Page 26 of Sinistram
They moved closer with their weapons ready. “And it sure looks like the digging came frominside,” Travis pointed out, and Brent saw how the dirt fell, and the ragged opening definitely looked like it had been dug by somethinginthe tunnel.
“That explains how it got out,” Brent said. “But what woke it up? Because the deaths have all been in the last few months…and nothing for long periods before that.”
“It might go dormant for a time and then become active again. Either that, or someone intentionally reactivated it,” Travis replied. “I like the first explanation better, but given what we’ve seen elsewhere, I’m afraid the second is more likely to be right.”
Brent laid down a large salt and iron filing line that encircled the mine opening. Travis set out an offering of whiskey and cheese inside the circle.
“I hope it’s hungry,” Brent said as Travis placed the last of the bait to draw the monster out of the mine.
“The ghosts are watching,” Travis told him. Brent couldn’t see the spirits, but he felt observed.
“I don’t see any of the recent victims in the crowd,” Travis added. “Ready?”
Brent nodded and shouldered his shotgun, filled with rock salt rounds.
Travis spoke the incantation he had copied at the Sinistram library to summon and bind the gnome. At first, nothing happened. Brent wondered if the creature had moved on or fallen back asleep.
A deep growl sounded from inside the mine, and the gnome burst free in a spray of dirt and loose rock. It stood roughly the height of a fire hydrant, with a similar stocky profile, and was covered in pale, leathery skin. Powerful arms and legs protruded from a squat, muscular, naked body with clawed feet and hands. It had a flattened face and small eyes, with a mouth filled with rows of sharp, pointed teeth, and it confronted Travis and Brent with a deafening howl.
Travis chanted his spell to permanently banish the gnome and created an unseen barrier to keep the monster from rushing them. He threw one of his flash-bangs to slow it down and buy himself more time. The fire and protective additions only distracted the gnome for a moment before it came at them again.
After their run-in with the tommyknocker, Brent had brought some heavier firepower this time. He fired a non-explosive armor-piercing round from their grenade launcher, augmented with iron and salt. It struck the gnome in the chest, tearing a ragged hole that still did not stop the creature’s attack.
The wounded gnome threw itself at the invisible barrier, shrieking in anger when it couldn’t break through.
Brent fired again, aiming for the gnome’s head, but it dodged just in time and roared.
Travis kept chanting, and the gnome focused on the sound, turning to face him and shrieking again before it dropped to all fours and began to dig, trying to get under the magical boundary.
The ground crumbled, breaking the barrier, and the gnome came at Brent faster than he thought possible.
“Oh, hell no!” Brent fired again and knocked the gnome onto its back. “Chant faster!”
Brent’s shots didn’t keep the gnome down for long, even though it oozed ichor from several wounds. Solid and heavy despite its small size, the gnome tackled Brent, knocking the grenade launcher out of reach and pinning him down. Sharpclaws dug into Brent’s arms and thighs, and it was all he could do to keep the vicious teeth from his throat. Pain lanced through his bad leg.
The air around Brent suddenly dropped to freezing as the mine ghosts entered the fight and made themselves visible. They wrapped around Brent and the gnome, keeping them apart as Travis’s voice rose above the clamor.
The gnome snapped at the ghosts but didn’t let go of Brent. Massed together, the spirits had the strength to show themselves and to keep the gnome from sinking its teeth into Brent, but he didn’t know how long they could keep up their barrier.
Brent struggled to free his dagger. He pulled it loose and rammed it into the gnome’s belly, sinking the blade to the hilt.
“Return to the darkness from which you have come!” Travis commanded as the spell wound to its conclusion. “Sleep in the deep places and do not awaken.”
The gnome’s grip faltered. Brent bucked under it, feeling the claws rip free, as magic and the ghosts sent the creature backward to the mine entrance. It vanished into the hole and did not reemerge as Travis shouted the last words of the spell.
The ghosts swept away from Brent toward the mine. He didn’t know whether they meant to chase the gnome deeper into the tunnels or just keep it inside.
“Brent!” Travis ran to where Brent lay and gave him a once-over, assessing the damage the troll had caused.
“Seal the mine. I won’t bleed out that fast.” Brent gritted his teeth. “Don’t let that son of a bitch get back out.”
Travis looked conflicted for a moment, then nodded. Brent knew his friend’s first instinct was to protect him, but they would be in trouble if the gnome rallied for a second round.
Travis hurled one of his modified flash-bangs into the mine to drive the creature farther into the tunnels and got out of the way in case it caused a rockfall or set anything inside on fire.When that didn’t happen, he breathed a sigh of relief and hoped that would keep the creature away from the mouth of the tunnel long enough for him to seal it up.
He grabbed the bucket of ready-mix cement they had brought and returned for a couple of cement blocks they had also carried in. Both the mix and the blocks were treated with a combination of ritual elements designed to create and hold a binding on whatever they enclosed.
Brent worked as quickly as he could, ignoring the pain, and fixing the blocks in place to seal the entrance. Then he covered them and the entire front of the opening in the quick-drying mixture. Travis spoke a litany of binding commands as he worked, and to Brent’s relief, the ghosts did not try to stop him.
