Fun with Guns and Bombs [Cambie]

[Alegretto]

Darjak followed the two men around to the stable. Klaus began clearing out his wagon, and the dwarf definitely would have stepped in to help, but Fletcher beat him to it and he decided that three people would overcrowd the work and just make it go slower. They were done pretty quick anyway.

Klaus left for just a bit and came back outfitted for their expedition. Darjak whistled in appreciation. As a minor metal-worker himself, he recognized quality work when he saw it. This blacksmith knew what he was doing. "Now that there's a fine piece of equipment." He told Klaus.

The blacksmith smiled at the dwarf. "Why thank you. I forged this thing over two months, making sure I got everything just right."

Darjak, his interest piqued, kept the conversation up. "Two months is a while. Did you use a water-powered hammer or hand the whole time?"

It was clear that the two men would have kept going all night talking about craft, but both felt what seemed to be a radiating impatience from Fletcher.

[Cambie]

As the big smith ushered his new companions into the back of the wagon, he answered Darjak with a grin. "Hand. It HAS to be by hand."

And so the conversation continued even as Klaus bridled the horse to the wagon and set them off through the streets of Uthlyn. Fletcher sat quietly in the back of the wagon while the others spoke to each other. He spent the bumpy ride inspecting and reinspecting the guns he'd brought, using a small set of tools to make minute adjustments to the tightness of springs and cranks. Slowly the cart rattled along the cobblestone streets and toward the southern edge of town.

[Alegretto]

Darjak was quite enjoying his conversation with Klaus. He was obviously a man who cared deeply for his craft, something that the dwarf respected. Fletcher was of the same cloth if his workshop was any indication, but the man was far quieter and frankly less fun than Klaus.

After talk of craft was exhausted, Darjak turned to other topics he was curious about. "So, Klaus," he started, "is Fletcher always like this?" He gestured back to the brooding gunsmith.

Klaus shook his head. "No, normally he's pretty friendly and very polite. I think having his guns stolen has left him rattled."

Darjak nodded. That answered his question. Onto the next topic. "So Klaus," the dwarf opened the exact same way as he had done before, "how good are you with that sword?"

They rattled along the cobblestone road, the two in front conversing and the one in pack preparing, and it wasn't long before they were at the city gate. The guards there recognized both Klaus and Fletcher and let the pair through without too much trouble. Apparently both of them were a pretty big deal in Uthlyn.

They rolled through onto the road outside the city. Darjak pulled out one of his maps, ready to provide directions to get to the mine.

[Cambie]

His guns weren't going to get any more perfect than now. Though Fletcher had spent the entire ride making sure that nothing would go wrong (after all, regardless of his craftsmanship, the art of gunsmithing was still an experimental process), he knew in his heart that they were as close to perfect as can be. After all, he was Fletcher de Villiers.

As the cart left the city walls behind, he crawled his way up to the wagon's buckboard and leaned his head between the two, to better look at Darjak's maps.

"When the mine was still operating, only the main entrance was really used," he said, pointing down to a corner of the map. A frown creased his face. "But there are other, smaller side tunnels for emergency purposes. For all we know, these vagrants could be using all of them. And who knows what they've done to the existing structures there? The place had been abandoned for so long."

[Alegretto]

Darjak moved over so Fletcher could get between him and Klaus. He was happy for his input, they were gonna need all the help they could get.

At Fletcher's words, the dwarf nodded thoughtfully. "Well those side tunnels are prob'ly our best bet. I think we should 'bandon the cart and walk the last mile or So. We can stay away from the entrances and scout out each of 'em. Hopefully one is abandoned, and we can see any big changes they've made 'fore we go in. Sound like a plan?"

Klaus nodded, though he kept his eyes on the dirt road. "Works for me. How about you Fletch?"

[Cambie]

Fletcher had a grim look on his face, as though he wasn't really prepared for a venture like this. And who could blame him? He spent his days in a workshop, building guns. He never expected to ever have to use one. And as everyone back in Wulfbauer could attest to, he wasn't exactly the best with a sword.

Still, after inwardly convincing himself of the need for this venture, he steeled himself with a firm resolve and nodded his head.

"About three miles from where we are, there will be a fork in the road. The left path leads to several bush trails. We can hide the cart there and walk the rest of the way."

[Alegretto]

Klaus nodded. "Alright sounds good. You two gotta keep your eyes peeled though, I can't see anything too well in this darkness."

The three men sat in silence for the next half hour or so, looking out into the gloom. In the end, Fletcher was the one who pointed out the turn-off.

Klaus guided the wagon into the path and they went a little ways more before they found a suitable trail to take the cart down. A few minutes more of work had the vehicle stowed and the horse set to rest for now.

The men outfitted themselves quickly, and Darjak once again brandished the map. It was hard to see in the darkness, but it looked like the nearest enterance was just a little ways west of them. The dwarf led the way, gesturing for the two men to follow, silent now, just in case they were closer to the mine than they thought.

[Cambie]

The three of them traversed the brush slower than they would've liked, but the darkened skies made it almost impossible to avoid tripping. Indeed, it took all of Fletcher's abilities to even stay on his feet, and to avoid the tree roots and knots that carpeted the ground of this wilderness.

Eventually though, they came to where the tree line ended. In front of them stretched an expanse of clear-cut land across from which a man-made door clearly stood, built into the side of a rock face. That was the entrance to the mines for them.

Unfortunately, between them and the door stood three tents surrounding a small campfire. Fletcher gave a curse under his breath. Klaus did the same at nearly the exact same time.

The mine wasn't as abandoned as they'd hoped.

[Alegretto]

The sight of the men camped out in front of the entrance was frustrating and Darjak cursed along with the other two men. He checked his map, and the next entrance was a ways south. Silently Darjak gestured, and the three moved quietly through the underbrush.

Until the dwarf stepped on a twig. It broke with a crack, and they stopped. Darjak hissed out a curse, but maybe no one had heard...

[Cambie]

Fletcher's eyes widened at the sound of the crack. It was soft enough that perhaps nobody heard them.

No such luck.

"What was that?" came a voice from the campfire, a rough sounding man. Perhaps two or three of them stood up to peer at Fletcher and company in the woods.

"Eh, prob'ly just a wild fox," remarked a second, to which the first countered, "Ain't no foxes make such a ruckus! Go check it out!"

[Alegretto]

The man grumbled under his breath as he walked towards the tree-line. The three men had taken cover behind some trees, but if they moved, he'd see them. If they killed him, his friends would investigate. Still, better to have a few moments of reprieve than allow him to shout. But how to do it silently...

Klaus took that problem out of Darjak's hands. The other man passed the tree the blacksmith was hiding behind and the big man grabbed him from behind. The blacksmith choked the man out, squeezing his throat so he couldn't get out a sound. In a moment, it was over and Klaus had the unconscious man over his shoulder.

Darjak motioned for the other two to follow him and started going towards the next entrance. Hopefully it would be a while before the other men went to look for their wayward companion. By that time maybe they'd have found a place to stash him and would be inside the mine Darjak hoped it panned out that way.

[Cambie]

Fletcher's eyes widened at the display of brutality, and had to press a hand to his mouth to avoid making any noise. His other hand gripped tightly on the stock of his gun, the lacquered wood damp against his sweaty palm. But he kept his mouth shut.

Klaus gave the two of them a knowing look and followed Darjak, the unconscious man slung over his shoulder. Clearly the big smith knew how to handle himself in these situations. It probably wasn't his first time.

Behind them, the voices of the other men around the campfire grew quieter and quieter as they put some distance between them. "Hey Dario, hurry up in there! We said take a look, not take a piss!" came the rapidly fading voice.

[Alegretto]

The trio kept going through the underbrush, trying to seperate themselves from the camp. They hadn't gotten nearly as far as Darjak would have liked before he heard calls from the camp. It wouldn't be too much longer before the men went to search for their errant comrade.

After what seemed like forever, they arrived at the next entrance to the mine. This one was a much smaller hole in the cliff face, and It should have been inconsequential, but there was a guard standing in front of it. The dwarf cursed.

He heard voices calling from behind him, off in the distance but closer than he would have liked. He looked at Klaus and Fletcher with a question in his eyes. What now?

[Cambie]

As if to voice their consternation, Fletcher hissed, "Now what?"

The guard standing by the door looked bored and almost falling asleep. But he was still standing on his feet, hand close enough to his waist to draw a sword quickly. And given that there was at least forty, perhaps fifty feet of open space between the thick underbrush in which the three of them hid and the door, no doubt the man would spot them the moment they left the safety of the trees.

Klaus peered down at Fletcher's gun. "You could shoot him from here. They'll hear us down the way. But if he raises the alarm, our cover is blown anyway."

"We could look for the next door," Fletcher whispered back.

"There's no time for that!"

[Alegretto]

Darjak came to a decision. Decisive action was necessary. "Klaus, Fletcher," he hissed, "I'm gonna draw off the guard. You two run inside while he's distracted. I'll find another way in. Good luck!"

He didn't leave the men time to complain. He chucked the rolled up map at Fletcher and the sprinted through the underbrush going away from the door and his friends. He did his best to make a loud racket as he did so. When he was pretty far from his two friends he started shaking the bushes loudly, amplifying the noise even further.

The guard heard all the ruckus, and squinted his eyes with suspicion. Something weird was going on. He started walking towards the bushes and the source of the sound. Then the nose started getting further away. "Hey!" he shouted. The guard ran into the underbrush. Something was making that noise and he needed to find out what.

Meanwhile, the group of three who had left camp to find Dario heard the sound as well, and they began converging on it's point of origin.

Darjak kept running as quick as he could. Maybe if he got far enough away, those in the mine wouldn't hear the explosions that would be soon to follow after the guards found him.

[Cambie]

"Wait, Darjak!" Fletcher hissed, but before he knew it the dwarf was gone.

Moments later the guard, alerted to the sound of rustling in the bushes, stepped away from his post to investigate. He could hear the shouting fade off into the distance as the man chased after the elusive dwarf. Moments later, the three men from the first door ran past them, their quickened breaths and loud footsteps breaking the silence of the forest.

Once they too were gone, Fletcher gave Klaus a slight unsure frown, before hefting up his gun. "C'mon, let's go! He'll be fine, the dwarf knows how to take care of himself!"

And with that, they sprang from the brush and sprinted for the now unguarded door leading into the mine.

[Alegretto]

Darjak ran through the underbrush, trading stealth now for full speed, but his pursuers were cacthing up to him. Frankly they just had longer legs so he was at a disadvantage. The darkness was working for him, but he knew that they would soon overtake him. Oh well, maybe he was far enough away so those in the mine wouldn't hear the booms.

Darjak slid to a stop and pulled out one of his blast eggs. He hid behind a tree, exposing only his head, and waited for some of the pursuers to run into sight. Soon, two of them burst from the underbrush into sight. Both men were wearing black cloaks, and they were armed with rusty swords. They stopped momentarily, and began looking around them, probably because the noise they were chasing had ceased.

"Where'd it go?" one of them asked, looking around or the source of the rustling. Something suspicious was in the underbrush and Dario had vanished. Weird things were going on and they needed to get to the bottom of...

The man's thought process was interrupted by the sight of something sailing out of the trees. It was attached to a bright light, and it was flying right towards them...

From behind his tree, Darjak watched with a manic glee. He loved this part. The bomb exploded with a massive *bang,* and all hell broke loose in the forest. Just the way he dwarf liked it.

[Cambie]

The distant explosion made Fletcher jump right as they reached the unguarded door leading into the mine. There was an old rusty padlock on it, but with a heavy blow from the pommel of Klaus's blade, the piece of metal shattered to the ground. They swung the door open to the darkness.

A tunnel leading deep into the mines loomed before them, pitch black.

Before Klaus stepped through, Fletcher stopped him. "Wait! What about the dwarf?"

[Alegretto]

Darjak watched gleefully as his blast egg tore through the pair of men. Two down. Judging from the lack of screaming, down for good. The noise immediately attracted the attention of the other pursuers, and it also drew notice from the men at the camp, who sent five more people to check out the odd noise.

Darjak maintained his hiding place and waited. He was sure that more would soon come by to investigate...

There. Another man came out of the trees. The dwarf lit up another egg, and eagerly tossed it at the man. A little too eagerly. The weapon flew to fast and shattered on the ground before the explosive could go off.

The man shouted in surprise, but he was able to track the source of the projectile. He ran towards the tree with is sword brandished.

Darjak pulled one of his bangsticks from his bandolier and stepped out of cover. The man was close enough for him to use the weapon, and use it he did. He pointed the business end of his contraption at the onrushing man and pressed down on the enchanted nail on the weapon's side. The permanently  heated nail dug into the bang powder charge in the metal tube and sent a fiery blast out the open end of the contraption.

The flames and shrapnel came pouring out of the weapon and tore through the charging man. He went down with barely a scream.

Darjak stuffed the spent device in his bandolier and began running away again. Time to set up once more. He just hoped he ran out of enemies before he ran out of powder...

[Cambie]

The continued explosions indicated that the dwarf still lived. But for how long he could last, neither Fletcher nor Klaus could tell. And they could only hold this door open for so long before the bandits noticed their presence. With a frantic scowl, Fletcher called out into the wilderness, "DARJAK! COME ON!"

Of course, his shout alerted one of the men who had just ran past their position in his pursuit of the dwarf. He spun around just in time to catch a glimpse of Fletcher standing outside the now unlocked mine door, and the big smith behind him propping it open. Their eyes met for a brief moment.

And then, automatically reacting to his own rapidly beating heart, Fletcher hastily lifted the sights of his gun and aimed it at the man. Even in the heat of the moment, his hands remained steady and true. A shoddier gun might have missed from this distance, but his impeccable craftsmanship showed itself when he squeezed the trigger. With a loud bang and an immense burst of white smoke, the gun discharged its lead projectile at the gaping bandit. He dropped without a word.

"SHIT, SHIT, SHIT," Fletcher repeated as he dropped to a knee and hastened to reload his gun. Surely the dwarf had heard the shot. And surely others had as well.