FH: Here… and NOW?

[Jim Roberts]

[Feb 5 AM – The Waterworks]

> Lomi cocked her head curiously. “Was that The Blob? Or Son of The
> Blob?”
>
> “Does it matter?” And both Wild Women of the Woods shook their heads
> for “no”.
>
> “If there are no more reports to intake,” Laquendi stated bluntly, on
> to marching order.” Nods all around greeted the dusky elf’s topic
> change.

“I agree with Captain FinFinFin’s scouting analysis,” the Keeryte team
commander continued. “He will take lead; I will be in the middle
watching front and rear and fireballing everything in sight. Lomi or
Laurelin to the rear as sweep?” asked the silver-haired elf. “It would
be suboptimal to have something quite literally bite us in the backsides.”

Finfin considered the suggestion for a moment, and nodded. “Me in the
lead makes sense, with you in the middle helping to spot tunnel menaces
from all around us, sounds eminently suitable.”

The elven officer then glanced in the direction of Abbot Kenobi. “But if
His Honour is agreeable, I nominate the Abbot to act as Tailguard.
Spotting hazards might not be his forte, but I am quite confident that
there is very little walking or crawling in this place that would
quickly get past him, giving us a solid defence from behind. And that
keeps Lomi and Laurelin closer to the front, where their skills can work
in tandem to help us avoid walking into an ambush.”

Once the topic of a marching order had been resolved, the next decision
needed to be made was their direction. The Waterworks tunnel complex was
simply too big to cover in a single day. And there was a single fork in
the path, or rather, a chamber nearby that had two different exits,
roughly dividing the subterranean complex in half. Given the distances
involved, it would be a stretch to make it to one end and back, both
clearing the existing menaces, and making certain that no new ones took
root. They could handle one fork today, and the other tomorrow. But
which to choose?

Both had advantages, and disadvantages, but after a brief discussion,
all agreed to tackle the “Northeast” fork today, handling the forlorn
and huge rust monster, Crumble, and the elf hating Troll Hunter Gnarkill
now. The Troglodyte priest and his cultists, and whatever formidable
defences might be blocking access to the second “prison camp”, could
wait until tomorrow.

“Which gives us all a chance to optimize our selected spell lists
tomorrow for a second protracted underground operation,” Finfin mused.
“I daresay I am not the only spell caster that would have prepared a
moderately different selection of spells, had I known what was on the
agenda for today.”

The Foreman rubbed two claws together. Fortunately for the ongoing
diplomacy, the elf did not recognize the gesture as the smallest violin
in the world playing a mournful tune.

“And,” the elven officer continued, glancing over the collected Tall
People in the Away Team, he added, “a new day will allow us to optimise
our personnel. I mean no offence, but this is not the team I would have
chosen for an all day Dungeon Crawl.”

“No offence taken,” the Foreman interjected, possibly forestalling
anyone who might have actually WANTED to have registered any offence.
“But I want the team you bring tomorrow to match your team today.”

For the first time that day, Finfin looked rather annoyed. “The
personnel composition of our team,” he began hotly, “is a TACTICAL
matter that belongs strictly to US.”

“I don’t deny that,” the Foreman replied blandly. “But it is ALSO a
diplomatic matter where you can prove that you Tall People really ARE
taking this seriously and are willing to invest some of your OWN risk in
this matter. Many Upwinders died to bring us this information,” he added
grimly, gesturing up at the surrounding boards full of critical
Intelligence.

“And more are sure to die bringing the much needed updates as we
continue to chip away at the SJE Leadership,” the Foreman continued
implacably. “Fewer, if you are able to secure the Waterworks tunnels,
but discovery and death WILL still find several of us. So it is a
gesture of Good Faith if Tall People show that they, too, are willing to
accept some risk, and not just pop in, blow up kobolds, and pop out again.”

“Our goals are the same: Both the Upwinders and Tall people will benefit
from this arrangement with as few casualties as possible,” Laquendi
intoned seriously. “Of course there are risks to both, and where we the
Tall People are going to be the ‘sharp end of the spear’ of
tunnel-clearing in particular, the Tall People will determine the
composure of the strike teams. Tir wux iaco mrith nomeno?”

Finfin looked entirely willing to continue this heated exchange, when
Tramma gently took him by the arm. “Fin, sweetie? A moment?” She smiled
winningly at the Foreman, who nodded grudgingly and took a step
backwards, gesturing for his fellows to do the same. It was a nice
enough gesture, but whether it was enough to prevent their hosts from
overhearing was unlikely, particularly as Tramma continued in a soft
voice, but one designed to be overheard by the rest of the Tall People team.

“Fin,” the bard began, “I don’t blame you for not liking the setup. I
sure wouldn’t have chosen me to be in a great big combat slog like this,
and I’m not sure it would’ve been Lomi’s first choice, either.”

“Underground, without a tree in sight?” the tall Yelti scout grumbled.
“Hardly. But I’m here now.”

Tramma nodded. “That’s just it. Me, too. Sometimes, you gotta work with
the hand you’re dealt, and this seems like one of those times. And the
Foreman DOES have a point. So far, they’re taking most of the risk, and
to date, have been doing all of the dying. Now, I don’t want ANY of US
to die, but I get him wanting to see us put some skin in the game to
show that we’re taking this seriously. So, yeah, I’m willing to stick my
neck out, because this is IMPORTANT. We gotta SHOW them that we’re
seriously behind them in all this.”

High Priestess Laurelin, watching the exchange, had an observation of
her own. "To fight evil, Fin, or at least to support the Greater Good,
means we have to go where it is."

Tramma nodded at these words of wisdom before glancing over at her old
pal, Lomi, who also nodded, though rather more glumly. “I’m not happy
about being down here,” the scout confessed. “Give me a lovely thick
forest, and I’m your girl. Down HERE is not my first choice. Or second.
But like I said, I’m here, and I agree with Tramma. This is IMPORTANT,
and if we can rescue the GOOD kobolds, stamp out more of those SJE
bastards and turn back the eco-horror of what’s happening on the
surface… AND maybe be able to help out our pals in the Forest People by
helping the Upwinders replace the Green Death…? Yeah, I’d say that’s
worth some risk.”

Tramma nodded. “She’s speaking for me as well. And I’m sure Pilinde
would agree, if she was here.”

“Wolfgirl will be PISSED that she can’t come along tomorrow,” Lomi
observed dryly.

“She’ll get over it,” Tramma predicted breezily.

“Yeah, after biting a few ankles,” Lomi agreed. She then began to ask
something, but then stopped, turning a bright shade of red as she
glanced uneasily over towards the Abbot. Spotting her pal’s blush and
the direction of her glance, Tramma nodded. At the same time, Jeyshann’s
eyebrows shot up, and a moment later, the Cat Priestess slinked into the
center of the group.

“I think,” the Great Medicine Woman began, “that I am personally in
favour of us showing commitment to the Upwinder cause.” Rather acidly,
she observed with a droll glance over at Ben, “It is about time that
someone showed some interest, and this would benefit ALL of our people.
In fact…”

Just then, speaking over the Cat Priestess’ words, Finfin heard Tramma’s
own voice whispering in his ear. “Good for Jeyshann. She’ll keep the
attention on her, and off us, for a bit.”

Finfin tried his best not to let his eyebrows raise. The effort might
not be enough to survive scrutiny by a hardcore “People Person”, but it
would hopefully work here, particularly among the kobolds who were not
naturals at reading fleshy expressions. “You precast a Speak With Allies
spell before we arrived at this command center?” he silently messaged back.

“I did!” Tramma’s unheard voice whispered in his ear. “I had a hunch it
might be needed. You and Lomi both can hear me. Lomi, you’ve not used
this much. Just pretend you’re whispering without actually needing to
whisper or mouth the words, and we’ll both be able to hear you.”

“Like… this?” the tall scout’s voice was heard by both the bard and the
elven officer… but by no one else.

“You got it!” Tramma answered. “Now, sweets, what is it you’ve got to
say? You’re safe; nobody else can hear you.”

“Thanks,” Lomi said softly over their magic communication channel.
“Cap’n?” she continued, addressing the elven officer. “I know you and me
aren’t as close as you and Mithi are to Tramma. Or the Pussycats. And
maybe we can change that, some day. In fact… since it’s just us, I can
admit that I’d really like that.”

“As would I,” the elf agreed. “And Mithi has already drawn my attention
to the possibility, and seems quite keen as well. But you will still
need to ask her.”

“I… think sometime I will,” the scout agreed. “But for now… even if we
aren’t yet lovers, if we DO this, would you be willing to look out for
ME as well as Tramma?”

“I will look after everyone,” the elf agreed, but then nodded. “But yes,
after you and Tramma in particular.”

“Thanks!” the scout replied softly but fervently. “And… do you have one
of those quick bailout Teleport spells like you used last night, if
things go pear shaped?”

“I do,” the elf confirmed. “Though I will have to pick at least one
person up off the ground, and wait for everyone else to touch each
other. But that, I can certainly do.”

Lomi nodded. “Then I’m in,” she stated firmly.