Shorthanded pt 2

When last we left our brave, noble heroes, they had managed to worm their way into the Lightnoses home to yell at them about the prank war.

Elder Lightnose seems a bit chagrinned. "This wasn't our doing! We only put a FEW spiders in their houe!" Several thousand.

"They were never going to get THIS big! They were common spiders!"

"Clearly not," says Fazahd from the back of the assembly, his expression grim.

"Perhaps your neighbors had some sort of alchemical solution inside, hmm? Some sort of research?"

Sasha sighs softly. "well....they have, it seems." She then looks at Fazahd, who is doing the talking.

Pelka taps a taloned finger against his beak. "So you put a few spiders in their house..." he turns and points with the talon at the ring of fire - or more likely the city beyond. "And now the entire city is covered with monstrously large specimens." He turns back to the elder. "I don't see how you can claim it's not your doing..."

"They did it first!" counters Elder Lightnose.

"I'm not saying we didn't put spiders in the beds and what not. It was FUNNY. They did it first, so we returned the favor. But.. I mean... they were TINY!"

"It's possible, I suppose," he adds to Fazahd.

Pelka sighs. "Well whoever started this, it's clear things have gotten out of control." He speaks the words from long practice - many artificers are quite used to the concept. "We must find out what is producing the giant spiders and put a stop to it."

Sasha says, "Strange that the spiders would get that big from smaller spiders."

"Mutants, perhaps," Fazahd says, considering. "Either way, they must either be repelled or removed. Do any of you have the ability to repulse insects?"

Pelka shakes his head. "Only to destroy them..." He tilts his head to the side. "Or perhaps lead them away -" he glances around at the Elder. "Have you determined any pattern to their actions? What they want?"

'Maybe they were baby giants," offers the female gnome who drew you in earlier.

She shrugs.

"Where did you even get the spiders, anyway, dad?"

"WE gathered them from the forests, of course, and the mines,"offers Elder Lightnose.

"Spiders are not bugs you know," he begins, "actually, they're a different kind of --"

"Grandfather?" interrupts the blond lady gnome, "is this really the point you want to be making right now?"

She turns towards Pelka to address the question, "YEs. They get /much/ more afctive at night. Thats' when they start.. hunting."

"Mines," Fazahd repeats. "Mines. What mines? What are you mining?"

Sasha says, "hunting...people, I'll guess..right?"

"The silver mines, of course. This whole place is built on a mountain of it. Why do you think I have thise lovely house?"

The blond puts her hand over her face.

"We ahve a cooperative with the Xorns. They help us dig our tunnels and provide stability through that perfection and we, in exchange, get access to deeper reserves of silver, faster, than can usually be found. It's why we're really rich."

She does nod towards Sasha.

Sasha says, "Makes me wish a druid was here to identify those particular spiders...."

The Inquisitor gives the gnomish patriarch a look. "Dig," he replies. "How deeply do they dig? Have they dug /too/ deeply?"

"Who do you think we are? Khazadi?" says Elder Lightnose.

Pelka glances up at the sky to try and judge how long until night. "I'm afraid if it's people they're hunting for, we won't be able to lure them away from a city full of them. But maybe we can lure them into a trap. Something that explodes, or burns, or electrocutes them. Perhaps even poison." He's just as casual and matter of fact about a dinner feast with gnomes as the main course, as he is about all the ways he can think of to dispatch giant spiders.

"I am Fazahd Masterbuilder," says Fazahd. "Comrades. Let us disperse these existing spiders. I suspect there may be more within the mines."

"...you really think it's something to do with the mines? Well, I mean... the Xorns would eat them. They're way deadlier than the spiders.You know, maybe they could help if you go ask them. It's not like /we/ can get to the mines."

Elder Lightnose stares at Fazahd for a long moment, as if he just declared he's from the Phantom Moon or wsomething.

Sasha says, "So.....can you get the Xorns to help you out here?"

"Is there someone who speaks their language present?" Fazahd looks about the room.

"Most xorn that I have met speak Khazdul. Let us purge the spiders first, then speak with them. That is my recommendation."

Sasha says, "Well...I speak Gnomish and Khazdul, but I don't speak their language."

Pelka bobs his head in a nod. "If Xorn speak Khazdul then I don't think we'll have a problem. But I suppose we're going to find out." He peers thoughtfully at the ring of fire. "Maybe we should take something with us to show them our intentions. A spider's leg or something similar."

"WE've t aught them gnomish. Do any of you speak Gnomish?" blondie looks back and forth. "They do speak Khazdul as well, I think. At least some of them. They treat with the dwarven peoples frequently for obvvious reasons."

"I could go with you! If you need extra help."

Sasha says, "I just said I speak gnomish. But you could go with us if you want."

"Quite." He looks to the young woman for a long moment. "Let us purge the spiders outside, first, and speak with the other household. Then let us see."

Sasha clears her throat. "Are you itching for a fight, Enginebreaker?"

"I wish to remove the immediate danger," Fazahd says. "I admit that my approachis martial. I am, of course, willing to listen to alternatives."

Sasha says, "Remember the blessings I receive are finite, Enginebreaker."

"I was once a priest myself, you know," Fazahd says with a chuckle. "Very well. If it is still quite light out, then let us speak to the terraneans. Then we can return."

Pelka holds out his hands in a shrug. "Purging spiders sounds like something we'll have to do no matter what," he reasons. "Spiders that large serve no purpose, really." He adds, but I suppose we can always talk to the Xorn first. It's not as if he spiders are going anywhere, after all."

Sasha says, "If we get the xorn help...the battle will be much easier, instead of a siege vs us."

Sasha then rubs her face. "I just don't want it to be the three of us vs thousands of spiders. I mean....ONE we can handle, but a lot of them freaks me out."

"The mine," Fazahd says, sounding a bit firm. "Let's go."

TO the mines!

The blonde, curly haired gnome girl, Lightnose the younger one could call her, it is supposed, leads you back to the door and says, "Okay. Follow this road, then take a left. There's a mine cart there, you should see it, and it's automated. Hop in, ride the rest of the way to the mines in style."

And indeed, after some walking (while being observed by a large number of spiders) you are soon reaching the beginnings of a rail upon which a cart rests. It's pretty big. Easy enough to fit all of you inside.

Sasha tilts her head. "I imagine we can get there sooner like this?" She says tapping the mine cart.

"Better than walking," says Fazahd from the back of the car. "Quite ingenious. We use similar conveyances in Ironhold."

Pelka huddles down into the cart. "Are they safe?" he asks. He even has his doubts about carts above ground.

Sasha slides her way in too. "all righty. Let's do this."

Into the cart, then.

There's a switch to flip and then it starts rolling forward, a whirring sound accompanying it. Some kind of artifice motor is functional here.

Soon, you're whirring along at a good clip, coming closer and closer to the side of a hill that looks to be the entryway into the immediate and obviosuly sprawling HAppy Valley mines.

Yep. That's right.

They're HUGE. Even to Faz's eyes, it would be an impressive sight. Hydraulic lifts, vast tunnels spiralling deep into the earth, careful, obsessive construction.

The XOrns aere clearly very helpful here.

"Ah, good," Adhar says, looking upon the mighty earthworks with approval. "They are happy. This is the work of happy xorn."

Sasha can't help but whistle at the sight. "Wow. This is impressive. Who'd have thought gnomes were this good?"

Pelka head-bobs. "Very impressive. I was somehow expecting the mines to be like the ones ourside of Alexandria, only, you know, roughly half the height."

"The gnomes aren't digging the tunnels," Fazahd says from the back. "The xorns are clearing the earth, thus leaving the tunnels." Indeed, he sounds /very/ impressed. "I will have to speak to my father after this. Perhaps more partnership with the xorn at home are required."

Eventually, you coast to a halt at the centerr of a series of different tunnels. And here waits a triangular creature with multiple eyes an arms eminating from its trunk.

It rumbles at you.

"You are not gnomes... are you?"

"One of us are," replies Fazahd in clean, utterly accentless Khazdul. "We are come to help the gnomes with the giant spiders on the overland. Do you know anything about them?"

Pelka nods along at Fazahd's explanation. Apparently everyone in this party speaks Khazdul.

Sasha says, "pretty much, yeah. they're under siege by those spiders."

"Giant spider problem. Work has been slow. We. Wondered. What is 'problem'?"

The Xorns are not very good at speaking, it would seem, but they can manage it. They aren't /dumb/. They're just not necessarily made to speak the mortal languages too well, what, with their mouths being on top of their heads.

It's eyes blink as it rotates.

"So they're down here as well?" Fazahd's brows arch. "From where did they come?" A beat. "Problem. As in difficulty. Obstruction to efficient work."

"Reeee-scent," replies the xorn.

"CAme in to mine. Good food, yes. We eat them. If gnomes need help, we eat them. The problems. So work can resume."

Yes, he's saying the Xorns will happily go spider hunting.

Sasha says, "Please then. The gnomes are in trouble and are being hunted by the spiders.....so you would be helping your friends out too."

"Indeed," says Fazahd. He looks at Sasha. "You were right."

Pelka tries to do mental math. What will this mean for the feud. Then he gives up. Nothing can be worse than the spiders. Right...? Ah well. "Yes," he agrees. "This is going just as planned."

Sasha looks to Fazahd and shrugs. "Admittedly, I don't mind a good fight, but if there are ways around it...I'd like to explore them. This way, we're not in as much danger as I was worried about."

"We can... fight? Eat? Spiders."

The xorn looks confused for a moment, then shrugs and starts making grumble-clicky sounds.

It isn't long before other Xorns are showing up. Dozens of them.

DOZENS> They begin to filter out the front entry of the mine.

GAME: Sasha rolls perception: (4)+4: 8

GAME: SecretlyAGnome rolls perception: (9)+9: 18

"Only the giant ones," Fazahd tells the xorn, pursing his lips as more begin to arrive. He looks to Sasha. "I do hope this isn't going to come back on us."

GAME: Pelka rolls perception: (10)+18: 28

Sasha says, "hopefully not."

There's a sound.

An awful skittering.

Pelka detects it first, though Fazahd soon hears it threafter. Sasha is oblivious at the moment, but it's /definitelky/ a skitter, echoing from somewhere deeper within the mines.

Pelka draws his deathray, better suited to these close quarters than a thunderbelcher. "Does that...does that sound to anyone like spiders?"

"It does." Fazahd unlimbers from his red armor a thing that's equal parts industrial machine and firearm, and from its fist-wide muzzle an evil green glow begins to flicker into being. "Let us be prepared."

Sasha says, "I can't really tell. I hear moving earth. But....I'll follow your lead."

ANd then it's quiet again.

Skitter.

Quiet.

Skitter.

Quiet.

...skitterskitterskitterskitter...

rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrumble.... The earth just shiftred. Uh oh..