The PCs continue to press the battle against the Scunj installation, though the outlook isn't so good once the enemy shock troopers begin concentrating fire to disintegrate the Long Hunters. The battle along the battlements progresses while the enemy's Cyraptors and Cybertooths continue to engage the main body of the melee. SlakeThirst thrashes around within the enemy base in brontosaurus form while a fearsome Scunj Captain attempts to deal with him straight on. Wyrmshade and Flearikz lay out one of the vest of many things' items, a ladder that they place on one side of the installation wall so the less athletic Hunters can gain access. Before the Scunj can get their energy cannons charged, Borracho uses animate object on five of the six, turning them into metallic brutes that fight for the Long Hunt!
Gundo, Slyva and Kestrel are all slain by shock troopers or Cyraptors, and soon there's a disturbance up top of the hill in which the installation is located. A whooshing sound is heard and then something large and unseen is displaced. Rekker 'Ogre-Knees' shouts at Vraal to put together his team and try and head inside the installation while the rest of the Long Hunt deals with the warriors and their pets outside, fearing that whoever is behind this atrocity might escape! The PCs make their way over the front gate or up the newly created ladder as quickly as possible, while making tactical attacks along the way to help some of those outside for the rest of their battle. Mamma Boe begins to raise the fallen corpses of her fellow Hunters and enemies to join the fray, while the animated energy turrets distract a bunch of the shock troopers on the wall.
Eventually, an 11-person team manages to get inside the installation, taking a wide shelf of stairs behind the Scunj trooper barracks and cyber-pens: Borracho, Flearikz, Greech, High Hood Lavener, Kymyl, Taias 'Bloodbath', Un-Krug, Vraal, Wyrmshade, Yukkbutt, and Za'ku. As they proceed down into the depths of the mysterious hill, they find a massive cavern loaded with unrefined, non-native ore. Somehow, the Scunj had managed to extract ore from the Plateau, transforming it into the alien alloy they use for their weapons, defenses and machinery! But the ore isn't the only thing they run across, a Cyteratops and Cyrex, both equipped like the raptors and sabertooth tigers outside, stir to meet them and mar their progress. Another vicious battle ensues, as these two creatures seem to have all manner of special tricks to use on their opponents' turns, but the PCs manage to stay on top of things until they have heavily wounded the Cyrex, after which a loud, blaring sound is heard. Once the creature is slain, it explodes with a larger form of the energy grenades used by the shock troopers outside, slaying both Un'Krug and Greech! The PCs wise up when they fell the cyteratops, and Vraal lays on some death wards, but they still take some heavy damage in its death throes as it too, bursts with one of the implanted bombs.
After the fight, Yukkbutt grieves at his brother's ashen remains, what few there are, and then turns...and walks away from the Ore Pits, from the Scunj facility, and the Long Hunt...forever.
At the rear of the ore pit cavern, the PCs find a box-like device which High Hood Lavener discovers is some sort of life that goes down further into the hill. Before proceeding, Vraal and Borracho use the rest of the healing magic at their disposal to mend the wounds of their companions wounded by the cyber-dinos. Flearikz and Wyrmshade use their vest of many things once more to put a window in the bottom of the lift, and then Wyrmshade throws a dancing lights down to illuminate the bottom of the passage. They finally take the lift down to a chamber jam-packed with devices that use the same sort of alien technology they've discovered throughout the campaign. A gridded web of light is in the center of the area, and a sole Scunj, this one female and familiar to several of the PCs who saw a likeness on one of the great slabs in the City of the Carvers. She begins to monologue in Common, but not to herself, claiming that 'the Plateau Node has become too volatile for experimentation, her Research teams have been evacuated, and that she will personally deal with the problem so that it doesn't spread to any other Node.'
Thus, the last battle commences, with the Senior Researcher displaying a dazzling array of alien weaponry, including an energy net weapon that slices through those it lands upon, and a heavily enhanced, transforming, exoskeletal suit of the impact armor that her shock troopers and officers wear. With her Scunj immunity to magic, and being incredibly difficult to land physical damage upon, she proves a fearsome opponent. Borracho uses stone shape to drop her into a shallow pit, but she responds by firing off projectiles outside. She has soon taken the lives of Wyrmshade, Taias 'Bloodbath' and Vraal, and still offers strong resistance once she is surrounded by Za'ku, Kymyl, Flearikz, Borrach and Lavener. Eventually, despite her ability to reduce damage, a mighty advantage attack from the High Hood manages to finish her off. With her slain, the PCs investigate the area more closely. They can't make heads of tails of most of the machinery in the area, but the web of light appears to be a map of several landmasses, with 19 glowing red markers in alien symbols that seem to denote specific locations.
One of these markers is slowly blinking, and soon fades, as the curtains are drawn.
Long Hunt Casualties: Bandana Jakk (slain), Gatespur (slain), Greech (slain), Gundo Shattermouth (slain), Huntress Byle (slain), Huntress Slyva (slain), Kerrin (slain), Kestrel (slain), Mamma Boe (slain), Skitti (slain), Taias 'Bloodbath' (slain), Un-Krug (slain), Vraal (slain), Wralasar (slain), Wyrmshade (Slain)
Long Hunt Survivors: Borracho, Flearikz, Grumdi the Bright, High Hood Lavener, Maun the Bastard, Rekker, Sdudder, SlakeThirst, Yukkbutt, Za'ku
PCs: Borracho, Flearikz, Greech, Kymyl, Vraal, Yukkbut, Za'ku
XP Rewarded: 10,000
Inspiration: Yukkbutt
Renown: Ten-Tribes (maxed out)
