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Message: <blockquote data-quote="simmo" data-source="post: 1395595" data-attributes="member: 9744">chapter 2 Call that a Swamp?Standing on the walls of the city, overlooking the nearby hills, Caleb could make out individual modrons several ranks from the front. There seemed to be some kind of chain of command from the simplest modrons at the front to through those who directed them and then all the way to some unseen creature further inside the centre of the march.However, Caleb was too busy to pay much attention to the marchers themselves. With the help of several priests of Tomeri they'd managed to create a large areas of soft ground with a layer of water on top of it that spread outwards from the gate. Just beneath the water line were areas of spiky ground that they hoped would slow the march further.As the modrons reached the edge of the swampy ground they continued regardless. Almost as if they were unaware of the obstacle in front of them. Several of the monodrones disappeared beneath the water and did not rise again. A small cheer went up from the priests and soldiers manning the walls. The march reacted quickly by laying down the bridge building material in order to create a ramp up to the city.Caleb called upon the mighty power of Grumbar to cause an avalanche, so that the front of the march would be halted or even swept away. But Grumbar was uncaring and no miracle was forthcoming. The earth genasi wondered briefly why Tomeri was doing nothing to thwart the modrons. He did not have long to think about it as the modrons were almost at the gate and Littleby was calling for him to get clear of the walls..Arcs of lighting shot out of the end of Littleby's fingers, striking the gates of the city. Having spent a couple of minutes looking for weak places in their construction, the dwarven necromancer was able to pin point the locations where best to hit them in order to bring them down. Large sections of the gate collapsed, but it did not slow the modrons down. Instead they began to clamber over it and the march had entered Haven.The dwarven necromancer decided to switch to his secondary plan. He sat down on a stone bench in front of a bakers began to concentrate. As he began the incantation to force his life-energy out of his physical shell and in to the body of a nearby modron, he realised that something was very wrong. Instead of a single life-force, he felt as if he was trying to push himself in to a vast sea of energy and his body responded by going in to convulsions.A group of modrons split off to go over to the dwarf's still body, but the earth genasi got there first and carried him off quickly. “TOO MUCH BEER, EH. LIITTLEBY?” he joked as he ran down a side-street and was glad to see that they were not being pursued. After placing his friend on the ground and making sure that he was OK, he set off down another narrow road in the hopes of slowing the modrons down and buying his friends some precious extra time.The earth genasi did not have far to go before coming across one of the sections of the march that was moving down a tree-lined avenue. Caleb tried to force himself to devise a plan quickly and said the first thing that came in to his mind. “YOUR SHOE LACES ARE UNDONE.”“Your observation does not make sense,” a modron halted and so the ones that it was leading.“THAT'S WHAT HE TOLD ME,” he said pointing at another modron of similar rank. Caleb was improvising like never before in his life and hoped desperately that it would work. The two modrons communicated briefly and the second group moved on. “I do not understand the shoe lace. Explain.” It spoke in a flat, metallic mono-tone with no hint of curiosity.“THE SHOE LACE IS VERY IMPORTANT,” began Caleb speaking very slowly.“The shoe laces, aha!” The mephits joined in, rushing to the aid of their master. “They will be the end of you, foolish pieces of rusting metal. Scrap buckets of randomness!”“Explain what the shoe lace does,” the modron commanded, conscious of the fact that it was falling behind the others.“HE KNOWS,” Caleb again poinilar rank.“It does not know.” The modron stated after a brief communication with the other modron.“Can you feel the chaos coming off these Slaad-spawned wind-up toys?” The mephits cavorted in the air, heaping abuse on the modrons. “”They could give chaos imps a run for their money. Ha ha! How many modrons does it take to change a lightbulb? I do not understand lightbulb, explain!”“I calculate that you are trying to deceive me.” Three tridrones, ten duodrones and twenty monodrones broke away from the main march and headed in Caleb's direction. “Your are interfering with the lawful nature of the march. Such behaviour will not be tolerated. We do not contain chaos. We repel chaos. To speak otherwise is to invite disaster. It is unthinkable to posit that there can be chaos in a modron mind.”Caleb watched the oncoming modrons for a brief moment and then sprinted away from them. For the normally slow moving earth genasi, he was travelling very fast. Almost as fast as Malkir was capable of running and the mephits were having difficulty keeping up.“THANKS GUYS,” Caleb said sarcastically to the mephits who were pleasing for their master to slow down.“Master we were just trying to help.” The ooze mephit had managed to knock the earth mephit out of the way in the race to catch up with the earth genasi. It grabbed hold of one of the rivets on the armour of its master's back and clung on like a leech. “You did a great job of slowing them down, Master. Truly inspired, you were.”“YOU HAD BETTER KEEP QUIET,” replied Caleb who was unaware of the ooze mephit holding on. “ELSE I WILL COMMAND YOU TO ATTACK THEM.”“Please no Master.” Pleaded the ooze mephit. “Such an honour is beyond us. We cannot steal the honour of performing such a glorious deed of having slowed down the march. Your genius s sowed confusion in the minds of the modrons slowing them down.” The mineral mephit tried to dislodge the ooze mephit, but it was ready for the attack and knocked it in to the path of the earth mephit. The two mephits tumbled through the air before slowing and then setting off again in pursuit of their master. The ooze mephit clambered on to Caleb's shoulder and spoke in its usual slimy and whining voice. “Those silly philosophers that we passed were planning the same thing, Master.” Its cackle sounded like someone was drowning. “But now that the modrons have learned their lessons, they will not stand a chance.”Caleb allowed himself enough time to knock the ooze mephit of its shoulder, past the other two mephits and continued running. Perhaps that will slow down the modrons, he thought with a grin on his face.</blockquote>

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