the base of the cliff like a baby seal. The ground just gives way under his heavy guantlets and boots, leaving him climbing in place. "NNNNNooooooooooooo," he roars melodramatically.
Looking at the jammed up pistol in his hand, Hoots pulls out his own knife and attempts to stab her. He's wobbling badly at this point though and his feeble swing doesn't even come close.
Bonnie reemerges around the corner behind Vallan, his eyes fluttering in random directions around Hoots' form. He finally sees the knife-throwing creature and sends a whirling dagger of his own her way.
>
>>
In a whirr of motion, the knife-woman appears, his gun blows up in his hand, and she stabs him.
Feeling even woosier than before, he calls out,
Looking at the jammed up pistol in his hand, Hoots pulls out his own knife and attempts to stab her. He's wobbling badly at this point though and his feeble swing doesn't even come close.
Groog hears Hoots' cry for help, and gets a frantic look in his eye. He chases off around the corner and nearly leaps up the cliff face, and sees the woman pull a Stabby out of his buddy.
"You gonna die. You gonna die so bad!" he growls at her, his face contorting with rage.
Vallan whirls, tearing back down the corridor and scrambles up the cliff. Scratches futilely at the base of the cliff like a baby seal. The ground just gives way under his heavy gauntlets and boots, leaving him climbing in place. "NNNNNooooooooooooo,"[/b[ he roars melodramatically.
Bonnie reemerges around the corner behind Vallan, his eyes fluttering in random directions around Hoots' form. He finally sees the knife-throwing creature and sends a whirling dagger of his own her way, which hits her squarely in the shoulder, causing her to wince.
[b]”Damnit, was just about to go look for you! Sic’ em, Snow!” Dahlia shouts. Snow immediately jumps to action, running back the way they just came, up the cliff, and towards the grey humanoid.
Annoyed she’s surrounded, she draws her finely-made shortsword and slices at Hoots, knocking him unconscious, but stable. She looks about ready to run.
<< | | | >>
___________________________________
Groog's eyes flare with rage, his mouth leaking saliva as he loses his sensibilities, what few he had in the first place.
"GRUAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!"
He raises his axe and brings it down in a powerful arc, nearly splitting the woman in two, it's path cleaving a wound from her left clavicle down through her torso and ending just above her right hip.
__________
Worry plagues Wil on his hike back up the ledge when he sees Hoots slump unconscious to the floor. In short order he is kneeling over the gunslinger's form, plucking at invisible strings around him and pressing his hands over the grievous sword wound. He hums softly and begins to stitch the injury back together with divine energies.
"GORUM BE PRAISED! You're a natural, Groog! A true disciple of the Lord in Iron!" Vallan exclaims after watching the orc's brutal blow. "I kinnae believe me own eyes...the owl, is he yet with us?"
Groog pants and leans on his knees for a few moments, his eyes still glaring at the body before him, occasionally shifting to the still form of Hoots.
As he regains his energy, he drops his axe and reaches down, grabbing the nearly two pieces of the body up, her left arm in one hand, her right leg in another.
"RRRRAAAAAAAAAGHHHH!" he roars as he tears the body the rest of the way in half, then proceeds to slam the two parts into the walls and floor of the chamber he is currently in. Blood and gore go everywhere as Groog throws his tantrum, namely all over him.
He then heaves whats left of her upper body into the hut at the back of the chamber he is in, and then turns and hurls the lower body over everyone's heads and into the main cave.
"Bwahahhahahahahaha," Vallan laughs watching Groog work. He looks just like the Lord himself. We'll hae ta get him some proper spiked armor... He rubs his hands together gleefully at some inner thought.
With the combat finally over, the Hellions begins looking for anything valuable; On each of the grey-skinned humanoids, they find a pair of daggers and a shortsword, with the exception of their leader. Their leader has an additional eight daggers beyond the ones she threw, a masterwork shortsword, two flasks of Alchemist’s Fire, a flask of Liquid Ice, and three Smokesticks, not to mention a pouch with thirty-five gold pieces and eighteen silver pieces.
In three of the four huts, they find nothing but scraps, bedding, and nothing of value; In the fourth hut, however, they find a small hoard, what appears to be a bunch of adventurers’ gear.
Among the hoard includes three suits of studded leather armor, a masterwork buckler, a shortbow with 11 arrows, a rapier, two more short swords, a masterwork sap, two vials of curious red liquid, a sunrod, two sets of masterwork thieves’ tools, two rolled up pieces of paper with curious markings on them, and a pouch filled with one-hundred and forty-three gold pieces.
Finally, laying in a special spot in the hut, are five strange cards made of a smooth, flexible material, each with a brown stripe on them, and forty-nine silverdisks.
As Bonnie Wil works his magic, Hoots becomes aware first of a pounding headache and a pain in his ribs. Then both start to fade rapidly, and he blinks his eyes open.
"Bonnie? Thank you rightly.
"Vallan, you ain't rid of me that easily. This old owl's got some flap left in him yet, I reckon."
With that Hoots sits up -- and gets covered in hunks of blood and flesh from his overzealous friend. Sigh. Groog deserves this though, he's more than earned it. Have some fun, big buddy!
Hoots just shrugs and pulls his hat down a touch to keep the gore out of his eyes.
Groog's head snaps around at the sound of Hoots talking. He immediately darts over and snatches up the avian, a silly smile on his face.
"Groog so happy! Lost last birdy. Bad Lady stab him. Me got new birdy! Name you Hoots Junior!"
He clearly doesn't realize this is the same Hoots.
Vallan picks up the sap, and the cards. "Might be one of these will get us through those doors. They are like keys." Been meanin' ta get a proper sap.
"Glad ye made it feathers, wouldn'ta been the same wivvout ye," Vallan says to Hoots, clapping him on the shoulder.
"Name rings hollow without the Hoots dunnit?" Wil stands up and twists left and right, giving his lower back and shoulders a good stretch. "Still, it's a shame we had to put them down. The hole saw what befell them. Blood, fire, and spoiled food. They had to eat their pets just to survive. From a community of near fifty shriveled down to but a tenth of their collective whole. And now, all gone. All gone."
Wil ambles without aim behind the group as they set to looting the place. He seems to have already forgotten his tinges of sympathy and regret, returned once more to simply craning his neck in various directions. Most of his stomach's duress has now abandoned him from the swim into the place. He wonders what remains atop the small ledge he failed so miserably at climbing previously. As Groog and Vallan set to exploring the area, Bonnie strides along behind the dwarf happily, humming another merry tune under his breath as he goes.
Hoots laughs despite himself as his dimwitted and blood covered friend hugs the breath out of him.
"Groog! It's OK. It's me! It takes more than that to take down Straight Shootin' Hoots Magaw. Bonnie just fixed me back up, didn't you, Bonnie?
"Thanks for saving me, Groog. Looks like you really did a number to that lady. Ah appreciate it."
Once Groog settles down and sets him back down, Hoots tries his beak at tasting the four potions.
"Hoots?" Groog looks at the gunman quizzically, then gets an even more excited look and hugs him even harder, before setting him down.
He spots Vallan go off down a path, and decides to join him in his explorations.
<< | | | >>
As the group approach a series of low-ceilinged, cramped caverns, maniacal laughter fills their ears and four small bat-eared horrors with needle-like teeth jump out of the shadows and jump at the group. One of them has trouble climbing the ledge to the north, so it vanishes in a blink of smoke and appears right beneath Vallan, though it seems disoriented from the maneuver.
Two of them run towards Groog and stab at his feet; A third runs towards Vallan and stabs him as well, this time breaking skin and drawing blood. All the while, the little creatures laugh and giggle maniacally.
____________________________________________________________
12.5
11.6
Groog looks elated when the two things charge at him. He opens his arms and yells, "PUPPIES!"
When they start chomping at his ankles, though, he gets a little aggravated. He swings his axe down to spank one of the bad doggies, and gasps when the thing dies.
"Was booboo! No mean kill!"
__________
Hoots begins to curse up a storm as he takes a looks down at his busted gun and then back at the little creatures.
"Dagnabbit!" he mutters, taking his dagger back again and trying to stab the remaining pest on Groog's leg. Sadly, he holds back due to fear of cutting the orc and misses by a foot.
Bonnie Wil levels an ineffective swing at the creature that continues to stab at Vallan. His morningstar swings wide and into a nearby cavern wall, sending a small explosion of rocks and dust in the air. Wil spares a concerned look at his handiwork and a brief, "sorry!" to the wall he thusly maimed. He whirls his morningstar around in his hand for another pass at the little creature. . .
Vallan grunts in annoyance as little monkey devil things swarm all over him. He calls on the blessings of Gorum again, and moves away from the ankle-stabbers. "Hold still ye wee buggers!" he instructs the gremlins, preparing to cut at them.
As the group approach a series of low-ceilinged, cramped caverns, maniacal laughter fills their ears and four small bat-eared horrors with needle-like teeth jump out of the shadows and jump at the group. One of them has trouble climbing the ledge to the north, so it vanishes in a blink of smoke and appears right beneath Vallan, though it seems disoriented from the maneuver.
Two of them run towards Groog and stab at his feet; A third runs towards Vallan and stabs him as well, this time breaking skin and drawing blood. All the while, the little creatures laugh and giggle maniacally.
Groog looks elated when the two things charge at him. He opens his arms and yells, "PUPPIES!"
When they start chomping at his ankles, though, he gets a little aggravated. He swings his axe down to spank one of the bad doggies, and gasps when the thing dies.
"Was booboo! No mean kill!"
Hoots begins to curse up a storm as he takes a looks down at his busted gun and then back at the little creatures.
"Dagnabbit!" he mutters, taking his dagger back again and trying to stab the remaining pest on Groog's leg. Sadly, he holds back due to fear of cutting the orc and misses by a foot.
Bonnie Wil levels an ineffective swing at the creature that continues to stab at Vallan. His morningstar swings wide and into a nearby cavern wall, sending a small explosion of rocks and dust in the air. Wil spares a concerned look at his handiwork and a brief, "Sorry!" to the wall he thusly maimed. He whirls his morningstar around in his hand for another pass at the little creature. . .
Vallan grunts in annoyance as little monkey devil things swarm all over him. He calls on the blessings of Gorum again, and moves away from the ankle-stabbers. "Hold still ye wee buggers!" he instructs the gremlins, preparing to cut at them.
”They’re Jinkin Gremlins! They’re only vulnerable to cold iron, and once a day they can teleport to safety! Do we even have any cold iron weapons?” Snow, meanwhile, runs over to the one attacking Groog and tries to bite it, but it jumps out of the way.
<< | | | >>
The gremlins continue to cackle and attack the group, missing utterly; Except for one, which stabs Vallan in the foot.
________________________________________________
Wilhelm continues to demonstrate a fundamental inability to swing his morningstar against so small a foe.
When he sees the puppy pull a sword, he suddenly realizes these aren't puppies. Puppies don't do that.
Groog smarter than that, fake puppy!
He tries to clip the thing off his leg with his axe, but misses while trying not to cut his own leg off.
__________
Vallan grunts again in pain, swinging his sword down at the gremlins surrounding him. They are too small and fast. Sparks fly as the dwarven greatsword cleaves a small gash in the stone floor. I hate gremlins!
Wilhelm continues to demonstrate a fundamental inability to swing his morningstar against so small a foe.
When he sees the puppy pull a sword, he suddenly realizes these aren't puppies. Puppies don't do that.
Groog smarter than that, fake puppy!
He tries to clip the thing off his leg with his axe, but misses while trying not to cut his own leg off.
Vallan grunts again in pain, swinging his sword down at the gremlins surrounding him. They are too small and fast. Sparks fly as the dwarven greatsword cleaves a small gash in the stone floor. I hate gremlins!
As Vallan moves out of the way, Dahlia casts a spell that causes a blinding ray of colors to shoot forth from her outstretched fingers; One of the gremlins goes down, unconscious from the blinding assault. Snow, meanwhile, attempts to bite and claw another one, but despite hitting the little beast, is unable to hurt it.
Hoots works on clearing and reloading his gun, grumbling as he does so.
<< | | | >>
The two little bastards continue their maniacal assault, each stabbing Groog and Vallan once in the foot with their miniature knives.
___________________________________
Vallan swings at the gremlin who wasn't affected by Dahlia's spell. He misses again, eliciting a string of curses in his native tongue. Hold the f&$+ still!
"I know Lily, but I'm afraid I'll hit Vallan!" Bonnie protests, annoyance climbing.
"OW!" Groog exclaims as the little puppy faker stabs him in the foot.
"STOP THAT!" he bellows as he cuts the thing in half.
Hearing the sounds of Vallan's fighting, he runs around to see if he has some puppy fakers to fight too.
__________
As the group finish exploring the gremlin’s cavern, they see several different passageways converge on a narrow ledge overlooking a rubble-filled cavern. The far wall is made of a smooth, dark gray metal . A single circular door, tightly closed, sits on the metal wall just above the upper level of the rubble.
Groog looks around for the others frantically. He was worried more of the puppy men had carried them off. He was glad when he saw they were all okay.
After looking over the rest of the cavern, he finds him a place to sit, and using the body of one of the gremlins, appears to playing similar to a child with a doll.
Vallan enlists Bonnie Wil and begins the laborious process of searching through the rubble beneath the metal wall with the door.
Dahlia thoroughly searches the door and then the rest of the room for traps.
Wil chuckles and nods as Vallan heads towards the doors. "You're right. He does."
Book I: Fires of Creation
Part 3: The Buried World
With the Hellions having examined all that there was to examine in the caverns, they find only one way of egress: The southern set of doors. The northern set of doors are firmly locked and won’t budge, while the southern set are opened, revealing metal rooms inside.
Vallan leads the way, his greatsword out, and peeks through the open doors, the light shining from his greatsword lighting the way even as his Darkvision sees beyond what the light cannot reach. He finds that the walls, floor, and ceiling of the slightly curved hallway are made of smooth, dark gray metal. Panels of lighter material run along the ceiling eight feet above, and to the north and south, the tunnel is blocked by walls of metal junk and rubble. An open doorway yawns to the east, where a short hallway, similar in design to this room, runs east-west, leading into another, larger, open room beyond - and to another set of doors beyond that.
Vallan moves past the first small chamber, to just inside the next set of doors and takes a look around. He waits for the others to follow before advancing any further.
As Vallan enters the room, he is startled at first to see a machine standing there that’s exactly like the one back at Khonnir’s house. This one, however, looks in far better condition; it also isn’t rampaging around. It appears to be simply standing in the rubble, unmoving. Only a small blinking light on its head gives any indication of its status.
Vallan holds up his hand backward, palm flat to stop the others from advancing. "Hold up a wee second," he says. The dwarf studies the machine carefully from the doorway, hoping to glean some insight into its workings.
"Looks like there's a functionin' repair drone in here. Lemme see what it can tell us. Groog, NO smash. Robot is friend, laddie," Vallan tells the others. He takes a step towards the robot. Then he waves his hand at it. Ah kinnae belive I'm about tae talk with a bucket o' bolts! Hmmf!
"Uhh...Oi! Excuse me Mister Robot. We dinnae ken what this place is. Can you tell us where we are?"
Hoots stares in fascination at the metal walls as they walk through the doors and out of the cavern. He runs a feathered hand along the smooth, cool metal. What are we inside now?
When they see the robot his hand goes to his gun, but he's encouraged to hear that Vallan recognizes it.
"Groog, NO smash. Robot is friend, laddie,"
Hoots sees Groog's muscles twitch when he sees the robot...and then the goofy grin when he hears the word 'friend'. Quickly, Hoots adds, "No hug right now. Maybe later. Stay with Hoots."
Then he holds his breath to see what the robot will do.
The robot, despite Vallan speaking to it and waving his hand in front of it, remains motionless apart from the blinking light. As he steps in the room, however, he notes another door to the south-east that is closed; and out further beyond the eastern door appears to be some sort of dark cave with a sandy floor.
The room itself that the robot is in is relatively empty beyond a tangle of what look like to have once been strange cages of some sort. Tangled amid the metal ribs of these cages are ribs of a more organic nature - the ancient bones of some alien creature. Smaller mounds of rubble lie against the opposite wall.
"I could probably get this thing working if we wanted," Dahlia says. "That's half of what I do for Khonnir. The other half, of course, is to stop things from working."