Episode 7

**On this episode of There Will Be Dungeons...**

As the episode opens, the old man "Lights" has run screaming off into the distance, as three faint lights have appeared in the distance, and are approaching the party in the Fate 4.

Vorel reacts by attempting to hide in the desert sand before the lights can reach the Fate 4, while Stanley rouses Hope and Nash. Nash wakes in his usual cheery mood, rushes to the door and immediately casts a fire bolt into the sky attempting to illuminate the situation. Sadly, the light is insufficient in reaching the oncoming source of lights.

Continuing to prepare for whatever is about to arrive, Stanley and Hope ready themselves for the coming encounter. Nash, meanwhile, weaves a brief tale of once before having seen these lights - when a huge convoy of vehicles appeared just before he was kidnapped and taken to the Solar Mines.

The lights continue to approach, giving off a strange clicking sound. Shapes slowly resolve behind each of the lights...appearing to be the enormously long, low-slung bodies of insects with glowing balls of light dangling out in front of them.

The insects move around the vehicle, seemingly probing the space around it with the strange lights hanging in front of them, but aside from some brief movement and sound generated by Stanley, the party is able to avoid confrontation with the creatures by hiding in the sand, staying still, and making very little noise.

After an interminable period of examination, the insects seem to decide that there is nothing of interest to them around the Fate 4, and move back off into the desert. But as the coast becomes clear, the party comes to realize something is missing...Bok Bok!

A quick search of the area reveals nothing - the goblin has disappeared. Examining more closely, Vorel notices a set of goblin tracks seemingly following the tracks that "Lights" left when he ran off screaming. Recognizing this is a problem, the party hatches a plan to use the Fate 4's horn to call out to Bok Bok. But they also realize that the horn is likely to attract the attention of the insects that have just left.

Deciding there is no alternative, the party readies themselves for the coming encounter, and gives forth an overly-long blast from the Fate 4's horn. In the distance, the fading lights seem to pause...before quickly heading back in their direction!

Not long thereafter, the form of a goblin appears from the darkness, dragging a form behind him. As the creature grows closer, the party recognizes it as Bok Bok, who is dragging the unconscious form of "Lights" behind him. Upon further examination, it appears that Bok Bok has savagely beaten the old man, but he still seems to be breathing.

Before the insects are able to arrive, the party prepares themselves within the Fate 4 for the encounter. Nash, in a moment of weakness, nearly loses his fury upon the monsters as they arrive, but Hope is able to calm him and keep him from triggering a battle.

The insects again inspect the area around the Fate 4, and finding nothing of interest, head back off again into the desert night, which passes uneventfully.

The following day, the party wakes early, and sets off again in the south-easterly direction they have been heading, following the tracks of the goblin raiding party. A few hours later, a large cloud of dust appears ahead, and not long afterwards, three vehicles can be seen headed in their directly, moving very quickly.

The party rushes to develop a plan for the coming encounter. Ultimately, Nash and Stanley make their way up to the roof of the vehicle, while Vorel attempts to assemble a crown and other royal accouterments to appear as the lizard god that the goblins believe him to be. Stanley adds a little flare to the costume, prestidigitating some flames to improve the overall disguise.

Meanwhile, the vehicles have quickly gained on the Fate 4. Loud music can be heard filling the air, and pair of trucks and a large city bus with what appears to be a catapult bolted onto the roof, begin their assault.

The catapult on the bus lashes forward, launching several goblins flying into the air. Hope nimbly guides the Fate 4 out of the path of the flying creatures. Realizing they're not going to land on the roof, they throw several metal objects at the Fate 4. Several land on top of the bus, and explode injuring Nash, Vorel, and Stanley. Inside, a grenade crashes through the window, exploding inside but not harming Hope who continues to try and evade the goblin trucks.

Returning fire, Nash attempts to blast out one of the goblins' vehicles tires, but the fire bolt is unsuccessful at damaging it.

Seizing upon the idea that the catapult is largely wooden, Stanley points this fact out to Nash who attempts to set it aflame. Nash misses with the catapult, but connects with a goblin, setting it aflame and flailing off of the top of the oncoming bus.

With the bus following behind, and one of the trucks heading towards them, Hope steps on the gas and aims straight at the oncoming truck. With an amazing display of piloting, at the last second Hope veers off causing the truck and bus to slam headlong into each other. The truck is clearly demolished, and the begins to flip and roll, spilling goblins as it goes.

However, the move is not without consequence. Vorel loses his footing on the top of the vehicle, and flies off landing in the desert sand near the crashed trucks.

Hope quickly turns the Fate 4, heading back to rescue the stunned Vorel. Pulling up along side Vorel, Hope stops the vehicle, and just as she is reaching out to help him into the Fate 4, the remaining goblin truck sweeps past, and the goblins inside throw harpoons at Vorel, snagging him and dragging him behind the truck!

Hope slams the door of the Fate 4 closed, spins the RV around and begins to chase the truck...but the Fate 4 begins to sputter and smoke...clearly it's nearly given its all. Hope continues to push the Fate 4 as hard as she can and slowly pulls up next to the truck dragging Vorel behind it.

Hope pulls out a revolver and carefully takes aim at the driver of the truck, and fires! The shot connects with the goblin, which loses control of the truck. It begins to roll and throw bodies from it, coming to a stop. Hope stops the Fate 4 behind the truck, and she, Nash, and Stanley quickly pile out of the Fate 4 to assist Vorel.

Five goblins have survived the crash of the truck, and with Vorel between them and the rest of the party, they prepare to attack. From behind the goblins, a shout can be heard, and Bok Bok comes rushing out of the smoke, launches himself on top of one of the goblins, and begins stabbing at the creature.

Vorel, attempting to take advantage of Bok Bok's sudden attack, rushes at another of the goblins, misses with one attack, but connecting with his second, successfully crushing the skull of the goblin with a viscous bite.

Hope takes aim at another goblin with her shotgun, but misses. The goblin attempts to return the sentiment but also misses.

A fourth and fifth goblin rush at Stanley and Nash, but are unsuccessful in their attacks. Nash, deciding to get physical, attacks one of the creatures with his staff but also misses.

Stanley, however, successfully engages with one of the remaining goblins, stabbing it viciously through the eye with his rapier.

Invigorated from his kill, Vorel rushes at one of the two remaining goblins and connects with another viscous bite on this goblin - wounding but not killing the creature. Hope takes bead at the goblin just injured by Vorel, fires at it blasting the goblins head from its body.

The final goblin, still engaged with Nash, successfully connects with an attack with its ax. Wounded but not out of the fight, Nash responds with an Acid Bubble, that begins to sizzle and eat away at the face of the goblin as it connects.

Spinning from his successful kill, Stanley spins in an attempt to kill the screaming goblin, but whiffs, stabbing nothing but air.

Vorel, feeling victory is imminent, rushes at the goblin and delivers a final crushing bite killing the goblin, but also taking a mouthful of the acid burning on the goblin's face. With a scream of rage, Vorel releases the goblin.

As the dust of battle settles, Stanley approaches Vorel and pulls the spears from his sides. The rage of battle begins to subside from Vorel, who succumbs to his wounds, collapsing briefly in an unconscious pile on the ground. Stanley quickly reacts to Vorel's collapse, casting a healing spell, and returning him to consciousness.

With the battle passed, Hope assesses the damage to the Fate 4 and finds it repairable, but it will take most of a full day to effect repairs. This is not to mention the disarray of the RV's contents, which will need a thorough cleaning.

Stanley takes stabbing duty, and along with Bok Bok's assistance, policies the goblin bodies to ensure they are all dead. Finding a few alive, he and Bok Bok gladly dispatch the remaining survivors. He also takes the opportunity to collect fuel from the goblin vehicles to replenish the Fate 4's stores.

Nash and Vorel use the opportunity to take a brief rest and recover from the encounter.

As the party goes about their business, they notice that off in the distance, perhaps half a mile away, there appears to be a strange metal-looking structure rising from the desert floor.

Realizing that the strange metal structure might represent additional sources of material to repair the Fate 4, Nash and Hope head out to investigate the tower.

After a short hike they arrive at the structure, which they recognize as some sort of antenna tower, but one that only extends a short distance above the desert floor. Nash and Hope survey the area, finding little else of interest, when Nash begins to feel a strange feeling coming from the earth beneath the antenna. He warns Hope that he feels something odd here, something dark, but can't determine much more.

Before Nash can continue he begins to feel a familiar nausea building up in his stomach. Worried that he might be about to experience another explosion, he warns Hope that she should back away. The feeling continues to grow, and a strange fire begins to build in his body. Dropping to his knees, he experiences another strange sensation, and Hope yells out that he's sinking into the sand! She starts to rush to his aid, but before she can take more than a few steps, Nash explodes in a huge fireball!

When her vision clears, Nash is gone. Hope rushes towards where she saw Nash disappear, and she also begins to feel the sand sinking beneath her.

Back at the Fate 4, Stanley and Vorel are busy cleaning up the RV, and discussing the vagaries of prestidigitation. Vorel, curious as to where the materials go when Stanley uses prestidigitation clean something, brings this thought up to Stanley. Taken aback at the thought, Stanley admits he doesn't actually know...but is now somewhat concerned that at some point in the future he's going to find out where...and be buried in an enormous pile of dirt, blood, poo, and worse.

While they continue their discussion, the CB radio in the Fate 4 begins to crackle, and a voice issues forth, calling out for someone to help him. Stanley picks up the microphone, and after some experimentation, is able to ask how they can help and where the voice is. The voice simply responds that he is "beneath the ground" and "is a tree", and continues to ask for help.

Confused, Vorel and Stanley try to understand what a "tree" is. But they are interrupted by the voice telling them that the voice has their "friend", the "firey one"...which they presume to mean Nash. Wanting to verify the voice's claims, Vorel quickly scrambles to the roof of the Fate 4 looking in the direction of the metal tower for Nash, but is unable to see anything of interest.

Stanley and Vorel prepare to head towards the tower, but before heading out, they take a moment to convince Bok Bok to keep watch over "Lights", and promise not to eat him. Assured that Bok Bok will behave, they rush off to the tower and find Hope frantically trying to find a way to reach Nash where he has sunk into the sand.

Unable to determine how Nash has disappeared beneath the sands, Vorel wonders if re-enacting Nash's performance would be effective - and begins rolling around on the ground, proclaiming "oh, I'm on fire!", but to little effect. Unable to control himself, Stanley begins to laugh and accidentally steps into a soft spot in the sand...which begins to start pulling him down slowly.

Hope, seeing Stanley disappear into the sands, head towards him, but she too begins t to descend into the sands. As the sands pull her down, she feels a wave of panic wash over her, and shouts out for help. Vorel drops prone and grabs her arm, yanking her free of the sand, as Stanley disappears fully into the sands.

Hope and Vorel, having now seen two of their companions disappear beneath the desert sands, ponder the fate of Nash and Stanley, and what their future may hold.