Shorthanded pt 1

THE HILLS ARE ALIVE WITH THE SOUNDS OF GNOMISH SCREAMING.

In truth, the party has been dispatched to Happy Valley, that silver-mining town, to investigate rumors of a gnomish prank war between two feuding families getting a little outof hand. Why, even the silver mines are said to be shut down at the moment as all are busy inside.

Pelka flies along with the party, occasionally landing and walking to chat happily. His tone seems to grow hesitant as they come, as it slowly dawns on him that they may be spending the majority of their time IN the mines, underground and in quarters sized for the dimunitive folk.

Annnnnd Sasha isn't Diminutive. She's rather big. So she's going to have a bit of a hard time herself, but she's mainly going to be watching over her allies here.

Corra doesn't like underground, but if she must she must. She does have her bow out, she rarely travels anywhere without it at hand, though no arrows out. She glances around for a moment.

Your first glimpse of Happy Valley is that it is a robust looking mining town.

Very robust! Ther should be gnomes everywhere!

...but there /aren't/.

Instead, it looks largely quiet and is covered in.. in.. spider...webs?

They're /everywhere/.

"Either that is one very intricate prank....or there's some actual trouble here." Sasha says to them.

Pelka chirps, "Or both!"

Corra looks over the webs she sees, and tries to determine if they are real or not.

GAME: Corra rolls knowledge/nature: (10)+12: 22

Ilmig looks around. Webs? Eh. What really worries him... "This be gnomish town. It be quiet. Somethin be terrible wrong."

Corra nods her head, "They are real webs, which mean that if this was the result of pranks, they summoned something in and it got out of control." she shakes her head a bit.

Sasha says, "Right. Let's get down there and find out what happened....""

Pelka nods in agreement. He reaches out as if he's about to touch one of the webs. It's like a 'fresh paint' sign, or a 'don't touch - hot' sign. For some reason it makes you want to touch it all the more. Just to check.

Sasha says, "and if we set these webs on fire.....it'll light up the valley."

"PST! YOU! GUYS! DOWN THERE!"

The voice calls out to them from the second story of one of the buildings. A small figure peeking out between shrouds of webs.

Sasha blinkblinks and looks up. "hey! You guys okay? Are you able to let us in and tell us what's going on?"

Ilmig looks up at the voice. "Oi. Any big spiders 'r things we should be lookin fer?" If the webs aren't magical, they had to come from something's backside.

"Yes! Get in here before they see you! They patrol! It's totally out of control!" Some thunking is heard as he worries down the steps and moves to the door. Which is gummmed up with webbing. "Erk.. erf.. little help here!"

Sasha says, "I don't have a blade. Can anyone cut open the webs here?" Sasha says looking to the group."

Pelka shakes his head. "Not me - the closest thing I have is acid -will that help?"

Ilmig pulls out his axe. One of them. It works on doors, webs, gnomes, even patrolling things. "Got it." For now, he just uses it on the webbing one the door.

It doesn't take too loong for Ilmig to clear the door with his axeblade.

FInally, the door opens and the tiny gnome waves the party inside.

"Hurry, hurry. You won't have much time. This is insane!"

He lets out a breath once they're in and shuts the door.

"Well, you're probably familiar with Happy VAlley, at least a little. Big gnomish silver mine, lota xorns, everybody happy, right? Right. Well, except two feuding families. The Wigglesprots and the Lightnoses."

Sasha says, "I can only imagine. She says closing the door after everyone's in, and sealing it with a chair...."

"A feud. Course. What'd they do?" Ilmig eyes the door and windows as she asks to get to the point.

"Wellllll<," drawls the goateed gnome, "that's a... a long story. It goes back ten years to the founding of the village. Thee Wiggglesprots and the Lightnoses took on two different opposing tracks. The Lightnoses never much liked the idea of cooperating with the Xorns, while the Wigglesprots did."

The gnome glances out the door. the heavily webbed door, still, even if Ilmig's axe allowed them passage.

"Ever since then, they've been at odds. While the Wigglesprots one the day, back then, and the matter is settled, the disagreement between the two families never went away.Well..."

Sasha quietly listens. "So.....That brings us to now?"

"So they be feudin. Likely still be so a hundred years from now," Ilmig points out the obvious as he watches outside for whatever's patrolling, "even if'n none remember what they be feudin fer."

He's a bit late to the party - or maybe he's just been that quiet - but Adhar, plated up and smelling vaguely of ozone, stands behind the lot of you. Listening. Being, you know. Armored.

Pelka peers back at the door. "Wait a minute...those webs outside. Are they from the feud?"

"Well, yeah. So, recenrtly, the Wigglesprots decided that they'd had enough and put spiders in the homes of the Lightnoses. Well, that went well, until the Lightnoses decided to get even more spiders and return the favor. And then they... they... /grew/. We're not even sure who's responsible for which spiders being huge, but they're EVERYWHERE."

points out a window and, indeed, you can see several giant spiders hanging out on to pof one of the buildings in the distance.

Just, you know, hanging out.

"Alba would be very pleased," Fazahd says from the back. "Perhaps we could bring her here."

Pelka turns to look in the direction indicated, then jerks back out of reflex, digging in his bandolier. The stock of a thunderbelcher appears out of a pouch that seems much to small to hold the entire weapon. Then Pelka seems to calm down, putting the partially-drawn weapon back away. "Those are some very big spiders."

Sasha says, "So.....lots of spiders here, hmm?"

Sasha says, "Are the webs flammable?"

"Yeah, well," says the goateed gnome, "I don't know about the webs but probably. However, you'd also probably burn down our town. How about not burning down Happy Valley? Please? The bigger problem is the Lightnoses and Wigglesprots have hunkered down in their own family compounds across the town from each other and only THEY know really what's going on. Maybe you can talk to them?"

Sasha says, "I had no intention of burning down the town......unless we had to. Then we'd evacuate everyone first." She then sighs softly. "So we have to get to those two 'compounds', hmm?""

Ilmig grunts. "Spiders. Course. Didn't think it'd be bears shootin webs outta their arses." Now he finally looks to the gnome. "So, we just gotta chat up two feudin families o' folks... May be better off jes shooin off the spiders..."

Pelka bobs his head in a nod. "I think we can do that!" he confirms. Gnomes, he's often reasoned, should be one of the few folk on Ea who don't hold a grudge against those who bear the taint of Kulthos.

"Diplomacy may well be the right way to proceed," Fazahd agrees with a nod. "I offer my services in this vein."

"Why are you not profiting from this misfortune?" Alba demands, her head poking down from an outside window. "Good strong silk, this; properly harvested, coin enough to pay for three such feuds."

"AHHHH."

The gnome yells when Alba shows up. "That's.. a good point! WHAT THE HELL." Ittill, he nods towrds the otehrs.

"The wigglepsrots are all the way on the west side in the big clockwork house. The lightnoses are on the opposite side, the one with the ring of elemental fire around it." Wait, what?

"That's how they're keeping the webs off."

Great.

"Whelp, should make it easy ta find, eh?" Ilmig chuckles. "Let's getta goin. This feuding ain't gonna destroy the valley on it's own..." Back out the door he heads.

Pelka clacks his beak a few times. Then he seems to find his voice. "If it's a ring of fire - and not say a /dome/ of fire - maybe I can fly over it." He looks around at the others to see if anyone seems likely to do something similar. Then he amends, "Um, perhaps we'll just see when we get there."

"Well, first, the spiders." Fazahd draws from its holder at his side a monstrous pistol, made entirely of metal and bizarre mechaisms with a short stock of black wood - which is really a pistol in name only. It's got a side stabilizer grip, after all. "Let's take them out, assuming they're not intelligent. And then we deal with the rest."

Sasha says, "If there are more than just a few spiders, Fazahd, then we'll have a problem. better to move cautiously.""

"You'll at least want to make sure you clear a path for yourselves, but there's a /lot/ of spiders hiding all over the place. It's nuts!" The goateed gnome adds, "We still don't even know how this happened." He opens the door again. "Just be careful. Some of them are probably poisonous."

GAME: Sasha rolls perception: (19)+4: 23

GAME: Fazahd rolls perception: (14)+9: 23

GAME: Pelka rolls perception: (4)+18: 22

GAME: Ilmig rolls perception: (8)+10: 18

Moving outside, you're able to quickly identify several independent 'spidergroups', on the buildings. Colonies, one might say.

So many! Five or six over there, five or six over HERE...

They're not actively hostile at the moment. Perhaps they're resting or merely waiting for something to hit their webbing on the buildings.

Either way, you've got some good situational awareness of /where/ they are on this street. And the next. And the next...

Sasha keeps her eyes up and around to make sure they don't run into webs as well.....that's the last thing they need.

Pelka ruffles his wings nervously. "Suddenly I'm seeing the reasoning behind an elemental ring of fire," he murmurs. He pulls out his thunderbelcher now, and removes a small leather covering over the tip of a long metal spyglass-like scope attached to the top.

"We can kill them," Fazahd says, completely unphased. "At range, then up close. A significant force of arms will do wonders to get the gnomes' attention."

"Can watch where we're walkin an not get 'em all riled up. Riled spiders'll slow us down." Ilmig still has his axe out, and uses it to wave folks on as tromps his way towards the alleged ring of fire.

Sasha says, "I would prefer to get to the bottom of this rather than face swarms upon swarms of spiders, Enginebreaker. My blessings do not last forever....""

The Enginebreaker shrugs. "As you say," says Fazahd. "But I will be ready to support you as needed." It appears the slayer of evils is happy to play backfield today.

...well... at least nobody fell into a ring of fire.

The spiders seem to know enough to stay clear of the great ring of fire around the Lightnose estate. It is much like what weas suggested. A ring of fire, burning tall and bright, in a great circle around a large manor home. Large for gnomes, less large to not gnomes.

It looks like a thing of great wealth, pomp, and circumstance because the families here are rich.

But.. it's a ring of fire. ARound the entire building. Sorta impassable.

The spiders ignore you.

For now.

Sasha lets out a breath. "I don't think we can go in there, Ilmig." She then looks across the town. Looks like we need to go that way to get to the other manor.

Pelka tilts his head back to peer up at the fire. "Well I wonder - maybe if I carry people over?"

Sasha says, "Unless you can find a way to turn off the ring of fire, then turn it back on when we get inside, Pelka...."

Pelka eyes the party members and then the wall. After doing some quick mental calculations he hesitates. "Although on second thought, it -is- pretty high..." he spreads his sings and then lifts into the air, rising until he can see over the wall. He only looks for a moment before dropping down to land again. "Gnomes!" He pauses and pooks around, then adds sheepishly, "Ah, that is, of course there are gnomes." This being a city of them, that is. "In any case they saw me. Hopefully they have a way to let us in..."

A gap in the fire opens.

"Quick,' yells a voice.

"Get in over hre!"

"Well that's convinent." Sasha says as she goes in through the opening. "At least here we can rest and get some info." She says as she waves for the rest to come in.

In you go, then.

The wall of fire parted briefly and then you rush in.

"Thank goodness you weren't after dark! That's when they get active. REALLY active."

The gnomish woman gestures towrads the doors. "Did the Guild send you? I bet the guild sent you."

Sasha says, "I'd say so. Spiders? Really? What were you thinking?"

"Hey, that wasn't on us!"

She clears her throat, "Well, not entirely. I mean, they hit us with wspiders first and then we hit them back with other spiders. It was harmless! Spiders are tiny! WHere all the BIG ones came from, I don't know!" Blond and spritely, she moves towards the door and holds it open.

"Get in. Elder Lightnose will wanna talk to you."

"Right. I'm sure we'll have a lot to talk about." Sasha says looking to Pelka. "Right?"

Pelka starts. "Uh, yes. Yes that's right." He waits until the opening in the ring of fire is closed again before putting away his rifle. "Yes, take us to your elder. Please."

Sasha nods. "yes. Perhaps he can explain this debacle." She says letting the gnome lead the way.

Behind the lot of you, Fazahd has hung up his blaster - whatever that does - and rests his hand upon the gilded pommel of the bastard sword at his side. Quiet and menacing, that's the way.

She leads the way past the other (many other) huddled gnomes and deeper into the estate. Seems like they've evacuated a lot of the gnomes from the surrounding lands to theri estate for protection.

Sot here are a LOT of gnomes here. SO MANY GNOMEs.

Elder Lightnose is in the dining area. A tall, greying gnome with steely eyes.

"You," he says, turning towards the others.

"And.... you're adventurers. Great. There' goes the village," he says with a heavy sigh, as if it weren't already emeshed in spider webs.

"You mean you didn't say 'there goes the village' when you had to evacuate it? So....What's going on here? Yes, there's an invasion of spiders....." Sasha's blunt, isn't she?

"We don't intend to burn our way through," Fazahd says from the back. "I am a servant of Reos. I would not allow wanton property destruction - unless you mean something else? Something that you would like to...tell us?" He smiles, though it's not entirely friendly. "We aren't here for our health, after all, Elder." Well, they don't call him Enginebreaker for nothing, right?

Pelka stares back and forth as each party member speaks. This is how you diplomacize? Huh, Pelka thinks.

Sasha sighs and pops her head. "All right...." She then rubs her face....

"Well," says Elder Lightnose, after a moment, "I suppose you have a point. And no, I don't think I mean anything else. Just that... we have it totally under cointrol!"

Teh blond haired gnome shakes her head, vigorously. "No, we don't," she adds.

"YES WE DO."

"We don't.... fine. Fine." He clears his throat.

"We did...sort.. of let things get out of hand. But I don't know how to fix it. And every night, they... it's like there's something... driving them."

Sasha says, "Sort of?" She then rubs her face. "You have any ideas on what summoned them?""