A find too interesting to ignore...

The old ashik tried his best to keep his voice level and calm, but it was proving difficult on the small rations of water that they were allowed by their captors. But he knew that he had to keep all of the new slaves calm and quiet, he knew from experience that if any of the captives caused trouble they would be quickly killed, and so he continued his tale in the hopes that it would distract all who listened.

The big Mul Kank climbed slowly down the vertical shaft into the second level of the Weezer hive, at the bottom he found a tunnel running off into the darkness. Moving slowly forwards he finds that it meets three other Weezer tunnels at a crossroads, he looks behind him and sees that Scar is gesturing that he should head along the right hand tunnel. Kank creeps forwards until the tunnel forks, from there he hears a great deal of buzzing, but he cannot ascertain from which direction the noise is coming. Kank backs away and arrives back at the crossroads where he informs the others what he has both found and heard.

Next the big Mul takes the left hand tunnel from the crossroads and yet again discovers that it opens up into a large chamber guarded by soldier Weezer, he backs off quietly and informs the rest of the Company. Next he heads straight across the crossroads and after a short crawl discovers that it ends in another vertical shaft, which he assumes joins up with the other shaft that they had discovered on the upper level of the hive. With their surroundings investigated the Company agree to continue their search for the Weezer queen along the right hand tunnel.

When Kank arrives at the fork he takes the right hand fork and discovers that it leads to a smaller chamber guarded by five soldier Weezer, impatient at continually retreating, Kank steps into the chamber and side steps to the left allowing Scar to step in beside him. Quickly the soldier Weezer attack and Kank and Scar launch into the melee. The Weezer are quick and nimble, and prove difficult to hit, but when the Weezer strike the Company members they are unable to penetrate their armour. And so the fight becomes a drawn out affair.

Eventually, Scar lands a fatal blow with the Sword of Kemalok and slices one of the Weezer out of the air, but as she does so one of the other Weezer sinks its mandibles through her leg armour. The warrior woman's strong constitution shrugs off the Weezer's poison. Kank is next to land a mighty blow, punching one of the soldier Weezer in its thorax, crippling the creature and dropping it to the floor. Scar slices at another of the Weezer but the creature continues to attack and bites Kank in the leg, but the big Mul is able to resist the poisonous bite. Kank counters with another thorax shattering punch and another soldier Weezer drops from the wall.

A flurry of blows follow and eventually the remaining Weezer are overcome and Kank and Scar move through the chamber making sure that they are all dead. Two tunnels lead out of the far side of the chamber and Scar motions for Kank to head up the right hand one. He edges quietly forwards and soon spots what he believes to be a Weezer guard point, similar to the one the Company were ambushed from the first time that they raided a hive. Once again Kank backs away and he and Scar head up the left hand tunnel. The tunnel winds around and terminates in a large chamber that is clearly an infant nursery attended to by lots of worker Weezer. Knowing that this is not the Weezer queen that they are searching for they back quietly away.

They check the left hand fork and follow it to a very large chamber, Kank stares into the darkness and loses count of the number of Weezer workers inside. He turns to Scar and whispers that he believes that there are upwards of seventy Weezer workers inside. Again they decide to back away and head back to the crossroads. They cross over and Kank storms into the large chamber to find himself facing an angry swarm of buzzing Weezer, a mix of soldier and worker creatures. The big Mul doesn’t pause, but slams his fist into the head of the first Weezer punching it straight out of the air.

The big Mul swings a haymaker at another of the Weezer and connects, but the creature continues to attack. Scar, who is unable to gain entry to the room such is the thickness of the swarm, summons her magic and disrupts one of the Weezer. The electrical discharge strikes it in the head and the creature drops out of the air with its brains fried. With two of the swarm dead a small gap opens up and Arthur steps into the melee swinging with his fists and hitting one of the soldier Weezer hard enough to break a wing. The Weezer continue to lands stings and bites on the Company, but they struggle to breach their armour yet again.

That is until Kank is hit in the head by one of the soldier Weezer, the fact that the Mul eschews head armour is well known by his colleagues but still not understood, and the attack draws blood. The strike appears to anger Kank and he punches his attacker out of the air with a mighty strike. The muscled Dwarf Arthur also punches one of the Weezer from the air, but as he does so the pinging noise of his leg armour strap breaking can be heard over the buzzing of the swarm and Arthur trips over his loose greave and lands in a heap on the floor. One of the Weezer takes advantage of the prone Dwarf and bites him in the chest penetrating his armour. But the mighty Dwarf shrugs off the Weezer poison.

Scar calls again upon her magical powers, firing her spell at the Weezer attacking the helpless Dwarf. She then fires off a second spell as the first did not down the creature. Kank, still swinging haymakers, knocks another of the Weezer out of the air with a carapace shattering punch. Arthur regains his feet, his attacker having been driven off by Scar’s disruption spells, and quickly settles the score by punching the Weezer unconscious. With more of the Weezer swarm cleared, Scar is able to step into the chamber and launch an attack with the Sword of Kemalok. The warrior woman hits hard and slices her foe from the wall.

Arthur hits another of the creatures and it drops from the ceiling, Kank swings and connects with a punch, but his blow lacks any power and it bounces ineffectual off of the Weezers armoured carapace. It is then that the big Mul realises that Arthur the Dwarf is fighting with both fists and looks on with envy as the muscled Dwarf knocks one of the creatures off of the wall with a punch of his left fist. With the swarm of Weezer thinned, and three of the Company of the Cloaked Inix able to engage, it is not long before the fight is over. But not soon enough for the bored Balboa, who had been watching from the tunnel unable to get into the melee.

After a brief search, during which they find nothing of interest, the Company head onwards, Kank discovers another Weezer guard post and so they backtrack and take the other tunnel circumnavigating the potential ambush. The tunnel eventually leads to a crack in a constructed wall, Kank steps through and finds himself standing in what can best be described as a tomb. One end of the room is dominated by a throne on a raised dais, and behind the throne Kank can see a set of closed double doors. The walls of the room are covered in bas reliefs depicting people seeming formed of stone, and lead by a human, fighting against other humanoids with long faces and horns.

Kank asks Balboa to come forwards and have a look, the knowledgeable Mul steps up and looks around with keen interest. He then calls upon the Gnomes of the earth and requests that they show him any sources of magical energy, but he can detect none and so he declares the room safe. The Company file in and Kank approaches the throne and then walks beyond it towards the doors at the rear of the room. He pulls the doors but they do not move, it is then that he notices the stone lock in the centre of the double doors. Again Kank asks the resourceful Balboa to assist. While Balboa inspects the lock, Arthur seats himself in the throne and imagines that he is wearing a crown of gold.

Balboa moulds the stone away from the locking mechanism rendering the locks useless, Kank opens the door slightly and shines the light of a lamp through, the light reveals a stone dressed corridor running twenty five feet before ending in a T-junction. Scar says out loud;

This is far too interesting to ignore!

The rest of the Company agree and so Kank opens one of the doors and steps through. He walks to the T-junction and peers around the corner, to his left he sees that the corridor has collapsed and is impassable, but to his right he can see that the corridor ends in a set of double doors. Either side of the doors is an alcove, and each alcove contains a humanoid stone statue, each holding an obsidian bastard sword. Balboa follows Kank to the T-junction and as soon as he looks upon the stone statues the Gnomes of the earth inform him that they are magical constructs.

Kank steps forwards and as he does so there is a grinding sound of rocks working against each other, and the statues turn and jerkily step into the corridor and begin to walk slowly towards the big Mul. Balboa steps forwards and calls upon the power of the Gnomes of the earth to dispel the magic animating the statues but his spell ripples off of them without effect. Balboa quickly steps behind Kank and Scar, Kank readies Bone Crusher and calls upon the power of his earth ring to increase his already great strength. Scar then calls upon her own magic and enchants Bone Crusher with a bludgeon spell. The big Mul smiles and steps into the fight.

The statues, despite their awkward and jerky movements, are swift and Kank barely dodges the first strike. He counters with a massive overhead strike of Bone Crusher, hitting one of the statues in the head. A chunk of the stone breaks away, but it doesn’t seem to even slow the animated statue. The second of the statues slashes at Scar and slices through the flesh of her right arm, causing her to bleed badly. Kank slams Bone Crusher at the animated statue once more but his attack is parried, the statue's counter strike stabs Kank in the chest and the Mul drops to the floor in a bleeding heap.