Challengers of the Unknown

Southlookery Cliffside


 * ''The face of the mountain has been carved out here, both through manpower and demolition. Sparse shrubbery and other vegetation grow amongst the rocks, and birds nest within the stone crevices. A large iron platform extends out from the face of the cliff, a massive iron tower rising from it.


 * Halaghi-made cavern mouths open into the mountain on the far side. A small iron shed has been built near the mooring pole, with a ladder leading up into a small watchtower with a large iron cylinder jutting out toward the Wildlands.''

It's a quiet evening on the breezy cliffside overlooking the vast forested Southlands. The chirping of insects can be barely heard over the creaking of iron wheels as a group of expeditioneers move supplies into the outpost.

Hal'gwynt has the bouncing step of a Halaghi pilot who's silently laughing at this love-of-ground thing other people have to pay so much attention to, at least for now. He brushes rope-dust off his gloves and looks around. "See, all safe an' landified. Ye good?"

Oforicer Hal'gus makes his way carefully down from the mooring pole, breathing a sigh of relief as his loshed feet reach solid ground. He takes a moment to adjust his hat, which has been drawn slightly askew from the ride, as he fixes Hal'gwynt with a faint grin through his bearded face. "Landified? Woulda' been better off if I'd jumped out of the window!" he guffaws briefly, shaking his head as as peers off toward the group loading supplies. Making his way in their direction, he gives them a nod as he reaches a gloved hand to keep his hat settled in the breeze. "Greets! I'm from the Wrongstoppery Orofices from Halagh, I believe that I've been sent here to inspectify a case..." The burly Halaghi pauses, infact, for a long while, his icy blue gaze squinting as he enunciates at a tone significantly above his previous speech, "...of /murdery/."

"Airatin' the 'loshes from all that uphigh?" asks Hal'gwynt, blue eyes wide. "Full steam! You do that." Belatedly, the purpose of the visit sinks back in through the levels of potential shiny, though, and the pilot sobers up somewhat. Curious, the smaller Halaghi follows after the Wrongstopper, looking around for signs of this dread thing.

The workers all turn to look at Hal'gus and Hal'gwynt. "You're the feller, eh?" A stout silver-haired Halaghi holding a welding torch speaks up. "I'm Hal'rashio, Um-Halagh welder. We got the body on ice in the Stuffkeep." He gestures toward the facility carved into the mountain. "Step this way, gennlefolks."

Southlookery Stuffkeep


 * ''The stuffkeep is a sizeable cavern occupied by haphazardly organized equipment and supplies. Rows have been carved through the various stacks of cargo to make the space more navigable. Cavern openings lead to the main room and the living quarters.

Hal'gus makes his way casually through the Southlookery, removing his hat once the two step into the Stuffkeep and tucking it securely under his arm as he looks about. "Never been this far southways," he idly comments as he wanders in, making his way slowly into the room as he looks at the various equipment and supplies.

"Not an' flyable home," Hal'gwynt agrees cheerfully, but he stills again as they get nearer the stated location of murdered people. The mind of the Halaghi seems to be a very full gas-bag that tends to tug hard on the mooring ropes of traditional sanity, but the little pilot makes a visible effort to be properly solemn. "Imagine you haven' been, Wrongstopper. We're the first findy-searchy team in Southlookery," Hal'rashio says as they walk into the Stuffkeep. A section of the stuffkeep has been cleared to make way for a large iron crate filled with ice. On top of the ice lays a body, which from the looks of it has been dead for two or three days. "Hal'bork. Nice feller, good with a steam drill. We wokered up one earlymorn to find that he'd been deadified." The welder gestures with a hammer. "Looks like a nastybig smacking to the head."

"Not so good with one anymore," deadpans the Wrongstopper as he nears the body, his expression scrutinizing. At the mention of a smacking to the head, Gus shifts his way around to inspect the corpse. He has absolutely no reservations about lifting the head up with his own hands to try to peer at the wound. "Nice feller, eh? Where'd you boyos find him?" asks the Oforicer aloud as he briefly looks toward Hal'rashio, prodding at the corpse as he does.

Hal'gwynt keeps his hands dutifully behind his back, no touchy, as he follows the wrongstopper over to peer at the body. But no telling the man his job, no.

"Near a small cave nearby. We went in, crampy little space, nothing in it," Hal'rashio explains as Hal'gus examines the body. A large wound to the side of the head is easy to find, along with bruising on the head and neck most likely caused by a large blunt instrument.

"Y'notice any blood in the cave?" continues the Wrongstopper, settling the dead Halaghi's head down carefully once he's finished, his examination resuming downward to look over for any more marks or bruises. His demeanor is not quite as solemn as Hal'gwynt, seeming far more curious and thoughtful as he mulls over what he can. "How long y'known the feller? Nice...all the expeditioneers feel the same way 'bout ol' Hal'bork 'ere?"

"Hideified," offers the pilot. "...Big rock?" "Yup, the team's really been real good about not making bickersputes, though most of us just met at the beginning of the expeditioning. Getting along rather goodly. Was kinda dark in the cave, been meanin' to go back in with a waylighter but we've been short on lightgas lately," Hal'rashio says.

Seeming to finish with the corpse for now, Gus's attention settles on Hal'rashio as he speaks. He gives a slow nod at the words, reaching a hand up to stroke his beard thoughtfully. "Hideified...mayhap. Rock, mayhap. Hammer mayhap. One way 'er another, he got pounded by /somethin'/ he didn't agree with." Rubbing his gloved hands together, Hal'gus settles his attention on Hal'rashio once more, venturing further, "Steam drills...anyone else worked on those with'em that might know him a tweek better? And we should get a looksee of that cave, soonish."

Hal'gwynt tilts his head. "Good man wi' a steam drill, aye?" he asks. "Where's th' drill hideified?"

"Whatever happened, he didn' take any gizmos with him. Drills an' all are still here," Hal'rashio says. "Should think all the folks in the outpost know each other 'bout he same, really." He nods to Hal'gus. "I guess we could useify what lightgas we got to go in the cave, since this is an orificial investigationing." The welder walks toward some crates and lifts off a metal slab, beginning to rummage around.

Hal'gus nods to Hal'rashio as he goes to rummage for whatever he's rummaging for, turning toward Hal'gwynt as he folds his hands behind his back. "/Very/ mysterical! Perhaps we'll locatify something in this cave to point toward the truthery!"

Hal'gwynt shrugs. "Nothin' bloodified?" he asks as he follows. "Nor a rockchunk, nor a drill, nor a pipe?"

Hal'rashio stops rummaging, a waylighter and a lightgas canister now in his hands. "Aha!" He hooks up the canister to the waylighter, waits a second or two, and then discards the iron cylinder. "Should do it. To the cave, gennlefolks."

The group heads back out to the cliffside...

Hal'rashio gestures with the waylighter toward the small cave mouth close by. "In there," he says simply, and begins to walk toward it.

"Nonsensical! I'm thinkin' if these fellers found any blood-seeperated rocks or hammers or stuff, they woulda gone and told us 'bout it by now," declares Hal'gus as the three pass outside, managing a small chuckle to himself as he settles his hat back onto his head and giving it a few quick knocks to ensure it firmly atop his head. He then begins to trudge through the cliffside after where Hal'rashio leads, a hand holding onto his hat as he moves along with squinted eyes.

Hal'gwynt shrugs and follows after, his expression more curious than anything else - what can be seen of it under the windblown curly froth of white hair.

Upon reaching the cave entrance, Hal'rashio turns on the waylighter with a flick of the mechanism, sparking the lightgas inside. He motions for the wrongstopper and the dirigible pilot to follow as he steps into the dark niche, which becomes illuminated by the lantern.

Hal'gus is mostly silent as they make their way through the cliffside, venturing into the cave after Hal'rashio when he activates the waylighter. "Watch carefully! Anything in here could be a clue-thing!" he suggests as they enter.

Hal'gwynt keeps his hands quite firmly behind his back as he follows, eyes wide. Looking. Yep. Right.

The lantern reveals the small cave, just big enough for the three Halaghi to fit in but without a whole lot of room for movement. No signs of violence or struggle can be seen in the cave as the welder sweeps the lantern around. "Downright mysterical indeed, Orificer."

"Hm," murmurs Hal'gus, frowning as he peers about the cave. "/Very/ mysterical..." he continues, peering over the cave. "But there's no blood here, so Hal'bork was clobberated in a place elsewhere than this cave. "Hal'rashio, can you take us to Hal'bork's bode or wherever he snoozerated?"

Hal'gwynt looks around. "Dragged here," he nods. "Cave's open...et'ed? Lunchified?"

"I suppose that -- oof!" Hal'rashio tries to edge over a bit in the small confines but stumbles over a rock, almost dropping the waylighter. The rock is overturned, revealing a small metal plate in the ground with a nob jutting out of it.

Hal'gus arches a brow among the copius amount of dark blonde hair around his face as Hal'rashio stumbles, then arches it /further/ as he takes note of the rock and - more importantly - what was underneath it. "Hal'rashio! Bring that glowyrod over here," he calls, icy blue gaze peering carefully toward the plate as he kneels down on the ground beside it. "What in the /gadzooks/ is this thingamajig?!"

"S'a nobblything," says Hal'gwynt, coming over to poke at it. Poke, twist, and turn, if he can. "Southlookery's new, innit?"

The nobblything sinks into the floor from the poking. Moments later, a rumbling sound can be heard behind the Halaghi.

Hal'rashio raises his eyebrows almost as high as Hal'gus's. "What in the chasm is goin' on?"

Hal'gus stares with wide-eyes at Hal'gwynt pokes the nob, frowning deeply as he hears the rumbling behind them. "You tarmfoolin' squatchhugger! You shouldn't have jiggled that nobblything!" insists Hal'gus while simultaniously shaking a fist at the pilot, turning about to try to see what the rumbling is all about.

Hal'gwynt, on the other hand, is not only fearless in the face of both Wrongstopper wrath and shaking caverns, he's absolutely delighted. "Hot STEAM!" he shouts, exuberant, turning to watch the noise source for excitement. "Get d'condensification atta yer getup an' make sure a nobblything don' land on yer yappin' head! I finded ye a funner thing'n a caved skull, le's see what it is!"

The wall of the cave behind the Halaghi seems to be lifting upward, revealing a tunnel lit by the same glowing blue lichen found in Halagh. The tunnel moves in a downward curve... but to what?

Hal'rashio shrugs. "Better go down an' see what's what."

"How did you know that nobblything didn't /cause/ 'is caved skull?! Then you'd get a bunch of caved skulls, /ours/!" retorts Hal'gus with a grumble, shaking his head as he reaches to take his trusty thunkstick from his hugger's strap and rise to his feet. The thunkstick gripped securely in his hand, the Wrongstopper begins to advance his way down the tunnel quite carefully. He glances over his shoulder to wave the other two Halaghi to follow him as he ventures inside.

"Na blood on it, ya fungus-fearin' dolt," answers Hal'gwynt cheerfully, heading down the new tunnel - and if there's any pause, it's only the minimal one required to feel for structural integrity. And maybe how the tunnel was hidden there. Hal'rashio walks down the tunnel with Hal'gwynt, keeping the lantern lit even though the lichen provides decent visibility. "More an' more mysterical."

"Shut your natch 'fore I thunk your dome all the way 'til next Chillhuggery," whispers Hal'gus irritatedly at Hal'gwynt's badgering, continuing to carefully make his way down the tunnel with his thunkstick raided defensively. He moves along, looking somewhat nervously around as he continues along.

Contrary to orders, Hal'gwynt seems inclined to test the cavern's acoustics by whistling cheerfully as he walks dow the tunnel. His blue eyes are wide and watching EVERYTHING, not out of fear but out of delighted fascination. If Halaghi played the lottery, he'd just have won it.

The tunnel keeps going for some time, and the Halaghi walk. And walk. And walk. Until the tunnel goes into one last curve, which reveals an opening into a large room.

The room is dimly lit by some torches on posts, which reveal that the roof is well above the heads of the Halaghi. The room is filled with strange machinery of unrecognized purpose. The walls are blocks of stone with carvings of monstrous creatures engraved on the far side of the room.

"Gadzooks," Hal'rashio mutters.

"Gadzooks," echoes Hal'gus as he stares wide-eyed at the room, beginning to walk further inside as he peers at the machinery. "Something - or someone - involved with this place clobberated Hal'bork! ... ... Probably ... ... .. we need to get every wronstopper, pipefitter and inventioneer in here that we have as soon as possible!"

Hal'gwynt peers at the torches. "'oo lit those?" he asks, his whistling ceasing. "N'oo put 'em up so high?" Completely ignoring the panicking welder, the diminutive pilot reaches up to see how far above his highest reach the torch might be.

A slow creaking is heard on one side of the room as the door of a large iron cage swings open. A large foot steps on the rocky floor with a stony scraping sound. The shadowy figure belonging to the foot looks out from behind the door, regarding the three Halaghi with glowing blue eyes. A groaning sound emits from the figure, as if it hasn't spoken in a long, long time.

"Chasm," says the welder. "I think it be best that we fleetreat fastly."

Hal'gwynt stares - just stares, wide-eyed, at the huge thing. "What's'e need torches for?" he asks. "Is eyes glow fungusified!" This is apparently the shiniest, neatest thing he's EVER seen on the ground, EVER.

At this point, Hal'gus is nearly frozen as he stares at the shadowy figure. The groan, it seems, is what makes up his mind. "TACTICERY REFORTIFICATION!" cries the Wrongstopper, turning rather abruptly to flee in the direction where they came from, gripping his thunkstick tightly as he rushes toward the tunnel.

The sound of stone scraping on stone grows louder as the thing begins slowly approaching the three Halaghi. More groans emit from the figure.

Hal'rashio decides Hal'gus has the right idea and begins to follow.

Hal'gwynt notes with some surprise that his companions do not find giant moaning people with glowing eyes to be the Neatest New Thing Ever. "Hey, where ya - oh, drat it," he grumbles, and takes off after them. "Ya just gonna lockify it back when we gets to th' top?"

A short run later, back near the outpost...

Bending over slightly, one hand holding on to his hat, Hal'gus huffs heavily as they get out of the cave. "What was /that/ thing?! It was the most scary thingamajig I've seen in my whole life! Fungus for eyes! FUNGUS FOR EYES!!!" Quickly shaking his head, the Wrongstopper reaches over to prod Hal'rashio. "We need to get all the explorineers and vengeancify Hal'bork!"

Hal'gwynt is scampering after the other two - not out of fear, but to keep up, and the middle-aged little man's having a rough go of it. Panting like a miniature bellows, he says, "It ain't pursuifyin, how'd Hal'bork get all the way back uppers? Hoo, long run..." and he leans back against the outer rock, possibly so he doesn't fall over.

Hal'rashio runs out with Hal'gus, breathing deeply and setting the waylighter on a nearby boulder. "Chasm take it. Like no thing I ever lookseed afore. That thing was ginormous! It must've been at least six feeters tall!"

"We can't just leave that thing in there! With all those jigglybobbers and thingies! Who knows what it could be plotterating! First Hal'bork, next...who knows!" insists Hal'gus, standing tall and puffing his chest out as he gives a nod to Hal'rashio. "How many explorineers can we get? Boomstickers?"

Hal'gwynt is still catching his breath, leaning hard against the rock wall. "A'reety. Lemme just get the dirig' up'n'airified if yer gonna be bringin' boomstickers around," he says. "Diris like a'boomin' well enough alone."

"We got a boomstick or three in the stuffkeep." The welder looks to Hal'gus. "Kind of a bad shot myself, but Hal'on and Hal'ogus been pickin' off tarms from yards away. One click, I'll go get 'em." The welder jogs toward the outpost, shouting for the two Halaghi.

"I've only had a wee bit of training with a boomstick, best if I rely on the thunkstick," mulls Hal'gus over to himself as he takes a few practice swings with the stick in the air, giving a faint grin toward Hal'gwynt. "Runnin' off already, are ya? Thought you'd be among the first to go all in there and clobberate somethin' you don't know nothin' about."

"Who's a'clobberatin'?" demands Hal'gwynt. "Ye see me offerin' te thunkify blue-eyes down there? I just want ye fungus-bears not te be blowin' up my dirigible. Ye wanna be walkin' back? Not a big trition bar of fun, I'm tellin' ye." He pushes himself up, apparently just about with his breath back. "Ye wanta lip flap a' the thing I'll go see where t'is. But lemme get the 'rig outta the way."

Soon enough, three Halaghi emerge from the outpost all of them carrying boomsticks and wearing steamtonks. The two with Hal'rashio load pebbles into the mechanisms while the welder offers a boomstick and steamtonk to Hal'gus. "Ye might be better with a thunkstick, but take this just in case. Might not want to get up closelike to that thing until we put a few rocks in 'im."

"Alright, but I've only used one a couple times..." warns Hal'gus a bit unsteadily taking the equipment and taking a moment to strap it all on. He /somehow/ manages to get it all correct, tucking his thunkstick into the strap at his side and looking over the boomstick curiously for a moment. "Once that squatchhugger gets that dirigible out, we'll go in," decides Hal'gus, giving a nod to the three Halaghi as he begins to load his own weapon.

Hal'gwynt scoots quickly over to the mooring pole, grabbing the assistance of a few other handy dirigible workers to lengthen the mooring-line, running the dirigible higher up along the pole. When he's fairly sure it's out of range of stray rocks and boomstickery, he heads back to the others. "Less ye cut the pole loose, we're good," he says.

"Lockered and loadified," Hal'ogus says looking toward Hal'rashio. "Ok then." The welder takes the waylighter off of the boulder and switches on the flame, gesturing back toward the cave mouth. "Let's go."

Making the final preparations to his boomstick, the Wrongstopper gives a nod to Hal'rashio and begins to make his way gingerly toward the cave mouth, his hands gripped firmly on the boomstick as he heads along. His various equipment makes the odd jingling noise every now and again as he advances, bearded expression determined.

Hal'gwynt follows, demonstrating a respect for the boomsticks that was not afforded to glow-eyed giants, as the pilot lets the boomstickers get quite a bit ahead as he tags along behind. But hey, love the curiosity - he never lets them out of *sight*.

Hal'rashio enters the cave, finds the switch and presses it, opening the cave wall like before. Hal'on and Hal'ogus both flank the wrongstopper as they make their way down the lichen-lined tunnel. They find themselves at the entrance to the large room once again, the creature shambling about near the torch on the right.

The light reveals the creature's face: vaguely defined, but somewhat humanoid. Its eyes seem to be holes in its head, and the skin looks almost stony in texture.

As they re-enter the cave, Hal'gus huffs faintly as he reaches the room. His icy blue eyes widen as he stares toward the creature, lifting his boomstick as steadily as he can manage to beginning to aim it toward the figure. Carefully, he begins to initiate the valve to begin the weapon's firing process, his finger steadily set on the device's final trigger. As he waits, however, his eyes are firmly locked on the figure, waiting to see how it might react.

Hal'gwynt peers up, and farther up, at the thing. "Where'd the glowy go?" he asks, from a safe-ish distance behind the boomstickers. "Z'it attackifyin'?"

A long moan emits from the creature's mouth as it slowly turns to look at the explorineers. Feet scrape on the floor as it shambles toward them, another groan like the opening of a mausoleum door echoing throughout the chamber.

"Now!" Hal'ogus yells as he and Hal'on both yank the levers on their boomsticks, launching pebbles toward the room's denizen. The pebbles seem to ricochet off of the thing's stony hide, taking tiny chunks of the creature with them. Their target continues to lumber toward them, unabated by flying rocks.

"Go fer the face!" cries Hal'gus in suggestion as the others fire, the loud sound prompting him to carefully level his own weapon. Gripping tightly on the lever, he pulls back his own thundering shot, probably not too familiar with the recoil.

Hal'gus's shot whizzes past the shambling stone-man and hits something in the room, making a loud SPANG noise.

Hal'gwynt hits the deck as the boomstickers go to work, apparently more worried about them than what they're trying to shoot.

The explorineers continue to unleash pebbly doom upon the stone creature, small rocks bouncing every which way and hitting the iron constructs within the chamber. Finally, a stray shot manages to go inside one of the creature's eye-holes, making it groan louder than before. It moves a large clumsy hand toward its face, stumbling foward in confusion. It begins to swing wildly at the group, though it isn't yet within reach of its attackers.

Hal'gus frowns as the shots seem to have little effect, quickly adjusting his boomstick to prepare for another shot. "We ain't doin' nothin' 'cept goatbuggin' it off! There's gotta be some way to destroyificate it!" calls the Wrongstopper with a loud grunt as he fires the weapon again toward the tall stony creature, the weapon aimed somewhat toward the face.

Something malfunctions in Hal'gus's boomstick, and the kickback is a lot stronger than expected. A burst of steam emits from the weapon as the wrongstopper is knocked over by the force. "Ey, pup! Y'alright?" calls Hal'gwynt. "Scree's not big enough - gotta boomstick somethin' bigger at it!"

"Try the other eye!" Hal'rashio shouts as he begins waving the lantern at the stone man in some attempt to drive it away. The boomstickers unload more fire, then brandish the butts of the boomsticks once the creature is too close to shoot at. "Beatify it like it done beatified Hal'bork!"

"Woooooooahhhhh!" emits Hal'gus as he nearly flies backward, landing with a loud grunt back to the ground against his steamtonk, grumbling. "I think...I need to go back to the Wrongstopper Learnery for that," moans the Halaghi, shaking off the daze as best he can to get to discard his boomstick and steamtonk and get to his feet to join the fray. "If boomstick don't do anythin', what'll clobberatin' it do!" None-the-less, he desperately grasps for his thunkstick.

"Go for the knees!" Hal'gwynt agrees, moving to get the boomstick gear out of the way of advance - or retreat.

The stone-man moans and swings at Hal'ogus, who swings the boomstick at the thing's leg in return. A small chunk is taken off of the leg, but more damage is done to the boomstick's coldwood stock, which splinters on the impact. "Knees're tough! Go for the eyes!" shouts Hal'on.

Brandishing his trusty thunkstick, Hal'gus stares for a moment at the creature. He gives at nod at Hal'on's shout, gripping the goathide tightly as he begins to rush toward the creature. Having a good two feet or so on him, the Wrongstopper raises his thunkstick as he jumps in a lunge toward the figure, swinging his thunkstick toward the 'face' as best he can with a cry of, "YAAAAAH!".

Hal'gwynt looks up at the huge thing, and at the much less huge Hal'gus attacking it, and then starts going through the abandoned boomstick machinery - not disassembling it, but looking for something in specific.

The sound of thunkstick on stone makes a loud echoing CRACK. The stone figure groans loudly, still trying to swing at the Halaghi while clutching at an eyehole. Glowing blue shards fall out of the uncovered socket onto the rocky floor.

Hal'gus manages to tumble to a mostly secure stop, turning about to look at the creature and the glowing blue shards on the floor. His thunkstick probably unable to handle another blow against stone, the Wrongstopper scurries along to try to move past the creature toward the tunnel and scrape up the shards with his mitted hands.

Hal'gwynt is getting at the steam-making fire in the boomstick apparatus. Finally locating the access hatch, he starts scooting around for something portable that he might be able to turn into a flaming brand.

Some more loud cracks sound as the creature is struck by another boomstick on the side of the head. More blue shards fall from the eyeholes, and the stone man begins to move jerkily. The groans become stuttered, as if it was... malfunctioning, somehow. Hal'gus might notice that the shards quickly begin to lose their light and become simple shards of crytal that look an awful lot like gemglass.

Hal'gus might notice, if he wasn't too busy running as fast as he could behind the boomstickers. Huffing quickly as he leans against the wall, the Wrongstopper turns toward the firefight with a paler face than normal. Beads of sweat run down whatever skin not covered by dark blonde hair over his face, a brow arching toward the 'golem' as he begins to act...somewhat different. "Keep it up, boyos! It's doin' somethin'!" he calls to the boomstickers with a hopeful grin across his lips.

Hal'gwynt stops at the stuttering and jerking, peering up at the giant with a scowl. And then picks up boomstick pebbles on the floor and starts throwing them, aiming for the eyes. Or at least the head.

The other boomstick stock splinters on the creature, who collapses on the ground with a stuttered moan. Some more jerky movements, and then nothing. The glowing from behind the eyes starts to flicker, then dim to blackness.

"Vengeancery is ours!" cheers Hal'gus as the creature falls over, pumping his thunkstick into the air with a triumphant cry. He briskly makes his way over to the creature, reaching out with his thunkstick to poke it experimentally. "Gadzooks! The Chief'll never believe me!"

Hal'gwynt also walks over, peering into the thing's eyes at close range. "Like a mechanicalish thing," he says, poking it with his mitted hands. "But no

Behind the eyeholes is a hollowed-out space with a sizeable crystal inside it, assumedly where those glowing shards were from. It looks like its been dislodged from some sort of niche.

Hal'rashio strokes his beard. "Mysterical indeed. Machinery without steam."

"Inconceivatory!" states the Wrongstopper in surprise, poking the lifeless head a little with his thunkstick as he nods to Hal'gwynt. "Get that shiny thing and let's take it back to the Southlookery for examinification."

Hal'gwynt nods, already trying that very thing - to get the shiny out, without accidentally slotting it back into its niche. "Hey, if I was buildin' a thingajigger like this, it'd be doin' somethin'," he says as he's working on getting the thing out. "So what's it doin' here, now we can look around without bein stompified?" The little pilot goes to get the damaged thunkstick, giving the broken thing's head a few good whacks to crack it open, so as to pull the crystal out with his mitted hands. This is, apparently fun.

Hal'on and Hal'ogus start looking around the chamber, rummaging through the piles of scrap metal and prodding the rusty old machines. Hal'rashio keeps the waylighter trained on the creature's body, looking unnerved though it is no longer moving.

Hal'gus reluctantly lends Hal'gwynt his thunkstick, looking a bit unnerved as he goes to whallop it open. "Y'think I'll have to get a new one?" he asks curiously, a mitted hand reaching to brush some dust off of his hugger.

Hal'gwynt is more interested in the crystal that was in the thing's head. "Sparkleshiny," he says, holding it up to what light there is as he passes the thunkstick back. "Dunno," he adds in answer to the question. "But ain't no better head to break one on." Turning the thing in the light, he says, "Maybe th' only head ever like it. Tha's a thunkstick t'be hangin' on yer mantle, that is."

"Righty-o." Hal'rashio looks around the room. "So, I'm thinkerin' we should come back with more folks. More boomsticks too. But fer now it'd be good to get out of here before some other whatsit jumps out at us, y'gree?"

"Y'think there might be...'nother one?" asks Hal'gus, brows raising as if the thought had not come to him until now. Tucking the cracked thunkstick into the strap at his side, he gestures toward the tunnel. "Fantabulous idea! Let's get a'goin'," enthusiastically suggests the wrongstopper, making his way down the tunnel with a good amount of haste. "As for why that thing'd be down here...personal Wrongstopper, y'know? Keep the likes o' us out of this cave? But they didn't know anything about the splendifery of Halaghi engineerification!"

Hal'gwynt pockets the crystal and looks down at the thing it came from. "Le's take this back too," he says. "Heard o' biggeruns, if biggeruns're a problem, maybe make *bigger* biggeruns'n send 'em down after 'em." He tries to move the stony giant. "Boomsticks din't hurt it much."

The stony giant doesn't budge. He seems to be quite heavy.

"Leave it," Hal'rashio says. "Without that shiny thing I don' think it'll be doing much." He waves to the two boomstickers, who come over with some machinery clutched in their arms. "We're goin' back to report our findiscoveries," the welder says. "We'll come back later, but someone should write up an urgent report to the Buroks."

"'Rashio's got a point. That thingamajig ain't goin' anywhere, and if it /does/ go anywhere, best it goes somewhere in here than goin' somewhere back at the Southlookery," returns Hal'gus as he makes his way through the tunnel, grumbling at the mention of reports to the Buroks. "I'll take care of all the mishmashin' reportery. Part of the dutery."

Hal'gwynt just nods and shrugs, following the others out. "Shiny rock, anyway. Gemglassery maybe." Hal'rashio leads with the lantern, and the group heads out of the tunnel and back into the brisk night breeze of the cliffside. "Take a bed in the bode cavern if'n you like," the welder says. "Writery materials are in the main room whene'er you feel like starting on that report."