Tomb Queens- Part 3

Night had fallen over the quiet cove that sheltered Booty Bay. Above the gently lapping waters the moon hung in the sky, it's silver light illuminating the shanty town that had been partially destroyed in the Shattering. Naturally, goblin industriousness had repaired much of the damage and the green-skinned creatures continued even amongst the ruins of businesses that had succumbed to the devastation.

Beckyann lay on a boulder just above the town, her form stretched out on the stone and the body of her gnome companion lying beside her. In the dim light of the moon her eyes glowed brightly as she looked down on the town below them. Spanner grunted beside her, his face pressed to a strange, multi-lensed device that he claimed would allow him to see clearly in the dark. To Beckyann it just looked like a collection of strange tubes that glowed a fel-green in the night.

“There, near the center of the town,” Spanner said quietly. Beckyann looked to where his stubby fingers were pointing, seeing a multi-floor structure rising up along the docks that lined the cove. Above the structure they could both clearly make out the sight of Bix's hot air balloon where it had been moored to the building's roof. Clearly this was her headquarters in the Bay, and it was within that structure that they would find their prize.

“But look,” Beckyann said in irritation, pointing to the docks in front of the building. “There are Booty Bay bruisers patrolling right outside. How much do you want to bet she's paid off the local enforcers to keep her property clear? I highly doubt they're going to take our side when its one of their own kind they're sheltering, no matter what cartel she's from. And I don't have the coin to counter-bribe them either.”

Spanner held up a hand to calm the dead woman, smiling at her, “I've got just the thing! I thought we might get into a sticky situation so I've planned ahead!”

With that, he took out two small discs. Made of metal and wires, they were about the size of a brooch that one might use to fasten a cloak or to decorate a dress. Spanner leaned over, affixing one to Beckyann's dress and then attaching another one to the lapel of his jacket. With a chuckle he depressed a button on the one he was wearing, and his form shimmered.

Where the gnome had been standing now stood a goblin, his clothing almost identical to what the gnome had been wearing. Beckyann blinked in surprise, reaching out to feel the goblin's long, tapered ears. To her surprise, her hand passed through, touching nothing. It was some sort of illusion.

“Fascinating. It'll do to get us inside,” she said softly.

Spanner grinned, his goblin disguise turning the expression into one that had quite a bit more teeth than he naturally would display. He leaned over and pressed the button on Beckyann's device. Instantly the human woman was replaced by a goblin female with shockingly bright blonde hair. Her stylish glasses that were in her hair appeared now to be mechanic's goggles, and the gnome gently pushed them down, disguising her eyes.

“There we are! You'll be some sort of goblin supermodel with hair like that,” the gnome chuckled. Beckyann noted that even his voice had been altered by the disguising field of the devices they wore.

“How long will...” she began, only to blink in surprise to hear her own voice modified to the typical high-pitched tone of a goblin. Spanner laughed again, getting to his feet.

“About an hour until the batteries die. We need to move,” he said. Beckyann nodded once and rose beside him, the two making their way towards the town below.

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Getting in had been easy. The bruisers patrolling the docks hadn't given the two goblins much attention other than ogling the bright blonde goblin female. They managed to pass into the structure with no more than a few lewd comments whispered behind them. Beckyann kept a running tally of how many people she was going to have to kill when this venture was over in the back of her mind and continued to follow Spanner as he passed in through the door.

Once inside, they immediately came upon a large garage area with stairs leading upwards. Within the open space several goblins were working on trikes and mechanohogs, an ogre bodyguard lounging deeper within the building on a ratty looking couch. Ignoring the people below, the duo proceeded up the stairs, not alarming the goblins in the slightest with their disguises.

As they made their way to the upper floor, they found themselves in a long hallway. Another stairwell at the end of the hallway lead up to a roof access panel; presumably how one got to the hot air balloons moored above. Several doors opened on either side of the hallway, but it was immediately obvious where their objective was as they looked down the length of the corridor. Just before the stairwell to the roof, a table had been set up and a trio of goblins was engaged in a game of cards. Behind them was a door with a golden nameplate that was unreadable from where the two stood. It was obvious that Bix's private offices were behind the guards and glided sign however.

With a false smile on his face, Spanner took the lead and they walked down the hallway towards the goblins. The three looked up from their card game, looking annoyed to be interrupted. One of them eyed the two over, pulling a cigar out of his mouth long enough to lazily challenge them, “Got some business here or what?”

Spanner nodded at the goblin, his disguise fooling them. “Yeah. Gotta see the Boss. Got some more intel 'bout those gnomes we hit.”

Spanner turned, placing a hand on Beckyann's back and pushing her towards the three goblins, “Hey sweets, why don't you play some cards with these guys while I go talk to her eh? I'll be out in five minutes.”

Beckyann stumbled forward, stammering, “But I don't know how to...play cards.....”

Her voice trailed off as she saw the three goblin guards looking at her like they had just cracked open a bank vault. She rolled her eyes, sighing as one of them grabbed a chair and offered it to her. Clearly they were going to fleece her for everything she had, and she could almost hear her coin-purse crying out in agony. Spanner walked past the three, pushing his way into the inner offices.

The three had just settled down into their third hand (Beckyann having already lost the first two!) when shouts came from behind the door. Shots rang out and two large holes were punched in the wall near the card-players as the door flew open and Spanner ran out. His disguise had failed, and he grinned widely, the troll mask clasped in his hands. Behind him, the voice of Bix trailed out, her high-pitched goblin accent almost indecipherable as she put a few more rounds into the doorframe behind him.

“Time to go Miss Eastberg!” Spanner yelled as he ran past the table. One of the guards blinked in surprise and then grabbed a pistol, aiming it at Spanner. Before he could pull the trigger, Beckyann lashed out, her arm knocking the gun up and causing the weapon to put a neat hole in the ceiling as it discharged. Above them, they could hear the sound of an explosion as the shot punctured the hot air balloon moored on the roof, followed by things collapsing on the ceiling.

Several things happened at once, with disastrous consequences. Spanner ran down the hall, skidding as he approached the stairwell. At the same time, one of the three card-players got up, lunging at Beckyann. At the same moment, a second card-player player threw a chair at her, striking his lunging companion and causing both chair and goblin to fly right into the goblin with the pistol. The two landed in a pile of tangled limbs and goblin curses as Beckyann reared up, flipping the table over into the last standing goblin. The flat oaken surface slammed into his face, hurling him backwards just as Bix ran through the doorway of her offices, causing a second collision.

Beckyann wasted no time, sprinting after the goblin and idly noticing that her disguise had malfunctioned in the scuffle. Her longer gait allowed her to quickly catch up to Spanner as the two dashed madly down the stairs, the sounds of angry goblins pursuing them coming from behind.

They burst into the garage, only to find the goblin mechanics already alerted to their presence. What was worse was the ogre bodyguard who had risen from his nap on the couch, blocking their path. Beckyann placed a hand on Spanner's shoulder, halting him as she prowled out in front of him. She was in no mood to deal with further delays. In a huff, she stormed towards the ogre, pushing up the sleeves on her dress and winding her fist back to strike at the creature.

The ogre brought his hands up, shielding his face as Beckyann's fist lashed out with the unnatural strength of the undead. Unfortunately, she had been aiming much, much lower, and everyone in the room, even Spanner, winced and looked away as the pained ogre made a peculiar squeaking sound before falling over, grabbing himself and curling into a ball. Beckyann tilted her head, cracking her neck before looking over at the goblin mechanics. They all shifted away from her, one of them dropping a wrench he'd been holding with a metallic clink on the stone floor.

Spanner dashed past Beckyann, running up to one of the mechanohogs, “Over here Miss Eastberg! Let's go!”

Giving the mechanics one last dirty look, Beckyann dashed after her gnome companion, leaping onto the back of the bike as he quickly hot-wired it and got it going. In a dash they were off, the tin-door of the garage presenting almost no barrier as they burst through it and onto the streets of Booty Bay, scattering bruisers who had been guarding the building.

For a moment, it seemed as if the two were safe as they sped off across the docks. Unfortunately the moment passed and the roar of engines could be heard as three more of the bikes drove out of the garage, angry goblins atop them. Beckyann shouted, her voice lost in the wind and roar of their bike's passing. Spanner nodded at her though, and she knew he'd had a chance to at least glance back and see the threat.

With a roar, the goblins on the bikes chasing them opened fire, a hail of poorly aimed bullets hurtling past them as they wove in between stacks of crates on the docks. Beckyann looked back, taking one hand from Spanner's waist and pointing. On her wrist a charm bracelet dangled, looking like interwoven chains with a skull clasp. The skull on the bracelet glowed, the eyes illuminating as a frost rune appeared on it and the entire bracelet became freezing cold. In the distance behind the two, Chains of Ice wrapped around the front wheel of one of the bikes, instantly rooting it to the ground. The rear of the bike continued on, and the entire vehicle flipped over, spilling goblins all over the dock. The other two bikes roared past the wreck, still firing at the two fleeing thieves.

Beckyann grunted as something hard struck her in the back, a bullet penetrating her shoulder. She slumped against Spanner for a moment from the impact before righting herself. The projectile had passed through her, and such a weapon would do little damage to her undead flesh and useless organs, but it was a concern that they would eventually hit Spanner while he was driving.

As if to echo her thoughts, a round struck their bike's fuel line. Burning liquid spilled out behind them, setting the docks on fire. Beckyann shouted, pounding Spanner on the shoulder as their bike began to cough and sputter from the loss of fuel. Spanner jammed the throttle up and the bike surged forward again, burning up their precious remaining fuel and leaving a blazing trail in their wake. They were rapidly approaching the end of the dock.

Behind them, Beckyann heard the roar of another projectile and ducked as a rocket spiraled past them. The poorly aimed and designed weapon left a swirl of smoke behind it as it struck a pile of crates on the end of the pier, blowing splintered wood in all directions. Unable to stop, Spanner drove the bike into the swirling smoke, the spilling fuel from their bike adding to the destruction.

At the very end of the pier several planks of wood had fallen over some crates, with with a wild shout Spanner yanked back on the bike, popping the front wheel up. The bike hit the plank and rode it like a ramp, their momentum hurling them high into the air over the bay and leaving a trail of flames behind them as the dock began to burn in earnest and goblins ran too and fro trying to douse the flames. Their pursuers were forced to skid to a stop as they came upon the wall of flame that separated them, and Beckyann would have shouted in triumph if not for the fact that they were on a downward arc towards the shark infested waters surrounding Booty Bay.

Beckyann grabbed Spanners waist and pointed past him, shouting in the Language of Death. Just before they hit the water, a surge of freezing cold necromantic magic flew across the surface of the water, turning it to ice. The bike struck the ice, something within it making a 'crumping' noise as it shattered and gnome, dead woman, and bike skidded across the frozen surface of the water.

When their momentum had finally ended and the wild sliding stopped, Beckyann sat up on the ice, looking back to see that they were several hundred yards away from the burning pier. A few feet away from her, Spanner groaned and sat up, offering her a grin that was minus several teeth. With an almost delighted laugh, he held up the troll mask that they'd been after.

His smile was infectious, and despite having just been shot, nearly set alight, and eaten by sharks, Beckyann found herself giggling. The two rose, walking carefully on the ice towards the far shore and away from the raging inferno that Bix's goons had started. With luck, it would delay their competition long enough for them to steal the prize.

The tomb and its treasures would be theirs. They only had to carve their way through several miles of jungle to get to it!