Volkanenborg

[AdamZero]

"Was that a squirrel?" I asked the woman, Saiko.

"No it was a chipmunk." She said. "One of the ones from the security system."

"The what?"

"I'll tell you later, but it's good thing... as long as I get some more clothes before Daddy finds us..." She looked down at herself, and I blushed as I looked away. Neverinal hadn't left either of us with much cloth to dignify ourselves. Though my old scars were a bit more distracting than her female shape... but only by a bit. DAMN how do I keep finding girls with great asses?! AND WHY ARE ALL OF THEM BAT-SPIT CRAZY?!

I looked around and saw a narrow door. Despite my better judgement, I opened it. Nothing, nothing but a bunch of old miner's uniforms... a bit old, dusty, but not so bad in way of tiny inhabitants, nothing a good heavy shake didn't fix.

"Not much to look at but...." I started to say, before turning to look at Saiko... I'd given her the biggest uniform, and that still wasn't quite cutting it. "I need a root brew..." I sighed.

[Viking-Sensei]

Lucas considered the situation. "So they're both down there? Marcus and Saiko? Whoo, that must be some party. But... we've got a goodly ten feet of solid rock between them and us. I'm not sure we could dig through that even if I called in the special ops guys. And I could *try* and magic it away..." he cast a quick look to Grope. Trolls were not infamous for their wide range of human-recognizable facial expressions, but Lucas (or anyone, for that matter) would've recognized that one. "Right, so no magic. Well, they had to get down there somehow. Maybe there's another cave entrance nearby... and where'd Jamie go?"

[Sareth]

It was dark. None to sanitary either. The walls were dank, I could smell something vaguely unwholesome, it was a bit chilly...

What is it with villains and their insistence on stereotypes? I mean, just once I'd like to encounter some one who is clearly a bad guy, but who has the good sense to live somewhere with adequate drainage, lighting, and possibly even plumbing. Taste would be good too. But nope! So far, every person living (or hiding) some place that would actually be listed as prime real estate was always someone my mother would much rather I'd given le petite morte rather than the big morte.

Sigh.

Well, at least I had the satisfaction of knowing I was heading in the right direction.

Still heading in the right direction.

Continuing to head in the right direction.

Definitely heading in the... JUST HOW FUGGIN BIG IS THIS CAVE, ANYWAY?

[Graybeard]

[OOC:

DAMN how do I keep finding girls with great asses?! AND WHY ARE ALL OF THEM BAT-SPIT CRAZY?!

Layla and (probably) Jamie would object to calling Saiko a "girl." Remember that she's Kureji's MOM, and Kureji is at least in her early twenties herself. That would make Saiko at least 45-ish? And as is becoming clear in the main story from Miyo, rejuvenation treatments can only do just so much. Anyway, /OOC...]

"They're just right down there," Chippy told Grope.

Most people don't realize how much caves and mines wander. Cave entrances only a mile apart on the surface can easily be separated by 15 miles of passage or more. Marcus and Saiko might still be miles (via cave passage) from the nearest entrance, but apparently they were almost literally underfoot right now. Grope, of course, had no idea about the layout underground, but he knew an opportunity when he saw one.

"Stand clear," he told the chipmunk, who was more than happy to oblige. Finding a limestone boulder atop the hole through which Chippy had descended, he intoned a brief prayer to his ancestors, then grunted and put 500 pounds of troll muscle and sinew into moving the thing.

It moved, all right; dislodged from its resting place for the first time in millennia, the large stone rolled down the ridge, gathering momentum as it went. And Grope and Chippy could see that the chipmunk-sized hole into the underworld was now up to more than a foot in diameter -- still a tight squeeze for a human, and it looked like there was a constriction about ten feet down that might prevent passage, but getting there. A breeze wafted up through the hole, carrying odd and disagreeable scents. And the voices coming up through the hole were louder.

"Progress," Grope rumbled. "Friend Lucas, can you do anything here?"

As the Small One came over to investigate, Grope became aware that not all of the voices underground could be attributable to Saiko and Marcus. Did I make a mistake here? Well, if so, too late now...

[AdamZero]

[OOC:

DAMN how do I keep finding girls with great asses?! AND WHY ARE ALL OF THEM BAT-SPIT CRAZY?!

Layla and (probably) Jamie would object to calling Saiko a "girl." Remember that she's Kureji's MOM, and Kureji is at least in her early twenties herself. That would make Saiko at least 45-ish? And as is becoming clear in the main story from Miyo, rejuvenation treatments can only do just so much. Anyway, /OOC...]

OOC: well Marcus trained with people in the 3+ digit variety so he's kind of got a skewed perspective on age. Plus I figure that some women do age rather well. *shrug* Also Marcus is a very polite bugger, depsite calling her crazy. /ooc]


I wasn't very happy at how much noise and how little progress the troll made with that move. There were echos from above and I could hear the pounding foot steps of grunts who were under the delusion they were vaguely organized as purveyors of aggression. Third-rate Mercenary scum, in short words. I swore a blue streak as some of the noises seemed to get louder, and closer.

Thinking quickly, and casting quicker, I made to decay the wood around the hinges. The woods splintered and nearly caught fire.

"LUCAS!" I roared up the pipe, not really thinking. "YOU GET YOUR CRAZY ARSE AWAY FROM HERE!"

Saiko looked at me with a bit of surprise, and I realized what I'd just done. "Oh slit my face with a rusty razor." I grumbled as I did my best to set the door up several feet head of where the path ended. It made for a piss poor blockade, and even after I jammed a few old tools that were to small or large to use as weapons, in these confines, in the edges to support it, and tossed a bunch of old bolts and metal down just behind. I backed off, a heavy red wrench in my hand. I figured sooner or later someone would show up. Might as well give em a fight... and I could cast properly with Lucas this close.

Guy really knew how to make a caster feel nerf'ed.

[Graybeard]

"Thanks, Layla, this is useful," Peter said as he examined the map. "Faye, take this to the guys in back and get 'em moving on the double. There's a fire team ready to go." Faye nodded and left the meeting room at the shipping company, and Peter's attention returned to Layla (and Zachary). "But two things before you and the kid go. One, what happened to the airship, and two, what's this about a troll?"

"I think the two things are related," Layla said, holding Zachary tight -- for some reason she didn't like having him referred to as "the kid." "Ace is over repairing the damage to the airship. We both think it just took a fluke hit from a magic energy bolt or some such that was aimed at the troll. We were checking the scene out, and all of a sudden there was a bright flash from somewhere down-slope that went barely over the troll's head. When it missed him, it ranged out in the air and we just happened to be in the way. It caught the stern compartment, if I understand Ace correctly."

Peter wasn't convinced. "And what makes you so sure that the magic was aimed at the troll, not at you?"

"A few minutes later there was another one. The other person on the ship --" she couldn't bring herself to use Barb's name -- "was watching the ground while Ace and I tried to get it stabilized. She said she saw a lightning bolt aimed up at the troll. Some mage down in the valley appears to be a helluva poor shot. It missed the troll again and dissipated in the air, but we weren't anywhere close to it by then."

Peter considered. "Well ... if you say so. I want our rent-a-mage to have a look at things just to be sure." (Rent-a-mage? Layla wondered, but didn't say anything.) "So back to the troll. I don't think it was there by accident; that would be just too many coincidences for me. So it was on one side or the other. Could you tell which side it was on?"

Layla had been doing a lot of thinking about that question on the way home, and she had an answer ready. "Ours, I'm pretty sure of it. The troll was under small-arms fire from some forces that came out of that southernmost cave entrance that I marked. I'm not sure it was even noticing. Light guns aren't supposed to have much effect on trolls, right?"

"So I've heard. Not much short of a bazooka does, except for magic or magical weapons." Which is one reason why we've never even tried to get involved in the vendetta the Veracians have against their trolls; that wouldn't turn out well. "Okay, I think you're right. That's very interesting information. You did great here. Now run along and tend your son, we won't bother you again until you get back from checking out the park. Meanwhile, I've got a couple of calls to make about this troll."

Damn, do I ever have some calls to make, Peter thought as he watched Layla and Zachary go. Might we have just found our Beast of the East?

[Viking-Sensei]

Sitting back in his large leather (well, some sort of skin, anyway) recliner and watching the network of monitoring crystals play out all over the network of caves, Neverinal quietly smiled to himself. "Ah, human drama. Wouldn't be nearly as enjoyable if they were immortal. The constant threat of death, the swinging sword positioned right above their lifelines... oh, this is fun. Too bad it's time to end the game."

With that he stood, walked over to a glass case, and removed a red glove. Fragments of crystal were embedded in the knuckles... the same crystals found in the ends of Durus Flamma. He made a fist... and four jagged red energy spikes erupted from his hand like claws. "Ah... killing. The dance of that which is denied to me. Well, to work!"

[Sareth]

I heard a series of deep, heavy thuds echo throughout the cave. A vibration could be felt through my feet. And dirt cascaded down into my hair.

"Ugh!"

I hate dirty hair. I reached up to brush the dirt from my hair with what was, no doubt, an unpleasant expression, then looked up at the ceiling of the cave. Something had just gone rattling over my head. This was not a comforting thing. That's all I needed. I'd have shouted a complaint, but I had the feeling that doing so was likely to attract attention I didn't want. Since so far no one seemed to be aware I was around, I figured I should keep it that way.

However, as the last of the dust was cleared from my hair (I hope) there was a definite change to things. I could hear voices ahead. Several voices. None of which sounded like Marcus. Hearing this, I glued myself to the wall of the cave (dislodging dirt into the hair I'd just brushed free of dirt) and began oozing along it.

As I rounded a corner I found the source of the first voice. His back was to me, looking further in down the caves. And he had a friend, who also was, fortunately, turned away from me.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Sounds like someone up top found out we were here, and our guests are taking advantage of it," his partner replied.

"How so?"

"They've baracaded themselves into their cell down there. The rest of the guys are trying to get in."

"It takes five armed men to do that?"

"Well, one of the captives is a wizard, you know."

"Think they need help?"

"You volunteering to go up against a wizard Neverinal's been playing hide the magic sausage with?"

"... No..."

"Smart boy."

And that's when I flipped the rifle backwards, gripped the barrel in my hands, and clubbed one, and then the other, in the back of the head with all my strength.

Gawd I love this job...

[Graybeard]

"LUCAS! YOU GET YOUR CRAZY ARSE AWAY FROM HERE!"
Grope backed off momentarily, startled; the underground acoustics had amplified Marcus' yell and aimed it right in his own direction. He could see that Lucas looked surprised too, but was doing as "requested," putting a bit of distance between himself and the hole. Wonder what that's all about? Grope thought, then decided that it probably involved magic and he didn't want to know. After all, he'd traveled enough with Lucas to know that the man himself couldn't really be described as crazy, but his magic, on the other hand ...

Well, having only one useful thing to do here (at least until someone showed up to fight), might as well get back to doing it. "Lucas! Cover me," he called, as he set to work enlarging the hole.

-----------

As Layla (and, of course, Zachary) left the shipping company, she could see that a stage was departing from the rear of the building, being driven hard. The fire team Peter mentioned, she realized. Hoss and Faron were up front, but she couldn't see who was inside. Well, not my problem. She decided to wander over to the field to see how Ace was doing.

-----------

"This could be a problem," the unseen man said.

Conference calls were a rarity among the Convergence Committee, and with good reason: if, for example, Elke and Peter had ever been caught in conversation by their own organizations, they'd have been in big trouble, and the more participants in any particular interaction, the greater the security risk -- exponentially. However, events up on the ridge sounded significant enough to take that risk. At least they were taking such precautions as they could on the spur of the moment, including the use of voice-only communications. That way, no one interrupting proceedings would be able to see all of the participants at once.

And, of course, the really important participants weren't even familiar to the worker bees.

"I'm feeling nervous about it," Peter agreed. "Elke, do you have anybody up on the ridge other than the travelers -- who we really don't want getting killed?"

"No," Elke said, Mr. Stagpoole by her side. (Now that would really have set tongues wagging if there'd been visuals, the more so since both of them were ... well ... naked. John never talked much in these things, though.) "I was on my way up to the mountain when all this came up. The locals aren't reliable enough to be trusted with this, and it'd take too long to get trustworthy people up from Lorrel."

"That's the way I see it too," Peter confirmed. "I've sent a fire team up there, mainly to get Jamie, Marcus, Lucas and this troll out of harm's way. If they resolve the kidnapping too, all the better, but that's secondary." Elke thought to herself, hoo boy ... sending Gewehr to rescue Jamie, of all people ... this will not end well. However, she had to admit that she didn't have any better ideas.

"Let's get back to the main issue," the unseen man said. "Peter, I think you're right about the possible Beast from the East, but now there's a problem with the Southern Mage. That damn fool Kankaniel had a candidate before he went wherever the hell he went, but he didn't leave us much to go on to find her. I hear that the Tsuirakuans are trying to bag her too -- she killed one of their own, after all -- and have concluded that she's somehow untraceable. Kankaniel might know more. I've sent some people looking for him, so far without anything to report. They know he's in Veracia somewhere and that's about all."

"And they are ... properly authorized?" This from a previously unheard voice, instantly recognizable by its deep bass timbre, and all of the background chatter stopped when he spoke.

"Of course, sir," the other unfamiliar man said. "They aren't fully briefed in, of course, but they know enough. I've authorized them to use what we call 'extraordinary rendition' when we find Kankaniel -- or, if necessary, simply to kill him on the spot to avoid compromise. It's time for the Festival of Departure over in that crazy country, so they'll have the opportunity..."

[AdamZero]

Lucas must have backed off because melting the flesh of the men trying to tear down the barricade was becoming less and less a roulette of random effects. I'd turned one man's flesh blue, before jabbing his eye out with a phillips screwdriver; another man ended up with some... alterations... that would have made him very popular with the ladies if Saiko hadn't jabbed the sharpened end of a broom into his throat.

Now the magick was doing what it was supposed to do. Reduce flesh into sizziling pools of goo, PAINFULLY.

The remaining men who had reached the barricade had backed off now, debating on how to kill me without killing Saiko or getting themselves killed.

Suddenly I heard several smacks of heavy wood against bone in rapid succession, each followed by the sound of limp bodies hitting the ground.

I ventured a look and saw a very messy, and surprisingly jolly, assassin.

"JAMIE!" I nearly squealed in delight. Kicking out a few weak spots in the barricade so it fell down on the corpses of the men who hadn't been lucky enough to be at the back of the line... then again, if Neverinal got here... I shuddered again.

"Right, let's make like a tree and get the F*ck out of here." I said, nodding to Saiko who followed me out from behind the fallen wood and men. "An Evil psycho necromancer elf is probably on his way to gut me like a fish now, so we should try and get out of here, quickly.... Oh." I ran back to where the troll was excavating, if the pole's shaking was any indication, they weren't far off. "We' can just wait here, he shouldn't be long now."

I really wanted a rest, but as I rolled my shoulders, I felt a chill down my back.

"Jamie...shoot anything that comes down that tunnel...." I said, pointing past her to the darkness beyond.