-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-<* Fort Gettys *>--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-

 

    Gettys sits at the easternmost edge of Sendor, on the very border between Sendor and Bludgun. The well-constructed fort is on top of a hill, meaning that any attacker is stuck with the low ground. Though the area is forested, the trees have been cut for some distance from the wooden palisade surrounding the fort.

 

 Though many of the defenses surrounding the fort are wooden, the actual buildings are stone, making it impossible to simply defeat whoever holds the fort by setting fire to the whole thing. Scorch marks on the palisades suggest that this is not for a lack of effort in recent times. 

 

A wide, well-trampled road leads from the east into the fort and then continues heading northwest, toward Vinas Solmnus. This road appears to be the main route for ground troops and goods to move back and forth between Sendor and Bludgun. At the moment, it is also very well-guarded: Bludgun has control of the fort and has most of their troops outside, forming a half-circle around the hill to prevent Myrrish troops from getting to either the road or the fort.

 

-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-- Contents --=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-

 

 Chinook         A warm, gentle breeze. OR IS IT?!                     1m   6h

 

 Darshan         Mechagodzilla                                         0s   1m

 

 Roland          6'3" charismatic man with auburn curls and hazel eyes 2m   8m

 

-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--= Exits -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-

 

The Front Lines <TFL>     

 

-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-

 

Xander has arrived.

 

Karelin has arrived.

 

When last we left our heroes, they had been battered and bruised by a gigantic earth elemental guard. They had also managed to free the slaves on the off shift. Xander had just returned to the group, saying that there were incoming guards!

 

Karelin's swordtip twitches. "How many guards?" He takes a glance to assess the freed slaves. "The way out -- is it through them?" He points down the way that Xander returned from.

 

Darshan looks down at the chain in his claws, and cursing, begins to roll up a section of it. "Mrm...I don't suppose they're here to reward us," wryly. He makes a loop with the chain, and puts it over his shoulder. "You're sure you don't know a better way out of here?" to the ex-slaves. "It would be helpful."

 

"I made certain to be off before they arrived, so I couldn't tell you." Xander replies to Karelin. A look down the hallway. "We must move. Now. There are two paths. They may not arrive to the crossroads before we do. And even if we must meet and do battle with them, a chance of escaping the ore is the best option we have." And then he's moving, waving for the rest to do so as well.

 

"We came in down there," one of the men says, pointing back the way Xander came. "Opposite the mine...there's a tunnel down to...down to this *thing*." How specific of him. At least he's pointing in the same direction Xander's indicating.

 

Karelin nods, and starts hustling down the tunnel. "Talk as we move." He keeps his sword as guard, as -he- moves. "What *thing*?" He's happy enough to try to beat the guards to the crossroads.

 

A look towards the slaves, then the rest of them. "Then let's go find it," Darshan says, and grins. "I've mrm, got this sword. It was used by slavers...it might just be useful in killing them." And he's off after Xander.

 

Roland puts away his whip and starts after the group, shaking his head. "To the crossroads..." and a little more quietly, "..and who knows where in the worlds next.."

 

"What about the others?" someone calls. "You're not going to -leave- them here, are you?" Down the hall, there are more slave quarters, followed by slavemaster quarters--at least, rooms without bars on the doors. There is also a huge open room *filled* with Nethercite. And a forge. It's probably where the blueprints Xander came back with came from. Down a ways, there are other rooms with smaller quantities of Nethercite in them. Even further down, there is indeed a crossroads, with one fork going right and one left. The man who was giving directions points right....

 

...Right as a handful of hobgoblins and smaller earth elementals round the corner. At least they look like they'll go down a bit easier than the huge elemental you fought earlier.

 

"Well. That answers that question. Charge!" is Xander's thought on the matter of the guards. He charges right alongside the two burlier members of the team, slashing and kicking and punching at things, taking the hobgoblins and leaving the more endurant earth elementals for the experts. Heck, maybe even the formerly-slaves will help. Hopefully they won't get themselves killed.

 

Karelin has a good head of steam going when he gets to the corner. At least most of the bleeding from earlier has slowed in a sticky crust on his chin. Its uncomfortable, and just gives him extra angry-fuel. He arrives at the corner, leading with his sword-tip, blowing it through the body of a smaller elemental, before starting to roll into a place just -past- the corner on the "wrong side", to seal off the corridor that they -do- want to go down. That he generates a bit of skull-splitting momentum on the way is just gore-spattered serendipity.

 

Chandrakanta has arrived.

 

Roland doesn't even bother with the bow, relying on the whip once again to crack the leather amidst the slaver's backs and faces, then once again amidst the legs of one or two leading the rush so as to help impede their process by providing hob shaped, prone roadblocks amidst the passageways.

 

The former slaves do what they can to pile on one of the hobgoblin guards, dragging him screaming down to the ground and kicking and punching him until he doesn't move any longer. It looks like this fight will be over soon.

 

"...gods," the sith'makar says, and that's all he gets out. The githblade sings, melting silver in the strange place. But there's a poetic justice in it. Here. And if he hits them hard enough, perhaps it'll break on accident. As it is, he tests the theory. Again. And again. And... again, amid flying dirt and hobgoblins. When it's done, there's dirt. And the blood of hobgoblins. And blood on his precious, precious armor.

 

It isn't really fighting, its more like slaughter. Karelin doesn't invoke his god for that reason. He just kills. Focusing on the earth elementals, his black blade scythes through them with embarassing ease.

 

Soon, the corridor is clear of hobgoblins and elementals. It is, however, full of anxious (mostly human) slaves.

If you thought Xander looked disheveled before, now's a good time to re-evaluate and write it up as even worse. Black clothes come in handy when there's showers of blood, although the dust from shattered elementals clings visibly. Once the last of the misfortunate guards falls, he wrenches the thin blade of the longsword free, wiping it clean but leaving the weapon in hand. "There will be more. Let's keep moving." he says, sharply tugging his hair back, out of his face, and stepping forwards into the tunnel the slave pointed out.

 

Darshan grips hold of the great blade one-handed. Awkward, that, and more awkward still, the way he scowls at it, darkly. The way he doesn't bother cleaning it at first like one would a sword. The tail flickers. And then he follows.

 

Karelin rises up, and turns towards Xander. "Lead on." He glances back, grinning. "I can rearguard."

 

Roland just nods, for once being quiet -- but then he's probably just saving his breath for all the running.

 

"What about the others?" one of the men calls. "We're not going to leave them, are we?"

 

Roland stops to look back at the army of freed slaved, "There aer -mooore-? Just how many people do they have locked up in here anyhow?!?"

 

"...others," the sith'makar says. And looks back. "No, we aren't. Where are they?" He's bleeding. So is the armor, a dull, mana-ooze that doesn't look at all healthy. Poor armor. Poor, pretty armor.

 

Xander stops, turns. "Are there more?" Oh gods, they're going to need a portal back, yes indeed. "Down the other branch of the tunnel, I assume. Very well." He concedes. The Paladin in the group demands it! "Svarshan, take point. Warrior, guard the back. The rest, watch the flanks. Let's get those people out quickly."

 

"...In the mine, with the Slavemaster," the filthy man says, gesturing toward the opposite route. "We're just one shift. The other two shifts are working."

 

Karelin waits for the group to pass his position. "Very well." He cracks his neck as he waits, using spit to clean up the worst of the blood on his face.

 

"Hold on a moment." Xander says, as a thought seems to strike him. "Tell me, the dark ore." A gesture to indicate it. "Do you know a place where there is none of it nearby? Where it ends?" He waits for an answer, first, before asking: "Tell us about this Slavemaster."

 

Being Chandra, the Veyshanti doesn't rush out, her excellence when it comes to disappearing into terrain makes it difficult to ascertain which tunnel she came from, especially when others were distracted by fight and now slaves. A sheen of sweat on her brow and a blade ready, whichever way she did come from, the sound of the fight draw her, she breathes a sigh of relief as she sees slaughtered hobgoblins and earth elementals, "You made it here.."

 

"...the Slavemaster." Darshan pauses. "Their chamber wouldn't, would it? If we can get there, quickly, we can heal," wry, a flicker of tail. "Not that I'm mrm, not going in there anyway." The blade still hasn't been cleaned yet--but it doesn't glow, either. Not here. It just shifts, eerily, flowing silver there in the quiet-without-magic.

 

There's a general shaking of heads. "It's everywhere," opines one of the former slaves. As to the other question, "He's a giant." Really, doesn't that just say everything? "He'll be making sure the others keep working."

 

Karelin grins, showing teeth, towards Chandra. And at one of the former slaves. "A giant. More way to fall on the way to the ground."

 

"...then it's hard and fast, then." And the sith doesn't look too disappointed. He does grin at Chandra, though. It's unpleasant, though not aimed at her. It's for this Slavemaster. "Evening, Chainbreaker. They're mrm, telling us about someone you'd like to 'meet.'" And then its time to go down the tunnel.

 

"Very well. Then we go to say hello to this Slavemaster." Xander says. "Let's move out." A nod at Chandra's return, and he lets Darshan take point, moving after him while the rest form the remainder of the protective barrier around the former slaves.

 

Roland rolls his eyes with a shake of the head, "He's a giant.." the bard drawls on, "..Well, this just gets better and better -- I'm sooo booking a room and taking a week long hot bath when we get back."

 

Pointing with her blade, she motions to the tunnel on the right, "That way leads to a strange churning pool of earth. The nethercite also, it ends not too far down the tunnel." She knits her brows and listens to them discuss the dynamics of the inprisonment for the slaves, "Where is this giant?" She asks.

 

Karelin glances towards Chandra. "It ends?" He calls forwards. "You caught that, right?"

 

"That way." The woman nearest Chandra points down the way the heroes are starting to march. The former slaves appear to be staying put, though, not wanting to incur the giant's wrath.

 

"Preferably...dead," and the paladin looks at his claws, and not for the first time, scowls at them. The bloodied blade is wiped and put away, another retrieved in its stead. The chains he keeps, and those rattle as they move along. Not as loud as the clanking armor, though.

 

Roland breathes a little easier, a sigh of relief, "By the Dancer's Steps, aye we heard -- this bloody maze of crystal ends...Let's go shall we."

 

"The portal. Good news. I just hope it does not go to..." Xander mutters it all, mostly to himself. He nods to his slave friends. "We will return soon. We shall do away with the giant and free your companions." Then, to the adventurers: "Let us investigate this end to the nethercite. If it is true, we will be able to heal our wounds - or better yet draw our foe there."

 

Karelin considers. "I think healing would be enough. Then let's just kill the bastard."

 

So. Down the tunnel to the right you go. And down. Further down. It probably won't take long for them to question Chandra's definition of 'not far'.

 

Down the tunnel and to grandma's house? After a while, Darshan picks up a jog, a slow, steady one that's faster than walking. But one that clanks, echoes against the halls.

 

Xander matches Darshan's pace, albeit the lizardman's jog is a bit slower than the mage's normally. He's alert, as if expecting trouble to come out of the walls. It very well could, in this place.

 

Karelin moves along carefully, watching the rear.

 

"Its not that much further," Chandra tells them, really, the 75 feet distance isn't that much. She leads the way, "There is nothing past the pool." Which they have yet to see, because its even further down the path.

 

Roland jogs along, "Remind me when we get back to hit Allonwe up for marathon pay along with everythng else..." though the gripe is far from whole-hearted as he moves to keep up.

 

Karelin looks around. "Is this far enough away. I'd like to get back and kill the damned Slavemaster."

 

Xander keeps his teeth grit. "The sooner we arrive, the sooner we can go back. I shall tell you as soon as the grip of the ore is gone." he says. He can feel it. He can feel the radiation chilling his blood, maybe even his soul. He's looking forward to the end of the path and the feeling gone, even briefly.

 

Darshan lets go a breath, and takes another one in. He keeps moving, and the armor stays its regular pattern. "It's a long shot," he says, quietly. "I could use Srassha's legs about now." And he laughs. "But I'm sure she'd try eating...whatever those rocks were."

 

Eventually--quite some ways down the tunnel--Xander's copper coin begins to flicker on and off as if it were trying to catch a radio station from the maximum distance. A dozen meters after that, it remains lit.

 

Xander breathes a sigh of relief when they come into the clear, as if he were released from some grip, some physical pain nobody else is feeling. "Quickly, mend wounds. We've a job to do as well as a long distance to cross, and I do not want to linger too much longer in this place."

 

Karelin nods once. "I'd prefer that Nosenra doesn't come back just right now." He bounces on the balls of his feet.

 

At that, Darshan--never looked to be so happy to see the manaflow again. He laughs, and throws his arms upwards--closes his eyes. The air stills a moment, stills...and then a faint clap as the air tears, and a greater lizard steps out of it. She looks confused, then barrels forward, nuzzling her rider's armor. And covering him in slobber. But that's just like a dog, right?

 

Chandrakanta keeps moving until the come to the point where it seems the Nethercite clears. Made more obvious by the natural gieger counter that is Xander in this situation, "Here, do your healing now so we can get to the giant."

 

Xander himself pats Srassha on the head. He says nothing, at first, nodding his thanks to Roland for the healing spell, steeling himself for the re-entry into the zone of dead magic. "Are we ready?" he asks, quiet.

 

Karelin nods once, curtly. "I'm ready." He's got his teeth again, seems like. All in the right-ish place.

 

Roland pulls up once the oppressive force of the nethercite lifts. There's a small moment where he catches his breath, it's a long run after all -- before he closes his eyes and softly hums a healing tune, calling upon the Dancer to mend most of the wounds acquired in battle. Then as the lizard continues to hit himself with a stick the bard just looks over witha frown, "-What- are you doing?"

 

Karelin waits by the nethercite, bouncing on the balls of his feet. He asks again. "Ready?"

 

"Then we move. Let's go." Xander says, leading the way back at a brisk pace! The sooner they kill that stinky ol' giant, the sooner they can come back here where it's nice and magic-friendly.

 

When it appears the healing is done, Chandra looks to the other, "We should get back to the refugees and find that giant." She is always loath to use the word slaves.

 

Darshan scratches the greater lizard on the head, and looks back. "Alright," he says, and a half-smile follows it. "Don't mrm, worry for it, bard. I'm sure I've a hammer around, someplace." The look's a sad one, to be sure. and she looks...confused as they start to head off without her. Her head tilts, a "Rhuuuuh?" A tail-flicker.

 

So! Back up the tunnel they go, again with only the light from Xander's sunrod to guide them. Hopefully the slaves will have discovered the lights in the slavemasters' quarters by now.

 

Roland grumbles and takes a moment to unsling his backpack, digging in again and again as he gathers a collection of flasks and weapons, "Purchased most of this shit the last time I /knew/ I was going to have to tangle with this stuff." He looks to Xander, "You care for anything before we head back?" he asks, holding up a flask of acid and another reddish pot complete with a stopper and a whick of some sort.

 

Karelin marches back up, eager now, bouncing on the balls ofhis feet as he goes.

 

Down the tunnel and through the woods. Darshan keeps looking behind them as they go, but it's the same pace back, the same forward. Really, he just /moves/.

 

"Is that seethewater?" Xander says, looking into one of the flasks Roland has retrieved. It's a popular name for one of the more potent alchemical acids. He nods. "Hand one here. Just in case."

 

Karelin ends up out front, swordtip pointing in the direction of travel, grinning the whole time.

 

Roland nods and tosses it and the red flask over, 'I've got another set, so if you can put those to use...Feel free."

 

When they get back up to the crossroads, the former slaves...have disappeared. Perhaps they're hiding. Or perhaps something got to them. Either way, they're not immediately apparent.

 

Roland frowns, "Maybe we should have taken them with us...Still, let's see what we can do about this giant shall we?"

 

Karelin nods, taking a moment to look around. He shakes his head, then nods. "Yes. Time to kill the slavemaster, then." He raises his sword, and moves on down the tunnel.

 

"...they probably hid," from the sith, though he sounds...strained. And the movement towards the place where the slavemaster'd supposedly been is all that much faster. "If they had mrm, sense, they went back to the cages and pretended nothing happened."

 

"The broken locks will have betrayed them. Let's deal with the giant." Xander speaks, looking around, holding the sunrod aloft. "There was no screaming. I assume there would have been had..." A pause. "Would you like me to seek them whilst you fight the giant?"

 

"I hope so." Chandra says, but its unclear which she hopes they did.

 

Karelin grunts. "Either way. Let's just go." He starts down towards the tunnel again.

 

"Hm. Yes. Let's." Xander agrees, heading for the tunnel himself and waving the others over too, carefully setting the sunrod in his belt so as to leave his hands free for his sword and other helpful things. Down into the gloom once again! How... joyous.

 

So. Down into the mine you go. Immediately, you begin passing mine-related items such as wheelbarrows and timbers with which to shore up the ceiling. The mine slopes even further downward, so you are now quite some distance below the dragon's lair. There are occasionally side-tunnels which follow prominent veins of the nethercite, but no sound comes from any of them.

 

Darshan traces a claw along the nethercite, curious as they move down the tunnel. "One had never thought..." he starts to say, but whatever that is--he drops it. The tail flickers, either way, and he proceeds the rest of the way with simple clanking.

 

Chandrakanta is doing her best to keep quiet as she moves along. Looking at the structure of the mine along the way, "Well, if it looks like we are losing, we could always try to take out the mine supports. We can't promise the tunnel will collapse, but its a last ditch effort." Of course, it could also trap them.

 

Karelin keeps stalking downwards, looking for sign of the slavemaster. The long walk seems just to be slaking his ardor. After all, he's going to have to take out the burden of the climb back on the hide of the giant.

 

Roland just grunts in response to Chandra as he keeps up with the group, nodding to the supports.

 

Karelin raises a hand, and hisses, "Shh." Then he points towards something on the wall to the left. A piper, maybe?

 

The tail flickers, the body stills. Darshan leans that way to see if he sees a thing--but the best thing he can do is to stop moving. So he does exactly that.

 

Xander follows Karelin's raised hand, peering into the darkness as best he can, although it's not very well, trying to make out what the warrior is pointing out. A sleeping guard? An ominous sign? He doesn't hold the sunrod up to it yet.

 

At the same time that Karelin raises his hand, Chandra seems to notice it as well, touching a finger to her lips. Then points, moving a few feet a head at a slower, more careful pace.

 

Roland draws up as Karelin raises a hand, reaching back to fetch an arrow as he readdies his bow.

 

The sounds of mining can now be heard, somewhere further down in the tunnel. The item Chandra and Karelin have spotted appears to be a short section of pipe, perhaps leftover from some draining effort. There's also a discarded, broken pickaxe to the right.

 

Karelin starts towards the pipe, examining it, but also listening at it.

Xander eyes the pipe, confused by the sheer oddity of its presence. He doesn't seem inclined to check it out, though. Eyes fall to the pickaxe, broken as it is on the floor. His expression reads: What the hell?

 

As Karelin and Chandra approach the pipe, it suddenly spews a great gust of wind...peppered with tiny sand particles. Karelin manages to duck out of the way of the worst, but Chandra is hit with the full blast. She's going to have to put up with irritated eyes and itchy skin for some time. 

 

As soon as the blast ends, the giant who blasted it steps around the corner, holding a wicked-looking scimitar. "Hi," he says, grinning.

 

"Damnit," The Veyshanti squints as the sand gets her in the face, fortunately, the giant says hello. She goes on impulse, attacking it, only one of her strikes being on the mark, barely scratching it.

 

"Is...are you attacking me? I've had papercuts worse'n that, little lady," the giant says, amused as he looks down at Chandra. "Let me show you how it's done." Once, twice, thrice he cuts into the rogue, hurting her quite badly. "Now -those- are wounds."

 

Karelin straightens up after ducking away, and starts circling, snapping blows in against the giant's defenses. One cut bites deep, making a long, red cut alongside its massive knee.

 

Roland lifts bow and arrow, firing a quartet of arrows into the fray that seem to accomplish absolutely nothing.

 

The blade goes--past. Right past, whiffing in the air by the giant's uncaring shoulder. Darshan skids to a halt after that, eyeing the creature, this beast. He keeps his eyes on the creature's arm, and where that blade might go.

 

So Xander considers his options. None of them are any good at all. He pulls from his belt a firearm, a lovely thing of death and elegance all at once. He points it at the giant, presses the trigger. It's a decent shot, but the bullet just ricochets off into a wall.

 

"Hmm...Nosenra will probably want to know how you got out of that room, so I suppose..." the Giant appears to be talking to himself as he flips the scimitar up and slams it twice more into Chandra. At least it's not with the blade, so it doesn't draw any blood. "How -did- you get out of the room, anyway, and past Xgtfx? You're pretty pathetic if you can't even hit a giant from this close range."

 

Karelin keeps circling, running his blade along the inside of the giant's forearm, and the inside of his thigh, while its distracted. Blood, at least, starts to show.

 

"None--of your business," from the sith, as a blow cuts across the creature's shoulder. And maybe he doesn't want to talk, maybe he's just more interested in, you know, taking a bite out of crime. The rest go wide, slicing past the giant's hide.

 

Roland lifts his bow, sighting the giant once again. "Whoa...WAit...Where do you get off trusting Xgtfx?!? What the xgfuckz where you thinking schmuck?!" The insult is promptly punctuated by twin arrows poking from the giant's chest. The third just goes wide as the bard switches to Giant, "So freaking ugly even the arrows run away..."

 

The sand has Chandra completely off her mark. She tries to strike. Missing each and every hit.

 

Xander sheathes his sword, going about reloading the pistol. It's all he can do, really. It's such a complicated process. Gunpowder is poured, the bullet set... He doesn't seem in a mood to chat with the giant right now.

 

"Well, well. The bees can sting. I'll be with you in a moment," the giant tells Karelin, as he blenders poor Chandra into the ground. While she's still breathing, she may well end up with a concussion. Regardless, he gracefully spins around, bringing the flat of the sword up against Karelin once and...manages a backswing, even nastier than the original swing. Twice. "Is he a mage or something?" he asks as he swings, nodding toward Xander. "I wonder what happens if you force-feed a mage nethercite. Wanna find out?"

 

Karelin rolls with the blows, grinning at the giant. He leaves his sword up, to mark the underside of the arm with his blade as itgoes by.

 

Roland strings arrow to bow again and again and again then just kind of stares, takes a moment and re-counts, "One..two...Dammit!!!"

 

Xander reaches into his belt for something, peering at the tunnel itself, eyes narrowed. His hand flexes around a round metal object, the other. "Yes, I am a mage. How convenient that we fight in here, no?" he drawls at the giant, but othervise focuses on... whatever it is he's doing.

 

The giant is starting to show considerable wear and tear. "Kill me and you won't get out of here before the dragon comes," he growls, mirth evaporating. "He'll tear you to pieces after he has answers, or make you work in the mines. Stop this and I'll make her let you out."

 

Karelin snarls. "I don't beli-- her?" He drives his sword into the side of the giant's knee, twists. "Who can force Nosen--" then he backhands the giant's off-hand roughly, probably doing violence to the fingers. "What makes you think she'd listen to you?"

 

"And let you raise the alarm?" the sith bares his teeth, and the blade goes snicker-snack, though he aims with the blunt of it. He /listens/, listens, but the blade keeps in motion.

 

Roland grunts, still speaking in Giant, "The bigger they are, the worse they lie? Just shut up and die!" Firing away another barrage of arrows to add another pair of pinpoints to the creature's torso.

 

"Sorry, no deal. I wonder what happens if you force-feed a giant nethercite, and maybe a bit more. I guess we're about to find out." Xander says mock-sweetly, tosses the object, feather-light, precise throw. "Eyes up." at the giant. And at this friends: "Duck." The bomb - because that's what it is, a bomb - impacts with a portion of the ceiling, bounces off, and then on its way down, EXPLODES. It was very precise, intent to be a very... surgical... explosion.

 

The giant lets out a big belly laugh. "Not Nosenra, you foo--" His laughter is abruptly cut off by the ceiling explosion, and the boulders coming down from the ceiling promptly cave his head in and send him crashing to the ground. Dust comes up, thick, to choke everyone, and Darshan and Karelin both have to scramble backwards a bit--but when the dust clears, the giant is buried but the way forward is not. Only a true student of engineering could have exploded that without also caving in the tunnel or sealing off the entrance.

Karelin ducks back, coughing, cursing as well. "Oh, all of the hells. All of them." He reaches down to grab Chandra's unconscious form as well, and prop her up. "We need to leave. There's another dragon in here."

 

"That was...nice," to the magus, with a quick grin, and Darshan looks over at the fallen Chainbreaker, and...the tail stills. "We have to get them out," he says, and pauses. "And it's a long mrm, way down that tunnel."

 

Roland turns his head, coughing up a storm as he stoes his bow. Shuffling forward he nods to Karelin, "Can you carry her yourself, or you prefer to carry the shoulders while one of us gets the legs?"

 

The sounds of mining still come from behind the new rockslide. There are, it will turn out (assuming they continue), still a few hobgoblins and elementals keeping the other two-thirds of the slaves at work. No dragon, though.

 

Karelin glances at Roland. "She's light. Get moving. If you want to get the others, I'll break their chains here, but we need to leave now."

 

Darshan looks over that way, and...lets go a breath. "Sounds good," he says, after a short pause. "Let me go talk to those hobgoblins. Roland...I could use the bow help, if you're mrm, up to it." He assumes Karelin's staying there.

 

"The portal sounded the same as the one we encountered in the female's lair. I think that might be where the portal leads. But we've very little choice. I cannot transfer so many creatures past planar boundaries, not without a few days' time, which we do not have." Xander explains. He moves ahead with the rest, to free the slaves and look for the ones they freed before.

 

Roland frowns, "I'd love to free them as well, but we're not in good shape for another fight...So what exactly do you plan to say?" Still, he pulls the bow back out and checks his arrows quickly.

 

"So." says Xander to the hobgoblins, leveling the pistol on them. "If you feel inclined to surrender, please do so now. And if not, well. Then you've made my day." A click as the safety latch is moved into the 'off' position. There's a rather feral grin, there, to go with that.

 

Roland says, "We should go. Hopefully the slaves we released earlier will have to be enough -- we can't do anyone any good if we're captured as well. There's also the fact that codebook or no, the army needs to know about this place and these portals or the war effort itself could be endangered.""

 

The sith'makar takes a breath, and then lets it go. "Roland, I'm going," he says, and scowls at the bard. "So...leave, please. I'll mrm, either catch up with the lot of you, or I won't." And he moves over, and grabs hold of the giant they'd fell'd...and lifts the scimitar. "And this is if they'll need proof."

 

Karelin nods. "We still need the codebook. And we lack the resources to kill two dragons." He grunts. "You'd better be the first people back around that corner."

 

Darshan grips the haft of it, "Planning on it," he says, wry. "Just get her out of here, Karelin. Please." The sith'makar lowers his visor after that, and looks back down the tunnel. A moment more, and he heads that way, the giant's great weapon held over his shoulder. Too much talking. They need to move.

 

"Assuming we find them." Xander asides to the bard. After all, the slaves... vanished. Whether into hiding, snatched by elementals, eaten by a grue... gods know. He frowns. "There is no knowing what will happen once they are alerted to this place being compromised so. Paladin..." He sighs. He's hating himself right now. So much. "I'll accompany you, paladin. But promise me we WILL retreat if the stakes become too high, to live and fight another day?"

 

Roland shakes his head, "What was that passage...Fools rush in or thou shalt not tempt Daeus your Daddy Dude?" Despite the grumbling, he's not taken off on his own, rather he moves over by Karelin, looking past the scarred warrior to check Chandra quickly, as if reassuring himself that she's well, still with them and not just as an evil haunting spirit...

 

Darshan looks over, and offers a quick, if fierce, grin. "My word on it. Pray to Daeus, magus, pray to Averium. It's for their sakes we do this--and our own mrm, hearts." The tail lashes again, accenting the words, and the visor goes down--no more grins, no more quirks. The armor gives a dull, angry pulse as it does, and it's--down the hall.

 

Karelin growls. "We'll be here, but be quick." He uses the giant's cairn as a makeshift berm, setting up a defense just behind it.

 

To (Xander, Darshan), Chinook pages: All right then. You go ahead and find a handful of hobgoblins and a crapload of slaves. The tunnels have gotten a lot more narrow, too.

 

To (Chinook, Xander), Darshan pages: LISTEN UP! We're getting out of here. Every one of us. That belonged to your leader, and he's dead," the tail flickers, turns to lashing. By now, Darshan sounds so tired, so pissed, so angry. He addresses the hobgoblins. "I'm not going to yell at you and...godsblood. I'm not here to make pretty speeches. But I'm going to spell it out. This--belonged to your jailor. Your elemental chief's dead, too. You can either come, or you can die. Those are your two choices."

 

To (Darshan, Chinook), Xander pages: "So." says Xander to the hobgoblins, leveling the pistol on them. "If you feel inclined to surrender, please do so now. And if not, well. Then you've made my day." A click as the safety latch is moved into the 'off' position. There's a rather feral grin, there, to go with that.

 

To (Xander, Darshan), Chinook pages: Okay, the hobs drop weapons.

 

Footsteps. The sound of footsteps. They echo down the hall, on booted feet of hobgoblins, hobs without their swords and their hands tied in front of them. The rest of them are slaves, and everyone, everyone's--making a run for the exit. "Hurry up!" Darshan laughs, tiredly, as the mob starts to move past. "Their shift is over!"

 

Karelin grins at Darshan. "Good!" He turns, and starts double-timing it back up the tunnel, switching bow for sword, as he carries Chandra.

 

Roland blinks in stunned astonishment, "Holy..." then his brain seems to catch up as he shrugs, "Let's hoof it guys."

 

The group runs! But some run slower than others (there are dwarves and halflings among the slaves anyway), so the group has plenty of time to find the first group of slaves, hiding in their cells. It takes some time, but finally the group makes it to the area of the cave system where there's no more nethercite.

 

Darshan grabs hold, and swings into Srassha's saddle. The swift bugles as her rider settles into place, and then--it's time to go. It's past time to go. "Xander," wry, "Right now..." he trails off, about to say something about the dragon's lair. But he looks out at the slaves, at the mass of them, and then back again. Simply, "Thank you."

 

Karelin nods, straightening up a little, and he makes sure all of the slaves' hands are free. More strength, to carry his burden. "Remember, grab weapons quickly, we'll be going fast."

 

Healing, that awakens Chandra, she has the look of seeing stars, looking back and forth, trying to ascertain what happened, "what.. where are we? Where is the giant?" Losing time does not agree with her.

 

Karelin grunts. "The giant is dead. We're about to go through the gate, with our freed ones."

 

Xander stops, catching a breath and counting the number of slaves as his magic flares back to its vibrant life. "Save it for another time. We're still not out." he says to Darshan. He's being... so careful. So ready to yell at the slaves to split to the sides, so expecting a giant, scaly head to spring from that portal and breathe death at them all. He pushes on, though. "Be very quiet. If this gate leads where I think it may, we'd best hope she's not home, or at worst asleep."

 

"Dead," after a time. Darshan settles Srassha, who's...tired of standing still. She bugles again, and heads towards the 'gate,' with her rider. She's ready to go, and as he is, he's in no mood to stop her. And he nods to Xander. "If that's the case...she may talk to me. One will try. The rest of you..." a wry, half-smile comes with it. "We'll mrm, see." When they get there.

 

So. Further down you go. Eventually, you can see the churning pool of earth that Chandra described what seems like ages ago. It looks...well, quite frankly, dangerous. Particularly when a head emerges from it...although it isn't the giant, scaly head Xander was expecting. Instead, it's a pleasant, female face, sculpted out of rock, with sapphires for eyes and rust-brown hair with gold and silver streaks through it. "Stop," she says, before anyone can enter the pool.

 

Human female, that is.

 

"We'd like through, m'lady," Darshan says, after a moment. He watches the creature, his and Srassha's tails flickering here and there. "If you mrm, could, we would appreciate it." Srassha bugles again, and leans forward to sniff curiously at the woman. Or tries--her rider tugs her back.

 

Roland slides to a halt as the woman appears..."Well hello there beautiful, ahh come here often?" Yes, the bard is flirting with the rock woman. :(

 

Xander... stops. What else would you do if that happened to you? "As my companion says, we seek passage, guardian of the portal." the mage speaks, assuming that's exactly what it is. Sure looks like it.

 

Chandrakanta moves along as she's filled in until they come upon the portal and its guardian. She wipes a bit of blood from her brow and lets the others speak. Checking on others around them.

 

The rock-woman tilts her head to the side. "Your mouth will be your undoing," she tells Roland, her rough, rock-hewn voice brimming with certainty. To Darshan, "You would have me trade my life for yours? Why?"

 

The tail flickers. "I don't ask that," Darshan says, finally. "But is that the price for helping us?" Srassha shifts again, and tries for another sniff.

 

Karelin looks at the face, frowning. He blinks, then curses. "Right," he says, and looks up at the roof of the cavern.

 

Roland gives a brief, if unapologetic shrug as he turns back briefly...

 

"Perhaps. Perhaps just pain. But Nosenra will be angry, if I allow you passage." She speaks as if she were actually far away, an observer rather than a participant.

 

"My dear lady." Xander says, bowing deeply, for some reason. "Tell me - is it Nosenra that binds you to this portal?" He seems to be speaking to the THING with utmost respect. Why? Gods know.

 

Karelin follows Xander's lead on this, bowing. "Good day, Lady. " He stands with respect, trying not to trip Xander up.

 

"...one serves Daeus, m'lady. I could no more ask you to do that than...I couldn't," Darshan finishes. He looks towards Xander, and back, with a half-smile. "Lady, if we can free you, we will. If we cannot...look back. We're taking them to freedom. It speaks enough for our motives. If..." he starts to say, and pauses. Pauses again. "M'lady...if the mage here cannot give you the freedom you seek...then take my name. You may claim I forced you to help us," a pause. "And mrm, blame me. Personally."

 

Roland gives a brief, smiling shrug before letting Xander and Darshan talk..

 

"This portal is my home. He binds us to this place," the elemental intones. She listens, serenely. "You could fetch what binds me to this place. But--" her head is suddenly tilted. "There is but one egg in the basket. Doom approaches."

 

Chandrakanta knits a brow as she listens to the conversation between the guardian, the mage and the daeusite. Really, if the situation were not grave all they would need is a pub to walk into to make a joke. She digs into her pockets for something as she listens, probaby healing potions.

 

Darshan's tail flickers, and he steps forward. "Lady," he says gravely. "Tell him you had no choice. Ones companions here intend to see the dragon's," he chokes, moves on, "death. But mrm, not now. Not with--there're as captive as you are," he looks to the slaves, back again. "Give us time, and blame me in the meantime."

 

"Quickly, most revered one - tell us what binds you, and where we may find it? And this doom you speak of, how far down the line does it lie? What form does it take? Is there a way for us all to hide, to flee from it?" Xander asks. What kind of questions are those? He seems to be well in grasp of his mind at this point, however. His words are quick, what with the words the creature spoke.

 

Roland turns back to the female, his tone shifting from flirtatious to respectful. "Beauty, no matter the source, is best treasured in it's true home. Please, tell us what binds you to here and aye, fate is ever at hand. By the Dancer's Flame, Nosenra has claimed to be no friend of ours so if your service at her bequest is not of your choosing -- we would not see such slavery long endured."

 

Karelin speaks not. Right now, there are too many words. However, he gets ready to interpose himself between Doom and the others.

 

"Not all of you will see Nosenra's death," the Weird predicts, flatly. "Perhaps none. The dice roll, and I see many outcomes." The sapphires shine toward Xander for a moment. "I am...blind, to it. Perhaps if you were to find one of my sisters, but...there is no time. It is a necklace, of sapphires. I know not where it lies. The doom...its shadow is already upon you."

 

Darshan wants to turn around. He doesn't. But his shoulders itch, his back does. "How do we get out?" he asks her, picking up at least, on the questions portion. "And how may we find your sisters?"

 

"Beyond the portal, there is nothing that will bring about our immediate demise, is that true, revered one? If so, until we can free you, perhaps we can pay a toll to pass. A shining product of the earth, perhaps?" Xander suggests. Nods at the others. Gems. Get them shinies out!

"There are many paths through a swamp. Some are safer than others," the weird tells Darshan. At Xander's words, she rises a few more inches above the earth. "What have you to offer?" she asks.

 

"Heal their wounds. Othervise they will not survive the passage, even if we gain it." Xander hisses to his companions, particularly Roland. The former slaves, he means.

 

Its a wand that Chandra finds, using it on herself to seal the remaining wounds as the subject of doom comes into play. "We will find it then.." She finally speaks up, yes, she was listening. "We will prove our intentions are touched with good and break your bonds as we have the slaves." Well, not her in particular, its hard to break chains when you are knocked out for much of the fight or scouting ahead.

 

The sith pauses, and smiles, wryly. He reaches back, and grasps the hilt of a blade. The blade runs like silver, flows like water. The surface of it doesn't, can't stand still and flows as an internal waterfall, a testament to its otherworldly make. "M'lady...it's my understanding this was made in another realm, and has properties..." a...he pauses, to find the words for it. "Beyond what any blade /should/ have. It isn't a blade meant for mortals to carry, one thinks, and I've carried it for some time." The eyes show a sad, gentle humor. "If you like it, it is yours. I'll not deceive you--it would be a favor if you removed it."

 

The weird rises completely out of the earth to lean forward and take the sword from Darshan, staring at the blade. Her torso is that of a naked human female's, but below that is an earthen column. She seems fascinated by the silvered blade, rubbing a hand along it. "I will take this," she says after a long time. "This, and a promise of freedom." She looks at them, expectantly.

 

Item# Qty Name                           Equipped Notes

 18    1   Greatsword                       N     +1/Silvered                  

GAME: You gave chinook your Greatsword.

 

Xander seems ready to make a different offer altogether (not like that, you perverts!), but then Darshan makes his. The mage just STARES at him, as if disbelieving what he just did, but he's not about to wrench the thing back from the Weird. "As was agreed. I believe I've an idea where that which binds you is, and what we must do to gain it is what we were intending to do in any case. We will speak more once you are no longer bound to your master. Until such a time, may we pass?"

 

Karelin nods once, worriedly. "We will find a way." Its simple, but its sincere.

 

Darshan sags, as the blade's taken from him, and gives the Weird a real, honest-to-Daeus smile. "M'lady, you have one's word. One will look for it." And then he looks back towards the slaves. "...we have mrm, alot of traveling to do. The most hurt of you...please, come forward. We have alot of work to do."

 

The weird sinks back into her pool with the sword. "You may pass," she intones. "Go swiftly, for I hear the footsteps of doom."

 

Roland steps back as Darshan hands over the Accursed Blade, his eyes close momentarily as he hums briefly as if checking the tone before opening his eyes to turn back to the morass of people behind them, lifting his arms to sweep out in a series of motions as he continues to sing.

 

Chandrakanta is a little slack jawed, that is twice recently people have done the amazing when it comes to convincing. "Good work, Darshan." She tells him as she moves to tend to some of the slaves that healing did not effect.

 

Karelin nods to Darshan, with a smile. He grins, then turns. "Quickly." A pause. "Someone needs to make sure the way is clear."

 

"This will hurt. But it is a small price for freedom. Paladin." Xander says, nodding to Darshan for him to go first. "Make sure everyone gets through safe." to Karelin. Go go! Let's get out of the madmine!

 

The passage through the pool is...intense. The earth feels like water in that you immediately sink upon wading in...but not so much like water in that the rocks grind against you, bruising and breaking bones. Worse, as the earth goes over your head, you can't breathe--and the bruising rock very quickly makes you lose what little air is in your lungs. However, the Weird comes to each person and forces them down to the bottom of the pool and then...out. Out into a cave which will look very familiar to Xander and Karelin.

 

Roland groans as he falls to his knees in the cave, coughing and spitting blood for a moment before straightening to look over those here. "Where are we?"

 

Darshan grabs hold of Srassha's head as soon as they're out. The two support eachother, but Srassha's hyperventilating, her great lungs heaving and and out, her great eyes rolling. "Get--down," he says, as gentle as he can to the halflings on her back, though it comes out terse. He spends the rest of the time talking to her, and regaining...breath. Stature. And just talking. Come on, girl. Calm down.

 

Karelin steps up, sword rising to a guard. He steps forwards, clearing the gate, and winces. "Oh. That explains that." He turns back. "Get ready. The way from the cave is heavily guarded." He wipes his mouth, vomits dirt a bit, and wipes his mouth again.

 

Xander comes out of the portal with a nice spitting of blood. He steps aside, letting the slaves pass through... counting... frowning, shaking his head. "Take the dead. We shan't leave them here to be turned into... things." he instructs the former slaves. "This way." He's leading for the entrance on the Myrrish side of things. The other one, by now, should be sealed.

 

Judging by the earth-shaking footsteps and the...is that the smell of ozone?...the other end of the cave is *not* sealed. Whoops.

 

Only once the others are through does Chandra attempt to jump into the churning mass, she leaps into it, trying to curl up to prevent the damage that will no doubt come from going through the cement mixer. Bones crunching from the earth as it whirls and grinds them through hte portal. She lands, not gently, curled up, whimpering even from the experience. Shaking in off she makes it to her feet and begins the task of escorting once more, "What is this place?"

 

Darshan scratches her neck, gives it a final 'slap' on the side, like one would do to a horse. Srassha 'rhauuuh's' and paces forward, eyes still wild. "...give us a few," he says gently to Xander. And then the footsteps start. "...or not. Girl...you're going to have to regain your breath in a minute." And her head snaps up.

 

"Run. Now." That's Xander. Because that smell of ozone? Yeah. That's not good news. "NOW." In case someone's slow on the uptake.

 

Karelin snarls. "Let's go! All of us!" He, himself, starts running, sword at the ready. He's already muttering under his breath about Kor. Whether he's apologizing or not, that's for him to know.

 

And then when Xander says run, Chandra does that, grabbing hold of a slave that is lagging behind and dragging them behind her. "When they say run, we do...faster!"

 

Roland stands up from the floor, sniffing briefly as Xander and Kareln's cries seemt o finally get through. 'Oh hells..' he mutters and raises a hand, waving quickly with a few motions and sing-song incantations to send a first wave of slaves running even faster...

 

Thankfully, the dragon's footsteps are still some distance off. The group manages to make it through the cave to the other side, carrying the fallen.

 

Srasha paces, buguling again. Her wide feet hit the ground--smarter than average she may be, but this? Darshan grasps hold of the saddle-horn and hauls up into it and it's time to go. The single rein barely holds her. She wants to run. He wants to stay a while. It takes effort to keep her with the refugees.

 

Xander's more or less herding the poor slaves and prisoners at this point. Guiding, more like. But with haste. Oh, with SO MUCH haste. As they scurry out of the cave, he calls upon his magic, sealing it off with an unseen force. "I hope that holds it a while..." he mutters. He seeks, in his mind, a path around. Something hidden. Somewhere where they'll not be seen from the air, somewhere they'll not be caught in a massive bonfire if it chooses to pursue and raze terrain in its wake.

 

Though there are more than a few tense moments, the dragon's head does not appear at Xander's wall. Nor does the dragon itself appear, winging its way over them and obliterating the group. The group more or less tramples a few Bludguni scouts they encounter, but finally--finally! The group makes it back to the front lines with no sign of the dragon. 

 

Of course, they return miles away from Fort Gettys, without the codebook, but...at least they survived?

 

Karelin switches from sword to bow, then hisses, as he tries to lead the path once more. Scouts, well.

 

Sometimes, speed's a curse. Srassha looks ready to take the bit in her teeth--she wants to run, and she shivers, half-leaping, half running as she moves. The two /argue/, in a place they can't afford to. But they make it across the lines. They make it across...enough, and her rider swats at her, eventually. By the time they do, she's calmed down, chewing at her bit. And he drops down from the saddle. There's work to be done.