Game: Tunnels

''You land on the surface of Nether. Your mission is to rescue prisoners of the Daemons from the depths of the caves.''

Useriel walks forwards.

Javus:Everything looks the same here. We need to get underground.

''This is certainly true, as the barren rock streches on for miles. You have to find an opening to the many caves beneath the surface...and be prepared for Daemon attack.''

Useriel seeks a cave.

Javus sees cave. Javus walks toward cave.

''It is a cave. But to what depth will it descend?''

Useriel takes the cave. "Hopefully we won't face too many. "

Javus walks in behind Useriel. "There's only one way to figure out if there's anything here." Javus shouts madly.

''Seemingly on cue, something emerges from the darkness, squirming frantically. The unmistakeable form of a Kobold''.

Useriel shoots his beam at the Kobold. 4 is a hit!

The Kobold collapses in a slimy heap, dead.

Javus: I guess that answers our question then. Javus walks deeper into the cave, ahead of Userial. "Come on, birdbrain!"

Useriel raises an eyebrow and follows.

''Descending deeper into the darkness, it seems to be sloping greatly. Perhaps it leads into bigger and deeper caverns. But then, you come to a choice of tunnels. One is very dark, and chillingly cold. The other seems to have a source of light further in, and it is warmer. Can you make a choice?''

I've gotta go to the warmer one. I'm cold-blooded.

Useriel follows Javus, cautious as he treads.

''The light grows, and there is a small cavern around the corner. But there is a noise as well. It doesn't sound very nice. Continue?''

Javus turns toward the noise, pointing his weapon outward.

Useriel also readies his weapon.

''Torches light a small troop of Daemon guards, in the middle of a lunch break. They silence themselves, and turn their heads toward you.''

Oh yes, there are some large rocks to conveniently dive behind.

Ducking behind a rock, Useriel fires a Halo Ray torus. 5, a hit!

Javus fires his Assault Rifle! 2, 6, and 6! Two hits!

''One is killed, another is damaged. Caught off guard, they ready their knives. Take advantage!''

Useriel fires another torus!

''120 damage! Two are killed and one wounded!''

Javus rolls a 1, 2, and a 6! One hit!

''Another is killed! The remaining Shaytan grabs a knife and attempts to throw it at you. A 5 or 6 will hit you''.

''I rolled a 2. The knife misses you completely, and the Shaytan is now unarmed.''

Useriel fires a beam! 2 is a miss!

Javus rolls a 1, a 2, and a 5. One hit!

''The Shaytan is wounded! In a last ditch attempt to vanquish you, it charges you with its own hands. Stupid Grakk. You know what this means...''

Halo torus! 6 is a hit!

Javus rolls a 2 4s and a 1. Complete miss. :( He got to yell "Die Daemon scum", though.

''The Daemon falls dead in front of you. Do you wish to search the room for goodies?''

Useriel searches diligently.

''You find a Firespitter, some Daemon armor, and 50 credits! How nifty.''

Give me the gun and the money Useriel. It's mine. You don't even use credits! Armor too.

The loot is sorted. You msut go back the way you came, for there are no further passages from the room. Will you take the cold, dark tunnel? ''

Useriel takes the passage.

Javus follows behind, after Useriel convinces him he won't go into torpor and die.

''Oh yeah, I forgot to mention you took a couple of torches on your way out. Anyway, you descend into the tunnel. After a while it flattens out, and you walk into an enormous cavern, dimly lit. What do you do next?''

Useriel has a good look around.

Javus leaps into the room, and shoots at whatever he sees (besides Useriel). I rolled a 6, a 5, and a 3. Two hits!

''Silence, except for the echoing of the shots. Complete darkness. ''

And then you hear something above you...

Useriel looks up and fires a Halo beam. Rolls a 5, so it would hit anything there.

Javus rolls a 6, so he also hits it.

''It's snowing right now. In October! Before Halloween! Oh, wait, sorry. Erm. The shots echo through the cavern, and the body of a Trellbat falls to the ground. These shots may attract Daemons. So what do you do next?''

Useriel takes cover and scans the darkness for incoming foes.

While Useriel hides like a coward, Javus continues forward into the next cave.

''It is eerily quiet. The glowing fungi emits little light, but just enough to see that this cave is even more immense. The floor is uneven, so you must tread carefully. Weak rock can break at any moment and you could fall for thousands of feet until meeting an untimely death at the rocks. Three large tunnels are visible. Which one do you take?''

Useriel takes the first one.

Javus takes the middle one. "Let's split up," he says, "we can cover more ground that way."

''Useriel walks into the left tunnel, Javus soon out of sight. Soon you see bits of broken weapons. A sure sign of Daemon presence. You also notice a small green glow on the ground. What do you do to investigate?''

Useriel samples the glowy stuff with his sensors.

''Too late, you hear a faint, high-pitched squeak. That can only mean one thing: Tarducus. The changes in their pitch will mean a Daemon horde will soon notice and come to kill you...''

Useriel retreats strategically to behind cover, preparing his weapon.

''Meanwhile, Javus walks down the middle tunnel. You sense warmth, which is unusual for these caverns...''

I am very happy, as I am cold-blooded. :D I cheerfully skip forward towards the warmth.

''You skip into another cave, lit with torches. The flickering of the flame casts shadows of an large, unmistakeable shape, one with scales, teeth, and wings...''

You can either move closer, or examine it thoroughly.

I don't want to risk fighting a Gehennian without backup, so I'm going back to that cave junction and taking the first tunnel, trying to find Useriel.

(It would help if you just looked closely at the darn thing)

Fine, I gave it a second glance.

''You look closely, and notice it is not real, but in fact a stone statue of a Gehennian. Directly in front of it is some uneven ground, which is a Daemon booby trap you would not have seen. And beyond the statue, you see the prisoners! They are two Zyrothans, and they look unconscious. What next?''

I leap over the trap with a perfect 6, and then I heal the Zyrothans (I'm a Medic), and I release them. I ask them why the Daemons bothered to capture them.

One of them speaks. "We're part of the Yesegian military. The Daemons...they feared we were designing new weapons. Powerful ones. We weren't of course, but they just like killing. But we have to get out of here, they'll come soon."

''You're about to lead them away when you realize that you'll have to cross the trap again. And you must help your two new friends across as well.''

i roll a 4 and get across. They're NPCs, so you roll for them.

''I roll a 6 and a 4, so both make it. The first wave of Daemons arrives through a secret door on the other side of the statue, but being unobservant and stupid they fall down into the pit.''

''Meanwhile, with Useriel...three Djinn appear out of the darkness with axes! So roll, roll for your life!''

For creatures which don't even have stats, they're pretty tenacious. I use the warrior ability frenzy to fire twice, two fives.

''I know right? In any case, let's decide they have 100 health, unarmored. So let's see, 100 dmg for the Halo Ray per shot, fire twice, two are down. One to go, who hacks at you with an axe!...What does an axe do for damage? 20 dmg sound reasonable?''

Sounds great :D I frenzy and fire again. A 1 and a 6, so one hit.

''Dead. More Daemons will be coming, so you must act fast. Where can you go now to escape? Where is Javus? And at some point you must find a way out.''

Useriel loots the bodies then heads back to the intersection.

''You loot...a few rocks. It's your choice whether to keep them or not. Anyways, you head back to the intersection, where you meet up with...Javus! And he has the prisoners!''

Useriel gives the rocks to Javus.