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Underworld Lower City
Maze of the Pit
Unitech-Tekworks Abandonded Claim
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the party starts hustling back to the lava chamber
Nameless looks at their pace climbing back up the shaft
slogging on, Nameless signals Naruto to join him
"Naruto how fast, and how long can you run 3 miles uphill"
smirking at the old lizard "fast and about 20 min" the others eyes widen, as they listen in
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"we do not have your speed," huffing from the climb so far "I'm sending you ahead, you willing?"
Naruto nods
"I want you to delay them and keep them from reaching the lava chamber before us"
"they are marching down hill, with us climbing"
if you can get past the lava section," Nameless hands him a pistol, "fight a slow withdrawl if you can"
"try to distract them and buy us time to get there to back you up"
"they have used explosives once, so keep moving, go"
running into the darkness of the deep tunnel ahead, the slower four cannot even see Naruto's lamp to mark his speed
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four forms run and bounce down the slope, gravel and dirt shifting underfoot
slowing only at an area painted by marks in a glowing red
planting more 'gifts' while one calls back on his com
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spotting naruto further down the tunnel, the leader point to and at their target
"Hey chummer, you're coming with us" he calls out, "we're taking you in for your bounty, the payday awaits"
shockingly, naruto walks up to them nodding
they do not hear the hissing under his jacket
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in their midst the explosive note under his jacket explodes, disrupts the clone
also throwing the gang members to the walls
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thunder roars, filling the mine, two jokerz are flattened, after being tossed down the tunnel glancing off the walls, the others are slung to the walls
crumpling from the blast, stunned they are vulnerable, they never notice the fast moving form knocking them each out
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quickly the jokerz limbs are tied in wire, and stripped of gear
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continuing the run uphill Naruto shortly makes it to the tunnel near the lava chamber
not seeing the 'gifts' naruto trips the first and closest of the mines
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momentum accelerated by the blast, yet his mobility aids in evading the majority of the explosion, naruto rolls to the wall
"drat they have traps here also", Naruto mutters to himself as his ears and body slowly recover from the blast
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unseen a crack in the wall forms due to the blast
something small slips through, moving to to the warm form nearby, finding a torn wound it enters sliding under the skin,
like a piece of shrapnel it slides through his skin, entering its new host
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Narutos blast wounds and scrapes shrinking as he picks himself from the mine floor
spotting the other two mines, naruto runs up the wall, avoiding the other mines
naruto uses his paint sprayer to paint rings around the mines, without setting them off
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back to running, Naruto dims down his carrylight
jogging silently naruto listens for his opponents
moving past a cavern area of no interest
grinding steps are heard, approaching from further on
"Are we there yet"
"fifteen bottles on a wall, one falls off and fourteen more to bury"
"Ace daddy, I have to go to the throne"
"what a batch of white elephants" mutters the leader
and other mixed whining and bad puns echo to Naruto
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skipping back Naruto plants his own gifts, paper sliding under gravel and dirt silently
his shoulder and back spasm mildly in remembered pain
slipping into the empty pocket cavern he 'tags' two sections before returning to the lava chamber tunnel and marking it
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as the jokerz enter the cavern one swings his light to the side, spotting and lighting up one of narutos tags off to the side
"looks like someone posted a snail-mail notice"
as they approach the curling design on paper, naruto sets it off
flaring, the sunburst tag brightens the chamber
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the lightblind jokers curse as their eyes become useless
the leader of the pack twists the tops of two spray cans tossing one to front and back
explosions from the grenades rock the room affecting no one except the cave
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naruto seeing several moving past the trapped floor, sets off the tag in the middle of the pack of jackals
gravel and the explosion scattering the gangmembers
further down the tunnel what was a crack becomes an arm long red crack
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four new forms glance around the edge of the exiting tunnel
seeing the scatterd forms climbing to their feet, narutos friends start shooting the jokerz
from the limited cover of the tunnel passage
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twisting the tops of their sprayers the jokerz sling them at the party of old farts
"jokes on them" naruto mutters as he aims at the spraycans turning into burning grenades, some of the grenades are deflected in mid-air as small blades strike them out of the air
thrown and blasted away by the improvised grenade missed by the small blades, it tosses and slams the defenders to the walls, pressing them back
the older defenders shake off the effects to return fire, the blaster fire dropping the remaining jokerz
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gasping from the run and fight Nameless calls out "Naruto run to vators from pitstop, find the mazeboss"
"tell him Code Lava Class C 2B"
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Naruto takes off hearing the ugency in his friends voice
blurring with speed running through the tunnels
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Underworld Lower City
Pit Maze
Elevator up
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The wookiee mazeboss hammers a button hearing naruto's message
pointing to gathering miners he issues orders echoed from his translator collar
"Establish two temporary A-class locks in front of the access the Corpies aborted tunnel and the brats claim."
"Main team will go in with droids carrying a C-lock and two B-class, MOOVEE." roars the wookiee
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one form in the chamber tries to move up to naruto
only to be knocked aside by the wookiee mazeboss
barking and howling his translator collar snaps orders to naruto "Well, boy take us there"
the engineering party moves off with the wookiee and naruto in the lead
narutos speed checked by the wookiees grip on his jacket
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Underworld Lower City
Maze of the Pit
Allied Team Claim
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Mazeboss arrives with droids and teams
"Details" looking at the four worn miners
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"We had jokerz using grenades next to a lava chamber", pointing to the tied up and dead spades
"And the chamber is breached" pointing to a man high crack
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the wookiee watches the four, pressing a button on his collar "You realize if the locks are not paid for, the entire dig becomes an open claim"
"and you lose your own claims" the four elders nod in resignation
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releasing the button he turns and gives orders to the teams that came with him "We need a class C magma-lock here for setup, code lava"
"also needed for safety are two class B magma-locks for corridor, set them up first"
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droids carrying parts for a b-class door move past as a different group sets up others, covering both ends
of the tunnel section. ten minutes pass before the doors are complete and magnetic fields lock on, shielding the door and walls
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after they test solid, the mazeboss turns to the party asking, "Do you want the C-class to replace the cracked area?"
Nameless nods after looking to his friends, "Sooner or later it will breach, this will make the tunnel useable or seal the breach and we will tunnel around"
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nodding the mazeboss orders the droids still in the section into the locked section with the parts for the smaller magmalock
opening the wall, cutting around the crack, droids are covered in yellow fog as gasses fill the area
minutes later the gas thins as air is swapped out. droids are spotted finishing work on the door to the magma chamber
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"Here's the info on the chamber from the droids" relaying from his datapad to the teams
"The doors are now on the com relay and the area mapped to your claim"
"You have 70 cycles to pay or lose all, sign here." the mazeboss has all five mark the document on his datapad
turning to leave, he signals his team and droids to pack and move out
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unseen the sliver of metal slides deeper into the host coming to rest behind the liver
threads of metal begin to slide into the surrounding organs
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the party rests while scanning the data on their pads
"gas vent but crystals are present"
"going to need a lava bot to access"
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Nameless shakes his head, "Good job Naruto." enjoying Naruto's wide grin
Leeds is crying, whimpering "Have you seen the charges for the locks and the emergency placement."
"Yep."
"We're alive and have 70 cycles to mine before we lose it all."
"Back to work, lets get marching."
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echos from elsewhere
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a silver ship with escorts returns home
frustrating a blocade
an army assembles with friends made from former wary opponents
lighsabers flash
in a high tech mine
a dark form drops
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omake
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"Gandalf where are we?"
"I have no idea Frodo"
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"Hey chummers why you sailing a white wood boat on a cave sea"
"you nobles like the last batch?"
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"Why do these idiots read something and then try to duplicate something"
"from their primitive histories"
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"we we're not supposed to arrive here!"
"well, welcome to O'maki, now get your boat out of the water before it gets eaten by Tiny"
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soft hidden giggles
from 6 distant forms
an elderly male with a spoon like sword
a woman of black tresses snacking on candy, feeding the dragon wrapping her shoulders
wild haired holder of a black scythe, giggling like a loon
a metal legged man looking around at supply opportunities
long coated blind man "time for changes"
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"First time I've seen the Mists of Ravenloft do something 'good'."
"They were headed simply for a dead end."
"Probably something elven"
"oops"
five look to the loon with the scythe
"Did he get blood from a kender at our last stop?"
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Elves in Space!
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