I13DT - In The Grip Of An English Winter

[Narrator]

The moment she makes contact, she tries to start pulling veins of metal from the creature's rocky hide, guiding them up to obscure its sight.

The creature clawed at its eyes, thrashing around as Dee's efforts obscured its sight. It started flailing about rather indiscriminately.

Graham knee-slides under the hammers as fires two more arrows aimed to debilitate his opponents.

The two dwarves grunted in surprise, but managed to catch the returning hammers in their other hands. "The boy fancies himself an elf," said the first dwarf he'd shot. He transferred his hammer to his non-injured arm and swung it at Graham.

Will turned his skin to a hard metal to avoid taking painful damage, preparing to counter-attack.

The dwarves continued to pound on him, their blows actually making dents in the metal surface. "Surrender now, boy, and we promise not to turn you into axe heads," said the dwarf on the ground.

[Will Stanton]

"That's how I ~RELAX!~" Will shouted, his arms shooting out to wrap themselves around the two Dwarf's upper torsos repeatedly.

[Graham Jaeger]

Graham lithely twisted to avoid the strike and spun low to try to trip the dwarf with his bow.

[Deirdre Quinn]

Finally dislodged from the creature, Dee rights herself and starts a strafing run, harrying it with repulsor blasts.

[Narrator]

"That's how I ~RELAX!~" Will shouted, his arms shooting out to wrap themselves around the two Dwarf's upper torsos repeatedly.

They hadn't been respecting that response and he was able to bind them up relatively quickly. The lead dwarf back into the forge, keeping an eye on what Will might try next.

Graham lithely twisted to avoid the strike and spun low to try to trip the dwarf with his bow.

The dwarf ended up on his back, his leg hooked rather deftly, though pulling him down took a significant amount of effort, given how close to the ground he already was. Looking for his other two targets, Graham would find them mysteriously missing.

Finally dislodged from the creature, Dee rights herself and starts a strafing run, harrying it with repulsor blasts.

The creature roared in frustration, covering its head with one hand against the blasts as they pulverized the stone that made up his external shell. He flailed out with his free hand whenever he heard the jets, trying to bat Dee down.

[Graham Jaeger]

The dwarf ended up on his back, his leg hooked rather deftly, though pulling him down took a significant amount of effort, given how close to the ground he already was. Looking for his other two targets, Graham would find them mysteriously missing.

Graham clocked the dwarf with the hardest part of his bow and whirled to find a target.

[Will Stanton]

Growing a third arm out of his chest, Will walked slowly and deliberately towards the forge. "Alright, come out and no one will get hurt."

[Deirdre Quinn]

Dee takes a hammer blow from one of the creature's rocky mitts, careening back and slamming into one of the pillars.

Her suit's lights flicker as systems reboot to right her.

[Narrator]

Dee takes a hammer blow from one of the creature's rocky mitts, careening back and slamming into one of the pillars.

Her suit's lights flicker as systems reboot to right her.

The creature roared, feeling a little triumphant, but still not able to see where she'd gone.

Growing a third arm out of his chest, Will walked slowly and deliberately towards the forge. "Alright, come out and no one will get hurt."

"Mingus'll be gone to get reinforcements. Best surrender now," one of the trapped dwarves grunted, struggling against the binding. "Yeah, he'll have taken the portal to the beast grounds," the other dwarf said. "Shut up, you idiot!"

Graham clocked the dwarf with the hardest part of his bow and whirled to find a target.

No targets immediately presented themselves other than the mountain troll with his severely damaged outer shell.

[Will Stanton]

"A portal to the beast grounds, ey? Like, where the new beast they're trying to tame might be hiding?" he said, squeezing one of the dwarves a little tighter.

[Deirdre Quinn]

"Give me... a bloody second here, Stanton." Dee grunts, her gyroscopes and servos not yet back online, rendering her armor mostly dead weight at the moment.

[Will Stanton]

"Oh, I'm not going anywhere until these guys give us the info. Or I squeeze them into a fine paste, one or the other," he bluffed.

[Narrator]

The eyes of the "idiot" dwarf went wide, "Yeah, yeah. That's the place. She drinks like a dwarf or so I've heard, so she can't be all bad. For one of the beasts of Summer at least." The other dwarf looked fit to burst.

[Will Stanton]

"And how do we get there?"

[Graham Jaeger]

Graham took aim and let an arrow fly for the troll's right eye.

[Narrator]

"Portal's in the back of the forge. Press the left gem. Should still work if they haven't wrecked the other side."

Graham's shot glanced off the metal that Dee had put over the troll's eyes. "Lunk can't see you," he said, sniffing the air, "but Lunk smells you, elf."

[Deirdre Quinn]

Dee's systems finally whirred back to operation, and she lurched back to standing.

"Alright, let's move."

[Graham Jaeger]

"I'm no elf," Graham said, angry that he missed. He stole a pair of dwarven daggers as he moved to join the others.

[Will Stanton]

"Alright. Hold on to your butts," Will said, pressing the left gem when they were all there.

[Narrator]

The portal flared to life. On stepping through, they were assaulted by the stench of the area as if a hundred wet dogs were all in the same room. The ground was muddy and wet and a light, cold, misting drizzle was falling. Everywhere was the sound of various animals from bovine to canine to feline as well as other unidentifiable noises. Above the all though, echoed a rumbling roar that Dee would likely recognize.

[Deirdre Quinn]

"She's over there," Dee says with determination, heading in that direction.

[Will Stanton]

"Lead on!" Will said, keeping his head on a swivel (perhaps more literally than most)

[Graham Jaeger]

Graham followed, still ready for anything.

"This is a bad place," he commented, "Too many predators."

[Narrator]

Winding their way through the pens, they caught sight of creatures that only existed in myth like a man-faced lion with a scorpion tail and several wolves the size of horses snapping at each other. Over the top edges of the cages, they could see the heads of bulls moving along the aisles, but most of the cages and pens were too tall for the trio to be readily visible. The roar seemed to be coming from an exhibition ring of sorts with a very high wall around it.

[Will Stanton]

"I'm tempted to release all of them, but the common sense part of me says that would be a horrible idea."

[Deirdre Quinn]

"I've a feeling we're going to have enough of a fight on our hands," she says as she continues towards the arena.

[Graham Jaeger]

"Agreed. Those workers were just the warmup round."

[Narrator]

When they got closer to the arena, they could hear the crack of a whip and a feminine voice, "You will yield, beast! Not to worry, there will be a juicy stag here for you to eat soon enough." The voice was cold, and Graham was almost positive he'd 'heard' it before.

[Deirdre Quinn]

"Does it count as an international incident if I blast a fae noble's face off?" Dee grumbles quietly, continuing on.

[Graham Jaeger]

"That voice... I think it's the one I heard in my head earlier," Graham whispered.

[Will Stanton]

"Don't worry, we won't let it eat you," Will re-assured him.

[Narrator]

The gate into the enclosure had a very effective stopping device. A minotaur stood with his back to the gate, arms crossed.

[Will Stanton]

"Want to take the physical route, or the sneaky route?" Will whispered.

[Deirdre Quinn]

"How much do the two of you weigh?" She asks them.

[Will Stanton]

"How much do you need?" Will countered.

[Deirdre Quinn]

"The lighter the better. I think we're going to rely on the fact that they don't know what the hell to do with us yet."

[Will Stanton]

"I can't be fully negligible, but a couple ounces, if you have somewhere to put me."

[Graham Jaeger]

"About 150. Pounds, that is."

[Deirdre Quinn]

"Stanton, I'll wear you if I need to. You both just need to hit the ground running once we're in there."

[Will Stanton]

"If that's the most convenient," Will nodded, seriously.