Hissing wildly as Carran, Major Luke Rand and Nike cut and smash at it, the Guecubu edges back against the rock face and, in a mixture of burrowing and simply melding, disappears into the wall.
Taking the chance to take in your surroundings at last, the tunnel (now mud soaked) has led you into a rough hewn cavern some twenty feet by twenty feet with the start of an excavation to the south east. There are several broken mining tools at the end of this excavation...and heaps of what appear to be rags of clothing.
There are multiple scratches, chips and gouges in the rock face at this end of the tunnel...almost as if somebody or something was trying to burrow back out through the collapsed tunnel.
Tychi waits for the 'mud' to return to normal, as Magic is wont to do, and then walks out to Nike.
Nike in turn, taps him on the shoulder with her horn.
She then taps Carran as he walks out and past.
And finally taps Luke as he walks out and past.
"They will return. Nike, keep an eye out for them. They'll try to sneak back and attack." Tychi comments calmly. He does stop to get his whipsword and put both weapons away.
Carran picks up his bow and walks back sullenly, he feels miserable, not only for being unable to accomplish much back there, getting hurt, but now also feels as though a heavy burden is hanging over him. A feeling he can't quite shake off.
When Nike taps him on the shoulder he feel revigorated somewhat and pats Nike on the neck.
"Thank you Nike. I appreciate it, though we still have a long road to go I think, I'm glad you're a light in this darkness."
As he leaves Nike to tap Luke on his shoulder he thinks to himself.
Well that sounded more gloomy or sentimental than I wanted. What's happening to me?
"Those creatures will heal back soon, and return to attack. We need to come up with a way to prevent them from fleeing next time, or we need to coordinate our attacks on one at a time to maximize the chances of taking them down." Tychi looks back at the entrance, and realizes he'd forgotten something. "Also, we should check out the door, I don't like leaving things behind me that might hold creatures that could attack." He nods at the shrine and the door. "Nike? DO you know who or what that shrine is for?"
Nike snorts but agrees.
Luke will look to pull security: head on a swivel, waiting for the next attack. When Tychi mentions the shrine, Luke will say "What shrine?"
"If I had hit one with my last attacks, I could have prevented them from quickly escaping. I'll remember that when we face them next time."
Tychi points to the ledge and the rickety door. "That shrine."
The shrine itself is non-denominational although there are several small effigies devoted to Brigh and to Torag scattered around the alcove... From it's state of disrepair, the shrine clearly hasn't been used for many years.
"Interesting. I thought all shrines were devoted to a specific god. Didn't know you could have a shrine to any god, although I must confess that my knowledge of various religions isn't anything to write home about. I mostly believe that the gods are in heaven, and man is on earth; for good reasons, too."
Nike snorts. "The gods are where they are so they don't destroy the physical world with their mere presence. Their avatars and lesser gods fight the wars, and their servants on this realm fight here."
"Like I said, good reasons."
Carran looks over to the others standing near the shrine with a curious look and talking and he takes a bit of time to clean his sword, but when he's done and they're still talking about the shrine he pipes up.
"Shall we continue instead of discussing shrines and religion? That door over there for instance looks more of interest to us, not mentioning the areas deeper inside this mine."
Carran walks over to the door and inspects it, not wanting to fall into a trap of sorts.
The door, whilst fairly crude in construction, is robust...the ravages of age and disue have not been overly kind though and, perhaps due to the damp environment, the door is jammed within it's frame.
Carran - there doesn't appear to be anything untoward about the door and, so far as you are able to tell, there are no traps present.
"Hmm seems jammed." Carran says as the others join him.
"Let's see if I can open it the hard way."
He puts his shoulder into the door with a burst of strength to try and open it.
Tychi will back up Carran, readying the bludgeoning chain this time, assuming it either will be the wrong choice or not needed.
The door creaks and groans under Carran's efforts but it doesn't quite open on the first attempt.
With a second, more concerted effort, the door squeaks in protest against the frame and then, with one final push, swings open; the release of the door is so sudden that Carran barely stays on his feet.
The door opens into a reasonably sized living space carved out of the rock. The furniture in this room has mostly rotted, yet the thick wool curtain covering the western corner and the furry beast hide taking up most of the floor remain in better condition. A flat portion of the north-western wall appears to have served as a writing surface, and it bears numerous names as well as dates.
The room is empty, and from the extent of general decay plus the fact that the door was jammed shut, has probably been empty for many years.
The animal pelt that covers the floor, whilst not in pristine condition, would still attract a fair price if sold...or, it would do if it wasn't clearly from some form of mutated animal...patches of aberrant vivid colouring contrast against the black fur...and there are some areas where the fur is completely replaced by serpentine scales....
"I think that we should take the west fork in the tunnel and check it out first. That's just my opinion, though. What do the rest of you think?"
Carran walks into the room, looking out for anything that is sticking out so to say.
When he feels content with the room being secure, he looks at the names and date swritten on the wall, seeing if any of them kae sense to him.
When Luke calls to them to go on, he waves him off with a simple hand gesture.
"Be there in a second Luke, this room had a door for a reason, those names and dates here on the wall have a reason too."
"No problem. I'll go watch the tunnel to make sure nothing sneaks up on us."
luke will move to where the tunnel branches and keep watch.
The writing on the wall is meticulously neat; a record of names, age in years and, somewhat gruesomely, a date and location of death. There are well over a hundred names here...some common family names that are local to Alkenstar and to Martel...and a fair quantity of clearly dwarven names. The last three entries though are incomplete; stating 'Dyjas, Emori and Issig, Abandoned Eastern Tunnel, Upper Level' but with no date of death.
Major Luke Rand - All is quiet in the tunnels...just the soporific dripping of water and the whistling of wind near the entrance to the mine.
Tychi commits the names to memory. "I believe we have met these three. It is often true that names have power, perhaps having the names of those three will allow us to lay them to rest next time." Tychi comments, his voice soft. "Alright, let us go then. I believe Potentially Psychotic Major Luke Rand, Retired prefers the west fork, and I am fine with that." The tengu hoots in mild amusement, returning to the main mine section.
"Is anyone else wounded?" Nike asks.
"More clockwork constructs? I wonder who makes these things out here in the wastes?"
Carran says as he walks along with Tychi.
As you start to gather at the junction in the tunnels, Tychi whispers the presence of something in the dark ahead...
...then there is a clattering of small stones falling somewhere ahead of you followed by the sound of something metallic 'scuttling' across rock...getting quieter as it moves away from you...
"We should probably go check that out." In response to Carran's comment, Luke says "No one good Carran. No one good."
Tychi shakes his head. "I don't know. I hate to leave an unexplored tunnel at my back, as I hate it when things come poring out of that tunnel at my back afterwards. Usually just as something attacks from the front. I think it better to clear the left branch first. Whatever is down that tunnel will wait for us, or it'll come out. It doesn't sound big."
Figwiget looks sharply after the scuttling noise, trying to get a glimpse of whatever it was scuttling way. "I wonder if there might be some clockwork spies down here? Little spider-like things, stealthy, good for keeping eyes on things. I've made a few myself."
Figwidget, you hear it as well, the light sound of clockwork, the tapping of metal against rock as whatever it is scuttles away....but, with your trained ear and knowledge of clockwork, you hear a little more...
Figwdiget says, "Hmm. Did you hear that humming? I think there might be a flying mechanism involved; perhaps an ornithopter design. Haven't built any of those myself, but some manufacturers have made flying clockwork spies in Alkenstar. We should keep our eyes open. Well, of course, we should do that anyway. But, look in the corners, and look up, for smallish flying clockwork devices."
Still keeping a keen ear out for things moving in, or from, the northern tunnel, you strike out along the western branch. With Nike pulling the pair of linked mine carts along the rails, you walk for some sixty to seventy feet before you sense the tunnel start to gradually slope downwards away from you. As you walk, the dripping noise grows louder until the light from your torch and from Nike softly illuminates the edge of a body of water....it appears that this may be as far as you can drag the carts in this direction; the rails for the mine cart continue straight into the water...
Tychi and Nike turn to each other, then to the wall, and both nod.
"Figwidget, you might want to examine that wall there, near the metal clasp. It might be a door, or something else. It appears this part of the mine is flooded." Tychi indicates the wall with the clasp, leaving it up to the expert in mechanical things.
"Hmm, we can only hope it is the switch for a drainage system. I'm not that fond of going for a swim in here. Else this is a dead end and we should turn back and continue down to explore."
Taking with Tychi says to heart, Figwidget looks at the metal clasp that he's pointing at, attempting to figure out what it's for and how we might use it to advantage.
Not sure which is most appropriate, so here are a few:
The handle and the clasp seem to be little more than a mechanism for securing what you realise is a false wall into position. It appear that you have found a secret door however Figwidget's first attempt to unlock the door is unsuccessful...the handle remaining resolutely fixed in position.
The unicorn looks over Figwidget's shoulder, which is quite a lot of looking, given the size of her head, and the fact her horn rubs against his ear as she does so (not to mention the door). "So, shall I kick it in?"
"Can someone outline the door so we have an idea of how big it is? It might help us know what size of creature would be using it."
"Wait a moment before kicking it in Nike, let me try my hand at it as well. We don't want to alert many more creatures here to our presence."
Nike snorts. "Perhaps the resident thieves should work together to illicitly enter the door?"
"Why would thieves who lived here need to illicitly enter a door in their home. Why wouldn't they just enter?"
Tychi looks at Rand. "Figwidget and Carran do not have the key to the door, that is why." He hoots softly. "Nike was referring to our friends who are rather adept at opening doors they are not privy to the key for, and I think she was suggesting they work together, rather than take turns, as each has their own strengths and weaknesses."
"Sorry, that was a bit of a joke."