Secrets revealed...

The younger of the two herders look across the fire at the old ashik, waiting on him to continue his tale. The old ashik had paused to take a cup full of precious water from the oasis and the herder’s older brother was just finishing checking on the beasts. The ashik seemed to not want to tell his tale unless both siblings were listening with their full attention. Finally the older brother settled down by the small fire once again, with his younger brother giving him an ‘at last’ glance, and the old man continued…

The worker Wezer flies straight up to the lip of the hole that has just been created and immediately attacks Kank. Fortunately for Kank it misses, but now that the Wezer is at the edge of the hole Arthur and Scar are able to hit it, which Arthur does with a mighty blow knocking dead to the floor ten foot below. Balboa quickly uses his powers to create handholds down to the tunnel floor and Kank uses them to lower himself down.

Balboa drops down behind him and they sneak forwards together towards a T-junction ahead. Kank spots a soldier Wezer guarding the tunnel ahead and so the pair back off and inform the others. They agree to check all of the domes first before engaging the remaining Wezers, mostly because Balboa points out;

There might be weapons in there!

They find nothing but a second dead elf, with a Wezer larvae growing within it. Having come up empty handed they break through back into the hive via a different dome and disturb yet another worker Wezer. It shoots forwards and attempts to strike Arthur, but the solid Dwarf dodges the blow. Scar then severs the Wezers spine with a swift strike of her obsidian shortsword. The Wezer falls out of the air and lays in the tunnel spasming.

Once again, Balboa creates handholds down into the hive and Kank climbs down, he steps over to the stricken Wezer and thumps it into unconsciousness. He then impatiently continues the search before his friends have climbed down into the tunnel. It doesn’t take long for him to encounter yet another soldier Wezer, and as before he falls back towards the others. But this time, the soldier Wezer follows him and once Kank has retreated as far as the sand dome through which he entered the soldier is almost upon him. Kank braces his powerfully muscled legs and hefts his maul. The soldier Wezer darts in and attempts to sting him but misses, Kank follows this with a swing of his maul and smacks the Wezer into the wall of the tunnel. The Wezer slides down the wall, leaving a smear of internal organs.

Kank barely has time to smile when he hears a noise coming from down the tunnel, it is the unmistakable sound of more Wezers. Kank looks up and shouts;

There are more coming!

He then readies his maul once again. Kank sees two soldier Wezers buzzing along the tunnel towards him and, just before they engage he feels a massive thud beside him as Arthur of the Mul-Ard clan lands from a ten foot drop. Kank swings his maul but misses, as do the two soldier Wezers. Arthur then lands a solid punch and Kank catches the second Wezer with the backswing of his maul, shattering it fragile skeleton and leaving it dead.

Both Arthur and Kank are surprised when a flying Scar drops through the hole and, as she is falling she slashes down with her obsidian shortsword slicing the last Wezer through the back and killing it. While Arthur is removing the soldier Wezers mandibles, and Miloch is searching the dead elf, Kank and Scar head off down the tunnel to scout. As soon as they realise that the tunnel is leading back to the large cavern full of Wezers they retreat. By the time the friends have regrouped above ground Miloch presents Arthur with a small leather purse that he found on the Elf.

Arthur tips the contents out into his meaty hand and his eyes light up when two silver coins stamped with the symbol of Tyr land in his palm. Arthur places them with the fourteen ceramic coins scavenged from the mekillot wagon when the friends escaped. Once again the group break back in through one of the wax plugs and explore what they believe to be the final section of the hive. Once again they encounter a soldier Wezer and as Scar and Kank back away from it, it follows a short while and then backs off to its original guard point.

Having, they believe, found the limits of the hive the group agree that there must be something of import at the end of the triple split tunnel. They reason that given the number of soldier Wezers guarding those particular tunnels indicates a queen. Kank suggests a frontal assault on the central entrance to thin out the number of soldiers within the hive, Arthur agrees with him. Scar supports this approach too as does Miloch, it is only Balboa and Ka-Reen that seem more reticent. Arthur suggests that the group pull back to one of the domes with an intact plug and rest until morning. Everyone agrees.

That evening the group are awoken by the howling of a mighty sandstorm blowing in. They quickly use their robes to block the hole smashed into the side of the sand dome, and are thankful that they decided to stay within the shelter that night. The following morning the landscape has changed, as is the way with these things, but the domes and the central entrance are still clearly visible. The group watch and wait for the worker Wezers to leave the hive and gather their precious resources, but nothing leaves the hive. They speculate if it is because of the storm, or because of their interference with the hive. Knowing that there is nothing that they can do about it, they eat a breakfast of raw Wezer and prepare to head back into the hive.

Knowing that the main entrance will be well guarded, and also having scouted out the corridors leading to it, the group agree on a three pronged attack. Arthur, Balboa, and Scar will descend into the tunnels and awaiting a loud shout from Kank before storming the entrance dome from below. Kank, meanwhile, will climb to the lip of the entrance hole and shout to cause a distraction and draw out the soldier Wezers. The plan is a surprising success. Kank makes it to the top of the tall entrance mound and makes a significant amount of noise, the three soldier Wezers guarding it start to climb the walls towards this intruder.

That is all the signal that the waiting three require and they burst from the tunnels and attack the Wezers from behind. Arthur swings his maul and knocks one of the Wezers clean off of the wall, Scar hits her one two quick blows in succession one taking off the Wezers wing and the other cutting it out of the air. Balboa smashes his mace into his target, but most of the blow is deflected by the creatures chitinous shell. Arthur swings once again and splats a Wezer into mush, but in doing so a sliver of his maul's head flies off, Balboa looks over and says;

Poor stone!

Kank looks pleased that he spent more than an hour searching for just the right stone for his maul.

The group all descend upon the remaining soldier Wezer and eventually Arthur smashes his maul into its body and it dies in a pulverised mess. The group decide to push their advantage and quickly head towards where they believe the queen to be. Kank, who is in the lead, encounters another soldier Wezer. But as soon as it sees Kank it retreats, Scar shouts;

Chase it!

And she and Kank head off after it with the others close on their heels. Kank and Scar chase the soldier Wezer into a chamber with three tunnels entering from one side, the side that they have entered, and only one tunnel leading out on the opposite wall. The Wezer carries on down this tunnel, but Kank and Scar agree to hold the chamber with Kank taking guard over the tunnel leading further in and Scar taking the further of the three tunnels. When Balboa arrive he covers the central tunnel and Arthur turns and watches the tunnel we entered through.

Scar’s instincts proved correct and the group are not surprised when Arthur shouts that he can see one coming from his tunnel, then Baloba shouts;

I’ve got two!

Scar lets us know that her tunnel is clear and finally Kank confirms that the one that they were chasing has turned round and, having lured us into the trap, is returning to the fray. Balboa begins to mutter and mumble to the sand walls of his tunnel and within a couple of seconds there are two solid bars of sandstone, formed from the tunnel walls, blocking the passageway. The two soldier Wezers are to large to pass through and seem unable to fathom moving backwards and flanking us from one of the other tunnels.

Scar looks on Balboa’s work with a new found respect but is shocked back into action when a soldier Wezer attacks her from the tunnel that she believed was empty. Fortunately, the soldier Wezer misses her and she is able to counter attack. But this time it is she that misses. Arthur swings his maul at the soldier Wezer exiting his tunnel, but he over reaches and in doing so snaps an armour strap on his arm and the loose piece of armour hampers him in his attack. The Wezer scores a hit against Arthur but it’s blow bounces off of his abdomen armour.

Balboa leaps to Arthur’s aid and swings his mace catching the Wezer a mighty blow and knocking it back down the tunnel giving himself and Arthur the tactical advantage. The soldier Wezer that lead the group into the trap launches itself at Kank, but Kank takes a single step back, braces his back leg, and swings his maul in a horizontal arc. He catches the soldier Wezer flush in its side and squashes it against the tunnel entrance, killing it instantly.

Seeing that the one they are fighting is unable to rise due to a broken back, Arthur and Balboa leap to Scar’s side just in time to see her strike it a vicious blow with her obsidian shortsword and cut it down dead. Kank has stayed in place watching the single tunnel and informs his friends that he can definitely hear noise from that direction. The others attempt to use slings to kill the two Wezers trapped by Balboa’s bars but are unable to hit them and are worried about breaking the bars. Balboa insists that the bars will hold and that we should keep moving.

Kank pushes on down the tunnel. It runs a short distance and then opens up into the biggest cavern of the hive that the group have seen. The cavern is dominated by the largest Wezer that the friends have encountered, it can only be the queen. Arrayed in front of the queen are five soldier Wezers who are holding a clear defensive line. The body of the cavern is strewn with the bodies of a variety of creatures and humanoids, all showing signs of large puncture wounds. The ceiling of the chamber is adorned with numerous waxy balls, both light and dark in colour.

As the Wezer’s are not attacking, Arthur suggests that the group should parlay. And so Balboa is shoved into the cavern from the tunnel with his hands empty, and his palms held out and facing the ceiling.

Do you understand the common tongue?

Nothing. Balboa points to the waxy balls hanging from the ceiling.

We want those. We want to drink.

Nothing. Getting irritable, Kank says

Charge!

Both he and Arthur rush into the cavern as Balboa dives out of the way. As soon as there is more than one individual in the cavern the Wezers burst into action and attack. Arthur and Kank meet the soldier Wezers head on with mauls in meaty fists. Arthur swings first but his maul slips out of his grip and drops uselessly to the floor between his legs. The Wezers attack but fail to hit either combatant and Kank counters with a swing of his maul, he lands a firm strike crippling one of its wings.

Kank swings with his return stroke and smears the soldier Wezer against the wall. He steps into the breach allowing Scar to join the fighting line. The next Wezer in line strikes Kank and pierces his abdomen with its stinger, Kank’s muscles start to tighten and his heart starts to beat faster. Arthur lands a mighty blow on his Wezer and kills it, like Kank, he steps into the breach and frees up space for Balboa to join the fray. Kank breathes a sigh of relief as his constitution manages to shrug off the poison in his system, with his strength returning he hits the Wezer a powerful strike with his maul and kills it.

With Balboa and Scar engaged against the remaining soldier Wezers, Arthur finds himself facing the queen. She strikes out with her stinger but misses, Arthur also misses with his counterattack. Kank leaps in to hit the queen from behind but his armour strap breaks and he is distracted enough that he misses. Scar catches her soldier Wezer a firm blow and removes one of its legs and then hits it a second time, but the damn thing won’t die.

The queen pulls back her stinger for another attack on Arthur but is surprised by the speed of the Dwarfs mighty thews as his maul head swings in a lightning quick arc breaking one of her legs and knocking her to the back of the chamber where she thuds into the wall and then slams into the floor. Having finally ripped off his failed piece of armour, Kank dashes across the chamber towards the queen as Arthur turns to assist Balboa in his fight. As soon as Kank reaches the queen it is obvious that she is dead.

Scar is hit by one of the remaining soldiers, but it’s poison does not affect her and she quickly dispatches it with a stab of her obsidian shortsword. All four of the friends launch a frenzied attack on the last remaining soldier Wezer within the chamber, and under their sustained blows it soon crumples to the floor.

The group quickly pile up the corpses to make a platform high enough for Scar to easily reach the hanging globes, and while she is cutting them down Balboa and Arthur cut chitin plates from the queen to use as trays to carry them. The group secure thirty five of the sweet water filled waxy balls, and twenty of the honey filled ones. Scar also searches the bodies and finds fifteen ceramic pieces and amazingly four silver pieces. For the first time since they were captured the friends life expectancy is looking up.