Iron Dawn: Of Science and Sorcery Obscura
By Jave Harron
Notes: Liking the massacres so far? I'm not a fan of the Forgotten Realms setting. Personally, I like Greyhawk, Ravenloft, and Dark Sun better.
Chapter V: Slaughter at Trademeet
Boddyknock shook Jan to get him awake. "I'm hungry! Get me turnips!" the half-awake gnome illusionist muttered.
"Get up you fools!" Boddyknock shouted.
He saw what he assumed to be the group's leader. The fellow had elaborate platemail and had a two-handed sword on his side. Boddyknock cast a water cantrip, targeted it at the armored man's face. A burst of cold water splashed Cain in the face as he woke up.
"What in the Nine Hells?" he exclaimed as he arose like a raging tiger. He pulled out his sword and pointed it at the first thing he saw, Boddyknock. "Who are you?"
"I am Boddyknock Glinckle. I have come to warn you!" the Lantanese sorcerer exclaimed.
"Warn us of what?" Cain asked, his eyes narrowing.
"A madwoman out to kill you and me! She has a legion of warriors with weapons far more advanced than anything in this world!" the gnome barely managed to say in one breath.
"Leave him, darling. He speaks the truth," said Jaheira, who was just waking up.
"How do you know this, dear?" Cain asked.
"His accent is Lantanese, as are his physical features. His body language is too frantic to be anything but the real thing," Jaheira asked.
Harpers were trained in recognizing basic body language. It helped determine if someone was merely a shape shifter or under mind control. If someone was a doppelganger or mind controlled, their movements would seem awkward, forced, and artificial. Such training helped determine if any of their members were under mind control, or killed and replaced with a shape shifter by one of their many enemies.
"If you say so. So, tell me more about this person out to kill us," Cain said.
"She calls herself the Overwoman, though no one I know of has uncovered more than that," Boddyknock explained.
"You mentioned something about her weapons and warriors. You said they were advanced or something like that," Cain noted.
"Yes. She has an army of-"
"Of what? Gnolls? Ogres? Demons? Barbarians? Orcs?" Cain interrupted.
"No. Her army is made of mainly humans, but they are from a different Prime Material Plane of existence," Boddyknock explained.
"Extra-planar humans… They shouldn't be too hard. What did you mean about advanced weapons?" Cain asked.
"They have non-magical weapons that are fair more powerful than anything we on Lantan have come up with. Are you familiar with smoke-powder?" the gnome asked, with his analytic gaze piercing the man.
"No. What's that?" Cain asked, sounding quite clueless.
"Smoke-powder is an explosive material. It looks like black sand, but explodes when a flame is put to it," Boddyknock answered.
"Sounds lovely. Why do you bring this up?" Cain inquired.
"We have attempted to create a weapon by putting smoke-powder in a metal tube. We put a small metal projectile in front of the powder. We then ignite the powder, and the explosion within causes the projectile to fly out," Boddyknock answered, "This is called an arquebus, a gun, or a firearm by we Lantanese."
"Interesting. So, do these soldiers have those arquebus-things weapons?" Cain asked.
"No. They have a more advance version of firearms. Basically, their guns are designed so they only have to be reloaded after a certain number of shoots," Glinckle explained.
"So, what's the threat, then? Why not hit them while they're reloading?" Cain suggested.
"Their bullets are also much more powerful than ours, and can pierce any type of armor around. They also have guns that shoot flames, and they work their ranks so they have two lines of gunners. One line fires while another reloads," Boddyknock explained.
"I've heard rumors Lantan has flying machines for defense. Couldn't you just use these flying machines to attack them from the air?" Cain asked.
"No. They have flying and naval machines, both of which have horrific abilities. For example, they have a type of boat covered in iron, so shots bounce off. Another type of their boats can sink beneath the waves to attack," Boddyknock explained, "And to make them even worse, they are fond of using poison gas on innocents. They also have legions of metal men that are able to repair each other and never let up a chase."
Boddyknock was interrupted by the sound of motors in the distance. The group cowered under a nearby cluster of trees, and the aerial armada passed above them. It headed straight for Trademeet. Off in the distance, the group could see what was happening.
Several blimps and biplanes began to drop huge metal bombs. When they exploded, huge clouds of noxious looking gases appeared. Anyone that inhaled them died within seconds of inhaling the toxic floating chemicals.
Then, Cain's group got a firsthand look at the horrors of advanced weapons. "We've got to help!" a worried Valygar shouted.
"No. It is far too late. The next wave of attacks should be starting soon," Boddyknock noted grimly.
"What do you mean?" Cain asked.
"What you saw so far is their aerial bombardment. They still have their ground invasion forces," Boddyknock noted.
"Their what?" Minsc asked, "Boo does not know what you are talking about."
Just then, several people jumped out of a low-flying blimp. Several parachutes opened, and each paratrooper seemed to wear a gasmask. The paratroopers quickly searched from house to house, and killed anyone they encountered. No survivors had time to flee, so there was no need for the automatons this time.
Next, the soldiers began to explore the area around the town. They killed several farming families, all men, women, and children, without hesitation. However, they soon spotted the remnants of a camp fire, and began to search for the people around there. Now, the armed patrols were merely meters away from the party's hiding position.
All of the group members were covering, but it was Imoen that alerted them. In her fear, she had began breathing heavily. That alerted one of the guards, who had gathered some of his comrades. The enemy patrol climbed up the hill slowly at first, then began to fan out into various positions.
The riflemen stood in two lines. One line in the front, and another in the rear. The front line began to fire, and while they reloaded, the second line fired. The first line then fired again while the rear line reloaded.
The group managed to flee rather unscathed, but a few did get non-life threatening wounds. Valygar was shot in the shoulder, while a bullet grazed Imoen's leg. The group ran into a cave, and set up an ambush position for any enemy soldier stupid enough to wander in after them.
However, they were fighting trained killers, not dimwitted creatures like orcs or ogres. They did not expect that they would attempt to be 'flushing them out' of the cave. Each person took their positions, but they did not expect what would happen next.
A cluster of the soldiers from before surrounded the cave's entrance, and put on strange masks. They took a similar dual flank position, but one soldier did not aim his rifle. Rather, he held up a strange metal orb, pushed a button on it, and tossed it into the cave. This was the first time the party had seen Alivina's soldiers putting on gasmasks and preparing to use grenades to flush people out of caverns.
"Quick! Go deeper! I've got a bad feeling about this!" Boddyknock exclaimed.
It seemed like an eternity, but the group managed to run as far back into the cave as they could. However, it was merely a few seconds. Soon, the grenade exploded, and the entrance of the cave was sealed shut. It was a grim realization. The group was trapped deep inside a cavern, and even if they dug their way out, they still had legions of soldiers to watch out for.