Fun with Guns and Bombs [Cambie]

[Alegretto]

Darjak tore through the underbrush, in what direction he didn't know. The mad escape had left him lost and turned about in the forest, and he wandered aimlessly, attempting to throw of his pursuers. He needed to figure out what to do soon, or he was going to be in trouble...

Something broke him out of his musings. A noise, and a loud one. It was a gunshot. Fletcher. The sound was pretty close, judging by it's volume, and Darjak realized that he must have run full circle and was near that same entrance again. Still, gunfire didn't mean it had to be Fletcher. One of his pursuers might have a gun.

But no, Darjak knew that it was his allies. The sound of the shot was familiar, the same powder he'd heard used earlier on the street in Uthlyn. He could tell, even at this distance that the noise was an exact match, meaning it was the same powder.

The dwarf cursed. What were those two doing? They were supposed to be going inside while he made a distraction!

That plan was ruined now, and the gunshot would draw the men from the camp to Fletcher and Klaus. Darjak made a decision. He turned and started running towards the direction that the shot had came from.

It wasn't long before he burst out of the underbrush in front of that same entrance. Sure enough, there were Fletcher and Klaus holding the passageway open. He made a beeline for the door, hoping that there weren't too many pursuers behind him.

[Cambie]

Klaus stood at the door, propping it open. There was a frown on his face. "We gettin' your guns back or not? I'm giving the dwarf half a minute."

No sooner was that said though, did Darjak burst out of the brush toward them. Fletcher's eyes widened and he pointed in that direction. "THERE HE IS!"

Unfortunately, following closely on his heels were two angry-looking bandits, both with their rusty blades drawn and sprinting after the dwarf. Their long legs were quickly gaining ground. Hastily, Fletcher hoisted up his newly-reloaded gun and quickly took aim. The explosive shot flew over Darjak's shoulder and took the one man right off his feet. The other was still gaining ground though as Fletcher desperately tried to reload it. Even with his blazing speed, there was no way he could prime another shot before the man had cut the dwarf down.

[Alegretto]

Fletcher's shot whizzed over Darjak's shoulder and the dwarf heard a scream behind him. One down. He kept going hoping that he'd reach the door before the man behind him could catch up.

He had no such luck. He was almost there when the fellows poorly kept blade bit into his shoulder. The blow was a stab that pierced him through the shoulder. The bandit had been aiming for a more central spot on Darjak's back, but his aim was thrown off by the sight of a massive brute of a man charging at him with a massive longsword.

Klaus, seeing that the dwarf was in danger and that Fletcher was reloading, left the door to the gunman and charged forward to assist Darjak. He brandished his sword with and experienced hand, and swung at the bandit as soon as he was in range.

For his part, Darjak kept running despite the wound in his shoulder, and with his forward motion he pulled the blade out of his upper body. The weapon's wielder was preoccupied trying to block Klaus' massive overhand blow, meaning that he didn't really want his sword still stuck in the dwarf anyway.

The bandit tried to stop the crushing assault, but his poorly maintained weapon shattered under the blacksmiths well-kept blade. The force of it sent the man sprawling, and Klaus turned and ran rather than take the time to finish the job. More men were coming out of the trees.

Despite Darjak's lead, Klaus still beat him to the door, though both were through before any more bandits could reach them. They sealed the door as quickly as they could, but they couldn't stop here. The dwarf took the lead and had them go deeper into the mine. "Come on," he hissed, "we got to find a place to hide or somethin'." He winced as he spoke, his shoulder really hurt, but he wanted to be somewhere safer before trying to treat it.

[Cambie]

As the door closed behind him, Fletcher found himself enveloped in darkness. A quiet panic quickly set in as he grasped onto his guns under one arm and tried to feel his way around with the other. Without the benefit of light, he couldn't see a damn thing.

"DARJAK!" he hissed in the darkness, blindly groping in front of him. "I can't see! We need a light!"

Behind him, he could hear Klaus having the same human problem as him. Obviously, the smith was a bit louder in his blindness, cursing every time he bumped into something.

[Alegretto]

Darjak couldn't see any better than his allies, and he agreed with Fletcher quite loudly. "I know, but I can't move my left arm right." He'd been trying for sometime to pull some pitch out of his pack, but he couldn't contort his arms properly to reach it, injured as he was. "I can't get my stuff outta my pack, and I don't have a piece of wood to light up for a torch anyway. All I've got for burnin' is a bottle o' pitch."

Mentally the dwarf berated himself. He couldn't believe he'd forgotten to bring a lantern, he'd known he was going to a mine. How could he be so stupid?!

"I don't suppose one of you's got a big piece of wood or something we can light up?" he asked his two allies.

[Cambie]

"Well, Fletcher has those guns of his," Klaus suggested, which elicited an angry gasp of "WHAT?!" from the gunsmith. His voice echoed against the stone walls lining either side of their pitch black path. Quickly, he pressed a hand to his mouth to silence himself.

Once the echo died down, he whispered fervently, "Like hell I'm lighting my guns on fire! Do you know how much time and effort goes into making these things? This isn't a rocking horse, it's a finely tuned machine. Just... look around for some wood lying on the ground. It's a mine, they'll have to have reinforced these tunnels."

[Alegretto]

Fletcher's words made Darjak snap his fingers. "Hey, that makes sense. Alright guys, I'm stopping and kneeling so I can feel around with my hands, please don't step on me." So saying, Darjak crouched down so he could place his hands on the rocky floor of their environment.

He was still searching, when he heard a sharp cracking noise, and Klaus' voice calling out, whispering through the darkness. "Hey I got something guys." he called. "I brushed by something on the wall and it fell off. I picked it up, and I think it's a wooden plank or something.

Klaus' words made Darjak's blood run cold. How old were these mineshafts again? "Klaus?" he called back. "How much force did you hit that thing with?"

Klaus reply echoed through the cave, "Not much, why?"

"Blast it all!" was the response he got from Darjak. "Neither of you move. Klaus, you prob'ly just broke one of the supports holding this place up. I'll bet the planks supporting this part of the mine are prob'ly ancient and rottin' through. I don't know how sound this place is structurally, so you fella's gotta make as little disturbance as you can."

What were they going to do? He didn't know how much danger they were in. Was it just the one supporting strut that Klaus had hit, or were they all weak. Was that even what Klaus had broken off? There were too many unknowns.

He was starting to feel something close to panic setting in when his strong dwarven eyes perceived the light at the end of the tunnel. Literally. It was probably too faint for his human friends to see it, but he could make out the faintest echo of light on the rocks around them, and he could trace it's source. "You know what? I think I see light," he called back to his two companions, "I'ma gonna go towards it. Follow the sound of ma voice, and try your best to avoid the walls and supporting struts and such."

Darjak began slowly, painstakingly making his way along the tunnel, guided by a light he was only half sure he saw, humming all the way so his friends could follow him.

[Cambie]

"See? What do you see? I can't see a damn thing!" Fletcher whispered loudly, his voice bouncing off the stone walls. Nonetheless, he held his hands out in front of him, blindly groping for a wall and trying to follow the sound of the dwarf's voice.

[Alegretto]

Darjak could definitely see light now, he was sure of it. "Hey guys, I'm sure there's some light up ahead. Follow my humming." He started emitting a short but repeating tune as he walked, trying to keep it as quiet as possible to avoid their enemies hearing it, but also trying to make it loud enough for his allies to hear.

[Cambie]

Eventually Fletcher bumped into the back of Klaus, and both men gave surprised grunts.

"Watch where you're going," the smith hissed, to which the gunsmith responded, "Watch WHAT? I can't see a damn thing! I don't know what the hell light Darjak is talking about."

Nevertheless they cautiously followed the dwarf's soft humming and, soon, it became apparent that there WAS a light up the tunnel.

And voices.

[Alegretto]

Darjak perceived the light earlier than his two friends, but he didn't hear the voices until a little bit later than them. Better eyesight but worse hearing.

He quit his low tone immediately after he heard the voices, and he stopped his movement. Hopefully Klaus and Fletcher would quit going forward as well now that they lost his humming. Maybe they'd heard the voices already.

There was just enough light coming into the tunnel to see a little bit, so Darjak turned to look behind him. He thought that he could just barely make out what might be the forms of his allies. He couldn't tell if they were moving or not, or even if it was them, and there was no way he could be sure if they could see him, but he held up his hand in a "stop" gesture just in case they could.

[Cambie]

Apparently they didn't notice the cessation of humming, for Klaus walked right into Darjak. A moment later, Fletcher walked right into Klaus.

"Ouch!" he hissed, "why did we stop?"

And then Fletcher realized what was up ahead and instantly tensed up. Unconsciously, one of his rifles flew into his hand, ready at a moment's notice to fire. He still couldn't see anything, but the noises were clearly, if faintly, audible by now.

[Alegretto]

Darjak almost fell over when Klaus ran into him, but he managed to stay upright and silent, other then a small hiss of pain when the blacksmith came in contact with his wounded shoulder. The wound had fallen to a dull ache, but it came back thoroughly now. He was going to have to treat it as soon as possible.

He listened to hear ahead, trying to figure out if anyone had heard their minor commotion.

Faintly, he heard the voices, "Hey, did you hear something?"

And another: "I dunno. Do you wanna check it out?"

Darjak caught his breath. Not this again! He started looking around, looking for some sort of side passage or recess for them to duck into, but it was hard even for him to see with the low levels of light that were currently filtering into the passageway they were in.

((OOC: Well what say you Cambie? Does he want to check it out?))

[Cambie]

"Check what out?" the first voice replied with an irritated snort. A small chorus of laughs joined in with the voice. "It's a mine, the only things down here are moles and rats. And seein' as all the rats are around this here lantern, it must be a mole."

Who you callin' a rat?" the second offended voice said, to another chorus of laughter.

So that's what the light was. A small lantern around which a small crew of these bandits were gathered. Were they the ones holding his guns? Or was this just one crew among many within this mine system? Fletcher tried to recall what he knew about these tunnels, but he couldn't remember ever reading up on them. For all he knew, they honeycombed the entirety of this general area.

But if he was to retrieve his prized possessions... well, he had to get past this crew.

"We've got the element of surprise, let's get these boys," he whispered under his breath, hefting his gun up. Without waiting for a response, he felt his way around both Klaus and Darjak, and began sneaking forward.

[Alegretto]

Darjak let out the breath he'd been holding at the men's words. They were safe for now. It looked like they were well outside the lamp's light, but they could see the men clearly. It looked like there were four of them, though there could be more.

He heard Fletcher's whisper, and then felt Fletcher slip past him. Only afterwards did he register what Fletcher had said. He made a grab for his friend's clothing, but it was to no avail. The gunsmith was already past him. "Fletcher! He whispered urgently. What are you doing?"

He followed his ally reluctantly down the tunnel. How were they gonna do this quietly?

Behind the two, Klaus followed him, his longsword coming at ready.

[Cambie]

Fletcher either paid no attention to the dwarf, or did not hear his frantic whispers. Indeed, he already had his gun hefted up, and his finger hovered over the trigger. Without warning he burst out of the shadows and gave a fevered shout of, "DON'T ONE OF YOU MOVE!"

The four men sitting around the lantern all turned to him in surprise; evidently none of them had heard the footsteps until Fletcher finally revealed himself.

With a curse under his breath, Klaus also emerged from the shadows, longsword in hand.

[Alegretto]

When Fletcher stepped into the light and made his demand, Darjak almost slapped his head into with palm. He generally approved of recklessness, but this seemed to be utter stupidity.

Now, to be fair, Darjak had little experience with just how afraid guns made people, so he was actively surprised when, indeed, none of the bandits moved.

"Well I'll be darned," he whispered as he stepped into the light hefting one of his bangsticks. He tried to look as menacing as possible, but he decided to leave the talking to Fletcher. He seemed to know what he was doing. Darjak could hope.

[Cambie]

As it were, this was as far as Fletcher's boldness took him. Having surprisingly found that the bandits acquiesced to his demand for stillness, he froze in place. The gun was still pointed directly at the head of one of the bandits, whose look of fear was evident on his face.

Not knowing what to do next, he shot Darjak and Klaus a questioning look. "Now what do we do?"

[Alegretto]

Fletcher's words elicited looks of confusion and concern from Darjak. He didn't know? How could Fletcher not know? He was the one who had gotten them into this situation!

What could they do? Some of the men were looking about now, eyeing discarded weapons and judging distances. Darjak made a snap decision. When you don't know what to do, pretend that you do. That usually worked. "Alright men, unless you wanna get shot by my trigger-happy friend here," he pointed at Fletcher, "you're going to, uh, well..." he trailed off.

"Gag each other!" he shouted suddenly, picking up his dropped sentence moments later. "And this fellow here," he gestured toward Klaus, "is gonna to tie ya up. Any complaints are going to be rewarded with a sword through the belly, right?" he directed his question at Klaus.

The big man said nothing and instead nodded while grinning. He held is sword menacingly and swung it a few times for emphasis. The bandits looked nervously at the sharp blade and gulped a little bit.

It was only the work of a few minutes for the men to gag each other and for Klaus to tie them up. They hadn't thought to bring any rope, but fortunately for them the bandits had.

While they were at work doing that, Darjak had taken to bandaging his shoulder. He had some clean linens in his pack, and now that he had light, he could tie them tightly around the wound to stem the bleeding, just like his friend had shown him.

He finished up right about when Klaus tightened the last not. Darjak looked at the row of bound and gagged men, and then turned to his compatriots. "Well that went rather well, wouldn't ya say?"

[Cambie]

Fletcher didn't say a word as Darjak commanded the men to go about tying themselves up. Truth be told, he was internally grateful that the dwarf knew how to take command of the situation because he hadn't thought it through. What was he going to do, shoot one man and then get stabbed while trying to reload his gun?

You're an idiot, he thought to himself.

Once the deed was done, though, the four bandits sat huddled together in the flickering light of the lantern. Fletcher allowed his gun to lower now, though he still held it close by and cautiously. Stepping forward, he roughly grabbed the rag around the nearest man's mouth and yanked it down.

"Right, so now you're going to tell me where my guns are, and how I can go about getting them back. You tell me, and I won't have my crazy dwarf friend here stick one of his explosives down your throat."