Kip landed with a thud. His diminutive size allowed him to stand up inside. He was inside the mole barbarian’s makeshift burrow, a half dome, like the divet of an empty pool with no shallow end. This was not good. He was stuck underground, where Zeke could not help him. If he did not get out, he might lose the barbarian.
“Zeke!” He yelled, “Can you hear me?” He heard nothing.
Kip felt for soft spots in the dome. It was all tightly packed earth. The only way out was up.
“Zeke!” Kip yelled.
“He can’t hear you,” the voice bounced off the soft dirt. The moisture tangled with the clods of dirt, giving the air a heavy odor. The shades of brown surrounding Kip were decorated with rocks and roots. Kip jumped up to the top and grabbed onto the tunnel’s edge, but he held nothing but crumbly earth. He fell back down. He sighed. He would have to use Burst, but if he wasn’t careful, he could bump his head on the tunnel.
Kip wondered if he could temper Burst well enough not to smash his head. Kip bent his knees and called the ability, “Burst.” He felt the same surge of strength enter his legs as he always did, a slight glow from the energy channeling through his bloodstream. He half kicked his legs, leaping up, as he did, a hand emerged from the earth and grabbed his foot. Kip stopped short and fell on his face. Kip turned back, the hand receded into the hole. Kip skirmished toward the barbarian’s appendage, digging his arm in to try to grab the barbarian. No use. Instead, another fist came from the wall, punching him across the face. Kip attempted a counterstrike, but once again, the barbarian disappeared.
“Do you understand?” The voice echoed, “Do you understand the power of the humble mole?”
Another fist came out from the floor, punching Kip with an uppercut. Kip fell back and the arms came around the earth, snatching Kip’s neck and strangling it as he was pulled half into the earth.
“DO YOU SEE THE POWER OF THE MOLE?! YOU MAY BE THE LORD OF ALL THAT IS UNHOLY, BUT I AM THE LORD OF ALL THAT IS MOLY!”
Kip used his daggerous claws and pinched down on the barbarian. He snipped two of the barbarian’s fingers off. The hands shivered before recoiling back into the earth, now bleeding out.
Kip got up, “I don’t… CARE ABOUT MOLES!”
Kip’s eyes drew back to the lid of the bowl he was trapped in. The mole was right. This was his domain, and it did Kip no favors to be stuck there. “If I keep moving,” Kip thought, “I could use the pressure applied by my movement to keep me against the walls.”
Kip began running around the bowl in a circle. He continued to run in a circle, moving higher up the mole’s bowl.
“Ahhh,’ the barbarian said, “Seems that you’ve decided to use the power of science. Science is no match for moles.”
As Kip reached the top lip of the bowl, he noticed the hand pop up in front of him. Kip leapt forward, grabbing the claw and holding onto it tightly. Kip now flung the full force of his weight as he pulled the mole barbarian out of the wall and down with him.
While Kip and the barbarian fell to the bottom of the burrow, Kip landed on the ground, the barbarian on top of him. Kip took his claws and jabbed them into the barbarian’s sides. Kip’s claws had changed since the daggerous claws update. They pierced like knives. Four big holes opened up in the barbarian’s side. Blood spurted like little geysers when Kip took them out. The barbarian let out a slight grunt in recognition of the stab, but his rage prevented him from feeling the effects. As Kip went in for another stab, the barbarian punted Kip with his elbow. The barbarian pulled his elbow back again and struck him. When Kip went for the stab, the barbarian stopped his wrist and was able to turn around. The barbarian scratched Kip’s soft underbelly, drawing blood. Kip could feel the heated liquid of blood pooling in his mouth. Since pain was not slowing this barbarian down, Kip had to find some other way to momentarily distract him.
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Kip spat up at the barbarian. The blood entered his eyes. The barbarian reached for his face to wipe off the blood. Kip pulled his torso up, reaching his dangerous claws and stabbing the combatant along the head on either side. Kip watched as the smug smirk the barbarian had on faded, along with the life in his eyes. The barbarian slumped downward onto Kip, and Kip looked around, hoping someone would help take the barbarian off of him.
Eventually, he was able to roll the barbarian off.
He ran along the tunnel wall as before and was able to crawl out uninterrupted. He felt along the top of the cramped tunnel and yelled out, “Zeke! Jasssper!”
“Over here, little buddy! He heard a muted cry from behind him. While his claws were still on, he dug them into the earth and scraped his way up. He could see the light pouring down as Zeke punched holes up above, his fists puncturing the film of earth as the minotaur felt his way through the maze of tunnels.
“Zeke! You can stop, I’m here!” And he ran up to one of the holes. Zeke’s large eyes lit up when he looked inward and saw his pal. He reached down and grabbed Kip with his large fists and pulled him out. Kip covered as his eyes had readjusted to the sun.
“Where’s Jasssper?” Kip asked.
“Here, sire.” Jasssper spoke, “I closed the door for the entrance to the ssservice tunnel.”
“Did we see anybody else?”
“We believe they’re ssstill down in the Underdark. Did you kill the invader?”
“Yes, he’s dead at the bottom of the tunnel. We should call someone to burn his body in case one of his party members is a necromancer.”
“Oh,” Jasssper noted, “I just got word from an underdark minion, apparently, Grundel himself is handling the invaders. What isss our next move?”
“We assist him.” Kip said, “Let’s climb down the service tunnel. Zeke, can you meet us through the heavy entrance?”
“Yeah, I'll get on my way right now.” Zeke ran off toward the larger service tunnel entrance.
“Magnificent job felling the beast, sire,” Jasssper said.
“Something about this doesn’t sit right with me,” Kip said, “If he was a path of the mole barbarian, he decided that the best way to get out was through the service tunnel? Even though he can dig almost as easily as he can walk?”
“What do these dumb invaders know about any of that?” Jasssper asked, “They’re probably too stupid to breathe without their kings and such telling them too.”
“We shouldn’t underestimate our enemy, Jass. Something was amiss.”
He walked up to the service entrance, now sealed by Jasssper to look nothing more than that of a tree. He took the door and opened it. It. Normally, it was a little pressure latch that opened when you pushed on it. But this time it swung open. Kip took out his toolkit from his pouch to better examine it.
“Look, Kip said as he pointed at the latch. The little nob that was meant to keep the latch in place had been snapped off. The little nob that was meant to do the latching was missing. Kip ran over the edge of it with his finger, feeling the rough angle marks that connected the nob. “Something caused this latch to snap off.”
“Probably the same invaders,” Jasssper said.
“Prrrobably,” Kip rolled the r with his tongue while he continued to investigate. Wards had been placed on every one of the service entrances, only able to be opened by the dark-siders. Kip considered that for the nob to be broken off in the first place, somebody would have to be a member of the dark lord’s army. Then leave it open for someone to find and know to break off the latch, lest the magic reintegrate when the door closes. “No…” Kip thought “Most dark-siders would have. Most day-siders would have just placed something so the latch didn’t close.” So if they were entering inside and leaving… they might not have thought they needed to cover it at all. But destroying the latch, and judging by the serration, Kip was certain there was force involved… that took intention, and it took know-how.
Kip let out a scoff as he realized, while the barbarian was dead… There was another mole he needed to worry about.
“Let’s go kill the rest of this party,” Kip said.
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