Chapter 10
The Exodus Finale
Over the next several days, the rag-tag group of refugees did its best to navigate its way through the mountainous terrain. Once a day or two away from the mine site, the mountain became easier to navigate as the local vegetation, and even the snow-capped peaks provided better footing. Jade had also researched several new blueprints which allowed the team to be equipped with unique weather-resistant gear to help with the voyage. Some of the slaves' original personalities even began to reemerge.
The good times were not meant to last, however.
“What's the situation?”-Allura
“Not good.” says the male human [Criminal] slave, who was apparently originally arrested on petty theft for stealing a loaf of bread while starving but had his sentence repeatedly increased as he kept trying to escape imprisonment, claiming that he was just trying to check on his family. “Up ahead is a large camp of bandits. I recognize their flag, bastards used to be the top enforcers in my neighborhood, The Black Vipers. Nasty as they come, rape, murder, robbery, cannibalism, blood sacrifice to dark gods, you name it, they probably had a hand in it!”
“Yeah, and they're not the only problem we've got.” Says the female [Debt] slave who apparently found herself on the slave market after being fleeced by a crooked casino. “A few hours behind us, tops, is the army of Duke Deokk, likely looking to take us back, or take you in, maybe both, after his precious mine got flattened by a certain walrus-man...”
“These [Spy glasses] you've provided us have been a godsend! We can see people kilometers away almost like they're right in front of us! They're not magic are they?” Says a wolf-man who is keenly interested.
“They're Traveler tech. That's all I can say on that at the moment. Can we go around the bandit camp? Or maybe lure the bandits and the duke's forces into fighting each other?”-Allura.
“Grrr. It's theoretically posssiblee.”says the scale-kin, a snake-type beast-kin, “but unlikely. The duke'sss no fool! He'sss got a way to track usss....”
“So we have to take on one of these groups before we wind up stuck between them...”-Allura
“I have a weapon that would immediately level the playing field, but I lack the materials to build it!”
“And that would be our Traveler sponsor. Yeah. What would this weapon even do?!”-Wolf-man.
“Turn that entire bandit nest into a smoldering crater if we can land a good shot. Maybe even bring a significant part of the mountain down on them if we missed in the right way...”
“Wait. Did you say bring the mountain down on them? That gives me an idea! Let me see through this [Spy glass] for a moment! Thought so! Look at that overhang, there!”-Allura
“Yesss?”
“How about we trigger an avalanche on their sorry hides? We could use some dynamite and bring a ton of ice, rock, snow, and trees down on them, and let the rest delay the duke's army behind us as we leave the area?”
“It's a plan. Better than nothing, but a plan nonetheless.” [Criminal] slave.
“And what's wrong with the plan?”
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“What isn't wrong with the plan? We'd have to get to that overhang unnoticed, plant the dynamite without having it blow up, get to a safe distance, blow the dynamite, which is sure to attract attention, get out of here before the bandits swarm us like we just kicked a hornet's nest, and make sure not to get caught in the avalanche ourselves!” [Debt] slave.
“Good. I'm glad you all have your heads in the game. These are all perfectly valid concerns, and we're all ears, waiting for your ideas. So share it with us.”
“Well, considering that we can't take on these guys and going back to take on the duke's men is worse, cause we'd likely wind up getting their attention and having to fight them anyway, only we'd be even worse off, I'm drawing a blank on a better plan.”-Wolf-man.
“Yeah. Time's not on our side either.” [Debt] slave.
“Hey. Maybe we don't need to usssee the dynamite. All we really need isss ssssomething big and heavy to set off the avalanche, right?” scale-kin.
“What do you have in mind?”-Allura.
“We can ssssnnnneeeak up the hill above the overhang, and dump some rockssss or whatever you've got in ssstorage down on the slope and make the avalanche look 'natural' and then we can just ssssnnneeaak away...”-scale-kin.
“I like it. It's a lot more workable than 'Kaboom! Aieee! Run for your life!' like I was thinking. Any objections, other ideas?”-Allura
Seeing as nobody else has anything to add, the group proceeds to stealthily approach the hill over the bandit camp so they can just dump a bunch of heavy things from “Allura's storage” and trigger a natural looking avalanche that will hopefully take care of the bandit problem.
Inside the camp, the bandits are not as bad as [Criminal] slave said. They're worse. People aren't just locked in cages, they are being forcefully injected with unknown liquids, being force-fed some others, there are plenty of signs that some kind of murder or death cult is at play, such as strange runes and symbols written in what looks like blood, and none of the captives are even barely responsive, even as women of all shapes and sizes, even some who are way, way under-age, are victims of all kinds of assault.
“By the maker! I wish I had never seen any of that! The sooner that camp ceases to exist, the better!”-Allura.
“It's alright. There's nothing we can do for them. Those captives have been walking corpses long before we got here. I've seen those drugs before. 'Ghost's milk' is what it's called. Gives you a hell of a buzz, or so I'm told, but it's instantly addictive with lethal withdrawal symptoms, and the more you use it, the more of a walking corpse you become. By the end, you could be in a pit being munched on by fire ants and you'd barely react, unless your next hit is in sight and you'd crawl through the flames of hell for it! Then you just.. forget to breathe and die.” [Criminal] slave.
“Ugh. Jade, you done with the math to determine where the best place to dump our junk is so we can start the avalanche that will level that vile demons' den?”-Allura
“Hey! Demons are good people!”-Wolf-man
“Sorry. Well, Jade?”-Allura.
“Okay. Just about one pace back and to your right.. THERE! Now let's dump some judgment on these assholes!”
Stones, rocks, trees, ice, snow, random animal and monster corpses and all other sorts of heavy objects are dumped down the hill from a ledge above the target overhang, give or take about 30 meters up. They quickly begin gaining momentum on their way down, collecting more snow, ice, and rock as they go. By the time it all reaches the overhang, literal tons of debris is bearing down on the camp. The bored guards on the overhang barely have any warning before it hits at considerable speed, roughly 60 km/h, which proves too much for the overhang to withstand, breaking off and adding its own impressive weight to the mix. The bandit camp below barely had time to look up and scream in horror before the weight of a significant part of the mountain went and introduced itself to them.
It was all over in a matter of minutes.
“Normally, I'd go down there and put everything, and I do mean everything into my storage, sort it out later. Then go around and make sure all the bad guys were dead, but we've got an army closing in on us and we don't have the time. So lets get past that camp as quick as we can and head to the Holy Kingdom's border, where the duke's army can't chase us so easily.”-Allura.
“Hear! HEAR!!”
And so they march on, bypassing the bandit camp's wreckage, taking nothing, and going in the direction of the border.
A short time later, the duke's army comes down the trail to find the bandit camp completely demolished, tons upon tons of debris all over the place, all signs pointing to a convenient avalanche having taken care of his overlooked problem for him, but he's not buying it.
“Somehow, I don't think the avalanche took care of our suspected Traveler and Dungeon Boss. And I really don't think they're buried there with those poor souls. I'd like to check for survivors, if for no other reason than to get intel, but we're less than half a day from the border and if our quarry gets there...”-Duke
“They still show up on the slave collar tracker, moving in that direction, so yeah, they're not here with these guys.”-Selene
“Sire! Look at this flag!”
“Black Vipers?! Damn! Guess our prey did us a huge favor, taking them out for us. Or maybe they got divine judgment, who knows. Anyway, we need to get to the border first. We can deal with these bandit thugs on our way back, one way or another.”-Duke Deokk.
