| Fight the Real Enemy! | |
| Faern in the Hole! |
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BTW, all of this below operates under the assumption that either Silus or Ullar has his lantern lit. If at any time you wish to extinguish this light, let me know. As you all reach the end of the tunnel, it is interesting to note that the three smallest of the group come to the fore and begin rattling about, tapping the tunnel wall. Sam seems more interested in regaling the group with tall tales and stories of dug cheese than scouting, though, and the girls quickly shove him aside and begin their business. As Rhune begins exploring the tunnel end, Marika begins checking the sides and the few feet before the end. Rhune finds that the earth here has been dug up to a very thin crust of hard earth which is currently being lessened by the second from the chipping on the other side. From the sound of the thudding, it sounds like a man-sized creature, only one. Marika finds that under a brief coating of freshly dug earth, the tunnel is remarkably sound on all sides and below. However, on top of the tunnel, she notes that there is a peculiar indentation running along a circle perhaps eighteen inches in diameter. Far too small to be a secret passage, you would think, though the greyskins seem to have a remarkable ability to push themselves through such things. If it were a secret passage, though, there doesn't appear to be any way to open it from this side other than to dig it out, and if it were dug out, only Sam could move down it, and even that with great difficulty. As Marika is sharing her discovery, Rhune shushes the party as the sound increases loudly. One more whack, and the tip of a metallic object comes shooting through the wall. The entire group backs up a bit and attempts to form some kind of defense, but in the cramped quarters, noone but Sam is able to draw a weapon, and you all suspect that he is not the prime choice to defend you. As you scramble, another whack follows and a hole the size of Kenishiro's head is opened. "What's this?" You all hear in fluent Italian. Then a man's head pops through the opening. A small human, but certainly a human. The filthy man's eyes go wide and his jaw drops, his face evidently showing the surprise he is so obviously experiencing. The show of surprise doesn't last long and is quickly replaced with a look of pain, as the effects of his reflexive pulling back and smashing his head on the edge of the hole take effect. Rhune had stepped back and drawn her dagger. In the cramped quarters it is the only weapon that she could draw. Her eyes go wide as she sees the human. She was not expecting a human to be digging the tunnel. She was expecting someone more the size of the gray skinned creatures. As he tries to worm his way through the hole she smiles at his feeble attempts. Then as he disappears and she hears his words she steps back a little more. "Stop! Stay where you are! If you will move I will kill you!" bawled out Krige, aiming his longbow at the man. When he hears the threatening voice, the man grins "You would be a better man than I to fire a longbow in such a small tunnel." "Who are you? And what do you need here?" asks he, after a short pause. Then Krige turns head to Ullar and said:" I swear, I will kill him, if he is one of the Bishop's men!" The human miner backed up against the tunnel wall, "Can we dispense with the notion of killing me for just a moment ?" A large human, apparantly called Ullar, lays his hand on Krige his shoulder. "It's alright Krige, it's alright. He is not one of the Bishop his men." "Uh... Sorry. I'm very nervous after that incident in the forum..." answered Krige to Ullar. Then he puts his longbow back at the shoulder and says: "Good day... or night... to you Jacobus! My name is Krige. Forgive me for my action. I'm very nervous last time." Sam smiles again towards everyone... "I am Sam.. I am um.. not as nervous as Ullar er.. I mean.. Mr. Krige here!" hehe.. Sam gives a little giggle and taunts both of the large men with his dagger. "ěCiao.î" The voice is that of a slight young human or near-human woman in the front of the crowd. She is not overly tall, but still has to stoop considerably in the low tunnel. She is armed only with a tree limb, which she holds in a competent enough defensive position, but her curiosity plainly outweighs her caution as she steps toward the newcomer, leaning forward slightly to peer through the dirt covering his face. Her own face is little cleaner than his, nor is her clothing, a somewhat tattered robe and long cloak which, if the mud were washed out of them, would probably both be grey. Her left sandal is missing. Whether this is a casualty of cave exploration or due to some odd religious constraint is not clear. The womanís dark eyes flash inquisitively as the lone digger widens his access hole, but beyond her initial greeting, she says nothing to interrupt his work. The flithy man clambers eagerly through the hole. When the man is able to enter their tunnel, "Who are you? Rhune asks him. In the dim light all you can make of the person that is talking to you is female about the height of the tunnel you are in. She seems to have a dark colored cloak on and leather armor, though there appears to be small rents in it. She has silver hair and her eyes seem to glow purple in the dim light. "My name is Jacobus and at one time I was a wealthy merchant selling religious artifacts to the temples of Jerboha. It would seem that the local high priest couldn't grasp simple economics, high quality goods demand a high price." He shrugged in the darkness "To add insult to injury he felt I wasn't even worthy to join in the celebration of the Jacobus Brotherhood" he said trying to imitate a high priest, his arms flailing as best they could, "So he sent me down into these accursed mines with the Gnomes, friendly enough people but there conversation leaves a lot to be desired." When the man is able to fit through the small, earthly hole, Sam darts between the few remaining members of the party that stand before him, lashing out his hand in the man's face in an attempt to shake. (rudely bumping into and in front of any party members who try and introduce themselves before him) "I, my sir, am the great and wonderful Sam-zini. You may call me Sam however." Sam grins as he wiggles his little grubby fingers at the man's dirty face as if he is unable to wait another second to shake this stranger's hand. "Do you happen to know what type of cheese yee be mining around here? It looks to me like that of root-wart, not too common around where I used to live, but tasty all the same!" Sam looks around in the dark waving his tiny dagger around for all to see as he introduces himself to the man. His eyes went wide as he remembered something important, momentarily he was distracted regarding a question about cheese, "what ?" he said frowning as the small friendly character seemed to be trying to invade his space as much as possible. "We have to get out of here, there is a Gnomish priest in there and some guards." he jerked his thumb towards the hole. He looked around puzzled suddenly remembering where they were "How did you all come to be down here ?....forget it I don't care, I just want out of here." The ex-gladiator can hardly move in the narrow tunnel, so he calls out to Jacobus: "I'm sorry, I can't make your aquaintance, but my name is Ullar and I'm not that much used to be stuck in tunnels. Me and my friends like to get out of this tunnel as well, but I heard you say something about a Gnomish priest present here?" Jacobus looks for the source of the voice trying to pin-point it through the mass of bodies in the tunnel, he gives up and addresses the group. "Yes, there is a Gnomish Priest who is responsible for ensuring we don't escape, he'll be back anytime soon to check on me, he has a personal dislike to me, something I don't understand at all." Ullar pauzes for a moment, spitting out some dirt of the tunnel which came in his mouth. "Did you see those gnomes? I suppose they are forced to work here as well? To be honoust, I've never seen a gnome, only heard stories of their nice devices. But, if they are kept here against their will I really would like to give them a hand, IF this place get's any larger so that I can freely move around." "There are twelve of us down here forced to work, I've been here several weeks forced to eat mushrooms and moss." Jacobus makes a face. "The gnomes seem quite happy to be down here mining, although I don't share there sentiment. I've thought about trying to overpower the guards at the mine entrance but I've only got my pick." His lighten. "If you want to leave these tunnels that's the only way." Jacobus rubs his hands together "I can show you the way out if you want, but you'll have to take me with you." Rhune listens to Jacobus's words. She then steps forward slightly and huals Sam back. "I am Rhune. We need to get out of here as well. Some others that called the gnomes cousins saved us. Now we are to repay them by helping their cousins. HOw many guards are there and when will this priest return? Tell us what you know of the mines and guards. Are the miners all humans or are they these gnomes as well? Will they fight against us?" she asks you in a weary tone of voice. She seems to be tired. You can make out just a little more about her. She has a dagger in one hand there is a long sword on her left hip. The glint of metal leads you to believe that she may have more daggers in a belt across her chest. Jacobus leans closer "Ok, I think there are two guards guarding the main entrance and the converted Priest, between you and me I think the gnomes actually like it down here, there are twelve of us in total, elven gnomes and me. The priest checks on me about every hour or so, little does he know it allowed me to count the days I'm down here, at my best guess I'd say I've been down here several weeks. He'll be back in about half an hour at my guess." Jacobus thinks about her next question, "Hmmm, Gnomes by nature are extremely curious so I would suspect that they would be happy to just sit and watch the action." Jacobus looked down at the dagger in her hand. "You could do worse than giving me one of those." he indicated with his head. Rhune looks at him and then looks back at her fellow companions. She seems to be thinking about something. She looks down at the dagger in her hand and then at you. Then she reverses the dagger and offers it to you hilt first. when you take it you will notice that it is a nice throwing dagger, though it seems to be made for a small hand. Looking back at the taller members of the group. "Will my friends be able to stand better in the mines that you just came from?" she asks you. And for one quick moment the purple fire of her eyes seem to actually dim a little. Jacobus smiles at her as she hands him the dagger "Thank you for trusting me." he takes the dagger from her slender hand enjoying the contact the opportunity presents. "The mines will allow most of you to stand up in some places but not all. I'll keep it in mind when I lead you to the entrance." "Does anyone else have a dagger I can use ?" The stick-wielding young woman has been silent since her initial greeting to Jacobus, eyeing Krige with evident concern after his outburst. Clearly he was not over the trauma of his injuries and captivity at the Bishop's hand. She also seems to remember hearing that elves are never comfortable below ground. The sooner we escape this place, the better for the elven warrior, and for all of us, she decides. With a start she emerges from her thoughts, and remembers her manners. "Well met, Jacobus," she says, with a slight curtsy. "My name is Marika, and it's a pleasure to make your acquaintence." Her accent speaks clearly of time spent in southern Italy or Sicily, and hints at more distant southern lands as well. Sam darts up to Rhune's side with eyes full of wonder. "Is weeze gonna fight? Oh. Goody goody. I get to be the silent and deadly assassin no? I will be sneaky says I. Sneaky and deadly says I. What you say to this eh?" Sam unleashes his bow and starts to fumble around for his quiver of arrows, all with a serious and yet thrilled look on his face. When he finds one finally, he notes to all who stand by him, "I may be short.. but give me an arrow or two and you will see me hit things you never knew were there." With that Sam spins on his feet and falling towards the ground with a thud as he trips on a rock (that no one knew was there :-P) Marika chuckles, and extends her stick to Sam to help him climb to his feet. "Easy on the plans for sharp objects, Sam," she says. "You could put someone's eye out, you know." Her tone is still light, but she gives a meaningful glance to Krige as she continues, "By Jacobus' report, we outnumber the guards, and the element of surprise will be ours. We should be able to overcome them without recourse to bloodshed." She turns to the miner. "The priest is an unpredictable factor, and the greatest potential danger. Jacobus, what do you know of his abilities? Have you seen him cast spells, or wield any enchanted objects?" Kenishiro, who had been silently standing in the back of the group, frowned. The large asian did not understand exactly what was being said, but when he saw Sam fumbling with his bow, he smiled. A fight, perhaps, and one were self-discipline was not necissary. Then he realized his burns and frowned. Mind over body again, then. If Daisuke could do it, so could he. As you all meet the miner and calm Krige's nerves a bit, it is decided to break the hole open wide enough to head back in. Jacobus protests a bit, thinking that the rescue would be better in your direction, but you assure him that is not the case. As he is your only source of information, you decide to keep him with you, for now. It takes some time to get the larger members through the hole and into the opening, but you manage it. You find that Jacobus has picked this area out large enough for him to stand in, which is high enough for all but the large fellows, Kenishiro, Urak, and Ullar, to stand entirely upright. You gather yourselves together and begin to organize. You see that only one tunnel leads out of this slight opening. It is a little less than six feet high, and Jacobus assures you that all the passageways that he has dug in have been of such size, though there are many other tunnels little more than half that that he has not travelled down because he is too large. These are where the gnomish priest emerges from, and where the tiny miners work. Jacobus' tunnel goes straight out to the surface, as the guards on very rare occasions come inside to speak with the gnome priest, he informs you. On those occassions, they do not speak to Jacobus, and the gnome miners have proved disinterested in conversation, which has proved rather frustrating to Jacobus, who has taken to speaking with the rocks, who are similarly unresponsive. Jacobus tells you that he thinks a party made up of so many large fellows shouldn't have too much trouble with the guardsmen, but if one of them were to escape, he remembers passing some sort of training ground not far from here bulging with mercenary soldiers. He could not tell, or cannot remembers, whose service those mercenaries were in, but Matteo and the other natives among you assure you that the Cult has more than enough money to employ their services if they wished to. Indeed, so close to Florence, these are probably reserves for the Bishop. Thus you all summise that if one of the guards were able to raise the alarm to the mercenary troop, you would be in sad shape indeed. |
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This page was last updated on 20 January 2001 |