Fighting Fire With Fire

Porter snatches the iron ball from the floor and heads off in the direction where he saw Timex disappearing into the mist. Seeing that Rowan is standing guard over Timex as he starts to attends to Aithne, Porter moves on to assist Winnacer.

Knowing that nothing is as important to an adventuring party than taking care of unconscious colleagues, Joy hesitates no longer and immediately descends the rope ladder showing almost cat-like grace as she does so. She lands on the ground without making a sound and immediately kneels at Winnacer's side. As she suspected, the LawBringer is in bad shape. She quickly utters the words to the healing enchantment. As she finishes, her hand starts to glow with holy energy and then she places it over the many wounds that the ratogre inflicted upon the young Lord. The effects of the healing powers are strong and the LawBringer immediately comes to with a groan, feeling worse than he can remember for a very long time.

As he does so, Porter arrives. Seeing that that Winnacer is now back in the land of the living, he stands guard over the pair of them, in case either the ratogre or the assassin should return, the rusty iron ball ready in his undamaged hand.

"Shit!" cries Yaz upon learning that the party's has got into such trouble while he was tied up with the ratmen. Ignoring his own minor wounds, Yaz lopes over to the injured, led by Gertrude and the cries of the others.

Before getting to Winnacer, he passes by Aithne, Timex and Rowan.

Rowan stands an almost reluctant guard over the wounded Aithne, all-too aware that their assailant still roams freely among the mists. He is eager to seek him out, and is reminiscent of a tethered guard dog anxious to chase his prey.

Upon seeing the ranger's unconscious state, Yaz grimaces and says:

"She looks bad... time for Prirodna's goodness."

He lays healing hands on her and feels the power of nature flow through him. The effects of Yaz' healing powers are only average and Aithne still fails to come round. At seeing this, Timex begins casting, adding a little earth healing to Yaz' natural efforts. As the brown light rolls over her body once again, Aithne finally comes round, looking all around her, trying to figure out what has happened.

Aithne's eyes flutter open on a wave of pain:

"What happened?" she asks even as her brain begins to clue her in by the sharp, stabbing even, pain in her back.

"Ah, assassin got me."

She lets her voice trail off and tries not to moan at the pain.

Timex wheezes with relief as he sees the half-elf finally back in the land of the living:

"That really is a relief," he says. "That's all of Zemnye's healing blessings used now."

"My thanks, Timex." says Aithne weakly.

Timex then looks up at Yaz:

"Now I think that Winnacer was calling out for my help."

The druid nods:

"OK, let's go and see to him. I think that we should all stick together."

He looks over at Rowan:

"D'ya think you can keep that ratbastard off our backs while Timex and I help Aithne get over there?" Yaz asks.

Rowan nods:

"That's all that I can think about. Believe me."

While Rowan continues to stand guard and looks around to see if he can see any sign of the assassin, Yaz and Timex together help Aithne to her feet and escort her over in the direction where they heard Winnacer shouting from.

Aithne is embarrassed as she has to depend upon her companions even to walk. She tries to stand alone and nearly falls. Then,realizing she is forced to lean on them, finally does so, looking extremely uncomfortable.

Every step sends a new pain shooting through her, and it is only her considerable tolerance for pain that allows her to keep from screaming as Timex and Yaz assist her.

They find that Winnacer is back on his feet and drinking from a potion that he removed from his backpack.

Upon drinking the potion, much of the LawBringer's injuries heal up and he is obviously feeling a lot better, although still far from being at full health.

He looks a little relieved at seeing that everyone is still alive, just, and back together again:

"I think that we should quickly get back up into the alcove before the assassin or the ratogre strikes again. We can't afford to be attacked by either of them right now."

Rowan and Winnacer stand back to back at the bottom of the rope ladder to keep a look out for any hostiles in the fog while the others start to head back up to the alcove. Joy heads back up first, followed by Yaz. The two of them then assist the still badly injured Aithne and Porter up the ladder, as they can barely manage it by themselves. Timex then heads after them, taking a little time to ascend due to his less than perfect physical condition. Rowan and Winnacer continue their vigil, but there is no sign of any movement in the cavern whatsoever. By now, the fires in the alcoves have just about died out, meaning that the cavern is now dark again as well as being shrouded by the fog.

Once all the wounded are up the ladder and safely in the alcove, Winnacer heads after them, arriving safely up in the alcove. Then, with those above keeping watch, Rowan quickly rushes up the rope ladder, joining the others. Everyone then breathes a sigh of relief that they are, for the time being at least, safe from any attacks.

Yaz turns to Gertrude:

"Do you think that you could have another look around, Gertrude?" he asks. "We need to know what we have left to face?"

"Certainly, Master Charaz," Gertrude replies and then flies off into the darkness, skimming above the bank of fog beneath her.

Yaz then looks around and the state of everyone, not liking what he sees:

"Prirodna's work is never done," he sighs. "Come over here, Porter, and let me have a look at that hand."

With that, Yaz starts to cast another healing spell upon the unfortunate Porter. The effects of the spell are not that strong, but the worst of his wounds on his hand heal up and he is able to use it again.

Upon seeing everyone so injured, Joy winces and says:

"I guess our battle plan didn't work out to well, huh?"

Timex coughs and nods sadly:

"I'm afraid that I am forced to agree with you regarding this matter, Demarchess," he agrees. "With hindsight, everyone splitting up and wandering around the cavern where the ratmen could pick them off one by one does not seem to have been the best way of dealing with this situation. The ratmen know the layout of this place a lot better than any of us do and we haven't made any use of this excellent vantage-point and the weapons of mass-destruction that are contained within."

With Porter feeling a little better now, Yaz turns his attention to Aithne and casts another healing spell upon her. The results are only average, but it does lessen the pain that she has been in quite considerably.

"Thanks, Yaz." Aithne murmurs, the pallor of her face growing slightly less.

As she watches Yaz perform the healing ritual, Joy turns to Timex:

"I just wanted to thank you for the healing you cast upon me, Timex," she says. "I fear that I might not have survived were it not for you."

Timex modestly waves her attentions away:

"Please do not mention in Demarchess. Was the situation reversed and it was I who was the one who were attacked by the assassin, then I have no doubt at all that you would have done the same. After all, would the LawBringer not have died had you not risked your own life to save his?"

Yaz sighs, looking a little tired after the succession of spells that he has cast:

"Well that's me out of healing now," he says.

He rubs his hand over his staff:

"I can use the staff on a couple of you," the druid continues. "Porter and Aithne, you're still in a pretty bad way by the look of it, but if we use up all of the healing now, then there's nothing left in case of another real emergency."

"I have just one healing spell left," Joy adds, "then that's me finished also."

"I'll be fine. Save it," says Aithne.

Winnacer reaches into the depths of his backpack. He rummages around and pulls out a quantity of small vials:

"I forgot that I was carrying these around," he says producing the vials. "We got them back in Vysoke Myto before we went to the Nemotz Temple. I took them from Jihan before we buried him."

"These first ones are emetics," he says, passing around some small clay vials. "Should anyone be poisoned and does not fall unconscious immediately, taking these gives a chance of removing the poison from your system."

"These second are painkillers," he adds. "Not only do they stop all forms of pain, but they allow the user to carry on fighting when normally they would fall unconscious. It takes 10 minutes for the effects to start, and so they cannot be used instantly, however. We were warned not to take them too often, however, as there is a risk of permanent constitution damage should they be used too many times in succession."

"Finally, these are healing salves," the LawBringer continues pointing to another number of vials. "They are not nearly as powerful as the concentrated holy water of Lechit, as they only speed up the body's natural healing abilities. They take several hours to have any effect and then only heal at a very slow rate, but they are better than nothing, I suppose."

He starts to divide up the vials:

"It looks as if we have enough of each type of herbal remedy that we can take two each."

"Help yourselves."

Aithne takes two of each and places them in her smaller belt pouch:

"Thanks, Winnacer," she says softly.

There is a fluttering sound from above and they look up to see the return of Gertrude. Yaz looks quite relieved:

"So how did you get on?" he asks her.

"I think that I have now been able to ascertain the locations of all of the ratcreatures, Master Charaz," Gertrude replies politely. "It would appear that they have, in the main, vacated the main cavern."

"It is currently unoccupied save for two ratogres, neither of which would seem to be an imminent threat due to the fact that one is just waiting around, presumably awaiting further instructions while the second is still bemoaning the death of its master."

"It would appear that the ratogre that inflicted such heinous wounds upon the LawBringer chased an unfortunate ratman into the southeast passageway and killed it. The ratogre is currently in the process of eating it. Whether or not this ratogre presents any danger to us currently, I was unable to ascertain."

"The assassin took me some time to locate, but I am pleased to tell you that I managed to find its current position. It is currently hiding in the northwest passageway, hiding in the shadows halfway up the wall around a bend. It is, without doubt, a well-chosen position where it is able to observe movement through the cavern while also being in a position where it is impossible for it to be approached by surprise."

"As for the remainder," the owl continues, "they seem to have formed a defensive position in the northeast passageway that leads to the iron doors. They are grouped together quite tightly due to the confines of the passageway. The four green-clad ratmen with the smoking morning stars are just around the bend in the passageway. Some 10' behind them are a ratshaman plus a brownfurred ratman. Another 10' behind them are the other three ratogres with their handler behind them, standing just in front of the door."

Yaz thanks the owl:

"So, now we know exactly what we have to face, all we've got to do now is work out the best way of getting at them."

He looks over at the crate containing ten poison gas grenades and grins:

"I don't know what the rest of you think, but I'm all for getting the nine large flies I made earlier to go on a bombing run."

Aithne remains silent. She has made her opinion on poison known and has no wish for Porter to 'rip her f***ing eyes out of her skull' for restating it.

"I'd like to kill that assassin," she murmurs, however.

Porter says:

"I'm all for that. I had another thought of drawing out the assassin with Aithne. With her cloak, I figure his initial attack would miss, but then again, that's not how it worked out last time, was it?"

"No, he must have seen me fighting with the others," Aithne replies, shaking her head. "It's only really effective for the first couple attacks in any melee. It's easy to catch on once you realize the person is not quite where they expect you to be. Still, I'd be willing to try."

"I owe him a debt of blood," she adds.

Continuing to ponder the situation, Porter adds:

"Here's a better idea. We're all pretty beat up, so it would be best to do as much damage as we can without leaving the safety of this alcove. So, we send Yaz's flies to scatter those grenades all over that passageway. That should drive them out if it doesn't kill them. We have Gertrude at the entrance of the passageway. When they start to come out, she flies up and screeches. That's our signal to fire that big gunne at the passage, and maybe the flame-thrower too, but I'd rather save the flame for later. None of us have to leave this alcove. Once we do that, we see what's left. Let's do it now before the mist clears and they can get a better look at us."

Winnacer listens intently to the various plans, nodding and shaking his head with approval and disapproval to the various ideas. He clears his throat, coughing up a bit of blood, before speaking:

"Right now, we have them where we want them. The main group is trapped more or less between us and the iron doors. The assassin is cut off from reinforcements. And the remnants are still in viewing range."

"First things first. We've got the gunne and we have some archers. Let us take down the three rat ogres first. I need to get the feel of this gunne again anyway."

"As for the assassin, we may be able to lure him back into the cavern with a decoy. Once he comes back in, we can either shoot him down with missile weapons or have an ambush of our own planned. All it may take is one of us to go down there and look somewhat confused."

"The group by the door can easily be finished off with their own flame machine. I am not particularly keen on using the poison globes at this point. It is one thing to watch evil suffer from the weapons in their own treacherous hands, it is a different thing to make those weapons your own. Such a plan may work, but we have other, more pure, options available to us than that. All it should take is moving the flame machine down to them and burning them to ash. Suppressing arrow and gunne fire should be helpful in keeping the rats trapped in their hole while we move the machine into position. The flies may also help in keeping them pinned down. They also may help us move the barrel into position without their notice."

"The only problem as I see it now is what forces lie behind the door ready to reinforce their allies and when will the rats bring them to play? We are too injured for a drawn out battle again."

Porter interjects:

"The rats are in the tunnel around a bend. If we don't flush them out somehow, we're going to have to get right up in their faces to use that machine on them. Personally, I ain't going to be the one to do it. It doesn't make any sense to leave the relative safety of this position before we have to."

Winnacer smiles:

"You've never seen one of these things in action. With them around the bend we can get up close without them seeing us. And once we are up in their faces you can see first hand what this thing does in confined spaces. And it avoids the ethics of poison."

Porter looks at him incredulously:

"Avoids the ethics of poison?! I'm not one for deep discussions, but you have a problem with poison so you're proposing we burn them alive?! Screw that. Yaz, send your flies out, and ask Gertrude to get into position. Rowan, give me a hand with that gunne. Let's do this now while we still got cover."

That said, Porter grabs the gunne, looking at its strange ammunition and trying to figure it out.

Winnacer stops Porter before he can lay his hands on the ammo:

"Don't touch these warpstones with bare hands. We are not quite sure of all of the rock's properties, but they are decidedly unwholesome."

Winnacer pauses for a moment and then starts thinking out loud:

"As I see it, we have a few options. We can use the mist cover now and move out as a collective team with flame-cannon in tow and move to torch the rats in their little nook. Without looking at it myself, I can't say for sure, but I believe that they should be tightly packed enough to all be in range of us if we get close enough. After flaming them, we can rush back to the alcove again and finish off stragglers with the gunne and bowfire."

"An adjunct to this would be to send a sortie out to get at the assassin while the rest of us are using the flame-thrower. Perhaps Rowan, Aithne, and Joy could head out to slay the assassin while the rest of us torched the rats. We just need to watch out for the ratogres."

Rowan nods in agreement:

"This plan would get my vote also, no matter how much damage has been caused by our splitting up. I just want to see that assassin dead."

Winnacer pauses and then continues:

"A second plan would be to end the mists and shoot the stragglers, waiting for them to make a move from their nook, but who knows how long that could take."

"Another possibility would be to use the cover of the fog to move collectively to a new site now that the flames have died down, preferably one that would allow us to ambush the rats if they stick their necks out."

"I'm not sure how we would get up into any of the other alcoves, in any case." Timex interjects. "Without rope, the only way to do so that I could see would be if Yaz were to use his final stone-shaping spell to get up there."

Winnacer nods:

"That's another reason for not doing it then, in that case. I think that we should conserve what little magick has not already been spent for later."

Winnacer finishes and begins to rub the unguent from one of the healing vials over his wounds.

Rowan nods at Winnacer's suggestions:

"Let the ladies and I hunt down the assassin. I fear there will be no semblance of security whilst he still roams the mists."

Porter shakes his head, muttering mostly to himself:

"You all are gonna get yourselves killed."

Aithne, feeling slightly better, ignores Porter and nods at Rowan's suggestion:

"I'm game. We have to take that guy out somehow. Perhaps the three of us together can manage it."

She still moves somewhat awkwardly, but she goes toward the ladder, preparing to head back down.

Joy starts to follow her, although her wounds also pain her. She smiles at Aithne and shrugs saying:

"You only live once, huh? Let's go for it. C'mon, cousin."

"Well actually," Aithne interjects, "I've heard some folks come back over and over until they get it right. Had a friend that was a vegetarian, the non-meat-eating kind ..."

She looks toward Yaz:

"...said he was afraid if he ate meat he'd come back as a steak."

"Sure," Yaz says, nodding appreciatively. "The Cycle of Life is, like, continuous. Birth, death, and rebirth, man."

Aithne shrugs:

"Shall we?"

"I would not have it otherwise," Rowan replies, turning to Joy, "but, oddly enough, it might be best to follow Winnacer's example and apply some of that healing unguent, yourself."

Joy shrugs impatiently and says:

"I can do it later."

Rowan shoots her a look, as if to say:

"You should do that now."

Joy frowns back at him, but takes one of the healing items he pointed to and starts to use it.

Yaz's face sours anew as Winnacer and Aithne voice their objections to the use of the poison globes:

"I'd just as soon put my little fly dudes to work gassing up that corridor with poison, but whatever. It's no different than using Civ weapons against Civs-- kinda poetic justice-- but whatever we do we'd better do it quick. I can at least send them out to harass the ratbastards... maybe if the ratogre or assassin were distracted by a giant bug or two, they'd be forced to pay a little less attention to us, y'know?"

Winnacer shrugs at Porter:

"Looks like you are outvoted here. Why don't you come here and help me with the flame-thrower? I'll show you how to work the gunne later. It's liable to blow up in your face unless you know what you are doing."

Porter continues his bitching:

"And what exactly are we going to do about the ratogres? I ain't going down there until they're dead."

"We know where they are, so we'll avoid them for now," Winnacer replies. "In the worst case, there are four of us against one of them. And we have the flame machine. We should be alright."

"If we are quick about it, we can finish the cornered rats and get back to the alcove before the mists part. Then we can finish the ratogres from safety with the gunne."

Porter simply folds his arms:

"It's just freakin' ridiculous. We've got a decent plan here that would kill them all with the giant bugs and poison gas and your warped sense of 'honor' wants to risk us all by burning the bastards?"

He shakes his head:

"I'd rather get poisoned than fried. At least it's a quick, painless death."

"You do what you like, but I'm staying here. I'll give you supporting fire if you need it."

At seeing that Porter is not going to move on the subject, Winnacer turns his attention to Timex and Yaz:

"Timex, would you be prepared to hold the barrel in that case?"

The dwarf looks nervously at the barrel:

"Are you sure that it's safe?"

"That's a risk that we will all have to take," the young Lord replies.

"Very well then," Timex replies.

"And Yaz, could you give us some support?" Winnacer asks. "We could do with your help for this."

"OK," the druid responds. "Let me send the flies to keep the assassin and the ratogres off our back before we go."

Winnacer nods:

"OK, let's do this thing."

With that, all but Porter start to head down from the alcove, with Winnacer taking the barrel of the flame-thrower and carefully descending the rope-ladder with it. Yaz and Timex follow him down, while the anti-assassin force of Aithne, Rowan and Joy exit the alcove using the stone staircase.

Upon getting to the ground, Yaz walks through the mist round to the passageway, puts his fingers to his lips and whistles loudly. The others all hear a loud buzzing sound and see a squadron of nine large flies flying towards him. Upon their arrival, Yaz gestures to the flies and they form three groups of three. One group heads towards the northwest passageway containing the assassin, another heads into the main cavern in order to annoy the two pacified ratogres, while the third heads for the southeast passageway to bother the third ratogre.

"I'm all set now," Yaz says.

Winnacer hands the barrel of the flame-thrower to Timex. He bows a little under the weight, but manages to hold it.

The young Lord looks to Rowan, Aithne and Joy:

"Good luck," he says.

The two groups then make their way to their respective targets.

Aithne, Rowan and Joy head towards the northwest passageway. Aithne moves her way to the front of them:

"I need to go first. As we've already seen, just one strike from one of those poisoned blades can kill. My cloak will protect me from the assassin's first blows."

It is obvious that Rowan is not totally happy with letting Aithne get the first strike at the ratassassin, but he can't argue with her logic. Instead he turns to Joy:

"Please don't put yourself in too much danger, cousin," he says.

The three of them carefully make their way to the entrance to the passageway, moving as silently as they can. As they get closer, they can hear the buzzing of the flies and then, once they round the first corner into the passageway, they can see the three insects angrily buzzing around the next corner.

Using the sound of the flies to mask their movement, they hug the wall just around the bend in the passageway. Aithne turns to the others and starts to count down on her fingers:

Three - two - one

She then springs around the corner with alarming speed, with Rowan and Joy following right behind her.

Immediately that she does so, she can see the assassin still slinging to the wall with one furry hand, trying to swat the flies away with one of his shortswords. Aithne strikes without mercy, lashing out at the black-clad ratman. The assassin is amazingly fast on its feet, however, leaping back away from her swing, starting to draw his second shortsword as he does so, so that Aithne's longsword misses. She immediately advances and strikes with her shortsword. The ratman is more concerned with drawing his second sword than he is on avoiding Aithne's attack and the ranger hacks her shortsword into the ratman's hand. The assassin squeals out with pain, as Aithne causes a long rent in its hand and the sword that he was trying to draw skitters across the floor of the passageway.

The ratman tries to retaliate by lashing out at Aithne, but her light-refracting cloak saves her from any damage.

Rowan is immediately at Aithne's side, lunging forwards with Chanticleer. The ratman quickly leaps back and the rapier misses it by a wide margin. Holding his main-gauche before him in order to save from any counter-attack, Rowan lunges at the ratman again and this time the ratman has no escape. The blade pierces the assassin's side and it squeals out in pain. Already the ratman is looking very badly damaged.

Joy then attempts to finish off the creature. She swipes at it with her mace, but the ratman ducks out of the way in order to avoid her blow.

Meanwhile, Winnacer takes the nozzle of the flame-thrower and advances slowly through the mist with Timex carrying the barrel right behind him. Yaz follows a few paces behind the pair of them, nervous at getting too close to the highly inflammable substance. They take a circuitous route towards the northeast passageway, taking care to avoid running into the ratogres that the flies are currently bothering.

With any form of a stealthy approach impossible due to the armor that Winnacer and Timex are wearing, they simply advance towards the passage at a regular pace. As they round the corner, the corridor is dark, though they can see the red eyes of the ratmen and the heads of the morning stars, which are glowing in the heat. Immediately that they see the group's approach, the ratpriests start to surge forwards.

Waiting until they get as close as he can risk, Winnacer pulls back the trigger on the brass pipe of the flame-thrower. As he does so, the three of them are almost blinded as the passageway is lit up by the light from an intense fireball that explodes before them.

The four morning-star wielding ratpriests immediately start screaming in agony as they fall to the ground, squealing madly as their fur catches fire. The threesome are also relieved to see that the shaman a short distance behind them, who had just started to cast a spell, is also engulfed by the flames.

Three of the morning-star wielders and the ratshaman are immolated before they even reach the ground. The last of the ratmen caught by the flame rolls around on the floor in agony, desperately trying to rid himself of the fire licking over his fur.

The packmaster cracks his whip and the three ratogres start to lurch forwards, heading towards their burning comrades.

Back in the alcove, Porter continues to keep watch over the mist-shrouded cavern, shaking his head as he sees the passageway lit up by flame followed by the squealing of the rats. As he does so, he looks over the gunne that is left in the alcove. Although vaguely familiar with the concept of gunnes, he has had no opportunity to shoot one before, and so its workings remain a mystery to him.

Rowan, Aithne and Joy can see that the ratassassin is badly injured now and try to take him down quickly before it has chance to employ its single deadly sword. Rowan lashes out with his main-gauche, but the ratman is out of reach. Joy tries to get the rat with her mace. Almost surprising herself with the ferocity of her blow, she smashes the assassin in the skull so hard that its cranium collapses, sending brain tissue squirting out through its eye-sockets. It collapses to the ground, very much dead.

The three of them breathe a sigh of relief as they see the assassin and its deadly blade fall to the floor:

"Not quite as much of a threat when it doesn't get the element of surprise," Rowan comments.

"Let's see how the others are getting on," Aithne says, and the three of them head back into the cavern.

Lit up by the burning bodies of the ratmen, including the one that was rolling around in agony that finally succumbs to its wounds, Winnacer stands his ground as he sees the three huge ratogres advancing, urged onwards by the packmaster.

As the huge beasts get to within 20' feet of his position, Winnacer pulls the trigger on the flame-thrower once more. Winnacer's heart misses a beat as nothing happens at first, but then lets out a sigh of relief as the mouth of the flame-thrower spews fire once more, all over the three ratogres and their keeper.

The threesome takes a step back as the ratogres are consumed by flame. They howl out as they are consumed by flame, flailing around uncontrollably as they try to beat off the flames. The ratogres seem to be a great deal more fire-resistant than the ratman, however, and try to fight off the effects.

Winnacer stands watching the burning ratogres, his finger poised upon the trigger of the flame-thrower in order to give them another dose of the inflammable mixture in case they survive the first dose. The ratogres seem to be surviving the effects pretty well, as they continue to flail around trying to extinguish the flames.

Rowan, Aithne and Joy all arrive, standing at a safe distance in order to watch the ratogres being finished off.

The packmaster finally drops to the ground after succumbing to the horrendous wounds caused by the flames. The ratogres, however, proving what strong brutes they are, manage to fight off the effects of the flame. The three of them are now pretty badly burned, but none of them fall as the flames continue to die down.

As he sees the flames are nearly extinguished, Winnacer gives them another blast from the flame-thrower. He pulls back the trigger and another blast of flame lashes out at the ratogres. The young Lord releases the trigger, but finds that it does not return to its former position. As Timex feels the barrel emptying quickly, Winnacer pulls the trigger forwards and manages to cut off the supply of fuel finally.

This double-dose of the inflammable mixture has the effect of completely bathing the three ratogres in the substance, however and they fall to the ground in quick succession.

The party just stands back for a moment, watching the flames die down, breathing heavily as a result of their recent exertions.

Winnacer looks at their handiwork, nodding appreciatively:

"Well, that worked quite nicely. Let's get this back up into the alcove, Timex. We still need to clear the cavern of the other ratogres."

Porter, having heard that the conflict seems to be over, had come down form the alcove and joins the others in looking at the devastation caused by the flame-thrower.

Once the flames have finally died down, more or less, Yaz steps forwards over the dying embers of the burning bodies in order to investigate the doors a little closer. The party members can all see that the doors are massive, 10' high and 10' wide, made from crudely manufactured iron with no decoration.

The druid takes a Nemotz smoke, pops it in his mouth and bends down to light it off a burning ratogre. He takes a long, relaxing, smooth toke and then returns his attention to the door. He then gestures towards it and starts to chant. After a minute, he stops and the door starts to glow brightly. He nods his head and turns to the others:

"Yup, it's trapped," he reports. "Something magickal, prob'ly a fire trap by the look of it."

"We'll deal with it after we get rid of these ratogres," Winnacer replies. "Perhaps bending the stone around the door's edges and firing the cannon at the door will be enough to tumble the door and set off the trap... hopefully on any standing guard on the other side."

Porter offers:

"I might be able to take care of the trap. Although, with the way my luck is running, I shouldn't try."

Yaz exhales a wisp of smoke through his nose and shakes his head:

"I wouldn't f*** with that door, if I were you. If it were mechanical in nature then I'd tell you to go ahead. But it's magick, and I think that the only way to get them open without setting it off will be use more magick."

"Best to either blast it or get round it, I reckon."

Winnacer then helps Timex up with the barrel, checking it to see how many shots are left. He can feel that the barrel is now two-thirds empty, making him believe that there are probably no more than two more shots left. He then follows Yaz and the dwarf to the main cavern, with the others following on behind them. Upon entering the main cavern, they can see that the mist has now dissipated, revealing the positions of the two ratogres in the center. One of them is just standing around looking dim, occasionally swatting at the giant flies as they buzz him. The second ratogre is still cradling the body of the dead packmaster in its burly arms, sobbing softly to itself and ignoring the flies.

Looking into the southeast passageway, the party can see the last of the ratogres roaring and running around the cavern furiously, chasing after the giant flies that are buzzing and bugging it constantly.

Giving all of the rat-ogres a wide berth, the party members all head up the rope ladder in order to return to the alcove.

Upon getting back to the alcove, Winnacer turns to Porter:

"Well, that problem is now taken care of. Care to help me with this gunne? We still need to finish off these beasts."

Winnacer takes a look at the gunne and sees that it is already loaded at the moment, needing only for the match to be lit in order to fire. He lugs the huge weapon up off the floor of the alcove and rests it on one of the turrets in order to provide a rest. He then takes aim at the first of the ratogres in the center of the cavern.

Porter hurries over to help Winnacer, eager to see what sort of destructiveness will issue from the gunne. He holds it firmly, unsure of what exactly to expect when the gun is fired.

Joy also stares in interest at the gunne. She asks Rowan and Aithne:

"Have you seen one of these before? What do they do?"

"No idea. I prefer cold steel myself," replies Aithne.

"I have seen something like it, when I was in the Pannon infantry," Rowan replies, "but I have no direct experience with them. Their purpose, however, seems self-explanatory, especially after having seen them in action just now."

He gestures to the gaping hole in the damaged alcove's crenellations.

Winnacer checks his aim once again as he targets the standing ratogre and then speaks to everyone:

"I suggest that you all stand back. From experience, I can tell you that this thing has a kick like a mule on it."

The others stand well back and then watch on with curiosity as Winnacer lights the match and then squeezes the trigger.

As the match connects with the pan, there is an almighty "BBBBOOOMMMM!" that almost bursts everyone's eardrums and the very rock itself starts to shake from the shockwaves. Winnacer had braced himself for the tremendous recoil from the weapon, with his platemail absorbing most of the shock.

They see the shot quickly fly through the air before hitting the ratogre full-square, throwing up a huge shower of rocks and dust as it does so. All peer through the dust to see what damage the mighty weapon has caused.

It is indeed impressive, as they see that it has managed to blow one of the ratogre's legs right off, leaving nothing more than a bloody stump. If they needed any more proof as to what fearsome adversaries the ratogres are, the fact that the huge brute was not killed by the gunne is it, as the creature, although having been blown to the floor, still just about lives.

Showing how slow its reactions are, the ratogre is quiet for a moment, but then lets out an almighty roar of pain and begins thrashing around.

Winnacer pulls the gunne down from its rest and starts to reload the almighty weapon, giving a running commentary to Porter as he goes:

"The first step is to prime the pan with an amount of Holy Powder of Ohen," he starts, producing a small package from amongst the debris in the alcove.

He opens up a small paper package and pours the black powder inside down the barrel of the gunne.

"The ratman have prepared the right amount of powder in these packets," he explains. "You have to be careful not to pour in too little, or else there will be sufficient to propel the shot, or too much, as this risks exploding the barrel of the weapons."

He pulls a slim wooden rod from beneath the barrel of the gunne and puts it inside the barrel:

"The next stage is to ensure that the powder is tightly packed inside," he continues, "otherwise there is more danger of misfire."

He then carefully takes another of the purplish stone and rolls it down the barrel of the gunne, then takes the ramrod and presses down on the shot:

"Then you have to ensure that the shot is pressed tightly against the powder, or else there is more risk of the shot not being fired with sufficient force."

He then turns to the lock of the gunne and removes the burned match. He takes another of the twine-like matches and replaces the one that he has removed, tying it in place:

"There," he finishes, "then it is simply a question of lighting the match and aiming carefully once more."

The whole exercise has taken no less than five minutes.

Porter looks incredulous:

"But I could have fired off ten arrows in all that time," he says, shaking his head. "I think I'll stick to my bow."

Winnacer places the gunne back in position and takes aim at the injured ratogre, which is still screaming out in agony. He lights the match once again and presses the trigger. Yet again, there is another almighty "BBBOOOOOMMMM" as the shot fires towards the hapless ratogre. As the dust subsides, they all see that the ratogre is now just a red stain on the crater that was the center of the cavern.

"One down, one to go," says Winnacer as he start to reload the gunne all over again.

Five minutes later and the gunne is ready to fire once more. He returns the weapon to its position and targets the second of the ratogres. He squeezes the trigger and there is another explosion. As the dust subsides, they can all see that the shot was short, however, succeeding only in showering the ratogre with debris. The ratogre seems to be unaware of its close brush with death, still continuing to sob over its deceased packmaster.

Starting to get a little bored of the pyrotechnics display now, the others start to talk amongst themselves as Winnacer reloads for a third time. As he does so, he speaks to them:

"It looks like I'm getting through the shot quite quickly," he says. "I think that it would be useful if we were to gather the shot from the other alcoves. When I tested them, we found that they were not inflammable and so they should still be up in the alcoves."

Yaz nods:

"I can send the flies up there to get them. It saves any of us having to do it."

With that, Yaz gestures to the six flies buzzing around the central cavern and they start to head for the alcoves.

A few minutes later and Winnacer has prepared the gunne for firing once again. He takes aim and pulls the trigger. This time, the shot is right on target and they can see that it has done horrendous damage to the ratogre, smashing into its torso and blowing the lower half of its body away. Still the ratogre is not dead, and it thrashes around with its arms while screaming out in pain.

"We should just be able to run it through now," Winnacer says. "No point in reloading all over again."

"What about the other one?" asks Porter pointing to the southeast passageway. "We can't get it from here and we know it's pretty pissed."

"I think that we should just blast it with the flame-thrower," Winnacer replies. "I managed to damage it when we were in melee together, and so one blast should be enough."

The others all agree, just wanting to get things over with now. Winnacer packs up the matches and powder as well as the remaining shot, which he places back in the thick sack. They then all help in getting the heavy gunne and the equally heavy flame-thrower down the rope ladder before advancing to where the hideously damaged ratogre is still rolling around on the cavern floor.

Porter sees his bastardsword lying on the ground not far from the ratogre's position. He walks over, picks it up and plunges it into the ratogre's small brain, finally finishing the beast.

Winnacer nods:

"Just the last of them to deal with now."

Timex straps the barrel to his back once again and Winnacer takes the nozzle. Together they walk towards the southeast passageway carefully, with Yaz accompanying them.

They can still hear the ratogre roaring away in anger within the passageway. As they round the corner, they can still see that the giant flies are bothering it, sending it loping around the room chasing after them. Yaz calls out after the flies and they return to him. Not bothered by the flies any longer, the ratogre turns around and sees the three of them standing there and lets out an angry cry before starting to charge towards them.

Winnacer waits until the creature gets within range and then pulls on the trigger of the flame-thrower once more. For a split-second nothing happens and then there is an almighty "BBBOOOMMMMMM" ...

... as the barrel strapped to Timex's back explodes, showering him, Winnacer and Yaz with the inflammable mixture.

All three of them are instantly covered by the solution and start to roll around in agony, as the flames lick all over them. The three of them throw themselves to the ground, as the ratmen did, in order to try and extinguish the flames.

Surprisingly, Timex is the least effected by the flames, as only his back is covered in the burning substance. Winnacer is hit badly. He runs for a few steps and then falls as he is overcome from the horrendous burns over his body. Yaz too is horrendously effected as he rolls around, trying to extinguish the flames.

The other four look on in shock as they see the three of them immolated by the fire. They are all burning badly and it seems to be impossible to get close to them without being burned by the solution.

However, that's not the only problem, as the angry ratogre is still rushing before them. Rowan, Aithne and Porter instantly draw their weapons and charge towards the ratogre while Joy rushes to Winnacer to see if she can aid him before its too late.

As the threesome charge towards the ratogre, Aithne manages to strike first at the beast with her shortsword. Her aim is true and it cuts into the creature's leg. The ratogre retaliates by trying to beat her with the huge club in its fist. Once again, the light refracting qualities of her cloak means that the beast hits only thin air. It tries to bite her as well, but once again, the half elf is not where the creature expected her to be. Porter tries to hack into it with his bastardsword, but the creature's skin is tough, and the blade simply slides off. Rowan lunges at the creature with Chanticleer, managing to plunge the slim blade under its arm. The creature bellows out with pain as it sinks deep into its flesh. Aithne follows up with her longsword. She has no problem in getting past through its flesh and sinks the sword deep into the creature's thigh, gouging a long wound in it. The creature looks to be in a pretty bad way now. Furious with his continued bad luck, Porter puts all his strength behind a mighty strike at the creature's arm holding the club. The force of his swing cleaves right through the ratogre's arm, hacking it off completely. The mighty wound is enough to finish off the creature, which crumples in a heap on the ground, blood gushing from the stump of its right arm.

They all look round to see if they can aid their burning colleagues. They see Joy trying to attend to Winnacer, trying to keep away from the worst of the flames that threaten her. She quickly chants the words of the healing enchantment and places her glowing hand upon Winnacer's chest, which is not engulfed in flame. She grimaces from the pain as the heat of Winnacer's breastplate burns her slightly, but the glow spreads over the LawBringer's body. It seems to have good effect, as the LawBringer starts to come around.

The flames licking over the bodies of the burning threesome die down a little, but continue to cause horrible injuries to them. The others look on as each of them try to beat off the flames, knowing that they can do little to help. Winnacer once more falls unconscious as the flames continue to lick over him, but the others continue to roll around, screaming in agony.

Eventually the flames die out. Yaz and Timex are terribly burned, but Winnacer looks to be in the worst condition and is not moving at all.

Yaz immediately takes the healing staff from his back, which is charred and smoking after being engulfed by the flame. He offers a quick prayer to Prirodna that the staff still works before advancing on Winnacer and rubbing the rune as he presses it against the young Lord's body. A flash of green light erupts from the end of the staff and flows over his burnt flesh. His eyes open and he groans from his terrible wounds.

Yaz immediately takes the staff and puts it against his arm before pressing the rune once again. As with Winnacer, a pulse of green light spreads over his body and some of the burns ease a little.

"Shit," the druid says, shaking his head.

Timex doesn't seem to be in great shape either:

"My father always said that those who play with fire should expect to get burned," he says sadly between groans from the pain.

Winnacer drags himself over to one of the walls, propping himself up against it. With a sad, pained face he murmurs:

"I should be used to this by now. Oh Spravedelna, why must I be burned so often?"