CASE FILE 001: THE CASE OF THE MISSING HOLYMAN
Session 3: Chasing the Dragon
The robot slammed the trunk shut, the red glow of the setting sun turning his armor to flame. Looking to the darkening sky, the Lud-Man could see the scarred face of Big Moon
1 shimmering on the horizon, its little sisters nowhere to be seen. The first of the great constellations burned brightly in the approaching twilight. The Eye-Tyrant, its eleven baleful star-eyes glimmering with malice, watched as Case Nine gathered the mismatched boxes he had removed from the trunk. Giving one more glance to his surroundings, the warforged made his way back to the deep ravine.
Working down the treacherous path, Case Nine reentered the kobold territories of the ruins. He found Dirk, a cigarette dangling from his mouth, in the room they had first encountered Meepo in, the rogue binding his wounds with white gauze. The ground in front of him was littered with spent bottles and flattened tubes of various tinctures and ointments, all of which bore the logo of Bertik and Company. He looked up, "We got banged up pretty bad, huh?" The robot nodded, "Anyway, I got them to give you a room off to the side. I am no engineer, but I figure you got quite a bit of work ahead of you." He thumbed behind him, "In the back, to your left."
Shouldering his gear, Case Nine entered the sparse room, spreading out the boxes and opening them. Each was filled with strange tools and spare parts stripped from other warforged or scavenged from the ruins of Old Lud. Self-repair and diagnostic routines cycled up and the robot began his work, repairing the damage he had sustained in the battle with the spiders and goblins.
* * *
They left the kobold territories two days later, retracing their steps through the citadel. Once more they came to the room with the stone door that Case Nine had begun to smash down. Dirk nodded to the door, "Case, want to have a second go around with the door? I figure all the spiders are dead and goblins didn't hear the ruckus last time." The robot nodded and drew out his greathammer as Dirk activated a sunrod and tossed it down the hallway. The rogue then drew his gun and both he and Meepo peered out, keeping watch.
After three massive blows, the door gave way, blowing inward and sending stone fragments skittering in all directions. As the dust settled, the Lud-Man stood ready as Dirk and Meepo joined him at the shattered frame. From within the room, a dim light could be seen and Dirk waved his free hand to clear the air. Five massive sarcophaguses stood upright against the walls of a small room, each of their lids graven with the images of humans garbed in flowing robes, their features idealized and regal. On the far side of the room was a small altar of black stone and atop this were three dust-covered items: A vial, a small glass whistle, and a candle that flickered dimly.
It was candle that caught Dirk's attention, "We may have just hit the jackpot! Cover me."
2 His gun in one hand and a sunrod in the other, the rogue crept into the silent chamber, his eyes everywhere, seeking traps left to guard the dead and their treasure. Seeing none, he continued until he reached the basalt altar. Using the hand that held the sunrod, he ran it above the flame of the candle, feeling no heat and the flame of the candle did not sway as it passed. Magic. He turned to the others, "We got a winner ... ". His voice faded off as the entire group heard a loud click.
The lids of the five sarcophagi shuttered and fell forward, cracking on the stone floor of the citadel. From each, a skeletal form came lurching out, bony claws held outstretched and grasping. Dirk backed into a corner and dropped his sunrod, his pistol held in both hands as his gun thundered in the small room. Case Nine swept into the room, his massive greathammer smashing the bones of the undead with great efficiency. Even Meepo, who had previously run from battle, stabbed at one of the skeletons with his spear. As Dirk was reloading his pistol, he happened to look over at Meepo as a skeleton raked the kobold, the bony claws repelled by a mysterious field of crimson energy that flared into sight as contact was made.
Bones shattered by hammer or bullet, the last of skeletons was quickly defeated by the group. Dirk glanced at Meepo, who said nothing and suddenly found one of sarcophaguses deeply interesting, and shrugged. He would have to ask the kobold some questions later, but for now he had more important tasks to accomplish. Blowing the dust off the items of the altar, he quickly rifled through them. The vial had a thick liquid in it and was marked with a rune of fire in the tongue of dragons. The whistle was shaped in the form of a dragon and was cold to the touch. The candle flickered dimly and the rogue carefully packed this away once he determined that it was not truly burning. After searching the room and finding a few other minor treasures, the group continued on.
* * *
Continuing through the hallways, they made their way back to the first of the goblin outposts, Dirk and Case Nine discussing their plan of attack in whispers. Once they arrived at the door, Dirk quickly disabled the lock and peered through the keyhole. Although his vision was limited, the rogue could see that the goblins had rebuilt their barricade at the end of the hallway and their outpost appeared to be manned, as the hallway was dimly lit by a flickering fire.
Dirk relayed the information to Case Nine and took out his pistol. Readying himself, he nodded at the robot. Case Nine kicked in the door and charged down the hallway, the alarm bell hung on the door clanking once before slammed into the wall. The Lud-Man burst through the barricade, startling a trio of goblin sentries, who had been lounging by a small cook fire. The greathammer swung, bringing death with each blow, and by the time Dirk and Meepo had run up the hall, the goblins were slaughtered, the robot splattered in gore.
Dirk yelled to Case Nine, "Go, go, go!" and the robot responded, running down the hallway into the great room that they had been forced out of before. Behind another barrier of junk, the goblins were just rising to their feet, their eyes wide with fear and alarm. Charging forward once more, the warforged burst through the barricade, five goblins screaming in terror. They swarmed at the Lud-Man with crude maces, denting his armor and causing some damage, but the robot stood and his hammer swung. Goblins died, their broken bodies flung in all directions, as Case Nine went about his work.
Suddenly a door behind the goblin sentinels flung open, four more goblins pouring out, javelins at the ready. One of these crumpled to the ground as Dirk, who had run up to the barrier, took a shot with his pistol. He ducked as the goblins returned fire, javelins rattling off the barricade. He quickly reloaded his gun, taking another shot and sent another goblin to the ground. Meepo, who had joined the rogue at the barrier, launched his small spear, skewering a goblin through the chest. The last of the goblins turned and bolted through the door he entered, letting out a high-pitched screech.
Giving no quarter, the warforged chased the goblin down a short hallway with two doors. He kicked in the first of these doors, finding a small chamber whose floor was scattered with filthy sleeping mats and was lit with a cooking fire that was down to smoldering embers. From the shadows, a javelin shot out and shattered on the thick armor of the Lud-Man. Stalking across the room, Case Nine grabbed the goblin that cowered in the corner and held him aloft by the neck of the goblin's filthy armor. The robot called back, "I have a prisoner, Dirk."
From the hallway, Dirk and Meepo came into the room, the kobold shutting the door behind him. Dirk moved across the room, bring his pistol to the squirming goblin's forehead, "I don't have time for games. You understand Pell-Mell?" The goblin went very still and started to babble its native tongue. Dirk looked back to Meepo, "You speak Goblin right?" The kobold nodded and he turned back to the goblin, "Good. First question: Where is the dragon?" The goblin whined and howled and Dirk pressed the barrel of the gun into his temple, the goblin breaking and screaming something. Meepo translated, "He says it is down the hallway at the next door." "Second question: Anything guarding it?" The kobold translated and the goblin answered, "He says it is locked up alone."
Dirk nodded and jammed the gun into the waist of his jeans, fishing a long rope of out his pack, and trussed the goblin and shoved a rag into his mouth. He looked back at Meepo, "Tell him to keep still and maybe he will get out of this alive." The kobold did, but the goblins' eyes were still wide with panic.
* * *
The captured goblin slung over his shoulder, Case Nine made his way down the corridor with Dirk in lead. Dirk crept forward, triggering a pit-trap in front of the door, but the agile rogue leapt back before the floor gave away completely. Glaring at the goblin, Dirk quickly disabled the trap and then checked the door, finding no more sabotage. The door was locked, but he quickly picked the lock with a set of long metal implements. He looked back, taking out his gun, "Ready?" Case Nine and Meepo nodded, "Okay. Here we go." He pushed the door open, rusty hinges protesting loudly.
The room beyond was large and judging from its shape, must have been some form of chapel or theater. In the chemical light of the sunrod, the group could see a thick layer of broken furniture and other debris lay scattered all about the parameter of the room. The center of the room was clear but had a suspicious sheen and a definite chill hung in the room. On the walls hung ill-made, gruesome trophies: heads of men, kobolds, and animals.
Case Nine entered the room first, sensors sweeping the debris for signs of the dragon. As he entered the center of the room, he suddenly fell and sent the bound goblin flying. Ambulation and balance subsystems activated, calculations of unfathomable complexity firing, as the robot attempted to right himself upon the icy floor. From within the piles of trash came a tittering laugh and in a flash of white, the dragon was aloft. The dragon was no bigger than a house cat and flew about the room, taunting the warforged, who continued to struggle to stand. Dirk entered the room and grabbed a leg of a broken table and doused it with a bit of lamp oil from his pack. He flicked his lighter out and it flared to life, lightening the makeshift torch. Without taking his sight from the dragon, he said, "Meepo, close the door."
Calcryx did a whirl about as he heard the rogue, its eyes narrowing with hatred as it saw the kobold, its former keeper. Fluttering down, the dragon hissed and opened its mouth, releasing a shimmering spray of deathly cold. Dirk ducked and rolled under the attack, sliding on the ice to come up behind the dragon. He brought up the flaming club and struck, Calcryx screaming in pain.
The dragon clawed and bit at Dirk, but the rogue was far too fast, countering each attack with one of his own, his smoldering club striking again and again. The dragon grew enraged and breathed another gout of freezing air, this time catching the rogue. Calcryx gave a haughty laugh at Dirk's misfortune and in its arrogance failed to notice that the subroutines of Case Nine had corrected for the presence of ice and the robot was on his feet again. Dirk smirked and nodded at the Lud-Man, "Looks like the cavalry is here." The dragon hissed and turned to see what the rogue was talking about. Taking advantage of the dragon's distraction, Dirk flipped the club, driving the butt into the small monster's skull and it fell limp to the ground. The rogue looked at the warforged and shrugged, "Oldest trick in the book. Didn't think he would go for it. Now let's out of here before we attract any more attention."
Case Nine nodded and grabbed the dragon, which was alive but unconscious, and the group ran from the room back to the kobold territories, leaving the bound goblin sniveling in a corner.
Notes:
1 Big Moon is scarred from the actives of an elder culture of man, one that left this world and explored the void between planets and stars. Their fate is unknown, but it is widely known they strip-mined the moon extensively and the scars are their work. Modern astronomers note that they or some other creatures are still active on Big Moon, as new, smaller scars occasionally appear on the moon's surface.
2 The
continual flame spell is not available in this campaign. These magics were known by races of antiquity and at times examples of the still active spell are unearthed, but they are rare, expensive, and prone to spontaneous dispelling. The reason for why this spell is unavailable in modern times is unclear, but there are persistent urban legends that a company (which one varies by storyteller) released a spell-virus when electricity was once more rediscovered and harnessed. The spell-virus slowly corrupted all versions of the spell and is thought to still be active, devouring even ancient spells. Whatever the true reason, modern spellcasters have been unable to reinvent or reverse engineer the spell.
