Tales of Faerun

[tokyobiohazard]

Evan timidly led the group while holding a closed lantern, the ruddy light barely enough to see by. His knees quivered with every step, as he knew the sorts of things that could cause a tunnel to collapse. His parents were miners. He was too timid for the mines, so the army was the answer, his father had said. Would toughen him up. His mind continued to race thus as they listened to William's instructions on which ways to go.

 

"Gah, ya bloody coward!" William shouted, causing Evan to shiver more. "Move on! Let's go!"

 

Ianthe wished she still had her charm of infravision, but remembered it was a melted pile of scrap right about now.

 

William shoved Evan behind himself and made a sound like a growl in his throat. "All of ya, stay back. I got a solution here that will make things go much faster." With a wave of his hand, an orb of light winked into existence above his head, casting a bright white light six feet in all directions. A moment later, the wizard gathered up his copious purple robes and sprinted ahead at full speed, forcing the others into a steady run to keep up with him. The wizard's long white beard parted in the middle and streamed behind him as he ran, causing what would be a comical sight, under different circumstances.

 

Reona muttered a hundred different curses as she ran holding her thick skirts above her knees. The wedge-like heels on her shoes didn't help her balance, that was for sure. She wobbled and tripped as she ran.

 

Grumbling, Arva scooped up Reona with one arm and threw her over his shoulder, keeping one arm over her legs and another on her back as she squirmed in protest. After about fifteen minutes, they finally caught up with everyone else, panting and sweating as they caught their breath. Arva put Reona down, and she blushed as she smoothed her skirts out.

 

Commander Quark yelled out, "We found a wizard!"

 

Unable to take any more, Evan slapped the commander square in the face. He whispered in a harsh tone, "All of you, stop yelling! It's delicate down here and the last thing you want to do is yell."

 

William crossed his arms and muttered, rather than whispered, "Fine. My charms have made sure the boards in that part of the tunnel have held up. It's the best I could have done to protect as many as I could." He acknowledged Byron without a second look, as if he'd expected this. "It's too bad the dwarf is a spirit, or else he could get them out in an instant. Nobody knows tunnels better than the dwarves, I say. Now, what have you lot figured out so far?"

Edited June 27, 2012 by tokyobleach

[AurianaValoria1]

Rhaine was about to open her mouth to speak when the old man interjected, "Wait just a minute...are you telling me you knew about all this all along, you little twit? And you didn't decide to help us before now? I ought to string you up-"

 

"Silence!" the Doomguide barked, "You can throw stones after we get those people - and bodies - out of here. For now, reaching them is the first priority."

 

She nodded to acknowledge the group, "There are miners trapped behind this wall of rubble. How many, I don't know. There are at least six dead. They're working to try and dig away the rubble from their side, by the advice of Byron, here. Only there's one added problem - we've got an oil leak coming from a hole above the blockage, quite possibly from the weakened floor of the second level. That means fire solutions, like small explosives, are completely out of the question."

[tokyobiohazard]

William muttered to himself as he touched the stone and moved his hands this way and that, figuring out how to best fix things.

 

"Come on!" Quark whispered tensely, "I have a fear of small spaces like this, I don't have time to wait..."

 

Ianthe popped up behind him and placed her hands over his eyes, "No more small space, Quack."

 

Quark shoved her hands away, "I'm more scared of the dark than small spaces! And it's Quark!"

 

The wizard straightened and called out, "Alright, now everyone back up. I'm going to do this." With that, he outstretched his arms in front of himself and then dramatically spread them apart, as if he were forcing a set of doors open. The stone before him seemed defiant, until finally a small hole appeared. As the hole enlarged itself, bits of rock seemed to press back away from the hole and mold themselves from the inside out, and seemed to mold as easily as clay. His orb of light from earlier zoomed inside the hole and the cheers of men could be heard from within.

 

"Alright, now," William called into the hole, "Yer all gonna need to crawl through here. It should be a comfortable fit for everyone. I tried to make it as big as I could." He gathered up his robes, "Now, I have cats to feed and experiments to run! Let's hurry and get outta here!"

Edited June 27, 2012 by tokyobleach

[BaldurAnthology]

Saerileth sheathes Carsomyr, and smiles that the miners are free. All of a sudden, a foul wind blows out of a crack, and a faint roar can be heard from far below. "What was that?" She asks.

 

Shaori and Caladus are not making out anymore, but Shaori is still pinning him down.

 

Byron..... floated, unsure of what to do.

[AurianaValoria1]

Rhaine breathed a sigh of relief when William managed to cut a hole through the rubble. She stood at the front of the opening helping pull people through while the old man held his torch nearby so she could see. The miners were in a poor state of health, some of them struggling mightily because of broken and fractured limbs.

 

Suddenly, there was a roar from below...and judging from the faint scent of chlorine that came with it, it wasn't any ordinary beast...

 

"Green Dragon," she commented as she helped another miner from the hole, "And likely not happy. Probably detected the wizard's magic. Saerileth? I need you to man the lift so we can get these people to the surface. It will only hold about five or six at a time, and if we're going to make any progress, we need to start now. Let's hope that temperamental Green doesn't cause another collapse with his roars."

[BaldurAnthology]

Saerileth salutes. "Aye, miss, so shall it be done!" She rushes off to the lift, and starts taking people up a few at a time.

 

Caladus' eyes widen, and he attempts to push Shaori off, and this time, he is successful. He had been relaxing and pinned long enough for his muscles to recuperate, and he rearms quickly. "Come on! They are going to need help!" He offers his hand to Shaori, who had fallen on the floor.

 

Shaori adjusts her robes, which had come partially undone when she was pushed off, and tightens the belt at her waist. She takes his hand, and stands up. "Right, let's do this!"

 

The two of them rush to find the mine, and see miners being evacuated. Shaori grabs Caladus from behind, and lifts him down the shaft to where the miners are being loaded. "Shaori and Caladus reporting for Duty!"

 

Byron sees a miner fall, and calls to Saerileth to help him up. She rushes over and pulls the man to his feet.

 

Byron then proceeds to ..... Float unsure of what to do.

[tokyobiohazard]

Arva raised an eyebrow, "You two sure took a while..."

 

Reona reached up and thumped him in the nose.

[AurianaValoria1]

Finally, it seemed they had pulled out the last miner. There had been around thirty of them trapped in that air pocket, all cold and starving. There was no way for them to get to the bodies, and so they would have to leave them behind.

 

"All right. Get these men to the surface and take them someplace where I can tend to their wounds," she said. The Doomguide then spotted Caladus, "What are you doing out of bed? I thought I told you to stay down until I had a chance to make sure that wound was perfectly healed!"

 

She shook her head and sighed heavily, "Nevermind. Take care of these people until I have the opportunity to see to them. I've got a job to do. This shaft will never be the same, not for the families of the deceased or those who work here, so I suggest sealing it off as a tomb."

 

With that, she turned back towards the collapse, bowing her head and closing her eyes, reciting the Passing for the fallen.

[BaldurAnthology]

Shaori blushes at Arva's comment. He was slightly more right than he knew, although not to the extreme that he thought.

 

Caladus clears his throat, sniffs and says "I smell a dragon."

 

Saerileth looks over and say s "You don't say? We have to get out of here!"

 

Byron looks over "Noo Ah remember who ye are! Yer speech has improved lass!"

[AurianaValoria1]

Rhaine continued consecrating the area around the collapse, taking a holy water vial and tossing it through William's opening, so that it shattered in the middle of the air pocket. Hopefully, the contents would spread amongst the rubble and help ward off necrotic energies. Finally satisfied that the place was as protected as she could make it, she turned back to the others, "All right, let's get these last few miners up."

 

There was another roar, louder this time, causing the floor of the tunnel to vibrate. Dust and pebbles fell from the ceiling.

 

The Doomguide cast a glance to Byron, "Do you think you could get the dragon to stop doing that?"