New Year's Evil in Obelisk Cove
New Year's Evil in Obelisk Cove
Tall humanoid figures with veils across their faces, turbans on their heads and wearing long flowing white robes seem to float through the dimly lit tunnels of the flooded mines accompanied by armadillo miners whose taloned hands make for natural tools for carving away the stone walls of the underbelly of the mountain where treasure is just waiting to be found. Behind their veils mandibles grind greedily as the armadillos show off their portion of the mine. What the insectoid strangers have in mind to see is something the miners have just uncovered.
"It's actually just in time that you guys arrived," Dylan Pullman, the crew boss of the miners digging in this section says to the strange folk with him. "Who did you say you was and where did you come from?"
"Our names are unimportant," the leader of the strange folk says in return. "We are magi from the plateau of Leng. That is all you need to really know."
A huge silver door looms before the miners and the magi with eldritch runes that glow angrily in the near light.
"Here it is, I was getting ready to write up a missive to Mysterion University asking them to send a scholar to study this thing before we went forward when you and your entourage arrived." Dylan says with a mixture of fear and trepidation.
"I'm sure the librarians at the University would be tickled pink to look over a find such as this," the head mage says with a sardonic chuckle following lowly that proves infectious among his followers, :But I sincerely doubt they would be able to decipher the runes on the door much less make use of them."
"You can make heads or tails out of all of this?" Dylan asks.
"But of course my good sir, it is a warning that beyond this door a great and terrible evil slumbers," the leader announces. "I think we have found the great vault into which is sealed the elder god known as Yog-Sothoth."
Something bangs on the door from the other side.
"That does not sound good," Dylan states fearfully.
"Who can say?" The leader says as if this is an everyday occurrence for it.. "Open Caraway!"
A shaggy four handed, half of which share the same elbow, giant whose mouth is set vertically in is skull stumbles forth grabbing miners left and right and devouring them whole. Panic ensues as the gug wreaks havoc whilst the miners flee for their lives. The leader of the magi of Leng crosses his arms over his chest and shakes his head.
"How disappointing," He says. "Such a lesser creature left here as a doorman. Still the way is clear for us. Let us see what lies in this vault that may serve our cause."
The men of Leng pass in as one, confident that they will not be disturbed in their work. Fortunately for the rest of the region of Obelisk Cove the passages that lead out of the flooded mines are too small for the gug to fit through and thus it is trapped there. A few of the miners need mental treatment at Apollyon Asylum while Dylan Pullman seeks and audience with the dean of Mysterion University to enlist the aid of the scholars there to try and identify what they are dealing with so he can visit the ranger's lodge in Obelisk and post a flyer for a monster hunt.
Elsewhere in one of the houseboats the Ranger Lodge provides its members a black furred wolf-bear with red hair slumbers in his bed with a white furred folf that has blue sleeps besides him under the covers. The waters beneath them are disturbed when a monster with heavy scales and a powerful beak swims by. The rocking of the houseboat awakens the sorceress with alarm but not her companion whom she punches in the gut until he wakes up groggily.
"What is it, Aurora?" The ranger asks of his lover.
"Duncan, something just move past underneath us," Aurora says fearfully. "What was it?"
Duncan takes a brief look outside. "It's just a leviathan, woman, a crush-jaw, they don't mess with the house boats because we don't give them cause to. But this does mean the Obelisk Gate opened recently. I'll give you two options, either we go back to sleep..."
"I am neither sleepy nor frisky, but I need to take a walk," Aurora says and kisses her lover on the cheek. "I'll be back though."
"Unless you are feeling frisky, don't wake me, please," Duncan grumbles and then rolls back over and goes to sleep.
"How you whalers can sleep through something like this is beyond me," Aurora frumps and then makes her way across bobbing rafts to the main wharf to which the Ranger Lodge is attached.
"Aurora!" A black furred otter with silvery tattoos on his pelt yells after the sorceress. "I should like to talk to you and Dunk if he's up."
"That lazy whaler of a boyfriend of mine is still asleep back there," Aurora frumps, "Honestly, Jacob, a crush-jaw leviathan swims under his houseboat and the bugger doesn't even stir even if scares me half to death!"
"The boy hunts the damn things for a living!" Jacob says loudly referring to what our modern science would call a dunkleosteus. "In any case I'll bet he's still recovering from the ordeal we had at Solstice. Which begs the question of how you are doing?"
"Alright, I guess," Aurora says tentatively. "I keep dreaming of the mines though. Something's happening or gonna happen there that ain't good I can tell you."
"You're the member of our team that gets the prophetic dreams," Jacob states. "Dunk is our warrior, you're the magician and I'm the priest. Jean and Walt are the skilled folk. Speaking of which, could you use some coffee? I'm on my way to Javatoa now to meet those two from the University."
"Sure," Aurora says with a smirk. "I could use a good cup of coffee."
As Jacob and Aurora enter the café in question Walter, a brown furred weasel is lecturing in a mocking manner on sea monsters. Aurora chuckles and shakes her head as the information being given has been proven false by the actions of whalers for years. She instantly thinks of Duncan and how amusing he might find this as she settles in with a large mug of coffee and a slice of Black Forest cake.
The caffeine from both the cake and the coffee puts her into a mild trance which affects what she can see around her. Among the things she can see is a turtle that nobody else seems to notice which interests Aurora as he is levitating in a lotus position. When she first sees him his eyes are closed and as she continues to observe him all three of his eyes open which slightly freaks her out.
Without changing his position the turtle floats over to her with a big smirk on her face.
"Think your responses rather vocalize them, please as only you can see me right now." The turtle says but the voice is heard more in her mind than through her ears.
"Who or what are you?" Aurora thinks in telepathic communication with the turtle.
"I'm a traveler, that's all you really need to know," he says with a smile. "By the way are you Aurora Morpheus?"
"Yeah," Aurora mentally says as she quirks an eye ridge.
"I thought so, the only other person that could see me would be the oracle." The turtle says with a smirk. "I have something for you actually." He takes out a piece of obsidian carved to look like an open eye. "Place this on your forehead, over your third eye chakra, and you will be able to scry as if using a crystal ball. You will need this to prevent the worst of the mischief of the servants of the elder gods. I can't get involved but I sense your team will eventually be more than sufficient. Just watch what you look out or you'll wish your powers had never manifested."
The turtle then vanishes and leaves the jewelry in Aurora's hand paw as she comes out of her trance. She holds the obsidian eye up to her own and it seems to wink at her. She puts the jewel to her forehead and moves it around until it feels right and once it is in place she can see the gug moving about in the larger tunnels and this gets a little disturbed.
She looks over at Walter and decides that he would not know nor would the lady skunk giggling along to his speech whom Aurora knows as Jeanette who is also a student at Myserion University along with Walter. Walter is an archivist and Jeanette is an alchemist. With a heavy sigh she goes back to Duncan and ask him what she just saw as he might know.
Much to her annoyance, he is still asleep but he has a hard on and is moaning in his sleep. A suggestion comes into her mind to read his mind by riding his pole and while at first she is not sure that she is thinking what she thinks she is thinking. Then she gets a kind of hunger between her legs she decides not to deny and strips herself so she can impale herself along his length and she does her vision actually clears as she tries to view the mines and when she sees the strange giant monsters what Duncan knows is shared with her as if he was seeing the same thing and recognizes what she cannot.
Her efforts end up waking him and he is quite amused by what he finds riding him and takes over much to her delight. Duncan's father interrupts them as try and talk to his son about what is happening in the mine. His expertise on aberrations means that when they need someone to asses what is going in there his own father decides to hand the task to his son.
From the description given Duncan is fairly sure he and his team can't affect it but he is willing to go in and assess what is going on. Knowing when you're out of your league is a kind of wisdom that rangers pride themselves on and thus his answer pleases his father. Duncan is told to gather his team and descend into the mines as soon as possible.
Aurora takes off the eye gem before they go to Javatoa to pick up the other three. Walter is still pontificating when they get there which set Duncan to smirking as Walter has yet notice that he has arrived. It's only when Duncan corrects him on the finer points of leviathans that the weasel notices that the wolf-bear has joined them.
"Duncan!" Walt says nervously. "I defer to your expertise. Jean and I merely study the beasts. You've hunted them."
"Quite right, but the fallacies were amusing none the less," Duncan admits with a chuckle. "I'm headed into the flooded mines to gather intelligence on the shenanigans going on down there. Wanna tag along?"
"What exactly are you going to investigate when you rangers are usually sent in to kill?" Walter asks in a dark tone.
"From what I've been told, "Duncan admits. "Something I can't take down by myself and something I highly doubt our combined strength could take down. This is a scouting mission not a hunt."
"You mean we're not going in blindly to a situation where we might get killed?" Walt asks in a mocking tone.
"Duncan's a ranger, not a fighter you get!" Jean growls as she whaps Walt upside the head. "How soon can we leave, Dunk?"
"Seamus wants the report as soon as possible," Aurora relates. "So the sooner we get down there the better."
"Sounds like a plan of action to me," Jacob says. "How much info do we have already?"
:"Not much," Duncan admits, "but from what I have heard there could be a gug running around loose."
"A gug!?!" Walt exclaims after thinking for half a minute. "You can't be serious, Dunk!"
"Why do you think I emphasize this as a scouting mission and not a hunt!?!" Duncan thunders back. "I know we can't handle a gug!"
"Alright! Alright!" Walt exclaims. "We're going in to look around confirm what we're dealing with and sneak back out. All without being noticed by the huge thing I hope."
"If we can get in, confirm what I think this is and get out all without anyone knowing we were there in the first place I'll be ecstatic." Duncan states. "That does not include the miners. The badgers, dillos and rabbits know we're coming and can direct us to where the thing is. We're going in for their protection."
"I hadn't thought of them," Walt says shamefacedly. "If there is a gug in the mines somebody needs to take it down and take it down quick so to make sure as few lives gets lost as possible."
"We're going down there to see what is going on," Duncan growls. "I may need access to the University's libraries afterwards to help plan tactics for killing it."
"I don't know what help the university might be, but if you know where to look or who to ask," Jeanette states. "There is a lot to be learned for sure. I know rangers get access to the libraries and museums for free."
"Because, Jean," Walt says with a chuckle, "Half or more of the specimens in the museum and the zoo is stuff they've killed or captured."
"We tend to figure out ways of dealing with threats," Duncan admits freely, "And everyone of us keeps a journal where we observe what works and what doesn't. The library keeps those journals on file as a back catalog. Heck sometimes the juicier tidbits become novels or get into news papers."
Everyone has a good laugh at that as they leave the café and take a yacht from Obelisk to the Mouth of Madness. The yacht belongs to one of the bucks that operates the mines and he is very glad to see Duncan and company when he hears what he needs to go into the mines to do. Once at the mouth they go deeper in by foot encountering some of the off duty miners along the way.
The miners hail Duncan and tell horror stories of the hairy giant with the split face that only seems to confirm his earlier assessment. Deeper into the mine they find tracks the monster as well as grizzly evidence of its presence in the form of half eaten badgers and armadillos. No rabbit corpses are to be found but this is more due to the fact that rabbits are only three feet tall on average so if they were eaten more than likely the gug swallowed them whole.
Duncan genuflects before some strange tracks and analyzes them for clues. Walter is very short with the wolf-bear until Jacob reminds the bard that as a ranger, this is what Duncan has been trained to do. For his part, Duncan just ignores Walter and does his job heedless of what the whining weasel has to say.
Rangers like Duncan are trained to be observant in the field whether those fields be wild or tentatively considered tame. The tracks tell Duncan much about the creature that made them. They also tell him about what sort of traffic has been around lately.
Boot prints from the miners are easily recognizable to Duncan so he almost dismisses them as soon as he sees them as miners are whom he is here to protect. But the punch holes of some insect like creature are something else. He calls Jacob over to examine them as these are tracks with which he is unfamiliar with but as Jake is an oracle and not a ranger he can only tell Duncan that he has never seen such things in his life.
Hateful eyes observe the party from the shadows deeper in the mines themselves. In an area where the water is at their knees the dark folk choose to try and ambush the adventurers but that proves to be a fatal mistake especially where Duncan is concerned as the water bolsters his confidence adds something to his stride and his alertness. Two dark creepers at least for every one member of the party with a few of them featuring darkly glowing hands that smacks of fell magic and almost towering over the little monsters is the lean and lanky dark stalker to whom all other dark folk swear fealty in the darkness.
In guttural tones the black leather leader of the ambushers directs his minions. Duncan points to the dark stalker grimly then drags a thumb over his neck in challenge. He knows that if the leader falls the rest will scatter.
As Duncan advances a dark slayer, a kind of dark creeper infused with dark magic, moves to challenge him. Rather than growl a warning, Duncan makes a power slash with his sword to slice a deep gouge in its chest before stabbing that ditch he made and with a deft hand he throws the enhanced minion at his master. As he begins to close the distance, Duncan can hear the death scream of the monster he just killed as its leader puts his hands to his head and has to cower for a moment.
Walter starts to sing a battle dirge as the party takes the fight to the dark folk as Duncan closes with the dark stalker. The stalker is angry and shouts curses at Duncan in the tongue of those that dwell underground. Duncan is well aware of what is being shouted at him and smirks while gesturing to the dark stalker: "Bring it on!"
The dark stalker tries to stab Duncan with twin blades but only manages to get on through. Dark folk use poison on their blades which Duncan's fortitude proves too tough for it to effect. Annoyed that Duncan's attacks are not getting weaker at all the dark stalker thinks to try and create darkness to give itself an advantage but while doing so, it gives Duncan a shot he is not willing to pass up.
An explosion soon follows the dark stalker's decapitation but while it does injure Duncan more than its short sword did, the wolf-bear stands as his comrades savor their victory. Their joy is short lived however as the roar of some strange beast is heard and the team scuttles to hide before whatever made the dreadful sound comes into view A group of stalagmites just large enough to conceal them is thankfully nearby and the group hides behind them to observe big, dumb and ugly as he runs onto the scene.
Standing at sixteen feet tall and weighing in at about three tons the fact that the abomination is massive could not be denied. Duncan and Walter look at each other and nod in agreement about what the thing is although what happens next catches them both by surprise. The men of Leng walk in and their leader holds up a talisman of many spheres that glows with its own inner light which seems to fascinate the gug.
The lead magi of Leng commands the gug to do something in its own tongue which none of the furs understand. Jacob sees them and starts shaking almost uncontrollably as Duncan looks to see what sort of tracks they make as a dark stalker comes up to the lead magi after the gug has gone. Nobody in the party can hear what is being said but the exchange is adamant on both sides and the postures the two take toward each other is argumentative.
It looks like tension will boil over into a fight when suddenly the two parties reach some kind of accord. Tempers on both side cool off as the dark stalker and the lead magi shake hands amicably enough before departing. When the party is once again the only ones around they discuss what just happened.
"Alright, Jacob," Duncan politely demands to know, "You recognized the veiled ones, what were they?"
"Folk of Leng, a place of evil," Jacob admits in hushed tones. "No good can come of this. The dark folk are bad, of that there can be no doubt but from all the stories I have heard of the men of Leng plateau...Duncan, they are worse, far worse. Where they go so too do the eyes of elder evils. And yet we cannot act. I doubt anyone in Obelisk has the power to stop them."
"Are they as powerful as the gug?" Walter asks.
"Mostly no, but their leader might be." Jacob admits. "What was that it used to control that thing, the gug?"
"The giant with the split face was the gug," Duncan states. "So those are denizens of Leng. I've heard dark tales but never thought I'd meet one. I think those strange tracks we found earlier belonged to them. I need more information though. Walter, in which direction is the university library?"
"Knowledge there will help you not, ranger," a wheezy voice behind them calls out.
"Who goes there!" Walter challenges as a fleshy disc shaped creature with tentacles dangling below and eye stalks above floats out from around a corner. "A flumph? We're being accosted by a gods damned flumph!?!"
"Behave you!" Duncan growls as he whaps Walter upside the head. "This is one of the few abominations I don't have cause to raise my blade against."
"I come in peace," the flumph says and waves its tentacles in a non-threatening manner and then it floats over to Duncan. "You have come in response to the release of the gug, yes?"
"Yes, we were sent to investigate the claims of monster down here," Duncan admits. "I am Duncan O'Connor and these are my friends, Aurora Morpheus, Jacob Undine, Jeanette Pasteur and Walter Wesley."
"Duncan O'Connor!" the flumph screams jubilantly. "I knew you were coming, I am Phatu-Lenz, Oracle of the Heavens. Your coming was foretold to me. Praise the Gods I found you before the gug of the Magi of Leng have!"
"We same both monsters before you came along," Aurora says. "Maybe it wasn't very heroic but we hid from them."
"Bravery is not always the measure of how well you survive the assaults that would otherwise slaughter you, dreamer of power," Phatu-Lenz says in a jovial tone of voice. "There is wisdom in knowing when to fight and when to run and hide. You would defeat both the Magi and their monster, yes?"
"I know we need to find a way to neutralize that gug," Duncan says. "I take it leaving the Leng denizens to wander about as they please is also not a good idea?"
"That, good ranger, would be an understatement," Phatu-Lenz says in all apparent seriousness although reading it is fairly difficult for the group. "The Magi of Leng seek a temple of Yog-Sothoth hidden here centuries ago and tended to by the dark folk. Fortunately for all our sakes that neither side trusts the other or they would have attained their goal."
"We saw a rather heated exchange between the two groups after the one magi did something to the gug with a talisman it carried." Jeanette conveys with some confusion in her voice. "What was that thing it had?"
"It has found the amulet of Yog-Sothoth?" Phatu-Lenz says. "Not good, not good, not good! It grants the bearer a level of control over lesser minded monstrosities." Then it starts to move away. "I must attend the Moon Pool; follow me if you wish a place of refuge."
The team follows the flumph through winding tunnels in the flooded mine. Phatu-Lenz is careful to conceal itself from the miners as they walk past work areas. Unfortunately one group of minors are not what they seem to be for as soon as the flumph starts to hide it self the badgers turn into masses of whorled flesh in a roughly humanoid form and raise their pick-axes to attack yelling as one: "Death to the betrayer of the Ancient Ones!"
Duncan recognizes them for what they are, and moves to interpose himself between them and Phatu-Lenz. Jeanette is starting to prepare a stink bomb when Walter stops her and advises against it as faceless stalkers like them can't be affected by such tactics. Aurora times a casting of her most offensive spell till after one of Jeanette's bombs goes off and hits two of the stalkers at once.
Miniature Manta Rays of beautiful blue-white energy launch from Aurora's hand with each casting while it takes a few castings to ultimate kill the monsters, it gets the trick done. Jacob grabs three pebbles from the wet floor and imbues them with magic power before putting them in his sling and shooting them at a stalker and seems to wound it somewhat. Walter fires his crossbow and gets a pretty good hit on the one monstrosity before he needs to switch to something else.
Duncan actually has the easiest time dispatching a stalker as the thing inspires a kind of righteous rage in him that fuels his fury. After his third swing of the sword it goes down hard and the other stalkers keep their distance from him. The other two men manage to bring down stalker each but it wakes longer since neither one is a warrior like Duncan.
The moon pool is actually a lake of crystal blue water in a chamber with an aperture open to the sky. Drinking the water gives the members of the party a feeling of well being as the waters are especially pure and blessed with the moon's beneficial power. Jacob kneels before the pool and starts to meditate as the water seems to call to him in such a fashion.
All is calm and peaceful until swarm of disembodied hands invades the space. Ten hands in total are released by one of the magi of Leng who commands the small legion to attack and then goes back to join the others. None of the party are amused although Aurora is busy casting a lesser spell to keep the little monsters at bay everyone else just smashes the things to bits with their weapons and goes back to their preparations for the evening.
That night every one gets inspiration and starts playing music. Duncan and Aurora take out ocarinas while Jacob and Jeanette play flutes while Walter does an interpretive dance. Later that evening Duncan communes with the spirits all around them, going into a trance like state as he does so which worries Aurora but Phatu-Lenz assures her that Duncan is fine.
As soon as the team finishes up their breakfast a pack of deep ones those half-human/half-fish creatures that serve the Dagon and their lesser servants as slaves and shock troops. There are ten deep ones in all, two for every member of the party, a fact that annoys Duncan something fierce as he lets out a fierce howl once they are surrounded by the trident wielding fish men. Jacob and Aurora look at each other as Duncan howls as the sound is different than his usual battle cry, laced with dark magic, a fearsome force that has a noticeable effect on those they face.
The group had faced deep ones before and while the task of killing them has always been daunting they never acted as they do now. It's as if Duncan had become a living representation of death itself and his sword bit deeper into their slimy flesh than it ever did before. Jeanette's bombs found the fish easier to fry now and those lashing out with their flail like staff found it easier to crush ichthyoidal skulls.
"Duncan," Aurora asks once the fight was over, "Correct me if I'm wrong but did you open that combat by tossing some sort of spell?"
"Yeah, I did," Duncan admits, "during my morning meditations I was given the knowledge on how to make my war howl much more effective. And knowing who these fish folk work for, I thought they would be a perfect test subject."
"That proved accurate enough," Walter says with a smirk. "So let me get this straight, everybody in the party now has some ability to lob spells around?"
"Pretty much," Jacob says with a smirk. "But knowing how rangers progress, Dunk just had the one spell today, am I right?"
"Yeah, unless something else happens," Duncan starts to say and then looks at Jacob queerly. "Jake, you know you have some nasty entities basically laughing at your expense now right?"
"You can sense them now?" Jake asks as Dunk just nods. "Wow, you're a spirit ranger now."
"He's a what?" Jeanette asks. "I know Dunk likes his booze but he's never been THAT much into his cups."
"Wrong kind of spirit, Jean," Aurora says with a giggle. "Duncan can talk to spirits in a limited way."
An unearthly moan can be herd nearby.
"Aurora," Walt asks fearfully. "Please tell me Duncan just gave a really good groping right now."
"I heard it too," Duncan growls. "How badly did the deep ones hurt us as a group?"
"I don't think I cast a single spell actually," Aurora says as she assesses her own resources. Then a manta ray of an evil sort flies in followed by friends. "What are those things?"
"Under Rays," Duncan growls as they begin to moan in concert with one another. "WALT!"
"When in the shadow of the specter that is death," Walter half sings half proclaims as he works to use his own voice to counteract the vocalizations of the monsters before them. "We who would be heroes need only fortify our hearts and minds and spirits for the coming battle For our cause is righteous, we defend ourselves and those that depend upon us from the darkness that is thrust upon us..."
Duncan growls in defiance of the monsters and makes a jumping slash against one of the monsters that forces it back with the sheer fury of his attack. The others of its kind start to react but before they can organize any proper response, Aurora casts a spell that catches them in an ethereal spider web. Jeanette tosses a bomb into the middle of them not made of fire as her previous bombs had been but this time the payload is acid that burns the monsters viciously after she had quaffed a potion she had quickly made that gave her some unique insights as to how to best utilize her explosives.
Walter shoots one of the creatures with his crossbow and then sits down to reload as the monsters don't appear to be going anywhere for awhile. Jacob attempts to beat another of the monsters with his staff and gets a solid hit that the thing does not react to. The creatures try and fail to extricate themselves from the web and only succeed in entangling themselves further.
Unwilling to free the creatures from Aurora's trap Duncan switches to his harpoon and he takes careful aim as motes of light surround the weapon briefly and do a kind of dance before her thrusts his weapon in. At the last possible second the head of the harpoon expands to twice its size as it enters abomination flesh. His victim moans in pain directed at its tormentor but Duncan just smirks and shakes his head.
The other four creatures shudder as the acid hits them again and this time when Walter shoots his crossbow he hits something vital in the thing's alien anatomy. It too tries to moan doom upon it's tormentor but Walt is able to counter its effects with another grandiose speech. Jacob gets a solid hit on the one he hit previously but it just glares at the otter and makes no more vocalizations.
Jeannette throws another acid bomb into the mix and this time gets all five in one shot. The one Duncan has been working on is barely clinging to life as if vowing to kill them all. The others are struggling to get free but can't as Aurora sends two of her energy rays slamming into one of the two moaners that nobody else has touched yet.
Sensing it is near death, Duncan decides to use just his gauntleted fist to finish off the one who almost groans in release as it dead hangs in the web. The others are further weakened by the acid as Jeanette tosses a normal bomb into the web to finish them off. The strands of the web burn when the bomb ignites them which finishes off the rest except for the one that Jacob hits with his staff and Walter hits with a heavy mace to end its existence.
"Quick and good thinking on that spell, Rory," Duncan says as he kisses her forehead and subtlety gropes at her breasts. "New trick?"
"Yeah," Aurora admits, "When we first got to that grotto I was aware of some abilities that I dreamed of making the night before."
"Surprisingly effecting against the moaning rays," Walter observes.
"I'm beginning to wonder what else is down here," Jacob grumbles. "Between the miners and the rangers you would think we would have most of this place mapped out and catalogued most of the monsters roaming down here."
"The miner stumble over new areas every week it seems," Duncan states.
"There is actually a wing of the museum and the university dedicated to respond to such things actually," Walt chimes in.
"The same one we've been working out way into?" Jean asks with a smirk on her muzzle.
"You know it, Jeanie," Walt answers with a similar smirk.
"Uh, Jake," Aurora inquires nervously, "You're the team expert on outsiders, what are those things?"
"Let me see," Jacob says as he looks towards where Aurora is pointing and has to rubs his eyes and take another look. "Dunk! Jean! Walt! You're gonna want to see this, we're being invaded from the Abyss of Hell!"
'What!?!" Duncan asks as he runs to see what is going on.
Demonic five jawed earthworms with four foot hairless humanoids are slaughtering some badger miners. Jacob calls the worms verminek and the humanoids dretches and proclaims them all to be demons. Walt whines that they need a break between combats sessions but Duncan just draws his warbrand and charges.
The dretches are armed with nail spiked clubs which they happily use on Duncan as he makes a wild swing that barely connects with one of the little monster as they mob him with their numbers and the clubs try to pierce his armor. Aurora casts her webbing spell again that Duncan just manages to avoid getting caught up in. Jeanette throws a bomb into the mix that burns most of the lesser demons almost to a crisp.
Duncan almost had to hold his breath in the flooded tunnel of the mine shaft but he also lost his favored weapon while avoiding the area affect of Aurora's spell. Walt finishes off one dretch with his crossbow as Jacob licks up some stones to enchant before making a ranged attack one of the other demons. One of the surviving dretches tries to pick up Duncan's sword but gets a gauntleted fist in the mouth for the effort that ends up depleting what little health it had left.
Aurora uses her tried and true offensive spell to dispatch a pair of dretches while Jean decides not to waste anymore bombs and picks one of the demons off with her slingshot. Jacob smashes one demon with his staff as Walt takes out his broadsword to decapitate a demon. It's about this time that they realize the worm demons have not exactly been idle as a few of the badger miners get up minus their heads as the head of the worm demons explode from their necks.
The vermilex use the pick-axes the miners were using as their weapons swinging for the fences as it were as Duncan retrieves his sword. Duncan's reflexes are good enough to block one strike, avoid a second and a third swipe but not the fourth and fifth strike. With all the demons focusing on him Jeanette cannot use her bombs without hitting him in the blast which annoys her something fierce. As she takes out her slings shot and takes out a bullet with a hollow center that Duncan made for her.
Each member of the team who prefers the sling as their ranged attack has a set of these hollow center bullets. Jeanette usually fills that center with some kind of poison but against demons like this the best poison to use is Holy Water which Jacob can make in abundance and does. Aurora, Jacob and Jeanette all fire at once and hit one of the demons with their bullets that the pain of the Holy Water splashing in their faces drives them away from Duncan and allows him to slide into the stream flowing through the tunnel.
Gritting his teeth through the pain, Duncan grips his warbrand tightly and the swings the weapon with all his might. Though blood veiled eyes he goes for sheer power rather than true accuracy with his attack and just manages to slice through the thing's head and destroy it in one fell swoop As a ranger he has chosen to be a champion for the forces of nature itself, a life force that is perverted and warped by the very presence of demonkind.
In his heart Duncan realizes he got a lucky shot in how he killed the demon with one slash of his weapon. But maybe not as the demon blood congeals on the blade to mix with the Holy Water as well as his own blood. This vein of terra sanguine worked into a great claw of civilized violence undergoes a kind of awakening as the sheen of the blade turns into a glow and runes of Ogham, the sacred writing of the druids becomes etched in its surface.
Duncan can sense the transformation almost immediately as if the spirit that allows itself to be trapped in the warbrand's cutting edge calls to its master. The goodness in Duncan's heart, his desire to his destructive skills for protection and the destruction of all that which would destroy him, his family and all he holds dear is channeled into the sword as it spontaneously enchants itself. In addition to his inner light, his sword, dubbed "Talon" by his master, obtains his hatred of abominations; in short Talon has become an extension of his will to defend and destroy evil as part of that defense.
Walter uses his own abilities to channel a bit of himself into his basket hilted broadsword as he chops at one of the demons while keeping his shield up for his own protection. The aura of good he temporarily generates allows his blade to bit deep however he still gets hit in the shin with a pickaxe for his trouble. It's not a deep wound but Walt feels it none the less.
Aurora is not sure effective her magic talents will be but she erects a magical shield front of her and wails away with her staff seems to get a good hit but the thing barely seems to feel it. Fortunately for her, the thing can't get through her shield spell to land an effective blow on her. Jacob has much the same problem Aurora is having but he does not have the benefit of a shield spell around him although he is able to parry the pickaxe with great practice.
Duncan decides to even the odds a little and slash at the one demon going after his girlfriend, his sword biting just as deeply as Walter's sword is doing to his opponent. It's then that Jacob get an idea and does a double blessing his staff and Aurora's before they both get solid hits, that the blessing spell allows to put a world of hurt on their demonic opponents. With this ingenuity in place they manage to beat back the demons just as they manage to summon more flunkies to their aid.
Once their overseers are slaughtered the dretches are less brave than they otherwise be, and given the fact that the furry party is actually more than a little pissed off right now means that the lesser demons are sent back to Hell in record time. After healing themselves the group moves on a little wiser and a lot more experienced. In fact they are wise enough as a group that when they happen upon the Magi of Leng going over a door leading somewhere, a silent agreement is reached that they head to the university to do research instead of just blundering in and more than likely getting themselves killed.