=========================== Saving the World Again Chapter 14: Regrettable Filler Episode Started by Thomas Wilde This Chapter by Aaron Woods =========================== Mecha-Damane fell to the ground with a thunderous crash after being slashed, pierced, frozen, burned, and mutilated in a wide variety of other ways. It made a loud CRASH-SPLAT sound on impact, shaking the floor and spraying bits of metal and gooey things over the walls and the party. Once the smoke cleared and the floor stopped shaking, the adventurers got to their feet with a chorus of groans. Hans cleaned the goo from his face and his sword, then sheathed the weapon across his back. "Vell," he said, "zat wasn't too bad, vas it?" The others looked enough daggers at the barbarian to arm a decent-sized thieves' guild. "It's dead, at any rate," said Julian. He sheathed his own sword and looked with a grimace at the pile of flesh and metal that used to be the monster's main body. "What was that thing, anyway?" "It talked for a while before you guys got here," said Aquila. The pirate whipped the goo from her sword with a single flick of her wrist, but unlike Hans and Julian, she kept it drawn. She looked at the remains with narrowed eyes. "Believe it or not, it said it was Damane." "Damane?!" said Darrow, looking up from a chunk of the monster that he was examining. "But if that's Damane, who are we after?" "That's a good question," said Julian. He turned to Harold. "Do you know anything about this thing, mister, um..." "Harold," Harold said with only the slightest of sighs. "I'm afraid I don't know much beyond the purely theoretical about this sort of being. The one attempt I made with the professor to create a living machine creature was slightly... problematic..." Arica was just about to ask Harold about the shudder that accompanied the word "problematic" when she heard a low rumble from the open ceiling grate. The rumble grew louder, the whole party heard it, and as eyes raised to the ceiling, hands reached for various implements of destruction. "Um, Darrow?" asked Arica. "There's another way out of this place, right?" Fortunately for the party, the Druids of Ort had slightly more regard for their personal wellbeing than Durgard the Mad, so there was a back exit. That was a very good thing, as the last glimpse they had before sliding the steel slab shut was of the metal-and-wire blobs raining down again, in a constant stream. ************* The way back to the surface was dark, wet, and slow, since the passage led through the extensive sewer system of the druid complex. Since the sewers hadn't been used in several centuries, the water was relatively clear, if stagnant in places. Unfortunately, they hadn't been maintained in those centuries either, so the party was forced to backtrack several times when collapsed tunnels blocked them. By the time the exhausted adventurers climbed up the last ladder and out a heavy manhole, night had long ago fallen. They collapsed against various pieces of rubble to rest, and Arica allowed her light spell to fade. They rested there for a couple of minutes, then got to their feet. Arica softly shook Catherine awake, and they all went around the tower and headed towards the Lost Forest. A crackling campfire came into view at the same time the forest did, as well as a familiar black-armored form. Sir Zertivex waved at the party, remaining seated against Lucille's flank. "Ho there, chaps!" said the black knight. "I see you're still breathing and all, no bloody stumps or such. Your trip went well, I take it?" "Well enough," said Julian. He and Arica sat down by the fire together, leaning against each other. The others huddled around the fire as well, and Catherine promptly fell asleep again. The rest of the party started to drop off as well, one by one. Soon Zertivex and Julian were the only people awake, Arica having fallen asleep with her head on Julian's lap. The two men sat there silently staring into the fire for a while, as Julian mulled over the encounter in the subterranean room. "Say, Sir Zertivex," Julian said softly, "on that day the visitor before us came-did anything unusual happen?" "Unusual, you say?" said Zertivex. "Hmm, let me think..." He slowly stroked his mustache, eyes glazed in thought (which looked no different than their usual glaze, really). "Well, there was that agonized scream, I suppose. I would have thought nothing of it, really, if it hadn't gone on for over an hour straight. Poor Lucille was in such a state!" He idly patted Lucille's flank, eliciting a contented three-voiced purr. "Good lungs on that fellow and all, but really!" Zertivex said. "Some people have no consideration for others! I would have gone out and showed him what for, I would have, if it weren't for the voices yelling about 'violation' and 'doom' and such. Took all I had to ignore them, it did." Julian simply looked at the black knight for a long moment, then shook his head and settled in to sleep. His last coherent thought was to wonder where Zertivex found something to burn for a fire. He decided he didn't really want to know once he glimpsed something very reminiscent of a mecha-orog eye amongst the flames. ************* The trip back through the forest the next day was fairly uneventful. Lucille sprouted a few more crossbow quarrels from her tail, while Hans refrained from reciting the saga of Gustav and Frea under threat of extreme pain. Darrow never raised his eyes from an Ortian text, while somehow managing to keep up with the others. There were a few encounters with mecha-orogs, but the party handled the few that got past Sir Zertivex with ease this time. It was just approaching dusk when they arrived back at Zertivex's house. "Harold my boy, you're back!" said the professor, who was waiting by the front door. "Relatively intact as well, I see, excellent!" "Yes professor," said Harold. "Here's your, er, crossbow, sir," he said, gingerly handing over the device. "Ah, the Personal Projectile Weapon Automated For Ease Of Use In Situations Of Severe Danger Or Procurement Of Hunting Trophies, you mean," the professor said, deftly plucking the weapon from Harold's grip. "Worked well for you, did it?" He quickly inspected the auto-crossbow, and for one moment looked down it from the business end of the quarrel. He then tucked it away without mishap (to the displeasure of most), somewhere within the voluminous folds of his lab coat. "Well then, we'd better get back to the ship, hadn't we?" the professor said. "I'll expect a full report from you then, of course." He started walking towards the longboat, and Harold followed after. Julian turned to Zertivex. "We'd better get going too," he said. "Thank you for your help, Sir Zertivex." "Oh bother, you're off already?" said Zertivex. "You just barely got here too... Well, it was jolly good meeting the lot of you, good luck on your quest and such. Come back any time!" His eyes glazed over then, in a way which had become very familiar yet somehow no less disturbing to Julian and company. "And forever beware the Lost City of Ort, an eternal lesson to those who dare meddle in the province of the gods..." His eyes regained their glint and he winked at Julian and Arica. "You two take care of each other, hear?" he said. Zertivex and Lucille waved and gronked goodbye respectively, as the party piled into the longboat with Harold and the Professor and rowed towards the Moving Around Under Water Without Drowning Ship. ************* They were barely on the Aqua Terror five minutes before the arguing started again. "What do you mean you can't help us?" Aquila said. She slammed her fist down onto the small table in the cabin, with had become an impromptu meeting room. "What's-his-name said you built one of those things." "I mean," said the professor, "that I don't have the time or the inclination to help you." "I have my own research to do. I can't waste resources helping you figure out what manner of flesh-and-metal creature this druid is." The professor didn't even look up as he spoke, as he focused his attention on the Ortian texts that were scattered across the table. "Harold, is this all you found down there?" he said. Aquila glared at the mad scientist and laid her hand on the hilt of her cutlass. Harold looked at the pirate nervously-he'd seen what she was actually capable of, after all. "Yes professor, why do you ask?" he said. "Because it looks like I'm missing at least two histories amongst these, approximately 300 years worth," said the professor. "There may be more I need, actually. Are you sure this is all you found?" As Harold shrugged helplessly, Darrow stepped up the table with a grin. "Are these what you're looking for?" he said, pulling five ragged texts from his robe. Julian looked at the professor with a nearly exact grin. "It looks like we do have something to bargain with after all," he said. "What do you say to a little exchange of information, professor?" The professor finally looked up, a small crease in his brow. "Oh bother, I guess it will come to this," he said. "Electro-Mangulator Mk IV," he said, as he stood up and turned to the corner of the cabin. "Your orders are..." he trailed off. "Oh bother." The others looked to the corner where the Electro-Mangulator Mk IV stood-or crouched, rather. The Electro-Mangulator had lowered itself on its multiple jointed legs so that it could look down at the gear-spider. Judging by the chorus of whirrs from both machines, they were having a wonderful conversation. Meanwhile, Catherine giggled as she chased Mewly around the hulking war machine. The professor turned back to Aquila. "Now what exactly did you need to know, captain?" he said. ************* Author's notes: Blah. I swear, doing things at the last minute must be in my blood or something. Sorry this episode is so short, I didn't even get to the tree Davyyd cut down. At any rate, I hope it's not too horrible, and I hope the next author can follow up to it easily. I tried not to do anything earthshaking or irreparable. For anyone who finds them in any way interesting, here's some of the notes I made to myself when I was trying to figure out what to do. Julian-f/r Arica-wm (white mage) Darrow-m/al (alchemist) Hans-b Zertivex-pal [lvl99 npc] Damane-dr [lvl? villain] Lucille-Zertivex's mount (paladin warhorse) Harold-al/eng (alchemist/engineer) Professor-al/eng (alchemist/engineer) Mewly-ia (indestructible annoyance) Catherine-sor Aquila-f/t Severn-Hero's Guild agent [minor villain] Plot Points Damane wants to conquer the world-or was it destroy it? Damane may be borg. The Heroes Guild wants to imprison Julian and Arica for breach of contract, disobeying house arrest. Aquila's pirates want to steal stuff, under pretense of search for Aquila. Darrow wants to go home to his laboratory. Hans wants to sing the Saga of Gustav and Frea. Mewly wants to be a beloved familiar again. Zertivex is guarding Ort, and is geased to slay the ravenous gronk, a.k.a Lucille. He wants some cheese, too. Harold wants to survive his studies under the Professor. Aquila is a hero buff, and she wants to save the world with Julian and company. Julian and Arica want to defy the prophecy. Catherine wants to see the world. The professor wants to take his findings on the lost city of Ort to Kussos. The druids want to defeat Damane. Davydd serves Damane, and hates CROSSBOWs.