As happened on 2nd Granite, 1051"Oh God, Dig! DIIIIG!" screamed Johnny, hacking his pick into the wall with increased fervor.
"Oh Armok! What is that? Grab picks, all of ya'! Get away from the cliff!" Archin screamed.
The Dwarves were alerted to something being amiss when the barking started the morning after the messengers headed for home. Stirring from their bedrolls, Lucy was the first to spy the scuttling horror in the distance, the three dogs they had brought on their journey lying in a pile around it's feet, froth billowing out of their billowing mouths. Stiffling a shriek, she pointed in it's direction, hissing, "Don't make a sound, don't bring it over here."
Everyone was up in seconds, hiding behind the wagon. Though nervous, no one was particularly concerned; The beast was still far enough away it might pass without noticing them. That was until Archin sucked in a breath, a shudder running through her.
"One of it's eye's is dangling out of it's head!. It's... oh, it's rotting. It's already dead," she said quietly.
The ensuing scramble drew it's attention, and in no time the dwarves were trapped inside the newly dug tunnel. Aryn, Lucy, and Kuli darted for the second floor, with Johnny and Archin following closely behind. Rice and Sgt. Pepper stood their ground at the base of the stairs, exchanging a quick glance as the chittering horror bore down on them.
Rice was the first to break the rank, charging the giant scorpion and barreling it over, beating at it with his fists. Sgt. Pepper soon followed, swinging his ax at the dodging beast in wide arcs. One swing caught the scorpion in it's front left leg, and the thin appendage was cleaved off, spraying him with a blackish ichor.
Hearing the commotion below, Archin grabbed Johnny by the cuff of his shirt and drug him down to the first floor before he could react, bringing them both into combat. A moment of shock kept his feet planted, but soon Johnny was swinging his pick with Archin, stabbing great holes into the rotten armor along the creatures back. With their picks, and Rice's fury over the loss of his dogs, they kept the scorpion distracted long enough for Sgt. Pepper to remove the front right leg from it's body - and bring the flat of the axe downwards on it's abdomin, splattering it across the cave floor.
The dwarves stood around the corpse breathing hard. Sgt. Pepper leaned on his ax, calmly wiping the gore off his face.
***
"We need to wall the entrance off. It's the only way to be safe for now," Kuli said. The dwarves were milling about the newly dug store room on the second floor, occasionally glancing towards the stairwell.
"We need to get the supplies in first, they'll go bad if we leave them out in that heat. The meat will spoil," Archin said, her voice still a little shaky from the earlier encounter. There was a roar of noise as everyone started talking at once, the din quieted with a bellow from the corner. Aryn raised his hands high, signaling for silence.
"The supplies MUST come inside, there is no discussion. You will all haul. I will take tally of our inventory, and as soon as the last of the goods are inside... we will assess the situation anew. Now hurry, I fear there may be more..."
***
The skeletal Jaguar surprised them all, and in that moment of shock Johnny was the one to suffer. The beast clamped firmly onto his side and ripped out a chunk of dwarf flesh, the long fangs puncturing his liver. Howling, Johnny beat at it's head and back, trying to get away.
Sgt. Pepper dropped the wood he was carrying and charged passed Aryn, his ax held high. Shouldering Lucy back behind him he brought the blade down once, then twice, severing the front from the back.
"Do you see why we were hurrying?," snarled Aryn at the group of startled dwarves. "Get the rest of supplies inside! Now!"
[ March 20, 2008: Message edited by: Heavy Flak ]
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Topic: Migrursut: What Comes After The World Ends? [Epilogue] (A Community Fort) (Read 390096 times)