Hawaii:Sessions:19910427: The Excavation Site
THE EXCAVATION SITE
So they began to head back down the enemies' tracks. Xumbala and Hyllar were forward scouts, leaving about five minutes before the rest. They followed the trail to a shallow watercourse. The river had been dammed. While waiting for the rest to arrive, Hyllar did a quiet look at the area. The small river course went between two medium ridges. At that gap he saw two tank/bulldozers and a couple of people moving around. He also saw six riders dressed in black just in front of the cave that the river used to enter. He arrived back at the woods by the dam just as the rest of the team arrived, so he briefed everyone.
At about that time, their armor turned blue, which was supposed to indicate an enemy nearby. Then Daisy fell into a hole without changing position. Jake immediately followed, but the hole was only three feet deep. Darr threw him a flashlight. Jake saw nothing in the hole for a couple of seconds; then he saw eyes coming toward him. He shot at the creature but it dodged by lunging into the wall. Jake got out of the hole and gave Darr back his flashlight. Hyllar decided to go investigate, told the group, and was gone before Darr could begin to try to convince him to wait and let someone else go with him. So the team waited. At least the armor had returned to normal color.
Hyllar moved down the tunnel in leopard form without any problems. About halfway toward the cave mouth, he ran into one of the tunnel creatures. After a short fierce fight, he dispatched the creature. He then proceeded to the end of the tunnel. It ended on a ledge about fifty feet above the cave floor. There were lights pointed inward, so the ledge was in the dark. He saw a lot of people digging around the cave floor. The six black riders were at the front of the cave, plus Hyllar thought he saw another shape. Hyllar shifted back to human form and reported back to the team.
While they waited, Darr walked the ledge on the water side of the dam to see if he could get a sniper view of the cave mouth. Jake silently followed. To their disappointment, they could not see much of the cave mouth. Darr went around Jake back to the group. Jake continued to watch. Just after Darr got back to the group, their armor began to glow. Brodie gauged something, then plunged his sword into the ground. A shrill scream confirmed that he'd skewered one of the tunnel creatures. Then Hyllar's report came in. Knowing that the enemy had high-tech, Jake took off toward the cave. Darr suggested that some go aid Hyllar. Ariel took off. Durithil said she'd follow and went into the hole. Brandon and Gerret followed her. Darr, followed by Xumbala, Thurladeem, Black, Laura, and Brodie, tore out toward the cave.
When Jake reached the second ridge and passed into the area in front of the cave, the two makeshift bulldozers were still, and nothing was in sight. He continued to the cave mouth, where he entered and stopped to listen. There was a lot of excitement inside the cave. Something had been found.
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The rest of the group came up behind Jake and stopped when he indicated to. Thurladeem on the way in stopped, looked in a building, and pulled some wires. Darr was just about to coordinate a simultaneous attack then one of the black riders heard something, probably Darr, and turned. The attack began. Jake fired a complete M-16 burst into the group of six riders and their mounts. One mount went down and one blinked to the other side of the cavern entrance. Darr shot and hit one with one shot to no apparent effect. Laura, stepping in front of Darr, pumped a pistol shot into one of the riders. Brodie, who was toward the back, got hit by a lightning bolt; a levitating Black was able to move above the cave opening and let a lightning bolt pass under him. With that, he decided to obey Xumbala's shouted order to stay out of the fight. He moved over to examine the building. Jake's second M-16 blast took down another rider. Jake closed on him.
Darr, meanwhile, stepped to Laura's left side and put three slugs into a rider. The rider didn't move. So over the next two seconds Darr unloaded two full bursts into the rider. Brodie charged in and engaged the rider, who was now to the right. A transparent humanoid formed on the floor between the riders and Jake. Since Jake saw his bullets pass through it to hit the rider and mount, he figured it was magical so he activated his force shield and dove through it. This had no apparent effect on it. Jake continued his other attack. Laura, hoping that the thing had a head that was solid, shot it twice. The shots went through, striking two of the forced labor. Jake was hit by a mild lightning bolt. Xumbala charged the gas creatures, but in order to get in a good shot he felt he had to move Laura. He moved her off to his left, called the sword to him, and swung. Darr's target finally fell, so Darr was just past the gas creature, running into the cave toward a rider, when Xumbala struck and the creature exploded. Laura, Xumbala, and Thurladeem took frontal damage, while Darr took the blast in the back. However, it didn't hurt him enough to slow him down. The one Laura had hit was down, so Darr finished him off. Jake finished off the other one that he'd brought down.
When the fight started up front, Hyllar was already two-thirds of the way to cat form, so he finished and leaped to the floor and charged. He took the Kolder by surprise and was mauling him when Ariel attacked the same guy, luckily missing them both. Durithil came down the wall walking, took one by surprise, and cut him in two with her force sword. She wounded one more as she charged around the front of the excavated sub on her way toward another enemy. She dispatched him, and the prisoners were immediately on top of him. Two Kolder technicians, who had moved toward the front of the cave and frozen, were then overrun by frenzied prisoners. Thurladeem went and helped make sure these Kolder would stay down. Hyllar and Ariel accounted for another one. Seeing all the enemies down except the one attacking/being attacked by Brodie, Durithil moved to his aid. So did Xumbala. When Durithil's blow fell, it didn't leave much for Xumbala. The cave battle was over.
Meanwhile outside, Black had gone into the building and found the remainder of the villagers. He had managed to release them, so they were milling around. As the team went out of the cave, this was noticed, and Jake called for Darr to come talk to the villagers. Darr called for Leaf, who had been fighting alongside Brandon. Leaf came on out. With the completion of the battle, Ariel went into the sub to see if there was anyone she could help. She heard noise from a locker so she flew over to it. It was closed. There seemed to be a button that would release and open it. Ariel got a flying start and slammed into it. The force was enough to open it. She was startled when the opening compartment revealed a cowering Kolder. She regained her composure and put him to sleep.
Meanwhile, things outside had quieted down. Someone called for a roll call. Everyone was accounted for except for Auriel. Hyllar remembered seeing her by the sub. Darr and Hyllar headed for the sub to check it out. Xumbala headed back to where the team's riding animals had been left with Daisy to protect their two guests. Hyllar and Darr found Ariel in the sub, hovering over the sleeping Kolder. They pulled him out and began taking him outside where they could question him. However, on the way out Hyllar noticed something, and it was discovered that there were many more Kolder inside in suspended animation. While Hyllar, Darr, and Ariel were discussing what to do, Thurladeem, who had wandered in, decided to hit a button labeled 'disengage'. Immediately a voice was heard indicating that there was a critical system failure. Not knowing this vessel and what the warning might mean, Darr told everyone to get out. Hyllar bashed the captive in the head to keep him unconscious. Then they left. Darr was the last one out. He passed Jake and told him. Jake slowly followed. When there was no explosion after sixty seconds had passed, Jake went back in. Now the readouts said that all the Kolder that had been in suspended animation were dead. The system in question had just been the capsule life support. Darr then carried the prisoner out, but got no chance to wake him up for questions because the freed villager prisoners took him away. Darr put up minor resistance; he tried to reason with the villagers, but he didn't push it.
Meanwhile Brandon came and got Durithil, and with the aid of her force sword opened a gate to the Chamber of the Black Rose. She then summoned the rest of the team, who then proceeded to join her in the chamber. The chamber was the same, but the ten statues which the team had touched now had heads. Brandon then made a thank-you speech, and told them that the armor and equipment must go back to the statues, to be used later by a warrior who would take on the aspect of the particular team member who had used it. He then began to summon the team one by one.
- Xumbala -- After knighting him, Brandon gave him a beautiful tankard which would refill once per day when he toasted the Scholar whom they had met. His equipment translated to the statue, which then became that of a centaur.
- Thomas Black -- After knighting him, Brandon gave him two pennies. These would, on occasion, give him a dose of common sense. His equipment translated to a statue.
- Ariel -- After knighting her, Brandon gave her a ring which would do one 'Major Healing'. This was for her help to the lady. Her equipment translated to a statue which shrank to her size.
- Anthony Darr -- After knighting him, Brandon gave him a bag decorated with a blue topaz, containing a C-cell. The bag would recharge this particular cell; full charge would require about sixty minutes. Darr's equipment transferred to a statue, and it seemed to be in garments of blue.
- Thurladeem -- After knighting him, Brandon gave him a blank scroll, which would one time draw an accurate map of a requested area. His equipment then translated to a statue.
- Hyllar -- After knighting him, Brandon gave him [Brandon admitted he did not know what to give Hyllar]. His equipment then translated to a statue.
- Jake Wilson -- After knighting him, Brandon gave him a wristband/collar communicator combination of very fine workmanship. Jake's equipment then translated to a statue.
- Laura Satin Lacy -- After knighting her, Brandon gave her a pair of wire-rim glasses which would allow her three uses of 'Mage Sight' so that she might be sure of her targets. Her equipment then translated to a statue.
- Brodie Cates -- After knighting him, Brandon gave him a blue band which would give him one use of 'Mage Stealth'. His equipment then translated to a statue.
- Durithil -- After knighting her, Brandon gave her, not a physical gift, but a word of reassurance concerning something. He told her that her mentor was proud of her. Durithil's equipment translated to a statue.
Then the team was sent back. The portion that left from the beach found themselves back there. Laura and Jake found themselves in the hotel lobby, and Durithil returned from whence she came.