All That Glitters is Not Golem - RPLOG
Participants
Date
26/1/480
Log
It is warm and clear among the craggy mountains that surround the Firebough volcano. A cart loaded with provisions and Freeswords rumbles down the dusty road through small mountain passes, hauled by a shaggy, swaybacked beast and its portly beaver driver. "And that's why I never bathe after dark," he finishes some long-winded story as they rattle to a stop in front of a small camp.
Beings of all sizes and descriptions are scattered around between a collection of fifteen tents, some are at work carrying water or tending animals or preparing food, but most seem to just be passing the time.
"About time you lot arrived," a loud, gruff voice calls, soon followed by its owner, a stocky bull with a broken horn in sturdy, workman's clothes, "You the Freeswords?"
Galve hops off the cart, stretching a little. He wasnt used to being carted around, but other than beng a little sore from the bumpy ride he was fine. "Yes sir, we fit that description." The vespid rogue replied, stepping away from the cart a few steps to give the others ample room to disembark.
Terry steps up with the rest of the mercenary group, standing somewhat apart from them. The small feline stands straight as the bull speaks, only a salute away from standing at attention. "Yes sir. We were told you needed help clearing out the mine." The small being reaches back to check on the state of his slung shortbow before returning his attention to the bull.
Benna tightens her belt, adjusting the straps on her very own set of adventuring clothing! Her incorrectly sized chain armor clinks as she steps off the cart, falling in line timidly behind the small feline and the wasp. Having the question answered for her, she checks her own weapons, a bow and quiver on her back. Checking her spellcasting as well, the fur of her hands stands on end before she smooths it out after giving herself a light shock, awaiting instruction.
The bull snorts and folds his arms, looking over the trio as the cart lumbers back into motion, carrying the beaver and his remaining cargo away. "You don't look like much," the bull grumbles, "But if you're here, we'll make use of you. Follow me."
He leads the way through the little tent town to a boarded over mine shaft. It is easy to tell that it is a mine shaft because of all the painted signs that read "DANGER: MINE SHAFT."
"This is the Glitterrock mine," the bull says, "Or it was, anyway. Now it is just a breeding hole for weird rock elementals. If it were me, I would just leave the thing sealed up, but some knob in the city wants the platinum that is down there." He turns to face the Freeswords and folds his arms again. "Trick is, place was overrun by these elementals. You clear them out and figure out why they showed up, and you'll get a nice, fat payday." He glares down, daring anyone to ask any questions.
Galve nods, checking his equipment for a moment. "Is there anything else we need to know? Any additional hazards besides the elemental infestation?" He asks, wanting to know as much as he could before he went in.
Terry raises an eyebrow. "Rock elementals." He frowns slightly, unsure if a bow was the correct choice for this assignment. Still, he nods and adjusts his tunic. "Yes sir. We'll clear it out for you." The small being then looks over at his two companions, analyzing them critically. His gaze lingers on Benna a moment, his attention caught by her use of magic.
Benna seems like she's doubting her own choice of weapon again as she looks to her hands and sighs, hoping her mathemagical study will come in handy in fighting the elementals. "We will sort it out," she assures the bull, her northern accent thick. She notices the small cat's gaze on her and summons a flame in her hand for a brief moment to amuse him, smiling for a second before looking up to the bull again.
"Hell if I know," the bull snorts, "Nobody has been down this rotten tunnel in better than a decade. I would just leave it shut, except the big man says he needs the shiny stuff down at the bottom of this hole." He steps up to the boarded up tunnel and opens a large padlock that has chained a low door shut. "Just knock when you want back out," he says, "Till then, I gotta lock it behind you.
Galve nods. He retrieves a torch from his supplies, eyeing the tunnel. "Well, we can't all go in at once." He remarks to his compatriots as he headed inside.
Terry lets his facade drop as he smiles and giggles at Benna's little flash of flame, but he straightens up and puts on his professional face as he steps up to the mine. He falls in behind Galve, following him into the mouth of the mine. "Do either of you have experience with this sort of job? I'm afraid I've never been inside a -mine- before."
"I have been inside tunnels," she says, "but not into abandoned mines, or caves. Well, not many caves. Never ones with elementals," she says, stepping in after Galve - her head bowed to avoid clipping her antlers off the door. "IT is alright. Stay in the back with your bow if it gets scary," she assures him. She again practices her fire magic as she concentrates on keeping a flame lit in her palm, lighting the tunnel up as a second torch as she follows Galve.
Beyond the wooden barrier, the mine is dark, by surprisingly dry and warm. The shaft itself is not particularly steep, and it is surprisingly wide and open, slicing gently downward into the mountainside. The floor is smooth and sandy, here at the entrance. So far, there is not much to see, aside from stone walls, and nothing to hear but the muffled sound of the camp outside.
Galve holds his torch up to provide the most light combined with Benna's magiks. His other hand was resting on the butt of his pistol, and he was thinking of the perfectly good hammer he had left back at his living quarters. It would be so much better than his current armaments against elementals...
Terry fans out to the right hand side of the group, keeping a slight distance in the cramped quarters of the mine. He keeps his bow at the ready, as if expecting to be ambushed at any second.
Benna:ceases her magicks, not wanting to wear herself out so soon into the expedition, instead huddling close to Galve to share in his own light. She quietly hums a tune, her eyes scanning in the dark of the mine as they descend.
The tunnel is smooth and open as the trio descends, and the ambient sounds from outside fade, giving way to the silence of the deep earth.
Well, silence. As far as it goes, at least. Breathing seems loud and strange in the darkness, and occasionally there is an inexplicable groan, or a tapping sound. It looks like this place has lain undisturbed for a long time, though the occasional struts and beams seem well preserved. If there really ARE elementals down here, they are not showing themselves.
Galve looks around a little as he walks, looking for signs of awry elementals. Cracks in the stone that separated whole chunks of rock from the rest of the living earth that's still seemed to stay where they were instead of crumbling out onto the floor from the walls or ceiling another evidence left behind by stray Elementals or Elementals that might be hiding.
Terry stops to carefully analyze the walls that surround them. He places a hand on the right hand side wall, feeling it's texture. "Mmm.." He looks over at Benna. "I.. don't suppose you have any sort of aptitude with earth magic as well? It might be useful in guiding us. Or even fighting them, if they show up."
Benna shakes her head at Terry. "No, I am sorry. I only know the.. fire magic and air magic. Sorry," she says yet again, with a little frown. Their odds did not actually look very good. She could do little more than keep her eyes out as she crept along with the group, anxiously shifting from foot to foot.
It is not long before the group comes to a smaller, branching tunnel, leading off from this one, probably following a vein of whatever ore it was they were digging here. The main tunnel continues on, uninterrupted.
That strange, intermittent knocking sound is a little unnerving. What causes that, anyway?
Galve continues down the main tunnel, though he makes a mental note that this is the first branch tunnel that they have passed. The knocking was annoying but he did figure it was something important. "Listen... we might have company soon, stay on your toes." He says, pulling his pistol out.
Terry grits his teeth. "Blast. That will make things trickier." The small ocelot hefts his pack and stalks forward, keeping his stance low and his bow at the ready.
Benna glances down the side tunnel, keeping her gaze back over her shoulder as she reignites the flame in her hand, cautious of any sneaky elementals that may try to flank them. "Oh, dear.." she murmurs, backing up to keep up with the group as she eyes back where they came from.
There is absolutely no sign of anything having been down here in years. No animal leavings, no marks in the sandy floor, and certainly no elementals. There are more branching paths here and there, all smaller than the main shaft, which has narrowed considerably. It is not so small that anyone has to stoop to get by, but it has reached a point where two averaged sized beings could walk side-by-side, but no more. The descent has also become steeper and the air has cooled considerably. Maybe there was nothing to worry about down here after all!
Galve remained vigilant as he moved into the front of the others, his torch cutting back the inky blackness of the tunnel as he descended the slope.
Terry stops a moment, peering down one of the smaller branching paths. "Odd, for a place that should be swarming with things.. it sure does look empty."
Benna squirms in discomfort as they continue down the narrowing shaft, being stuck in the back, covering the group's behind. "We should turn back," she suggests. "Perhaps we have missed the path with the elementals on it." She lets out a little sigh, clearing her mind in a brief moment of darkness before re-igniting the flame.
Suddenly, the shaft opens into a wide, low, excavation area. This must be where the main seam of ore was. It is difficult to see very far in the light of the torch, but it seems that there is a strange, egg shaped rock formation situated in the center of the large chamber.
Galve slows to a creeping walk as he examined the floor and the walls, looking for anything out of the ordinary. "Be careful.... something feels off..."
Terry blinks as he sets eyes on the large rock formation in the center of the room. He points in that direction. "Can you get some more light to shine on that thing? It doesn't look.. normal." He steps aside, making some distance from his companions. He ponders, then looks over at Benna, thoughtful.
Benna furrows her brow as they apparently reach a new area, bumping into Galve as he slows. She has turned around now, but turns yet again to face the egg-rock as she sees it, furrowing her brow. In an attempt to illuminate it, she reaches out toward it, not doing much. "I am not very good at.. just throwing al ittle bit of fire. I throw a lot," she explains.
In the illumination of Galve's torch and Benna's little flame, the egg is easy to examine. It seems to be rough hewn from the surrounding stone and connects both to the ceiling and the floor in a smooth, organic way. Veins of some dark metal run through it, with glints of silver reflecting in the torch light.
Galve gingerly approaches the egg, reaching up and resting his hand on the surface lightly, tracing the veins of metal. "This is.... impressive. I wonder if the elementals made this or...the miners...." He says in a hushed awe.
Terry tightens his grip on the bowshaft. "It looks ominous. That thing looks more than unnatural, it looks downright dangerous." He steps aside, stepping around the outside of the room. "Be careful.."
Benna giggles at that suggestion, getting distracted by the egg herself. "They are miners, not sculptors," she says, shaking her head lightly. "But this is good! There will be lots of metal for the miners when we are finished. But we better make sure it is safe." She rolls her shoulders and wiggles her fingers, mentally practicing her math. At Terry's suggstion of carefulness, she steps back as well, eying where they came in.
It does not take long to find out exactly who made the egg. The strange formation moves suddenly under Galve's hand and a large chunk of the stone tears itself way, throwing itself at the Wasp, burying him in a personal avalanche!
The rest of the egg breaks apart as well, revealing a total of six, amorphous stone creatures!
Galve struggles beneath the weight of the stone. "I'm fine, you two deal with those." He says, trying to heave the stones off of himself and get free.
Terry grits his teeth as the egg breaks apart into a bloom of roiling earth elemental.. things. He leaves his bow be for now, and raises his hand at the formation of elementals, palm-out, fingers curled as if forming a claw. He visualizes the magic in his mind, and a whip of wind rushes around him, converging on his hand as it flashes out in a blade-like shimmer of moving air - Cutting Winds, an elementary application of math from a rather novice mage.
Benna stiffens up straight at the sound of moving stones burying her wasp companion, spinning on her heel to face the egg. Following in Terry's footsteps, she copies his spell, sending a (hopefully) powerful gust of air toward one of the stone creatures.
Poor Terry does not manage to so much as scratch any of the writhing masses of stone and ore, and Benna's blast of air, though much more powerful, seems to have little effect on the flailing masses. At least Galve is able to shimmy his way out from beneath his own attacker.
The elementals, if that is what they are, do not attack just yet. Instead, it seems that they are trying to reshape themselves. Each of the six irregular blobs writhes and wriggles as stone reshapes itself. More quickly than anyone could want, there are six roughly hominid shapes scattered around the room, with thick arms, short, bandy legs and lumps atop their torsos that might be heads in a biological creature.
Galve crawls out of the rubble and gets to his feet, backing over to his compatriots. "Wait.... let's not jump the gun here." He says, holding up a hand to the others signalling them to hold off on any further spells.
