The sorcerer rips open the Rift further and another smaller demon starts to come through in front of bigger one. It doesn’t get a chance to come through though because Burgurk focuses his full power at ripping the sorcerer apart. You can see the explosion as magical power is ripped away from him and then the female being reaches out from the Rift and grabs the sorcerer, dragging him inside. As she does so, the rest of you finish off the last of the demons and their power escapes into the Rift while it begins to collapse. The last thing you hear when your hearing actually returns are the words, ”I will return!” A bright flash of light later, the four of you are alone in the room.
"Well. That ain't half ominous or nothin'." Ezekial says, then begins looking around.
"Least they can't do it again. Not easily, anyway."
"Good to know. Let's see how things are at the entrance of the mine first, then look for any Faelerin prisoners in the caves..."
"...then round up the humans in this town who were helping these vile creatures.
So, we walk back to the entrance of the mine and find...???
Making your way to the entrance, after bypassing what appears to be several carved out areas where the demons were keeping any trophies left for them by the sorcerer, you find that while the entrance itself is clear, the town appears to be in chaos. There are a lot of folk crowded down the road trying to get to the mines and the mercenaries are doing their best to keep them back. They are too occupied with what they are doing to notice you standing at the cave entrance.
"Ezekial, will you fire a few shots in the air to get everyone's attention?"
Burgurk walks out from the mine to just outside its entrance, stands as tall and looks as fierce as he can, and shouts at the top of his voice "EVERYBODY STOP!"
= 13
"We have found an evil sorcerer inside this mine, who had summoned a demon, who was feeding on Faelerin, in order to open a Rift. We have stopped all of them. YOUR TOWN IS SAFE, thanks to the Tomorrow Legion. The only thing left to do is round up everyone associated with the mine - will you people help us?"
"Sure, hoss." Ezekial obliges, firing three shots into the air.
Shakti stands by while Burgurk addresses the crowd, off to one side. She keeps a rifle at the ready in case there prove to be more demonic sympathizers amongst the townsfolk.
Burgurk’s voice, somehow amplified by his psychic powers, gets practically everyone’s attention, at least at the gate to the mines and the surrounding area. Suddenly realizing that they are outnumbered, the guards turn their weapons toward the crowd. As they do so, you notice that some of the townsfolk draw weapons of their own and point them at the guards. Those who are unarmed start to scatter, but you can see more of the mercenaries headed this way from down the road.
Soon a loudspeaker comes to life from somewhere. ”This is Hollis. If anyone so much as twitches the wrong way, kill them. Tomorrow Legion, I think you have it in your best interests to talk this out. Else, I can’t be responsible for what happens to these poor innocent folk.”
Shakti takes count of how many guards and mercenaries are visible, as well as any heavy weapons that might cause them trouble.
She opens up her third eye as well, looking for supernatural energies, particularly if there is any more demonic power spilling out.
Burgurk shouts out loud "We'll talk, but only face-to-face. It appears you are cowardly enough to hold innocents hostage, I hope you're not too afraid to confront us in person."
It seems that even with the squad of eight men at the gates and the next squad coming up the road, you may be outnumbered, as who knows how many are still coming. Your answer comes quickly though, as you hear the loudspeakers come to life again. ”Fine. Center of town. Five minutes.” It cuts off just as quickly.
The crowd still seems to be at a standstill, waiting for the guards or the townsfolk to twitch.
Burgurk addresses all the guards in sight "If even one of you harms even a single villager, Shakti here will hunt all of you down and kill you all. She can do it."
= 8, a Raise
He motions for Ezekial to follow him to the center of town.
Shakti smiles and shows her pointed teeth, "As long as you lot withhold your squeamish attitudes, I'd take pleasure in it; I eat my kills, and I am very tired of seeing good meat go to waste."
The guards stay tense as they watch you march towards the center of town. The townspeople with weapons nod in your direction. ”We can handle them, if you can handle Hollis.”
You notice as you walk that Hollis has his men scattered about in almost a surrounding position of the town center, which is a park that has been well preserved, despite the environment. Hollis stands in the center, his armor on, but his helmet hanging loosely by his side. He is flanked by two of his soldiers.
”Well, out with it. What is your offer, Legionnaire?”
Ezekial follows, putting on his best "angry muscle" face.
Ezekial senses his new commander is floundering, and starts whispering into his communicator, shifting a little behind Burgurk so no one can read his lips.
"Known my fair share o' desperados like these fellers. Only things they understand is lead and gold, if'n you catch my drift. If we can't bribe 'em to leave somehow, it's gonna come to a fight, way I see it. Mebbe ask 'em what they want. Or over-emphasize like how the Tomorrow Legion is gonna come down on 'em like a sack o' bricks if anythin' happens to these folk. I ain't see all that y'all -er, we- are capable of, but I imagine they wouldn't stand much chance against even one o' those big shiny tin cans we got."
Burgurk replies to Ezekial in a whisper "If we get into any kind of fight, the townspeople will suffer, so I don't want to threaten them. I also don't want to start by asking them what they want, because that puts them in power and is sort of blackmailing us. I think I'll start with an offer, and then see if they accept it. If not, I'll ask them what they want."
Speaking out loud, he says "If your entire team leaves the town peacefully, we won't attack you, or follow you to attack you later. You can make a clean getaway. You have my word on this."
At first it appears that Hollis might even consider your offer, but his face suddenly splits into a huge smile that quickly becomes a loud and boisterous laugh. When he recovers, his face turns serious. ”You almost had me going there, Legionnaire. See, I’m not planning on leaving. I presume that since you came out of those mines pretty much unscathed, that the payman is dead. Therefore, I need to collect so my boys can get their cut, understand. Since he is gone and we got a perfectly good set of mining folk right here, I don’t see why we can’t just settle right here until the bills are paid. I wouldn’t be worried about your little group of six against my full company of a hundred, except maybe some of these poor innocent folk getting all splattered and stuff in the crossfire. So let’s try this again. What are you offering? I don’t see no big bag of credits anywhere.”
Ezekial shrugs and looks at Burgurk as if to say "I told you so".
Whispering to Burgurk Shakti says, "Alright, let me try something. If this goes sideways, I will try to teleport us away before the crossfire begins. Be warned; I am nearing my limits, and greater magics might be beyond me."
As she strides forward she addresses the leader, in a casual tone that would sound that belies the true command laid into the phrase, "Allow me to approach and speak for your ear alone, Hollis."
After speaking, she marches directly up to the warlord, holding only her staff, her other weapons stowed and non-threatening. Once there she wraps herself around him, many of her arms running over his face and shoulders in a very familiar fashion. She leans close to whisper in his ear.
"You will tell your men to stand down. As soon as I leave your side, you will act as though you are restraining fear. Let your fear of me show, if you like. You will leave the square and tell your men to strike camp and leave immediately. Any gear not immediately mobile is to be abandoned. If there are any among your men you feel require an explanation, you will tell them that the demon summoned in the mine was angered and breaking through, and that this entire village and its surrounds will very soon be pulled into hell. You want your company to be as far away as possible when that happens. You will order that villagers not be harmed, as the more sacrifices the demon can claim, the smaller the chunk of this world claimed will be and the more assured your escape. You will believe this. You may reveal to your men it was I that revealed this to you, but you will make them believe that you believe it to be true. Do as I command now, and command your men to use all possible haste."
She gives Hollis a kiss on the lips, and then shoves him away, just a little roughly.
"Well?
As Shakti begins casting her spell, Hollis, being a mercenary of some experience, notices the glow of power as it makes itself known in her eyes. As it dawns on him what is about to happen, the rest of his experienced mercs grab their weapons and start taking potshots at your team. Shakti, unfazed by the mortal fire, continues to walk towards Hollis and shares her power with him. Her alien beauty entices him and he can’t help but to stand awe struck, even as laser fire erupts around him. He starts to stammer out something to the effect of ”...cease fire! The.. the demon is still here, fall back to Point Charlie. Now!” The troops let off some last shots before starting to pull away, one of which nails Jimenez square in the chest. She falls instantly.
Burgurk throws his mental bolts at any mercenaries within sight, especially anyone heading towards or taking aim at a civilian :
= 11
All 3 hit with a Raise :
Burgurk roars at the top of his voice "That's what will happen to any of you cowards if you attack any of the townspeople as you leave this town! Leave and NEVER come back!"
He begins to follow the escaping mercs, and motions for everyone to follow him. "Spread out so we can watch as many of these guys as possible, make sure they leave and don't hurt anyone on the way out."
Burgurk takes his vengeance on the soldier that downed Specialist Jimenez. The man’s armor shatters into pieces and if there was a body left inside of it, there is nothing to be seen. He has for all intents and purposes been disintegrated. While the rest of the soldiers take retreating shots, they are to keep you from following them than to actually do any damage. It appears they are heading towards a point to the south of the town, away from the mines. Private Casey is already at Ariel’s side attempting to do what he can. ”Boss, we can’t just leave her here!”
"Dammit all, what'd you do?" Ezekial glares at Shakti as he rushes to Jimenez.
"Hang on, gal. We'll get ya fixed right up." he says, tipping a bit of a flask into her mouth. "Drink this up if you can."
If she proves unable, he helps her along with it.
Ezekial slaps Jimenez a bit to startle her awake. "Drink it, now. It don't work if you don't drink!"
Ariel sputters a bit as Ezekial pours the concoction down her throat, at first her eyes flap open, but before she can say anything, she is out again. Her injuries will take more than field medicine to fix, but at least she is breathing again.
Anya rankles at the idea of just letting Hollis and his men get away. She fires a few warning shots in their direction, but upon seeing several of the townsfolk chasing them out as well, she decides that this fight is theirs. She lands nearby.
”Well, boss, they’re leaving. Now what?”
Burgurk addresses Anya : "First, we get Ariel some real medical attention. There must be a doctor in this town, why don't you carry her and ask the townsfolk where he is. Stay on comms to let us know of your progress."
"The rest of us should go back to the mine, search every nook and cranny, and find out what else is in there."
Burgurk heads back to the mine, motioning Ezekial and Shakti to join him.
Anya replies affirmatively, ”Yeah I got her.” She then goes to retrieve the unconscious medic and gingerly picks her up and carries her to wherever she can find medical help.
When the rest of you reach the mine, you find that the townsfolk have scattered and more than a few of them lie on the ground, along with the bodies of a few mercs as well. It seems that though they have retreated, they left their mark. Shakti senses only minimal taint as you re-enter the mine, but soon an overwhelming source of power seems to beckon her forward. Going back through the main ritual area, you come to a side room that has several Faelerin chained to a rock wall. They are chanting something and a blue glow permeates the room. It is all you can do to shield your eyes and arcane senses from it. One of them stares directly in your direction, apparently the one leading the ritual, in your minds you hear the words, ”Approach, that you might see.”