The cart rocked
back and forth beneath his feet, and he could feel the slight vibration of the
cart as he was leaning against the wall near the door. Guz'Rocks eyes were following a bolt as it was dancing across the floor following the near
inaudible rumble of the train. He tried his best to look calm, but the
adrenaline was already building in his veins in anticipation of the mission
they were heading towards with blazing speed. To blow up the central Thranifite rerouting hub of Ghirapur. Today looked to be a good day, he thought to himself
as his finger unconsciously played with his broken tusk.
The cart was full of his compatriots, some new and who didn’t look like they could be relied upon, but two he felt in his heart he could depend on in a scrap. Bolgar obviously had proven his mettle many times over, and with Roy "Msah'Xula" Ragna he had built, a kind of kinship he didn’t yet fully understand. If nothing else his massive frame and the way he carried himself and his big ass hammer, told a story of someone who was no stranger to combat. Then there was the baby-faced human who he had worked with twice before. He flung Elf-magicks, not of a kind he had seen before, too many tentacles and it stank vile, but Elf-Magicks none the less. He knew this because his blood started to boil whenever the boy started chanting. He had to admit though, there was a sense of gravity about him, which made Guz'Rock even more weary. The three others were a weird mix max of individuals, and he had kept a keen eye on them the entire trip. There was the weird smelling Dwarf, Metzur, with the even stranger hat, then there was the clock-wearing loudmouth, 6 o'Locke, and finally a vibrant little Gnome, Jellys Flukemantle, wearing an armor he had never seen before, that seemed to match the city somehow. She made him smile for no apparent reason. One thing they all had in common though, he trusted none of them further then he could throw them.
The three weirdest of the bunch were chattering away about clocks built specifically to tell time, duh! The structural integrity of the compound they were headed towards and how the bomb they had built would, with the correct placement, crumble the whole place to pieces. Guz'Rock didn’t care much about what they said besides “Let’s not kill the guards”. Why not, wasn’t that why he was there? “Guess it doesn’t ma’’er, if ‘at what’s Bossman fink is best to gain their trust” he thought to himself. Suddenly the crazy fucking dwarf with the crazier fucking hat pulled out the fucking bomb he had been talking about and started doing something he called “calibrating” just as the train jerked violently and started to slow down. Metzur gave a loud panicked gasp and Guz'Rock jumped to Metzur’ aid to hold the bomb still, clearly saving everyone on board from complete destruction… No one thanked him, or even noticed. He had been right all along, as usual he could rely only on himself, which suited him just fine. The cart doors hissed and open without warning and a giant mechanical claw powered through the opening and started picking up boxes. Guess that was their queue for a quick exit.
The platformed they stepped unto was littered with crates, boxes, Barrels, rolls of cables and things he couldn’t even comprehend, with mechanicals arms, conveyer belts and whatnot that had things moving around to whatever destination they were headed. Guz'Rock gritted his teeth “A’right, so ‘oo knows where the fock we’re goin?”. 6 o'Locke looked at one of the many watches on his right arms, waited two beats and started walking at a pace in what seemed a very specific direction. People shrugged and followed.
6 o'Locke led them through a maze of corridors, hallways, and doors. Occasionally stopping everyone with a hush, looking intensely at his watches and then hurried them along. The place looked like a giant contraption just by the way it was build. Wires twisted around pipes, panels blinking here and there, vent shafts releasing billows of steam and electrical currents flickering out of the corner of your eye, the water condensation making everything glistening and slick. It even smelled weird, like dryness and Iron, though the Iron might just as well be Roy "Msah'Xula" Ragna. Guz'Rock kinda liked the way to big guy smelled, it somehow reminded him of childhood. He chuckled to himself.
*Clink-clank, Clink-Clank* suddenly the way forward was blocked as a slew of armed and armored soldiers rushed out in tight formation, almost perfectly synchronized just as the same happened behind them. Guz'Rock tightened his armband as he heard some chatter from the others. He couldn’t really hear them while the blood started rushing in his veins in anticipation of the fight. A split second later everyone was in the fray. Guz'Rock tried his best to be a team player, laying soldiers flat to make them an easy target and rushing between lines to make sure holes in their lines were filled so they wouldn’t be overrun. It was over in seconds, and he noticed Roy "Msah'Xula" Ragna had cleaved three of the troops with one swing… With a hammer… Fair was fair, that’s impressive. Baby-Face was the only one who hadn’t done anything except hide behind his comrades. Guz'Rock found the whole setup of the fight strange. This had clearly been an ambush, and the soldiers knew exactly where they’d be and when. It stank worse than some of Kalan’s early career ideas, but no one else seemed concerned or questioned their intel, so he didn't press it further than voicing that clearly the clocks couldn’t be trusted. But apparently, they had circumvented three patrols according to the others, so maybe he did have it all wrong. He decided to keep an eye on the newcomers.
They pressed on and the Hobgoblin had to admit that it did go rather smoothly, the only real hindrance on their way was an enormous steel door, which the weird Dwarf readily opened with an explosive concoction made.. In his hat. Small charges were placed and blew off it’s hinges, so all that was left to do was for Guz'Rock to give it a little push and wait for the resulting Boom! It shook the very foundation beneath them and must have alarmed half the district. There it was in all its grandeurs, and boy oh boy was it grand. A building that looked more like a city within the city, and describing the complexity of its design fell wholly out of Guz'Rock vocabulary. This was the central power hub of the capital, and the very thing they had come to blow up.
Entering the structure went rather smoothly with Guz'Rock scaling a wall aided by Bolgars sturdy back. Everyone managed to climb up except Baby-Face who thought that this was the perfect time to be lazy and show just how arrogant he was, Guz'Rock thought quietly to himself. It didn’t bother him that much, at least hauling his spoiled ass was a half decent warm-up for whatever else this place would throw at them. And he did look like someone who needed to preserve his strength after all.
The interior of this place was massive, pipes, cords, tubes and shafts leading every other way, conveyer belts, elevators, carts, tracks and gizmos transporting things all around them, and the noise, oh the noise was almost deafening. There was some bla. bla. bla. about placement of explosives and before Guz'Rock could pull his attention from everything going on around them, the team had been split up and his team was heading towards a sort of conveyer-elevator joined by Bolgar, Roy "Msah'Xula" Ragna, Baby-Face, and the Metzur. He speedily jumped onto the elevator going down with the rest following suit. They jumped to a conveyer belt transporting them through the vast halls and storage spaces and quickly realized this place was not made for people as pistons slammed down, ploughs cleared debris, claws picked up crates and billows of gale like winds made sure nothing was left on the belt. None of this good for their health and everyone had to jump, duck or roll for their lives more than once. This went well for everyone except Roy "Msah'Xula" Ragna, who seemed wholly out of his element here, as one of the giant ploughs pushed him of the belt and sent him falling to his certain death. Guz'Rock acted without thought and flung himself over the ledge, only clinging on with one hand while using all his reach to catch the giant smiths outstretched hand. With a surge of strength, he pulled them both to safety, and looked at the stunned half-breed “Ya welcome”, he said, a bit gruffer than intended as he could see in his eyes the familiar look of someone who had accepted death yet cheated it. Bolgar gave him a nod of approval, and something shifted in Guz'Rock and the whole scene left him perplexed. Why had he risked his life for someone else and what was this feeling in his chest, like it felt bigger, wider, like the first time he had brought back a scalp to his old tribe, but this time there was no scalp. Before he could finish his thought air gushed down on Bolgar, himself and Roy "Msah'Xula" Ragna pressing air from lung and sound from ear. He saw Bolgar tug and roll so he followed suit, not wanting, Bossman to roll to uncertainty without backup, and backup he would need.
The two shadows moved like exactly that, fast and impossible to lock down, much to Guz’rocks frustration. They were deadly and blinked from place to place. The Eyefucker took a keen liking to Baby-Face and through its iresome eye it cast
vile elf-magicks. Sandstorms and Beams to name a few of its eyesores.
Bolgar fought like a demon, charging from on to another, covering distances belaying his short legs and hammering everything including his head into the Eyefucker's cruch, wearing it down and being a constant threat and menace.
Metzur threw more deadly bombs and took a steadfast center of the room where he was handy with his steel and earned his keep.
Roy Msah'Xula had it as though as Guz'Rock and were constantly trying to chase down those annoyingly mobile cunts, but he did his best to solidify his presence, trying every trick he could think of.
Baby-Face finaly showed why he had come along, as he called forth rifts in reality from where enormous black tentacles tore through slamming, grabbing and beating everything around him, while protecting and hindering all at once. He was actually pretty good at this, and Guz'Rock found a little bit of respect for Tolan.
Guz'Rock did his best to chase these shadow pricks down, but not only were they fast,
they could also turn to freaking gas. FFS they were annoying and he had stop himself from going berserk more than once, and just keep pressing to find
openings.
Tolan had gotten himself in a pickle and were cornered and in a bad shape. Guz'Rock threw himself between the enemy and the retreating magick-flinger. He found his opening as he cut the first of the shadow cunts down all the way to its heart. The other quickly followed suit with Ray getting redemption as he knocked the eye from the Eyefuckers socket and Tolan making shadowy tendrils guide his comrades’ weapons from all direction to slay the last of shadows.
They had won! Guz'Rock realized he had been cut pretty deep and grunted his discomfort. Bolgar had noticed as well as he came over and with his calm soothing voice said “Like father always said. Stop being pussy, we will fix”. Of course, Baby-Face never even thanked him for saving his hide, he thought to himself has he rummaged through the remains and found two stones. One carved as an octagon and the other oval. But why had he saved him? By all accounts he should have let him die, he was weak after all. He looked at the frail man. By the bones, even his teeth were charming. How annoying.
One big door blocked the way forward.