Interlude: Badger Hunting

[JimBone]

"Kay-kay" Tom brushes the damp hair from his forehead with the back of his long t-shirt sleeve and dabs his temples dry. The number of layers he's wearing, combined with the large pack on his back - and the slight anxiety of what might be going on further down the cave - are beginning to take their toll. He walks to right of the wide passageway, and proceeds into the cave about 5 feet from the wall, holding his flashlight almost at chest height so the cone of light illuminates his path, and as much of the side of the cave as possible.

"Keep an eye out for any side openings or cracks in the wall. I bet those fuckers can climb."

[Bitom]

OOC

Guess I wasn't completely clear. the breeze is coming OUT of where you just came from, so away from John and the others

Jason and Tom follow the wall of the cave for a few hundred feet before their lights pick out the edge of a cliff. The large cavern they now stand on is simply a hole in the side of a much larger one. Their lights glint off of quartz in the rocks and scatter around, allowing them to dimly see the chasm.

The first thing they notice is that their lights, even with the reflecting quartz, come nowhere near seeing the other side. There is a sensation of great space, however, as if the cavern goes on for miles.

The second thing they notice is that the hole in the cavern wall that they have emerged from is just one of many, heading off in different directions.

The third thing they notice is the alcoves. There are small shelves cut into the cavern wall all around them, hundreds of them. In many of them, there are one or more 'honey badgers.' they are all looking up at the light, and none of them seem happy.

A few of them start to climb toward the lights, spines standing up aggressively. Then there is a sound. It's a low sound, as if made by something very large, and it comes from beyond the range of the light. Tom and Jason feel it more than they hear it. The others, above, hear what seems like a deep horn.

Hearing it, all of the 'honey badgers' leave their alcoves, scrambling for the nearest exit hole. A dozen or so are headed right for Jason and Tom!

[JimBone]

"Woah!" Tom bends his knees slightly and braces when he sees the vast opening. He tenses even more as he feels the eyes of the badger's accusing him silently as he lights them up with his flashlight. When the deep sound rumbles around him, he instinctively steadies himself with his right hand against the cave wall, forgetting about the camera strapped to it, causing thick scratches in the thin coating of silver paint on the plastic.

He takes a couple of steps backwards to get Jason into his peripheral without letting his focus move from the pack of badgers headed towards them.

"Come on!" he bellows at Jason, then turns and sprints back the way he came. Flashlight swinging around wildly as he attempts to keep himself balanced with all his equipment.

Action

GTFO ASAP

[Shadowwk]

"Woooooooow..." is about all Jason can think to say at seeing the vast opening of the cave and all of the shinies.
Upon seeing the badgers, Jason's hand drifts down to his stick, walkie clipped to the right shoulder strap of his backpack. When the cave starts rumbling with what could only be the bellows of the queen honey badger (because at this point that makes about as much sense as anything else), Jason's hand flies up to his walkie as he stammers out the words "...honey badgers.."

Seeing Tom start for the exits and seeing the creatures come running towards the duo, Jason's bravado all but jettisons from his mind and is replaced by pants-shitting terror.

Action

RUN FORREST RUN!!!

[Bitom]

Man and boy turn and flee back toward the cave entrance. The narrow passage presents little trouble for the them, being adequately inspired by fear to feats of athletics that they might not otherwise consider.

The passage briefly blocked by tom and his over-sized backpack, Jason turns and shines his light back the way they came. He sees the dozen 'honey badgers' rushing toward him, but he also sees something else: A pale gray tentacle which bears no resemblance to anything attached to a honey badger lashes out from the darkness and plucks one of the small creatures off the ground and drags it back into the darkness. During all of this, the honey badgers continue to make no sound other than the slapping of their feet against the ground.

Roll

Rolled dex+athletics to give perversity a chance to show it's hand:

-----------------------------
Tom Rolled: 3 dice:
8, 2, 10, 3
2 successes. Success!
1 dice were re-rolled due to 10 again rule.
-----------------------------
Jason Rolled: 7 dice:
8, 5, 7, 1, 8, 5, 4
2 successes. Success!

[Chanur]

Vincent stands in the upper chamber looking around wondering how his neighbors are doing exploring deeper in when he hears "honey badgers" come across the walkie. He readies his bat expecting their former nemesis to come running out. "Sounds like that critter is still here."

OOC

Vincent is thinking its just the 1 still.

[Shadowwk]

"Move it buuSWEET BABY JESUS ON A POGO STICK!!! Tommy, I think we pissed of Cthulhu!!" A half second of clarity later, Jason hits the button on the walkie, "Run!!!"

OOC

how big is the tentacle roughly? Thin man sized or giant squid sized?

[Bitom]

Tom and Jason come piling out of the crack and into the room where the others await. None of the others look like they're planning to run.

Jason

Thin-man sized at the tip, but becoming rapidly thicker. You're pretty sure it won't fit into the crack you've just scrambled up, but the Honey Badgers will.

[Chanur]

Seeing his neighbours come bursting out of the tunnel with panic in their eyes Vincent turns to run "Holy Mother..." he whispers as he starts to flee.

OOC

Get out of dodge...run for the hills.

[JimBone]

Tom pops through the opening into the area where Sam and John are waiting, panting, bright red in the face.

He slips the handycam off his his palm and plops it into the corner of the small room they're in. "They're coming" He manages to wheeze out between gasps for air. He swings the large backpack off his back, nearly getting knocked down by Jason as he bounds through the hole behind him.

"We need to block this off." From the backpack he pulls the large piece of dark wood, protruding from the bag's opening. Once revealed it appears to be the leg of an expensive coffee table. Thick at one end, with some right angled edges, but smooth and rounded near the base, almost like the handle of a slightly twisted baseball bat. The whole thing is solid and finished with a dark stain and varnish. There are some basic tribal shapes carved into it, the varnish thicker in the carved areas, making them appear deeper than they are. He slips the thick end of the makeshift club into the back pocket of his jeans, and crams the rest of his bloated backpack as tightly as he can into the base of the narrowest part of the opening he and Jason just returned from. There's still plenty of space for a badger to get through.

"Come on, now!" He seems suprised at the other men and their lack of psychic ability. "There's dozens of these things, maybe hundreds."

Tom grabs the club from his back and gestures towards his backpack for the other men to build on, while still trying to catch his breath he readies the club in an offensive stance, primed to give any badgers a hefty blow to the face should they appear through the crack.

OOC

Just realised I maybe did too much for the time we have, I understand if you want to trim my actions down.