Episode 3: Deadmines

The odor the soft earth wafted from beneath my feet as I followed Danivun into the Deadmines. Our group passed through the final bend of the twisting tunnels and we found that we had walked into a yawning chasm with a metal track leading deeper into the mines. Mine carts filled with stone and ore seemed to be loaded into this track, which we all came to the conclusion would bring us to the main tunnel.

A few Defias bandits sat playing a game of Roll the Bones at a table in the middle of the chasm, they were clearly drunk and hadn't noticed us yet. Danivun prepared to charge, but Tethyros grabbed him by the shoulder. Danivun turned to face the Night Elf, who put a finger to his lips, then pointed at the ceiling. A beam hung over the table, held in place by a rope and pulley system.

Tethyros motioned for everyone to follow through the shadows. We kept tight to the walls and avoided stepping into the light. The archer then held up a fist, signaling everyone to come to a halt and that we were now in an ideal position for an ambush.

Tethyros drew his bow and focused intently on the pulley. He let the arrow loose and it connected with his target, breaking the pulley and dropping the beam. Pillars groaned as the weight of rock and wood crashed down on the table, crushing the bandits.

"Are ye mad!?!" Tiernan screamed. "Bastard bloody elf, they had ale! Tha's it, I'm sick o' this. All of ye are buyin' me a damn pint after we finish this shite."

Kaylee turned to me and whispered "His life is a permanent hangover."

"Damn right, ye pipsqueak." Tiernan shouted, his face now turning red in anger.

Danivun intervened, putting a silence on the argument. "That's enough, Tiernan. We have bigger issues to address."

And he was right. Voices from a corridor to our right shouted out in alarm. "What the hell was that?" Three Defias burst through an enormous iron door in the shape of a cogwheel that seemed to seal off the passage into the stronghold.

"We have intruders!"

"Someone is here! Get Rhahk'Zor!"

Danivun rushed out of the shadows and sprang into action, with Shadowclaw at his heels. Danivun drove his shield into the side of a bandit's head, then carved into his stomach with his axe. Shadowclaw dove onto another, sinking her teeth into his neck as blood poured down the bandit's body. A female bandit hurled a knife at Danivun, who deflected it as Tiernan ran past him. In a screaming fit of rage, the dwarf dove through the air, unlike his usual assassin's grace, and wildly stabbed the woman repeatedly in the chest.

He shouted a word with every plunge of his dagger. "ALL! I! WANT! IS! SOME BLASTED! BLOODY! ALE!"

"Tiernan..." I stammered, noticing that we all were staring at him in shock. "Please, stop."

Wiping blood from his face, which already began to soak into his beard, he stood and said. "Maybe I have a wee bit o' a problem..."

Just then the massive doors swung open and two more Defias entered the room, dressed in black, each carrying a large sword. With them was a massive creature carrying what looked to be a hammer made from two rocks bound to a stick. It was both fat and muscular, and had an unintelligent look on its face. He spoke as if forming words were like putting together pieces of a puzzle that didn't quite fit.

"VanCleef pay big for you heads!" the monster called Rhahk'Zor yelled.

"It's an ogre!" Sister Lynette cried from behind us.

Tiernan shouted back at the hideous creature, "I'd like to keep me head, mate. Thanks in advance."

The two Defias ran after Lynette and Kaylee, who threw fire and waves of light at their attackers. Danivun spun on his heel and bashed his shield into the shoulder of one of the Defias watchmen. The watchman turned to face Danivun and slashed him across his side, scraping across his mail. Danivun responded with a smashing blow from his axe handle, then kicked the watchman onto his back. Upon seeing his ally fall, the other watchman lunged forward at Danivun, attempting to impale him on the end of his sword. Danivun twisted to the side and batted the sword away. A ball of fire then blasted the Defias in his face and he screamed out in pain.

While they were fighting, I turned to see Tiernan and Shadowclaw slashing away at the ogre's legs and back. The small assailants were too lithe for the ogre to keep up with, as they moved quickly behind his sluggish form and wild, back-handed swings. Arrows stuck into the ogre's arms and chest, which seemed to bother him about as much as flies. In his frustration, Rhahk'Zor did a massive stomp that shook the caverns and knocked Tiernan and Shadowclaw off balance. Rhahk'Zor spun on his heel and struck Tiernan to the ground with the back of his hand. Tiernan looked up in a daze to see that the Ogre had turned and raised his maul overheard to deal a crushing blow to finish him off.

Just then, Kaylee shimmered into existence in front of the ogre and released a gout of fire that seared Rhahk'Zor across his bare chest. The sudden heat of the flames caused him to recoil in a brief moment of panic. As Rhahk'Zor twisted his head away, Tethyros fired an arrow that found its way into the ogre's mouth and punctured through his cheek. Screaming in pain, the ogre flailed his gigantic maul to force us away while he attempted to regain his composure.

Seeing the monstrous creature in a moment of weakness, I knew that we couldn't afford to let him recover. I let loose a fervid cry, and charged at the ogre. I heaved my pickaxe with all of my strength, and it plunged into his stomach. Blood spurted out from the wound and Rhahk'Zor froze in place. He clutched his belly and doubled over in pain as he swung his hammer down at me. I dodged just in time, and drove my pickaxe into his knee. The ogre stumbled and nearly crushed me as he fell forward, dropping his makeshift hammer to arrest his fall. All together, we carved and battered the creature until it laid motionless.

Panting, Danivun broke the silence. "Well..." he began. "That wasn't so hard."

Tethyros and Tiernan began rummaging through the corpse of the fallen ogre, divvying up the few coins. I stared at them in disgust as they looked for anything useful on the corpses of the other enemies that we had defeated on the way through.

"What are you doing!?" I yelled. "These are PEOPLE!"

Tiernan and Tethyros shared a glance, then looked back to me and responded in unison: "To the victor go the spoils."

"I'm afraid they're right," Danivun chimed in. "We have a long fight ahead of us, so whatever these men have on them may be useful to better our chances of survival. Most adventurers and bounty hunters gain half of their pay through what they take from their enemies."

I looked to Sister Lynette, who's golden eyes softened as she shrugged and said, "It is the way of many adventurers...." Hesitant, I looked over at Rhahk'zor's hammer, wondering if I should try to make use of it. Then realized that it probably weighed about as much as I do and decided against it.

We pressed on through the iron doorway and continued to follow the mine cart's tracks through yet another tunnel. More Defias enforcers guarded the path, along with a few miners. We dispatched them with relative ease, suffering only minor wounds which Sister Lynette mended with restorative holy prayers. Danivun allowed any who didn't raise arms against us to flee, and I grew to respect him for his mercy, although Tethyros and Tiernan both seemed to think that his kindness might be taken advantage of as those who fled might end up calling for reinforcements.

We reached another cog-shaped door guarded by a pair watchmen wielding massive blackened axes. They both leapt at Danivun, swinging their axes down at him simultaneously. He swatted one axe away with his shield and attempted to parry the other, but it bit deep into his leg. Tethyros fired an arrow that caught in one of the watchmen's shoulderpads while Kaylee seared the same watchman with a gout of flame. Danivun staggered as the unassailed Defias recovered from the deflection and swung upward at Danivun's head.

Lynette quickly spoke a word of power and our brave leader was suddenly enveloped in a glowing halo. The watchman's axe connected with the strange aura and bounced off like he had struck a stone, throwing him off balance as Tiernan drove a blade into the man's knee. The watchman began to fall, and the dwarf plunged another dagger into the man's stomach as he drove him the rest of the way to the floor of the tunnel. Shadowclaw tore into his throat to finish him off.

"Hey Lynette," Kaylee squeaked. "Can't you keep that bubble thing up on everyone the whole time? It would make this sooo much easier."

"I'm afraid not." Lynette replied. "It weakens the soul, and should only be used in emergencies when I need a moment to cast a much stronger heal."

Tiernan let out an annoyed sigh. "Truly riveting, lasses. But can we get a move on?"

With Danivun's wound freshly mended, he pushed open the massive iron doors. Inside we discovered a logging facility where little green men about the same size as Kaylee with long, pointed ears carving away at their lumber. Tiernan turned to face the rest of us and mouthed the word "Goblins." He slowly crept into the room, unnoticed by the woodcutters. He snuck up behind the farthest one, waited until the others weren't looking, and then struck the Goblin over the head with the hilt of his dagger. The little green man dropped to the ground, unconscious, and Tiernan gave us the signal to make a move.

Tethyros tapped twice on the back of Shadowclaw's neck, and she obediently sat on the floor. The Night Elf then nocked an arrow on his bow string and fired at the nearest Goblin. The arrow caught in the little man's forearm, and he turned to face the group.

"Get them!" He shouted, and the three remaining Goblins in the room came charging toward us with hatchets and carving knives in hand. The wounded one turned to run and get more help, but a Tiernan had cut him off. A second arrow launched from Tethyros's bow and struck the green man in the back, who pitched forward as he fell into Tiernan's blades.

Danivun intercepted two of the charging woodcutters, while the third became rooted in magical ice bindings. I ran forward and plunged the blade of my pickaxe into his chest while Danivun removed the head of another. The remaining Goblin attempted to flee but was thrown to the ground and torn to a bloody mess by Shadowclaw.

The room seemed empty, but then we heard it. A monstrous mechanical construct, twice as tall as a man. Its metal body stood had a pair of green lights and a glowing internal furnace, giving it a sinister-looking face. It stood tall on two legs with one arm that had a claw to grab a large piece of lumber, and the other had a massive circular saw that it sliced through the wood like butter. Sitting atop the machine was yet another Goblin, who seemed to be piloting the thing.

"Another log boys!" The Goblin yelled. "I'm not payin' ya to sit around all day."

Kaylee stepped forward and shouted at the creature. "Sneed!"

The machine made a whirring and clanking sound as it dropped the log it held and turned to face us. The room seemed to shake as it stomped its way over to us.

"I knew it was you, you murdering thief!" She continued. "You stole that design my brother's schematics!"

Sneed grinned wickedly as he adjusted levers and caused the machine to flourish its bladed arm. "Along with a few modifications." He boasted. "Ladies and gentlemen! I give you, the Shredder! Let me show you how it works."

Sneed's shredder swung its blade at Danivun's head, who raised his shield just in time to save himself from losing it. The saw shaved off pieces of his shield, and swung back for a second strike. This time, Danivun ducked beneath it as we both closed the gap in an attempt to take apart one of the legs. I lodged my pickaxe into a knee-like joint and began to pry as hard as I could. Tiernan was already trying to dismantle it, but a look of raw terror washed over his face and he began to flee.

Confused, I looked up to see what had caused him to run. I slipped on the edge of the tracks and fell to my back just as the Shredder's claw-arm reached through the space my head had just vacated. I scurried backward and returned to my feet only to realize that my pickaxe was still stuck in the machine's leg.

Sneed cackled from the seat of his Shredder and he began to mock me. "What's the matter, kid? Ya scared!?"

I locked "eyes" with the Shredder's two green lights. A strange sense of panic gripped me by my very soul and I lost all sense of things. The world faded to black and green, somehow burning and freezing at the same time as everything spun and churned. An intense screaming filled my ears, until I recognized the voice as my own. The darkness abated and the cave walls came back into view. I turned to see my friends still battling the construct, including Tiernan who had also regained his senses. Kaylee channeled a stream of frost in an attempt to slow the machine down, but it proved to be ineffective, as did Tethyro's arrows that simply bounced off of the construct or the window-like shield protecting Sneed. Instead, the Shredder pointed its bladed arm at our Gnome and launched the saw blade directly at her. She instinctively raised her hands to protect her face and a small barrier of ice formed in front of her. The blade glanced off of her frosty shield, but ricocheted into Sister Lynette's back. She let out a cry of pain and stumbled forward, my heart seemed to jump into my throat as I watched her struggle to recite a healing prayer.

My fury renewed, I grabbed a hold of my pickaxe and pried with all of my might. The metal began to groan as the bolts holding the leg's socket joint in place came loose. The saw-arm whirred as a new blade had been automatically reloaded and began to sing its buzzing chords of death. The blade swung upward and caught Danivun by surprise. The grinding of metal on metal filled the air as the saw ripped into the armor covering our man's chest. He cried out in pain as pieces of mail links scattered across the floor. Shadowclaw leapt through the air at the Shredder's driver and the machine was forced to shift in order to react. As the saw was pulled from Danivun's now almost-bare chest, the claw reached out and caught the great cat. Shadowclaw scratched and scraped at the arm, and Sneed's maniacal laughter filled the air as he commanded the Shredder to squeeze. Bone crunched as blood spewed from the cat's mouth, and Sneed flung the lifeless body back toward the entrance.

"No!" Tethyros's tearful plea echoed in both the tunnel and in our hearts. Enraged, he nocked and fired a barrage of arrows in quick succession which mostly glanced off of the Shredder's chassis until one finally struck its mark. An arrow had managed to plunge into the mouth of the Shredder's internal combustion engine and cause the machine to seize up.

"What the hell!?" Sneed shouted, yanking frantically at his levers. Finally, the machine had stopped moving enough for Tiernan and I to pull at my pickaxe together. Bolts popped off and the knee came free as the body of the machine folded sideways into a scrap heap.

For a moment, everything was still. But suddenly, Sneed himself emerged from the wreckage and came charging at me with a pair of sharp metal claws on each hand. He pinned me to the ground and began to slash wildly at me, slicing through my arms as I tried desperately to protect myself. He clawed and sliced as a crazed look of elated menace filled his eyes, until blood sprayed over me when his eye was suddenly filled with an arrow.

My allies came to help me up and Sister Lynette mended my wounds. Danivun's armor was completely destroyed during the fight, so we repurposed some metal from the Shredder to fashion him a chest plate and also to reinforce his shield. His movement was only slightly restricted, but not enough for it to be a hindrance. My pickaxe was also destroyed. However, Tiernan managed to find a green taskmaster's axe laying beside Sneed's pile of timber.

"I think ye've earned this, lass" he said, as he handed me my first real weapon.

Tethyros knelt by Shadowclaw's body, he wept openly as he mourned the loss of his fallen friend. He took a small hunting knife out of his pack and used it to remove one of the cat's fangs. He carefully wrapped the fang in cloth and tucked it safely away. Choking back his tears, he bade Shadowclaw farewell in the language of his people: "Ande'thoras-ethil."

"I am truly sorry for your loss, Tethyros." Danivun lamented, "But I'm afraid we must return to the task at hand."

The Night Elf nodded and rose to his feet. We gathered together and headed through the next cogwheel door to continue following the tracks. A small band of Defias stood waiting for us on the other side, it appeared that the lack of sound from Sneed's Shredder has given them cause to investigate.

"Impressive," said one of the masked men. Unlike most of the other Defias, he wore a robe instead of leather armor. "You've made it this far, but we cannot let you pass. Our plans are too near their fruition." He began channeling flames in his hands as two of the men with him charged us with paired swords, and the other carried a large axe. Tiernan appeared behind the robed Defias and gave him a swift kick in the back of his knee. The magic fizzled out and the flames vanished without smoke. The Dwarf drove his daggers into the man's shoulders, who screamed as Tiernan tore the blades down the length of his back. The two men with swords rushed Danivun and I, as we fought side by side while Kaylee pelted them to death with icy spikes.

Tethyros had draped his bow around his neck and now stood face to face with the axe-wielder while he himself held just his hunting knife and an arrow. The Defias bandit swung his axe upward, and Tethyros sidestepped the attack with ease. The bandit used the momentum to spin and swing the axe at the Elf's midsection, but Tethyros stepped into the man's arms. The axe fell free from his grip and Tethyros shanked him repeatedly in the stomach with the arrow. The Elf then stepped backward and kicked the man's axe forward, daring him to re-arm and attempt to attack him again. Furious, but in great pain, the Defias picked the axe up and lunged with a downward slice that fell short as he doubled over in pain. Tethyros then jammed the arrow into the bandit's throat, leaving him to drown in his own blood as we all walked on to the winding path ahead.

Another group of Defias had gathered around the bend, however they were clearly not expecting us. A robed Defias woman sitting on a barrel was shot dead in the face by Tethyros as Kaylee polymorphed another axe-wielding man into a sheep. A man and woman with swords and hatchets stood perplexed as Danivun charged in and threw them both off of their feet. He plunged his axe into the woman's stomach, while I did the same to the other bandit. Tiernan finished them off as Kaylee rattled off an incantation that blasted the Defias sheep with a barrage of arcane missiles. A few miners remained in the area, who attempted to join in the defense but proved to be no match for our party.

Beyond yet another iron door, we found ourselves at the top of a curved ramp in an enormous room with a gigantic furnace in its center. A vat of molten iron sat atop the furnace and was held in place with giant chains, it appeared to be a giant smelting forge. As we walked down the ramp, we could see the room below us was filled with more Goblins and smaller mechanical constructs. One of them seemed to be leading the others, his scratchy voice hollered at them over the screech of gears and hissing of the giant smelting machine.

"Anyone want to take a break? Well too bad! Get to work you oafs!"

"Oy, I know that voice!" Tiernan exclaimed. "Tha's Gilnid. I seent him down in Booty Bay a few years back."

"You 'seent' him?" Kaylee interjected.

"Ay lass, they kicked him out fer losing control o' his mad experiments. Likes to… invent things, he does. Makes all sorts o' dangerous machines and one day a particularly nasty one raised all sorts o' hell in the marketplace. No surprise the Defias would hire this nutter."

We came to a halt near the bottom of the ramp and Danovin began devising a plan. Charging into a fight with a craftsman seemed like a reckless idea, especially after Sneed's Shredder had already cost us so greatly. I was beginning to see the value of Danivun's training and tactical thinking. Kaylee didn't seem to share that opinion.

"Ugh come onnn-UH!" she groaned. "We just killed like a bunch of elite badasses and Sneed's huge Shredder. These are just little things. Let's goooo!"

Sister Lynette gently put a hand on the little Gnome's shoulder and said "Have a little patience. I'd rather not take an unnecessary risk and have someone else get killed."

Danivun continued to explain his plan. Tethyros was to shoot the crates in the rear to distract the Goblins while Danivun gained the attention of their mechanical constructs. If we could take their constructs out the Goblin engineers would be without their greatest weapons, with little more than wrenches and screwdrivers to fight with.

Apparently unable to wait any longer, Kaylee shouted "This is such a waste of time!" And turned around the corner to begin channeling power.

We all cried out to her at once:

"Kaylee, no!"

"Are you daft!?"

"Seriously?"

"What the hell, Kaylee!"

But the Gnome had finished her spell cast and bellowed her tiny battle cry. "For the Kirin Tor!!!" she yelled as she hurled a massive, spinning ball of purple and white arcane energy.

The arcane blast exploded in the center of a group of our enemies, tossing many of the Goblins into the air and shattering the constructs into little more than spare parts. She then conjured a hail of ice and frost to pelt and slow the Goblins from recovering in time to overwhelm her, but Gilnid had clearly heard her and began activating an entire collection of constructs that we had not seen hidden underneath the ramp.

Danivun rushed to intervene, but the mindless automatons ignored him and rushed after Kalyee without hesitation. As they surrounded her, they secured themselves to the ground and extended long bladed attachments on their arms. The constructs spun at the midsection like a top and began slicing into the Gnome's flesh. Kaylee screamed out in pain as Danivun and I struggled to push them aside, but the spinning blades and the surviving Goblins kept us at bay. Lynette cast her healing spells, as we battered and thrashed at the golems. Tethyros and Tiernan took on Gilnid in the hopes that assaulting their creator would stop the machines.

Suffering from knife wounds and arrow punctures, Gilnid scrambled over to his activation mechanism on the wall. In a final act of desperation, he raised a fist and slammed it down on a red button before succumbing to his wounds. His machines began to charge up with an ominous electric humming and began to glow with yellow light.

"They're gonna blow!" Screamed one of the Goblins as we all made an attempt to protect ourselves from the blast. In a violent flash of heat and metal, the machines exploded. Shrapnel from the automatons peppered the room and killed the last of the Goblins, but Danivun covered me with his shield just in time while taking only a few shards into his legs. Tethyros had made an acrobatic leap behind cover, along with Tiernan who had stepped through the shadows behind him. Sister Lynette stood in one of her glowing bubbles, peering around the room.

"Where's Kaylee?" She asked with an essence of fear trembling in her voice.

"I think she's there…" I said, pointing to a mound of blood and gore at the spot that the machines had detonated from.