As Helga stands guard, Urist pulls the trigger. PTWp! His bolt just catches the edge of the horendous blob. Boomer shows the squad how it’s done, and lobs a lit flask in the ooze’s dead center, blowing chunks of bone and cytoplasmic stuff across the walls. Impressed, Glor gathers bits of earth into a concentrated ball and hurls it at the ooze, knocking more gelatinous goo free from its overall shapeless form.
Seeing the ooze approach, Gunnar adds to the number of bolts flying in it’s direction.
He also adds to the number of bolts currently suspended in gloop.
Hezekh gets one step closer to revealing his master plan.
The ooze get’s closer too, and into striking distance of the prepared commander. Her plasm on plasm action is not as hot as it seems.
Touble continues to speak of bone broths as he picks up a rock from the ground and Throws it angrily at the blob!
Despite Toulbe’s incredible display of martial ability, the ooze still lives.
"Nice throw!" Boomer congratulated Toulbe, then tossed another explosive.
Glor drops back and fires more earth at the thing, this time likely scoring a hit.
Hezekh throws a flask of burning oil at the goo monster.
Goggeck steps back, reloads, and fires.
Urist briefly considers getting into melee with the slime before he thinks better of it. Taking a careful step back, he reloads his crossbow and fires another shot.
Meanwhile, the commander plants her feet and holds her ground, swinging wildly at the creeping jelly.
Bolts fill the ooze while firebombs burn it’s gelatin skin. It’s Glor’s glorious earth blast that finally does the slime in just as it reaches Helga’s boots. The once cohesive gel is unable to hold itself together and it begins to leech it’s acidic innards across the stone pavers of the hall. The many bones caught up in its matrix also spill out and form a small pile.
Goggeck loads another bolt, just in case.
"Is the acid neutralising? Can we proceed?"
After a moment’s pause, the danger once posed is a now a mere memory.
Boomer did his best to take a sample of the creature before it went completely inert.
Goggeck switches back to his longhammer and takes his place near the front.
Toulbe sighs heavily and wipes some sweat from his forehead "This is why you finish your plate. You leave dessert long enough and bam...it comes to eat you or at least an old gnomish bedtime story says and right now I'm not saying it is wrong." he said as he looked down at the formless ooze.
"Someone wanna give me a hand here?"
Boomer did his best to explain what he needed, but the instructions weren't great.
Toulbe's eyes light up and he turns about to see what Boomer was wanting help with and proceeds to enthusiastically attempt to help!
"I will aid.", replies Goggeck gruffly.
He returns to the remnants of the ooze.
Between the three of them, Boomer, Toulbe, and Goggeck are able to scoop and scrape pounds of acidic gelatin into various containers for safe storage. All in all it takes about 20 mins to recover all this material.
By the time they're done, a mysterious series of booming sounds echoes down the halls behind them.
It was Osom Brotheraxe, the tavernkeep, who gave you your first clue.
“Aye, ye, I ember de lad. Bright fella, always cookin’ up a propa meal fer de lads. Good kid. Ran off wid some oders, I dink it were ol’ Uzan Tallyflask. Next ding ye know, de King’s havin’ a gran feast an den ye hear rumors o’ some secret exhibition deep in de ol’ quarry. Haven’ seen de lad since.”
One rumor leads to the next, but the name Uzan Tallyflask keeps popping up, so you search for him amongst the clamoring throngs of dwarves in the tunnels of Taggoret. Finally, you corner him in his office, seems he’s got a titled position, Kingdom Manager. Of course, he denies and obfuscates everything, but as you are about to leave in frustration, he quickly jots down a name on a scrap of parchment, which he slides across his desk toward you in silence. With the way he avoids your eyes, you figure he’s given you all he’s willing to give.
Girtul Elderfire
Searching for Girtul, you find he is in charge of another expedition into the tunnels beyond the old quarry. It’s an actual caravan, full of carpenters, cooks, miners, masons, metalsmiths and the like, all packing their wagons to settle an old lost fortress to the west.
“A band of seven were set out b’fore us,” Girtul informs you, “Ta clear the way.”
Offering your services as chronicler, you talk your way onto his caravan, sure of yourself that Toulbe is on the far end of the tunnel road.
The trip is three days. You find evidence of the kind of adventure Toulbe must be on. First, the remains of dead giant spiders, then dead giant scorpions, scattered and bleached bones, and finally, at the end, gruesome evidence of a brutal battle. Trails of dried blood lead to a smoldering bonfire of charred goblin and giant rat bodies. Beyond the scene of battle lies a set of heavy iron doors.
The migrant caravan sets up camp while Girtul and a few others inspect the doors. There is no visible point of entry, but the doors read in an old Dwarven dialect, ”Droskar’s Kingdom opens only to the sound of toil.”
Girtul and his men become frustrated, and a few boastful miners begin swinging their picks against the solid iron of the doors.
Turning back up the stairs to have a look, you hear banging and clanging sounds coming from the outside of the rear doors.
Toulbe heard the knocking as they were working on scooping up some ooze. He paused for a minute, anxious, before a thought crossed his mind and he suddenly seemed positively giddy.
"OOOoo maybe the wolves learned to knock and are here to thank me for the food and now wanna listen and be friends!" he says perhaps too happy.
He proceeds to start skipping back to the hall and towards the back door.
Toulbe skips merrily towards the front door.
Goggeck sees the gnome skipping with some bewilderment.
"Gnomes!", he mutters out loud, but immediately begins to move in the direction of the door.
He shouts back to the others.
"Come on! Strength in numbers!"
As they come to the remnants of the battle, Adu looks around worriedly. Goblins, goblins, rats, more goblins...no gnomes. She breathes out a sigh of relief and turns to the doors.
'Opens only at the sound of toil'...seriously?! Not a password, or something fun like a song or poem. Nope, it's gotta be toil. That's dwarves for you.
She raises a skeptical eyebrow as the miners start pounding at the doors. "I don't think that's going to work. Why would the doors open the moment they were attacked? That would be a serious security problem..."
Dwarves!
As the flighty gnome runs off to the wrong door, no less Hezekh rolls his eyes, muttering something in Terran that is better left untranslated. But he follows the others, shaking his head the entire way.
Urist chuckles. "Ah, let tha boy dream. S'good ya have yer spirits up in times like this, right? Why, this one time, back at tha Old Fort..."
"There was a Dwarf named Jeblik, says the commander quite sharply, cutting Urist off. "Spent too much time in the mines alone. Brain went soft, and he thought he was a goblin."
AS Urist gives her a surprised expression, she looks him in the eye and taps the side of her head.
"We had to kill him. The end. Let's focus on what's in front of us, it could be another attacker."
Hold Toulbe! Glor calls. At least let us get into position afor ya go opening the front door! He hurries down the hall to catch the gnome. We might need some rule as to who is allowed to be opening these doors, and when. he notes aloud.
Goggeck attempts to jog so that he gets between Toulbe and the door.
"Toulbe! Do not open that door until we are in position!"
You suddenly recall the levers that control the doors were in Ordrick’s office.
As you run up the long ramp that leads toward the FRONT door, you pass through the Image of Droskar’s hall. The large statue booms out,
You find yourself faced with several angry dwarven miners as they cease their attempt, obviously failed, to bore through the solid iron doors, and turn to you, annoyed.
Girtul quickly intercedes and barks, “You! You were hired to chronicle this expedition, to observe. Shouldn’t you be taking notes? Not making notes!”
He tries to shoo you off while glancing over his shoulder to make sure the cranky squad of miners calms down a bit.
Approaching the REAR entrance, the banging noise eminating from the closed shut solid iron doors suddenly stops. You can almost swear you hear the sound of muffled voices coming through from the other side.
Toulbe pauses once he gets to the door the wolves had been behind and notices that the sound wasn't coming from this door. He looks around confused and disappointment is coming to his face. He looks back and notices the dwarves suddenly "You think, maybe, they are here even though it's not the banging door? I mean everyone loves a good meal and you cant hate the cook right?" he asked, his eyes shimmering.
Glor spins on his heels as he remembers how the doors are actually opened. He then moves to guard the entrance to Ordrick’s office.
Adu raises her hands placatingly. "Sorry, sorry, didn't mean to offend. I'll just, uh, go back to chronicling. Lots of notes to take. Have to document everything about this courageous expedition!"
Hopefully Girtul could calm them down. They'd be less likely to talk to her if they were mad. Adu may have been somewhat skeptical about the miners' problem-solving abilities, but that didn't mean they didn't have stories to tell. People rarely got involved in this sort of thing without a reason, and those reasons were often interesting.
Hopefully they'll figure it out soon.
Hezekh is just behind Glor in turning to head for the office.
Goggeck sees the other dwarves have realised what must be done.
He remains near the door to stand guard, longhammer held tightly.
Glor ponders the switches before him. The doors are well guarded, he thinks. The noise was certainly coming from the back door. Might as well see what company is here. Glor pulls the right lever.
Outside in the Old Quarry Road tunnel, the miners are arguing with Girtul. No one seems to know what needs to be done. Doubtful whispers spread throughout the caravan as people begin to lose faith in their leader.
But just then, a large clunking sound can be heard coming from the cavern walls near the doors. The first clunk is followed by another, and then another, and then the sound of stone gears grinding against each other. With a sudden think, the doors crack open. They slowly creak to reveal four dwarves standing at the ready. One stands with the wick of a grenade held near to his lit cigar. Another wields a fancy adamantine warhammer. Another stands in the rear, his hands aglow with white light. The fourth, only female dwarf, and obviously the leader, seems to have a weirdly greenish pale hue to her whole persona.
What Boomer, Urist, Gunnar, and Helga see are a small company of miners standing with mouths agape. Behind them, deeper into the tunnel, are several wagons with a small crowd of migrants amongst them.
One dwarf steps forward from the throng and extends a hand, “Bless me beard, ye survived. But there’s only four of ye. I was told there’d be seven. Did they... Nevermind that. The names Girtul, I’ve been sent in yer wake ta resettle these old ruins. Tell me, is the job done? Is it all clear?”
At the front door, Toulbe and Goggeck wait in anticipation, but nothing happens.
Goggeck relaxes his grip on his hammer. Slightly.
"Welcome, migrants. Our companions are hale and hearty, but elsewhere. Enter, so we may instruct them to seal this gate behind ye. And while we have purged much, these ruins still hold many dangers. Keep your weapons close and your eyes open."
Goggeck turns to look at Toulbe.
"Let us leave for the back door."
He then turns around and begins walking.
Toulbe looks at the door for a little while longer "Can we come back? Make sure the wolves at least ate my peace offering?" he asked as he started to follow along a few feet behind kicking small rocks as he found them.
"Eventually. But we are needed elsewhere."
Glor listens for sounds of trouble, his hand resting on the level ready to reverse it. All is well? he calls in question.
"Name's Boomer!" the grinnign alchemist said with a hearty wave. "We're all here, dont'cha worry. Mostly things are clear here, save for an ethically dubious golem."
"Come on in an' git settled, we'll show ye around."
"Let me go check." Hezekh says to Glor, before moving partway toward the rest. "What's the word?" he calls out once he's within shouting range.
A look of absolute delight crosses Urist's face, his graying beard curling with his smile. He loudly clasps his hands together before spreading them wide in a welcoming gesture.
"Bless me beard, we got our first wave'o migrants! Lessie what ya got on'ya!"
Urist takes the time to get to know the new arrivals, hoping to get on a first name basis with as many of them as possible. All the while, he takes stock of their supplies, tools, manpower, and capacity for self-defense.