Tales of Faerun

[tokyobiohazard]

The man grunted, as if he'd expected the group to do something like this. "Right, then. This way."

 

Commander Quark dismounted his horse, and led her by the reins through the narrow streets The others followed Quark's lead and also dismounted, glad to have their feet on the ground again. The commander looked around, and pretended to take in the scenery for the first time, "Not many men around here. What's happened?"

 

The general store owner sighed a little and replied, "It's the mines. The tunnels have collapsed and we're just not sure if all those men in there are alive or dead. Your friends went to check it out, but I'm not so sure it looks good. Kelemvor watch over them... It just can't be their times to go yet."

 

Reona's eyes widened and she grabbed the man by his shoulder. He looked down into her eyes and Reona felt a shiver go down his spine. She looked at him, her expression soft but serious, "Shouldn't there be a mage with them in case something like this should happen?!"

 

The man shook his head, "The only mage who lives in town is a reclusive halfling by the name of William. He don't take kindly to anyone knocking on his door."

 

Arva stiffened, "I don't take kindly to people who don't help others if they know they can. Where is he?"

 

"Now calm down," the man said, "He wouldn't help the likes of you folks anyways."

 

Ianthe had been quietly following along, but upon hearing that her friends could be in trouble, she piped up in a rather charming tone, "I think you should tell us..."

 

The man immediately pointed toward a six-foot tall house directly to their left with an extremely verdant lawn, which caused nearly everyone to let out a sigh at the irony that they had not even noticed the tiny, inconspicuous thing before. Everyone filed up the path that led to the front door, noticing that most of the things in the yard had been downsized, apparently with magic, so that the entire lot the house was on seemed almost like a plaything for children.

 

Breathlessly, Arva leaned over and knocked on the door, the others clustered behind him.

[AurianaValoria1]

Rhaine turned and saw Saerileth and Nawen, "Oh, it's you two. Well," she gestured to the rubble pile ahead of them with a heavy sigh, "there's the collapse. I have no idea how deep it goes, but it seems to be a pretty solid cave-in. There's a bit of a problem, too, in that we've got an oil leak on our hands. The good news is that Xallistine has detected life beyond the rubble, which means there's a good chance our miners are all right...for now."

 

She remembered what Caladus had said about Byron's scroll, and pulled the thing from her pack, "Long story short, it looks like we're going to need some dwarven input. Let's see what old Byron has to say, shall we?"

 

The Doomguide unrolled the parchment. It was a complicated incantation, but those that called upon the dead often were. She recognized the format; it was a type of scroll that others in her church used when calling upon heroes of old for advice...an event that could only occur, at least for Kelemvorites, on the holy days of Shieldmeet and the Feast of the Moon. She hoped that this particular scroll would reach beyond such strict regulations. Taking a deep breath, she began reciting the invocation...

[BaldurAnthology]

In the Feasting hall of Dugmaren Brightmantle, Byron had been discussing some of his explosives with another fallen hero, when he heard strange sounds. Every single hero fell silent, as the words of an incantation swirled around. He listened, and eventually the stating verse was uttered, indicating it was him who was being summoned. Byron grins. "Ah knew they would need me someday!" Byron looked over at Dugmaren, who nods, smiles and flicks his hand in a "Get to it" Gesture. Byron stands, and smoke starts swirling at his feet. It swirls around and around, obscuring him, and then swirls up and off of him, revealing a caved in tunnel, and some of his old companions. He smiles, and says "Well, ah'll be. Yeh called me into a mine. What can ah help ye with lass?"

 

Caladus looks at Shaori, head tilted to the side slightly when she pulled away, and reaches up and pulls her back to a further kiss.

 

Shaori was more than surprised when Cal pulled her in for another kiss, but was too happy to care.

 

Saerileth sees Rhaine summon the spirit of a Dwarf, and bows respectfully to it.

[tokyobiohazard]

William the wizard poked his bearded grey head out the door, gathered up his vibrant purple robes to step outside, and looked up to meet Arva's face, "Oi! What are you, a bloody giant among giants? Ah can't see yer bloody face, take that helm off!"

 

Arva, feeling like a scolded child, pulled at his helm and couldn't get it off. "Ah... A little help?"

 

Reona shoved Arva's massive form out of the way and looked down at the halfling. How strange it felt for her to be taller than someone. The wizard had to be only three feet and eight inches, at the most... But that was a thought for a different time. "The mines have collapsed and there are people trapped inside!"

 

William nodded, "Ah bloody well know that! Who do ya think is the one who kept them from getting bloody crushed ter death? Ah ain't got time fer this... I've spells to cast, potions to brew, cats to pet..."

 

At that, a cat rubbed itself against Ianthe's leg, and she picked it up, cooing at how cute it was.

 

"Hey!" the wizard exclaimed, "Put that cat down! If you pet it, it'll--"

 

Ianthe dropped the cat and watched as it mewed, spewing out a stream of flames. Her eyes widened, "Wha... How..."

 

Commander Quark stomped his foot, "Enough banter! You forget that lives hang in the balance here!"

 

William rolled up his robe sleeves, revealing twiggy arms, and wiggled his fingers, "Well, what do you say we get to work on figuring out what is going on in there?" He locked his home and walked down the road. He called out to them, "Well, come on! You called me out, let's get going!"

[AurianaValoria1]

The old man jumped, nearly dropping his torch onto the oil-slicked floor, "What in the Nine Hells...!"

 

"Hush!" Rhaine scolded, "He's a friend, and I've called upon him for help."

 

She looked back to Byron, "Yes, we need your aid, though not for our sake. Look there. At least fifty miners are trapped behind that wall of rubble. The shaft collapsed over a tenday ago, and the villagers here have only been able to clear the corridor by a few feet...not nearly fast enough to save their loved ones' lives. But there's an additional problem: the hall here is slicked with oil leaking from somewhere...likely caused by the collapse itself. We need a way to get to them that won't disturb the levels above overly much, and won't set the oil on fire. A tall order, I know. Can you help, Byron?"

[BaldurAnthology]

"Nae withoot a body ah cannae do too much. Ah can check how many are still alive for yeh." Byron floats into the wall of collapsed rock. He sees the oil is coming from a hole in the ceiling. He sticks his head out, and says, hanging upside down "There is a hole in the ceiling a few feet in that the oil is coming from. Ah also have found two crushed bodies." He returns to his wall, swimming through the rocks, and finds 4 more, and sticks his head out of the other side to see a bunch of miners, who jumped, startled at the ghost. "Alright, what yeh lot have teh do, is start diggin here, here and here. That will allow yeh tae shift the rocks so ye can get oot," He indicates several places in the rock.

 

Shaori and Caladus are still in their make out session.

 

Saerileth bows her head, and utters a prayer for the fallen.

[AurianaValoria1]

"Gaah!" the miners jumped when they saw the dwarf spirit. Most of them were deathly pale, gaunt from hunger. They had shared water flasks for the past ten days, but they were quickly running out. Some of them were huddled in the corner of their air pocket, shivering from the cold.

 

"What the hells is that?" One of them whispered.

 

"A ghost, you dolt!" Another snapped, "What we're going to be if we don't get out of here!"

 

"Do you think Kelemvor sent him?"

 

A third miner rose to his feet, "I don't think we should question anything at this point."

 

"Oh, yes, Kelemvor sent the helpful spirit, aye," a fourth rolled his eyes, "Just like he let poor Joran here suffer for four days before he finally took him from us!" He angrily pointed at a young man's corpse, barely twenty years old, pinned under the rubble from the waist down, his pelvis crushed.

 

The third miner took his pick from his belt, "The gods help those who help themselves, Tanis! You heard the dwarf...now dig!"

[Naktis]

Nawen could smell oil as soon as she and Saerileth went lower into the shaft. Rhaine was right. They couldn't use fire here but seeing how some of them carried torches, it was risky but luckily it was late enough for Byron to appear and apparently he knew what to do because when he returned to their side of the collide she hear miners digging. "Is there another entrance to the mine?" She suddenly asked. The ranger was not too fond of that lift they used to get down there.

[AurianaValoria1]

The old man shook his head, "Nope. And this is a fresh tunnel that hasn't been connected to the rest of the mine, yet. This is the only way to get through...but since your ghost friend found our miners, it sounds like they're working on it from the other side. Maybe we can meet in the middle somehow?"

 

His eyes widened, "Didn't he say that the oil leak was a few feet into the rubble, coming from the ceiling? If there's a leak there, it might mean the floor of the second level is weak somehow. This cave-in could take that tunnel, too..."

 

Rhaine exchanged looks with him. The rubble may have been the only thing supporting the weakened floor of the second level. If they removed it, they might very well cause another cave-in. Things were getting worse by the minute. The Doomguide shook her head in frustration, "We need more help and quickly. Isn't there anyone around this town who could offer more advice?"

 

"Well," the old man mused, "There's William, the reclusive wiz-" he stopped, brow knitting, "That damned little halfling! He never once popped out of that gingerbread house of his to offer help, and he knew something was going on around here! I swear, if that runt had a solution and didn't tell us about it, I'll wring his chicken neck!"

 

He stomped over to the lift, "Come on! I think we've just got the key to this whole thing!"

[Naktis]

"Gingerbread house?" Nawen asked quietly and glanced at her friends. She thought that at least one of them should stay in the mine but now she wasn't really sure about that. The miners had quite some digging to do. "I think you should tell the miners to stop digging. At least for a while." She said to Byron. The ranger understood that the miners wanted to the see the sun again and breathe the fresh air but if the floor is really weakened then none of them would leave the mine alive...

 

She followed the old man to the lift, hoping that they will free the miners soon and will be able to leave as soon as Caladus heals. She also wanted to pick some herbs before they leave too.

Edited June 27, 2012 by Naktis